Hope's Children

Chapter 7: Sleeping Through the Feast and Sylvana Lupin

Last Chapter

Peter and James were both at the bottom of the stairs waiting for them. "Come on you guys, the carriages'll be leaving." The four of them decided on that trip that pranking the Slytherins was a must, and that they would be friends for life.

This Chapter

"Where's Rem?" James said, plopping down next to Sirius on the seat.

"He lives by school, remember. I owled him over the break; he's meeting us at the feast." Sirius looked up from his book.

"Are my eyes deceiving me, or is the great Sirius Black reading!" Peter said, dragging his trunk in through the compartment door. "How were your summers?"

"I am reading a prank book thank you very much, and my summer was just as bad as I thought it was going to be. I cannot wait to get back to school. I missed you guys. My mother was horrible; it was worse than Christmas was, all my cousins came over for July and August. I hate her-"

"We get it Sirius, you mum sucks."

"Forget it James. It's not something you need to think about, now is it?"

"Lay off him, Siri."

"Sorry Jamie."

"Just never call me Jamie again, and I'll forgive you."

"Deal."

"Ok. So how about you Pete? How was your summer?"

"Boring. As boring as every summer has been since the very first day of my life."

"You sure you've never had anything exciting happen?"

"Last summer this owl showed up in my room and gave me a letter telling me I could leave."

'Nothing ever happens on the express, right? They won't forget me.' Remus sat on his bed in the dorm, 'reading' a book, though he had been on the same page for almost an hour. Had his new friends forgotten him? It wasn't as if he deserved friends. They were sure to realize that they were better off with out him; after all, they had gotten together over the summer without him, and now they had the Hogwarts express.

"I'm bored." Sirius declared two or three hours into the ride; they had played seventeen games of exploding snap and played two pranks on the Slytherins, and had officially run out of things to do.

"How 'bout another game of exploding snap?" James said half-heartedly.

"If we play any more exploding snap my head might fall off." Peter answered him. "How is it we get bored after three hours on the train, but at school we can stay entertained for days?"

"Remus." Sirius answered. "It's Remus who makes us do our homework, and makes the big plans that keep us busy. It's Remus who makes sure we do not get too bored."

"Why on earth would someone live so close to school?" James asked, searching through his trunk for something to do.

"I think he lives at school," Peter said.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "And what makes you think that?"

"His trunk was stashed in the closet the evening after he told us his parents had come to pick him up, plus he didn't get a Christmas gift from them, or a birthday gift; we don't even know when his birthday is," Peter answered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Hadn't you noticed?" he asked with fake innocence.

Remus flopped over onto his back. If the boys on the train were bored it was nothing to how bored Remus was; there was only so many times a eleven year old boy could be entertained by The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. And he had long since stopped reading The Wizard of Oz; no place like home indeed, the only reason he had it was that it was one of the few reminders of the life he had once had; the life of being his madre and padre's baby and the shining glory. He was going to be the successful one, having finished the book his father had read in high school by the time he was four; he was going to be famous and change the course of history (A/N foreshadowing fully intended). Then he was bitten.

Trying to stop tears from pouring down his cheeks, he shut the book with a snap and threw it across the room in anger. "Sarò famoso e li mostrerò, cambierò la storia e saranno spiacenti!" 1 Without bothering to pick up the book, he turned over and went to sleep.

"I love the Hogwarts feasts." Sirius said, sitting down next to Peter and looking up at the sorting hat. "Where's Rem?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen him since we got back. That kid looks like him. Anyone hear the name?" James asked.

"Can't remember; first name's Sylvana, last one starts with 'L'," an older kid said, leaning over Peter to grab the rolls.

"Do you think Remus has a little sister?"

"GRYFFINDOR."

"Was that the Remus-twin?"

"I hardly think they're twins," Peter said, pouring gravy on his mashed potato. "She's a year under him."

"I was joking. And yes James, that was the Remus look-alike."

"So she's in Gryffindor. Then we can find out if they're related," James said. "And pass the pork chops."

"And where Remus is at the moment," Peter added. "Leave some pork chops for me James. I want one too."

"Sure Petey, here."

"Don't call me Petey," Peter muttered. "Hello, what's your name?" he asked the Remus look-alike who had sat down next to him.

"Sylvana Lupin."

"Where's Remus?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, very much like Remus would have. "Who?"

"Your brother, Remus Lupin, short, pale, sickly?" Sirius said, trying to spark her memory.

"I don't have a brother named Remus, I'm an only child. As far as I know anyway."

"Are you sure? Remus is only a year older than you, and he looks just like you. Are you Italian?"

The girl looked at him, stood up and moved down to the other end of the table.

"You scared her away, Sirius."

"Sorry, but I wanted to know where Remus is."

"I understand that, but I wanted to ask where my best friend is, and she is so obviously related to him." Sirius shot back at James.

"Well maybe she was adopted."

"Maybe Remus was adopted," Peter said. "Maybe that's why he lives at school."

"Again, he doesn't live at school."

"Sure he does. I bet we find him upstairs."

"Whatever. He's not going to be upstairs, and if he is, it's because he lives near school, and he came early."

"Shh," Peter whispered, slowly opening the door. "Maybe he fell asleep and forgot about the feast."

"I'm telling you, Remus is not in there."

"What was that?"

"Remus?"

"Sirius?"

"Remus, what are you doing in here?"

"I was…I was…um…I was…"

"Were you sleeping?" Peter asked.

"Yes I was sleeping, I was reading and I fell asleep."

"Don't say it, Peter."

"What was Peter going to say?"

"He was going to say I told you so."

"I was not."

"I'm fairly sure you were going to say I told you so."

"I was not," he muttered, collapsing on his bed. "I'm going to sleep. And Sirius?"

"Yes Peter?"

"I told you so." He pulled the curtains closed.

"What was that about?"

"Remus, do you have a sister?"

"A what?"

"Una sorella." 2

"Ah…no…no, I don't have a a, sister."

"Really? There's a first year named Sylvana Lupin - she was sorted into Gryffindor - who looks just like you."

Remus paled. "Really? Was she Italian?"

"Ah…she…ah."

"Sirius scared her away."

Remus snorted. "Did you really?"

"No…she was…she was…making new friends!"

"Sure she was, Sirius, sure she was." James snickered at Sirius's expression and closed his curtains.

"Night Sirius, sleep well, and I'll see you in the morning." Remus closed his curtains leaving Sirius staring three sets of closed curtains.

"I hate you all!" he said to the three closed curtains of his best friends.

"Good morning," James said, pulling back Sirius's curtains.

"You would think after a year, you would know that I am not a morning person. Go away, James."

"I will not, it's the first day and I refuse to be late."

"You sound like Remus."

"Who sounds like me?"

"Jamie."

"Don't call me Jamie, and I do not sound like Remus."

"Is that such a bad thing?"

"No, no, but you sound like you and I, I sound like, like me and therefore I cannot, cannot sound like you, because, I, I sound like, like me!"

Remus raised an eyebrow at him. "Very smooth, Jamie. I'm going to breakfast. Don't be late."

"I don't sound like him!" James said, before pulling his towel out of his trunk and going into the bathroom.

1 I will be famous and I will show them, I will change history, and they will be sorry!

2 a sister

A/N Shorter and it would have been longer (and better) but as Sirius was saying sorry my mom and our room mate decided to start arguing so I lost my train of thought, so now I'm saying sorry. Happy New Year.

Ok this was chapter seven and eight. But eight began as they were opening the door to the dorm. Don't look at me like that, I know I'm crazy, so you get an extra extra long chapter I hope you enjoyed it, review on your way out.

Twa

Xandria Nirvana