Doesn't Ring a Bell

"Hey," Emma said softly to Remus, just as he started his fifth glass of Firewhisky.

"Oh, hey!" Remus smiled at her.

"Don't you think this is a bit drastic? You know, going out and getting drunk just because your social life died before your eyes..." She trailed off, looking uncertain, unnerved that Remus was still just smiling at her.

"Not at all, fair maiden. Now let us take to the balcony so the moon can shine upon your beautiful visage!" Remus was clearly drunk, though she had to admire his ability to string long sentences like that together without slurring his words. Emma blushed.

"Er...Whatever you say." She laughed. Drunk-Remus was very cute. He grabbed her hand and pulled her through the throng to get to a staircase she hadn't noticed earlier. It led to a sort of lounge, with happy couples either wrapped around each other on the couches or dancing to quiet music coming from a Muggle jukebox. Remus led her to a balcony. She gasped. The view was wonderful; it overlooked the entire village of Hogsmeade, covered in snow. It was like something from a fairytale.

"Whee! Look at me! I'm king of the world!"

"Remus! Get down before you hurt yourself!" He was balancing on the balcony ridge, his arms outstretched.

"I'm fine, Emma! I won't fall! I'm king of the world, remember?"

"Oh, yes, and your sense of balance is perfect when you're absolutely wasted!"

"Wha-Whoa!" Remus wobbled dangerously on his perilous perch before righting himself.

"Remus, seriously, get down, you're going to fall!"

"No, I'm no-Ah!" He fell.

"Remus!" Emma screamed, and ran back down the steps, found the front door and pelted over to the place where Remus had fallen. As she neared the spot, she saw him stand up from a snowdrift, brush himself off and smile at her.

"Ah, fair maiden, thou shant worry thyself about me, for I am strong, and my love for thee will carry me through all misfortunes." Obviously, Remus reverted to really old English when he was plastered.

Wait; did he say 'love'? I know people will say things they don't even know themselves when they are drunk, but I only just met the guy! Emma thought worriedly.

"Ouch!" Remus exclaimed when he tried to walk. Emma took a closer look and discovered he had sprained his ankle.

She sighed.

"Come on, let's get you to the hospital wing - I don't know how I'm going to explain you being wasted and on a balcony in an out-of-bounds area after curfew, though."

She checked her watch; sure enough, nine o'clock, curfew for fifth-years, had come and passed while they'd been in Hogsmeade.

She slung his arm round her shoulders and supported him through the passageway back to Hogwarts, and through the hallways to the hospital wing on the fifth floor. Luckily, the nurse, Madam Thabier, never asked too many questions, for which Emma was highly grateful. When she saw Remus, her face softened, and she said, in a kindly sort of way, "Oh, you poor lad, so much misfortune happens to you, doesn't it?"

Remus happily replied, "I'm a duck!"

Madam Thabier got him into a bed and fixed up his ankle in a flash (literally - she waved her wand and it flashed orange), then told Emma she should go get some sleep, and that she would be keeping Remus there till morning, just to let him sleep it off. Here, Emma thought she detected a wink, but it may have been a trick of the light. Madam Thabier smiled then turned back into her office, putting out the candle as she went. Emma looked at Remus peacefully sleeping in his hospital bed and smiled. Before she left, she gave him a kiss on the cheek and said, "Goodnight...Noble king."

* * * * *

When Emma went to check up on him the next morning she found him sitting up with a pained expression on his face.

"Remus?" she said tentatively.

"Gah, loud...noise...bad," was his reply.

"Oh, sorry," Emma whispered. "Er, how are you?"

"Oh, you know, splitting headache, pain in my gut, the usual symptoms of somebody who went out last night and got himself absolutely wasted."

She smiled. Remus was fine, even if he did have a nasty hangover.

"So, did I do anything embarrassing last night? Madam Thabier informs me that you brought me in and I was completely wasted with a sprained ankle - how did that happen?" Remus seemed a bit cheerier now that he was used to the sound of talking.

