When Doves Cry

Dare Me

~~Don't you push too hard You're playing with fire~~
We waited until the rest of Gryffindor house had gone to bed before starting our game of Truth or Dare. Then, we sat down on the floor in a circle, ready to get down to business. James pulled out two bottles of firewhiskey from his seemingly endless stash of things he shouldn't have, and began to tell us the rules.
"All right, this is to determine which of us is THE Marauder, the one with the most guts. So here are the rules. We have three bowls here filled with slips of paper, the blue one for truths, the red one for dares, the black one for the discard pile. When your person picks either truth or dare, you draw from the appropriate bowl and read out what's one the paper. This way, we don't have to spend forever thinking up things to make each other do. If, for some reason, you find yourself not wanting to perform a dare or answer a truth, you have two options. First, you forfeit your chance at the grand title, and sit out for the rest of the game. Or, you take a shot of firewhiskey and get to continue playing the game. But once you reach five shots, you're out. Also, you can't pick all of the same option. Sirius, I know you like dares, but you have to answer some truths. So only three of the same options in a row, got it? Any questions?"
"Are there other limits?" I asked.
"Like what?" James asked incredulously.
"Like clothing boundaries, for one."
"All right, we'll refrain from daring you to get naked," James said.
"Damn it, there goes my first dare," Sirius said. I thought he was joking, but I could have been wrong.
"And what about a space limit?" Remus added.
"No. No more limits," James said. "Let's just get to it."
And so the game began. We all agreed that James could go first since it was his idea, and the person who got dared or had to answer a truth would go next. James, of course, started out with Sirius.
"All right, mate, truth or dare?" he asked.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Dare," he answered.
He drew from the red bowl and read out the slip of paper. "I dare you to exchange an article of clothing with the player on your right." This was, unfortunately, me.
"Okay, Roxi, let's trade pants, yeah?"
"You have to take yours off first," I said.
He complied pulling off his jeans and smirking at me. "Your turn."
I was suddenly very grateful for my mother's demands that I wear skirts. I pulled Sirius's pants on under my skirt and then pulled it off, managing to show nothing more than the skirt had already revealed.
"Here you go."
He sighed and put on my skirt. "My turn, yeah?" He stared at all of us, frowning. "Moony! Truth or dare?"
"Truth," Remus answered.
Sirius drew from the blue bowl. "What is the craziest thing you've done naked?"
"Skinny dipping with Roxi." Three pairs of shocked eyes suddenly turned to me.
"What? It's not like we did anything. He averted his eyes until I was covered by water, and it was night time so it was harder to see."
"When was this?" James asked.
"Over the summer. My mum was being dreadful, so I went to stay with Remus for a few weeks."
Remus got everyone's attention again by turning to James. "Truth or dare?"
"Dare."
"Do a striptease," Remus read off.
James grinned and stood up, slowly stripping off his tie and shirt while moving his hips. He got his pants off, throwing them at Sirius, and started to grab his boxers when Remus loudly told him to stop.
"That's good enough. No one here wants to see the rest of it."
James sat back down, not bothering to put his clothes back on. "Great. Petey, truth or dare?"
Peter took a deep breath. "Dare."
"Lick the ear of the player on your right. Oh, bloody hell, that's me."
Peter scrunched his face up in distaste but did it anyway. James, too, looked horrified by what was happening, but he dealt with it for the chance to be the crowning Marauder. "All right, Peter, your turn," James aid, wiping his sleeve across his ear.
"Roxi, truth or dare?" he asked after he finished wiping his tongue off.
"Dare."
"Lick the belly button of the player to your right. Who came up with these things?"
"All right, Rems, lift your shirt," I said. He complied, albeit rather unwillingly, making a face when I licked his belly button. "Oh, that was gross," I said. "No offense, Moony."
"None taken. I agree."
"Sirius, how about a truth?" I said.
"All right," he answered.
I drew from the bowl. "If you could become invisible, where would you go?"
"Either the Slytherin dorm to wreak ultimate havoc, or the girl's bathroom during the morning when you're all showering." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"You do know we don't shower together right?"
"Well there goes that happy thought. Thanks for that."
Our game continued like this for awhile. After about an hour, Peter had taken four shots, Remus had taken two, and I had taken one. James and Sirius refused to back down from anything. There seemed to be an annoying amount of dares saying to lick or kiss people, which was awkward for me and downright horrendous for the boys.
"Sirius, truth or dare?" Peter was asking, all though his words were a bit slurred.
"Dare," Sirius said.
"Kiss the person to your right."
"Who put all these kiss and lick dares in here?" I asked.
"I was hoping Lily would play with us," James said sheepishly.
"Pucker up, Fangs," Sirius said.
I rolled my eyes but didn't protest when Sirius leaned over and kissed me. It was just a quick kiss, nothing overly romantic or special, but when his lips touched mine, I felt a sudden spark in my stomach. My eyes widened and I pulled back. Sirius looked shocked too, but he quickly sat back down. I made my expression look normal so no one would know how Sirius's kiss had affected me.
Thankfully, Sirius was moving on, asking Remus truth or dare. It looked like his skin was a little pale, but that could have just been the lighting. I mentally cursed myself, reminding myself that this was Sirius. He was like a brother to me. It had been a silly dare, and I shouldn't waste my time thinking about it.
