Back to School
James sat alone in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express, waiting rather impatiently for his friends to appear. He had been brought early, so as to avoid the last minute goodbyes of the previous year. He assumed his friends must have been in the process of their rushed departing words to their parents, as it was ten to eleven. He slumped down in his seat, propping his feet up on the seat across from him. He had his trunk stowed away on the rack above him and he did not feel like getting it down to find something to occupy himself with. Besides, his friends must have been on their way if they didn’t want to miss the train.
James’s thoughts seemed to float out of his mind and through to the platform, as a moment later the compartment door slid open and a harassed looking Remus appeared in the doorway. James was pleased to see that his friend was walking on his own again, though his leg still seemed to be quite stiff and the scars on his face were still noticeable. He reminded himself that he had to get Sirius and Peter alone so they could discuss how they were going to go about their research. He already had one date “ August twenty fourth. It was Peter’s birthday and they had all been invited to his house, but Remus could not come. He claimed he had to stay home, yet again, with his sick mother. James strongly doubted that this was the true reason. Nevertheless, he cracked a smile and removed his feet from the other seat, nodding his head for Remus to take it. Remus dragged his trunk inside and placed it on the luggage rack above before sitting down.
“What happened to you?” James asked, eyeing Remus’s appearance.
“Had to run,” he explained, taking a moment to catch his breath and straighten his shirt. “So, how was the rest of your summer?”
“It was alright,” James replied. “Nothing special. Got rid of those things, have you?”
Remus instantly knew what James meant. “Yeah, my dad took them back to the hospital last week. I wanted to burn them, but he wouldn’t let me.”
James chuckled. He couldn’t exactly picture Remus trying to burn those strange Muggle contraptions, but it was a funny thought. He was silent, thinking about their plan. Maybe, if he just asked Remus, maybe he would get a straight answer. It was worth a try at the very least.
“Listen, Remus-” But before James could ask the compartment door slid open and Sirius walked inside with someone they had not expected. Regulus Black seemed to be a smaller version of Sirius. They both had the same long black hair, grey eyes, and facial structure. They were both bearing the same disgruntled expressions. Neither of them looked very happy at the moment, and James and Remus knew why. Sirius obviously did not want to be in charge of his brother and Regulus did not want to be his brother’s charge. Of course, there was no arguing with Walburga Black; the boys had no choice but to obey.
“Hullo,” Sirius said, his voice lacking its usual cheerfulness. He sat down on the right of James, while Regulus took the opposite seat, moving as far away as possible from Remus, as though he was contaminated. He jerked his thumb at Regulus. “This is my brother, Regulus.”
“Hullo,” James and Remus said. Regulus said nothing; he didn’t even look at them. James and Remus glanced at Sirius, who shook his head in an irritated fashion.
“Where’s Peter?” Sirius asked, noticing that they were one person short and the train had just started to chug away.
“I’m here,” said Peter’s breathless voice at the entryway. He sat down on the vacant seat beside Sirius, catching his breath as he did so. “The train just started to leave,” he panted. “Had to run.”
“Peter, this is my brother, Regulus.”
“Oh,” Peter said, just having spotted the other Black. “Hullo.” Once again, Regulus did not acknowledge the greeting.
“Anyway,” Remus said, getting the attention off Sirius’s brother, as he clearly didn’t want any. “How was your birthday, Peter?”
“It was fun, but I wish you’d have come.”
Remus frowned apologetically. “I’m sorry, but my mum-”
“We know, Remus,” James intervened, though with a hard edge to his voice, like he was annoyed. Remus stared at James, confused, but said nothing else. He contented himself with looking out the window as the train approached the rolling, green hills of the countryside. Sirius and Peter gave James looks that said he was being a little harsh, but James simply shrugged. An awkward silence settled in the compartment, which was broken by Sirius pulling out a deck of cards and offering a game of Exploding Snap. To their mild shock, Remus did not join in, but Regulus readily held out his hand for some cards.
“We may stand a chance of winning now,” Peter said, grinning good-naturedly at Remus, who returned with a halfhearted smile.
The game certainly got competitive. James, Sirius and Peter usually knew the game was a lost cause when they were competing against Remus, but now that he wasn’t playing the four boys were even more vicious, fighting for victory. Regulus didn’t seem to want his brother to win, but didn’t mind if James or Peter did, so his participation did not benefit Sirius. Sirius, who foresaw his brother’s motive, tried his hardest to thwart Regulus’s victory. The winner turned out to be James, who laughed victoriously, and rudely, at the others’ ash covered faces. Sirius snatched his cards back and stowed them away in his pocket, muttering that he was going to find a game he could definitely beat them all at.
