Chapter Two
The Boat Ride
Lily nodded "Well I grew up with a typical normal family. An older sister who was perfect by my parents standerds. And one day I accidently turned my sisters teacup set into a bunch of rats. Soon after I got my letter and now my sister is pure evil. And my parents are actually happy for me," She said with a small smile. "What about your family?" She asked
Remus, Sirius, James, and Lily were all in a compartment...well Remus and Lily were. James had embarrassed himself too much infront of Lily so he had run out of the compartment, and Sirius had followed him out.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Yeeaahhh ok James." He said sarcastically. "You should just try to act more sure of yourself then." He suggested.
Remus chuckled slightly. "My family...mmm, I'm the only one in the family. My parents are both witch and wizard. Nothing really else to tell...my father works at a bookstore, and my mum works at the Ministry of Magic," he explained to Lily.
"My mother is a dentist and my father is a banker. A perfect happy family. Except for when I'm home of course. Then the bickering between me and my sister begins. Mostly because when I get mad, something breaks." Lily said bitterly. "You're lucky, although it must be kinda lonly, being an only child" She said.
James scowled. "I don't need your help. I don't like her." He said firmly and folding his arms stubbornly. He stood up "And I'll prove it" He said.
Sirius groaned and stood up. "James I wouldn't. You don't have to prove you don't like her. Although it's impossible to not notice that you do indeed like her. But go ahead and ruin your only chance with her." He said, folding his arms as well.
Remus smiled slightly. "Sounds like an exciting life. It is lonely at home though. Parents are out most of the day and the kids in my neighbourhood don't really like my company much," he explained. "That's why I was so nervous to be going to Hogwarts," Remus told Lily.
"Why not? You're a really nice person. Rather shy, but very nice, and fun to talk to." Lily asked curiously. "And you shouldn't be nervous, you've already made three good friends. And even if we do go into differant houses, you'll make friends there," She said smiling.
James clenched his fists. "I don't like her that way," He muttered. Glaring at the doorway. "I don't care if she hates me" He muttered quietly.
"You do care. Stop lying to yourself, James. You like her and you should probably get used to it. The more you put it off the worse you'll probably feel" Sirius said looking at James and leaning up against the wall.
"I guess I might," Remus said with a sigh. He wished that they really could be called his friends. But if he was going to keep secrets from them, then no one could really be called his true friend.
James scowled but didn't say anything. "Fine then" He muttered. He walked into the compartment. No longer embarrased but just in a bad mood. Thinking now, about how to act more sure of himself.
Sirius walked in and sat down. "Should be there soon" He said glancing out the window. He looked back at James "So where did you learn that hex from anyways?" He asked, reffering to the hex that James had put on a Slytherin that was teasing Lily earlier.
"You shoudn't guess it. I know for one that you'll make plenty of friends." Lily said to Remus firmly, smiling. She looked over at James "Welcome back" She said with a small smile.
He turned to Sirius. "One of the few books I read, one of them was full of hexes and jinxes. Had to try them out on someone" He said with a smile.
"Wicked awesome. Going to have to show that one to me. Could come in handy" Sirius said, laughing once more.
"You really shouldn't hex people, you know. You could get into trouble before we even get there. And magic isn't allowed outside school and in the corridors" Lily pointed out to James and Sirius.
"Why couldn't you just wait until we got to Hogwarts till you hexed someone? You're not allowed to cast magic outside of school, as Lily said," Remus explained, frowning slightly. He could tell that James and Sirius were definately pranksters.
James rolled his eyes. "Well I was getting back at him for calling Evans a name" He said with a shrug. "He desrved it. And the guy back there was just being stupid." He added quietly.
"Aww ruin all the fun why don't ya?" Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "And James had a good reason to hex that git back there. And there weren't any teachers around or nothin" He said with a nod.
"Then it would be none of your bussiness if he called me a name. By hexing him it was still wrong" Lily said looking over at James.
"Mudblood is just a name, James. It dosen't mean anything except that Slytherins think they can hurt your feelings and offend you by just calling you a name, it's silly," Remus said. "But he did sort of deserve being hexed. It dosen't mean though, that it was right."
James rolled his eyes. "We'll then who'll teach him a lesson? And I don't feel much like turning into a tattle-tale." He said firmly. "And it was fun" He added quietly taking out his wand and twirling it.
"Prankster?" Sirius guessed turning to James. Hopefully he had found a fellow prankster. It would be so dull with just him.
James nodded and held out his hand "Glad to meet a fellow prankster" He said smiling. "First mission is to get back at anyone who bugs us" He said laughing.
