Remus had always had a habit of sleeping in. He assumed it stemmed from his almost permanent exhaustion, brought on by his monthly transformations and the plain anxiety that kept him up way past midnight. Waking up in the morning, therefore, was as hard for him as going to sleep at night. However, on his first proper day of school, Remus woke up unusually early. His mind must have subconsciously— and fretfully— ensured that there was no way he could be late, and he was rather glad he was awake before the rest of the dormitory, as it meant that he could get dressed in peace. It also meant he could use the bathroom without worrying about the other boys; he'd never used a boys' bathroom before, because he'd never had to, what with having spent the majority of his life in his house. As a result, he was slightly fearful, and embarrassed, since he couldn't use the urinals. He decided he'd only use the bathroom when no one else was around, and hoped that there'd be no outstanding emergency to compromise this plan.

The Great Hall was sparsely filled, mainly with first and second years who were still very much trying to make a good impression and arrive early to everything, something that the older students no longer really bothered with. Remus walked to the front of the Gryffindor table where he'd sat last night. The tables were already laden with food, this time of the more breakfast sort: bacon, eggs, toast, cereal and a number of different drinks. Lily was there too, eating a slice of toast and talking to her friend Severus, who hadn't actually sat down. As Remus approached, Severus stared at him as unsmiling as ever.

"Morning," greeted Remus.

"Oh hi Remus!" Lily smiled at him, and he noted with vague surprise that she had managed to remember his name. She shifted over a little and patted the wooden bench with her palm. "Sit down!" Remus quickly obliged, then turned to Severus.

"Don't you want to sit down?" he asked. Severus looked at him like he'd asked something stupid.

"This isn't my table. I'm only here to say hello to Lily."

"You don't have to sit at your table, Sev," said Lily. "It's not a rule... at least I don't think it is."

"It's my first day. If I'm seen sitting at the Gryffindor table instead of the Slytherin table I'll be considered a traitor."

"A traitor? Bit harsh isn't it? It's just breakfast," remarked Remus, who was now buttering his own slice of toast. Severus scoffed.

"You clearly don't understand house dynamics." Remus raised an eyebrow, but didn't reply. Severus turned back to Lily. "I'll see you after class." Lily nodded in agreement, as Severus turned away and walked back to the Slytherins.

"He's a bit... fierce, isn't he?" observed Remus, once Severus was out of earshot. Lily just smiled.

"He's not very good with people, but he's alright once you get to know him."

"Is that possible?"

"Yes. I did, and he's nice to me." Remus dropped the conversation as more students began to filter into the Hall. The next boy he saw from his dormitory was Owain, who was carrying a rather significant pile of books. Owain sat near them, near enough for conversation.

"Why do you have so many books?" asked Lily.

"I didn't know which one I'd need, so I brought all of them."

"You only need Magical Theory for the first lesson," said Remus, who had the book sitting next to him on the table. Other than that, he only had his wand. Anything else he needed he could fetch between classes, and he already had his timetable memorised, so it wouldn't take long. Owain sighed and pulled out a book from the bottom of the pile.

"Thanks. I lost my timetable."

Peter joined them next, walking slightly haphazardly as he struggled with his tie, nearly bumping into an oncoming student. He soon succeeded in his task and flopped down next to the three of them.

"When's the mail getting here?" was his first question.

"I assume when everyone's arrived," replied Remus. Peter scrunched up his nose as he looked around the sparsely filled Hall.

Sirius and James were the last of the first year Gryffindors to arrive. By then, the first year end of the table was buzzing with conversation. There were two other Gryffindor boys, Tobin Hyslop and Jethro Becker. Remus hadn't really spoken to them last night, but Jethro turned out to be particularly interested in poltergeists, which Remus was able to provide valuable insight into; Jethro was very excited to hear that Remus's father worked with poltergeists and asked endless questions about how to deal with them and which spells to use. Remus answered as best he could, although out of all the creatures Lyall studied, poltergeists had never truly struck Remus's fancy. He simply saw them as overconfident ghosts. Tobin was quieter, and spent the duration of breakfast in front of a propped up book about Charms.

Anwen Williams, Owain's twin sister, was sitting next to Lily and was chatting to her animatedly, and a girl sitting across from them, whom Remus remembered to be called Mary McDonald, chimed in every now and again.

Sirius and James were arguing over something when they arrived, though it seemed to be light-hearted enough. They only vaguely acknowledged the others, and Remus was too engrossed in another conversation with Owain to take much notice of them. They sat down just as the post arrived.

