Note: This chapter is dedicated to Wizard of Night's brother – Happy Birthday...plus a month or so!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

4: Something Extraordinary

Remus Lupin spent his first weeks at Hogwarts School feeling like a fraud.

He had felt that way from the moment the Sorting Hat had, without so much as a hesitation upon being deposited upon his head, bellowed to the room at large: Gryffindor!

The Great Hall had rung with instant applause and, already at the Gryffindor table, Sirius had jumped to his feet and gave a triumphant cheer.

But as the hat was plucked from his head by Professor McGonnogal, Remus had simply sat frozen upon the stool, gazing blankly at the crowd before him.

Gryffindor? Him?

It had taken him almost a full minute to notice Professor McGonnogal tapping him sharply on the shoulder, and he'd turned to stare at her with wide eyes before finally consenting to stumbling up onto his feet and over towards the Gryffindor table.

Peter had been surprised to be sorted into Gryffindor too. He hadn't shut up about it that entire evening long and by the time they had retreated to their dormitory along with James and Sirius it had grown distinctly irritating. There had been an effort to steer conversation onto something else, namely what lessons they had on their first full day, but Remus had said very little. He had yet to quite get over his shock.

"D'you suppose the Sorting Hat has ever...you know...got it wrong?" he'd asked James in an undertone the following morning at breakfast as they had tucked into their scrambled eggs on toast. "I mean, do you think it ever just...just put somebody in the wrong house?"

And James had frowned deeply and decided:

"I don't see why it would..." Then his gaze had flickered to Peter and he had admitted: "But there's always a first time for everything, isn't there? Ha!"

James had, Remus was sure, been joking.

But that didn't mean he was wrong.

Because despite his new friends, Remus was not feeling in the least bit brave or courageous.

In later years his friends would claim that Hogwarts' resident werewolf spent a large proportion of his spare time in the school library because he was, put simply, a bookworm.

Remus' primary purpose in those first few weeks, however, had nothing to do with his love of books at all. That the place had been crammed full of them had simply been a happy coincidence.

No indeed, Remus had first taken refuge in the deepest, darkest most secluded corner of the library that he could find out of sheer desperation for solitude. The hustle and bustle of the school corridors made him somewhat nervous and left him on edge, though he hid his feelings carefully. It was a relief to escape to the library where often he saw nobody for hours except the odd studious individual with their nose buried in a book, or the school librarian prowling the shelves as if she were on some sort of military patrol.

It was rather like being invisible, and it calmed Remus' nerves. It gave him time to sit and think, to reason with himself. To promise to himself that everything was going just fine.

But it was in this quiet and peaceful place that, some week after he had arrived at the school, Remus stumbled across something that would set in motion events that would, though he did not realise it until he was long into adulthood, shape his life, sending him hurtling towards events more dark than a young boy of eleven could possibly dream of...

It had all started a few days previously when Remus had attended his first ever Defence Against the Dark Arts class, a subject that he found instantly exciting and interesting, so much so that he had felt quite disappointed at the end of the lesson when the teacher had dismissed them. Professor Savage had, however, set his new students some homework, a simple tasks no doubt aimed at spurring their interest in Defence Against the Dark Arts to increasing heights, and it was this particular task that Remus found himself contemplating in his corner of the library one afternoon before dinner.

Find me a spell, Professor Savage had instructed the sea of eager faces, any spell you like! Find me a spell to repel, a spell to defend, a spell to fight back with! Find me a spell that you think is interesting and relevant to Defence Against the Dark Arts! And write me a short paragraph explaining what it is, what it does, why it interests you so much!

Remus had already come across a whole range of spells from his enthusiastic examinations of his Defence textbook, but he had been determined to find something unique, something impressive. Something none of the other students would come across!

And so the young werewolf had taken to wandering up and down the aisles of books, searching for a title that might grab his attention, eventually venturing deeper into the library until he found himself stood before the entrance to the Restricted Section.

"Looking for anything in particular, are you?" a voice from behind him had inquired, and Remus had turned to see the speaker, expecting to see an older student, only to find himself looking at a young red headed girl who he recognised to be the fellow first year Gryffindor who sat in the chair in front of him in Transfiguration class.

