1st September 1971
Gryffindor, where dwell the brave of heart
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Hope asked, holding her son at arms length. He nodded and she pulled him into a tight hug.
"Of course he's sure," Lyall said, laying a hand on his wife's shoulder. "He's a wizard, it's going to take more then… his condition, to stop him from going to Hogwarts."
"Well just be careful, alright Remus, dear. Don't exhaust yourself and don't be scared to go to Madam Pumphrey if you ever need to…"
"Don't worry Mum, I'll be fine, I need to get on the train soon or it'll leave. I'll miss you." Hope gave her son a quick kiss as the train whistle blew and Lyall gave him a hug and helped him drag his trunk onto the coach. "I'll be home for Christmas!" Remus smiled and waved before turning into the train to find a compartment.
Remus made his way along the train until he found an empty compartment and hauled his trunk into the overhead compartment. Now that he was here, driving away from his parents he was starting to doubt his decision. Dumbledore had made arrangements but there were still so many things which could go wrong: if just one person found out then the whole school would probably be told and people were sure to notice the fact that he would be ill for the week surrounding the full moon every month; and what if the arrangements Dumbledore had made weren't strong enough, he… the wolf… was getting stronger every month, what if he was to break out and turn someone, or worse…
"Do you mind if I join you?" Remus looked up to see the boy already pushing his trunk up into the other luggage rack. He shook his hair out of his face and extended a hand: "Sirius, Sirius Black."
"Remus Lupin." He wasn't really sure what else to say. His parents had never really allowed him to socialise with other children, fearing that they might discover their son's secret. Remus was thinking the same now, he couldn't risk getting close to people, they'd notice how often he was ill and then where would he be: back at home, alone, being taught how to use magic by his father. What if someone tried to follow him one night…
"You alright?" Sirius asked casually. "You look like you're about to puke or something. First time away from home is it?"
"Ummm…" Why did he have to zone out? Normal children surely didn't just sit there silently. And now he'd have to think of an excuse.
Luckily though, at that point another boy with messy black hair pushed open the compartment door. "Oh good, there is still space. I dumped my trunk in the corridor so there's no need to worry about that." The talkative boy who had just entered sat down on Sirius' side of the compartment and propped his legs up on Remus' side. "James Potter, by the way." He flashed them both a grin.
"Remus Lupin."
"Sirius,"
"Pleasure to meet you. I must admit, I didn't think I was going to find another compartment with space. The only other one with space free had Lucius Malfoy sitting in it and I don't think anyone wants to be mixing with that kind of family." Remus wasn't quite sure what 'that' kind of family was. Sirius seemed to understand and looked awkward at the prospect. "Oh goodie, looks like more people are joining us!" James said, a slight note of sarcasm laced through his tone. There were, indeed, three people standing outside the door, the girl opened the door and looked inside.
"There's not enough space Lils," one of the boys said. "Lets find somewhere emptier."
"Oh don't be ridiculous, Sev. I'm sure this one," She jerked her head at James, "wouldn't object to moving his feet off the chair." She gave James a smile and her green eyes twinkled, James immediately dropped his feet and sat up straight. "Lovely," the red head continued sitting down where James' feet had been. "Well, I'm Lily Evans, this is Severus and… did you say it was Peter?" The nervous looking, mousy boy behind her nodded. "And you are?"
"James, Sirius and Remus." James introduced all of them and then gestured for the new comers to sit down. Peter sat next to Lily and Severus sat next to James but seemed to be trying to sit as far away from him as possible without moving onto the floor.
The compartment was awkwardly silent at first but eventually the six of them started chatting among themselves in pairs and threes. James and Sirius were just laughing over a joke Sirius had made involving two seekers, a quaffle and a hippogriff when James' head snapped up at Severus' conversation with Lily.
"You'd better be in Slytherin." Severus was saying to Lily.
"Slytherin?" James grimaced. "Who wants to be in Slytherin. I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" He turned to Sirius grinning but Sirius grimaced awkwardly.
"My whole family's been in Slytherin."
"Blimey, and I thought you seemed alright."
Sirius did grin at that: "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading if you've got the choice?"
The whole compartment was listening in now as James drew an invisible sword and held it aloft: "'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad." Remus and Sirius laughed with him and Peter joined in nervously but Severus made a scoffing noise.
"Got a problem with that?" James asked, suddenly defensive.
"No," Snape sneered. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy-"
"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither." Sirius butted in. James roared with laughter and even Remus couldn't help but chuckle slightly. Lily, however, looked livid:
"Come on Severus, let's find another compartment." She stood up and grabbed his arm, moving towards the door.
"Ooooo, Severus, let's find another compartment." Sirius laughed in a high-pitched imitation of Lily as James stuck his foot out to try and trip Snape over but he missed and the compartment door slammed shut leaving only the four of hem in there. "Well, wasn't he as jolly as a troll's backside?" Sirius grinned.
"Here, here," James laughed. "But that Evan's girl wasn't bad looking was she."
"Guess not, but as far as I'm concerned she's all yours. Though you might have to fight Snivellus for her." They both laughed.
"Hey, in all that drama, we didn't hear what houses you two were going to be in?"
Remus hadn't thought much about his house, he'd been too worried about actually getting to Hogwarts to think about what it would actually be like. "Not sure, I guess that Gryffindor would be nice, at least I'd know you two in it but I think I'm more likely a Ravenclaw, my father was and he thinks I will be too."
"Mother says I'll be in Hufflepuff." Peter said glumly. "Apparently I'm too cowardly for Gryffindor, too stupid for Ravenclaw and not ambitious enough for Slytherin. And she's probably right, she's always right. So I guess I'll have to be a Hufflepuff"
"Not all Hufflepuffs are bad," Sirius said. "My favourite cousin is dating a Hufflepuff and he's pretty nice, they'll be seventh years this year."
"How did your 'all Slytherin' family react to that, I wonder?" James asked.
"Not well," Sirius laughed. "Almost as badly as they'll react if I get into Gryffindor. Blacks don't usually mix well with others, we all seem to end up marrying our cousins because they're the only people 'pure' enough for us to mix with" James raised an eyebrow at the surname but lowered it when Sirius started impersonating someone who he assumed was Sirius' mother: "The noble and most ancient house of Black has been pure and Slytherin for generations. Andromeda knows the fate that awaits her if she continues to hang around the 'mudblood' Tonks and if you, with all your muggle loving oddities end up in Gryffindor, your father and I will be less than impressed. Remember that you can ask where to be placed, if there is some strange Gryffindor streak in you then you must suppress it and choose the correct house!"
"Wow, well I'm sorry, but your mother sounds like an arse. Why didn't you mention you were a Black earlier?" James questioned
"I guess cause if I'd said I was a Black you might've just thought of that before you discovered that I'm an… 'oddity'. Especially after your comment about my cousins. Not that I minded…" Sirius added seeing the apologetic look which James shot him. "Lucius really is a bit of a prat."
"I suppose." James looked thoughtful and then pulled a bottle of water out his rucksack. "To oddities!" He announced raising it.
"Here here!" Sirius announced and Peter joined in, trying to sound as confident as the two black haired boys.
Remus nodded and raised his own bottle of water: "To oddities," he agreed. If only they knew how much of an oddity he really was.