Once in a Blue Moon (COMPLETE)

A/N: Thanks as always to all my reviewers for your kind comments on this story. Credit for the last update being so quick does have to go to my beta LostAndAwaiting though, as she got the chapter back to me in 48 hours. I am actually something like eight chapters ahead of her so she gets a new one as soon as she gets one back to me at the moment. I am working her into the ground, poor girl.

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It’s a Beautiful Morning
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Platform nine and three quarters was as crowded as it always was on the first of September. Parents and children jostled their way along the platform as they tried to find their friends.

“Hey, Sirius, over here!”

Sirius looked up at the sound of his name and saw James waving frantically from the doorway to the end carriage.

“Hi James!” he yelled back.

“Sirius! Keep your voice down,” his mother hissed with annoyance. “Shouting and yelling like a common marker vendor. Your manners the last few years have become appalling. If only Durmstrang had accepted your application.”

Sirius tuned out the rest of his mother’s complaints – he’d heard them all already – and dragged his trunk towards the carriage.

James helped him carry his belongings onto the train. When Sirius turned back to the platform it was to see that his mother had already disappeared back into the crowd and was no doubt heading for the barrier.

“She didn’t even say goodbye,” James commented with surprise.

“She’s still angry that she couldn’t get me into Durmstrang,” Sirius explained. “The only time she’s stopped complaining about that has been when she’s been foisting some girl or another on me.”

“I can’t really see your mother playing matchmaker.”

“You really don’t want to,” Sirius muttered. “One of the little cows stabbed me with a fork and another actually had the nerve to ask to ‘check the merchandise’.”

“Merchandise?”

“Me,” Sirius clarified. “She wanted me to strip at a dinner party so she could see what she was getting.”

“You didn’t?”

“Good luck for me that my Uncle Alphard pointed out there were children present and I got out of it.”

James laughed loudly. “Wish I’d been there to see that. You should have stripped anyway, you’ve got a decent body.”

“Didn’t know you’d been checking me out,” Sirius replied, his face flushing even as he made the comment. James merely laughed again and tugged him down the corridor and into the compartment he’d already claimed for them.

“And look who I found wandering around on the platform,” he declared with a grin as he opened the door.

“Remus!” Sirius exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“Going to Hogwarts,” Remus replied with a smirk. “What are you doing here?”

Sirius pulled Remus into a hug and ruffled up his hair. “I meant why are you here instead of at school already? You’ve been living there all summer.”

“I wanted to travel on the Hogwart’s Express,” Remus smiled. “Dumbledore arranged for me to floo to the platform’s office and travel back with the rest of you.”

“The platform has an office?” James asked.

“Of course it does,” Remus replied with a roll of his eyes. “It’s not like you can buy tickets for the Express in the muggle part of the station.”

“If you only came down here for the journey, what’s in the bag?” Sirius asked curiously.

“Some food and my school robes to change into.”

“There’s a food cart that comes round,” James pointed out.

“I know, but Professor McGonagall seems to think it’s full of sweets and cakes and insisted I bring some sandwiches for us. They look quite nice actually, though not as good as the feast tonight is going to be.”

“Your first Hogwart’s feast,” Sirius declared. “It’s going to be so great. You’ll be able to sit with us in the Great Hall from now on. No more sneaking food into the dorms, unless we want to have a midnight feast or something.”

“You’re forgetting something,” Remus pointed out quietly. At the blank faces of the other two boys he sighed and continued. “I have to be sorted before I can sit with the rest of you.”

“You’re not worried about that are you?” James asked with a laugh. “You’ll be in Gryffindor with us. You have to be.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I guess we’ll have to wait and see,” Sirius conceded. “But if you’re not in Gryffindor I’ll be so surprised that I’ll…I’ll…well I don’t know what I’ll do, but it will be something very surprise-worthy.”

Remus smiled weakly. “We’ll see. At least by tonight I’ll know for sure which house I’m in.”

“Where’s Peter?” Sirius asked, suddenly realising the absence of the other boy and wondering where he was.

