End of chapter one:
Remus smiled. 'I mean, Ron,' he said softly, 'is that the first time I boarded the train to go to Hogwarts, I couldn't find a seat, and the only compartment I could find had a friendly red-headed person in it....'
Remus Lupin shrugged his skinny shoulders a bit to keep his bag from falling off. He walked around with his trunk, peering into compartments.
It was a bit depressing; it seemed that most of the students knew one another, and all of the Muggleborns seemed to have banded together in compartments. Many were full, he was far too timid to ask the older students for help, and as he wandered further and further down the train, Remus was beginning to think he was doomed to sit in the passageway of the train for the entire journey.
He decided to check one last time, and to his delight, he found a compartment with a lone occupant; a slim, short, fire-haired girl was sitting in her seat, looking very friendly, but very alone.
'Um, hullo,' said Remus shyly, looking at his feet.
'Hello,' the girl said in a friendly voice. 'Can I help you?'
'Um,' Remus mumbled. 'Actually, I was kind of wondering if... uh.. I could maybe sit here with you?'
'Oh, yes!' the girl said, a wide smile splitting her face. Remus decided that she was rather pretty. 'Yes, I'm all alone, and... I'm a bit lonely. So yes, please do.'
Remus breathed a sigh of relief and dragged his trunk in, settling it in a corner. He plopped down in the seat opposite of the girl and smiled shyly, looking more at her feet than at her face.
'I'm Lily,' she said, without preamble. She held her hand out for him to shake. 'It's my first year; what about you?' Remus took her hand.
'I'm Remus,' he said. 'It's my first year too.' They shook hands and then settled into their seats.
'Are your parents magical?' Lily asked him, after a few moments spent looking out the window.
'Yeah,' Remus said. 'Dad's a Muggleborn, mum's mixed blood. What about you?'
'I'm Muggleborn,' Lily said, grinning. 'My parents went so wild when they found out I was a witch. Said it explained all the exploding rose bushes around our house.' Remus laughed at that, and so did Lily.
'My parents were, too,' Remus said. 'I didn't have any big, magical things like that. Usually stuff like getting cabinets open when they were supposed to be locked.'
'Hmmm,' said Lily. 'That would have been dead useful.'
A soft hiccup drew both of their attentions toward the door. A lanky, waxy-skinned boy with shoulder-length hair stood in their doorway, fidgeting slightly.
'Do you need a place to sit, too?' Lily asked eagerly. When the boy nodded slightly, she motioned for him to come, patting the space next to her. 'Need some help with your things?'
'No, I'm quite fine,' the boy said quietly. He sat down quickly and didn't look at either Remus or Lily for a long time, and they sat in an uneasy quiet as the train began to move.
'So,' said Lily suddenly. She turned to face the newcomer, who stared quite determinedly at the floor. 'I'm Lily, and this is Remus. What's your name?'
'Setehtiwass,' he said quickly.
'Satine?' Lily asked, looking confused. The black-haired boy cleared his throat.
'Severus,' he said, a bit more slowly. 'Severus Snape.'
'Severus,' Lily said. 'Severus. I like that name, it's quite nice.' Severus looked up in surprise; he had quite a sallow complexion, with a hooked nose and long, thin lips.
'Is this your first year too?' Remus asked.
'Yeah,' Severus said. 'My mum came here when she was a kid, too.'
'Well,' Lily said briskly, 'I bet you know loads about Hogwarts then. What's it like? Have you ever been before? Is it nice? Is it true that there's a place in the library where the books scream? Or that there's ghosts and staircases that move?'
Severus looked slightly alarmed at all the questions Lily asked, but he began to answer her questions, one by one. Remus noticed that as Lily took in all his information and asked him for more, Severus seemed to relax a bit more, some of his rigid stance melting as Remus began to chime in and they started to get better acquainted.
'I wonder what houses we'll get sorted into,' Lily said after their conversation died away. She leant back into her seat, letting herself slowly merge with the comfortable cushions. 'What house do you think you'll be in, Severus?'
'Slytherin, I expect,' he said carefully, eyeing them both. 'My mother was there, and I'm a lot more like her than my father.' He seemed mildly surprised that there was no reaction from either of them.
'Slytherin,' Lily said. 'That's the house for the ambitious, right? That sounds good; what do you want to be?'