"Oh, well, you didn't do much apart from talk like Shakespeare and fall off a balcony." She deliberately left out the part where he had proclaimed his love for her.

"Oh, I was talking like Shakespeare again?" Remus groaned. "Why do I always do that when I'm drunk?"

"Oh, well, I thought it was very cute," Emma told him.

Hey, look at me, I'm actually flirting! Well, sort of...

Remus looked taken aback. Emma was worried she'd gone too far before he said, "You know, nobody has ever said that before." Emma let out a great sigh of relief.

"Well, I can't think why not, it's really romantic... well, some of it, you know, the talking in old English bit..." She had started babbling. Remus zoned out for a minute, just thinking about how Emma had said he was 'cute'. When he came back down to earth, he realized she was still babbling.

Just go for it, live in the moment a bit more, Remus. Besides, she's giving me a headache...

Remus was surprised to hear his brain tell him what to do, and then decided it - he - had a good point.

Emma was cut off from her nervous rambling by Remus's lips pressing against hers. Her eyes opened wide for a moment in shock, then she just got lost in the moment.

After what seemed like a decade, though it was actually only about seven seconds, they broke apart. Emma still had her eyes closed and had a slight smile on her face. When she opened her eyes, she saw Remus sitting in his hospital bed looking amazed at what he had done. Emma smiled at him, and then asked, "What are we going to do now?" She wasn't sure whether Remus would want people to know he was dating her. After all, to the rest of the school she was still Emotionless Emma.

"Well," he replied, "there's no point in hiding it, is there?" She beamed at him. "So," Remus asked, "will you be my girlfriend?" Emma smiled and gave her answer in another kiss, then walked out of the hospital wing, swaying back and forth slightly, to get ready for classes.

* * * * *

At lunch, Remus was surprised by James coming up to him and asking, "You know that 'Emotionless Emma' bird? Well, Luccieta tells me she fancies you, and I know you fancy her, so why don't you ask her out?" James grinned to himself; his plan was going perfectly. Remus matched his friend's expression, and then decided he'd humor him, and walked over to Emma. She looked at him curiously because he had James trailing behind him, then Remus winked at her and mouthed, 'Just play along,' to her.

"Oh, Emma, Emma, maiden so fair, would thou do me the honor of becoming my date?" he questioned loudly, smiling as he remembered her saying it was cute when he did this.

"Oh, noble Remus, I am not sure. Will thou love and respect me and honor my wishes?" Emma was also grinning slightly, but James looked vaguely scared; he hadn't expected anything like this to happen.

"I shall, my lady. Now let us seal our love now and forevermore!" He then gave her a long kiss, taking her up in his arms as he did so, and she wrapping her arms around him in turn. James stood there for a bit, and then decided they were quite occupied, and looked around to see most of the school staring at them, their mouths open.

Another brilliant plan succeeds thanks to me! James thought self-confidently. He then went off to find Sirius and Peter to tell them what had just happened; they were in the dungeons, painting the steps that led to the Slytherin common room with bright pink ink that would dry as soon as it touched something slightly warm - such as a human body - and putting oil at the top.

* * * * *

That night, to celebrate the fact that Remus had got himself a girlfriend (he hadn't had one in all his time at Hogwarts, which was a serious thing for the Marauders, unless you were Peter, of course), the Marauders threw a huge party in the Gryffindor common room. As James was the best at Transfiguration, he turned one of the study tables into a pool table, and Sirius went out and got some Butterbeer and Firewhisky, as well as some of those Muggle lamps Remus was so fond of (they assumed that this particular penchant must have come from his mother, who was Muggle-born), which Remus would alter so that they would operate on magic.