“Setting up the prank,” James replied after a glance at the door to make sure no one was lingering outside.

“What prank?”

“What prank?” James echoed. “You great plank! The prank. The one we were setting up for the train last term.”

“I’d forgotten all about that,” Sirius admitted.

“Good job the rest of us didn’t,” James replied. “It’s going to be great.”

Sirius looked at Remus with a smile. “It’ll be perfect!” he amended.

Later that morning the four boys were lapping up the glory that came from pranking the entire Hogwart’s Express. They had, much to the relief of Peter, Sirius and Remus, convinced James that the driver’s window should be left alone, but everyone else was treated to a surprise tour of the world.

The latest group of admirers had just left their compartment when the sweet cart arrived.

“Ice creams?” James asked hopefully. Their window no longer reflected the Northamptonshire countryside, instead they were viewing the Pyramids of Egypt and even though the temperature was still that of late summer, the sight was giving them all cravings for something colder than sweets.

The trolley lady laughed and shook her head. “I’ll see what I can do,” she replied before moving down the corridor.

James sat back in his seat, satisfied with the well executed prank. Outside the window the view shimmered and changed to Mount Rushmore.

“Who’s got Mount Rushmore?” shouted one of the sixth year students who was running a book to take bets on what else they would see through the windows of the Express. Another voice shouted in delight that she had that location and squealed as she collected her winnings and made her way to the sweets cart.

“Best prank ever,” Peter commented.

“For the moment,” James replied. “We’ll have to work hard to outdo ourselves.”

Sirius nodded and set his mind to thinking up something spectacular to top this, their finest prank so far.

-o-xXx-o-

They arrived at Hogsmeade Station right on time. It was slightly disconcerting to see a dark ocean out of the window but solid ground outside the door, but no one seemed to mind too much.

“Firs’ years, over ‘ere,” Hagrid called. “You as well, Remus.”

“What?” Remus asked as he turned away from his friends who were heading towards the carriages.

“You’ve still got to be sorted,” Sirius reminded him. “I guess you’ll have to go with the rest of the first years. I’ll save you a seat next to me.”

Remus nodded, and watched his friends walk away. The first years looked so small and tiny; he’d stand out a mile when he walked into the hall with them. Everyone would know immediately who he was… the werewolf.

Those who hadn’t actually seen the report in the Prophet at the start of the summer would be sure to ask who he was, and those who had read it would certainly be able to guess his identity and tell everyone. Everyone knowing there was a werewolf in the school was one thing, everyone knowing that he was the werewolf was something that hadn’t really occurred to him. Sure, he knew that his classmates would notice the extra student, but he’d foolishly imagined he could just slip into place without any sort of fuss. He couldn’t believe that actually standing in front of the rest of the school with the first years wasn’t something that had crossed his mind before now.

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

“Are you getting in?” one of the first years asked as Remus lingered on the dock. He nodded and climbed into the boat.

“I’m a muggle-born,” the boy whispered confidentially. “This all seems so strange and a bit unreal. What about you?”

“I’m a wizard, but I’m still nervous,” replied Remus, fingering his brand new wand in his pocket. He hadn’t been surprised to find that the wand that had chosen him had a dragon heart-string core and he smiled to himself as he recalled the day he’d bought it. Unlike Sirius’s wand of Ash, Remus’s was made of Willow and whilst practising his magic over the summer, under the instruction of various professors who were keeping an eye on him, he had found his ability to perform spells had improved beyond all his expectations.

Remus looked at the castle as they approached it. The boy beside him gasped in awe, as did several others in the other boats. It really was the best view of the school there was and Remus wasn’t sorry that he was there to see it.

They arrived in the Entrance Hall without incident and were met by Professor McGonagall, whose duty it was to lead them into the Great Hall. Remus slouched in his spot slightly, trying unsuccessfully to look shorter than he actually was. Professor McGonagall caught his eye and appeared to have guessed what he was doing. He shifted nervously, but stood up straighter under her knowing gaze. She smiled at him approvingly and proceeded to explain the everyone about the school houses and the points you could win or lose for your ‘family’.

