A Lost Kiss

A Lost Kiss

Chapter 1: What's Worse than a Hangover?

"Owww..." Sirius woke up, every nerve in his brain was screaming in white-hot agony. It was evident that he had gotten himself drunk the previous night. Goodness knows how many shots of firewhisky he had had. He wondered for a while if he had finally beaten James' record of 20 shots on the night before he had gotten married to Lily, but he couldn't really tell. His brain was still momentarily paralysed with hangover pains.

For five more minutes, Sirius remained in bed, trying to remember what had happened the night before. He could recall snippets...

He felt nostalgic for his Marauder days when he saw everyone together again in Grimmauld Place. He missed having drinks with his old friends and talking about everything. At the time he was mulling this over, nobody else was with him in the room. That was when he decided that a drink or two would said nostalgia.

Apparently, "a drink or two" was the understatement of the era.

The first few shots of firewhisky were consumed in the kitchen, but he decided, later on, to continue getting sloshed in the drawing room.

So there he was, in the drawing room, firewhisky and a shot glass on an end table, his feet resting comfortably on the coffee table in front of him. He was enjoying the warmth of both the alcohol in his system and the small fire from the fireplace.

He felt serene and lightheaded, - the usual effect of firewhisky on him. He could remember chuckling to himself and even humming strains from a ditty that he had created in his mind on the spot.

The next thing he knew, he was up and about, wandering from room to room downstairs, and then he made his way upstairs and walked along the halls.

After that, there was nothing.

But wait...there was something. Something that, from what little came back to him, made his stomach lurch.

Darkness surrounded him. He could barely see a thing, save for beams of light from an unknown source. He dimly registered that he had his arms wrapped around somebody. A moment later, he leaned over and kissed this somebody.

There was no telling for certain if the kiss had led to anything more, but the very thought of it made him gape in horror.

"Bloody hell," Sirius said weakly. He had snogged someone in the house!

Sitting up straighter and rubbing his temples, he tried with all his might to focus on who he had kissed.

"Oh, Merlin. No..." Someone equals anyone. It was anyone's guess who he could've chanced upon while he was drunk.

He was deep in troubled thought, trying to remember any kind of feature that might lead him to the conclusion of who the mystery kissed was, when came a knock on his bedroom door.

"Sirius, dear. Breakfast's already started ten minutes ago," called Molly from the other end.

"Be right there," he replied distractedly.

A thought struck him. Could it have been Molly? Arthur would kill him! It couldn't have been because she went to bed earlier than usual that night. However, he could not rule out the possibility that Molly had gone downstairs for something.

He figured that he would find out at breakfast. He would watch for someone to act differently towards him. That would be a sign that he had found who he was looking for. Then, he would just have to talk to this person to prevent any word from leaking out to the others. If all else failed, a memory-modifying "Obliviate!" didn't sound too bad.

After a few more minutes, Sirius finally joined the breakfast table. Everybody was seated at his or her usual place, and conversation was normal-- until he showed up.

"Went to bed late last night?" Ginny asked raising an eyebrow.

Perhaps it had been Ginny... If it was she, she didn't let on. This made Sirius even more apprehensive.

"Got sloshed, eh?" Harry asked him, smiling. "Could've joined you if I'd known."

Harry was definitely out of the question, much to Sirius' relief. He had gone out on a date that had been a complete disaster and had proceeded straight up to his room to complain to Ron about his terrible match-making skills.

Molly looked mildly displeased, but did not comment. She knew how stubborn Sirius Black was. Remus Lupin, however, frowned at him from across the table. He didn't say anything to Sirius, just looked at him reproachfully. He knew exactly what happened every time his friend was drunk and out of it.

The disapproving expression of his friend was not lost on him. So was it Moony then? There was only one way to find out.

"Moony, can I speak with you outside for a second?" Sirius asked, careful not to show any of the others his desperation.

