Chapter Three: Aboard the Hogwarts Express

I'm just going on my tea break, Jim.'

Jim stared at the pimply, young stripling like he was crazed; he glanced at his watch and then back up at the lad. 'Are you mad, lad?' he asked, 'it's half past ten. On the First of September. '

The young man looked confused - he'd only started his porter's job at King's Cross Station the week before. 'I always go for my tea break at half ten,' he told the other porter.

'No no no no no - not on the First of September!' Jim told him. The younger porter's face creased up in confusion, wondering if the 1st of September was the train world's equivalent of April 1st.

'We get the weirdos on the 1st of September,' Jim told him. The boy looked unconvinced, but then the doors to the station were pushed open, and a small family walked onto the concourse. 'Look at 'em,' Jim muttered, nodding at the family. 'We get a ton of them, every year - First of September, right around half past ten - and then, come eleven o'clock - poof - they all just vanish.'

The younger porter looked at the family. Jim was right - they did look like weirdos. The woman was wearing a long black dress that hung right down to the floor and - more to the point - so was the man! They had two young boys with them, and the eldest was pushing a luggage trolley. But it didn't have suitcases piled up on it… It had a large, old fashioned travelling trunk. And balanced on the top of that was a cage, with a live owl stuffed inside. The young man blinked. 'Where are they going, Jim?' he asked.

'No one knows,' the older man replied. 'They turn up, they disappear… never seen a one of them get on a train in all my years working here, but every year, like clockwork they turn up. Trunks, owls, cats, sweeping brooms… all sorts of oddness. And they all wear them trailing dresses. Some even have pointy hats.'

'Are they in fancy dress? Maybe they're going somewhere they have to dress up?'

'What? The weirdos convention 1971?' Jim shrugged, 'maybe they are - but this place is going to be swamped with them in a moment, getting underfoot of all the normal passengers - so don't even think of going on break until after eleven.'

Sure enough - true to Jim's word - as the minute hand on the large station clock ticked ever nearer to eleven, the station became more and more crowded. They were all families - all had teenagers with them, and some had younger children, as well. Most of the adults were dressed in the most bizarre clothes - in the strangest colours, with the weirdest designs printed on them. The older children all had luggage with them - the same old fashioned trunks that the first boy had pushed. A lot of them had animals; cats yowled, owls hooted; a toad escaped from its owner - and the young porter had to help a round faced young man chase it down and capture it where it was lurking, in the corner of the gentlemen's toilets.

And Jim was right - an awful lot of the children clutched sweeping brooms like they were prized possessions. And the things they said! The conversations that he overheard, as the families passed by, were pure gibberish. Words that were not words at all being tossed around like nobody's business. "Quidditch" and "muggle" and "Transfiguration". Utter nonsense! And what the heck was a "Hufflepuff" when it was at home?

There was noise and clamour and rush and bustle. Regular passengers tripped up over the cats and the brooms - and then came to lodge complaints with the increasingly overwhelmed staff. And just when the lad was ready to throw the towel in and walk out on his first ever job - clang! - the minute hand hit eleven o'clock… and all the confusion and cacophony simply melted away. There were no more weirdos in sight. They had just... vanished.

The concourse settled down again, the 11:02 train to Edinburgh Waverley pulled out from platform 10, and everywhere was quiet. Bemused, and a little shook up, the young porter settled down at 11:05 for his long awaited tea break, thinking that maybe next year he would arrange to have his day off on the First of September.

...

Remus sat all alone in his compartment, as the train pulled out from platform 9¾. He had passed carriages full of older children settling in for a long journey, and excited first years spilling out of everywhere, trying out their new wands and generally making a lot of noise. They were asking a lot of questions of each other, as well: 'where are you from?', 'what house will you be in?', 'did you know you were magic?', 'is this the greatest day ever, or what?'

Having been so much alone for the past six years, Remus wasn't quite ready to join in with the melee of his fellow first timers. And he had too much to hide to be prepared to answer their questions. He was happy to be going to Hogwarts - excited too, and proud to be magic enough to go. And he was grateful to Dumbledore for everything that had been put in place to keep him safe. But he was also worried.

He was nervous about leaving home for the first time. His parents had been the only companionship he had had since he had been bitten… and he couldn't yet imagine life without them being right there whenever he needed them. And, although she tried to hide it, Remus could see that his mother wasn't well - and he worried about being away from her when she might need him .

He was also worried he might not make any friends. He had never had friends before - he didn't know how you went about making them. He didn't know if, secluded as his life had been, whether he would be interesting enough for people to want to talk to. And he didn't know if he would fit in. What if all those years alone had made him odd ?

