The Gryffindor common room was slightly smaller than Remus had imagined it, with huge banners, showing a glittering lion on a red background, pinned on each of the four walls, one slightly smaller than the others to give way to the gigantic fireplace next to a couple of red armchairs and a sofa. There were chandeliers in every corner and Remus saw, to his surprise, that the common room had an own small stock of books, standing on shelves near the fireplace and next to the end of the staircase which, he supposed, led to the dormitories on the first floor.
The weighty fith-year girl who had led them all the way up here turned and gave a few short explanations before leaving them to explore their new home on their own. They were supposed to go to the dormitories and unpack their trunks, but Remus was too curious about the books and, most of all, the people, who were filing in through the portrait hole now, to leave the commons so soon again. He decided that he needed to have a short look around before proceeding to the first floor and moved towards one of the armchairs near the fire. The room filled, giving him the opportunity to take a closer look at his fellow housemates and to make a few basic observations: Gryffindors were impatient, Gryffindors were noisy, Gryffindors were - extremely entertaining, he decided with a grin.
Most students were chatting with friends or reading the news on the notice board, some of them were throwing curious looks in the general direction in which the first-years had vanished. Much to his discomfort, he found himself being watched closely and decided that this was all the more intimidating now they had left the convenient anonymity of the gigantic Great Hall. He did not like being the centre of attention at all and recoiled therefore, as much as possible, into his armchair.
The sofa and the armchairs were conquered by students of all years with breathtaking speed. It was clear that whoever arrived first got the seat, but that did not keep most people from fighting over already taken places. Gryffindors were quarrelsome and contesting, Remus resoluted, but nevertheless very decent and certainly able to draw lines, as far as he could tell. Nobody seemed to care about losing one fight if there was another to be won. It was more of a game than anything else.
'Hey there,' said a voice behind him and Remus turned with a start. 'D-do I know you?'
One of the elder students had approached his seat and was eyeing him curiously. She was fair-haired and lanky, with narrow blue eyes and a pony tail which seemed to make her face even pointier than it was. 'Hey,' she said again, a broad smile appearing at her sallow face. 'I am B-Balbina Cuncytaw. You seem very f-familiar.'
'Cuncytaw was my mother's maiden name,' he replied. 'I am Remus Lupin.'
'Oh, we're related then?' said Balbina Cuncytaw, sitting down at the table in front of his armchair. 'What's your mother's f-first name?'
'Fulvia,' said Remus, wishing she would stop interrogating him. 'I think she's got a brother named Livius.'
'Th-that's him,' said Balbina, sounding delighted. 'That is my f-father. You're my c-cousin. Isn't that remarkable?'
'Yes,' said Remus, not knowing what else to say. 'I never knew I had a cousin. Mum never told me.'
'She m-might not know,' she replied thoughtfully. 'F-father says they aren't on speaking terms. B-but I suppose all ends always meet in Hogwarts, right?'
Remus nodded, feeling a bit stupid, because he had nothing to add.
'B-but it happens,' continued Balbina chattily, seemingly unconcerned about her speaking disorder. 'You lose t-track, even though there aren't many p-pureblood families left these d-days. Some of them are very large. I heard the B-b-black family's got more members than -'
'I'm not pureblood,' said Remus calmly in an effort to interrupt her stream of words. 'I'm half and half.'
Balbina gave him a strange look. 'Not a... a-are you sure?'
'Pretty much,' said Remus politely. 'My dad couldn't do magic if his life depended on it.'
'I-I see. Well, in that c-case, I suppose it is c-clear why they're not on speaking terms, right?' she said darkly. 'It's another b-bloody blood dispute. There's much t-talk about it these days.'
Remus nodded again.
'You'd b-better go and unpack your t-trunk,' said Balbina after a while. 'The other f-first-years are all upstairs. I've seen them chat and laugh on their way to the d-dormitory. You don't wanna miss your f-first opportunity to talk to them. Wanna make f-friends.'
Remus wanted to reply that he did not think he missed anything important and that this would not be the first time he was excluded when friendships were made, but he nodded, merely, and made his way towards the wooden staircase that led to the first-years' dormitory.
Upstairs there were four four-poster beds, standing in a line against the stone wall. Their trunks had indeed been brought up here for them and Remus noticed that three of them had been opened and placed sqarely on their owners' beds already, each filled with robes, books, and all the other things you needed when beginning your first year at Hogwarts. Remus remembered his mother telling him that the dormitories were large - built for seven people at the very least. This one, however, was just big enough to comfortably fit in four boys and their belongings. Remus wondered whether the room had been magically resized and made a mental note to ask one of the teachers as soon he got the chance.
His three fellow first-years looked up when he entered the room. One of them was busy filling his wardrobe with the contents of his large trunk, the other two were sitting on their beds, glaring fixedly in opposite directions, the air around them full of mutual dislike.
'Who're you?' snapped the one on the bed that was closer to the door. Remus remembered that he had been sitting next to him at the start-of-term banquet, though he could not remember the large, black-haired fellow's name. A grumpy person, not up to much chit-chat, though clearly coming from one of the older pureblood lines, judging from the way he behaved. 'Another blood traitor?' he enquired grumpily. 'Wanting to add his two cents to this bloke's garbage?'