Then they were trailing after her into the Great Hall.

Remus had seen the inside of the Great Hall, of course, but he’d never seen it full of students as it was now. He walked with the first years between the tables of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Over to his right he could see Sirius, James and Peter at the Gryffindor table. True to his word, Sirius had saved a place next to him in hopeful anticipation. He gave a small wave to the other boys and James gave him two thumbs up in encouragement.

Then he had passed them and reached the front of the hall. The rest of the teachers were seated at the staff table. There was only one that Remus didn’t recognise, and he guessed her to be the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. He’d been very relieved to hear that Professor Spion would not be returning to the school and wondered what the new teacher’s philosophy on werewolves was.

He didn’t have much time to speculate though because the hall had quietened to allow the Sorting Hat to sing its annual song.

-o-

The founders of our noble school
Were famous in their day,
But not all wizards at that time
Liked what they had to say.

-o-

Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff
Were witches, as you know,
And many thought they should not teach,
Should pack their bags and go.

-o-

They did not have an easy time
In Hogwart’s early years,
But they struggled on regardless
Of the prejudicial fears.

-o-

Eventually it came to pass
The women were accepted,
And female students joined the school,
Without fear of being rejected.

-o-

The prejudices suffered then
Were seen to be the norm,
And sadly they still linger here,
But in a different form.

-o-

Hogwart’s School is open now
For all who wish to study,
But not everyone can come here,
Some are not so lucky.

-o-

Some don’t have the money,
Others live too far away,
But prejudices in our school,
Keep many more at bay.

-o-

I do not seek to tell you
What is right and what is wrong.
I only try to guide you,
Through the singing of my song.

-o-

Gryffindors have naught to fear,
'Tis bravery they prize,
And Ravenclaws are smart enough
To judge with their own eyes.

-o-

For those hard-working Hufflepuffs,
Their loyalty is their creed,
They welcome all into the house,
Where everyone's received.

-o-

Ambition hungry Slytherins,
Know prejudice and fears,
They've dealt it out and got it back,
For many dark long years.

-o-

Each and every one of you
Is different from the rest,
And Hogwart’s welcomes everyone
Which makes us quite the best.

-o-

Remus listened as the Sorting Hat finished its song. He guessed that the Hat had been picking up things from Dumbledore’s office, things about him and those who were in a similar position, but not fortunate enough to be able to attend the school. A slight twinge of guilt caused him a moment of unease, but then the sorting began.

“Adams, Melanie,” McGonagall called and a nervous looking girl stumbled towards the stool. The Hat didn’t take long to sort her into Ravenclaw.

Slowly they continued down the list of students, lingering quite a while in the Ds when the Davies triplets were sorted, two into Hufflepuff and one into Ravenclaw.

Finally the L’s were reached. “Lupin, Remus,” Professor McGonagall called, looking directly at him and waving him forward.

He could hear some whispers coming from the student tables and could tell that at least some of them had heard about him. As he passed McGonagall he saw her turn to glare at the culprits, but when she turned back to him she was smiling kindly as always.

He sat down on the small stool, feeling like some sort of awkward giant on the miniature piece of furniture.

The younger Lupin brother, eh? He wasn’t surprised that the Hat knew who he was, but the next words in his mind caused his heart to plunge. Hufflepuff House would be happy to welcome you, just like it welcomed him.

“No,” Remus whispered to himself. He didn’t want to be in Hufflepuff, he wanted to join his friends in Gryffindor.

Are you sure about that? Perhaps you would prefer to be in Ravenclaw? You have the brains for that house, you know?

He guessed he wasn’t brave enough for Gryffindor, but the moment the thought flitted through his mind the Hat picked up on it.

Not brave enough? No, you have courage in abundance. It’s not going to be easy for you, no matter where I place you. You’ll need every ounce of courage you have, and you have plenty.

