A Marauders Story

Chapter One

Close your eyes. Imagine yourself in a meadow with the first person that comes to your mind. You are so unbelievably close with this person, your deepest, darkest, most personal secrets are already known to this person. You couldn't live without this person, they are the butter to your bread, the oxygen to your lungs. But suddenly, they disappear. Gone in the blink of an eye. No explanation, no sign of them ever being here. Were they truly ever there? Or was it all your imagination, not real whatsoever. You can't even remember them, the color of their eyes, the way they smelled, the sound of their laugh, the hours you spent together. All things you would of known like the back of your hand. It feels as if a part of your soul disappeared with them. Like you can never be whole again, forever broken. Unable to breath, unable to become close with anyone, unable to live a full life. Wishing it was you who had disappeared. This is how Remus Lupin felt the remainder of his life after the death of Sirius Black.
•••••••••••••
"Are you new? You don't look like a first year." A small kid, kind of puny, with combed blond hair and freckles. 

"I'm transferring into 6th year's class. I guess I'm technically a first year." Remus chuckled. The boy laughed as well. 

"Well that's lucky. I'm sixth year too! I'm Peter, Peter Petigrew. I'll be your first friend, we can sit together in the great hall if you want?" Peter looked up at Remus eagerly. 

"Uhh... Nice to meet you Peter. I'd love to sit with you. I'm Remus." Remus looked uncomfortable. Peter noticed this and continued to walk to the great hall with Remus following behind. The great hall was huge, and there were so many students packed inside. Remus followed Peter hesitantly to the table. Suddenly a tall boy with brown, shaggy hair, who sat next to the boy, stood up.

"Hey fresh meat! I'm James, nice to meet you!" He said rather loudly and confidently, thrusting his hand out with a huge smile. Remus's shoulders relaxed, taking James's hand, and smiled. As Remus sat down he glanced up to find the raven haired boy, to the right of James, eyes fixed on Remus. He quickly looked away, his face glowing red.

"So, how'd you get sorted into Gryffindor if you didn't do the sorting hat ceremony with the first years?" James asked, shaking Remus's focus from the strange boy to him.

"Oh, um, Headmaster Dumbledore took care of that, along with.....well uh I was a special exception I guess." Remus stopped himself, he almost let to much slip out. He was here for a fresh start. He glanced up at the strange boy again. His eyes were still fixed on him. Suddenly the boy got up and hastily walked out of the hall. Confused, Remus looked down at the food that had appeared some time when he wasn't paying attention.
"Where is he going?" Remus turned to Peter to ask. Peter, dropping his chicken fingers, replied through bites. 

"Oh, Sirius does whatever he wants. We learned to stop questioning his actions long ago." So Sirius is his name. Focusing on eating his food, the rest of the chatter between the boys went in one ear and out the other. Remus was nervous. Being around so many people who had no idea what he was and what he had done. What if he messed up? How long could Remus keep up a charade of being a normal kid. Well, as normal as it gets in the strange world of theirs.                      

"Hey kid, come on, it's time to go!" 

Remus had been so drawn into his thoughts he had not noticed that the feast was over. It dawned on him that he had no idea where the common room was. He jumped onto his feet searching the crowd for a short, blond haired boy. Combing through the sea of black uniforms, he easily found Peter and James straggling in the back. 

"There you are, we thought you had fallen asleep." James said through the chatter of the hallway. Remus laughed. His eyes wondered, seeing just how large Hogwarts really was. He looked up and down, both ways seeming to go on forever. Following the boys to a large painting, Remus made a mental note to remember the fat lady in the painting,  and followed the boys into the common room. 

"Wow," Remus choked out, "this is so much nicer than my previous lodging." Peter and James laughed. 

"Come on, we pulled a few strings with Matthias, we got you into our room." Remus followed the boys up the stairs into the bedroom. The layout was pretty simple. Four beds, each with curtains around for privacy, with a chest next to each. As his eyes reached the fourth bed, he made eye contact with the raven haired boy called Sirius. 

James grabbed Sirius and pulled him out of bed, "Sirius meet Remus." He smirked and saluted to Remus. 

"Pleasure" Sirius spoke in a low, monotonous voice, sending chills up Remus's spine. Remus smiled and held out his hand, but Sirius walked past him and out of the room. 

"Don't mind him Remus, it takes him a bit to warm up to people," Peter spoke over his shoulder. Remus shrugged, finding the one empty bed with his luggage already at the side, he sank onto the bed. Exhaustion hit him the moment he felt the cotton sheets. Remus's poor sleep schedule was catching up to him. He let out a low sigh, closing his eyes, he fell into the black abyss of sleep.