Lads' Day Out

They stood for a moment in the growing darkness watching nothing but the emptiness of the street. Ejected. Sirius closed his eyes and balled his fists. Steam wafted off his soaked denim jacket.
"They'll pay," he whispered.
Hagrid assumed Sirius was talking about the security at the game, but then he thought he caught the word, "Azkaban."
They began to walk aimlessly at first, until Sirius made up his mind.
"We're going to see Lupin, that cunt."

The rave had been on for little over an hour. Just an underground thing, it took up a neglected warehouse. Remus Lupin said something strange, causing the three witches in the chillout area to laugh again. The one girl in his lap shook in silent giggles and he ran a liberal hand up beneath her "Stubby Boardman Lives" T-shirt, feeling the soft skin of her side. The flesh was warmer than usual, probably a result of whatever she was on. He determinedly explored farther.
He could see Snape across the room, near the DJ, going through an oversized bag full of records. Severus was talking to a girl. Maybe "talking" was a misnomer--they conversed through hand gestures and exaggerated facial expressions, unable to hear each other's voice above the sound. Snape made to check his watch, elaborately raising it to eye level. His sleeve slid down his pale arm revealing a tattoo, the dark mark.
Lupin watched as the girl's eyes lit up appreciatively, then he turned his attention back to himself and his "friends."
"Shall we dance?" he shouted to the occupant of the chair next to him. She just smiled and tousled his hair.

The weed of a boy who watched the door with his two oafish friends gave a halfhearted attempt of squeezing a few Galleons from Sirius, who repaid the effort with a quick punch to the lower ribs. The boy dropped with a moan. The oafs drew themselves up warily, alert to the pretaste of violence.
"No damage done, lads. Best to keep it that way, eh?" soothed Hagrid.
Sirius gave them a square look and growled, "Try me."
"Fuckin' bastard," the weed spat. Hagrid stepped directly on the boys hand, the heel of his motorcycle boot crushing the bones.
"Oops." Then he and Sirius strode into the warehouse without another word.

Lupin bit the girl's ear playfully as she mimed struggling in his arms.
"Did I have you in my class once?"
"You can have me anywhere, you bad wolfie," she laughed, running her tongue over his cheek. She gave a little "Ooomph" as he stood ,dropping her onto the floor. She was confused and, looking beside her, saw a pair of dull black boots, combat boots she thought. A dark tired looking man was looking down at her.
"Who's your friend, Remus?" Sirius helped the girl to her feet. "That's the problem with our man here, love. Remus can't help but dump his friends when someone new comes along."
Remus sighed. "I didn't expect to see you here, Sirius. Hello, Hagrid."
Hagrid was busy staring at the young girls and their breasts and didn't respond.
"Thought we'd see how the other half lives."
"Well, what do you think?"
Sirius smiled and took a quick drink from a bottle he'd brought out of his pocket. He rolled the liquor for a moment on his tongue and then, spitting it onto the cement floor, sneered.
"It's piss, Remus."

Snape had, after insinuating himself into the DJ's good graces, taken over at the decks, covering a quick toilet break. He cradled the headphone to his ear, nodding his head to the pulsing rhythm, smiling at his own skill as he mixed the next song in, beat by beat. He had chosen "Disapparation" by Livia and the Poisoners. He liked the texture of the noise as it came up to him, and so did the crowd. The air seemed dirty and the space maybe a little closer. Bodies began to press more frenetically against one another. Looking down at the spinning disc, he imagined he could smell the newness of the vinyl above the sweat and the sex and the chemicals. A clean smell with a dirty sound.

"Now, now, lassie," blushed Hagrid as he pushed away a young girl, too young a girl, who wanted to see which half was giant.
Lupin looked wearily into Sirius's eyes.
"What do you want?"
"I'm just out to have a good time. Night out, yeah. With my friend, Hazzers, and my old school chum." Sirius threw the bottle and it exploded against the wall, noiselessly below an electric bass. The girls tensed up at that and Remus whistled. Sirius chuckled. "Like old times, eh, Moony? You fuckin' ponce."
"Aye, come wit' us for a bite and a wee drink," invited Hagrid, who now had his arms in the air and was rotating his pelvis grotesquely to the music.
"No, thank you, Hagrid."
Hagrid glanced at Sirius, "What's wit' him? Wrong time o' the month, like?" He guffawed at his own joke 'til he caught the cold look in Black's eye.
"You're drunk, Hagrid," said Sirius.
Hagrid stopped dancing. Understanding of his faux pas slowly sank down through layers of drink, exhaustion, and social imbecility. "Sorry, that was out o' order. Ye ken I widnae mention...well, ye'r..."
Remus smiled. "It's all right, Hagrid."
"It's no' alright. I'm sorry. I...it's late. Haveta help Dumbledore the morn."
Sirius looked on Hagrid with disgust. "What a fuckin' waster."

