The Wolf of Change
Chapter 4 - Wild Ride
Remus flew through the wall, looking up in astonishment as he came out into the sunlit platform of nine and three quarters. His father appeared behind him, taking his hat off and dusting before replacing it. The huge space was as crowded as the London streets, and were it not for his heightened sight; Remus would never have spotted his friends.
Sephine and Lily were whispering something to each other, glaring at a group of four or five girls to their right. Sirius was with a couple of other boys, joking and laughing. Remus hesitated. He had assumed they'd all be together. Now he didn't know who to go to. Before he could decide, however, Sirius shouted and beckoned him over. "Hey, Lupin! Come on!"
Roland smiled, oblivious to his son's new turmoil. "Is that Sirius you were telling me about?"
"Uh yeah." Remus glanced up at his father, then looked down again. "Bye Dad."
Roland felt his eyes prick as he hugged his son. "Bye, Remus. See you at Christmas. Don't forget to write."
"I will, Dad." Remus' voice was muffled in his dad's thick coat.
Roland managed a smile. "Is that you will write, or you will forget?"
Remus grinned and flicked his fringe away from his eyes. "Both."
His father smiled, trying to be happy as his son made his way through the groups of children and parents to his friends.
Remus also had to force his smile as he approached Sirius, wondering who the other boys were. "Hi, Sirius."
"Hey, Remus! These are James Potter and Martin Thomas, my friends from home. This is Remus Lupin, the fellow...er...person that's been insulted by a parrot, that I was telling you about."
Remus wondered what Sirius had told them, but the thought didn't last long, and he soon found himself deep in conversation with the other boys. James was quite tall and lanky, with black hair in a fractious style; the disobedient strands sticking up at all angles. His hazel eyes behind his round glasses appeared to have a twinkle similar to Dumbledore's. Martin's dark skin contrasted with his bleached yellow hair and his dark eyes had a roguish quality in their depths. James was, like Sirius, from a well- established wizarding background, and also like Sirius, he was very down to earth about it. Martin was like Sephine - only one of his parents was magical. His dad worked very high up in the Ministry, and his mum owned a coffee shop in their small town. Martin referred to them as being 'the best of both worlds', which Remus couldn't fault.
When the call for boarding finally came, Remus glanced back quickly and saw that his dad had stayed. He smiled and waved, wanting his dad to know he'd seen him. Roland waved back, relieved, as Remus scuttled onto the huge steam engine after his friends.
* * *
Settling down to a four player game of exploding snap, the four boys barely noticed the time pass. About two hours into the journey, though, they were interrupted by a timid voice. "Um...is there any room here?"
They looked up, and Remus realised how daunting a group of close friends they must have seemed to the heavily freckled face peering around the screen.
Sirius smiled cheekily and raised an inquiring eyebrow. "Maybe. But if you didn't have anywhere to go, then why have you only come now? You been sitting in the corridor for two hours?"
The boy fidgeted, his slightly greasy, thin blonde hair flopping over his eyes. "Um. The people I was with threw me out."
James' eyebrows shot up and he leant forwards in interest. "Oh? Why?"
The boy appeared embarrassed by the question. "Look, do you have room or not?"
"We're no way saying unless we know why you were thrown out by your last buddies!" Martin exclaimed.
"Uh...well...we were opening our lunches and er...I had a chocolate frog in mine...but it was um... a really old one. From like a year ago. My dad must have switched it with the new one for a prank, and it escaped. And it came out half-melted and all mouldy. And jumped all over these two girls, before their parrot ate it. And then that gave the parrot a really bad stomach. And it was all a bit messy."
The four boys stared at the newcomer, smirks twisting their way onto each face before muffled laughter erupted from Martin, and he had to clap his hand to his mouth. In between chokes of suppressed sniggers Sirius managed to ask; "By any chance was one of these girls Sephine Winters?"
"Uh yeah, I think that was her name," the boy looked wary, unsure of whether they were laughing at him or not.
"Ho-oh! Yes!" James and Sirius exchanged high fives. "Come in, come in! What's your name?"
"Um, Peter."
"Peter?"
"Um Peter?"
"Peter Peter?"
"Peter Pan?"
"Just Peter?"
"Just William?"
"No. It's none of those. It's--"
"Peter Pan!"
"No, it's--"
"Well then I must be Wendy!"
"But--"
"Ooh can I be Hook?"
"Ah ha! My arch enemy! Draw your weapon, Remus Hook!"
"I draw my weapon, Wendy Black! Beware the mighty...er school tie!"
"Ooh! He's going to spank me with it! Peter Pan, save me!"
