Remus awoke for his first full day of Hogwarts fully clothed in his bed. He was only vaguely aware of how he had ended up there”his transformation, as always, was largely a blur. Colors, shapes, movements... and pain. But Professor Dumbledore’s plan of the Whomping Willow tree and the abandoned shack seemed to have gone off without a hitch. Next time I’ll just have to try and remember to change into my pajamas before I get into bed, he thought.
As he pushed his hands on the bed to sit up, however, he noticed a new scar along his right forearm, peeking through the ripped sleeve of his shirt. Great, he thought with a grimace. That would be just one more thing to hide from his friends and fellow Gryffindors.
Gryffindor. He had arrived to Hogwarts hours before the Hogwarts Express, hours before the rest of the students”the normal students. Best to get him hidden well in advance.... But Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall had taken him aside yesterday to formally Sort him, and the ratty old hat had granted his wishes and placed him in Godric’s House. The Headmaster had been especially pleased, giving an impromptu speech about the merits of the House and how Remus had indeed already shown enormous amounts of courage in his life thus far. And Remus had smiled and nodded, for who in his right mind would challenge the wizard that was making the rest of his life possible?
But in the minutes he had sat in the decrepit shack before he transformed he had taken a great deal of time to contemplate his situation. He was alone, completely alone, in a ragged old house, with nothing to keep him company but a broken-down piano and the thought of a school just a few hundred feet away and yet totally out of reach. He definitely didn’t feel courageous. Wouldn’t courage be the ability to tell his friends, tell his enemies, tell the world that he was a werewolf? Not hide behind walls and doors and tunnels? And lies? Wouldn’t courage be the ability to shout from the rooftops that he was different but not necessarily dangerous? Wouldn’t courage be the ability to overcome this affliction?
No. It could not be overcome. There was no cure. And his parents (and Professor Dumbledore) were right: now was not the time to go public with his disease, if you could call it that. Later, they said; all will be revealed in due time. But did they have to look so grim when they said it?
“Remus!” came a voice from the bed next to him, shattering his reverie.
Remus felt his frown fade away at the sight of his friends. “James, Sirius,” he said. “All right, then?”
“Yeah, we’re fine. Bloody brilliant! Good to see you, mate,” said Sirius with a wide-eyed grin. “But where were you last night? When did you get in?”
It was time to start the charade.
“Oh,” said Remus, directing his eyes toward the tops of his four-post bed. The first lie. “I just wasn’t feeling well, and I didn’t want to get the rest of you sick.”
Sirius didn’t say anything in response, just looked quizzically at him. James opened his mouth to speak, but shut it again. After a brief moment he said, “Well, it’s good to see you better.” And Sirius nodded in agreement, although Remus was sure a look had passed between the two of them.
He swallowed. “Well, I should probably go find Lily and apologize for being gone. Is she in the girl’s dormitory, do you know?”
Sirius let out a short laugh. “Yeah, she’s probably in there, but whatever you do, don’t try to climb the girls’ staircase.” He pointed to a large bruise on the underside of his arm. “I made that mistake last night”you should have seen McGonagall’s face. She almost took a point away from Gryffindor for all the noise I caused, but I managed to talk her out of it.” He looked quite pleased with himself.
“What happens when you try to climb the stairs?”
“Oh, nothing much, except the whole thing turns into a bloody stone slide and there are bells and whistles and you fall and whack yourself on the floor!” Sirius pretended to look upset, but Remus could tell that he was quite proud of his endeavor, and probably plotting ways to get around the security measures. “And you want to know the worst part? The girls can come into our dormitory no problem. The one”Gwendolyn, I think”made quite a show of rubbing it in my face.” He grinned even wider.
James started to laugh. Remus just shook his head. “I guess they think you’re just not trustworthy, Sirius. Although I can’t imagine what would make people think that!”
Their laughter was suddenly joined by a squeaky giggle from the other side of the room. Remus whipped his head around”he had completely forgotten there were two other boys in the room.
“Oh, that’s right,” said James, registering the look of surprise on Remus’s face. “You haven’t met the other two Gryffindors. This is Peter Pettigrew,” he said, gesturing to the squeaky-laughed boy, who waved. “And that over there is Janus Killeffer”in a coma, the way he’s sleeping.” Remus waved to the snoring form, which did not, in fact, return the wave. “Peter, this is Remus Lupin,” James finished the introductions.
