Happy Friday everybody! This is being posted a day earlier than I thought it would be and I'm super excited! This is my favorite chapter of what I've written so far (which is about four or five chapters at this point.) Shoutouts to my two eztra awesome reviewers from the first chapter, Avery251 and hillstar !

DISCLAIMER: HARRY POTTER IS NOT MINE!

Thanks for the encouragement guys! Now without further ado:

Chapter 2: A Train and a Giant Squid

The Hogwarts Express was a scary thing. Remus had bid farewell to his tearful, worried mother and his proud father, only after insisting that yes, he could get his trunk by himself, and yes, he would be fine at school. No, he would not get into too much trouble, and yes, he would write home about all his classes. In other words: it took a while to get on the train. But now he was faced with another daunting task: successfully sit with a complete stranger or two.

Remus was rather shy, a trait that developed when he was secluded from other people because of his… condition. He had been bitten by a werewolf at age four. Ever since it had happened, he and his parents had known that his friends would probably start asking awkward questions that Remus would not be able to answer. So Remus's parents kept him hidden in the house, afraid that he would accidentally tell someone his secret, or that they would discover the cause of the injuries that the Wolf-That-Was-Actually-Remus had inflicted on itself while chained up in the garden shed. Remus, who had always loved having friends, grew quiet, and turned to books in place of people. He found that he actually somewhat enjoyed it. Books didn't judge you. (Unless they were dark and creepy magic books, but Remus stayed away from those.)

But now he would be meeting new people again, something Remus hadn't had practice at for a very long time. He knew that if he tried to make it through Hogwarts without any friends he would probably get picked on a lot more. Plus, Remus really really wanted to make good friends. Maybe someday he could tell them… but probably not. Could he get by with only being casual friends with his dormmates and no one else? He doubted it. And what would he tell them when he had to leave every month? Maybe he shouldn't be friends with anyone. But then…

His mind whirled around and around.

Remus wandered around the train for a while looking for a place to sit, noting where the prefect carriage was, and that he was not allowed inside lest he "disturbed their plans." Eventually he came to a mostly empty compartment where two boys were already sitting. Another boy and girl were walking away from him down the corridor. Remus briefly entertained the thought of saying hello, but quickly decided that meeting a girl was much scarier than meeting all other boys combined, and did not follow. Instead, he walked over to the compartment.

There were two boys, both with black hair, though the styles were different. The one on the left had hair that was a bit longer, straighter, and shinier, (like a Barbie doll, Remus thought) while the one on the right had messy hair that stuck up in the back and glasses. He could tell they were first years as well, because they were discussing which house they wanted to be in.

"What if you got sorted into Ravenclaw? That wouldn't be too bad would it?" Glasses Boy asked Barbie.

"Well my mum wouldn't be too pleased, but it'd be better than Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. I don't know what she'd say if I was in one of them."

Glasses Boy grinned wickedly, "So you want to be in one of them I take it?"

"Ding ding ding, we have a winner! Give the boy a prize!" Barbie grinned, "Although I can never be sure. If I'm in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff my family will probably hate me. What would I do over the summer, you know?" Then he seemed to notice Remus standing outside the compartment for the first time.

Remus bit his lip, feeling like the boy was going realize that he was a werewolf and kick him off the train, but Barbie just grinned and said, "Hey are you a first year too? Come in! I'm Sirius and this here is James Potter. We have been best mates for about…" He consulted his rather expensive-looking gold watch, "sixteen minutes now! What's your name? What house do you want to be in when we get sorted? Please tell me you're not a stuck-up pureblood! The last people in here wanted to be in Slytherin, for Godric's sake! My family is all Slytherins and they're idiots, don't know why you'd want to be one."

Remus was a bit thrown by this attention. He sat down, but he wasn't quite sure how to respond to all those questions at once. He settled for, "Hello. My name is Remus Lupin, and I wasn't stuck-up or a purebood the last time I checked. My dad's a wizard, but mum's a muggle through and through." He smiled a little at them and they both grinned back.

As he studied the other two boys more, he noticed that they were both dressed rather richly, with expensive-looking robes and shoes (though Glasses boy had a stain near his left elbow). Remus suddenly felt self-conscious about his own second-hand books and robes, but he tried not to show it.

