We ended up with our house not selling for another month, and by the time it was time for me to go to Hogwarts, we were still staying with my grandparents.
On the 1st of September, my parents told me not to get up until six in the morning, so for two hours straight I was staring at my dad's watch. As soon as the time hit 6:00am, I jumped right out of bed.
"IT'S SIX O' CLOCK!" I screamed out, and my parents woke up with a shock. "I'M GOING TO HOGWARTS! HOGWARTS! HOGWARTS! FRIENDS! MAGIC! A HUGE CASTLE! HOGWARTS!"
My Nana and Pops, to my surprise, were already awake and dressed.
"We made you breakfast, precious!" Nana smiled widely.
"Really? Thank you so much, Nana and Pops!" I cried out excitedly, rubbing up to them and hugging them both tightly.
"Your… favourite… banana and blueberry… pancakes," Pops said, gesturing to the dining table.
I gasped. "YES! THANK YOU SO MUCH!"
My parents were sleepily making their way to the dining room as well.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to have so much sugar before the train ride?" Dad said, yawning.
"There's fruit on it!" Nana protested, winking at me. We all sat down at the table and started eating our pancakes, the table alive with chatter.
"Ugh, I can't believe we won't see you until December, Remus!" Mum complained.
"That's only three months, Mum!" I said.
"Too long!" she cried throwing her arms around me, then added darkly, "But do be careful with your condition."
"Look at your calendar," Dad added. "Don't forget to look at your calendar!"
"But keep the calendar hidden," said Mum.
"Make sure you speak to Dumbledore after the feast tonight," Dad said. "He'll show you where the shack you have to go to every month is."
"Alright, alright. Stop worrying! I'll be fine! I promise!" I smiled at them, although I did feel a bit queasy myself about going to Hogwarts with my condition. Worried about hurting someone… or passing on my condition…
No, came a firm voice in my head. You're not a monster. You're a good person.
If I focused on the fact that I was a good person, I could get through the term.
"I can do this," I said certainly.
"Yes you… can," said Pops, giving me a thumbs up.
"I can… do this…"
Before I knew it, we were all standing at King's Cross Station in front barrier between platforms 9 and 10.
"Come on, son," Dad said, nodding encouragingly. He took my hand and we ran through the barrier together, with Mum and my grandparents straight behind us.
A bright scarlet train was there, waiting for the students to board. My parents and my grandparents threw their arms around me at that point, completely breaking down.
"Oh, Remus!" Mum sobbed. "Write every day!"
"We'll see you at Christmas, son!" my father cried.
"Quick! The train's about to leave," my mother sniffed. I broke off from them and ran onto the scarlet train.
I found an empty compartment and waved to my family through the window, feeling tears of both joy and sadness coming to my eyes. The train tooted and then we were off. I let out a yell of excitement, just as Peter came in.
"Remus!" he panted. "My parents… told me… to look… for… you…"
"Cool," I said happily. "Well, are you looking forward to Hogwarts?"
"Very… excited," Peter was still panting as he sat down, so I assumed he'd run down the train to find me. "What house… do you want… to be in…?"
"I don't really mind," I said thoughtfully. "Although my father was in Ravenclaw. I wouldn't mind being in Ravenclaw. My grandmother gave me her copy of Hogwarts: A History, and it says quite a lot about the four houses. Gryffindor — the brave and bold; Ravenclaw — the wise and intelligent; Hufflepuff — the loyal and kind; and Slytherin — the cunning and resourceful."
"Any would be fine," Peter said, shrugging.
"Well, apparently Slytherin is—"
"Sorry, do you mind if we sit here?" came a voice from the compartment door. I looked up to see a girl and a boy about Peter and my age.
The girl, who had spoken, had long, waist-length dark red hair, a bandaid of freckles on her nose underneath bright, almond-shaped green eyes.
The boy, on the other hand, was very pale, with greasy black hair that fell a little past his ears, a hooked nose, and small black eyes.
"Of course," I said smiling. "I mean — no, we don't mind, of course you can sit here, though."
"Thank you so much," said the girl, and she and the boy sat on the seats next to us. "I'm Lily Evans, this is my best friend Severus Snape. And what are your names?"
"Remus Lupin," I said, trying to be as friendly as possible — these two could be potential friends.
"I'm… Peter Pettigrew," Peter said slowly.
