The Groups
The boy - Rosier - bounded towards him and stuck out his hand. “Evan Rosier.” He smiled.
Remus took the handshake. “Remus Lupin.” He replied.
“Lupin? Would you be any relation to Lyall Lupin?” Evan asked.
Of course, he’d made it about ten minutes before his father came up. One day of peace had been too much to ask for, apparently.
He could lie. He could tell Evan, no, he’d never even heard of Lyall, and what a strange coincidence it was. But word would come out eventually. And if that happened then people would be even more suspicious. Then they’d learn he’d cheated his way into the school. Into what appeared to the best group in the academy.
“Yes, actually. Lyall is my father.” It was better to have people know now than find out later.
“Cool, he worked with my dad a few years back.” Evan casually responded, now beginning to walk up the stairs. Remus followed him.
So he wasn’t the only one here whose parent worked in the industry. That was slightly calming.
“Most of us are the same here, Lupin. Parents in the industry that helped get us in here.” Evan said as if he could read Remus’s mind.
Remus scoffed. “Your parents might’ve helped you get in, but my father got me in.”
Evan cocked his head to the side, a look of curiosity in his emerald eyes. “What do you mean?”
Remus was finding it easier than expected to open up to Evan about something he probably should’ve kept secret. For some reason, he already trusted Evan. He seemed like a nice guy. Well, as nice as a minute’s conversation can show.
“I didn’t even audition! These people have never seen me before! I could be the worst dancer in the world and it wouldn’t matter. For god’s sake, I don’t even know who the director of this school is!” He burst. He was heaving slightly. He’d needed to get that off his chest.
Evan stopped. They were halfway down a corridor that looked slightly more normal than the ground floor. There were less paintings on the walls, just windows and plagues. “Remus, I can tell just by the way you walk that you’re a great dancer. That you deserve to be here.”
“It’s not that-it’s-look, I could be the best dancer the world has ever seen and it still wouldn’t be fair that I’m here.” Remus said, exasperated.
Evan continued. “Well, if you’re shit, it’s not like they won’t kick you out.”
“It doesn’t matter! There are people who didn’t even get a chance to audition and this school has been their goal, and here I am, not even wanting to be here, guaranteed a position.”
“Yeah, it’s not really fair.” Evan gave in, scratching his head. “Anyway, not as if you can do anything about it.” Remus snorted inwardly. Evan Rosier was either really easy going or just really unbothered about other people’s shit. “C’mon, you’re dorms this way.”
They walked up another few flight of stairs before reaching a giant wooden door that read: BOYS’ DORMITORIES. Evan pushed the door open and it lead to a large room filled with chairs and sofas. There was a fireplace on one side of the room. and a huge window on the other. “This is the common room.” Evan announced. He walked over to a sign pinned on the wall. “This is the dorm chart. It says you’re paired with…” His voice tightened, “Barty Crouch Jr.”
“Who’s that?” Remus noticed the change in Evan’s tone and it made curious.
“Vice captain of Group A. He hasn’t had a roommate in over half a year.” Remus remembered now, “Crouch” had been mentioned in the conversation at reception.
“What happened to his last roommate. Who was he?” Remus asked.
“Me.” Was all Evan replied.
The subject was dropped.
“Leave your bags down and I’ll take you down to the studios.” Evan instructed Remus, all the bitterness gone from his voice. “Also you mentioned earlier, the director of this school is Albus Dumbledore.”
Remus’s eyebrows shot up. “Well, I know him. One of the greatest dancers the world has ever known. He’s director?”
“Oh yeah. Has been for years now. Head choreographer is Horace Slughorn. Head of the music department is Flilius Flitwick, and Padoma Sprout is scenic designer. She’s in charge of the costume and set design.” Evan listed off the staff, counting on his fingers. “Oh and Filch is caretaker, the old bollox.” Remus laughed at that remark.
“Studios are downstairs, on the second floor. They’re also the most normal part of this whole school. C’mon.” Evan made beeline for the for door and Remus followed him.
. . .
The pair stopped outside a door labelled “Studio C”. The door was large, but considerably smaller than the others Remus had seen.
“This is where Group C used to practice. They got rid of that group a few years ago, long before any of us joined.” Evan told Remus as he leaned his back against the door. “Now the A’s and B’s just use it as a hangout place. The ones of us that are still friends, that is.”
“So the A’s are like a higher…ranking group?” Remus asked, still confused.
