Chapter Twenty-Four: At the Lupins'
Friday came and Remus pushed away the dull nervous feeling eating at his stomach and tried to enjoy the day. After dinner, he headed out the Whomping Willow and got to the Shrieking Shack uneventfully. He curled up in the corner to get some sleep before the moon came up.
Before he knew it, it was morning and he felt very tired. He moved to sit up, but his arm stung so much, he collapsed back to the floor. Moving it slowly to examine it, Remus noticed several deep scratches he must have inflicted upon himself during the night. He usually came away from the shack with a couple of mild scratches, but these were pretty bad.
Remus drew his wand and fixed the cuts as best he could, but he knew they needed the experienced spell work of Madame Pomfrey. 'It's too bad I can't see her about them today,' he thought.
The next day, Remus went straight to the hospital wing to see Madame Pomfrey.
"Yes, Mr. Lupin?" she said when she saw him walk in.
"I need you to look at-"he held out his arms.
"Oh my goodness! I'll fix those at once," she said, obviously concerned. In a minute she had the scrapes healed up, which was an interesting feeling. The skin on Remus' arms felt really stretched out, but they didn't hurt any more.
"Thanks, Madame Pomfrey," Remus said.
"You're welcome, Mr. Lupin," the nurse replied. "Are you sure you're all right?"
"Yes, thanks." With that Remus left the hospital wing, knowing his friends would be wondering where he was.
Sure enough, when Remus sat down to breakfast James looked at him curiously and asked, "What took you so long, Remus?"
Remus answered in a whisper, "I had some really bad scratches, so I had Madame Pomfrey take care of them first."
Lily looked concerned. "You don't usually scratch yourself, do you?"
"Never this badly," Remus said.
At that moment, the Great Hall began to empty and Remus and his friends joined the crowd moving towards the classrooms.
As the day wore on, Remus felt more comfortable in his new skin and he tried to push aside his anxieties. 'Nothing had gone seriously wrong, after all', he thought as he sat down in Transfiguration.
Professor McGonagall interrupted his thoughts. "Here are the results of the quiz we took last Wednesday. I am very disappointed in most of your results. You'll have to be studying harder if you want to do well on your final exams."
James and Sirius looked at Remus in alarm. "Final exams?" James mouthed.
"Those are still months away!" Sirius moaned.
"How can they be harder than that quiz?" Remus whispered in amazement.
The amazement quickly turned to disappointment as he got his quiz score. It was 65 out of 100. Remus could imagine the look on his mother's face as she lamented why Remus was had to be away from her in a dangerous world and not even keeping his grades up.
Remus looked over at James' desk, to compare scores, but he stopped when he saw James' look of bewilderment.
"That bad, James?" Remus asked quietly.
Instead of answering, James turned his grading sheet to face Remus. It said 89 out of 100.
"Wow, James," Remus replied in awe. "You have a real knack for this."
"Thanks, mate," James said, starting to smile.
It turned out that James had the best score of all of the first years, followed by a Ronald Lynch with an 85 and Sirius with an 83. Remus resolved to spend more time studying, to make the most of his time at Hogwarts and to make his mother really proud of him.
Remus started hitting the books a lot harder and more often, Peter spent a lot of time after class with various teachers catching up, and Lily was off with her Ravenclaw friends. Remus realized that what they needed was some time for the six of them, without the distractions of school. It was especially important now, as Austin's time in the UK was dwindling. The next time Remus sent an owl home, he asked if his friends could spend two days of Easter break at the Lupins' home. Not as many students went home for the Easter holidays as for Christmas, since final exams were coming soon after, but Remus thought his friends would really appreciate having a break. His parents said yes, so Remus told his friends about his plan.
"Great idea!" James said, slapping Remus on the back.
"Are you sure it's ok to have all five of us over?" Peter asked quietly.
Remus laughed. "Of course it's ok. My parents can't wait to meet you all!"
"And we can't wait to meet them," Sirius added. "But what do you normally have for Easter dinner, Remus?"
"Ham," Remus replied, shaking his head. "Is food all you ever care about?"
Sirius paused, thinking. "No, I guess sometimes I care about you guys, too." Laughing, he ruffled Lily's auburn hair, ignoring her annoyed looks.
The Easter holidays came, and very few students were on the train back to London. In fact, there weren't any students above fourth year.
"Those O.W.L.'s and N.E.W.T.'s must be keeping everyone at school," Lily remarked, referring to two very important sets of tests given to fifth and seventh year students.
James shuddered. "Glad we don't have to worry about those yet."
"I'm worried enough about my finals this year," Peter groaned.
Lily smiled at Peter sympathetically as Sirius started gagging. Everyone stared at him, not sure what to do.
"Sirius!" James yelled.