The lunch trolley rolled around midday and the boys stocked up on their favourite sweets. James, who was not being too careful with the Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, discovered a vomit flavoured one and accidentally spat it onto Regulus’s shoes. Regulus shot James a disgusted look and stood up. He marched over to the compartment door and hissed at Sirius that he was going to go find Narcissa. Sirius shrugged indifferently; in fact, he looked grateful that his brother was leaving.
Once Regulus was gone, James turned to his friend. “Not very chatty, your brother,” he observed.
“He’s bitter,” Sirius replied through a mouthful of Chocolate Frog. “Mum made him come around with me, but warned me that I couldn’t come sit with you lot. I lied, of course. But Mummy’s little prince, Regulus, will probably send her an owl telling her the first chance he gets.” He ripped the top of a Chocolate Frog box and checked the card inside. “Bertie Botts,” he mumbled. “Got him already. Want him Remus?”
Remus broke his gaze away from the window. “Hmm? Oh, yeah, sure.” He took the card and pocketed it.
James jumped up suddenly. “Can I talk to you, Remus? Outside?”
Remus stood up, resignedly, and followed his friend into the empty corridor. James slid the door shut behind them and faced his friend. “Look, I’m sorry I snapped at you like that.”
“I know you are,” Remus said. He didn’t sound mad at all, and James had expected him to.
“Oh… well, you’re not mad at me, are you?”
“No, I wasn’t mad.”
James sighed in relief. “Okay, then. Let’s go back inside.”
“You go on; I have to just go to the bathroom for a minute.”
Remus spun around and took off for the back of the train where the lavatories were located. Remus had not been lying when he told James that he wasn’t mad at him. James’s harshness had set him thinking, actually. Would it be so bad if he told his friends he was a werewolf? They had already proven themselves to be loyal beyond all measures, perhaps they weren’t prejudice. Then again, every time someone found out they didn’t exactly understand. He had long abandoned counting how many friends he had lost because they had been taught to hate werewolves. The only solution his parents could find for the problem was to move away to the country, where they were less likely to run into any wizards.
He remembered what his grandfather had told him “ he had said Remus wasn’t a monster. Sometimes he found he could agree, but other times “ many times “ he couldn’t. Werewolves were classified by the Ministry of Magic as dangerous, who was he to argue against that? His father always said the people at the Ministry didn’t know what they were talking about, that they could be just as bad as pureblood enthusiasts sometimes. Remus, however, oftentimes felt inclined to concede with their views. What he did to himself was bad enough; he couldn’t stand to think of what he might do to an innocent bystander.
He emerged from the lavatory five minutes later and was met with a head of fiery red hair. Lily Evans was one of his fellow Gryffindor second years. She had helped them greatly in their plight against Professor Crane, as she was probably one of the most eager to see him go. He hadn’t spoken to her, nor written her a letter, the entire summer and he wondered how she was doing.
“Lily,” he called, catching her attention.
She whirled around and her face split into a warm smile when she saw who it was. “Hullo, Remus!” She moved forward down the corridor. “How are you?” she asked when she reached him.
“Fine,” he said. “How was your summer?”
“Oh, it was alright. My mum and dad took my sister, Petunia, and I to Switzerland for a few weeks.”
“Really? How was it there?”
“It was beautiful, and it would have been better if my sister hadn’t been there.”
Remus had heard Lily discussing her sister with Alice Gordon. From the little he had heard it was plain that she and her sister did not get along. Petunia Evans thought her sister was a freak for being a witch. Hearing about his friends’ problems with their siblings sometimes made him grateful he was an only child.
Lily seemed to read his mind. “You’re lucky you’re an only child.”
Remus chuckled lightly. “I seem like more than one sometimes.”
“I doubt you’d ever be as bad as Petunia, not even Potter could be.” At the very end of their first year Lily had taken to calling James “Potter.” His ill-hidden love of the accolades after their prank had gotten so irritating to her that she severed all forms of communication with him. Lily began fishing for something in the pocket of her skirt. When she found it, she pulled it out and handed it to Remus. It was a colourfully wrapped piece of chocolate. “They have the best chocolate in Switzerland,” she explained, pulling out a piece for herself.
“Thanks,” Remus said appreciatively.
“No problem. Well, I’d better get back to my compartment. See you at the feast.”
“Yeah, see you there.”
