Here's the long-awaited (at any rate I hope it was long-awaited) continuation of Moony

Here's the long-awaited (at any rate I hope it was long-awaited) continuation of Moony. I hope you like it; the reason it took so long was for the most part school, and the lesser part that I didn't want to put something on ff.net that I didn't think was good enough. Hope all of you readers will review; it's common courtesy and you have no idea how much I appreciate feedback (of any kind). And, as always, you can email me anytime at Stanzi82@aol.com.

Chapter 3

Remus was standing alone on a small, dark platform. It was crowded, and he was being jostled in every direction. People were waving and shouting greetings to each other. Remus knew not a sing one of them, and suddenly he felt cold and very, very alone.

"Oof!" he cried as he lost his balance in the jostling and fell. Someone had bumped into him. Remus moved numbly to pick himself up, and just then he realized that he'd fallen on a pair of feet. They were rather large feet, he noticed….He jumped up quickly and looked up at the person to whom these feet belonged.

He had to crane his neck. Here was the tallest, most gigantic person Remus had ever seen. This person towered several feet over all the other heads on the platform. Remus' mind immediately jumped to the stories his mother used to tell him about the giants—that they were a reclusive race that was hardly ever seen. They were also rather angry creatures, vengeful and dangerous.

But that can't be this one, Remus thought. This man's face was bright red, smiling and merry underneath the thick, bristly beard. The face spoke.

"Hey there, lad. Firs' year, are yeh?" The man had a deep, booming voice which, if it wasn't so kindly sounding, could easily be menacing.

Remus realized he'd been asked a question. "Yes," he replied, looking up after answering.

"I'm sorry. It's so loud righ' now, I missed that it was yeh said." He was still smiling.

"I'm a first year," Remus answered in a somewhat louder voice.

The man's face broke into an even wider smile. "Well, good f'yer! As a matter o' fact, I'm supposed ter find all yeh firs' years an' bring yeh up to Hogwarts…hold yer ears."

Remus put his fingers to them, slightly bewildered.

The giant man bellowed, "FIRS' YEARS OVER HERE!" He grinned back down at Remus. "Sorry abou' that. Have to gather 'em up, it's me job."

Remus nodded, noticing that the giant—if indeed he was a giant—might be a little tipsy. He grinned inwardly, thinking that this man was pretty kind, and realizing that he wasn't as scared as he had been just a few minutes ago.

"What's yer name?" the man asked him.

Remus swallowed and answered, loudly, so that the man would hear: "Remus Lupin."

"Ah, glad ter meet yeh, Remus Lupin. My name's Rubeus Hagrid. Keeper of the Keys at Hogwarts." He grinned down at Remus. "But yeh can call me Hagrid. Everyone does….Come on, all yeh firs' years, come with me!—Ah, here we are."

Remus turned around and saw a swarm of children his size coming towards where he and Hagrid were standing. Remus noticed that many of them looked just as terrified as he himself had felt before meeting Hagrid. At least he wasn't alone in that anymore.

"That all o' yeh?" Hagrid asked the group. A few nodded; most were silent, staring up in awe at the giant man. "Alrigh' then. Follow closely now."

With that, Hagrid led the group of first years out of the crowd of other students into a thick, pitch-black wood. They walked down a path sloping steeply downward for several minutes, shivering in the chilly air.

Nobody spoke, except for Hagrid who twice said, "Mind yer step, now." He led them to a clearing and round a little bend. With a sweeping gesture of his arm he said, "There's Hogwarts."

Remus drew his breath as he and the others around him beheld the magnificent sight. Shimmering out in front of them was long, dark lake. The wind blew across it, ripping its surface. "A giant squid lives in there," he head someone whisper.

Everyone was still looking at the lake when someone exclaimed, "Up there!" Remus saw in the light of the moon a gigantic mountain with a towering castle above it. Turrets and towers shot up out of its walls and rooftops. He breathed out slowly. He was in complete awe.

Almost involuntarily, he turned his head toward the moon. It was waning now, he knew—still he was accustomed to staring at it, willing away his dreadful curse as he counted the weeks, days and hours to his next transformation.

Remus' musings were interrupted by Hagrid's booming voice calling out "Jus' four to a boat, that's all, four's the limit." The other first years were at the water's edge, clambering into little dinghies. Remus started trotting to catch up with them. He was just at the gravel beach when he tripped and fell forward onto the sharp gravel. At that same moment, Remus heard Hagrid call out, "Any more in the boats? Are yeh all in?" Remus coughed, got up quickly and called back to Hagrid.

"Eh? Remus Lupin?" Hagrid answered. "We can't be leavin' yeh behind, can we?" Hagrid beckoned to him with his outstretched arms. "Climb into my boat here. It'll be a tight squeeze, so watch yer step."

Remus climbed into the tiny boat. It indeed was a "tight squeeze;" Hagrid's legs easily took up most of the room. Remus suddenly felt very embarrassed—he'd daydreamed and failed to get into the boats with everyone else, and now he had to ride with Hagrid instead on with his new fellow students.

Before he could really start to feel sheepish, Hagrid spoke. "It's better that yeh come with me now, anyway. McGonagall gave me orders ter bring yeh right up to her when we get ter Hogwarts."

Remus barely nodded—he was nervous again. He'd only vaguely thought about what they would say to him when he arrived. Dumbledore had written that "certain precautions would be taken" and that he would be explained them when he arrived, but until now Remus hadn't thought about what they would actually say to him or what they would be doing. Now that he was thinking about it, he worried. He'd heard things about Professor McGonagall. She was really strict. But Mum and Dad both said that Dumbledore was a wonderful man, and he's Headmaster after all.