One long moment later, Sirius took a long drink of his soda and smiled weakly. He looked at his bag of Bertie Bott's and set them aside. "Vomit," he remarked dryly.
Soon the train pulled into the station. Remus and his friends found Remus' dad waiting. He helped them unload their trunks. Then he offered to take them to Diagon Alley for some ice cream and of course they all wanted to go. On the way there, they told him all about Sirius' encounter with the vomit-flavored bean and James even acted it all out. Everyone was in hysterics by the time they reached Fortesque's Ice Cream Parlor, even Sirius.
"Sounds like you had an interesting train ride," Mr. Lupin said as they sat at an outside table.
"We've had an interesting term," Sirius said, raising an eyebrow at James.
Mr. Lupin looked at Remus. "Have you now?"
"I suppose so," Remus replied, grinning. "There's this mysterious group at school, called the Marauders, and just when things start to get a bit monotonous, they shake things up with a good prank."
"Like what?" Remus' dad asked.
"Oh, a variety," James answered airily. "There were the animal hearts on Valentine's Day, the rotting food for dinner, the spell that stuck everything to the teachers' desks..."
Nick Lupin laughed. "Well, I bet that does prevent the monotony of school from killing anyone. But let's not mention these hooligans to your mother, Remus. She'll only worry that you'll be the next target."
"Alright, dad." Remus used all his will power to suppress the giggles that were bubbling up.
James pretended to be very interested in the shop down the street and Sirius had to discreetly dry the tears that ran down his face, as he held in his mirth.
"What can I get for you boys?" The voice belonged to the owner of the establishment, a relatively young man with a friendly face. Remus figured he was about forty years old and wondered what Hogwarts had been like when he attended.
Their orders were taken, and with a smile and a wink at Remus, Mr. Fortescue went back to the kitchens to fill them.
"I would just like to thank you, Mr. Lupin, for having us over, and taking us out for ice cream," Lily said, smiling sweetly.
"You're quite welcome Lily." Remus' dad smiled back. "Now what was your last name? Maybe I used to know your parents."
"No, you couldn't have, sir," Lily said, blushing a bit. "My last name is Evans, but my family is all Muggle."
"No shame in that dear, Remus' mother is a Muggle, you know." He winked at Lily and changed the subject by bringing up the Quidditch World Cup that would take place that summer.
An hour later, at the Lupin home, seven extremely full people fell out of the fireplace into the kitchen.
"Welcome home, Remus!" his mother exclaimed, giving Remus and Nick big hugs.
"Hi mom," Remus answered, extracting himself from her arms. "I'd like you to meet James Potter, Sirius Black, Lily Evans, Austin Harris and Peter Pettigrew."
Mrs. Lupin shook hands with each of them, saying she was very glad to finally meet them. "Remus will show you to where you will be sleeping tonight."
The six students lugged trunks up the stairs as Remus explained that there was only room for 3 people in his room.
"That's alright," James spoke up. "Sirius and I will sleep somewhere else."
"Okay, thanks James," Remus sighed. "We have one guest room, so you two need to talk to Lily about who gets the room and who gets the couch downstairs."
Lily grumbled. "I'm tired of being left out because I'm a girl. I don't want to sleep by myself!"
Remus looked at her skeptically. "You really want to share a room with James and Sirius? You don't know what they're like when they're up all night. Plus, what would your parents say? They'd never let you see us again."
Sighing, Lily replied glumly, "You're right. But I get the guest room, then." She looked at James and Sirius, daring them to defy her.
Apparently today was not one of their braver days, because they quickly agreed.
After dumping their trunks in their rooms, they went outside to play before dinner. Remus took them to his favorite park where he had spent many carefree days before the werewolf interrupted his life. He and Lily showed the others some Muggle games, like tag and hide-and-go seek. When they all collapsed in happy exhaustion onto the grass, they watched the clouds and found pictures in them. Apparently this imagination game was part of human nature, as wizard and muggle born dreamed together without any instruction.
The spell was broken as Remus' mother's voice was heard calling them to dinner. The strong bond that the group formed from this hour of play held, and would hold, for years and years to come.
"Coming, mom!" Remus yelled back as they made their way back to the house. Remus walked slowly with Lily and Austin to savor the moment, but Sirius heard 'dinner' and had started sprinting.
"That's Sirius," Lily laughed as she watched him disappear around a corner. "Always thinking with his stomach."
That was a statement everyone could agree with, but as they did, they realized their stomachs were rumbling just as much and they rushed to catch up with Sirius.
By the time the five slower friends reached the Lupin home, Sirius was already eating off of an overflowing plate. "C'mon, slowpokes!" Food flew out of his mouth as he tried to speak without slowing his rate of food intake.
Remus didn't need to be told twice. He immediately sat down and joined Sirius in devouring the delicious dinner.
