Sex Pistol, Chapter Eighteen
Title: Sex Pistol, Chapter 18
Genre: AU (Non Magic), Romance/Humour and MWPP
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters/ Pairing: Remus Lupin/ Sirius Black, Lily Evans/ James Potter, Alice Mayapple, Frank Longbottom, OCs
Rating: K
Spoilers: None
Summary: Punk guitarist Remus Lupin was never a big fan of the popular band The Marauders, but with a chance like this, how could he resist?
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended, characters belong to JKR and co. Song mentioned belongs to Katy Perry and her record label.
A/N: You guys are so sweet! I loved reading all your comments and they pushed me to write this faster. I was hoping that this chapter would be less of a cliff hanger but uh...yeah. Enjoy another long chapter! :D
A/N2: The song that is mentioned is The One That Got Away from Katy Perry. Not a huge Perry fan but I thought if Sirius were to write a song for Celestina in his current emotional state, that one would work well. Just imagine it being sung with a bit more soul.
>~~~~<
Lily promised herself that she wouldn't worry. She'd give Remus a month, two months tops to get his life together and if he wasn't getting better then she would step in. As the month wore on, Lily saw less and less of Remus. Some of it was because she was finding herself in the very natural process of moving in with James that many couples found themselves unintentionally doing. Most of her nights were spend at his so she wasn't really around her flat. The other half of it was because Remus was also hardly ever around. Where he ran off to though was not knowledge Lily was apparently privy to. On the off chance she did catch him, he'd often be running off somewhere and her questions of the location would be answered with a mumble or shrug. Lily tried to tell herself that Remus was simply getting out more but she had a bad feeling the pit of her stomach and no proof to show anyone so they would agree with her.
The times that Lily saw Remus, he seemed jumpier than normal as well as skinnier. Lily knew something was wrong and perhaps she didn't intervene because she was worried to know the truth. Just before Rosier had been locked up, both Lily and Remus agreed not to see him again. Drug dealers weren't normally someone you hung out with because you enjoyed their company but Rosier was simply bad news in all ways. In addition to the fact that he had turned Remus into his own personal whore, Lily had a feeling he was mixing some dangerous things into the drugs he sold them. The final straw was when Remus was missing for 3 days after what he explained was a horrible heroine trip and they made a promise to one another to never make contact with Rosier ever again. It scared Lily to think that Remus may have been spending time with that scum again. He was manipulative and greedy and so many other words that were colourful synonyms for evil.
Everyone kept on telling Lily to not worry. So eventually, she stopped.
>~~~~<
Out of the billions of people in the world, there was one that was bound to be perfect. Erik Kjeldsson was that man and perhaps through some sort of Karma, Sirius was the lucky bastard who was sleeping with him. Not only was he fit, blonde, and handsome by all standards but Erik was also a great guy. He was funny, smart, artistic, caring, humble, charming, had a sexy accent and did things in bed that made Sirius see stars hours after. It seems he was sort of Sirius' boyfriend now. They'd been dating quite a bit over the last month and now Erik was spending a lot of time at Sirius'. He would be going away to start filming a huge directing project in Iceland in a few days so they were spending as much time as possible with each other. Sirius had no real obligations other than working on songs. Over the last week, he had put together some demos for Erik to listen to. Erik had mentioned that he had yet to find a composer for his film score and wondered if Sirius was up to the challenge of impressing him. That and the few songs for Celestina he needed to finish up took up most of Sirius' time that wasn't spent with Erik.
Sirius needed the distractions that work and Erik provided him. Erik might have been the perfect man but that wasn't enough for Sirius. When he had time to think, there was still had empty heart ache in his chest that just wouldn't go away. Of the songs that Sirius wrote by himself for Celestina, the one that she had loved the most was the most painful for him. They had settled on the title of The One That Got Away. Sirius had written the chorus first out of all the lyrics and it was so painful that he had to create an imaginary couple to finish the rest of the song. Sirius didn't have the strength to write about things that directly pertained to his life and he didn't want to know why as it had never been a problem before. The subject of Remus still hurt so much and he was glad there was hardly anything nowadays that brought it up.
