Title:(Untitled) 2?
Rating: Eventual R, but about PG for this chapter.
Summary: Remus only wanted to do his family proud. Go to a nice school, make a few friends and hopefully bring back some lovely young heiress so that his family wouldn't have to starve. It really wasn't his fault that it wasn't working out so well; it was those damn friends of his. Bastards.
Feedback: Is love.
Disclaimer:I own nothing here. Seriously, aside from a word or two, not mine.
Warnings: Aside from the pre-slash one? None that I can see so far. - Give me time, though.

It had all started off well enough.

The headmaster had been there to greet him as soon as he stepped off the train. While the other first years were being herded into groups for the rowboats, Remus was escorted into a spare coach with Dumbledore and, after declining an offered chocolate, was breeched on just what was expected to happen each full moon.

Hogwarts was the only school that had not withdrawn its scholarship offer the moment that they were informed that the student in question was a werewolf. In fact, Dumbledore had been even more adamant that Remus became a pupil of his after receiving word, going so far as to have a house nearby secured for the transformations. The tunnel leading up to the rickety-looking old shack was now guarded by a young Whomping Willow, newly planted solely for the task of keeping the wolf at bay.

'It's quite simple, Mr Lupin,' Dumbledore explained, 'Madame Pomphrey and I have talked it over and she has agreed to collect you the morning following each transformation. You'll spend a few days in the Infirmary- with your class work of course,' he added, eyes twinkling, 'After all, we can't have you falling behind- and no one need be the wiser. Do you have any questions?'

Remus shook his head silently.

'Wonderful!' He smiled kindly at the child and after rummaging a bit in a robe pocket, held out his hand. 'And now that we have all of that business settled, how about a Lemon Sherbet? They always help me to feel better when I'm starting something new.'

Not really sure how to answer, Remus accepted the treat with a polite nod. 'Thank you, Sir.'

'Not at all, my dear boy. And look, we seem to have arrived just in time for you to join in with your classmates. Come along now, mind the step.'

With a wink, Dumbledore guided Remus out of the coach, through the doors and down the halls towards a harsh faced woman who was trying to line the first years up into alphabetical order with as little noise as possible. It didn't seem to be working.

'Lupin!' She exclaimed when he was close enough for her to notice him, 'Where did you manage to run off to? No, don't try to explain, just get behind Miss Jones, please.' As he quickly obeyed her instruction, following to the space in line that she was gesturing at, the woman glanced further down along the group of children and let out an exasperated sigh. 'Mister Potter, what exactly do you think you're doing? Get back in line this instant!'

'Don't let her get to you, she's been like this since we got here,' a quiet voice near Remus' left ear said. He turned around only to come face to face with a podgy, cheerful looking boy. 'There are so few of us this year, I don't think she knows what to do with the time here.'

He cracked a tiny smile which made the blonde boy's grin widen. 'You mean this is small?' Remus asked, looking doubtfully down what seemed to him to be an endless line of children.

'Oh yeah, I heard one of the professors telling Professor McGonagall over there that we might be the smallest class they've had here in years!' The child wiped his hand on the side of his robes and held it out. 'I'm Peter, by the way.'

'Remus,' he returned, grasping the outstretched hand with a wide smile, 'Nice to meet you.'

'Same here,' Peter said as he took his hand back. 'What house do you think you'll be in?'

Remus shrugged. 'I'm not sure. My father was in Ravenclaw, so I suppose I will be too.'

Peter nodded sympathetically, 'I'm stuck following the family as well; every single one of my cousins has been a Hufflepuff since practically the beginning of time.'

Before Remus could answer, the line jolted forward as a voice rang out.

'BLACK!'

They shuffled forward a bit and Peter leaned up to Remus' ear with a nod at the boy who was making his way up to the chair. 'He's another one like us.'

'What do you mean?'