Friday came and Remus pushed away the dull nervous feeling eating at his stomach and tried to enjoy the day. After dinner, he headed out the Whomping Willow and got to the Shrieking Shack uneventfully. He curled up in the corner to get some sleep before the moon came up.
Before he knew it, it was morning and he felt very tired. He moved to sit up, but his arm stung so much, he collapsed back to the floor. Moving it slowly to examine it, Remus noticed several deep scratches he must have inflicted upon himself during the night. He usually came away from the shack with a couple of mild scratches, but these were pretty bad.
Remus drew his wand and fixed the cuts as best he could, but he knew they needed the experienced spell work of Madame Pomfrey. 'It's too bad I can't see her about them today,' he thought.
The next day, Remus went straight to the hospital wing to see Madame Pomfrey.
"Yes, Mr. Lupin?" she said when she saw him walk in.
"I need you to look at-"he held out his arms.
"Oh my goodness! I'll fix those at once," she said, obviously concerned. In a minute she had the scrapes healed up, which was an interesting feeling. The skin on Remus' arms felt really stretched out, but they didn't hurt any more.
"Thanks, Madame Pomfrey," Remus said.
"You're welcome, Mr. Lupin," the nurse replied. "Are you sure you're all right?"
"Yes, thanks." With that Remus left the hospital wing, knowing his friends would be wondering where he was.
Sure enough, when Remus sat down to breakfast James looked at him curiously and asked, "What took you so long, Remus?"
Remus answered in a whisper, "I had some really bad scratches, so I had Madame Pomfrey take care of them first."
Lily looked concerned. "You don't usually scratch yourself, do you?"
"Never this badly," Remus said.
At that moment, the Great Hall began to empty and Remus and his friends joined the crowd moving towards the classrooms.
As the day wore on, Remus felt more comfortable in his new skin and he tried to push aside his anxieties. 'Nothing had gone seriously wrong, after all', he thought as he sat down in Transfiguration.
Professor McGonagall interrupted his thoughts. "Here are the results of the quiz we took last Wednesday. I am very disappointed in most of your results. You'll have to be studying harder if you want to do well on your final exams."
James and Sirius looked at Remus in alarm. "Final exams?" James mouthed.
"Those are still months away!" Sirius moaned.
"How can they be harder than that quiz?" Remus whispered in amazement.
The amazement quickly turned to disappointment as he got his quiz score. It was 65 out of 100. Remus could imagine the look on his mother's face as she lamented why Remus was had to be away from her in a dangerous world and not even keeping his grades up.
Remus looked over at James' desk, to compare scores, but he stopped when he saw James' look of bewilderment.
"That bad, James?" Remus asked quietly.
Instead of answering, James turned his grading sheet to face Remus. It said 89 out of 100.
"Wow, James," Remus replied in awe. "You have a real knack for this."
"Thanks, mate," James said, starting to smile.
It turned out that James had the best score of all of the first years, followed by a Ronald Lynch with an 85 and Sirius with an 83. Remus resolved to spend more time studying, to make the most of his time at Hogwarts and to make his mother really proud of him.
Remus started hitting the books a lot harder and more often, Peter spent a lot of time after class with various teachers catching up, and Lily was off with her Ravenclaw friends. Remus realized that what they needed was some time for the six of them, without the distractions of school. It was especially important now, as Austin's time in the UK was dwindling. The next time Remus sent an owl home, he asked if his friends could spend two days of Easter break at the Lupins' home. Not as many students went home for the Easter holidays as for Christmas, since final exams were coming soon after, but Remus thought his friends would really appreciate having a break. His parents said yes, so Remus told his friends about his plan.
"Great idea!" James said, slapping Remus on the back.
"Are you sure it's ok to have all five of us over?" Peter asked quietly.
Remus laughed. "Of course it's ok. My parents can't wait to meet you all!"
"And we can't wait to meet them," Sirius added. "But what do you normally have for Easter dinner, Remus?"
"Ham," Remus replied, shaking his head. "Is food all you ever care about?"
Sirius paused, thinking. "No, I guess sometimes I care about you guys, too." Laughing, he ruffled Lily's auburn hair, ignoring her annoyed looks.
The Easter holidays came, and very few students were on the train back to London. In fact, there weren't any students above fourth year.
"Those O.W.L.'s and N.E.W.T.'s must be keeping everyone at school," Lily remarked, referring to two very important sets of tests given to fifth and seventh year students.
James shuddered. "Glad we don't have to worry about those yet."
"I'm worried enough about my finals this year," Peter groaned.
Lily smiled at Peter sympathetically as Sirius started gagging. Everyone stared at him, not sure what to do.
"Sirius!" James yelled.
