The girls forced me into one of the few dresses I owned and I was able to fight them against curling my flat hair, I didn't want to look too different and cause attention to myself.

I heard music start from downstairs in the common room and people pile in through the fat lady's door. Just like the girls said, party started when it got dark. 

I glanced out of the dorm window and it was pitch black, the crescent moon only casting blue toned fog on the forbidden forest in the distance. 

Alice, Lily and Marlene all hung onto each other's arms and went down to the party after I protested I'd join them in a few minutes. I needed time to get out of this dress.

Once they all left, I quickly ripped the dress off of my body and replaced it by my everyday clothes and my red muggle shoes, the converse. 

I knew that the girls were going to be mad at me for not sticking to the "only wear a dress, this is a party Arty!" rule. I just couldn't do it, this was my first party and I needed to ease into it one step at a time. A dress wasn't involved in that first step.

Anxiety rippled through my body as the noise from downstairs only grew louder and louder. I paced around the room, giving myself a prep talk "It's just a party" I started "Just a party"  I repeated. 

My pace around the room increased and I almost bit onto my bottom lip so hard with nerves that it bled.

"Ok, Ok. I can do this! Talk to people, ask about interests and...the music! The music is a great conversation starter, right?" I spoke nervously to myself "Compliment people's outfits and ask about the Quidditch game" I continued "and have fun" I smiled sarcastically at my reflection in the mirror I found myself staring into "Oh Merlin..." I felt sick to my stomach. Like a war was blowing up in the pit of my stomach, bombs rattling my ribcage causing my organs to shake.

I took a final deep breath in and patted my sweaty hands against my dark coloured jeans. I gave my reflection a reassuring nod and stormed out of the dorm door before I could change my mind and throw myself under the covers of my bed for safety.

The common room was packed full of people from all different houses. I saw some familiar looking Hufflepuff's from herbology and a few Ravenclaw's I recognised from Potions class and also surprisingly, a good amount of Slytherin's that I knew from being associated with the Black family. 

There was a mixture of every house, all different blood types and different skilled students all crammed together in the space of the Gryffindor common room, getting along as if everyone was best buddies. It was a nice sight, but also slightly unsettling when you realised that some of the, now giggling and dancing partners, will go back to talking bad about each other by tomorrow morning.

There was a make shift bar in the corner of the room, inside of the large fireplace (without fire though, of course) I wonder how they've managed to create a bar in the common room without a teacher batting an eyelid? I continued to stare ahead, lost in thought.

"It's amazing what Sirius can get away with, he can be insanely clever when there's a motive involving alcohol" Someone said beside me, I turned my head quickly and saw Peter, looking a little too smiley, standing next to me.

"What?" I asked him.

"You wondered how there was a bar in here? If you can even call that a bar" he responded, "Yeah you said that out loud" He laughed at my confused face "Not loudly though" he playfully bashed his shoulder against mine and I awkwardly laughed.

We stood for a while in silence, observing everyone chatting, dancing and laughing with each other.

"You look nice by the way" He smiled up at me, as I was slightly taller than him.

"Oh, thank you...so do you" I said. Compliment someone's outfit, check. He looked down at his shirt, looking proud of himself.

"So..." He began.

"So...?" I mimicked him, feeling nervous and the sound of the room not helping towards that factor. It was becoming harder to hear Peter over the noise.

"You wanna drink?" He beamed up at me.

"Would love one." I smiled honestly. I needed to relax.

REMUS' POV

"You see Lola Lucksworth over there?" Sirius pointed. I looked over and saw the Ravenclaw girl, another prefect, talking to her friends near our planned seating area "She's a Ravenclaw. Which in all honesty I wouldn't really lean towards because they act like they know everything, but I think I'm gonna get with her tonight- she's looking mighty fine" He said looking smug.

"I know she's a Ravenclaw, you forget I'm a prefect too Pads" I sighed "And I also know she does in fact know a whole lot more than you do and you should probably head up to bed to dream about this 'moment' with her...she's got a boyfriend so that's the only way that's gonna happen!" I pointed at the Hufflepuff boy heading towards her with a filled cup.

"Toby McFarrow, year above. They're both way out of your league mate" I laughed at him as his face dropped dramatically, watching Toby slide an arm around Lola's waist.

