Remus Lupin is definitely too pretty to die. (lykanthropos) wrote in find_horcruxes, @ 2010-01-23 20:13:00 |
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Meredith had kept up a smile throughout the ceremony. Truthfully, she was happy for one of her best friends getting married. She had tried all her best not to start crying over it. Because even those would have been happy tears, they would have eventually turned sadder when thinking of the fact that she was going to be leaving her and Greta to live with Boyd, and then to the fact that neither of them had been staying with each other because of the horrible memories the cottage brought up. Yes, best to just skip all that, smile and give hugs. And then at the reception, she could sit by the drinks table and watch everyone else dance and have a good time. She hadn't had anything against being pulled to the floor when someone wanted to giver her a whirl. Appropriately, she smiled and appeared to enjoy the moment. But now, she had glued herself to a seat to the side and couldn't really get herself to smile. Though she had her lips covered with the wine glass half the time. Her third one, actually. Barty would have been here. If no one had seen it, if he had kept them fooled, he would have been the one twirling her around. And she would have loved every moment of it, bloody hell. Or who knew if this would have happened because he might have done the deed again and killed-- Meredith's stomach turned slightly at that thought and she quickly shoved it away. Best not to mull. Keep drinking, Mere, just keep drinking all on your lonesome. It was something of a comfort to know that for as much he was downing his... er... Remus looked at his glass, the liquid swirling around inside it. He didn't know what it was because one of the MacFusties had decided to lend a hand, grabbed a few bottles, and essentially mixed something up with assurance that he'd like it without giving it a name or any sort of label. If he had to guess, it was on-the-spot improvisation by someone who appeared to have gotten down to drinking quite some time ago. Any other time he probably would not have merely shrugged, accepted the glass with a thanks, and gotten straight to work on it. It truly didn't matter much about what he was drinking so long as there was that tell-tale taste of alcohol, and that alcohol was doing its job. And so it was a comfort to know that for as much as he was downing his God-only-knows-what cocktail, half the party was already three sheets to the wind or swiftly approaching it. Only, there came a spot of trouble when the glass ran empty. Remus gave it a look, and the decision wasn't even up for debate, apparently. His feet were already walking back to where the main holdout for liquor was before he realised it. It wouldn't do to waffle around looking like a lost soul, but a glass in one's hand gave purpose. Or, well, an excuse for any daft expressions. The party itself was doing well to take his mind off other things, anyhow. His mother, the Order, werewolves... everything was on his mind, and yet a look around at the grins and antics afoot would chase it away for a few moments. It wasn't a bad idea to go, but then his thoughts would reel around, and there were fresh wounds that couldn't be fully ignored. Still, it wasn't a bad idea. Certain things couldn't be helped was all. Remus didn't even see the face of the girl sitting near the drinks as he squinted at the label of some whisky, just to make certain it was suitable. Drink poured, he looked around for a place to hunker down for the moment, and spotted the one beside the girl holding a wine glass. "Anyone sitting..." She looked familiar, although with the glass in the way, it took a few seconds before things clicked. "Meredith?" Lost in thoughts for a moment there, Meredith didn't see Remus walk up, or squint at the bottle from which he had poured his drink. She'd been taking her next couple of sips, and though the glass was still half-full, she was already contemplating whether to have the same one or something different for the next one. The fourth one. Apparently, this spot was perfect for seclusion in case anyone from the bride's side wanted to stop her from drinking herself to a stupor. Not secluded enough though, to earn her complete privacy. Meredith had half a mind to tell him to get a seat somewhere else, but that was before it registered that it was Remus Lupin asking for the seat. Her words were lost in her throat, when she instantly remembered the Daily Prophet article on his mother's death and for a second or two she could only look at him. This month was already absolutely hell on the world. Yet here they were, both at a wedding, something that was supposed to be a joyous occasion for everyone. "No one's sitting here. Go ahead." "Thanks," Remus replied, smiling slightly at Meredith as he took the seat. He