Owls of all shapes and sizes flocked into the Hall through a window near the ceiling, carrying letters and parcels in their talons or beaks. The sky was a flurry of muted colours and fluttering wings. Remus kept an eye out for his family's old owl, who wasn't hard to miss, being of the very large Long-Eared species. He eventually caught sight of him, and was pleased to see that he was carrying quite a bundle: two letters and a parcel. The owl dropped them in front of him and resumed his flight out of the castle with the rest of the owls.

Remus opened the parcel first, feeling the curious eyes of his classmates watch him as they opened their own mail. The parcel contained a various selection of sweets, both muggle and wizarding. Peter was fairly interested.

"Are these real?" he asked, picking up a red Sugar Mice. Remus chuckled.

"Course not. It's muggle, isn't it? It's just sugar." Remus knew he should save the goodies. They were only a one-off treat, after all. His mother didn't like him eating sugar at the best of times, but he couldn't help but open one of the Chocolate Frogs... and the little packet of Malteasers. He shared them with the others.

The first letter was from his mother. He knew so immediately, not by the handwriting, but by the fact that it was in Welsh. He smiled at that, guessing that that was her way to make him feel less homesick. He showed it to Owain, who looked happily surprised. The other letter was, unexpectedly, from Dumbledore. Remus hid this one from the others. The man had requested to see him at lunchtime in his office and informed him that the password was Cauldron Cakes. He didn't say anything else, though Remus could guess at least one of the topics that Dumbledore was keen to talk to him about.

Remus finished his breakfast and had just enough time to return to his dorm and stash the remaining contents of his parents' parcel before heading to class. The first lesson was Magical Theory with Professor Whittaker, a stout lady somewhere in her late forties at least, who carried an exceptionally long wand. Remus didn't have too much trouble finding the class, unlike Peter, who Remus met down one of the corridors going in the complete opposite direction, so Remus let him tag along. They made it there within five minutes of the start of the lesson.

Professor Whittaker was rather strict, Remus discovered, but she seemed to go from nought to a hundred very quickly. When the class was behaving she was as nice as pumpkin pie, smiling at the students and willingly offering an explanation when a student struggled to follow along with the text. But when she turned around and caught sight of James Potter clearly not concentrating— his head was turned to the side and he was vaguely leaning backwards and forwards in his chair— she waved her wand and abruptly brought the front of his chair crashing down, almost causing his head to bang against the tabletop. Sirius laughed louder than anyone.

The next lesson was transfiguration, and Remus heard James saying that he was looking forward to this one. They shared this class with the Slytherins, so Lily was picked up by Severus outside the Magical Theory classroom, and the two walked together. Remus had to go back upstairs to fetch his copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.

Professor McGonagall taught this class, the stern-looking woman they'd all met last night. Unlike Whittaker, she was consistently strict, which wasn't great, but at least you knew where you stood with her.

The majority of the lesson was spent with McGonagall explaining the basics of transfiguration; the theory, the history, and some of the wand movements they'd be using. Once again, James was reprimanded for drifting off and not listening, but finally, in the last ten minutes of the lesson, McGonagall permitted them to attempt turning a matchstick into a needle. It was small stuff, but the class was excited nonetheless. This was the first time they were permitted to use magic.

Soon the room was filled with the sounds of incantations as the students waved their wands over lifeless matchsticks. A few students managed to succeed in their endeavour, judging by the occasional cheer, and praise from McGonagall. Amazingly, one of those students was James, who was in fact the first to obtain a needle from his matchstick. The others were very impressed, and James was by no means an example of humility: he soaked up the admiration with his signature cocky grin.

Remus managed to achieve the task after quite a few tries.

"Well done, Mr Lupin," observed McGonagall, making Remus smile for more than one reason. Peter on the other hand achieved little more than moving his matchstick an inch to the left, but since this was still more than what some students had managed, McGonagall advised him against being disheartened.

Very soon, McGonagall began to dismiss the class, praising their work, advising them to practice, and— to the annoyance of the class— assigning them homework. They had to write a foot long essay on Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration.

A few more lessons passed, with no noteable events apart from the incredible boredom of History of Magic. Remus had hoped the class was going to be quite interesting, especially when he found out the teacher was a ghost, but even he— lover of history— struggled to keep his gaze from wandering out of the window and his thoughts turning to anything other than the properties of the earliest wands. He looked over his shoulder to where James was sitting. The boy had clearly given up altogether and appeared to be asleep. Remus stifled a laugh as Sirius began to balance all sorts of objects on his friend: a quill, a roll of parchment, an ink pot, his wand... others had noticed and were silently encouraging him, passing him things under the desk to balance, much more entertained by this as they were by anything Professor Binns was droning on about. Incidentally, Professor Binns hadn't noticed a thing.