Glasses Boy, now named James, grinned at him, then looked despairingly at Sirius. "Don't worry about this one here. He's always like that. At least, he has been for the last eight sentences he's said. And by the way…" He turned to look at Sirius, "I'm a pureblood! What do you have against purebloods?"

"Sorry." Sirius said, "You seem alright. But my whole family is pureblood, and they all have something against muggleborns. All they talk about is stupid blood, it's boring. Plus I think my mum will kill me if I'm not in Slytherin, which kind of makes me not want to be in Slytherin just out of spite."

James grinned, looking between the the other two. "In that case, I suppose I'm a proud blood-traitor. Pleased to meet you again Messrs Sirius Black and Remus Lupin!"

Remus hesitantly smiled back. "I think I would make a good Ravenclaw."

"What about your parents?" James asked him.

"They don't really care." Remus replied, suddenly thankful for this fact. Sirius and James stared at him, then at each other. Had he said something wrong? He hoped he hadn't offended these guys. He'd thought maybe they'd at least be willing to sit at lunch or study with him, but now he had alienated them! He got more and more nervous, fidgeting with his cloak and assuming that the boys would throw him out, but the response turned out to be:

"Your parents don't care? Even if you're in Hufflepuff?" Sirius asked, "Wow I wish I were you! My mum will flay me alive if I get anything other than what she's already planned! I swear she's already picked out who I'm going to marry!"

James looked at Sirius pityingly as Remus tried to hide his relief. He hadn't said anything wrong after all. "Sorry mate. Hope you're in Gryffindor with me." James replied. "Then you can at least have someone friendly to help you live through the Howler."

Sirius shuddered, "I heard that once my mom sent my cousin Andromeda a Howler for being friends with a muggleborn. Apparently, half of Slytherin couldn't hear for their whole next class, so the teacher had to write everything on the blackboard."

"Ha! That's nothing!" James cried, "My great-Aunt Leonara said last Christmas that once she sent my cousin a Howler with a spell attached! I think he got detention for punching someone, so the Howler punched him! He had to go to Madam Pomfrey with a broken nose!"

"Poor bloke!" Sirius laughed. "What about you, Remus Lupin? Got any good stories?"

"Um…" Remus thought about it. "Well, my parents have never said much about Howlers, but I know that my dad probably got one this one time when he pulled a big prank on the school. He made it so none of the Ravenclaws could get in the library, none of the Slytherins could go to the lake, none of the Hufflepuffs could get in the greenhouses, and none of the Gryffindors could go to the quidditch pitch. 'Fighting stereotypes,' he said."

Sirius cracked up. He laughed loudly and heartily for so long that soon James, and then Remus, started laughing at Sirius' laughter. Finally, the boys quieted down and looked at each other. No one said anything for a minute. Then James broke the three-way stare, sat up straighter in his chair, and grinned.

"Well now that that's all out of our systems..." He said to his new friends, "Um… what do we do?" Remus looked down while Sirius and James started a new discussion. Now that he was faced with actual people, the idea of making friends seemed easier than he had thought, but it would be very bad if they got too close and figured out his secret. Better to keep his distance a little. Remus took out a book to read and tried to ignore them. Unfortunately, James and Sirius were very hard people to ignore.

"So why would you want to be in Ravenclaw, Remus Lupin?" James asked. Remus pointed at himself, then his book.

"Me. Book." he said dryly. Sirius laughed.

"We'll take it," James grinned. "Whatcha' reading?" He poked Remus, but got no response. James shrugged and kept talking. "Either of you ever been to Hogsmeade?"

"Yeah," Sirius shrugged. "My family goes every once in awhile, but half the time I'm forced to miss it because I 'defiled my bedroom'-" he made air quotes, "- or something and needed to be punished. My brother Regulus loves it, but I can never get my parents to go anywhere interesting."

"Of course." James rolled his eyes. "We need to find a way to sneak in before Third year. Honeydukes is heavenly. The best part is Zonko's Joke Shop, though. You can get so much great stuff!"

