Bygone moments, bygone days
Time has cast a misty haze
Memories that are but a familiar stranger
Ever so elusive, always in danger
Of getting lost in the labyrinth of the mind
Where one can feel, but never find…
Memories though are very persistent. When you are trying really hard not to think of something, you end up thinking in excruciating detail of that very thing. And what was till yesterday so hazy and just another day in your life, now stands out and shines with that translucent quality that memories tend to have. Remus walked into his single room cabin and unfastened his cloak thoughtfully. Sitting down on the large, shabby but comfortable couch, he reclined back kneading his temples with his forefingers. What had begun as a dull ache had now converted into a fully blown case of a throbbing head. Remus however remained unmindful of the fact, as his mind flew back to the fateful day he met the three boys who grew to be his closest friends, companions in joy, cohorts in mischief and caretakers in pain and sorrow…
It was a not-so-sunny day in September. Remus packed his second-hand belongings into his trunk with a sense of foreboding. His ambivalence surprised him as much as his parents- he knew that for someone like him, he had a lot to be grateful for. Within an hour, he was packed and at Kings' Cross Station bidding a tearful farewell to his muggle mother before he and his father crossed the barrier that he had always dreamed of crossing one day. The one that led into platform 9 and 3/4th. And a new life began.
Helping him with his trunk, his father murmured only for him to hear, "Son, we'd like you to know that your mother and I are very proud of you. We love you very much, Remus, always remember that." Dropping his voice an octave, he continued, "The wolf too is a part of you, Remus. Try to control him. Try to make him as human as you can. But don't disown him." Remus nodded solemnly, choking back the tears that rarely came these days. After all, boys don't cry. Even if they are boys, who are torn apart physically as well as figuratively, once a month, to let out the monster within them.
Settling down in an empty compartment, Remus sat back looking out of the window. The train had moved out of the station now and was gathering speed. A book lay unopened in his lap, as he watched the trees and hillocks speed by. He was startled out of his thoughts by the sound of the door opening. A lanky bespectacled boy with hazel eyes entered the compartment trudging his trunk along. Shifting his weight awkwardly from foot to foot, he smiled politely, though a trifle tentatively, as if to ask, "Can I sit here?" Remus smiled back more out of habit than necessity and gestured the empty seat opposite to him. As the new boy struggled with his trunk, Remus noticed that he had the messiest, most disobedient hair he'd ever seen. It stuck up in the back, as though it hadn't seen a comb in ages. The boy noticed the object of Remus' attention and self-consciously tried to smooth his hair.
"It just doesn't sit."
The effort was totally counterproductive, and his hair was messier than before. The whole effect was comic, eliciting a genuine smile from Remus. The new boy gave a crooked grin, and held out his hand. "Potter. James Potter."
"Remus Lupin. What year are you in?
"First. And you?"
"Me too. I was just reading our charms text. Sounds interesting, this spell…see, you can charm a piece of parchment to talk back to people."
"Really? Show me that…" James leaned over to have a look, when the compartment door slid open with a resounding blast. A dark-haired boy with a roguish grin and gray eyes slid in followed by a shorter, plumper boy with watery pale blue eyes. "You mind if I…uh…we sit here? All the others are taken and I don't really fancy sharing a compartment with my cousins." Remus smiled politely to convey assent, but James frowned. "You…I have seen you before. You are a Black, aren't you?" The boy's slate gray eyes turned stormy gray. For a moment it seemed like he would either burst into tears or storm out of the compartment. But he did neither. He merely slumped into the seat next to Remus and murmured, "Yes. Not that I am proud of it." And looked away. James glanced at the fourth boy cursorily before turning back to the book. The hours then ensued without too much interaction, and conversation if any was between James and Remus. The only time the other two boys joined in was when the discussion turned towards the houses.
"I will be in Gryffindor. I know I will. Potters are always in Gryffindor." James glanced perfunctorily at the gray-eyed boy, but it didn't go unnoticed by any of them. T
he latter turned towards James and said huffily, "And all Blacks are in Syltherin. But I wont be, of that I am sure. And if I am forced into Slytherin, I will leave the school." The determination in his eyes as he spoke the words seemed to Remus as genuine, though a trifle unnecessary. James looked at him with renewed respect, and Remus with concealed interest and a tiny bit of amusement. The fourth boy looked on, with a mildly interested, yet puzzled expression on his face.
"James Potter. And this is Remus…er…Remus-".
"Lupin. Remus Lupin." Said Remus as he too shook hands with the gray-eyed boy. "
I am Sirius…Black." He faltered a bit while saying his last name, and both Remus and James now grasped the reason behind it. Or at least a part of it. "Finally a Black who isn't loyal to the pure-blood mania." thought Remus. James smiled kindly at the fourth boy, who said in a squeaky high-pitched voice, "My name's Peter Pettigrew. I live with my gram-er…grandmother. I am in first year…" he trailed off, grinning sheepishly.
"Hey, Peter, Pass me the box of Bertie's Every-flavored Beans, please…"
"Remus, tell Sirius and Peter about that parchment-charm!"
"I will, if Sirius gets off the book he's sitting on!"
"So Potter…what's your quidditch team?"
And conversation that thus began culminated into a bond of friendship, no, beyond friendship…a bond of brotherhood. On that not-so-sunny day in September, four young boys sowed the seeds of a friendship that would go through many trials and tribulations in the years to come.