Orientation Day
James chugged his coffee as he sat next to Sirius in the crowded theatre. Normally James was quite the morning person, but he still wasn’t quite used to the noise of the city. Still, with the energy filling the room of the first year orientation, James couldn’t keep the grin off his face. Sirius clearly could, his head nestled on James shoulder as he snored lightly.
James took in the people around him. One of the boys from his floor, Evan he thinks, was eagerly striking up a conversation with the boy next to him. The two seemed to be arguing over what film was the peak of cinema. Evan was fighting heavily for the side of some Quentin Tarintino flick while the boy in heavy eyeliner next to him was arguing for the Joker. Though the mystery boy seemed to be finding more joy in winding up Evan than defending his side. James smiled and shook his head, knowing this would be coming up as a topic of conversation in their common area later in the day.
He saw another one of his floor mates come into the room, looking quite lost. James quickly waved at the boy, beckoning him over. He seemed confused but started making his way over.
“Hi,” the boy said quietly, glancing at the sleeping Sirius warily. “James, right?”
“That’s me!” James grinned, having zero concern about his volume affecting Sirius’s slumber. “You’re on my floor right?”
The boy looked surprised, as if he weren’t expecting James to have noticed him. It made James a bit sad. The boy was the definition of a wall flower and had been placed on a floor of loud, rowdy boys. James hoped he could help the boy feel more comfortable, maybe come out of his shell a bit.
“Uh yeah, floor two,” the boy said after a moment. “I’m Peter by the way.”
“Pleasure to meet you Peter,” James extended his arm, the movement jostling awake Sirius.
“Wha- are we starting?” Sirius said, blinking awake and surveying the room.
“Still got like five minutes. Was just introducing myself to Pete here,” James gestured to Peter, who looked like he was trying to sink into his chair.
“Oh yeah, you’re the one with the pet rat right?” Sirius said, stretching.
Peter lit up for the first time James had seen as he launched into a long tale of his pet rat, Scabbers. James smiled warmly, glad to see the boy finally getting comfortable. He made a mental note to google more info on rats later. James thrived on making sure everyone else around him felt comfortable. If that meant spending his free time learning about rodents he was told to watch out for when moving to NYC then he was more than happy to do that.
“So how’d you get permission to bring him in?” Sirius asked. “I thought pets weren’t allowed.”
At this Peter flushed and took a moment. He stared the two of them down until James felt thoroughly scrutinized.
“If I tell you the truth I’ll have to swear you to secrecy,” Peter said seriously.
“I swear on James’s mum’s grave,” Sirius leaned forward in interest.
“Oi! Why’s my mum’s grave being brought into this?” James elbowed Sirius in the ribs.
“Well my mum’s would mean nothing, it needs to be someone I care about!”
“In that case, I swear on Sirius’s grave,” James grinned. “But genuinely, whatever it is I’m sure we won’t tell.”
“I may have forged a note from my previous headmaster on the importance of my having a rat with me,” Peter whispered, conspiratorial. “The administrative department have seemed so clueless this whole time about how things work in England, I figured it was worth a shot. And they accepted it.”
Sirius and James both burst into loud laughter. Peter hesitated for a moment, before joining in with giggles of his own. The boys were quickly quieted down by a voice booming from the front of the room, letting everyone know the orientation was beginning.
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Pandora held her notebook in her lap, occasionally writing down a couple words that inspired her. Most of the time she just fidgeted with her bracelet and listened to the speakers go on and on. Attendance policies and substance policies and professionalism policies. Policies, policies, polices. She was bored out of her mind, but understood this was a necessary part of the process. Not everyone can just jump in.
She was a clear contrast to the boy next to her, taking meticulous notes of every word that came out of the speakers’ mouths. He had barely even looked up from his own notebook in the whole time they’d been in the room. The two were sat near the back of the theatre their whole class had been collected inside.
As the speaker up front said there’d be a five minute break before the heads of departments came up to speak, Pandora stood up and stretched out. She hated being stationary for such long periods. The boy seemed to have no issue with this, instead flipping backwards in his notebook to read the notes he had just taken.
“You know, I don’t think they’ll run away,” She said.
The boy looked up at her confused, “I didn’t think they would.”
“Then you can take a break,” She smiled, “I’m Pandora.”
“Regulus,” the boy said after a moment of hesitation.
“Fellow Brit. They seem to have a lot of us this year,” Pandora continued, happy to have pulled the boy out of his notebook for a moment. “My roommate’s also British. And I met quite a few last night. Quite a few Americans too, though that’s to be expected I suppose.”
“My roommate is British too,” Regulus said, finally giving her a small smile.
“I didn’t meet you last night. Maybe I met your roommate. I tried to go to every floor,” Pandora said brightly. “Figured it’s good to get to know everyone.”
“I’m a bit more of a homebody I suppose,” Regulus was seeming more comfortable. “Or roombody in this case. Unpacked my stuff and stayed in my-”
Regulus stopped himself, seeming shocked at something he was seeing in one of the rows in front of them. Immediately all the calm that had come to him was gone. He was again the tense boy from the start of their conversation. Pandora looked too, but was unable to find the source of his sudden shock. It looked to her like just a bunch of students milling about. A trio of boys toward the front of the room were being a bit rambunctious, laughing loudly and shoving at each other, but she couldn’t imagine that was so shocking to Regulus.
