two
Remus knew that houses could be big. He’s been to London after all. But this, this wasn’t a house. Well, Remus knew Hogwarts was a castle, but he didn’t take it so literally. “This is the biggest thing I’ve ever seen.” Peter spoke out in awe. Remus nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, it is quite big. I’ll never find my way around in this thing.” Clap, Clap. “Well, that gentleman is why you’ll all be given a map. Welcome to Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry. I am Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor. If you now all would follow me, please. The housing ceremony will start any moment. Don’t dawdle.” McGonagall, a grey-haired woman with a pointy hat and even pointier nose spoke loudly before she started walking towards the castle.
All of the first-year students quickly followed as to not get lost inside the big school. And Remus was right, he would get lost. The moving stairs were no joke, why would anyone even install something like that? Sirius nudged him and pointed upwards “Look, Remus.” He followed his finger to see a… well… a ghost. A real ghost. Remus couldn’t believe his eyes. “Wow.” His eyes couldn’t leave the nearly see-through man. “That’s probably Peeves. My dad told me about him.” James said while looking around to take everything in and sometimes saying something to Peter which made him laugh.
“Hurry up students. Once your name will be called, you will then come to me and sit on the chair. I will put the talking hat on you, who will announce your future house to which you then will seat yourself.” McGonagall spoke while guiding the last students into a really big room with floating candles. Wizards can be weird. Why do they have to be so extra? You could just place the candles on the table like every sane person would? It would probably take some time for Remus to properly understand wizarding culture.
Once he’d taken in the architecture, Remus noticed just how many students were in this hall. Oh, and it were so many. Remus felt like the life was being sucked out of him. He’d seen a lot of people but that was mostly when he was passing them in London. He’d never seen so many people in one place. A place where he also had to stay and be focused. Remus could feel all of his senses running like crazy, it felt like he could smell and hear every single student. There were so many. He couldn’t do it. No. Not possible. It was too much. Too many. He felt his breath quicken and somewhere in the back of his mind he heard Warrens voice say “Remember to breathe and count. That’s all you have to do”. But he just couldn’t. It was so loud, so much chatter and laughter and shuffling and scraping and-
“-upin? Remus? You here with us? We’re supposed to walk to the front” James eyed him warily from the side and somewhat forced a smile on his face once he noticed that Remus was listening to him. Remus just nodded quickly and followed the other students. Breathe in, Breathe out. One. Breathe in, breathe out. Two. He was pushed to the side. With nervous eyes he glanced around. Breathe in, breathe out. One. Breathe in, breathe out. Two. Breathe in, breathe out. Three. So loud. Four? He’d already lost track when a loud voice silenced the room and the wild running thoughts inside Remus’ head.
“Welcome to the sorting ceremony. Professor McGonagall should have explained to you what will happen now, so without further or do. Let’s begin!” Albus… Professor Dumbledore spoke with an amplified voice. The first name was called out and a girl with black hair made her way up to the chair. She was practically shaking the hat off and he could hear some other students making fun of her for being so nervous. “Ravenclaw!” The hat called out and the girl quickly found her way over to her table. Remus basically zoned out after that. He heard James’ name being called followed by a quick celebratory scream after being put into Gryffindor. Peter followed shortly after and joined James at the Gryffindor table. After a few other students Sirius Black was called up which caused some students to start whispering. Remus wasn’t really listening; he was just trying not to slowly back out of the room. The hat took his time with Sirius and then announced a loud “Gryffindor!” A shocked shriek came from behind him and when Remus turned, he saw a curly haired girl standing with her mouth wide open and a blonde girl frantically pulling on her robes to get her to sit back down. But she too was sending venomous looks towards Sirius who walked a little wobbly over to James.
“Remus John Lupin” Professor McGonagall called and Remus began slowly moving toward the chair. He did not want to sit on that chair in front of everybody. The could’ve just send an owl, telling you what house you were in. But Remus guessed that if they were dramatic enough to lighten a whole hall with floating candles a shouting hat in front of everybody was to be expected.
The hat was placed on his head and started moving and talking. “Hmm… Interesting, interesting. Why so afraid little man? Scared I’ll tell them a secret?” Remus froze hearing the hat mumble these mean words. Who decided to let such a vile hat talk to scared kids? “No need to be mean, Remus. Hmm… I think we’ll put you in… Gryffindor!” The yell was louder than expected in Remus’ ears. And maybe it was because of the shock of what that asshole of a hat has said about him, but Remus tore the hat himself of his head and pushed it towards McGonagall’s direction. He quickly escaped this horrible stage and walked over to the Gryffindor table to be greeted by a grinning James.
