Disclaimer: Once again, nothing is mine. NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING!

Notes: Hello one and all, and welcome to another exciting episode of Becoming Moony! I'm your host Trendyfishie89 and I hope you enjoy.

Becoming Moony: First Sight

"Gryffindor!"

As the Sorting Hat was lifted from his tawny haired head, Remus chanced a glance around the hall. The Slytherins were cheerless of course, the Ravenclaws were bright eyed and ready to learn, the Huffepuffs were content in their lackadaisical pursuits. The Gryffindors were going nuts for a boy they knew nothing about. Cheering for a lack luster ragamuffin, with shabby robes and tired golden eyes. It made Remus droop with exhaustion even thinking about it.

As Remus sat at the Gryffindor table, his insecurities came rushing back to him. What if no one liked him? What if everyone thought he was a freak?

Remus was so deep in his insecurities that he never noticed the pitcher of pumpkin juice that hovered just above his collar. He did notice, however, when it poured itself down the back of his robes.

"AAIEEEEE!" Remus's scream reverberated around the Great Hall, being magnified infinitely. There was a deep and dead silence, then a sudden crescendo of raucous laughter. Remus became as read as a ripe tomato. This was not the way he wanted to start school.

Remus stood blushing and humiliated in front of the entire school, dripping with pumpkin juice. Professor McGonagall stood to address the problem.

"Scourgify," said McGonagall, clearing the juice up and off of Remus. "Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, my office after the feast."

As Remus sunk back into his chair, face still red with embarrassment, he turned and found the two boys who had drenched him snickering into their hands.

One boy was shorter than most boys, not including Remus, who was the smallest, had hazel eyes, black hair that looked as though it had been through a tornado, and wore glasses. The other was of average size, had grey eyes that sparkled with laughter. He also had black hair but it laid flat. They both had a haughtiness that came only with purebloods. They were, also, freshly sorted Gryffindors. Wonderful, thought Remus, life really wasn't fair.

"How rude, I'd smack them if I could without getting into trouble." said the girl who sat across from him. Remus glanced up at her, a shy smile on his face. Maybe he had found a friend, however temporary, after all.

"Me too." said Remus.

"I'm Lily Evans by the way."

"I'm Remus Lupin."

"It's nice to meet you Remus."

"Its nice to meet you too."

All too soon dessert had been cleared away and Dumbledore was standing to address the school.

"Welcome, students, t a new year at Hogwarts. A notice to the first years, the Forbidden Forest is just as its name suggest, forbidden. Also, the newly planted Whomping Willow is strictly off limits to all students who do not wish to be seriously injured."

Remus squirmed uncomfortably. That particular willow had been planted for him. For his disease more like. Grievous injury indeed. Death by werewolf.

/page break/

As Remus awoke the next morning, he knew something was off. He couldn't feel the softness of the mattress, which was strange because Remus was sure he didn't sleepwalk.

Remus blinked open his eyes and closed them again when he realized why he couldn't feel his bed anymore. He was being levitated up near the ceiling of the dorm room. Te problem was though, that the spell was paper-thin. One move and e would go down. Of course, at this particular moment, that was the only way down.

Remus sighed and threw the blankets off of himself and down to the floor. He just hoped that the bed linens broke his fall just the tiniest bit. Remus then moved two kilometers to the left and fell.

The landing was not painless, but it didn't hurt as much as it would have considering that the linens fell into the correct place.

Remus scrambled upward when his eyes landed on his watch. He was late. On his first day nonetheless. In record time he was dressed and down the stairs, out of the common room, and sprinting madly down the corridor. Running so fast that he ran smack into somebody coming around the corner. Somebody much larger than him.

"Watch where you are going pipsqueak." said the body.

Remus glanced up and concluded two things. One, that this blue eyes blonde was a seventh year and two, that he really didn't like Remus very much.

"I'm so sorry, its just, I'm late and-"

"Does it look like I care?" snarled the blonde. Remus wondered if this was a trick question, because, judging by the Head Boy badge on his robes, he should care.

"I…um- I-"

"Leave the kid alone Malfoy." came a voice from behind the Head Boy.

