"Be a good boy now, Remmie, dear," said a tired-looking woman with frizzy light brown hair tied recklessly into a bun atop her head. Through silver-rimmed glasses, one could definitely sense some worry in her hazel eyes, and the small, skinny boy in front of her knew that it was not something to be taken lightly. He knew that his mother was trying as hard as her conscience would let her to sound okay with the decision to send him to school.
Remus John Lupin replied softly, "I know, mum, I know."
He was not acting defiant. He was not acting insensible. He was not acting annoyed. This was all because of the fact that the scrawny eleven year old understood that it was of the utmost importance that he behaved while at school, for fear of causing grave danger to more people than just himself. He smiled lightly, but was unsettled by the fear in his mother's eyes. She wasn't ready for this, and there was nothing he could do to sway her. Remus wished more than anything that his father could have been here to comfort her, but he was knee-deep in reports that needed to be done. Work was work, and he understood his father's absence. For a boy of eleven, Remus was indeed wise beyond his years. And this was why he understood his mother's fright.
The Lupins had a secret. A secret that, indeed, very few knew about, a mystery so heavily guarded that one could not have guessed such a thing was amidst such a respectful, middle-class wizarding family. However, the Lupins had a curse, a plague, which haunted them in their day-to-day lives and influenced their every decision.
Remus Lupin was a werewolf.
The bite had happened long ago, when the boy was barely old enough to tie his own shoes. Remus was celebrating his sixth birthday party at home with an assembly of close friends and family members. The of-age witches and wizards sat on the balcony of their two-story home, watching over the little ones as they played their games in the woods behind the house. Perhaps a remark or two was made about the odd light of the night, but if anyone noticed the full moon, they hadn't said a word.
Suddenly, a terrible scream pierced the night and every single creature in it fell silent. As Mr. and Mrs. Lupin grew more attentive, they could hear the alternating shouts and moans of agony of their son Remus. Mr. Lupin raced out down the stairs and into the woods, only to find his son bloodstained, lying in the middle of a field with his left arm cradling his right, and the retreating figure of the notorious werewolf, Fenrir Greyback, whose markings were still distinguishable even in the haunting darkness.
News spread fast, even in those days. Soon the neighbors were talking about how the poor Lupins were still shook up over their son's near-death experience, being attacked by a wolf. They didn't have the heart or the courage to leak the truth, not on that terrible night, when they were still naïve enough to think Remus could be cured. The boy, barely old enough to understand what had happened to him, was taken to St. Mungo's Center for Magical Injuries and Maladies. They had to tell the Healers, the people who they thought would be their saviors. Instead, after Mrs. Lupin insisted that they had try all of the tests a third time, one Healer stood apart from the group and said that he was sorry, but once again there was nothing he could do for their son and handed them a pamphlet, sending them on their way. The Lupins also had to tell one other person, the one person they had dreaded telling beyond all things. This was the Headmaster of the renowned Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Mr. and Mrs. Lupin had been positive that the bite was the end of their son's future. Remus' parents began to take radical measures to ensure the his safety, and the futures of others, for not much was known about werewolves and their dangers at the time and the Lupins had enough sense to respect the fact that although their child had been torn from them without reason, it was unfair to let such things happen to other families. Thus, Remus couldn't enjoy the company of other children. He didn't accompany his parents shopping or traveling whenever they could help it.
He wouldn't attend Hogwarts.
So his parents had thought. But here the young and pale Remus Lupin was, standing on Platform 9 ¾, awaiting a majestic scarlet steam engine to whisk him away to his new school. This, of course, was all thanks to the highly respected and kind-hearted Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Special precautions were to be made prior to Remus' arrival, however the Headmaster made it certain that he did not want this "mere difference" to isolate Remus from the education he so well deserved. He was not repulsed by Remus' condition, on the contrary, he insisted upon Remus' attendance.
Remus couldn't wait to see him, Professor Dumbledore. He hadn't even met the man, yet Dumbledore had already done more for him than anyone else ever had. Remus would finally get to learn magic. He would be able to spend some time out of his house. He might even make friends.
Smiling slightly to himself, Remus kissed his mother goodbye on the cheek as she graciously wrapped herself around him in a firm hug. The train whistled, and the boy knew that there was no more time left for reflection. He quietly said goodbye to his mother, tears now streaming down her face, and lugged his trunk up the steps to his new life.
A burly-looking boy of seventeen thrashed into Remus the second he set foot into the train, dwarfing Remus with his muscular body. The hallway was teaming with activity, and all the eleven year old wanted to do was to slip unnoticed into an empty compartment and begin reading one of his crisp, new schoolbooks. Being forced to in his room for most of his life, Remus did a fair amount of reading, and the train was the most crowded place he had been in a long time. After finding a place in which to settle down and slipping his trunk under the bench—it wasn't worth the effort to try and miserably hoist it into the above-head compartments, he just didn't have the strength—he chose the window seat on the right-hand side and stared out the window with a glazed expression.
