Day 3: Merlot
Title: Merlot
Rating: PG-13 (for alcohol)
Prompt: barefootboys Day 3
Word Count: 845
Summary: Summer, 1976 - James and his family have gone out of town, leaving Sirius to stay with Remus. A thunderstorm is approaching…
Author’s Note: Warning, unbeta’d. No DH spoilers. Oh! And thanks for all the lovely comments on the previous two entries!
1| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 7| 8| 9| 10| 11| 12| 13
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“Sirius…Pads! It’s gonna…it’s gonna rain!” Remus made half-hearted protests as they climbed up the tree in his backyard. Before Sirius left the Potters’ home for this visit, he’d nicked a deep purply bottle of wine called molie or merlie or tollo. He felt like he should know because Remus seemed to recall that it was a French wine.
“It’s not gonna rain! It’s just thunderin’ innit? I want t’see the lightning! I’ve never seen lightning from your house before.” Sirius reached up the thick, gnarled limb to shove at Remus’s back.
He felt foggy. Remus’s mind seemed to have clouded over and taken a backseat to Sirius’s whims. “Doesn’t make sense, does it?” He mumbled to himself. “When there’s lightning, y’not supposed to climb up to the roof…”
“Don’t be such a girl, Moony. Keep climbing.” Sirius was giddy with drink; the dark amethyst liquid had swished about his mouth and down his throat, sending a spreading warmth back up it.
“I’m not a girl!” Remus hissed, fingertips finally reaching the shingles. It was a precarious position to shimmy out along the leafy tree branch all the way to the roof, but he had done it before. (Of course he had never done this while drunk.) That Ford translation of The Odyssey popped into his mind for just about the thousandth time that day. How did one pronounce ‘Kyklopes’? He was almost tempted to say ‘ekilop’ for reasons he didn’t understand.
“Oi! Why are you just sitting there! Hop up to the roof!” Remus looked back to see Sirius hanging upside down on the branch, looking rather like a finely groomed ape. He snickered and then climbed up onto the roof.
His least favorite part about this was the way back. Climbing onto the roof always seemed like a fun idea until the prospect of getting back down came into mind. One had to leverage themselves back onto the branch by jumping and grabbing on. One time, Remus had fallen and broken his wrist. Of course, that was nothing compared to a full moon and is father was accomplished at healing spells.
But the memory still paralyzed him every time he went to make the jump.
Remus could hear Sirius slowly clamoring up the shingles behind him, clearly as ape-like as he had imagined. The two boys finally came to a rest at the top crease, backs pressed against the hard ridges of shingles and they looked up.
The sky was clouded over with hues of dark pink and amethyst. It was rather like the wine they’d just imbibed. A rumble of thunder shook the house as the clouds darkened. Remus looked over at his friend and Sirius looked back. A wicked grin lit up his face. But they didn’t say a word.
A flash of lightning darted through the sky and Remus turned to look a moment too late. He saw it light up Sirius’s features, but that was all. So, he turned his attention to the skies in anticipation of the coming storm.
Then there was a hand patting his own clenched fist. The clammy fingers sought purchase as they slowly stretched his own out of a tight ball and they entwined. Remus smiled up at the sky, finding that he couldn’t look over at Sirius. Loud clattering thunder made up for their silence. In his heated fog, Remus could think of nothing to say anyway.
Something heavy and wet pelted his face. And then another. And another. It dropped thickly from the sky, quickly becoming a downpour. “Sirius!”
Over the loud din of rain, he could hear Sirius shout, “What?! It’s good for y’Moony!”
Rating: PG-13 (for alcohol)
Prompt: barefootboys Day 3
Word Count: 845
Summary: Summer, 1976 - James and his family have gone out of town, leaving Sirius to stay with Remus. A thunderstorm is approaching…
Author’s Note: Warning, unbeta’d. No DH spoilers. Oh! And thanks for all the lovely comments on the previous two entries!
1| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 7| 8| 9| 10| 11| 12| 13
----
“Sirius…Pads! It’s gonna…it’s gonna rain!” Remus made half-hearted protests as they climbed up the tree in his backyard. Before Sirius left the Potters’ home for this visit, he’d nicked a deep purply bottle of wine called molie or merlie or tollo. He felt like he should know because Remus seemed to recall that it was a French wine.
“It’s not gonna rain! It’s just thunderin’ innit? I want t’see the lightning! I’ve never seen lightning from your house before.” Sirius reached up the thick, gnarled limb to shove at Remus’s back.
He felt foggy. Remus’s mind seemed to have clouded over and taken a backseat to Sirius’s whims. “Doesn’t make sense, does it?” He mumbled to himself. “When there’s lightning, y’not supposed to climb up to the roof…”
“Don’t be such a girl, Moony. Keep climbing.” Sirius was giddy with drink; the dark amethyst liquid had swished about his mouth and down his throat, sending a spreading warmth back up it.
“I’m not a girl!” Remus hissed, fingertips finally reaching the shingles. It was a precarious position to shimmy out along the leafy tree branch all the way to the roof, but he had done it before. (Of course he had never done this while drunk.) That Ford translation of The Odyssey popped into his mind for just about the thousandth time that day. How did one pronounce ‘Kyklopes’? He was almost tempted to say ‘ekilop’ for reasons he didn’t understand.
“Oi! Why are you just sitting there! Hop up to the roof!” Remus looked back to see Sirius hanging upside down on the branch, looking rather like a finely groomed ape. He snickered and then climbed up onto the roof.
His least favorite part about this was the way back. Climbing onto the roof always seemed like a fun idea until the prospect of getting back down came into mind. One had to leverage themselves back onto the branch by jumping and grabbing on. One time, Remus had fallen and broken his wrist. Of course, that was nothing compared to a full moon and is father was accomplished at healing spells.
But the memory still paralyzed him every time he went to make the jump.
Remus could hear Sirius slowly clamoring up the shingles behind him, clearly as ape-like as he had imagined. The two boys finally came to a rest at the top crease, backs pressed against the hard ridges of shingles and they looked up.
The sky was clouded over with hues of dark pink and amethyst. It was rather like the wine they’d just imbibed. A rumble of thunder shook the house as the clouds darkened. Remus looked over at his friend and Sirius looked back. A wicked grin lit up his face. But they didn’t say a word.
A flash of lightning darted through the sky and Remus turned to look a moment too late. He saw it light up Sirius’s features, but that was all. So, he turned his attention to the skies in anticipation of the coming storm.
Then there was a hand patting his own clenched fist. The clammy fingers sought purchase as they slowly stretched his own out of a tight ball and they entwined. Remus smiled up at the sky, finding that he couldn’t look over at Sirius. Loud clattering thunder made up for their silence. In his heated fog, Remus could think of nothing to say anyway.
Something heavy and wet pelted his face. And then another. And another. It dropped thickly from the sky, quickly becoming a downpour. “Sirius!”
Over the loud din of rain, he could hear Sirius shout, “What?! It’s good for y’Moony!”