"Back off McAvoy. I'll deal with this."

"Not when you're scaring his so bad that he looks like he's going to cry. Go to class, now." said McAvoy, the Ravenclaw Head Girl.

"We are not through McAvoy."

"Of course not darling. Move on."

Malfoy stormed off in a huff, his long blonde hair swinging to and fro.

"Sorry about him, he's such an ass." said McAvoy, coming to stand next to Remus.

"I'm Aisling McAvoy. You are…?"

"Remus."

"Well Remus, you are very late did you know?"

"Yeah." said Remus, blushing.

"Shall we get your schedule and get you to class then?" asked Aisling.

"Yes, please."

"So polite! You're going to be a heartbreaker, I know it."

Remus blushed again and Aisling laughed. They started down the hall.

/page break/

Remus eventually got to class, twenty minutes late. Professor H. Slughorn was not happy about it.

"Mr. Lupin! In the future, if my class begins at nine o'clock in the morning, I fully expect you to be here at nine o'clock in the morning. Are we clear?"

"Yes Professor Slughorn. I'm very sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cover it Lupin. Not at all, but have a seat, next to Mr. Snape will be fine."

"Yes sir." whispered Remus, sitting next t a greasy haired boy. The boy looked at Remus quickly, then away just as fast. A Slytherin, thought Remus, yay me.

Professor Slughorn moved on quickly enough. He started mumbling on about some shrinking potion and left most students to their own devices. Remus turned his head slightly to look at the boy, Snape. He wasn't much to look at on first sight. but once you got past the slightly nasty state of his hair you could see him better.

Snape had a Romanesque quality about him, one's that would surely develop more as he matured. He could be rather nice looking if he would wash his hair and take the scowl off his face.

"Stop staring at me." said Snape, turning to glare at Remus.

"Sorry." replied Remus, turning to look at his text. He hadn't meant to stare. He heard Snape sigh and turn again.

"Never mind. It just makes me nervous."

Remus smiled, maybe Snape was okay after all.

"Do you want to get the ingredients?" Remus asked, "Or do you want me too?"

"You go get hem. I'll set the cauldron up. M y name is Severus by the way."

"I'm Remus, nice to meet you." replied Remus as he got up.

The rest of class passed smoothly, if you didn't count the constant glaring of Potter and Black. Remus found out that Severus, for all his unpleasantness, was a very good potion brewer and that he was not. But Severus was, mostly, patient. He explained what Remus had done wrong and what he could do to correct it. Severus, Remus thought, would make a good teacher.

The day had been starting to get better, until the bell to end class was rung. Then things took a turn for the worse. Black and Potter had caught up to where Severus and Remus were talking about the merits of muggle literature.

"Hey look James. It's Loony Lupin and Spiteful Snape. What a pair." sneered Black, glaring at the two.

"I believe you are right, Sirius. We shouldn't let this wonderful opportunity pass us by." said Potter, a conspiratorial look upon his features.

Remus quickly glanced at Severus, who looked as nervous as he felt. Judging by what had happened this morning, being cornered by these two wasn't good.

"What should we do to them James?"

"I don't know Sirius How about we-"

"Leave them alone you brutes." cried Lily, coming up behind the two pranksters.

"Why should we?" asked Black, sneering at her. Remus glanced at Potter, briefly. His face had gone slack and his eyes wide.

A crush maybe? thought Remus.

"Now Sirius, maybe we should listen to her." stuttered Potter, turning red as he looked at Lily.

Definitely a crush. Remus smirked, maybe this could be used to their advantage later on.

"What! What do you mean 'listen to her'? She's just being a nosy do-gooder."

As Potter and Black argued, Remus felt a nudge against his elbow. Remus glanced at Severus, who motioned down the hall. Lily had disappeared the moment it looked like Potter was going to go after her. Remus nodded and together they moved toward freedom.

/page break/

Remus smiled. Potter and Black wouldn't know what hit them. It wasn't that Remus hated them, he just didn't like the fact that they picked on people that they considered below themselves. Remus was helping the downtrodden, or trodden upon, pick themselves back up after Potter and Black were through. Besides, like Potter and Black said, a little prank never hurt anyone.

