Chapter 1: Train to Hogwarts
"Mum, it's not like I'm going away forever. I'll see you both again on Christmas," eleven-year-old Remus Lupin comforted his mother, hugging her tightly as she shook with silent sobs.
"Yes, you're right Remus," sniffed Hope Lupin as she released her son and turned to her husband. "He's just like you, Lyall; strong and brave."
Lyall Lupin, a tall, blonde, soft-spoken man in his early thirties looked around platform 9 ¾ wistfully before replying to his wife.
"But he has your charm and grace, love," he said extending his hand to his son and embracing him in a one-armed hug. "Study well and make memories. We'll see you soon, son."
Remus grinned, looking up into his dad's eyes, which were the same shade of blue as his own, and gave him a confident nod. "Bye, Dad. Love you both," he smiled and pulled his trunk onto the train behind him.
'This is going to be brilliant and wonderful,' thought Remus to himself as he waved to his parents one last time and entered the first train compartment which at first glance seemed to be empty.
It wasn't, however, and Remus saw a sleeping couple on the floor, linking hands before he backed out and shut the door quickly and quietly.
The next four compartments were filled with groups of five to six students, and Remus doubted they would readily invite him into their already noisy compartments. He was passing the fifth door when he caught up to a short and slightly chubby fellow first-year, who looked to be out of breath and struggling with his trunk and owl cage.
Remus paused for a moment and thought quickly.
'If I just stand here he'll have to do it all by himself and he looks like he's struggling. I should help him.'
He took a step forward then stopped.
'But if I offer to help him he might insist on helping me find a compartment in exchange for my assistance. Then we'll become friends and-NO! I can't risk that… But I can't just watch him struggle!'
Remus took a deep breath and cleared his throat, making up his mind.
"Do you need some assistance?" he asked the blonde-haired boy.
Round and sweaty-faced, the other boy turned towards Remus and his eyes grew in apparent fear.
"N-no thanks," he stuttered squeakily. "I c-can manage."
Remus sighed. 'He's more nervous than I feel. I'll help him. He probably won't want to talk anyway after we settle into a compartment together.'
He smiled kindly.
"I can help you carry your owl if you'd like. I only have my trunk, see? It won't be any trouble."
Looking like he'd sooner rather struggle with his possessions than let the other boy help him, the smaller boy grimaced and shook his head.
"Umm," he said looking around distractedly the finally nodding. "O-okay. Thank you-"
"-Remus," the taller boy supplied extending his hand to shake the other's. "Call me Remus."
"Peter. Peter Pettigrew."
Remus shook Peter's hand then took his cage from him, regarding the bird inside with interest. It was a strange-looking owl: lime-green in colour with angry-looking eyes and a long, pointy beak. Its feathers were oddly ruffled and stuck up on end in a mad-bird sort of way. It looked to Remus as if the bird might attack him through the cage bars at any second, so he carefully arranged his robe hems and made sure to grab only the handle at the top. He made a mental note to look up the species later to see if it was dangerous in any way.
He followed his new acquaintance a few compartments down where a red-haired girl exited a compartment along with a pale-faced, hook-nosed boy dressed in black robes two sizes too big for him. They both looked rather angry, and Remus thought it better to avoid eye-contact; his father had warned him against crossing paths with angry witch or wizard.
Peter Pettigrew entered the compartment behind the two grumpy students, and glanced nervously back at Remus as if asking for permission. Remus smiled kindly and followed him in.
"-imagine why anyone would want to be in Slytherin, though," a boy in the compartment was saying.
"They're just missing out, they are," said a second voice.
Remus stepped inside behind Peter cautiously and peered around discreetly. Two boys with dark hair sat facing each other, swinging their legs from their seats. They both looked to be in first year too. The one on the left had aristocratic features about him; long, wavy black hair pooling onto his broad shoulders, handsome dark eyebrows arching over startlingly beautiful grey eyes, and a slightly long nose centered in the middle of his heart-shaped face. Remus made sure to sit as far away as possible from the wizard. He knew he would no doubt be criticized and mocked for his own shabby, worn-out robes, but he would rather not sit in plain view of a wizard whose dragon-leather boots looked like they were worth more than Remus' whole house.
Remus fiddled with the hem of his own robes and spared the second boy a quick glance. He also looked well-cared for, though in a more subtle way. Well-fed and well-dressed, he looked about Remus' height, with very untidy jet-black hair. He had soft hazel-coloured eyes behind square-shaped glasses.
Remus smiled to himself. 'Wealthy but not in an obnoxious way,' he thought. He liked that.
"Ah, are you two Gryffindor-haters too?" asked the longer-haired boy, in a very aristocratic accent. "Come to give us a preview of what to expect this year?"
Remus swallowed and cleared his throat.
"I haven't got a problem with Gryffindor House," he said slowly, trying to make himself sound polite. "I've read in 'Hogwarts: A History' that Godric Gryffindor-"
"Looks like we've got a Ravenclaw here, Sirius," chuckled the bespectacled boy to his friend. "Already done our required readings, have you?"