“Yeah, basically. Every few months each dancer auditions. A’s audition to stay in Group A, and B’s audition to try and get into Group A. It’s kinda stupid, and over the past few months a lot of tension has grown.” Evan admitted. “You see, Group A is the best of the best, and Group B at Hogwarts is better than the best classes at most other schools. Everyone here deserves to be at the top. But the B’s aren’t seen like that. So, tension grew.” Evan continued, his voice getting quieter. “And the people in the groups that used to be friends are falling apart.”
Remus wanted to know more but before he could ask Evan swung open the door and led him into the studio.
Studio C was less crowded than Remus expected. There were a few groups of people, either sitting on the wooden floor talking to each other or lazily practicing on the barre. There were two abandoned lunch tables in the centre of the room. All the dancers were all too distracted that no one noticed Remus and Evan as they entered the room.
Evan took a seat on the floor in the corner and Remus followed him. He stretched out his legs as Evan lay down completely with his hands behind his head. They sat like that for a while, Remus resting his head against the wall and closing his eyes.
Eventually he spoke up. “So, who’s who?”
Evan opened one eye and squinted up at Remus before sitting up. “Over there,” he pointed to a tanned boy with a mess of black hair and circular glasses on his nose, who was chatting animatedly to his group, “is James Potter.”
“Potter?” Remus questioned Evan.
“Yeah, both his parents were dancers back in the day. Some of the finest this school has ever produced.” Remus would’ve assumed that the boy would be stuck up, spoiled and bitter, but just by looking at the giant smile and the light in his eyes he knew he was wrong.
“James Potter also happens to be one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.” Evan added. “For someone in the A’s, he’s really fucking kind, you know that. No offense.” He added quickly.
“None taken.” Evan moved onto the next person, a ginger haired girl who was sitting next to the Potter boy. “Lily Evans. She’s a lot like James. Genuinely sweet. But I warn you, do not mess with her, she takes no shit. Also in Group A.”
“That girl beside her is Mary MacDonald. Group B. Deserves to be in A. One of the most emotional dancers I’ve ever met.” Evan said.
“The girl practicing on the barre is Dorcas Meadowes.” Evan beckoned to a tall, serious looking girl with mahogany coloured skin at the other end of the room. “The best ballerina at this school, without a doubt. She has no relatives in the ballet, and she’s had to fight ten times harder than any of us to get here. She’s the most respected dancer here. Among the dancers themselves, anyway.”
Dorcas wasn’t trying with her movements on the barre, but Remus could still see by how she was sharp and controlled with every move that she was a fierce dancer. There was a dark haired boy sitting cross legged on the floor next to Dorcas. They were talking and the boy had his back to them.
“Who’s that beside her?” He asked.
“That,” Evan said, “Is Regulus Black.”
Regulus Black. Another name Remus mentioned at reception. Remus couldn’t remember now, what had they said about him? Captain of the B’s?
Evan continued, confirming Remus’s thoughts. “He’s Group B’s captain. If any of us deserve to be in A, it’s him. He’s better than half the A’s themselves. He’s also not someone you want to piss off.”
“If he’s so good then why isn’t he on the A’s?” Remus asked confused.
Evan sighed. “It’s a long story, none of us really know what happened.” Remus was about to ask him to continue but Evan hurried on anyway. “Regulus’s brother, Sirius Black, is Captain of the A’s, right? And this time about six months ago, they were thick as thieves. Sirius was always looking out for Reg, and Reg never did anything Sirius wouldn't approve of. Best friends, really. Then the auditions came for Group A.” Evan slumped back against the wall. “Regulus was guaranteed to get in, we all knew that. When the time came to announce the results, Reg didn’t make it.”
“How though?” Remus asked. “If he was guaranteed a position why didn’t he get it?”
“Reg and I went to see Slughorn about it, Regulus is my best friend, you see, and I convinced him to go to his office ‘cos I knew something was wrong.
“We got there, Slughorn wouldn’t tell us why, Reg threw him some threats, told him he’d leave the school. Old Sluggie still wouldn’t spill, so Regulus told him if he didn’t confess he’d rip the barre right off the mirror and stick it where the sun-don’t-shine. One thing you should know about Regulus Black, he doesn’t believe in empty threats.”
Remus snorted. “So what happened?”
“Slughorn told us someone had blocked Regulus from making it up to the A’s. Someone who said they’d leave if Regulus did join Group A. It took a while, and Reg had to throw out some more insults, but eventually he told us it was Sirius.”
“What the fuck?” Was all Remus could muster.
