Chapter Text
1st of September, Monday
When Remus Lupin is finally informed that he is moving to Lower Duskfield, a small, unknown town on the another side of England, he sulks. He is very well aware that he is acting as a stubborn child, but that doesn’t stop him from doing it. He has to move to the other side of the country, for fuck’s sake.
Remus takes the record player to his room, sets up a pillow fort on the floor and stacks up a bunch of his books next to it. He spends a week in his room, blasting David Bowie and re-reading books like Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. The only times he leaves his room is when he needs to use the loo or eat. It should leave a message to his parents.
They let him do it for about a week. After a week his father enters his room, looking slightly annoyed and almost drags Remus to the living room. Still irritated, Remus throws himself on the sofa with such force, he half expects it to fall apart. It doesn’t.
His parents sit down on the couch across him, both staring at him, worried. “Remus, sweetie,” his mum smiles at him softly, “I know that you don’t want to move, but I fear it is inevitable. Your father got a great job there and he’s starting in September. I found a job a few miles from the town.”
Remus doesn’t care. He wants to stay here, in this house, with his friends, at this school. Just as he opens his mouth to protest, he feels a wet snout against his leg, which makes him look down. Their dog Dave, well David Bowie, actually, rubs against him and Remus runs his hand through his fur. The dog jumps in his lap and settles there, like he does every so often. Remus keeps running his hand along his body, feeling a bit calmer.
His dad apparently takes that as an opening and leans forward, “We’ve bought a house there a few weeks ago and we already got some brilliant offers for this one. You’ll go to Lower Duskfield Grammar school, ‘kay? And since I was sure that this stuff isn’t going to hype you up,” his dad grins at Remus slyly, “I checked out the town. It’s got this great bookshop and even a record shop. I can show you some photos later. It’s a beautiful town. We couldn’t find a better one if we tried. You’ll like it there, I promise.”
Remus knows that his dad is just trying to make him feel better and that it couldn’t be that good. But, it does sound kind of lovely, if he’s being honest. The bookshop here doesn’t offer much more than shitty romance books and there is no record shop. But he’s not going to let his parents see that he is slowly, very slowly warming up to the idea.
“I like it here, though. I have friends here. I won’t know anyone there.” Remus mutters carefully. He knows his argument was stupid, but he didn’t plan on giving up just yet. He’ll just have to come up with something that will keep him here. He focuses on Dave, scratching his head.
“Yes, well don’t you worry about that. There’s gonna be another boy your age starting this term. You’ll be in the same class and the headmaster told us he always finds someone to show the new kids around.” his mother beams at him, looking very pleased with that decision. That doesn’t mean that they are going to be friends, Remus wants to inform his mum.
“Fine,” Remus lets out and ushers Dave to jump out of his lap as he stands up. “I guess I’ll go and start packing up my bags then,” he says flatly. He won’t achieve shit if he stays down here and argues with his parents. Remus heads up the stairs with Dave jumping around him, almost causing him to trip and roll down the stairs. But it makes Remus smile for the first time this week, so it was worth it.
Remus does in fact not come up with a plan to stay here. Burning Lower Duskfield to ground seems a bit extreme and it’s not like Remus can find get enough gasoline to cover the whole town.
That’s how he ends up in a new house, standing in his room at seven am, just realising that he doesn’t have a uniform.
“Mum! I don’t have a uniform!” Remus yells panicked, running down the stairs to his mum, who is making pancakes in their new kitchen. “How will I go to school without a uniform?”
“Oh, did I forget to tell you? You don’t need one. This school doesn’t require them.” his mum tells him calmly, while turning around the pancakes. “Go up the stairs and pick something nice, okay? But I’ll be done in a few minutes so hurry up,” she adds.
Remus heads back up, feeling a bit dazed. He doesn’t hear of a schools in Britain that don’t require uniforms very often. Almost all of them do. But he isn’t complaining, not at all. He has never been very fond of uniforms. They are boring and everyone looks the same in them.
But when he opens his wardrobe, he finds out he had no idea what to put on. He owns some lovely clothes, but right now his mind is everywhere. It takes him a moment to finally focus on clothing. After a bit of a clueless staring at his clothes, he ends up with a pair of faded dark blue jeans, his I’m Only Here Because The Music Is Good T-shirt and a so called ‘grandpa’ sweater.
