Chapter Two

Beeeeeeep! Remus rolled over, grabbing his phone. He checked the time before remembering that he set the alarm to wake him up at 4:30, giving him more than enough time to sneak in a quick dinner before he had to suffer through three hours of orientation. Other than forcing all the new students to mingle, what was really the point of this event? What did the university officials expect to happen with this meeting? That one meeting and suddenly everyone in the university would become best friends?

Rolling his eyes, Remus arose off his bed, his stomach rumbling. He'd need to figure out where on campus he was supposed to go to get dinner. He knew that he was to use his student I.D. as a credit card when it came to his meal plan. Shrugging, Remus sat down at his desk, pulling out his laptop and opening a web browser to the Hogwarts' homepage. He clicked through a couple of links before he finally found a map, where he learned that there was a café in the next building over. He got up and headed that way.

Twenty minutes later, Remus returned to the quad, a sandwich, coffee, and a slice of chocolate cake in hand. He sat down at a table and started to eat, wincing at the dry consistency of the dessert. Briefly, he wondered if all college food tasted as much like cardboard as his current meal did. Nonetheless, he finished the meal off before walking back to his room to kill some time with Tumblr before he went to face the rest of his class.

"Why do we have to be at this thing again?" Remus asked Lily, already bored out of his mind, and they were only fifteen minutes in. So far the only thing that had happened was the advisors of each school within Hogwarts spoke about their jobs in the University and how willing they were to "help out any student in need." The two-thousand freshmen were stuffed into the basketball stadium, staring down at a makeshift stage in the middle of the floor. Remus shifted his focus there for a moment before turning it back to Lily again. "Seriously, I'd rather be running than this. And you know how I can't run."

Lily laughed. "Remus, its one presentation. You managed to get through Professor Briggs' Latin Philosophy class for four years. This is much more exciting than that."

"I disagree!" Remus argued. "Briggs' had brilliant theories that you couldn't even begin to fathom the depth of."

Lily rolled her eyes, flipping her fiery hair over her shoulder. "Whatever." Suddenly, people began to stand up. It was time to separate into pre-determined groups to talk about how to adjust to college life. Fortunately, Lily and Remus had picked up folders with the same letter on them. They were told to follow a junior named Arthur Weasley into a room in Ravenclaw Manor, which was where all the English classes were located at. Remus knew that he would have the majority of his classes there, for he was an English major. He aspired to be a secondary education English professor once he graduated from school, hopefully back in his hometown.

The group sat down at the desks in the classroom before Arthur launched a PowerPoint about how to succeed in Unviersity. It was a basic presentation, simply stating the dangers of alcohol and drugs, as well as how to avoid them. Arthur also spoke of the different clubs and organizations that Hogwarts' offered, and how the best way to make friends was. It was all things that Remus already knew, so he let his mind drift. He couldn't help it, but he kept hoping that he would run into Sirius come Monday, if not sometime in the near future after that. Not that Remus was gay, mind you. He had dated a few girls back when he attended public schooling. Sirius was just that kind of beautiful that everyone took notice of, gay or straight. Regardless, Remus felt intrigued by the boy.

Remus was shaken from his thoughts by a nudge to his foot. He looked over at the boy sitting next to him, who cocked his head towards the front. Remus turned that way, realizing that Arthur had asked him a question. "I'm sorry, what?" Remus asked.

Arthur smiled at him. "Everyone is saying their name and major."

Remus nodded, already feeling uncomfortable. He couldn't remember the last time he was in a group of strangers this big where all eyes were on him. "O-oh. I'm Remus Lupin. I'm an English major."

Arthur nodded. "Fabulous."

The next person answered the question. Remus deflated. It was definitely going to take a while to get used to this.

The next few days passed by quickly, and Tuesday arrived faster than he had expected. He was a little nervous about his first class. He had stayed up late the night before skimming through his textbooks, seeing if he could learn anything useful before the class began. Well, that, and he was too nervous to sleep. When he had finished his skimming, he had stayed up lately re-reading his prized copy of Lord Byron poems. His father had given it to him on the last birthday he had been alive for, although Remus had heard these poems since his childhood. John used to read Remus to sleep with the words of this art, and once Remus had grown old enough to recite the poems himself, John figured that his son might as well have a copy of his own. Remus' favorite poem of the set was "When We Two Parted." His parents had never understood why Remus felt such a pull to the heartbreak of the words, but it wasn't anything he could explain. He just thought they were beautiful and romantic, albeit a bit morbid.