Sirius grinned wickedly. "Oh that does sound cool."

"So what's your quidditch team?" James asked, his eyes lighting up. "I usually support Ireland, just for the fun of it."

"Hollyhead Harpies of course." James looked at Sirius confusedly, so he elaborated. "They were the only team I could find that none of my relatives were already supporting. Me and Reg make a huge joke about it, seeing how many family members we can confuse or weird out."

Remus couldn't help but grin behind his book. "Someone in your family was already going for the Cannons?" he asked a little incredulously.

Sirius nodded. "Yeah, my Great-Uncle Algie. He's a weirdo, but better than most of my other relatives. And either way, I'd still rather support the Harpies than the Canons."

"What's your quidditch team Remus?" James asked.

"I don't really care. See the book? I've actually been trying to read it." Sirius snorted but James looked beside himself.

"How can you not care much about quidditch?!" James cried. "It's the best sport ever! I would be a chaser already if first years were allowed their own broomsticks!"

"We never had good reception for the games at my house. But still the game is pointless. It's like, 'look a ball! Another ball! Fly right! Fly left! Isn't this fun? We don't care that basically the only players that matter are the seekers!" While he was talking, Remus accidentally hit James with his book. He always had been a hand-waver. "Oops. Sorry."

"Ow." James rubbed his head.

Sirius had been holding it back, but at that he began chucking. "You're all right, Remus Lupin."

James still didn't seem capable of believing that someone didn't love his beloved quidditch. "But-"

"Just saying," Remus shrugged.

"But-"

Sirius took pity on Remus. "Well it might get a little tiring just to watch all the time. But-" he added hastily, seeing to look on James' face, "it is the best thing ever when you play!"

"I think his problem must be that he has never seen a proper quidditch game Sirius," James said, stroking his chin as if he were a doctor coming up with a terrible diagnosis. "We may have to take him to one when we finally get to Hogwarts."

"Well of course." Sirius agreed, straight-faced, "It may be the only cure."

Remus sighed and rolled his eyes, going back to his book.

James and Sirius talked a lot while Remus read, but he eventually tuned them out. The book really was interesting, with all sorts of tales about Dark Lords rising and falling, Goblin rebellions, famous duels, and the like.

The three boys settled into contentment as they rode along in their compartment on the way to the school they were dreaming of. There was only one last thing worth mentioning, for Remus at least. When the witch came by pushing the snack trolley, she smiled at them all and gestured to her array of delicious treats.

"Anything from the trolley dears?" she asked from outside the compartment. Remus' parents hadn't thought to give him money for food, nor did they have that much extra money in the first place. So he sat rather uncomfortably as James and Sirius bought large amounts of the candy.

"What aren't you getting anything?" James had asked, when Remus stayed in his seat.

Remus shook his head. "My parents forgot to give me money." He said quietly, not wanting to sound like he was asking for anything, or that he was poor.

But Sirius and James didn't seem like they cared that he didn't have money. Sirius just gave a loud and dramatic sigh, which made James laugh, and declared, "Remus Lupin you must have really terrible begging skills."

"Hear hear!" James agreed.

"Because of this severe lack of talent, we must compensate young Mr. Lupin." Sirius continued, speaking like a judge, "I decree that Mister Remus be given some of his friends' candy. They have bought too much anyway and will most certainly get sick if they eat it all. They must all get on a sugar rush together!"

"Hear Hear!" James laughed along, as each boy pushed some candy over to Remus.

"Thanks." Remus said, astounded that they would be this nice to him.

"No problem," James told him, watching in amusement as Remus started eating slowly, but soon began devouring anything with chocolate in it. "Got a bit of a liking for chocolate there?"

Remus nodded, chewing a large bite of chocolate frog. "My dad calls me a chocoholic." Sirius howled with laughter again as James chuckled appreciatively.

Remus liked these new new boys. They can never be your friends, a little voice in his head whispered, as James and Sirius started talking about something else. They are normal, happy wizards. purebloods even! Do you know what purebloods think of werewolves? Remus was worried, but for now he decided to slam a metaphorical door in these doubts' metaphorical faces. Because if his peers figured out his secret, then there was no way he could stay at school in the first place. He would just have to hope that they would mostly leave him alone, or that they were really stupid, because Remus was going to hate lying to them.

