Chapter Text
Remus Lupin
Monday | September 1st, 1997
Remus Lupin was fine.
At least, at the moment. To be honest, he was fine most of the time. His parents just didn’t think so.
Remus knew he was lucky when it came to his parents. They were kind and protective, especially his mam. They’re just… a lot sometimes. They have been since he was five.
When Remus Lupin was 4 years old (just a few weeks before his birthday), he was kidnapped by a well known criminal Fenrir Greyback. Greyback had been really into drug-trade more than a decade prior and had just gotten out of prison the year before. He had apparently “turned over a new leaf” to say but, because of his criminal record, he was having a hard time finding work and no one really believed that he had changed. Then, Remus’ father, Lyall Lupin, had made a public announcement about ex-convicts in the workforce that, needless to say, didn’t favor Greyback. It didn’t help that Lyall had specifically mentioned Greyback. So Greyback got revenge… by stealing his son.
Remus was away for only about a month, which he knew was lucky-- even if he missed his birthday. Afterwards, he was mostly fine mentally. Physically… not so much. Greyback had taken to cutting Remus so he was covered in scars. Mainly on his torso and arms.
Ever since then, Hope and Lyall Lupin had been very protective of him. Which led to him being homeschooled for most of his life. Until now.
Remus Lupin was now 15 years old and entering Sophomore year at Midtown High School.
His mam would’ve homeschooled him for all of his education but he had far passed her a long time ago. When Remus took his freshman exams, he had done very well. Okay, that was an understatement. He passed and was in the top 15 percent of the state. After Remus discovered his scores, he (without the knowledge of his parents) applied for Midtown. It was a school known for specializing in STEM. You needed an IQ of 130 or higher, which Remus did so he got in. Midtown offered on-campus residency but it wasn’t required.
His parents weren't particularly thrilled about the fact that he applied without their permission nor the idea of him being away from them in a normal school. However, apparently Midtown was really impressed by Remus scores and actually wanted him. So after much discussing (too much if you ask Remus, not like anyone did), Remus’ parents decided that he could go.
It worked out in a lot of ways: Remus got the school experience he really wanted and his mom also got to go back to school. Hope had gotten pregnant with Remus in college, in the middle of medical school, and dropped out to raise him. She had apparently tried to continue online for a while but after Remus was kidnapped, she dropped it as well.
But now, Remus is here. And he's excited. More nervous but excited.
He hadn’t even reached his locker before he was knocked off his feet… literally .
A boy, definitely Remus’ age, with a crazy head of messy, black curls and glasses ran into Remus, knocking them both over.
“Peter!” The boy shouted. He sounded angry but had a massive grin on his face. He jumped up and immediately offered Remus a hand while still facing away from him, yelling down the hall. “Pettigrew! Hey! Over here!”
He turned to Remus.
“Hey, I'm so sorry about knocking you over like that. I saw my friend down the hall and was running to them because I haven’t seen them all summer ( they travel a lot ) and wasn’t looking where I was going-” He cut himself off to stare at Remus, tilting his head to the side. “You’re new here.”
Remus couldn’t help but just stare at him. Partly because the boy had just said a lot and Remus didn’t know how to respond and partly because Remus hadn't interacted with many people his age before and didn’t know what to say. He went with the safest option and just responded to the last thing the boy had said.
“Uh, yeah. I’m new this year.” Remus nodded.
“Cool! I’m James, by the way. James Potter!” He smiled (to be fair, Remus wasn’t sure that James had stopped smiling at all). “And this is my friend, Peter Pettigrew.”
A shorter moussy, blond boy had just walked up to them and James captured them in a tight hug before turning them to Remus. “Pete, this is… I don’t actually know your name.”
Remus stared at them again, honestly a second too long before answering. “Remus Lupin.”
“That's an odd name.” Peter said bluntly. Remus raised his eyebrows. He didn’t mean it rudely, Remus could tell. He had just spoken his thoughts aloud.
James smacked the back of Peter's head lightly. “That’s rich coming from you, Wormtail.”