thought for a moment that she didn't look like she wanted company, and her voice was only amplifying the suspicion, but with the gathered crowd, company was impossible to dodge. Not a bad thing, really, because going on with life was about the best thing he knew he could do for himself. ...sitting next to Meredith Watkins in a semi-inebriated state, on the other hand, was not in the plans. Remus looked at her for a brief moment, looking as if to say something, but then he turned away, took a drink from his glass. What was there to say? "I... wasn't expecting the dragon." Of course, random statements always worked. "Er -- during the ceremony, I mean." "Oh," Meredith said, cringing inwardly at the random response. To make up for sounding a little stupid, she gave him a small smile. "Yeah. Heh, surprise!" Still a little lame. "Yeah, I guess not many people who know of Nessie were expecting it." This was a little awkward. It seemed like once you started part of a conversation with someone, you just had to keep going because if you stopped it and still sat there, the silence would be extremely uncomfortable. Unless one person walked away. And frankly, Meredith was comfy where she sat. The last bit of the alcohol went down her throat fast before she glanced back over to Remus. "Soooo... what do you have there?" Remus cringed inwardly, too. Even as the words left his mouth, he knew they couldn't sound like anything but an attempt to fill the awkward silence. Only, filling the awkward silence with awkward sound never made anything better, and he was about to leave the conversation where it was to fade away to quiet once more. Brows were raised as Meredith spoke up again. "Oh, it's..." Remus turned to the table with the bottles, but eventually just gave it up. "Whisky. Of some sort. Or at least that's what the bottle wanted me to believe." He gave his glass a look, laughing mildly, though his brow crinkled with some notion of worry. "I don't even like whisky." Neither did Meredith. But she would take it now just to fill up her bottle. "Hey," she gestured toward a bloke with moppy hair -- likely one of the thousand of MacFustys here -- that had walked up to the table and was pouring himself a glass. "Share some here too." She held out her glass but in order for him to reach it, she had to turn in her chair and stretch out her arm further. And ended up facing Remus. A good look at him told her that he'd already had his fair share of drinks for the night. "Whatever it is," she said, taking her glass back. "Good enough for me. Some, uh,... crazy month. Yeah?" She wanted to say sorry properly. Journals wouldn't put the message through clearly, and it was bad enough that she'd yelled at him the last time they talked anyway. But she didn't want to bring up the topic so callously either. "For, well, a lot of people." A pause to take some gulps of her drink. "That's the spirit," Remus replied, voice somewhat carrying an amused tone, but laced with that mellow effect of the alcohol and a dose of sarcasm. He lifted his own glass and took a healthy swig from it. Somewhere in the distance a whoop of laughter burst out from a small crowd of men in kilts, and Remus looked instinctively toward the sound. A smile lit upon his face, small, but present. It dimmed the moment Meredith pressed on, though. A crazy month. She was alluding to grim news. "Yeah." He rubbed a thumb across the glass in his hands, examining the way the condensation cleared at his touch. "But what can you do? It's just... it's just the way things go sometimes." Meredith wrinkled her nose as she swallowed the drink. It wasn't nearly as disgusting as it would have tasted if she hadn't had the drinks before that to numb her senses somewhat. But it was still mildly bitter. "Yeah, you can't really-- yeah." She glanced down at her glass, swirling the liquid in it for a moment before looking back up at Remus. She was still facing him, having not moved back to her original position after receiving the drink. "I'm sorry for your loss." She needed to say something, better now than later because the excess alcohol might cause her to babble out more than what was necessary. "Oh, and... Remus?" This was probably the last sort of conversation Remus wanted to have at a wedding of all places, but so long as no one was tearing up or anything, maybe it wasn't terrible to give it a moment to be said. It wouldn't linger on their minds after that, at least. In theory. "Likewise," Remus returned, brows knitted slightly. There wasn't much more to be said than that. They both knew what it was to lose a parent in such a way as Seymour Watkins and Madeline Lupin died. It was more an unspoken thing in that respect, Remus figured. "Go ahead. I'm all ears." Meredith put up the hand that held her drink, to create emphasis on her next words. "Months ago. Remember? When you and Addie weren't together