Remus stood at the divider between platforms 9 and 10. This would be his third year at Hogwarts and he was excited to return to the place which he looked to as a second home. He stared at the blank barrier in front of him, his muggle parents standing behind him. He turned around and smiled at them as they were happily waving back at him. He then ran through the wall which looked solid and hard, leaving the muggle world behind for another year.
His black converse were clicking on the pavement of platform 9 3/4 as he made his way to the luggage drop off. Remus loved Hogwarts he loved everything about it. From the top of Divination classroom tower to the bottom of the potions class floor and even the the bottom of the Slytherin common room. He loved living in a world where so many people didn't know existed.
Although, he would love the world much more if he didn't have to make excuses to his classmates about how he had to leave at the full moon every month. He made excuses like 'My Grandmother is dying.' Or 'My Mum wants my home for her birthday' or 'I'm really sick and I need to go home.' Being a werewolf was hard. Most of his classmates believed him of course and let it pass. But there were always some students that would not tolerate it. They would not let it go and usually the only way he would be able to leave from their interrogation was if one of his friends or a teacher helped him. Peter of course was too frightened to stand up to anyone, especially Severus Snape who always was the one to stop Remus in the hallway and ask him a few questions. Severus would ask things like 'Why leave only days before the full moon?' or 'Why do you look so pale right after the full moon?' At that point though, James or Sirius would step between them and make something. 'Come on Moony, your girlfriend's waiting!' 'Moony! You said you'd watch us practice Quidditch!' 'Moony come on Slughorn wants to talk to you!' Then they'd heard him away without another word. The good thing was without being a werewolf he would never have been accepted to Hogwarts and have such great friends.
Them being so nice however, came every once in a blue moon. Usually they would only stick up for him when he most needed it. Other times they would make werewolf jokes whenever they could.
"Hey James,what do you call a humane wolf?" Sirius would ask in the middle of potions as loud as he could.
"I don't know Sirius." James would say equally as loud, "What do you call a humane wolf?" He responded.
"A werewolf." And with that Sirius and James would be rolling on the floor laughing with Severus glaring over his perfect potion next to Lilly who learned to ignore it all.
They would also make other jokes such as 'What's the opposite of a weeping willow? A whomping willow!' Most of the time Remus would find these jokes funny, other times, mostly a couple days before the full moon, he would yell at them telling them to knock it off. His friends called this time in his werewolf cycle, the period stage.
Remus gave his cart to the luggage man who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but at that place at that time. The man slowly loaded Remus' things into the luggage car. Remus thanked him and headed off for the train doors where he was determined to get a good compartment this year. His travel bag was swinging at his side and his owl happily hooting in the cage in his hand.
On his way to the doors he spotted two second year Ravenclaw boys complaining about the nonsense the Daily Prophet publishes on his left. On his right was a gaggle of Hufflepuff girls who were giggling and pointing at some cute boys, because that's what girls do. The cute boys were probably Sirius and James. Remus turned around to confirm his suspicions, and sure enough, Sirius was jogging up towards him. His owl cage clanking at his side. Behind him was Severus talking to Lilly Evans. They seemed to be having a nice conversation because both Severus and Lilly were laughing so much nearly the whole station could hear Lily's tinkling laugh that was like a bell. James fancied her.
"I yelled at you for over three minutes!" He exclaimed. "And I was almost able to break up Lilly and Snivellus before I decided it would be better to hang out with you." He said nodding back to the two friends behind him. "James would have been so proud. Anyway, I have been yelling at you for three minutes! You'd think that with your super wolf hearing you'd be able to hear me even over this noise." He glared back at still laughing Severus and Lilly.
Remus sighed, "First of all you shouldn't be saying things like that out in public, you know wolf things, and second…" he paused, making sure no one was listening in to what he was going to say next, "I only have super wolf hearing once a month." He finished. Sirius was now glaring at the passing Severus who seemed to hear what Remus had said but pretended to still be engaged in conversation with Lilly. And quickly trying to get Sirius attention before he did something he shouldn't he asked, "Where's James?" Which worked in getting Sirius attention.
"No idea." He said turning back to Remus, "I thought he'd be here first. Oh! Here comes Wormtail." Remus looked over Sirius shoulder to where he was pointing. Behind the oncoming Hufflepuffs was a smaller boy obviously running as fast as he could towards them. Both Remus and Sirius stopped walking toward the train to wait for the small boy so he could catch up to them.
Before he spoke he caught his breath so he could speak without panting, "I ran from the barrier towards you guys so I wouldn't have to find you all on the train all alone again." He told them.
