Explain The Night

Chapter Five: She Showed You What You Needed More

Remus was still looking at the place Sirius had been standing mere moments before.

'Sorry I was a bit harsh, Remus, but we wouldn't want people to get the wrong idea, would we?' said Peter happily.

'No,' Remus said, confused. 'No, we wouldn't want that.'

What has just happened? Did Sirius really- Did I really feel his lips?

'Good thing I stopped you then,' Peter went on, his hand still on Remus' shoulder. 'You two looked like you were going to kiss any moment.'

Remus head snapped up.

'What?'

That happened?

'Yeah, people were starting to talk, I think.' Peter frowned and ran a hand over his face. 'I mean, I'm not sure. I know I think it looked like it and Mary was looking at you in a very odd way. I thought: better safe than sorry and then I-'

Peter stopped abruptly when he saw the look on Remus' face and completely misinterpreted it.

'Not to worry, Remus,' he chuckled. 'Sirius was drunk, he always does these shocking things, even when sober. Nobody's going to think you're one of those.'

'Those what?'

'Well, you know...' Peter flushed a bit. 'Those homosexuals.'

'Do you have a problem with homosexuals, Peter?' Remus asked, and he suddenly realised how much he sounded like a teacher.

'No, not per se,' Peter said, sounding very uncomfortable. 'It's just- It's not normal.'

'Lycanthropy isn't normal either and yet one of your best friends is a werewolf,' said Remus in barely more than a whisper. 'So do you have a problem with me, Peter?'

Remus knew he sounded angry, but seeing as he actually was angry, he couldn't really care. If even Peter, little oblivious Peter, had noticed, something must have been going on. And he'd ruined what might've been his only chance with Sirius.

'Of course I don't,' Peter said apprehensively, but smiling nonetheless. 'You're probably right. People told me werewolves were beasts and you're most probably the kindest person I know. So I guess homosexuals are okay too.'

Choosing to ignore his friends' insensitive comment, Remus politely said,

'Thanks Peter.'

Mental note: do NOT tell Peter you're gay. Yet.

'Yes, well, you're welcome,' Peter said. 'Most welcome. Shall we go over to the rest?'

Remus nodded, but refused to move until his friend pulled him with him. He didn't pay much attention to where he was walking, all he did was scan the ballroom for Sirius. Who seemed untraceable.

'Ah, I see you finally found my date,' Mary said cheerfully, while gesturing at Remus.

'Wasn't easy, Mary dear,' Peter laughed, 'I can tell you that. But that's Remus for you, isn't it, James?'

'Hmmm?'

James, who had changed clothes, had been talking to his father. He was now wearing a burgundy turtleneck and black trousers and he was holding his trench coat.

'I was saying that Remus always scurried off silently, back at Hogwarts, and how we had to look for him.'

'Yes,' James said absent-mindedly. 'that too- Lily? Lily?'

Lily, who had been a few feet away, talking to Karl and Coby, looked up.

'Lily, honey, are you sure we need that extra suitcase?' James said carefully, 'Dad just said it'll cost us five more Galleons to get it to the Bahamas.'

'Five?'

'Well, it is a big suitcase and a long flight, honey,' James answered, looking at his watch.

'There's only so much a Cleansweep can take and with that extra suitcase, they'll probably have to-'

'No, I meant just five. I was counting on at least eight.'

Remus only now noticed the bickering of his best friends and even took slight amusement from it. He was about to elbow Sirius and make a quirky remark when he realised Sirius wasn't there.

Where the heck are you, Padfoot?

'-like I said and just put a Shrinking Charm on them. That would've cost us nothing.'

'You know me, I'm sloppy. I'd like to see you sit on the Bahamas for two weeks without clothes.'

'Like you would have a problem with that.'

Peter coughed loudly to demonstrate his awkwardness. Mary let out a girly laugh and rested her head against Remus' shoulder to view the rest of the conversation more comfortably. Remus however, chose to listen rather than watch and searched for Sirius some more.

'That's beside the question, Lily. But we need to make a decision quick, we're leaving in a few minutes.'