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When the train finally got to Hogwarts, the clouds were overcast and gray, threatening to rain at any time, and the wind was swaying the trees, pushing at the student's robes and pulling at their hair. It was dark as James, Sirius, and Remus hesitantly stepped outside. All Remus could see were the gray clouds and the blowing trees. He looked around, not sure where to go, when a voice and a lantern cut through the general wind and chatter.

"Firs' years! Over here, firs' years! This way! C'mon, firs' years! Yer goin' up in the boats! Firs' years righ' here!" Remus made way over to the voice with James and Sirius and stopped. James ran into him. Sirius ran into James.

"Really guys?" Remus grunted as they untangled themselves, "Watch where you're going!" But James and Sirius weren't listening. They were staring behind Remus with their mouths slightly open. Remus turned around and saw again what had made him stop in his tracks.

Calling out for the first years was the largest man Remus had ever seen! He was about twice the size of a normal man, and at least four times as wide. Despite this, he was smiling happily at all the first years, and his eyes looked friendly in the lantern light. He looked down at the ragged group of kids around him, which had been growing over the last few minutes, seemed to perform a quick head count, and then said, "All right all of you follow me. Me name's Hagrid and I'm the Keeper of the Keys and the gamekeeper here at Hogwarts. Yer goin' ter get ter Hogwarts for the first time from the boats."

They walked down a long, tricky forest path to the edge of the lake. James and Sirius kept tripping on tree roots the whole way down, which was how Remus kept track of them. He could probably have heard their muttered cursing from anywhere in the little group.

Finally they reached the edge of the gray, choppy water, and Remus saw that there seemed to be a small fleet of boats waiting for them. "No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid yelled to them, "Guess you'll be seein' Hogwarts from the boats. It's too foggy ter see from here."

The first years began to claim boats with new friends met on the train. James and Sirius grabbed one right away, and then looked at Remus like 'are you coming or what?' Remus happily got in. He knew that these were nice guys, and was very glad that they weren't going to kick him out of their boat.

"Um… sorry... can I sit here?" A new boy pointed to the spot next to Remus. The boy was shorter than he was, Remus noticed, and looked as if he expected to be turned away. He had beady eyes that were a washed out blue color, was rather pudgy, and had dirty blond hair. Remus smiled a little at the boy. He seemed more shy than Remus himself.

"I guess, if you want." James told him indifferently, "We don't know anyone else here. My name's James, and these are Sirius and Remus."

"Thanks," said the shy boy, sitting down as the boats began to silently glide through the water. "I was sitting with my cousin on the train, but he's a third year and he just ignored me the whole time. My name is Peter Pettigrew."

Just then Hagrid yelled something, but the boys missed it, and the boats sailed under a large outcropping with long strands of ivy hanging from it.

"Woah!" James and Sirius yelped, as Remus grabbed the side of the boat and ducked. Peter was not so lucky. He fell off the bench, over the side, and into the lake.

"Oof!" he gunted as the others pulled him, dripping back into the boat. "I'm OK," he assured them when asked, and the other boys nodded and went back to looking at the view.

Hogwarts was coming up through the fog and all the students gasped at the sight. The huge castle was reflected in the water, looking impressive on top of a hill with the crescent moon and stars behind it. Remus looked away from the moon. All it was was a reminder that he was different. Instead, he looked at the turrets and windows of the castle. I hope they give us a map, or we won't be able to find anything! he thought. Sirius seemed to be thinking something else entirely. He wasn't even looking at the castle; he was looking at the lake.

"Guys!" He exclaimed, "I think I see the giant squid!"

"There's a giant squid?" Peter cried, accidentally rocking the boat back and forth as he slid away.

"Where?" James asked excitedly, rushing to the side of the boat while Remus leaned over to see it as well. Unfortunately, all that weight on one side was too much for the little boat and it flipped over, tipping them all into the water. Gasping and spluttering, Remus' head popped up out of the water. He saw James and Sirius treading water nearby, laughing like this was great fun, but…

"Peter?" He choked out, gasping.