"I'm called Peter Pe--"
"HELP!!"
"Down with you, you lost girlboy!"
"Oh, bad form, captain!"
"Fear not, Wendy! Your Lost Boys are here!"
"What took you so long?"
"Well, we were lost!"
"Ah you lost boys are hopeless! Captain Remus Hook can bring you down any day!"
"Ow! That hit me!"
"Well you should have jumped! Dance, boy, dance!"
"Oh, we're doomed!"
"Only Peter Pan can save us!"
Peter stood in the doorway, staring in astonishment at Remus standing on the table, tie in hand, and Sirius at 'tie point', with James and Martin 'cowering' behind him.
"Uh...My name's Peter Pettigrew."
Instantly, the boys dropped postures, props and costumes, and leaped from the furniture to face little Peter, who was rather overcome by the apparent insanity of his new compartment-mates.
"Pettigrew, eh?"
"Hmm. sounds familiar..."
"Yes my parents--"
"Mmm on the list this one, definitely."
"Major offender..."
"But--"
"No! It's down to the station with you, lad!"
Peter gave up. They were obviously quite mad.
* * *
As the five boys scuttled down the aisle, uniforms under arms, and 'spy faces' present on the slightly less sane members of the party, they rounded a corner and came face to face with murder on legs. Sephine glared at them and then at the clothes that had been knocked from her hands. She plainly was not used to a uniform. Her pleated skirt was uneven and creased, a couple of pleats sticking out at a strange angle, and her shirt wasn't tucked in at the back. Her tie was done in the wrong sort of knot, and her collar looked like it had been starched upright. Her robe only made it look worse, not better.
If it hadn't been for the deadly bolts of sapphire that pinned them all to the spot, the boys would have been hard pressed to keep upright from laughing so hard. Finally trusting himself to speak without exploding into a fit of sniggers, Sirius led them on again, ruffling her hair as he walked past her. "Nice one, Seph."
Remus turned for a final glance as they continued, and was rewarded with the sight of her stalking away, a thin ladder spreading up her tights from her ankle to the back of her knee.
* * *
Following his friends through the steady stream of pupils leaving the train, Remus tugged at his tie. He couldn't stand the restriction on his neck, but he knew one had to look one's best when attending such an elite school. Although he did notice that Sephine didn't seem to know this, she had neatened up slightly. Her auburn hair was tamed into a bun at the top of her head, only a couple of wisps escaping. Her tie and shirt collar were marginally better and her shirt was tucked in, but again, Remus noticed the ladder. He could just make out the sparkle of pink nail polish restricting the path of it, and adding a dash of colour to the dark uniform. He pointed it out to Sirius, who rewarded him with one of his customary sniggers.
Although required to follow the dark shape that intermittently called "Firs' years this way!" the 'firs' years' were rather apprehensive of the size of their leader. A rumour began to spread throughout the crowd that he was a giant, and Dumbledore's slave. Remus didn't think he believed the slave part, but the man was certainly big enough to be a giant.
When the giant announced that they would cross the great lake in little enchanted rowboats, a distinctive voice stated, "I am not crossing the lake. Not at all, not even if it were daylight and we were in secure transport and it was nice weather." As Sephine spoke, droplets of rain began to patter down, tap dancing on the lake's black glass surface.
"Now, Miss Win'ers, there'll be no need for worry. These boats are perfectly secure."
"I'm not."
"Come now, yeh can come in the same one as me, and I'll keep a 'old of yeh..."
"I'm NOT."
By now almost everyone was silent, listening to the exchange and wondering what the giant would do.
"It's perfectly safe, I swear."
"No!"
"Why? Why won't yeh?"
"NO!" Her voice cracked slightly. Peter wondered if he was the only sane person in the whole year.
The giant sighed. "Honestly, I don't know wha' teh do wi' yeh. Bloody firs' years gettin' worse an' worse each year. Sometimes I'm inclined teh agree with young Filch! Miss, Win'ers, wha' deh yeh sugges' we do then?"
"Can I go in a carriage?"
"Well I'm not gettin' one bloody carriage down 'ere jus' fer yeh! Either yeh come with us, or we all go in carriages." This suggestion was met with dozens of complaints, and the whole year rose up in protest. Sephine pouted and folded her arms, like a toddler used to getting its own way that has suddenly been told 'no'.
"Come on, Sephine. Yeh'll get jus' as wet standin' 'ere as yeh would if yeh were teh fall in the lake - which yeh won't!"
"I can't swim!" She cried.
"Yeh won't need teh! Don't worry yehself. It'll be fine. D'yeh wanna go wi' yeh friends? Or wi' me?"