'Well, James, seeing as you're the one who chose to spend money for travelling in the first place, I say you pay those five extra Galleons.'

Mary silently stood on tiptoes and brought her lips up to Remus' ear, very slowly she whispered 'Hear hear.' and she smiled shyly.

But Remus didn't notice.

'All right, all right,' James sighed, 'I'll pay.'

Sirius walked by, his shirt completely closed and his jacket on, while making a whip crack noise.

'Shove it, Padfoot,' James said.

Sirius ignored him and walked over to the bar. He grabbed a large Firewhiskey, lit himself a cigarette and sat down at one of the empty tables, without even glancing at them.

'What's up with Sirius?' asked Mary.

'He's probably pissed James and Lily are leaving and thus ending the party,' Peter laughed. 'Plus, I'd say he's pissed, period.'

Lily, James and Remus shared worried glances.

So they've noticed too?

Lily nodded at Remus and mouthed don't worry, then she turned to James and said,

'Ready, dear? Haven't forgotten anything?'

'No, no, I'm pretty sure we've got it all.'

'All right,' she sighed. 'So let's go say goodbye to Sirius and be off.'

'Yeah,' James put a hand in her neck and pulled her close to kiss her hair again. 'You guys have one more dance, we'll be right back.'

Before Remus had a chance to agree with anything, Mary smiled broadly and again he was pulled towards the dance floor, only not by the person he wanted.

'I think this is our first dance, tonight,' she said. 'Which is odd, seeing as you're my date.'

'Well, when you put it like that...' Remus sighed.

'I could put it differently,' she said, as her hand slid down just like Sirius' had, 'but I'd need your permission.'

Remus coughed a little and decided to change the subject.

'So, you and Karl seem to be getting along fine,' he smiled. 'You two look nice together.'

'Karl and me?' Mary laughed. 'No need to be getting jealous, Remus. Karl and I go way back.'

Jealous???

'Oh?'

'Karl and I went to the same primary school. We used to be best friends, but then I went to Hogwarts and we kind of lost touch, I guess,' she said. 'It was nice, talking to him again.'

'Yes, I can imagine,' Remus said, while craning his neck to get an overview of the ballroom.

He could see that James' father had cornered Lily, James and Sirius again for another picture.

'But we're most certainly not involved romantically.'

'I see,' Remus said, without listening.

'I mean, maybe if the circumstances had been different,' Mary went on. 'But I don't think Karl is someone who could fit in in the Wizarding World and I'm not planning on leaving it.'

'Uh uh.'

'And it doesn't help much that I'm actually a werewolf.'

'What?' Remus said loudly, feeling pretty shocked.

'I thought that would get your attention,' Mary smiled. 'Don't worry, I'm not. A werewolf, that is.'

'Ah,' Remus' voice trembled slightly. He took a deep breath to recompose.

'I'm sorry, I shouldn't have joked about that,' said Mary. 'It's bad enough they exist.'

'Not a fan of werewolves?' Remus tried to keep his voice light.

'No, but not the way you think,' she said. 'I mean, they're human twenty-nine days out of thirty, let's not forget. I want to help them.'

'Really?' Remus suddenly felt a lot more interested in their conversation.

'Yes,' she said vigorously. 'They deserve equal chances, but that won't happen with them out cold for two days after the full moon. Most employers-'

'Actually it's more like one,' said Remus without thinking.

'Werewolf-friends Anonymous?' Mary smiled.

'Something like that, yeah,' he smiled back. 'I did my reading.'

'So, I want to help cure lycanthropy,' she said, 'or at least find something to control the wolf.'

'Is that even possible?' asked Remus, brow furrowed.

'I'm in my second year of Healer-training and we've seen a lot on the so-called dark creatures,' Mary stated calmly. 'Supposedly, an OD on aconite -that's Wolfsbane- could kill a werewolf and-'

'And that's good how?'

'Well, I don't know if you're familiar with Muggle Medicine, but they use drugs -in very small doses, of course- as painkillers and stuff,' she continued. 'So, a couple of people I know at school have been looking into doing that with Wolfsbane, for a werewolf. I think it could work.'