Calming himself down, Remus began to quote the poem. "When we two parted/ in silence and tears/ half broken hearted/ to sever for years. / Pale grew thy cheek and cold/ colder thy kiss/ truly that hour foretold/ sorrow to this." As he remembered the poem, a wave of sadness overtook him. He missed his dad so much. He desperately wished that his father had been able to be there when Remus had to leave school. While it wouldn't have made the situation any better, it would have helped Remus to deal with… well, with what he had to deal with. Groaning, Remus threw himself back down onto his bed. All because of that one stupid thing, Remus' life had been changed forever. He hated drunk drivers. Hell, he hated anyone who drank in general now. If that man hadn't been drinking so heavily, he never would have crashed into John and Lily's parents, and they never would have had to deal with all the heartbreak.

Remus pressed his palms against his eyes, sighing as he pulled them away. Pulling his hands back, Remus glanced at his watch before sitting up, grabbing a glass off his shelf and getting a glass of water. He nearly choked as he heard a loud noise, only to realize moments later that it was simply the sound of Peter snoring, deep in sleep. The larger boy didn't have class until late afternoon, so he was able to sleep until midmorning. Remus had class at nine and, while Remus normally awoke at five on a daily basis, he also rarely stayed up past ten. He was exhausted, and couldn't wait to come home tonight to do all his homework and sleep. He had a feeling Lily wouldn't let that happen, though. He was sure that the girl would want to meet up and hear all about his first day, as well as tell him every little thing that happened in hers and every person that she met. She was quite the social butterfly, quite unlike Remus. It was one of the things that Remus loved about Lily, though. One smile from her and a mime would willingly and vocally open his heart to her, telling her his life story. It was an admirable quality that Remus wished he had instead of his persistent shyness.

Remus picked his faded beige messenger bag off of his chair, pushing a few notebooks and pens in beside his textbooks. This morning he had Chemistry and Composition, and then after lunch he had Algebra and Creative Writing. It was definitely a packed day, but fortunately, he only had class Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. It would give him a nice, long four day weekend to work on papers and focus on his studies.

Remus slowly walked across campus, his bag weighing heavily on his shoulder. It took him fifteen minutes to get to class. Chemistry was taught by one Professor Severus Snape (A/n: Yes, I know in Marauder-world Sev is their age, but I couldn't think of who their professor would be so I decided I wanted to use Snape. My story, my decision) in the basement of the oldest building on campus, Slytherin Tower. It had been built over two hundred years ago, when the Hogwarts' campus had been known as a quaint town by the name of Butcher's Hollow. Leg2end had it that the town had been overrun by magic, and that an evil witch cast a spell over the town so that any generation for three hundred years would be cursed if they so stepped onto the ground within the town's borders. It was all just myth, though. There really wasn't such a thing as magic. Remus was sure that illness must have been the main factor for nearly everyone in the town dying within weeks of each other all these years ago. Influenza, the bubonic plague, small pox, food poisoning, something that like. There wasn't any such thing as a curse.

Remus sighed, pulling open the heavy stone door. Remus had walked around campus over the weekend and figured out where all his classes were at, which was good because Professor Snape's lecture hall was in the very bowels of the building, deep underground. Remus believed that the room had once been used as a dungeon for the witches that were captured. The walls and floor were made of a dark gray stone, dampened and leaking from the groundwater surrounding the foundation. The lighting was extremely poor; the only light was cheap candles and lanterns hanging off the walls every five or so feet. The orbs were suspended in wrought iron cages, and let only enough light through to let the students make out the words of their textbooks. Remus crinkled his nose the further he descended down the steps, the air turning stale and the stink of mildew filling his nostrils.

Remus decided to sit in the middle of the classroom, rather than the front like he would have preferred, once he set his eyes on Snape. He was a middle-aged man, darkly handsome yet terrifying. His inky hair reached his shoulders, and his steely eyes pierced through Remus. He quickly cast his gaze elsewhere, sitting down on one of the benches in the room. This room really wasn't the ideal setting for a class, but Remus supposed that it worked well enough for the building that it was in.

"Hello again," came a voice from in front of Remus. He looked up to see a boy staring at him. It took Remus a moment to realize that it was Sirius in front of him. He looked completely different than he did at the convenience store. Rather than dressed in professional-casual clothing, Sirius was in dark jeans and a tight black muscle shirt, his arm muscles flexing as he turned around in his seat. His tongue flicked out for a moment, showing his tongue ring as he toyed with the black ring on his lip. A glint near Sirius' eye showed Remus that the boy also had his eyebrow pierced. Remus didn't realize that it was possible for Sirius to be any more attractive than he was before, but for once, Remus was wrong. He smiled at him.

"Hey," he responded. Sirius smiled back and stepped over his bench, earning a glare from Professor Snape. Sirius rolled his eyes at the man before turning back to Remus. "Are you in this class?"