'I am Remus Lupin,' said Remus simply, heaving his trunk onto his bed as the others had done, opening it with some effort. 'And I am not a blood traitor.'
'You know, Potter,' said the grumpy-looking boy, now talking to the one on the other bed again. 'I should think we better sleep as far away from each other as possible. Your prospect of surviving the next few weeks would improve drastically, believe me.'
'No one forces you to take that bed,' snapped the boy called Potter, spreading his legs across the one he was sitting on, as if trying to assert his right to sleep here and nowhere else. 'Ask Remus Lupin if you can have his.'
'As if,' sneered the first boy. 'This one's larger. And looks a lot more comfortable. Why don't you move?'
'I need the view on the Quidditch pitch,' said Potter in a whiff of impatient scorn. 'And in any case, I'll certainly not move just because your family cannot live with less than the best of everything.'
'And I'll not move in favour of a person whose family won't stick to the blood line,' replied the first boy firmly. 'I am staying here.'
'Well, so am I,' hissed Potter, and then, suddenly riveting his attention on Remus again, gave a short, apologetic grin. 'Hi,' he said. 'Sorry for all that. You must think we're mad, fighting like that on our first day here.'
'What is this all about?' asked Remus, well aware that it was none of his business.
'Oh,' said Potter with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, 'some of us are slightly... unhappy with the given situation. They'd have preferred to be sorted into - a different house.'
'Such as?'
'You have no idea what you are talking about, Potter,' snarled the boy Remus still did not know the name of. 'I am quite content with being here, if you must know. It is you who is getting on my nerves. Not this room, not this house - not even little Pettigrew here, although he is certainly not the brightest person I've ever met.'
He pointed at the third boy, who had shrunk further behind the door of his wardrobe, though clearly straining not to miss a word that was being said. Remus made a mental note on the boy's name. He seemed to remember that his first name was Peter, but would have to ask again, just to make sure.
'You don't belong here,' spat Potter (what had been his first name again?). 'Your family's been in Slytherin for ages. We all know they hate you for being sorted in here.'
'Oh you do, do you?' hissed the first boy. 'You seem to think you know pretty much everything, Potter. But I am giving you a fair warning: stay out of my business with your smart remarks, or I might decide to hex you into oblivion after all.'
'You're not the only one coming here with a little previous knowledge, you know,' said Potter derisively. 'I know just as many spells as you, if not more, Sirius Black.'
Remus raised an eyebrow. He had noticed, at the beginning of the sorting, that one member of the Black family had been placed in Gryffindor, but over all the excitement of being in the same lucky position, he had completely forgotten about it again, until now.
'You're a Black?'
The boy nodded curtly. 'Yeah, that's right,' he said carelessly. 'Listen, Potter, if that is supposed to be a challenge, I am accepting with pleasure. We can settle the matter on the spot, if you wish.'
Both boys got up at the same time. Remus took an unintentional step backwards and Pettigrew shrunk even futher into his wardrobe. Within seconds, two brand-new wands were drawn from their owners' pockets and held towards each other in what Remus recognized to be the good old-fashioned duelling manner.
'You're dead, Black,' whispered Potter while they were bowing in mock politeness. 'You won't survive this duel.'
'Well, you have one big advantage over me,' replied his opponent, receiving very surprised looks from his roommates.
'Which would be?' snarled Potter impatiently. 'Are you sure it's just one?'
Black smirked. 'When you die, they'll have to swat your big yap seperately,' he said coolly.
Both wands were up at the same time, but Potter was first to cast his spell. 'Rictusempra!' he yelled, causing red and golden sparks to shoot from the tip of his wand in Black's general direcion, who laughed derisively.
'Petrificus Totalus!' he said lazily, making a strange looking wand movement towards Potter, who remained where he was, clearly unharmed by whatever the spell had been supposed to do. 'Merlin's beard,' muttered Black, sounding somewhat disappointed. 'It works fine with rats.'
Remus could not help but giggle at the various looks that were crossing the room now. Potter was watching Black with a mixture of surprise and scorn, Black examined his wand looking rather sour, whereas he, Remus, was fighting not to laugh out loud, just as Peter, who seemed also rather amused by the whole scene.
'Very well,' said Black finally. 'You shall live. But beware the day when I meet you in a dark corridor. With or without wands.'
'Git,' muttered Potter. 'I'd stop bragging if my wand had just taken me on a ride like that. You couldn't kill a flea if it sat right on the tip of that - what is it - willow stick?'
'Beech,' said Black. 'What is yours?'
'Mahogany. Eleven inches.'
'Ha! Mine's thirteen and a half.'
James shrugged. 'It's what you do with it that counts, not what it looks like,' he stated. 'Mine's having a little rest now, by the way, given that it is almost midnight and we've got to get up early tomorrow.'
He laid his wand aside, shoved his trunk from the bed he had chosen for himself and made to change into his pyjamas. Remus, glad that someone else had suggested to put an end to this, followed his example, and soon all four boys were snoring peacefully in their pillows, unaware of all the excitement the following day was about to bring.