/page break/

Remus made sure he was down in the Great Hall early the next morning. This promised to be entertaining and Remus didn't want to miss a thing.

The hall was moderately crowded, mostly students and few professors, a good audience size. Remus hoped that people appreciated this, it had taken him weeks to find and memorize the spells for this. It had taken him longer to learn them and to put the spells into action. It was going to be very worth it in the end.

Remus straightened as Black and Potter cam gallivanting into the hall, talking loudly. Cue magical DNA tracer, cue tilting spell thought Remus. A huge bucket of liquid rubber tipped from the doorway, hidden by a concealing spell, until it hit with a sickening squelch over the two boys. Black's jaw dropped open as he stare at his sticky body. Potter stood completely still, shocked into a standstill.

The Hall was silent, but Remus wasn't done yet. Cue time-release spell and wind spell. A huge blast of fluffy yellow feathers rained down upon the students, sticking where ever they fell, which meant Potter and Black were covered. And the rubber was quick drying, meaning they were stuck. Remus grinned. A modern tar and feathering, lovely.

As one the school began to laugh. McGonagall stood, and Remus had a vague sense of déjà vu.

"Who is the person responsible for this? Hmm?" she shouted, waving her wand to get rid of the extra feathers. Nobody said a word. Only Remus knew and he wasn't telling.

"Very well, but if I find out who did this he punishment will be severe. Potter, Black, go……clean yourselves up."

Remus snickered into his oatmeal, this was too good. Lily leaned over and gave him a thumbs up. Severus couldn't stop smirking into his toast, and a couple of professors were trying not to laugh.

As Remus dropped off his morning textbooks he could still hear the two boys trying t get the, now dry, rubber off. Remus peered into the bathroom and was met with a sight. The two boys were sitting cross-legged on the tile floor. They were both naked except for their underwear and were fervently trying to scrub the rubber off of each other's faces. Remus giggled.

The boys looked up at the sound. Remus started to back away, no good could come from them knowing he was here.

"Hey Lupin! Come 'ere. We aren't going to hurt you." called Black.

"Much." mumbled Remus, but he went against his instincts and stood still while the two approached.

"Did you do this to us?" asked Potter, not in anger, but, surprisingly, in awe.

"Yes." Remus mumbled out, ready to bolt at the first sign of violence. Instead, Black and Potter looked first at each other and then at him. A smile blossomed on each of their faces.

"Lupin….that was bloody awesome! How did you get those spells to stick like that?" shouted Black, as he grabbed Remus around the neck.

"Yeah, ours are always thin and they don't work well. Will you help us?" asked Potter, a hopeful look on his face.

"Help you? Why should I help you? You spent the first weeks of school making me feel miserable and you tried at every end to make sure I had no friends. Why should I help you? Give me one good reason." bellowed Remus, throwing Black's arm off of him. How could these boys even think about asking him to help them make others miserable.

Black and Potter had the good grace to look sheepish. They scuffed their feet against the floor and hung their feather infested, rubber covered, heads.

"We were just having fun." murmured Black, looking up at Remus, through his eyelashes.

"You were having fun? How could making someone feel like crap be fun? I am astounded that you would even deem me thick enough to consider helping you out. " Remus shouted, throwing his hands up in the air.

"But-"

"No," said Remus, "We're through here."

/page break/

As the full moon loomed above him, he had a last coherent thought before the change was completed. Maybe he was wrong about Black and Potter, just like he had been wrong about Severus. Maybe they were decent blokes. And maybe it would be just a little worth it if he helped them out. The pranks may not as awful if Remus could influence it.

/page break/

Remus stumbled up to the dorm, completely exhausted. Changing always took so much out of him. He just hoped that no one had noticed his two-day infirmary stay.

"Hey Lupin, where've you been?" came Black's voice. Remus sighed, it was just too much to ask for one thing to go his way wasn't it?

"I had to visit my mother. She's been sick." lied Remus, automatically feeling terrible. He hated lying, it made him feel so guilty.

"That's too bad. Did you think about our proposition any?" asked Potter.

