Moonage Daydream

Remus ran onto the train, meeting James, Sirius and Peter in one of the compartments. None of them seemed to look much different than before, Sirius’ hair had grown out slightly, Peter had adopted a buzzcut that didn’t suit him very well, and once again James greeted Remus with a smile. He almost didn’t notice the other boy sitting next to Sirius. Almost. The new boy had piercing grey eyes, short curly hair, there were light freckles spattered across the boy’s nose, his skin was so pale he was practically translucent.  

“Hey, guys,” Remus said, sitting down. “Who’s this?” He nodded to the new boy. 

Sirius elbowed the other boy who huffed and looked away from him. Sirius rolled his eyes and started, “This is my brother, Regulus. He’s just being a brat, don’t mind him.” 

“I’m not being a brat,” Regulus growled at Sirius. “Don’t talk about me like I’m not here.” 

“Then you could at least say hi.” 

Regulus sighed. “Hi.” 

Remus gave an awkward wave. “I’m Remus, nice to meet you.” 

“It’s not, you don’t have to lie to him,” Sirius hummed. 

“I will rip out your hair,” Regulus muttered. 

“Try it and I’ll hide your books at the bottom of the lake.” 

“Whatever, traitor,” Regulus huffed. 

“Get out,” Sirius scolded. “Just, go. Merlin, I don’t know why I tried being nice to you,” he sighed as Regulus left the compartment.  

Remus pursed his lips and stared at the floor when silence filled the compartment. “Well, how was everyone’s summer?” James announced, interrupting the awkward air. 

“Your subtlety is unmatched, James,” Peter chuckled. “My parents bought me a new chess set and we visited my grandma for a while.” 

Remus hummed, listening to the two exchange stories about their summers, noting how Sirius stared out the window without saying a word. His face seemed passive, right up until Peter asked Sirius about his summer. His face changed, his lips pursed, and his brows furrowed. Remus watched as Sirius sucked in his cheek and seemed to chew on it. “My summer sucked, thanks,” he finally said. 

“Oh. I’m sorry,” Peter mumbled. 

“It’s fine. Honestly, it’s kind of funny.” Remus wasn’t sure if he agreed, there wasn’t a hint of humour in Sirius’ voice as he spoke. “The only one from the Black family not to get into Slytherin, my picture should be framed. That’s an achievement! The biggest disappointment they could have asked for,” he chuckled dryly. “Maybe Reggie will get into Ravenclaw, even the score for me.” 

James rubbed Sirius’ shoulder. “Your family’s loss, Gryffindor is a great house, they should be proud,” he hummed. “Or they can just bugger off and let us keep you instead.” Sirius smiled at that comment. 

“Yeah, wouldn’t that be something?” 

~.~ 

Another student was placed into Gryffindor, earning more cheers and applause from the table. Regulus Black was called up, he wasn’t like Sirius; he didn’t walk with the same saunter in his step that Sirius did, he didn’t hold McGonagall’s eye the way Sirius would, he didn’t seem to have the same loud confidence Sirius did. Remus wouldn’t say Regulus was scared, but he couldn’t say he looked confident either. In fact, Regulus didn’t look like he had any opinion on the situation.  

The hat touched down on Regulus’ head, there was barely a second of deliberation before the hat declared, “Slytherin!” A look Remus could only characterise as resignation passed over Regulus’ face as he went to sit over at the Slytherin table. Regulus was greeted by a group of people Remus assumed were his and Sirius’ cousins. 

Sirius turned away from looking at his brother, setting his jaw and staring at the table. “Guess he’s not in Ravenclaw,” Remus hummed. 

“Guess so,” he muttered. “Should have guessed.” 

The boys made their way back to their dorms early, wanting to start unpacking before classes started again. Remus unrolled his David Bowie poster and started placing it above his bed. 

“What is that?” Sirius asked, sitting on Remus’ bed. “The picture doesn’t move. Is it broken?” 

Remus chuckled. “No, it’s just a muggle poster. Remember when we were listening to David Bowie? This is him.” 

Sirius’ eyes lit up. “That’s him? He’s so colourful.” Sirius crawled closer to get a better look at the poster. “He looks awesome.” 

“Doesn’t he? One of his concerts was playing on the telly, so I got to watch it.” 

“What’s a telly?” Sirius quirked his head to the side. “Another muggle thing?” 

“Yeah, it’s uh, it’s kind of like the moving pictures except they don’t change?” Remus hummed and shrugged. “Um, it’s pre-recorded, and you can’t talk to it.” 

