Disclaimer: I am, unfortunately, not J.K. Rowling and therefore I do not own any of the characters in the Harry Potter world. I am not earning any money from this either and I don't have any money so… no need to sue me.
Pairings: Sirius x Remus (that's slash so don't like it then don't read it), James x Lily
Summary: In 1971 Professor Albus Dumbledore allowed a boy called Remus Lupin to attend Hogwarts. This is his story and the story of his fellow Marauders: Sirius, James and Peter. They all learn new lessons through their seven years, some of those lessons were taught in a classroom.
ONE: Sorting Things Out
It was a large and beautiful, circular room, but the young boy did not notice, he was too busy keeping a tight grip on the hand of the woman beside him and peering nervously at the bearded man who was seated behind an enormous, claw-footed desk.
"Please take a seat," the man said and, with a flourish of his wand, two comfortable looking armchairs popped into position in front of his desk.
Although the woman was initially startled she quickly regained composure and ushered the small boy towards the largest, and fluffiest, of the two armchairs. She then ignored the other armchair and decided instead to stand beside the boy, his hand still in hers and her other free hand lying reassuringly on his shoulder.
"Mrs Lupin is it?" said the man whilst flicking away the vacant armchair with his wand. The woman nodded in reply. "And this is your son Remus?" She nodded again. "As you know I am Professor Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Now I hear you wish to inquire upon whether your son is able to attend this school?"
Mrs Lupin nodded once more and opened her mouth to respond but Professor Albus Dumbledore waved a hand to indicate that he was not finished.
"Your son did receive an admittance letter, did he not?" he continued.
"Yes he did," said Mrs Lupin.
"And is he not eleven years of age?"
"Yes he is, Professor Dumbledore."
"Please call me Albus," he said. He was smiling now, and it was such a warm smile that Mrs Lupin found herself smiling back. "So what is the problem?"
Mrs Lupin hesitated, "my son, you see, has an… illness, of sorts and-" she stopped and looked anxiously up at the kindly face in front of her.
"Yes I have heard of young Remus' condition," Dumbledore said, and glanced towards the boy who was now staring at his toes. "Lycanthropy is a fateful affliction that cannot yet be cured." Mrs Lupin let off a small sob at these. "But it does not mean that the afflicted should not be allowed a proper education." The boy now stopped staring at his shoes and stared up at Dumbledore instead.
"But how will you stop him from…" Mrs Lupin began.
"Passing on his ailment to others?" Dumbledore said helpfully.
"Yes." agreed Mrs Lupin.
"Well we have made a few precautions to insure the safety of every student." He smiled his warm smile, "I'm sure you and your son would like to hear them all, Mrs Lupin."
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Platform 9 ¾ was always the busiest platform in all of King's Cross Station on the first day of September. Nevertheless the majority of the people in London did not know this fact and, strangely enough, did not know such a platform as Platform 9 ¾ existed. The people who did, however, were now making there way towards it. Most of them were children, aged between eleven and seventeen, and young Remus Lupin was one of those children.
He rubbed the sleep out of his eye and surveyed the people around him. His mother was gently pushing him through the crowd of laughing children and squawking pets and right up to the side of the red, puffing steam-train. She planted a soft kiss on his cheek and made a show of checking he had everything with him, her eyes slightly wet with tears.
"Now remember if anything happens, anything at all, you must go and-"
"Tell a teacher," finished Remus, "I know Mum."
Mrs Lupin looked her son up and down with concern. He had dark circles around his eyes and his skin was unhealthily pale, he was obviously still tired.
"Are you sure you're ready to go today?" she asked, "You don't need to if you don't want. I could always ask Professor Dumbledore if you could start tomorrow. I'm sure he won't mind."
Remus shook his head and smiled up at his mother in what he hoped was a comforting way, "No Mum I'm fine," he said, "and anyway I could always get some sleep on the train."
As if on cue the train gave a loud whistle and the booming voice of the conductor yelled, "All Aboard". Remus quickly heaved his heavy trunk on the train and turned back to his mother who was holding back tears. She gave him one more kiss and a tight hug before saying goodbye and getting swept away by the other children all pushing and shoving to get onboard.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"So dear cousin, it is your first time on the Hogwart's Express yes?" drawled a teenage girl with blonde hair and piercing cerulean eyes. She was talking to a younger boy who had jet-black hair, the total opposite to that of the girl's, but blue eyes just like those of his cousin.
"Obviously it is Narcissa," he answered in the same drawl, "my mother told you that already."
"Don't talk like that to someone your elder, Sirius Black," Narcissa said, giving him a distasteful look, "I thought your mother would have told you that already."
The boy called Sirius rolled his eyes in a way that didn't suit an eleven-year-old child and said, "I think I'll find my own compartment, dear cousin." With that he turned away and strode down the length of the train corridor. He could hear Narcissa droning voice in the background but he ignored it and carried on walking, peeking every now and then in compartments to see whether there was a free space. Unfortunately they were all full, or at least the ones that didn't have intimidating upper years in them were.
