Chapter Three: Blood Matters
Remus followed the others up the stairs to the first year boy's dormitories. In the room were five four poster beds, all draped in red curtains. Next to each bed was a desk, which had a set of Gryffindor accessories on it. There were red and gold scarves, ties and shirts. Each boy claimed a bed. After they had settled in, another boy came up. Remus had seen him at the feast, but hadn't talked to him yet. Knowing how it felt to be a stranger in a group of friends (and realizing that it had been only this morning that he had met this group of friends and already he was as much in the group as they were) Remus went straight over to shake this boy's hand.
"Hello," he said. "I'm Remus Lupin. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name at the sorting."
The boy smiled. He had blonde hair and very blue eyes. "Hello, Remus. I'm Austin Harris."
Sirius, James and Peter all jumped up to introduce themselves. After a round of handshakes, Sirius said, "Are your family wizards? I can't remember seeing you around Diagon Alley."
"Nope, they're all Muggles. It was quite a surprise that I got a letter from a wizard school. I thought they only existed in fairy tales." He laughed nervously. "I'm a little scared to be here, I'm sure I'm so far behind."
"Don't worry," Remus said. "I'm from the Muggle world, too."
As the boys got ready for bed, Remus thought about what had happened on his last birthday. He had gone to collect the mail, expecting to receive some cards. He hadn't paid any particular attention to the letter on heavy parchment addressed to Mr. R. Lupin, The Second Bedroom, until he had read the strange message it contained. "You have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry..."
He had shown it to his father right away, and he could tell how proud and excited his father was, though he tried to hide it. Nick had said he would have to discuss the letter with Remus' mother before it could be explained. He heard his mother screaming and crying from behind the bedroom door as she read the letter. She told Nick that she wanted nothing more to do with the world that had ruined their son's life.
Eventually they decided to break the news to Remus now, and explain the letter. They told him about the wizard world and the event that caused them to leave it. The family had been vacationing at a popular wizard campground when Remus was four. He had wandered off into the forest and gotten lost. Nick had found him just in time to keep the raving werewolf from ripping Remus apart, but he had already received a bite.
His grief-crazed parents had taken him to every wizard doctor there was, but there was no cure. He was going to become a werewolf. But one doctor had an experimental spell that put off the effects of the bite for seven years. His mother had been so angry and scared of the world that had done this to her son that she convinced Nick that the safest place for Remus was in the Muggle world. Not only would he be safe from monsters, but no Muggle would ever believe that he was a werewolf, even if someone saw all of the signs.
But now it was time for the spell to be wearing off and they would have had to tell Remus something about it pretty soon. After they had told him the story, they gave him the choice about going to Hogwarts. Of course, that was a lot for his 11-year-old brain to take in, but he decided to try Hogwarts and see what life he liked better. I made the right decision, he thought as he drifted quickly off to sleep. He had had a rather full day.
The next day went by quickly, as Remus tried to adjust to a new world and new homework. After classes, the boys had an hour or so before dinner, so they decided to go out to the quidditch field and teach Remus how to play. They had taken their first flying lesson earlier in the morning and the young French instructor, Madame Hooch, had seen enough skill in James, Remus and Sirius to let them fly on their own time with the school brooms. Peter had not even managed to get off of the ground during the hour-long lesson, but he didn't seem to mind very much.
So the boys headed out to the field with the school's old, slow brooms. "I wish first years could bring their brooms with them," James said for the thousandth time.
Sirius smiled at Remus and said, "Really, James? I didn't know we couldn't bring them."
James stopped abruptly. "What?!? How could you not know that? Did you bring yours?"
The three boys burst out laughing, leaving James feeling very stupid. "Oh, I see," he mumbled. "I've complained a bit too much, have I?"
"A bit?" Remus managed to say.
James smiled at his friends and joined in their laughter. Soon, they reached the field. Remus mounted his broom and took a few laps around the field to get the feel of flying again. Then he looked at James and Sirius, who were tossing around a red quaffle. "Toss that over here!" he said, flying closer.
James threw the perfect pass, and Remus had it in his hands, but it slipped out. "Oops!" he said. "I'll go get that."
He landed gently on the ground and picked up the quaffle. He was just about to take off and join his friends when he heard a loud and nasty voice saying, "What's the matter, Lupin? Do Mudbloods have slippery fingers?"
