Author's Note:
Reviews and Comments: To Ellieoryan7447: Little James is so hyper! He is a bundle of energy! Thank you! I think Fee and Monty were amazing parents who definitely spoiled their only boy rotten! Thank you! To darkhk: I have seen the Prince cover, it's pretty awesome! Thank you! To Shivani: James is definitely a ball of energy and he's very excited to be going to Hogwarts! Thank you! To alix33: Thank you! To Griffind00r: Fee and Monty definitely missed his boundless energy when he left the house. He is kind of like a little puppy, isn't he? Thank you! To wolfjinx15475: Thank you! I do think James Sirius took after his grandpa a lot, so it makes sense that you would see that energy in blvnk's drawings. Definitely more Beatles references lol. Thank you! To EnigmaticEmperor: Thank you! I thought we needed some wholesome to balance out the angst. Thanks for liking my Fee and Monty. LMAO, you think little James is Harry high on drugs? I mean, he is very excitable lol. Thank you!
To scrappy8: James is so bad? LOL. Thank you! To ellyann13: James is definitely spoiled, but he knows it. Thank you! To Sara: Thanks for the support. It does contrast the difference between James and Remus' letters. Thanks for loving Fee and Monty! To CherrySara: Sorry, we will not be seeing Sirius, Peter, or Lily get their letters. But we will see more of them soon! Thank you! To CorbanD17: Thank you! Still a bit before some Jily, but there will be some! To marauders_mowopapr: Thank you! I'm glad you're already in love with my James Potter, he is very fun to write. James would definitely have loved Harry in the treehouse like him with the bannisters lol. Thank you!
My posting schedule: Weekly.
Thanks to Dusk for her amazing editing skills.
As always, thank you very much for reading and please, please review!
Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you for all of your continued support!
CHAPTER SIX:
The One With the Reigning Champion
1st September 1971…
Remus stood on the platform of nine and three quarters with his mother's arm draped around his shoulders. His hands were nervously in his pockets as he stared up at the scarlet steam engine before him.
"There's no need to be nervous, Rem. Professor Dumbledore has promised that every precaution will be taken. You will be safe."
"It's not my safety that's a priority, Mum," Remus said softly, his eyes still on the train.
Hope kissed her son's cheek. "Every precaution will be taken, Remus. You can't worry about it. And you have a few weeks to get settled into your dormitory and make friends and enjoy your classes before you truly have to worry about it."
Remus scratched the small crescent shaped scar above his left eyebrow. He had somehow done it to himself a few years ago and it was hardly the only scar that was self inflicted. He felt his mother squeeze his shoulders tight and he smiled at her. He knew how worried she was about him going off to Hogwarts and the last thing that he wanted was to give her something else to worry over when it came to him.
"You're right, Mum." He kissed her cheek. "It's going to be grand. Don't worry."
She beamed at him, hugging him tightly again. "You write home at the end of the week and tell us everything! I want every last detail of your first week, okay?"
Lyall pulled his son close for a hug. "Don't think about hiding your secret so much; just be yourself and make friends. No one will know about your secret. Have a grand time. Play a few pranks."
"Lyall!"
"What? You're the instigator of that, Hope!" he said with a laugh as Remus grinned at his parents.
"We love you! Don't forget to write!"
He smiled at his mother. "I won't. I promise. I'll see you at Christmas?"
At her nod, he let her hug him once more before he headed towards the train with his trunk in tow as his parents waved madly behind him.
He found a compartment to himself and settled himself into the corner by the window, watching the platform as it filled with students and parents and younger siblings all there to send everyone off. He closed his eyes, turning his head away from the window. Starting school with the secret that he was holding was incredibly terrifying to him. He reached into his book bag and tugged out the novel that he was reading. A wonderful work of Muggle fiction called Sherlock Holmes and settled himself for a quiet train ride.
It was ten minutes later as Watson was demanding of his friend how he had possibly come to his conclusions that the compartment door slid open and a small slightly chubby boy stood there, dirty blonde hair and watery blue eyes. He was holding a cage with a brown owl as he looked into the compartment.
"M-may I sit in here? Everywhere else is full."
Remus gestured to the empty bench. "Of course!"
The boy sat down, carefully placing the owl cage on the bench. He shifted uncomfortably for a moment and then he simply leaned back and closed his eyes as the train began to move.
Remus turned back to his book. He read two more pages before he realized the boy was staring at him. He lifted his head and looked over at him. "Nervous?"
