Chapter 1: Cohorts of Voldy's
Summary: Remus Lupin goes to Hogwarts, meets people, gets sorted, yada yada yada.
Disclaimer: I don't own Remus, James, Sirius, Peter, Dumbledore, the Sorting Hat, Platform 9 ¾…you get the picture. It's all J.K.'s.
Author Note: This chapter's a bit slow, just the whole Hogwarts Express scene that is necessary to show how the characters fit together from the beginning (honestly, a similar situation six years into the future would not vary much, emotions-wise.) and the Sorting.
The first person Remus Lupin saw when he stumbled onto Platform 9 ¾ was a nervous-looking, slightly overweight boy gripping a trunk and a cage for an owl anxiously. He looked awfully frightened, and when he noticed Remus watching him, he jumped and turned pale, and he nearly screamed when the Remus stepped forward and extended his hand.
"Hello, I'm Remus Lupin. Are you a first year, too?"
The boy nodded. Remus chuckled.
"And…your name is…?"
"P-Peter Pettigrew…" the boy mumbled, cautiously shaking Remus' hand.
"Do you want to go find a compartment? The train's leaving in ten minutes, they're probably filling up."
With Peter trailing after him mutely, Remus boldly climbed aboard the train and slid open the first door his hands came in contact with to reveal two boys, both about the same age as Remus.
"Can we sit here?" Remus stepped forward, revealing a cower-ing Peter.
They nodded, smiling, and one of them, a handsome, tall boy with long, dark hair, spoke.
"I'm Sirius, Sirius Black. This is James Potter." He gestured to the wiry, bespectacled boy with a mop of messy, black hair that was sitting next to him. "You're first years, right?"
Remus nodded, and Peter whimpered. They all turned to stare at him as he trembled in the corner, a terrified look on his face. Sirius laughed.
"Don't worry about us. We don't bite…usually."
"Yeah, we're not cohorts of Voldy's or anything," James added, grinning. Peter cracked a small smile, and soon all four boys were doubling over laughing, and they barely noticed when their compart-ment door opened abruptly, to reveal a slight, thin boy with greasy black hair accompanied by a girl with vivid red hair and sparkling eyes. The boy looked darkly at the four inside the compartment while the girl frowned slightly as she took in the scene. Sirius stood suavely and smirked at the unlikely couple.
"Can I help you?" he asked, sneering at the boy and turning his charming gaze on the girl.
"Well, we were looking for a compartment, but I can see you're full already." She turned to leave, but James jumped up and blocked her.
"No, we've got room…for one more, that is. You're welcome to join us," he added hopefully, glaring at the boy over her shoulder.
She scowled at him, and his hopes fell. "No, I don't think that will work. See, there's two of us, and I don't think either of us is cruel enough to abandon the other with company like this." She snatched the boy's skinny arm and pulled him away. He struggled against her, looking like he very much wanted to punch James.
Sirius reached over and slammed the door shut, and both boys collapsed once again into their seats, Sirius rolling his eyes, James with a lovestruck smile plastered on his face, which resulted in much laughter and mocking for the rest of the train ride.
Remus joined them in a boat as they rowed across to the grand castle that was Hogwarts. The only one that had never seen it before was Peter – Remus, James, and Sirius all had quite well connected fathers who had paid the headmaster a visit once or twice. Sirius was quite proud of himself; he had caused the first commotion of the new year by standing in their boat and nearly pushing Peter out.
As the large group of first years stood in the Great Hall while the Sorting Hat sung, it was clear that these four were probably the fastest-formed friends Hogwarts had ever seen, and as they whisper-ed and laughed with each other, they noticed Dumbledore's twinkling eyes fixed on them, and quieted instantly. Remus noticed James not-so-subtly glancing over at the fiery redhead every couple of seconds, and did not fail to mention this to Sirius, who did not let James forget this as a tall, stern woman began calling out names of students. Sirius was one of the first called.
He swaggered forward, and for the first time, Remus saw a serious expression on his face, and wondered what he was thinking of to make him so solemn. Sirius squeezed his eyes shut, as though asking for something, but grinned when the hat yelled out, "GRYFFINDOR!"
He strode quickly over to the table that had burst out in applause, and Remus anxiously remembered he was next out of his small group of friends.
But before it could be his turn, he heard a female voice squeak suddenly, and he turned, he saw the redhead hurriedly walking towards the hat. James sighed, and Remus heard him whisper, "Lily Evans…Lily Evans…" The girl was sorted quickly, as though the hat knew exactly where she belonged.
"GRYFFINDOR!" But to Remus' surprise, she did not look very happy. She walked rapidly to the table, but he saw her direct a small, sad smile towards the boy she had been on the train with. He looked extremely upset, almost on the verge of tears. What house had they wanted, then? Remus thought, puzzled. Had they had expectations before arriving?
When the woman called, "Lupin, Remus," he almost died of anticipation. He vaguely remembered sitting down on the stool and placing the hat on his head. The only thing he thought was Gryffindor, please…Gryffindor, I need a friend, I want to be with Sirius…
He nearly fell off the stool when the hat answered, Hmm... Gryffindor? Is that the best choice? Ah, your friend. Yes, he wanted Gryffindor too. Well then, I suppose if you're sure…
Yes, Remus thought demandingly, and he couldn't help but smile broadly when the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" from above his head and he hurried off to sit near Sirius, who was talking animatedly now to Lily, who looked quite bored and agitated. As Remus sat, he whacked Sirius on the back of the head, and muttered, "Knock it off."
Sirius scowled, but begrudgingly turned his head towards the front of the hall, where Peter was now running ecstatically and nearly tackled Remus when he leaped into the seat next to him. Lily gave Remus a small smile, but then noticed that James was being sorted now.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Lily scowled as James swaggered over and collapsed onto the bench next to her, and beamed in her direction. Huffing angrily, she pointedly looked the opposite way.
Her head snapped up, however, when the name "Snape, Severus" was called, and Remus watched as the weedy boy that had accompanied her on the train made his way up to the hat. A second after it touched his hair, the hat screamed, "SLYTHERIN!" and Lily's face was one of true disappointment. However, James smiled triumphantly.
It looked to Remus as though poor Lily Evans was going to be James' first unwilling conquest, however much she despised him.