'His entire family has been in Slytherin since back when the school first opened. Miserable lot, I've heard. My da says that if he ever hears about me palling around with a Black, he'd hex my ears off.' Peter grimaced, making Remus begin to laugh. 'What? I bet he would too, he'd do anything if he thought it would teach me a lesson.'

Remus flashed a grin and turned to study the Black boy as he sauntered towards the hat. From the side, he looked to Remus as if he had been handpicked for this sort of school. Tall, stylishly cut black hair and an air of confidence that would be almost impossible to fake. Exactly the sort of boy Remus would never be through and through. He felt a small bubble of envy build up in his stomach as he watched the boy bound onto the seat and grin as the hat settled comfortably on top of his head.

'Ten galleons say it eats him,' Peter hissed, earning him another snort of laughter.

'Make it twenty and you're on,' Remus whispered back.

'All right,' Peter snickered, 'you just lost yourself a week's worth of chocolate. Look at those teeth, I bet it hasn't eaten for months!'

Both boys tried to contain themselves as the hat opened its mouth and shouted out, 'GRYFFINDOR!'

In the hush that followed, Peter's voice sounded quite loud as he leaned back and sighed, 'You see what I mean? We're all trapped in the roles of our fam- wait a minute, what?'

The Black boy looked stunned as he slowly made his way towards the table draped in red and gold. It seemed as though he had been stripped of his swagger the moment he was given his new house.

'He looks sort of lost,' Remus whispered to his new friend and received only a confused nod in return.

The hawk-faced woman from earlier ("McGonagall," Remus reminded himself) was visibly trying to hide her shock behind a mask of efficient-ness as she pushed the children along. 'Come on now, next please.'

It took until Elizabeth Jones for Peter to lean forward again and timidly announce, 'I hope we're in the same house.'

'Me too,' Remus said, 'you're the first person I've met so far.'

'Really?' The blonde boy wrinkled his nose. 'What about on the train?'

'I was late getting there, so I was stuck in with a group of fourth years, and you know how they feel about, and I quote, "ickle firsties".'

Peter goggled at him, looking highly impressed. 'Merlin, how'd you survive? I would have tried to run off somewhere.'

He shrugged and gave a half-grin, 'Oh, you know. I have my ways.'

In truth, Remus had for the most part been left to himself after the group of Hufflepuffs realised how old he was. Peter was looking so admirably at him though, it wouldn't have hurt just to let him believe that Remus had handled his own with a gang of teenagers. After all, in a way he had done precisely that, so it wasn't so much lying as not quite straightening out the facts.

'LUPIN!' came the call before Remus could change his answer and that was that.

It took very little time before the rest of the people in line were cleared away and sorted, much to Remus' surprise. He was delighted to find that both he and Peter were to join Black in Gryffindor, along with one James Potter, a strangely energetic boy Peter claimed to have ridden up on the train with.

The Potters, James informed them as the four trooped into their dorm room after a long lecture from the prefects on the proper behaviour for a Gryffindor student, had been coming to Hogwarts for most of their linage, only once sending an aunt of his to Beaubeaux after a particularly messy incident in her third year involving six live chickens and a rubber spatula. No one really talked about it if they didn't have to, James explained.

'I wasn't the least bit surprised to be put in here,' James grinned, 'According to my father, we've been the kings and queens of Gryffindor for ages! He said he practically ran the house into the ground when he was here.'

Remus wasn't entirely sure if this was a good thing, but just let it go. James' enthusiasm was contagious, apparently, as not twenty minutes before lights out, most of the boys were trying to see if they could launch themselves from one bed to another without moving them any closer together.

So far, Remus had developed a nasty bump on his head, Peter had torn through his shirt trying to use it to swing himself across the room and James had fallen flat on his back an astounding fifteen times without breaking anything more than a sweat.

Black was sitting on his bed, watching them.

Remus had tried to invite him to join in when they first started. After all, it was ridiculous to hold a grudge over something so petty as what house your family was expecting you to be in. Everyone had been convinced Remus would be a Ravenclaw, and yet here he was.

