A/N: Thank you so much for taking your time to read my story, it really means a lot. If you could please take time to also review it I'd be very happy:3 This is my first ever chapter of a fanfic so it won't be perfect, especially the grammar - don't be harsh on me;D but yeah, once again thanks for clicking on my story. I hope you looked forward to chapter two!
Chapter one: The long walk.
"Isn't it time you got off now Remus you'll miss your train otherwise. Go on move it!" Snapped Mrs. Lupin
"But Mum, its 9:30. The train doesn't leave until 11o'clock and it takes half about ten minutes in the car to get to the station. I have loads of time!" Was the reply Remus gave his Mother.
"The car dear, you're not going in the car. I'm busy enough as it is without you making my life busier! Go on you can walk, your Father said it will only take you an hour, so it is time you got moving." Responded Mrs. Lupin
Remus had enough of being treated like a piece of dirt in his family, he just snapped: in one swift movement Remus had overturned the kitchen table and stormed out making sure to slam the door behind him. He heard the empty cereal bowls shatter as they collided with the ground. A shrill scream engulfed the whole of the Lupin household and the possessor of the scream looked murderous as she swung the kitchen door open: "Just – What – think- you – doing?'' were the only words an astonished Mrs. Lupin could speak. "Just about to leave for the train station since my so called mother doesn't have time to take me!" retorted Remus.
"Don't you dare speak to me like that; you have no idea how hard it was for me and your Father to get you into that school! The rules Dumbledore had to bend to allow someone like you to be schooled there" Snapped Mrs. Lupin
"Someone like me, just what do you mean by that?" Growled Remus, raising his voice in anger
"Oh I think you know perfectly well what I mean" replied Mrs. Lupin, now raising her voice to match her sons. Remus looked into his Mothers eyes, those deep brown eyes which he had inherited from her – the only feature of hers that was passed down in Remus. A flashback of memories flooded Remus' mind in those brief moments of direct eye contact with his mother: happy memories, peaceful ones, memories of the times when the Lupin household was a friendly, welcoming place, before everything went wrong. Mrs. Lupin was the first to break eye contact; it hurt Remus to think what his family had become, he once had a loving Father, a loving Mother, now he had a bitter Mother and a Father who can't look him in the eye without feeling guilty. At long last Remus finally mustered up the courage to reply to his Mother, he did so in two simple words ''Bye Mum'' he took a slow walk to the front of his house, grabbed his second hand trunk and the coat that was too big for him and set off, just as he was swinging the door to a close he shouted ''And don't bother writing to me either!'' As soon as the words left his mouth and met his Mother he knew his mistake. He sprinted down the street and turned left onto Bakers street. It was now 9:55 and he was an hour away from Kings Cross Station, it was going to be a long walk.
After 50 minutes of trudging through London with his trunk Remus was finally reaching Kings Cross Station, He rolled up the sleeve of his coat to check the time and realised he had ten minutes to get onto the platform and get on the Hogwarts Express 'Merlin's beard, I'm never going to make it!' Remus thought to himself, he grabbed the end of his trunk and set off down the road at a sprint. Finally reaching Kings Cross station was a huge relief for Remus; he took a heavy sigh and doubled over in pain due to the stitch he was getting. '3 minutes, I'll be fine!' Remus said out loud in utter relief, he straightened himself back out, feeling slightly less tired than he had done a few minutes ago and set off at a run towards the solid brick wall in front of him. Smiling to himself he increased the speed of his run, he couldn't wait to start his second year at Hogwarts, to see his friends again. He was centimetres away from the wall when – CRASH – He collided straight into something, he knew it wasn't the wall because he wasn't that close, it must have been something else or someone else Remus thought. He got back up onto his feet, rubbing his grazed knee in the process and looked around for the culprit who crashed into him. It didn't take long for Remus to see who it was, he saw his glasses before he saw him himself, he walked over to the spectacles, crouched down and picked them up, examining them in his hands he couldn't help but suppress a grin as he was looking at the cracked lenses. ''Hey! What do you think you're doing? Banging into me like that I could have – oh, it's you!''Was how the owner of the glasses introduced himself
"Well hello to you to James! Nice holiday?" Remus replied
"Yeah, amazing I'd ask you the same except we haven't got time to stand and chat its 10:58! The train leaves in two minutes, come on!" answered James
"Okay but I have your –" Was the only words that Remus said before James vanished through the brick wall that stood before him, Remus rolled his eyes but still couldn't help laughing to himself, he was glad James hadn't changed. He grabbed his trunk and quite literally dived at the brick wall, when he reopened his eyes he just caught a glimpse of the back of James' head entering a carriage, at least he couldn't get lost getting to his seat he thought. He was taking in the view of the magnificent scarlet steam train when a high whistle brought him back to his senses '30 seconds to board!' He heard someone on the train shout, 'Oh good lord' Remus said to himself, once again he grabbed his trunk and set off at a sprint, he reached his desired carriage and flung open the door throwing himself in, landing head first straight on top of James. "Oi, watch it you!" said James half heartedly
"Well, I'm just repaying the favour since you crashed into me earlier!" countered Remus
"I'll let you off" replied James "But just this once!"