Remus glared at the greasy haired boy from the sorting whom James had pointed out as Severus Snape earlier in the day. He was standing in the field with two other Slytherins. Remus didn't know exactly what Snape had said, but he knew an insult when he heard one. He was just about to shout something really rude about Snape's mother when Sirius and James landed next to him.
"How dare you insult one of my friends like that?" Sirius roared.
"His dad's a wizard for crying out loud," James yelled at the same time. "You are as stupid as you are ugly and mean."
Remus looked at his friends. "What's a Mudblood?" he asked.
Peter piped up from behind, "It's a really nasty insult for someone without wizard blood in them."
Snape smirked at the small band of friends. "Well if he's not a Mudblood, why haven't I seen him or heard of his family before?"
"Stop calling him that!" Sirius yelled. He started to advance towards Snape and his gang. James and Remus joined him.
"How about a friendly game of quidditch to settle this?" Snape said slimily.
"Don't agree Sirius," James muttered. "He just knows he's gonna get beat up."
"Well are you guys all chicken or what?" Snape laughed.
Sirius smiled. "Oh no, we're not chicken. I just hope you're ready to learn the new meaning of the word defeat, Snape."
Remus was appointed keeper, while Sirius and James took the jobs of chasers. All three mounted their brooms and prepared to do battle. After all, Snape had insulted one of their own.
Peter tossed the quaffle into the air to begin the game, then he retreated to the safety of the sidelines to watch. James grabbed the quaffle out of Snape's outstretched arms and darted towards the Slytherin's hoops. Sirius flew ahead of him and caught James' pass perfectly. He faked to the left and threw the quaffle through the right-most hoop. The Slytherin keeper, a hulking third year named Crabbe, looked around stupidly, wondering where the quaffle had gone. Meanwhile, James had circled behind the hoops, scooped up the quaffle and scored again. The score was now 20-0 in favor of the Gryffindors. Suddenly, Snape flew out of nowhere, grabbed the quaffle and was flying full speed right at Remus. Remus was really scared, but he was also really angry. He stood his ground and tried to be prepared for whatever Snape was planning. Snape hurled the quaffle at the left hoop, and Remus flew at it and stopped it just in time.
The game continued at this fevered pace, with the teams playing pretty evenly. Remus discovered he wasn't a spectacular keeper, but he could hold his own against these Slytherins. The score was tied at 110 when Peter yelled, "It's almost time for dinner, guys. The next goal wins."
Neither team wanted to stop so soon, but they knew if they missed dinner they'd be in worse trouble. So they prepared to fight for this last goal. James had the quaffle and he was flying towards the Slytherin end. Sirius flew beside him. They flew in unison, dodging Snape and Goyle, the other Slytherin chaser for the game. They tossed the quaffle back and forth as they got closer, effectively confusing the slow keeper. All of a sudden, the massive Goyle slammed right into James and Snape quickly grabbed the falling quaffle.
Before Remus could react, Snape was 20 feet away from the Gryffindor's hoops. Snape flung the quaffle at Remus. He tried to block it, but it was thrown with such force that it broke his middle finger. He watched in dismay as the quaffle soared through the middle hoop.
Snape let out a huge cheer. "Told you all that loser couldn't play quidditch," he laughed nastily.
James and Sirius ignored these jeers and landed where Remus was now standing, staring at the weird angle his middle finger now stuck out at. "We had better get you to the hospital wing," Sirius said, looking concerned.
"I'm sorry I let that one past," Remus said as they began to walk back to the castle. Snape and his followers were still laughing and cheering behind them.
"Don't worry about it," said James. "It was a stupid idea to let them talk us into playing them."
They walked to the school and found Madame Pomfrey, the school nurse, in the hospital wing. "Oh dear," she sighed when she saw Remus' hand. "What happened?"
"Quaffle to the finger," he said.
"That'll only take a minute to repair, but you had better stay here through dinner, just in case. Your friends can go join the others in the hall."
Sirius and James were reluctant to leave, but they couldn't argue with Madame Pomfrey. As they left, Sirius called out, "See you in a couple of days, I hope, Remus."
Remus looked startled for a moment, and then remembered that tonight was the full moon. His attention was distracted by the spell the nurse witch was placing on his finger. As she spoke, he could feel the bone growing back together. It was not a particularly pleasant feeling, but it felt better.
"Lay down for a few minutes," Madame Pomfrey said sternly. "I'll have a dinner brought to you in a few minutes."
