Not the happiest of chapters... but this is a marauders fic so what do you expect

Nana's house was in ruins. She was standing on her driveway, the only thing that remained of the destruction, sobbing.

"You-Know-Who!" she cried. "He was here! He tortured me, h-he burned Allan to death, he d-destroyed the house!"

"Mum," said Dad, wrapping his arms around Nana, who was hysterical. "It'll be OK. So… so Dad's body is —"

"There," Nana sobbed, pointing at the scatters of dust. "He was burnt into that!"

Dad cupped his face in his hands. "Why would he attack here?"

"I… don't… know." Nana grabbed a tissue and blew her nose loudly. "He wanted information about where the Order of the Phoenix is… I tried to tell him I didn't know!"

"Alright, it's alright… we'll take you back to our house, Mum," Dad told her. He obviously wouldn't bring up whatever he'd been talking about with my mum now. We all joined hands, then he apparated. We arrived home, and Dad immediately started putting defensive enchantments around the house. Mum brought Nana inside and sat her down on the couch.

"Do you have any brandy, Hope?" Nana asked, still trembling, "I could do with a nice drink…"

"We don't, but we have tea?" Mum offered kindly.

"Never mind," said Nana, shaking her head in disbelief. "I can't believe this…"

I walked to the fridge and grabbed out a chocolate bar and handed it to Nana. She took it gratefully and ate away at it.

"It happened just now," she said, "I sent my Patronus straight away in case they came back, I just don't want to believe this has happened… You-Know-Who himself! And Allan! Burnt to dust!"

She blew her nose loudly.

I wasn't sure how I felt about what happened. I couldn't believe that my Pops… my quiet, smart, drawer Pops was dead. Gone. I'd never see him again. I was used to grief by now, so I kept quiet, and didn't bother my parents or Nana. They were talking about finding a new house together after the funeral for all four of us, except none of them were particularly rich, so it was quite a task.

The funeral itself was a quiet affair, just us and my cousins who lived in America and went to Ilvermorny. Nana cried the entire time, even when she was delivering a speech. I couldn't blame her, though. At Pops' wake, I caught up with my cousins for the first time since I was ten. There were two of them, Daniel who was a year older than I was, and Lisa who was a year younger.

"You guys should move to America, the war's not there," Daniel said to me, stuffing his mouth with food.

"If everyone moves, the war will just spread," I responded, shrugging.

"We're keen to leave soon," said Lisa, "away from this war-ridden country."

I looked at her, not sure how to feel. Couldn't she just pay her respects to her grandfather, instead of talking about wanting to leave? I shook my head and left them to talk to my parents.

It took her a while, but Nana started getting herself together. We were still living in the house in London we'd been living in since I was eleven. It turned out another wizarding family had moved in next door, and one of them was a magizoologist. My parents had advised I just stay away from them until we could move.

Apart from this, life was not normal. I was noticing good and bad changes in myself. The good was that I noticed my voice was sounding slightly more manly and less childish, which was all very exciting and made Mum shed a tear or two and go on and on about how I was becoming a big man or something like that. But along with that, I felt a strange feeling in me, it felt like I wanted to transform into my wolf form. Every night I would lie in my bed, making weird noises and wishing I could have my sharp teeth and claws, and tear someone to shreds…

I slapped myself. What was wrong with me? I couldn't tell my parents this, they'd probably think I was going mad! But I also wanted to find out if this was normal, but I didn't know how.

Of course it's not normal, in the past I've always been scared to transform, I thought. I still feared the pain of it, but I just felt like I wanted to that werewolf body permanently.

I shook my head and checked my clock. It was already seven in the morning and my parents were taking me to Diagon Alley that day. I would have to do some research at the library when I got to school.

Soon, the full moon came, and the next morning I could barely walk. I had new wounds on almost every inch of my body, each worse than the next. Did this have something to do with my wanting to transform?

"Morning, Remus," Mum opened the door, and when she saw me, she looked like she was about to scream. She took in a deep breath, then grabbed one of my bloody arms and led me out to the living room, where Dad and Nana were chatting. They stopped as soon as they saw me.

Everyone was treating me like a baby but was too tired to care. Dad and Nana both tried to make the bleeding go down with magic, to no avail as neither of them were good healers. Mum placed me down on the couch and rushed to the bathroom, coming back with toilet paper.