“It’s nice to meet you, Remus!” the round-faced boy said.
“You too, Peter. Sorry I wasn’t here to meet you last night.”
“Oh, that’s not a problem at all,” Peter said, almost toppling over as he climbed out of bed. “Um, Sirius, James, do you all want to go down to breakfast? I think I’m going to go now.”
“Why don’t you go ahead, Peter? I want to relax for a few more minutes. We’ll meet you down there, though, yeah?” Sirius said with a yawn.
“Sure, no problem. Remus, do you want to come now?”
Remus glanced over at James and Sirius, both of whom merely shrugged. “Yeah, sure, Peter. I’ll bet Lily is already up, too, so we can meet her down there.”
***
Lily had, in fact, already awoken. All five Gryffindor girls had been unquestionably too tired the night before and had decided to fully introduce themselves in the morning. Miraculously”as tends to happen at slumber parties”all five girls woke up within two minutes of each other the next morning. With nervous laughs and sleepy-eyed smiles they looked around the room.
“Well, if no one wants to start, I will,” said the girl with the curly, dark blonde hair in the bed to Lily’s right. “My name’s Gwendolyn Hightower. Some people call me Gwen, but then again some people have a death wish,” she said with a laugh. “I’m from Kent, I have two brothers named Arthur and Chadwick. And yes, my parents are crazy for giving us strange names, but that’s that!” She threw her hands up in the air with a laugh of mock exasperation.
“Do your brothers go here?” Lily asked.
“Yeah. Well, one of them. Chadwick is a third year in Gryffindor and Arthur is three years younger than me, so”fingers crossed”he’ll be here soon!”
The girl to the right of Gwendolyn spoke next. She was a somewhat short and stocky black girl with her hair in a million tiny braids, and Lily remembered her from the Sorting Ceremony the night before. “All right, then, I guess it’s me next! I’m Artemia Goldsmith, umm... what else... I’m eleven, obviously, but I’ve got my birthday in a few weeks”the 30th. I’ve got a little sister named Antaria, and I think my parents beat yours, Gwendolyn, for the weirdest names!”
Gwendolyn smiled. “Is Antaria going to come to Hogwarts, too?”
Artemia shrugged. “We’ll see, I guess. That’s about it for me, though.”
Lily noticed that Artemia’s answer seemed a little tense, but she wasn’t sure if anyone else picked up on it...
“Well, if we’re going around the circle, then I guess I’m next!” said the girl next to Artemia. She wore glasses and had frizzy, kinky brown hair and a lopsided smile. “My name is Marlene McKinnon, and I guess some people call me Marly, but I like that just about as much as Gwendolyn likes Gwen, so there you go!” She let out a nervous laugh, and Lily smiled as she recalled this was the girl from the boats who didn’t like caves. “I have a brother who’s also a third year in Gryffindor, and””
“Michael McKinnon? Is that your brother?” Gwendolyn asked with a sly grin.
“Yeah, do you know him?”
“I do! He and Chadwick are good friends”my parents had him ‘round to dinner a few times over the summer, and”” She stopped, clearly on the verge of saying something else, bit her lip, and smiled. Then she cupped her hand to her mouth and said in a loud whisper, “And he’s really cute!”
The non-McKinnon girls erupted into a fit of giggles. Marlene just nodded as if she’d heard it a million times before. “So I hear. He’s really great, though. He’s like my best friend.”
“Oh, that’s so sweet. I wish I could say that about my sister”she’s dreadful,” Lily said with a sad smile.
“Am I next?” said the petite blonde girl to Lily’s left, looking up from fiddling with her fingernails and apparently deciding not to weigh in on Lily’s dreadful sister. Lily wasn’t surprised to see that the voice belonged to Diana Denham, the one that had ridden in the boat with her and James and Sirius”the one Lily was getting distinctly bad vibes from. “I guess I am,” Diana continued with a laugh. “Well, my name is Diana Jacquelyn Denham, but you can call me Di”a lot of people do. I don’t have any siblings, but I am kind of a Metamorphmagus, which is good.”
“What is that?” Lily asked, her curiosity overtaking her jealousy.