Remus laughed mentally, of course he had thought about it, how could he not. He just hoped his decision wouldn't blow up in his face.

"I guess helping you wouldn't be so bad. It might be a little safer if I did?" Remus posed the last as a question, wondering how the boys would answer.

"Oh, sure! Of course, it would totally be safer, because you know how Flitwick is always harping on about spell safety." said Potter, wringing his hands in his excitement.

Black was actually dancing around the room, he was so excited. He looked absolutely ridiculous. Remus laughed at the sight, Black had no shame, did he?

"My name is James and this maniac is Sirius."

"I'm Remus."

"Remus? Jeez, am I the only one here with a normal name?" asked James, a smile on his face.

"Naw, you're the only weirdo. Normal names are so taboo now, didn't you know?" said Sirius, slinging an arm around James's shoulders.

"He obviously didn't get the memo." quipped Remus, hoping that he didn't sound too stupid.

Sirius and James stared for a moment, then Sirius broke the silence. "Wow, how did we miss this guy, Jamie. He's hilarious."

"I don't know how we missed him." replied James, nudging Sirius. "Maybe its because he's always in the library."

Remus bristled as the two laughed, "Maybe if you two visited the library once in a while, your spell work wouldn't be so shoddy."

"Whoa, we were just joking with you." said James.

"It wasn't funny." returned Remus, still miffed about the library dig.

"Okay, no more library jokes." said Sirius, putting his arm around Remus's shoulders, which Remus found very disorienting. He had never had that many friends and certainly none of them ever touched him in this casual a manner. Severus was obviously not a touchy feely person and Lily, while very sweet, had certain boundaries that didn't permit her to be that casual. It probably came from her muggle upbringing, or maybe it was a religious deal. Whatever their reason, it wasn't a usual occurrence and Remus wasn't sure what he was supposed to do with his hands.

Remus gently put his arm around Sirius's mid back, in hopes that this was the correct thing to do in such a silly predicament. Sirius glanced over at him with a quick smile before returning his attention to the now sitting, and plotting, James.

"It'll be great Sirius! We'll be sure to get things done right now. No more botched and messy spells. No funny colorings after experimenting."

"Wait." said Remus, "You've been experimenting? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? And what do you mean by 'funny colorings'?" asked Remus, beginning to understand just how these boys' minds work.

"Err…nothing. No funny colors." laughed Sirius nervously, glaring at James. Remus glanced at Sirius, a smile gracing his features. This was obviously a sore subject. No funny colors indeed.

"Ah so that wouldn't be a pink spot behind your ear then?" asked Remus, pointing just behind Sirius' right ear.

"WHAT! James, you told me they were all gone!" yelled Sirius, getting ready to throttle James. Remus laughed at them both, James who was trying to get away, protesting and Sirius who was trying to get a hold of the squirming James.

"I'm innocent I swear. There's no spot!" cried James, putting his hands in front of his face.

"There's no spot? Why would Remus say there was a spot if there wasn't a-" Sirius turned to look at a mischievous looking Remus who was trying to look as innocent as possible.

"Oh I see, it 's 'Let's All Laugh At Sirius Day' isn't it? Ha, bloody, ha." grumbled Sirius, breaking into a reluctant smile. Remus laughed again.

Maybe these two weren't so bad after all.

/page break/

The next morning Remus felt the consequences of his rather hasty actions. When he swept into the Great Hall, Sirius and James hot on his heels, the entire hall turned to gawk at the strange spectacle. Why was the brainy loser hanging with the most popular first years in school? James and Sirius were, rather surprisingly, the most popular first years. No one could quite understand why this had happened, other than sunspots, but nobody challenged it.

Remus blushed as the stares turned to him, why did they have to whisper and point as well as stare? It was bad enough that they all felt the need to stare. Then again, Remus mused, this was a boarding school. Enough said, when there was juicy gossip nobody was safe from the harrowing experience of teenage angst.

Lily looked on in amazement as Remus walked by her, the other two boys chattering on about nothing and everything. He shrugged at her and smiled. She gave a half smile, half grimace back. It was if she was saying, 'I'm sorry you're insane, but whatever floats your boat.'