One morning, Sirius woke up alone in bed. This was normal. Erik was an unusually perky early bird and enjoyed a full gym work out and shower before 7 AM if possible. Sometimes Sirius joined him but he had been late the night before after their shagging, working in his studio. That was another thing that ate at Sirius, he never liked staying in bed for the afterglow with Erik. But Erik, being the great guy he was never complained.
When Sirius padded out to the kitchen, he found Erik drinking tea and reading through a Swedish newspaper that was delivered especially for him. Next to him was Sirius' laptop, playing one of the demos Sirius had created for Erik.
"Morning. Get a lot of work done?" Erik asked looking up from his paper for a moment.
"Yes and no I guess."
"Good and shame then? Oh, another one of your toys was delivered." Erik pointed to the package on the counter and Sirius quickly made his way over to open it. A habit he had picked up lately was buying more and more tools for his studio. A lot of the various instruments were more for electronic and techno music but Celestina had mentioned interest in traveling towards a more electro sound amongst other things. Sirius had fun playing around with them and so Erik had teased that they were his newest toys.
"Great. So how do you like my demos?" Sirius asked as he opened the box.
"They're nice so far. Unless someone else pops up I think you may have the job. Need to run it by the producers first of course so don't assume anything yet."
"Keep me updated then so I can make sure I'm not too booked when filming dies down." Sirius left the box on the counter (which contained a Korg Kaossilator) and made himself a cup of coffee. He yawned as he watched the coffee drip into his cup while Erik continued to make small talk.
"I also listened to the latest version of that song you wrote for Celestina, I hope you don't mind."
"No that's all right. What did you think? I could use an outside opinion. I think it's still missing something."
"I think it sounds amazing. Celestina really knows how to sound heart broken in the chorus."
"Yeah, she's got quite the voice." Agreed Sirius. Working with Celestina had gotten easier. Peter didn't really come in that much when she was recording but that seemed to make things go faster. They had spent a couple days last week in a professional studio getting some strings arrangements and other recordings he couldn't get at his own studio so now a lot of the work was putting it all together.
"You wrote the whole song right?"
"Pretty much. Celestina tinkered with some of the verses." Sirius had his mug in hand and took a sip. He grabbed the box with the intent to leave it in his studio and come back out for a proper breakfast. There may still be croissants in the fridge somewhere he could warm up in the oven.
"The song, is it about Remus?" Erik asked innocently, head still behind his newspaper. The question made Sirius stop in his tracks. He had difficulty swallowing past the lump that had formed in his throat.
"How, how do you know about him?" Sirius asked. He almost dropped the box under his arm when he turned to face Erik. Erik had folded up the newspaper and placed it neatly on the table. The expression on his face was one of understanding and concern. It was the first time Sirius wanted to punch that face. "Did James? Did he-"
"No, I heard his name in one of the demos you had. Sorry. I was being nosey. I looked through some of the songs you had filed under your band's name and there was this song I liked but the end had you and him…together. I assume Remus was important to you. He's the tattoo you have, yes?"
Sirius had a feeling he knew which recording Erik was talking about and cursed his own stupidity for not getting rid of it yet. Noticing that Sirius wasn't attempting to talk, Erik continued.
"I only bring it up because I know you're not happy with me. You pretend to be happy but I know you're not. I can see it in your eyes."
"I am happy." Sirius argued but the statement sounded weak, even to him. Making his way over to the table, Sirius placed the box and mug down then took a seat across from Erik.
"Don't lie. I'm not angry with you. I just want you to talk about it. Bottling it up isn't doing you any good."
"If I can't make it work with you Erik, then what hope do I have?" Sirius said suddenly, feeling tears fall down his cheeks. He didn't even know when they had started to form. By all accounts, Erik was the perfect man. He was the perfect man for Sirius on paper and just spending time with him, Sirius knew he should be happy. But he wasn't and he didn't know what to do other than pretend that everything was okay.
"What do you mean?"
"You're the perfect man Erik. If I can't even put all the shit I have aside for you then there's no hope for me." Sirius tried to explain.
"No one's perfect Sirius."
"I know but you're pretty damn close." Sirius said a little to forcefully.