What on earth did “Wormtail” come from? Remus wondered.
“Right, sorry.” Peter said to Remus shyly. “Didn’t mean it mean. Nice to meet you, Lupin.”
“You too.” Remus replied.
“Is this your first year here?” Peter asked. Remus nodded. “Ha, good luck.”
Remus raised his eyebrows again.
“Don’t scare him!” James scolded Peter before facing Remus again. “It’s not that bad. Promise. Just pay attention in class and do your homework and you’ll be fine.” He turned back to Peter. “You’ve seen Pads yet?”
What are these names?
Peter shook his head. “Nah, I did see the noble Black car pull in though so he’s not far.”
“Really? When?” James said, swiveling his head to look back through the front doors, even though Remus was sure you wouldn’t be able to see through them from here.
“Right before you yelled for me like you were on fire.” Peter laughed.
“Oh right! Sorry but I feel like I haven’t seen you all summer! Where was it this year again?”
“France.” Peter smiled. “It was nice… just very boring without you and-”
“JAMES!” A voice called, interrupting Peter, causing both boys to turn so quickly Remus was surprised they didn’t break their necks.
“SIRIUS!” James shouted with just as much energy and volume back, causing Remus to wince slightly.
James ran and tackled another boy in a bear hug.
“Ignore them.” Peter said quietly to Remus. Remus blinked, surprised to be acknowledged. He was fine just observing. “They actually haven’t seen each other all summer.”
Remus studied the two boys, still trapped in an intense hug, holding onto each other like if they don’t, they’ll die.
“I’m guessing they're close?” Remus joked.
Peter released a short, sharp laugh. “You could say that. They’re best friends, brothers more like.”
Remus nodded and Peter turned to Remus. “So… first year right? What’s your first class?”
“Oh uh.” Remus patted his pockets before finding his schedule that he had folded. “Honors Chemistry with Slughorn? Room 2c?”
“What? No way! Me too!” Peter smiled. “But you might want to check your homeroom though cause we start there on Mondays.”
“Oh? Okay.” Remus looked back at his paper. “McGonagall?”
“McGonagall! Yes!”
Remus stared at Peter incredulously. “You have her for homeroom too?”
“Yes, she’s the best!” Peter exclaimed. “She comes off as strict but she’s so cool. I can show you where her room is if you want?”
“I need to go to my locker first.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
“What about your friends?” Remus asked, casting a glance to the two boys, no longer attached, but now rapidly talking to each other animatedly.
Peter raised his eyebrows before turning and calling. “Pads! Prongs!”
Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs … What on earth?
Both boys turned to Peter in sync and a wide grin formed on the one that wasn’t James’ face.
“Wormy!” He called, walking forward to lock Peter in a tight side hug. “Missed you over the summer. You went to France right? Learn any french?”
“None that I’m speaking to you.” Peter scoffed.
“What? Why not?” The boy gasped dramatically, hand to his chest as if clutching his imaginary pearls.
“Pads, mate. The French teacher can’t even speak French without you correcting her.” James laughed.
“What can I say? Toujour Pur and all that crap.” The boy rolled his eyes. The French, Toujour Pur , looked like it tasted like acid on his tongue. Finally, the boy’s eyes seemed to meet Remus, finally acknowledging him. He raised his eyebrows, pushing Remus to speak first.
James caught the interaction. “Oh! Pads, this is Remus Lupin. He’s new here. Lupin, this is Sirius Black.”
Remus suddenly felt very underdressed. Both Peter and James were wearing plain t-shirts and jeans, James had the addition of a red suede bomber. Remus himself wore a plain blue and brown sweater (despite the heat because he wanted long sleeves), jeans, and glasses. James had glasses too but still. But Sirius was something else altogether. He wore a leather jacket, a Queen band tee, black jeans, and Doc Martens. The boy himself was also a whole nother level. He was beautiful, that much was obvious, with pale, flawless skin, high cheekbones, silky, black curls that fell onto his shoulders, and gray eyes that seemed to pierce through Remus.