anymore?" Looking at her drink, she paused and then quickly chugged down the rest of the drink. Silly thin champagne glasses, it was like you could only get ten millilitres in there. Why wasn't there a bigger glass around? But she looked back at Remus, preferring to get her apology out first before looking for the bottle again. "I, uh, I'm sorry. That I insulted your penis size. Addie never indicated the size. So I wouldn't actually... you know. Know it. I'm sure it's nice, though." It was easy to nod at Meredith. He did recall months ago when he and Addie split, but what was on Meredith's mind was slipping between his grasp until she flat-out said it. And Remus looked at her. Simply looked at her all agog. Then he drew his brows up, and gave it a thought. Eventually, the straight line of his mouth wobbled, and as rocks down the cliff side, once a piece chipped away, the rest fell straight after. He snorted at first, trying to keep his laugh fenced in, but it wasn't any use. "I'm --" Laughter shattered his ability to finish, and so he gave in to it. That was unexpected, but it was that out-of-the-blue quality that only made it more hilarious to him. He slapped a hand over his mouth, trying to find his composure before she thought him mad. Meredith watched him react, expecting more of an "It's okay". But, well, yes she had just told him that she was sure his penis was nice and it was an absolutely absurd thing to say after sharing condolences. Hey, she was saying sorry, so it only made sense to say sorry for something else that was on her mind too... only made sense for about three seconds there. She smiled when he started laughing, letting out a small chuckle as she shrugged. But it was so damn contagious that she started to laugh with him. "I'm sorry," Remus finally managed, once he had enough of a grip on himself to say it without it getting diced up by intermittent laughs. He chewed his lip, trying to will a second round back down before she thought him mad for carrying on. It was just... of all the things she could have said, that was nowhere within his view. It was well beyond the horizon, and suddenly smack! He could only have laughed. Eyes held on his glass, Remus seized enough control to lift it and take a drink -- although stop mid-action was necessary to avoid choking, and he bit down on the rim of the glass while a chortle was reined in. "Don't even... don't worry about that. It's all forgiven," he told her around a giant, wobbly grin. "That's... well, that's, um..." Meredith's own laughter subsided but also threatened to come back out again. "A relief." Her eyes went down to her own glass, and realized it was empty. The bottle wasn't in arms reach so unfortunately, she just had to push herself up to go grab it. She felt absolutely light-headed when she stood but she was able to maintain her footing as she walked to and fro her chair. When she sat down, she poured herself another drink. "You know? You look like someone I could get pissed with. Or maybe you already are. Just how much did you get in already?" That was a hearty laugh, and it seemed that she had not had such a laugh in too long. If hanging out with Remus Lupin tonight brought out more of those, maybe it was a good idea to take his company. Till either Greta or Addie showed up wondering what in blazes they were splitting their sides over. It took a moment to realise that Meredith's weaving as she walked was actually her own doing, and his perception hadn't gone to the dogs just yet. It shouldn't have, at least. He wasn't quite that saturated unless he was having a severely off day and the alcohol was dividing and conquering his brain cells faster than usual. That didn't really appear to be the case, though. He looked up to her as she reclaimed her seat, smiling more like his usual subdued and mild style generally provided. "Not overly pissed yet," Remus replied, lifting his glass for her to see that... "I'm only on my sec--" He squinted as the glass passed through his own vision. Empty. "Huh." At least the table was within his reach from his seat. He stretched over, grabbed a bottle, and rectified the situation. Halfway through the motion of putting it back, he stopped and turned to Meredith. "Maybe we'll just... keep this over here," he told her while leaning over to put the bottle on the ground between the two chairs. Whether it was whiskey or anything else, it was quickly becoming something she didn't mind chugging down. Maybe as the more inebriated she became, the more tasty the drink became as well. Whatever the case was, there was a chance that that bottle on the floor would finish up quickly. "Good idea!" she said chirpily. "Best part of weddings, you know. Getting pissed at the reception. Though I guess the bridesmaid dress is nice too." Yellow surprisingly didn't wash her out. "D'ya ever see yourself getting married, Remus?" Remus gave the