"Chug as much of that firewhiskey as you can," Sirius dared Remus.
"I highly doubt that's what's written on the slip of paper," Remus said.
"Right you are, Moony! But this is for the Ultimate Marauder! And the Ultimate Marauder isn't afraid to drink firewhiskey!"
"How much do you think he'll drink?" James whispered to Sirius. They were both quite tipsy, not because they had taken shots to get out of doing something, but because they couldn't resist the temptation of firewhiskey sitting right in front of them.
"I say, like two drinks before he gives up," Sirius whispered back, apparently unaware that he was whispering loud enough for all of us to hear him.
Remus narrowed his eyes at them before grabbing the bottle, tipping his head back and swallowing huge drink after huge drink. When he finally put it down, it was almost empty. "I believe that was more than two drinks."
And so the game continued, but the paper slips had been discarded now. Peter eventually took his fifth shot because he didn't want to run up to the seventh-year boys' dorm room totally naked. They probably would have killed him for it.
"I'm going to bed," Peter mumbled, that fifth shot doing him in. "Tell me who wins between you three." He pointed at me, James, and Sirius, completely ignoring Remus. I thought I noticed Remus clench his jaw at being overlooked.
"Remus! Truth or dare?" James asked.
"Dare," Remus said.
James was giggling over the idea in his head. "I dare you to strip naked and walk all the way to the Astronomy Tower and all the way back."
Sirius fell over laughing, giving all of us a nice shot of his boxers since he was still wearing my skirt. "He'll never do it, James!"
"I know! If he did, that would make him the ultimate Marauder!"
Remus's eyes were suddenly steely. He grabbed the bottle of firewhiskey, downing the rest of it.
"What did I tell you?" Sirius said, shaking his head. "He took another shot."
"I knew he'd never do it," James agreed.
But Remus simply tossed the bottle aside, stood up, and stripped off all his clothes. "Watch me," he said in a stone cold voice. James and Sirius both had their mouths hanging open, shocked that Remus was actually going through with it. Without another glance at them, he walked out of the portrait hole.
"Roxi, go with him! Make sure he goes all the way to the Astronomy Tower," James said. I nodded and followed Remus, jogging to catch up to him. He was walking with a brisk pace, his face set.
"Moony, wait up. We have to be careful so we don't get caught."
"Let us get caught," he answered.
"Do you really want Professor McGonagall to see your arse? Or worse?"
"I'm going to complete this dare."
"I know, but can't we at least take some secret passages through the castle to get there faster? James never said you couldn't. All he said was that you had to be naked the entire time."
"All right, fine."
"Great."
We took secret passages through the castle that led us to the Astronomy Tower in half the time it would've originally taken. When we got there, Remus and I spent a bit just standing in the wind, enjoying the night. I had my eyes closed, my head tipped up to the stars. When I heard Remus sigh, I opened my eyes and looked at him.
"What's wrong?"
"Full moon coming up."
"At least you don't have to go through them alone anymore," I said, walking over and grabbing his hand.
"You must think I'm so weak. Your curse is so much worse than mine, but you bear it better than I do."
"Remus," I said, shaking my head. "I could never think you're weak. Our problems are very different, but that doesn't mean yours are less awful than mine. I can't imagine going through such physical and mental torture every single month."
"It does help a lot having you four around."
"I know what you mean. It doesn't matter what happens to me in the future, because I have all of you to make my life wonderful."
He smiled and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, holding me close.
"Hey, Remus? Do you know what I just remembered?"
"What?"
"You're naked."
Oh, hell." He dropped his arm and stepped away from me.
I laughed. "Come on. Let's go back and rub in Sirius and James's faces that you're the top Marauder."
He grinned. "I can't wait to see the looks on their faces."
"I can't believe you actually stripped naked and walked all the way up here."
"It made me angry that they just wrote me off like that. So I proved to them that I'm better." He chuckled to show he was joking, at least mostly.
"Well, at least I've known all along that you're a force to be reckoned with."
We made our way back to the Gryffindor common room, where James and Sirius were waiting. They appeared to have made their way through most of the second bottle of firewhiskey, and they were both laughing uncontrollably.
"Moony!" James called out when we walked in. "The Ultimate Marauder!" He raised the bottle of firewhiskey in a toast to Remus, drinking deeply from it.
"Congratulations, mate!" Sirius said.
"You two were gone for awhile," James said, winking comically at us. "What did you do?"
"A girl never tells," I said with an actual wink.
Sirius had started to grab the bottle from James, but he looked up in surprise, toppling over because he was so drunk. "What??" he said, looking up at us from the floor. "Did you deflower my Moony?"
"Jealous, Pads?" I asked with a laugh.
"No," he said, but he gave Remus a dark look.
Remus and I looked at each other and shrugged. "Anyways," I said, "I'm going to bed. Which means I need my skirt back, Sirius."
"It's so comfy," he said. "Can't I sleep in it?"
I sighed and rolled my eyes, nodding. "Fine. Good night, you three."
"Nights, Fangs!" James and Sirius called out. I chuckled and waved at them in farewell, silently creeping into the girls dorm. I pulled of Sirius's pants, tossing them onto my trunk, and crawled into my bed.
"You're coming in awfully late," Lily mumbled from her bed.
"Oh, sorry for waking you," I whispered.
"What were you doing that took so long?"
"Fun with the Marauders never ends," I answered with a smile.