'Maybe this won't be any different after all,' Remus thought to himself, wondering if he was going to spend the rest of his years at Hogwarts sitting in an empty compartment. He opened his trunk and slipped out a book with a three-inch thick spine. Rummaging through the book for a second to find the napkin he had used as a bookmark, he listened to all of the noises outside his compartment, friends meeting up with one another, laughing together, helping each other hoist their trucks up to their proper resting places…
Only a few moments later, Remus heard a creaking noise much closer to his own compartment, and turned around to see the door slowing opening. Walking with hesitation into the room was the most beautiful girl Remus had ever seen. She had billowing, waist-length auburn hair with streaks of ginger, expertly complemented by almond-shaped, bright green eyes. The girl smiled sheepishly and set her trunk down on the floor with a loud clunk, which seemed to startle her about as much as it did Remus. He quickly returned to reading about grindylows.
"Is it—can I… would you mind if I sat in here?" she asked, blushing, and then added after a second thought, "All of the other compartments are full."
Remus looked up from his Defense Against the Dark Arts book and smiled politely, wondering why such a pretty girl didn't have a better place to sit. He nodded and the girl sat down across from him, compulsively running her hands over the top of her hair as if to make it straight as a stick.
"I'm Lily Evans," she said loudly, extending her hand awkwardly. Remus shook it, a grin escaping the corner of his mouth at her formality.
"Remus Lupin," he replied.
Remus then went back to his book and silence occupied the room. Lily's eyes moved around the compartment, absorbing every detail. Remus looked around, too. The girl's trunk was still sitting in a heap by the door, and Remus wished that he could move it for her, but the attempt would have been more of an embarrassment than simply letting it stay there. Her eyes came to a halt on the book in Remus' hands. She looked up at him eagerly.
"I've started reading it, too. It's it all so interesting? I mean, I never knew that all of this—" Lily cut herself off immediately, and her face went a shade darker than what it had been when she first got on the train. She stared at Remus intently, as if trying to make him forget what he had just heard. Her attention, however, just made Remus blush as well. He did not have many visitors in his house, let alone girls.
The two didn't talk again until the snack cart came and they bought Chocolate Frogs and Acid Pops. Lily opened her first pack of frogs, seeming more interested in the collectible card that came with it than the candy itself. Remus popped a sweet into his mouth and returned to his book, which he was now well half-way through.
"Absolutely amazing," Lily muttered to herself, holding the card less than two inches away from her face, mouth full of sweets. Remus smiled into his book. As much as he loved his mother and father, it was nice to be around someone his own age. After all, an eleven year old and someone in their late forties could only have so much in common.
Out of nowhere, Lily let out a high-pitched shriek and dropped the card, her back rigid against the bench, eyes wide. Her mouth moved, yet no words were coming out. Remus looked up inquisitively, afraid that she was having an episode and did not know how to help her. Should he go out into the corridor and call for an adult?
"What's that matter?" he asked hastily, looking for the warning signs of seizures that he had read about in books that his father had checked out for him from a Muggle library.
"It—it—the picture… it moved!" Lily replied between sharp intakes of breath, her index finger pointing at the Chocolate Frog Card, on which there was a picture of an old, lively looking wizard.
Remus let out a sigh of relief and even couldn't help but laugh a little. Lily's previous short-ended comment finally made sense to him: she was Muggle-born, born from two non-magical peoples. She did not know about things in the wizarding world, and was bound to be surprised at a moving photograph. To her, that was unheard of. Remus knew much of Muggle life, because of the easy fact that his father was one.
"They're supposed to do that," he mumbled genially, gently picking up the card from the floor. Underneath the picture, in bright and bold letters, it read the name "ALBUS DUMBLEDORE". The wizard in the picture had long, frizzy white hair with a beard to match. He smiled warmly up at Remus and waved. Remus, captivated by the card, read further down where it gave a list of the man's many great accomplishments.
"What are you doing?" Lily asked irritably after a while.
Remus looked up, not knowing what he was doing to make her sound angry like that. However, it was not he that she was addressing. Two new boys had entered—er, tried to enter—their compartment. They both had equally jet-black hair and wore pompous grins. The one on the right looked more composed; his hair, which was slightly long for a boy's, hung smoothly at his chin and he towered the three other passengers. The boy on the left, however, was a little more disheveled. His hair was sticking up in tufts in random spots on his head, and his glasses were lopsided from unexpectedly trampling over Lily's trunk. Both boys were now half-way in the compartment, still not quite stable.
