Chapter Two: The Train Ride and The Entrance
A/N:Hey guys! If anyone is even reading this...To be honest I'm writing this more for myself, because the Marauders fascinate me and I want to tell their story my own way until we get some writing about that from good ol JK Rowling (if she ever gives it to us). Anyway, expect consistent updates because I already have Chapter Three typed up and I'm halfway through chapter four. Now without further ado, enjoy!
Peter ended up being wrong. After about twenty minutes of silence in which the new boy glared, Remus read, and Peter played with his fingers, the Trolley Witch came to their compartment. Peter immediately purchased multiple of everything. The black-haired boy did too, but he did it wordlessly by grabbing what he wanted and casually tossing his money onto the Trolley. Remus didn't purchase anything, and Peter noticed him clutching a little sandwich in one hand.
"You want a chocolate frog?" Peter asked Remus. The boy looked up from his book, seemingly startled.
"Uh, no thank you," he said politely, but Peter could tell that Remus really wanted to say yes.
"Take it." Peter shoved the box into Remus' hand. "Have some Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans too! Just don't get angry at me if you get one that tastes of spinach." Remus smiled shyly and accepted the candy, and Peter smiled. The black-haired boy cleared his throat.
"I don't suppose either of you got Agrippa?"
There was dead silence for a few minutes. "No," Peter answered quietly. Remus shook his head no as well. The other boy huffed. Peter bit his lip before asking, "What's your name?"
"Sirius," the boy answered immediately.
"Your name is Serious? Like, the emotion?" Remus couldn't help but blurt out. He instantly bit his tongue and cowered behind his book a bit. Thankfully, Sirius didn't seem to be annoyed. Apparently he was used to this.
"No, like the star. Third star in Orion's belt."
"Oh."
"Do you have a last name?" Peter asked rather saucily.
Sirius pondered for a moment before replying, "Nope. Just Sirius."
"But surely you have a la-"
"I told you, just call me Sirius!" the boy thundered. Peter was startled and scooted himself away again. The compartment was completely silent for a good ten to fifteen minutes before Sirius leaned over and grabbed the book out of Remus' hand, who made a small noise in protest. "Hogwarts: A History? What are you reading this for? You know they only assign homework after you get to school," Sirius drawled.
"I know," Remus responded quietly. "I just find it interesting."
Sirius snorted. "What's so interesting about schoolbooks? Why not read a book about motorcars or something?" Sirius was fascinated by the great big muggle machines that rattled down the road in front of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. He was never allowed to touch them, nor even see them if it could be helped. His parents disapproved of everything to do with Muggle-borns. Sirius didn't really see what the big deal was.
Remus wrinkled his nose. "Motorcars? Why would I read about a thing like that?
"Don't you find them fascinating? With their big black fronts and their shiny door handles and their loud horns!" Sirius beamed, miming a driver honking his horn.
"Not especially. My parent's motorcar just sits in the driveway most of the time," Remus responded. Peter thought Sirius' jaw nearly hit the floor.
"Your parents have a motorcar? What kind is it? How big are the tires? How fast can it go?" Sirius peppered Remus with questions. The rest of the ride was spent peaceably, as Sirius had blown off whatever bad mood had chased them into their apartment to begin with. Remus answered all of his question patiently. He wasn't comfortable with all of the attention Sirius was paying him, but as long as the boy only asked about motorcars and not Remus' personal life he was able to answer and sound normal. He was very scared that everyone would be able to glance at him and know he was a werewolf, but apparently not.
Sirius could barely contain his excitement as he peppered his train-mate with questions. As the boy gathered his thoughts, Sirius took a moment to look him over. He was a few inches shorter than Sirius, but that might just be because he sat hunched over on his seat, as if trying to make himself smaller and less noticeable. He had mousy brown hair and large chocolate brown eyes. A scar that ran along his jawline attracted Sirius' focus. After closer observation, Sirius noticed three small scars on his nose and a rather large one by his right ear.
The boy was wearing worn out jeans, a large sweater with a rather horrid pattern and sleeves that were a bit too long and hid his hands, and beat up sneakers. He chewed on his lip while he talked and frankly looked rather nervous and awkward. Sirius, however, had been taught to carry himself well in any social situation. That, combined with his hyper personality and love of motorcars, kept the conversation flowing nicely.