"Don't want either. But I'll go with Lily, I guess." Sephine finally sniffed. Everyone cheered. They would not have been pleased if this one girl had denied them all the experience of crossing the lake.
Peter was about to get in the same boat as the trembling Sephine and the excited Lily, when almost with a snarl Sephine erupted. "No! You're not coming on, Peter! I do not trust you."
"Okay." Peter understood and with an apologetic smile approached the others. But their boat already had four. "Oh." He looked so disappointed that Remus felt guilty.
"Ah Jeez, alright Peter. Get in. I'll go with the others." He clambered out and joined the girls, wondering who'd end up being their fourth member.
It turned out to be a ginger haired boy with a lot of freckles and a wicked grin. One too wicked for a Weasly, Remus decided. He hopped in heavily and the small boat rocked. Sephine gave a scream and clutched the sides, eyes popping in shock. "You ff-f-freak! What the hell did you do that for!?"
"Do what?" The boy put on a mock innocent face as he looked down at her from where he stood holding the lamp pole up. "That was my normal jump. Are you saying I'm overweight?" He sniggered. "I'm Charlie."
Remus looked up thoughtfully. "You're not a Weasly, are you?"
The boy sighed. "Ah at last! Someone who can see that I'm not a Weasly! You must have some sixth sense, mate. I'm Charlie Cookson, Mudblood, Muggle-child extra-ordinaire!"
Remus and Sephine exchanged glances, surprised at this casual use of the word, and wondering if Charlie knew what an insult he had just given himself. Lily saw their expressions, and remained silent, obviously having heard about this from Sephine.
"Uh, hi." Remus said. "My name's Remus, these are Sephine and Lily."
Charlie grinned and bowed. "Greetings, fair maidens. And Remus."
Remus smiled for the show, not particularly impressed by this boy. Lily seemed interested in finding one of her own kind, and Sephine looked ready to leap the metre gap to the shore as the boat headed away from land on its own.
Charlie noticed this and raised an eyebrow. "Is she hyperventilating?"
"No, she's just got a fear of water. Says she prefers fire for some reason." Lily seemed unconcerned.
"Fire, eh? Well if you're interested in fire, sweetie, I'm one hell of a fiery red-head..."
Lily, as unimpressed as Remus, lowered her eyebrows patronisingly. "I wouldn't play with fire if I were you, Charlie."
Chapter 4 - Wild Ride
Remus flew through the wall, looking up in astonishment as he came out into the sunlit platform of nine and three quarters. His father appeared behind him, taking his hat off and dusting before replacing it. The huge space was as crowded as the London streets, and were it not for his heightened sight; Remus would never have spotted his friends.
Sephine and Lily were whispering something to each other, glaring at a group of four or five girls to their right. Sirius was with a couple of other boys, joking and laughing. Remus hesitated. He had assumed they'd all be together. Now he didn't know who to go to. Before he could decide, however, Sirius shouted and beckoned him over. "Hey, Lupin! Come on!"
Roland smiled, oblivious to his son's new turmoil. "Is that Sirius you were telling me about?"
"Uh yeah." Remus glanced up at his father, then looked down again. "Bye Dad."
Roland felt his eyes prick as he hugged his son. "Bye, Remus. See you at Christmas. Don't forget to write."
"I will, Dad." Remus' voice was muffled in his dad's thick coat.
Roland managed a smile. "Is that you will write, or you will forget?"
Remus grinned and flicked his fringe away from his eyes. "Both."
His father smiled, trying to be happy as his son made his way through the groups of children and parents to his friends.
Remus also had to force his smile as he approached Sirius, wondering who the other boys were. "Hi, Sirius."
"Hey, Remus! These are James Potter and Martin Thomas, my friends from home. This is Remus Lupin, the fellow...er...person that's been insulted by a parrot, that I was telling you about."
Remus wondered what Sirius had told them, but the thought didn't last long, and he soon found himself deep in conversation with the other boys. James was quite tall and lanky, with black hair in a fractious style; the disobedient strands sticking up at all angles. His hazel eyes behind his round glasses appeared to have a twinkle similar to Dumbledore's. Martin's dark skin contrasted with his bleached yellow hair and his dark eyes had a roguish quality in their depths. James was, like Sirius, from a well- established wizarding background, and also like Sirius, he was very down to earth about it. Martin was like Sephine - only one of his parents was magical. His dad worked very high up in the Ministry, and his mum owned a coffee shop in their small town. Martin referred to them as being 'the best of both worlds', which Remus couldn't fault.
When the call for boarding finally came, Remus glanced back quickly and saw that his dad had stayed. He smiled and waved, wanting his dad to know he'd seen him. Roland waved back, relieved, as Remus scuttled onto the huge steam engine after his friends.
