one
Warren and Remus had a lot of arguments after the revelation that Remus is supposed to visit a boarding wizard school in September and only come home two times a year. Even on Remus 11th birthday in March, where they usually bake a cake together and eat it on the lake while trying not to sink the little wooden boat, the tension didn’t go unnoticed. Everything was worse since that Albus guy showed up, which Remus learned is Professor Dumbledore who is the headmaster of Hogwarts.
Still Remus couldn’t shake off the feeling that maybe, just maybe, the grown-ups were right. Again. He hated having to acknowledge that he was actually interested in learning about the school and the different courses. One thing that still scared him was the many other students which he would see every day and even had to share a room with. His fear about somebody finding out that he was a werewolf grew even stronger which also showed when he turned. The wolf now tended to attack anything that came close and often left a trail of blood throughout the woods.
Warren became also extremely worried, which made Remus even more worried, which just made everything very stressful. In the end Warren and Remus agreed on sending him to Hogwarts and as soon as he felt that somebody was threatening to find out about his condition, he would come home immediately under the excuse of a family emergency. Dumbledore was made aware of that and he agreed upon the condition that Remus would still keep in touch with school in order to get a degree. Remus found that very generous but noticed that Warren hesitated to agree to Dumbledore, he didn’t understand why but he also didn’t feel like asking.
Once August was around Remus had gotten yet another big lecture from Warren about his werewolf condition. He actually wrote Remus a list with excuses as to why he was missing from school on a full moon and where his scars were from. Warren made Remus learn this list by heart so that in the end he had a funny little story to every single one of his many scars that ran across his body. Remus found that to be quite frustrating, but he saw the necessity behind it and also appreciated Warrens work.
At some point the official letter from Hogwarts came in via owl with a list of things Remus would need, like a wand, some books, robes and an animal if he wanted to. Most things Warren had in his bedroom from some years ago. He never really wanted to tell Remus why he had completely new children-sized robes and first year books, but Remus found himself just happy that he didn’t have to go on a shopping spree.
One thing he did need to buy in person was a wand because apparently it needed to fit you perfectly. Remus didn’t quite understand why a piece of wood needed to be measured for your hand and he also wondered if it would grow if your own hand grew. He didn’t voice these questions out loud though because he didn’t want to seem weird in front of the salesman. Warren told him that he’d be able to channel his magic better through a wand but in all honesty, Remus wasn’t very excited to find out that he had to use his wand every time. Since he first started having these magical outbursts around the full moon, he never used a wand. The magic just flew out of his body which he found was a quite exciting experience, but again: probably the grown-ups were right.
After some trial-and-error Remus was handed a wand that didn’t seem to reject him and worked quite well. It was a weird experience forcing his magic through that stick, but he guessed that it must fade after some practice.
On the day before Remus was supposed to leave for Hogwarts, Warren seemed like an absolute wreck. He kept on rambling, starting sentences and never finishing them and staring into nothingness for absurdly long amounts of time. “I’ll be fine Warren. I’m sure it won’t be that bad” Remus reasoned after Warren spilled his tea for the third time in a row.
Warren let out a shaky laugh-breath “You’re probably right, kid. I should be comforting you, I’m sorry. I’m sure you’re nervous.” He was right, Remus was nervous. He was so nervous in fact that he kept on repacking his bag just to make sure he didn’t accidentally put in a sign that said Unregistered werewolf. Skin me now!
“Yeah… only a little bit though. I’m excited to see real ghosts and the talking pictures.” Remus answered honestly and smiled inwardly about actually experiencing and not just reading about Hogwarts. “What house do you think I’ll be put in?” He had been very invested in that question because it did seem like a big deal. You had to wear your house colours and there was a point-system to win a pokal and you’d share a dorm with them. Also, a lot of traits were associated with the different houses. Hufflepuff being known for its loyal, patient and kind students, Gryffindor with its lion and traits like courage, chivalry and daring. Then there’s Ravenclaw in blue, they seem to be clever, creative and wise and then there’s Slytherin, Warrens house, that’s students are cunning, ambitious and resourceful.
“You are quite smart Remus, but you’re also a kind soul… I think we often put too much thought into the houses. The speaking hat will put you where you will thrive the most and that’s all that matters.” Warren said while dramatically looking out of the window to what Remus had to suppress a chuckle “But I would love to see you in Slytherin. I’m sure Slughorn can tell you the best stories about me.” He turned to Remus with a smile on his face. “I’m sure you’ll do well kid.”
