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When I first arrived at Platform 9 3/4, I noticed someone I would never have seen if it weren't for how odd she looked. She was standing very straight in front of a mean looking older woman, who appeared to be scolding her. This girl was wearing a nice dress, so I knew she was a rich pureblood, but she had curly black hair going down to her waist. The girl nodded and said something so quietly, even my werewolf senses couldn't pick it up. The older woman scoffed and walked back through the barrier, dragging a younger girl by the wrist. The younger girl was looking back at the girl they left and waving. She had a very similar head of hair, though hers was shorter and straighter.
As soon as the woman walked through the barrier, the wild-haired girl opened her trunk. She pulled out a leather jacket and combat boots, which she changed into. She had a smirk on her face the entire time. She shook out her curly black hair and climbed onto the train.
Shit, the train! The whistle blew, signaling the train would pull out of the station in exactly five minutes time. I climb into the same car the curly-haired girl did in hopes of meeting her. I walk until I find her compartment. She's sitting with another girl with wild, seemingly unbrushed, black hair and roundish glasses. Curly said something and glasses laughed.
I slid the compartment door open, causing them both to look up at me.
"Hi," I said shyly. "Can I sit here?" I smiled slightly. Curly hair nodded and grinned up at me. Oh, that smile. Wow. I sit down across from the two girls and tuck my battered trunk under the seat.
"What's your name? I'm Jamie Potter and this is Siri Black," said the girl with glasses, holding out her hand. I shook her hand and offered Siri. She took my hand in hers and smiled.
"I'm Remi Lupin," I said and returned their kind smiles. We sat and chatted about anything and everything until we arrived at Hogwarts.
"Firs' years this way!" An extremely tall hairy man calls as we walk onto the platform. The three of us and the rest of the first years followed him to a fleet of tiny rowboats.
"No more'n four to a boat," the giant man shouted over the chatter of the first years. The three girls find a boat near the end of the row and climb in. A shorter, chubbier girl comes over to their boat.
"Can I share the boat with you?" She asked quietly. Remi grinned at her, and before Jamie or Siri could answer she said, "Sure, hop on in. I'm Remi Lupin and this is Jamie Potter and Siri Black," Remi indicated to the black haired girls.
"I'm Petra Pettigrew," the blonde smiled, "Nice to meet you." She sat down next to Remi in the back of the boat. The boats started moving across the lake as the girls started to get to know each other a bit more. Suddenly a large splash was heard from the next boat. It appeared that a girl fell into the lake. Another girl was helping her back in after a long salmon-colored tentacle pushed her up out of the water. The girl's black hair and robes were drenched.
Siri laughed and nudged Jamie. "Look! Snivella fell in," she said and pointed to the soaked girl. Jamie looked confused for a second and then realized what was going on and laughed along with her. Petra awkwardly laughed to feel like part of the group, but Remi simply shook her head.
"Guys stop," Remi begged. "People are staring." It was true that Remi was very sheltered, never having people really stare at her, and she preferred it that way. Less staring means less time to figure out that she was a werewolf. She only decided to talk with Jamie and Siri so she could avoid stares for being alone. But now she was starting to regret it.
"What's the harm?" Siri asked. "We're only laughing. It's not like we pushed her in." Siria smirked and leaned closer to the chestnut-haired girl. Remi's heart started beating faster the closer Siri got. "That girl is my cousin. Her name is Sedna Snape. Her mom married a Muggle man, so she's exiled, but every once and a while her mom would come and beg for money. Sedna was always crying and hiding behind her mother, so my sister and I nicknamed her Snivella."
Remi was taken aback. She glanced back over at the girl who was crouched, soaking wet, next to a few other girls, glaring at Jamie and Siri as they made faces toward her. Remi sunk lower into her seat and crossed her arms. She clearly did not want to be a part of this. She was also starting to really hate Siri. Remi did not look up until the boats hit land and everyone was instructed to carefully exit and follow the giant man, whose name was apparently Hagrid.
They entered the castle and every first-year looked around in awe. The castle was huge and Remi knew it was full of secrets by the size of it. A strict looking older woman stood in front of the group and clapped her hands, calling for attention. Everyone turned to her, wondering both who she was and what she was doing here.
"Evening students," the woman said with a tinge of Scottish in her voice. "I am Professor McGonagall, Transfiguration professor, and deputy headmistress. Welcome to Hogwarts." She smiled a small, tight smile at the students. "The sorting and the beginning feast will begin shortly, just after the headmaster makes his speech." She peeked through the doors and nodded. "Come students," she said and beckoned them through the door.