“Well, a full-blown one can change her appearance at will, like make her hair go crazy and pink and change her face and stuff if she wants. I haven’t really developed the trait fully, but I think if I work on it I could be really good.”
“What can you do with it now?” asked Gwendolyn, one eyebrow raised skeptically.
“Mainly change my hair color a bit. I’ve been able to turn it sort of dark brown and make it go all curly, but it kind of gives me a headache, so I don’t do it that much.” She let out another tinny laugh. “Anyway, you’ll probably meet my owl sometime today. Her name’s Jacquelyn. And I guess that’s all!”
The other girls smiled their welcomes at her and then turned their eyes to Lily. She stammered a little before starting. “Well, I, uh... I’m Lily Evans. Lily Violet Evans”my family has this thing about naming girls after flowers. Violet is my mum and my sister””
“”The dreadful one?” Gwendolyn interrupted with a grin.
“Yeah, her,” Lily grinned back. “Her name’s Petunia. She really is a cow, but you can’t change your blood! Oh, speaking of that, my parents are both Muggles and Petunia too, and I really don’t know anything about being a witch, so if I’m kind of slow, forgive me!”
“Don’t worry”I’m half-and-half. My mum’s a Muggle,” said Artemia. “So I’ll probably be behind, too.”
“My dad’s not a wizard, either,” said Diana.
“Are you two pureblood?” Lily asked Gwendolyn and Marlene, who both nodded. “That’s cool. But you’re not like pureblood wizard freaks, right?” she added with a nervous laugh.
Marlene shook her head vehemently as if the very suggestion troubled her deeply. Gwendolyn, on the other hand, paused. “Well, I really hate Muggle-borns and I think they’re filth that shouldn’t be allowed in the school.”
A resounding silence followed. Even Diana stopped fiddling with her nails. Right when Lily was about to open her mouth to say something, Gwendolyn let out a huge bark of a laugh. “I’m kidding! I’m only kidding! I couldn’t care less what’s in your blood. No offense, of course.”
Lily let out a huge sigh of relief and she ran her hand through her hair. “Wow, you really had me scared for a minute. Sirius and James”they’re two Gryffindor boys in our year”were telling me about some really crazy pureblood maniacs, and well, I thought you might be one! I was so scared!” Her eyes widened.
“Oh God, no. I’m definitely not one!” Gwendolyn put her hand on her chest as if to swear under oath that she was not a pureblood wizard maniac. Then she cocked her head to one side and said, “Wait”Sirius. That’s the boy that tried to come up to our dormitories last night, yeah?”
“Oh, that’s definitely Sirius,” Lily said.
“Wicked! I love how we can go up there but they can’t come up here. Bloody brilliant, the architects of this castle,” Gwendolyn responded, shaking her head in wonder.
“Wait, tell us more about Sirius and James! They were the boys in our boat, right? How do you already know those two?” Diana interjected, Lily’s connections suddenly much more fascinating than her nail polish.
“Three, actually,” Lily said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “There’s a boy called Remus Lupin who wasn’t at the Sorting last night, and I met them all in Diagon Alley a few weeks ago.”
“Why wasn’t he at the Sorting?” Marlene inquired, a look of horror on her face. “Can you do that? Can you miss the Sorting?” She looked around, perhaps hoping Professor Dumbledore would pop in and assuage her fears.
“I guess so,” Lily shrugged. “Come to think of it, I should probably go find him. Do any of you want to go to breakfast now?” Marlene, Artemia, and Gwendolyn nodded. “Diana?” Lily asked.
“Oh, you four should go on without me”I take a while to get ready.”
“Are you sure? We can wait,” said Gwendolyn at the precise moment that her stomach gave a huge rumble.
Diana smiled. “No, really, go ahead. I’m sure I’ll see you down there in a bit.”
“OK, then!” Lily said, and the four girls hurried to get dressed and began to make their way through the labyrinthine passages of the castle and down to the Great Hall.
***
Lily and Remus found each other at breakfast in the Great Hall. Remus apologized again and again that he hadn’t been on the Hogwarts Express, but Lily assured him that the trip wasn’t bad at all. Marlene still was in fits about Remus missing the Sorting. “What happened? Was Professor Dumbledore upset? Did you get placed into a House?”