The sandy-haired boy blushed. "It's not required," he said in a small voice.
The boy called Sirius gave a bark-like laugh. "Even worse!" he exclaimed loudly. "You read extra material?!"
Remus' blush intensified and he quickly cast around for something else to say to divert everyone's attention from him.
"Uh, Peter and I hope you don't mind if we share this compartment with you," he said, gesturing to the chubby boy opposite him, who went from pale to crimson-red in the space it took for Remus to bring everyone's attention on him.
Peter smiled tentatively as the bespectacled boy spoke.
"Sure," he said shrugging, "as long as you're not hoping to be in Slytherin. My dad says there's always been rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin House since during the Founders' time. Gryffindor and Slytherin are the least likely of friends and no one has broken that tradition yet."
As Remus opened his mouth to respond, Sirius laughed loudly, shaking his head like a dog trying to rid itself of water.
"It's not so much tradition as it is a law," he said when he stopped laughing. "Gryffindor and Slytherin just can't be friends. It's not natural." He flipped his hair out of his eyes and sat back in his seat with folded arms, as if that settled the matter.
Remus shrugged. He didn't like arguing, but thankfully he didn't have to say anything more because right at that moment, a short, plump woman with a trolley of the largest collection of sweets Remus has seen in a long time entered the compartment and asked if they wanted any sweets. Remus' mouth watered as his eyes fell on the chocolate frogs, but then he dropped his gaze again when he remembered he didn't have any pocket money. He sighed inwardly.
Sirius and his friend immediately began rummaging in their pockets, huge grins plastered across their faces while Peter jumped up to get a closer look at the trolley's collection. For a few moments, Remus watched sadly as the three boys selected a variety of assorted sweets and paid the trolley lady large sums of money. Just before she retreated out the door, the young witch smiled at Remus and asked not unkindly: "Wouldn't you like anything, dear?" and Remus politely declined.
"Don't you like sweets then?" asked the boy whose name Remus still didn't know once the witch had closed the door behind her.
"I think he can't afford anything," stated Sirius so nonchalantly that it made Remus cringe a bit.
Suddenly, the two dark-haired wizards exchanged a quick glance and chucked Remus two chocolate frogs each.
"N-no, I can't," stammered a surprised Remus, catching the chocolates in his outstretched hands.
"Just accept it and move on," advised the boy in glasses not unkindly.
The sandy-haired boy swallowed nervously and shook his head.
"I'm sorry, I can't accept it," he said firmly, handing back the chocolates. The other two refused to take it.
"Why? You think we've poisoned them?" asked the one called Sirius in amusement.
"Nah, it's because we're strangers, isn't it?" laughed the other. He lifted his right hand in a friendly wave. "Hi, I'm James Potter. And this tosser here," -he nodded towards his friend- "is Sirius Lee Black."
Sirius let out another bark-like laugh.
Remus cleared his throat for what felt like the hundredth time that morning. "Remus Lupin," he said in what he hoped was a friendly manner. James nodded in understanding and turned to Peter.
"And you're Peter…?"
Peter nodded and said something around his mouthful of chocolate which sounded remotely like "Eager goo."
Sirius burst into fits of laughter, spluttering out what he thought he heard Peter say, and Remus thought he needed to step in for his blonde companion.
"Peter Pettigrew," he supplied for the poor boy fit to burst.
James turned back to Remus and said "There," in a tone that suggested the matter was closed for further discussion. "Now that we all know one another's names, will you accept our chocolates, Remus Lupin?" as Sirius burst into fresh fits of laughter.
Remus smiled despite himself.
"Thank you. I will accept your generous offer."
The Hogwarts Express raced past sceneries of green Scottish landscapes, until around nightfall when Remus looked up from reading his Charms textbook to check how much time they had left before they reached school.
He craned his neck past the taller boy to look out the window and saw something that took his breath away; a large, beautifully-lit castle sat in the distance at the top of a hill, overlooking a big lake that was as wide as the castle towers were tall. Remus' eyes rested on the castle's gates of iron as he imagined seeing the magical enchantments keeping intruders out. He'd read all about the protective spells cast around the school in 'Hogwarts: A History,' and was fascinated by the amount of magical energy he knew must be radiating from the gates alone. 'It has to be the safest place on Earth to be,' he thought to himself in awe as the train slowed down to a station a short way off.
"We must be here already," James said excitedly, looking up from the Quidditch magazine he was reading with Sirius.
Sirius flicked his wand in the direction of his trunk and levitated it, nodding eagerly. "We should change into out robes."
Remus got up to put his book away and shivered with excitement as he felt the train lurch to a stop. He was really going to Hogwarts! He could barely believe that after all the worrying about not being accepted into the school, Remus was finally just a short distance away from it…
Walking behind an excited James and a practically-bpuncing Sirius, Remus dragged his old battered trunk onto the platform of Hogsmeade station and breathed in the night's air. Beautiful.
"Firs' Years over here!" called a loud voice above the noise of the train whistle and the loud chatter of students of all ages.