"What happened to your face?" Severus asked. It was the first time he'd spoken and he was talking to me.
"What?" I said, trying to keep the nervous tone out of my voice.
"The scars," he said.
"Sev…" Lily warned.
"What? I'm just curious," Severus said, not taking his eyes off the scars on my face from where I had constantly scratched at myself during my werewolf transformations.
"Oh, I… I fell out of a tree, and the… twigs and branches scratched me pretty badly," I said, trying to sound believable.
"OK," Severus said, seeming to believe me. He then turned to Lily and they were talking about a whole heap of random things I didn't care about.
About an hour later, a plump woman came to our compartment with a trolley full of magical sweets.
"Anything off the trolley, dears?" she asked.
"No, thanks," I said. My parents, through many apologies, hadn't given me any money for the trolley witch due to us basically not having a house.
Lily and Severus both bought some food to share between them, and Peter bought basically everything. As the three of them ate, I grabbed out one of the many books I had brought from home and started reading.
As I read through the day, the sky turned dark and lights turned on in our carriage, and before I knew it, we were pulling up at Hogsmeade Station. We all climbed out of the train excitedly as the doors opened for us.
"Firs' years this way! Follow me, firs' years!" came a voice. A bunch of students around my age followed the voice, which belonged to a massive man with bushy black hair and a beard that matched it. "All righ', me name is Rubeus Hagrid, and I'm gonna take yeh to the boats."
"Boats?" Peter whispered to me.
"I think we're taking boats across the lake to the castle," I whispered back.
"Oh… right."
"Four to a boat! Come on, follow me!" Hagrid yelled out to us.
We walked about a hundred metres and came to where a group of boats were sitting in the huge lake. I climbed into a boat and was accompanied by Peter, Severus, and the small boat was drifting across the lake, and everyone was looking up at the huge castle in awe.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," Hagrid, who was in a single boat by himself, said with a smile.
The boats came to a stop and we walked into the Entrance Hall of the huge castle. A woman was standing there, waiting for us. She was tall, with black hair that was tied back in a tight bun. She wore emerald robes topped with a witch's hat.
"Thank you, Hagrid," she said, smiling at her colleague, who left with a wave. She then turned to the students. "Good evening, first years. My name is Professor McGonagall, and I am your transfiguration teacher here at Hogwarts, and the head of Gryffindor house. In just a moment, the sorting ceremony will commence, and you will all be sorted into one of the four houses — Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin.
"Your house will be your family for the next seven years. Any achievements at school, and you gain points for your house, any breaking the school rules, you lose points.
"When we go in, I want you all to line up in front of the stool. OK, so follow me."
The doors in front of us opened to reveal a room with four long tables, all full of students. Candles floated throughout the room, and the roof looked like the night sky.
My stomach did a flip as all the older students all looked at us as we all walked to the front of the room in a line, and stopped before a stool where an old, mouldy hat sat.
Then, a bit of the hat ripped open to form a mouth, and then it sung:
"Welcome to Hogwarts new students,
For you are about to have a good seven years
Surrounded by magic and fun with your peers
But now it is my job to give you your house,
For now you are shy as a mouse,
But soon you will gain confidence,
And be as brave as a lion,
As kind as a badger,
As wise as an eagle,
Or as cunning as a snake.
So try me on, and you will see, where I place you for your sake."
There was a cheering from all the students, then Professor McGonagall walked to the front and stood next to the stool, holding a list of names in her hands.
"Alright, when I call your name, come to the front and place the hat on your head. Abbot, Thomas!" she called.
"Excuse me," whispered a voice from behind me, and a short boy walked to the front and sat on a stool, then Professor McGonagall placed the hat on his head.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat cried out after a few seconds. One of the four long tables cheered as Thomas joined them.
"Black, Sirius," McGonagall read out.
A boy with dark hair that fell over his grey eyes ran up to the chair, grinning out at the tables. The Slytherin table let out a huge cheer.
"LETS GO, SIRIUS!" yelled out a girl of about sixteen with long, platinum blonde hair.
The hat was placed on Sirius's head, who I was guessing was already really popular and was going to be put in Slytherin.
Of course he'll be in Slytherin, I thought. Black! The 'noble house of Black'! They've all been in Slytherin for centuries!
