Remus woke before the other boys the next day. He was used to moving a lot and waking up in a strange room was familiar to him. Remus was surprised, however, by the soft snores and deep breathing that surrounded him. It was nice, he decided, to wake up surrounded by friends. Remus glanced up at the maroon coverings around his bed that had begun to glow softly by the morning light streaming in the windows. He could already feel the pressure the upcoming moon placed on his muscles. Remus' joints ached and his eyes were shadowed with fatigue, but he still smiled contentedly at the ceiling. He wasn't about to complain on his first day of school. Remus had all week to worry about the moon.
THWUMP! Remus' reverie was quickly interrupted by the thud of a pillow and a startled scream form the blonde boy three beds over. James had apparently woken up and clobbered Peter in the face with a pillow. James had a manic grin on his face as he leapt lightly over to Sirius' bed to give him the same treatment. He threw open the curtains to find Sirius sitting cross-legged on the bed with his wand casually pointed in James' direction. James quickly stopped and hid the pillow behind his back clearly trying to look innocent.
"Come on, Let's get Remus" Sirius said with a grin. Remus hurriedly pulled his hangings open.
"Get Remus what?" He asked with a mischievous grin. James and Sirius glanced at each other before charging towards the smaller boy with pillows raised threateningly. Peter quickly came to Remus' defense. They had a short, but intense war that left the floor covered in tiny feathers that would stay until the house elves could clean while the boys were at breakfast.
They finally started towards the Great Hall after everyone was dressed. Sirius, who seemed to be a bit fussy from upbringing, preened all of the feathers from his hair and was wearing neatly pressed robes. The other three boys still had stray feathers sticking to them. James had insisted on diving into the pile of feathers before exiting the dormitory so he was fairly well covered in the tiny soft feathers.
It wasn't long after the exited the dorm that the boys realized they had no idea how to get to the Great Hall. "Someone should really get us a map" Peter grumbled. They began to take random hallways in the hope that they could find their food. Sirius was swearing to them once again that he knew how to get there when they ran into Lily and Alice. The girls looked just as confused as they were about how to get to the Great Hall.
Lily snickered when she saw them. "Fly the coop Potter?" she said with a grin. "They tried to tar and feather me" James replied with a solemn face and gestured to the boys around them. Lily smiled before she caught sight of Severus rushing towards them in the hall. Her face became severe as she remembered their conversations from yesterday. "I'm sure you deserved it, Potter" Lily shot towards him before grabbing Alice's arm and dragging her down the hallway that Severus claimed was correct.
Sirius pulled them away in and opposite direction. "I don't want to go down any hall that Snivelly has polluted" he said savagely. Peter grinned and James high-fived the boy, but Remus looked uncomfortable with talking about the other boy.
Unfortunately for the boys, Severus had been correct. The path they were on sloped slowly downwards until the walls began to be lit by green light. Peter stopped to ask a portrait for help, but she just giggled and invited him to play poker. The boys were distracted trying to convince the portrait to give them directions if they could win at poker when Professor McGonagall swept towards them with a frown.
"What are you boys doing down here? You don't have potions until tomorrow afternoon. Charms is up three stories."
"We got lost on the way to breakfast, Professor" They all said quickly.
Professor McGonagall still looked suspicious as she surveyed the four boys. "Breakfast is over, boys. You have five minutes to get to class" McGonagall thrust timetables into each of their hands and ushered them in the direction of Charms. The boys' stomachs growled as they raced up the staircases that McGonagall had pointed out. They tumbled out of breath into the classroom and knocked into a tiny wizard at the front of the room.
He squeaked before righting himself and welcoming the boys with a huge smile. "Please take your seats" the wizard said and beckoned to the empty desks in front of them. It seemed like most of the class had not found their way into the room yet. James and Sirius ran towards two tables in the back of the room. Peter followed happily. Remus sighed. He knew that he should take a place at the front of the room. It would be easier to take notes, and he should probably start to put some distance between himself and his roommates. He couldn't let them figure out his secret, or he would surely be forced to go home. Remus had apparently hesitated too long. James grabbed his arm and pulled him into the seat beside Peter. Remus grinned, at least, the decision had been made for him.
By the time enough of the class had arrived to begin the lesson, the boys had begun to play tic-tac-toe on the edges of their parchment. James had enchanted it so the lines kept moving to keep things interesting. The small wizard cleared his throat and Remus hurriedly pushed the parchment away from him. "Welcome to Charms, I am Professor Flitwick. Today, we will just discuss the theory of charms. Next class we will get started with actually performing them." Remus sat up in his seat and began to copy down everything that Professor Flitwick said.
The rest of the classes for the day went in much the same fashion. Remus took notes and the other boys played in the back corners of the class. History of Magic started out as the most interesting class. Their teacher, Professor Binns, literally floated into their classroom through the wall. That was the last interesting thing that happened though. Their professor barely stopped to welcome them to class. He immediately started droning on about goblin wars that happened hundreds of years ago. Remus' quill flew across the parchment as he tried to focus on the material and stay awake. The other boys listened for about thirty seconds before passing notes back and forth between them. James tried to get Remus to participate, but, so far, he had steadfastly refused them.
By the time they reached the dormitory that night, Remus had a stack of neatly written notes. The others had a few scribbled lines of notes about classes and several pages of tic-tac-toe and hangman. James and Sirius were still indignant that Professor Binns and Professor Sprout, their young herbology professor, had given them homework on their first day. Remus wanted to begin to work on it right away. He knew how lucky he was to be at Hogwarts and wanted to do as well as possible. Remus had just pulled his stack of parchment out of his bag when James threw a stack of cards on top of them. "You can do homework tomorrow" he said and drew Remus into a game of exploding snap.
A/N: I am so sorry about the delay in posting this chapter. I have been so busy with the holiday and work. Thank you for the reviews and follows they mean so much to me. I hope you enjoy!