Serendipity (S. Black)

TWENTY-SIX

"i was scared of pretty girls and starting conversations"

*

"Moony, I've got a very important question for you."

"Is it 'Why do I insist on keeping all of my friends up when they clearly want to go back to sleep?'" Remus flipped over in his bed and closed his eyes, hoping his friend would get the message, knowing he would and realizing that he would ignore it.

"No, it's not. I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't disrespect the question that is currently depriving me of sleep," Sirius said, sniffing indignantly.

"You are currently depriving me of sleep." Remus rubbed his forehead tiredly, knowing that his long-haired friend wouldn't relent. "What's the question?"

"That's the spirit!" Sirius propped himself up on his elbows like a little girl at a slumber party. "If you get drunk before you turn into a werewolf, what happens when you transform?"

A groan escaped Remus' lips. "This is your pressing question?"

"I'm a curious man."

"It's two thirty-three in the morning, and this is what we're talking about? Seriously?"

A quieter voice spoke out into the darkness. "Now I'm curious, too," Peter admitted.

"I don't know, and I don't want to know," Remus mumbled into his pillow. All he wanted to do was sleep, not attempt to answer questions that didn't need answering.

"There are a lot of possibilities, really. The only limit is the imagination. You could be a tipsy werewolf and howl like a drunk. You could be normal until you turn back and then have a nasty hangover the day after."

"The day after a transformation already feels like a hangover, idiot. A hangover with new scars and renewed depression," Remus said, trying not to sound irritated and failing miserably. "I'm going to bed."

"Maybe the alcohol could have no effect on you at all," Peter said, thinking out loud. "Like a superpower!"

"We're so trying it."

Remus buried himself further under his mother's handmade quilt. "We're not trying it."

"I'd agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong," Sirius joked. "Roll your eyes a little louder, Remus, I can almost hear them."

"This isn't a joke," the scarred boy snapped. "I could really hurt any of you on the full moon, and that's without bloody firewhiskey in my system."

"Oh, loosen up, Moony! Of course we're kidding, unless you actually want to, but as of now, it's just all fun. Think of the possibilities!" Sirius jumped up on his bed and promptly lost his balance. He crashed into James' bed, but as his friend wasn't currently occupying it, he jumped up on the mattress instead. "It's three days until the full moon. We could all do shots of firewhiskey in the Shrieking Shack and the last one to transform back buys drinks next time we're in Hogsmeade!"

"No, Sirius!"

"Come on, you know it won't be you. It'll be Prongs, hands down. James can't handle any alcohol, the bloke can't un-stag once he's had two shots of the stuff, the weakling-"

"No!"

Sirius rolled over, grinning to himself. Even though Remus was upset, he wasn't, not really, and Sirius knew that. Especially on days close to the full moon, Sirius liked to make him feel normal as often as he could, and messing around was a good way to do just that. "Worth a shot. Where is James, anyway?"