'That is good news.' Remus felt a lot more at ease with Mary now.

'I'm going back to Cardiff next week to help research.'

'So you're at Cliodna College, are you?' Remus asked. 'I've heard that's pretty hard to get into.'

'It's all right,' she said. 'If you wanted, you could come and visit me. I could show you our labs and my place is big enough for two.'

'Who knows? I might,' said Remus.

'I'd like that, Remus,' Mary giggled shyly.

She came dangerously close, just like Sirius had and Remus couldn't help but wish it was his best friend.

'Yes, well, I'm going to go say goodbye to James and Lily,' said Remus, avoiding her eyes.

'Sure,' she said.

'I'll be right back. Excuse me.'

Remus walked over to James, Lily, Sirius and Peter. James was tapping his watch with his wand.

'Sorry,' he said.

'Don't say sorry to us,' Peter chuckled. 'Say sorry to Mary, she looks more than a little put out.'

'Yes, Remus,' Lily said. 'I think she's- well I wouldn't go as far as saying in love with you, but-'

'It does look like it, doesn't it?' Remus sighed. 'Did you know she's interested in werewolves?'

'She's perfect for you then,' laughed Peter again.

'You'd think, wouldn't you?' Remus looked at Lily and James.

'No, no, no,' James said at once. 'She's not your type. You can do better.'

'What do you think, Sirius?' Peter asked innocently. 'You set them up.'

'I'm not interested in Moony's love life.'

'Yes, James, we indeed need to leave straight away,' Lily said, noticing Remus' awkward look. 'Hestia'll probably be waiting for us already.'

'Right. You go tell everyone we're going, I want one more word with Remus. ' He turned to his friend and said, 'Moony, with me please.'

They went to sit at a table, well out of hearing distance of Sirius and Peter.

'Listen, I know Padfoot was pretty harsh just now, but remember he's drunk,' James said in a hushed voice. 'You know he's not himself when he is. He tends to be more...'

'Cruel?' Remus finished.

'Kind of.' James sighed. 'We all saw what happened with you and Sirius-'

Remus opened his mouth to say something, but James cut across him.

'No, let me finish. We all saw that and I know it's none of my business, but maybe you should tell him how you feel.'

'James, it's as you said, Sirius is drunk and tomorrow, he probably won't even remember being here, so I don't think I should tell him anything,' Remus said firmly. 'So you go on and have a nice honeymoon and let me deal with the drunk.'

He smiled at James and stood up.

'You know that if anything happens, you can contact us, right?' James asked insecurely. He pulled a piece of parchment out of his pocket and gave it to Remus. 'See, I've made a list. If you want to Firecall us, you need to say 'Edmund House', which is where we're staying and if you want to send an owl-'

'You haven't even been married for a day and you already sound just like Lily,' Remus sniggered. 'I know how to contact you and you've been talking about leaving for an hour now, so would you finally get it over with and leave?'

'Fine,' James rolled his eyes and laughed. 'I'm sorry I won't be here during the full moon.'

'It's your honeymoon, Prongs, don't worry about it.'

'You be careful, all right?'

'Course I will.'

They shared a short hug and walked back over to the rest, where Remus quickly hugged Lily and had to listen to almost the exact same thing James had said.

'We're here for you, Remus.'

'I know, Lily, now get out!'

'All right,' she kissed him on the cheek and hastily whispered, 'watch out with that Mary-girl, she's up to something.'

He nodded and turned to watch James, who had clambered on stage and was holding a mike.

'Thank you all for coming, we hope you've had almost as good a time as we had and 'till next time.'

Everyone clapped as the couple Disapparated and most of them started gathering their stuff to go home as well.

'Shall I walk you home?' Remus asked Mary, who had joined them after Lily and James had left.

'If you feel like walking to Brighton, that's fine by me,' she smiled. 'I'd prefer Apparating. But I wouldn't say no to a cup of tea.'

'My apartment is very close by, if you don't mind walking?' Remus asked. He was a little taken aback by Mary's straightforwardness and he knew he was doing the wrong thing, but he couldn't really care. Sirius didn't care about his love life, he'd said, and he didn't feel like watching Sirius' drunken face for the rest of the night. Plus, it was rare to come across someone who wasn't scared of werewolves.