"Well, I daresay that we heard someone in this compartment scream, milady," the one on the right said eloquently, raising his eyebrows at Lily, "and we, as the humble gentlemen we are, decided to go and save said person from mortal peril. And seeing as how I do not believe this one—" he waved a hand in Remus' direction "—could hit such a sharp note, I do believe that person is you."
"I'm fine," she answered through gritted teeth.
"Mission accomplished, then," said the one on the left, who was now upright and brushing dust off of his robes, then proceeding to hopelessly straighten out his mop of hair.
He flashed Lily a cocky smile. She returned it with a scowl.
"What happened, anyway, mate?" he questioned after seating himself quite unwelcomely on Lily's bench.
"Nothing," she replied stonily.
Remus saw the conversation was going nowhere, and offered his hand in the situation. "Everything's alright, guys. Lily's just not from around here… if you know what I mean. All she needs is a few days to get used to things."
Lily looked at him disbelievingly, as if he had just told the raven-haired boys that she had three heads and enjoyed the polka. He gave her a reassuring look, which faltered for a second when he saw a dawn of comprehension on the boys' faces followed by what appeared to be a mischievous glint in their eyes.
"Say!" said the one from the left after a short period of silence. He wore an expression of fake amazement. "Have you ever tried a Lucky Bean?"
Lily looked right through them, obviously trying to give them the hint that their company was no longer required. Apparently, they would have done better if she had spelled it out for them. Neither boy showed the intention of moving any time soon. On the contrary, they were currently situating themselves in the compartment, trying to make themselves more comfortable.
"Well, it's about time you should, then, mate!" chimed in the boy with the glasses. "Just bought them off of the snack cart. Didn't see them, did you?"—he added, noticing Lily's inquiring expression—"Well, I'd say they're pretty much necessary for the first day."
The boy with the smooth hair nodded, his soft locks swaying back and forth as he did so. "Yeah, especially with the Sorting. Wouldn't want to be put in the wrong House, now would you? I mean, this night pretty much determines your whole future at Hogwarts."
Remus looked up from his book and saw that Lily was seriously considering their offer, her hand twitching in her lap. He, too, was nervous about the Sorting that the boys were mentioning. It meant so much… but his mother told him not to worry, that the Sorting Hat knew more about Remus than even he did. Furthermore, it could have been a trick of the light, but Remus was almost positive that the so-called "Lucky Bean" was merely one of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Jellybeans… most likely in something vile. It was a childish but easy trick to play on an anxious first-year. The boy with the ruffled hair held it out in his hand, gesturing for Lily to take it.
"You know you ought to," he said. "Sirius and I've already eaten ours. We aren't about to take any chances."
Lily reached out an apprehensive hand and then decidedly snatched it away as quick as a lightning bolt. Looking from the boy who had just spoken to Sirius, Lily slowly drew the jellybean up to her mouth.
"Lily, don't—" Remus started, but it was too late. Lily was already chewing the "Lucky Bean".
The two raven-haired boys burst out in maniacal laughter as Lily's faced turned a murky green and she had to spit out the remnants of the jellybean in her hand. Remus was about to say something to the other boys, but Lily, looking ready to kill, stood up and looked the duo straight in the eyes. She didn't need telling twice that the whole thing had been a prank.
"You two done being prats now?" she asked fiercely, each one of her words pelting fire down onto them, getting more and more sarcastic as she went. "This trick was so obviously well planned out and elaborate. I mean, only two regular Einsteins could have come up with it. So… bravo, boys, bra-vo! Oh, the permanent damage it has left on my fragile little psyche!"
"Lily…" Remus whispered quietly.
"No! I want Four-Eyes and Mr. Fantastic to get the bloody hell out of my compartment!" Lily shouted, staring daggers at the two. "What are you waiting for? Out!"
Trying to stifle their laughs and seemingly feeling no guilt whatsoever, the pair got up and slowly inched their way to the door. Right as they reached the knob, the one with the glasses turned around.
"By the way," he said to Lily, flashing her the same cocky grin, "for future reference, I'm James Potter, and this is—"
"Sirius Black, at your service," stated the other boy smoothly, bending down into a sardonic bow.
And with that, they sauntered out of the hall, Lily so angry that you could almost see the steam rising from her fiery red hair. For someone who expected his first ever ride to Hogwarts to be filled with such extravagant activities such as rereading textbooks and counting the number of trees that passed by, Remus had found the trip quite eventful. He might have even made his first friend—the pretty girl named Lily Evans.
Little did Remus Lupin know that it would be those who had caused his first acquaintance in years about to spit flames that he would come to be the best of friends with.