Chapter Text
The sound of glass clattering on the hard wooden floor echoed around the cabin as the bottle was slammed onto the ground.
"This is it, lads!" James exclaimed, "This is the last night before the rest of our lives!"
James Potter was of average height, well build after a lifetime of rugby and a summer of climbing, with gorgeously dark skin and a smile to light up an entire room. Wildly messy black hair flew up and out in all directions, and he slipped a large hand through the locks in a fruitless attempt to tame it. Brown eyes scanned the room from behind thick round glasses as he flopped cross-legged onto the floor. His eyes fell on the boy beside him.
James laughed, "Come on then, Peter! First shots all for you!"
"Screw that, James!" The other boy - Peter Pettigrew- huffed, folding his arms. "What am I meant to do?! Drink it from the bloody bottle? I think you forgot the shot glasses, you dumbass!" He nudged the bottle with a sock-clad foot, snickering as James scrambled to keep it upright.
Peter was a short, stocky boy with bright red cheeks and smiling eyes. His blonde hair stuck flatly to his head in the summer heat, and the brushed it from his forehead with the back of his clammy hand.
"Come on, dude! Suck it up! Shot, shot, shot, shot!" A third boy began to chant. Sirius Black radiated a sense of elegance and aristocracy that most others could only dream of possessing; not that the young adult enjoyed it much. His hair, while typically falling in gorgeous dark waves down to his shoulders, was pulled up into a bun, fixed with a crescent moon hair stick poked right through the middle. As his chanting drowned out into laughter, he lost his breath, pale cheeks reddening from the heat and chuckling.
"If you're so desperate, why don't you drink first?!" Peter hissed, narrowing his eyes at Sirius from across the circle they'd formed in the room.
"Because," Sirius started with a drawl, as though what he was going to say was obvious, "I get drunker faster than you guys, so you should start!" He declared it as though it was a fact to be proud of, and knowing Sirius, it likely was.
"What about you, Rem?" James asked with a smirk, eyes narrowing in on the remaining boy, who was curled up, legs pulled to his chest.
"Oh, uh-" Remus shook his head, caramel curls flopping about as he did, "What were we on about?" He laughed sheepishly, face heating up as he realised he'd zoned out.
Remus was small. Tiny, even. He barely came up to Sirius's shoulders, who must have stood at 6'3, and even though he was around an inch or so taller than Peter, his gangly limbs and bony structure made him look less than impressive. He kept his amber eyes hidden beneath his curly fringe, looking between his friends through the locks. He pulled at the hem of his t-shirt as he waited for James to carry on.
"Why don't you have the first shot? We all know you handle your liqueur better than any of the rest of us!"
"Because," Remus rolled his eyes amusedly, "Firstly, Vodka isn't a liqueur, its liquor. And secondly, we aren't meant to be drinking. If McGonagall catches us, we're more than dead."
James snorted, snatched up the bottle and began to unscrew it. "Oh whatever, Remy! What are they gonna do? Send us home from camp?" He teased with a wink. He flicked the lid, and it was sent flying, colliding with Sirius's head (who did nothing more than mutter 'dickhead' under his breath).
"Okay, so they can't really do anything now, but we still shouldn't-"
"A toast!" James declared, jumping to his feet and gripping the bottle of vodka tight in his hand, ignoring Remus's pleading entirely. "Firstly, to Wormtail," He smiled, tilting the bottle to Peter and looking fondly at his friend.
Remus chuckled to himself as he thought back to the day they came up with the nickname. No, thinking Peter's hand was a rat when he fell asleep under the bed hadn't been Remus's finest moment, but the jokes that came from it was worth the week's embarrassment.
"For, despite his own lack of faith and against all the odds," James continued. "Passing all four of his A-Levels with flying colours and getting into university!" He cheered, beaming brightly at Peter, who was flushed and curled up into a ball, similarly to Remus.
"Aw, come on guys," Peter dismissed, "I couldn't have done it without you lot!"
"We were all in different parts of the country, you idiot!" Sirius laughed, but they all knew what he meant.
James, who couldn't stand in one place for longer than thirty seconds, it seemed, was now back on the floor, arm thrown around Peter. "You, my friend, worked your arse off! And you deserve all those A Stars that you earned!"
"Three of them!" Remus said, nodding with a smile. Peter's face reddened further, and he began to spout denials to his friends.
"And let's not forget Mr Genius here!" Sirius then cried, nudging Remus with his elbow and winking. Desperately, Remus began to shoo away the fluttering feeling that was building in his stomach while Sirius was so near.
"Of course!" James beamed.
"He's only working on his applications for his Master's Degree at eighteen years old! Eighteen!"
