Chapter 1
“Which card is that?”
“Medea.”
“I’ll trade you Flamel for her.”
“Piss off, Prongs. I’ve got three of him already.”
James and Sirius were sitting on the bench across from Remus and Peter in their compartment trading chocolate frog cards they’d collected over the summer holiday. They’d been going at it for the past hour and Remus didn’t think either of them had traded a single card. Peter was watching, eyes wide. He didn’t have any cards to trade. His mother didn’t approve of the mess chocolate frogs made when they escaped. Peter’s mother didn’t approve of a lot of things, as Remus had learned in the letters Peter had sent him over the summer.
Remus was skimming through his Ancient Runes textbook. He knew the basics already, he’d borrowed James invisibility cloak last year and spent long hours in the library learning how to bind runes to the slytherin quidditch teams racing brooms. That had been an amazing quidditch practice to watch. He didn’t notice James talking to him until Sirius nudged his foot.
“Sorry?” he said. James rolled his eyes.
“Haven’t even got off the train and Moony’s already studying. I asked how your summer was, you barely wrote any letters,” James said. Remus shrugged.
“It was fine, just busy I guess,” he said. He could feel Sirius’ eyes on him. In reality, Remus had had one of the worst full moons yet. He’d told Sirius about it in a letter. He was grateful Sirius hadn’t decided to share this information.
“Right. Well. Write more next summer.” James was looking back and forth between Sirius and Remus, like he was waiting for their permission to change the subject.
“Spit it out, James,” Sirius said.
“I sent a letter to Evans at the beginning of the summer,” James said, smiling his sloppy, talking-about-Lily-Evans smile.
“Did she get it?” Peter asked.
“Wormtail, if she’d gotten it James would’ve sent us the wedding invitations,” Sirius sighed. James punched him in the arm.
“She did get it, and she replied,” James said, sticking his nose in the air and running a hand through the mop of black hair on his head. He was in desperate need of a haircut in Remus’ opinion.
“Oh?” Remus said.
“Where’s the letter then?” Sirius stuck out a hand, as if James would let anyone else touch a letter from Lily Evans.
“She didn’t send me a letter, she sent me a packet of invisible dungbombs. Made my room smell awful for two full weeks,” James said. Sirius started laughing. “Two full weeks, Padfoot! Do you know how many dungbombs that takes? And she fit them all inside a tiny little bag.”
“And where’s the bag then, in your pocket? You probably carried it around all summer, huh?” Sirius said, still laughing.
“Shut up,” James said, punching Sirius in the arm. Sirius hit back and the two of them started wrestling. Remus returned to his book with a faint smile.
He already knew all of this, of course. Lily had told him in one of her letters. She’d also told him that she’d found James’ letter kind of sweet, though she hadn’t told him what James had actually written. Remus had refrained from giving James this information, mostly because he didn’t want his friend's head to explode.
“Hey, Remus?”
Remus looked up to find that Peter had moved closer to him. He was speaking even quieter than usual. A feat Remus hadn’t thought possible.
“Yeah?”
“Did you get any letters this summer? From… from any girls?” Peter asked. Remus laughed.
“Merlin, no. I don't think any girls even notice me,” he said. Peter nodded. Remus frowned. “Why? Did you?” he asked. Peter hesitated, then nodded again.
“From a girl named Bertha. Um, I don’t remember her last name,” he said, fidgeting with the end of his sleeve.
“Bertha Jorkins?”
“Yeah. Yeah Bertha Jorkins.”
“What about Bertha Jorkins?” Sirius asked. He and James had finished wrestling. Jame’s glasses were knocked nearly off his face and Sirius shirt had come untucked, exposing a bit of his pale stomach.
“She wrote me a letter,” Peter mumbled.
“Did you write back?” James asked. Peter nodded. James whooped and Sirius whistled. “Little Wormtail’s got himself a girlfriend!”
“A sixth year girlfriend, too,” Sirius said. Peter blushed and shrugged.
“We met up twice.” He was speaking louder now. More confident after James and Sirius’ approval. “She likes snogging. A lot.”
James and Sirius laughed again, clapping Peter on the back and congratulating him. Speculating on whether or not it was a summer fling and asking if he’d spoken to her on the platform before getting on the train. Remus, again, went back to his book.
