metanoia

Chapter Forty-nine

Another Halloween passed and yet again the Marauders are faced with planning something special to celebrate the birthday of Sirius Black. The four Marauders, Prewett twins and Letti, Alex, Lily, Charlie and Eddie, Alice and Frank, and Marlene filled the Marauders' small dormitory. Sirius opted out of a big party this year, with all that was going on in the World he just wanted the people who cared for him all together.

The group of teenagers began a game of "Never Have I Ever" where every time you've done something, you'd take a shot of Firewhiskey. Sirius holds up his glass, looking cheekily to his best mate as he begins the game, "Never have I ever kissed James Fleamont Potter."

Lily, Remus, Peter, Fabian, Gideon, Frank, Eddie, Marlene and himself, all except for Alex, Alice, Charlie and Letti, took a shot as James snickered to himself. Alex cocked an eyebrow at her cousin, shocked by who admitted to the event, "Okay, time out. Lily and Sirius, I get. And I'll even give you Marlene because she's pretty fit but really, Fabian and Gideon? Actually, I take that back, it makes sense. Why have you also kissed Eddie, Frank, Peter and Remus?"

James snuggles into Frank's shoulder, giggling in a high pitched voice, "We're all very close."

The four girls who have never kissed James all fake vomit at them as everyone else bursts into a fit of giggles. Removing himself from Frank, James pushed his glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose, "Fine. I've got one. Never have I ever shagged anyone."

Sirius, Marlene, Letti, Fabian, Alice and Frank all take a drink. For whatever reason, everyone seemed confused by Alice and Frank but they just rolled their eyes and smirked. Apparently, their hadn't realized that the pair have been together since last school year. Alex slowly brings her glass to her lips as well when they were all questioning the couple, she knew that they weren't going to make her take a drink but she didn't care to ignore it because technically she did so she'd be lying otherwise.

Letti sees out of the corner of her eye that her best friend took a drink, she took her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. Letti then proceeds to take her cup, raises it high, yelling proudly at her claim, "Never have I ever kissed a Marauder!"

And with that everyone besides her took a drink. James watched as his cousin sipped her Firewhiskey, intrigued, "Short Stack, who did you kiss because we all know it wasn't me?"

Alex smirked, getting up from the circle and walking toward the window for some fresh air, "I'm sorry, Jamie. But I don't kiss and tell."

Remus quickly looked down into his drink upon meeting her eyes, his cheeks turning a soft pink. Sirius watched her leave the circle and Remus' blush, immediately knowing who she'd kissed because he would bet his left foot that even if you paid her it would never be Peter. As Charlie began to announce her category, Sirius arose from the circle and leaned out the window beside Alex, "So... when did you kiss Remus?"

"How do you know it wasn't Peter?" the blonde quickly countered, smirking at him.

Sirius snorted at the question, tucking a piece of his dark hair behind his ear, "Because everyone knows that you two don't like each other all that much. And because I know that it wasn't me because the night of James and Lily's first date we didn't, though you clearly wanted to."

"You are always so sure of yourself, Pads." Her dark blue eyes widened at the sound of her wavering voice, feeling her heart begin to pound faster by the second inside her chest, "Do you really want that answer, Siri? Because from the tone of your voice, it seems as though you don't."

"Yes, I want to know," he whispered, staring out at the grounds, watching a bunch of the younger kids chase each other.

Alex chuckled, also watching the kids, seeing that one had stumbled into a pile of fallen leaves and bursting into a fit of giggles, "It was when we were all fighting last year, right after I got into that fight with the Ravenclaw. It really wasn't a big deal. He was freaking out about "being a monster" and then the next thing I knew I was kissing him to get him to shut up."

"Oh," he softly growled, setting his jaw.

Alex saw the anger settling on his face and it made her angry as well, "What's your problem, Siri? It happened once, it's not like it's a crime to kiss your friend. You've kissed just about every person here. I also have the right to kiss whomever I want, you know?"

Sirius quickly pressed his lips onto her's, tasting the Firewhiskey burning on her lips. She felt something in her stomach flip as she kissed him back, sliding her hand into his hair. The two pulled away looking at each other in very different ways. "Finally got that kiss that James and Lily interrupted," he breathes as their friends start laughing behind them.

Alex did not know how to respond to that. Words were failing her at the moment but all she would think of to do was kiss him again, on the cheek, and go join the game again. "When did my life become so complicated?" She asked herself. 

As she sat back down on Marlene's left, she took her cup and downed it's contents. She thrusted the empty cup towards Gideon, who was in charge of refilling glasses, "Gid, give me more please."

Gideon filled her cup again as Alex took her turn, taking a drink regardless of how the game was supposed to be played, "Never have I ever fallen in love at first sight."

Everyone except for Alex and Lily took a drink, which surprised many of the people in the room by the sheer percent of them that had. James drank his whole cup to prove his point as he shared a loving glance with his girlfriend. Alex watched Peter drain his cup next to her, intrigued by who his love was, "Aw really, Peter? That's great."

Peter hiccups, having drunk more alcohol than his body could handle, glaring at the fifth Marauder for her tone that he interpreted as condescending, "Let's play truth or drink."

"Isn't that what we're already doing?" Remus asked, not particularly interested in participating in the suggested game.

Sirius shook his head, squeezing his friend's shoulders, "Oh no, my dear Remus. Truth or drink is much more personal than Never Have I Ever. Doesn't pull punches. For example, James will have the options to answer this question or drink. Who's a better kisser, me or Lily?"

James rolled his eyes, "Lily, obviously."

"And now it's his turn to ask a question," Marlene finishes, looking at James to prompt his question.

"This game is stupid," Alex grumbles, not wanting to take part in the game either knowing full well what questions she would be asked.

James looked at his cousin, seeing the opportunity to cure his curiosity, "Fine, Andy. Which Marauder did you kiss?"

Alex rolled her eyes, not at all surprised by the question she'd been expecting, taking a swig of her drink while slyly mumbling her answer, "Don't you mean which two of them did I kiss?"

James' eyes go wide glaring at Remus and Sirius, obviously knowing it was those two and not Peter, "You kissed my cousin?!"

"Oh no, Jamie," Alex tsked, wagging her finger at him as his eyes bulged. "It's not your turn so they don't have to answer anything. Marlene, is it correct in assuming that you're currently dating Dorcas Meadows because Professor Slughorn set you up?"

Marlene's cheeks turn bright pink as she raises the cup to her lips to drink but then stops, looking over the rim of her cup at the blonde and the surprised best friend of her girlfriend, "Perhaps. Now I'm curious, is it true that you kissed Remus and Sirius?"

Alex rolled her eyes, looking at the two sitting across the circle that she had kissed, "Yes and why is it that surprising? You've kissed Sirius, you guys even briefly dated in Fifth year."

Marlene bit her lip and shrugged, looking between the three of them, "Honestly, because you're not normally the type to go for guys like them. Or any guy for that matter. And I would've expected you to go for Diggory or Gideon even."

Alex stood up, leaving her cup on the ground, "Like I just told Sirius, I can kiss whoever I want."

She kisses both of them hard on the mouth before leaving the room and everyone in it in shock. James glowered at his two best mates, "I don't know what the Hell just happened or why, but I feel like I'm supposed to be mad at you two purely because of how she left the room."