A/N: Another quick update, I'll confess I'm eager to get through this chapter and start writing the next one which will follow Remus through his first full moon at Hogwarts—so I apologize for any typos that I might have missed. Please read and review.
Chapter 3: The First Night
The rest of the Sorting went smoothly; four boys and five girls joined Gryffindor.
Remus recognized two of the boys from the train; they'd been in the compartment he didn't have the nerve to enter. They'd given each other a high five once the boy with the glasses had joined their table, and he suspected they must have known each other from before. The third boy had blond hair and a round boyish face, he looked as nervous as Remus had felt all day and he felt his heart twinge with sympathy. Lily looked close to tears after her friend Severus was sorted into Slytherin and Remus wanted to comfort her but he didn't know where to start.
Dumbledore gave a quick speech welcoming the first years and reminding everyone that the Forbidden Forest was in fact, forbidden. He also informed the students that a rare tree had been planted near the forest at the request of Professor Sprout, the herbology teacher—he warned everyone that the tree had a violent temperament and was not to be approached under any circumstances.
As soon as his speech was over, food magically appeared on each of the tables. Several students cheered and conversations broke out all across the hall, the noise was deafening but Remus couldn't stop smiling. Even Lily seemed to perk up at the sight of food and began talking to one of the other first year girls.
Remus served himself a steak, his stomach rumbling, but as soon as he cut into it he felt his appetite disappear. It was cooked nearly all the way through—at home Hope would barely warm her son's meat before serving it to him and his parents often teased him about liking his beef practically raw. He poked a piece experimentally with his fork a few times… It didn't look right, it didn't smell right—he took a tentative bite—and it definitely didn't taste right.
He looked around the table to see if anyone was actually enjoying the steak, when he noticed that the first year boy with the glasses was giving him a quizzical look.
"What?" Remus asked.
The boy looked amused, "Is there something wrong with it?"
Remus blushed, "Er… it's a bit over-done for me."
The other boy laughed, "Well then get something else."
"I feel badly about wasting it."
"I wouldn't worry about it too much," he gestured to the rest of the table and Remus saw that many of the other students were shoveling more food onto their plates than they could possibly eat.
He grinned sheepishly and spooned some chicken onto his plate, deciding that it was probably the safest choice.
"What did you say your name was again?" The boy asked. Remus was about to point out that he hadn't actually given his name yet when he decided it might not be wise to correct his new dorm mate on the first day.
"Remus."
"I'm James."
"Are you a muggleborn?" The other dark-haired boy asked excitedly.
"Uh, no… but my mum's a muggle."
"Brilliant," the boy gave him a giant grin, Remus frowned in confusion.
"His parents have sheltered him for years—never known anyone who wasn't a pure blood. Isn't that right Sirius?" James explained.
"They're nutters, both of them. I couldn't wait to come to Hogwarts, they practically keep my brother and I locked up at home."
"I know the feeling." As soon as Remus said it, he felt the color drain from his face, "M-my parents are very protective too," he added hastily, but neither James nor Sirius seemed to notice his panic.
"They're going to be pissed that I'm not in Slytherin," Sirius laughed but there was a glimmer of fear in his eyes, "Everyone in my family has been in Slytherin for generations—even Andy and she's the decent one."
"I still can't believe you're a Black… You seem so normal," said James. Sirius snorted.
"You've only known me for a couple of hours. Let's see if you still feel that way in a few weeks. I can't believe I'm already friends with a Potter. My parents say you're all blood traitors." He rolled his eyes. "What about you?" Sirius turned his attention back to Remus.
"Er, what about me?"
Sirius laughed again, "What's your last name?"
"Oh. Lupin."
"And you didn't end up in Ravenclaw?" Remus could only gawk at the other boy.
"I had to learn about all the pure-blood families growing up," Sirius explained, "Even the smaller families and the blood traitors."
"Bloody hell," James breathed.
"I told you, my family is completely insane. To them, it's not enough to only know purebloods; they've got to be the right kind of purebloods."
"Sounds like a nightmare," said Remus after a moment of stunned silence.
"It is," Sirius agreed grimly.
Remus knew next to nothing about his extended family: he was vaguely aware that his father's parents had both gone to Hogwarts and that John Lupin had died while Lyall was still in school, but that was about it. When Remus was bitten, both of his parents cut ties to their families and refused to discuss the matter; the one time he'd pressed the issue with his mother she'd burst into tears, after that he didn't ask again. He suspected that Sirius knew more about his family than he did, it was an unsettling thought.
"Anyways," James said with a forced cheerfulness, "Which classes are you looking forward to the most?"
And with that, the conversation took on a much more pleasant note which continued through the rest of the feast.
