Outcast of Slytherin
AN: Hi, this is my first fanfic that I've ever written (the first writing that I've ever done really). I've had this idea floating around in my head for a while and decided I might as well try to write it down. It's going to be Remus/OC fic during the Marauders era, and I'm not planning on making it a huge novel, just a short story. Anyway, read and let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions!
Chapter 1: Introductions
People everywhere, bustling back and forth, paying no mind that they're jostling each other around and bumping into other people's luggage. Kids saying goodbye to parents, some of them with stiff nods and cold gestures, others hugging and making promises to write every day that they obviously won't keep. People sweating and mumbling curses under their breath as they drag their luggage up onto the train. I take it all in with a small smile on my face as I stand by myself on the platform, having just crossed through the wall to get here.
Platform 9 3/4. The way that all students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry get to school on September 1st. This is my seventh year seeing it, but each year it always instills a sense of excitement in me for the upcoming school year, along with some small disbelief that I'm actually a witch that gets to attend such a place. As I'm the first and only person in my family to be a witch or wizard, there is still that shock factor that magic actually exists in the world. The only downside to being the only witch in the family is that it still kind of freaks my family out a little bit, so I don't really get to see, let alone use, magic in the real world. Not that my family isn't supportive. My family is great and they really don't care that I'm a witch. It just startles them a lot more than a normal witch or wizard when I suddenly apparate in front of them or make the vegetables chop themselves when I'm making dinner. That's mostly why I told my parents they didn't have to accompany me to the station this year. I know they would gladly help me, but I don't like making them uncomfortable if I can avoid it, and being surrounded by witches and wizards definitely makes them uncomfortable. This is why Hogwarts a bit of an escape for me, as it's really the only place I feel comfortable enough to use the magic that such a big part of who I am.
As I'm standing there, lost in my own thoughts, I suddenly get almost knocked off my feet by someone ramming into me. I quickly catch myself and turn around to check on the other person, where I'm greeted by a cold face with a head of pale, almost white blond hair. I immediately stiffen as I recognize this person as Lucius Malfoy. One of the Slytherin Golden Boys. His face immediately shifts to a sneer of disdain and he dusts his robes off, as if the very thought of touching me disgusts him.
"Watch where you're going Dixon," he says to me, as if I was the one who ran into him. He then walks off before I can respond. "Sorry for existing, Malfoy…" I mumble to myself, as I grab my luggage and walk towards the train, trying to avoid getting ran over by anyone else. Even though it mildly shocked me that Lucius actually had addressed my name (although it was just my surname), I really shouldn't have been surprised that he knew who I was. After all, we are in the same house. Not that I ever interact with him, or any of the other Slytherins really, besides being insulted or hexed. I was considered the "outcast of Slytherin," as I didn't particularly get along or share ideals with anyone in my house. I was a muggleborn, which made me the oddball right away, but that possibly could have been overlooked by my fellow housemates had I decided to embrace the cruel attitudes and disdain for the other houses that many of my peers have. However, that's not who I am, which my housemates quickly realized, and they shunned me only a couple of weeks after I first came here at the age of 11. At this point, many people would have just befriended students in other houses, but the fact that I was a Slytherin turned most people away, and my general shy nature and inability to talk to people got rid of the rest of my prospects. This left me to be pretty much a loner. Of course there were few people that I would interact with, but they would be considered acquaintances at most. Most of the time I don't mind my loner status, but sometimes, like right now as I make my way through the other students finding their friends and mingling, I find myself wishing that either I was friendlier and more outgoing or that I hadn't been placed in Slytherin. I often wonder why I was placed in that house in the first place, but I guess the hat had its reasons. "Maybe it's just because I said I really liked green" I think to myself with a small snort of laughter as I climb onto the train and find my way to an empty compartment. I throw my luggage onto the rack and take a seat next to the window, as the train whistle blows and the remaining students on the platform start to board the train.