Then the Hat was calling out ‘Gryffindor’ and the students at that table were clapping and cheering. He stood up and passed the Sorting Hat back to Professor McGonagall who looked thrilled as she waved him towards the Gryffindor table.

He shot a last look over his shoulder at the staff table and saw that Professor Sprout was smiling at him, though he thought she looked a little disappointed, even though she was clapping along with the rest of the staff.

He reached the Gryffindor table and the space that Sirius had saved for him.

“Knew you’d be in with us!” he declared as he pulled Remus down onto the bench beside him.

“I wish I’d been so sure,” Remus whispered back as the applause died down and the Sorting continued.

He was at Hogwarts and he was in Gryffindor, right now there wasn’t anything else he could wish for.

-o-xXx-o-

The common room was crowded and noisy that evening. Remus was curled up in one of the chairs, soaking up the lively atmosphere that signified the start of a new school year. Sirius was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the chair, occasionally grinning up at him in between joking with James about his latest disastrous attempts to woo the sharp-tongued Lily Evans.

“She called me a bullying toe-rag again,” James complained.

Remus raised an eyebrow, but bit his tongue rather than point out to the other boy that Lily’s words were actually rather accurate.

Sirius commented that she would probably come ‘round eventually.

“I notice you’re not disagreeing with what she called me,” James pointed out.

“Did you expect me to?” asked Sirius, as he gave the other boy a sharp glare, causing him to flush.

“I thought we’d put all that behind us?” Peter asked.

“We have,” Sirius promised. “I guess Lily is the type to hold grudges for longer than me and Remus.”

“I guess,” James muttered as he watched Lily laughing at something one of her friends was saying. He leaned back to get a better look when someone stepped into his line of sight and toppled backwards off his chair.

“Smooth,” Charlene commented as she reached down to help him up.

“Did you want something?” James asked impatiently. “I’ve been practising all summer, so you better watch out on the pitch.”

“Glad to hear it,” Charlene answered easily as she pulled up a chair. “I just came to say hello to the new boy. Nice to put a name to the face at last, Remus.”

“Hi,” Remus replied in a small voice. “I guess I owe you some thanks for not letting on that I was hiding out at the school last year.”

“Well, I didn’t know you were hiding out here all the time,” she pointed out. “Not until you made the Daily Prophet in the summer, anyway. I thought you were just sneaking in and out under that brilliant cloak of yours.”

James coughed and glared at Remus.

“What?” Charlene asked.

“That happens to by my cloak, not his,” James huffed. “It was supposed to be a secret.”

“It is?”

“Yeah. It’s a Potter family heirloom, that is.”

“What did you bring it to school for then?”

“It’s useful, came in really handy for Remus last year, didn’t it?”

“But what do you use it for?” Charlene pressed. “Oh, don’t tell me! Sneaking into the girls’ changing rooms, right?”

“Only a couple of times,” James blurted out, too flustered to realise he was incriminating himself with every word he uttered.

Peter started to choke as he tried to hold in his laughter. Sirius and Remus didn’t even bother to try to hide their mirth.

Charlene turned back to Remus and smiled shyly. “Can I ask you something?” she whispered, glancing round the rest of the room to see if anyone was listening to them.

“I guess,” Remus replied hesitantly.

“Are you really a...you know...a werewolf? Or was the Prophet making stuff up again?”

Even though the word was whispered by the girl, it seemed to carry across the room and a number of students were now staring at him, waiting for his answer.

He saw that Sirius had reached for his wand and he placed a calming hand on his shoulder to still his movements.

He knew he had to make a choice about how he was going to handle the stares and the questions. He knew that not everyone would accept him and that things could get very difficult for him if he made the wrong choice.

He couldn’t run away to the dormitory and hide from the questions, much as he might like to.

He briefly considered lying and saying that the Prophet was printing false reports; it wouldn’t be the first time. But he knew that sooner or later the lie would be revealed for what it was and everyone would know that he was not only a werewolf, but also a liar, just like Professor Spion had taught them.

“Yes,” he replied, simply and quietly.