"Great. I'm friends with a couple of pranksters," Remus muttered, rolling his eyes at the thought of spending classes with the two of them.
Lily groaned "Well we know who the pranksters of the school will be" She said, shaking her head. "Just perfect" She muttered.
Sirius smiled and shook James' hand. "Perfect plan. I feel bad for the students. Having to stay in a boring school. Not yet to meet the master pranksters. Can't wait to get to Zonko's. But in the mean time we can make our own tricks." He said with a smile.
"That should be fun...and exciting," Remus said sarcastically. "Don't go getting yourself in too much trouble," he told James and Sirius concernedly.
"And ruin all the fun?" James asked aghast. "Your mad!" he said smiling. "Pranking and getting in trouble is what I do best" He said smiling.
Sirius nodded "Getting in trouble is what I live for. Well not getting caught, but pranking and then getting caught is good" He said smiling.
"Pranking OR getting caught isn't fun at all. Wouldn't you rather read a book..study? Go outside or just talk?" Remus asked James and Sirius curiously, but knowing the answer was definately going to be a no. By the looks and sounds of things James and Sirius weren't the studying type.
Lily groaned. "You two are such... such marauders!" She said exasperadly. Leaning back on her chair.
"Read a book? Study?" Sirius asked. Looking at Remus as though he had moraly offended him. "The very idea makes me ill. What Evans said will give you the basic idea of us" He said laughing.
"I'll take that as a no..." Remus muttered. "Pranking is fine as long as you don't hurt anyone. Just for fun and I might join in on my free time," he said to Sirius with a slight smile.
James smiled "Right in one, Lily-flower" He said, smirking.
"Aha! I KNEW you couldn't be such a goody-two-shoes!" Sirius said smiling and reaching over to mess up Remus' hair. "We got another marauder!" He said laughing.
"DON'T call me that" Lily said, giving James a warning look. "And I didn't really mean it as a compliment." She added, although she doubted they cared.
"Aww... sorry Evans." James said with a smirk. "So we got three marauders. Perfect, not to mention that no one will suspect Remus to pull a prank." He said, smiling.
Remus frowned slightly and smoothed his hair back down. "So now we're going to be called marauders? Joy. And you'll have to make sure I don't back out at the last minute when pulling a prank. I hate standing up to people, or doing anything too mischevious," he explained.
"Yeah well if we're going to do something big then we'll just give you a small part. And if you back out you have to eat 10 Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans. And we get to pick them" Sirius added with a mischevious grin.
"What better name than the marauders! And of course we won't let you back out." James said smiling.
Remus frowned even more at Sirius' suggestion. "Great. We're not even at Hogwarts yet and you two are making plans," he said, shaking his head and grinning slightly.
"Hmmm... so what should we do tonight?" James asked smiling and looking at Sirius. "I'm thinking something big, so people will know us pretty well." He said thinking a bit.
"Hmmm... well let's see what house we get in. Probably Gryffindor. I'm thinking something with fillibusters fireworks" Sirius said with a mischievious smile once more.
"How about we eat dinner tonight and just...be normal?" Remus suggested hopefully. "I have to be getting to bed real early tonight also. I was up all night last night," he lied, glancing out of the window. Hopefully James and Sirius wouldn't suspect where Remus was going tonight. Well, Remus didn't even know where he was going tonight to tell the truth.
Lily groaned "Not on the first day!" She said looking at them. "And please leave me out of it. I don't want to get into trouble" She said folding her arms.
"Aww c'mon Remus. You can stay up late enough to at least see what we'll be doing." James said looking at Remus. He looked back at Sirius. "I got a great idea. We can use my cloak, so we won't get caught." He said smiling.
"No, sorry, I can't. I'm already tired, and can't stay up real late tonight," he repeated, feeling horrible that he was lying. But what was he going to do? Tell them that he was a werewolf and that they shouldn't be scared? No way.
Sirius sighed "Fine then, Remus." He said. He looked back at James "Cloak? Erm... how could we not get caught with a cloak? Unless..." Sirius trailed off.
"Ok Remus" James said. He was a bit suspicous, but hid it. "Unless what?" He said smiling and turning to Sirius. Soon opening his trunk and pulling out a long silvery cloak. "My father gave it to me, as his father gave it to him and so on." James said proudly.
"An invisibility cloak? Wow, James. Those a really rare," Remus said quietly, looking at the silvery cloak that James had taken out of his trunk.
