Future
To my surprise, I didn't find my friends at all interesting any more. I couldn't see what was so special about this Vernon Dursley they kept cooing over and their girly nonsense wound me up, since I knew there was a Wizarding war going on. Why couldn't they talk about important things, like their Highers, or what they planned to do when they left school? I found myself drifting further and further away from the 'Muggle World'.
Mrs Potter had got me a subscription to the Wizarding newspaper – the Daily Prophet – and I would read it every day. I started meeting Lily and the marauders (as they called themselves) during their Hogsmeade weekends. I thought of them as my friends, instead of the pathetic girls back at Smeltings.
I read about the Wizarding world too, and Lily helped give me a better grounding in Wizarding knowledge than a lot of wizards had!
Lily and James started going out, and about time too! They were made for each other, but Lily hadn't seemed to want to admit it.
And Remus and I became firm friends.
The school year was over in no time, and I was sitting my Highers and Lily was sitting her NEWTs. And then we were getting our results, and I had almost all 'A's, to my surprise, and Lily had top marks too. And we left school – both of us – and tried to find a job.
Lily wanted to be a Healer for wizards, and was one of the lucky few to get the training. James and Sirius wanted to be Aurors – like magical policemen crossed with James Bond – and were fortunate enough to be taught by some of the best Aurors of their time. Peter got a job in the Ministry of Magic. I bought a flat and worked in a bookshop in Diagon Alley. Remus, however, could not get a job.
I couldn't understand why – he was bright, had incredibly good NEWT results, and worked very hard. Who wouldn't want him? But even if he did get a job, he never held it for more than a month.
Eventually, I asked him why. He gave me a long look, as though sizing me up, and then answered my question with another question.
"You've been reading about the magical world, haven't you?"
I nodded.
"So you know about the prejudice against werewolves…"
"Yes," I replied, "but I can't understand it. I mean, they're only dangerous once a month, and I think Lily said something about a potion that stops them being dangerous even then."
Remus nodded, sadly. "Well, neither can I, but I 'm a werewolf, and that's the way the world is."
I gasped. "You're a werewolf? But-"
'That's not possible,' I wanted to say. 'Surely werewolves don't exist.' But I'd read books about them and, now I came to think of it, Remus did fit a lot of the descriptions. And it would explain why he couldn't keep a job.
"I suppose it makes sense," I conceded. And then I hugged him.
"I'm so sorry for you," I whispered. "Having to live with unreasonable prejudices for something you can't help being!"
Remus looked surprised at my reaction, but he didn't hesitate in hugging me back.
For some reason, his hugging me made me feel just a little bit better, in this insecure world.
James and Lily got married not long after that. We'd all been expecting it of course, and I know for a fact that Sirius and Peter were making bets on how long it would be until James asked Lily or Lily asked James, and then on how long it would be until they actually held the wedding. They were very careful to make sure that neither the bride nor the groom found out about this, though.
I was bridesmaid, and Sirius was best man. It was a little ceremony, with only the closest friends and family invited. It was a happy moment in a world torn apart by war, and when Lily and James looked at each other with such adoration in their eyes, I couldn't help wishing that I felt like that about someone…
But who was there? Sirius, and Peter, and Remus…