September 1971
Remus tried to be friends with the boys.
Well, it was just Sirius who he struggled with really.
James was as warming and comforting as the sun and stayed true to his promise to not interfere with Remus and his secrets. Peter and he had found common ground – Disney movies. It was odd, but Peter became so incredibly animated every time they spoke, Remus found it relaxing.
Sirius, however, was a struggle.
He seemed to always pick a bone with Remus.
Remus had done his best to be nice, but Sirius refused outright. He ignored him whenever he spoke, rushed to be partners with James before he’d get stuck with Remus and even scoff whenever Remus found himself genuinely immersed in conversation.
“I- I just can’t do it! He’s an obnoxious prat who thinks he’s better than everyone else!”
Remus and James were in the boy bathroom, cleaning up after eating breakfast. Remus had worked up an appetite from the previous night in the hospital wing and used his hands to eat instead. Sirius called him out on it, claiming it was what a savage beast did. Remus had taken great offense and ran out, James running after him.
“He’s not so bad, y’know, once you get to know him.” James didn’t think it was a lie, but it did sound like one with the tone of hesitancy laced in.
“If he just gave me one chance! One! Maybe we could be friends! But no!” and he began another rambling about why Sirius was the world’s worst person.
James didn’t agree, but he didn’t disagree either.
“I could talk to him. Tell him to lay off or find someone new.” James offered.
Remus stared at him, before breathing deeply.
“No, no don’t.” He paused before speaking again. “He’s like me in that regard. He’s got no one else.”
The water tap stopped running and Remus rushed out.
James ran up next to him, trying to ignore the words he said.
-
“Everyone, take out your wands. Lumos requires a small upward flick. I want you all to pay attention to my hands. Start with your wand, pointing slightly downward. Then, as if you’re striking a match, make an small, sharp flick upward! And Lumos!”
Professor Keir directed the students, most of them casting flickers instead of a proper light. But they were first years after all, who had never cast the spell.
Most of them.
Sirius had triumphantly cast him and even knew Nox – the spell to turn off the light.
He'd been flashing his light, on and off, distracting fellow students, their concentration slipping.
James had been successful in casting Lumos, and was trying to read how to cast Nox.
“Lumos! Lumos! Lumos!”
James snapped his book shut and focused on Pete.
He was mimicking the arm movements and pronunciation perfectly, but no light came out.
“Lumos! Lumos! Lumos!” he repeated, growing tired.
Professor Keir who had heard his chanting too approached him, and asked him to take a break and clear his mind before trying again. Peter nodded, feeling pathetic. Even Remus, who had known nothing about magic, managed to make the tip of his wand flicker. He sat to the side, curled up on his knees.
Sirius who was in front of James, trying to show James other spells, he could noticed James staring at Peter. He rolled his eyes, before snapping his fingers, James jumping a little.
“Sorry. Just felt bad for Peter.” He looked back at the boy, who was still practicing the arm movement.
“Don’t. Pathetic boys like him don’t deserve pity.”
James turned around, eyes bulging and he felt his pulse rapidly increase.
“He’s not pathetic. What’s pathetic is your behavior toward him and Sirius!” James made sure his voice was quiet so no one else heard.
“You just don’t get it. People like me and you work hard, just for nobodies like them to drag us down.” Sirius argued back.
“Maybe I’d rather be at the bottom with them then at the top with assholes like you.” James knew he was growing hot, and he had to calm down before he gave a black eye.
“I’m not an asshole.” Sirius said, but he became silent.
James didn’t reply.
“I’ll prove it.” Sirius whispered, before walking towards Pete. He came down to his level, sitting crisscross next to him. He picked up Peter’s wand and handed it to him. James watched, curiously. Sirius’s mouth spoke indistinctly, and at first, Peter shook his head, hesitant. But Sirius was persistent, and Peter tried his wand again.
It took a couple tries, but his wand lit. Pete was overjoyed, inspecting his wand, in disbelief he really had made it happen.
Sirius looked back at James, winking. James gave a smile back, but Sirius missed it. He was talking to Peter about something, and it made James happy they were becoming friends.
Becoming friends.
Right!
Snape!
Quickly, he scanned the room before spotting him, hunched over a book, scribbling away madly. Evans was in his vicinity, but she was busy talking to some other girls. He recognized them – there was the curly haired one called Macdonald and a blondie, McKinnon.
He marched hurriedly, he only had around fifteen minutes of the lesson left.
“Hello!” He must have startled Snape, because he snapped his book shut, and turned to look at James.
“It’s you again.” At least, he recognized James, that was a good thing, right?
“It’s me! James Potter!” Snape looked uninterested, as if James was an annoying salesman.
“I think we got off on the wrong foot when we first met. And I can’t blame you, there’s a lot of prejudice- “
“Excuse me?” Snape interrupted.