Remus smiled. “Hi, I’m Remus Lupin, by the way,” he said as he extended his hand. Marlene blushed and shook it, but soon fixed her curious stare upon him once more”though the flush did not readily leave her cheeks. “And I just felt really sick a few days ago, so my parents sent an owl to Dumbledore and he took care of everything. Thankfully nothing bad happened, and best of all, I still get to be a Gryffindor!”
Marlene seemed to recover from her shock and accept that it was, indeed, permissible to miss one’s own Sorting. Lily smiled, but a little voice was knocking about in her head. Something doesn’t sound right, she thought. He felt really sick? But his note said...
She wasn’t able to answer her own inquiries, for the party of Gryffindors was at that moment joined by the rest of their fellow first years: James and Sirius, followed by Diana and another boy who looked like he hadn’t completely woken up yet.
“Hello, chums!” said Sirius brightly as he hopped onto the bench. “I believe it’s introduction time. My name is Sirius Bla””
“Oh, we know who you are,” interrupted Gwendolyn. “Professor McGonagall kept muttering your name after you tried to come up to our dormitories last night. She said it was the fastest time ever for a first-year to find out about”and break¬”that rule!”
“Well done, Sirius!” said James. “Your first school record.”
“First of many, I’d guess, though probably none I’ll be able to write home about,” Sirius said in response, smiling as he filled his goblet with orange juice. “All right then, Gwendolyn”yes, I know who you are, too”how about you finish the introductions for me? I’ve already met Diana, and Lily, of course.”
“OK. This is Artemia... Goldsmith?” Gwendolyn said, gesturing to Artemia. “Yeah, Goldsmith. And this young lady right next to me is Marlene McKinnon.”
“McKinnon?” said James, nearly choking on a bit of his scone. “Is your brother Michael McKinnon? The Gryffindor Seeker?”
Marlene nodded, and James continued. “He’s brilliant! I was at the match against Hufflepuff last year with my Dad. He caught the Snitch in ten minutes. Ten minutes!”
“Well,” said a voice over James’s shoulder. “It helps that the Hufflepuff team is absolutely dreadful. Besides Bagman of course, but he didn’t have much to Beat at in that match, did he now?”
Marlene beamed up at her brother Michael who was now introducing himself to James and Sirius. Lily felt Gwendolyn poke her and heard her whisper: “What did I tell you?”
Gwendolyn had been one hundred percent correct in her assessment of Michael. He was tall and trim and, in a word: “Dreamy!” Lily giggled back to Gwendolyn.
Michael had finished receiving James’s praise and was about to leave when he caught sight of Gwendolyn. “Oh, hey Gwen!” he said, giving her a little wave before walking away.
“I thought you didn’t let anyone call you Gwen!” said Lily, nudging her.
Gwendolyn just smiled into her porridge. “So anyway, to finish the introductions: Artemia Goldsmith, Marlene McKinnon, Lily Evans, Diana Denham, and I’m Gwendolyn Hightower.”
“All right! Your brother plays Quidditch, too! Chadwick, right?” James asked, turning his head around, no doubt hoping to see Chadwick Hightower standing behind him as his friend had.
“Yeah, Chad. He’s Chaser. Pretty good, I guess,” Gwendolyn said with a shrug and a smile. “Don’t get your knickers in a twist, though, he’s all the way down at the end of the table.”
Sirius laughed and clapped James on the back. “My friend, one day young Gryffindor first years will be twisting their knickers for us.”
“So what are your names?” Marlene asked, trying to steer the conversation from what she feared was more dangerous knicker-twisting territory. But James wasn’t quite finished with the Quidditch talk.
“Why not this year?” James asked, looking at Gwendolyn. “Now that we’re friends and all, do you think Chadwick or Michael could set us up for a trial?”
Gwendolyn laughed. “Well, I can ask, I guess, but I think the team’s pretty set. At least, that’s what Chad was saying this summer.”
“Oh, well, in that case...” James said morosely as he picked up his spoon and pointed at each Gryffindor boy: “Janus Killeffer, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, James Potter.”
“Well, James Potter, you seem to have flung a bit of porridge onto your friends, there,” said Gwendolyn, pointing at spots of brown goo on Peter’s and Sirius’s robes.
James blushed. Remus laughed. Peter giggled. And Sirius decided to eat his bit of porridge.
“Delicious,” he said, bringing the robe up to his mouth and licking off the offending spot. “Thanks, mate. I was looking for something to finish off the breakfast.”
