Rising of the Moon
Part Two
Year One
Element Two
As I Feel the Inferno
Author's Notes:
This will eventually contain slash. They're all eleven yet, so we're all safe for some time. I'll warn you when that all changes.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I barely own what in my brain. The voices keep running off with it!
The second chapter. I wanted a fair reaction, and I didn't think one chapter would be good enough to judge it. I do hope everyone enjoys this, it's a slightly darker look at Remus' life, but somehow it seemed fitting to the werewolf's character. As I said before, this was supposed to be a short character piece. Well, it didn't stay that way. So, please enjoy the second chapter to go with the first!
oOooOo
Remus had a transformation just a week before the start of school, and was pleased to find that all of his new things fit right into his trunk. The thought that his life, his entire being, fit into the trunk was a little sad, but it really didn't matter. He was just glad he wasn't destroying anything, especially his wolf. He adored the toy, had named it Conall, and spent a pretty good amount of time talking to it. It was, in essence, his only friend.
Now he was headed to the Hogwarts Express. Smyth had laughed and kicked him out at the station without telling him how to find the Hogwarts Express and now Remus was growing afraid he'd miss the train. He had a cart with his trunk on it, and no way to get to the platform. He knew better than to ask a muggle, since he knew they wouldn't know, but he was lost beyond that.
Then he ran into someone. A very familier someone. The matriarch or the Black family. "Filth! Mudblood!" She screeched.
Remus bowed deeply, shivering as he did so. "I'm really, really sorry, Madame Black," He managed. "I didn't mean to. I was just lost, looking for the Hogwarts Express and I wasn't paying attention. I'm really sorry."
Her face softened briefly and she gestured to the wall between platforms nine and ten. "Just pass though there, child. It's right there. Just walk through between platforms nine and ten."
"Thank you very much, Madame Black," Remus replied, still in his bow. He stayed there a few seconds more before rising and hurrying through to the platform. He was going to be late. And then he stopped, looking from the train to his trunk and back again. There was no way he could lift his trunk onto the train, and he was already tired.
There wasn't much else for it, he grabbed the handle and heaved, somehow getting it off the trolly, then up the first step, then the second, and then the third. Then he had to stop and take a break, breathing heavily. He sat heavily down on his trunk for a moment, then continued down the train, stopped every so often to catch his breath. He made it to the last compartment on the train, found it empty, and drug his trunk inside.
By then, his legs felt like jelly, and his heart was pounding. He had not done so much work in years, and he was amazed he had managed it. With a sigh, he pulled out Conall and buried his face in the stuffed wolf's fur. "This is it, Conall. The first day of hiding. I hope I can do this. I'm so scared."
At least he was clean. More or less. He had saved most of his water for a week and managed to take a sponge bath the night before and wash his hair using some soap he had stolen last time he had been allowed in the bathroom. His hair was golden brown and shiny instead of dull and stringy.
"Hey, is there anyone in here but you?" A boy poked his head in, frowning slightly. "Every where else is full, at least for the most part."
"No, just me," Remus said softly, wondering if this boy was really going to sit with him. He hugged Conall tighter, wondering what the boy was going to do to him.
The boy smiled brightly and run his hand through his already mussed black hair and looked at Remus with sparkling brown eyes. "I'm James Potter."
Remus felt the world fall out from under his feet. He was an abandoned nobody, orginally from the McNair house, dressed in ratty clothing and with nothing to really call his own. Even Conall wasn't really his, but something he'd bought with someone else's money, whomever was sponsering him. Potter was one of the oldest houses in the Wizarding world. Hastily Remus got up and bowed low, not meeting the boy's eyes.
"Please don't," James told him, pushing him back into his seat. "I hate it when people do that."
"But you're a Potter," Remus protested. "I'm an orphan with no real name! I'm not. . .I don't. . . I'm nothing. I shouldn't be breathing your air or talking to you or anything!"