A few of the students who had been standing nearby edged away slightly; groups of friends were gathering together protectively. He felt his heart sinking at how many of them were looking at him differently now that they knew. He guessed that there were a lot of them who hadn’t read the Daily Prophet over the holidays or had simply forgotten the details of the report.

The muggle-born first year who had shared the boat across the lake with him was staring at him with wide eyes.

“Got a problem with that?” Sirius asked as he stood up and glared around the room. “And that goes for the rest of you, too!”

Then James and Peter were on their feet beside Sirius, wands out and pointed threateningly at anyone they thought was looking at them with the wrong expression.

Charlene raised her hands in the standard display of surrender. “I only asked if it was true,” she said.

“It’s true,” Remus repeated as he got to his feet. “Geez, guys, put the wands away. We’re not under attack.”

He stepped around the three boys and held out his hand to Charlene. “Remus Lupin,” he said.

“Charlene Grahams,” Charlene replied. “Charlie to my friends.” She smiled hesitantly.

“Charlie.” Remus tested the name on his tongue and smiled back.

“Welcome to Hogwarts,” Charlene said. “Just be careful how you choose your friends,” she warned, casting a glare at James and Peter.

“I always am,” Remus replied. “And these three have already proved themselves to be the best friends I could wish for.”

Charlene looked doubtful, but she didn’t say anything more as she returned to the other side of the room.

Gradually, the rest of the students turned back to their friends and activities, leaving Remus and his friends to enjoy the rest of the evening.

-o-xXx-o-

“Well, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Remus commented as they walked into the dormitory. “No one started throwing silver sickles at me or anything stupid like that.”

“Does silver burn you?” Peter asked, curious now that the subject had been brought up.

Remus laughed and shook his head. “No. And if anyone was stupid enough to throw sickles at me I’d just catch them all and spend them in Hogsmeade first chance I get.”

Peter laughed and turned to his trunk.

“Guess we ought to unpack,” said Sirius around a wide yawn.

“Except me,” Remus grinned. “One advantage of living at Hogwarts during the summer is that I’m already settled in and can just go straight to sleep. Good thing I wasn’t sorted into one of the other houses.”

“Next summer you can set up some pranks whilst you have the run of the castle,” James told him. “You’ve obviously been slacking these last few weeks.”

Remus laughed and pulled his pyjamas out of the chest of drawers. “I’ll see what I can do,” he promised.

Peter, having found what he was looking for, headed out the door to the bathroom. James followed after him with a yawn of his own.

“You coming?” Remus asked as he picked up his wash things.

Sirius nodded, but Remus could tell there was something else troubling him. “What is it?” he prompted.

“I’m just worried about you,” Sirius replied. “Not all the students looked pleased when you answered Charlie’s question.”

“I know.”

“You think some will cause trouble?”

“The Slytherins probably will,” Remus muttered. “Not sure about the Gryffindors. They looked a bit scared, but so did you when you first found out.”

“I’m not scared any more,” Sirius told him. “Not even a little bit.”

“You’ve not seen me on the full moon for months,” Remus pointed out. “Moony is even bigger now, and a lot more dangerous.”

“You don’t have to go into the forest again, do you?”

“No. I was back home in the basement for the last one and can go back there for the rest during the school year. Professor Dumbledore has arranged with his brother for me to use the tunnel to the Hog’s Head.”

“I wonder if he’d let me come with you,” Sirius speculated. “You need someone to take care of you in the mornings, you know, in case it was a bad night.”

“Romulus will be there,” Remus pointed out.

“Where is he at the moment?” Sirius asked, looking around the room as though he expected to see him hovering in the corner.

“Don’t know. I’ve not seen him for a couple of days, but he’s promised to be here on each full moon.”

“I still think I should come with you.”

“I’ll speak with Professor McGonagall and see if it’s possible.”

“I’m sure they won’t mind. I’m still doing the extra classes for healing spells, it’s stupid not to put them to good use.”

Remus laughed. “Could you try not to sound so thrilled at the idea of practising your dubious skills on me?”