* * *
Settling down to a four player game of exploding snap, the four boys barely noticed the time pass. About two hours into the journey, though, they were interrupted by a timid voice. "Um...is there any room here?"
They looked up, and Remus realised how daunting a group of close friends they must have seemed to the heavily freckled face peering around the screen.
Sirius smiled cheekily and raised an inquiring eyebrow. "Maybe. But if you didn't have anywhere to go, then why have you only come now? You been sitting in the corridor for two hours?"
The boy fidgeted, his slightly greasy, thin blonde hair flopping over his eyes. "Um. The people I was with threw me out."
James' eyebrows shot up and he leant forwards in interest. "Oh? Why?"
The boy appeared embarrassed by the question. "Look, do you have room or not?"
"We're no way saying unless we know why you were thrown out by your last buddies!" Martin exclaimed.
"Uh...well...we were opening our lunches and er...I had a chocolate frog in mine...but it was um... a really old one. From like a year ago. My dad must have switched it with the new one for a prank, and it escaped. And it came out half-melted and all mouldy. And jumped all over these two girls, before their parrot ate it. And then that gave the parrot a really bad stomach. And it was all a bit messy."
The four boys stared at the newcomer, smirks twisting their way onto each face before muffled laughter erupted from Martin, and he had to clap his hand to his mouth. In between chokes of suppressed sniggers Sirius managed to ask; "By any chance was one of these girls Sephine Winters?"
"Uh yeah, I think that was her name," the boy looked wary, unsure of whether they were laughing at him or not.
"Ho-oh! Yes!" James and Sirius exchanged high fives. "Come in, come in! What's your name?"
"Um, Peter."
"Peter?"
"Um Peter?"
"Peter Peter?"
"Peter Pan?"
"Just Peter?"
"Just William?"
"No. It's none of those. It's--"
"Peter Pan!"
"No, it's--"
"Well then I must be Wendy!"
"But--"
"Ooh can I be Hook?"
"Ah ha! My arch enemy! Draw your weapon, Remus Hook!"
"I draw my weapon, Wendy Black! Beware the mighty...er school tie!"
"Ooh! He's going to spank me with it! Peter Pan, save me!"
"I'm called Peter Pe--"
"HELP!!"
"Down with you, you lost girlboy!"
"Oh, bad form, captain!"
"Fear not, Wendy! Your Lost Boys are here!"
"What took you so long?"
"Well, we were lost!"
"Ah you lost boys are hopeless! Captain Remus Hook can bring you down any day!"
"Ow! That hit me!"
"Well you should have jumped! Dance, boy, dance!"
"Oh, we're doomed!"
"Only Peter Pan can save us!"
Peter stood in the doorway, staring in astonishment at Remus standing on the table, tie in hand, and Sirius at 'tie point', with James and Martin 'cowering' behind him.
"Uh...My name's Peter Pettigrew."
Instantly, the boys dropped postures, props and costumes, and leaped from the furniture to face little Peter, who was rather overcome by the apparent insanity of his new compartment-mates.
"Pettigrew, eh?"
"Hmm. sounds familiar..."
"Yes my parents--"
"Mmm on the list this one, definitely."
"Major offender..."
"But--"
"No! It's down to the station with you, lad!"
Peter gave up. They were obviously quite mad.
* * *
As the five boys scuttled down the aisle, uniforms under arms, and 'spy faces' present on the slightly less sane members of the party, they rounded a corner and came face to face with murder on legs. Sephine glared at them and then at the clothes that had been knocked from her hands. She plainly was not used to a uniform. Her pleated skirt was uneven and creased, a couple of pleats sticking out at a strange angle, and her shirt wasn't tucked in at the back. Her tie was done in the wrong sort of knot, and her collar looked like it had been starched upright. Her robe only made it look worse, not better.
If it hadn't been for the deadly bolts of sapphire that pinned them all to the spot, the boys would have been hard pressed to keep upright from laughing so hard. Finally trusting himself to speak without exploding into a fit of sniggers, Sirius led them on again, ruffling her hair as he walked past her. "Nice one, Seph."
Remus turned for a final glance as they continued, and was rewarded with the sight of her stalking away, a thin ladder spreading up her tights from her ankle to the back of her knee.