"Wicked! This is going to be awesome. So I'm guessing that you have a plan?" Sirius asked smiling and folding his arms expectantly.
"Wow..." Lily said quietly and looking at the cloak. "And you use it to pull pranks?" She asked, scoffing. "But those are really rare. It must be ancient, because they outlawed catching the animal that's fur is used to make them." She said quietly.
James nodded "It's been in my family for ages. I've used it for a lot of things. Pranking being one of them. And yes of course I got a plan." He said looking at Sirius and smiling mischeviously.
"Great." Sirius said smiling as well. "Because I think we're about there" He said looking out the window as the train started to slow down.
Remus sighed and shook his head, almost grateful that he wasn't going to be there when James and Sirius pulled their prank. "Anyone know what time it is? It's starting to look like it's getting dark," he pointed out, seeing the sun fade and cast a beautiful orange and pink colour across the sky. Remus' stomach had started to feel sick, and he hoped that they'd arive at Hogwarts soon.
"It's about 6:30" Lily said looking at her watch. "We should get to Hogwarts in about 30 minutes. We have to go on the boat ride across the lake" She said smiling.
"B-boat ride?" James asked, unsure. The one time to be afraid of water, and boats. "You feelin ok Remus? You look rather sick" He said, looking over at Remus.
"Whoa, James is right, your looking really pale" Sirius said looking over at Remus as well. "Maybe you should visit the nurse when we get there" He suggested.
"Yeah. Long train rides make me sick, and boat rides as well," Remus said quietly, not taking his eyes away from the sky outside. What if the sun set faster tonight and then the night came before he was outside and then it would be total chaos...He closed his eyes, not wanting to think about what would happen if that did happen.
Lily looked at James. "Are you scared, James?" She asked with a small smile. "Although unless you jump out of the boat. I doubt youll fall out" She said.
"No!" James said looking over at Lily. "I'm not scared of anything" He said folding his arms.
Lily looked at Remus strangely, as though trying to figure something out. But she looked away with a small shrug. "You aren't scared of anything?" She asked James, not believing it. "You have to be scared of something." She said, folding her arms as well.
Remus sighed and opened his eyes, leaning back against the seat and staring at the ceiling. Maybe going to Hogwarts wasn't such a good idea after all.
"Strange..." Sirius said quietly. "My cousin said that the boat ride is supposed to be moonlit. But it looks like we're going to get there too early for it to be moonlit for some reason." He said quietly.
"Maybe there's a werewolf on the train and they don't want him transforming with us here" Lily said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, Sirius, it's probably because they don't want us staying up so late." She said looking at him.
Remus bit his lip at Lily's comment. That was really not something to joke about, he thought to himself, looking back outside without saying a word. They couldn't possibly find out that Remus was a werewolf. They didn't know much about him anyways.
"I'm not scared of anything" James repeated firmly. "Although I wouln't be sarcastic. It could be possible." James said with a smirk. "Tha'd be awesome if there were a werewolf at school." he said, looking out the window. He yawned "I can't be tired already" He muttered.
"Yeah, you gotta wake up Jamesie. We got to be awake enough to pull our prank that you still haven't told me." Sirius said putting his hands on his hips and smirking.
"Although it would be nice if you two did fall asleep before you got to pull a prank. Give us at least one day's worth of silence before going off and terrorizing the school" Lily pointed out to Sirius and James. Looking over at the both of them.
"Look. There's the castle, only a few more minutes now," Remus said, spotting the castle in the distance. He couldn't wait until they were finally there. Hopefully Dumbledore had a plan for when Remus arrived, since he knew that Remus wouldn't have time to get sorted when he got there.
"Yeah. Can't wait till tonight though. It's going to be fuuuun. Although it will be hard trying to get out onto the grounds that late. That's where my cloak comes in handy." James said smiling.
"The grounds? Ahh... Don't tell me. Of course something with fireworks. So this shall indeed be fun tonight." Sirius said, rubbing his hands together.
"You two are idiots, you know. It's a full moon. There could be werewolves in the forest. Besides you could get lost out on the grounds." Lily said looking at them and putting her hands on her hips.
Remus swallowed and his face paled even more. "Not a good idea to do guys...the teachers could catch you. You could get expelled, and it's not safe out on the grounds during the full moon," he warned them.
"We won't get expelled. We won't get caught if we're wearing the invisibility cloak. And no one has seen a werewolf out on the grounds before." James pointed out. "We'll stay out of sight and everything" He said.