"He's not even that good looking" He protested, jealousy boiling in his face.

"You mean the wavy, golden blonde hair doesn't do it for you? The perfectly tanned skin, even in the snowy winter and the tall muscular frame doesn't make you dribble with need and a hint of jealousy?" I dramatically bit my lip and sighed sarcastically "You're really improving Pads, I'm proud of you. Gaining some self-control" I slapped him on the back, snapping him out of staring intensely at the couple and laughing at him.

"What you actually don't find him good looking?" Sirius gaped at me, trying to read my expression. 

Sure, Toby was good looking in a "I'm not attracted to you but I'm also not blind" way and I knew Sirius was desperate for someone else in our group to first hand understand and experience what it was like to be bisexual; but even with trying my hardest to see myself in a sexual or romantic situation with another male, I just couldn't ever get past the almost kiss stage of the imaginary situation without feeling uncomfortable. Actually even thinking about doing anything with any of the girls here brought on a layer of anxious sweat due to discomfort. 

The other boys accepted Sirius for liking both boys and girls and didn't care about him pointing out boys the same way as we all did with girls. Well, except me. 

However, they didn't even try to listen to Sirius' pleads on 'Just imagine it! Don't knock it till you've tried it, have you ever thought about a boy that way? If not try it, you never know! I didn't know straight away!' and because I did... 'try to think about it' to understand at first, Sirius made up his mind that I was a closet bisexual myself, which I wasn't. 

He was constantly trying to get something out of me to confirm his theory. He tested me constantly, which had just become our own form of banter.

I shook my head "Yeah he's alright looking. He's just a masculine sporty guy, I envy that, I'm not attracted to that" I laughed and took another sip of my drink and Sirius sighed.

"Fair enough, I too usually am attracted to the soft looking boys instead of the hunks" He winked at me.

"I'm not attracted to boys Padfoot" I smiled, shaking my head at him and he threw up his hands in surrender and we both laughed at the silliness of our conversation.

*

I scanned the room looking for Marlene, planning to act cupid for the night and beckon her over to me and Sirius and then leave them be. 

They both didn't see it, or maybe just ignored it but they were so obviously flirty with each other that the sexual tension around them was almost like stepping into a sexy novel.

The same with Lily and James, maybe not on the same level. They were more playful and charming with each other rather than aggressively in your face like Sirius and Marlene. I didn't have to worry about playing cupid for them though, because on their own they had attracted to each other like magnets as soon as the party had started and were playfully dancing together like children with Alice and Frank.

Suddenly I saw Arty and Peter stood near the staircase talking to each other. I felt my mouth slightly gape open and I snapped it close with a sip of my drink and acted like I didn't care. I hadn't seen Arty except inside the walls of a classroom for days.

I didn't really know what to say to her as she was so obviously avoiding the small waves I gave her or the awkward conversation I tried attempting in the first day or two, that I had just decided to stay away.

Maybe my chat with her that night made her feel uncomfortable and I didn't want that. You can't force someone to like you, can you? She seemed to smile around Snape confidently, instead of hiding her face with her hair like she seemed to do around me.

I looked at her, her dark , straight hair hung loosely around her face and shoulders like it always did and although she looked like she had the potential to be the most comfortable girl in the room, by what she was wearing, she looked like the most nervous and uncomfortable out of everyone I could see. 

I liked that she wasn't insanely dressed up, she just came to the party as herself and she looked nice, approachable. She probably wasn't going for that though.

I watched as she followed Peter over to the bar and press her lips against a green cup (Green because Slytherin won the Quidditch match, but James insisted a party was still necessary, even if it was to drown our sorrows) and watched her as she so obviously tried her hardest to come up with conversation with an already tipsy Peter. I wanted to go talk to her like Peter was...maybe not cause her to hunch with embarrassment though, like he was.

I turned to Sirius who was bopping his head subtlety to the beat of the music.

"You still planning on saying sorry to Arty?" I said, playing it off like it wasn't a big deal to me. Sirius rolled his eyes.

 "I'm not a bad guy, of course" He insisted.

"I mean if we're asking the mighty lord above he might say that you're on the verge of being a bad guy" I smirked to myself, still observing everyone from afar.