When the class ended, Remus heard giggles from behind. The sounds of chairs scraping and students rushing to leave had caused James to jerk awake, and everything that Sirius had managed to pile on top of him— which turned out to be a rather impressive total of fifteen items as Sirius later informed them— had tipped over onto the floor, and James had just sat there looking utterly confused, while Sirius roared with laughter.

Lunch arrived, and Remus had something quick— a sausage roll and a sip of pumpkin juice— and told Lily he was going to the library after she questioned why he was excusing himself so soon.

He struggled to find Dumbledore's office and ended up having to ask a passing ghost for directions. The directions were eventually correct but they somehow took him all around the castle, and put him off from asking anything from a ghost again. Finally, he found himself stood in front of a huge bronze statue of a griffin. It stared at him with steely eyes. He cleared his throat.

"Um... Cauldron cakes?" he asked it with slight apprehension, but to his relief the statue clanked into motion and began to spiral around, until a staircase appeared. The staircase continued to move, so Remus hopped aboard and let it take him to the foot of a large wooden door. Remus knocked.

"Come in," called a voice which he immediately recognised to be Dumbledore's. Remus pushed open the door. It groaned with its own weight.

"Ah, Mr Lupin. How nice to see you." He smiled behind his beard. The man was sitting at his desk. Remus came forward and looked around. It was a room filled with fascinating little objects, and shelves piled high with books, ancient, leather-bound books, but what was most curious were the portraits on the walls, or at least, Remus assumed they were portraits. They had all been covered up, draped over with fabric as if they were in mourning. Dumbledore seemed to read his thoughts.

"I thought it best to conduct our conversation in private. I find paintings have a tendency to gossip. Unsurprising, of course. They have little else to do." His eyes crinkled at the sides, an indication that he was smiling. Remus was grateful. If they were going to talk about his lycanthropy, then he certainly didn't want any nosy portraits listening in, especially not a bunch of old headmasters and headmistresses.

Dumbledore held out his hand towards a chair that stood across from him, instructing Remus to sit down. Remus obeyed.

"Would you like a ginger snap?" Offered Dumbledore, holding out a bowl of very thin, orange biscuits. "They're muggle. I've found them to be quite tasty."

"No, thank you, sir," replied Remus politely. In truth, he actually hated ginger snaps. In fact, he wasn't really a biscuit person at all. He was more of a chocolate person. Dumbledore picked up one of the biscuits, snapped it cleanly in half, and dipped one of the halves into a cup of tea that sat atop a pile of papers.

"So, Mr Lupin. We have plenty to discuss." Dumbledore popped the now tea-soaked biscuit into his mouth.

"Yes, sir."

"Your lycanthropy, first and foremost, needs to be properly managed," continued the man once he'd finished chewing. "As I've said before, there are a number of places within which you can transform safely. I suggest the Shrieking Shack. Are you familiar with it?" Remus nodded.

"A little. It's near Hogsmeade, isn't it? And legend says it's haunted."

"Why, so is Hogwarts. Besides, I don't imagine any ghost would be able to harm you."

"I know," replied Remus, not meaning to sound impertinent, but male pride took over for a second and he baulked at the subtle insinuation that he may have been scared of ghosts.

"I would also suggest the Forbidden Forest, but a number of rather dangerous creatures reside there and I fear that you are too young and do not have the experience to deal with them, even in your werewolf form. Besides, there may be some creatures that you could end up harming, such as unicorns or centaurs that could cause detriment and distress to your human form. So it is perhaps best that you steer clear of the forest altogether.

"The Shrieking Shack is joined by a tunnel that goes from the Hogwarts grounds right into the house itself. I shall show you exactly where, but I must warn you; a Whomping Willow tree was planted to hide the tunnel. You may have seen it from the entrance of the castle, but it is rather... temperamental. The best solution is to use the immobulus charm, which I suggest you practice in your free time ready for the upcoming full moon."

"But... Sir, I can't use magic outside of Hogwarts. How can I use the charm on the tree?"

"Well, my dear boy, as Headmaster, I have the ability to... bend the rules somewhat. It shall be that you can use magic during the full moon, but only if necessary."

