Year One: September First

Remus awoke promptly five minutes before his alarm was set to go off, jolting up. Today was the day. His heart was beating rapidly, and he wasn't sure if it was out of fear of being woken up so suddenly or because school was starting today. Honestly, it was probably a little bit of both

When Remus' alarm finally went off, he flicked it off, but continued lying in the bed. His mam knocked on the door a few moment later, before peeping her head in, "You up, annwyl?"

"Yeah, mam, I'm just resting for a few more seconds."

"Okay, I just wanted to make sure. It's a big and busy day ahead of us!" At that Remus shot up. Right. It was a very crazy and busy and scary and adventurous day that he would be having to make it through. How he could have forgotten and let his guard down, he did not know. He still had to check his packing! He'd packed it several days ago, but still proceeded to check it every morning when he woke up, and almost always found something he wanted to add or to change. "I've got eggs, bacon, and waffles downstairs for you, when you're all ready."

Remus let out a grin, rushing to check his bag, stomach grumbling. He double, triple, quadruple checked it all, over and over. He was so nervous for his first day he wasn't sure if he'd manage to choke anything down. But he needn't have feared - he wolfed everything down right away. He hadn't realized how hungry he was, but he honestly should have known. The full moon was only a few days away.

"Are you all done, annwyl?" his mam asked, busying herself with cleaning up.

"Yeah," he replied distractedly, standing up from the table.

"Nerfus?"

"Who wouldn't be?" he chuckled back.

"Right, right. Well, you best get a move on," is mam replied, glancing at the clock, "We've to go to London, so we have to leave soon." Remus' eyes hurried to the clock, then widened. He bolted away from the chair, up the stairs, brushed his teeth, grabbed his trunk, and ran back down the stairs all in record time.

"Wow," Hope said, quite impressed, "That took you no time at all."

"Are...you...ready?" Remus asked, quite winded.

"Yeah, I warmed up the car a little. It's raining, but that should be of no bother and most certainly is no surprise."

"Hah, I'd be more surprised if it weren't," Remus replied, following his mam to the car. The trip there was mostly a silent affair. Remus was sure his mam was bubbling to talk, but she did a good job of repressing the urge, as she knew Remus liked to stew when he was nervous or worried about something. Because, yeah, going to school was an amazing opportunity, but Remus was still worried about all the possibilities. What if he hurt somebody? What if someone found out his secret? What if everyone found out? And, worst of all, what if he made no friends? Remus put a stop to that last thought. While, yes, he would absolutely love to finally have friends...he couldn't. That would just make it harder to hide his secret. Harder to pretend that he was as normal as the next wizard.

When they finally pulled up to Kings Cross Station, a long long ride later, Remus breathed out a heavy sigh. It was time to face the beginnings of the music.

Remus and his mam sat there in silence, neither daring to move or break the quiet. When it was finally quarter to eleven, Remus realized that he really had to get a move on, the train was due to leave in only fifteen minutes! He hopped out of the car quite suddenly, scaring Hope, face frantic. His mam hopped out soon after, grabbed his trunk, and herded him inside.

"I'm going to miss you," Remus whispered, lightly scarred lip in a frown.

"Of course you are, annwyl, but you are also going to have an extraordinary and amazing time! I know you will. You'll make lots of friends, lots of memories, and by the time you know summer is rolling around, you'll wish it wasn't!"

"Oh, mam, I''ll never not want it to be summer, me with you."

"Don't lie," Hope chuckled softly. Remus realized that they were stopped between the barriers 9 and 10. He smashed his sickly frame against his mams thin and wiry one, squishing her quite tight. "Okay, okay," Hope gasped out, "You've got ten minutes left to get inn there. Best be off now."

And so, Remus was. He let go and ran with his trunk, right at the barrier, not looking back to see what he knew would be his mams tear-filled eyes. He skirted to a stop on the other side, nearly crashing into a family with black hair and long sharp features that looked at him, eyes filled with distaste. Wide eyed, he mouthed 'sorry' and scurried off to the train, making it just when the horn bellowed, warning that there were only so many minutes left. Near the back of the train, he managed to find an empty compartment, and proceeded to lock it and block the window.

Knowing that second years and up knew all sorts of magic, he was surprised that no one tried to bother him for the whole train ride. He was happy, though, as he got to sit it in relative silence, and read his book all the while. He had, of course, already made his way through all his course books enough times to basically memorize them, so he was doing a bit of fun reading with a book entitled Magic Mishaps and How to Prevent Them. He was almost all the way through the book when the intercom crackled to life above him. "We shall be arriving in five minutes. Please dress appropriately. You may leave your trunks, the house elves will gather those and bring them up to the castle." Remus, wide-eyed and wondering what a house elf was, hurried to get his new school robes out of his trunk and onto his person.

