Remus watched as James entered the Great Hall, followed by a considerably young looking woman and a man with the same messy black hair. The woman had hair of a dark red colour, cropped neatly around her ears and neck. Her glasses, rectangular and brown, made her look more like a muggle secretary than a witch.
Spotting Remus, James moved away from his parents to go over and join his friend.
"That's my mother you're ogling at," James said as he neared his friend.
Remus turned his attention to James, "I was actually looking to see where your behaviour and looks came from."
"Ah, I see. Checking out my dad, instead?" James went on with a mischievous grin.
"Sod off," Remus answered, shaking his head in amusement.
"Got any bad reports yet?" James asked him after a moment.
A sceptical expression fell across Remus' face as he looked at James, "Do you think I would? Only Professor McGonagall telling my parents I need to keep a tighter leash on you two."
"A tighter leash on us?" James asked in mock amusement, "I'd always thought you were the one with the animal side to you."
Grinning, Remus turned back to his parents who were looking down a long list of teachers' names, and scanning the Hall as they tried to put a name to a face.
Parents Evening for the students of Hogwarts wasn't as exciting as one may have thought. If anything, it's quite a similar set up; teachers stationed around the room as parents rushed in with their child trailing behind them, cutting into the cue. The only difference between the two would be the noticeable outrage of the Slytherin purebloods sticking their noses in the air as they walked past the odd muggle hanging about the place.
"Oh," James said, causing Remus to turn back, "Are you going to see Dumbledore?"
Naturally, the Headmaster wandered through students and parents alike, every now and then. He was seldom stopped, if only for a sibling of a witch or wizard to ask him about his beard, or if he was in any way a relation to Santa Clause.
Remus nodded, "Got to. 'Furry problem' and all."
This time it was James' turn to grin as he thought about the adventures the four of them had had not so long ago on the full moon.
"Do your parents know we know?" James asked, his grin faltering to enhance the sincere note in his now hushed tone.
Remus shook his head, casting an anxious glance at his parents before answering, "No. Though I don't doubt they'll find out when we go and see Professor Dumbledore."
"True, true," James replied, nodding as his attention turned to scanning the crowd gathered within the room.
"He's not here," Peter said, approaching them from behind. Behind him, looking on proudly as their son approached one of the most popular people of the year, stood Peter's parents. His father, a man with a great amount of facial hair, though nothing in comparison to that of the headmaster's, stood beside a short, stocky woman, that could only be Peter's mother.
"Who, Sirius?" Remus asked.
"Yeah," Peter clarified with a swift nod.
"He said he'd be coming, though," James answered with a frown as he continued to scan the Hall.
"Maybe he didn't tell his parents the right date," Peter suggested casually, before becoming somewhat uneasy under the calculating gaze of James.
After a moment, James issued his response, "That's likely. But we had a great prank idea..."
"I hope you didn't," James' father said from behind him.
With a wink to Remus and Peter, James turned to his father, "Of course not," he said with a grin.
James father proceeded to ruffle his son's hair, causing James' cheeks to turn noticeably scarlet.
"Come on," James' mother said as she looked at their company, "Which one's Sirius?"
Peter and Remus looked from one another to James' mother. Peter's gaze earned him a kick from James, as Remus rolled his eyes before answering her, "He isn't here yet. I'm Remus."
Remus offered his hand to both James' mother and father, and it was clear that both of them were surprised that James had befriended such a polite young boy.
"And he's Peter," James announced, landing another kick at Peter who turned his attention to the conversation and nodded.
"Remus," a gentle voice called from not too far away.
John Lupin made his way over to the group, accompanied by his wife.
"It looks like Professor Dumbledore is free, now," Remus responded to his mother.
"Alright, we'll go there now," Remus' mother agreed as she began to retreat.
"I'll see you later," Remus said to his friends before retreating to where the Headmaster was stood stroking his beard as he spoke to Remus' head of house.
"Who were they, son?" John asked his son with a flick of his head towards the company they had just left.
"James and Peter," Remus said, not failing to smile widely.
"Wasn't there another friend of yours?" Remus' mother asked him.
"Sirius," Remus answered with a nod, "But we're not sure where he is, just yet."
"He'll be here in a moment," Professor McGonagall said in response as the Lupins neared her and the Headmaster.
"Ah," Professor Dumbledore said as he removed his hand from his beard and offered it in turn to both of Remus' parent, "Mr and Mrs Lupin, we meet again."
"It's good to see you," John said as he shook the Headmaster's hand.
"And you," Albus said with a smile as he led the three of them away from the Gryffindor head of house' table as another parent approached her.
They surpassed Professor Slughorn's table without a second glance, excluding the brief nod the Headmaster issued him.
Coming to a stop by an empty number of seats, Professor Dumbledore motioned for the three of them to take a seat.
"There isn't too much to say, really, that you haven't heard from any other teacher," Professor Dumbledore began almost immediately.
"In that case, allow me to thank you once more," John began, but Professor Dumbledore raised his hand. The gesture was somewhat familiar to Remus who knew, from experience, that his father would soon fall silent.
"There is no reason to thank me at all," he said, before glancing curiously at Remus who was shaking his head.
"I ought to thank you for the opportunity to come here, Sir," Remus said, "I don't know what I would have done without-"
"Without meeting those friends of yours, I'm sure," Professor Dumbledore finished with a smile.
"James, Peter and Sirius?" Remus' mother clarified.
"The very same," the Headmaster nodded.
"Will Sirius be along soon, Sir, do you know?" Remus asked him politely.
"It wouldn't surprise me if he were here already, planting dung bombs under the floorboards or something," Professor Dumbledore answered with a twinkle in his eyes.
Remus shuffled uneasily with the knowledge that that had been both he and his friends' plan for the evening.
"Do you think the three of them would be trustworthy enough to be told about Remus' c-"
Once again, the headmaster raised his hand.
He motioned for Remus to do the honour of divulging the information.
"They figured it out themselves," Remus said quietly.
"What? All of them?" Mrs Lupin asked in surprise as she cast her mind back to Peter, who she was sure would be unable to notice the difference between a ghost and an inferi.
"Well, Sirius really," Remus answered her, turning to look at her finally.
"I would quite like to meet this 'Sirius,'" John said, as his wide nodded in agreement, "He sounds to be quite a character."
"Oh," the headmaster nodded in agreement, "That, he-"
The rest of the headmaster's words were drowned out as the entire Hall fell silent. Silent, except for the shrieking of a rather old individual.
"What do you mean you're not my son's head of house?!"
As each head turned to look over at the commotion, Horace Slughorn was looking quite shaken and unnerved as he looked up into the face of the woman.
Almost immediately, Remus' eyes met the boy beside her, and offered him a nervous smile, along with a gulp of his own.
"Well, that's Sirius," Remus whispered to his parents, his voice shaking slightly with apparent fear.
To be continued...