The Hogwarts Express

"You don't have to do this," my mother, Hope Lupin, told me as I stared at the impressive Hogwarts Express, "you can keep being homeschooled, your father won't mind."

I looked away from the shiny red train. I never dreamed that I'd be able to see the Hogwarts Express in person, let alone be allowed to attend Hogwarts. It was a dream come true.

"You don't get it, Mom," I said, "you never got a letter, but I did."

Mom sighed. "I just feel like this is a terrible idea, you're only eleven, what about your monthly problem?"

I looked down at the ground, it always came back to this, always.

"Prof-Professor Dumbledore said it would be okay," I told her. "He said he wouldn't have given me the letter if he hadn't figured it all out."

"But what does that mean?" Mom asked. "How can we be sure that he's going to lock you up over the cycle. We don't even know him. Your father says he's some great and powerful wizard, but what if he's wrong? You're not like the other students, Remus, what happens when they find out? I just want to keep you safe."

"I-I want to go to school," I said, my voice wavering but strong. "I'll be okay, Mom, I'm tough, you know this."

"I know," she said, tears pricking at her eyes, "but you're shy around new people, I don't want anyone to take advantage of you."

"I won't let them."

Mom smiled, knowing there was no talking me out of this. "Okay you can go, but you have to write to me all the time and if your first moon cycle goes terribly then you can come home, okay? You can always come home."

"Thank you, Mom." I leaned forward and hugged her. "I'll be okay, I promise."

I left Mom with one last wave and boarded the Hogwarts Express. As I walked down the corridor, I noticed that all of the compartments had people in them. I hit the end of the train and walked back, surveying every compartment, trying to find one that didn't look too threatening. I wanted nothing more than to just fly under the radar.

My mother was a muggle-born, so she didn't know how important this was, but my father, Lyall, had told me everything. Hogwarts was not only a school where you learned magic, but where you found out the man you were going to become. My father had made it sound so exciting and important and I was excited to get out into the world and start becoming my own man; someone my family would be proud of.

I paused by a compartment door, it only had two boys in it and they looked about my age. I watched them for a moment before deciding whether or not to join them. I noticed that they were in some kind of weird stand-off, neither saying a word, just staring at each other. They both had black hair, but one had messy hair and wore glasses and the other had shoulder length hair. They were doing nothing and I decided they were probably just scared little boys, like I was.

I entered the compartment and neither boy looked at me. I cleared my throat and shrugged off my satchel, but still, neither paid me any attention. I sat down on the same seat as the boy with the longer hair. I hated feeling ignored, but the two boys were still staring at each other, not blinking. I sighed and watched them.

"This is Sirius," the boy with glasses finally said.

"Wh-what's serious?" I asked quietly, happy they were finally acknowledging me.

"I'm Sirius," the boy next to me said. "That's James."

"Oh," I said, realizing that was their names. I was silently thankful that one of them had an unusual name like mine. "Do you two know each other?" I asked.

"No," Sirius scoffed, "I was here first and this idiot comes in asking me to leave, we're deciding who gets the compartment. First person to look away has to leave."

"Like… a… umm, staring contest?" I asked.

"A what?" James questioned.

"Are you Muggle-Born?" Sirius asked, obviously disgusted.

"No, umm, Half-Blood. My dad works for the Ministry and my mom's a Muggle."

"The Ministry," Sirius scoffed.

"Hey," James said, "I'm gonna work for them one day, I'm gonna be the best Auror they ever had."

"If you say so," Sirius said. "What's your name?"

"Me?" I faltered. "Umm, Remy, I mean, Remus, Remus Lupin." No one said anything. "Is it okay that I'm here?" I asked, "Because I can leave if you want."

James and Sirius answered at the same time.

"I don't care," Sirius said.

"Stay," said James.

I decided to stay.

"Give up, James," Sirius mocked, "you don't know my mother, I can do this all night."

"And you don't know me," James bit straight back.

"Are… Are you both Pure-Blood?" I asked.

"Yes," they answered at the same time.

"C-can I ask you a question? Do people get sorted into the same houses as their family members or is it random?"

"They do," Sirius said.

"Depends," said James.

"Don't listen to him," Sirius told me, "everyone in my family's been in Slytherin and I won't be an exception to that."

"I… umm… I think I'll be in Slytherin too," I said, picking at the sweater-vest my mother had forced me to wear.

"Why?" James asked. "Was your father in that house?"

"No, he didn't tell me which one he was in, he said he didn't want it to influence me. He said he'd be proud if I was in any of them, but I think I'll be in Slytherin, all the people who do bad things go into that house, that's what I heard."

"And what bad have you done?" Sirius asked.

"I didn't do the bad stuff, not really," I said, "but I don't think they'll care."

Something shifted and James and Sirius looked at me for the first time. I pulled my sleeves down and touched the top of my shirt, making sure every inch of my skin was covered. I didn't want them to see my scars, I'd been warned by my parents, and even Dumbledore, to tell no one that I was a werewolf.

"We should make an unbreakable vow," James stood up, "no matter what house we're sorted in, we'll all be friends."

"And why would I want to be friends with you?" Sirius asked James. "You're a fucking idiot."

I shied away from Sirius' filthy mouth, no one in my family had ever talked like that, but I found I didn't hate it.

"I bet you don't even know the magic to make the vow." Sirius sat back against the window and stretched his legs out on the seat towards me.

"We don't have to actually make the vow," James pushed his glasses up higher on his nose, "it's the notion of it. We'll know what it means. …Wait, Remus, do you know what an unbreakable vow is?"

"Yeah," I said. My parents never thought I'd get invited to Hogwarts so they'd already started training me in all things magic. "If you break it, you die."

"Exactly," James said. "Come on, Sirius, are you in?"

"I'm no fool," Sirius tipped his head back and closed his eyes, "I don't want to be stuck with your sorry ass forever."

"You're such a fucking princess," James said, "fine, me and you Remus."

James held out his hand and I didn't hesitate to take it. I'd never had a true friend before. Being bit by a werewolf when you were only four kept you away from almost everyone, but no one was holding me back now.

"Fine," Sirius said, standing up and putting his hand on top of ours, "but if I fucking regret this, I'll kill you both."