"He said that as long as we took precautions, there was no reason I shouldn't come to school..."--PoA

Steam billowed from the front of the magnificent scarlet train, and somebody called, "Five minutes to board!"

My mother flung her arms around me, holding me so tight I couldn't breathe. "Now, remember to send us an owl to let us know you arrived safely. I'll see you at Christmas. Oh, I'm going to miss you so much," she cried, planting a kiss on my cheek.

"Now now dear, don't cry, Remus is a big boy," said my father, dabbing at his eyes with his handkerchief.

"Don't worry," I said, after my mother released me and I had several good gulps of air. "I'll send Tawny with loads of letters about my new classes." I smiled at them both, "I'd better get going if I want a good compartment." I was enveloped in one more stranglehold by my mother, given a milder hug from my father, and climbed, at last, aboard the Hogwarts Express. A stupid smile spread across my face; it still felt like a dream to be going to Hogwarts.

The first compartment that I checked was already full of people. They were all very haughty looking people, and I turned to go, not liking the look of them.

"Hey!" cried an older looking boy with silver blonde hair, "Who are you?"

"Oh, hello, I'm Remus Lupin."

"Lupin," said a tough looking but rather small boy, "That's an old wizarding surname. Are you a pureblood?"

I shifted uncomfortably, not really liking this line of questioning.

"I believe Rodolphus asked you a question," sneered a girl with beautiful dark hair and a very ugly expression.

"Er--my mum's a muggle born, but yeah, my dad is from a pureblood line." I looked behind me, searching for a discreet way to exit.

"That's not so bad I suppose. There may be hope for you yet," said a pretty blond girl wearing a stuck up look, "Are you hoping to be sorted into Slytherin? Snape here is." She gestured towards a sallow, hook-nosed boy with greasy hair sitting in the corner, scowling up at me.
Thankfully, at that moment the whistle blew and the train began to move.

"I'd better go and find a compartment," I said hastily, "See you all later."

Now there would surely be no compartments left. Very luckily, the last compartment on the train was empty, and I hauled my trunk inside. I pulled out my favorite of the schoolbooks, the one for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and began to read. I found the entire subject fascinating, except for the last chapter, which talked about the different ways to recognize and kill me.

"Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here?" asked a very pretty girl with long red hair and vivid green eyes, standing hesitantly in the compartment doorway.

"Not at all," I said politely, though inside I was thrilled to have a bit of company, "I'm Remus Lupin."

"Thanks, I'm Lily Evans. I really need a place to sit. There's some show-offy loons following me from compartment to compartment," she shook her head in annoyance, causing her lovely red hair to sway, catching the light. I smiled at her, unsure what to say really, but was spared having to answer by the most life changing event of all.

Two boys burst into the compartment. At first, I wasn't even sure that was what they were as they tumbled over each other in their haste to get in. However, when they separated a bit, I was able to discern different features in each of them.

The first boy was a bit taller than me. He had incredibly untidy black hair sticking out every which way, and warm hazel eyes that sparkled with devilish amusement. The other boy was almost a whole head taller than me. He was very handsome; his sleek black hair fell elegantly into his deep blue eyes.

I opened my mouth to speak, but the red haired girl beat me to it.

"I've TOLD you to leave me alone! I've told you a thousand times. Don't you ever LISTEN?! What you did to that poor boy was rude and pointless, and I don't want to be friends with either of you if that's the kind of people you are."

The one with hazel eyes hung his head, but the handsome one let out a short, bark like laugh.
"James and I apologized to Pettigrew like you asked us to. And it was only a friendly prank after all, I think that he'll survive."

"Yeah, we just wanted to apologize to you because you seemed so angry," said the boy called James, "It isn't as if we were pranking YOU anyway. What do you care?"

"I happen to care about other people besides myself!" cried Lily, her face going red. She turned on her heel, "It was nice to meet you, Remus, I hope I see you around." As she stormed out, she tripped on the hem of her robes, and fell to the floor in a very undignified lump. The handsome boy laughed, and the other one made to help her up, but she swatted his hand away furiously.

"Are you alright Lily?" I asked, concerned.

"Fine!" she cried, getting up and completing her dramatic exit with the most dignity she could muster.

"A lovely show James, you're a real ladies man, why didn't I guess?"

"Oh shut it Sirius," said James dreamily, "She really is quite a firecracker isn't she?"

The one called Sirius shot James a deeply disgusted look, and sat down across from me.

"He's only just met her and he's already completely obsessed," he said conspiratorially to me, as though we had known each other for years, "It's unhealthy really if you ask me."