And, of course, he was coming to school for the first time in second hand robes and a patched cloak. His books were tatty and used. He didn't have an owl - or even a cat - of his own. It was a relief that first years were not allowed racing brooms, because, of course, he would not have been able to bring one - and that would only be another thing that marked him out as different. The other children might look down on him for being poor, might sneer at the shabbiness of his robes and at his battered possessions. But at least they couldn't laugh at him for not having a decent broom.

Then - on top of all that - the cherry, on top of the icing, on top of the cake - was his secret. Above all his other worries, he was afraid that the other children would uncover the truth about his condition. And then that would be the end of his chance of being a fully qualified wizard. The children would shun him - and tell their parents. Their parents would write to Dumbledore - if not to the Minister for Magic, herself - saying in no uncertain terms that they would not tolerate their children being schooled alongside a werewolf. And then, with great regret, Dumbledore would have to ask Remus to leave. That would be for his own safety - as well - his fellow pupils might be inclined to do some very nasty things to him to scare him away from the school.

He wanted to make friends, desperately wanted people his own age he could share things with. He had ached with loneliness, sometimes, over the years in hiding. But it was with a very heavy heart that he was forced to admit that any friendships he did forge would have to be based on deception. And that anyone who seemed to like him for himself would change their mind, quicksticks, if they ever discovered the truth. A part of him thought that maybe his mother had been right - perhaps he would have been better joining the muggle world, after all.

As the train jolted and rattled along, he closed his eyes and began to doze off. He hadn't slept much the night before - too excited, and too afraid, to get much rest. He had sat up late, that night, with his parents - in front of the fire - pretending he couldn't hear Hope's cough, and listening to his father tell them both about Hogwarts.

It sounded wonderful - secret passages, suits of armour, staircases that moved, ghosts, mountains and a forest filled with dangerous creatures. It was like something from one of the fairy tales his mother used to read him, and Remus had had to pinch himself to remind himself that it was all true - he was really going! But then his mother had had a particularly nasty bout of coughing, and her face had gone pale - and she had wheezed when she breathed… and suddenly Remus hadn't wanted to leave her, again.

She had insisted she was fine, however, and made him go off to bed - where he had lain awake half the night, staring at the ceiling and counting down the hours. Then they had to get up very early to get to the train station in time. Their home was on the Welsh border - and it would be many hours' journey to reach London. Unlike their trip to Diagon Alley, they would have to go in the car - as Hope was not willing to wave her only child off from home, when she would not see him again until Christmas. His mother wanted to see him onto the train, and wave him off at the last minute. So they had all climbed into their battered Morris Minor and taken the road.

Lyall had helped his wife through the hidden barrier onto the wizarding platform, sending Remus ahead with his trunk. Then they had helped their son onto the train with his luggage, found him a compartment - given him a last hug and a kiss - and then got back off the train. As the scarlet steam engine had pulled out of the station, Remus had hung out of the window, waving to the couple huddled on the platform as they got smaller and smaller. He kept waving until the train went round a corner, and they disappeared from view altogether. Then he had sat all by himself - thinking - until tiredness caused him to close his eyes. The next full moon was less than a week away, and he could already feel the effects of it - sapping his energy and making him ache. It was a great relief to allow himself to drift into sleep - letting the rumble and rattle of the train lull him into somnolence

He was interrupted from his much needed nap, however, by the compartment door opening, all of a sudden. A boy and a girl stood in the doorway, and they pulled up short when they saw Remus in there, sleeping. He opened his eyes and looked at them. He recognised them both - the red headed girl and the sallow faced boy from Diagon Alley.

'Do you mind if we come and sit in here?' the girl asked him, 'only there were the most awful boys in our compartment - we had to move, didn't we, Sev?'

The sallow faced boy nodded, though he didn't look especially pleased to be joining Remus. Nevertheless, the young werewolf said there was plenty of space and they were welcome to sit with him. The little girl came and sat down opposite him, and smiled widely. After a moment, the boy followed her and sat down next to her. He did not smile.

'I'm Lily,' the girl told him, 'Lily Evans - this is Sev… Severus. We know each other from home.'

'I'm Remus,' Remus told her, 'I don't know anybody.'

'Are you the first person in your family to come to Hogwarts?' the girl asked him, 'I am… none of my family are magic. It was Sev that told me I was a witch, I always knew I could do odd stuff, but I didn't realise it was magic.' She frowned a little, 'I'm a bit worried I'm going to be bottom of all our classes - I don't know anything about anything , you see.'

'Lily's got loads of magic,' Severus said, suddenly. It was the first words he had spoken in front of Remus - and he snapped them out, as if he was angry about something. 'Even if her family are only muggles - she's good enough to go to Hogwarts.'

Remus's forehead creased into a frown - he had caught Severus's use of the word "only" and he didn't like it. 'My mum's a muggle,' he said to Lily, 'she wanted me to go to a normal school. But my dad's a wizard, and he and Dumbledore thought I'd be better off at Hogwarts - so here I am.'

