We Are The Champions

Home At Last

WARNING: This fic currently undergoing major changes, and chapters from here may not make a lot of sense as I'm in the middle of tweaking the story. I'm sorry! Read on if you like, but just be aware of that . . . thank you!

It was dark when the train finally pulled into Hogsmede Station. As it did, Remus wiped the foggy window beside him with the sleeve of his school robe and peered out through it. Through the mist, past all the little Hogsmede cottages, he could just make out the castle in the distance. Its great turrets towered high over the village, and yellow light poured out of its windows, making them look almost like floating lanterns in the deep blue sky.

It was freezing cold outside on the platform, and the huge crowd of excited students made moving around tricky. At the other end of the platform, Remus spotted Lily stood with the other Gryffindor girls, and she gave him a quick wave as she and her friends climbed into one of the horseless carriages. Remus, Sirius, James and Peter followed and clambered into their own carriage, which set off down the wooded lane leading to the castle.

It wasn't long before they pulled to a halt, and as Remus and the other boys hopped out of their carriage, Remus saw the girls already making their way up to the castle. The four boys ran to catch up with them, and the group walked the rest of the way up to the school together. When they eventually reached the castle, and stepped through the huge oak front doors which parted for them as they approached, Remus couldn't help but smile.

It was wonderfully warm inside the castle, and Remus felt his teeth stop chattering the moment he stepped inside. As they made their way through the entrance hall, the great stone statues that lined the walls waved and bowed at the crowd of students, welcoming them back for a new year. Above them, pearly-white and transparent, the Hogwarts ghosts hovered around, watching them and chatting excitedly, while the portraits that covered the stone walls gossiped loudly to one another. At the top of the stone staircase, just outside the Great Hall, Remus spotted Professor McGonagall, sporting a huge, black pointed hat and herding a large group of nervous-looking first years out of the way. She smiled at him as he passed by.

Once inside the Great Hall, James led the other boys to some empty spots at the end of the Gryffindor table, and the four of them quickly sat down.

"Dumbledore's looking dashing tonight", Sirius laughed in Remus' ear as he swung his leg over the bench. Remus looked over at where Sirius was pointing to see Professor Dumbledore, dressed in brilliant bottle green robes and a matching hat. Remus thought he looked rather like a Christmas tree.

"Very dashing", he replied with a side-glance at Sirius, who grinned at him.

"Can they hurry up with the sorting already, I'm starving", James groaned.

"Didn't you eat six pumpkin pasties on the train earlier?", Peter said back.

"Yeah, so?", James replied.

As the other three continued to chat about food, Remus looked around the hall. A few seats down to his left was Lily, sat with the same girls from the carriage. They were all laughing loudly about something, and Remus smiled to himself; Lily had been so miserable at the end of last term, he was glad to see her happy again. He looked away from the girls, and turned his attention towards the Slytherin table, which was the other end of the Great Hall. Almost directly opposite from him, sandwiched between a pair of scary looking Slytherins, was Snape.

Absolute git, Remus thought as he watched him. He was looking around the table at his friends with a nasty sneer, as though he had just made some horrible joke, and Remus clenched his jaw; he had always hated Snape.

He was about to look away when someone else at the Slytherin table caught Remus' eye. A tall, frail-looking boy with neat, dark hair had swapped places with one of the scary looking Slytherins, so that he now sat right next to Snape. He had a glum, handsome face that didn't seem to quite fit in with the other Slytherins around him. Regulus.