"You didn't have to run." Remus lectured. But Sirius burst into laughter.
"Are you kidding?! That's all the he's going to get all year!" He laughed. But looked up "Oh! Hurry boys! Only five minutes til the train takes off. I bet James is waiting inside with a good compartment." He said sounding a bit nervous. James usually met Sirius outside the barrier so this was something new for him.
One by one they entered the train, shoes clunking on the heavy metal stairs. Once they had all boarded Sirius told them it would be best if they all split up to look for James.
"We'll all meet up here when we've searched the train. Then we can all go and sit with James." He said confident that James was on the Train.
A small group of girls passed them, the Hufflepuff girls Remus had seen earlier. One girl caught Sirius eye and he winked at her. She blushed a deep red and hurried away with her friends who were all jealous that she was the one to get winked at and not them, but they all giggled anyway as if it was some great quest which she had won. Sirius flipped his long black hair as they walked away, obviously proud of himself.
"You'll lose brain cells doing that you know." Peter lectured.
"Ha!" Sirius snorted, "Like I would lose anything looking like this." He posed. Remus turned around before the conversation could escalate any further.
"I'll look up at the front of the train." He told them, though they weren't listening to him so he just headed up towards the front. On his way up he searched the compartments on his right where he saw many people which he knew, which included Regulus Black, Sirius' brother, The two Ravenclaw boys he had seen earlier who were being joined by some fifth year Ravenclaw boys who were chatting loudly about some Quidditch match, and some Slytherin boys who glared at him as he walked by. Remus smiled nervously at them but they just kept glaring. On his way back to the meeting place he searched for James in the compartments to the left where he saw the Hufflepuff girls who were encouraging their still blushing friend to go and confess to Sirius. When they saw Lupin they stopped all conversation. Remus smiled and waved at them and they smiled and waved back. As he left their line of sight he heard them all sigh and he rolled his eyes, he had gotten enough of this back in his hometown. He also passed that nasty group of Ravenclaw girls who followed the Marauders to the library to watch them read. They were really loud and giggly so Remus could never study in silence. Because their giggling was so loud you could probably hear it all the way down in the Slytherin dorms.
One time he asked Sirius and James to leave so he could study in silence. But when they left he thought the girls would follow them, he was half right. Half of the group of six followed James and Sirius, the other half stayed in the library to watch Remus. He couldn't deal with it anymore so he just went to go study in the Gryffindor common room which ended up being a bad idea as well. Gryffindor had won a game that night and they were having a huge celebration party. There was no place in the whole Gryffindor tower to escape the cheering.
Remus didn't Just search for James though. Although Sirius was convinced that James was saving them a compartment Remus was not. So he searched for an empty compartment just in case. He made his way back to the meeting place where Padfoot and Wormtail, which was Sirius and Peter's nicknames, were already waiting for him. Sirius was looking a bit worried now.
"Did you find him?" He asked the moment he saw him. Remus shook his head.
"I only say your brother and those annoying Ravenclaw girls." He said, and Sirius looked even more disappointed. It was possible that James had snuck on just as they had split up to search for him. It was either that or James had missed the train because it had left Kings Cross station over half an hour ago. Remus had his mouth open to tell sulking Sirius this but was interrupted by his watery eyed friend Wormtail.
"Did you happen to find an empty compartment? Or one at least all of us could fit in? If not we could just scare some first years out of a compartment like we did last year." He said hopefully.
"No, did you?" Remus questioned then realizing he was a fool. If they had asked him if he had found any means that they hadn't found any.
Sirius sighed, "The only mostly empty compartment we found that could fit us had Lilly and Snivellus, and I don't think we should sit with them." He growled. "Although…" He said face brightening. "If James came and saw us saving a seat next to Lilly Evans for him he would be so happy. He knows I always have his back and he always has mine. He would be in a really good mood." He considered this for a moment. Either sit with a happy James and Lilly with a side dish of Severus, or scare some first years out of their compartment. "Ok, ok, Alright." He said as if confirming a conversation that they had never had. "We will be sitting with Lilly and Snivels." He announced not really talking to anyone.
They made their way back to the part of the train Wormtail and Sirius had searched. Remus who ended up leading the two others because he was the one Severus least hated stopped he saw both Lilly and Severus engaged in a deep conversation as they were on platform 9¾. Sirius stepped in front of Remus and slammed the door open causing both Lilly and Severus to stop mid sentence and look up at them. Severus seemed to sink into his seat farther than he already had trying to avoid being seen by them. Lilly looked like she has never seen a group of boys before.