Remus trailed along the corridor until he found his compartment. When he reentered he heard James and Sirius in a heated discussion about why Dumbledore had planted the Whomping Willow on the grounds. He pretended to be uninterested in the conversation, though red tinged his cheeks. Instead, he loudly opened the chocolate Lily had given him, trying to block out what his friends were saying.
“Maybe there’s something really dangerous under it,” James was construing.
“Like what?” Sirius asked doubtfully.
“I dunno… some really dangerous creature of Hagrid’s.”
“Why would Dumbledore let Hagrid keep it then, if he knew it was dangerous?” Peter wondered.
“That’s why they have the Whomping Willow there, of course!” James said, making it sound as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.
“Dumbledore’s always been a bit mental, maybe he just liked the tree,” Sirius said, scuffing his shoe on the bottom of the chair across him.
“What about-” James began but he was abruptly cut off.
“What about just dropping it?” Remus asked, exasperated. “What does it matter why it’s there?”
James raised his eyebrows at Sirius and Peter, signaling that they could take this as another bit of their research. They dropped the subject, knowing it would do nothing more than further infuriate Remus and they did not feel like getting on his bad side so early in the year. James reminded himself to make note of this one fact “ Remus did not like talking about the Whomping Willow. It may have meant nothing to others, but to them it meant figuring out where their friend went every month, and why he always came back hurt.
“Now that everyone is Sorted, I have nothing to say except ‘tuck in.’” The students cheered enthusiastically as the golden platters before them filled with food at Headmaster Dumbledore’s words. The Sorting Ceremony had just concluded and Sirius was in the process of sulking because Regulus had become a Slytherin. James made it a point to mention that this wasn’t an unusual occurrence in the Black Family, but Sirius had thought there may have been a tiny glint of hope for his brother. He was at least a little more tolerable than the others, though Sirius had to admit that Regulus’s opinions were easily swayed. James was right; it shouldn’t have come as a shock.
Instead of brooding on it, Sirius settled himself with eating as much of his favourite foods as possible. By the time he was finished loading up his plate it was stacked about two feet high and looked mildly repulsive.
“We all know how Sirius drowns his sorrows, now,” James said to Remus and Peter, who were watching Sirius eat with revolted expressions. “He eats like a pig.”
“Do nob,” Sirius argued through a mouthful of mashed potatoes.
“Yes, you do.”
Sirius swallowed with great difficulty and huffed at his friend. He looked over Peter’s shoulder at the Slytherin table and saw, with some disappointment, that Regulus was already making Slytherin friends. He was talking to a first year boy with sleek brown hair and, to Sirius’s horror, Severus Snape. He thought he might have been able to get over the fact that his brother had been Sorted into the house that turned out the most Dark witches and wizards, but now he knew that he couldn’t, especially since Regulus was consorting with slime like Snape.
“Just forget it, Sirius,” Remus said, looking over his own shoulder to see what his friend was gaping at.
“What would you do if your brother was about to become friends with that?”
“Not stare at him? Sirius, you’re always saying you don’t like your family, so why is this bothering you so much?”
“I thought there was hope for him!”
“Clearly there isn’t,” Peter said into his dish of chicken.
“Can it, Pettigrew.”
They passed most of their dinner in silence, breaking the lull once in a while to ask someone to pass a dish of food. Other than that, they didn’t speak at all. James, Remus, and Peter did not want to get Sirius more upset about his brother’s new home more than he already was. James couldn’t help but see things Remus’s way, though he understood where Sirius was coming. Sirius had never cared at all about the goings-on in his family, so why did this bother him so much? Maybe it was because he thought he had set some sort of standard when he became a Gryffindor and hoped for Regulus to follow it? That didn’t seem to be the case; he must have just wanted Regulus to be in a house where he wasn’t almost guaranteed to become a Dark wizard.
As the platters of pudding were emptied and the scraps vanished, Professor Dumbledore stood up to make his traditional announcements. “Now that we are all happily full I should like to make some announcements. All students are reminded that the forest on the edge of the grounds is strictly off limits, as is approaching the Whomping Willow.” Some of the meaner students snickered at this, remembering the incident the previous year in which a student was knocked unconscious by the tree. Dumbledore waved his hand for silence once more. “Any student wishing to play for their house’s Quidditch team should contact Madam Sparks, tryouts will be in due time. Mr. Filch would also like to remind students that dueling is forbidden in corridors between classes.” He gestured to his right at a man with bushy black hair and a kind smile. “I would like to welcome our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher “ Professor Jones.” There was a scattered round of unenthusiastic applause. The students knew not to get their hopes about any of the teachers in that subject, especially after the horrific year with Professor Crane. “Now I think it is time you went to your dormitories. Good night, everyone.”
