Chapter 2: Friends & Enemies

Dear Sholto,

I'M IN GRYFFINDOR! Amazing, don' t you think?

The classes here are impossible. I don' t think I know enough to get through more than one week. My first Potions lesson, which was on Wednesday, was a complete failure. I almost burnt down our classroom, a hard thing to do considering it's stone. Luckily Professor Riossburg, the Potions teacher, didn't know it was me. He thought he just left his wand in the cauldron. Thank god he's so absent-minded.

And my History lesson was a bore. The teacher, Professor Binns, just read from his notes while we were copying. I hope it gets better next lesson. Everyone was asleep. I mean they were snoring! And he didn't even notice!

The subject I really want to study isn't until tomorrow. Isn't that just the luck? I can't wait to start Defense Against the Dark Arts. Some of the older students are already plunging into their lessons. I saw a few sitting by the fire last night, writing papers on werewolves. It took a lot to keep myself from looking to see what they learned.

Other then the lessons, things are going great around here. I got two friends who are the best. Their names are Sirius Black, and James Potter.

I got to wrap this up. The bell's about to ring, and I don't want to be late. Send mom my love.

Write back soon,

Remus J. Lupin

P.S. Dumbledore says he set up everything.

Remus scrambled up from under the willow tree, grabbed his bag, stuffed the note inside, and headed off to his next class. That class happened to be Herbology, so he was very near.

"Hey Remus. Where ya been all afternoon?" called James as they met at the greenhouse door.

"Oh just writing a letter home. They'll be worried about me." Remus told the other two.

"Already? Must be protective. I mean, it's only the first week." Sirius said.

"I suppose so." Remus muttered. He didn't say anything else until they had entered the greenhouse and taken their seat at one of the long benches. Across from them, two girls and a boy sat down. One of them, the girl, was a Gryffindor they knew. The other two were apparently from Hufflepuff, as that was the house they were having Herbology with.

"Good afternoon. I am your teacher, Professor Sprout." the woman standing at the end of the room told them. Her fly-away gray hair was covered in a thin layer of dirt. She wore black robes, as did every teacher and student at Hogwarts. The blue painted fingernails appeared to have several years' worth of dirt and fertilizer underneath.

"Good morning Prof. Sprout." chimed the Hufflepuff half of the class. Prof. Sprout was the Head of Hufflepuff house, so some of the students knew her already. Sprout quickly called role, barely stopping to accept each student's "Here." Then she plunged into the lesson.

"Today we will be observing the rules of this class. Please put wands and books away. You will only need your minds. Though, I doubt most of you brought those." Prof. Sprout's eyes steadied on James and some Hufflepuff who were making a deal on trick wands.

"Sorry, ma'am." James quickly apologized, shoving the wands back into the other boy's hand. The professor gave him a smile, but as soon as she had turned her back James and the Hufflepuff kid were once again haggling.

"Four Galleons! That's insane! I won't pay a Knut over eighteen Sickles."

The remainder of the time was spent taking notes on Herbology safety. It was extremely boring, and seemed to go on forever. The class was double. Remus later realized his writing took a slant half way down the page. This was probably due to the fact that some strange plant "awoke" and started spitting fire and smoke across the greenhouse half way through the lesson. Prof. Sprout handled it, explaining that it was "just a baby" and it was teething. Most of the students calmed down after this. Remus figured that if that's what it's like as a baby, he didn't want to see it as an adult.

The bell rang which gave the plant another reason to spout flames and smolder. Remus couldn't leave fast enough. He pulled his bag over his shoulder, and walked out of the greenhouse, ducking a fresh fire arrow. Remus was walking up the stone steps into the school when he realized Sirius and James were not with him. He waited for them, leaning against the great oak door. He didn't have to wait long. The two troublemakers showed up five minutes later, just as a bang was heard and three huge jets of flame spurted out of the greenhouse door. Concealed inside were a few prank wands. There was no doubt what they had been doing. James's bag was still smoking.

Dinner was a enjoyable event. James kept throwing the fake wands he had acquired from the Hufflepuff boy out across the table. As soon as they hit they would burst, or change into something else. Girls would squeal as a giant rat burst to life right in their goblet of pumpkin juice. Eventually James paid the price for his antics. Sirius stole a wand out of James's bag, which was lying under the table. Half way through his mashed potatoes, a loud boom and a cloud of smoke covered James. When it cleared, James had potatoes all over his face and robes. Everyone laughed, even James. It was around then that Professor McGonagall decided to find out what the cause of the commotion at the Gryffindor table was. James kicked his bag out of sight.

