Remus stood in the dorm he was supposed to share with three other boys in his year. They hadn't showed up yet, and for that, Remus was glad. How was he supposed to last seven years without them finding out his secret? What had Dumbledore been thinking? He was going to be found out, ridiculed and kicked out. Who could blame them? He was a monster. Nothing more than a monster.

The first boy to come upstairs was a chubby looking kid, who was panting slightly. "Hi!" he exclaimed, still panting. "I'm Peter! Who're you?"

"Remus." he said, cautiously holding out his hand. "Nice to meet you." He hoped that the boy didn't notice the scars on his face, or if he did, he didn't ask about him. Those weren't the only scars, just the most noticeable.

He started trying to formulate a cover story for them, thinking of something that sounded cool and plausible, but was saved by two rowdy boys barging in, messing up each other's hair, and the taller one having his glasses yanked off his face.

"Oi! Roomies!" the owner of the glasses exclaimed. "I'm James Potter. Now, I reckon I'll learn your names in a second, once I have my glasses so I actually know who I'm talking to." He managed to yank his glasses from the shaggy haired one, grinning lopsidedly.

"I'm Sirius Black, the hansomer of us two blokes." the other said, grinning. "Granted, this tosser will probably tell you otherwise."

"I'm only being straight up honest." James said, jamming his glasses on his face and running his hand through his hair.

Remus's worst fears came true. James saw the scars.

"Woah! How'd you get those?" James asked, which suddenly made everyone else in the room notice them too. Remus turned scarlet, and began kicking his feet.

"It's a long story." he said. "You really don't want to hear it."

"No, c'mon! It's got to be cool!" Peter exclaimed.

"Yeah! Did you get in a fight with a Hippogriff? Or save someone from a deranged Crup?" Sirius asked, and Remus turned even redder.

"No, actually. I got attacked by a dog when I was three." Remus said. "It's really stupid, I know."

The three boys looked at him blankly. "That must've been one vicious dog." James said, before turning to Sirius. "Did you hear that though? He fought off a vicious dog that attacked him, at the age of three!"

"That's wicked!" Sirius exclaimed. "How big was it? It must've been huge!And bloodthirsty!"

Remus turned even redder, this wasn't going exactly how he figured his first night would go. He had been figuring that they'd immediately know he was a werewolf and shun him. However, this was a pleasant alternative.

"Guys, he might not want to relive a dog attack." Peter said, and Remus silently thanked him, since Sirius and James seemed to realize that it might not be a pleasant subject and stopped.

"I don't think I caught your names though. I mean, I'd like to attach a name to the dog-destroyer and his best mate." James said, sitting on a bed with his stuff.

"Remus." he replied, smiling. There was something pleasant about having some people he could consider friends.

"Peter." the other replied, grinning.

"Sweet!" Sirius exclaimed. "Gosh, it's so weird knowing people with normal names. Everyone I'm sodding related to has some pretentious name that's based off a constellation or something."

"I think that includes you, mate." James said. "Not many Siriuses in the world."

Remus snorted at that, and Peter began laughing as well.

"Oh, shut up." Sirius grumbled. "Anyway, I know about six."

"They all your cousins?"

"Yes."

"Then, mate, that doesn't count." James said. "If you know six because they're relatives, it's because it's a family name. Just makes your whole family pretentious instead of just your parents."

"My parents are indicators of the whole family." Sirius grumbled.

"Yeah, how'd they meet each other?"

"... Family reunion." Sirius said.

Remus finally let out a laugh, and Peter lost it at that point. James was just about crying, and even Sirius began to chuckle.

"I know, they're messed up." Sirius said. "Should only need to deal with it a little longer, I've broken a ton of tradition already."

Remus was beginning to think he had missed something by being anti-social on the train ride, and he was beginning to wonder why he was worried anyway. So long as he kept it hidden, he'd be fine. They couldn't stay on topic very long anyway, so it wasn't like they'd be able to keep track of his comings and goings. There were no problems he could forsee in the future.

Just friendships to last a lifetime.

A/N: Just a quick Drabble I did for the 'Last Man Standing' competition, with the prompt 'Marauder Era'. I hope you enjoyed!