Once he puts on the clothes and stuffs himself with pancakes he heads to the school. It isn’t very far, only a ten minute walk. His dad showed him the way last week, so he could get to school himself. His mother does try to come with him, but he Remus insists that he could do it himself.
On his way to the school, Remus has time to think. He still hasn’t unpacked his earphones, so there isn’t any other choice, not really. He tries to focus on random things on his walk, but his mind keeps disturbing him. By now, he has probably ran over all possible scenarios in his head.
He enters the school just a few minutes to half past seven, so luckily he doesn’t appear to be late. Remus asks one of the staff where the headmaster’s office is and heads towards it. In front of it are a few plastic chairs and Remus sits down on the last one. His leg starts bouncing up and down furiously and Remus is so lost in his mind that he almost misses the entrance of another boy.
The boy is a bit shorter than him and his hair is black, a tad longer than Remus’. His posture is nothing if not perfect and he would’ve look like he was just taking a stroll down the corridor if Remus wouldn’t have noticed the way his eyes are running around nervously. His cheekbones are just as perfect as his posture and even Remus has to admit that the boy does appear to be pretty.
The black haired boy probably catches him staring and grins at him. He makes his way and sits down on a plastic next to Remus’. “I’m Sirius. Sirius Black,” Sirius extends his hand for Remus to shake it and as he wants to do so, Sirius pulls away and gently swats Remus on his arm with a childish grin. Remus can’t help but grin back.
“I’m Remus Lupin,” he introduces himself too.
“Brilliant,” Sirius announces, “so you’re new too?” he asks Remus.
“Er, yeah. I moved here like, two weeks ago,” he keeps staring in front of him, his leg still bouncing up and down nervously. He isn’t sure that now was the time for some chit chat. But he does have to make new friends, so who knows. Maybe Sirius isn’t that bad. Just as Remus opens his mouth to ask Sirius a follow-up, the door in front of them open. They both stare at the man in front of them. He looks about fifty, dressed in a dark suit, a big smile sitting on his face.
“Good morning, you two,” the man in front of them moves away from the door, to let Remus and Sirius in. Slowly Remus stands up and sees in a corner of his eye, that Sirius follows him, though a bit hesitantly. They step in the office and the man (headmaster?) closes the door.
As the headmaster sits down, he gestures at the two chairs in front of his desk, “Make yourselves comfortable.”
This time, Sirius moves first. He sits down on the chair on the left and Remus sits on the chair on Sirius’ right side. His eyes are rushing around the office, until they finally stop on the gold plate on the table. Prof. Ernest Johnson.
The headmaster smiles at them again, “Since i don’t know which one is Mr Black and which one is Mr Lupin I will ask you to introduce yourselves?” he looks at them expectantly.
Remus looks around the room nervously. Would Sirius mind stepping in? Remus steals a glance at him. It doesn’t look like he plans to. “I’m Remus Lupin,” he finally lets out.He looks at Sirius again. He seems kind of, relieved, maybe? Maybe he doesn’t like talking to adults.
“Ah, perfect,” the headmaster intertwines his hands and leans forward, “You’re Sirius Black, then?”
“Yes, sir,” Sirius’ voice comes out flat and Remus looks at him once again. He’s pale now, like he really doesn’t want to talk to the man.
“Are you maybe related to Narcissa, Bellatrix and Andromeda Black?” the headmaster asks Sirius. He frowns.
“Yeah, they’re— they’re my cousins.”
Remus quickly jumps in. Sirius looks like he’s about to vomit. “I take it you had to give us some information abut the school?” he looks at Johnson, praying that he will switch the subject.
“Thank you for reminding me, Mr Lupin,” the headmaster smiles at him, then throws himself into explaining everything he feels Sirius and Remus should know. They don’t have to wear uniforms (which Remus already knows). They have to pick join at least one after school activity. A bunch of other shit Remus doesn’t remember and doesn’t really care about.
“Alright now” the headmaster claps “We should probably get you two to class, okay?” he jumps out of his seat and opens the door for them. “Come on, I’ll show you the way.”