Remus realized he was staring for too long without saying anything. Sirius did too.
“Listen.” Sirius removed his arm from Peter. Remus blinked. “If you’re going to be all weird about me being a Black, we can go ahead and cut this conversation short.” Remus was so confused but Sirius turned to Peter. “What’s your homeroom, Pete?”
“Like the star?” Remus asked. Well, okay, it was a question, sure, but he kind of just blurted it out even though it was clear the boy had already moved on.
Sirius turned back to Remus and raised an eyebrow.
“‘ Sirius’ like the star, the dog star, or like seriously ?” Remus went on. Oh, someone please shut me up. The boys looked at him oddly. That is definitely not a normal thing to say. Why did I have to say that? Remus felt himself fidgeting with his sleeve.
“Like the star.” Sirius nodded, still looking at Remus like a puzzle he has yet to solve. “Most people don’t know that.”
“Oh.” Great. I’m already different.
“No, no!” Sirius said quickly. “It’s not a bad thing. Just an observation. What school did you go to before you came here?”
“I was homeschooled.” Remus looked down at his converse, wishing he bought new shoes for school. He felt very underdressed in front of this boy.
“Hey, nothing to be ashamed about.” James reassured him, patting him on his shoulder. Remus slightly leaned away from the touch. Thankfully, James got the hint and removed his hand. “I could’ve been homeschooled.”
“What did you say your homeroom was again, Pete?” Sirius said, still looking at Remus and offering a smirk.
“McGonagall.”
Sirius’ eyes widened and his grin grew before whipping around to face Peter. “Really? Cheers! Me too! Jamey?”
“Don’t call me that.” James grumbled. “Me too. Should we go ahead and head over? We need to let Minnie in on the good news.”
“Good news?” Peter asked.
“That she has the privilege to have us in her homeroom again! Obviously.” James grinned but it was a different grin than last time. Truthfully , Remus thought, that there was no other way to describe that grin as anything other than mischievous … Or shit-eating .
“Let’s head that way, yeah?” Sirius started to walk away. He turned quickly, taking a few steps backwards to face Remus, to say, “Nice meeting you. See you around, Lupin.”
They walked away, the three of them. Peter apparently forgot that he was going to walk Remus there.
Remus found his locker eventually and put some of his books and binders in there before setting out to look for his homeroom. He looked around for a solid 5 minutes before he decided that he was indeed lost. He must have looked it too because a red-headed girl walked away from the greasy black-haired boy she was talking to.
“Hey! Are you new here? You look lost.” She said bluntly (cheerfully but still blunt).
Remus blinked. “Right on. Okay, yeah. Do you know where McGonagall’s room is? I have her for homeroom.”
“Oh! Really? That’s good news for you, I have her for homeroom too.” She turned to look at her friend before turning back to Remus. “I was just saying goodbye to Sev before I headed over there.”
She walked back to “Sev”, said a few words (Remus was guessing “bye”), and turned back to Remus and led him down the hall.
“I’m Lily, by the way.” She said cheerfully.
“Remus.” Remus supplied politely.
“You’ll love McGonagall!” Lily said to him. “I’ll be honest, she’s kind of scary at first. She scared me at first, not going to lie. But, she’s one of those teachers that actually teaches and cares for the students.”
“Aren’t all teachers supposed to actually teach and care for the students?” Remus asked.
Lily looked at him. “You were homeschooled.”
Not a question. A statement.
“That obvious, huh?”
Lily laughed. “A bit. The truth is that not all teachers actually teach well and not all teachers actually care about their students. It’s the sad truth.”
“Then, why are they teachers?”
“That’s the age old question, Remus, the age old question.”
Lily turned into a classroom and Remus followed her. He immediately spotted the three boys from before, all huddled around a table near the front. Lily led Remus to the front where the teacher, McGonagall, sat at her desk. She was an older woman with her hair pulled back in a tight bun. She had that energy of a woman you didn’t want to mess with.