Soon everything was ready for the big 'celebration'. Most of the other Gryffindors were just there for the free drinks. After about half an hour, Sirius noted that people were just standing around awkwardly, and decided to get this thing rolling. He waved his wand and music began, apparently coming from nowhere. People looked surprised at first, but then they started to liven up. James went around handing out glasses of Firewhisky and Butterbeer and Remus grabbed Emma by the hand and started dancing with her, which was a surprise because Remus never danced. Other people took his lead and started dancing as well, and soon everybody was having a good time, which was what the Marauders had hoped for. Soon James had moseyed on over to Lily, who was standing there with her almost full glass of Firewhisky, bopping her head to the music. "So, Evans, would you like to dance?" asked James in what he clearly thought was a seductive manner. Her only reply was to splash her Firewhisky in his face, which resulted in a very entertaining show of him running around the common room screaming, "Ah! My eyes! It burns!" before tripping over the back of a couch and landing on Peter, who looked slightly sick. He wasn't very good with liquor, which showed later on in the night when he started dancing on the pool table wearing a lampshade on his head.

"I knew those lamps were a good idea!" said Sirius, laughing.

"How much Firewhisky has he had?" questioned James, a definite note of amusement in his voice. He had recovered from Lily's rejection and was now hitting on random girls. (Granted, he had had about three glasses of Firewhisky, himself.)

"Hmm, I don't know," said Remus thoughtfully, holding up Peter's almost full glass. "Would you say that's one eighteenth of a glass, or one fifteenth of a glass?"

Sirius laughed. "Well, we all know it would only take a seven-year-old to drink him under the table," he said fondly. Even if they did treat him like a lackey sometimes, Peter Pettigrew had sort-of grown on them.

Peter then proceeded to attempt to crowd surf - unfortunately for him, nobody caught him. Remus looked at Peter, who had fallen on the floor and was now snoring. "Oh, just leave him there," Sirius said carelessly.

* * * * *

In the morning, the three boys came down to see Peter still sleeping and covered in party debris.

Sirius poked him with his foot.

"I'm drowning in footwear!" Peter yelled frantically as he woke up. He looked confused as to why Sirius and James were laughing at him, then, realizing what he had just said, joined in with their laughter.

"Come on, you fools, we're going to be late for breakfast," Remus said impatiently, but even he had a slight grin on his face.

They set off through the portrait hole, Peter questioning them about what he had done last night. ("Pete, you only had one fifteenth of a glass of Firewhisky, it wasn't that bad!" James was saying while winking at Sirius.)

When they reached the Great Hall, Katrina looked at Sirius pointedly, and he sat down next to her. Of course, the others followed, not taking any notice of their surroundings.

"Hey, James, how's it going with trying to get Evans to notice you?" Sirius asked loosely. He knew exactly how it was going, but he wanted to make James look at Lily, which he promptly did. "Oh, you know, she still won't talk to me..." he trailed off, enthralled by how red her hair was.

"Well, we won't have to listen to him for the rest of breakfast," Sirius said while brushing his hands off in the manner of somebody who had just accomplished a very hard job. He then felt somebody's foot brush against him. He looked at Katrina questioningly; she returned his look with a shy yet playful one, and he smiled. Meanwhile, James continued talking to himself.

"Look at her hair, it's like the very fires of the earth, and her eyes, green as the trees in the Forbidden Forest...and the way she walks, like a goddess brought down to earth..."

"So, Peter, any romance going on with you?" Remus was asking Peter.

"Oh, well, there's this girl in the year below us, she's a Hufflepuff and I think she might be interested..."

"Hey, Sirius." James pulled out of his temporary ignorance of everything but Lily. Sirius pulled his foot away from Katrina's quickly, bumping the table as he did so, thinking that James had noticed something.

"Do you wanna see if we can shrink Snape's nose later?" Sirius breathed a sigh of relief; his secret was still safe. Though he didn't even know why he was keeping it a secret anyway...

"Sure, Prongs, we'll get him right after charms," Sirius replied. And that's how their day started, just a normal breakfast for the Marauders. But things in that day would not be normal for them, as they were soon to discover...