They followed her through a humongous dining hall with four tables, two on each side of them. Siri nudged Remi and James and pointed to the ceiling. Remi didn't know what she was expecting, but it certainly wasn't the starry sky above them.
"It's enchanted to look like the sky outside," Jamie whispered to no one in particular. Remi nodded, though she suspected Jamie wasn't even faced in her direction. She had known, but she was still just as surprised.
The students lined up by the platform where the teachers' table was. When Professor McGonagall started speaking, all of the higher years stared straight up at the center of the platform where Professor McGonagall stood, next to a stool with a mangy old hat sitting atop it.
"Each student will try on the hat and be sorted into your house. While you're at Hogwarts, your house will be like your family. You will live in your house dorms, spend free time in your house common rooms, and go to classes with your house. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff."
The first years started murmuring to each other about what house they wanted to be in. Remi heard Siri explaining to a very eager Petra that she wasn't going to be in Slytherin like the rest of her family and that Slytherin is evil. Remi's small hatred for Siri grew into a medium hatred. Slytherin didn't seem so bad. Yeah sure, some of the kids in Slytherin looked kinda scary, but Remi was sure there was more than meets the eye.
Professor McGonagall began calling students in alphabetical order to be sorted. After the sorting ended and all new students were sat at their own house tables, a man with long white hair stood behind a podium at the front of the teachers' platform.
"I am Professor Dumbledore and I am headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. To our newcomers, welcome and to our to our past students, welcome back. Now before we start our feast, I'd like to say a few words; clinomania, nyctophilia, and logolepsy. Now enjoy your food!" Professor Dumbledore clapped his hands and the house tables filled with food.
Siri and Jamie took one look at the food and immediately started eating. Remi took little and ate slowly. The four girls, Remi, Siri, Jamie, and Petra, were all sorted into Gryffindor. Siri seemed quite happy to be different than her family. Happy enough to spray food everywhere while she eats like a wild animal.
"This food is much better than the food at home," she said through a mouthful of chicken. Remi scooter away from her to get out of the splash zone.
After everyone was full of dinner, the tables cleared themselves and desert appeared. Remi felt like she couldn't eat another bite without vomiting, but Siria just continues shoveling food into her mouth.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Dumbledore dismissed everyone to bed. The prefects, Cassiopeia Rose and Jackson Smith lead the Gryffindors up to the tower. Once they got to a portrait of an extremely fat woman, Cassiopeia turned around.
"This is the entrance to Gryffindor tower. The Fat Lady will ask for a password, which does change from time-to-time, and if you say the right password, she will grant you access to the tower, understood?" She asks in a voice that reminded Remi of her mother. All the first years nodded and murmured in agreement. "The password, for now, is lacuna. Can anyone tell me what that means?"
Remi, without thinking, raised her hand. "Yes, you there, um...?" Cassiopeia said pointing to Remi.
"Remi Lupin. Lacuna means a blank space or missing part." Siri looked at her with a weird look on her face like she was surprised and amazed. Cassiopeia smiled and nodded. Then she turned to the door and said the password. The portrait opened up, and for what seemed the millionth time that night, all the first years looked around in wonder.
"Boys follow Jackson up that way to your dorms and I'll take the girls. Remember, girls dorms are off limits to boys," Cassiopeia said. Remi was at least 98% sure Jamie wasn't listening. She was staring at a red-headed boy following Jackson up the steps to the boys' dorms. Siri knocked into Jamie as the four of them and a girl they didn't know followed Cassiopeia up the girls' dorms. "Each of your trunks is at the edge of a bed. If you need anything, I'm in the fifth year dorms. Sweet dreams girls." Cassiopeia shut the door behind her and left the five girls alone.
Remi immediately went to her trunk, took out her pajamas, and disappeared into the bathroom. As Remi changed, she looked at all of her scars crossing over her chest. She sighed and put her pajama shirt on.
When she got back into the room, the other girls were nowhere to be seen. Remi's enhanced hearing picked up snores from Jamie and the other girl's bed, but Siri's was empty. Remi then picked up sobs and soft words of comfort from the corner, Petra's bed. Remi carefully walked over an peeked through the curtains. Inside, Siri was hugging a sobbing Petra.
"It's okay, it's okay," Siri said softly. Petra sniffled.
"I miss them already," she whimpered. Remi stepped back from the bed and over to her own. The only thought going through her head was, "Goddammit, she's a better person than I thought." Remi scoffed and laid in her bed to fall asleep, excited for her first classes at Hogwarts.