Halcyon // R.J.L

Chapter Three: The Rat

Peters birthday was always Remus' favourite. Of course being the 'popular' group as obnoxious as that made him feel to say meant that all day "Happy Birthdays" were being thrown around, those wishing him well hoping desperately to get an invite to the party. But Peter was never one for big celebrations, so there was no party to be invited to. Hence, it being Remus' favourite. That wasn't to say the group of five weren't going to celebrate, that becoming rather obvious as Sirius pulled out a concerning amount of fire whiskey from underneath his four poster bed, a massive grin on his face.

Being a Friday night made it all the better, as Remus decided that it wouldn't hurt to let loose considering he wouldn't have to worry about feeling like shit in class the next day. Soon Violet burst through the door with a gift under her arm, and the lanky boys breath hitched in his throat. The girl was merely dressed in muggle bell bottom jeans and a pale blue gingham halter top, but that was still too much skin for Remus to be able to focus, and he thanked Merlin that their uniform was so modest or he'd never get anything done at all.

Seemingly an elegant innocent girl, no matter how many times she partied it was still a shock to everyone around her, aside from James of course and despite how close the Marauders were and feeling as though they knew each other inside and out, Peter, Sirius, and Remus still couldn't believe just how well Violet could shoot whiskey. This is something she reminded them of as soon as she threw the beautifully wrapped present at Peter and grabbed one of the bottles, shouting "To Peter" before flicking the cap off in one go.

"Put that bottle down Hayes before I ban you from drinking at all" Sirius growled at Violet, causing her to slowly lowered the bottle from her lips, a cheeky grin on her face.

"You know you couldn't say no to me like that" Violet winked at Sirius, causing a knot to form at the bottom of Remus' stomach. Remus knew Sirius would respect 'the bro code', but he also became painfully aware of how well Sirius can sweet talk girls in these kind of moments and couldn't help but feel utterly inadequate. Sirius was handsome where he was boyish and covered in scars. Sirius was a thrill where he was the 'grandpa'. Trying to shake these thoughts and have a good night, Remus decided a bold Sirius-esque move might work in his favour, so he sat up and with a surge of confidence grabbed Violets hand as she was about to sit next to Sirius and gently tugged her back before whispering to her in a voice softer than intended.

"I want you to sit with me". Everyone appeared a little taken aback by his actions, but Violet just laughed.

"Woah I forgot how bold Remus gets when he's drinking" She smiled up at him, none of the boys mentioning that they were yet to have a sip of alcohol.

After all gifts had been opened and some chocolate cake had been shared thanks to Remus and his firmly cemented friendship with the house elves in the kitchen from all the chocolate he's taken over the years, the group of five decided to kick the celebrations up a notch. Sirius returned the bottle from earlier to Violet before handing out one each, ignoring Remus mumbling under his breath about how one bottle between all of them would've been fine.

"To Peter"! Violet yelled before tipping her head back and feeling the warm liquor trickle down her throat. The boys followed suit, James flicking his wand at the record player in the corner which started blaring out music before taking another swig.

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As per usual when the marauders and fire whiskey mixed, things got a little out of hand. The first thing Remus noticed when he rubbed his eyes and peeked around the dorm was that all of the curtains on the boys beds had been either half or fully torn down. The second was that there were muddy paw prints all over the floor, but upon further inspection there was no animal in sight, so he figured that was a problem for his future self. And the third, which made bile rise in Remus' throat was that Violets hair was peaking out from underneath Sirius' blanket, her clothes in a pile at the end of his bed. His face going red in anger and hurt and overcome with a hurricane of emotions, Remus walked to James' bed and furiously shook him awake.

"Remus what the bloody hell are you doing" James groaned groggily, patting his bed side table in search of his glasses.

"Look at Sirius' bed" Remus whisper shouted, attempting to sound angry but neither missed the crack in his voice mid sentence. The boy figured perhaps if he was angry he could save himself the pain of knowing that his best mate had gotten the only girl he ever wanted, which was also his logic when he punched that wall in third year. But even then he was still sad, just with broken knuckles accompanying his feelings.

"What the fu-"

"Quit the swearing James" Violet cut him off with a raspy voice, stretching herself out before continuing.

"What the hell happened last night"? The girl looked around the disastrously messy room before rubbing her head and laughing at the sight of the paw prints.

"Oh my god James we stole Hagrid's puppy" she giggled, looking at the boar hound cuddled up to Peter's sleeping frame, a pile of drool bellow the dogs mouth.

"Violet what the fuck are you doing in Sirius' bed" James asked calmly, but you could hear the anger radiating off his words.

"Good Godric" she cried out, looking bellow the covers at herself, realising quickly that her outfit from last night was gone and one of Sirius' muggle shirts had replaced it, resting just above mid thigh. Neither of the boys had ever seen her blush so hard, and Violet swore her face was on fire from the heat in her cheeks.

"Do you.. do you like him" Remus questioned meekly with his eyes cast at the floor, his left hand rubbing the back of his neck. Violet didn't quite understand what it was, but part of her felt a burning need for Remus to know that she didn't like Sirius. She had always been the kind of person not bothered by what other people assume or think about her love life, but for a reason unapparent to herself she ached for him to know the feelings she held for Sirius were purely platonic. As she opened her mouth to speak, the bathroom door swung open and all eyes were on Sirius, his still dripping hair leaving droplets to run down his bare chest. Looking up briefly and taking in the three faces stood before him, Sirius realised something was off.

Remus looked devastated, like he was about to cry any moment. James looked furious, and Violet confused and hurt. Taking in Violets appearance, Sirius quickly realised what the conversation had been about.

"Guys stop looking at me like that"

"You better start explaining Sirius or I swear to Godric-"

"Chill out mate" Sirius cut off the fuming James, taking a deep breath.

"You should be thanking me, as I for once, was the dad for the night no thanks to you Remus who nearly finished an entire bottle". Remus' cheeks dusted with a blush at this, knowing the only reason he drank so much was to try and have a good time with the girl who just got out of his mates bed.

"When you lot had the 'brilliant' idea to steal Fang I figured it was probably time one of us sobered up. When we got back I put you all to bed but didn't want to bother Lily so I brought Violet here and she refused to keep her jeans on" now was Violets turn to blush.

"So I chucked a shirt at her and slept on the floor" Sirius continued, gesturing to beside the bed, where a pile of spare blankets and pillows sat.

The trio honestly felt guilty at how quickly they assumed the worst, and Sirius waved them off upon realising this.

"Here, you can make it up to me by taking fang back" he laughed, chucking a chained leash in James' direction before grabbing two combs and heading back into the bathroom.