"Here!" A voice cried from the boat. Remus turned to see Peter hanging on to the side of the boat, which had thankfully gone back upright, although now it had quite a bit more water inside than before. "I can't swim!" Peter called frantically, as he gripped the boat and kicked desperately, trying to stay afloat. Then a larger-than-average hand picked him up by the scruff of his neck and plopped him back in the boat.

"All righ' there boys?" Hagrid asked, as he picked up each boy and set him back in their boat. It now had about six inches (15 cm) of water in the bottom, but they appreciated it just the same. "There's one every year, but I've never had four at once. You all be careful the rest of the way, hear me?" They nodded and had a rather uneventful trip to the shore after that, as none of them wanted to fall in the lake again. It was cold!

As they walked up to the castle, Remus wondered how they were going to be sorted into their houses. They couldn't really do any magic yet, though he had read through all the textbooks and his parents had taught him some. Surely a test would take too long... But these thoughts were driven from his head when they walked into the entrance hall. His whole house could've fit in here three times! The ceiling was high and arched, and suits of armor stood at the walls. Torches on the wall lit up a woman waiting for them. She couldn't be anyone other than a teacher with that stern expression.

The teacher looked rather young and very intimidating. She had black hair pulled tightly into a bun and long green robes. "Thank you Hagrid. I will take them from here." She told the gamekeeper. She let them past a door with many voices behind it. That must be where all the other students are, Remus thought as the Professor led them into a small room off of the Hall. The first years huddled together, not quite sure what was coming next.

"My name is Professor McGonagall. Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, you house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." She glanced pointedly at the four dripping boys, who looked at each other a bit sheepishly. James, Remus, and Sirius grinned slightly at each other, but Peter just looked nervous.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly." **

She swept out of the room, Remus staring in her wake.

Excited whispering broke out among the first years, but before Remus could even think about starting to speculate what would happen there came another surprise. Students shrieked and gasped as a huge group of ghosts flooded into the room through one of the walls! As the new students quieted down, they began to hear what the ghosts were saying.

"I really hope that someone sets Nick down a few pegs soon." a young woman ghost was telling a cheerful-looking fat ghost, "Gryffindor has won the past few years and his head has become quite inflated."

"Now now, my dear lady," said the fat ghost, "at least it's better than- and what do we have here?" he asked, seeming to notice the first years for the first time. "Little first years! How splendid! Hope to see you in my own house of Hufflepuff!"

"Oh, come now." said the lady ghost disapprovingly, "If they really wanted the best house they would all be little Ravenclaws." A frightening ghost covered in blood just shook his head grimly and floated into the great hall, followed by the still bickering Hufflepuff and lady, and all the other ghosts as well. One of them waved at Remus and he hesitantly waved back.

"Well that was… interesting." James said. He still looked slightly shocked.

"I'll say." Sirius agreed, "I wonder how that one ghost got covered in blood."

"I don't even want to know." Peter cried, still looking pale. Remus just nodded. He was still worried about the sorting. The ghosts weren't much to go by, but he thought Ravenclaw still sounded good. Personally, he felt like he wasn't cheerful enough to be in Hufflepuff or crafty enough to be in Slytherin. Maybe Gryffindor, but it was hard to say. It was hard to tell if that was just the ghosts influencing him, or the fact that right now he felt nervous enough to throw up, or the fact that he was pretty sure James and Sirius wouldn't be in Hufflepuff or Slytherin either.

"Remus? What do you think?" James was looking at him expectantly.

"Um… what-" but just then, Professor McGonagall came back.

"Come along. Form a line and follow me." She told them crisply, and then walked into the hall.

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Thanks for reading! Don't forget to follow and review if you liked it! Or review if you didn't like it; I'm not picky. Were there any typos or comma issues? Let me know! (And yes, this is a shameless call for reviews) Always keep reading and writing! ~Meg

P.S. Future prank ideas for the Marauders would be greatly appreciated, or they'll all be as bad as the one briefly mentioned in this chapter.

**Anything underlined is taken directly from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling and does not belong to me in any way, shape, or form!

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