They all pressed the toilet paper to my wounds, and eventually the bleeding died down. I must have been reckless that night. Dad asked me many questions, but I just shrugged them off. I wasn't completely sure why that full moon had been so bad, but I suspected it may have had something to do with my strange longing to transform.

It took the rest of the holidays for the wounds to turn into red scars, and on the first of September, I was feeling more insecure than ever. Mum, Dad, and Nana all tried to tell me it was barely noticeable, but I knew that it was in fact very obvious.

"It'll be alright," said Dad as we arrived at King's Cross Station. He squeezed my hand, and we all ran through the barrier to platform nine and three quarters, and I knew instantly that everyone was staring at me.

"Nice face, Lupin," Avery, a Slytherin guy in my year sneered at me, causing Nana to swear at him.

"Want us to walk you to the train?" Mum offered, giving Nana a look.

"I'm fine," I said, catching sight of James waving at me. I gave them all a quick a hug, then I walked towards James.

"Remus, dear, are you alright?" Euphemia asked as soon as she saw me.

"I'm fine," I said, wishing I could cover up my face as well as the rest of my body. "Look, there's Peter."

Peter came stumbling towards us, waving. James said goodbye to his parents, and the two of us approached our shorter friend.

"How was Italy?" I asked Peter.

"Oh, it was good to get away from the war for a bit," Peter said, "and the pizza is very different there…"

He went off talking about how traditional pizza was different to the stuff we got in England, and I eventually zoned out and began darting my eyes around to find Sirius. I eventually saw him, and I realised he wasn't with his parents. His parents were on the other side of the station, with Regulus.

Sirius was with a young couple, a girl who looked like Bellatrix Lestrange, but with a kinder face and lighter hair. A blond man stood on the other side of Sirius, and I noticed he was holding a small baby. I eventually made eye contact with Sirius, and he, the couple and the baby approached us.

"Hi," Sirius said. He spoke quieter than usual.

The young woman smiled at me. "My name's Andromeda. I'm Sirius's cousin. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh… I'm Remus," I said politely. I wanted to talk to Sirius about what had happened at James's house.

"I'm Ted, Andromeda's husband," the man said, smiling, "and this is our daughter, Nymphadora."

The baby's hair was purple, then pink, then blue… it kept changing. I looked down at her with awe. I'd never seen anything like that.

"She's a metamorphmagus," Andromeda smiled. "When she's older, she'll be able to control her appearance, but for now it'll constantly change."

"That's… amazing," James said, eyes wide.

"I know," said Ted, "anyway… you lot should head off, the train's leaving in just a minute…"

"Oh!"

Sirius hugged Andromeda, nodded at Ted and gave Nymphadora a small kiss on the head, then followed us onto the train. I hoped we'd be able to get a private compartment so we could talk to Sirius about what happened. However, the train was buzzing with first years, there were so many, and every compartment we passed had people in it. James scowled when he saw Lily sitting with Snape.

"The student body seems a lot less dead," said Peter, "is it just me, or is there more first-years than usual?"

"I think so… everywhere is full!" James groaned. "Every single compartment has people in it!"

"Oi, James," came a voice. "James!"

"What?" James walked to the compartment where the voice was coming from. There were two fourth year girls in there. The girl who'd spoke had platinum blonde hair that fell to her ears. She had a silver septum piercing and wore a shimmery black dress that I didn't think was the best thing to wear on a six-hour train ride. Since I knew she was in fourth year, she must have been fourteen, yet her look and confident air made her seem like she was eighteen years old. The other girl was the opposite of her friend. She had a friendly, round face and long dark hair, and wore a jumper and trousers, like most people did on the train.

"Oh, hey, Marlene," said James to the blonde girl. "C'mon guys, let's just sit here."

My friends and I all sat down across from the girls. I didn't have anything against them, but I wanted to talk to my friends in private badly. Just have to wait another six hours…

"Guys, this is Marlene McKinnon, she's…" James started.

"Thanks Potter, I can introduce myself," Marlene, said. "James and I play Quidditch together. I'm Seeker."

Sirius spoke finally, "Marlene McKinnon… it's great to finally meet you… you're… you're really good at Quidditch."

