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Loving Lucy: Chapter Four

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Sirius pushed open the heavy, wooden door, to reveal just what everybody had suspected, a loud, crowded club with bright, flashing orbs hanging from the ceiling. Despite a lot of worried Gryffindors, they hurried inside, anxious to get out of the chilly evening air, and prying eyesight of people that might report them to Dumbledore for sneaking out.

Everybody was bumping up against each other, and Sirius found Lucy clinging to his arm. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to bring her here, he thought, but he quickly changed his mind after a moment when the music started to really pound.

Lucy was starting to lose the nervousness she had felt earlier, and let go of Sirius to wander over to the bar. That butterbeer was still sounding pretty good to her. She ordered a mug and slipped slowly, feeling the warmth spread throughout her body. Maybe tonight wouldn't turn out to be so bad after all.

After a few minutes, Remus wandered up to the bar too. "Having fun yet?" He yelled over the music. Lucy nodded, watching him over her mug. She liked Remus, he seemed nice, like a cousin, but there was something strange about him that she couldn't just place, and it was beginning to bother her.

Sirius was having the time of his life, dancing along this way and that. He hadn't realized how much he missed this place until he came back. It was a good place to go and get away from it all, as he had learned a few years ago when he had first heard of it. With one half filled plastic cup in one hand, and a completely full one in the other, he danced over to where Lucy had gone, and found her talking to Remus.

A strange pang went through him, and he had a weird feeling that had nothing to do with already having three and a half drinks. He was pulled out of his thoughts however by James, looping his arm through Sirius'. "Seen Lily?" James asked, jumping up and down and trying to see over the heads of people dancing around them.

"Stop that," Sirius said, trying to pry himself out of James' grasp. "you look like a prat." James stopped, his eyes wide. "You don't think Lily saw me?" He asked. Poor git, thought Sirius, hes love struck and he doesn't even know it. I swear I'll never get like that.

Finally managing to get out of James grip, he went over to Lucy, almost angry at Remus for even talking to her, although he didn't know exactly why. Maybe it was the fact they seemed to be getting along. He didn't want them to hate each other, but at the same time he didn't want them to be all buddy-like, either.

Lucy gulped down another a fire whiskey and felt the need to move on to something stronger. But what? She wondered, there where so many choices, and she didn't want anything strong enough that she would get totally wasted and have to have somebody carry her back to Hogwarts. She had been talking to Remus for quite a while now, about this, that and everything, especially Sirius.

According to Remus, who had had one too many shots, in Lucy's opinion, Sirius had left home over the summer, and gone to live with James. "They're like brothers." Remus stammered, letting his hand flop down on the wooden counter top.

"Why did he leave home?" Lucy asked, puzzled. If she would have had the opportunity, she would have loved to stay at home every possible second that she could. "Aaah..." Remus started, raising a eyebrow. "His mother, Mrs. Black, did something ... something I can't quite remember..."

Lucy sighed, Remus was drunk, and obviously so. She shouldn't have let him have all those rum shots. "Stay here." She instructed, getting up to go find somebody that could help. But she didn't get two feel before she heard the sound of breaking glass behind her. She turned to see Remus on the floor. At first glance he appeared to have passed out, but after a moment, it looked more like he was having some sort of fit.

Sirius had been watching Lucy and Remus at the bar for nearly ten minutes, his mood turning more and more sour by the second. He couldn't hear a word they where saying, but he didn't like it. After a while, Lucy got up and started to walk away, maybe Remus had offended her? He thought, and for some reason there seemed to be a flicker of hope behind his words.

But as she walked off, he saw Remus fall off his stool, onto the hard, concrete floors. Not now, he cursed, please not now. But it was now, and there wasn't anything he could do about it but try to help. "JAMES!" He hollered as loud as he could.

James didn't hear him, but Lucy did, however she ignored him, her attention was more focused on Remus and what was wrong with him. Alcohol poisoning? Some sort of seizure? Or something else...?

She knelt down beside him. "Remus? Remus are you alright?" He looked up at her. "I need to get outside, fast." The urgency in his voice scared her, and she didn't really know what to do.

For a second she froze, then grabbed his arm and tried to heave him to his feet. He was tall, and lanky, not to mention heavy, and she struggled under his weight. She was dully aware of Sirius grabbing Remus' other side, and helping them get towards the door. Her heart felt funny as they stumbled forward, surging adrenaline through her body. Is this what panicking feels like? She wondered, as her eyes started to sting.