Then he realized what he'd just done. He had just spoken back to a member of the Potter house. He cringed back, waiting for a slap, or a hit, or a kick, clutching Conall to his chest. "I'm sorry."
James blinked. "What's your name, kid? And are you sure you're a first year? You're kind of small."
"I'm Remus Lupin. And I'm eleven even if I am small." Remus frowned, clutching Conall closer. James raised an eyebrow at the long hair, but shrugged all the same.
"What's with the wolf then?"
"His name is Conall," Remus muttered, clinging to the wolf.
James shrugged. "Whatever, kid."
Remus sighed in relief when James didn't demand to see the wolf, or ask anything else about it, and sank back into his seat. he really wished he could fall asleep, but there was no such luck with someone else in the compartment.
"People are going to think you don't like me, Bella," A boy taunted from outside. "I mean, what with the way you treat me and all."
"I don't like you," A girl's voice snapped. The door popped open and two boys tumbled inside, giggling the whole time. Both had black hair, though the first was a little taller than James and had crystal blue eyes. The second was just a little shorter than James with fathomless black eyes.
"Hello. Mind if we join you? I've already pissed off Bella once and I think I'd rather not do it again. She might pull off my ears," The first boy grinned, causing the second to laugh. "I'm Sirius Black, and the silent one next to me is my cousin, Serverus Snape."
Remus leapt up again, shaking with fatigue, and bowed deeply to both boys. "Can I do anything for you?"
Sirius' and Serverus' eyes swept over the boy's tatty clothes and long hair, then Sirius' eyes fell to the stuffed wolf Remus was still clutching in his arms. "Aren't you a little old for stuffed animals?" Sirius asked, grabbing the wolf and inspecting it thoroughly.
"Give it back!" Remus jumped for it, but Sirius held it out of his reach. Remus sniffed. This boy was naught but a bully! The wolf was his, as much his as anything else he had anyway, and it was his only friend. "Please," He added belatedly. He jumped for it several more times, still unable to reach, while the others looked on, able only to blink in shock. Remus, legs shaking and ready to give out, tried one last time. He collapsed to the ground as he landed, his legs unable to take anymore strain, and began to cry.
Sirius blinked. He hadn't meant to hurt the boy's feelings. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't know it meant so much to you," Sirius knelt next to the boy, handing the wolf back. "Here."
Remus grabbed it, holding it close, and stiffened as though waiting for pain. "Are you all right?" Serverus finally spoke.
"Y-yes," Remus murmured, wiping away his tears. "I'm just not used to doing all that jumping. I'm okay, really."
"I didn't mean to upset you," Sirius told him again. "I really am sorry. Can you stand?"
Remus shook his head, "I'll be okay here, though. You shouldn't touch me."
Sirius halted in the act of lifting him. "Why is that?"
"I'm a nobody," Remus protested. "You shouldn't dirty your hands on filth like me!"
"Remus Lupin," James hissed, "You are not filth. I've only known you for five minutes and I can still tell that you are one of the nicest people I've ever met."
Remus flinched at his tone, hiding his face. "I'm sorry."
"What is that matter with you? I demand to know!" James frowned and Remus sighed. It was going to happen sooner or later, but Dumbledore had given him permission to hide it.
"The headmaster of the orphanage told me that. He said that I shouldn't be touched or helped by anyone of a higher social standing, pretty much everyone, really. I'm just a nobody, after all."
Sirius rolled his eyes and lifted Remus onto the seat. "So, what happened? Why did you collapse?"
"I was locked in my room most of the time, so I wasn't able to walk a lot. I'm not used to all of this. I'm surprised I didn't collapse sooner." Remus shrugged. He had stopped flinching when it became clear that none of them were going to hurt him for speaking. It was a novel idea, to speak without being hurt, and he was happy for the change. He had never had much of a chance to speak, and being allowed was nice. Even if they were three of the oldest wizarding familiers in the wizarding world.