“Well, it’s not like your own skills are any good in that area,” Sirius pointed out with a teasing poke to the ribs.

Remus laughed again and ducked out of the door. “Come on, you daft idiot,” he called back to Sirius. “There’ll be no hot water left if we wait much longer.”

Sirius grabbed his own things and followed after Remus. The next full moon was nearly two weeks away that gave them plenty of time to try to talk the teachers into letting him go with Remus. He just had to turn on the old Black charm.

-o-xXx-o-

Remus dithered around in the bathroom, trying his hardest to avoid disrobing in front of the other students. This was easier said than done because there were several students who were apparently curious to know whether he had any visible scars and were loitering around themselves even though they had clearly finished getting ready for bed.

In between worrying about how much attention he was getting from the other students, he also took some time to decide where he was going to sleep. As an official Gryffindor student he had his own bed now along with his own bedside table, wardrobe space, shelves and trunk. But he also had a best friend who he actually liked to curl up beside on the coldest nights of the year.

Thoughts along those lines brought to mind something else that Remus hadn’t given much thought to over the summer. That being the last few moments before Professor Spion had charged into the dormitory.

Sirius hadn’t mentioned the incident once, even though Remus had half expected him to several times over the summer.

Remus was not entirely sure what would have happened if Professor Spion hadn’t torn him away from Sirius with a blast from his wand. He had thought at the time that perhaps Sirius might have been about to kiss him, but those thoughts became increasingly doubtful as the summer passed with no word from Sirius about what his intentions had been.

He knew that thanks to Rita Skeeter, some of the students were firmly convinced that Sirius fancied boys and not girls. Remus had heard several conversations whilst hidden under the invisibility cloak that he had declined to relay to his friend. He knew that Sirius was still rather sensitive about such rumours and the last thing he wanted to do was upset his friend. That same fear was why he hadn’t brought up the incident in the dormitory himself.

He didn’t know for sure that Sirius had been about to kiss him, he could have had something in his eyes, or he could have been feeling a bit dizzy from lack of food, after all, he had only had seven slices of jam laden toast for breakfast that morning. Even if he couldn’t think of what they were right now, there were loads of reasons why he might have been standing so close and moving towards him so slowly and most of them didn’t involve the touching of lips.

The one thing that finally convinced Remus that Sirius hadn’t been about to kiss him was that his friend hadn’t confided in him about definitely liking other boys in that way. They were friends, and although Remus had never had that many of them he was very sure that friends would tell each other things like that. Sirius was his best friend and if he liked other boys then he should know that he could tell Remus. He had confided in him about his worries before, so why was this any different?

Clearly Remus was reading far too much into things. Sirius hadn’t been about to kiss him and there was no need for Remus to worry about how to let his best friend down gently. Nor could Remus see that there was any reason for him to put distance between the two of them. When it came right down to it, he liked sleeping in the same bed as Sirius and that was all that mattered to him.

“I missed this,” Remus murmured as he curled up beside Sirius later that night.

“Missed what? Peter’s grunts and James’s snores?”

“No,” Remus whispered. “You. Well, all of you really. But especially you.”

“I thought you’d want to be in your own bed now the Ministry isn’t after you any more.”

“You want me to go?”

“Now who’s being daft?” Sirius teased. “So, how was your first day at Hogwarts as an official student?”

“Perfect,” Remus replied. “Just perfect.”

-o-xXx-o-

Sirius was woken on his first morning back at school by a sharp poke in his ribs. He grunted and turned over, reluctant to leave the luxurious warmth of the bed.

“Sirius, get up,” Remus hissed in his ear.

“What time is it?” Sirius muttered, his eyes still stubbornly closed.

“Nearly six,” Remus replied cheerfully. “Come on, it’s a beautiful morning and we’ve got classes in a few hours.”

Sirius scowled at the other boy as he cracked open a single eye. “A few hours are the important words there, Remus. A few hours means that there is at least two and a half hours of sleep still to be had.”

“But you’re awake now,” Remus pointed out. “Come on, the common room is empty.”

