Scars

Remus growled quietly under his breath as he fumbled with his tie, the knot slipping undone for the third time as he tucked the end under the wrong loop. He leaned in closer to the mirror, crossed the fabric over itself, and tugged at the ends, hard. This time, the knot caught and he slid it up to his throat and turned down the collar of his shirt over it. The tie was black now; as soon as he was sorted the color would change to match that of his house, as would the lining of his robe. Remus held his tie up to his face and rubbed the cloth in between his forefinger and thumb, scrutinizing it. It was clean, certainly, but the cloth had been chafed with use until it was no longer silky, and it looked shabby and worn, which, of course, it was. But what else could one expect with hand-me-downs from one's father?

Remus's family wasn't poor, exactly. It was just that everybody knew about the confrontation between Remus's father and Fenrir Greyback, and they knew exactly how Greyback had exacted his revenge. Because of this it was no surprise to the family when they met cold, unwelcoming stares and too-high prices at stores and in public. Nobody at Hogwarts would know the terrible secret - the headmaster had promised that. But none the less, Remus didn't fail to observe that, while all the other first years were mingling and chatting with their new acquaintances, he was alone, unapproachable. People took a moment to stare at his clothes and at the scar on his face and then moved away, instinctively repulsed even if they didn't know exactly what those scars meant for Remus on every full moon.

That was why Remus was here now, changing into his school robes the moment he got on the train because it would be something to make him feel like he belonged, something to hopefully smooth away part of the difference that was nearly palpable in the space between Remus and every other student on the train. He pulled his second-hand robes over his head and flattened his now somewhat disheveled hair, and then jumped when two boys stumbled, laughing, into the bathroom in which Remus stood.

"The look on that greasy-haired kid's face!" one of the boys gasped out between chuckles. "What kind of scum would want to be in Slytherin? Besides my family, that is," the student added as an afterthought. Then he turned his attention back to the subject at hand and said, "What'd you call him, James? 'Snivelly'?"

The other boy, evidently named James, shook his head and replied, "No, I said 'Snivellus', but 'Snivelly' is good, too." James caught sight of Remus and his laughter died out. "Oh- sorry, didn't see you." His eyes flickered to the scar that slashed across Remus's cheek and then darted back to meet Remus's eyes.

Remus raised his hand instinctively to cover the scar, but the other boy burst out, "Hey, those are cool scars! How'd you get them?"

Remus's face blanched and he stammered, "Um... I- I-" Was this it, then? Would everybody find out before he'd even arrived at Hogwarts?

"Oh, sorry, you don't even know who I am. Sirius Black. And this here who's goggling at your face is James Potter. Who are you?"

"R- Remus," he stammered, lowering his hand from his cheek, amazed that the boys were still there, seeming to want to get to know him. Remus cleared his throat and said more surely, "Remus Lupin."

"What House do you want to be in?" James asked.

Sirius rolled his eyes at James and said, "We just met him, it's not an interrogation."

"I know it's not," James argued back. "It's an icebreaker."

Remus shook his head. "No, it's okay. I'm hoping for Ravenclaw." Remus couldn't help but beam at the other boys. This was a conversation he was comfortable with.

"I'm not smart enough for Ravenclaw," Sirius remarked. "Ask my mother, she'd agree."

"But being a Ravenclaw isn't just about being smart, you know," Remus protested. "It's about having wisdom and creativity, too. It's not all wit."

"Aren't wit and wisdom the same thing?" James and Sirius asked nearly simultaneously.

"Actually, they're not. You can have wit without being wise," Remus said. "Anyone can learn from a book, but in the words of Helena Ravenclaw, 'Wisdom cannot be taught.' She said so in Hogwarts: A History." Remus looked around at the two blank faces staring back at him. "What, none of you have read it? It's a classic."

"Er, I think my mum keeps it on the shelf of old books nobody ever looks at," James mumbled.

Sirius grinned. "Well, after we get into our robes, come along to our compartment, Remus, and you can show it to us."

"And I can teach you a thing or two about Quidditch," James offered eagerly. "Ever heard of the Wronski Feint?"

Then James and Sirius were off, going on about Quidditch maneuvers that Remus had never cared to learn about, but he listened carefully to their every word despite his lack of interest in the sport, thinking that it was a small price to pay if just maybe, James and Sirius could see past the scars on his face long enough to really know him.

A/N: I know this chapter was a bit short, but all I wanted to do here was show how Remus met the Marauders. Most likely the next chapter will be longer. Fanfictionfan909, I hope you enjoyed my rendition of Remus, and I do plan on showing how they find out his secret eventually, but not until the third year... which won't be for a while yet. But don't worry, there will be lots of Remus throughout the story. The next chapter will be from Sirius's POV (I'm really looking forward to that) and then the one after that will be from Peter's POV, which I expect will be difficult to write. Anyway, I hope you liked it, and please leave me a review!