Once outside, Remus didn't seem to get any better at all, if anything, he got worse, shaking and fidgeting. James joined them, when, Lucy wasn't quite sure. She was confused and the few drinks she had where beginning to numb her. Together they hauled him through Hogsmead. Luckily, the boys seemed to know where they where going, because Lucy sure didn't.

"Lucy, you should go back. We can take him from here." Sirius said, his voice coming out in short puffs as he groaned under the weight. "Where are you taking him?" Lucy asked, crawling out from under Remus. "Don't worry." James hissed. "He'll be fine." Lucy stopped, and watch them hobble forward for a while. She didn't want to leave, after all, it was her fault, letting him drink so much.

"Hey!" Lucy turned to see Lily running up to her, panting. "Where are you going?" She asked, bending over and putting her hands on her thighs. "I don't know." Lucy sighed. "One minute, Remus was drunk, the next he was on the floor." She said, throwing her arms up in the air. Lily looked up at her. "You think hes going to be okay?" She asked. Lily shrugged. "Sirius and James have him." Said Lucy. "I feel so bad! I let this happen!" She moaned, looking up at the sky, where the first of the night stars where beginning to appear.

"They're probably heading back up to the castle." Said Lily.

"Probably. Should we get everybody back?" Lucy asked. Her head was pounding, and she felt tired, her adrenaline rush finally starting to run out. "No," Lily said. "I told Peter to get them all back before I left." Lucy nodded. "Alright, so the way I see it we have to choices. Go check on Remus and make sure he got back to the castle alright, or go back to the nightclub and have fun." Lucy said, shivering and looking around at the cottage like shops rooted all over Hogsmead.

"Might as well go back to the castle. I for one am not really in a partying mood." Lily answered. Lucy nodded. "Ditto."

They made their way back up to the castle, mostly in silence. It wasn't an awkward silence, just that they where too deep in thought to really talk much. Lucy felt horrible for letting Remus get so drunk, and as they climbed out of the hump-backed witch, Lucy headed off to the hospital wing. The least I can do is check on him, she thought, you know, to see if he's alright ...(and beg for forgiveness.)

Upon reaching the hospital wing doors, she found them closed and locked. Hesitantly, she stepped up and knocked, then stood back,waiting for a reply. A very disturbed looking healer cracked open the doors,pulling her robes closed over her night dress.

"Yes?" She snapped, apparently not fond of being awoken.

"Um, is Remus Lupin here?" She asked timidly,trying to look past the frumpy woman, into the infirmary.

"I'm sorry, I don't have any patience with me tonight, dear. Why? Did something happen to one of the students?" She asked, her voice softening.

"No,um...Its nothing, never mind." Lucy said. "Just a mis-communication I guess."

"Right,well, back to bed with you!"

And with that,the healer closed the door again, leaving Lucy to stalk back to her dormitory.

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When the first rays of morning sunshine where visible through the twisted limbs of the Forbidden Forest, three men, Sirius, James and Remus stumbled up the dew wet grass of the Hogwarts grounds. Peter had dropped by earlier in the morning, informing them everybody was already back to the castle, but he didn't stay, preferring the comfort of his nice, warm, Gryffindor bed. "What a bloody prat he can be." James has said. Then Peter of course had a hissy fit, claiming it wasn't "Nice to talk about people when they're still in the room."

Together, the three mauraders slipped up the lawn towards the secret exit. Sirius' head was killing him, and he was beginning to question what had been in the three and a half drinks he had last night. Wanting to break the silence, Sirius said the first thing that popped into his mind. "So, Remus, what where you and Lucy talking about last night?"

"What?"

"What where you. -And my girlfriend.- Talking about.- Last night." Sirius said, pausing every few words so Moony's newly regained mind could understand what he was saying.

"Oh." Remus paused. "I-I don't really know. It couldn't have been really important, hmm?"

Sirius shrugged. Sure, of course it wasn't important to somebody who couldn't remember it. But Lucy, she could probably remember every word, after all, she hadn't seemed all too drunk last night. Or had she? He didn't really know, after all, he hardly got to see her at all before the moon had risen. "Bloody moons, should all chopped up and fed to the food less."

"What?"

"What!"

"You just said that moons should be chopped up and fed to the hungry."

"No,I believe I said 'food less' not 'hungry', duh!"

"I see."

Silence.

"Why did you even bring her?" James asked. "Because you brought Lily? Right."

"Yeah, sure." Sirius grunted. That had been the original plan, or at least that had been what he had told himself.