"You still want to be with Remus though. I don't know who he is but it sounds like he's the one that got away from you. Am I correct?" Sirius looked away from Erik at that question. He was either unable to answer it or just didn't want to acknowledge how true it was. Erik decided it was the latter. Not wanting to push Sirius too far, Erik waited a few moments and when he noticed Sirius was still looking away, stood up to leave. Sirius didn't seem like he was ready to talk about this and needed some time to collect himself. Just as Erik was about to apologise, Sirius spoke up.
"We, we never thought what we were doing was going to be anything long term. It was just some fun. But then we fell in l-love. So unintentionally. James thinks he was bad for me. Maybe he was but I didn't care. He might have been far from perfect but I loved every bit of him."
>~~~~<
"Hey, buzz Sirius, let him know James is here." James told security at the front desk of Sirius' flat complex. The men all knew him but it was still protocol. It was odd when the man, Jake if he remembered the name correctly, frowned.
"I'm sorry Mr. Potter, Mr. Black moved out four days ago. He told us to give you this letter if you ever stopped by."
"He what?" Asked James, not believing the security guard.
"Again I'm sorry. He seemed to be in a hurry to leave."
"Not your fault. Thanks." James took the letter and started to make his way back to his car. He stopped before leaving the building to look at the envelope he had been handed. It was a simple white envelope with James' name on the front in Sirius' distinct neat handwriting. There was only one page inside with a few lines.
James,
I'm sorry to leave like this but don't worry about me. I need to get my life straightened out. Will get in contact when I'm back in the country. Let Pete and Kingsley know.
-Sirius
Putting the letter back into the envelope, James pulled out his mobile. He was determined to get to the bottom of this. Sirius just didn't leave without telling him. Especially when it came to leaving the country. This must be some sort of trick.
He scrolled down to Sirius' number in his contacts and called it. Panic started to set in when he was sent to an automated message that stated the number had been disconnected. James called the next person he could think of that would know where Sirius had gone off to. Within a couple of rings, it was answered.
"Erik? It's James."
"Oh hello James. How are you?"
"All right, look, I'm at Sirius' and I got this letter from the front desk that says he's left the country. I can't reach him on his mobile. Do you know what this is all about? You're his boyfriend right? You should know." James started to ask as his panic increased. What if this was all an elaborate scheme to hide the fact Sirius had been kidnapped?
"Not anymore. We broke up last week."
"What? If you hurt him enough to make him leave-"
"No, Sirius broke up with me. I'm sorry you had to find out like this James. Sirius was still upset about some things and needed to get away from it all for a while. I helped him get out of the country without anyone noticing." Erik explained rather calmly.
"So where is he?"
"I can't tell you that. Sorry."
"But I'm his best friend." James argued, getting angry with the Swedish man. "And, I need to let our manager know where he's run off to. So you should really tell me."
"Sirius will be back when he's ready. I thought you'd be more supportive of this. You know, he's really torn up about his last breakup and just needed an ear to listen to."
"Don't you start telling me how to be his friend!" shouted James. "I know how to be his friend and I knew that his ex was bad news. I was there for him. I wasn't the one putting this bullshit in his head about leaving the country! Why does he have to leave the god damn country?"
"I'm not going to argue to you about this. Sirius needed to get away from everyone who thinks they know what he needs and all the paparazzi so he can find out what he really needs. I'm hanging up now; I need to get back to work. I hope you calm down enough to see the logic in all this. Goodbye James."
Just as James started to shout at Erik some more, the line disconnected. Now in a rage, James called Kingsley to see if he happened to know what the hell was going on with Sirius. As he scrolled down for Kingsley's name, James cursed the day he met Remus Lupin.
>~~~~<
[Excerpt from TMZ]
Erik Kjeldsson and Sirius Black Call It Quits, Black Flees London
Actor Erik Kjeldsson and Marauder's front man Sirius Black seemed to be in a charmed relationship. With many paparazzi shots of them cuddling together around town and numerous friends discussing how happy they were, it seems a shock to all to hear they're calling it quits. After only a few months together, the two have decided to call it quits. For the past couple of weeks, Erik has been in Iceland filming his first feature film and there had been no signs of him trying to get into contact with Sirius. A statement was released yesterday from their agents that said the break up was due to 'irreconcilable differences' but that the two remain good friends.