dress in question a slight appraisal, simply because it had been brought up. He gave a nod. It was a nice dress, indeed. It was cheery and chipper in that yellow, and something about that fact seemed a reasonable excuse to smile, even as he mulled over the question asked. "Married? Well..." "Not at all" would have been the knee-jerk answer, but there wouldn't be any saying that. He lifted his glass, drinking through a thoughtful pause. As far as dating had gone, the girl he did briefly see was the bride today, and the girl out in France was looking to be better off without keeping in contact with him. After what had happened Wednesday night, nightmares coming true... "Maybe one day," he told Meredith, although he wasn't certain how his words ended up sounding so hopeful. Still, it was a maybe: maybe so, maybe not. It was a pretty neutral stance, and it didn't cast off the idea overall. Marriage would be nice, Remus felt. More than half the time it didn't seem feasible, but one never knew. "Far off in the... you know. Maybe then." He looked at her, debating if it was safe to return the question. Whether or not he was on the way to a place named Sloshed, he remembered that Barty was her boyfriend. With everything that happened because of him... no, better not ask. Meredith nodded to his answer. And it better that he had not asked because she had almost started thinking of the answer to that question herself but had immediately squashed it away. The answer in her head was a very loud NO, and before it could cause her to feel anymore sorry for herself, she took another gulp of her drink to silence that voice. "I get what you mean," she said, nodding again. "It'll happen though. I can see it. You're nice, and very cute. So it'll happen. Maybe you ought to catch the bouquet when Addie throws it." She gave a little squint as she examined his attire and then laughed. "I think it would go great with that navy blue too!" But Remus shook his head, fairly snorting as he took another drink. "At the rate I'm goin'... the only way I'd catch anything is if it fell on me and I --" He stretched his arms out because somehow he always had a habit of making lots of arm-flapping motions the drunker he got. It might have been his body's attempt to make up for a soggy ability to think up the right words. Where he couldn't say it, looking like a giant daft bird seemed a fair trade-off. "I just happened to have my hands out." Liquor spilled over the rim of his glass as he retracted his hands. He gave it a look -- or at least the grassy patch where it fell. "Well, good thing there's more where that came from," was the mild remark. "Don't tempt me. I might be inclined to levitate the thing RIGHT TO YOU." Meredith paused and tilted her head thoughtfully. "Unless someone wants to get that bouquet. Then you might get trampled. I don't know if you might fancy that but I sure wouldn't want that to happen to you!" Instinctively, Meredith twisted in her seat to move her dress away when the drink spilled from his glass. "Two bottles even. Or maybe more. I bet we're probably more sloshed than the bride and groom themselves." "No... no, thanks," Remus insisted, shaking his head, splaying his hands out before him (although careful to not entirely lose his grip on his glass). "I don't -- I... I can do without being trampled. Really, I've taken a look around, and I'm not even a fraction of a... uh... another fraction inclined to see if I can take on any MacFusties." He then nodded toward a far-off bloke stumbling around the rest of the crowd and receiving shoves to keep wobbling along past circles of conversation and couples and even just individuals that didn't want someone like that leaning into their good clothes. "Long as we're not that bad, s'all right." The man toppled over into a small bit of hillside shrubbery. Remus vaguely wondered if he'd ever find his way back out. It was a sore sight better a problem to think about than what life had given him to cope with beyond this party, at least. Meredith followed his gaze to the bloke that was well out of his mind and winced. Yeah, that was not the way she pictured herself when she wanted to get pissed. "No, no, I think I have enough control not to end up like that," she said, almost laughing at the poor guy. It was highly amusing but also not a good idea to pass a conversation in nothing but laughter. "Although. If you think you're able to still stand on your two feet, maybe we can have at least one dance? For the sake of forgetting misery for some time to get drunk and live in a moment away from that mess. After polishing off the bottle, of course!" Remus's eyes wandered toward the area that, while not quite an officialised dance floor, appeared to be hosting enough attendants having a spin. "After the bottle's gone," he agreed, smile slight on his face. "At least one dance. I think I can manage that." |