Lily scrunched up her face and stuck her tongue out. “I can’t believe you ate that off your robe!”
“Where do you think my robe has been, the rubbish bin?” said Sirius. He picked up his spoon. “Really, Lily, you should try it. It’s quite good.” He aimed his spoon at Lily, who threw her hands over her face. As he flicked the spoon, however, he directed it toward Gwendolyn, and the glop landed splat on her sleeve.
“That,” he said with a wicked grin, “is for rubbing it in my face that I can’t come up to your dormitories. Yet.”
Gwendolyn raised her eyebrows in appreciation, licked the porridge off her robes, and nodded in approval. “Excellent,” she said as she loaded up her spoon, preparing to fire a retaliatory shot.
Marlene looked around frantically. “Guys, can you please not start a food fight on our first day of classes! Professor McGonagall is watching!”
The combatants both hesitated for a while before reluctantly lowering their spoons. Something about the Professor’s look made them feel that perhaps today was not the best day for a porridge melee.
“So which tables are for which houses, do you think?” Lily asked, trying to break the short silence that ensued.
“Well, that lot over there is no doubt Slytherin,” Sirius said, his prior joy rapidly escaping. “You can just feel the evil coming from them, can’t you?” When no one seemed to share his view, he continued. “Plus my cousins are over there, and everyone’s favorite boat-stealer. What was his name? Snivellus?”
“Severus,” said Janus, speaking for the first time and shocking the whole table. “Severus Snape. And they’re not all bad, you know.”
There was a long silence as everyone stole glances at Sirius and Janus. Marlene looked like she might faint from the tension.
“You’re friends with them?” asked Sirius, clearly straining to remain calm.
“Some of them, yes. Some of our families are in this Society together.”
“Oh, we know about the Soci”” Lily started to say, but stopped short as James and Sirius both shot her looks.
“Right. Well, I think they’re a bunch of slimy toads,” Sirius said, sending one death glare to the Slytherins and another”though slightly less malevolent”to Janus.
“They’re not all bad! Really, that’s all I’m saying,” Janus said, shifting uncomfortably under Sirius’s stare. “Some of them are nightmares, yes. I mean, I don’t like Severus Snape at all, but a few of the second-year boys are pretty nice. That’s it.”
Sirius apparently deemed this acceptable, for he relaxed his stare and his face broke into a grin. “That’s fine, then. As long as you don’t like Snivellus, bec””
“Because he stole Lily’s boat!” James finished triumphantly.
Janus smiled and Lily gave a little snort. “Thank you, James, for continuing to defend me against that horrible event.”
“No problem at all, Lily,” he said, completely missing her sarcasm.
“So do we actually go to classes at this place?” asked Remus, successfully diverting the conversation to a less awkward plane.
“Yes,” said Artemia as she pointed down the table. “It looks like Professor McGonagall is handing out schedules now.”
Professor McGonagall soon reached their section of the table and gave them each a piece of parchment.
“Boys, tuck your shirts in, please. And fix your ties. We Gryffindors must look sharp, especially on the first day of classes!”
“Yes ma’am!” said Peter as he rushed to straighten his knot. McGonagall gave him an appreciative nod and moved down the table.
“Ugh,” said Gwendolyn as she glanced at her schedule, ignoring Sirius as he mimicked Peter. “Potions first, right after breakfast. That won’t be pleasant. Let’s hope the professor doesn’t make us use any fish eyes or newt’s hearts in this morning’s potion”I don’t think my stomach can take it!”
“Fish eyes? Seriously?” Lily asked, disgusted”and slightly intrigued.
“Yeah, well if the potions we make here are like the potions my mum brews at home, anything can be added. And I do mean anything.”
Lily groaned. Although it would be kind of cool in a strange, disgusting, squishy way to mash up a few fish eyes, she agreed with Gwendolyn, and wondered if she should have gone easy on the porridge at breakfast.
She was about to reach for another piece of toast when Marlene gave a shout and alerted them all to the fact that the Great Hall was starting to empty. Students were gradually rising from their seats, slinging their bags over their shoulders, and moving in the direction of the classrooms. She grabbed the toast anyway and stood up to follow her fellow Gryffindors off in the direction of the Potions dungeon for her first Hogwarts lesson....