The hat seemed to sit on his head for years before it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"
There was a stunned silence throughout the room. But then one person from Gryffindor cheered, followed by another, then another. Soon the entire Gryffindor table was cheering for their newest member.
"Blanchet, Monifa."
A girl with light brown skin and curly, waist-length black hair rushed up to the stool. The hat sat on her head for quite some time, before it shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"
The names whizzed by, most I didn't recognise, until, "Evans, Lily."
That red-head girl from the train walked up to the stool, looking nervous. The hat sit on her head for almost a minute, before it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"
I heard a low groan coming from behind me, and turned around to see Severus Snape looking up at Lily sadly as she walked down to the cheering sea of red which was Gryffindor table.
The names whizzed by, and then all of a sudden, I heard: "Lupin, Remus", and walked up to the stool.
I was shaking, and felt the eyes of every student and teacher looking at me judgementally.
"Hello, there," said a small voice in my head.
Can everyone hear this? I thought.
"No. Only you, Remus Lupin," the voice told me. "So… lets see in your head… oh, you think you're a monster because of your condition?"
How d'you…I started panicking at that moment.
"I can see everything in your head. I can see you're very kind, very, very, kind… very intelligent as well… so Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, perhaps… but I can see your bravery… your courage… I think it'd better be…GRYFFINDOR!"
The hat shouted out my house and the Gryffindor table erupted in cheers as I walked over to join them.
There was a spot at the end for first years, so I joined Lily and Sirius nervously.
"Welcome to Gryffindor," said an older boy with a badge on it that said 'Prefect'.
Peter's name was called after a while, and the hat sat on his head for a full five minutes before announcing he was in Gryffindor.
He slowly walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat with Lily, Sirius, one other girl who'd be sorted into Gryffindor as well, and I. He was welcomed by the Prefect, then we continued watching our fellow students.
After Peter, "Potter, James" was called.
"YEAH JAMES!" Sirius cried out. Sirius and James both seemed so confident I was almost jealous.
James grinned at Sirius. He had lots of messy, jet-black hair, he was short, skinny, and had small, hazel eyes.
The hat was placed on his head, and barely lasted a second before it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"
James came down to the Gryffindor table, and high-fived Sirius.
Out of the rest of the names, the only one I recognised was "Snape, Severus", who was sorted into Slytherin pretty rest of the names were called and then we were all sorted quickly, then Professor Dumbledore came out in front of us all.
"Welcome, students, to our 1971-1972 school year at Hogwarts!" he said. "Welcome to all new students, and welcome back to all returning students. As always, we will start the year with our school song!"
He waved his wand, and lyrics appeared in the air:
Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald,
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling,
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we've forgot
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot!
Everyone sung the song at their own tune, and it sounded amazing. I stuck to a very fast-paced tune, and was one of the first to finish. Once everyone had finished singing the song, the last being a bunch of fifth-year girls from Ravenclaw, whose tune sounded like it belonged to a slow, soppy, love song, Dumbledore announced the feast was to begin.
And just like that, food was appearing on the empty plates in front of us. It could have been every type of food in the world. I was starving, and dug right in. It was the first time I'd eaten since the pancakes my Nana and Pops had made this morning, which seemed like it was years ago.
"You hungry?" Sirius asked me.
"Starving," I nodded.
"I'm Sirius by the way," he smiled, talking to all of the Gryffindor first years. "How about you lot?"
"Peter," said Peter.
"Kate Weasley," said one of the girls. She was a classic Weasley, long, flaming red hair, freckles, bright blue eyes.
"Milly Greene," said the other girl. She had golden hair that fell down in a bob, topped with a fringe, huge brown eyes, and a bandaid of freckles on her tanned face.
"You already know my name, you insolent twat," Lily spat at both Sirius and James.
I looked at Lily judgementally. I didn't know this side of her, from the few hours that I'd known her at all. I brushed it off quickly, and enjoyed the food and the atmosphere of all the chatting students, the floating candles, and the night sky above us, and at the end of the feast I walked to the teacher's table to speak to Dumbledore, as directed by my parents.
"Ah! Remus!" he smiled. "Come on, let's go to my office."
He led me out of the Great Hall, and through the halls of the castle, up some moving stairs, to where a statue of a Griffin stood.
"Jellie Babies," he said, and the Griffin twisted around to reveal a stone staircase. I followed Dumbledore onto the stairs and it twisted around, coming into a huge room I assumed was his office.
