Promises

3rd September, 1971, 7:21, Boys Dormitory “We’ve got potions first thing after breakfast”

As it turns out, all four of them had been sorted into Gryffindor and by a stroke of luck, they had been given the same dorm. James thought that meant that they were going to be the bestest of friends for the rest of their lives, of course. Remus thought otherwise.

Peter, he could handle. He was quiet like Remus, he liked the same books, he was as good at chess as remus, and he was calm. James and Sirius, not so much. While they where nice and even sometimes thoughtful, they were the complete and total opposite of Remus. They were loud at all times of the day, they hated books, James liked a game of chess, but he was so bad it wasn’t even worth playing with him. And worst of all, they were so, so energetic!

Remus had known those two for a grand total of three days and in that time they’d managed to: Knock down Sirius’ bed at midnight, somehow put a frog in the girls dormitory, and put cards around the Slytherin table at lunch that read ‘Go Gryffindor!’ (Which, Remus had to admit, was pretty funny when you saw the Slytherins’ faces).

And they always tried to rope Remus into joining them.

“With who?”, Sirius asked as he tried to pulled on his jumper.

“Slytherins”, Peter had their timetable and was desperately trying to memorize it before breakfast in ten minutes.

“Slytherins?! Merlin, no!”

That was James hunched over his trunk, trying his hardest to rummage through the mess that he packed for his shirt. Remus was dressed, bag packed for class, and waiting impatiently for the boys to finish getting ready. Peter, to his credit, only had to find his left shoe.

“I’ve been wondering, what’s the difference between marmalades and perserves? It’s been on my mind.”

“Sirius, what?”, Peter asked as he looked up from the timetable.

“Come on, you’ve never thought about it?”

“Can’t say I have, no”

“Then you’re mental”

“I don’t spend my free time thinking about marmalades and preserves”

“Marmalade has pulps and peels but preserves have chunks of fruit”, Remus said finally.

That got Sirius and Peter to stop bickering and James to stop looking for his shirt. They were all staring at him and Remus wanted to pass away on the spot. His face was heating up and his bag suddenly felt quite heavier.

“…My mum has a marmalade business. Lupin Marmalades. I used to help her with it when I was little.”

“Make us some! Better than trying to figure out how to get into the kitchens”, Peter said, completely forgetting his timetable on the ground.

“Is the marmalade any good?”, James asked as he stole a shirt from Sirius’ trunk.

“Considering we’re still in business, I’d say so.”

“Get her to mail us some! I bet it’s better than the stuff the house elves make”, Sirius said, pulling on his shoes.

“Speaking of the house elves’ food, we have, like, 15 minutes left of breakfast and it takes ten to get there”, Peter said as he looked between the clock and the timetable he picked up from the floor.

“Godric! Go, go! McGonagall will kill us if we’re late to our first class!”

And so they ran. Down the twisty stairs through Gryffindor tower, through the grand staircase, through the many, many halls and corridors that the castle had until the ended up with two minutes to spare and very out of breath. They were panting as they sat down right before Dumbledore told them that their head of houses would be telling them where to go and instructions.

“You boys are a bit late, no?”, Lily said as they sat down by her, Marlene Mckinnon, and Mary Macdonald. The three of them had been joined at the hip since the sorting and Remus didn’t expect them to separate anytime soon.

“But we made it”, Sirius said as he grabbed as much toast as he possibly could before it vanished.

“Yeah, but you missed McGonagall telling us where to go for potions”, Mary shot back.

“That’s fine, we’ll just follow you three around”, James said as he and Peter played some game they made up called snaps. Remus couldn’t be bothered to play, but he did know that it had something to do with snapping in a rythmic pattern and whoever messes it up first looses. Sirius, surprisingly, was very good at the game.

It was then that the food vanished, signaling to go to the students’ classes. The group stood up and the girls led the way down deeper and deeper until Remus was sure they were under the lake. They ended up sitting two to a table in potions, Remus and Peter, James and Sirius, Mary and Marlene, and lily sat with that slimy boy she called Severus.

“Black, Sirius? Yes, there you are. Taught your whole family, I have. Would’ve loved to get you, but Minerva got you in the end”, Slughorn said, making Sirius roll his eyes, but Remus saw how his cheeks lit up red once everyone looked away.

Slughorn droned on with the names as long as Remus thought possible until he reached ‘L’

“Lupin, Remus? There you are. I taught your father, I did, dreadful at potions, but I heard he was fantastic at Care of Magical Creatures. Does he still do that field?”

“Er…he works in the magical creatures department in the ministry. He used to work hands-on. Not anymore”, Remus stammered as he felt his face heat up more and more with every word he said.

He heard some snickering from the Slytherin side of room and someone saying ‘Magical creatures? No wonder he’s got second hand robes’. This, of course, was heard by the entire class, which made Remus slide further back in his seat.

“Hey! I think magical creatures are cool, right Sirius?”, James said, shocking Remus.

“Very right, James. Don’t you think so too, Pete?”, Sirius agreed.

“I, for one will be taking care of magical creatures in third year”, Peter piped up. The rest of class went by without any snickers or jokes from the other side of the classroom after that.

As they were leaving, James thought that the Slytherins needed revenge.

“We could…paint the dungeons red and gold”, James thought aloud.

“We really don’t need to do anything, you guys. It’s fine”, Remus insisted as they walked towards history of magic.

“Nonsense! Those slimeballs need to be humbled!” Sirius had walked next to Remus and put his arm around his shoulder.

“I don’t mind”

“Well, we do!”

That was the start of the first promise Remus ever broke: ‘Don’t make any friends’.