Shaking his head, laughing, Peter looked at him in disbelief. "You know, when you told us four years ago that you'd passed your GCSE's and gotten into College at fourteen, I thought you were bullshitting. And then two years later you'd gotten into Uni! You were sixteen! I didn't think it was possible! But you're a year away from getting onto your next course for your Masters, and... I..." He trailed off, still shaking his head about and smiling, awed.
"Come on, Pete," Remus doubted, "I might not get onto the course, and I might not even pass this year, and-"
"We'll have none of that now, Moony!" Sirius scolded, throwing himself at Remus and settling his head in his friend's lap. "We know you'll do brilliantly!"
Moony was a slightly less interesting nickname; when, in his first few days of camp eight years ago, Remus had already gotten himself a reputation of being clumsy, ditzy, and daydreaming, his overly excited roommates (who he'd yet to befriend) settled on a nickname before Remus could even say Hogwarts.
Once he and Peter were given nicknames, it wasn't long before the two other boys followed. James's name, after a hilarious incident with a fork and the love of his life, Lily Evans, presented itself fast - and Prongs was born. For Sirius, after an encounter with a wild dog who he'd managed to calm down, joined with his general dog-like attitude, his name wasn't difficult to come up with.
"Exactly! To you, Moony! Our resident genius!" James lifted the still full bottle as a toast, before turning to Sirius. "And you, Padfoot-"
"Oh, god."
"For... well, uh..." James faltered, chewing on his lip and shuffling on the spot sheepishly.
"Money!" Sirius beamed, winking at Remus once more, "Good ol' Alphard kicked the bucket, didn't he? I have enough money to get plastic surgery and turn me into Prince if I wanted!" Not that you need it , Remus shrugged in his mind.
"What are you gonna do with it, then?" Excited, Peter leant forwards, gnawing on a nail as he did.
"Well, I'm going to travel."
"Really?"
"Really," Sirius clarified, "I've always wanted to see the world and get away from my family, and now I can! I- uh... I'm off to France in about a week, actually..."
James tilted his head, frowning. "So soon?"
Remus's shoulders dropped, and he could feel his face darkening as he glared at Sirius. He didn't want to glare at him; Sirius was allowed to do what he liked, and Remus wouldn't stop that, even if it meant they'd be going their sperate ways for a while. At that moment, it seemed to hit Remus like a truck. They were growing up. His best friends; the best friends he only saw for thirty days a year; were moving on, doing their own things.
And Sirius was one of them.
"Yeah, it was pretty sudden, to be honest," Sirius laughed sheepishly, brushing a strand of fallen hair from in front of his face and tucking it behind his ear - a nervous habit of his that Remus had picked up on years ago and found awfully endearing. "But don't worry!" He exclaimed cheerfully upon seeing the sullen looks on his friend's faces, "I'll only be travelling for a few years, and I'll be coming back to visit all the time!"
Looking only a little more reassured, James moved to ruffle his friend's hair affectionately while Peter spread out on the floor, smiling up at the ceiling.
"Alright, Pads! But you know you'll always be at mine, even if it's just for a few nights!" The blonde beamed, and James nodded violently.
"And mine! My parents love you, anyway, even if you've only met them once or twice!"
Remus didn't say anything, but he hoped the look he gave Sirius made his point clear. Going by the smile he received back, it was.
"Anyway!" Sirius jumped up, snatching the bottle from James, who'd slackened his grip on the vodka during the conversation. "Enough of that! We can talk about me tomorrow-"
"Padfoot, avoiding his favourite topic? What a shock!" Remus teased with the roll of his eyes, and Sirius stuck his tongue out.
"Zip it, you! We aren't done with toasts yet! To James, my brother in all but blood!" The dark-haired boy tilted the bottle to his friend, who remained on the floor, now looking a little flushed and nervous. "To finally, after years upon years of trying, finally won over the love of his life this year!"
Remus couldn't help but soften as James lit up at the thought of Lily. His years of pining had been thoroughly worth it, as she'd finally said yes to a date with him in the New Year, and the relationship had flourished over the past seven months.
"About that..." James started, rubbing his hands together anxiously, eyes flickering between his three friends.
"You're not breaking up, are you? She's not done it over text, surely!" Peter doubted, brows raised and eyes wide.
Scrambling about, waving his hands frantically, James cried out, "Oh god no! We aren't breaking up! Hell no!"
"Then what?" Remus quizzed.
"Well..."
Remus's head was spinning as he looked over the rippling water. Flopping ungracefully to the pebbled ground, he pulled out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter from his jacket pocket.
"So," Sirius began, a little slurred. He fell to the ground even less gracefully that Remus, clearly too drunk to be sneaking out to smoke. "Lily's pregnant..."
"Yeah," Remus drawled, lighting his cigarette and taking a long drag. "And they're keeping it."
Sirius laughed, loud and hearty, and Remus wanted nothing more to hear that sound on loop. " Him, Moony! He said it's a boy."