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Lucy sat by the window in the Gryfindor common room, quill in hand. It had been so long since she had written Dave, and she was almost ashamed. He hasn't exactly been writing to me either though, has he? Lucy remarked, biting her lip. Brothers where pesky, especially older ones. All around her, people where buzzing around, doing their usual Saturday afternoon things, but Lucy forced herself to ignore them, turning back to the blank sheet of parchment in front of her.

Hey Dave... She started.

Over on the other side of the school, Sirius was crouching low over his potions book, speaking to James across the table. "Did you get the password from Joel?" He hissed. James nodded. They had been waiting for the Slytherin common room passwords for ... well, mostly the entire year so far. The whole three weeks of it.

James inched a crisp white envelope across the table to him. Sirius pulled out his bulky wallet, keeping an eye on the envelope as he did so. "You know, I do believe, Mr. Potter, we are going to get ourselves into a right mess this afternoon." Sirius said in a posh voice. James chuckled. "Yes, Mr. Black, I agree. We're going to get ourselves hanging in the dungeon by our toenails." James said, copying the accent.

TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER

"Bloody Hell man your out of shape!" Sirius growled at James, who was running along the corridors behind him. "Well at least my hair isn't poofy!" James shot back. Sirius gasped, and brought a hand up to his silky black hair in mock offense. A few yards behind them, the Slytherin prefects scuttled after them, dripping in lime gelatin. "Mr. Black, I do believe we went a tad bit too far!" James chocked between breaths. "I agree, Mr. Potter...Wait, no I don't."

"We're never going to be able to outrun them!" James panted.

"I don't need to outrun them, I just need to outrun you!" Sirius yelled back.

Up in the common room, Lucy was talking with Brianna, having already finished her letter and stuffed it safely in the back pocket of her tight, bell bottom jeans. "I really feel bad. Remus looked horrible today, maybe I should go up and apologies?" Lucy asked, running a hand through her hair. Brianna grunted in reply, still working on her potions essay. That settled, Lucy walked off to the boys dormitories, where Remus had been laying down earlier that morning.

"BROOMSTICK POLISH!" Sirius spat out the password as he ran towards the Fat Lady. The portrait swung open and he and James rushed inside, James yelling "Don't let them in!" as he passed. Quick as they could, they streaked up to the boys dorms, hoping to find something useful that would keep away the angry, greasy, Jello covered people chasing them. Sirius threw open the door and stopped mid-stride. Beside Remus, who was propped up on his pillow, was Lucy, smiling and talking about something. When she saw Sirius, she offered him a smooth smile.

"You look out of breath." She commented easily.

"I'll say!" Sirius exclaimed. "Wha-what are you doing in here!"

"Oh, I came in here to apologies to Remus." Her voice seemed tense.

James came up behind Sirius and put a brotherly hand on his shoulder. "Well, Sirius and I just came up here to get you!" He lied. "We're going for a swim and wanted to know if you and some of the others wanted to come along." Lucy's lips curved into a smile again. "Alright, it sounds good. Just let me get changed." She said, standing up. "NO!" Sirius hissed, looking down the steps at where he could easily hear the Slytherins demanding the fat lady let them in. "It'll be way more fun this way!" He added at the unbelieving look his girlfriend was giving him.

Thinking fast, he glided over to his bed and opened the window. "What are you doing?" Lucy asked. "Yes, what are you doing!" James added, glaring at him. "Lucy, come 'er." He said, pulling his broomstick out from under his bed. Hesitantly, Lucy walked towards him. "James and them will meet us down there." He said, swinging a leg over the broom and patting the spot in front of him. Lucy cautiously took a seat in front of him, eyebrows raised. He swung his arms around her and gripped the handle, kicking off. "Sirius." James growled. "Sirius come back here!"

The next thing Lucy knew, she was flying over Hogwarts, her small back pressed firmly against Sirius' chest. He had his hands over hers, as if showing her how to fly, which she found ridiculous, considering she had grown up with two brothers and they had taught her how to fly around the time she learned to write. Of course he wouldn't know that, she thought, taking in the beautiful honey scent that was Sirius'. She felt like telling him, just so he would know, but it would ruin the moment, and that was the last thing she wanted to do.