"Oh...not really..." the werewolf mumbled as the girl stood, a large book hugged to her chest. "I was just...you know...thinking about Professor Savage's homework."

"Oh, right." the girl said, taking a step forward and patting the book in her arms as she said: "Me too! I'm going to write about the Protego charm. It's a shield, you see."

"It sounds very useful." Remus agreed with a smile, and with that the girl turned to eye the bookshelves before them, sucking in a deep breath.

"These all look very advanced." she commented brightly, leaning to squint at the faded spines. "You should pick something out of one of these, Professor Savage would be dead impressed..."

"Do you think so?"

"I'm sure he would...look at this one!" she reached to pull a hefty tome out from the shelf, and was about to turn to show it to Remus when a voice called:

"Lily?! Where are you?"

"Shh, Sev!" Lily called back in a whisper, and a Slytherin boy with dark hair and a hooked nose that Remus recognised as as boy James and Sirius had quarrelled with that very morning stepped out from amongst the bookshelves. "It's a library, for goodness sake..."

"Are you coming to get dinner?" the Slytherin asked, rather as if Remus were not there. "We could walk down to the Great Hall together if you like."

"Right..." Lily said, hastily turning to thrust the book into Remus' arms. And with that she flashed him a bright smile and told him: "Definitely look at that one...um..."

"Remus."

"Remus! Obviously, sorry! Yes, Remus, definitely look at that one...look at the cover, there's bound to be something exciting in it!"

Remus found himself smiling back, and he rather wanted to ask her if she loved books too or perhaps what her favourite book was because she seemed like the sort of girl he'd quite like to be friends with, but before he could say anything else she had offered him one last smile before turning on her heel to hurry off after the Slytherin boy, calling over her shoulder:

"See you at dinner then, Remus!"

"Bye..."

"Lily." she supplied, just in case he had forgotten, and Remus found himself offering her a small wave as he amended:

"Bye, Lily!"

Not quite feeling hungry enough to abandon the library in favour of the dinner table, Remus retreated to the nearest table to drop down onto a chair. Setting Lily's book of choice down in front of him he set about examining the front cover. Bound in leather stained a bright mottle blue, an elaborate embossed picture had been stamped in faded yet gleaming silver upon the cover, a medieval wizard dressed in shining plate armour, a shield held upon one arm and wand raised aloft. Amid a burst of sparks above the figure was stamped an title in thick, bold letters: Magicks of The Light – Defence From the Realms of Darkness.

Flicking through the old, dusty pages Remus found the entire book to be printed in vivid and colourful inks, with careful, medieval-style illustrations adorning every page. Closing the book again, the young werewolf reached to run a thumb down the book's edge, selecting a page at random. And he found himself holding his breath a little as he reached to open the book at his chosen page.

Across the two pages Remus found himself examining an elaborate scene; an enormous dragon in shining silver, breathing a burst of shining flames across the parchment, leaving a series of dark and shadowy figures to scatter across the opposite page. Behind the dragon, wand raised triumphantly, was the same knight-like figure who had adorned the front cover. Remus' gaze dropped keenly to examine the text beneath the picture, squinting at the somewhat swirly and archaic font, and with that he found the title and read: The Patronus Charme.

Bending closer, his nose almost brushing the parchment, Remus set about reading the somewhat vague description of the spell. The language was old and the young boy found it difficult to decipher, full of strange spellings and words he did not recognise at all. There seemed to be an awful lot of mention of darkness and light, good and evil, and the banishment of the darkness via hope and cheer. Reaching into the pocket of his robes to extract his wand, Remus skipped the baffling explanation to look at the wand movement diagram printed at the bottom of the page, and found that despite the complicated explanations the movement itself looked extremely simple. Giving his wand an experimental swish, the boy mouthed the incantation to himself a few times, before trying a whisper, ready to imagine a silvery dragon erupting from the tip of his wand...

"Ex-pect-o pa-tro-num!"

To the boy's excitement and surprise a tiny puff of silvery smoke was emitted from the tip of his wand.

Remus simply stared as he watched the smoke disperse into the air, heart giving a leap in his chest.

