1 Remus Lupin

Our story begins at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in September 1971, where 4 young wizards are about to start their first year of secondary school. Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and James Potter were 4 young boys whose lives, from the day they met, seemed to revolve around each other, as if their destinies had been sewn together by fate. So lets take you back in time to the days long before the ones you know of the Wizarding World, to one nearly 30 years prior - The story of the 4 boys who called themselves The Marauders.

Remus Lupin sat at the back of the Hogwarts Express, staring out of the bleak window, a giant smile filled with excitement on his face. Never before had Remus Lupin been allowed to go to school, or anywhere near other children, after he was bitten by Fenrir Greyback, a werewolf working for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Thankfully, Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, made some arrangements to make sure that Remus would be able to attend Hogwarts as an ordinary wizard. His parents were so proud when they heard he could go - but he hoped these "arrangements" would be safe to the other students, as he didn't want to let his parents down, who were reluctant to send him to school in the first place. He had to make sure he didn't let them down - he was determined to.

As the bright scarlet train steadied to a halt, Remus quickly gathered his things and got out of the compartment he was sat in, but smashed face to face with a black haired boy with glasses.

"S-sorry, wasn't watching where i was going..." Remus stammered, blushing slightly. the boy, however, didn't seem hurt at all. Instead, Remus saw him smile in return.

"Calm down, mate, I'm fine!" The boy slapped him on the back with a friendly smile.

"Anyways, keep moving, I can't wait to see this castle thing we're all making a fuss about."

The two boys got off the train and were greeted by a giant with a big, bushy black beard. "Righ', everyone, follow me, you don' wan' t' get lost on your way in. I'm 'Agrid, the gameskeeper, and i don' suppose Dumbledore'll be 'appy if half his students don' turn up, now, so keep it movin'." The giant walked towards a big lake, leading to the most magnificent castle Remus had ever seen - although, he had to admit, he hadn't seen many. They all got on the boats in groups of 4, and Remus was accompanied by the dark-haired boy, another, taller dark-haired boy who was chomping down a packet of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and a smaller, sandy haired, pudgy boy trying to fish out a chocolate frog that had fallen into the river. Even though he was a wizard, Remus had never seen anything like the sweets these boys seemed to have stuffed into their pockets, as he had lived most of his life exiled away from anyone but his parents for being "unsafe". He felt a little sad inside that he had been missing out on all of this.

As the boats pulled to a halt at the end of the river, Hagrid helped everyone out of their boats and led them towards the front of the castle. They went up a flight of stairs and were greeted by a middle-aged man with auburn-and-grey hair, slightly wrinkled skin, and a broad smile spread across his face like butter. "Good evening, boys and girls. I am Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Before you enter the Great Hall-" He motioned to the big doors behind him, "I would like to inform you of what is going to happen. Before the feast starts, each of you will stand in rows facing the hat that is on the stool you will see. When your name is called out, you will step forward and place the hat on your head. It will tell you the house you are in, and you will go and sit at that corresponding table. Is that clear?"

A few yeses and nods appeared around the hallway.

"Then, you may enter."

They did as Dumbledore had told them to, and stood facing a ragged hat with a small rip at the front. Dumbledore held up a long list of names, and began calling people out.

"Jonathan Applefeather-" A short boy stood up and sat on the stool, placing the hat on his head. Suddenly, the rip started to move, and a voice began to come from it, contemplating where Jonathan would go, when at last, it shouted, "RAVENCLAW!"

there were many cheers from the table surrounded by students wearing blue-rimmed robes as Jonathan sat with them - they appeared to be Ravenclaw house.

"Marissa Addellsby-" went into the yellow table, Hufflepuff, while "Connor Beakstone" joined the green table, Slytherin. Next, "Sirius Black" was called out, and the tall boy Remus sat with on the boat was put into the red house, Gryffindor. "Lily Evans", a fair-skinned, red-haired girl joined Gryffindor, also. Soon, "Remus Lupin" was called out, and Remus sat on the chair and placed the hat on his head.