'Does your mum not like magic, then?'

He scrunched up his face, as he thought about how to answer this question carefully. 'She didn't mind it at first,' he told the girl, 'my parents met when my mum got attacked by a boggart and my dad rescued her. She's quite an unusual muggle, you see - most non-magic people can't see boggarts, but my mum can. She's more sensitive than most people, I think - and very imaginative. But… I think she's learned to be wary of it, she's seen the way wizards can treat people who are … different. Not that muggles don't treat people badly sometimes, too. Bad people are bad people - magic doesn't change that. But muggles have a lot less power than wizards. I think magic scares her a bit, now.'

Lily nodded thoughtfully - the harsh words of her sister were still ringing in her ears. Magic was something to be afraid of for those who didn't have it - couldn't protect themselves from it. But Severus wasn't looking thoughtful, he was looking calculating. He had narrowed his eyes at Remus, and was scrutinising him. 'You were at Ollivander's,' he said, changing the subject.

'Yes, I got my wand at the same time as you.'

'My mum said your dad doesn't live as part of the magical community anymore,' Severus said. 'She said something happened with the Wizengamot a few years ago … he got into trouble and then just disappeared.'

'That was years ago,' Remus tried to deflect.

'What happened?'

'I don't know the details, I was only five …' He turned back to Lily, 'what kind of wand did you get?'

'Will..' she began to say.

'What wand chose you in the end?' Severus interrupted her, looking at Remus with a challenge in his eyes, 'I got my Elm wand - they choose those with pure blood.'

'Mine's Cypress,' he turned back to Lily, 'what's yours?'

'What did Ollivander say Cypress wood meant?' Severus interrupted again. Remus frowned. He wasn't sure he liked this boy - at all. He asked too many questions, and not in a friendly way. In a way that suggested he knew Remus had something to hide.

And he seemed determined to stop Remus from talking to Lily. Every time Lily spoke to Remus, Severus's face would twist into an expression of suppressed anger and jealousy. And whenever she turned back to him, he would visibly relax - and smile - and act all nice again. There seemed, to Remus, like there were two very definite sides to Severus. And the nice side seemed reserved only for Lily Evans. He didn't know that he could keep up a conversation with someone so hostile, and so determined to keep the girl all to himself, for the entire journey - and so was greatly relieved when the door opened, and a witch pushing a snack trolley popped her head round to see if anybody wanted anything.

Remus shook his head - he had been sent on the train with sandwiches, as his family couldn't afford for him to buy expensive train snacks. Lily looked at the trolley in confusion, having never seen anything like the food that was on offer, before. She bought herself a pumpkin pasty and a cauldron cake, and a glass of pumpkin juice. Her face screwed up as she drank it. 'I've never had pumpkin before,' she said, 'is it... er… is it a big thing in the wizarding world?'

Severus assured her it was, and she looked downcast. Remus ate his sandwiches in silence and, when he was done, took out his copy of A History of Magic to read, so he could avoid talking to Severus any more.

It was not meant to be. 'That's a very battered book,' Severus said to him.

He lowered it, and glanced at the ratty and torn cover, 'it was my dad's,' he admitted.

The other boy nodded, 'I've got my mum's old potions book,' he said, 'you would think they would update the book list occasionally… but obviously Dumbledore isn't interested in us getting the best quality education. My mum says his becoming headmaster is the worst thing that could have happened to Hogwarts… he'll let all sorts in.'

'All sorts of what?' Remus asked, very glad that this boy did not know his secret. Severus opened his mouth to answer, but then glanced at Lily, blushed bright red and muttered, 'nothing.'

Remus nodded to himself; so Severus suffered from the pure blood mania that was so rife in the wizarding world, that his own father was so scornful of. Although Remus was pretty sure that the other boy's mother had said her husband was a muggle, so it was pure hypocrisy. And then there was the internal struggle the boy seemed to be having over his friendship with Lily - and his disdain for her family. His mother was right to be wary of the magical community, there were some very strange ideas around, indeed.

He lifted his book up, so his face was hidden once more, and signalled that way that he no longer wished to talk. He glanced over the top of his page occasionally, though - and noticed Severus sometimes glancing at him. The boy seemed very happy to not have to share Lily, but at the same time - he still seemed very curious about Remus.

...

As the scarlet steam engine snaked its way through the countryside, the landscape outside the windows seemed to get wilder and more rugged. They had passed the border into Scotland some hours ago, and were now reaching the lower edges of the Highlands. As they travelled further north, the night drew in, and the lamps in the carriages were lit. 'We must be nearly there by now,' Severus said, straining his eyes to look out of the window, 'you should change into your robes, Lily.'

Severus, himself, had been wearing his school robes since before they had left London.

