It took a few moments for Remus to remember where he was when he awoke the following morning. There were sounds of distant movement all around. Remus sat up and tried to adjust his vision to the few rays of sunrise that were struggling to pierce the thick rain clouds.
He took a good look around his dorm for the first time. Four four-poster beds lined the walls, pointing north, east, south and west. Remus occupied the west bed, so had a clear view of the rising sun across the room. The top of Peter's sandy head poked out of the top of his crimson duvet to Remus' left, and Sirius' shaggy black hair was sprawled over his pillow to the right. Opposite Remus there was only a mound of duvet, Remus couldn't see any evidence of James beneath it.
Remus pushed his own duvet off himself and noticed, with a start, that he wasn't wearing pyjamas. He was bare-chested and bare-legged, only wearing his underpants. The faint pink scars on his skin visible to anyone who looked. Remus double-checked that his dorm-mates were asleep before slipping out of bed and reaching over to his trunk. He mentally urged the other three boys to stay asleep so that they wouldn't see his scars. That would ultimately lead them to asking questions that Remus was sure they wouldn't like the answers to. Neatly folded on top of his trunk were his black robes with a newly sewn on Gryffindor badge, as was his grey blazer. His plain black Hogwarts tie had been replaced by a scarlet and gold tie, and his grey jumper now had a scarlet and gold neckline. A small square of parchment was perched on top of these items.
Remus moved the pile of clothes onto his bed and rummaged through his trunk for fresh clothes before scuttling off to the bathroom, just off the dorm, between Remus and Peter's beds.
Once freshened up and partially clothed in a new white shirt and black trousers, Remus left the bathroom. None of his room-mates had stirred. There was a clock on Remus' beside table which, upon closer inspection, told him that it was almost 8 O'clock. Deciding that it would be ruder to let the other three boys miss breakfast, Remus quietly woke them up.
He started with Peter, who woke with a jump before realising where he was. Next he woke up James, the messy black-haired boy with round glasses. James groaned, only a tuft of his hair could be seen. But when Remus told him that he'd miss breakfast if he didn't get up he practically jumped out of bed, looking around blearily before grabbing his glasses and collecting clothes. Sirius opened one eye when Remus gently shook his shoulder, then promptly went back to sleep. James crept up behind Sirius and wrenched the duvet off him. By the time Sirius had stopped cursing him; Peter was fully dressed and ready to go.
Remus finished getting dressed in his smart looking robes and together, he and Peter headed down to breakfast.
'Good morning!' Lily Evans was very upbeat.
'Morning,' Remus replied pleasantly. Peter just looked shocked, but his wide eyes gave that impression normally.
'Are you excited about your first day?' Lily asked, her bright green eyes alive with the excitement she was obviously feeling. It was infectious: where before Remus was feeling only slight anticipation for the coming day, it now began to mutate into stomach-churning nervousness. 'I checked my timetable with Sev's and we've got double Defence Against the Dark Arts with the Slytherins first, and Potions with the Slytherins fifth. I'm not sure who we have History of Magic with though.' Somehow Lily managed to look disappointed that she hadn't figured that out, but then the next second she was off again talking about all the books she had read and what she was most looking forward to in her lessons. Remus started on his breakfast, nodding and contributing where necessary. Peter dug into the wide selection of food with such vigour that it was almost as though he thought it was going to run away.
James and Sirius finally joined them as Remus was talking to Hestia Jones and Emmeline Vance about Transfiguration.
'There's still food left, excellent!' James grinned, seating himself beside Peter and loading sausages onto his plate. 'Morning Evans!' Lily glanced at him and then turned away to talk to Mary MacDonald and Marlene McKinnon. Remus and Hestia looked at each other, puzzled.
'Welcome to Defence Against the Dark Arts,' the little old woman smiled. 'I am Professor Leto. Please open your textbooks and find the section on jinxes. Today we shall be learning the theory behind the Knockback Jinx.' Remus sat, between Peter and James, at the back row of the Defence classroom on the third floor. Sirius was on the end, swinging on his chair.
The first lesson was spent writing notes, and the second lesson was spent practicing the Knockback Jinx ('with the incantation Flipendo!') by attempting to knock a cushion off the desk. Sirius almost convinced Professor Leto that he had done it, until James burst out laughing and she found out that he had simply thrown the cushion at one of the Slytherin boys. She decided to take five points from Gryffindor for that.
History of Magic was terribly boring. Try as he might, Remus could barely keep focused on Professor Binns' dry and croaking voice. The class promised to be interesting from the off, when Binns, the only ghost professor at Hogwarts, glided through the blackboard at the front of the class. But from there it went downhill as he launched into an account of the Goblin Rebellions of 1500. Even the Ravenclaw students, whom the Gryffindors shared the lesson with, were struggling to make notes. The blond haired Caradoc Dearborn succumbed to staring into space after 45 minutes.
Finally, Potions class to finish off the day. Professor Slughorn, the Potions Master and Head of Slytherin, was a friendly man who smiled a lot and laughed at his own jokes. He was also a very good potioneer. He set the class off making a Boil Cure potion and gave everyone who had it just about right 5 house points. But Lily Evans, who had created the best potion, was praised for at least 10 minutes before they were allowed to leave the classroom, much to her embarrassment.
'Well done Evans!' Sirius had called across the dungeon classroom. He received an angry glare from the Slytherin boy who Lily had sat by in return. Snape had straight black hair that hung in curtains around his thin face and hooked nose, making his angry glare seem almost threatening. It didn't help matters that he almost tripped over his own, slightly too big, robes as he followed Lily out of the room. Sirius and James sniggered.
Back up in the dorm after dinner Remus decided to start on his first piece of homework – a paragraph on the theory behind Flipendo. Sirius and James lay on their beds and talked, Peter listened intently. Once finished with his work, Remus also lay back and joined in the conversation.
'Look at that!' Sirius urged them, pointing out of the tower window. He was pointing at the moon.
'It's almost full,' Peter noted, his voice breathless.
'I've heard there's werewolves in the forest,' James said with a grin.
'Rubbish!' Sirius shook his head, 'the Ministry wouldn't allow that!'
'Ah well, that's a shame,' James sighed, 'but on the other hand, it's Friday tomorrow so we could go for a wander into the forest at the weekend. What d'you think Sirius?'
Remus was thankful that his friends were looking away from him so they didn't see the blood drain from his face with dread.
His first transformation at Hogwarts would be in two days time.