“Didn’t think you despised Gryffindor that much.” He said while scooting over so Remus could sit next to him. He shot him a questioning look. “You tore that hat off of you like you were placed into Slytherin.” Just now Remus realized that his behavior may have been a little over the top but still, the comment of the hat was more than unnecessary. Sirius huffed out a laugh. He looked a little pale and kept on glancing over to the Slytherin table. “I don’t like being in front of a lot of people.” Remus answered the question and found himself saying even more than necessary. “I’m actually quite happy to be here. At least I know somebody.”
He had no idea where the sudden sentiment came from, but he found his words to be true. Even though Sirius was a little weird and very posh and James was probably very keen on making friends with everybody, including Peter who seemed just as lost as Remus sometimes, he didn’t mind the company of them. James nodded enthusiastically with a broad smile “Very true my friend. Don’t you three worry, we’ll make Gryffindor proud.” Like Remus said, very keen on making friends with everybody.
Soon all the new students were sorted and Dumbledore announced the feast, which again, dramatics. The table décor vanished and was replaced with the biggest meal Remus had ever seen. There were all kinds of meats and vegetables, gravy, mashed potatoes, scones. Everything. He wasn’t even sure he knew what all of it was. Remus was mostly familiar with wildlife and fish, basically everything Warren hunted in the woods and the vegetables they grew in their garden. Mostly carrots and pumpkins for storage reasons.
Remus didn’t quite know what etiquette was necessary, so he waited for the others to take their first load first. After a quick examination he decided to also dive in because apparently no multiple forks or napkins tucked into your shirt were needed. And Merlin it tasted good, on which Peter apparently shared his opinion after announcing multiple times that he had to bribe the house elves to give him the recipe for his mom.
Remus found the whole house elves situation quite weird but everybody else found it so normal that he just kept his thought to himself. After all the savory food was almost gone, big bowls with pudding appeared which left Remus in complete awe. He loved pudding as a little kid, but it’s quite hard to story milk in the hut so they very rarely have it. He did not wait for the rest to make sure he was eating correctly. Remus loaded a big spoon into his bowl and almost shoveled the pudding into his mouth. This is what true happiness must feel like. Next to him he could hear James snickering, soon to be joined by Sirius and Peter.
“You want the big bowl for yourself?” Sirius asked trying to keep a stern look on his face. Remus had to swallow the big spoon of pudding in his mouth before answering. “Well I wouldn’t want you to eat something that isn’t of the highest quality.” James snorted loudly and slapped Remus on the leg. Sirius looked at him with an open mouth which quickly developed into a grin. “Merlin, I wish I would’ve never spoken.” “Oh is the Lord not pleased with his servants?” James added sheepishly. Even Remus had to laugh at that.
After the feast, no they did not overexaggerate, a so called “prefect” guided them to their dormitory and told them the password they’d have to say every time they wanted to enter. The big common room felt really warm and homey with its fireplace, wooden ambiance and red accents. It reminded Remus a bit of the hut. He had to admit, it wasn’t all too bad altogether. “Come on lads, I wanna see our room” James marched towards the staircase. Oh yeah, the four of them were put into the same room. Remus truly didn’t know how he felt about that but he wasn’t too mad about it. Mostly he was just scared about sharing a room with so many other people and having to time showering and making sure to never get dressed in front of them to make sure they don’t see his silver scars across his torso and legs.
Peter was quick to follow and Sirius grabbed Remus’ arm to pull him with them. “Don’t need you sinking into your daydreams again, Lupin.” He didn’t like being touched by strangers and he had to hold himself back from swatting Sirius’ hand away. He also found it quite interesting that eleven-year-old kids called themselves by their surname. Remus thought it was something you only did when you were older. Like Warren maybe. He stumbled up the stairs behind Sirius and they walked together into their room.
It was shaped a little weird with a rather round wall facing the outdoors. Four beds with curtains were aligned next to each window with their luggage beneath the bed. Each of the boys had a small dresser opposite of the bed and two desks were placed in the room. After James’ examination he found their bathroom and announced that he would be the first one to take a shower every morning because “a future superstar Quidditch player had to get up very early to train”.
Everyone seemed okay with that decision and Remus was hoping that their shower had hot water. Always. Not just when you boiled the water beforehand and then you had to make sure not to accidentally burn yourself. Their beds seemed to be chosen for them and Remus found his leather duffel bag under the bed to the far left, next to the bathroom door. He just hoped James was quiet in the shower, so he didn’t have to wake up at whatever ungodly hour James was planning to start training. Next to him lay Peter, then James and to the far right was Sirius.
“Any of you snore?” Sirius asked while slightly squinting his eyes together and looking at each one of the boys. “No, I don’t think so.” James replied while shrugging his shoulders. “Yeah, I don’t think so either.” Remus joined. All eyes were on Peter now and he kneaded his hand suspiciously. “Peter?” James asked warningly. “Only a little!” He said looking rather guilty. “I hope we have the same definition of little, mate.” Sirius muttered while Peter seemed to be genuinely afraid of what Sirius might do to him. In Remus opinion he was only a big talker.