“That’s because anyone with sense is still asleep.”

“Come and feed the thestrals with me,” Remus pleaded in a voice that was bordering on the very edge of whining.

Sirius groaned and glared at his friend. “You’re not going to stop pestering me until I get up, are you?”

“Nope, come on.”

Sirius knew that it was pointless to argue and he was now wide-awake anyway. “Just this once,” he warned. “You wake me up at stupid o’clock in the morning again and you can go feed Hagrid’s pets on your own.”

Remus nodded and bounced off the bed. “I’ll meet you down in the common room,” he called as he slipped out the door.

Sirius staggered out of bed, pulled his clothes from his trunk, retrieved one of his shoes from under his bed, and stubbed his toe on the beside table. He swore loudly under his breath, but it was apparently just loud enough to wake James, who sat up in bed and glared at him.

“What the hell are you doing?” he hissed. “It’s the crack of bloody dawn.”

“Go back to sleep,” Sirius told him. He watched enviously as James took him at his word and within a few seconds he was once again dead to the world.

Remus was pacing in the common room when Sirius joined him. “What’s so great about the thestrals?” he asked as they ducked out of the portrait hole. “I can’t even see them. Can you?”

“No, but they’re still fascinating,” Remus told him as they made their way down the stairs. “We don’t get to study them until next year though.”

“How do you know that?”

“Hagrid told me. He’s been giving me extra lessons all summer to help me catch up with the rest of you.”

“Lucky you,” Sirius smirked.

“It’s been great,” Remus argued with a shake of his head. “It’s been like having my own private tutors. It’s a pity Hagrid isn’t a real teacher because his lessons are really fun.”

“You weren’t so happy about it when it was your brother teaching you,” Sirius pointed out. “Or when you found out you were taking exams with us last term.”

“That’s different,” Remus replied with an easy shrug. “Now I can be with the rest of you properly, isn’t it great?”

Chatting about the classes they were taking, the two boys made their way across the grounds to Hagrid’s hut. The morning was chilly with a light mist over the grounds, but Sirius could tell that Remus was right… it was going to be a beautiful day.

-o-xXx-o-

It was after eight by the time the other boys emerged from the dormitory and showed their faces in the Great Hall.

“Sirius?” James asked as he sat down opposite him. “Was it my imagination, or did you wake me up at the crack of dawn this morning?”

“You must have dreamt it,” Sirius blithely replied. “I was quiet as a mouse as I crept out.”

James snorted as he helped himself to a plateful of eggs and bacon.

Peter was wolfing down his own breakfast like it was going to disappear off his plate any second. He then dashed off to the Owlery, explaining that he’d left one of his textbooks at home and needed to ask his parents to send it on to him.

“Every year, first day of term, he remembers something he forgot,” James laughed.

“Don’t we all?” Sirius chuckled. “At least his parents will send it on to him. When I forget my Transfiguration holiday homework last year, my mother wrote back to tell me she’d burnt it and she hoped it taught me to pack more carefully.”

“At least Remus won’t have to worry about that sort of thing,” James commented.

“Yeah, if I’ve forgotten something, it’s probably still in Diagon Alley. No owl post for me.”

Almost as if the fates wanted to prove his words wrong, a large Barn Owl chose that moment to swoop into the hall and land at the side of his plate.

“You were saying,” Sirius said as the owl held out his leg and waited patiently for Remus to take the parchment from him.

“But I never get post,” Remus said. “I don’t know anyone who isn’t here at Hogwarts. You didn’t send this, did you?” He turned to Sirius with an accusing glance.

“No, why would I? It’s not Damon, is it?”

“No, he’s not bitten me yet.”

“He’s getting better trained,” Sirius muttered. “All the trips to Regulus are making him too tired to be vicious.”

“So, who’s that from?” James asked, leaning forward eagerly.

“Dunno.”

“You could open it and find out,” James pointed out impatiently.

Remus shrugged and examined the seal on the parchment. “D.C.C. Cheshire,” he read aloud.

“What’s D.C.C.?”

