Chapter 9

Dear Mum and Dad,

My first week of school went very well. I made a bunch of new friends and I am doing well in classes. My friends are Severus and Lily, and Peter, James and Sirius, and they are a great group. My first transformation was on Wednesday and that went as well as I expected. The place is secure and safe, and they let me recover in a private room in the hospital. I had to lie to my friends though, so Professor Mcgonagall wrote a letter in my name saying that I have to visit a muggle hospital with you once a month for checking out a disorder in my brain. I'm having a great time here. How have you been without me? Please write to me as soon as possible, I miss you guys.

Love,

Reme.

Remus signed his letter as he was sitting up in his bed.

"Ooh what's that, a letter to your girlfriend?" James said mockingly.

"No just a letter home. Nothing interesting." Remus said trying to seem uninterested. The last thing he needed was James snooping in his conversations. "Sirius, can I borrow your owl, please?"

"Sure. I bet you're regretting getting that cat, right. Useless thing." Sirius mocked at Moonlight. Remus looked down. Moonlight was licking her inner thigh and looked up to Remus with her tongue still out. Moonlight had been there to comfort me whenever I'd been down. Plus, she's the only one there that new his secret.

"No, I love Moonlight." Remus said. He stopped to reflect on that sentence with a smirk. I'd never thought I would say that in my lifetime. Remus approached Sirius's black owl, Vladimir, on his perch by the window. His one orange eye contrasted his greasy black feathers. He approached cautiously because he looked very mean. When Remus held up the letter to Vladimir, he bit his hand and blood rushed out.

"Vlad! Don't be a sod! Take the letter to his parents." Sirius commanded. Vlad reluctantly took the letter and disappeared into the darkness.

"Okay, it's almost 7, and tomorrow we have classes again. I'm going to the library." Remus said.

James rolled his eyes and said. "Don't tell me you're still hanging with that brutally annoying redhead and her goth friend, Sneverus. That lad will never get a girl."

Annoyed by James rude comments, "First it's Severus, and Lily's a really great person. Goodnight." Remus snipped back. He angrily walked to the library quickly.

"Okay, so our first exams are on Friday. So I was thinking, we could act as instructors to each other. Since your really excellent in Potions, Severus, you can teach Remus and I. I'll teach transformations, and you can teach charms, Remus. Does that sound good?" Lily asked.

"Yes, but what if we also have some fun while studying." Remus said.

"How so, Lupin?" Snape curiously asked.

"We can have a competition to see who can get the collective highest marks." Remus suggested. He always loved competitions.

"What does the winner get?" Lilly asked excitedly.

"Um… any reasonable, but kind, service from the loser?" Remus proposed.

"Brilliant!" Severus exclaimed.

Throughout the week, the three were perfect students. Remus's teachers noticed this as well. Remus was so focussed on school work that he sort of ignored the Marauders pranks for the week. They each earned so many points for Slytherin and Gryffindor that they broke the record for the most points awarded within one month. Professor Mcgonagall was especially proud of Remus's focus on his studies, and thanked him for not continuing his career as a prankster.

Remus missed being a marauder though. In his absence, the marauders were able to turn every one's drinks into salt water, without being caught on Tuesday night. Also, Sirius snuck into his cousin's, whom he hated, (Narcissa Black), dorm room on Wednesday night and stole her bras and put them on display in the great hall's doorway. However, Narcissa was clever and found out it was Sirius and he got two detentions. Remus promised his friends that he will return to pranking after he wins this bet.

After a long night of studying and cramming the night before the tests, Remus was just leaving the library at 9:30pm, when he saw Peter crying in the corner of a bookshelf. He had a book and notes in his hand and his sobs were thick and ugly. Though Remus wanted to go to sleep, he knew he couldn't leave him there.

"Hey Peter, what's wrong?" Peter said as he knelt down infront of him. Peter looked up and messily sobbed while talking. Remus did his best to translate it to

"I am going to fail the exams tomorrow and be kicked out of Hogwarts because of how stupid I am."

"You are not stupid, and you are not going to fail!" Remus said encouragingly. Peter sniffled and said "I'm not?"

"Of course you're not. I'm going to help you study right now." Remus said slightly disappointed that he was going to lose sleep. Remus went over all his notes and gave Peter memory tricks to remember different spells. Time flew by the two when Remus realized that it was already 12:30am! "Peter, I know you're going to be great. I believe in you."

"Thanks, Remus. You helped me a lot! You should become a professor!" Peter smiled. Remus realized that he wouldn't mind teaching others at all for the rest of his life, but no one would ever hire a werewolf as faculty. The two went to bed.

On Friday, the first-year students nervously took their first test. Remus was feeling very tired, but he didn't let that stop him from doing well. In charms, he knew he got all of the multiple choice test correct. In transformations he was able to easily turn a teacup into a saucer, and many other difficult transformations perfectly. But by his last class, Potions, Remus was very tired and messed up on of the potions on the test. It wouldn't make him fail, but he didn't do as well as he had hoped.

Saturday, the test results were posted. The three competitors walked excitedly to the three different papers with results.

"Alright, first place in charms, Remus! Then me and then Severus." Lily said excitedly.

"Congratulations Remus!" Severus said kindly. "Next Transformations. Lily in first- congrats- then. . . Potter? James Potter got in 2nd!" The three looked at eachother in shock.

All of a sudden James passed by and said mockingly "That's right Sneverus. Looks like I don't need to be a nerd in the library to beat you." and he stepped to talk to Sirius and Peter.

This obviously infuriated Snape. "He's just joking, Severus." Remus said trying to calm him. "Anyway, you got in fourth, and I in third, so it's not bad."

"This is the most embarrassing thing ever, James beat me!" Remus rolled his eyes and read the final list.

"Obviously you're in first in Potions, Lily's in second, and I'm in third. And see that way down near the bottom of the list is James, if that makes you feel better." Remus said comforting him, it didn't.

"So, it looks like I won, Remus you are in second, and this time you're in last, Severus." Lily said, trying to be as kind as possible.

"So what do you want from me." Severus mumbled sadly while looking at his feet. Remus could see tears in his eyes.

"I want you to kiss me." Lily said without hesitation. Severus looked up surprised and was speechless.

"I know it's embarrassing, but I want you to give me a short kiss right now because I haven't kissed a boy yet." Lily said. "I want to see what it feels like."

"Uh, okay." Severus said nervously. Remus watched as he stepped closer to Lily. Lily closed her emerald green eyes and slightly puckered her lips in anticipation. Severus looked to Remus in panic and he gave him a reassuring look and nudged him closer. Severus closed his eyes and kissed Lily's soft pink lips. The two stayed kissing only for a moment until they separated. They both blushed, smiled, and looked away.

Remus stood there awkwardly for a moment until he broke the painful silence by saying, "I'm going to go get a bite to eat with Sirius and them. See you later!" Remus walked away quickly to James across the hall. He looked slightly perplexed.

"Did Lily just let Sneverus kiss her?" James asked.

"Yeah, she won the competition and that's what she wanted." Remus replied. He could see a strange look on James's face and he watched Lily and said "Huh."

"Let's go to lunch, I'm starving!" Sirius yelled.

"Yeah let's celebrate that I actually passed the exams thanks to Remus." Peter added. The boys, smiled and started on their way to the great hall. All were smiling besides James who still held a confused expression on his face.