the beginning of term
“Have you ever ridden a broom, Remus?” Lily asked as she did a skip walk to catch up with him, linking her arm into his. It was four days after the sorting ceremony, flying was their first lesson of the year. They shared it with the Ravenclaws.
Sirius and James had, unsurprisingly, dashed ahead. Remus had learnt very quickly that Sirius, too, had an obsession with Quidditch. Peter had followed after them, not as enthusiastic, but still excited all the same.
Remus liked Peter, he didn’t talk much, but the conversations that he had, had with peter were always engaging and fast paced. Peter was an excellent listener. Which probably came from listening to new people to not seem rude, letting them talk so he didn’t have to.
“Yeah, once, when I was 8, I think. Maybe 7, don't know, can’t really remember. All I know is that it's bloody awful. Fell off and broke my nose”, Remus reached over his torso with his left arm to grasp Lily’s, that was comfortably resting on his right, swaying them both as they walked, trailing behind the rest of the group.
“Oh, yayyy… I’m even more excited now. Sounds like a blast!” Remus let out a small chuckle at her dry tone.
Over the last three days, Remus hadn't really bonded with his roommates. Sure they were friendly and he got on fine with them but he found himself graduating to spend more time with different people. Two people to be exact, one was the pretty redhead that was hanging off of his arm, the other was Charlie. I must have a thing for gingers, Remus thought to himself.
Remus spent almost all his time with Lily and Charlie, whether that be reading in the library or out in the september sun by the lake or goofing around together, playing it and other silly primary school games.
The last 3 days all went relatively the same for them. Remus and Charlie would meet for a late breakfast, just as most students were leaving to get on with their days. Lily liked to get her day started early, so the two boys could avoid her following them to the hospital wing by getting up later. After they saw Pomphrey (and threw away their pills) they would spend some time trying to find Lily. she was never in the same place two days in a row. Seemingly wanting to be everywhere in the castle. They would eat lunch together, before Lily would abandon them to go hang out with that slime ball, Snape, she still insisted on being friends with. Remus was very happy to find that Charlie had the same opinion of him to Remus. The afternoons were spent with just the two boys wandering the castle’s halls and grounds chain-smoking, trying to hide them from any passers by. Always in complete silence, content with their own thoughts. The first day they had done this walk, Remus had gotten out his tin and lit a cigarette, he then offered one to Charlie. He took one hesitantly and let Remus bring their faces together, lighing the ginger’s cigarette with the but of his own. Charlie had coughed and sputtered his way through his first but gladly accepted another one, after his had gone out, burnt all the way down to the filter. At dinner Charlie would leave them to sit with the other Hufflpuffs, Remus would end up sitting with Lily and her roommates. They were nice enough, nothing special in Remus’ mind. Mary and Marlene, the two opposite best friends that had sat with Lily at the sorting ceremony, who were always engaged in their own conversations, and a sweet quiet girl called Alice who would dip in and out of their conversations but manley stayed aloof and spacy in her own world. Remus longed to know what was constantly on her mind, craved her knowledge of the world.
The first years lined up in a row, Gryfindore’s facing Ravenclaws. Dusty brooms lay on the floor by their feet, the same side as their dominant hand.
Their teacher caught Remus’ eye, she had short spiky hair that was graying at the root and strikingly yellow eyes. The beady eyes surveyed them as she walked down the aisle that they made.
“Hello everybody, welcome to Hogwarts, I am Madam Hooch. As I'm sure some of you already know, flying is very important for any witch or wizard to know. I have been given the joy of teaching all you punkins to fly today. I do not stand for any rule breaking so if there is any messing around you’ll be straight to detention, is that clear?
There was a collective “Yes Professor”
“Ok pip squeaks, I want you to mount your brooms and kick off gently, I do not want anybody going higher than three feet off the ground, is that clear, Mr Potter, Mr Black?” Hooch gave the two ginning boys a pointed look. “After you are in the air I want you to make a lab of the pitch. Go at your own pace, this is not a race. No pushing or shoving. Off you go.”
