M O N S T E R

     - ̗̀ ft. james

It was … pretty late into the evening ( or early in the morning, really ) and James had made it his goal to try and find the rest of his little band of brothers so they could unite once again. A party wasn’t a party, after all, if there weren’t any marauder shenanigans, and he would not let this party become a gigantic failure. Eyes soon fell on one of the three familiar faces he was looking for, and James approached them, stumbling slightly. “Hey, you havin’ a good time? We’ve got to find the others, have a little get-together inside this get-together, make it like an exclusive thing, or something, because we’re the best,” he said, grinning a little. “And we have to wreak some havoc, yeah?”

@peterpetti-grows @lupnrems @ofxsirivs·

sirius smiles lazily while watching everyone dancing. it’s nice; this year might be nice DESPITE everything. he glances up when he hears a familiar voice. “ jamie ! ” he calls happily, grinning wildly the moment he sees his best friend, his⸺  “ dear brother, ” he stands up as his mind slowly processing the fact that he’s just spoken out loud ( but then again, james KNOWS it, they ARE brothers ) & he wraps his arms around the other. “ buddy. where’ve you been ? you always have the best ideas. ” okay, maybe he’s a little TOO MUCH to drink, but it’s fine; what’s a party without getting wasted & causing some havoc, like james has suggested ? “ let’s go find MOONY & WORMY. ”

@peterpetti-grows· @lupnrems· @jamesppotter·

      remus hadn’t intended on drinking so much that night --- but suddenly it was by all technicality morning and he could barely feel his legs as he stumbled through the still-raging party to try and find his friends. it was almost CRIMINAL that they had yet to spend time as a whole together on this particular night, and though he had spent most of his time with peter cheating at beer pong, he still wasn’t even sure he’d seen sirius since they’d split up upon arrival. just as he were about to turn and ask someone for help, he heard two slurring voices sound from behind him and he quickly turned ( almost tripping in the process ) and half-ran towards them. “ PADFOOT! paddy and prongs! i found ya! i’m like a --- like a finding genius or something. wait... wait where’s wormy? ”

“CHEATER,” Lily yelled as she easily stepped up to the plate, replacing the person who’d bombed against Remus, barely letting them have time to leave their area.“I know your secret, Lupin,” she stared him down, pointing a finger in his direction, her face serious before breaking out into a smile. “You had Potter rig it for you. He knew you’ve been bombing it at every party for as long as we can remember. He took pity on you, it’s SOOOO obvious!” The giggles fell from her mouth but her tone was competitive, though it wasn’t malicious as it was Remus she was talking to, one of her closest friends. “You’ll be feeling the full wrath of Lily Evans soon, McKinnon Beer Pong Edition.”

       remus’ features contorted into a look of great shock and offence as lily pushed to the front of the small crowd, his hand falling to his chest for greater emphasis. “ you dare accuse me of messing with the sacred laws of beer pong? i am SHOCKED miss evans, truly. ” shaking his head, he let his hand fall, suppressing a smile to hide the truth that he was, indeed, a big fat cheater. “ oh, don’t be ridiculous --- jamie doesn’t have a cheating bone in his body. he can pity me all he wants, he would never rig a game. goodness me, it’s like you don’t even know him at all! ” finally cracking a smile, he threw the ball across the table, letting his palm fall back with a quiet SLAM to ensure peter still knew what he was doing. “ you go first, crazy-kins. but know that i have learnt from the assured best --- you’re going down. ”

Jasmine had been watching the game from the sidelines, a firewhiskey in her hand as she watched the younger Gryffindor thrash his competition. The brunette saw the fifth year was struggling so with the confidence that didn’t take much for the part-Veela to conjure up. Poking his shoulder and flashing a smile, “How about I play you? Let’s see how long your winning streak will last now. “

       remus hadn’t even noticed the girl watching from the sidelines, though admittedly when she pushed to the front he cursed himself for having not. his smile wavered only for a second before he regained complete composure and offered her a wide ( still overly smug ) grin. “ so confident, are we rosmerta? alright, okay, maybe i can do with some confident competition. ” tapping twice on the table ( a signal to peter that they were once again playing ) he waited until she was settled before tossing the ball seamlessly into one of her cups.

               EDGAR HELD HIS HANDS OUT,                            the near-universal gesture of surrender turned joking with a smirk fit to match the one he found at the other side of the table. edgar wasn’t accusing remus of cheating — but remus’ actual opponent had made some grumblings, fueled in part by the stack of empty cups resting at their feet. it was a fun enough game to stumble upon, as a bystander; though of course, watching the same person sweep the last few rounds was starting to get a little dry. edgar glanced at remus’ drunken challenger, before glancing back at the other gryffindor with a raised brow. “ hey, I believe you weren’t cheating, “ he began, gently guiding the poor loser towards one of their friends on the sidelines. “ but maybe a better challenge for your lucky streak would be a go against someone new, yeah? “

       REMUS ALMOST FELT BAD                      now that edgar had fallen so easily for his lie ( of course he was cheating --- he didn’t exactly improve on his aim overnight ) but it was only ever because of that kind smile of his. when he looked away, he remembered how fucking good it felt to be a champion, and suddenly he didn’t feel so bad anymore. with the smug grin still plastered across his face, he looked back at his fellow gryffindor, catching the ball tight in his fist and offering edgar a salute. “ i dare you to try, my good man, ” he replied, purposefully letting the ball slip through his fingers so he could give wormtail a thumbs up beneath the table as he bent to pick it up. “ i wish you good luck. ” and with that, he tossed the ball across the table, watching as it seamlessly landed in one of edgar’s cups.

with no real malice, toni glared at him. “ are you sure you’re not cheating?” after downing the liquid in the cup remus made, she lined herself up with the cups. exaggerating her movements in preparing for a throw, toni let the ball leave her hands. unsurprisingly, the ball hit the rim of one of the cups and bounced onto the floor. “that time,” she said, “i meant to do that.”