"What do you do when it gets all dark out? How do you see?"
Remus blinked. "You put on the headlights, I suppose."
"Are those the things on the front of the car? How do you turn them on without magic? How do they work?"
"Er, you flip a switch and they go on. I think it uses electricity. I'm not quite sure how that works, I'm sorry," Remus looked rather ashamed.
"I see motorcars a lot in my village," Peter piped up, feeling left out of the conversation.
"That's nice," Sirius said dismissively. "Now you there, I never did ask your name did I?" Remus shook his head. "Well, what is it?"
"Remus."
"Remus? That's a perfectly ridiculous name!" Remus flushed bright red at Sirius' proclamation. "Not that I should be saying anything, seeing as my name is Sirius. See now Peter is a normal name. Lucky chap. Anyhow, have you driven a motorcar before?"
"I've ridden in one," Remus answered again quietly. Peter could see he was getting worn out from the conversation. He didn't seem to be used to so much attention and there were dark circles under his eyes. Maybe he couldn't sleep from excitement? Peter hadn't slept a wink last night either.
"I think we should change into our robes. We should be nearly there," he announced. He saw a hint of gratitude flash through Remus' brown eyes and disappointment flash in Sirius' steely gray ones.
Remus gathered a small black bundle and stood. "I'm going to go change in the restroom," he explained quietly. He slipped out of the apartment and headed down to the bathroom. He couldn't let those two boys see his scars. He smiled a little when he realized that he had successfully carried on a conversation for a full thirty minutes. It felt nice.
"Don't get too close to anyone. You can have acquaintances, of course, but if you make close friends they are bound to notice your disappearances around the full moon and put two and two together."
Remus hugged the black robes to his chest as his slipped past the compartments full of laughing youths. "Don't make friends," he muttered to himself. At the time, it had seemed like a personably reasonable request. Now he wasn't so sure.
Meanwhile, Sirius reached for his own robes. "Shall we take turns closing our eyes?" Peter asked in a squeaky voice. Sirius shot a look of annoyance at the tubby little blond boy. He seemed plenty kind, but almost annoyingly so. He was also a little jittery, and unlike Remus' quiet but obvious insecurity, Peter's fidgeting got on Sirius' nerves.
"That's perfectly ridiculous! We're both boys, after all!" he announced loudly. He wanted to put on an air of complete confidence and manly pride. Peter nodded but turned away from Sirius all the same. Sirius mentally sighed in relief. His exclamation had been nothing but show. He didn't want Peter to see the scars littering his back from his parent's discipline. He was sure they would be nothing new to Peter, for surely every set of parents used a belt on their child occasionally. Peter must have scars too. Maybe that's where Remus' scars came from. Still, Sirius didn't like showing them off.
He changed quickly and then even had the decency to pretend to be occupied while Peter changed. Remus re-appeared in the apartment, wearing robes that looked a little worn. Sirius' were brand new, of course. The finest quality. Even Peter's looked nice and new, though a little on the cheap side.
"We're here! We're here!" Peter heard a loud voice exclaiming. A girl with flaming red hair passed their compartment window, bouncing in excitement and dragging a boy with greasy black hair behind her. The train screeched to a halt, jolting its passengers a little bit.
"Do we take our luggage with us?" Remus asked. Sirius laughed, although not unkindly.
"Of course not! The house-elves will take care of it!"
Remus looked like he wanted to ask what house-elves were, but seemed too shy. Peter followed him out of the apartment and quietly explained. "House elves are little elves that a lot of wealthy wizarding families have. They're kind of like house-maids or servants. I've heard Hogwarts have over two hundred!"
"Thank you," Remus murmured. The two boys followed Sirius black off of the train and over to where a simply gigantic man was calling for First Years. "Firs' Years! Firs' years o'er here!"
#
James quite enjoyed the boat ride across the lake. He steered clear of the rotten Black heir who seemed to have two tag-a-longs and climbed into a boat with a few other first year boys. He stared in amazement at the size of the Groundskeeper, who introduced himself as Hagrid. As the boats launched, James laughed wildly and let his fingers dangle in the water, feeling the cool liquid lap his hand.