Remus had had a feeling that Sirius would want to talk to him. He had that nervous "I need to speak to someone, now" look on his face. He nodded and followed Sirius out of the kitchen and into the hall. All the while, a growing sense of dread was starting to nag Remus.

"Okay, Padfoot. Proceed," Remus said curtly and expectantly.

Sirius saw no need to beat around the bush. "Just say yes or no: Did I...er...did I kiss you last night?"

His level-headed best friend looked quite baffled at first, but realization soon dawned its miserable rays of light upon him. "Oh Padfoot..." he whispered looking like he was about to be sick.

For a moment, Sirius felt relieved that the look on Remus' face assured him that he wasn't the victim. His relief was short-lived, however, when he saw the furious look on his friend's face.

"You git!" he said angrily. "You mean to tell me that you were so drunk last night that you kissed someone and now you can't remember who?!"

Sirius was taken aback, but mumbled, "So I guess it doesn't help that I'm not exactly sure if I only kissed that person..."

"It certainly does NOT! But I guess that everyone should have known by now to steer clear of you," flustered Remus. "For heaven's sake, you're not even sure if you only kissed a person, or harassed him, her, or it!"

"Now, Moony!" Sirius protested indignantly. "It?"

"Yes, Sirius. It! You are just not very safe to be around when you carouse!" reprimanded Remus. "Remember back in Hogwarts, seventh year, you were so out of it that you started French kissing a table leg in the common room!"

"Hey, I was only leaning on that table!"

"Sirius, we weren't as intoxicated as you were! We knew that you would've caused serious damage to that table if you hadn't passed out a few minutes later."

"No."

"Yes. You even called the table Caroline, and you sang to it."

"But--"

"And remember the night before James' wedding?" hissed Remus.

"I--"

"Let me finish, Padfoot!" growled Remus. "If it weren't for the fact that James entrusted the wedding rings to you, and that he threatened to bludgeon you if you lost them, you would've gotten yourself just as wasted as he did!"

"Okay, point taken!" Sirius finally interrupted successfully.

"Kindly remember that you have Weasleys staying here with you," Lupin said warily. "You can't risk having Molly find out that there is a possibility that you might've spread your lecherous behavior on her children."

"But we can't rule out the fact that Molly could've been the one I kissed last night," Sirius added thoughtfully.

"You bugger! You really are looking for trouble, aren't you?"

"No, just keeping reality in its usual place at The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black."

"Then consider that we have Harry here," Remus sighed. "James and Lily will rise from the dead just to use the Cruciatus Curse on you for attacking their son. -your godson."

"It wasn't Harry. I'm a hundred percent sure on that. He was out last night. When he got home, he went straight upstairs to his room."

"And you're lucky he did."

"What's happened has happened, Moony. I only wanted to ask. It is absolutely unnecessary to jump to conclusions."

"Absolutely unnecessary to jump people, then," Lupin retorted.

"Since you know about the ordeal, you might as well help me."

"How? D'you want me to go up to Molly and casually say, 'Oh, hey Molly! Do tell me if Sirius, -in all his depraving glory, kissed you or any of your children last night? Lovely flower arrangement, by the way.'"

"Leave off the sarcasm, will you?"

"Look, Padfoot, I can't exactly help you out of this one. I wasn't with you last night."

"Any suggestions then?" Sirius asked desperately.

"How about asking everyone?"

Sirius goggled at Remus incredulously. "Honestly, I'd have thought you a bit wiser than that! The whole reason I asked to speak with you here is because I do not wish to let the others know. I can't just tell them en masse; they'll kill me."

"Tell them one by one?"

"They'll attempt murder one by one!"

"But then you'll know for sure! At least you know now that I wasn't anywhere near you last night," explained Remus.

"Right. I'll think about it. But only as a last resort; if I don't find out who it was by tonight, and if I really have to appease my conscience... There will be hell to pay."

"Too bad you didn't figure that out before you got yourself pissed."

"Oh, be quiet, Moony."

End, Chapter 1