Remus, Mary and Lily were the last Gryffindors in the air, being the only first year muggle borns in their house. They made a shaky lap, choosing to stay together. They were the last in their class to land. James, predictably, was the first to do the lap. He was sitting on the ground next to his broom with his head resting on his hands, bored out of his mind. This morning in the dorm, while they were getting ready for the day, James had proudly said he had been flying since before he could walk and had never fallen off. Remus thought this was a bit arrogant for him to say.
“You look like you hated that, Remus”, James said, ginning up at him.
“I did, thank you very much.”
Later that day the four Gryfindor boys were lounging in their dorm. Remus was laying on his back on his bed looking up at the drapes. He was exhausted, after having flown for Two hours, they also had Potions and charms, then after lunch double transfiguration. He was tired and desperately wanted to go to bed but it wasn’t even time for dinner yet.
Remus flung one of his arms over his eyes, obstructing his view of the ceiling. He groaned quietly to himself, the full moon was tomorrow. It always made him a bit funny, everything was getting to be too much. The lights in the dorm were burning his eyes, his clothes were touching him in all the wrong ways, seeming to burn his skin. The other three boys weren't helping, they sat crossed legged on James’ bed; holding a rather heated conversation on which Quidditch team was better. Remus didn’t care for any of it. The sound of Peter chewing his nails across the room made remus’ ears bleed.
Remus jumped up all of a sudden, coursing Sirius to start, almost falling off of the bed. Remus opened up his trunk, searching for the dark blue hoodie he had lent Sirius on the first day. He also pulled out an oversized t-shirt and well worn jeans before heading into the bathroom to change out of his uniform.
Feeling a thousand times betting in his own clothes he checked his pocket to make sure he had his tin before emerging from the bathroom. He put his uniform in his trunk before starting for the door.
“Where are you going? Dinner doesn’t start for another hour yet." James piped up before he got to the door.
“A walk?” Remus shot him a dur look. “I need some air”
“Oh-ok. Well see you at dinner then?”
“Yeah, bye” he raised his hand in a small wave, turning away from the others. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Sirius looking at him weirdly. Just as he got to the door -
“Wait, Remus, I want to come.”
Remus stifled an eye-roll as Sirius jumped down from the bed and came bounding towards him. “Bye Jamie see you soon, bye Pete my love.”
“I told you to stop calling me that!” James yelled after them as they clicked the door shut.
“You going to smoke?” Sirius asked with his head cocked. He looked rather cute like that,Remus thought, then startled himself at that thought.
Remus sighed, “Yes, and I’m not in the mood to do much talking so if you’re coming with me, can you keep the talking to the minimum?”
“Yes, Sir” Sirius stood to attention and gave him a rather extravagant salute. Remus smirked at his antics.
They took a seat under the same willow tree they had before. Remus liked it under there, it shut you off from the rest of the world; engulfing the two Gryfindor boys in a green blanket. Remus lit his cigarette, he wished for something stronger, could smell that a couple of Hufflpuffs had what he wanted behind the greenhouse. He’d have to settle for a normal smock though, for now at least. Sirius, he thought, ould have different opinions to drugs than him.
“Why do you smoke?”
“I dunno, helps calm me I guess?” Remus realized his mistake when Sirius asked him why he needed calming.
Remus sat at the Gryffindor table, not really listening to the other boys nattering. Sirius had dragged him over to sit with his other dorm mates instead of with lily. His head was feeling pleasantly light, a mix of nicotine and oxygen deficiency. Remus had made his way through 5 cigarettes. He would have to roll some more tonight, he thought to himself.
Remus watched as three Hufflpuffs came giggling into the great hall. They were obviously the same three that were sitting behind the greenhouse about an hour ago. If it wasn’t for the fact that Remus could smell the perfume of weed coming off of them, their red eyes, small bursts of uncontrollable giggles and loaded plates towering in front of them would have given it away. They looked to be about 15. Remus was going to ask Charlie for their names tomorrow, to see if they were keen on sharing.
Remus lay in bed that night, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. Remus’ thoughts were plagued with worry for the following night.
What would his first moon at Hogwarts be like?