Remus got his first example of James and Sirius's ability at innocent faces. Both pretended that they had been as much surprised at the sudden explosions and appearance of rubber animals as the rest of the table. Keeping to that thing known only as the school-yard code, no one ratted them out. So Prof. McGonagall was forced to return to the High table and forget about it. Remus, James, and Sirius shared a wicked grin.

After dinner Remus ran up to the Owlery to deliver his letter to Sholto. Picking out a large barn owl, he slipped across the straw strewn floor to the pane-less window. Remus quickly attached the folded and bent piece of parchment to the owl's leg. The bird took flight with a ruffle of wings. Remus watched it go.

The sun was setting just out of sight of this window. Pink and orange and gold spattered the sky. Silver light gilded the edges of the leaves on the trees of the Forbidden Forest. The forest…it certainly was a strange place. Remus had already heard rumors of what lived in there. He had no desire to see any of those creatures up close. Vampires…trolls…giant spiders…..werewolves…

It was awhile before Remus snapped out of his daydream about the forest's contents. When he did, the sky had turned inky blue-black. Little patches of stars shone here and there. Clouds scudded across the whole scene. Far in the distance, the last light of the sun shone over a hill for a instant before it went out. Remus jumped up, for he had been half asleep on the window ledge. In fact he jumped up so fast he hit his head on the top of the window.

"Ouch!" he yelled, rubbing his head.

Remus quickly ran out the door of the Owlery and down the stairs towards the Gryffindor common room. He reached it in eight minutes.

"Fallen Angel." Remus wheezed. The Fat Lady swung open, and he dashed inside.

"Where were you, Remus? We were just about to duck out and find you. It's curfew in ten minutes!" Sirius shouted at him from a table in the corner.

"I'm sorry. I fell asleep." Remus admitted.

"Fell asleep?! Gosh, how thick can you be?" James shook his head sadly, "It's not like you don't sleep at night. I know you're asleep. You snore worse then my old uncle Alfred."

Two snickers reached Remus's ears. It was then that he noticed Peter Pettigrew, that boy who couldn't think of his own sentences, was sitting with the other two. Remus sat down, pulled out his Charms book, a quill, ink, and parchment, and began to write.

An hour later all that was written on the pale parchment was Wand Movements: Whether to Flick or Swish. Nothing else could be found within Remus's blank mind. Looking at the clock, Remus saw it was nearly eleven o' clock. He decided this particular essay could wait until tomorrow. The ink, quill, and book went back into the bag.

"Going up to bed, are we?" James asked, stacking up his last card. He had been building card castles, saying houses were beneath him, since Remus had started his work. Sirius was trying to blow them over every time James turned. Both of them had finished their work early. It seemed that neither of the boys ever had homework. They finished it so quickly, they always had time for card castles.

"Yes. I'm tired." Remus told them.

"What, after that three hour nap hidden in the castle somewhere?" Sirius asked, blowing hard at the pillar card of James's card castle. It toppled over, sending cards everywhere.

Remus ignored the taunt. He started up the boys' staircase. He was about halfway up when Peter called to him.

"You act as though you were sick, sleeping all the time. Are you alright?"

Remus stopped his movement. A fear that they would find out gripped him. It showed in his shaking hand resting on the banister. But it passed. How could they find out? It was impossible.

"I'm fine. Just real lethargic." Remus breathed softly.

"If you say so." the three boys turned back to their card castle, James and Peter starting to rebuild it. Sirius lay back in his chair, waiting to destroy it again.

Remus climbed into his four poster, barely slipping of his day clothes. This lack of energy was common for him. It started about 20 days before the full moon each time. Remus never had a complete amount of energy.

After about ten minutes under the wool covers Remus fell asleep.

Okay. I know this is a lot shorter than the first chapter, and I know it's been 6 months since my last update. I was just too busy with school and other stories. I kinda realized that the 16-page first chapter was a fluke. I can never write that much for one chapter again. I'm sorry. But I finally added this second chapter, so woohoo! I swear I'll come back and write more soon. Thank you to This parrot has ceased to be (what an interesting penname), my only reviewer. I'm glad you took the time to review. Thank you to any reviewers of this chapter. v