"Now, remember Boy, no funny business. I won't have any of these people finding out about your freakish abnormality." The man said. He grimaced at the small child standing beside him and wrinkled his nose. The boy had longish hair and ivory pale skin. To a passerby, the boy had smooth, translucent skin. But the man knew better: under impenetrable layers of glamours, the boy's skin was riddled with scars and bruises. He grimaced again at the child's shabby clothing and mismatched, secondhand belongings. He twitched his own impeccable robe away from the imaginary filth of the small boy.

"Well, Boy? If you make a mess, I'll leave it to you to clean it up. Understand?" The boy nodded and didn't make eye contact.

"Yes, father. I-" The man cut him off abruptly.

"What did you call me?"

"Sir! I'm sorry, Sir!" the child whimpered.

"Not as sorry as you're going to be…" The man grumbled, "Just get on the train, and out of my sight."

"Yes, fath- Sir. Thank you for your help, Sir." The child said quietly. The man made a noise of impatience and waved the child onto the train.

"And don't write to me or any of that nonsense!" The child looked back sadly, and dragged his heavy trunk onto the scarlet steam engine train without that aid of the man he used to call his father.


Remus sat alone in a compartment far away from the shouting and laughter of the other children. Hogwarts had no place for someone like him. It was a miracle that he'd even gotten in to the school, and it would only be a matter of time before he made a mistake and was kicked out. Even worse would be if the Ministry discovered his condition. Remus had been bitten by a werewolf when he was a small child, in the same attack that had killed his mother, and turned his father into the bitter man he was today. Before that, the Lupin family had been happy and loving: but now it was only Remus and his father. There was no more Lupin family: there were 2 Lupins, but they were far from being a family.

The boy sighed heavily, and fished in his bag for a book to read. He was about halfway done with it when the door to his compartment slid open. Another boy stood there quietly, a large trunk behind him, and already dressed in his robes.

"Can I sit here?" the boy asked softly. Remus nodded, and stood up to help the boy with his trunk. They shoved it into the overhead compartment, and they both sat down heavily.

"Jesus: what do you have in there? Bricks?" Remus said, pretending to be out of breath. He couldn't let the other boy know that he could have easily lifted that trunk with one hand. The boy shook his head.

"Not bricks: books." Remus cocked his head to the side in interest.

"What kinds of books?" The boy looked at him warily, as if he expected Remus to take the books from him.

"Textbooks, potions books, and transfiguration texts. Why? What are you reading?" he said. Remus smiled at him happily.

"I'm reading about transfiguration too: my name's Remus by the way." The other boy nodded at him.

"Severus."


As the train moved on, Remus changed into his robes, and bought a small amount of chocolate from the trolley witch. He and Severus read quietly, occasionally pausing to point out something interesting to the other. Remus was reading one of Severus' potions books, and Severus was reading the Transfiguration text that Remus had earlier. Both were still reading quietly when they were interrupted by what sounded like a small explosion. A foul stench filled the air, and Remus opened up the door to the corridor and stuck his head out. Greenish smoke was curling out the door of another compartment and the people on either side of that compartment were gagging in the hallway. A group of older students with matching badges strode down the corridor angrily, brandishing their wands at the smoke. With a wave and some multicolored sparks, the smoke was gone and the corridor smelled like flowers.

"What was that?" one of the older girls said angrily. 2 boys were dragged out of the compartment by their ears and another boy followed after them reluctantly, but minus the ear pain.

"Just a spot of fun. Nothing too serious." One of the boys said. He flicked his hair out of his face cheekily and smiled up at the girl. She rolled her eyes in disgust and turned away.

"The Headmaster will be hearing about this." She called back over her shoulder. The boys holding the two boys released their ears, and the troublemakers went back into their compartment. Remus ducked back inside, and Severus raised an eyebrow at him.

"What was that all about?" he asked. Remus shook his head.

"Nothing really; just 2 idiots with a dungbomb. Smelled pretty foul, but some older kids cleared it up." Severus nodded, and the boys went back to their books.


Hooray! Blood and Chocolate has mutated into its own story! Yay! *confetti flies out of Amanda's keyboard*...Well...that was unexpected, and somehow, anticlimactic...Anywho, leave me happy little reviews and favorites...It motivates me to update slightly faster than my previous sloth-like speed...Happy reading!!! *skips away*