Chapter 1
Tuesday, September 5th
Sirius Black walked down the corridor towards his first lesson of the day, History—being the first door on the left as you enter their school, but due to his insufferably lovely best friend James- that door is now on the opposite side of the hallway which they just entered from the side door that leads to the field where they practice before classes.
Nothing about Sirius’s day had seemed notably different, he was dragged from his warm bed to 5am practice and is now showered and walking annoyingly slow to his first lesson due to the fact that teenagers, in his opinion, should immediately go home and learn how to walk faster or at least learn to multitask talking to your friends while moving so that you don’t contribute to the awful trend of walking slower than a tortoise.
Sirius, James, and Peter were thoroughly listening to Mr. Hyde’s examination of the impact of world war I-- and did not in fact know any more than that because they had not been listening, instead making bets on how long it would take Emma Vanity to notice that the fashionable sunglasses pulling her hair back had been switched for yellow safety ones from the schools workshop.
Sirius’s attention was pulled away as he heard Mr. Hyde call on Lily Evans, “Miss Evans I was told that you are welcome to dismiss from class early to speak to McGonagall?” He said as she immediately stood up with a quick, “thanks Mr. Hyde.” And practically flew from the room.
James and Sirius looked at each other with a small smirk. To tell the truth Evans has been pretty tense since they started back a couple weeks ago, like whatever she’s thinking about has been entirely prioritized.
Maybe 45 minutes into the lesson there was a knock on the door, Mr. Hyde was concentrating on adding a topic to the board when he said, “would someone mind getting that?” Sirius was at the end of his row close to the door, so he stood up and answered whatever teacher or student needed in.
He opened the door to see a boy, fluffy brownish hair, bright yet tired hazel eyes, freckles scattered among scars. It couldn’t go unnoticed that this guy is Tall, a head taller than Sirius at least, although being taller than Sirius wasn’t rare but he bets this one’s taller than Peter or James. They didn’t stand there longer than a second or two but Sirius had already deemed him the most good looking boy he’d ever seen.
Sirius started to ask his name when he was interrupted, “is there anyone named Lily Evans in here?” a pause, “what?” Sirius heard what he said he just didn’t expect those to be the words or for his voice to sound the way it does. “Lily Evans, Redhead, freckles?” the mystery boy said, “Right um- yeah Evans is in this class but she had a meeting or something” The other boy frowned and opened his mouth to say something when Mr. Hyde’s voice traveled across the room , “Miss Evans will probably be gone for the remainder of today’s lesson, but I can pass a message. What’s your name?” he asked. “Remus lupin” the hazel eyed boy responded.
“Lupin? That sounds familiar let me see-” Sirius saw Remus stiffen briefly, “Yes alright so, Remus my schedule says you don’t join until tomorrow, but since you’re here would you sit for the rest of the lesson?” Remus took one hesitant look at the door before he nodded. They both returned to their seats with Remus just in front of the boys, he sat next to the seat which would usually be occupied by Evans.
James leaned forward and stuck out his hand for Remus, “Hi Remus I’m James Potter, this is Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. I guess you’re a transfer student yeah? New in town and all.” Remus accepted the handshake and looked skeptically at the three boys, “Sure I guess.” Remus replied. Sirius could tell by his bouncing knee and avoidant gaze that Remus wasn’t up for more interrogation and attempted to distract his best friend by talking about this mornings practice when James got grass stains on the socks he stole from Sirius.
The boys stood and stretched as the bell rang signaling the end of the lesson. Remus was just behind them as they left the classroom and all four paused outside the door due to oncoming students hurrying to lunch. “So Lupin where are you coming from? Can’t see why you’d transfer to such a small town.” James said as he turned around walking backwards slowly to talk to Remus, while Sirius made sure he’s not bumping into anything or anyone. “Well actually I-” Peter cut Remus off by shouting towards the opposite end of the hallway where a certain redheaded girl turned the corner, “Hey Evans! This one has been looking for you!” Lily looked up with an annoyed expression at the boys before her entire face softened instantly. Remus who had originally been listening to James immediately looked in the direction peter had shouted at the mention of Lily.
She and Remus both froze and looked at each other for a moment before Sirius heard a soft “Lils,” from him. Suddenly both Remus and Lily were running as fast as they could towards one another, shoving James and Sirius apart in the process. As they neared closer, they both completely discarded their backpacks, throwing them to the floor so they slid to the lockers on either side. Sirius watched as they practically tackled each other, Lily jumping into Remus’s arms and him catching her in a fierce hug making him stumble back slightly and slide to the floor. The two were holding each other for at least a minute before they pulled back and made eye contact, Lily smiled bigger than Sirius had ever seen her do before, but she also had watery eyes and her lip was trembling just a bit. Remus was smiling too, it was a beautiful smile.
The hallway was mostly empty now besides the two in the middle and the boys still standing by the lockers, a bit in shock. Lily opened her mouth to say something but paused to compose herself, “god I missed you so fucking much!” Remus said before lily looked at him and promptly tackled him again, pushing them to the ground to hug again as they both giggled. Peter tapped Sirius on the shoulder and nodded his head in the direction of the cafeteria, signaling that they should get moving. They passed Remus and Lily still embracing but now talking and smiling happily. The boys looked at each other in a sort of “what-the-fuck-was-that” gesture and entered the lunchroom, leaving behind Lily Evans and quiet, captivating, new boy, Remus Lupin. Sirius knew then this day wasn’t like the others.