On the walls of the room, there were many paintings of past Headmasters, and cabinets of all shapes and sized in every corner of the office, and I noticed a beautiful phoenix was sitting on Dumbledore's desk.
"I assume your parents told you to speak to me after the feast?" he said, gesturing for me to take a seat across from his desk.
"Yes, sir," I said, sitting down hesitantly.
"Alright, so I trust you remember remember when I came to your house last Spring to talk to you and your parents about the arrangements we have made for you during your transformations every month?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," I responded.
"Great, now come to the window for me," he said, walking towards the huge glass window with patterns of diamonds on it. I followed him, and looked outside. The moon was almost full. "The day of the full moon, I want you to go to the whomping willow after breakfast. You could transform any time during that day, so you will need to stay there all day, then through the night. There are many spells around the shack which will prevent you from getting out as your werewolf form.
"The next morning, you may stay in the shack for as long as you need to recover. There are many bandages and pain relief potions in there for you.
"Now — as I mentioned last time, to get into the shack, you must go through a hole under a tree I have planted called the Whomping Willow. You will need to use the spell, Immobulus to stop the tree from moving." He pointed down at the grounds to a tree that was swaying around violently, looking ready to attack anyone that came near it.
"But I don't know how to do any spells," I said. "How am I meant to —"
He put a hand up for me to stop talking. "I'm going to teach you that spell. But you mustn't mention this to any of the other students, or they will all come running to me, begging me to teach them a spell.
"As you probably know, the next full moon is this Saturday, so we don't have much time. Therefore, I am going to teach you this spell now. So, wand out, Remus."
I drew my wand, feeling nervous, but also excited about getting to learn a spell before anyone else.
"Immobulus is the incantation for the freezing charm. To do spells we need to move our wand in the wand movement that is required while saying the incantation," Dumbledore explained. "You with me?"
"Yes, sir."
"The wand movement for this certain spell is this…" With his own wand, he drew a sort of triangle shape, and it seemed kind of similar to the shape of an iceberg. "I will now demonstrate for you. So — throw a book at me."
"Er, all my books are in my trunk," I said.
"No problem, there's a bookshelf just there." He gestured to the biggest bookshelf I'd ever seen.
Hesitantly, I grabbed a book of the shelf, and threw it at him. Before it hit the old man, he moved his wand in that iceberg shape and cried, "Immobulus!" And the book froze midair.
"Wow! That's… that's just… wow!" I said excitedly. It felt like such an honour, to be privately learning a spell from the Headmaster.
"Your turn, Remus," Dumbledore said with a smile.
"My turn… what…?" Just like that, Dumbledore was throwing a book at me. "Ah! I-Immobulus!" I cried, but the book didn't stop, and it hit me in the shoulder. "Ouch!"
"Sorry, Remus," he said. "Don't forget the wand movement." He grabbed another book and threw it at me. I tried, but once again, was hit by the book.
"Sorry, sir," I said glumly.
"Don't apologise, Remus!" Dumbledore said, with a wide grin on his face. "I don't expect you to get it straight away, it's your first night at Hogwarts after all! The rest of your class won't learn this for another few months!"
"OK… let's… try again," I said.
He nodded, then once again threw a book at me.
"Immobulus!" I cried, doing the iceberg movement. Then, to my great surprise, the book froze. Then dropped to the floor. "I-I did it!"
"Yes, you did," Dumbledore said. "You're ready for your transformations, now. I wish you luck in your studies, Remus, have a good night."
"Thank you, sir," I said, as I left the office.
"Where were you?" James asked once I was in the dormitory.
"Bathroom," I lied. "Didn't know there was one in the common room."
"Took an awfully long time," said Sirius, who was bouncing on his bed.
"Yeah I know — constipation issues," I said, feeling absolutely ridiculous saying that.
"Must be… uh, pretty bad," said Peter.
"Yeah, it's not good," I said. James joined Sirius in the bouncing on the beds, while I opened up my trunk to grab out my pyjamas.
"You missed the tour of the castle," said Sirius.
"It's OK though, you'll figure it out soon enough," James added.
"So — d'you reckon they'll start classes straight up tomorrow?" I asked, trying to get the topic off me and my 'constipation issue'.