“Professor McGonagall?” Lily smiled.
McGonagall looked up and didn’t exactly “smile” but certainly looked pleased to see Lily. She didn’t seem like the kind of woman to smile, Remus thought.
“Miss Evans. Lovely to see that you’re in my homeroom this year.” McGonagall
“Me too.”
“Will I see you in Advanced Algebra as well?” McGonagall asked, peering at her overtop her glasses.
“You know it!” Lily smiled.
“Misses McKinnon and Macdonald are already seated over there if you want to go ahead and sit down, Miss Evans.” McGonagall nodded over to a table with two other girls.
“Of course, I will. I just wanted to introduce you to Remus… sorry, I don’t actually know your last name.” Lily turned to Remus.
“Mister Lupin.” McGonagall said. “Welcome to my homeroom. I saw your scores, very impressive, I have to say.”
“Oh. Thank you.” Remus said shyly. He didn’t know that teachers had seen them.
“It appears that I have you for Advanced Algebra as well.” She said after looking down at a paper at her desk.
“Oh! Really?” Lily looked at Remus with her eyebrows raised.
“Mister Lupin, you may go ahead and sit with Miss Evans, seeing as you have already accumulated. We’ll begin shortly.” And with that, she turned back to her paperwork.
Lily grabbed Remus’ sleeve and pulled him over to her table past the boys from earlier, who were staring at him, studying him. He looked away nervously.
The two girls looked up from their magazine that they were sharing when Remus and Lily approached the table. One had warm brown skin, dark curly hair, and brown eyes like a doe. Her full, glossy lips smirked slightly, making her seem amused at Remus’ mere existence. The other had light blonde hair that was choppy like a rockstar and her blue eyes outlined black eyeliner that made them stand out like little diamonds.
“Lily!” The darker-haired girl smiled at Lily before gesturing to Remus. “Who’s this?”
“Remus Lupin.” Lily sat down next to her, leaving the chair next to the blonde for Remus. He sat down at that one.
“Nice to meet you, Lupin.” The blonde gave him a short nod and held out her hand. He shook it hesitantly. “Marlene McKinnon.”
“Nice to meet you too.”
“I’m Mary Macdonald.” The other girl smiled kindly at him. She still looked amused but less so. “Are you new here?”
“Yeah.” Remus nodded, looking down at his hand in his lap before thinking that that might be rude and looking up.
“Want some tips?” Mary asked.
“Sure?”
“Great. Stay away from these boys Mulciber, Avery, and Snape-”
“Mary!” Lily interrupted. “Snape’s not like them!”
“Yeah right. Sure, he isn’t.” Marlene rolled her eyes. “You’re biased because you grew up with him. He doesn’t bother you but we’re trying to help ol’ Lupin here.”
Remus raised an eyebrow.
“Was that the boy you were talking to in the hallway?” He asked Lily.
“Did he have greasy black hair, a big nose, and a permanent scowl?” Marlene asked despite the protests of Lily.
“Marls!”
“Yes?” Remus said, not looking at Lily.
“Then yes.” Mary said. “That lot’s a bunch of jerks and I would advise you to stay clear of them. You seem like the soft type and they’ll eat you alive.”
Remus furrowed his brows, offended. “Soft type?”
Marlene laughed. “It’s not an insult, Lupin. Well, it might be. Who knows? Depends on the person, I guess.”
“Right.” Remus rolled his eyes. He was getting more comfortable, more relaxed and he knew from experience, that he got less shy the more comfortable he was. He turned in his chair to face Marlene. “What else do I need to know? Any other people I should avoid?”
Marlene smirked, accepting the challenge. She pondered the question for a moment before nodding to gesture over Remus' shoulder. “Them.”
Remus followed her line of sight over to the three boys from earlier. James and Peter were talking animatedly but Sirius must have sensed Remus’ eyes and turned to look at him. He studied Remus for a moment before smirking at Marlene over Remus’ shoulder.
“Alright, Mckinnon?” He called.
“Alright, What ‘bout you, Black?”
