20/07/2020

Chapter 25 (Remus Lupin)

Second Year

Friday 1st September 1972

After Remus had said goodbye to his parents, he started to search for the other marauders on the platform. It was hot and crowded in London, not the best place to be packed in with people. He spotted James' messy hair first and then noticed a pair of glasses on his nose.

"You've grown James." he said. James was with his mother, who was short with dark red hair.

"Yeah, Ma had to buy me new school robes." Sadly, Remus was just as small as before, slightly shorter than Peter. "This is my friend Remus Lupin." he said to his mum.

"Pleasure to meet you Remus, heard a lot about you." she said pleasantly. He looked at James suspiciously.

"All good things I hope?" he asked casually raising an eyebrow. The three laughed and he saw Mrs Potter kiss James on the cheek.

"Ma! I'm twelve years old!"

"Okay okay, I see you're too old to give your old Ma a hug." she chuckled. But, James did hug his mum goodbye, then the two stepped onto the train. "So embarrassing." he muttered.

"She doesn't still tuck you into bed does she Jamsie?" Remus asked with a grin. James sighed and rolled his eyes. "Also when did you get these." he said pointing at the square-framed glasses.

"So, I never said, but I've been struggling to read properly for a few years, and Ma put her foot down and got me some glasses. Ugly things aren't they." he laughed.

"No they're- uh- they make you look clever James." he smirked. They didn't look too bad but, he'd have to get used to them.

"I hate them. But good old Ma made me swear to wear them. If I'm honest, I didn't realise how much I couldn't see without the glasses and I often got headaches from eye strain before."

"Ah well. I think in the end, you'll look a lot better wearing glasses than having eyes that stick out at different angles."

"Very true." he laughed.

James and Remus found a compartment together and were shortly joined by Peter. James started to laugh.

"What?"

"It's just, Peter has grown too!"

"James just remember, I didn't choose to be short."

"Really?" both James and Peter jeered. "How are you Pete." James asked.

"Alright. We went to Italy for a couple of weeks during the Summer."

"Oh I love Italy. Have you been Remus?" James asked.

"Oh no. Not me." he smiled but really felt a little awkward. They had never been able to afford to go on Holiday. He changed the subject.

"I wonder where Sirius is?" he asked.

"Not sure, he'll be here soon I guess." James said. Five minutes later, Sirius walked into their compartment, or rather limped in, holding the side of the carriage to keep him up. He also had grown a little taller but his hair was strangely short. He looked a little stressed and kept taking nervous glances out of the window.

"What happened?" Remus asked, pointing to his foot.

"Fell over, stupid isn't it." Sirius said, looking anywhere but the three of them. James' expression was one of concern but he didn't say anything. Remus was pretty sure Sirius wasn't telling the truth, or at least the whole truth. But then Sirius smirked when he looked at James' glasses. He snatched them off his face.

"Oi!"

"OOoo these are pretty Potter." he put them on his face. "Blind as a Dementor. Don't these impair your vision."

"Ha ha, very funny Sirius Black." he said dryly, taking the glasses back.

About half way through the journey, Remus took out his camera. He planned over the summer that he wanted to get as many pictures as he could.

"Can I take a picture?" he asked. And once again they all made a silly scene; James grabbed Peter and held him in a headlock. Peter made a funny expression of mock pain, and Sirius just grinned at the camera, his sharp facial features defined by the light. He took the picture and it came out the camera.

"You know, I don't think I'll ever get a serious photo of you all." he laughed as he put the picture in his pocket.

The train journey went quicker than last year, perhaps because he was in the company of three brilliant friends. They got into one of the carriages and were confused when it started to pull itself.

"I reckon it's some kind of charm." suggested James.

"Or maybe they're horses with invisibility cloaks" said Peter.

"Don't be silly Pete, invisibility cloaks are pretty rare." laughed James, and then he lowered his head conspiratorially. "Speaking of invisibility cloaks, why don't we sneak out tonight and try to find the kitchens."

"James it's the first night." said Remus raising an eyebrow, "Do you have an idea where it is?"

"Well I was told it's behind a portrait." said Sirius. "It has to be below the Great Hall too, so the House Elves can bring up the food."

"How do you know there's House Elves cooking." asked Peter.

"Who else is going to make it, Dumbledore?" he laughed.

When they finally got to the Great Hall for the start of term feast, Remus was absolutely famished, and the weight he had put on last year had diminished once more over the summer.

"Come on hurry up with the bloody sorting." Remus hissed.

"Remus! Language." snapped James sternly. It always made Remus laugh that James was such a troublemaker but was always telling them off for cussing. Sirius agreed that he was hungry too and at this point he'd eat a flobberworm if it went on longer.

"Creswell, Dirk" called Professor Mcgonagall, and he was sorted into Ravenclaw, along with a boy named Davey Gudgeon.

Finally Dumbledore said a few words, which nobody really understood, before allowing them to eat.

"Finally!" exclaimed Remus and Sirius as they dished up some food. Remus was enjoying the taste of such luxury food and was so delighted when the desserts came out that he took half the apple pie.

"Honestly Remus, anyone would think you're a ravenous wolf. How you eat so much I don't know." mocked Sirius, but it made his blood run cold. Did he know? He gave a small smile but noticed the other three exchanging looks. When they got back to Gryffindor Tower, James and Sirius were getting very excited about something on the noticeboard.