       “ PROMISE, ” he drawled, grin widening as her shot missed the cup and bounced towards his boot. bending down to pick it up, he tossed peter a wink under the table --- so maybe he’d been lying a little. but no one needed to know that, right? besides, maybe it was on everyone else for not realising that this was remus lupin --- he basically invented shitty aim. just ask marlene. bouncing back to his feet, he grinned at toni before tossing the ball easily across the table and watching as it all but floated into one of her cups.

it had gone on long enough. three games rabastan had sat through and watched lupin win, getting increasingly more arrogant─ for him, that is, ‘cause all of those gryffinbores fancied themselves gods─ as his opponent cowered more and more. “ right, up you go, love. ” rabastan hooked two hands under the hufflepuff’s arms to force them up, giving them a tight-lipped smile and a pat on the head, and waved them off as he took their seat. he leant forward, elbows on his knees, eyes trained on lupin, and said: “ mate, you’re getting way too big for your boots. let’s see how fast i’ll beat you, yeah? ”

             there was not a hint of hesitation in remus’ grin as rabastan pushed through the crowd and settled himself down across the table --- but that didn’t mean he wasn’t worried. up until now his strategy had been simple ( pick the opponent that looked the most drunk ) but the lestrange brother certainly didn’t look like he fit that criteria. maintaining eye contact and an unwavering aura of confidence, remus tossed the ball towards the slytherin as a sort of peace offering --- he could go first. “ alright, lestrange --- if you wanna get humiliated then that’s fine by me. ”

      “ oh, this is just mean. alright, alright how about… adopt sirius, because lord knows he needs some discipline in his life. be adopted by dear ol’ jams, because he seems like he’d be a fine dad. and then marry petey, that’d be nice. he’d make a good husband to my wife material, i think. ”

     “ oh come on, that’s just ridiculous. by the skin of his teeth, i’ll fuck james — because even imagining taking lily to bed makes me shudder. and sirius seems… aggressive. and then i guess… take a bullet for lils and murder sirius. but ONLY because it’s the only option. ”

If there was one thing Regulus wasn’t a fan of, it was Sirius’s friends. Maybe it was more than not being a fan, but practically despising a group of students. The cheerful boasting had Regulus’s shoulder stiffen, as he kept his eyes concentrated on the drink that he barely even taken a sip of. Getting drunk, through Regulus’s perspective, was lame. And as much as he tried to pretend to support his family’s beliefs, he did believe that he was above such behavior. 

“I didn’t know sixth years were meant to be immature,” Regulus muttered, hoping that the other could hear him. “The answer is no. Have someone else play your childish games. Hopefully, they’ll be the ones that get you to shut up.” 

       the last thing remus wanted to do was provoke regulus black. he’d been having quite a wonderful night up until now, and the ensuing conversation was sure to put a dampener on his mood. but regulus had clearly been waiting up until now, and remus lupin was certainly not one to back down from a challenge. besides --- perhaps it would be fun to score a victory against one of his top ten most hated individuals. 

       ignoring the abuse tossed his way, remus arranged his cups back into the appropriate setting, gripping the ping pong ball tight in his palm. “ c’mon, dear reggy --- it’s all set up and you’re already there. one round to prove you can even complete a childish game, eh? ”

“Ok fine,” Toni gave in, “But only one more time. Then I’ll accept my defeat.” The strange thing was that if you gave her a broom and told her to catch the snitch, she would do exceptionally well. But give her a small ball and tell her to throw it? No chance she would win. 

      clicking his tongue, remus flashed the ravenclaw a grin, catching the ball for the last time and using his free hand to once again rearrange the cups. “ perfect. trust me, i’ll at least try and give you a shot this time, eh? ” offering her a wink, he waited for her to get into position before bouncing the ball off the table to land neatly in one of her cups.

Hestia glanced out across the rest of the party, spotting people drawn like a moth to a flame to the stacks of food of which there seemed to be no lack. She’d half-sequestered herself next to the pop up photo booth, hanging out to make sure the camera was still working with a warm smile on her lips. “Okay, next!” She fixed her eyes on the group entering the area, raising an eyebrow as she took a sip from her drink.

       remus had been hovering by the booth ever since he’d abandoned frank, a wide smile splitting his face in two as he cradled his bottle of beer close to his chest. watching as the next group filed into the contraption and shut the curtain behind themselves, he made his way towards hestia, bumping her lightly with his shoulder as a way of greeting. “ doing well there, tia, ” he commented. 

“Listen, Hestia did a hell of a job on this photo-booth so I’m not taking no for an answer.” Frank plopped down in the seat and held the curtain open for the other person. “C’mon. Strike a pose. Smile? Whatever just come take a few with me.–Though I call funny faces for the first picture!”

      a grin settling on his features, remus wasted no time before he jumped in after frank, practically landing on the boy’s lap as he shut the curtain behind them. “ this is gunna look great in my scrapbook, ” he teased, turning to the hufflepuff. “ a’ight, what face are we going with first then? ”