Earlier today, Erik released a statement stating that he and Sirius "are still very good friends but just weren't able to make things work beyond that." He went on to say that Sirius is one likely to write the score for his film to prove no hard feelings.
So it seems that the two left on good terms but some evidence has been discovered that leads some to believe otherwise. Soon after the break up, Sirius Black put his flat on the market and left London for an unknown destination. There has yet to be any witnesses that know of Sirius' current location but some say that he left because he was able to stay in the town where he had so many happy memories with Erik.
>~~~~<
[Excerpt from Digital Spy]
Celestina Warbeck Leaks Single
Fans were excited to hear that Celestina's new album was set to be released in about two months time. More buzz was generated yesterday when she put a link on her Twitter account sending fans to a short A Cappella video of her belting the beginning one of the songs on the album. Celestina stated that it was her favourite song on the new album and wanted fans to get a taste of the new sound. The song is confirmed as The One That Got Away and will be released in it's full within a week's time.
In a following tweet after many positive responses, Celestina told fans to thank Sirius Black of The Marauders for writing and producing the song for her, as well as a few other songs on her upcoming album.
>~~~~<
When Remus was drunk, it was sometimes harder for people to reason with him but with a bit of patience more often than not he could start to see logic. When Remus was on crack, no one could reason with him. That was why he found himself in the back of a police car. In his rather frantic mind, Remus still wasn't sure what was going on. All he knew was that he and Rosier were going to get high at some guy's house. He didn't really know the details but he did know that Rosier wasn't here right now. Somehow he had been able to run off when Remus got angry with one of the police officers for touching him.
Lately, Remus didn't like it when people touched him. He wasn't sure why. Normally he was fine with a bit of rough and tumble with whatever bloke was up to it but nowadays not so much. The only person he had gotten intimate with for the past couple of months was Rosier but even then he was uncomfortable. Rosier kept pushing Remus to have anal sex with him but Remus didn't want it. Not when he was thinking straight and not when he was on whatever Rosier gave him. There was no appeal whatsoever and that pissed Rosier off. If Rosier got too rowdy about it, Remus would normally be able to shut him up with a punch.
Honestly, Remus didn't like Rosier all that much but it would have been nice to have someone he knew sitting next to him. All Remus was trying to do was get the police man to stop touching him and now he was going to jail where it was likely more people where going to try and touch him. After some fussing about, Remus was able to get a little more comfortable with the handcuffs around his wrists. A small laugh left his lips when Remus remembered there was a time he used to have a lot of fun with handcuffs. The handsome face of a black haired man flashed in front of him and it left Remus bitter. Pulling up his legs to his chest, Remus put his cheek up against the cold window. Maybe if he closed his eyes, this would all go away.
>~~~~<
[Excerpt from The Daily Mail]
Remus Lupin Charged With Drug Possession and Assault
Last night, Remus Lupin was stopped by the London police for a routine inspection. A fight broke out and he was soon arrested for assault of a police officer along with possession of a controlled substance after cocaine was found in his pockets. The modern day Sid Vicious didn't make the inspection easy. Reports say Remus was putting up a fight and cursing when asked to undergo the search and eventually punched and kicked two police officers. No one was seriously injured but it was obvious that Remus was under the influence the entire time.
There was an accomplice with Remus but the man was unable to be identified before he ran away when trouble erupted. Remus' bail is posted as £35,000.
>~~~~<
It was an odd day. Alice was sure of it. There she was, 9 AM in the morning, walking outside. She didn't even technically have any work or studio time booked. So, Alice was having a rather nice morning walking through the streets of Camden. To celebrate the occasion, she was planning on getting some breakfast at one of her favourite places. Her early morning buzz was cut short when she saw a familiar face. Frankie Bloody Long.
"What the hell? Are you stalking me now?" Demanded Alice, crossing her arms. She was wearing an oversized sweater today and was glad of it. It was really annoying how he tended to talk to her chest rather than her face.