After Remus gave him nothing more than a disgruntled hum, Sirius huffed.
"Really though, I'm happy for them, but I'm worried they're throwing their lives away over... Well, I feel like saying 'accident' is a bad way to say it, but it's true. They didn't exactly plan for a kid at eighteen!" Sirius finished with a flourish of his hands. He huffed, dropping his head to his knees that were pulled tight to his chest.
"What," Remus hissed, unable to contain the bubbling anger that had been threatening to boil over throughout the past hour of drinking. "And suddenly upping and leaving the country isn't throwing your life away?"
"What the fuck is with you?!" You've had a stick up your arse since the second I mentioned leaving! I'm not throwing away anything, Remus, alright? I just want to travel the world, you know? So, come on, tell me! Why aren't you happy for me? Why don't you want me to go, hm?!" Sirius's voice got louder and louder, and Remus had half a mind to tell him to shut up before the camp councillors heard.
Tell him! Remus argued with himself, tell him you're in love with him and that you never want him to leave!
"Well-" Remus began, fulling intending to tell Sirius after years of keeping it to himself, only to find his friend stormy eyed and raging. He couldn't do it, not when Sirius was already so annoyed at him. He couldn't make it worse. Not on their last night. "I'm not ready for everyone to leave, I guess. I've not wrapped my head around the fact that we're all growing up and moving on, and I'll miss everyone." I'll miss you the most.
Suddenly (so sudden that Remus wondered if he was ever angry at all), Sirius smiled, bright and infectious, and reached over from his spot on the shore to ruffle his friend's dishevelled hair.
"Oh, Moony! If you were going to miss me, you could have just said!" He teased, shuffling so that he was now right next to Remus, sides pressed together, using each others body heat to keep warm in the cooling summer air. Remus couldn't seem to make himself smile as genuinely as he wanted, aching a little at the truth of the words.
Instead of responding - because really, what could he say? - Remus laid back against the pebbles, cigarette still loose between his fingers, and he took another drag. He started up to the sky, at the dark inky night and the pinprick stars against it, and found himself basking in the light of the moon. Stealing a glance at Sirius, Remus found his breath catching in his throat.
Sirius wasn't quite laying but had now stretched out, his legs out in front of him, leaning back on his arms. His face was lit up by the moonlight; a white glow on the end of his nose, hitting his cheekbones and making his eyes shine.
"This won't be the end for us, will it?" Remus finally said after a moment, continuing to stare up at the night sky.
Sirius's head spun around fast, and he looked at Remus strangely with a raised eyebrow. "Us?"
"The four of us," Remus clarified a little too fast, not wanting to give Sirius the wrong idea (he couldn't help but notice how Sirius's face dropped a bit and his lips turned into a small pout - a gorgeous look he wanted to kiss off of him quickly).
"No, it won't," Sirius smiled sadly, "I know why you're worried, though."
"It's just... we've been going to this camp since we were ten years old. I know I only see you guys a few weeks a year, but you're the best friends I've ever had. I can't bear the thought of suddenly losing that just because we've grown up and we're moving on. I still want to be..."
"Us." Sirius finished for him, laying down on the ground fully. He took Remus's hand into his own, and they laid under the moonlight.
Sirius's thumb stroked over the back of Remus's hand, and he felt himself sober incredibly quickly - he needed to get away before he said something he'd regret. Before he said something that would ruin his friendship with Sirius that already seemed to be hanging in the balance over distance. But as he went to pull his hand away, Sirius's grip tightened just a little, as though he was afraid to let Remus go.
"I know we'll all be in different parts of the country-"
"Or a different country entirely."
"-But we'll still be us! It'll still be Prongs never shutting up about Lily, who we still haven't met, by the way!" Sirius laughed, "And Peter will always be worried about his classes and still passing them all. You'll never stop working and be the youngest kid to get a Masters Degree!"
"Sirius," Remus chuckled, turning to his friend, "You say that every time but you know it's not possible! The youngest kid is eight! And, we aren't kids anymore..." He reminded, voice turning dejected at the end.
"I'll be on stages across the world, maybe! Or I'll travel for a bit and come back and teach like I always wanted. Maybe, in a few years time, we'll be back at this camp, exactly where we are now, exactly as we are, but as councillors! Wouldn't that be awesome?!" Sirius exclaimed brightly.
"It would."
"It was always me and you, wasn't it, Rem? James is my brother and Peter is my best friend, but you... yeah-" Sirius finished lamely, cutting himself off.
"Yeah?" Remus asked, eyes narrowing at his friend. Sirius turned onto his back once again and stared up at the moon.
"Yeah." As though that answered the question.
"We'll be fine," Sirius sounded happier this time, but still not as sure of himself. "We'll be okay."
Remus hoped so.