Marlene just smiled at him.

"I'm Alice Fortescue," said the other girl. "I don't play Quidditch, but Marlene and I are friends."

"And it seems our other friend, Dorcas Meadowes is running late… again," said Marlene. "She almost or completely misses the train every. Single Year."

"And in first-year, she had to be specially taken to Hogwarts because she missed the train completely," said Alice, laughing. "So, you four are little third-years, then?"

"We're one year below you, don't call us little!" Peter muttered.

"This little one's a shorty," Marlene said, kicking James's shin.

"Shut up," James muttered, but he was smiling.

"So, Sirius," said Marlene, putting her feet on the seat. "You going to try out for the team again this year? There's a spot available for beater…"

"Oh, yeah, I guess I will try out…" Sirius responded, looking out the window. Something was definitely up with him.

"I'm here! I'm here!" A girl came bursting in as the train started moving. She looked like Monifa with a fringe, which caused my stomach to churn. "Sorry I'm so late! I woke up literally five minutes ago!"

"God, Dorcas," said Alice, shaking her head. "You'd lose your head if it wasn't screwed on!"

"Well, I'm here now," Dorcas grumbled, sitting next to Marlene. "Who are you guys? I know you're James Potter and you're Sirius Black, the two full of themselves little boys from the year below us."

"Little boys?" James repeated. "Little boys?"

"Well, James, you play Quidditch, don't you?" Dorcas asked, ignoring him. "And Sirius, you're the only Black family member that's in Gryffindor?"

"That's me," Sirius said, "the family disappointment."

"And you two?" Dorcas asked Peter and I.

"I'm Remus… Remus Lupin," I said.

"Peter Pettigrew."

Just then, another girl came in. She had her arms crossed and was staring at the other three girls angrily.

"Where's my robes?" she snapped. "WHERE DID YOU PUT MY ROBES, MCKINNON?"

"I guess you'll have to look for them, Vance," said Marlene, a grin appearing on her face. "They gotta be on the train somewhere."

"You've hidden them! I know you have!" the other girl cried.

"Maybe," said Marlene, shrugging.

"I'm telling the teachers!" the girl snapped.

"Teachers don't catch the train," Dorcas told her.

"Stop it! Give me my robes! I need them!" the girl whined.

Alice drew her wand, and simply said, "Flipendo!"

The girl at the door fell over and out of the compartment, then Marlene closed and locked the door, and the girl started crying then ran off.

"Who's that?" Peter asked.

"Emmeline Vance," said Dorcas, crossing her arms. "Only the biggest sook in Gryffindor."

"She cries about everything," said Alice, rolling her eyes. "Not even good at anything, the biggest dobber…"

"So, you can understand how it's fun to annoy her… the reaction is priceless!" Marlene laughed.

"So she's what, fourteen years old and still chucks tantrums?" James asked.

"Pretty much," said Marlene, rolling her eyes, "and she's in our dormitory."

James and Sirius then went off telling the girls about how annoying Snape was, and how they were planning to pull more pranks on him this year, which went on for hours, and the girls all thought these were 'hilarious little boy ideas'.

"Honestly, you guys are only a year older than us!" Sirius cried, crossing his arms. "Stop calling us little!"

"You are little!" said Alice, ruffling James's already messy hair. The train was slowing down, and I pressed my face against the window to see the castle coming closer and closer. Finally. The train came to a complete stop, and we all climbed off the train. I saw Emmeline Vance chasing Marlene, Alice, and Dorcas and followed my friends towards the carriages. I looked around. There definitely were more first years than usual. In front of me, Lily was talking with Snape, and it seemed like they were having a heated argument.

"I'm telling you, Lily! There's so many signs!" Snape hissed.

"He's just ill, Sev," Lily said impatiently.

"Every month on the full moon?" Snape asked. My stomach dropped. Were they talking about me? "Those monsters come out on the full moon!"

"Stop worrying, Severus," Lily said. "I'm sure it's just a coincidence. Why do even care?"

"I don't want a…" he lowered his voice, "…A werewolf at the same school as me."

"You don't have any proof," said Lily. "Just forget it, you're worrying about nothing. Oh, Remus! Hey! How are you doing?"