Sirius shook his head. "I'm actually just leaving this class. I had dear old Uncle Sevvy for Organic Chem last block." He turned at the older man and waggled his fingers at him, winking. Professor Snape narrowed his eyes again.

"Sirius Orion Black, I command you leave my classroom at once," Snape drawled, his voice rougher than sandpaper.

Sirius stood up. "Yeah, yeah, Sevvy, whatever you say." Sirius turned to Remus. "I'll catch you later, okay?" He flashed Remus another smile before walking back out of the classroom, his uncle's eyes burning a hole though his back the entire time that he walked away.

A pretty girl with blonde hair took Sirius' place next to Remus. "Do you mind if I sit here?" she asked, her voice light and airy. Remus shook his head, analyzing the girl for a moment. She had curly white-blonde hair that went to her midback, and her eyes were nearly white they were so blue. Remus turned his focus back on the board, feeling awkward around this new girl. Anamelia must have sensed his discomfort, because she smiled at Remus before holding out her hand. "I'm Anamelia."

Remus shook her hand. "Remus Lupin. Pleasure to meet you."

Anamelia began to pull out her textbook, reminding Remus that he too needed to get out his supplies for this class. He took out a notebook and a fountain pen. He had always preferred the feeling of a fountain pen to that of a normal one. He liked the way the ink moved smoothly across the paper, the nub of the pen scarring the paper lightly with every curve of the letter. He smiled at Anamelia as she glanced over at him. "So, I saw you talking to my brother. Do you know him?"

"Sirius is your brother?" Remus asked, surprised. This girl looked nothing like Sirius in any sense of the word. Anamelia was day whereas Sirius was night. Although, the more that Remus thought about it, Anamelia did have the same full lips as Sirius. Not that he was looking at Sirius' lips or anything, it was simply an observation.

Anamelia nodded. "Mhmm,. We're triplets. We have another brother named Regulus, too, except he doesn't go to school with us. He got mixed up with the wrong people and ended up in prison."

Remus wasn't sure what to say to that. "Oh. I'm sorry."

Anamelia shrugged. "It's alright. We kind of expected it. Growing up, Sirius was always the one that was adventurous and athletic, I preferred to dance and paint, and Regulus… well, Regulus was often found torturing animals. My parents sent him to therapy, but that didn't last very long."

Remus nodded. He was going to respond, but Professor Snape started class first. The man glared at his class, judging the amount of failure he would have to deal with this year. He narrowed his eyes, flicking them to his niece and the boy his nephew had been talking to before turning to the blackboard. "Open your textbooks and turn to page 394."

When Remus was finally done with his classes for the day, he felt exhausted. He had forgotten how much energy it took to walk around so much. A beeping on his watch reminded Remus that there was something in his room he needed to grab before he did anything else with his day. Suddenly, Remus felt his pocket begin to vibrate. He pulled out his phone to see that Lily was calling him.

"What's up flower child?" Remus said, answering his phone. He heard Lily laugh lightly on the other end at the use of his nickname for her.

"Nothing much, I just wanted to know if you wanted to meet up later and get a bite to eat after I get out of my last class," Lily responded.

Remus yawned, checking his watch. He remembered that Lily had class until 5:30, and it was only 2. "Yeah, that's fine. I'm going to get back to the dorm and take a nap before I do anything though. I forgot how exhausting actual class can be."

"Oh yeah, Mr. Home-school. Welcome to society again," Lily teased. Remus and Lily chattered for a few more minutes until Remus reached his building.

When Remus got back to his dorm, he thought about his first day of classes. Nothing had been too terribly hard. Proffessor Snape's class wasn't much fun, though, but he and Anamelia had gotten a chance to talk more after class. It was strange, after their initial meeting, Remus didn't feel the awkward shyness that he normally felt around new people. Perhaps he had grown up more than he had thought, that maybe he had grown out of his shyness. He sincerely hoped that that was the case. He didn't want to spend any more time than he had to feeling nervous around people. Even though Remus preferred the solitary of the library with his precious books, Remus wished for another close friend besides just Lily. Sure, he loved the girl more than anything in the entire world, but he wanted someone that he could talk to when Lily was busy. Remus had seen how stunning the girl had become over the summer, and he knew that Lily would have boys flocking to her as the year drew on. He didn't want to be left behind in the dust when some boy came and stole her away from her.

Remus sighed. He wished that he was at least semi-attractive. He used to have a slight bit of lean muscle back in secondary school, but since the incident, he hadn't done any sort of physical activity, and he had to admit that he sort of missed it. Perhaps he would pick up running again, he used to enjoy it so. Anamelia had said that Sirius was always the athletic one of the their family, maybe the boy would help him build up some muscle. Not that Remus was desperate for love, mind you. He just wanted it to be a possibility.

Shaking his head, Remus lied down on his bed, and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.