Sirius’ smile dropped a little and he made his way over to Remus’ table, placing one hand on the back of Remus’ chair. “Mckinnon, Mckinnon. How long have we known each other?”
Marlene scoffed but Remus could tell she was enjoying this game. If a “game” was what this was. “Since middle school, unfortunately.”
“Unfortunately?!” Sirius gasped, clutching his metaphorical pearls again. “You wound me, Mckinnon.”
“My goal in life.” She deadpanned.
Sirius rolled his eyes. “Right. We’ve known each other since the 6th grade, Mckinnon. Why do you still use my last name?”
“You still use her’s.” Mary pointed out but Sirius waved his hand as if physically brushing Mary’s comment away.
“That’s different.” Sirius said, still facing Marlene, waiting for her answer.
“It doesn’t matter how long I’ve known you.” Marlene explained. “I’ve known Potter and Pettigrew since we were little kids and I still call them Potter and Pettigrew .”
“You don’t call Macdonald and Evans by their last names.” Sirius observed.
“I know them better and I still call them Macdonald and Evans sometimes.”
“Okay but can I be one of the people you don’t call by their last names?” Sirius asked, he was still smiling but his eyes were serious and genuine.
“Why?” Marlene asked. “Don’t like the entirety of Black Enterprises on your shoulders?”
That’s where I’ve heard the name ‘Black’ from , Remus realized.
“No. I don’t.” Sirius dropped his smile.
A silent understanding passed between the two of them.
“Fine. But, it’s still McKinnon to you, got it?” Marlene pointed at him.
Sirius’ smile reformed. “Deal.”
“Great. Go back to the other marauders .” Marlene rolled her eyes, turning away from him and back to the table.
“Fine. Nice talking to you, McKinnon.” He smirked, causing another eye roll from Marlene. He nodded to the rest of the table. “Ladies.” He made eye contact with Remus and nodded. “Lupin.”
He walked back to his table, turning his chair around and sitting in it backwards in one fluid moment.
Remus turned to face Marlene. “So… don’t talk to those people you just had a full conversation with?”
Marlene raised her eyebrows with a smile. “Oh, you’re a snarky one, aren’t you?”
“We’re friends with them.” Mary explained. Remus raised his eyebrows. “I know it doesn’t seem like it. We aren’t even sure how it happened, just that it happened sometime last year and now we are. So trust us when we say that they’re trouble.”
“Trouble?” Remus looked over his shoulder to the three boys, who were all laughing too loudly.
“Yeah.” Lily tutted. “Trouble.”
Lily seemed to be the only one who wasn’t amused by them. In fact she seemed more annoyed than anything.
“Ignore her.” Mary told him. “She’s friends with them too, she just doesn’t like Potter.”
“Why not?” Remus asked, leaning over his crossed arms on his desk.
“Potter has a massive crush on her.” Marlene snorted. “Very loud about it too. He asks her out on every occasion. It’ll be a miracle, if you can get through the entire day without hearing him do it at least once.”
“Also,” Mary added. “Him and Snape aren’t exactly ‘besties’.”
“Oh, gotcha.” Remus nodded as the bell rang.
Everyone stood up at once, and Remus scrambled up to follow but remained quiet as everyone said the pledge of allegiance. Everyone promptly sat down so Remus did as well.
“Attention, class.” McGonagall called. The room fell silent in a single woosh . “Welcome to my homeroom. You will be coming here every monday morning. You do not get actually taught in this class, but that does not mean that you should do nothing here. I strongly recommend you all to use this time as a given study hall. Right, go on.”
McGonagall sat down and everyone resumed talking.
“Oi, Evans!”
“That was quick.” Marlene whispered.
Remus watched as Lily visibly deflated. She rolled her eyes and sighed, hanging her head for a moment to look over where James was sauntering over to the table.
“Yes, Potter?”
“It’s a new year.” James puts his hand on her desk and leans over the table slightly.
“Really? Didn’t notice.” Lily glared at him.