In what seemed like no time at all, the boats landed at a small harbor that seemed to be directly under the mountain. It had taken a few minutes in a dark tunnel to get here, Remus figured, so they must be somewhere under Hogwarts.

Hagrid stepped out of the boat. Remus and the occupants of the other boats immediately followed suit. Hagrid was walking to each boat, making sure everyone disembarked safely. Holding a small lantern, he motioned for the group to follow him up a dark passageway. In a few minutes, Remus and the others were looking up at a pair of massive oak doors. Hagrid knocked three times with his fist. Remus got the feeling that Hagrid had been doing this for many years.

Right away the door opened, and standing in the doorway was a tall witch with black, tightly-bunned hair, square-rimmed spectacles and a very stern look. Remus could tell who it was just by looking at her.

The witch thanked Hagrid and opened the doors wider for all the students to come in. They all entered a room larger than any Remus has ever seen. It was breathtaking; brightly lit with a thousand candles. Remus hadn't really known what to expect, where most of the other students were familiar with the layout and lore of Hogwarts already—both their parents had attended, and possibly older siblings as well. Remus' parents had attended Hogwarts as well, but they had never spoken about their times at Hogwarts with him, since up until a short time ago it had always been doubtful that Remus would be able to attend. His parents hadn't wanted to hurt him…and he hadn't asked them about Hogwarts either, not even after he had been accepted, because it always made them teary-eyed.

The witch, whom Remus knew to be Professor Minerva McGonagall, led him and the rest of the group into a smaller hall adjoining the big one. She stood before them and began instructing them in the first orders of business for students new at Hogwarts.

"Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," she began. "You can probably hear the voices of the other students already in the Great Hall, and I know you are anxious for the feat to begin, but first I must explain the basic structures of our school. Before the feast begins, you all will be sorted into houses. There are four houses here at Hogwarts—Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin—and they will the group of students with which you will eat, sleep and have classes. Each house has a special history behind it, and each has had its successful wizards and witches. Each house member can gain points by accomplishments, while he or she can lose points by failures. The House with the most points at the end of the school year wins the house cup." She paused for a moment. "It is now time for the Sorting Ceremony to begin. Please form a line and follow me."

Everyone obeyed. Nobody dared whisper in front of this strict professor, but he knew many of them were wondering, as was he, what this Sorting Ceremony consisted of. His parent had never spoken of it, of course, and now Remus wondered what houses they had been in.

The line began to move. They followed Professor McGonagall back into the Great Hall, and Remus once again saw the thousands of candles and the long tables filled with goblets and silverware. Students were sitting at the tables chatting and laughing, catching up after the summer holidays.

Remus watched Professor McGonagall exit the hall, and then come back in carrying a four-legged stool and a dirty, frayed wizard's hat. It must have been a hundred years old at least. She placed the stool down, and the hat on top of the stool. To Remus' great surprise, the hat began to sing. From where he stood, he couldn't see whether or not it had a mouth.

"New Hogwarts students, big and small (sang the hat)

You'll don this cap, one and all

And, one by one, as you shall see

I'll show you where you best should be.

Perhaps in humble Hufflepuff

Whose students are proud and loyal

And always willing to work hard

It's this that makes them royal.

Or maybe your house is Ravenclaw

It's there the wisest stay

Ravenclaws are true and strong

They're there to lead the way.

In Slytherin you may belong

If ambition does you no wrong

If you'll go huge lengths to meet your goals

Though the road be hard and long.

And lastly there is Gryffindor

Wherein the bravest dwell.

Their undying strength and courage

You will ever live to tell.

So put me on and have no fears;

I've never once been wrong.

Where I put you, you'll be content

You'll flourish and belong.

Remus listened as one by one Professor McGonagall called the names of the first years alphabetically. They each had to sit on the stool and put on the cap. After a few moments, the hat would yell out one of the four houses to which that student would belong. Remus had to wait a while for his turn. In the meantime, he tried to think what house he would most like to be in. He didn't really know about any of them, except that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had been in Slytherin. Well, Remus didn't really want to be in the Dark Lord's old house, but other than that he had no real idea.

He was jolted from his thoughts fort the second time that night, this time by Professor McGonagall's voice calling out, "LUPIN, REMUS." Remus caught a glimpse of her as he walked to the stool. She was looking at him, and maybe gave a slight nod—"Ah yes," said the tiny voice of the hat as Remus put it on. "Intelligent, yes indeed...loyal…courageous. A desire to protect those around you. Yes, I think that would name you a GRYFFINDOR!"

Remus hopped off the stool and went toward the table full of cheering students that bore the red-and-gold

emblem of the Gryffindor lion. Halfway there, Professor McGonagall stepped in front of him and said simply, "Dumbledore wants to see you immediately in his office, Mr. Lupin." Remus looked at her expression and tried to deduce something from it, but the had little luck. She seemed to him to have just one expression. He followed the professor out of the Great Hall into a smaller, darker hallway. They walked a little until they came to small staircase. At the top, Remus could just make out the figure of a person. They began to walk up the staircase.

A/N: I said at the beginning that I welcomed any wand all comments. Well, I do—save ones about the poetry. I know it sucks, and I know it's a little too close to J.K. Rowling's in the first book. The fact is, I'm a terrible poet and I wrote this during school when I did not have the book with me. Just bear with me on that, OK? Thanks.