However, it was quickly discovered that James had been warned off of Blacks beforehand as well. He made faces whenever the tall child came anywhere near him and, when Black grasped the edge of James' sheet as he got up, James threw a fit, insisting that Black stay at least an arm's length from anything of his so as not to infect it with 'greasy Slytherin germs'.

Finally, Black gave up. He shoved James to the ground and wandered back to his bed, muttering about boring jerks that didn't know how to play properly anyway. James managed to ignore him expertly after that, so Remus just let it slide, shooting an apologetic glance at the spare child that he was fairly sure went unnoticed.

'So,' James said as they settled around his bed afterwards, 'you're a Lupin? I think my great uncle dated one of your relatives for a while. Leona or something like that; he was always going off on how much he liked her back in the day.'

Peter squawked suddenly. 'Oh! I knew I'd heard that name before. Are you really, Remus? I've met your great-grandfather, years back! My mother kept telling me that I had to be quiet while she was trying to make 'contacts' for my future.' His nose scrunched up again. 'It was such a pain. He was very nice to me though, tried to entertain me with shadow puppets. Did he do that a lot when you were growing up?'

'Err…'

'Your family is loaded, isn't it?' Peter grinned slyly, 'So, you don't really need me to pay up on my debt, right?'

'Of course not!' Remus laughed nervously, happy to switch to a subject he could handle, 'We were kidding around; I don't need your money.'

'Great,' James said, 'And if we're ever a bit short, we know who to hit up, eh?' He elbowed Remus in the stomach and laughed.

'Um…' This was going too far now; it was ridiculous. He would just explain the family dynamics and they would have to understand. …But Peter was smiling at him like he was a long lost brother and James was clapping him on the back as if they'd known each other their whole lives. What would it hurt if he just didn't explain, really? Once they figured it out, he could say they had misunderstood him, after all.

With a weak laugh, Remus attempted another small smile. 'Right.'

For all of his good points when he was awake, James Potter had the worst snore Remus had ever heard. It honked and squawked until Remus was almost certain that James must have been choking in his sleep.

If he wasn't, Remus would have been happy to fix that.

Peter, the utter bastard, somehow managed to sleep soundly through it all.

It was, to put it bluntly, driving Remus up the wall. Having finally given up all hope for life as a free man, Remus had risen from his bed with the pillow he had been trying to block the horrific sound out with, idly wondering if it was possible to stop someone from breathing without actually killing him, when suddenly the noise stopped.

Needless to say, Remus was puzzled.

'It's a silencing charm,' the voice from the bed one over from Remus' said, 'My brother and I learned it years ago.'

Feeling that he ought to at least speak to the person who had just saved him from the life of a convict, Remus returned to his bed and faced the other boy. At second glance, Black seemed to be lying sideways over his bed sheets, head dangling over the edge of the mattress.

'Err,' Remus started, 'well, thanks.'

'Don't mention it,' the boy shrugged. 'It was keeping me awake as well.'

'Right, of course. I'm not surprised. Not that I don't think you can handle noise, but you know: loud, angry sounds pounding into someone's head. Who could sleep through that?' Mentally, Remus was hitting his head against a brick wall. He didn't function well this late at night, especially if he was already half-asleep. He tried to remember how the aristocracy in his books politely dismissed themselves from awkward conversations and pushed forward. 'Well, now that it's all over with, I think I'll-.'

'Oi, Lupin?' The other boy had cocked his head to the side and was grinning widely.

'Yes?'

'What do you think of Jim?'

Remus blinked. 'Well, he seems like a nice enough bloke, sleeping habits aside-.'

'No, I meant the other one.'

'The other-.'

'The adult,' Black clarified. He was positively beaming at Remus at that point.

Remus tried to find a 'Jim' in his sleep-laden memory bank and came up blank. 'I'm sorry, no. I don't think I've ever met the man.'