The benches scraped against the floor as the students poured into the aisles between the tables and followed their respective prefects to the common rooms. The boys hung back, letting the first years get directly behind the prefect who was currently shouting for them to follow him. They kept their pace slow for Sirius’s sake, Regulus was not very far ahead of them and they knew Sirius did not want to encounter his brother so closely after his Sorting. After a group of Gryffindor fourth years fell in front of them, the four boys began their trek to Gryffindor Tower.
It was a relief to be back in the castle. They had all missed the constantly moving portraits and the staircases that could never decide on which landing to stay. They almost missed Peeves the Poltergeist, but soon realised they didn’t after he dropped a trash bin over Peter’s head. Just as Peeves was floating away, cackling madly, the new teacher, Professor Jones, appeared and vanished the garbage off his student’s head. Peter thanked the man, who nodded politely and went off to find his quarters. The boys continued on their way until they were met with the portrait of the Fat Lady.
“Canis Lupus,” they heard the prefect say. The portrait swung open, revealing the entrance into the common room. Being that the following day was a Saturday, some of the older students hung around in the common room, catching up with their friends. The boys saw Frank, Lily and Alice sitting by the fire, chatting excitedly about their summers. They waved to the group and the boys went up to the dormitory to put their belongings away. The dormitory they had shared the previous year was now adorned with a sign on the door that read: SECOND YEARS. Once inside, they saw that it looked exactly the same as it had and that their trunks were waiting patiently for them on their beds.
When they had everything put away and, in the case of James’s and Sirius’s, hung up numerous posters, the boys settled themselves to discuss what they had done for the remainder of the summer. As Peter was telling them about his trip to the Ministry of Magic with his father, who worked in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, Remus excused himself to the bathroom. When the door was fully shut, James leaned forward conspiratorially.
“So, what are we going to do?” he whispered, glancing over at the bathroom door.
“About what?” Sirius asked blankly, picking at a loose thread on his bedspread.
“About Remus. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten already.”
“Of course I haven’t. But, mate, we just got back to school, we can’t have that much to go by.”
“We have two things, actually,” James said, getting up and stooping down beside his trunk. He pulled out a blank notebook and his writing utensils. He began writing in the book. “We have the fact that he really has something against the Whomping Willow-”
“Which isn’t that strange,” Sirius interjected.
“-and that he couldn’t come to Peter’s birthday party on August 24th,” James finished, as though he hadn’t been interrupted.
“So?”
“So, that may not be much, but it’s something.”
“What’s something?”
The three boys looked up and saw Remus’s head poking out from the bathroom, he was watching them curiously.
“Nothing, Remus,” James said unconvincingly, hastily sitting on his notebook. He, Sirius and Peter all smiled at their friend, trying poorly to mask their guilt.
Remus was quiet, observing them and thinking of all the possible reasons that they could be whispering and then stop the moment he came in. He shrugged and went back into the bathroom.
James pulled the notebook out again once he was sure Remus wouldn’t be emerging for another few minutes. “Anyway, that’s better than having nothing to go by.”
“Yeah but, James, there’s nothing special about this information,” Peter said, taking the book out of James’s hands and looking at what he had written. “I mean, a lot of people hate the Whomping Willow, especially that Ravenclaw from last year. And maybe his mother really was sick on my birthday.”
“I’ve said it before, you’ve seen his mother! She can’t be sick all the time.”
“And I’ve said it before, maybe it comes and goes. Maybe you’re making more out of this than you should be.”
“You know, you seemed all for this back at the Leaky Cauldron.”
“Then I got to thinking that maybe Remus wouldn’t want us researching him like this. Maybe his mother is sick and maybe he just doesn’t like talking about it.”
“We’re supposed to be his friends,” Sirius said, speaking for the first time in a while. “If his mother really was sick, he’d at least tell us what was wrong with her. He knows we wouldn’t badger him about it or anything. James is right, Pete. You’re right about Remus not wanting us to research him, but I think we have to.” He took the book from Peter and the quill from James and began writing. “He always looks sick. When he comes back from visiting his mother he looks like he fell off a cliff. His parents wouldn’t do that to him, they love him too much. And if his mother could do that while she was sick, they wouldn’t be bringing him home every month. James is right. There’s something else going on and we have to find out what it is. We’re all friends, remember? If something’s hurting one of us, the rest of us have to figure out what it is.”