Feeling particularly fond of everyone around him, and beaming at all the faces in the crowd, Remus followed the sound of the voice calling over new students. To his slight surprise, Remus realized the voice was coming from a larger-than-average human being, with a long, bushy beard and matching curly, matted hair framing his young face. Looking more closely and pushing his way carefully through the crowd, Remus saw that the wizard was about twice the size of an average adult. He would have looked frightening if not for the kind smile upon his bearded face and the twinkle in his round eyes. Remus knew better than to judge a person by appearance alone, and allowed himself to get closer to the big, friendly-looking wizard with the other first-year students.
"Alrigh' gather 'round, gather 'round!"
A couple people started pushing past Remus to get to the front, and Remus heard someone mutter, "Bloody huge bloke, isn't he?"
"Right, my name's Rubius Hagrid," said their escort fondly to all of them once they were gathered. "I'm the keeper of game at Hogwarts. All Firs' Years get to the castle by boat on their firs' day, and I'll be the one escorting you there tonight."
A witch to Remus' left thrust her hand up in the air, and Remus turned to find the same red-head who had left his compartment before him in an angry manner with another boy. With a jolt, Remus realized that the same boy was standing to the girl's right. Hagrid looked over at her and lowered his lamp slightly, smiling encouragingly.
"Yes?"
"Will the boats be carrying our things as well?" she asked doubtfully.
"Er-no, no," he responded. "Just leave yer things here on the platform, and they'll be magically transported up to your dorms once you've been sorted into your houses."
There was a few mutterings and murmurings at this, but then Hagrid said "Follow me now, you lot. Keep up," and turned towards the lake and started walking.
Remus found himself walking beside Hagrid as the other students hesitantly left their possessions where they were and slowly followed the game-keeper.
"Hello there, Remus," chirped Hagrid cheerfully down at the startled boy.
"H-how do you know my name, Sir?" he asked a shakily.
"Oh, just intuition. You alright there?"
"Yes, Sir. Thank you."
"So what house do you reckon you'll be sorted in?"
"Er-"
"He'll be in Gryffindor with us!"
Remus turned and saw the source of interruption: the two dark-haired wizards from his compartment on the train were walking alongside Hagrid and Remus, taking long strides to keep up with the game-keeper who looked down at the pair for the first time.
"Yeah? You lot want to go fer Gryffinor then? That's great. Real great. Hope one of ya can play Quidditch. Our team hasn't won in-"
"I'm planning on joining the tram next year," James piped up proudly. "I'm quite good on a broom."
"Well I'm trying out this year," Sirius exclaimed rather haughtily. "Once they see how well I fly, they'll be on their knees groveling to me to join the Gryffindor team!"
Hagrid chuckled. "You sound mighty sure of yerselves, that's fer sure. Alrigh', we'll see then. This year, we've got Captain Greg Wood and he's got some flare fer game, that one-"
Remus zoned out as Hagrid talked about the team players on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. His mind drifted to more worrisome matters at hand. What if he doesn't get into any house at all? Remus had read about how new students get sorted into their houses in front of the whole school, by trying on an ancient talking hat who read into their minds, telling them what house was better suited to their abilities and personal qualities. What if the Sorting Hat didn't think Remus was worthy to be in any house? What if the hat read into Remus' mind and saw him for what he truly was, and exposed him to everyone? Remus worried his bottom lip. 'But the headmaster must have known what he was doing when he sent me that acceptance letter,' he tried to assure himself. 'He must have, or I wouldn't be here right now.'
Just as that positive thought had formed inside Remus' head, Hagrid stopped walking and turned to face the sea of new students behind him, holding up his lantern to shine to shine it on everyone.
"Righ'," he beamed. "Here we are. Just across the lake now, so everyone grab a boat and hop in."
Remus shook his head slightly to rid himself of his daydreaming and looked to where the game-keeper was pointing. There, sitting at the edge of the lake were about a dozen fishing-sized boats, floating like waiting lily-pads. Remus swallowed hard; he'd never learnt how to swim before and he wasn't particularly comfortable with water transportation.
"Only four per boat," called Hagrid as everyone grabbed their friend and jumped into a floating vessel.
Remus looked around for James and Sirius, but found them already aboard a boat with two others. He searched around for Peter instead and, when he couldn't find him, quickly spotted a nearby boat with only two students seated. He rushed towards it and got in slowly, muttering apologizes as the boat rocked gently and swayed from side to side.
Once all the students were seated, Hagrid got into his own boat-built-for-eight and waved his hand. Instantly, all the boats started moving ever so gently above the lake towards the castle. The scene was so breathtakingly-beautiful that Remus forgot to be nervous as he magically drifted above the large expanse of dark water.
Passing under vines and through a narrow tunnel, the vessels continued on until at last reaching the rocky shore, stopping there.
Everyone followed Hagrid onto dry land and up the castle grounds towards the massive oak doors. He knocked on it three times. Remus sucked in a breath and closed his eyes in avid anticipation.