Sirius could smell the scent of citrus in Lucy's hair, and it was driving him mad. All he wanted to do was kiss her, hold her, breath her in. Sirius, your going in trouble now, mate, a voice in his head told him. He didn't have time to think about it, however, as he forced the broom downwards towards the lake. He could hear Lucy holding her breath as the flew over it, flying so close they where almost touching the glassy surface of the water. "Theres a giant squid in there, you know." He whispered. Lucy turned slightly so she could see him. "Prove it." There was a glint in her eyes that he had seen so many times before in those of his own, and James, and even sometimes Remus'. He didn't like it.

"Why should I?" He asked, playing along.

"Lets just say." She sighed. "It'll be worth your wild."

Sirius raised an eyebrow, but Lucy didn't see it, as she had already turned back to look at the water, her eyes sparkling as she watched the water rush by them at astounding speeds. "And how exactly am I supposed to prove this?" He asked, grinning.

SPLOOSH

Sirius surfaced, coughing and wiping water from his eyes to see Lucy, hovering over the water, sitting sidesaddle on the broomstick. "Oh, so the kitten can fly?" Sirius mocked, treading water. Lucy smirked. "So, you gonna show me that giant squid?" She asked, tilting her head to one side. "Oh, you want me to find you a squid?" He laughed. "Yes, I do." Lucy said simply.

He dove under water, and started to swim towards her, but she guided the broom away from where he was. She flew towards the bank, and took a seat, broom beside her, waiting for Sirius to surface. Laying back on the cool grass, she put her hands under her head and stared up at the pretty blue sky. Damn, that was close, she thought, chewing on her plump bottom lip.

Sirius crept out of the water towards the shore, where Lucy was laying down. Really, you'd think she'd know better by now, he thought, approaching her quietly so she wouldn't hear him. In one swift motion, he had leapt over to her, balancing on his elbows. Lucy screamed, and tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but he lifted one arm and put it on her shoulder. They where both laughing, until for some reason Sirius stopped, and just looked down at her. The second he did it, Lucy did too, and stopped wiggling, just kind of looking at him. Slowly, he leant down to her, his lips inches from hers when...

"Oh, did we interrupt something?" They where laughing. How dare they be laughing!Sirius looked up to see James, Peter and Bridget. Sirius lunged forward, grabbing a handful of mud from the lake bank. James and Bridget had already started to run, but Peter was just standing there, oh so helplessly. Sirius grinned, watching out of the corner of his eye as Lucy went for the other two.

"S-Sirius, you wouldn't tha-tha-throw that at me, would cha buddy?" Peter asked nervously, his grin showing yellowing, pointed teeth.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Course I wouldn't, mate. Why would I do somethin' like that?" He asked, coming up to his pudgy friend.

Peter still looked uneasy. And for good reason, as when Sirius clapped him over the shoulder it was with the hand containing the fistful of mud.

Lucy glanced up in the middle of having a splash fight with James. "Hey, theres your girl." She joked, motioning over his shoulder. He turned to see Lily coming down the banks towards them, her hair done up in a pony tail, robes dawned, wand in tow. She stopped in front of them and everybody stood still, watching as she thrusted her hands unto her hips.

Sirius and Jame exchanged looks in the silence, and James nodded. With a ridiculously loud battle cry they ran at her, and James scooped her up in his arms, carrying her towards the lake and out of sight when he tripped down the bank. Lucy, Peter, Bridget and Sirius laughed at the sight, until Sirius turned, which at least got Lucy to shut up. "What are you laughing at, I still have to show you that giant squid!"

"No..." Lucy started, warningly. "Thats alright, I believe you." But before she got to say another word, Sirius had grabbed her and was dragging her towards the water. She flailed her arms, and kicked her legs, but to no avail. "Sirius!" She screeched. "Oh, no. you said." He reminded her. "Alright, alright, alright, just let me get these clothes off so they don't get all wet!" She said in desperation, not noticing how it sounded. He released her, more in momentary shock then anything, but she did as she had said, not wanting to ruin everything she kept in her pockets and not to mention her shirt, which she was pretty sure would go see through anyways.

Beside her, Bridget was skimming her skirt down her tan legs, staring intently at Sirius, but he ignored her, waiting for Lucy to run. But she didn't, or at least not right away. Instead she was having more fun watching his face as she slipped off her shirt, reveling her favorite pink bra. Sirius looked speechless. This was so much fun. Slowly, she slipped out of her jeans, happy she had worn fairly conventional underwear this afternoon.

Finally Sirius caught on. "If you think this is going to distract me, you've got another thing coming, love." He said, grinning evilly. Lucy's eyes went wide, and she took a step back. He grabbed her and hoisted her over his shoulder, her shrieking and kicking all the way.

