Chapter One

Saturday Morning

Something happened to four separate boys on the morning of Saturday, 24 July 1971. And even though the same thing happened at the same time, it ended up being a very different day for each of the boys.

James Potter was lying on his bed, staring at the blurry ceiling, as he did every Saturday morning. It was a usual day so far for James, but that would quickly change. He heard padded footsteps coming closer to his bedroom and closed his eyes as he waited for the quiet knock that meant breakfast was ready.

"James, I made your favorite today" Euphemia Potter called from behind her son's closed door as she knocked.

"Be down in a minute!" James replied as he sat up and started scanning his side table for his glasses.

He spotted them sitting next to his copy of Quidditch Teams of Wales and hurriedly put them on. James sat up and started rummaging through his wardrobe. He settled on a pair of old jeans and his favorite tee and pulled them on as quickly as he could. He threw his door open and jumped down the stairs three at a time. As he made it into the kitchen, his nose filled with the mouthwatering smell of his mother's pull-apart rolls, sausages, eggs, and roasted potatoes in herbs.

"Do you mind getting the post dear? I'm just finishing up the eggs." his mother said, nodding her head towards the owl that had flown onto the sill of their open kitchen window.

"Sure." he said as he walked over to the window. "Good morning, Tarrow. What have we got today?"

James looked through the mail as he made his way over to the table. Just as he was about to pull his chair out, he gasped and dropped the other letters. He ran around the table to show his father what he held.

"Blimey, congrats son!" Fleamont Potter exclaimed as he stared at the small tan envelope addressed to "Mr. J. Potter of Number 7 Kennan Avenue, Leamington Spa, England."

"Oh! Is that it? Is it here?" Mrs. Potter shrieked as she dropped the spatula she was holding and ran over to see what her son and husband were looking at.

"Take a look for yourself." Mr. Potter said as he held the folded piece of parchment out for his wife to see.

"Oh, it is! How wonderful, James! You'll just love Hogwarts!" she shouted while racing over to trap her son in a hug.

"I hope so." the young boy stated as his mind suddenly filled with terrifying thoughts of different Houses and concern of not being able to make friends.

"Oh, come now, don't be ridiculous James! You'll be fine. What do you think about taking your mind off things by going to get your school supplies today?" Mrs. Potter said as she walked back over to the stove.

"Yeah, okay." he agreed.

Sirius Black awoke with a start. As he sat up, he was suddenly aware of loud voices echoing through the house. Sirius immediately got up, and not even putting on socks before he went, ran straight out of his door and flew down the hall. Finally, stopping at his little brother, Regulus', room. He slowly opened the door and quietly stepped into his 9-year-old brother's room.

"Sirius!"

The older boy was almost knocked over by the force of which Regulus ran at him.

"How long have you been up?" Sirius asked, cautiously closing the door as he walked further into the room.

"Only about 10 minutes, but I think they've been going on for longer." the small boy replied, still clutching his older brother like he would float away if he let go.

"I'm not surprised. Do you know the time?" he asked, looking down at Regulus' face as the terror slowly disappeared from it.

"I think it's a quarter past 6" he supplied, deeming it safe to start loosening his grip on his older brother's waist.

"Bloody hell that's early." Sirius muttered under his breath.

"Sirius! I can still hear you, even if you mumble." the younger boy said, looking up at his brother's face with mild disappointment.

"Right, sorry. But still, did they have to raise their voices at this hour of all times? I mean, it's Saturday after all, a day for sleeping in." the older boy exclaimed, although knowing perfectly well that neither boy had slept past 7am in months.

Regulus just sort of nodded and leaned into his brother while they sat on the bed, waiting and listening. Nearing 7, cold, gray, light started to flood the space, escaping from the singular, small, window on the right wall of the young boy's room. The natural light guiding him, Sirius stood and walked over to the bookcase opposite the bed. He picked a shared favorite, and made his way back, where his brother sat, waiting for his return. Sirius started to read, and the boys were able to escape into a land of brave knights, dutiful queens, ruling kings, beautiful maidens, and daring princes. It was around 8:15 when they were unwillingly pulled back into reality, with one screech to blame.

"Sirius! Regulus! Get your arses down here right now!" the high-pitched, cringing, scream rang through the house.

"We'd better hurry." Sirius whispered as he sprang up and dashed to put the book back in its place on the shelf, remembering what happened the last time they had shown up late, and still in nightclothes, to breakfast.