“You alright?” She asked him, a bit concerned.
“I- yes. Sorry just- thought I saw someone I knew,” Regulus said, before quickly burying himself back into his notebook.
Pandora frowned, looking again through the room and wondering who here could possibly make Regulus shut down. She fidgeted again with her bracelet, mentally trying to run through every person she had met the night before as if that would solve the mystery. The President of the school, Professor Dumbledore, yet again called the attention of the room and ended their break. She sat in her seat, still troubled by Regulus’s behavior. She decided in that moment she would need to talk more to the boy. He seemed a bit tightly wound, but he was kind. Not everyone would let Pandora blabber on to them. Not everyone would allow themselves to be distracted from their own world as easily as he had. Maybe that’s what he needed, someone to help him leave his own head.
Yes, in that moment Pandora decided she would become Regulus’s friend.
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Remus was not looking forward to this next part. Sitting for hours through boring lectures on everything they supposedly needed to know before starting he was perfectly ok with. Give him all the boring, give him all the note taking. Now came the challenging part.
The room had to count off into groups. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. With the amount of people in the room it took ages. Remus ended up with the number four. Then they were told to spread out through the space into their assigned groups to answer ice breaker questions. Where are you from? How old are you? What’s your favorite movie? What’s a fun fact about you? On and on…
Remus Lupin hated ice breakers. Hated having to speak in front of a group and try to let them get to know him in thirty seconds. Honestly whoever created ice breaker questions should have a special spot in hell. They’re the most unnatural thing in the world.
Remus was often questioned on his choice of hopeful career. I mean everyone who goes into the arts is to an extent. Are you sure? How will you ever make any money? Are you good enough? But Remus, who was very quiet and reserved, had additional questions. If you won’t even speak people you don’t know how do you expect to speak in front of hundreds on a stage? You hate getting your picture taken, how are you supposed to be on film?
However, Remus loved acting. When he was acting he wasn’t Remus Lupin. In acting you are given directions to do, text to say. You always know what’s coming next. Except improv, which is also why he hates improv. No one sees Remus when he is acting, they see whatever character he is playing. Everything’s much nicer that way.
So as he makes his way over to sit with the rest of group four, Remus feels an intense sense of dread. He tugs on his jumper for the zillionth time that day, ensuring it’s not sticking to his binder in any way as he takes his seat.
“Well I’ll start,” says some bubbly, blonde American girl, “I’m Meredith. I’m from Florida.”
Remus tries to focus on the girl, really he does. But all he could think of was his own spiral on how he’d answer these questions. What even is a fun fact about Remus? He’s pretty dull if you ask him, and he likes it that way.
“I guess I’m next. I’m Thomas, I came here from California.”
Remus tried not to panic as people went on and on. He only manages to pull himself out of his own head as the person to his right begins. Remus has to restrain himself from doing a double take. The boy is absolutely gorgeous, but in a way that it clearly comes naturally to him without even trying. He has wild, long black hair that is a stark contrast to his light gray eyes. When he speaks it’s also in a british accent, albeit much more posh than Remus’s own.
“I’m Sirius. As in that’s my name, not much of a serious person personally,” The boy grins effortlessly, clearly amused by himself. “I’m from England, right in London. I’m nineteen. Favorite movie? Let’s see…”
The boy, Sirius, takes his time thinking about this. Remus finds himself enthralled by every moment. Watching his beautiful eyes flit around upward, as if he is actively looking through a catalog of movies. The way his tongue sticks a bit out of his mouth in his concentration.
“I guess I’d say Mean Girls. I’m a sucker for that era of the early 2000s. Fave color is red. And fun fact,” Sirius stopped to think again and Remus did his best not to stare, “I’m a teenage runaway. Anyway, onto you”
Sirius turned and suddenly his beautiful eyes were right on Remus. It took a moment for Remus to realize what this meant. Oh yeah, he was meant to go. Fuck, what was he gonna say?
“Uh, I’m Remus,” Remus did his best to pull himself together. “Also from England, and also nineteen,” He really needed all of them, especially Sirius, to stop looking at him. “My favorite movie is Perks of Being a Wallflower. I like red, but like, uh, maroon red. And fun fact,” Shit he never decided a fun fact. “I guess that I own enough books I technically have a library,” Remus tried not to cringe at how lame that sounded. “You only need a thousand.”
Remus struggled to hold in his sigh of relief as the circle moved on to the next person and the attention was finally off him. Or mostly off him. Sirius was still looking at him. His light eyes seemed curious and stayed on Remus for way too long before finally shifting over to the girl next to him. Finally Remus was allowed to breathe again.
Remus’s brain wanted to spiral on what that look meant, but he forced it to stop. He would not think of Sirius. Clearly this Sirius person was dangerous if he was able to so easily throw Remus out of all his preplanning. Remus pulled his focus back to the group as the rest of the circle continued on their introductions.
As they finally finished their ice breaking and were allowed to return to their seats Remus all but ran back to his. He just hoped he’d be able to avoid Sirius. He wasn’t too worried, there were nearly 150 students in their year. Plenty of people. He’d probably never even see Sirius again. Nothing to worry about. With that thought comforting him Remus went back to doodling in the corner of his notes page.