It hadn't been a mighty dragon, of course, but it had been something! And he hadn't expected that, he hadn't expected anything at all. He could barely make any sense of the book in front of him besides the little wand diagram at the bottom, and it seemed like complex magic to say the least. You didn't just point your wand and say a few funny words, magic wasn't that simple. If it was, what would be the use of Hogwarts at all?

He'd been struggling to turn matches in needles in Transfiguration class earlier that day, for goodness sake! Which made sudden success of sorts a somewhat heady and exciting experience.

Snatching up the book, taking brief note of the page number, Remus hurried towards the exit of the library, pausing at the librarian's desk on his way.

The librarian had looked from the young first year to the book and back again several times, before simply raising an eyebrow in surprise and stamping the book out.

Remus had headed for the first relatively open space he could find, the courtyard just off the Transfiguration corridor. The cobbled area was deserted as the castle's inhabitance had mostly headed to the Great Hall for dinner, and Remus abandoned his school bag down upon one of the stone benches at the courtyard's edge, before hastily finding the page in the book again. He took a moment to re-examine the diagram, reaching once more for his wand, and with that he turned to raise it in the air, sucking in a deep, excited breath...

Minerva McGonnogal was just wiping the last of the chalk from her blackboard, ready to head down to the Great Hall for dinner when it happened. A bright flash of silver light came streaming through the window to her right, and no sooner had she spun around to look at it, it had gone.

The Head of Gryffindor House reached to adjust the glasses on her nose, frowning for a moment, before striding over to the window, peering searchingly out into the courtyard beyond.

It was deserted, she saw, except for a lone figure stood just off to one side, a Gryffindor boy peering down at an open book upon a bench, his wand in his hand. And when he turned around a moment later she recognised him as none other than Remus Lupin, his expression one of distinct excitement.

What was the boy doing, McGonnogal wondered, wandering about with books and practicing goodness knew what when it was well into dinnertime? She was just considering sending him on his way, should the time have escaped him, on her own way to dinner when the boy gave his wand a wave and, to the professor's astonishment, a burst of silver light came streaking out of its tip, briefly lighting up the courtyard before it was again gone in a flash.

She very nearly hit her head against the glass jumping at the sight, and no sooner had she recovered a little from her shock, the witch turned on her heel and made a beeline for the classroom door, sweeping out into the corridor beyond and out into the courtyard.

"Mr Lupin!" she called, making the boy in question very nearly jump out of his skin as he spun around to face her, expression distinctly nervous as if she thought he was up to no good. She found for a good moment as she strode towards him that she didn't quite know what she meant to say to him, before she found herself demanding to know: "What are you doing out here? There'll be no dinner left, you know!"

"Oh..." the boy mumbled, hastily shoving the wand back into the pocket of his school robes, only for the witch to tell him:

"Don't put it away!"

Wand held somewhat limply in his hand, the young werewolf told her:

"I was just...for homework, Professor..."

"A first year practicing the...the Patronus Charm for...for homework?!" the witch cried, sounding disbelieving as she turned to look down at the open book upon the bench accusingly, as if expecting for it to tell a different story, only the evidence to merely confirm the bizarre suspicion. Tapping a finger against the page she turned to inform the child: "This is exceptionally complex magic, Mr. Lupin! We don't teach it to our NEWT level students, let alone our first years!"

Remus' gaze dropped to his shoes as if she were scolding him, only for her tone to grow curious rather than suspicious.

"Well, then!" she said, causing him to glance up at her. "Why don't you...why don't you show me how...how it's coming along? This...this homework of yours..."

Remus merely shifted his feet uncomfortably, only for her to prompt: "Go on! Let's see!"

She watched the boy suck in a deep, calming breath, before he straightened up, cleared his throat a little, and raised his wand. Giving it a neat little wave he mumbled the spell in a distinctly unenthusiastic manner, and yet the smallest puff of silver shot out of the end of his wand...

McGonnogal simply stared.

"That's...not possible! she breathed, utterly astonished, and the boy instantly shoved the wand back into his pocket and hung his head, apparently quite ashamed. "When...when did you...how long have you been practicing that?!"