Remus turned to see Mary and Marlene covering their laughter with their hands, barely stopping it from coming out.
“You know what they say about new years?” James asked.
“No. What? What do they say about new years, Potter?”
“They’re perfect for trying new things.” James raised his eyebrows suggestively.
“That’s the actual New Year, Potter.” Lily stared at James like he was the actual dumbest person in the world.
“It could apply here too.” James said hopefully.
“But it won’t.” Lily started to turn away.
“Oh, come on, Evans!” James pouted but his eyes still rang joyful and mischievous.
“Oh, come off it, Potter.” Lily snapped lightly. “Go back to your friends.”
“Oh! That reminds me of what I came over here for.”
“You didn’t come over here to get denied by Lily for the hundredth time?” Marlene asked, amused.
James playfully glared at her. “No. I actually came over here to ask Lupin what his next classes are.”
“Really?” Remus looked up at him.
“Yeah, Pete said he was going to walk you to class, because you're new and all, but forgot. So, I thought that I’d see what your schedule is so you can have at least one person to show you to each class throughout the day. The place is like a maze, I swear.”
Lily peered at James skeptically. “That’s surprisingly nice, Potter.”
Marlene snorted.
“I’m a very nice person, you know.” James whirled on her, offended. “You only think I’m mean because of Snape. He’s the only person I’m ‘ mean ’ to and he deserves it.”
Remus saw Marlene shake her head in the corner of his eye.
“He doesn’t deserve it!” Lily spat.
“Evans, I don’t want to argue with you. That’s not why I came over.”
Lily rolled her eyes and turned to Mary while James turned to Remus.
“So?”
Oh! “Right, sorry.” Remus got his schedule out of his pocket and passed it over.
“No need to apologize, mate.” James took the paper. “You have Chemistry with Pete, English with Sirius, algebra with Sirius and me, creative writing with Sirius, and then PE and History with all of us!”
“You’ve memorized all of your schedules already?” Lily asked incredulously.
“Yeah?” James shrugged. “I’ve got a good memory.”
“You’ve asked me what your middle name was once.” Marlene scoffed.
“I have a very selective good memory.” He corrected himself. “Comes with ADHD.”
Lily scoffed. James turned back to Remus and handed him back his schedule. “See you in algebra, Lupin.”
“Wait.” Lily said. James stopped mid-turn and turned around. “McGonagall said that Remus was in Advanced Algebra. You’re telling me that you and Sirius are in Advanced Algebra?”
“We’re not stupid, Evans.” James said solemnly.
“I never said you were.” She gaped.
“Then don’t act so surprised.” James returned to his table.
“Remus,” Mary started, turning all attention onto her. “Where did you go to school before here? MPS?”
Remus didn’t know what MPS was. “No, I was homeschooled.”
“Oh, cool!” Mary sighed. “I’m glad I wasn’t homeschooled. No offense to you. I just know that my mom wouldn’t have been able to teach me well.”
“Oh?”
The girls started talking amongst each other about their summers and Remus mostly tuned them out. As soon as it was clear that he wasn’t needed in the conversation, he got his book out of his corduroy backpack and started to read. He ended up reading for the entire 30-minute homeroom time period.
Remus was dyslexic. The doctors said it was because of his ADHD but still. Remus could still read, it just took him a long time, longer than his classmates probably. That never stopped him though. He loved reading. He was never anywhere without a book or long without reading something.
* * *
The bell rang.
“‘You ready for Honors Chem?” Peter asked, suddenly appearing by Remus’ shoulder. Remus slipped his book back into his bag.
“Sure.”
“You have Honors Chem, Remus?” Lily asked, standing up as well. Remus nodded. “Perfect! Me too! I’m meeting Sev there.”
Remus saw Peter roll his eyes in the corner of his eye.
“Let’s go then.” Peter said.
Remus stood up.
“Blimey!” Remus turned around to Marlene, staring at him with a shocked expression. “You’re a freaking giant!”