Remus followed the others up the stairs to the first year boy's dormitories. In the room were five four poster beds, all draped in red curtains. Next to each bed was a desk, which had a set of Gryffindor accessories on it. There were red and gold scarves, ties and shirts. Each boy claimed a bed. After they had settled in, another boy came up. Remus had seen him at the feast, but hadn't talked to him yet. Knowing how it felt to be a stranger in a group of friends (and realizing that it had been only this morning that he had met this group of friends and already he was as much in the group as they were) Remus went straight over to shake this boy's hand.
"Hello," he said. "I'm Remus Lupin. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name at the sorting."
The boy smiled. He had blonde hair and very blue eyes. "Hello, Remus. I'm Austin Harris."
Sirius, James and Peter all jumped up to introduce themselves. After a round of handshakes, Sirius said, "Are your family wizards? I can't remember seeing you around Diagon Alley."
"Nope, they're all Muggles. It was quite a surprise that I got a letter from a wizard school. I thought they only existed in fairy tales." He laughed nervously. "I'm a little scared to be here, I'm sure I'm so far behind."
"Don't worry," Remus said. "I'm from the Muggle world, too."
As the boys got ready for bed, Remus thought about what had happened on his last birthday. He had gone to collect the mail, expecting to receive some cards. He hadn't paid any particular attention to the letter on heavy parchment addressed to Mr. R. Lupin, The Second Bedroom, until he had read the strange message it contained. "You have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry..."
He had shown it to his father right away, and he could tell how proud and excited his father was, though he tried to hide it. Nick had said he would have to discuss the letter with Remus' mother before it could be explained. He heard his mother screaming and crying from behind the bedroom door as she read the letter. She told Nick that she wanted nothing more to do with the world that had ruined their son's life.
Eventually they decided to break the news to Remus now, and explain the letter. They told him about the wizard world and the event that caused them to leave it. The family had been vacationing at a popular wizard campground when Remus was four. He had wandered off into the forest and gotten lost. Nick had found him just in time to keep the raving werewolf from ripping Remus apart, but he had already received a bite.
His grief-crazed parents had taken him to every wizard doctor there was, but there was no cure. He was going to become a werewolf. But one doctor had an experimental spell that put off the effects of the bite for seven years. His mother had been so angry and scared of the world that had done this to her son that she convinced Nick that the safest place for Remus was in the Muggle world. Not only would he be safe from monsters, but no Muggle would ever believe that he was a werewolf, even if someone saw all of the signs.
But now it was time for the spell to be wearing off and they would have had to tell Remus something about it pretty soon. After they had told him the story, they gave him the choice about going to Hogwarts. Of course, that was a lot for his 11-year-old brain to take in, but he decided to try Hogwarts and see what life he liked better. I made the right decision, he thought as he drifted quickly off to sleep. He had had a rather full day.
The next day went by quickly, as Remus tried to adjust to a new world and new homework. After classes, the boys had an hour or so before dinner, so they decided to go out to the quidditch field and teach Remus how to play. They had taken their first flying lesson earlier in the morning and the young French instructor, Madame Hooch, had seen enough skill in James, Remus and Sirius to let them fly on their own time with the school brooms. Peter had not even managed to get off of the ground during the hour-long lesson, but he didn't seem to mind very much.
So the boys headed out to the field with the school's old, slow brooms. "I wish first years could bring their brooms with them," James said for the thousandth time.
Sirius smiled at Remus and said, "Really, James? I didn't know we couldn't bring them."
James stopped abruptly. "What?!? How could you not know that? Did you bring yours?"
The three boys burst out laughing, leaving James feeling very stupid. "Oh, I see," he mumbled. "I've complained a bit too much, have I?"
"A bit?" Remus managed to say.
James smiled at his friends and joined in their laughter. Soon, they reached the field. Remus mounted his broom and took a few laps around the field to get the feel of flying again. Then he looked at James and Sirius, who were tossing around a red quaffle. "Toss that over here!" he said, flying closer.
James threw the perfect pass, and Remus had it in his hands, but it slipped out. "Oops!" he said. "I'll go get that."
He landed gently on the ground and picked up the quaffle. He was just about to take off and join his friends when he heard a loud and nasty voice saying, "What's the matter, Lupin? Do Mudbloods have slippery fingers?"