"Good thanks," I said, climbing onto a carriage with Sirius, James, and Peter. It started moving, and James caught sight of Lily in the carriage in front of us and waved at her frantically.

Sirius caught James's hand quickly, shaking his head. "James, that's not how you get her to like you, that's just dumb," he said, cupping his face in his hands.

The carriages came to the castle, we walked into the Great Hall and headed towards the Gryffindor table. I saw Emmeline Vance, still in her joggers, screaming at the other fourth-year girls, chasing them through the Great Hall. The chatter in the Great Hall was like nothing I'd ever seen; the mood was buzzing.

"This is horrible," said Sirius. His grey eyes looked sad as he looked around at the four tables. "What does Dumbledore think he's doing, replacing everyone's who's died? Letting people come here for free just because he doesn't want his school to look dead? He didn't even seem to care when literal kids were murdered… he says he values our safety, but he clearly doesn't, he barely even acknowledged them! The fact that he just expects us all to move on and act like nothing happened."

"What do you mean, let people come for free?" I asked.

"Andromeda said they've let all the first-years come for free," Sirius said, "some even came from overseas, that's why there's so many… it's just because Dumbledore wants the school to look better, for his name or something."

"What?"

"Sirius, it's because everyone wants to forget, and a lack of students is a reminder of what happened," James said.

"Forget the experience, yes, but forget the people? Forget our friends?" Sirius shook his head angrily at Professor Dumbledore, who was welcoming the first years into the school. We all remained silent.

During the long Sorting Ceremony, I only recognised one name: "Crouch, Bartemius."

"Bartemius Crouch?" I repeated. "Doesn't he work at the Ministry?"

"This is his son," said James, "they have the same name."

"Oh, OK…" I looked back up as Bartemius Crouch got sorted into Slytherin, and the ceremony continued. It seemed to go on for years, and then finally, finally, the last kid got sorted, then we listened to Dumbledore's start of year speech.

"You may have all noticed we have many new friends joining us this year, more than the usual amount of first years," Dumbledore said, smiling out at all of us. "As you all may know, many students were killed last year, so we have many new friends to make up for it. Your old friends would have wanted you to enjoy this… so please, make your new friends feel at home. Enjoy your feast!"

"That's it?" Sirius muttered. "New friends to make up for it? The man's gone mental, I swear to god."

Sirius stayed in a terrible mood for the entire feast, and when we came back to the common room, he was telling whoever would listen his opinion on what Dumbledore had said. I wished we could all just go to the dormitory and speak privately, but Sirius wouldn't have it.

"I don't mind too much…" said Mary Macdonald, a second year.

Frank Longbottom from fourth year, however, thought Sirius was being a complete nutter.

"Dumbledore is a great man!" he protested. "You're just being mean! It wasn't his fault so many people died!"

"I never said it was, you bloody idiot!" Sirius yelled at him.

"Stop being such a lunatic and hating on our headmaster!" Frank yelled, drawing his wand, but James quickly drew his own and disarmed Frank.

"You want to hex my best friend? You'll have to get through me, first," James said, pointing his wand at Frank.

"Shut up, all of you!" yelled Alice Fortescue, stepping between them. "You're all blinded by grief. Just… go to bed."

"Alice —"

"Go to your dormitory, Frank!"

He didn't argue, he just ran upstairs to the boy's dormitory. Alice was staring daggers at both Sirius and James, so they just grunted and headed upstairs too, closely followed by Peter and I. Finally.

"Whatever," said Sirius. "The wankers can believe whatever they want, I don't give a shit."

He grabbed his pyjamas and stormed into the bathroom. James just laughed, and grabbed his invisibility cloak out of his trunk and placed it on his bed.

"Any one up for a little trip tonight?" he asked.

I shook my head. I was tired, but first I needed to talk to Sirius. Thankfully, he came out of the bathroom, and I approached him.

"We need to talk about something," I said. "James's house, when the death eaters came and attacked us… you were there, Sirius. What happened?"

"I…" Sirius leant on the wall and sank to the floor, trembling.

Marlene, Dorcas and Emmeline's appearances are all based off cosplays I've seen.

Marlene: natalee_suzanne_

Emmeline: .an.a

Dorcas: d_dubzz

They're amazing, go check them out (on tik tok)