"Shut it Sirius!" James said again, with a bit more emphasis, as though coming out of a trance,

"Oh, sorry, we haven't even introduced ourselves! I'm James Potter, the handsomest, bravest, noblest most debonair fellow you could ever meet. Oh yes, and this here's Sirius."

Sirius glared at him. I couldn't help but laugh at the boys and their antics. If I ever had friends, I thought wistfully to myself, they would be just like James and Sirius, who were now bantering animatedly and shoving each other about to get more room in their seats.

"Anyway, what's your story mate?" asked Sirius. I started; I thought they had forgotten about me. I was once again uncomfortable, not liking to talk about myself much for obvious reasons.

"I'm Remus Lupin, and um, I'm a first year as well," I said, hoping this would be enough and they wouldn't ask me any more questions. It seemed to be, because James grinned.

"Excellent, maybe we'll all be sorted into the same house eh?" I grinned back.

Over the next few hours, I found out a lot of information about James and Sirius. For one, they were both very bright, and already knew loads of enchantments that they couldn't wait to test out at Hogwarts. I found out that James loved his family, while Sirius hated his, and I learned that they had met while escaping from their respective families in Diagon Alley. They were both rowdy pranksters, and enjoyed a good joke on an innocent bystander. Their most recent exploit, from what I could gather through their laughter, involved a tricky little charm that James' mother had taught him to bleach stained clothes. Sirius' cousin Narcissa, who I realized was the stuck up looking girl from the first compartment I had tried, was apparently very taken with her appearance, and was to be the target of the clothes bleaching charm. Unfortunately, a boy called Peter Pettigrew had gotten in the way, and was now walking about the train with perfectly snowy white clothes. Lily Evans had seen Sirius and James picking on innocent little Peter, and had taken them for bullies right away, although James gave a tragic account of the extreme sadness he felt about her getting the wrong opinion of him, through which Sirius made exaggerated gagging sounds.

In turn, the boys seemed to absorb a few things about me. They didn't ask for any more information, because as soon as they asked about me I quickly turned the subject to something else, and they seemed to accept the fact that I was rather private individual and didn't attempt to pry, which I was grateful for. They also, to my great delight, seemed to understand my rather wry sense of humor, and appreciate it. Their fits of merriment at my dry comments were a great improvement over the usual quizzical looks I got. Or perhaps it was only that they were in a permanent state of impossibly high spirits. Whatever they were, I liked them very much.

When the train came to a stop, the three of us changed into our school robes and hurried outside to get a view of Hogwarts. James and Sirius rushed over each other and caused general chaos wherever they went, and it took me a great deal of strength to hold James back when he got it into his head that it would be a good idea to take a nosedive into the incredibly cold Great Lake.

The stars twinkled above us as we climbed into magical boats that floated on their own towards the enormous, glittering castle that was Hogwarts.

"Wow," squeaked mousy little Peter Pettigrew who we had ended up sharing a boat with. James and Sirius had apologized again for their prank, Sirius somewhat reluctantly, and Peter had only nodded, looking completely terrified of them.

All the first years entered the great hall, shivering and huddling together. Everyone looked nervous, except for Sirius, James, and I. Sirius' cousin Andromeda had told him about the Sorting Hat, and he had related the information to us so that we were spared the fear that we would have to fight a dragon to get into a house at Hogwarts.

A stool stood at the front of the room, and Professor McGonagall, a strict looking middle-aged woman came in with a very battered looking old hat and a roll of parchment. She placed the hat on the stool, and everyone in the hall looked expectantly at it as it began to sing.

"Oh, I may be worn and tattered, But I'm here to help you out, Don't judge because I'm battered, That's no reason to pout, For I'm the greatest hat of all, As you will come to see, I'll sort you in this very hall, Into the house where you should be, Will it be noble Gryffindor? So great, and so courageous, Or will you be in crafty Slytherin? I hope they aren't contagious, If not, try wise old Ravenclaw, Where dwell the truly smart, Or kindly, cheerful Hufflepuff, For those of gentle heart, Try me on and you will find, The house where you belong, I will know where you should go, And that concludes my song!"

The hall burst into applause, and all of the other first years looked intensely relieved that all they had to do was try on a hat. Professor McGonagall began to call names off the roll of parchment.

