Chapter 2: The Journey
Remus was a young, skinny boy who was covered in scars in various stages of healing, which seemingly decorated nearly every inch of visible skin, he had short mousy-coloured hair which balanced somewhere between brushed and messy, and was always seen reading a book. He wasn't from a pureblood family or a wealthy one either but he was happy with his life. That was up until the age of 4, when during a full moon he was attacked by a known werewolf Fenrir Greyback, who had been waiting to attack as his father Lyall Lupin. Lyall had insulted Greyback at the ministry, and the werewolf had been out for revenge. Since the day Remus was attacked, he had spent every full moon transformed and locked in the cellar of his childhood home. He was overall a shy, quiet boy who was quite lonely as the family constantly had to move house as soon as someone discovered or started to piece together their secret. It was thanks to Dumbledore that he got the chance to go to Hogwarts to get a magical education, so he made sure to get to the platform early so he could find an empty carriage and read his book in peace.
It was only later after the train had been moving for a short while that he heard voices down the corridor towards the compartment he was sat in. "How do you politely tell someone one you wanna hit them in the face with a brick several times?" asked the boy with the long, dark curly hair. "One wishes to acquaint your face with a rigidly-edged object currently used in the construction of walls repeatedly", he replied, not bothering to look up from his book. Because of this, he missed the shocked looks of the boys as they stood in the doorway jaws hanging open, allowing metaphorical flies to enter their mouths ."Wow that was poetry" said the boy, "No, that was a therapy cry for both of you" said his companion, whose dark hair seemed to be sticking up in every possible direction."I'm James" he said "and this is Sirius" he continued, pointing first to himself and then to the boy standing beside him. "Are we ok to sit here with you?" "Sure" Remus replied, turning back to his book as the boys sat down on the seats opposite him.
It was a little while later when they heard someone coming down the corridor, "ANYTHING FROM THE TROLLEY! ANYTHING FROM THE TROLLEY,". The voice stopped outside the door to their compartment before the door slid open, revealing a woman who looked to be in her 50s, and a trolley loaded with magical sweets and snacks. "Hello dearies." the lady said to the boys,"would ya like anything from the trolley?" The group discussed it for a while before helping themselves to some of the treats on offer.
After the lady with the trolley had moved away again, Remus returned to his book, hoping to finish a couple more chapters before getting to the school. However, the silence of the compartment was broken a few minutes later, this time by James yelling at Sirius, "WHY ON MERLIN'S MAGIC WOULD YOU WANT TO BE IN SLYTHERIN?! THE HOUSE IS FILLED WITH ALL THOSE SNEERING PUREBLOODS WHO THINK THEY ARE BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE! . Gryffindor, that's the better house. Even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are much better than that house. My dad was a gryffindor and he said that most of slytherin were either bullies or loners; apparently they rarely ever leave the dungeons. Preferred to be with their own house instead of mixing with muggle borns, although times have changed", "Ye well it's tradition in my family to be sorted into slytherin, any other house and you'll be seen as a disgrace. Ravenclaw isn't too bad, but they would rather us be in nothing other than Slytherin!" Replied Sirius glumly, thinking to himself about the possibility of being sorted into Gryffindor himself. "What kind of family would only accept one house?" Remus asked him, Sirius opened his mouth to reply, but James had already begun to answer. "A Dark one more often than not.". They both turned to look at Sirius, "Which family are you from, Sirius" James asked. "The Black family" replied Sirius, who had taken to staring resolutely out the window by this point, seemingly determined to avoid eye contact with either of the boys in his compartment. "Oh." said James, "but you don't seem like a Black". Sirius turned away from the window now to look as James, an incredulous look on his face, "I don't? Then what do I seem like?" he asked. "Well, you're actually nice" James said, slightly worrying about the reaction he might receive. Sirius laughed loudly at that. "Thanks," he said. And the tension that had seemingly been building in the carriage since the talk of families, disappeared instantly.
For the rest of the journey the boys mostly talked about what subjects they were looking forward to and by time they were pulling up at Hogsmeade station Sirius had realised that maybe he wasn't a Slytherin, and that maybe it would be a good thing to stray away from traditions of his family. Once most of the students had left the train, the boys disembarked and followed the crowd of other first years until they heard a voice booming across the platform, "FIRST YEARS THIS WAY! FIRST YEARS FOLLOW ME!", they followed the voice only to find the source being a half giant who seemed to tower over them. Granted,they were only little firsties and hadn't fully grown yet, but this man was humongous. They joined the crowd of first year following the man, down some slippery stone sets to the edge of a massive lake, where nearly 50 small, wooden boats were waiting. Following the instruction of the large man, the boys clambered into the nearest boat before being joined by another boy. He was small and chubby, with light skin and thin hair that was somewhere between blonde and mouse brown. He was stuttering slightly as he spoke, clearly nervous as he introduced himself to the boys as Peter Pettigrew and from then the boys seemed to grow comfortable in the presence of each other, comfortable enough for Sirius and James to pull and drag each other into the lake. "OI YOU TWO GET BACK IN THE BOAT BEFORE THE SQUID GETS YA!". The two boys broke into fits of giggles as Remus and Peter tried to haul them up back into the boat, only to be pulled into the lake themselves. Hagrid had then made his way over to help all four of them back into their boat, warning them not to fall out again. This, however,meant that all four of the boys were dripping wet during the trek up to the doors of the Great Hall where the feast was being held. And this did not go unnoticed by Professor Mcgonagall.
"Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry", said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term feast will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your respective houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony. Whilst you are here, your house will be like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses here at Hogwarts are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours"."The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting". Her eyes lingered for a moment on the four boys who were still drenched in lake water, creating small puddles on the floor where their robes had been dripping ,"I will return when we are ready for you", said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly, and as for you four SCOURGIFY! I hope there won't be any more quarrelling in the lake from now on!" She gave a small nod to herself, before walking into the hall, leaving the crowd of first years to talk quietly amongst themselves.
Not long afterwards, she returned and announced to the group, "The Sorting Ceremony is about to start"...