Remus's luck took another dip as he headed towards Herbology, which the Gryffindors had with Slytherins. Even though Remus called to him several times, Severus ignored him the whole way down and brushed him off as Remus sat next to the boy.

"Severus? What's wrong?" asked Remus, as they cleaned up their workspace. Most of the students were on their way to lunch, Sirius and James heading the mad dash to the Hall.

"What's wrong? What's wrong! How could you ask me that?" snapped Severus, as he took off for the castle. Remus quickly followed him.

"Is this about me hanging out with Sirius and James?"

"Oh, so they're Sirius and James now are they?"

"Well, yes. You wouldn't call your friends by their last names would you?"

"I wouldn't know now would I?"

"Severus?"

"After all, friends wouldn't go and 'hang out' with their friends rivals now would they?" snarled Severus, as he whipped away, leaving Remus standing on the tattered and torn remains of his first friendship.

Remus tried to keep his emotions in check, but the hurt that Severus had embedded like a knife into Remus's heart was too much to handle. He sat on the hard stone floor and cried. Tears trickled down his chin and onto the fabric of his second hand robes. He knew it was too good to be true. A werewolf like him can't have real friends. They can only have acquaintances. People to whom you could talk to but nobody you could trust with anything.

"Hey, don't listen to that stupid, greasy git. He's just jealous that you're able to make friends." came Sirius's voice from above him. Remus looked up, his eyes clouded with unhappiness. Sirius sat down next to him and wrapped an arm around Remus.

"You're so much better than he is anyway. You're nice and you actually give a hippogriff's rear about what happens to people. Snape's just being pissy because he isn't and he knows it."

"Sirius that's not-"

"It is! It is true. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Sirius proclaimed, before getting up and putting his hand out to Remus.

"Let's get to lunch before I have to hurt someone."

"But-"

"Let's go, Remmie." Remus stopped in the middle of rising. Nobody called him that anymore. Not even his mother.

"What? What'd I say?" asked Sirius, looking worried at Remus's wide expression.

"Nothing," started Remus, rising fully, "It's just, only my mother called me that. And now she doesn't even call me that."

"Oh. Do you mind, because I won't call you that if you don't want me to." stammered Sirius as they approached the Great Hall.

"No. It's fine." Remus smiled at Sirius as they took their seats.

"What's fine?" asked James, who was busy stuffing his face with Shepherd's pie and buttered rolls. Lily looked on with unconcealed disgust. It appeared that Lily had sat down and had James plop down next to her. A match made in heaven, thought Remus sarcastically.

"Nothing you need to know about, Jimmy." stated Sirius, before putting a huge glob of mashed potatoes, drowned in gravy, into his mouth. Remus glanced away, repulsed. Hadn't his mother, his pureblood mother at that, taught him manners. Then again Remus had heard about Walburga Black from his father. She was very uptight; maybe this was another way that Sirius was rebelling against her tight regime. By being as disgusting as humanly possible, lovely.

"Sirius, you do realize that that is disgusting right?" asked Remus, throwing a napkin in James direction because he had spluttered spuds everywhere in indignation over his new nickname.

"Aw, look it! Remmie's being all mother-hen like." said Sirius.

"Sirius, you want to be smacked around don't you?" asked Remus, glancing concernedly at James who had choked and was slowly turning blue. Lily was pointedly ignoring all three of them.

"Oh you know it." laughed Sirius, leering at Remus. He blushed, how dirty. Sirius really needed to learn to control himself.

"DO NOT CALL ME JIMMY!" yelled James. Apparently he had cleared his throat and was back on the previous topic, and expressing his displeasure very vocally.

"Whatever you say Jimmy." said Sirius, being deliberately obtuse.

As James reached across the table to throttle Sirius, he knocked a bowl of cranberry sauce into Lily's lap. Her enraged scream, and James's horrified expression, was the background to Remus's laughter. Maybe things wouldn't be so terrible here after all.

A/N: Well there you have it. Number two. Leave a review if you like, they make me dance up and down and scare my brother, which is lots of fun. If you don't leave one, then oh well. Thanks!