Remus shook his head and broke the seal to see what it was he’d received.

“What is it?” Sirius asked.

“D.C.C. stands for Dangerous Creatures Camp,” Remus whispered. “It’s from Fenrir Greyback.”

“Who’s that?” James asked.

“He’s sort of my guardian now,” Remus explained. “He’s the werewolf who bit me.”

“Didn’t you read the report in the Prophet?” Sirius asked.

“What for? I knew you’d write and tell me what had happened as soon as you knew, and you never mentioned his name.”

“What does he want with you?” Sirius asked Remus as the other boy tucked the letter into the pocket of his robes.

“Just wishing me good luck on my first day and letting me know that if I need funds to write to him for them. He’s also enclosed a letter giving me permission to go into Hogsmeade.”

“Doesn’t seem like your regular werewolf,” James commented, somewhat thoughtlessly considering the present company. “You planning on hitting him up for a loan?”

“Of course not, I intend to pay him back for the school fees as soon as I can. I don’t want to be in debt to him any more than I already am.”

“You going to write back to him?” Sirius asked.

“I guess. I wrote to him in the summer to thank him for what he did for me.”

“You wrote to thank him for biting you?” James spluttered around a mouthful of eggs.

Remus rolled his eyes and looked skyward as though searching for patience from the heavens. “I wrote to thank him for stepping forward to offer to be my guardian. He didn’t have to do that. He could have just left me to the executioners.”

Sirius nodded thoughtfully, feeling a rare moment of thankfulness for Fenrir Greyback.

“It’ll have to wait until later though,” Remus told them. “We’ve got Herbology in ten minutes in Greenhouse Five.”

“We’ve plenty of time,” James replied as he stuffed the last of his bacon into his mouth and reached for the pumpkin juice.

“We don’t want to be late on the first morning.”

Sirius shook his head as Remus stood up and tried to chivvy them into joining him.

“Come on!” Remus urged them, tugging on Sirius’s arm.

“I guess I’m done,” Sirius muttered, grabbing a final piece of toast to eat on the way.

“I’ll catch up with you in a few minutes,” James called after them as he reached across the table for the rest of Sirius’s bacon.

-o-xXx-o-

Greenhouse Five was hot and stuffy, but Remus wasn’t complaining. He was thoroughly enjoying his first lesson as an official Hogwart’s student.

“Ten points to Gryffindor,” Professor Sprout declared with a wide smile, after Remus had answered his second question correctly.

“Creep,” James coughed into his hand with a smirk across the table.

Sirius waited until the Professor’s back was turned before flicking the pruned leaves across the table with a wave of his wand.

“Your first ten house points,” he whispered to Remus. “How does it feel?”

“Great!” Remus grinned back at him.

The rest of the day progressed in a similar fashion. Remus was the first to raise his hand in class and earned house points in almost every lesson.

The smile that had appeared, from the moment he had awoken that morning remained on his face for the rest of the day. Not even homework in the form of twenty inches of parchment on transfiguring sea creatures into boats from Professor McGonagall could dampen his spirits.

“Twenty inches from McGonagall, twelve from Slughorn, half a dozen translations for Ancient Runes and we’ve got Astronomy tonight too.” James gave a long-suffering sigh and collapsed into a chair in the common room.

Sirius stretched out on the sofa and Remus sat down on the floor next to him. “Still think it’s great?” he asked, nudging him with his foot.

“It’s perfect!” Remus declared for what seemed to be the hundredth time that day.

Sirius laughed and shook his head.

“He’ll learn,” Peter confided in a loud whisper. “A few Ts on his homework assignments, a week or two of detentions and he’ll be as miserable as the rest of us.”

“Not going to happen,” Remus stated loudly. “I love it here and I even love the homework.”

Peter and the others laughed loudly.

“Freak!” Sirius teased, and this time Remus laughed along with them.

--------

A/N: For the non-British readers, yes, "plank" is spelt correctly. It is a mild insult stemming from the phrase "thick as two short planks". Just in case anyone was confused with that one.