Remus felt his face get hot. He knew he was tall but when you only really ever see your parents and you’ve been taller than your mom since you were twelve and your dad is 6’2, you don’t really have the chance to compare your height to other kids. Standing now, Marlene’s forehead came to Remus’ shoulder.
“You really are.” Peter nodded. He (the top of his head) also only came up to Remus’s chin. Lily wasn’t even to the shoulders. “How tall are you?”
“6’1?” Remus supplied.
“Dang. Just- dang.” Peter sighed. “Let’s go.”
Remus followed Peter and Lily all the way to the second floor into the chemistry lab.
“Miss Evans!” The teacher called when they entered. He was a bigger, pudgy man with graying hair. Slughorn , Remus was sure it was. “So pleased that you’re in honors, my dear.”
“Hello, Mr. Slughorn.” Lily smiled politely.
“Mr. Pettigrew. Glad to have you too, my son.” Slughorn smiled before turning to Remus. “You must be Mr. Lupin.”
“Yes, sir.” Remus nodded.
“Lovely to have you in my class, my boy.”
“Proud to be here, sir.” Remus replied.
“We’re working with partners a lot this year so if you have someone in mind, go ahead and sit down with them.” Slughorn said to all of them before greeting the people who came in behind them.
Lily turned to Remus. “I hope you don’t mind but I’m going to work with Severus.”
“I don’t mind at all.” Remus said.
“Great!” Lily grinned and turned to go sit with the boy.
“I don’t know why she’s friends with him.” Peter shook his head. “Want to be partners, Remus?”
“Sure.”
They sit down at one of the tables near the back by the windows.
“Question,” Remus started. Peter looked at him, waiting for him to continue. "You called me Remus-”
“Yeah?”
“And Lily called me Remus but everyone else has called me by my last name.” Remus told him. “Why?”
“Oh, yeah. It’s a bit weird.” Peter pulled his binder out of his bag. “It’s a rich people thing. I pay no mind to it. You just get used to it after a while.”
“Got it.”
The bell rang. Slughorn introduced himself and explained what we would learn about that year. He also mentioned that we would be going on a field trip early on in the year, only on the second week, to Black Enterprises’ tower. He said that only Honors Chemistry would go and that they needed to get a permission slip signed by their parents. Other than that, he just explained the class.
In fact, that’s what most classes did. They just explained what they were going to be learning about that year and not much else. In AP English, he had a very short teacher named Flitwick and had McGonagall for Advanced Algebra. Both of which, Lily was the one who showed Remus where the classes were.
After Algebra, Sirius sauntered over to Remus and leaned over his desk. “You have creative writing?”
Remus, at that moment, thought that the universe was cruel because in front of him was a boy with flawless skin and perfect features at fifteen ! Meanwhile, Remus was all scrawny and pimple-covered.
“Yeah, I do.” Remus answered, grabbing his bag and standing up.
Sirius looked up at him and Remus, for once, was proud of his height, glad that he had something over Sirius.
“Great, I’ll show you where it is.” Sirius led Remus through the hallway. “I’m pretty sure that we’re in the same room as the school paper this year too.”
“There’s a school paper?” Remus asked.
“Yeah, do you write- wait, no.” Sirius cut himself off. “I was about to ask if you like writing because then you could write for it but that's a dumb question seeing as we’re literally on the way to creative writing. Excuse me.”
Remus smiled at him.
“What I mean to say is,” Sirius looked up at him. “Would you like to write for the paper?”
“No, probably not.” Remus said. “I might ask if I can shoot for it though.”
“You like photography?”
Remus had gotten an old, broken camera from a pawn shop when he was twelve with his mother. He hadn’t even been into photography at the time, he just really liked the technology behind it, the idea that he might be able to fix it. So he did. He took it home, fixed it, and became fascinated by photography. It was one of the only reasons he could convince his mom to let him out. He would go around the city with his mom or to the park and would photograph everything. From plants to people, he even convinced his mom to model for him quite a bit.
He thought he was good so he turned a few shots in a photography contest once when he was fourteen and ended up winning third in the state.