"Funny" He held back a grin "But really, I've been trying to figure out a way to friendly slide in and say 'Yeah I'm sorry for being a prick' but I just haven't found the right time, or words" he sighed and took a large gulp of his drink.

"I don't think that approach is really going to work out anyway" I smiled at him. He shook his head slightly, looking frustrated.

"and actually why should I have to apologise when she's hanging out with people like Snivellus, that's a crime she should be held accountable for" He crossed his arms, them squeaking lightly because of the leather jacket he wore.

I stayed silent as Sirius began talking to a girl from Hufflepuff, surprisingly not flirting and I zoned out looking over at Arty again. 

She was still with Peter but Peter was instead talking to a familiar looking guy from Ravenclaw, she just seemed to hover next to him as if she didn't know where to head off to next. Her arms were folded around herself and she lightly swayed to the music playing, watching the people dancing. I saw her lightly smile at the sight of Alice and Frank kissing to the music and in return I felt the corner of my mouth tug upwards at her reaction to them.

Suddenly I was snapped out of thought when the Hufflepuff girl left Sirius and he turned back to me.

"She was just telling me about Profess- Oh" He stopped and looked between me and Arty "I understand now" His face seemed like he was watching a drama unfold in front of him.

"Understand what?" I said, honestly confused. He moved to face me instead of standing by my side and lead us over to the bar to fill our drinks again.

 "You  want me to clear the conflict between Arty and I for you, not me or her" He shouted in a hushed tone as he snatched the cup out of my hand filling it with a little too much fire whisky for my liking. I scoffed at what he was implying.

"That's not true" I frowned and laughed slightly at how ridiculous he was being.

"It totally is true, I have to get James on this" He started speaking to himself "I have to talk to James, where's James?" He frantically looked around the room.

"No, no stop it!" I grabbed him and made him face me.

"If there wasn't a reason, you wouldn't be trying to stop me from speaking to James. We all know James can't keep a secret! So, what is it?" He raised one eyebrow up at me and widened his eyes, placing a hand on his hip like an angry mother.

"I honestly don't know what you mean!" I huffed feeling defeated and he smirked a little.

"Just can't stay away from us, can you?" He licked his lips and shook his head, I laughed.

 I smirked, piecing together that he meant his family.

"Yeah I should really try harder on the detached personality thing, shouldn't I? Using "Us" positively to describe my family and then hating the next? Stop trying to avoid myself and all that jazz?" He scrunched his face up.

"Yeah man, I was gonna check that you were alright? You have been acting strange recently" I said and Sirius smiled.

"You could say things just took a...Sirius turn" he joked, looking for a reaction, forgetting I wasn't James. If James was here he'd be screaming with laughter and playfully slapping everyone's arms for the same reaction. Instead I kept my face deadpan and blinked at him until he stopped throwing finger guns at me.

 "You're no fun" He sighed "No need to worry though Moony, seeing Reggie and Arty so frequently has just...I don't know, confused me? Coming to terms with everything I guess" He seemed to ask and admit to himself.

"They both seem like completely different people and I don't know who they are anymore. It scares me...the unpredictability of it all" He admitted, looking a little sad. I placed an arm around his shoulder and held him closer to the side of me.

"I forget how difficult this must be for you Pads, I'm sorry" I gave him a good squeeze of his shoulder "I do honestly think you should give her a chance though! You might feel like you have something in common with someone from you family, finally" I said genuinely and he looked down at his feet.

"What if she rejects me? What if she doesn't like me?" He looked like a worried child, pretending to be tough in a leather jacket.

"Who doesn't like you? Other than Snape!" I reassured him and he smiled brightly at me.

"love you Rem" He hummed and finished off his cup.

 "Love you too Pads...but yeah your cousins kinda cute" I smiled cheekily at him changing conversation.

 "I fucking knew it!"  He shouted over the music "JAMES GET YOUR ASRE OVER HERE, YOU OWE ME TEN GALLEONS!" He screamed, making some people turn around.

 "You guys bet on me?" I rolled my eyes.

 "You bet your arse we bet on you, who do you take us for?" Sirius smirked, making his way over to James without me.