PreHogwarts:- Chapter 9

Silently the early sunlight crept into the small room; slowly it moved over the bed and awoke the small boy whose dreams had been peaceful and full of joy.

It was early, too early when Remus climbed out of bed. He looked at the old alarm clock that sat on the tidy floor of his small room; it was just past six in the morning. He rubbed his sleepy eyes as he thought of the dream he had just lost. He remembered a girl, joy happiness and then sadness and death. He shivered as he looked at his calendar. It was the 1st September, Remus felt the excitement run through his veins and instantly he was wide awake for today he would be going back to Hogwarts, but this time not to just look around but to stay he couldn't wait.

Remus decided that he would have a bath before getting ready, as it was so early. Quietly as not to wake his parents he crept into the bathroom and run the water into the large tub. As the water flowed he ran his fingers through it thinking of the large lake at the grounds of the school.

Once the tub had filled he undressed and climbed into the warm water, he allowed it to run over him as he lay down and think. He found that again his mind disappeared to the Hogwarts grounds; he sat there and thought about how his life was about to change, he thought of all the new people he would meet, wondering if any would be as strange as him. Remus was worried about if anyone found out his little secret but he'd worry about that if the situation arose.

An hour passed as Remus lay in that water the warmth slowly fading away. The boy shivered with the coldness in the morning air as he wrapped an over sized towel around his small body. He slowly walked back into his room and dressed. He pulled on his favourite brown trousers and a plain navy top. He pulled his trainers onto his feet and slowly trudged down the stairs.

When he reached the kitchen he found his mother putting eggs, beans, sausages, toast and tomatoes onto a plate. He made his way to sit down and found the plate in front of him.

"Remmy you're going to need all your strength today; you'll have a long journey to Hogwarts and then the sorting, so eat everything."

Remus smiled at his mother as he devoured the food from his plate. He ate as if this would be his last meal, like he would have no tomorrow. As the plate emptied he thought of how much he would miss his mother's home cooked meals, nobody would ever be as good a cook as her.

His father entered the room carrying Remus' trunk with him and before they knew it the Lupins were heading out to the Leaky Cauldron.

Remus flooed through first followed by his mother and lastly his father with his trunk. Remus looked around the crowded pub, he had never seen it so full before. He heard his father whisper to his mother that the Minster of Magic was sitting there with his family.

Remus looked into the centre of the crowd and spotted a small boy. The boy had blonde hair that was falling over his thin face. He was dressed in casual yet smart clothes and looked nervous. Remus thought that the boy looked scared and yet he had this presence that showed no weakness.

Before Remus could look at the adults sitting next to him he was pushed outside into the muggle world. They signalled a taxi and headed across muggle London to Kings Cross.

"Dad who was that boy in the Leaky Cauldron, the one surrounded by all those people."

"Oh that was the son of the Minster, Peter I believe his name is, poor lad, I wouldn't want to be him."

"Dad why wouldn't you want to be him."

"Remus that's not something we should talk about," then he leaned in closer to his son "I work at the Ministry and between us, Simon Pettigrew isn't the kindest of men and he always seems to be out."

"Oh so umm… how old is umm… Peter?"

"Oh the boy is your age, first year at Hogwarts, a big deal for the minister that's why their here I bet it'll be all over the papers tomorrow."

Before Remus realised it they were at Kings Cross, his father went and found Remus a trolley for his trunk while his mother paid the taxi driver. The three headed for the barrier to platform 9¾ and were soon looking at the train.

If Remus had thought Hogwarts was impressive he shouldn't have been surprised by the transport and yet he had not expected such a grand train. It was massive which Remus guessed was to fit all the students on.

Slowly he moved closer to the engine and placed his hand against the shiny red of the steel, he could feel the power within the train, and felt the excitement grow in his stomach at the thought of it.

Remus felt a hand on his shoulder as his father helped him to carry the trunk with all his belongings onto the train. He smiled when he saw the amounts of baggage already stored and realised really for the first time that this wasn't a dream but real, he was going to Hogwarts like a normal boy.

Remus turned and found his mother staring at him, a sad expression lined her beautiful face, and without thinking about it Remus wrapped his arms around his mother's neck pulling her into his hug.

"Bye mum, I'll miss you" Remus whispered.

"I'll miss you too Remmy."

He then turned to his father and was pulled into a 'manly hug' "I'll miss you dad."

"Stay safe Remus, and don't worry about your secret, tell those you are close to and if somebody tries to judge you for it ignore them."

Remus smiled up at his father as he turned to go onto the train he caught sight of the young boy, Peter, having yet more picture's taken. He watched as his father made some sort of speech and Remus saw the boys eyes wonder over the platform. Remus felt sorry for him he knew he would have hated to have to do that sort of thing on a day like this.

Remus climbed onto the train and waved at his parents, he knew that if he waited any longer he would not be able to leave. He smiled a sad smile and then shouted over the noise

"I'll see you at Christmas, and I'll write to you tomorrow to tell you what house I'm in."

Then before he had time to change his mind he turned and went in search of a compartment. He heard chatter from the first few and then there was one with no noise. Carefully he opened the door to find…

A young girl, not much older than himself sitting there on her own. She hadn't heard the door open and was unaware of Remus' attention. He watched as she pulled her long auburn hair from the middle of her back into a loose ponytail, which she flung over her shoulder. Silently she opened up a book and her eyes travelled across the pages. Remus caught sight of the cover and smiled at the fact it was Hogwarts a History one of his personal favourites.

Suddenly without warning the whistle sounded causing the girl to jump. He saw a small amount of red move to her cheeks, and saw her look slightly worried in case someone had spotted her nervousness.

Then by complete accident Remus sneezed, the sound echoed through the silent compartment causing the girl to suddenly look up and make eye contact with Remus, his soft brown eyes met for the first of many times pales ones.

The blush that had appeared on her face earlier now rushed even higher up her face as she looked down at her feet.

Remus couldn't help but chuckle just a little. The girl looked up again with mock horror on her face. She was smiling sweetly up at Remus and he noticed that she had perfect white teeth.

Remus took a deep breath as he made his way further into the compartment, sitting down opposite the girl. He could feel her eyes watching him as he sat down. He turned his attention straight to her as he started up the conversation.

"Hello, I'm Remus Lupin. I hope you don't mind me joining you, it's just that I haven't met anybody else, and I umm… thought that maybe you'd like the company." Remus smiled hoping she would let him stay.

"Oh I don't mind it would be rather comforting, I haven't met anybody else either."

Remus watched the girl's mouth move as she spoke; he thought she was so perfect, the way her teeth shinned through her slim red lips, the way her freckles played on her small nose. Then there were her eyes, neither blue nor green but some amazing colour in between.

He listened to what she had said and laughed. He watched that smile grow back on her face. He knew that she was someone special, and he couldn't wait to get to know her.

"Thank you, umm… umm… sorry but I didn't catch your name."

"Of course you didn't catch it, I didn't throw it." The girl laughed at her own joke, the noise sounded like music to Remus' ears "My name is Ginny, Ginny Dunn."

She smiled at Remus, as the train gave a lurch. Ginny fell forward and was caught by Remus, whose lap she had fallen into. They heard a loud bang and turned to find…