Of course, he didn’t say any of that to Sirius. He just nodded and said, “Yeah.”
“You might get the job,” Sirius walked into a classroom. “Our last photographer graduated last year so yeah.”
And the class began.
* * *
Next was PE, which Remus quickly discovered was his least favorite subject.
Good news: he had it with the three boys from before which Remus was starting to think that he liked.
Bad news: PE sucked.
First thing that sucked was when he got there, they had to change out of their clothes and put on gym clothes. Remus didn’t want to change in front of everyone. James had no problem doing just that, showing off his perfectly fit, athletic body that Remus was jealous of. However, James isn’t covered in scars, Remus was. So, he opted to change in the bathroom stall, pulling on the black shorts and long-sleeve shirt (there was a short-sleeve option which most of the boys chose but Remus wanted to cover his arms). He also tried to take off his glasses because James said that if we were playing a game or something, it would be better, but they didn’t play a game.
Second thing that sucked about PE was that they had to run 5 laps around the basketball court and a small detail about Remus was that he had asthma… like bad . He barely made one lap before he asked Hooch to let him sit in the stands. Which he did, sucking on his inhaler like it was the only thing keeping him alive, which it technically was.
James finished first and immediately walked over to Remus and sat beside him.
“You know,” He started. “If you told Coach Hooch that you had asthma, she wouldn’t have made you run at all.”
Remus leaned on his arm which was placed on his knee to stare at James. “Really? You couldn’t have told me that before?”
James laughed. “How was I supposed to know?”
Remus rolled his eyes and leaned back on the bench behind him, watching everyone else finish their laps and disperse to drink water.
“So, Lupin,” James said as Sirius made his way up the stands with Peter in tow. “Are you staying on campus?”
“Huh?” Remus asked before the question caught up to him. “Oh. No. My mam wants me to stay with her. You?”
“My mom would love it if I stayed with her but I like staying on campus, it makes everything convenient.” James smiled. “I share a dorm with Sirius and Peter and we’re supposed to have another roommate.”
“Supposed to?” Remus asked.
Sirius sat on the other side of James and Peter sat in front of them, facing them. Sirius laughed. “Yeah, we went through quite a few room-mates last year.”
“Really?”
“Yeah!” Peter took a huge gulp from his water bottle. “We had Preston Fawley, Amos Diggory, they even tried putting a junior with us, Frank Longbottom. None of them seemed to like us, I guess.”
The three boys didn’t seem too sorry, they all had matching mischievous grins.
“I wonder why.” Remus deadpanned, which resulted in the three boys laughing.
* * *
After that was history, which was boring but then he was let go. His mam picked him up in their family van.
“How was it?” Hope asked.
“I think I’m going to like it, mam.”
She smiled at him in the mirror.
“We’re going on a field trip next week.” He mentioned.
“Oh?”
Great , Remus thought. She already doesn’t like this idea.
“Yeah,” Remus nodded. “To Black Enterprises' Tower? It’s for Chemistry.”
“Oh, I don’t know, fy annwyl.” She tutted. Hope Lupin was born and raised in Wales, she came to America for college and met Remus’ dad. She spoke Welsh sparsely because Lyall couldn’t understand it, usually sticking to terms of endearment, or when she wanted to talk about her husband in front of Remus because Remus picked it up very quickly and was able to speak it. “You know me and your dad don’t really like Black Enterprises. We don’t trust them.”
“I know but it’s for educational purposes, mam!” Remus begged. He didn’t even realize how much he had wanted to go. “Os gwelwch yn dda!”
“We’ll ask your dad.”
His dad said no.
Now, Remus Lupin has always been an obedient kid. He never outright disobeyed his parents (other than to apply for Midtown) so he has no idea what possessed him to do what he did. Later, he will think of it as one of the worst and best decisions he has ever made, depending on the day.
After dinner, in his room, he took his permission slip and signed it. He signed his mother’s name along the line, thanking that signatures usually look messy and unreadable, and put it back in his binder pocket.