It was pouring at Hogsmeade station and the carriages seemed to be leaking this year. Remus was grateful for the warmth of the great hall and the beginning of the year feast that was soon to come. Sirius was moaning about how hungry he was on the bench beside him and James was already thinking of new pranks for the new school year. The sorting went by quickly without anyone too memorable being placed into Gryffindor. Remus supposed he’d have to show the first years to the common room later. His shiny prefects badge was pinned on the front of his robes, much to the dismay of James and Sirius. Peter had pointed out that Remus’ new title might give them a leg up when it came to not getting caught this year and they had eventually agreed.
Dinner seemed to go by even faster than the sorting had and before Remus knew it he was leading a gaggle of nervous looking first years up to the Gryffindor common room. He had managed to convince James, Sirius, and Peter to go ahead of him. He was pretty sure the first years would have run screaming out the front door if James and Sirius had got a hold of them before Remus did.
“Waggleswort,” Remus said. The picture of the fat lady smiled at him and swung open. A couple of the first years gasped while the rest tried to mask their excitement.
“This is the common room,” Remus said once they had all climbed through the portrait hole. “You can be down here at any time, to sit by the fire, study, or do homework. Your dormitories have your names on the doors, four students to each room. Girls are up the stairs to the left, boys are to the right.”
Remus watched as they filed off to their rooms, eyes wide as they took in the Gryffindor common room. He thought of the first time he had seen it. High, vaulted ceiling, ever crackling fire, squishy armchairs, tall windows overlooking the forbidden forest. It had felt like magic.
“Excuse me?”
Remus looked down. A blonde haired boy was looking up at him. His robes weren’t on quite right, like he’d never worn wizards robes before. Maybe he hadn’t.
“Yes?” Remus said.
“Can I stay down here for a bit?”
“Sure.” Remus nodded. “What’s your name?”
“Dirk Cresswell. I’ve never seen magic before.” The boy paused, a puzzled look on his face. “Did you see magic before you came here?”
“Yeah, from my dad. But my mums a muggle,” Remus said. Dirk nodded. “Don’t worry, they’re plenty of people who’ve never seen magic before. And besides, even the people who grew up with it don’t know how to use theirs properly,” Remus reassured him. This time Dirks nod was more convincing.
Remus left him sitting by the fire and made his way up to his own dorm where James and Sirius were arguing over which bed had been theirs last year. He ignored them and unpacked his own trunk, tucking neatly folded pants and shirts into the small dresser by his bed. He took off his prefects badge and laid it down on his bedside table.
He had to admit, so far being a prefect was pretty nice. He’d spent the morning in the prefect's cabin which was much nicer than the regular train compartments. He’d gotten first choice on the candy trolley. He hadn’t gotten to take a look at the prefect's bathroom yet but he’d heard it was very fancy. He and Sirius had got detention from Slughorn last year for trying to break in. Not to mention, he could stay out an hour later than everyone else could. The prank possibilities were nearly endless.
He turned around to ask James if he had any ideas and nearly choked. Sirius had his back to Remus and he was shirtless. He was wearing a pair of old, maroon sweatpants that were slung low around his hips. The top of the waistband on his boxers was showing. Remus blinked. He gulped. He spun back around and tried to get the blush that had crept up his face to go away. He didn’t understand. He’d seen Sirius shirtless before. Hell, he’d seen Sirius run around the dormitory in just his boxers before. So why was he so flustered now? Remus heard Sirius stretch and climb onto his bed behind him. He turned back around. Sirius had a shirt on again.
“Alright, Moony?” Sirius asked.
“Fine,” Remus said. “Just tired.”
James jumped onto his own bed and yawned. “Me too. We’ve got a free day tomorrow, we can scheme then.”
Sirius and Peter murmured their agreement.
“‘Night,” Remus said.
“Goodnight,” Peter said.
“Sleep tight,” James said.
“Don’t let the bed bugs— ouch!” Sirius said. Remus had thrown his pillow at him. Sirius chucked it back and Remus caught it. Sirius stuck his tongue out at Remus and Remus grinned back before closing his curtains.
He laid down and stared at the patch of ceiling above his four poster bed. He’d just been caught by surprise, that’s all. And Sirius had grown since last year. Remus had too. He was sure they all had. It had just been a moment, nothing to dwell on.