"Aah, lots of bravery, in here, yes, nice mind too... quite the ferocious beast, at times, as well, aren't we, sonnie? A nice balance of the houses, but one of them shines above all... your determination to overcome your evil side and that, my boy, shows bravery. yes, of course, it has to be... GRYFFINDOR!" Remus made his way over to the Gryffindor table, next to Sirius Black and Lily Evans, who all became deep in conversation about what would be happening at this new school. Lily Evans, who was Muggle-born(non-magical parents), was eager to know what spells they'd be learning.

Soon they were halfway down the list.

"Peter Pettigrew-" The pudgy boy stood up and made his way towards the hat, moments later to join Gryffindor with Sirius and Remus. Next was "James Potter-", the boy who Remus had banged into on their way out of the Hogwarts train. He was also placed in Gryffindor, to which Sirius and Peter high-fived him and cheered. Lily Evans seemed to be interested in what they were excited about, however upon her asking, all 3 tapped their noses secretively in unison. Lily rolled her eyes and stated she didn't care anyway, to which James replied, "Getting all touchy, are we, Evans?" and continually poked fun of her until she told him to shut it, as "Severus Snape-", a long-black-greasy-haired, hard-faced boy was being sorted into Slytherin house.

"Aww, I really hoped he'd be in our house. Although I'm sure he'll have lots of fun in Slytherin." Lily began saying to herself.

"Have fun in Slytherin? No wizard whose gone bad hasn't been in Slytherin. Didn't you know? You-Know-Who was a Slytherin too." James laughed.

"Well, that doesn't mean to say every wizard in Slytherin house goes bad. I'm sure he'll be fine." Lily reassured herself.

"How do you know him, Lily?" Remus asked her, putting his hand over James' mouth to stop him saying anything else rude toward Severus Snape.

"Oh, I met him when we were children. My sister, Petunia, was calling me a freak, and Severus appeared and told her to back off. Ever since then he's been my friend. He's the only one who understands me, really. My parents are proud, yes, but it's not like they know what being a wizard and despised by your sister is like."

"That was very touching, Lily." James fake-sniffed, pretending to wipe tears out of his eyes and then laughing with Sirius and Peter. Lily just rolled her eyes again and began a conversation with a freckled girl named Cordinia Snufflebee.

Once the sorting had ended, each house was led by their prefects to their dormitories. Each house common room had a password, and Gryffindor common room was blocked by a painting of a plump lady in a beautiful pink dress. "Password." the she called, to which a lot of the Muggle-born's jumped and began gossiping about the surrounding paintings, which also seemed to interact and move.

"Bustletuft." replied a blonde-haired girl named Ocean Clearmist. The painting suddenly turned, to reveal a small passage hole, through which each student crawled through. Peter Pettigrew seemed to have a problem getting through the tight hole, however, and Ocean went to find Professor Dumbledore to get permission for an Expanding Charm on the hole. Once they were all safely inside the common room, James, Sirius and an embarrassed Peter walked towards Remus.

"Hey, your Lupin, right?" James started.

"Y-yeah, Remus Lupin..."

"Well, me and my fellows here are starting a new group of mischievousness, and calling it "The Marauders", and of course we heard your very smart, which none of us are..." All 3 pulled a dumb face and slapped their forehead, "So, care to be the brains of our awesome trouble-making group?"

Remus had never had friends before, and, although "mischievousness" and "trouble-making" were what Remus was initially looking for in friends, he had to admit these 3 boys seemed like the right kind to be friends with, esspecially given his "condition". He supposed after a few months he might be able to tell them about it - they'd probably find it pretty cool.

"S-sure, I'd love to!"

"Awesome!" James smiled, "C'mon, lets put our stuff in the dorms and get some early sleep - We'll have our first meeting at the crack of dawn in the common rooms, so make sure your up - we don't want to have to wake you by force, but we will if necessary." The three set off towards the dorms, Remus in tow, and began to tuck themselves into bed. Remus couldn't wait until morning - his first ever group of friends, his first ever meeting, all in his first ever school! He was so overcome with joy he fell asleep almost instantly. His parents were going to be so proud he'd made friends.