Chapter 2
Remus
Remus woke up suddenly, still feeling groggy from sleep. He felt himself jump, realizing that he was on a school bus with his arm around a girl. The girl seemed to be around his age with messy cropped blonde hair. At first thinking he was just groggy from his nap; he now was realizing that he was groggy in general as he had no memory of the girl leaning against him. If he was being entirely honest, Remus wasn’t sure if had any memories at all.
Remus looked around him, noticing that it was almost pitch-black outside. He saw bunches of kids around the bus, all looking to be about seventeen years old. Most seemed a little scuffed up, the kids who would likely cause trouble. Majority of the kids were wearing normal clothes, however it was evident that some of them must come from money, so instead of being your normal troublemakers, they were rich troublemakers. Despite his lapse in memory, it was obvious to Remus from his clothes that he on the other hand, did not come from money. His shirt was purple and tattered, and pants seemed to have some holes as well.
“Remus what’s going on in that big brain of yours?” asked a voice from in front of him.
Remus whipped his head up to look at a different girl, this one with dark and curly hair looking at him quizzically. Her eyes were deep and brown, and she held an eyebrow up as if this situation were something that happened often. She was very obviously beautiful, but her eyes held a certain fire that told Remus that she was not one who should be messed with. Before he could answer, the girl in the seat beside him cut him off.
“Yeah, Remus, you look like you are rethinking every single one of your life choices,” the blonde joked as she poked him in the ribs. “What do you think he’s doing Mary? Debating ancient philosophical topics or coming up with a new form of calculus?”
The curly-haired girl who must be Mary laughed. Remus looked at them both once more, concern seeping into his bones as this did nothing to jog his memories. He looked back down at the girl next to him before removing his arm from around her and speaking slowly.
“Do I know you?” he asked tentatively.
“I’m Marlene McKinnon, your absolutely amazing, fantastic awesome girlfriend of course,” she said quickly without taking a breath. “You must have really bonked your head if you can’t remember me. I’m unforgettable,” Marlene huffed indignantly as she crossed her arms.
Remus was in no position to disagree as Marlene seemed to be one of the most memorable people that he had ever seen. She wore a deep red leather jacket with a ripped-up tank underneath (although her holes seemed to be a bit more on purpose than his own), had blacked chipped nails, and a stripe of pink in her chopped blonde crimped hair. But more than that, Remus could tell just by looking at her that she had spunk. Before he could stop himself, however, Remus blurted out,
“Why would I have a girlfriend?”
His face must have given away his severe confusion, because instead of being offended, Marlene instead looked genuinely thoughtful as if she were trying to figure out why they started dating in the first place. Before she could answer, Mary exclaimed in a hushed tone,
“Marls, you don’t even like boys!”
Marlene’s mouth dropped open as she processed this information. She narrowed her eyes at Remus, looking him up and down.
“You have a whole lot of explaining to do Remus John Lupin.”
Before Remus could reiterate again that he had no memories and therefore no explanation for what was going on, the three were interrupted by a booming voice.
“We will be makin’ it to the tip top of Cadillac Mountain in just a couple minutes, I want you all to be acting on yer best behavior and no messing around. We gotta make it there before the sun rises or it defeats the whole point of the trip.”
Remus watched in awe he saw the massive man that accompanied the voice. He seemed too large to fit in the bus, but yet somehow, he did. Remus was unsure if his hair had ever been brushed, as it was long and black with many tangles. Remus started spouting off questions to the two girls and they answered as best as they could, letting him know that yes, that is in fact their teacher, Coach Hagrid, and no, they weren’t in juvie. He learned that they attended an ‘wilderness’ school for kids that had been kicked out of just about every other option. He also learned that Marlene and Mary were best friends, and apparently, he was too, but their memories got fuzzy and heads began to hurt the more they thought about him, so they moved on from the topic. He learned that Mulciber and Crabbe were the class bullies, but Mary was especially adept at making them back off.
It wasn’t until the stopped at the top of the mountain and they all started to stand up and stretch that Remus realized how sore his body was. He felt as though he had been pulled through a wringer and then chopped into a million pieces. Determined for no one to notice, Remus held a poker face and stood up as straight as he could, his chin held high. He followed the two girls out onto the mountain where he saw, well, honestly nothing. All around him was mist, covering the view that they were supposed to be seeing. Before walking further beyond the parking lot, Remus caught a glance at a sign that mentioned that this was the first spot on the eastern shore to see the sun. Well, Remus did not think that they were going to be catching a glimpse of the sunrise anytime soon.
It was at that point that Remus realized that he had wondered off a little bit from the others. He looked over and saw that Mary and Marlene had been cornered by two large burly looking boys that who Remus would bet his last aureus on were Mulciber and Crabbe. Remus, never one to like a bully, marched up to his newly found friends determined to help protect them. He realized that he wasn’t all that needed, however, as Mary began firing off insults that would make even grizzly bear weary of her. However, the two boys now seemed to notice Remus, and turned their attention to him instead.
“Hey Mr. Hotshot,” said the taller one tauntingly, “too bad it’s not the full moon, right? Instead, we’re here on a mountain, in our territory.”
Remus had no clue what this lunatic was talking about, but they seemed to recognize him. Remus was unsure at the moment whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. The mist began to cover around the five of them, blocking their view of the rest of the class. As it brushed past him, Remus could feel strength in it, but Remus did not trust it. It felt dangerous, not because the feeling was unknown, but the opposite. The mist felt familiar to Remus, and Remus did not trust whose ever presence this was.
Before he had a chance to even come up with an answer, the quiet boy jumped suddenly at Marlene, but before he could make it, Remus had pulled out two daggers from his sides, no longer remembering the soreness he had felt before. He was clueless as to why he had these and where they came from, but he had no time to think about it before he swung at the teenage boy that had seemed to fade to the color of the wind. As soon as one of the daggers stabbed him, the wind-boy exploded to dust. Mary and Marlene both screamed and jumped back, but now were almost to the edge of the mountain.
“Remus Lupin,” spat the leader of the two boys, “I will not let you go free again; you caused us much trouble in the Bay last summer.”
The boy then jumped towards Remus, carrying them both over the edge of the cliff. Remus noticed now that the wind had begun to pick up, a storm was likely brewing. Mulciber (or maybe it was Crabbe?) had begun to fade and turn into the wind just like the other boy had. Remus fought against him and eventually was able to get his hand through and slice through his head with a dagger. While happy that he defeated the storm spirit, Remus was only now realizing that he was falling to his death off the side of the mountain. Before he could fully process that he was going to die, however, Remus felt strong arms grab the side of him and pull him back up Cadillac Mountain.
It wasn’t until his feet touched solid ground and he finally opened his eyes and swallowed that Remus realized that his eyes had been squeezed shut and his throat was sore from him most likely screaming at the top of his lungs. He looked around and saw Marlene and Mary standing beside the unexpected combination of a motorbike complete with a sidecar, a chariot pulled by a black Pegasus, and their oversized teacher, Coach Hagrid.
Remus was so distracted by this unlikely mix that he had not yet noticed his savior until he heard someone clear their throat. Remus snapped his head back and saw a tall boy about his age. He was in a leather jacket like Marlene, but his was black and obviously very worn out, and he wore black jeans and black platform doc martins that weren’t totally laced up. He had long black hair, pale skin with freckles, and dark startingly grey eyes.
Remus held his breath, unsure what to say. Luckily, he didn’t have to come up with anything, as before he could even let out his breath, the other boy demanded,
“What have you done with James Potter?”