The door to the compartment slid opern, and a girl rushed inside. She was short--though still taller than Remus--with long red hair and bright green eyes. "There's someone chasing me!" She gasped, slamming the door shut. "Some teen with brown hair, he keeps calling me a. . . mudblood, but I don't even know what that is!"
"You're muggle born?" Sirius blinked. "Okay. So, you have some older kid chasing you and calling you names. So you ran in here because. . . ?"
"There was no where else to go?" The girl scowled. "They chased me all the way down here, and it seems they've finally stopped, but I'd rather not leave so can I sit with you? I'm Lily Evans, by the way."
Remus bowed in his seat as best he could, deciding that getting up wasn't wise, and Lily giggled a little at him, then smiled. The others introduced themselves, and Lily plopped down next to Remus who blinked. The number of people that had sat next to him and been nice since he'd been bitten was very short. He could count them all on one hand and have four fingers left.
"Okay, who follows quidditch?" Sirius announced, sitting upside down on the bench with his legs against the wall and his head haging off the front. "I'm hoping England wins this year. Did you see what happened with the--"
Remus tuned him out, pulling a book out of his trunk, cuddling up with Conall, and reading about the 101 uses of plants. He had no doubts that they would leave him once they arrived at school, going off to be with people more like them and ignoring him completely like everyone else did. He also had little doubt that Dumbledore would, in the Great Hall at the beginning of the year, announce he was a werewolf.
When everyone thought everything had calmed down nearly an hour later, the door slammed open one last time. A blond boy, right about James' height, walked in, scowling. "I have had it," He announced. "Those idiots in the corridor keep calling me a girl! Do I look like a girl to you?"
His blond hair was cut in the normal wizarding style for an arsitocratic boy of eleven, falling just past his shoulders and tied in a small tail. Serverus, Sirius, and James all wore their hair in such a manner. It was white blond and baby fine and very pretty. "Not unless I do," Srius shrugged. Crystal blue eyes met the boy's icy grey ones, and the new boy laughed.
"Nice to see you again, cousin."
"Lucius Malfoy," Sirius nodded, smirking. "I see the dye washed out."
"I see the spell wore off."
"Um, what are you two yattering about?" Serverus demanded. "And why wasn't I informed?"
"Last time I went to his house, I dyed his hair pink," Sirius smirked. "So he spelled my skin blue. It was a nice prank, my partner in crime."
Serverus pouted, obviously upset that he had missed it, and Remus shuddered. He had been the target for his own fair share of pranks, but the only time he had retaliated he had been unable to move for nearly three weeks. The kids all thought it had been great fun and continued to attack him, and the thought of them pranking him was frightening. Especially since he didn't dare retaliate.
"You lot can do whatever you like, but if you go after me, there'll be hell to pay," James announced. "But if we all work together, we could do something amazing!"
"That'd be awesome!" Sirius rubbed his hands together. "Just imagine what we could do! The whole school with pink hair! Charm the food, or the teachers, or something. I think I want a record number of detentions ever! No one should ever be able to break it!"
"Great! You guys want to help?" James turned to look at Lily and Remus, smirking.
"Yeah!" Lily grinned. "I 'm not too sure about this magic stuff, but I've got some great muggle pranks!"
"What about you, kid?" Sirius faced Remus, who flinched, murmuring a quick apology.
"I don't want to get beaten," Remus murmured. "I'll pass."
"They wouldn't beat you," James frowned.
"My headmaster did," Remus shivered. "I don't want that to happen again!"
"No one would beat you," James scoffed. "I mean, wouldn't your parents complain?"
"I don't have any parents." Remus corrected. "I'm an orphan. No one wanted me. I'm just lucky Headmaster Dumbledore is so nice or I wouldn't even be allowed to come here! I don't want to get expelled or beaten--and everyone always does--and I won't help even if you beat me up because you can't expell me!"
Remus looked up at them, he was too short to do anything else, and clutched his stuffed wolf to his chest. He was scared, and he was sure they could tell, but he wasn't going to back down. He was used to beatings, and not being fed, and a lot of other things, but he wasn't going to let them force him into anything.