Despite seeing pictures of Hogwarts in his family photo album, he couldn't help but stare as he saw the castle in person for the first time. It was ten times bigger than it appeared in the photographs. Each window was lit up and there was a huge and beautiful tree in front of it, just on the other side of the lake. There were huge double-doors at the entrance, four large towers, and owls swooped around it in the air.
They disembarked the boats (James caused one of the boys in his boat to panic by rocking it back and forth while the boy was trying to get out) and headed up the stairs to the entrance. He was vaguely aware of the pretty red-head and her greasy friend behind him.
Lily Evans was so excited she could barely stand it. She bounced in place, spinning around to take it all in. There was a great staircase in front of her and a glittering chandelier filled with candles above her head. "Sev, why isn't the wax dripping down?" she asked, tugging on his sleeve.
He rolled his eyes. "Magic."
"It's simply marvelous! Just like you said it would be! Oh, if only Tuney were here to see this!"
"Here are tha firs' years, Professor McGonagall," the giant groundskeeper told a young-looking witch. Her ebony hair was pulled back in a bun and she wore spectacles.
"Thank you Hagrid. Follow me please," she instructed them. As she led them away, she began to give them a lecture about each of the houses and the point system. Lily listened attentively, but Sirius let her voice wash over him. He already knew all of that stuff anyway. He was reflecting on the Hogwarts houses. He'd be in Slytherin, of course. Every Black that had ever gone to Hogwarts was placed in Slytherin.
"Reckon you'll be in Slytherin?" he asked Remus, who was startled again.
"I'm not sure," Remus confessed. "My father was a Gryffindor."
Sirius felt his heart sink. Of course. "And your mother?" he asked.
Remus bowed his head. "She didn't come to Hogwarts. She's a Muggle."
"A muggle? So you're a half-blood?" Sirius asked skeptically. "I thought you were a pureblood… That's a shame."
Remus felt a jolt of anger bolt through him. "So what if I'm not a pureblood? I have just as much of a right to be here as you do!" he spat. James started slow-clapping and was soon joined by almost all of the other students, except for Severus and a few others. Remus flushed and hid behind Peter, shrinking in on himself. Sirius' face was also red from anger and embarrassment.
"I don't think you have less of a right to be here! I was just saying it's a shame because you won't be able to be in Slytherin with me!" he hissed. Remus shrank under his gaze.
"Who would want to be?" James laughed, clapping Peter on the shoulder.
"Oh would you leave the Slytherins alone? You might be placed into Slytherin too!" Lily hissed.
James stared at her. "Not a chance. The Potters are always Gryffindors."
"Well I hope I'm in Slytherin, and certainly not in Gryffindor with you, you toe-rag!"
"It is time for the Sorting!"" Professor McGonagall announced, appearing from out of nowhere. She led the students into the Great Hall, where they were all too distracted by the enchanted ceiling and millions of floating candles to throw any more insults at each other. Remus slunk along, feeling ashamed that he had called such attention to himself and unknowingly started a war. Peter was clutching Remus' robes tightly, like a toddler clutches his mother's skirts. He nearly tripped over his own feet three times.
A worn-out hat was placed on a stool, where it proceeded to sing a little song about Hogwarts. The Sorting was about to begin.
A/N: I wanted to keep the fandom's portrayal of Peter as more skittish and softer than his fellow Marauders, but I also feel like sometimes people don't give him enough credit. I decided that I want Peter to be a very kind person (like Sirius said, almost annoyingly so). I feel like with James and Sirius' extreme personality and Remus' quiet extremity, Peter would be kind of like the glue that held the Marauders together. The person that ended scuffles that could end violently and smoothed things over.
I also think he would be the comforter. I feel like James and Sirius would not quite know what to say and be awkward and crack jokes the whole time and Remus has a lot of his own troubles, so Peter is kind of like the quiet rock of support. Though he may not get verbal thanks from the rest of the Marauders, they all treasure this about him and no matter how many jokes he ends up being the butt of, they treat him as an equal and a brother. (My thoughts on Remus' character will be next chapter as this A/N seems to be getting a bit long.)