Snape had just looked up from the decks when the police came in. He pulled the needle up, not scratching the record, but still dumping the warehouse back down down down into its previous existence as a dark and damp furniture storage lockup. The ravers looked first to the DJ and then to the doors. Immediately the crowd burst as Ministry men tried to get their hands on underfed teens and pedarastic thirty somethings. It was chaos. Snape slid his albums into the sleeves and began carefully but quickly packing up.
The loud bangs of disapparating dancers and the flare-up of illegal bonfires connected to the Floo network filled the air, casting dark shadows and sending ominous and stormlike echoes out into the street. Wands were drawn, curses exchanged, screams rose.

"Oh, fir fuck!" cried Hagrid as he scrambled drunkenly for one of the exits.
Sirius seemed determined to stand his ground. He watched as the uniformed and plainclothed men waded towards him through the crowd.
"Let it come down," he whispered. He slowly drew out his wand.
Lupin thought for a moment and then grabbed the first man to have escaped from Azkaban by the shoulder.
"Come on," he shouted and after a few steps, Sirius began to follow him.

Snape had sealed his bag of precious records and was dodging ravers and the police. He skidded to a halt as two burly men barred his way.
"I just do the music!" he explained, looking for another escape route.
The smaller man grabbed him.
"Snape? Severus Snape?!"
"Yes?"
"Snape with an 'e'?"
Just as Snape agreed that he was indeed Snape with an 'e' a cosh was brought down on his head, sending him spiralling into blackness.
"Vicious little bastard," commented the first policeman.
The other spoke into his cuff. "Boss, we've got the one what did the Minister." He paused to listen to the response on the other end. "Yeah, he put up a bit of a fight. Had to be subdued."
The little cop kicked Snape experimentally. There would be time for more of that later.

Outside Remus and Sirius ran pelting down an alleyway. Just like old times, thought Lupin, and he laughed in a way that threatened hysteria or at least exhaustion. It seemed a fair distance from the warehouse and Remus slowed down to catch his breath. Sirius slammed into him, sending the surprised lycanthrope into a slime-covered brick wall.
Remus nearly choked as his cheek scraped against the hard pebbled stone. He felt as if he might vomit. Sirius was shouting something at him. Something about Dumbledore. The first punch hit Lupin in the jaw, the second somewhere around his ear. Sirius snarled and pulled back his bruised hand.
"You thickheaded cunt!" Black kicked out at Lupin but missed. "You fuckin' bastard," he spat.
Lupin leaned against the wall and weakly blocked Sirius next strike.
"Fuck off, you nutter." He pushed Sirius away. He heard only deep and wild breathing.
He looked up into the tip of Black's wand. "Going to kill me, Padfoot?" Lupin asked with a bravado he didn't feel. He slid down onto the ground.
Sirius aimed the wand at a space between Lupin's eyes.
"You think you know about Azkaban? You and Dumbledore and the others?! You don't know a fucking thing!" Sirius almost couldn't see from the tears streaming down his face. "You don't know a thing," he repeated. "You know what they did to me?"
Lupin shook his head.
Black pulled back the wand and thrust it forward with a bizarre flourish -- "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Nothing happened. "Expecto Patronum!" The tip of the wand shook but nothing issued from it. Not even a spark. "Expecto...fuck." Sirius collapsed at his friend's feet. "They took it from me. They took it. I can't even cast a Patronus. I can't..." Spent, Sirius lay there in amidst the rubbish.
Lupin dropped his head and covered his face with his hand.
Sirius rose shakily to his knees. "You can do it, Remus! C'mon, kill me. C'mon!" Sirius swayed kneeling with his eyes closed. 'Kill me, you fuck."
Remus slid his own wand out of pocket and pointed it at his friend.
"Please, Moony."
Remus tightened his grip on the wand, and then whispered, "Dormiso."

Sirius tipped over as the spell hit him. His body relaxed and he groaned quietly as he was overcome by a deep and perhaps dreamless sleep.
"Christ," announced Lupin gloomily. Then he got up to find a cab.