"We aren't going to hurt you, Remmy," Sirius plopped down between him and Lily, wrapping an arm aorund him. "Don't be silly! And we aren't going to force you to do anything you don't want to. And we're still going to be your friend, right you guys? I mean, even if he is a goody two shoes, as long as you don't tell on us."
"O-okay," Remus shivered, looking over his only toy and nodding. Then he glanced at his watch. "We need to change."
"Okay," The others agreed, pulling their robes on and tucking all their things away. Remus didn't want to put Conall in his trunk, but he couldn't carry it into the Great Hall either.
Remus followed Hagrid down the dirt path, staring at the small boats. He couldn't swim and hoped desprately that he didn't fall in. "Man, there's too many of us," Sirius pouted. "Six of us, four to a boat. Well, let's go in groups of threes and then we'll only have one stranger in our boat, okay?"
They nodded, and Sirius grabbed the hand of a pale faced Remus. "Are you okay?"
"I-I can't s-swim," Remus gulped, shying away from the water and bumping into Sirius. He flinched, but relaxed, and stayed as far from the water as he could.
"I'm a good swimmer, so I'll ride with you then. That way, if you fall in, I'll save you," Sirius grinned and led Remus down the small path. The two climbed in a boat followed by Serverus, and a pointy faced boy none of them knew.
The boy started talking to them as soon as they stepped into the boat, and didn't shut up until they reached the other side, except for the first moments they saw the castle in. Remus felt his breath catch as he stared up at the beautiful stone building that he would spend at least part of his life in. Not the seven years everyone else thought, but at least a week, if nothing more.
"Remus?"
"It's amazing," Remus breathed. "I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life. I get to stay here. It's so. . . wow."
Sirius felt his blood boil at the reverent tone in Remus' voice. Not because he was reverent, but because it was obvious no one had ever done anything nice for him so that school seemed like a miracle. Remus, though he hadn't known the boy for long, was sweet and kind and altogether wonderful and the fact that he spoke about things like beatings as though they were nothing made Sirius angry.
They were met by a stern looking witch in her thirties who told them to get freshened up and wait for the sorting before leaving again. "I wonder what we have to do," Sirius muttered. "Bella told me we'd have to fight a werewolf."
Remus stared up at him with wide amber eyes. Was that why Dumbledore had brought him here? So people would have to fight him to see where they had to be sorted? Fear began to worm it's way though his heart and he began to wish he hadn't left Conall in his trunk. The stuffed animal would have made him feel better. Something familier in this unfamiler world.
"Don't look so worried, silly," Sirius chuckled. "Bella's an idiot and probably told me that to scare me. I didn't bother to tell her I think werewolves are cool."
"Maybe you do," Serverus snapped. "But those monster killed my mother. They should all be wiped out!"
"They aren't bad--" Remus cringed under Serverus's glare, but continued on. "I mean, they only try to hurt people on the full moon, usually. If there was a safe place for them to go when the moon was full--"
"The ministry has places," Serverus replied icily. "Why don't they go there?"
"Because the ministry is mean to them!" Remus cried. "They lock them in tiny little cells and don't help them afterward. If there's no people around, they bite themsevles and hurt themselves and the ministry just throws them out on the street afterward! If they're outside, at least they hunt instead of hurting themselves and, and--" He broke off, and began to study his shoes.
"How do you know?" Serverus tilted his head curiously.
"There's one at the orphanage," Remus replied. "He's not allowed to do anything and no one really knows what they're going to do when he hits school age, and they hurt him more than the others."
"Wow. They must treat him pretty bad." Sirius blinked. "That's not right, even if he is a werewolf. I mean, they're people most of the time, right?"
Serverus crossed his arms. "They're still monsters."
Remus furiously blinked back tears and refused to look up. The comment really hurt, though he was determined not to show it. Fortuatly, the teacher showed back up and told them all to fall into two lines of even length and lead them into the Great Hall for the sorting after she'd explained the four houses.