"Yeah, all will be good" Sirius said, smiling. "How long will we be out on the grounds anyways? I wouldn't be asking, if I knew what we were going to be doing" Sirius said. Putting an emphasis on the last few words.
Remus sighed, shaking his head. James and Sirius could get seriously hurt tonight. He almost fell forward onto the ground as the train came to a lurching stop next to the Hogwarts station.
He stood up and picked up his suitcase that had slid forward and out from under his seat. "Let's go. You two can make plans for tonight while we're riding the boats," he said to James and Sirius.
"You'll know soon enough, Sirius. We'll be out there for most of the time though. The teachers will all be up and swarming the halls once it goes off." James said looking out the window as well.
Lily fell off her chair as the train stopped. She got up and pulled her trunk out from under her seat. "Don't tempt them. The boat ride is probably the only time they might be silent" She said looking at Remus. She walked out into the hallway along with the other students.
Remus nodded in answer to Lily's assumption, and followed the other students off the train. He heard a voice calling for the first years, so he followed it and saw that it was Hagrid, the caretaker.
Sirius walked out into the hallway. "Yup that's Hagrid alright." He said walking out of the train and onto the ground. He walked over to where Hagrid was calling the first years.
James walked over to where Hagrid was calling the 1st years. He looked apprehensivly at the boat. Hagrid instructed them to get into the boats, along with three other people.
Lily stepped into a nearby boat. She looked at James "Not scared of anything eh? Just wait till we deal with boggarts. They turn into your worst fear" She said, moving over so three other people could get in.
Remus stepped carefully into the boat that Lily was in, and sat down on the other side of the boat to balance it. "Come on in, James. I doubt you're going to fall into the water," he said, looking over at James.
"I'm not scared of the ruddy boat." James said, scowling. He walked into the boat. Taking a seat next to Lily he felt himself blush slightly. He turned to look at the water. Determined to prove himself and Sirius wrong. He didn't like her, he knew he didn't.
"Well sitting next to Evans sure got your mind off the water." Sirius said, smirking and taking a seat in the boat as well.
James blushed even more and shot Sirius an icy glare. He looked back at the water again. Jumping slightly as a large tentical rose out of it. "Ok I'm not liking this at all" He said as the tentical sank back into the water.
Remus kept silent, even at Sirius' comment at which normally Remus would have sent him a glare, or maybe a small laugh. Right now though, his eyes were fixed on the reflection of the sky in the river. Not long now and the full moon would rise.
Lily shot Sirius a glare. She looked at Remus "You ok? You've been staring at the sky nerviously for the past fifteen minutes" She asked consernedly.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Just...nervous. Looking at the sky calms me down," he told Lily, another lie. Remus tore his gaze away from the reflection of the sky in the water and looked ahead of him at the castle they were heading towards.
Lily smiled "Yeah, it's kind of peaceful isn't it?" She said quietly. Giving a start as the boat started forward with a jerk that off-balanced her. She held on tightly to the edge of the boat. "Rather jerky isn't it?" She said.
Remus nodded, holding onto the rim of the boat as well as it lurched forward suddenly. He closed his eyes and tried not concentrating on what was going to happen tonight.
"Very" James agreed. He looked at one of the other boats near him. One of the of the students being the one had hexed earlyer. Talking with one of the others that were with him. James looked away, thinking that whatever they were talking about, it wasn't good.
"Oi!" Sirius said as he saw the kid that James had hexed earlyer look over at them. He saw him take something out of his poket and the boat gave a violent shake.
James looked over at the boy. Who now had his wand out, pointing it at them. He felt the boat gave a volent shake and he held on tightly to the boat's edge. "This is not good" He muttered. Reaching for his wand as well.
Remus opened his eyes, feeling the boat shake violently. He reached for his wand and looked over at the boat with snickering students on it, not all of whom were first years. "Not good at all.." he muttered.
The boat shook even more before turning over completely "You stupid git! Just wait!" He threatened before falling into the water. Swimming over to the over-turned boat he tried to flip it back over.
Lily screamed as the boat turned over. Thanking her mum for making her take those swim lessons. She glared over at the boat where the person who had hexed them was now laughing.
Remus, caught off guard, fell into the water as well, going underneath for a bit before grabbing onto their own boat and also trying to flip it back over. Slytherins were worse than his parents had described them. Instead of casting a glare over at the boat with the laughing Slytherins, Remus looked up at the sky quickly. This was going to make him late.
James let out a yell. Falling into the water he tried desperatly to swim back up. Cursing that he had never learned to swim. One of the many reasons why he hated water. Finally coming up for air he looked around before something grabbed him by the ankle and pulled him back down again.