The four boys started to unpack their clothes, which in Remus case were some very worn-out jeans, some of Warrens old and way too big flannels and polo shirts his mother occasionally sent him. Looking over to the others he saw them putting up posters of quidditch players. Well, mainly James. “Man, I knew you lot were traditional, but I didn’t think you were planning to go like that to the Sunday roast.” James half joked pointing to Sirius suitcase, but Remus felt like even he wasn’t sure if Sirius wasn’t serious about wearing this… thing. Sirius looked rather horrified when he saw a very old-school looking suit. “Merlin, my mother must’ve snuck this in there. She is indeed very keen on keeping traditions and to show off the noble and most ancient house of Black” While saying the last bit he held the suit in front of him, pretending to wear it and spoke even more posh than he did in general.
“My dad always said it’s good to keep tradition.” Peter shrugged and evidentially killed the joke as Sirius smile died down very quickly and he rather meanly spat “Well, you wear it then.” Peter quickly looked to the ground and fiddled with his herbology book. “Sometimes I guess it is.” Remus chimed in, thinking about his birthday on a boat tradition. But he quickly added “Not when it looks like this though. Your most noble house should probably start picking up tradition from this century.” Remus saw Sirius smile a bit about his joke and the atmosphere was quickly soothed again.
After all their things were stored away and some more decoration by the three other boys were put up, they all sat on their beds. Tomorrow would be the first day of school. Remus was quite nervous as he was only in a normal school for a few weeks, after his mom decided to take him out and not risk anyone being suspicious. After that he was homeschooled by an actual teacher, but when he was given to Warren two years later that stopped too. He only taught him real-life-skills, as he liked to call them. Remus could read and write just fine. Math was always a bit of a problem because he never showed much interest in it and never needed it in his day-to-day life. The only math he actually needed was finding out when the next full moon was due, which in this month would be the 5th, so four days away. Warren told him to go to his head of house, which would be informed of his condition, after class on the day of the full moon. He truly wasn’t looking forward to it, but Hogwarts seemed like a big place, so he was sure there would be enough woodland for to wolf to roam.
“Do you think the coursework will be hard?” Peter asked after a while. “Hm…” James scratched his messy brown hair. “No, no I don’t think so. It’s only the first year. We’ll only learn some basic spells. And flying of course. But I already practiced at home.” He seemed rather proud of that. Silence was just settling in again as Peter chimed up again. “Yeah, but what if it’s still really difficult. I don’t even know how to…” He gestured wildly with his hands. “I don’t know. Do magic? What if it doesn’t come out? Oh god, what if I’m a squib?” Peter looked truly panicked about his own revelation of being non-magical in a wizard family. “You’ll be fine Pete. I’m sure you did some accidental magic as a baby and if Baby Peter could do it, I’m sure Toddler Peter can do it too.” James chuckled to which Peter just rolled his eyes and let himself fall back onto his bed.
“I hope we learn some jinxes. Make living at home a lot more fun for sure.” Sirius said while throwing up a wrapped piece of chocolate as it seemed. “I don’t think a professor would teach you jinxes.” James answered to which Sirius just shrugged. “Would be cool though.” Do they really have to completely rely on their teachers? Remus couldn’t remember much of muggle school, but he was sure that he often had to learn new things at home. Or maybe he’s just mixing it up with being homeschooled. Either way he read that the school had a really big and well stocked library which he was very excited to check out sometime. He also read that there was a forbidden part of the library, with dark magic and stuff like that. Remus didn’t really understand why a school would have such material on hand, but he just guessed it must be the dramatics of the wizarding world again. He didn’t want to share that though. Sometimes it’s good to keep some knowledge hidden that might help you in the future. At least that’s what Warren always said.
Thinking about Warren, he wanted to write him a letter about his house placement and all that stuff. He went into his backpack and pulled out some paper and a pen. “What are you doing?” Sirius asked while now laying on the bed and throwing the little chocolate up and down. “Just writing Warren.” Remus answered distracted, thinking about what all to write to him. “Who’s that?” popped up another question asked by Sirius. “Well he kind of-“Remus stopped himself before talking. He couldn’t be so careless while talking about important information’s like his whereabouts. “He’s my uncle. Muggle. The one I told you about on the train.” Sirius nodded to himself. “And why are you writing him?” Merlin was he nosy. “Because he asked me to.” Sirius nodded again and just as he was about to say something else Peter jumped out of his bed. “Oh no! I’ve just counted: There are five squibs in our family. That I know about! I’m doomed!”
Remus couldn’t hide the grin that was creeping onto his face. “Please Peter, don’t get your knickers in a twist. You’ll be fine.” James said sighing like he had this conversation multiple times before. Before something would distract him again, Remus finished his letter with all the important news and asked where he could find the owlery. James just threw his map towards him and with a good luck wish Remus was out and about and trying not to accidently step into one of the many inconvenient deathtraps this school brought with it.