Remus glared at the greasy haired boy from the sorting whom James had pointed out as Severus Snape earlier in the day. He was standing in the field with two other Slytherins. Remus didn't know exactly what Snape had said, but he knew an insult when he heard one. He was just about to shout something really rude about Snape's mother when Sirius and James landed next to him.
"How dare you insult one of my friends like that?" Sirius roared.
"His dad's a wizard for crying out loud," James yelled at the same time. "You are as stupid as you are ugly and mean."
Remus looked at his friends. "What's a Mudblood?" he asked.
Peter piped up from behind, "It's a really nasty insult for someone without wizard blood in them."
Snape smirked at the small band of friends. "Well if he's not a Mudblood, why haven't I seen him or heard of his family before?"
"Stop calling him that!" Sirius yelled. He started to advance towards Snape and his gang. James and Remus joined him.
"How about a friendly game of quidditch to settle this?" Snape said slimily.
"Don't agree Sirius," James muttered. "He just knows he's gonna get beat up."
"Well are you guys all chicken or what?" Snape laughed.
Sirius smiled. "Oh no, we're not chicken. I just hope you're ready to learn the new meaning of the word defeat, Snape."
Remus was appointed keeper, while Sirius and James took the jobs of chasers. All three mounted their brooms and prepared to do battle. After all, Snape had insulted one of their own.
Peter tossed the quaffle into the air to begin the game, then he retreated to the safety of the sidelines to watch. James grabbed the quaffle out of Snape's outstretched arms and darted towards the Slytherin's hoops. Sirius flew ahead of him and caught James' pass perfectly. He faked to the left and threw the quaffle through the right-most hoop. The Slytherin keeper, a hulking third year named Crabbe, looked around stupidly, wondering where the quaffle had gone. Meanwhile, James had circled behind the hoops, scooped up the quaffle and scored again. The score was now 20-0 in favor of the Gryffindors. Suddenly, Snape flew out of nowhere, grabbed the quaffle and was flying full speed right at Remus. Remus was really scared, but he was also really angry. He stood his ground and tried to be prepared for whatever Snape was planning. Snape hurled the quaffle at the left hoop, and Remus flew at it and stopped it just in time.
The game continued at this fevered pace, with the teams playing pretty evenly. Remus discovered he wasn't a spectacular keeper, but he could hold his own against these Slytherins. The score was tied at 110 when Peter yelled, "It's almost time for dinner, guys. The next goal wins."
Neither team wanted to stop so soon, but they knew if they missed dinner they'd be in worse trouble. So they prepared to fight for this last goal. James had the quaffle and he was flying towards the Slytherin end. Sirius flew beside him. They flew in unison, dodging Snape and Goyle, the other Slytherin chaser for the game. They tossed the quaffle back and forth as they got closer, effectively confusing the slow keeper. All of a sudden, the massive Goyle slammed right into James and Snape quickly grabbed the falling quaffle.
Before Remus could react, Snape was 20 feet away from the Gryffindor's hoops. Snape flung the quaffle at Remus. He tried to block it, but it was thrown with such force that it broke his middle finger. He watched in dismay as the quaffle soared through the middle hoop.
Snape let out a huge cheer. "Told you all that loser couldn't play quidditch," he laughed nastily.
James and Sirius ignored these jeers and landed where Remus was now standing, staring at the weird angle his middle finger now stuck out at. "We had better get you to the hospital wing," Sirius said, looking concerned.
"I'm sorry I let that one past," Remus said as they began to walk back to the castle. Snape and his followers were still laughing and cheering behind them.
"Don't worry about it," said James. "It was a stupid idea to let them talk us into playing them."
They walked to the school and found Madame Pomfrey, the school nurse, in the hospital wing. "Oh dear," she sighed when she saw Remus' hand. "What happened?"
"Quaffle to the finger," he said.
"That'll only take a minute to repair, but you had better stay here through dinner, just in case. Your friends can go join the others in the hall."
Sirius and James were reluctant to leave, but they couldn't argue with Madame Pomfrey. As they left, Sirius called out, "See you in a couple of days, I hope, Remus."
Remus looked startled for a moment, and then remembered that tonight was the full moon. His attention was distracted by the spell the nurse witch was placing on his finger. As she spoke, he could feel the bone growing back together. It was not a particularly pleasant feeling, but it felt better.
"Lay down for a few minutes," Madame Pomfrey said sternly. "I'll have a dinner brought to you in a few minutes."