First of September
“Do you have everything?” Warren asked for the millionth time since they’ve arrived at the train station. “Yes, I’ve packed everything” Fear was slowly bubbling up in him about the soon to-be departure. He’s never been away this long. “And if somebody asks, you-““I live with my uncle in a small village you wouldn’t know. He’s a muggle gardener. I know Warren, you’ve asked me that question five times already.” Remus rolled his eyes but couldn’t stop the little smile from spreading across his lips. Warren mirrored him and put a hand on his shoulder “I am so proud of you. Owl me once you get there.” Warren said, his eyes starting to glister “You should probably hop on before all the seats are taken”. Now it’s time to be brave. “I’ll miss you…” Remus said suddenly feeling very unsure of himself. “And I’ll miss you kid. Off you go now.” Warren squeezed his shoulder once more and gently pushed him toward the train.
With quick steps Remus walked towards the door and turned around once more to wave at Warren before getting into the train. While nervously fiddling with his black robes, Remus walked through the narrow train. Breathe in, breathe out. One. Breathe in, breathe out. Two. Breathe in, breathe out. Thr- “Watch your step.” He was being pushed aside by an older student who was being followed by two giggling girls. What had he gotten himself into?
He needed to find an empty slot so he could calm down a bit. Otherwise, he’d just run out and tell Warren that somebody pointed at him and screamed “Werewolf!”. No, he won’t do that. Quickly he started walking again and luckily found an empty train compartment into which he slipped and sat down with a big breath. Okay, calm down.
Remus sunk into his “mantra” and was already at breath 44 when somebody barged in with a pointed finger “You’re no cousin of mine, are you?”. Remus looked up at the black-haired boy with confused eyes. “…No?” “Very well, you didn’t look it, but I had to make sure. I’m Sirius. Sirius Black.” He seated himself opposite of Remus and grinned at him expectantly. Did Remus miss a cue? Should he say something now? Shit, this was harder than expected. “Yeah…” Remus pressed out while awkwardly smiling back and scratching the back of his neck.
“Are you not going to tell me your name?” Sirius asked, seemingly confused. “Oh, yes right…” Was he supposed to tell his real name? He didn’t talk about that with Warren. What if Sirius’ parents were already on the lookout for him? “Sooo?” Remus stuttered a bit and finally announced his name, fear in his voice. Oh god, now they’re going to get him. “Hm, Remus. Funny name, do you know what house you’ll be in?”
He didn’t know his name was funny. Sirius sounded much weirder in his opinion, but he chose not to say that to him. “Ehm, no not really.” An awkward pause followed before Remus realized that he should probably ask Sirius too. Before he could do that the door to their compartment was opened again by a nervous looking blond boy. “Are these two seats free?” He couldn’t hold eye contact with either of the two boys inside and Remus didn’t know if he was supposed to answer. He was the first one in. Did he have to decide? Or was it more of a democratic approach? “Depends, who’s asking?” Sirius looked at him through squinted eyes probably trying to figure out his marital status.
The blond boy seemed quite taken aback by that question but before he could answer a brown-haired boy with glasses pushed him in. “Just go in Pete, everywhere else is full. Told you we shouldn’t have taken so long buying sweets.”
The boy with glasses placed himself next to Remus, so the blond-haired boy had to sit next to Sirius, which he did after shooting him a wary look. “I’m James Potter and this is Peter Pettigrew.” The brown-haired boy introduced them. “Sirius Black.” He smiled a bit while saying that. Sirius slightly kicked Remus against the foot before saying “You tell them your name now.” Remus cheeks grew hot and he nodded slightly. Why did they introduce themselves with their full names all the time? “I’m Remus Lupin.” Peter and James exchanged a quick look before immediately diving into a conversation about their hopes to be put into Gryffindor.
Sirius mentioned that everyone expects him to be in Slytherin, but he wants nothing more than to be put “into any house, just not the ones of these evil snakes”. Remus didn’t really understand, Warren was a Slytherin and he wasn’t evil. But how was he supposed to know if maybe Warren was just an exception? Remus was also asked a few questions which he answered in short sentences. He even once asked a question back. All in all, it wasn’t too bad.