Sirius ran down the hall, back to his bedroom, and quickly pulled on the first items of clothing he could find. As he made his way towards the long, winding, staircase that he would be forced to descend, he met up with his younger brother on the landing. They shared a glance before bolting down the stairs as quietly as possible to not upset their mother with the noise. Stopping outside of the kitchen door, the boys looked at each other once more before putting on their 'best son' faces and heading into the room.

The second the brothers stepped through the doorway, Walburga Black was waiting. She caught Sirius, who stared longingly at his younger brother who had managed to escape and was, in turn, given a sorry look from the young boy. The older boy stood there, holding his breath, as his mother looked him up and down, inspecting every inch of him.

"There are bags under your eyes, boy." his mother drawled. "Have you been staying up late again? Tsk, tsk. So irresponsible. You're 11 now! You'll be going to Hogwarts in a few months, is this how you're going to present the Noble House of Black? You have a name to live up to Sirius, and not to mention your little brother! How is this setting a good example for him, as his older brother, who he's supposed to look up to?!"

Sirius kept a brave face and his eyes glued to the floor as his mother went on with her scolding and ranting about how disappointing he is to the family. Occasionally, he glanced over to Regulus who looked almost as pained as he felt. The whole time knowing that the real reason he had bags under his eyes was because his parents were always waking him up at the crack of dawn with their arguing. When it was finally over, Sirius was allowed to join his brother at the table where they both began to nibble on the, now cold, toast set in front of them. Just as the older boy had stomached the last bit of his mother's awful, gray, eggs that he could, Kreacher, the family's crude house-elf, stepped into the room with the day's mail. He handed the letters over to Mrs. Black with a bow, and left the room muttering about one thing or another. She looked them over then with a swift movement, stood from her chair, and strode over to her eldest son, dropping a small, tan, envelope on his napkin in front of him. Sirius looked at the piece of mail for a second, then glanced back up at his mother, who was staring down at him with the look he had come to learn, meant that she was thinking deeply about something, and all the boy knew was that he already didn't like it.

"Is this real? You're not joking with me?" Sirius asked, tentatively.

"Boy, when have you known me to joke?" Walburga said like she was talking to a 4-year-old.

Regulus, who had been staring wide eyed at the parchment since it landed in front of his brother, suddenly broke the silence. "Well open it already!" he exclaimed.

Sirius took the letter in his hand and, carefully, peeled the wax seal back, and slid a folded paper out. He nervously unfolded it and stared down at the words before him.

"Well?" his mother snapped. "What does it say?"

"I've been accepted into Hogwarts; the start of term is September 1st-"

"That's in 5 weeks and 3 days Sirius!" Regulus shouted excitedly.

"Let him finish Regulus!" their mother said sharply.

"And included is just a list of everything I need for my first year." the boy finished, not believing what he was reading.

"Good. Well, we can take you to get your school supplies later this week. For the present, you two may go up to your rooms and be quiet. I don't want to disturb your father; he had a rough night and is very tired today." Mrs. Black said sternly.

They boys retreated upstairs and sat in Sirius' room to talk about the morning's events.

"Boo!"

Peter Pettigrew fell out of bed with a shriek. He looked around, disoriented, until he saw his older sister, practically rolling on the floor with laughter, standing a few paces from his bed. His breathing started to calm as he watched Emmelyn close her eyes tightly and contort her features back to her own instead of the disturbing creature, she had awoken the boy with.

"Oh, come now my leettle brozerr. Eet was only a joke!" she said in her thickest French accent.

"You know I can't understand what you say when you talk like that." he replied grumpily, pulling himself up from the floor.

"I just said it was only a joke. A hello from your big sister who came all this way to visit!" she sang in a much lighter accent.

"You only live in France you know. London's not that far away." he said, exasperated at how he was woken.

"Are you sure our dear mother taught you any basic studies? London is in fact very far from France." Emmelyn giggled as she started to head out of the boy's room.

"Emmelyn Bellefleur you stop tormenting your brother right now! That is no way to announce that you've dropped by. I would've thought letting you stay in France with your father and attend Beauxbatons would have smacked some manners into you!" Mrs. Pettigrew shouted from downstairs.

"Well mother, while I do excel in the proper etiquette course at school, that doesn't mean I have to use it on little Peter here. Even if I was the Queen of England, he wouldn't care because I'd still be his older sister, put on this earth solely to torment the bloke!" Emmelyn called as she gracefully bounded down the steps.