"Quidditch Trials next Sunday Sirius, can't wait."

"Who's the captain?"

"George Budgens. Beater."

"Brilliant!"

They went to sit in their usual chairs by the fire. Remus took out a new book and started to read. He noticed Dorcas Meadowes looking over at Sirius often. He didn't know why, but it really irritated him. Well, Dorcas irritated most people. She was the leader of the 'Sirius Black Fan Club' as he liked to call it. She started to giggle when Sirius turned round and winked at her, but when he turned back he rolled his eyes.

'''''''''''''''

That night, around midnight, the boys started to get ready for 'Operation Find The Kitchen'.

"Okay, let's try the basement level first." said James. "Sirius hurry up."

"I'm trying." he hissed, he was going so slow that the cloak almost fell off him. When they got there, there were several paintings hanging around them.

"Which portrait do you suppose it's behind?" asked Peter. Remus was trying to see the possibilities, he saw a large painting of a fruit bowl.

"Lets try this one." he said pointing to the portrait. They tried pulling it, casting spells at it, asking it to open nicely, asking it to open not so nicely. Remus studied the painting and pretended it was a door. So if it was a door, it would have a handle he thought. He reached to the left side of the painting (which had a green pear) and started to tap it with his knuckles. And to his surprise, it moved out of the painting just like a door handle. He twisted it and there was the kitchens.

"Remus you are a genius, you know that." exclaimed Sirius. The Kitchen was a large, high ceiling room, with four long tables that mimicked those in the Great Hall. They were greeted my many house elves, which Sirius gave a haughty sneer.

"Anything you want kind masters?" asked one of the house elves, wearing what looked like a pillow case.

"What you mean, you can give us food?" asked James in astonishment.

"Certainly sir." the elf replied. Remus was astonished that the Elf wasn't angry that they had broken into the kitchen at god knows what time in the morning.

"Do you have any chocolate?" asked Remus.

"And some banana bread?" James said.

"Chocolate cake?"

"Butter Beer?"

"Flapjacks."

The list went on and on and the elves were happy to provide the food.

"And can we request food to have at mealtimes."

"Certainly sir."

When they had finished robbing the kitchens, they turned to leave.

"OW!" Sirius shouted, he had tripped over a bowl and fell onto his front. He groaned and pushed himself into a sitting position, clutching his sock clad ankle.

"Let me have a look at that." Remus said, kneeling on the floor and grabbing his ankle.

"No." Sirius jerked his food away, but Remus having good reflexes, grabbed his leg. He pulled down his sock to reveal a large bruise in hues of purple and blue around his ankle.

"Merlin Sirius, you can't have done that from tripping over." exclaimed James. Sirius looked like he wanted to say something but no words were coming out his mouth.

"What happened." Remus asked.

"It doesn't matter, let's go before someone hears us." Sirius said hurriedly as he got up onto his knees and then to his feet, he tried to walk but stumbled forward again so Remus had to catch him.

"I'm okay." he said again, trying to shake Remus off him.

"No you're not." said Remus sternly. He put an arm round Sirius' waist but he flinched and whacked his hand away.

"I said I'm fine!" but Remus wasn't having it. He grabbed Sirius with ease and threw him over his shoulder.

"Put me down!" he bellowed as James and Peter started to giggle. "It's not funny. Remus stop it! This is ridiculous! I'm not a child!"

"Stop your whining, you'll wake up the whole castle, and I don't think you'd want the girls seeing you over my shoulder would you." he said. Remus was half concerned and half amused. James arranged the cloak over the four of them and they sneaked back to Gryffindor Tower, with Sirius moaning all the way. Once they got to the dorm, they took the cloak off and Remus sat Sirius on his bed, who looked extremely irritated.

"I could have walked myself." spat Sirius.

"Of course you could." Remus said mockingly. Sirius scowled. "James I've got some bandages and a green bottle in my case, can you grab them for me please." he asked. James rumaged through and handed him the cotton bandage and flask. Remus opened the bottle and poured some of the liquid into his palm. He rubbed it into Sirius' bruised ankle, who took a sharp intake of breath and clenched his fists into the blanket,

"Sorry." Remus muttered, "But it will get better a lot quicker if I do this now." Sirius nodded and bit his lip. After Remus had finished, he wrapped his ankle up in the bandages and propped it up with a pillow. "Try not to walk tomorrow." he laughed.

"Thanks." he said appreciatively. "Where did you get that stuff from?" he said, staring at the bottle.

"Oh I get the odd scrape here and there, it's useful." he said. It was really from where he had scratched himself during transformations but he wasn't about to mention that anytime soon.

"Let's eat!" James exclaimed, chucking the food they got onto Sirius' empty desk and sitting on his chair. They talked and ate all through the night.

"Remus, why don't we take pictures of all the stuff we get upto during the year and stick them on the wall." said James, who bit into a slice of carrot cake.

"James you're so girly sometimes." mocked Sirius.

"I think it's a good idea." said Peter.

"I'll get the camera."

When he took it, he soaked it in the photo potion and he stuck it straight on the wall with spellotape, and wrote the date 01/09/72 at the bottom. He also did the same for the photo he took on the train. Remus had worked out a way to put a timer on the camera so he was also in the picture too.

"Lovely." said James. "Even my glasses look good.

It wasn't until early morning that they finally went to sleep.