'Well, I like potions,' Severus said, a look of relief on his face. 'So I guess maybe something to do with that.'
'Potions sounds exciting,' Lily said, her eyes sparkling. 'It sounds like chemistry in Muggle school. What about you, Remus?'
'Well,' Remus said, thinking. 'My dad's from Hufflepuff, and I think my mum was from Ravenclaw. So I don't know, really. Maybe one of those, maybe Gryffindor.'
'Why not Slytherin?' Lily asked. Severus seemed to grimace slightly.
'Oh, Slytherin... um... usually doesn't except anyone but purebloods,' Remus said quietly. 'There have been some that weren't purebloods that got in, but it's not very often that happens.'
'Well, that doesn't sound fair,' Lily said. 'But I'll guess we'll see. I have no idea where I'll go.' She suddenly looked very alarmed. 'What happens if I don't belong anywhere? What if they send me home?' She looked a bit frightened.
'I'm sure you'll get into the proper house,' Severus put in quietly. 'Come on, I'll teach you a bit of magic before we get to Hogwarts.'
'Will you?' Lily asked. 'Brilliant.' She pulled out her wand from her pocket. 'Let's have at it.'
'Okay,' said Severus. He looked eager as he pulled out his own. 'Okay, hold out your wand like this. No, like this,' he said sternly, correcting Lily's pose with his hands. 'Remus, would you put one of your books on your seat and move here? Alright, now. Wingardium Leviosa. Swish and flick and- no! Lily! You're going to levitate Remus! Le-vi-OH-sa.'
Harry looked like a boy at Christmas morning.
'So that's how you met?' asked Hermione.
'Yes,' said Remus, smiling. 'Lily managed to bounce me off the ceiling a few times before she got it, but she caught on rather quickly. And once she had something, she had it down well. Your mother was a very talented witch, Harry.'
Harry had a pleased look on his face. 'She sounds very nice,' he said.
'She was one of the friendliest people I've ever had the fortune to come across,' Remus said. 'She was beautiful, but also very kind. Lily had a big heart and a soft-spot for the underdog.' Remus chuckled. 'And believe me when I say, Professor and I both qualified as underdogs at Hogwarts when we started.'
'Why?' Ron asked, curious. 'I mean, you're both really good with magic, and Professor Snape must have been good to begin with, if he could teach you and Lily magic on the train.'
'Well,' Remus said, 'I was rather dowdy looking. My family's not the wealthiest one around, and I tended to run through clothing rather quickly, so my family couldn't always afford new clothing.' Ron nodded sympathetically.
'As for Professor Snape, well... let's just say he hasn't changed much since the first time I met him to now. He always seemed a bit greasy looking, and let's face it- neither of us are up for Gilderoy Lockhart good-looks award.'
'And thank the powers that be for that,' Harry muttered. Remus laughed.
'But yes, Professor Snape and I weren't the most popular of people, although for different reasons. He has never been a people person-'
'As we have come to recognise,' Hermione said fairly. Ron and Harry both snorted.
'-and aside from myself and Lily, there were very few people he could tolerate. And the other students didn't always appreciate Professor Snape's genius for potions. It's always been connected to the Dark Arts, and he always seemed to have a better grip and knowledge on the Dark Arts then most of the seventh years.' Remus sighed. 'There were many juvenile duels in the hallways when Severus was here, I can assure you.' He looked down at his watch.
'Blast, look at the time,' he said. 'I have to meet someone. Harry, I will see you tomorrow in my office?'
Harry nodded. Once rumour of Peter Pettigrew's reappearance had reared its head, the Minister- much to Dumbledore's displeasure- had leased a few Dementors to Hogwarts. Harry had begun taking lessons to learn how to cast a Patronus from Professor Lupin in order to protect himself from them.
'Good then;' Remus said. 'I'll see all three of you on Monday. Behave yourselves and remember- don't talk about this to anyone but one another. I'm holding you to your word.'
'Professor,' Hermione said suddenly. 'Can you tell us who took this picture? I found it with some of Caradoc Dearborn's things, but we're pretty sure it's not his signature on the back.'
Remus picked up the picture and squinted at the signature. 'Ah yes,' he said. 'It's Diggory. The A stands for Amos. Well, I must be off, I will see you three later. And not a word to anyone.'