Grinning, Remus got up off James and placed his trunk on the luggage holder and took a seat next to a boy who had a rather pointy nose and mousy brown hair. "Hi Remus, did you have a nice holiday?" The mousy haired boy asked
"Peter, do I ever have a nice holiday? Especially with a Mother like mine" replied Remus rather bitterly
"What's she done know mate?" asked the final boy who was sitting next to James, he was easily the most handsome and well built of the four, but he had a smile that lit up the whole of the carriage.
"Oh just the usual stuff Sirius, you know. She isn't going to be writing to me this year either! I'll make sure of that." Said Remus
"I know the feeling mate, mine is the same. Let's just go on the run huh?" replied Sirius rather sarcastically
"You two, you wouldn't last five minutes out there!" laughed James, the mousy haired Peter also joined in with James' howls of laughter
"Says the one who didn't even realise he has lost is glasses!'' retorted Remus
James lifted his hands to his face to feel for his glasses, only when he knew that Remus was telling the truth did he reply 'Hey! Where are they?" Remus placed his hand in his coat and pulled out the shattered glasses, grinning in the process. "Oh dear, James your glasses are nearly in two. You'll have to write home to get your mum to send you a new pair'' said Peter anxiously
"Peter, we're wizards. Remus pass me them please" Remus handed over the now completely broken glasses "Now peter, watch this" James withdrew his wand from his pocket, waved it in a circular motion and exclaimed "Oculus Reparo!" the two ends of the glasses sprung to life until they collided together forming a new, completely fixed pair of glasses. "Wow that was good!" said Peter in awe "calm down Peter, I suppose you want his autograph now do you" asked Sirius
"No, I just thought it was good that's all" replied Peter
"Well if you would like it I can assure you, it'll be worth someone one day. I'll be famous me, mark my words" said James proudly
"And you laugh at me and Remus for thinking we could run away!" responded Sirius, Remus sniggered.
The carriage door was pulled open, "Anything of the trolley dears?" asked a rather plump old lady
"No thanks, I have lunched packed" answered Peter
"Speak for yourself Peter, I'm starving" Sirius declared
"Me too, I think I'll buy a bit of everything please, we can all share it" Said James
"Thanks!" the three of them said.
"Well what are best friends for?" asked James
However James never in fact got a reply the plump old Lady walked into the already full carriage with the sweet trolley. The wonders that the trolley held was extraordinary, quite literally a school kids dream from chocolate frogs to Jelly slugs, this trolley had it. The lady whipped out her wand, gave it a little flick and to the foursomes delight they each had a huge paper back on their laps, full off the delights from the trolley. "That will be 11 Sickles please." The trolley lady told James,
He rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a rather large leather pouch which jingled when he lifted it up, once again Peter looked at him in awe, and James took out the 11 sickles and placed them into the lady's hands. The lady gave the boys one last smile, grabbed the trolley and left the carriage. Not a single word was spoke for the next five minutes, the only sounds emitted from the carriage was the scrunching up of sweet wrappers.
Sirius was already on to eating his chocolate Frogs, he ripped open the packet and tossed the frog aside, it leaped from Sirius' seat to James' it then went on to majestically leap on to Remus' lap only to come to a sudden stop half way through landing on the floor with a very disturbing splat. All four boys erupted in laughter, especially Remus, he hadn't had so much fun since the last time they were on this train, and he almost forgot what fun was living at home. "Well would you look who I got" Said Sirius sounding rather disgusted he lifted up the card that had come with the frog, displaying it to the other three boys, Remus took one look at it and knew it was Salazar Slytherin nobody forgets a stare like that. "You know what" announced Sirius "I might send this to mum, I'm sure she'll put it under her pillow and sleep with it a night"
"What about this one?" asked Peter waving another card up and down in the air "Wouldn't she like Godric Gryffindor even more?"
"I think she might Peter, here pass it here I'll Owl it here when we're at Hogwarts"
"Speaking of Hogwarts, shouldn't we put our robes on? The train can't be far away now" said Remus
The other three boys nodded in agreement and started to remove their muggle clothes. Remus never liked getting changed, especially in front of Sirius and James they both had a smooth complexion, compared to his own which was just a blanket of scars. Not that they said anything to him, he just felt insecure.
The foursome had changed into their robes and the subject of plans for their second year had crawled up in conversation, this type of conversation was what James and Sirius relished in.