“I don’t know, it didn’t seem like him.” Evan admitted.
People had begun to get up and had started to make way for the door.
“Oh shit, look I’ll tell you more about it later.” Evan said as he got up.
He ran over to one of the tables and in a swift motion he stepped up on top of it.
“Attention please, everyone.” He spread his arms and spoke as if he were on a game show. “As some of you-or more likely none of you-have heard, we have a new student amongst us, everyone please give it up for Remus Lupin!”
Remus rolled his eyes but smiled as the group gave a lazy round of applause and laughed.
Evan continued. “Now, it’s been a while since we’ve had a new dancer, but we will, of course, see all of you tonight at Marlene’s bar.” He clapped his hands together. “Eight o’clock tonight, spread the word!” He hopped off the table and jogged back over to Remus.
“I hate you.” Remus said, struggling to keep a straight face.
Evan laughed. “Oh, shut up, I just saved you at least ten introductions.”
“You’re crazy, Evan Rosier.”
“Takes one to know one, Lupin.” Evan shot back with ease. He decided Evan was easy going.
Remus smiled to himself. It hit him there and then that he may have just made his first ever real friend.
. . .
“Ok Remus, I’m gonna have to love you and leave you. Gotta go inform my sister about tonight.” Evan informed him.
“Your sister is a dancer too?” Remus asked him.
“No, she works here. Pandora Rosier. We’re twins, she works with Sprout in the design department.”
“Wow.” Was all Remus replied.
Evan laughed. “Not much of a talker, are you, Remus?”
“Guess not.” He snorted. “But wait, you never told me about what happened with Sirius and Regulus.”
“Oh yeah-well, long story short-Sirius just said he didn’t want Regulus up there because famous companies wouldn’t want him if they knew there were “two of him.” Bullshit, in my opinion. Not something Sirius would usually say. At the time Sirius had just begun working with companies outside of Hogwarts, you know? Just an odd performance and whatnot. Anyway Reg started arguing about how he wasn’t just his replicate.” His voice became strained again. “Barty Crouch Jr got into the A’s and they haven’t spoken since.”
“Shit. God-that’s-jeez.” Remus didn’t know what to say. Fuck, how do you respond to that? Remus had never been good at dealing with family-related issues. If he was then maybe he wouldn’t have such a messed up relationship with his own father.
Evan left then, calling out for James Potter as he made his way to the door.
“Oi, Potter! Do me a favour and finish Remus’s tour, I’m going to round up the troops.” He called out.
James turned to him and called back. “Sure thing, Rosier, see you tonight.”
Evan fake saluted and then practically bounced his way out of the room. Remus wondered how someone could be so full of energy.
He made his way over to the Potter boy and introduced himself.
He laughed. “Oh I know who you are, that was quite the introduction there from Evan.”
Remus felt his face go red. “Yeah, definitely did wonders for my dignity.”
James chuckled and led Remus outside of the Studio. They turned back out to the main corridor and walked for a while until they reached the door labelled: STUDIO B.
“This is Studio B.” James introduced.
“How many people are in Group B?” Remus asked. He had no idea how big each group was.
“Six.” James replied. “Six in A, six in B. Two captains in each, four all together.”
James opened up the door and led him into Studio B. It was considerably larger than C’s. Mirrors lined the walls, one side with a barre and the other with benches. The dance floor in the middle of the room was wide and worn down. There was a door at one side that read “Showers”. The studio smelled of dancing shoes and deodorant. It was strange, but Remus decided he liked it.
“Do the A’s come here a lot?” Remus asked him.
“We used to.” He said quietly.
“I like it here, you know. I didn’t think I would. But you guys get along better than anyone else at the other schools I’ve been to.” Remus told him. It was true, the dancers were completely corrupt, to say the least, but the ones who still got along seemed close. Much less rivalry than what Remus had previously seen.
James laughed humorously. “You should’ve seen us this time six months ago.”
Remus shook his head. “Jeez, all this talk about what happened half a year ago. Whatever went on seemed to really fuck everything up.”
“To put it lightly.” James returned. “Half a year ago? You should’ve seen us, seriously.” James said, pushing his glasses further up his nose. “You think we’re close now, we were like family, Remus, seriously.”
“What was it like?” Remus asked. He was genuinely curious. Even in his own house, he’d never experienced what a family was like, not really. Let alone in a dance academy.