The first night went surprisingly well. James and Sirius included Remus in their discussions, much to his amazement—he hadn't expected to be welcomed so readily.
The third boy, Peter, had fallen asleep almost as soon as they made it into the dorm room. James and Sirius started a pillow fight, and Remus (after quickly changing into his pajamas in the privacy of the bathroom) was happy to watch from the sidelines.
Eventually they all managed to fall asleep. Remus found James and Peter's rhythmic snoring oddly soothing and he experienced the deepest and most restful sleep he'd had in months.
He was the first to wake up the next morning and Remus used the opportunity to take a shower before the other boys got up, he couldn't risk anyone seeing his scars. By the time he emerged, fully dressed, Sirius was sitting upright in bed stretching, James was blindly grabbing at his bedside table looking for his glasses, and Peter was still softly snoring.
"You better get ready, breakfast starts in fifteen minutes." He warned.
"Huh?" Peter finally stirred.
"Don't let us hold you up mate, we'll meet you down there," said James.
Remus ran into Lily in the Common Room and they made their way down to the Great Hall together. She was much more cheerful than she had been at the feast and he learned that Lily had already made friends with two of the girls in her dorm room.
The other Gryffindor boys appeared fifteen minutes later. At the sight of James and Sirius approaching, Lily excused herself and moved further down the table to sit with the other first year girls, shooting Remus an apologetic look.
Near the end of breakfast, Professor McGonagall came by giving out timetables, he couldn't help but notice that he was the last one to be handed his schedule.
"Mr. Lupin, I need to have a word with you. Please follow me." He felt his cheeks burning as everyone sitting at their end of the table turned to look at him. Remus gathered up his things, trying to avoid making eye contact with anyone, and followed the headmistress out of the Great Hall.
They walked in silence for a few minutes but eventually he worked up the nerve to speak.
"Er… Professor, where are we going?" He was struggling to keep up with her brisk pace.
McGonagall didn't slow, "My office. I'm sorry about all of this, but I just want to be sure that no one will overhear us. We're almost there." She glanced back and gave him a reassuring smile.
They rounded a corner, turned into a classroom, and climbed up half a flight of stairs and Remus found himself in a pristine office. All of the furniture looked brand new but otherwise plain and unassuming. McGonagall sat down behind a large desk and gestured to a chair on the opposite side.
"Please, take a seat." Remus obliged, "I would like to discuss the arrangements that have been made to accommodate your condition. I know that Professor Dumbledore explained some of them to you back in February but I wanted to ensure that you were clear on all the details so that we can avoid any surprises. What do you know already?"
"Professor Dumbledore said that the school nurse would take me to a house in Hogsmeade before the full moon every month and that she'll come to collect me when the next day. He said that the house will be safe. But that's about all I know…" McGonagall nodded.
"Yes, the house is completely secure. There's no way to enter it from the outside, instead there's an underground tunnel that goes from Hogwarts directly into the house—"
"But what if someone finds the tunnel?!" he panicked.
"It's alright Mr. Lupin, I assure you that the headmaster has taken that possibility into consideration. Professor Dumbledore managed to acquire a whomping willow over the summer which has been planted over the entrance to the tunnel, he mentioned it last night—the tree will attack anyone and anything that approaches it. There's a secret way to subdue it for a moment, giving you just enough time to enter safely, but Madame Pomfrey will explain that to you in a few weeks' time."
"In the meantime, please see me if you have any questions or concerns. As the head of your house, I would prefer it if you came to me first, but Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Slughorn are also informed about your condition and would be happy to assist you in any way that they can. All of your other professors have been told that you're ill and won't question any of your absences, but I must stress that you should not and cannot share the true nature of your condition with them."
Remus had to resist the urge to laugh, if it were up to him—none of his professors would know about his condition. He was already mortified that so many people knew about his lycanthropy and he would rather be tortured than have to tell someone that he was a werewolf.
But Remus kept a straight face, nodded and mumbled a quick, "Of course."
"Madame Pomfrey obviously knows about your condition, and Hagrid, the groundskeeper, knows as well. Both are excellent resources if you need someone to talk to."
"Why does the groundskeeper need to know?" Remus felt slightly annoyed, he half-expected to discover that all the school ghosts knew what he was too.
"Hagrid has been working with Professor Sprout to ensure that the whomping willow thrives. Despite their aggressiveness, whomping willows are notoriously sensitive plants that don't handle change well, and Hagrid has a talent for caring for…" McGonagall hesitated, searching for the right word, "misunderstood things. He'll keep your secret safe." She concluded.
"Do you have any questions?"
"No," Remus paused, "Not right now at least."
McGonagall smiled, "Then I'll show you the way to the Hospital Wing and introduce you to Madame Pomfrey. We still have a bit of time before your first Transfiguration class is due to start."