'Oh?' the boy drawled.

'No,' Remus repeated more firmly, 'I haven't. Why?'

'Oh, I don't know,' he said loftily, pushing himself into a sitting position so that he could stretch, 'I just thought that you might. I remember him saying that he'd met a "Remus" once and I thought it might have been you.'

Something was tugging at Remus' mind, insisting that he pay it attention. 'Um…'

'Yeah, now that I think of it, I can see where I got confused. He showed me a picture, you know. Cute little bugger, barely had all of his baby teeth in and already running away from his bath.'

The thought was doing cartwheels trying to break through the door to Remus' memory. 'Poor kid,' he managed to choke out.

'Oh, I thought so too. I said to myself, I said, "Sirius,"- that's my name, by the way, not Black. Please try to remember that, - "Sirius, that is one unfortunate child. He'll spend the rest of his days being passed from person to person and never know it. Worse yet, the first thing anyone who meets this boy in real life will think is, 'How strange it is to see you with clothes on. Thank goodness I have copies of your immortal photograph or I'd have never recognised you.'"'

'Copies?' came a squeak.

'Dozens. Don't interrupt,' Sirius smirked, 'I need to finish my story. Anyway, one day I asked darling Jim if I might meet this "Remus" person someday. Do you know what he said?'

'You bloody bastard,' Remus growled, having finally given in.

'Close, but no. He told me about his dearly beloved older brother, John who had been raising this child on his own after his Muggle wife died in childbirth. He explained how this marriage was the reason I had never met him or his lovely little son. In fact, Jim himself would probably get in trouble with his wife for mentioning this to me- my cousin Endora; she's such a pain. It saddened me for years, you know, a member of the Lupin clan I knew but could never meet.'

'Yes, that's beautiful. The stuff of poetry, even,' Remus said tightly.

'Mm hmm. We're going to be friends, yes? Because I know for a fact that you're not rich, they cut John out without a knut and you certainly aren't a pure-blood like those other two seem to think…'

'And? I doubt they'd care.'

Sirius sighed, 'Ah Remus, so young, so naïve. They may not care about the facts, but they'll have a hard time getting over the fact that you lied to them. That's the sort of thing that could ruin a good friendship before it's even started, hmm?'

Remus stared at him. That arrogant little prick. Why he had even thought for one moment that Sirius was someone to be pitied and helped was beyond him. 'You won't get away with this, you know.'

To Remus' surprise, Sirius began to laugh. 'I'm not trying to take over the world, you idiot,' he said, 'I just want to be friends. Chat a bit; get to know one another, that sort of thing. It would be nice if I knew not everyone in this house hated my guts.'

'But-.'

'There's no use arguing right now. I'll let you sleep on it, all right?'

Remus sighed. He'd had a lot to eat at the feast; maybe this was just some sort of pumpkin-induced nightmare. If he were really lucky, Remus would wake up the next morning knowing that nothing like this ever happened in reality. 'Yeah, fine. Good night.' He smiled into the dark and squeezed his eyes shut.

Several minutes passed before a highly amused voiced called out, 'You know, I think I'll call you "Moony".'

Remus winced. 'That's not funny.'

'Who's laughing? It's in honour of our beautiful past.'

'Ha ha.'

'I'm glad you approve.'

'What?' Remus turned himself back towards the other boy's bed and glared into the darkness. 'Who said anything about-.'

'Good night, Moony,' Sirius murmured sleepily and proceeded to fake a snore much louder than any of James.

Remus let out a groan. School was going to be agony.

Annnnnnnnd, the reviews!

names are overrated: Gah, thank you oh so much! I added in the actual summary to the page, so that's taken care of and I swear that I'll think up a title. Soon. XD

lilpadchick33: Mwahahaha, thank you! I'm glad you like it so far.

birds of morrigan: Thank you! Introductions and I do not get along, I swear. They always insist on being either far too long or too short.