"This is a public place. Can't I just enjoy the morning without having you assume I followed you here?" Frank said innocently. In his defense, this really was a coincidence. He didn't sleep well that night and thought a walk would do him good. While he knew that Alice happened to live near the area, he didn't expect to run into her.
"If this is what happens in the morning, then I don't ever want to wake up until after 11."
"11 is still morning you know." Corrected Frank, unable to stop himself.
"Shut up!" Alice exclaimed, about to place more verbal abuse on him when her mobile rang. She was a little surprised to see that caller ID was her manager.
"Hey Tara, what's up?" Answered Alice, turning away from Frank. Unashamedly, Frank listened in on her side of the conversation.
"Alice, I have bad news." Tara sounded grave but Alice couldn't think of what would be so pressing. They weren't being dropped from their label were they?
"Bad news?"
"It's about Remus."
"If it's about destroying public property, that's normal for him." While Tara was better than Dung, she didn't have his criminal background and knowledge. Sometimes the things the band members did took her by surprise.
"No, he, he was arrested last night. Um, I just got the call this morning. They said something about assaulting a police officer and that he was under the influence of cocaine. He had, oh I don't remember how many grams on him but bail's set at £35,000."
"What?" Alice didn't know what to make of this. While she felt the obligatory panic, she didn't know Remus' side of the story. This could all be just blown out of proportion. At least she hoped.
"Yeah, I'm not sure what to do. I think I may be able to come up with the sum for bail but I need to ask around a bit more."
"Have you called Lily and Dorcas?"
"Yeah but it went straight to voice mail."
"Keep trying them, I'll go over and try to sort it out best I can. Where are they keeping him?" She didn't know how she was going to help but she'd find a way.
Meanwhile, on Frank's end, the conversation seemed interesting. From what he could tell there was some sort of emergency. Possibly about public property. When Alice got off the phone though, she seemed a little lost.
"Alice? Everything all right?" Frank tried, expecting her to tell him to fuck off.
"Um, Remus was arrested and I need to come up with £35,000 for bail."
"He what? What did he do for that much?"
"She, my manager said it was assaulting a PC and cocaine possession but something doesn't seem right about this. I haven't really seen Remus for a while. He was having a rough time after he broke up with-" Alice broke off and Frank put his hands on her shoulders to try and get her attention focused on something.
"Hey, hey, it's going to be okay." He assured but she broke free of him and just shook her head.
"No, no it's not. I need to get the money somehow. I…I need to get over there."
"Alice, look at me, I'll help you okay. You don't need to panic." Said Frank in the most reassuring way possible He didn't know what she was going to do and he wanted to make sure she didn't makes things worse for her and Remus.
"No, you don't need to-"
"I said don't worry. It's nothing to me."
"But it's everything to me." Insisted Alice but within a few minutes, Frank was able to talk her down enough to give him the address that they needed to get to. After he was sure she was going to stay put for a moment, he went to work trying to find a cab.
>~~~~<
Tears were steaming down Lily's face as she waited for James to pull up near her flat. When he could, James would try and hold her hand in his. Earlier, she had gotten a message from Tara that Remus was in jail for assault and possession then another message confirming that Alice had paid his bail and left him in their flat. Right now, she didn't want to even think about how Alice got the money but she knew she needed to find a way to pay her back. Remus needed her and Lily wasn't there. She knew that he was going downhill but she just ignored her the signs. When she saw Remus, she knew he was getting skinnier and that he must have been on some drug but no one believed her and eventually she began to doubt herself.
"It's all my fault!" Lily continued to sob. "I knew what was happening and I didn't do anything about it!"
"It's not your fault. Lily, you couldn't do anything." James assured but it did nothing to make Lily feel any better.
"I saw him getting so skinny and coked out of his mind but I was so scared. I just thought that if I'd ignored it, he'd be back to his old self soon. God, I was so stupid. What will I say to him when I see him?"
"Now stop that, you couldn't have known this was going to happen." James was a few minutes away from her flat now.
"But it's my fa-"
"Stop it Lily, it's not your fault. It's his for getting mixed up in all this. Maybe, this is a good thing."
"A good thing? How the hell could this be a good thing?"