The train ride was one of the most exciting things Remus has ever done. None of the other boys seemed to pay much attention and rather talked about Quidditch, which is a sport that is also practiced in Hogwarts. Looking out of the window Remus found himself drifting into a daydream. He thought of his mother bringing him to the train station. She smiled and waved and her pretty dark blond hair lay in a ponytail like it did so often. She would hug him and call him angel, like she always used to do. That stopped though. After the bite it wasn’t the same. Warren always said that she tried very hard to keep Remus with herself and he really tried to believe him, but why couldn’t she just keep contact? Remus never understood why, after his mother handed him over to Warren because she couldn’t control him any longer during his transition, she rarely wrote a letter. Maybe she was just trying to forget that dark part of her life. The part that robbed her of her husband, Remus’ dad Lyall.
Remus shook his head. This isn’t the right place to think about such things, not in front of the others. He tuned into their conversation but quickly realized that he couldn’t really follow what they were talking about. Especially because they were talking above each other and the train was quite loud, Remus couldn’t focus enough to make sense of what they were saying. He picked up something along the lines of a vacation in France, where they’ve all been before. France seemed like a beautiful land but sadly he never left England. To be specific he’d only been to three different places. Wonston, where he grew up until he was about seven years old, London which he visited occasionally and now in the forest near Sway where he’s living with Warren.
No longer wanting to sit with his thoughts, Remus picked up his small backpack and pulled out his copy of Lord of the Rings. He wasn’t that big of a fantasy fan, but he found these books to be quite soothing and long enough to entertain him for a while. Remus flicked open the page he was last on and began reading when he noticed that the boys grew quiet. He quickly glanced up to see what was going on and was met with Sirius’ face whose eyebrows were drawn together.
“Are you okay?” He asked to which Remus slowly lowered his book. “Yes.. yes I’m okay.” Did he do something wrong? “Okay, well we were just wondering because you’re not really talking with us and now you pulled out this big book like listening to us is to worst thing on earth” James chimed in and grinned a bit while saying the last part. Remus didn’t really know where to look or what to do. “So, Remus…” Sirius pronounced his name like it was something he’d never heard before. “Tell us a bit about yourself. Train ride is almost over and all we know is your name, that you’ve never played quidditch and that your most excited to see the ghosts at Hogwarts.” Remus found that he didn’t like the way Sirius talked. Like he was above Remus, like he was a grown-up and Remus was just a stupid little child.
“I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not that interesting.” Remus said after a short pause. “Well, that can’t be true. You look like you’ve seen some shit.” Sirius raised his eyebrows like he had a point. What did he mean by that? Remus took a long shower this morning even though the water was freezing in their outdoor shower. He had brushed his dirty blond hair, his teeth and put on his best pair of handmade deer leather shoes. “Don’t be mean Sirius.” James shook his head “What he means is, that… well… you look a bit rough. Nothing wrong with that though. We were just wondering what it is that you do. Right, Pete?” Peter nodded and glanced at Remus’ hands.
“I… well…” To say Remus was overwhelmed was a big understatement. He had absolutely no idea what these boys wanted to hear. “You do woodwork? My cousin does woodwork as a hobby, it’s pretty cool actually.” The smile on James lips took some nervosity off of Remus. He decided to just play along and get it over with. “Yeah, yeah. My uncle is a gardener and I help him a lot. We just started building a shed for all of his stuff.” James’s smile broadened. “That sounds interesting. Don’t you like plants and stuff Peter?” The blond boy nodded “Yeah, my mom likes gardening and she often makes me help her out. But I’m only interested in underwater plants and stuff like that. Like Gillyweed.”
Remus nodded in his direction “Cool.” He hoped Peter wouldn’t ask a lot of questions about plants because while yes Remus did know some things about them, he wasn’t very interested in them. The only plants he did care about were the ones he could eat and how to properly store them, so they’d last during the wintertime. James cleared his throat and Remus could see that Sirius was quietly laughing. He truly did not understand what was going on. “Well, anyway. Do you want some Jellybeans. Peter and I bought way too many and Sirius the posh boy says he only eats” James laughed out loud “What was it? Some of the highest quality?” Sirius gave him a kick to which James only laughed harder, even Remus had to chuckle a bit. Who talked like that? “So, you want some?” Remus nodded and took the package that James held out to him.
“Thank you” He said after remembering the “Politeness Lesson” from Warren before he left. Remus popped open the lid and took out a green Jellybean. “Watch out, it could be bugger-flavor” Sirius said to which Remus replied “Oh do they have this flavor in your highest quality Jellybeans? Does it taste like the bugger of Merlin himself?” Sirius tried to look mad but quickly broke out laughing and was joined by the rest of the group. Remus knew he could be funny, Warren often laughed at his rather mean comments, but he was extra glad that also the boys found it funny and not just old men.