"Hey losers, sorry to interrupt your conversation but there aren't any more compartments open and your place is the place that could fit us all." He gestured back to Remus and Peter. "All the other places were full to the brim with other students. So if you wouldn't mind we'll be sharing with you." And without another word he wiped his hair away from his eyes and stared at Lilly for her answer on the situation.
"Umm…" she glanced over at Severus who's black hair covered his eyes making it impossible for Remus to see his expression.
He turned to look at them black hair waving and he shrugged, "Whatever you want to do." He said in a barely audible voice to Lilly.
Lilly turned and smiled at them but in more of a warming smile that anything, "Of course you can sit with us." She said cheerfully. Sirius smiled at her with one of his pretty boy smiles and strode in taking the window seat on Lilly's side he was Remus followed and took the window seat on Severus' side. Wormtail was the last to come in and was about to sit next to Lilli when Sirius and Remus simultaneously pushed him to the seat next to Severus whom Wormtail almost fell on.
Severus looked confused at Sirius who glared back at him, "Don't you usually take the first years compartments?" He asked, "Why don't you just do that?" Lilly shot him a warning look, but he looked back and mouthed 'I'm just trying to start a conversation!'
"Because we're nicer that that." Remus shot back.
"Oh yeah," Severus rolled his eyes, "because you're nicer that that. I should have known."
"That's enough Severus." Lilly said, Sirius had just finished putting his things up in the luggage rack above his seat and had started to help Peter with his things, he sneered at Severus who looked like he regretted saying what he had that because he had upset Lilly. "They asked in perfectly nice manner if they could sit with us." She continued, "And Lupin," she said turning to face Remus who had just finished squeezing his overly packed bag into the racks above his seat, "I think you are very nice." The words had caught him by surprise and he felt a slight blush crawling from his cheeks to his ears and he mumbled a small thanks as he sat down and stared out the window.
Remus then smiled at Lilly who smiled back, Severus in the middle looking slightly jealous of Remus. He pulled out his potions book and started to read occasionally glancing at Remus to see if he was going to make a move.
The Hufflepuff girls from earlier knocked on the door a bit later as one of them asked for Sirius who flipped his perfect black hair and followed her out giving a thumbs up sign to Remus who was asked if he could talk to the other girl. He didn't even attempt to look good in front of her and he sure was not going to mess his hair up like James always did.
"I-I was wondering if-if you would go on t-the first Hogsmeade weekend with m-me." She stuttered. Remus felt kind of bad, she had obviously built up a lot of courage to ask him but he and the boys were going to go to Zonko's Joke Shop to find something to do in the Slytherin common room.
He sighed trying to think of what to tell her, "Listen, I would love to I really would but me and the boys have something really big planned for the first Hogsmeade weekend so maybe the second weekend?" He didn't know if he said the right thing but her face lit up.
"Oh yes that would be wonderful!" She exclaimed. And with that she gave him her name, her house, and where she usually ate lunch then she walked away with her giggling friends.
When Remus stepped back into the compartment Sirius was smiling widely.
"What did you do this time." He asked rolling his eyes. Sirius usually rejected girls it the worst way he could think of so every time a girl asked him out he would crush them.
"I broke her heart and crushed her soul." He said still smiling. Lilly rolled her eyes not even wanting to interact with them.
An hour later the lunch cart wobbled by, pushed by a young beautiful witch.
"She's not going to age well." Sirius whispered to Wormtail who sniggered. Sirius told that to them every year and they still laughed all the same.
They all bought large servings of candies from the cart. Even Lilly bought lots of sweets which surprised Sirius, Remus, and Wormtail. Lilly also, besides her mountain of chocolate frogs, bought each of them a box of Bertie Bott's every flavor beans. Sirius bought an extra for James wherever they met up with him.
An hour after the lunch cart came by, Remus and Lilly were engaged in a detailed conversation on how the Ministry kept Dragons hidden from Muggles. Both of them being muggle born made them very curious with the Wizarding world. Each question they came up with caused more questions to branch off of the first questions. Remus learned that he wasn't the only one with questions about the Wizarding world. Once or twice Sirius would jump in on the conversation telling them how things worked and they were most grateful. He also learned that Lilly had the exact same questions that he had. She had told him that the only things she knew about the Wizarding world are the things the Ministry wizards had told her the day she had received her letter to Hogwarts but they told her nothing else.