Sirius stared at Remus incredulously. “Muggles have pictures that don’t move and the ones that do you can’t talk to? That sounds dumb.” 

“It’s not dumb, there’s no magic,” Remus scoffed.  

“So how does the telly thing work?” 

“Uh... I don’t actually know.” 

Sirius hummed, staring at the David Bowie poster. “Did you bring your albums again?” 

“Of course. Want to listen with me later?” 

“Yes. I’ve been starved of interesting music,” Sirius sighed dramatically dropping on Remus’ bed while he hung up his posters.  

“Poor little rich boy,” Remus teased, earning a pillow to the back of his head. 

~.~ 

“Why is it so early?” Remus complained to Peter from the quidditch stands. Try outs were this morning and Sirius and James insisted that the two had to come watch. “It’s cold. It’s Sunday, it’s God’s Day, I should be in bed.” 

“Who’s day?” Peter quirked his eyebrows together at Remus. 

“Never mind,” he sighed. “Another muggle thing.” 

Peter shrugged, accepting it, and blew hot air onto his fingers. “Pretend to be interested. If they get in, they’ll drag us out here a lot more.” 

“Is it wrong to hope they don’t then?” 

“Probably. I won’t tell them you said that though.” 

“You’re a good mate.” 

“I know.” Remus chuckled and turned his attention to the field. Sirius was flying loops around and warming up. He was forcing James to chuck balls at him while he practiced deflecting them with a bat. Sirius was grinning, he had a sense of ease on the pitch; his flying was exception, especially for his age, Remus had yet to see him miss a hit- however James wasn’t throwing the balls nearly as fast as the bludgers flew. Sirius had his hair pulled back in a ponytail; it made the sharp contours of his face even more intense. The captain stepped out onto the field, he was tall, broad shouldered, his hair fell in soft curls to his chin, and he walked with overflowing confidence. Remus tried to search his brain for the name while he addressed all the new try outs.  

Remus elbowed Peter. “Captain, what’s his name again? I can’t remember.” 

“Rowan Otters. He’s a fifth year I think.” 

“Yeah? I never got his name last year.” Remus turned his attention back to the field, watching as Rowan would clap the boys on their shoulders after ordering them around. 

“He’s pretty young to be a captain, he plays Keeper,” Peter explained. Remus nodded. He found himself watching Rowan more than he did the try outs. He mounted his broom to play as the Keeper against all the kids who were trying out for Chaser.  

Sirius and James were put on as alternates. Peter shaking his arm snapped Remus out of his trance. “Well, I guess we’ve got to come back to the pitch more often!” he laughed.  

“Yeah, no kidding,” Remus chuckled, following Peter down to the pitch. 

Apparently it was customary to throw a party for the new recruits. The common room that evening was flooded with music and cheering, the older students drinking something suspicious out of a flask a few were passing around. Someone had snuck down to the kitchens and had come back with a bounty of snacks for the party, Remus had made a beeline for the chocolates that were out. He found Sirius and James chatting excitedly with Rowan Otters. He walked up to them, sharing a small smile to the group.  

“Re! Found the chocolates, huh?” James teased, throwing his arm around Remus’ shoulders.  

“Yes, I did. Don’t judge me,” he scoffed, shoving a chocolate in his mouth.  

“I was just telling Otters about your music collection, how we should put that on!” Sirius explained with a grin. “We need some David Bowie.” 

“You know I don’t just have David Bowie, right? I have other music.” Remus shook his head, finally looking up to Rowan with a shy smile. He shrugged James’ arm off and put his hand out for a shake. “Hi, I’m Remus Lupin.” 

“Nice to meet you. You were in the stands at try outs, weren’t you? Didn’t want to try for the team?” Rowan smiled as he shook Remus’ hand, he could see a few crooked teeth when Rowan smiled and how his eyes brightened with it. 

“Oh, well, I, um,” Remus stuttered over his words once Rowan started smiling at him. Maybe he was just getting overwhelmed with the noise. “I actually- I don’t know how to ride a broom,” he admitted. Out of the corner of his eye, Remus saw Sirius raise his eyebrows at him.  

“Oh, really? That’s a shame. If you ever come to one of our practices, I’ll teach you after,” Rowan offered. “Okay?” He smiled at Remus again. 

Remus stared up at him. “Oh, yeah. Yeah, that would be- that'd be cool.” 

“Great! We need more people trying out anyways,” he laughed, and Remus felt his stomach float through his insides. 

“Okay. I’ll be there,” he breathed. “Sorry, I think I’m not feeling well,” he muttered and ran up the stairs to his room.