"Well, for one thing, he's probably going to get help and when he goes to jail, it may do him some good. Help him get things into perspective."
"What? What are you on about?" Lily demanded, wiping the tears off her cheeks and blowing her nose.
"I'm just saying, maybe he'll straighten out and stop being such an idiot about things. I mean really, assaulting an officer? He should know better." James reasoned as he pulled up in front of the flat.
"What the fuck is your problem with Remus? You never liked him did you?" Accused Lily and even James had to admit what he was saying was a little bitter and bias.
"All right, you want to know the truth? No I didn't. He fucked up Sirius' life and now my best friend is god knows where and has refused to make any contact with me for way too long. So yeah, I think he needs to get his life straightened out and not fuck up other people's lives. He's putting all this stress on you right now."
"James, the only person who fucked up Siruis' life, is Sirius. He didn't have the balls to stand up and admit that he was gay and when he was outed, he couldn't take it and blamed Remus. So before you make your friend out to be a saint, remember that he fucked up Remus' life by being a huge wanker."
"Now-"
"No James, you listen to me," Lily demanded, she turned in her seat to face him and fixed him with an angry stare that makes James shut his mouth. "James, I love you but you're really a fucking berk at times. You know I'm glad you had an amazing childhood but not everyone else did and you can't assume we're all going to be as clean cut and lovers of the police force like you. My parents were drunkards for most of my life before they died. Remus never knew his father. We were both hungry for a good portion of our lives or didn't have heat in the winter or just had shitty lives. We had nothing. You know what we did to try and ignore the pain of that? Whatever we could. Writing songs, hanging out with friends and yes, doing drugs. Not everything is black and white so don't you dare go thinking you can just judge us for the things we've done and may still do.
"You need to get over what ever you have against Remus because he's not going away. He's my best friend and he dated your best friend. If you can't deal with Remus, then it's not gonna work with us."
"You're not breaking up with me, are you?" James choked out in fear. His heart was beating against his ribcage at the thought.
"No I'm giving you a warning. Get that stick out of your arse and start being a better person. You know what? I'm done with you right now." Finished Lily, taking off her seat belt and stepping out of the car. She slammed the door with vengeance and made her way towards her apartment.
"Lily!" James called after her. Taking a deep breath, he jumped out of the car to chase after her. He was not going to lose the girl of his dreams over something as stupid as this. Yeah he might not like Remus but he was willing to work on it given the ultimatum.
"I'll talk to you when I don't have the irresistible urge to knock you out." Lily said opening her front door and walking through. The door was slammed but James had hope that it wasn't as vindictive as the car door slam. Not wanting to leave yet, James rested his head on the door with a groan of anger. This was stupid. He was being stupid, he knew that. He should have just supported Lily instead of trying to justify any dislike he had. Where was his anger really founded when it came to Remus? Remus was snarky and other than telling Skeeter about Sirius' sexuality, seemed to really care about Sirius. James was just being overprotective of Sirius but that apparently wasn't working because Sirius up and left without telling him.
A scream brought James out of his thoughts and he started to pound on the door.
"Lily? Lily are you all right?"
"Oh god Remus! No!" Lily continued to scream and James tried his best to open the door but it had been locked. His heart rose up to his throat and James prayed to any god that would listen to keep her safe. It didn't matter who was right or not, he would give anything to have Lily forgive him. To have her safe in his arms.
The door was wrenched open and James saw Lily. Her face had fresh tears falling, mixing with blood. There was blood on her knees, shirt and hands and James felt himself start to shake.
"Call an ambulance, Remus- oh god there's so much blood!" Lily sobbed before going back to help her friend. James dialed the number on his mobile and followed her. The next 15 minutes were a blur. He remembered something about telling the operator on the line where they were and that someone had slit their wrists and wasn't responding. There was blood all over the bathroom tiles, seeping from Remus' pale, skinny body. Somehow before the paramedics came, James must have wrapped towels around Remus' wrists. Maybe he had been the one to place the makeshift tourniquets on his arms, James didn't remember. He thinks Lily had picked up the phone and heard the operator suggesting it. All James knew was that any prejudice he had against Remus disappeared when James did all he could to stop the blood.
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