When Lilly was talking about her muggle parents, Remus decided immediately that he would tell James everything Lilly had told him. James always told them that he wanted to know more about Lilly and here was Remus' chance to tell him. Remus and Lilly paused for a food break and Remus grabbed a handful of Bertie Bott's every flavor beans when he looked up at Sirius. Sirius was wearing an expression that said, 'You're better at women than I am.'
Remus had to stop chewing for a moment to register what expression Sirius was wearing and when he did he almost spit out his raspberry jam flavored bean. And at that moment James entered the compartment, which was now crowded because of him. He sat in the seat next to Lilly, seeing as it was the only seat open and winking at Sirius who gave him the thumbs up. He waved all of his friends around him so he could tell them all where he had been and why he wasn't there at Kings Cross. Sirius, Remus, and Peter leaned in close because James had started speaking in a low whisper.
"I ran late." He told them innocent look on his face.
"Yeah, we could've guessed that." Peter said rolling his eyes "Why were you running late?" He asked puzzled look on his face.
"I slept in." He said voice quieting even more. Remus had to lean in further than he had to hear, so he was practically touching heads with James.
Sirius snorted, "You slept in huh?"
"Just let me finish!" James whisper-shouted. "Anyway I slept in and didn't wake up until 10:50. So my dad had to apparate me to the station. We got there at about 10:59 and I barely made the Train. Then I realized I didn't know where any of you were so I went looking. I met up with Regulus and decided to stay in his compartment thinking maybe you all would come looking for me."
"We did." Remus told him, "You must've gotten into Regulus compartment after I had searched for you in it."
"Must've." James said, "Well I felt really sleepy and I fell asleep in Regulus' compartment. I woke up about an hour later and started to look for you guys. So I searched the train twice! And I didn't find you. So I looked one more time and then I saw you.
"It was a miracle I saw you through Snivellus big nose. If I didn't check twice behind it there is no way I'd ever find you." He said loud enough for Severus to hear. He blushed a bit and buried his face further into his potions book. Lilly glared at them for a second, then turned away finding entertainment in her luggage bag.
Then when James was sure Lilly had stopped paying attention to them he said in such a quiet voice that they all leaned in so far that they were touching heads to hear. "I actually heard you talking to Lilly." He directed at Remus. "I just wanted to know more about her." He blushed then leaned back into his chair conversing with Sirius about all the pranks they would do this year.
Sirius barked a laugh at one James had whispered in his ear. Remus didn't think the prank would mean well for any of them because he was pointing at Severus while he said it.
"Well I bet you wouldn't do any different." James said sternly, then not being able to hold back a laugh anymore he joined Sirius in laughing about it.
Remus, Sirius, Peter, and James took turns telling each other about each others summers the rest of the way to Hogsmeade Station. James glanced at Lilly nearly once every second. Lilly however, was not paying attention to him. She was engaged in a quiet conversation with Severus in the corner.
They all dressed into their school robes and took their things down from the luggage rack as the train started to slow down. Sirius "accidentally" bumped Severus causing him to drop all of his things on the floor. Sirius, James, and Peter burst out in laughter. Remus rolled his eyes and tugged on his travel bag which refused to come down from it's place. Remus gave it one more tug with all of his strength and it popped out like a cork on a champagne bottle. He toppled over backwards onto Sirius who was still laughing at what he had just done.
"Remus!" He shouted, "Get your huge wolf body off of me! You weigh a ton!" He exclaimed. But Remus didn't move. He just sat there as if he didn't hear anything. "Remus!" He shouted again squirming under his weight. If Remus was in a different position Sirius could've lifted him up. "Remus I'm being serious!" he wined. People were passing their compartment and pointing at them laughing.
"Yes." Said Remus resisting laughing out loud, he was just going to stay quiet but he just couldn't let this pun slip by him, "You are Sirius." At this point both Lilly and Severus just left rolling their eyes at the two of them.
"No! Please! I'm being crushed and- James stop laughing- I'm dying!"
"This is your punishment."
"I didn't do anything!" Sirius cried pushing at Remus.
"Yes you did." James said understanding.
"You made a Wolf joke in front of Snivellus." Remus told him.
"I do that every day in potions!"
"You might as well just tell him straight out now." Remus said.
"He might get you in your sleep for saying that." James said. They usually pranked each other in the night for things they did or didn't do.
The crowd outside their compartment was thinning and Remus hopped off of Sirius who shot up with happiness acting as if nothing had just happened, all the same he looked like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
"Alright men let's go Hogwarts won't wait for us forever!" He called shooing them out of the compartment grabbing his things on the way.
Remus stepped out smiling ready for their fifth year at Hogwarts.