Lily tried flipping the boat over. She scowled and reached for her wand, taking it out she muttered a charm. The boate turned back over and she quickly got inside. Reaching out a hand to help the others back inside.
Sirius turned around, James still hadn't surfaced. "James!" He called. Looking around the water for him.
Remus glanced at the now upright boat that Lily was in, and then at the shadow of James being pulled underneath the water. He held his breath and went under after him. He had heard that a Giant Squid lived underneath this lake, so he guessed that was what had pulled James under. Remus held out a hand for James to grab when he was close enough.
James grabbed Remus' hand when he got close enough. Kicking out he hit the thing that had grabbed him, most likely the Giant Squid. It's tentical recoiled and let go of him.
James kicked upwards and swam through the water in the best way he could.
Remus followed him up. He reached the surface and stayed there for a moment just to catch his breath. That was probably the longest Remus had gone underwater. He swam over to the boat that Lily was on and climbed in, careful not to tip it over as he did so.
"Are you guys ok?" Sirius asked shakily. He reached out a hand to help them in the boat. "You two need to go to the Hospital Wing when we get back" He said.
"Yeah. I'm fine...just wet and tired," Remus answered, shaking slightly from the cold river water. He wished that there would be some way to speed up the boat. But it still drifted along just as slowly as all the other boats.
"Fine" James choked. Climbing back into the boat but careful not to tip it over as he did so. He sat back into the boat. Shaking slightly as he was now about a billion times colder sence he was wet.
"I hope we get to the castle soon. It's freezing out here. And our boat is way behind the others." Sirius said trying to see the other boats ahead.
Remus shivered and nodded, wrapping his arms around his cold body to try and keep himself warm. "Yeah. Can't wait to feel nice and warm again," he muttered, looking ahead of them at the castle.
Lily nodded, shaking as well, in the cold night air. "Not even at Hogwarts and you two have found an enemy" She said looking at James and Sirius.
"Well not Sirius, mostly me. But I'll get him back later. I just have to charm a firework to follow him around everywhere." James said with a smile. He looked at Lily who was shaking and smiled slightly "Cold, Evans? I'll warm you up." He said with a smirk.
"Do you want to go back into the water?" Lily asked glaring at James. "Then I suggest you shut-up. And I would rather freeze to death, by the way" She said scowling and turning away from him.
Remus took out his wand and wished that he had learned some good warm spells. Unfortunately though, he hadn't. "James, stop fooling around with Lily. I thought you didn't like her?" he asked, glancing over at James.
"Good idea." Sirius said at James' suggestion with the fireworks. But made retching noises at James' last comment.
"Aww sorry Lily-Flower." James said pulling a mock sadness face. He smiled and pretended to be putting an arm around her while 'accedentily' pushing her into the water. He wasn't going to like her. And even if he did, at least she wouldn't like him. "Oops. Did I do that?" He said looking at Lily and smiling slightly.
Sirius put a hand to his face and shook his head. "James you are sooo in denial" He muttered, so quietly that he knew James wouldn't be able to hear him.
"Guys! Stop it, now. I'm serious," Remus said, glaring hard at James. He was going to make them slow down. Remus could probably swim faster than the boat was going now. But he didn't want to get caught by the Giant Squid.
"Potter!" Lily yelled. She fell into the water again. "You git!" She yelled splashing him. She climbed back into the boat, careful not to tip it over. She sat back down, now soaking wet again. And fuming mad as she shot a glare at James. She looked back at the water still in a realy bad mood now. Wishing more then ever to just push him into the water. But she knew he couldn't swim and that wouldn't be very good. Not that she cared much anymore.
James smirked "Fun, Evans?" He asked trying hard not to laugh.
"I swear you are the biggest git I've ever met!" Lily said turning to glare at him again. "If I didn't have my sister back home you can bet I would be going back right now" She said before turning back to the water.
"James, cut it out! Both of you stop fighting, all right?" he said, getting very aggrivated with James right now. Lily hadn't done much to him at all...actually she had done nothing to him at all to make James act this way.
"If it bothers you" James said with a shrug. He cast one last smirk at Lily before yawning. "What time is it?" He muttered looking around.
"Well sence that git tipped us over, and you pushed Evans off the boat, I say that it's about 7:00 around now. We'll probably get there around 7:10-ish I guess" He muttered.
"Great. Just great. Although they say that we wait a bit before going into the Great Hall to get sorted. So we would probably be there just in time" Lily said looking at the castle.