The boy nodded, folding his hands in his lap. "M-my mum says I shouldn't be. I'm Peter."
"Remus," he said, feeling bad for the boy. He looked even more alone and isolated than Remus felt. "I'm a little nervous too. I don't know anybody."
Peter nodded, smiling in relief. "Me neither." He reached into his pocket pulling out the deck of cards there. "Do you like Exploding Snap?"
Remus closed his book and smiled. "I love it. In fact, I'm reigning champion."
Peter laughed as he tugged the cards out of the bag. "Well, champion, prepare to be dethroned."
Remus grinned back at him. "Bring it."
It took ten minutes for the cards to explode and Peter jumped as his eyebrow was singed off, making Remus laugh.
"And I still hold champion!" he declared, standing up and taking a bow.
Peter grinned at him as he cleaned up his cards. "You're really good. Well played."
Remus nodded and leaned back in his seat. "So Peter, tell me something about yourself."
"Like what?" he asked, putting the slightly burnt cards back into their holder.
Remus held up the book that he had been reading. "Do you like to read?"
Peter shook his head. "Definitely not. Mum always tried to instil a love of literature in me, but mostly I got bored. I like animals though and plants and Arthimancy, which I'm a little sad we can't take until third year. I'm kind of pumped to see what kind of neat things we'll get to do in Herbology though. And this is Owl."
Remus' scared eyebrow rose in amusement. "You named your owl, Owl?"
Peter grinned. "I did. Mum tried to get me to change it, but it stuck and now it's all he will answer to. I like it. It's original."
"Yes, it is," Remus said, biting back a laugh. "Well, I like to read. I read a lot actually. I like getting to disappear for awhile and become someone else, you know? It's rather liberating and exciting," he explained, crossing his feet. "Muggle stories especially."
"Are you Muggleborn?" Peter asked, his watery eyes staring at Remus in surprise. "I mean, how else do you know about Muggle stories?"
Remus laughed. "No, but my mum's a Muggle. My dad's a half-blood. Mum loves stories and she was always sharing them with me from the time I was a baby. Dad worked in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."
Peter nodded, grinning. "That's aces! That's where I think I'd want to work, at the Ministry I mean. Dad's job is terribly boring. He's in the Department of Magical Transportation. He runs the testing for Apparition though, so that's pretty wicked. My mum works at a flower shop in Diagon Alley."
"My mum used to work in an insurance office, you know, in the Muggle world. She said that she might go back now that I'm in Hogwarts and not home for her to take care of."
"How do you live between the two worlds, mate? Like with your mum knowing all about magic and stuff?" Peter asked, leaning forward in curiosity.
Remus shrugged. "It's not hard. Mum tells the Muggles that Dad works in M15 so his work is always classified. That's like the Muggle version of the Department of Mysteries so Dad never has to explain his job. Even my grandparents don't know that Dad's a wizard. Your parents are both a witch and wizard then?"
"Yeah. Mum's a pureblood, comes from a long line of witches and wizards, but my Dad's a half-blood too, so they were pretty certain I'd be magical. Mum says that I'm going to be in Hufflepuff like my Dad was, but I don't know, I feel like that's not where I belong, you know? Do you know what house you'll belong to?" Peter asked him, stretching his legs out on the bench.
Remus shook his head. "No. Dad wouldn't give me any clue as to how they pick the house either. He just said that it was like a test of the mind. He was in Gryffindor though."
Peter smiled. "The House of the Brave. That's Dumbledore's house, you know? Dad always told me stories about how Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald. He could have been Minister of Magic and instead he's all about running a school. He must be weird."
"Actually, he's really nice," Remus told him honestly. It was Dumbledore after all who had come to visit him and to personally assure him that he would be allowed the finest magical education that he could provide him. "I met him. My parents had questions about Hogwarts and well, I guess he was more than willing to answer them."
"Wow," Peter said, grinning widely. "That's wicked, mate!" He crossed his arms in front of him. "Be brilliant if we were in the same house. It'd be nice to know someone right away."
Remus smiled back. He had to agree with Peter's assessment. "Yeah, that would be pretty great. Hey, how do you feel about wizard's chess?"
Peter grinned. "I am the reigning champion of that. No one's ever beaten me."
Remus stood up and reached for his trunk. "Well, it's about time someone did."
And for the first time in his life, Remus felt like he was making a friend and he couldn't keep the smile off of his face.