To muggles, the first of September meant that autumn was just around the corner—the weather would soon slowly turn bleak, the leaves would soon turn from their summery green to their warmer tones of rust. People would be stuck thinking about where they had stored their clothes for colder weather, and of course, whose turn it was next to rake the leaves accumulating on their front lawn.
Of course, these fickle things were the last items on anyone of magical backgrounds' minds on this notoriously hectic day. From crying parents seeing their children off to Hogwarts for the first time to the myriad of students giddily chatting about how their summer holidays were, Platform Nine and Three-Quarters was almost deafening. It was so crowded, too, and not to mention particularly hot for this time of year; there didn't seem to be enough room for a single person to step and be comfortable.
One person, however, had already escaped the chaos: Remus Lupin.
He had, after all, come to the station by himself this year, so he maneuvered through the massive crowd, unnoticed, quite easily. His trunk in tow, he boarded the practically empty train and slipped into his usual compartment.
It was the boy's seventh and final year attending Hogwarts, and he had never felt so conflicted. Yes, he was positively thrilled to be able to say that he would be soon completing his studies at Hogwarts, but he most definitely didn't want to leave the comfort of those hallowed halls that had become his safe haven from himself.
He bit his lip as his mind ever so kindly reminded him that after this year he would no longer be living with the people he cared about most in his life. He wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do without them—or if he could handle being alone with his thoughts for longer than he already had been.
He shook his head to himself, believing that it wasn't rational for him to be thinking about after the year when the year had technically just begun. In a mindless attempt to get his mind off things, he started fiddling with the wrapper of the chocolate bar in his pocket as he waited for his friends to arrive.
Remus had almost caved and opened his chocolate bar at least seventeen times before the door to his compartment slid open and in stumbled James and Sirius, laughing as if they had consumed a little too much chortle extract. A grin spread across Remus's face as he leaned back into the seat.
"Moony, you'll never guess what just happened…—"
"Downright hilarious, it was…—"
"Those poor 'Puffs never saw it coming," James hollered as the pair collapsed across the way from Remus, barely managing to make it onto the seat. "By the way," he managed to utter between laughs, "Don't enter Compartment E unless you want to be the victim of multiple dungbombs."
Remus merely sighed disappointingly, which only made the other two laugh harder; but his eyes glinted in a way that they hadn't since he saw his friends last. He was truly overjoyed to see Sirius and James again.
After their laughter had died down, James proceeded to tell Remus about Sirius and his summer. Notable comments included: "I swear my mum loves Sirius more than her own son—Pads, wipe that grin off your face", "I got a motorbike, would you fucking believe it?", and "Yeah, and he crashed it on his first day with it."
Remus tried his best to keep up with James and Sirius's conversation, nodding whenever they paused for a reaction and laughing when Sirius yelled at James to stop calling his motorbike an 'it' when it was clearly a 'she', and that her name was 'Christine'.
The pair were midway into their story when Peter shuffled into the compartment, grinning to no end. "James, you'll never guess what I found out," the stocky boy exclaimed, clearly excited about something. As he sat down amongst his friends, his grin turned sheepish as he added, "Hello, lads."
James, his interest clearly piqued, stopped telling the story and turned to Peter. "What? Is it about Lily?" In his excitement, he didn't even bother to greet Peter, let alone ask how his summer holiday was.
Both Remus and Sirius groaned at the mention of the red-headed girl. "James, you've got to stop with her," Sirius complained as Remus simultaneously said, "I'm keeping count of how many times he mentions her this year. And I won't lose track this time."
All the meanwhile, Peter just sat there, bright-eyed and snickering. "Actually…"
If James's jaw had the ability to detach from its socket, it would have been on the floor. "Really?" James questioned a bit too excitedly. He coughed, slightly embarrassed, and he calmed his voice before asking, "What'd you hear?"
Sirius rolled his eyes and muttered, "Fucking Romeo, don't even try to hide it, we all know you're excited," which earned a snort from Remus, more snickering from Peter, and a glare that could kill from James.
Protests of how he was most definitely not like Romeo Montague were cut off by a slightly exasperated Peter, who clearly wanted to share his news as soon as possible. "She's Head Girl."
Three pairs of eyes were now concentrated on a boy who clearly wanted to do some sort of dance for joy in the middle of their current quarters. "Head… Girl…?" James queried, wanting to make sure he heard correctly before he reacted. When Peter nodded, James's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Merlin, we'll be living together." His voice was barely a whisper, and his eyes glazed over in a daydream.
Remus snapped his fingers in front of James's face, bringing James back into reality. "You'll also be working together, Prongs."
Peter nodded, agreeing with Remus. "And if you let her down, say goodbye to the already incredibly slim chance you had with her."
James's eyes glazed over again in daydream. "I have a chance with her?"
Sirius whacked both Peter and James with his copy of the Daily Prophet. While James understood why he was hit, Peter cried out in objection; and Sirius justified his actions by saying that he shouldn't be getting James's ridiculously optimistic—and rather deluded—hopes up.
"Might as well go to the prefect's car now, Jamesy. Maybe you'll have more of a chance with her this time around," Sirius quipped rather sarcastically, and Remus and Peter could both tell that Sirius had already had his share of lovestruck Potter for the day.
The sarcasm flew right over the boy's head, so Sirius's words were all the encouragement James needed. He straightened out his button-down and ran his fingers through his hair a couple of times before shooting up out of his seat and calling out "Wish me luck!" behind him as he made his way to the compartment at the front of the train.
Sirius dramatically rolled his eyes before settling back into the seat. "You lads want anything from the trolley?" He snatched up a pouch that James had left behind in his frenzy. He dangled the bag in front of Remus and Peter mischievously as the contents of the bag clinked together. "Prongs is paying."
Remus smirked but shook his head no as he gathered his things. "I should probably be off to the prefect's compartment as well." He stood and began to depart the compartment briskly, knowing that there was much to discuss and do there. Just as he was about to exit, he stopped in his tracks and turned to face Sirius, leaning up against the door just slightly. "Do you think James will be able to convince Lily to go out with him this year?"
A playful grin stretched across Sirius's face as he took one of James's abandoned galleons out of the velvet bag and began flipping one nonchalantly, the metal sounding a quiet pinging noise each time he did so. "Not a chance."
Peter let out a loud guffaw at Sirius's confession, while Remus just chuckled as he closed the door to the compartment.
If his friends kept this up—which they were; they were the bloody Marauders after all—it was most definitely going to be an interesting year.
New story! Let's see how this one goes, I'm hoping I'll be able to write longer chapters as the story progresses. I know the first chapter's short, but let me know what you all think of it so far!
x Lauren