CHAPTER 1

Remus

Remus John Lupin looked out of the car window. He rested his chin on his hand, which in turn rested on the armrest beside the window. His face was glued to the window. His father was playing loud country music, much to his mother and his dislike. But when she didn't say anything, neither did he.

Remus got very carsick on car rides like this. Otherwise he would have been reading. That was his solution to everything. Bored? Remus read, because it was his favorite thing to do. Tired? Remus read until his eyes could no longer be forced open. Angry? Remus read, albeit angrily. He loved to escape into the fantasy worlds so much better than his own. His own world was a sort of torture.

For Remus Lupin was a werewolf. He had been bitten at the age of seven. None of his schoolmates could know. If he could make any, that was. Remus was extremely lucky to have made it into Hogwarts.

And this was what caused Remus the most conflict with his father. His father was a muggle, you see. When he found out that his son had taken after his mother, he had nearly left the young boy and the witch. But, in the end, he decided to stay and be unhappy. Remus could never understand why. Especially after Remus had been bitten. John had acted as if it was all Remus's fault, and Clara's. But how was he to know about the beast lurking in the snow that day?

A young Remus had joined up with a small group of friends who could be considered his friends had invited him to a snowball fight. They played in a field until it was mostly dark out. It was a full moon that night.

Most of the other boys had left for supper, but Remus and two others remained playing. They had heard a small whimpering sound from a little ways along the field. He had gone close to the sound to see what appeared to be a hurt dog lying in the snow. He called to his friends to go get help.

A few moments later, however, the dog stopped whimpering. Then suddenly, it howled. The dreadful sound of it calling its deadly pack. Remus Lupin turned and ran.

But it was too late. The werewolf jumped upon him, scratching him. Luckily for Remus, his mother arrived at that very moment. She pulled out her wand and the beast ran, whining. But it had already bitten Remus. Remus was already infected.

Remus was very, very lucky to be able to go to Hogwarts. If it weren't for Dumbledore... He shook his head, blinking away the drowsiness that he had almost succumbed to. He let out a big and silent yawn, and looked out the window. His eyes widened at the sight they brung.

A massive station loomed in front of him. The car pulled up to King's Cross and Remus opened his door eagerly. His mother got out and started helping him gather up his trunk and owl, Orion, which had been a present from his mother celebrating his acceptance to Hogwarts. His father got out of the car, only to lean against his closed door and light up a cigarette. He gave a small wave to Remus and then looked away.

Normally the boy would've been hurt by this, but today he was far too excited. He ran off towards the station, his mother carrying his things in tow.

Once they reached the main area of the station Remus grabbed a trolley and his mother heaved the heavy trunk and owl cage onto it. Remus was proud to say he pushed it all by himself. How would he look if his mother turned up carrying his luggage?

Remus gave a small shake of his head. People were going to judge him for a lot worse things than that. He walked, his head in his own little world, floating past all the trains and passengers. He finally gave another little shake of his dazed head as they reached the space between platforms nine and ten. His mother placed a calming hand on his shoulder, and he looked up at her. She gave a slight nod of her head, and together they rushed towards the seemingly solid brick wall. Remus held his breath as they were about to collide with the column. But the crash never came. Remus opened his eyes to a wonderful sight.

All around him were rushing witches and wizards, old people and young people, bustling past him towards the train. Mothers and fathers hugged their children good-bye. Students reunited with friends. The noise was immense.

Remus, usually one for quiet, was not bothered at all by the looming wall of sound. Quite the opposite, really: he was astounded and curious as he had never actually been somewhere with this many people of his age before.

A Conductor yelled out, his voice magically enhanced, "Two minutes 'til we leave the station! All aboard! All aboard!"

Remus's mother turned him around and kissed him on the cheek, then straightened his clothes for the umpteenth time. Remus playfully pushed her away, but relished her kind touch. She ruffled up his hair again, and sent him towards the train with a blown kiss. Remus had time to give one last wave before he was pushed into the crowd moving towards the train.

Once everyone got on the train, things started to settle down. People made for the empty compartments with their groups of friends. A lot of people had already filled up their compartments by the time Remus came back to his senses. He had been so overwhelmed by the experience of it all, the experience of being and, almost, belonging. He could never remember feeling as if he fit in, even before he had been bitten.

The aisle of the train was fairly empty by now, and the boy started to move down. Almost every compartment was full, or had angry-looking older students in it. Remus finally came upon one with a particularly mousy looking, young boy in it. He opened the door to find the kid staring out the window as if trying to see back home.

Ah-hem, Remus made a coughing noise. The boy snapped around. "Could I sit here? All the other compartments are full," Remus questioned, gesturing to the seat across from the boy. He nodded, and turned his full body around to face Remus. The boy had dirty blonde hair, a few shades lighter than Remus's own. He had a dusting of freckles along his nose and cheeks and was relatively pudgy, but had a kind, round face.

He extended a hand politely. "I'm Peter Tobuscus Pettigrew," he said. Remus took the hand and shook it firmly, and with an air of confidence that he didn't feel.

"I'm Remus John Lupin." Boys these days felt it important to share their middle names as well as their first. "This is my first year here. You?"

"My first too," squeaked Peter. Strange, his voice was rather squeaky. "You nervous?"

Remus was just opening his mouth to answer when the compartment door slid open again. Both boys looked over.

"Hey. I'm James Ignotus Potter. First year. Mind if we share with you?" Peter and Remus simultaneously waved towards the seats in an open gesture. James smirked a bit, but not unkindly. He had a mop of black hair that stuck up at the back. He also had circular wiry glasses that were oddly suited to his face. His eyes shone a kind amber. Then Remus saw the boy that had accompanied him, and his breath caught a little.

A/N: This is my first real fanfiction that I am writing. The rest of the chapters are going to alternate between Remus's, Sirius's, and James's points of view, and perhaps Lily's later on. I am writing this on google docs, and for each character I have chosen a font that I think is what their handwriting would look like. The rest of Remus's bits are also in first person, because I think it sounds better in the context, where as this one sounds better in 3rd. I don't know. I hope you liked it though! This story will also later have Wolfstar and, of course, Jily. If you don't like either of these ships please don't read it.

Please review, whether good or bad! Tell me if I have made any mistakes and/or things that contradict each other or are blatantly against an important fact in the book that I might have forgotten (except for Remus being straight. Remus belongs with Sirius in my heart.)

Thanks!