"Anderson, Clarence," she called. A small, nervous looking boy stumbled to the front of the group and put the hat on his head. The hat took a moment to consider and then called out for the whole hall to hear, "RAVENCLAW." One of the tables exploded with applause, and the boy looked relieved and turned to take a seat. I watched intently, butterflies floating around in my stomach as two girls got sorted into Slytherin, and looked up in alarm when McGonagall called, "Black, Sirius." Sirius let a lazy grin spread across his perfect features as he sauntered up to the hat. It took a long time, nearly five minutes, before the rip in the brim opened and shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The table to my left began cheering and applauding as Sirius took an audacious bow and jogged over. I wondered if I was the only one that noticed the way he glanced furtively at the Slytherin table, where most of the haughty people were either scowling or looking dumbfounded. Lily Evans also became a Gryffindor, but I was too nervous to pay much attention. Finally, I heard, "Lupin, Remus," and walked quickly up to the hat, acutely aware that I was shaking and trembling in front of the entire school.

Carefully, I lowered the ancient hat over my eyes, obscuring the Great Hall in darkness.

"Well, well," said a little voice in my ear, "You're a unique one aren't you? Very intelligent though, shall I put you in Ravenclaw? Then again, you are a very noble boy. Almost too noble to allow yourself any happiness in fact. Well, those rowdy friends of yours will straighten you out. Remember this though; there are dark times ahead. Do not be deceived, the ones you truly love will not betray your trust, only the ones that you do not bother to notice. I know that you will be very happy during your seven years in GRYFFINDOR!"

I smiled as I took the seat beside Sirius at the Gryffindor table, but I didn't understand the hat's message at all. I was worrying about it until James got sorted into Gryffindor without the hat even having to properly touch his head. Then he and Sirius distracted me with ideas for pranks to play on the Slytherins, our new official house enemies, even though they were already unofficial targets to Sirius. We didn't even notice Peter Pettigrew had come up behind us until he began laughing at our jokes.

We were shown up to our room by the prefects. My bed was between Sirius and the wall, and to my chagrin, I was right below a large picture window. I stared up, transfixed for a moment by the waning moon, before my thoughts were interrupted by Sirius jumping on my bed.

"So, how about it Remus?" asked Sirius, and when I blinked stupidly at him he decided to elaborate, "If we leave now, we'll be able to catch the last people going to their common rooms, then we'll find out all the locations and passwords."

James grinned deviously at me, and even little Peter seemed to have decided to tag along. I could hear the alarm bells going off in my head. Not the obvious alarm bells that a boy would get when he was considering sneaking out after hours on his first night at a new school, but it was something about the hopeful, expectant way they were looking at me. They looked as if...as if they wanted to be my friends. That was the reason I should say no. Kindness was acceptable, pity was tolerable, but I drew the line at friendship. Friendship was too much. For all their jokes and pranks, they were not stupid. If we were friends, they would figure it out...and also I might get too attached only to have my hopes crushed again. For once though, I ignored the alarm bells. One midnight excursion did not mean that we would have to be friends forever right? Still, I felt guilty as I nodded and followed my three newfound comrades out into the common room.

"Of course you WOULD want friends," said the mean little voice in the back of my head, "Wolves are PACK animals after all."

"Shut up," I said under my breath, "I can have some friends as long as they don't get too close. I'm not a monster."

"What was that Remus?" asked James from behind me.

"I-I-er-nothing. It's nothing," I stammered. He only nodded and bounced ahead cheerfully, but something told me he was already a bit suspicious.

When all of the Slytherins came down to breakfast the next morning with red and gold flashing robes, I smiled with pride. I had read about the theory behind the N.E.W.T. level Protean charm, but didn't think I would be able to perform it until my fourth or fifth week at least. It had been quite brilliant really, when James and Sirius had bewitched the robes of a third year Slytherin boy that they disliked, Lucius Malfoy, I had performed the Protean Charm so that the effects would spread to every robe in Slytherin house.

All the voices at the Gryffindor table were awed as they said things like, "Who DID this?" and "They should receive an award for special services to the school!"

Yes, it had been very amusing last night, and even now my three partners in crime were in silent hysterics around me. Still, in the light of day I was concerned. Perhaps Dumbledore would judge me more harshly than the other students because he had made such special allowances for me. I looked nervously up at the high table, and found Dumbledore, watching the grumpy Slytherins file into the Great Hall with a bemused expression on his face. I could swear he winked at me.

"Wow," said Peter, as he often did, "We really are a brilliant team."

"Yes," agreed Sirius, a devilish grin gracing his handsome face, "Let the games begin."

Still, James' words were the ones that struck us all as true. "I think..." James began, quoting the only muggle movie that he had ever seen, "that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."