Chapter 3
Remus woke up before anyone else in his dorm did, he took a shower, and changed, and only then did they wake up.
"You're up early…" Sirius groaned , then yawned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Remus just smiled wryly and sat on his bed, eyeing his schedule.
It seemed that he had Defence Against the Dark arts first period , charms next , then …
Suddenly, the clock bell rang, signaling the start of breakfast. Remus quickly stood up, and walked towards the great hall for breakfast.
During breakfast, Remus sat with Kingsley Shacklebolt, though he'd have preferred not to, it was his only choice. I guess it's better than sitting alone, Remus thought, he had to admit tho, Kingsley was friendly, but a bit too talkative, and he would always ask about Remus's scars, which would make him uncomfortable. Imagine if he found out, Remus shuddered.
"Hello? Remus!" Kingsley said, and Remus snapped out of his day dreaming.
"Hmm?" He grunting, taking a small bite from his toast, though he wasn't very hungry.
"I said, are you excited for classes to start," Kingsley said, an edge of annoyance to his voice.
"Oh, what. I mean, sure, I guess…" that answer satisfied Kingsley, and he began eating food from his plate.
Remus looked around the huge room, Sirius and James were sitting together, must already be friends, Remus thought, but he was disrupted from thought when the clock bell rang.
It took Remus a while to find his first class because of how big the school was, and the changing staircases didn't do anything to help with the situation, in fact, it made the situation much worse.
Finally, after lot's of walking, Remus found his Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
"Am I late," he huffed, walking into the large classroom.
"No," a random girl with orangish hair said. She looks pretty nice, Remus thought. Then he
noticed James staring at her. What was that look?
Remus didn't really know where to sit, but students were filing into random seats so he guessed it was ok to choose a seat.
He chose the seat next to the girl, not because she seemed like a nice person to be around but because Remus wanted to sit at the very back of the classroom, where he'd get the least attention.
"Welcome to Defense Against the Darks Arts," said the teacher. He was a tall, lean man, whose voice was filled with authority.
"My name is Professor Aubirth," everyone stared at him with a mix of awe, and nervousness.
"In this class, you will learn to defend yourself against the foulest creatures on this planet, vampires, grindylows, werewolves…"
The two words foul and werewolf in the same sentence made Remus wince. He knew that sometimes he took this stuff personally but it had come to him ever since he had been infected. The girl next to him looked at him with confusion flashing in her eyes.
"This class is important, and very interesting as well," Mr. Aubirth began, "So I suggest you pay attention, unless you'd like to be killed by one of these creatures someday." Remus saw everyone share worried glances, and right away, Remus knew that this wasn't going to be his favorite class.
The day had gone by pretty quickly, some of the teachers were pretty nice, and then there were some of the more mean ones…
Remus returned to his dorm instead of going to dinner, which he noticed quite a few of the kids doing as well.
He layed in his bed, deciding then that he should unpack his stuff. I forgot to do that yesterday like I should have, he thought. So he began unpacking, it took about an hour. Finally he could rest, That was a pretty good first day at Hogwarts, he thought before sleep overcame him.
Remus awoke as the day light began filtering through the window, he had an extreme pain in his head and his joints ached like fire. It's the full moon today, he thought. Always, before a full moon, he would have terrible symptoms like excruciating headaches, nausea, and fatigue. Remus wasn't sure what he'd do when the full moon came around, though Madame Pomfrey (the nurse), and Dumbledoore had told him they had made arrangements for him.
Remus headed down to breakfast though he didn't have an appetite at all. Before and after the full moon he wouldn't have an appetite and even the tastiest chocolate wouldn't tempt him.
"Are you ok?" Kingsley questioned, sitting in front of Remus, concerned in his eyes.
"Erm, I just didn't sleep well last night, that's all…" Kingsley just nodded and began telling Remus about Quidditch, a wizard sport where you'd ride a broomstick and you'd have to do different things depending on which position you played. Remus had heard a bit about it from his father, but he only knew the basic stuff.
"And, you get one hundred and fifty points for catching the golden snitch!" Kingsley said excitedly, "Oh I'm so excited to practice riding brooms tomorrow."
Remus just nodded, then the clock bell rang, and he sprang up, which caused the aching in his side to hurt even more.
"Hey are you ok?" Kingsley asked, clearly noticing the way Remus walked.
"Oh, little cramp, that's all…" he said, "See you later!"
Remus entered defense against the dark arts, taking his seat in the back of the classroom, and laying his head on the table.
Several classes went by fine, but during Transfigurations, his headache was so bad that he was excused from class to go to the hospital wing.
When he walked in, he noticed Madame Pomfrey meddling with something in a cabinet, she looked up and greeted Remus with a smile.
"You can lay down there," she said, gesturing towards a bed that already had a comfy looking pillow and a thick blanket on it.
He nodded his thanks, laying down on the bed, and closing his eyes.
"Do you have any pain?" Madame Pomfrey asked.
"A bit," Remus said, and he told her that his joints were aching and that he had a terrible headache. He was given some foul tasting potions for the pain and then he drifted into sleep.
He awoke to find Madame Pomfrey standing close to his bed.
"What time is it," he grumbled sleepily.
"The full moon is in thirty minutes, we better hurry."
Remus began to panic, where was he going to transform? If he was able to apparate to his house that would work because he had a basement in which he'd transform in. But it didn't seem that was going to be part of Madam Pomfrey's plans.
"Follow me," she said and they walked outside, it was a bit chilly, but not too chilly. Remus followed her to a large tree that waved its branches widely.
"When you get here," she began, bending down, "You'll press this small branch here…" when she pressed on the little root all the branches froze, and the two of them walked in.
"Then you'll follow this tunnel," she explained, and the dark tunnel they were following seemed to last forever.
Finally, they got to an area that seemed like a house, it had nice chairs, a couch, and even a piano.
"Here is where you'll transform." she informed and Remus's heart dropped. How could he transform here? He would destroy everything and he could easily break the windows.
"I - I'll destroy everything…" He whimpered.
"That's ok, that's the point of it," she reassured but Remus was still skeptical about this whole situation.
"But, I , I could probably destroy the windows and break out…" Remus said looking at the smallish sized windows near the top of the room.
"Made with some of the strongest glass in the world," she confirmed, tapping the glass rather hardly.
"Tomorrow when the transformation is over, you can come to the hospital wing, but if you don't come in about ten minutes I'll come and get you," Madame Pomfrey explained and Remus nodded.
She headed towards the tunnel, wishing him good luck and then Remus was alone. He sat on the bed, unsure how soon the transformation would begin.
Suddenly, terrible thoughts started flooding through Remus's head. What if the kids in school start to suspect something? What if I somehow get out of the shack? What if everyone finds out I'm a werewolf and hates me?
Maybe coming to Hogwarts was a bad idea… Remus thought sadly, before the wolf mind took over…