“Uhm, yeah?” James hoped he didn’t say anything offensive. Merlin’s sake, he was trying to befriend the boy, not get Snape to hate him even more.
“Could you stop bothering me?”
“What?”
“I said, stop bothering me. Unlike your dim witted self, I am here to learn as much as I can.”
“Well, I’m here to learn as well- “
“If you really were, you’d for starters, leave me alone. And second, choose an better friend group.”
“Sorry?”
“Choose better friends. Yours are all defective in some form.”
And Snape began listing each of their, “negative”, qualities.
Remus had earned a reputation as a loner who clearly had been raised by animals, seeing as he struggled to interact with people. And he had a nasty temper, disliked by all students and even some professors.
Sirius was a conspiring blood purist who had forced his way into the Gryffindor house so he could spread the influence of the House of Black through his beauty and wit (odd choice of words but James didn’t question it).
And Peter. Snape had only managed a sentence or something of the like.
“You can quite literally calculate the radius of his stomach. What 11 year old is built like a hippo?”
James saw nothing but his nose in that moment.
It large, far too large. And it kept growing until it covered Snape’s entire face.
James couldn’t help it when he punched it, so hard he drew blood.
Snape stumbled back, shocked. He recovered quickly, and instead of punching or getting physical, he drew his wand.
“Flipendo!”
James felt a force knock him back, and he hit something hard. Luckily, his head was spared, and it was only his back that had got hit. Before he could pull out his own wand, Professor Keir intervened.
“What is the meaning of all this!?”
Both boys turned to look at her and then pointed fingers at one another.
“He punched me out of nowhere!”
“He cast a spell on me!”
Professor Keir bobbed her head, looking at Snape’s nose which had dried blood around it and James who was knocked off his feet.
“Both of you loose house points each! Slytherin 10 and Gryffindor 5! Magic is not to be used to harm fellow students. And to make sure you understand that, I’m assigning you an 3 inch essay, which is to be on my table by next morning!”
Just then, the bell had rang.
James got up and dusted his robe, right before Sirius appeared infront of him.
“Bloody hell! What was that for?”
Peter and Remus joined the pair, both wearing confused faces.
“Nothing. He just- Just a git who ran his mouth.” James felt his face heat up. It was embarrassing to tell the boys he did it for them.
Peter looked at him, knowing he was telling less than he knew but didn’t press further.
“Where’d you learn to hit someone like that anyway.” Peter tried directing the conversation somewhere else.
“Yeah, I’ve seen some teenagers punch like that in my hometown.” Remus added on.
James frowned.
Where had he learned to punch like that?
“Not too sure, maybe I watched it on the net somewhere.”
That satisfied them all, and they began walking out of the empty classroom.
“We didn’t see you towards the end of the lesson, Lupin. Run off, did you?” Sirius looked at him, expecting an response.
“Joint pain. Left to go see Madam Pomfrey.” He muttered.
Sirius fished around in his robes, before taking out something covered in Green foil and chucking it at Remus, who stared at like it was poisoned.
“It’s chocolate. Always makes me feel better when I’m hurting.”
Remus stared at it, before quietly unfolding it and popping it in his mouth.
And Sirius was right, he did feel a bit better.
James would’ve been more elated if he wasn’t so busy thinking about something.
Where had he learnt to punch like that?
He drowned out Peter all the way to the courtyard, where they sat under an old oak tree. It provided them with shade from the blazing rays of the sun.
“They should add more trees like this one. Much more sturdy and better for the environment.” Peter informed them. Sirius nodded along, “Yeah, sure. Makes no sense why they’d add a violent tree like the Whomping Willow. Thought this was the safest place for students, eh?” he joked around. Remus tensed at the mention, but it went unnoticed.
“Whaddya think Potter?”
“James?”
Violent tree like the Whomping Willow.
“You okay there, Potter? Did Snape hit you hard?”
Violent like the Willow tree.
“Should we take him to the nurse?”
Violent like the Willow.
“Violent like the Willow!” James shouted.
Peter gave an concerned look, before resting his hand on James’s knee.
“If your not feeling well, maybe you lie in your dorm bed.”
“What? No, I’m alright! Don’t give me that look Sirius! Really!”
Remus, Peter and Sirius all glanced at each other, as if discussing amongst themselves if James was mentally stable.
“If you think you won’t make it through potions- “
“I’m fine I swear!”
James picked up a rock and chucked it at Sirius who dodged.
“Your so complicated. Telling me I care too less and now too much?” Sirius groaned.
James just flashed him a grin. But his mind kept going back to something else.
Violent like a Willow.
That’s what he called the boy who James saw punch someone.
“No. I’m not violent like a Willow. That doesn’t even make sense as an simile. I’m just Barty. Bartemius Whitmore.”
The voice felt so distant, yet so close.
Maybe he should go to Madam Pomfrey, James’s thought.