There was a hat on a stool. Remus stared. A hat. That was it. Just a hat.
Then a rip near the brim opened wide and it began to sing.
"Fours houses in Hogwarts,
To chose where I place you in,
Come sit upon the stool,
And place me on your head.
For those of you brave of heart,
with daring nerve and chilvery,
you set Gryffindor apart.
The ones that value learning,
and keen and steady minds,
to Ravenclaw I place you,
With the same ones of your kind.
The yellow house is Hufflepuff,
Where go the loyal and true,
Quiet and good workers,
Could this be the house for you?
Are you the one that's cunning,
using any ends,
To Slytherin I send you,
you'll meet your greatest friends.
Come try me on, don't be afraid,
I've never once been wrong,
I'll tell you where you ought to go,
And where you should belong!"
Remus continued to stare even after the song was open, then gulped. What if the hat screamed out that he was a werewolf to everyone and said that he should be sent home? What if it made everyone turn against him and he was kicked out before he'd even begun? What if--
"Black, Sirius!"
"Wish me luck!" Sirius patted his shoulder, and rushed up to the stool.
"GYRFFINDOR!"
Remus just daydreamed between the sortings that weren't his friends, and gulped.
"Evans, Lily!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Lupin, Remus!"
His knees began to knock, and he wasn't sure he'd make it down the long aisle way. He knew he was the color of a sheet, and several people he passed were whispering about his appearence and wondering if he was really a girl. He sat down and the hat was dropped over his head, and then darkness over took his vision as the hat blocked his view of the hall.
"You are an interesting one aren't you," The hat murmured. "A difficult one to sort, you are. A we--"
"Stop!" Remus whimpered. "I don't want them to know! Don't say it!"
"Don't worry. They can't hear me talking like this. They will hear only about your house, all right little wolf? Now, you're a werewolf, brave fellow, aren't you. Hm. . . Well, I think I know the perfect house for you, little wolf. You may stay with at least one of your friends in GRYFFINDOR!"
Remus had the hat off and was at his table before anyone could really react properly. A little half hearted clapping followed, but Remus didn't care. Just sat by Sirius and tried to remain unnoticed.
"Malfoy, Lucius!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
Potter, James!"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"Snape, Serverus!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
"Aw, no one is with Lily," James pouted, then waved at the red head. "I hope she's not too lonely."
Lily waved back and smiled, then turned to talk to a pretty girl next to her with pale hair and bright blue eyes. Sirius made a face. "That's my cousin, Narcissa. She's nice, though. I'm not surprised Lily likes her."
"She should make some girl friends, I mean, all of us are boys," James pointed out. "But she's still our friend too."
"Right." Sirius agreed. Then Remus blinked as food appeared on the table. There was so much!
"What are we allowed?" Remus murmured. He was so used to planning food by days or weeks that it was hard to grasp the concept that it was probably all for one meal.
"Whatever you want."
"And this is for the next few days, right?" Remus blinked.
"Of course not," James chuckled. "This is the feast! Eat whatever you want! We'll get breakfast and stuff in here too."
Remus nodded, and chewed on his lip. It was so hard to know what was what here. And he still had to talk to Dumbledore about his next transformation. Still, he got some food and dug in, trying to eat neatly as his new friends did. He ate more than he probably should have, and Sirius was staring at him.
Remus shivered. He probably ate too much! Now he was going to get punished. "That's it?" Sirius asked. "That's all you're going to eat?"
Remus stared at him. "That's usually what I get for two meals!"
Sirius blinked, then growled, making Remus wince. But he didn't say anything, just nodded and finished his own meal. Of course, all of that did explain why Remus was so little. He never ate anything. But James shot Sirius a look, who replied in kind, and Remus, will very little people interaction, had no idea what was going on.
Soon, dinner was
finished and the Prefect called to them so they could head to the
common room.
oOooOo