James smiled to himself. “Sirius and Regulus were really close. Regulus’s friends were Sirius’s friends, and Sirius’s Regulus’s. We all got along so well. Went out to the bar downstairs every Friday-our friend Marlene, she works there as bartender, you see. And we’d all talk to each other, just like a giant friend group.” He continued. “Barty and Evan were inseparable. You never saw Barty in anything but Evan’s academy hoodie, and Evan never wore a pair of shoes that Barty hadn’t scribbled his signature over. For god sake-they were like a package deal! Buy one get one free, I shit you not!”
Remus laughed at him. But really, he felt envious. He’d never felt that kind of connection with anyone-platonically or romantically.
“And the Marlene’s bar was doing great-she was happy, great business, you know? And Pandora had just got a job with Sprout. Got to work in the same school as her brother, no stress, and if any of us were in over our heads Peter Pettigrew was there to help us before we even asked for it!”
“Peter Pettigrew?” Remus didn’t recognise the name.
“A friend of ours. Patron’s son. Never liked to dance, gave it up a few years ago. But stayed in contact with us and we reconnected when his family moved here last summer. Also, that slimy git Severus Snape never showed his face back then either.” James said with bitterness.
“Who the fuck is that?” Remus asked, running his hand along the barre.
“Bleh. You don’t wanna know.” James continued to let him know anyway. “Another patron’s son. Nothing like Peter. Doesn’t dance because he thinks it’s beneath him. Instead he dedicates his entire life to ruining ours.”
“Doesn’t sound like someone I’d like to meet.” Remus remarked.
James snorted. “Unfortunately, the prick is everywhere.” Remus rolled his eyes at that.
James began to walk out of the room and Remus followed. He made a mental note of Studio B, because at this rate he wasn’t sure when the next him he’d see it would be.
James continued as he walked, this time his tone getting more and more frustrated.
“But you should see us now! For gods sake, Barty and Evan haven’t spoken since Barty joined the A’s. Regulus and Sirius are both mad at each other-don’t even ask me what happened there-and Sirius won’t tell me shit if I try and talk to him about it! He shuts off-his eyes get all glazed over, you know? And sometimes it’s random, most of the time it’s when someone mentions Regulus, or if he sees him. Marlene is fucking miserable and I don’t know why. And Pandora is getting so much shit piled on her-she’s so stressed-and Peter hardly ever calls in-and like I said Snivellus Snape is constantly lurking about!” James drew in a breath and let it out slowly. Remus could tell he’d been waiting to get that off his chest.
“How come everything all went wrong at the same time?” Remus asked. They were approaching Studio A now, it was really only a few corridors down from B’s.
“It all started with that goddamn audition. Uh, sorry, I’m nagging.” James stopped himself.
“No, seriously, it’s fine-I’m gonna have to learn about this shit sometime anyway.” Remus said.
James laughed. “I like you, Remus.” He turned to the Studio. “Welcome to Studio A.”
Inside the studio was gigantic. Three walls were lined with mirrors and the other with windows. Like Studio B, there was a door leading to the showers. The dance floor looked less worn than B’s-Remus concluded it was probably new. He stepped inside and was hit by the distinct smell of air diffusers. For the first time in at least a few years he felt the strong urge to dance. Before now he’d rarely wanted to. Like he said, it was something he tolerated.
“It’s-I don’t know. I think I like it.” He was being honest. It wasn’t like Studio B, that had a certain warmth to it. It was nicer, but slightly colder. A cold atmosphere, he thought to himself.
“Me neither, if im being honest.” James replied. “Anyway,” his tone became lighter. “Upstairs is the gym, it’s hard to miss, and up again-the fourth floor-is your dorm. I’m guessing Evan already took you there, yeah?”
“Yeah, before we went to Studio C.” Remus replied.
“Great. Your academy gear should be up there by now, I think.” James motioned to his own jacket, that Remus now noticed had the Hogwarts logo. He recalled seeing “Potter” stitched on the back earlier. God, how little he wanted to parade around in a jacket that had his father’s name on it.
“Right, thanks.” Remus turned to go but James called him back.
“Wait, who’s your roommate, Lupin?”
“Barty Crouch Jr. What’s he like?” Remus hadn’t dared ask Evan, not after hearing how he said just his name.
“Depends who you ask. Used to be great friends, me and him. But he started shutting down more and more. He’s mostly okay when I talk to him anyway, but he’s been a right prick towards Evan, anyway.”
“Yeah, I gathered. See you later, Potter.”
“Eight o’clock, Lupin, don’t be late!” James smiled back at him.
Two, Remus thought. Two real friends at Hogwarts already.