Finally it got the last compartment; there was a small gap in the sliding door and Sirius peered in to find it empty except for one sandy-haired boy whose eyes were closed. He slid the door further open and stepped inside, only to be forced forward by another person behind him.
"Sorry about that," said a cheerful voice. When Sirius turned to look at the owner of the voice he found it was another boy about the same age as himself with messy black hair and round spectacles. The boy was grinning from ear to ear, but not in a way that said, "haha I nearly made you fall" but in a way that suggested the boy had no other expression but those of happiness. Sirius couldn't help but like him and grin back.
"No, it's okay," he said in response.
The boy with spectacles observed the compartment and raised an eyebrow at the sandy-haired boy. "Is he asleep?" he asked.
"Probably," said Sirius shrugging, "but this compartment's practically the only that isn't full so…"
"Think we should wake him?" the spectacled boy said, staring at the other boy curiously.
"He looks pretty tired," replied Sirius, sitting down opposite the sleeping child, "We should let him rest."
"Okay," said the spectacled boy agreeably, and he plonked himself next to Sirius. "I'm James Potter, by the way," he said holding out his hand.
"Sirius," said Sirius, taking the boy's hand.
The sound of laughter woke Remus up from his slumber. Before him were two boys he had never seen before; one had neat, obsidian-black hair and blue eyes, the other also had black hair but it was a mess and he wore spectacles, they were both already in their school robes. After a few seconds they noticed him watching them and, realising this, Remus receded slightly away.
"Hey," said the spectacled boy jovially, "Sirius and I were about to wake you. The conductor said we'll be at Hogwarts soon and you need to change into your robes."
The other boy, Sirius, nodded and smirked. "Had a nice nap?"
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
The once empty classroom was bustling with activity. Frantic high-pitched voices talked incessantly about this 'Sorting' thing that was suppose to sort all the first years into their houses. Remus hoped he didn't have to be very alert for it. What if it was something he couldn't do because of his condition? Will he not be sorted? Will he end up having to go back home and disappoint his mother?
"Don't worry Remus," said the spectacled boy next to him, he had introduced himself as James not too long ago, "It isn't supposed to be that bad. Someone did say we had to duel a banshee though."
The blue-eyed Sirius laughed and said, "I heard it was a werewolf." Remus nearly choked on his own spit.
He was being patted on the back by James when the strict-looking Professor McGonagall herded them all ahead and started shouting out orders like "no talking please", "single file everyone", and "follow me". She led them into a great hall with a ceiling higher than infinity that showed the sky, four grand tables where other students watched them, and one high table where the staff were seated. But nowhere could he see a banshee and the only werewolf there was the one walking uneasily in his shoes. As he drew nearer to the front of the hall, however, he saw a battered and ragged hat and as Professor McGonagall halted the procession of first years it did the oddest thing, it started to sing.
Narcissa Black watched her cousin as the Sorting Hat was placed over his head, and she scowled. There was something wrong with that child; he held the air of a Black like an expert, especially for his age, but he was yet… unnerving. She sighed and ignored whatever was jabbing those thoughts into her, it was not her problem. She had no more time to ponder when the hat's mouth ripped open once again and yelled:
"GRYFFINDOR!"
The Gryffindor table burst in applause, which was lucky because at that precise time Narcissa had let out a scream of enragement. The rest of the Slytherin table gaped at her and Lucius Malfoy, her soon-to-be betrothed, asked what all the other Slytherins were thinking, "Isn't he your cousin?"
Sirius walked in somewhat of a daze towards the Gryffindor house table. He was clapped on the back by some random fifth year as he walked past and two sixth years shook his hand. It was not until he sat down did he completely understand what had just happened. He had been sorted into Gryffindor, and his mother was going to kill him.
"Kirke, Belen" was sorted into Ravenclaw and Professor McGonagoll looked further down the list then announced, "Lupin, Remus".
Remus made his way shakily up towards the Sorting Hat and sat upon the stool, his hands shaking. The Sorting Hat was far too big for him and fell down below his eyes so he could no longer see the Great Hall.
"So Remus Lupin," said a gruff voice, coming from what seemed like the hat itself, "you have a secret young Lupin."
Remus did not reply and hoped that whatever the hat chose to do, he had assumed the gruff voice belonged to the hat, it would have nothing to do with revealing who he really was.
"I will not tell your secret," the hat said as if reading his mind, which it probably did, "but you must be cautious with whom you tell your secret to."
"I will," Remus whispered, trying his best to move his mouth as little as possible.
"Good because I suspect in Hogwarts you will find great friends as well as great foes," the hat replied, "I see that with a mind like yours and what your heart stores that you should be in-"
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat bellowed aloud.