When the train skidded to a stop, Remus joined the hustle and bustle of kids, many of whom were older than he, unsure of quite where to go until he heard a voice booming off to the side, "Firs' years! Firs' years, o'er 'ere!" Remus followed the voice until he found quite a large and smiling man in front of him. "Firs' year?" he asked kindly. Remus nodded, voice lost.

"That's the weird boy I told you about from Diagon Alley," he heard a voice whisper to his right. Looking over, he saw that Peter fellow, and bit his lip. This was good. Yes. He's not here to make friends, anyhow. He looked off and followed the large man to where a whole dock of boats was kept.

"No more'an four ter a boat!" the man yelled, rushing all the kids in. Remus ended up in a boat with three females, one with bright fiery, red hair, and the other two brunettes.

"Hi!" the red haired girl exclaimed, "My name's Lily, this is Marlene, and this is Mary! What's yours?"

Remus hesitated for a second, but ultimately decided it would be too rude to outright act like she wasn't talking to him. "Hi...my name's Remus."

"Oh, that's a fascinating name. What house do you hope to be in? My friend Severus wants Slytherin, but I'm hoping for either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor."

"Oh, um, I don't really care... I'd be happy with anything. I'm just really happy to be here."

"Well, me too. I'm muggleborn, so this was all quite a shock, but everyone has their preferences, you know."

"Right, well, I suppose Gryffindor or Ravenclaw wouldn't be too horrible. I've heard a lot of dark wizards come out of Slytherin, though."

"Severus said that's just a load of rubbish," Lily informed him primly. Remus doesn't even notice when they passed under a bridge and come out to a beautiful view of Hogwarts until Lily nudges and tells him so. After he realized such, he could not keep his mouth from gaping open. It was surely the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

Their boats all pulled up to a bank for them to get out at. "Wow," Remus breathed. The castle was standing proudly in front of them, huge, beautiful, and rustic. He desperately wished he had a camera so he could capture the sight of the windows glowing with the light of candles, and the beautiful ivy webbing its way up the fissured building. The girl Lily seemed to have forgotten their disagreement on the boat, for she too was captured by the insane beauty of the school.

"Lily!" a hooked nosed boy was making his hurried way over to the lot of them, "Lily! I'm so glad I found you! Sorry I couldn't on the train! I was a little caught up!" Remus noticed he shot a almost worried look at the boy next to him.

"Oh, Sev!" Lily exclaimed. "It's fine! I ended up making some friends of my own! This is Mary and Marlene!" Remus backed away when he noticed that Lily hadn't bothered to introduce him. He needed to keep reminding himself that that was fine. In fact, it was more than fine. Squaring his shoulders, he followed the long trek up from the lake to the grand front entrance, right on Hagrid's heels. They were led into a small room right inside the entrance and then promptly left with strict instruct to 'wait 'ere' by Hagrid. When a gaggle of ghost floated in, several children screamed and gawped and the ghost did nothing more than smile politely. Remus, of course, knew about ghosts, but he still got frightened himself at the suddenness of it all.

"Oh, on you get!" McGonagall clacked in, waving the ghost out and back through the wall. "Alright," she clapped her hands together, "Are you all ready to get sorted?" Most of the children were as white as a sheet, but some of them managed to nod bravely. "Great, follow me single file." She waited patiently for them all to get themselves sorted, hands clasped gently between her, nodding when they were done. She primly turned on a dime, and swung open the doors that would lead to the Great Hall. It was an amazing sight to behold, as Remus had to take in the floating candle sticks, the twinkling enchantment of the ceiling above, Hogwarts: A History having told him all he'd needed to know. She left them standing in the middle, heading to the podium and stool herself. A shriveled old hat was sitting atop the stool, and Remus was dumbfounded when it began to sing. When it was over, the whole Hall was clapping raucously.

One by one everyone was called forward. When it got to that Peter guy, Remus noted he got into Gryffindor. Lily, Marlene, and Mary did, too, by the end of the night. When Remus was called, he was a shaking ball of nerves. He didn't know what was going to happen, exactly. Which is why he jumped about a foot in the air when he heard a voice inside his head.

'Ah, yes, Remus Lupin, such a smart one, yes?'

'Hello?'

'Hi, Remus. You've quite a thirst for knowledge, but ah, I see a good deal of bravery here...What's this? Oh, what do you think, Mr. Lupin?'

'I wouldn't mind learning a thing or several about bravery...' Remus replied internally.

'Ah, smart choice, smart choice. Better be GRYFFINDOR.'

Glossary:

Nerfus: Nervous