Well, she's not wrong. Peter thought as he stumbled down the stairs, trailing after his older sister.

"And even though he's only my half-brother, I still treat him the same I would to any other full-sibling." she remarked as they sat down at the table.

"Oh, just be quiet and eat your breakfast you silly girl." their mother replied waving her hands in pretend exasperation.

Peter nearly choked on his orange juice as Emmelyn made her nose look like a duck's bill. He painfully swallowed and burst out in a laughing and coughing fit.

"Emmelyn! Just because you're a Metamorphmagus doesn't mean you can ignore proper dining manners! What have I been telling you since you were no less than 3?" Mrs. Pettigrew scolded.

"Rule one of me staying in this house is to keep my Metamorphmaging away from the table." the girl replied glumly.

"Exactly" the older witch nodded. "Now could you grab the post? It should be here by now."

"Fine." Emmelyn sighed, getting up from her seat at the table.

"Thank you!" their mother called after her.

Suddenly, Mrs. Pettigrew and her son heard a loud gasp from the sitting room.

"What happened?" Peter called as he raced out into the room his sister was standing in.

"Little brother! Congratulations, I'm so happy for you!"

Peter grabbed the letter she was holding out to him in confusion. But once he turned it over, he jumped with excitement.

"Mom! Mom, it's here! My Hogwarts letter arrived!" the boy announced, smiling ear to ear.

"Oh Peter, that's so exciting! What do you think of going to get your school supplies later this week while your sister is still here?" his mother asked jogging over to where her children were standing.

"Oh! Will you come Em? Please!" the boy begged his sister standing next to him.

"Of, course Peter! It will be so much fun, I haven't seen Diagon Alley since I was a child!" Emmelyn said.

Peter smiled happily to himself as he sat back down to his breakfast.

Remus Lupin woke up feeling awful. He had been having one of those nightmares again. He shivered as he ran his hand up and down his arms and chest, feeling the scars. He looked over at his nightstand and found the usual piece of chocolate and plate of breakfast rolls. Every morning his mother would leave him chocolate and breakfast {usually rolls} before heading off to work. Remus often slept in because of the nightmares and only occasionally saw his parents in the morning. He picked up the chocolate and started nibbling at a corner while he thought about what he was going to do that day. He settled on a peaceful day of reading to take his mind off the dreams.

The boy did exactly that, he read for a bit in the library until his father got home from work. After the usual greetings and questions about the day, Remus joined his mother and father in the sitting room, fiddling with his game of Gobstones by the fire while his parents chatted. But suddenly, three quick knocks on their door moved the room to silence. Hope and Lyall shared a look of concern and question, then went to see who their unexpected guest was.

Remus heard voices and a lot of scuffling, then his parents reappeared with an older wizard at their side. He was tall, thin, and had lots of white hair running low into his even longer beard. The mystery man was dressed in light blue and silver robes and wore a pair of half-moon spectacles that sat on his, slightly crooked, long nose. And behind those glasses, were bright blue eyes that gave the young boy a feeling as though he was being x-rayed.

"Hello, I'm Professor Albus Dumbledore. And you," he said gesturing slightly to Remus. "must be Remus Lupin."

The boy could only nod, he had never met anyone else who made him feel this way before. Like he was in the presence of the person who knew the answers to every problem in the world.

Dumbledore then went on to explain how Remus was going to be able to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The staff all knew about his condition, there was a building in Hogsmeade that has the most powerful protection charms around it and can only be accessed through a secret passageway in the Hogwarts grounds. That building is where the boy was to transform, on his own, every month. Madam Pomfrey, the school's healer, would be ready to care for his injuries, and the rest of the teachers would give him extra time to do his work the week of the full moon.

"And this is your Hogwarts letter." he said as he handed Remus a tan envelope with a red seal. "I think that's everything. Any questions?"

"I er- no. I think you've covered everything." Lyall said, still in shock of what was happening.

"Good. Well, I must be off now. Many things to do… I will see you at the start of term Remus." Dumbledore said politely, smiling at the boy still staring at the letter.

After the headmaster had left, Mr. and Mrs. Lupin asked if their son was alright. Remus nodded and declared he was going to bed early. Once in his room, the boy sat on his bed, staring at the parchment that had come from the tan envelope. He sat there for almost an hour, just thinking everything over. He thought of friends and teachers, bullies and his classes. Exhausted, Remus fell asleep, his head still heavy with worry and questions.