'What about Sirius? You don't need to drag him home, do you?'

'He was walking just fine five minutes ago. He might take a little longer getting home, but he'll get there eventually.' Remus felt like hitting himself after saying that. He was giving Mary the wrong idea.

'In that case, no, I don't mind walking,' she took Remus' arm and followed him outside.

'Goodnight Sirius, see you, Peter!' she called as she walked out. Remus merely nodded and didn't say a word.

The walk to Remus' apartment didn't even take five minutes. On their way there, Remus and Mary talked about trivial things, such as childhood memories and first signs of magic.

When they got in, Remus hastily went into the kitchen, putting as much distance as possible between him and Mary. He knew he wasn't going to like the end of the evening.

'You can put your coat on the couch, if you want,' he called into the living room. 'How do you take your tea?'

'Lots of sugar, lots of milk.'

'I thought I was the only one,' he said and smiled to himself.

Merlin, Remus, you screwed up. Here's the perfect girl for you in every way and she actually likes you. And what do you do? Fall in love with your insufferable male best friend.

'You don't happen to like chocolate?' he asked, to double-check if she was perfect, while venturing a look at the living room.

'Are you kidding?' Mary was looking at one of the souvenirs Remus had brought back from South Africa. 'I could live on chocolate.'

'And tea,' he joked, while offering her a steaming mug.

'And tea,' she smiled.

Before anything could happen, Remus walked back into the kitchen.

'I happen to have a huge slab of chocolate somewhere and I know I'll probably just eat it by myself and get sick,' he said, peeking into several cupboards. 'So care to keep me healthy?'

He turned around to offer her some, but was shocked to find two lips pressing onto his.

'Mary,' he said to her lips, 'Mary, I don't-'

'Why not, Remus?' she smiled, still not backing off. 'We're perfect for each other.'

'I'd not say tha-'

Remus couldn't say anything else, Mary had slid her tongue into his mouth and he was so shocked he didn't even think of pushing her away.

'Moony, d'you mind putting out the light, it's giving me a-'

Mary finally stopped kissing Remus and both of them looked over to Sirius, standing in the doorway, keys in his hand and jacket on his shoulder.

'What the hell do you think you're doing?' he yelled at Mary.

'Kissing, Sirius. That's what people in love do,' she answered, apparently unimpressed with Sirius' angry stare. 'And in your case you don't even have to be in love. You go around kissing everyone.'

'Ever thought about the fact that Moony's not in love with you?' he said. Remus could see Sirius clench his fists. This was the dangerous Sirius, the one with the silent, reasonable voice.

'Is that the truth, or is that what you want to think?' Mary snapped.

Bad move.

Sirius walked so fast that Remus didn't even see him coming. He took Mary by the arm and dragged her out of the apartment.

'Don't try getting in by Floo or Apparating, we've put wards up,' he said, closing and locking the door.

Remus was still standing against the cupboards, when Sirius came back into the kitchen. The chocolate he was holding had melted in his right hand, which was all sticky. He turned around to wash it, not being able to look at Sirius.

'Thank you,' he said silently. 'I didn't- I didn't really know what to do, I've never had girls forcing themselves on me before.'

He tried to smile and look at his friend, but he failed when he saw that Sirius was still angry.

'What were you thinking, bringing a girl home?'

Remus was about to say she had more or less invited herself, but he changed his mind quickly.

'As opposed to you, who never brings girls home?'

'That's different, Remus,' he said, crossing his arms.

'Different how?' Remus didn't feel like fighting or explaining himself, but he kept on talking anyway. 'Different in the way that I've never brought girls home before? If that is your problem, Sirius, then I'll invite a man in for tea, tomorrow. Would you like that better?'

Furious at Sirius for being angry with him for no reason and at himself for saying something that stupid, he went back into the living room to get the mugs.

Behind him, he could hear Sirius rush off into his room and slam the door. He sighed and sat down on the couch, wishing his chocolate hadn't melted, because he really could do with some cheering up.