4th December 1971

"Evans?"

Remus heard Lily's footsteps stop and he hurried round the corner to catch up to her.

"The surname thing is still weird." She said neutrally.

"Sorry, Lily," Remus corrected, offering her a small smile. "It does take a bit of getting used to."

The corridors were quite empty, the occasional echo of far-off footsteps breaking the peaceful morning. It was the weekend, and not many students were up and dressed at 6am, let alone wandering the hallways. There was a real bite of morning chill that the stone walls were doing little to keep at bay, despite the flaming torches.

"So…" started Remus losing his nerve a little now that he was face-to-face with her. "...What are you doing out so early?" He thought she looked a little forlorn. Her face seemed pale behind the freckles and though she was up early, her two plaits were frizzy, as though she'd been restless and hadn't bothered to re-do them.

He didn't know what had spurred him to call out to her. He and Lily were housemates, and occasionally sat together in class, but Remus spent more time with Peter, and she with the Gryffendor girls, or Severus.

There was just something about the way they were both wandering the cold empty corridors together that made him want to connect with someone.

He didn't… connect with people. He didn't reach out to people. Every now and again, someone would hold out a hand to him and he would cautiously take it. He'd been lucky that Peter, James and seemingly Sirius had done as much since he started Hogwarts. Maybe it was being surrounded by all those incredibly Gryffendor students that stoked the little fire of bravery inside him.

They fell into step, continuing their aimless wandering, climbing one staircase after another, watching the castle wake up.

"I couldn't really sleep," said Lily. "There's too much to think about."

Remus related, but felt that they couldn't surely have the same thoughts keeping them up at night.

"Like what?"

Lily sighed. "Oh… I don't even know where to start. I don't even understand what I feel so sad about - or if I even feel sad, to be honest." She fiddled with the end of her plait. "It's like everything is too good to be true, in the best way and the worst way all at once."

They turned down the seventh floor corridor, their footsteps echoing around them solemnly.

"Yeah, it is a bit like that," he agreed lamely. "You're muggle-born, aren't you? It must be difficult to be the first one."

Lily nodded. "Is everything how you had expected? I suppose you were excited to come. Marlene and Dorcas were talking about waiting for the letter the other night. All it did in my family was cause arguments, at the start."

Remus didn't answer immediately. A small group of Ravenclaws was passing and he became self-conscious about being overheard. He steered them towards the steep spiral steps leading up to the Astronomy Tower - he doubted they'd be interrupted there.

"I didn't expect to come at all," Remus confessed softly, not looking at Lily.

"I thought your parents were magic?"

"Kind of. My dad's a wizard. My mum isn't. She's a school teacher."

They had reached the top of the staircase. There was a small landing where students normally queued, decorated with nothing more than two closed doors and a torch. Remus knew one door led to the Astronomy classroom and supposed the other must lead to the small open part of the tower which could be seen from the classroom windows. Lily opened the outside door. It was lightly drizzling. They went out into the morning air anyway.

The sky was white and featureless, stretching bleakly out into the distant hills. On the Quidditch pitch, the unfortunate Ravenclaw team could be seen practicing in the cold.

"He didn't, like, keep that he was a wizard a secret from you both, did he?" Lily asked.

Remus laughed a little. "No, nothing like that. She knows. It's just…we moved house a lot, I- er… Mum was ill a lot and my dad never really thought that I'd be able to go. He never talked about Hogwarts and didn't do a lot of magic at home. I suppose he didn't want me to feel like I was missing out. I even went to muggle school, for a little bit."

"So, you didn't practice any magic before you came?" There was something a little mischievous in her voice that Remus raised an eyebrow at.

"Yeah. I started kind of from scratch when I arrived - a bit like you, I suppose. But I think a lot of wizard families do that on purpose - like a tradition." Remus was thinking of James whining about his parents not allowing him to get a wand until his letter came and making him take lessons from a local muggle tutor in reading and maths.

Lily sighed. "I keep wondering if I should have even come at all." She confessed. Remus raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Can't imagine why. You're one of the better students in our year, after all."

"It's not that…" She leaned against the battlements and tucked her cold hands into her pockets. "It's just… I have a sister, right? And she didn't get a letter. And my parents… I've never lived away from them before. And I had friends, in my street and at my school. I was excited to start high school, too. And now I feel like things can never go back to the way they were."

Remus was a little ashamed at how surprised he felt. He had never considered the way students, particularly muggle born or muggle-integrated students, were expected to abandon their life. And even though school would one day be over, Lily was right. Things wouldn't be the same. She would have to maintain a lie to all of her old friends. They would grow apart. Old aspirations would have to be discarded. He supposed he could thank his childhood isolation for that, at least. He hadn't expected anything to change. He'd assumed that he would always be lonely, excluded, living on the fringes of society. And then, when he'd become convinced that the wizarding world had forgotten him, Albus Dumbledore had come knocking.

