Return to Hogwarts
'Remus! Remus, this way, you can put your things through here..,'
'This way,' Minerva called again, this time waving at him, 'you can get yourself sorted through here and then I'll show you where to sit.'
'Oh,' he paused for a moment and looked again, up towards the stairs. 'Yes, of course, thank you,' he said, moving sideways across the entrance hall, weaving through the excited students to the door she was standing at.
'A shame you couldn't come a few days ago to get set up but I dare say you'll manage.' She looked him up and down, a brief flash of concern in her eyes. ‘Leave your things here, the elves will take them up to your room, and then you can take the back staircase up to the hall. I've put you next to Pomona - she'll look after you. I'll be up shortly, I have some students to attend to.' She paused to look at him again. 'I'm delighted to have you here,' she said softly and turned back through the door.
Remus looked around. He was in a small meeting room or waiting room maybe. He didn't remember it from before, but then the castle had never felt the need to stay the same. A door to the left stood ajar through which he found a little bathroom. As he washed his hands he tried and failed to avoid his own reflection in the mirror above the sink. 'Merlin.' He sighed. He knew he looked dreadful. He'd woken up sore that morning, deep new scratches across his chest and back. He'd patched himself up as best he could, but his reflection was pale, making the scars on his face stand out and the stark light of the bathroom showed up the patches on his robes.
As returned to the waiting room, he noticed that the noise in the entrance hall had died down, and without sparing another anxious thought, hurried through the door Minerva had pointed to and up a narrow staircase, emerging behind the teachers table in the Great Hall. Most of the children were seated now, a sea of black robes, whispering to each other as they waited for the Sorting Ceremony to begin. He spotted Professor Sprout and slipped quickly into the empty chair beside her, mouthing a quick hello as Professor Flitwick led a line of children through the huge doors at the opposite end of the hall.
The first new student went to Ravenclaw, the hat shouting it out almost as soon as it touched the girl's head, the table beneath the blue banners erupting in cheers. The second took a little longer, the hat swaying slightly on the head of a brown haired boy, who sat stiffly on the stool, his nervousness palpable. After a long pause it shouted, 'Gryffindor!' and the table on the far left of the hall exploded with celebration. Remus watched the new boy stumble slightly, dazed as he moved down the steps to take a seat beside students with red ties who were clapping him uproariously. As he slid into an empty bench a dark haired boy grinned at him and bumped his shoulder, finally making the first year smile and relax a little into his seat. It was only a moment but it made Remus' chest hurt. Why had he come back here? He dragged his eyes away from the two boys who were now whispering to each other, looking for Harry.
Remus didn't spot Harry until the sorting had finished, when he entered the hall late with Minerva and the girl he'd been sitting with on the train. He hurried over to the table to sit beside his friend, a Weasley, Remus thought, and across from the other boy from the carriage who Remus was yet to place, but also had a face that was achingly familiar. He was jolted from his thoughts by the mention of his own name: Dumbledore was addressing the school, introducing the new staff, and suddenly Harry was looking back at him, a huge smile on his face. For the second time in only a few minutes he wondered if this hadn't been a mistake. Maybe he should've stayed away, where it was easier to ignore the pain.
Remus almost missed the second announcement, tuning back in just in time to understand that Hagrid was to be teaching Care of Magical Creatures. He slightly belatedly joined in the applause, looking down the table to where Hagrid stood, towering over the other teachers, smiling proudly. He hadn't seen Hagrid since the war. A memory of a huge black motorcycle pushed its way into his mind and he blinked it quickly away, shaking his head slightly as if to physically dislodge it. Just past Hagrid, he caught sight of another familiar face, this one looking back at him with a much less pleasant expression upon it. Remus sighed. 'One step at a time,' he thought to himself as the plates before them filled with food. 'Eat, then sleep, then maybe panic.'