"Sirius! No! Let me go!" She gasped as he waded into the water.

"No chance."

"Please?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"..."

"Hmmm?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" He laughed, jolting her off his shoulder and into the water with a horrid splash. When she resurfaced she was glaring at him. "Oh you come back here!" She yelled, chasing him through the water. He laughed and looked over his shoulder at her.

"Sirius look out for ..." Too late.

Sirius had rammed right into Peter, and they both went down hard, Peter emerging seconds later with a patch of mud from the lake bottom smeared across his face. "Sirius?" Lucy asked, wading over to where he had fallen. She couldn't find him anywhere. "Sirius!" She called again, trying to see through the muddy waist high water.

Suddenly two strong, wet arms came up behind her, pulling her under the water with him. He released her, and they swam up together, emerging face to face, Sirius hands on her small shoulders. Sirius leaned in to her, but for the second time that evening, they where interrupted by Bridget. "Oooh, what is this?" She giggled. Lucy tore her eyes away from Sirius' gray ones, and looked up to the grass, where Bridget was holding up a thick, white envelope.

Both her and Sirius launched forward. Bridget took it as opportunity to open it, and did just that, ripping open the package and pulling out its contents. She scanned the first few lines, and a wicked grin spread on her thin lips. "Hey Dave." She started, imitating Lucy's voice, except making it sound a hundred times more bitch-ish then Lucy's would have thought humanly possible.

"Life at Hogwarts has been pretty fun so far, but pretty hectic at the same time..." Bridget continued, her eyes alight as if it was Christmas and she was opening her first present. Lucy reached her, and snatched the letter away, only to have it snatched away from her by Sirius. "Whats this?" He asked, holding out of her reach. "Give that back!" She hissed. He turned so she couldn't reach it, and began to read out loud.

"Hey Dave,

Life at..yada yada yada...
I really miss you, and wish you where here with me.

How is it at your new school? Knowing you it'll be good.

You probably have girls swarming around you already.

Life here is...so boring with out you. Maybe, if we behave,

we can get them to transfer you here..." Sirius stopped reading.

"What the bleeding hell is this?" He said through clenched teeth, the playful smile he had on earlier completely gone.

"Its just a letter!" Lucy exclaimed, managing to snatch it from him finally.

Sirius didn't look at her, just ignored her, like she wasn't even there. "Listen, I didn't mean what I said when I wrote that it was boring." Lucy started carefully. "I just didn't want him to feel..."

"Save it, Lucy." Sirius cut in.

Everybody was standing around looking at her, not saying anything, and it was making her horribly self conscience. There was this awful feeling in the pit of her stomach, like she wanted to crawl into a dark hole and die! And all her brain kept telling her was "Damn, damn, damn,damn,damn!" It was making her want to hurl! Lily had her head tilted to one side, like she was actually trying to understand why Lucy would write this. James just looked plain mad. Bridget was trying so hard not to smile, and Lucy just wanted to go over to her and punch her, or pull our her earrings, or SOMETHING! Then there was Sirius, who just looked disappointed.

Yup, crawling into a whole and dieing sounds pretty good right about now...

Lucy snatched her letter back.

"This is a personal letter." She said quietly. "And it wasn't meant to be read by anyone but Dave."

With that, she grabbed her clothes, and stalked back up to the castle. Dripping wet,and half nude, she got a few odd looks as she padded through the corridors, up to her dormitory, but she ignored them. It was like a movie, and she felt like she was watching it instead of living it. I wish it wall all a movie, she thought, after spitting the password to the fat lady. If she thought the looks she got in the hallway was bad, the looks she got in the dorm room was murder. Not bothering to explain, she disappeared into the bathroom to melt under the hot water of a shower.

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thelvenalchemist: Thank you:D / I've gone over this chapter a few times, looking for grammar mistakes, hopefully I got them all. I hope you liked this chapter and I look forward to your next review. ;)

JeNnIfEr88: Thank you, I hope you like this chapter too, sorry I took so long to get it posted though.

Alora: Thanks,I'm glad you like it, I hope this chapter is to your liking. :D

Zarroc: Thanks, and ha ha ha, I'm not telling you if they're going to get in trouble yet. Translation: I haven't decided yet, lol. Sorry this chapter took so long to get posted, I would offer an excuse but its really lame and you would probably laugh your head off at me.:D

Lozaline: I love your pen name, its sounds so nice:D. Anyways, thanks, and I hope you like this chapter, and of course it doesn't annoy me, I love reviews ;)