The three students watched as Remus trundled off through the crowd and out the door, braving the cold snow to meet whomever it was.
'I don't know if I'll ever be able to see Professor Snape quite the same way,' Hermione said thoughtfully. Harry was rather quiet.
'If he liked my mum so much, I wonder why he doesn't like me,' he said.
'Dunno, mate,' Ron said. 'Maybe it's 'cos you look like her, or maybe you don't act like her. Who knows? Adults are insane sometimes.'
'Amen to that,' Harry said. Hermione looked slightly put off, but remained silent.
'So, what should we do next?' Ron asked. He and Harry both turned to look at Hermione, who arched an eyebrow as high as it would go.
'Oh, it's always me, isn't it?' she asked in exasperation. She rolled her eyes at Harry and Ron's twin grins, but couldn't keep a smile off her face. 'It's clear, you two,' she said.
'Is it?' Ron asked, looking perplexed. He glanced out the window. 'It looks a bit foggy to me.' He ducked as Hermione attempted to swat him with the picture.
'Diggory,' she said. 'Cedric Diggory might know him.'
'We should ask him,' Harry said. 'We won't tell him what Lupin told us, Hermione,' he said placatingly, as a look of alarm came across her face. 'I wasn't thinking it, I swear. We'll just tell him that we found a picture of my mum with his dad's name on the back.'
'But he might try to force Harry to lose a Quidditch match or something!' Ron said indignantly. 'You're supposed to be the smart one here, Hermione! Use your head!' He sunk into his seat when she leveled a glare at him.
'I realise,' she said a bit bitingly, 'that Quidditch makes the world go 'round, but contrary to popular belief, not every member of an opposing team is a big, smarmy nasty git who's out to sacrifice Harry to the Snidget Gods.'
'Clearly,' said Ron, 'you know little of Quidditch.'
'Ron,' she said warningly.
'Shutting up now,' he said promptly, as Harry gave him a warning shot to the ribs.
'Anyways,' Harry broke in, 'Hermione's right. Oh, Ron, I'm not going to lose a game to get information from Diggory, but it can't hurt to ask, right?'
'I suppose,' Ron said, with a sigh of defeat.
'Then it's settled,' Hermione said, with no little hint of satisfaction in her voice. 'We'll corner Diggory later.'
'Say, Hermione,' Harry said. 'Were there names on the other pictures you found with my mum? On the back of the photos, I mean.'
'Let me see,' she said. 'There were a few where she was one of a lot of people, so I didn't check too deeply.' She opened her bag and started rifling through the photos, pulling a few out. 'I was so caught up with the one of Lily and Professors Snape and Lupin that I wasn't paying much attention, honestly. Let's see... well, here's one with Lily and some woman, and one with Lily, Professor Lupin, and another couple, and one with Lily and some other man.' She looked at the back of the photos. 'The one with Lily and the woman says Lily and Eirian, the one with Lily and Lupin says Eleanor Cavizel and Martin Lovegood, and the last one says... F Greengrass.' She looked at the other photos. 'The handwriting's really faint on the others; I'll have to try to clean them up.'
'Lovegood sounds familiar,' Ron said. 'I'm sure I've heard it before.'
'And I know a Greengrass; she's in my Arithmancy and Ancient Runes class,' Hermione added. She turned to Harry. 'Shall we ask, then?'
'Yeah,' Harry said. 'Tomorrow?'
'We can ask on Monday,' Hermione said. 'I won't see Greengrass until then, anyways, and Ron's still not sure who Lovegood is.'
'Oh, but I know the perfect person to ask,' Ron said.
'And who's that?' Harry asked.
'Ginny,' Ron said firmly. 'Bit of a motormouth and sticks her nose everywhere. If there's a person in the school who will know, it's her.'
'Well then,' Hermione. She lifted her mug of butterbeer, newly delivered by the waitress. 'To learning about Harry's mum!'
'I'll drink to that,' Ron said heartily.
'You'll drink to anything,' Hermione shot back. Ron looked to Harry for defence; he merely shrugged.
'Can't argue with the smartest witch of our year,' Harry said. Hermione grinned as Ron sulked, but they toasted anyways and enjoyed a nice round of plotting, and as the cold winter snows swirled, the beginnings of a plan began to form in their collective minds.