Explain The Night

Chapter Three: The Hardest Button To Button

'Moony!'

'Over here, Remus!'

Remus looked at the newlyweds waving at him and made his way over.

'Thank you so much again, Remus,' said Lily. 'That was amazing.'

'Really, Moony,' James smiled. 'Classic. I'll be telling my children and grandchildren about this until they're sick of it.'

'Won't take long then,' Remus laughed and waved at one of the waiters. 'Three Firewhiskys, please.'

'Three?' James eyed him warily. 'Moony, remember what I told you-'

'Two of them are for Sirius.'

James laughed heartily and shook his head. 'I should've known.'

'Where is Sirius anyway?' Lily said thoughtfully. 'We seem to keep on losing our friends in the crowd. While you were preparing your wonderful surprise, James thought you two had got so drunk and shambled off somewhere. He was afraid you had passed out or walked onto the street and got yourself hurt.'

'Worried, were we, Prongs?'

'Well, you never know what Sirius gets up to when he's drunk,' James said apologetically.

'He's not that drunk,' Remus told them. 'Not yet, anyway. He's sober enough to remember he can't live without his cigarettes. I imagine he's on all fours right now, looking for them.'

'There he is!' Lily said, pointing at Sirius, who had just got out of that little room. 'Merlin... He could've spent some time looking for his jacket as well. All the girls in here are going to faint.'

'Not just the girls, isn't that right, Moony?' James winked at Remus.

'Shut up.'

'Very witty reply.'

'Got a light?' Sirius said, upon joining them.

'You're a wizard, Padfoot, use your wand,' said Remus.

'Yeah, well my wand's currently tied up. In my jacket. Which is untraceable.'

'Well done,' said Remus, while rolling his eyes, but offering him a light with his wand anyway.

'Thanks Moony, you're a doll,' said Sirius, while blowing out smoke. 'So, O Happily Married Ones, leaving soon, are we?'

'Yes,' James smiled and kissed Lily's hair. 'We're leaving in about thirty minutes.'

'Best get another Firewhisky or two then, before the party's over.' As if to demonstrate what he'd just said, he took the two glasses in front of him and drained them both.

'Watch it, Sirius, I'm not dragging you up those stairs again. If you can't walk, then you'll just have to sleep on the porch.'

As if.

'Can't you just Apparate us home?' Sirius pouted.

'I've had enough to drink myself and I really don't feel like getting Splinched today.'

'Yes Ma'am.'

'So,' said Remus, while trying to ignore Sirius. 'Looking forward to those two weeks on the Bahamas?'

Don't look at the chest, Remus. It's a boring chest. You have a chest just like it. Only his is without the scars. So it's even more boring.

'Very much,' answered Lily.

'How did you come by the Bahamas, really?'

'Well, d'you remember Hestia?' she said.

'Hestia?' Sirius' attention was drawn immediately. 'Hestia Jones?'

'The first girl to ever dump Sirius?' Remus added teasingly.

Stupid girl.

'Yes, her,' she laughed. 'She's got quite a roomy villa over there. I invited her to the wedding, but she couldn't make it and to make up for it, she asked us to stay there. You remember she moved after graduation, right?'

Remus nodded and noticed that Sirius was pretending not to listen by ordering another bottle of champagne.

'She had some relatives living there and now she's found herself a nice husband. I even believe she's pregnant.'

'Talking about little ones, when can we expect Prongs junior?' Sirius asked.

'We're not really planning on a child yet, Sirius, you know that. We're too young.'

'But should my lovely wife get pregnant, I'll be the happiest man ever.'

'Aching for parenthood, Prongs?' Remus asked.

'More than you could know,' James sighed. 'Sadly enough, Lily doesn't agree and it just so happens she's the one carrying our child in her belly for nine months.'

'I'm sure I could find a spell to-' Sirius said mischievously.

'Don't you even dare, Sirius Black!' Lily said warningly. 'I won't walk around with a pregnant husband.'

'Excuse me?'

Lily's father had walked up to the group of friends and had accidentally overheard them.

'Pregnant? Lily dear, are you sure you know what you married into?'

The four of them laughed, together with Anthony Evans, who had made a habit out of teasing James.

'Yes, daddy,' Lily replied. 'Sirius here was just demonstrating his completely predictable kind of humour.'

Sirius puffed loudly and looked positively undignified.

'How nice of him,' Anthony said. 'Why I came, darling, is I've asked to play one of your favourite songs next and I'd appreciate it if you'd grant me this one dance.'

'Sure daddy.'

Lily took the arm her father offered and allowed herself to be led away.

'Bit of a daddy's girl, isn't she?' Sirius said.

'Speaking of dancing, Padfoot,' James smiled happily, choosing to ignore Sirius' remark. 'I think you've lost our bet.'