"I found the book this evening, Professor." the boy told her, as if this might calm her down a little, only for her to exclaim:

"This evening?!"

"Y...yes, Professor..."

McGonnogal found herself feeling oddly light-headed. She reached to snatch up the book from the bench, making the boy jump, before instructing:

"Come with me, Mr. Lupin!"

Remus wanted to ask if he was in quite as much trouble as he thought he was, but quite frankly he couldn't seem to find his voice. So he hurriedly went to pick up his school bag and shuffled hastily along behind the formidable witch, who kept casting furtive glances over her shoulder at him. Each time she did so, Remus felt his stomach twist into ever tighter knots. They made their way through the school corridors in agonising silence until they reached the dead end of a corridor where an enormous statue of a gargoyle stood, its stone stare gazing blankly at the pair at their approach. Remus found himself coming to a halt behind McGonnogal as she paused to eye the statue in consideration for a long moment, before announcing:

"Peppermint toad!"

And with that the gargoyle came to life, giving its limbs a brief stretch before stepping aside, revealing a spiral staircase that began to magically snake its way upwards.

"Come along, then." McGonnogal instructed briskly when Remus failed to move to step onto the staircase after her, and the boy swallowed the apprehensive lump in his throat and shuffled after her.

Atop the staircase they reached a large wooden door upon which the professor tapped sharply, and Remus found himself wincing a little to hear the familiar voice of the headmaster call:

"Do come in!"

"Wait here." McGonnogal instructed, casting one last curious look over her shoulder at him, and with that she disappeared into the room beyond, closing the door firmly behind her.

Remus stood, staring at the grain in the wood for a number of agonising minutes, feeling sick to the stomach, his mind racing.

He was going to be expelled.
He was.

He just knew he was.

Because it was foolish, wasn't it? To try magic much too advanced. To try spells he didn't understand. That must have been why Professor McGonnogal had been so cross. He couldn't imagine any other reasons. And it didn't do to have a boy like him in a school like this. You couldn't be careless when you were a boy like him. It wasn't acceptable! Professor Dumbledore had thought him a sensible sort of boy, the sort of boy who didn't do foolish things and could keep his head down...

Remus didn't want to be expelled from Hogwarts.

Despite his nerves and despite having clearly been sorted into the wrong house, he adored being at school. He liked learning. He liked the library and being surrounded by books. And he liked having friends, too! Of course he hadn't known James, Sirius and Peter for all that long, but already the four of them seemed bound together by a strong friendship. He didn't want to be sent home in disgrace to his parents. He couldn't imagine how disappointed in him his mother and father would be...

And his mother had cried so dreadfully to think that he would never go to school. He didn't want that again, he didn't want to upset her. She grew quite depressed about his chances in life as it is without him managing to get himself expelled from school. Being accepted at Hogwarts was the first good thing to happen to him since...well...anything, really...

All of a sudden the door he was staring at swung open to reveal the Headmaster's office beyond and Remus found Professor Dumbledore sat behind his desk, Professor McGonnogal stood off to one side, midway through informing the Headmaster:

"...not so much as a pause for thought! Waves his wand and there it is – I've never seen anything like it, Albus! In all my years..."

"Come in, Remus." Dumbledore called calmly, ending the witch's monologue abruptly as she turned to look round. As he took a few hesitant steps into the room, taking very little note of his surroundings for he felt so dreadfully nervous, Remus felt as if the two professors' eyes upon him might very well freeze him to the spot.

"Why don't you come and sit down?" Dumbledore suggested cheerfully reaching to shuffle a few papers upon his desk, leaving them to float up into the air and store themselves on a bookcase behind him. "Professor McGonnogal and I were just discussing something quite extraordinary!"

Remus felt somewhat thrown by the Headmaster's tone, his legs seemed a little lighter as he went to drop down into the chair opposite the wizard. For a very long moment there was silence as Dumbledore peered at him in a distinctly thoughtful manner, and Remus' nerves were just beginning to creep back into his stomach when the Headmaster leant forward a little in his chair, gazing a the boy with piercing blue eyes from other the top of his half-moon spectacles.

And then Albus Dumbledore asked the boy:

"Do you know what a Dementor is, young man?"