"I think so," said Sirius. "My cousin Andromeda says its such a Hogwarts thing to get us started straight away, with essays due in the first week."
"Gotta be kidding me," James complained.
"At least the schoolwork is magic," said Peter.
"Yeah — ouch!" Sirius hit his head on the top of the four-poster bed he'd been jumping on. He fell off his bed, clutching his head. James and Peter howled in laughter, but I ran up to Sirius in shock.
"Should we take him to the nurse?" I asked frantically. But then I saw that Sirius was laughing.
"Dude, I'm fine," he laughed. "Just hit my head."
"Sorry, I-"
"That's the sort of thing you laugh at your friends for," James said, wiping a tear of joy from his eye.
"F-friends?" I asked, looking up at him. "We're… friends?"
"May as well be," said Sirius, standing up. "I mean, we're all stuck in this dorm together for seven years… getting along may help."
I laughed. "Cool, well, uh, what do you wanna talk about?"
"How about we get some sleep," Peter said, yawning.
"No way!" James cried. "We've all just met each other, we need to have a… a ritual! Like a best friends ritual, y'know?"
"Yeah!" I said. I couldn't keep the excitement from my voice. "So… what's the ritual?"
"I had an idea," said Sirius. "We all cut off a bit of hair and put it in a ziplock bag, then keep it on the table until we graduate." He grabbed out some scissors and a ziplock bag from his trunk.
"Why you keeping that in your trunk, mate?" James asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Shut up," Sirius snorted.
"How about when we cut of the hair, we all have to tell each other a secret," James suggested.
My stomach did a flip. No way I could tell them my deepest, darkest, secret. No. I'd tell them something else.
"Sounds good," said Sirius. "Well, who wants to go first?"
"I-I will," said Peter. Sirius passed him the scissors and he cut a small bit off his mousey-brown fringe. "Well, the sorting hat almost put me in Slytherin. It was trying to decide between Slytherin and Gryffindor for ages."
"What?" James said. "Well, good thing you're in Gryffindor — no one wants to be in Slytherin. OK — I'll go next."
Peter passed James the scissors, and he cut a huge chunk of hair out of his messy, jet-black hair.
"That was a lot," Sirius said.
"Yeah, it grows really fast," James explained. "Well, my secret — I think someone in our year is hot."
"What!?" Sirius cried.
"Who?" Peter asked.
"How?" I asked. "We've only met everyone tonight."
"Don't know her well, but she's hot as hell!" James said, grinning. "Alright, who's next."
"Me!" Sirius said, snatching the scissors off James. He cut one of his black locks off. "Well, my secret is that… I'm related to the Dark Lord."
"Eugh," said James. "I bloody hope you're not like him."
"I'm not — promise," Sirius said. "Alright, Remus, you're turn."
"Um…" I trailed off as Sirius passed me the scissors, and I cut a piece of my own light brown hair off. "My secret is… you guys are actually the first friends I've ever had."
"Wait… you've never had friends?" James asked in disbelief. "You? You seem really nice, though."
"Ah, thank you," I said, smiling.
"OK, everyone, put your hair in the ziplock bag," said Sirius.
"What?" Peter asked.
"The hair, in your hand," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.
"Oh! Right! Sorry," said Peter. We all placed the bit of hair we'd cut into the ziplock bag Sirius was holding. He closed it and placed it on the round table in the middle of the room.
"This will stay here until we graduate," Sirius told us. "You may touch it or hold it, but you MUST put it back on the table afterwards. Do you all understand?"
"This is so stupid," Peter said, laughing.
"That's the best part," Sirius grinned. "Now what?"
"It's almost eleven…" said Peter, laughing. "I don't care what we do, though."
"We should pull an all-nighter!" James grinned.
I wanted to say that that would make us all ridiculously tired for class tomorrow, but I didn't want to seem uncool and have them not like me.
"Who wants to have a pillow fight?" Sirius cried out, bouncing on his bed.
"There will be no pillow fights tonight," came a stern voice.
We all turned around to see Professor McGonagall standing at our door. "You all have classes tomorrow, and you need a good night's sleep. Lights out and in bed. Now!"
I rushed to the light and switched it off, then we all ran into our beds.
"Go to sleep — I'll be back and if you're not all in bed asleep, Gryffindor will be on negative points," she said. "Goodnight, boys."
She left the room, leaving the four of us in silence, not daring to speak.