Many students start to turn into my compartment, but then backtrack and keep moving down the aisle as they realize I'm sitting there. Some students that couldn't have been more than fourth years even leave my compartment in a rush as they realize who I am. "Damn, my reputation really must be spreading if the fourth years from another house think I'm a pariah, I think with a roll of my eyes. Yea, what makes my outcast reputation worse is that although I already have the stigma of being a Slytherin and being a loner, which segregates me enough, is that the other Slytherins like to strike the fear of God into anyone that would dare to befriend me. There had been a few brave souls who had tried over the years, but the other Slytherins would prank and bother them so much that they would eventually keep their distance. Not that I could blame them. I appreciate the fact that they had tried at all. What I didn't understand was why the other Slytherins had to make sure I was a complete outcast, not just shun me from my house. I hadn't ever done anything to them to make them hate me, besides existing, but I guess that was something I would never figure out.
I sat quietly with my own thoughts as the train started to move away with my compartment still empty except for me. I left the door open in case in first years who didn't know better yet needed a place to sit, but none had come by so far. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of bright red pass by, which then quickly returned to the doorway. I turned to see Lily Evans looking at me with a smile.
"Hey, Lauren! How are you?" she greeted me as she stepped into the compartment and took a seat. Lily was one of the few acquaintances that was actually nice to me and would voluntarily start a conversation. We had first spoken when we got paired up in potions and had actually worked quite well together, much to both of our surprise. After that she had decided that she didn't mind to speak to me and actually went as far as to keep me as her partner in Potions class. Had it been anyone else, they immediately would have been attacked by the Slytherins, but they generally left her alone, simply because she was "The Lily Evans" who took absolutely no shit from anyone, which I admired about her.
"I'm just fine Lily. How are you?" I said with a small smile of my own.
"Great actually! I got Head Girl this year!" She said with a wide grin that immediately made me smile just a bit more. "I don't think anyone doubted you would get Head Girl, Lily, but congratulations none the less!" I said.
"Thanks anyway!" she said with a small laugh. Her face suddenly took on a more somber look. "Only drawback is that Potter somehow got Head Boy, so now I'm stuck with him in close quarters for the rest of the year," she grumbled out.
I couldn't help but laugh a little at her disgruntled expression. James Potter was head over heels in love with her, which most girls would be ecstatic about, and she was upset to be anywhere within a 20 foot range of him. "Well, Lily if anyone can handle him, I'm sure it would be you," I said. "I am honestly a bit shocked Dumbledore picked him though, if I'm honest. I would have picked Remus out of any of the Marauders," I mumbled out thoughtfully.
"My thoughts exactly, Lauren. Well, I've got to get up to the front compartment to brief the prefects, but it was nice talking to you. I'll see you in Potions, yea?" she said as she got up to leave. I mumbled a "sure, see ya" as she left, but my mind was on something else at the point, that something else being Remus Lupin.
Remus Lupin. One of the four Marauders, the most popular guys in our year and in the school. Remus, along with the other Marauders, including Sirius, James, and Peter, ran the school with their pranks and general charm. As a Slytherin, I was supposed to hate them and everything they stood for because they were Gryffindor and we were usually the targets of their pranks. However, I honestly thought they were brilliant. The pranks they came up with were hilarious and intricate, and I wish I could see what they go through to make their pranks work.
I suspected Remus was behind more of the difficult magic behind the pranks, as he was the brightest of the four. That's what had made him the most attractive in my mind. He was extremely smart, but didn't act like he was, and the teachers all loved him. He also was a genuinely nice person and I often saw him helping out younger students in the library when I was in there studying. And while he wasn't the most handsome of the Marauders (that title belonged to Sirius), he definitely had enough boyish good looks to make any girl giggle and blush. That how he had become my secret crush of sorts for the majority of my time at Hogwarts. I had never talked to him of course (outcast remember?) but I did enjoy admiring him from afar and having the occasional daydream about him.
With Remus on my mind, I decided to give in and I let myself daydream over him and various scenarios of him meeting my eyes across the Great Hall and falling madly in love with me (what can I say, I'm a sappy 17 year old girl. LET ME HAVE MY FANTASIES) for the remainder of my journey, anxiously awaiting our arrival that would mark my last year at Hogwarts.