"Okay..." Remus didn't really know what else to say. "The Shrieking Shack it is then." There was a momentary silence while Dumbledore sipped from his teacup. Remus fidgeted awkwardly. He still had a lot of questions, but he wasn't sure if Dumbledore was going to elucidate.

"There are also things we can do to help your transition into a boy," Dumbledore suddenly continued, a statement which felt rather out of place from their original conversation, but Remus perked up nonetheless. He hadn't thought that any of that had crossed Dumbledore's mind, mainly because Remus's own mind had been trying to avoid it, since it didn't even know where to start. It didn't know if there even was a start.

"Really?"

"Of course. Why, we have all sorts of magic at our disposal. I cannot see there being any difficulty in achieving this." Remus was ecstatic. He'd assumed that he'd have to deal with his transition himself. That each day would pass by with him dreading the first signs of puberty, and when it did happen, he'd... well that was the point. He didn't know what he'd do. His parents hadn't known what to do either except encourage him to try and hide as much as possible. There was no information on this kind of stuff. He'd read every book he could get his hands on and he hadn't found anything, so Dumbledore telling him that not only was Hogwarts going to help him, but that it would be easy, made him almost look forward to puberty now, especially if it was going to turn out to be the correct one.

But Dumbledore hadn't finished.

"Madame Pomfrey, the Hogwarts matron, will be in charge of your transition. She is a trained medical healer after all, and since this is to do with your body, it's only logical that she takes control."

"Wait... someone else has to know?" Remus didn't like the sound of that. He knew she was an adult and all, someone professional, but... he didn't want anyone else to know if he could avoid it, and if his transition would be as easy as Dumbledore was making it out to be, then surely no one would ever have to know. But apparently, it was this Madam Pomfrey who would be the sole reason for his easy transition, so it had soon turned into a win/lose situation for him. He knew there had to be a catch. There always was.

"I'm afraid it's unavoidable. Of course, you can choose not to tell her, but that would mean not transitioning."

"Can't you do it? It's just gonna be spells and that, right? You can even tell me what spells to use and I'll do it myself!"

"Mr. Lupin, it is not that simple—"

"You just said it was!"

"Simple for Madam Pomfrey. Not for you. Not even for me. It is magic, yes, but it is also medical. I am not trained. It would be dangerous, and frankly illegal. I'm sorry." Remus sighed.

"Fine." Transitioning was more important. It was the most important thing he could think of. He wasn't going to jeopardise it just to avoid telling one other person. "Does she already know?"

"Not yet. I wanted to run it by you first, then I'd tell her. After that, I assume she shall set up a meeting with your parents, so they can discuss everything that shall happen moving forward, and they can give their permission."

"I need my parent's permission?"

"Yes, it is mandatory."

"Oh." That was obvious, of course, but he was worried. His mother would probably say yes, but what would his father say? He hoped that his father would be more focused on making sure no one found out that Remus had been born a girl, and surely the best way to hide that was for Remus to become completely indistinguishable from any other boy. But his father was stubborn...

He didn't want to think about his father saying no, so he thought about something else.

"Can I meet Madam Pomfrey?" he asked. "Before you tell her anything." He wanted to at least see if Madame Pompfrey seemed like someone he could trust.

"Of course. I shall talk to her, and owl you a time when she's free. She shall also be informed of your lycanthropy, so she can deal with any injuries that you may sustain during your transformation. In fact, it would be advisable to visit Madam Pomfrey after every transformation before you go to breakfast, so she can check you over." Remus nodded, indicating that this sounded satisfactory, and hoping that Madam Pomfrey would be nice, considering he'd now apparently be spending a lot of time with her. "Is there anything else you wish to discuss?"

"Yes. On the full moon, how do I sneak out of Hogwarts to the tunnel?"

"The front doors will have a charm put on them. Every full moon they'll open slightly to let you out. They won't open fully in order to not cause any suspicion, but you still have to be careful to not let anyone see you. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"The next morning the doors shall be open again properly. You can slip back inside before breakfast. I suggest you bring a change of clothes with you. I don't imagine you want to be heading back to your dormitory with ripped attire."

"No, sir." Remus stood up. "If... if I may..." Dumbledore nodded.

"Yes, we don't want you to be late for class. You are dismissed."

"Thank you, sir. For everything," he added. Dumbledore's eyes once again crinkled at the sides, a sign that was already becoming familiar to Remus. He turned around, crossed the room, and opened the door. On the other side of the door he took a moment to collect his thoughts. He had a lot to think about. Some was good, and some was bad.

He wished he'd had some more lunch. He was already starting to get hungry again.