"Do you know what, that's not completely fair," Lily abruptly confessed. "I did dream of Hogwarts a bit. I was excited about the idea of it, it was fun to imagine. It's just the reality is a bit… different."

Remus was surprised, and intrigued. "How could you possibly have known? I had thought that muggle children were only introduced to the idea of Hogwarts around the summer before first term?"

"Severus told me," Lily's mouth twitched into a small smile. "He used to tell me I was magic, and that I would go to magic school with him." Remus thought she looked almost amused at herself. "I believed him, I suppose. But I also thought of it as our fun little make-believe world. I hadn't really considered the reality of leaving my life behind. He used to tell me all sorts of stories about the wizarding world, I suppose they were all true, in the end."

"You're talking about Severus Snape?" Remus asked. He did vaguely know of the dark haired boy that often sat by Lily in classes they shared with Slytherin. He had never really spoken to him, but he knew James and Sirius weren't keen on him."He's in Slytherin, right?"

Lily scowled defensively. "Yeah, not that it means anything!"

Remus' hands went up placatingly. "I never said it did!" He assured her. "I've barely spoken to him."

He shivered, and could feel his damp hair sticking to his forehead. "I'm getting cold, should we go back?"

"I suppose."

It was drawing closer to a reasonable time to be awake and the castle started to come to life as the two first years made their way across the courtyards across to the Gryffendor side of the tower. Having shared an uncharacteristically large portion of his soul, Remus had relaxed somewhat. On Lily's sly request, he revealed some of the tamer secrets of the boy's dormitory - mainly their midnight feasts of melted cream cakes and disturbingly room-temperature sandwiches. In exchange for the juicy tidbit that James Potter had brought a soft toy dragon to Hogwarts, stuffed to the bottom of his trunk, Lily swore her secrecy and showed Remus how to perform a proper temperature control charm. They were tucked into an alcove, practicing it into Remus' robe pocket when they were abruptly interrupted.

"Evans, Lupin."

A curt, hostile voice rang out, far too derisive for the unimpressive, pale-faced boy that had stopped by them.

Lily laughed. "Oh, who are you calling Evans?" She said lightly, standing up to greet her friend. "Sev, you know Remus, don't you?"

"We've met," he didn't bother to look at Remus. His eyes were hard and glued to Lily. Remus thought he would have looked dangerous, if they weren't eleven.

"What's the matter with you?" Lily's bright demeanor melted away when she realised Severus didn't seem to be joking. "Did something happen?"

Snape turned his gaze from her, looking hard at the stone wall, his lips a thin line.

"We were supposed to meet at seven thirty," he bit out venomously. "Seems that you'd forgotten."

Remus noticed Lily send Snape an incredulous scowl as she checked her watch. It was plastic and pink, shaped like a flower - Remus smiled, remembering Lily worrying about leaving her muggle life behind.

"Oh, it's seven forty-five. Sorry Sev. We've still got loads of time, though."

Still got loads of time. She had to be winding him up. Of course, they had the whole morning, but it was the principle of the thing. He had waited (foolishly) at the Great Hall doors, ignoring the looks from groups of students passing by him to enjoy their weekend together. And I would have looked like a sad little loner, no doubt his mind supplied, unkindly. While here she is, getting pally with Lupin.

"Well, you know where to find me when you're finished with your new friend." He had intended the words to come out unbothered, but even Severus could hear the sneer in his own voice. He resolutely kept his face neutral when Lily reacted predictably.

"Oh for Christ's sake!" Lily took an advancing step, testing his resolve. "I'm allowed to have friends!"

He made no comment, simply raising his eyebrows, only serving to fuel her temper. Severus caught sight of Remus unobtrusively dusting off his school robe and leaving towards the Gryffendor common room. It was no good him leaving now. You've already ruined it.

"Are you going to speak to me, or not!?" Lily's raised voice attracted a few glances from passing older students. "If you're going to be like that, you'd best be planning to speak to me properly."

"Fine!" He matched her, and took a step up to Lily. They were nose-to-nose. "I want to know why you're hanging around with those boys anyway!? They're idiots!"

"Hanging around what boys!?" Lily hissed at him. "First of all, who I speak to is my business - I suppose you'd like me to send you a letter every time I'd like to speak to someone from my own house!?" She poked him in the chest accusingly. "Secondly, I'm not hanging around with those boys - whoever they are - I was speaking to my friend. Shame I'm only allowed one at a time apparently!"

Severus opened his mouth to argue, but Lily poked him again.

"Don't bother, Sev." He watched her storm off up the stairs towards the common room. He could still feel her indignation where her finger had jabbed his chest.

Earlier, I think in chapter one, I said Remus had never been to school before. I changed my mind, because I wanted him and Lily to have more in common. Canonically, he was bitten when he was 5, so I don't think it's unreasonable to say he went to muggle school for just under one academic year starting December 1965