* * *
Following his friends through the steady stream of pupils leaving the train, Remus tugged at his tie. He couldn't stand the restriction on his neck, but he knew one had to look one's best when attending such an elite school. Although he did notice that Sephine didn't seem to know this, she had neatened up slightly. Her auburn hair was tamed into a bun at the top of her head, only a couple of wisps escaping. Her tie and shirt collar were marginally better and her shirt was tucked in, but again, Remus noticed the ladder. He could just make out the sparkle of pink nail polish restricting the path of it, and adding a dash of colour to the dark uniform. He pointed it out to Sirius, who rewarded him with one of his customary sniggers.
Although required to follow the dark shape that intermittently called "Firs' years this way!" the 'firs' years' were rather apprehensive of the size of their leader. A rumour began to spread throughout the crowd that he was a giant, and Dumbledore's slave. Remus didn't think he believed the slave part, but the man was certainly big enough to be a giant.
When the giant announced that they would cross the great lake in little enchanted rowboats, a distinctive voice stated, "I am not crossing the lake. Not at all, not even if it were daylight and we were in secure transport and it was nice weather." As Sephine spoke, droplets of rain began to patter down, tap dancing on the lake's black glass surface.
"Now, Miss Win'ers, there'll be no need for worry. These boats are perfectly secure."
"I'm not."
"Come now, yeh can come in the same one as me, and I'll keep a 'old of yeh..."
"I'm NOT."
By now almost everyone was silent, listening to the exchange and wondering what the giant would do.
"It's perfectly safe, I swear."
"No!"
"Why? Why won't yeh?"
"NO!" Her voice cracked slightly. Peter wondered if he was the only sane person in the whole year.
The giant sighed. "Honestly, I don't know wha' teh do wi' yeh. Bloody firs' years gettin' worse an' worse each year. Sometimes I'm inclined teh agree with young Filch! Miss, Win'ers, wha' deh yeh sugges' we do then?"
"Can I go in a carriage?"
"Well I'm not gettin' one bloody carriage down 'ere jus' fer yeh! Either yeh come with us, or we all go in carriages." This suggestion was met with dozens of complaints, and the whole year rose up in protest. Sephine pouted and folded her arms, like a toddler used to getting its own way that has suddenly been told 'no'.
"Come on, Sephine. Yeh'll get jus' as wet standin' 'ere as yeh would if yeh were teh fall in the lake - which yeh won't!"
"I can't swim!" She cried.
"Yeh won't need teh! Don't worry yehself. It'll be fine. D'yeh wanna go wi' yeh friends? Or wi' me?"
"Don't want either. But I'll go with Lily, I guess." Sephine finally sniffed. Everyone cheered. They would not have been pleased if this one girl had denied them all the experience of crossing the lake.
Peter was about to get in the same boat as the trembling Sephine and the excited Lily, when almost with a snarl Sephine erupted. "No! You're not coming on, Peter! I do not trust you."
"Okay." Peter understood and with an apologetic smile approached the others. But their boat already had four. "Oh." He looked so disappointed that Remus felt guilty.
"Ah Jeez, alright Peter. Get in. I'll go with the others." He clambered out and joined the girls, wondering who'd end up being their fourth member.
It turned out to be a ginger haired boy with a lot of freckles and a wicked grin. One too wicked for a Weasly, Remus decided. He hopped in heavily and the small boat rocked. Sephine gave a scream and clutched the sides, eyes popping in shock. "You ff-f-freak! What the hell did you do that for!?"
"Do what?" The boy put on a mock innocent face as he looked down at her from where he stood holding the lamp pole up. "That was my normal jump. Are you saying I'm overweight?" He sniggered. "I'm Charlie."
Remus looked up thoughtfully. "You're not a Weasly, are you?"
The boy sighed. "Ah at last! Someone who can see that I'm not a Weasly! You must have some sixth sense, mate. I'm Charlie Cookson, Mudblood, Muggle-child extra-ordinaire!"
Remus and Sephine exchanged glances, surprised at this casual use of the word, and wondering if Charlie knew what an insult he had just given himself. Lily saw their expressions, and remained silent, obviously having heard about this from Sephine.
"Uh, hi." Remus said. "My name's Remus, these are Sephine and Lily."
Charlie grinned and bowed. "Greetings, fair maidens. And Remus."
Remus smiled for the show, not particularly impressed by this boy. Lily seemed interested in finding one of her own kind, and Sephine looked ready to leap the metre gap to the shore as the boat headed away from land on its own.
Charlie noticed this and raised an eyebrow. "Is she hyperventilating?"
"No, she's just got a fear of water. Says she prefers fire for some reason." Lily seemed unconcerned.
"Fire, eh? Well if you're interested in fire, sweetie, I'm one hell of a fiery red-head..."
Lily, as unimpressed as Remus, lowered her eyebrows patronisingly. "I wouldn't play with fire if I were you, Charlie."