"I still think we should learn how to transfigure people, think of what we could do to Filch!" Sirius put forward
"But that'd take forever that's really advanced stuff, and we'd probably get expelled! I say we raid the Slytherin common room with dungbombs!" said James eagerly
"But how would we get into the common room?" Peter asked
"Simple Peter this summer I was talking to my Uncle and we got talking about potions, stop laughing Sirius, anyway he told me there was this potion that allows you to transform into someone else for a short period of time, all we need is the hair of the person who we're going to turn into and the potion to drink. I think its called Pollyjuice potion, but I can't be sure" answered James
"That's a brilliant idea! I don't think we should make it ourselves though, it could go wrong and then we would be in trouble. We'll steal some out of Slughorn's potion cupboard, I think he shows that potion to NEWT students" Remus told the others
"You know what" said Sirius sounding quite surprised "I think we're bad influences on you Remus"
Remus smiled and nodded, taking what Sirius had just said as a compliment.
"Hey guys!" Shouted Peter "I can see the station, look we're stopping!" James stood up peered out of the window and laughed out loud "This is going to be a fun year!" he declared to the other three.
The foursome stepped out of the scarlet steam train to be met by the bitter cold, hitting them smack bang in the face, the cold was also accompanied by the Hogwarts game keeper. "First years follow me, come on this way" exclaimed the rough looking game keeper
"How do we get to the castle this year then?" asked James
"I think we go by them carriages over there, look" replied Peter, throwing his stubby finger in the direction of over 100 carriages
"Well, what are we waiting for lets go" said Sirius eagerly
"Yeah, I want to get to the closet carriage possible, I'm sure it's starting to rain" added Remus
Sure enough Remus' prediction came true, just as they got to the carriages and got seated the rain came soaring down from the sky, every raindrop that hit the floor sounded like hammers in miniature a wet cacophony was a suitable title to call this storm.
"Christ Remus, you wasn't wrong about the rain" said Sirius shielding his hair with his hands as he jumped out of the carriage "yeah he'll make a wonderful seer old Remus, now come on let's get inside before we drown in this rain!" shouted James as he pushed a Ravenclaw boy out of the way to get inside the castle . "Wow, thank - god we're out of - I really do hate rain" sputtered Peter who was clearly worn out from his sprint to the castle. "Tired Boys?" cackled a ghostly figure who had taken pleasure in throwing chewing gum in peoples wet hair "Quick its Peeves, let's get out of here now!" demanded Remus "I can't be doing with his threats right now" But Peeves wasn't taking notice of the four boys stood directly under him anymore, he had his eyes on someone else now, someone one thick black greasy hair. Peeves flew down to meet the mysterious boy and giggled right in his face "Well! I would have thought the rain would have washed that grease from your hair. Maybe not hahahahaha!" he blew one final raspberry in his face and flew to find yet another student to torment. "Ha-ha! Classic, you know Peeves is okay sometimes, especially when he's annoying Snivellus!" announced Sirius
"Yeah but it's not nice is it? Asked Remus
"Oh, Remus cheer up!" ordered James "Let's get inside the great hall"
The 4 boys sat down on the Gryffindor table and were eagerly waiting to watch the sorting ceremony; it was after all their first time watching the ceremony.
"We're going to get some good ones this year!" Peter predicted
"Well we're Gryffindor aren't we? We always get the best ones" bragged James, Sirius nodded and grinned in agreement.
A stern looking witch in green robes entered the great hall with a three legged school and the famous old hat. She walked quickly down the great hall and placed the stool and hat just before the staff table, the nervous first years was also trailing behind the witch both scared and excited. "When I call your name you will come and sit on this stool, I shall place the hat on your head and it will sort you into your house" declared the witch
"Professor McGonagall hasn't changed over the summer has she?" grinned Sirius
"I don't think she'll change over twenty summers, never mind just one" replied James, also grinning.
"Helda Allit!" announced Professor McGonagall the blonde haired girl took a slow walk to the seat, sat down and waited for McGonagall to place the hat on her head and when she did it went down right to her ears "Hufflepuff!" the hat exclaimed, a sudden huge cheer erupted from the 4th table in the hall, welcoming faces were congratulating Helda. However the cheers were soon cut to a short stop by the Professor McGonagall's strict voice "Blake Abraham!" once again a nervous first year walked up to the stool only this time he was placed in Ravenclaw house, more cheers erupted in the great hall as he took his seat on the bench. After around ten minutes of the sorting James became restless "well, this isn't all that is it?"
"Well there's only one left now look" replied Peter. The last girl became the final Gryffindor and once again most of the table cheered in delight bar James who was now rested his head in his hands however a cool, calm voice brought his attention to the staff table "Welcome to our first years, and welcome back to our other students. I am Professor Dumbledore for the first years that don't know, although I'd be surprised if you didn't" said Dumbledore winking in the process.
The foursome had now lost interest in the opening speech as it now consisted of a number of new rules that Filch had made over the summer. "Now that's that. Now off to bed, pip pip!"