'What? No, I didn't,' said Sirius, while grabbing Remus' wand to light himself another cigarette.

'Yes you did,' James replied. 'You've missed several dances.'

'The only ones I really missed were when I was preparing for you wedding gift,' said Sirius smartly.

'He's right, Prongs,' Remus agreed. 'After all, he did do it to make you smile and you did think it was a great gift, didn't you? So let him have this one.'

James clearly didn't feel like cutting Sirius some slack. 'You're only saying this because you love-'

'Because I'd love to see you live in a decent house rather than what Sirius would make of it,' Remus said quickly. James threw him an apologetic look.

'All right.' James seemed to feel pretty guilty about his near slip. 'All right. Padfoot, you haven't lost the bet. Yet. We've still got a few songs to go.'

'You'd better hurry to find a dance partner. Lily's song'll be starting any minute now,' Remus added, hoping Sirius would go away so he could tell James off.

'Right.'

Remus watched Sirius walk towards Karl and Mary and emptying two glasses of Champagne on his way over. Remus made sure he couldn't hear them anymore before turning back to James.

'Prongs, in the name of Merlin, you-'

'I'm sorry, Moony,' James said silently. 'I really didn't mean to.'

'I know, James, but still,' he sighed, utterly regretting his inability to be angry with his friends. 'I asked you not to tell him.'

'It's not as if I did it on purpose.'

'I know. But who knows how he would've reacted if he'd found out.'

James was about to reply, when Anthony announced he and his daughter would be dancing to one of her favourite songs. Not even two seconds after that, they could hear Frank Sinatra's 'Moon River' resound throughout the ballroom.

Remus pulled a face.

'What is it, Moony?' James asked worriedly. 'You look as if you've swallowed a Dungbomb.'

'You're pretty close,' said Remus, while rubbing his eyes. 'Of all the songs they could've chosen, they chose 'Moon River'. Just the title is enough to make me shiver.'

'Come on, Moony,' James laughed, gesturing him to take another Firewhisky. 'I never knew you were that touchy when it comes to...' James looked around, as if to make sure no one could hear him. 'When it comes to Frank.'

Remus had to laugh at his friend's poor cover-up.

'I'm not touchy,' he snickered. 'Things related to Frank just make me uncomfortable, that's all.'

Both of them tried, and failed miserably, not to laugh. But a soft tap on his shoulder made Remus stop and turn around.

Sirius stood in front of him, his shirt now completely open and his hair very tousled.

'Close your shirt, Padfoot!' James yelled, still laughing.

'Prat!' smiled Sirius, while closing a few buttons. 'You've ruined my opening line.'

'And what opening line might that be?' Remus said, while tilting his head slightly and ignoring that Sirius had buttoned his shirt all wrong.

His friend smiled mischievously, which fitted so well with his hair and his now messy looking ruffled shirt. Then he bowed deeply before Remus and said,

'Moony, may I have this dance?'

'No,' he said, maybe a bit too quick. 'Why?'

'Because Jill's still hugging the toilet and Mary's glued to Karl. And besides Lily, who is presently engaged, there's no one in here worth dancing with but you. So let's dance.'

Remus didn't have a chance to say anything anymore, because Sirius had already taken hold of his sleeve and was dragging him onto the dance floor.

'Sirius, didn't I just refuse to dance with you?'

'Yes, you did,' said Sirius, while putting his hands on Remus' lower back and rocking him violently. 'And I ignored you.'

'Git.'

'Now, Remus,' Sirius grinned, and his hands slid a little further down.

'Prat, stop it.'

Again his hands slid down.

Or don't stop it, then.

'I'm not telling you this again, Sirius,' he hissed under his breath. 'Unless you want to be hexed, stop it.'

Now be a good boy and stretch your arms, Remus. You need space between the two of you.

'Remus, really, I practically need to scream to make you hear me. At least get a bit closer to me.'

Sirius used his strong arms to bring them closer together, but Remus fought him.

'No, you prick, stop it.'

'Why exactly?'

Because I've been madly, hopelessly in love with you for the past five years and if I get too close to you or your sexy -but boring- chest, I might kiss you.

Remus looked around, panicked, only to see James waggling his eyebrows at him and Lily, who was still dancing with her father, watching them dreamily.

'Because I don't like dancing with people who lack any sense of fashion.'

'Really?' Sirius smiled, still trying to get closer to Remus. 'I could just take it off, you know.'

'And shock all present?' Remus said as calm as possible. 'I must admit that's something you've never done before.'

'Sarcasm doesn't suit you, Moony.'

'Nor does the tux suit you.'

Sirius grinned and nodded, admitting defeat.

'Granted,' he sniggered. 'Didn't see that one coming.'

'How about this one?' said Remus, feeling determined not to be ridiculed any longer. 'I'm off.'

And with that, he wrenched himself loose from Sirius' grip.