One long moment later, Sirius took a long drink of his soda and smiled weakly. He looked at his bag of Bertie Bott's and set them aside. "Vomit," he remarked dryly.
Soon the train pulled into the station. Remus and his friends found Remus' dad waiting. He helped them unload their trunks. Then he offered to take them to Diagon Alley for some ice cream and of course they all wanted to go. On the way there, they told him all about Sirius' encounter with the vomit-flavored bean and James even acted it all out. Everyone was in hysterics by the time they reached Fortesque's Ice Cream Parlor, even Sirius.
"Sounds like you had an interesting train ride," Mr. Lupin said as they sat at an outside table.
"We've had an interesting term," Sirius said, raising an eyebrow at James.
Mr. Lupin looked at Remus. "Have you now?"
"I suppose so," Remus replied, grinning. "There's this mysterious group at school, called the Marauders, and just when things start to get a bit monotonous, they shake things up with a good prank."
"Like what?" Remus' dad asked.
"Oh, a variety," James answered airily. "There were the animal hearts on Valentine's Day, the rotting food for dinner, the spell that stuck everything to the teachers' desks..."
Nick Lupin laughed. "Well, I bet that does prevent the monotony of school from killing anyone. But let's not mention these hooligans to your mother, Remus. She'll only worry that you'll be the next target."
"Alright, dad." Remus used all his will power to suppress the giggles that were bubbling up.
James pretended to be very interested in the shop down the street and Sirius had to discreetly dry the tears that ran down his face, as he held in his mirth.
"What can I get for you boys?" The voice belonged to the owner of the establishment, a relatively young man with a friendly face. Remus figured he was about forty years old and wondered what Hogwarts had been like when he attended.
Their orders were taken, and with a smile and a wink at Remus, Mr. Fortescue went back to the kitchens to fill them.
"I would just like to thank you, Mr. Lupin, for having us over, and taking us out for ice cream," Lily said, smiling sweetly.
"You're quite welcome Lily." Remus' dad smiled back. "Now what was your last name? Maybe I used to know your parents."
"No, you couldn't have, sir," Lily said, blushing a bit. "My last name is Evans, but my family is all Muggle."
"No shame in that dear, Remus' mother is a Muggle, you know." He winked at Lily and changed the subject by bringing up the Quidditch World Cup that would take place that summer.
An hour later, at the Lupin home, seven extremely full people fell out of the fireplace into the kitchen.
"Welcome home, Remus!" his mother exclaimed, giving Remus and Nick big hugs.
"Hi mom," Remus answered, extracting himself from her arms. "I'd like you to meet James Potter, Sirius Black, Lily Evans, Austin Harris and Peter Pettigrew."
Mrs. Lupin shook hands with each of them, saying she was very glad to finally meet them. "Remus will show you to where you will be sleeping tonight."
The six students lugged trunks up the stairs as Remus explained that there was only room for 3 people in his room.
"That's alright," James spoke up. "Sirius and I will sleep somewhere else."
"Okay, thanks James," Remus sighed. "We have one guest room, so you two need to talk to Lily about who gets the room and who gets the couch downstairs."
Lily grumbled. "I'm tired of being left out because I'm a girl. I don't want to sleep by myself!"
Remus looked at her skeptically. "You really want to share a room with James and Sirius? You don't know what they're like when they're up all night. Plus, what would your parents say? They'd never let you see us again."
Sighing, Lily replied glumly, "You're right. But I get the guest room, then." She looked at James and Sirius, daring them to defy her.
Apparently today was not one of their braver days, because they quickly agreed.
After dumping their trunks in their rooms, they went outside to play before dinner. Remus took them to his favorite park where he had spent many carefree days before the werewolf interrupted his life. He and Lily showed the others some Muggle games, like tag and hide-and-go seek. When they all collapsed in happy exhaustion onto the grass, they watched the clouds and found pictures in them. Apparently this imagination game was part of human nature, as wizard and muggle born dreamed together without any instruction.
The spell was broken as Remus' mother's voice was heard calling them to dinner. The strong bond that the group formed from this hour of play held, and would hold, for years and years to come.
"Coming, mom!" Remus yelled back as they made their way back to the house. Remus walked slowly with Lily and Austin to savor the moment, but Sirius heard 'dinner' and had started sprinting.
"That's Sirius," Lily laughed as she watched him disappear around a corner. "Always thinking with his stomach."
That was a statement everyone could agree with, but as they did, they realized their stomachs were rumbling just as much and they rushed to catch up with Sirius.
By the time the five slower friends reached the Lupin home, Sirius was already eating off of an overflowing plate. "C'mon, slowpokes!" Food flew out of his mouth as he tried to speak without slowing his rate of food intake.
Remus didn't need to be told twice. He immediately sat down and joined Sirius in devouring the delicious dinner.