Remus POV:

Kinship

The bell that sounded echoed across the mind of one Remus Lupin. It was heavy and painful to his sensitive ears, a sharp reminder of the reason for his headache. Helen had been a soothing balm to his complicated life, and now the only person outside the Marauders and Snape who knew the truth of him was dead. Taken. Why? He didn't know.

The worst part of this whole situation had been telling his Aunt Amandine that her daughter, her little Helena, was gone. The second to worst part had been telling her that he didn't even know how, where or exactly when she had died.

The sound of Aunt Mandi's keening had been too much to bear. Her screams of "Why did they take her?" resounded over and over in his head. Remus had a nasty suspicion that the responsibility lay with someone at school, a Death Eater inside Hogwarts who was picking off students; one, by one, by one. He shivered in fear and disgust.

He lifted his eyes from the hole he had been burning into the table, willing each grain to absorb some of his pain. To his left, Peter looked uncomfortable; he had been acting strangely for a while now, but under the circumstances that was to be expected.

Or was it?

Peter was regularly absent with only a vague explanation and was becoming increasingly flighty. No. Remus vigorously shook himself mentally, how could he even think that for one second? Of one of his best friends? He was becoming paranoid. He pushed that scary thought to the back of his mind.

He refocused on Helena. His cousin Helen. Now was a time to remember the good times, the very best times he spent with Helen. At random, a memory took him away from the present.

***

"Remus, are you coming? We're going to miss out on the best seats if you don't get your hairy bum into gear" Helena called over her shoulder, trying in vain to drag her bulging trunk from the trolley onto the Hogwarts Express.

"Oh, I'm sorry Queen Helen, maybe the reason I can't get onto the train is because of your over-stuffed trunk" Remus quipped.

Helena faked offence. "Well why don't you give the fair maiden a hand then?" She smiled haughtily and stepped forward, away from her trunk. Bad idea. Remus watched in slow motion as the trunk fell out of the train and onto the platform with a deafening crash, knocking Helen over in the process. Remus stifled a laugh as the trunk lid popped open spilling all Helen's 'necessary' items including cat food, a football and a feather boa; Remus had learned long ago not to ask.

"That boy has no manners. Let me help you princess" A voice said from behind Remus.

He turned to see a boy of the same age standing with an arm outstretched to Helen who looked slightly dazed after being hit on the head by the tin of cat food. She took his hand and he pulled her up. Remus recognised him instantly. Sirius Black, family member to the Slytherin students Bellatrix and Narcissa Black. He cast Remus an uncharacteristic wary glance, judging his reaction to the almost regal Black family member. Sirius may be a Black, but Remus was not one to judge by any stretch of the imagination. He would also never take him seriously if he wanted to be treated like royalty.

"No he doesn't. Are you going to valiantly rescue me from my evil cousin?" Helen inquired.

"Hmmm, well, I could take you to my luxury compartment. Oh, and since I'm so merciful, your 'evil' cousin can come too" Sirius said with mock seriousness.

"I have manners!" Remus objected.

"Sure" Helen smiled.

"Anyway, shall we get on the train or do you want to stay out her and argue over manners?" Sirius interjected.

All three of them chucked Helen's things back into her trunk and Remus and Sirius both sat on top of the lid whilst Helen attempted to fasten it back together.

Sirius sighed. "Girls and their 'necessities'"

Remus laughed, he liked this Sirius Black already.

Finally, the two boys and Helen found a spare compartment and sank into seats, having had to drag the equivalent of a whole year's worth of things just for Helen – not just for the autumn term which they were about to begin. Sirius' trunk was suspiciously light.

"Where's all the rest of your stuff" Helen enquired.

Sirius looked puzzled. "What other stuff?"

"You know clothes and things."

Sirius just smirked. "That is everything. The rest of the space will be filled with stuff from Honeydukes and Zonko's "

"First years can't go to Hogsmeade. How do you get there? Can you show me?" Helen had a mischievous look in her eyes.

"Of course princess, as soon as I work out how to get there myself. Remus, are you in?"

Remus was surprised that Sirius even knew his name.

"Well-"He began.

"Oh come on Remmie, it will be fun! Where's your sense of adventure?" Sirius grinned. Helen laughed.

"Ok, but only if you stop calling me Remmie" Remus had a horrible feeling that the name might stick. This was unfortunately proved correct by Sirius' answer.

"Good choice...Remmie" Sirius smirked.

The next sequence of events happened very quickly.

There was a huge flash of light and a crack in the corridor just outside the compartment door which was flung open suddenly. A boy dived inside and slammed the door shut again. He sat down and smoothed his hair which was sticking up in a thousand places. He pushed a pair of round glasses back up his nose and grinned.

"So, what did I miss?" He said, so casually that it would appear to an outsider that he had been sitting there for the entire conversation.

"Remmie and Princess Helen here have decided to help us find a way to get to Hogsmeade" Sirius told him.

"Brilliant. Wait, I thought you were called Remus?" The boy looked confused. How did everyone know his name? Did he have an unknown reputation already? Only three people knew about his 'furry' issues; the headmaster Albus Dumbledore, Helena and himself and he intended to keep it that way.

"Oh Jamsie, you've taken one too many bludgers to the head. Remus is now known as Remmie" Sirius appeared pretty pleased with himself. Remus glared at him.

"James Potter" James stuck his hand out to Remus and Helen.

"Remus Lupin "

"Helena Damask. Not to be nosy, but what exactly was going on outside just then?" Hmm Remus wasn't sure that he wanted to know.

"Well," James began, "there's this really slimy boy called Severus Snape..."

***

Remus found himself smiling at the memory as the second bell rang. That conversation had created the friendship of the trio, which soon became the quartet in second year after they met Peter through Helen. The Marauders had been officially born through Helen's cat food, which had come in useful on a number of obscure occasions that required Apollyon Pringle's cat Mr Morris being silenced with food. Remus had always wondered why she had carried such things around with her.

As Helen used to say "Always be prepared".

Unfortunately, there were some things which Remus had never been prepared for, one being the death of his only cousin Helen. If he had gone back in time knowing what would happen to Helen, he was sure that warning his past self would still not prepare him. He was lost. They were all lost and there was no Helen with her cat food to save them.

A/N: Next chapter will be from Sirius' or Snape's POV :) Please review!