Lily glanced between the two boys, and blushed a little. She opened up her trunk and pulled out her school robes - and then just looked at them, as if not quite sure what to do next. Remus copied her, getting his own robes out. He pulled them on over his head, over his muggle jeans and jumper. And with a look of relief, Lily did likewise.

It was quite hot, wearing an entire set of clothing underneath his school robes, but it wasn't only modesty about getting changed in front of a girl that had made Remus unwilling to strip off and get changed properly. His T-shirt was covering the scars from his bite marks. Cursed wounds never healed properly - and his scars were still vivid, and noticeable. They were gnarly, and bumpy, and purple - and there was a definite pattern to them that a close observer might be able to discern were teeth marks. There was no way he was going to expose his scars to Severus - he had only known him a few hours and he had already asked too many questions.

The train started to slow down, and then a voice echoed throughout the corridors. 'We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately.'

Lily and Severus exchanged an excited look. Remus put his book back into his trunk and sure enough, five minutes later, they came grinding to a halt. Leaving his luggage behind, as instructed, Remus opened the compartment door and joined the throng of students leaving the train. He was not too disappointed to find that he had got separated from Lily and Severus.

As he stepped onto the platform, a voice boomed out: 'firs'- years, firs' - years over here! C'mon, follow me. Any more firs' years?' The voice belonged to simply the most enormous man Remus had ever seen. He was at least twice as tall as normal, and about five times as wide. He had a massive tangle of bushy hair, and a thick beard. But, alarming as his appearance was, he was smiling as he called the first year students over to himself. He seemed quite benign for a giant, and Remus supposed he had no right to be surprised - he was, himself, quite benign for a werewolf.

'This way, this way, c'mon now - all firs'- years, this way,' the giant boomed, and the huddle of youngest students all filed after him, following him down a steep and muddy path. It was so dark on either side that Remus assumed there must be thick trees growing alongside, blocking out the light. In front of him, two boys slipped and slid through the mud, tripping each other up and then laughing loudly.

'Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec,' the giant called over his shoulder, 'just round this bend, here.'

A sudden 'oooh' ran through the crowd of first years, and their line came to a stop, as they all stood and stared at their new home. The path had ended on the edge of a great, black lake and - across the lake, perched on top of a mountain - was a vast castle with many turrets and towers. The windows were brightly lit, warm and inviting looking, and they stood out against the inky black of the sky. 'Look at that full moon,' one of the boys in front of Remus hissed.

With a heavy heart, Remus looked skyward, following the direction the boy was pointing in. The great yellowish disc hung over the tallest tower of the castle, slightly obscured by cloud.

It was very dramatic looking - the big harvest moon, and the silhouette of the ancient, sprawling school. But to Remus, the moon winked down at him like a malevolent eye. The other boy wrinkled his nose, 'are you sure that's full?' he asked. 'Isn't it just gibbous?'

'You're gibbous,' his friend replied.

'Yeah? You're a gibbon .'

They both laughed.

Behind them, Remus didn't say anything. But he could tell them, well enough, that it wasn't full. In fact, he could tell them that it was precisely four nights away from being full. If that moon was full - then these boys - all these people, even the giant, would be in a whole world of danger. As it was, the greatest threat to their safety simply felt tired and achey. Twinges of pain ran through his bones, as they prepared to break and reform in the transformation in a few nights' time. He sighed to himself - and then squinted. There was something moving on the water.

'No more'n four to a boat,' the giant called out, pointing to a fleet of small boats that came sailing up the lake all by themselves. Remus got into a boat with the two boys ahead of him, and once all the students were on board, the giant shouted 'forward' and all the boats sailed off together, this time headed for the school.

It was cold, out on the lake, the wind whipped around them and the boat rocked perilously. Although Remus thought a big part of that might be his two companions, who were shoving each other, and splashing each other and rocking their little vessel. A great tidal wave of water hit the werewolf in the face, as the one with glasses tried to splash the good looking one - and missed. Both boys guffawed. Remus sighed, and looked forward to the end of the boat ride, when he could take his leave of the two of them, and hopefully not have to deal with them again.

Everyone else stared up at the school in silence. The sound of the two pranksters was the only noise floating across the eerie, still lake. 'Head's down,' roared the giant, and everyone ducked, as they sailed under a curtain of ivy, which was hiding a wide opening in the cliff face. They sailed down a long, dark tunnel, which seemed to take them right underneath the castle. Eventually they reached a kind of underground harbour, and they disembarked out onto a beach of rocks and pebbles.

Then the giant led them through a passageway in the rock itself. They all followed the light of his lamp until they came out onto the mountainside, standing on the grass under the shadow of the castle. Once they were all out in the open, the giant raised his fist and knocked three times on the massive oak doors…