Johnson starts walking and the boys follow him. “I forgot to tel you, lads. Since you two are both in the same year, we put you in the same class. In my opinion it will be an easier start for both of you, if you have each other. And we found two kids that are going to help you get used to this rhythm. I’ve made sure your schedules are the same as James Potter and Peter Pettigrew’s. And you are welcome to explore the school a bit after the last bell."
Remus now realises the hall is crawling with other students now that keep glancing looking at him. Probably because we are with the headmaster, he thinks to himself. Suddenly they stopped in front of a classroom.
“Mr Biggs, would you please come here for a moment?” Johnson says to a man sitting in the classroom.
“Good morning sir. How can I help you?” The man approaches them with a welcoming smile.
“This are the new students Ryan. This one’s Remus Lupin and this one here is Sirius Black.”
The man grins at them. “Of course. I was expecting you, you know? Thought you’d be here sooner.’”
“Well, I had some explaining to do. They’re new after all.” The headmaster smiles.
As the two men talk, Remus takes his time to get a better look of his new teacher. He has dark, combed back hair, a bit longer than his own. Glasses are sitting on his nose and was dressed as your typical teacher. He looks about 30 years to Remus, who had learned that he is actually quite good at guessing people’s age.
“So lads. Come in, will you?” The man gestures at them to come on in, with the headmaster already leaving them be. Remus follows Biggs sheepishly, looking around the classroom. It’s mostly empty with the exception of a couple of girls and a pair of boys.
They stop at Mr Biggs’ desk. “Now, I suppose that Headmaster Johnson already told you a bit. I won’t be getting into the details here, because you will get to hear everything with the rest of the class. But I’ll introduce you to Mr Potter and Mr Pettigrew. They’ll be the ones showing you around the school. Now where are they...” Biggs looks around the classroom, his brows furrowed, but they relax when they land on the two boys Remus noticed earlier.
“Hey! James! Peter!” The teacher waves at them to come here “These two are James Potter and Peter Pettigrew. And these two,” the teacher gestures at Remus and Sirius “are Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. They’re the lads we’ve told you about.”
“Right, of course!” The boy called James smiles at them “Me and Peter will show you around the school. We can even show you around the town, if you want!” he adds excitedly. Remus doesn’t understand how the boy in front of him get happy at the idea of wandering around with a pair of kids he doesn’t even know.
The boys walk a few feet away from the teacher, James leading them. As he turns around to face them, Remus takes a good look at him. Judging by his brown skin, James must come from Asia (India?) or have family there. On his head are sitting dark untamed, curls, and hazel coloured eyes are shining brightly from behind his glasses.
“Okay so” James smiles at them again, “The class’s still empty so we can sit wherever we like. Me and Pete usually sit in the back because no one calls on us.”
Following James’ advice Remus and Sirius sit down in the last row and James and Peter sit down in front of them. As soon as they place down their backpacks they both turn around to Remus and Sirius.
“So. What do you want to know?” this time speaks Peter. Both his skin and hair are lighter than Remus’. He appears to be the shortest of all of them.
“Umm.” Remus and Sirius look at each other, not knowing what to say. “Who are the other students?” Sirius is the first to spoke.
“The students?” Peter seeks confirmation, while examining the classroom, probably looking for them .
“Yeah.” Sirius nods.
“Well, there is Marlene McKinnon,” Peter discreetly points at the brown haired girl, “the redhead is Lily Evans, and the other girl is Mary McDonald. They’re all pretty okay, i guess. We don’t hang out with them much.”
Remus glances at them quickly. They’re laughing and the brown haired girl is wildly gesturing with her hands, while talking someone. Remus isn’t bothered enough to listen, so he looks away, just in time to see a boy and girl enter the classroom. He looks at Peter expectantly.
“The boy is Jason Warner and the girl is Dorcas Meadowes. They’re both nice, too.” Remus watches as Dorcas sits down close to the girls from before, exchanging a few words with them, then turning away. Jason passes them by and greets them with a smile, his look lingering on Remus and Sirius, before he looks away.
About a minute after that more kids start to enter the bathroom. Peter and James tell Remus and Sirius all the names, but Remus thinks that he will get them all mixed up. He can’t even remember everyone’s names. There’s someone named Maya, a Josh and a Katie, and that’s all Remus keeps in his brain, really. There’s too many people.
As Peter finally lists everyone (hopefully), the bell rings. Right on time, if you ask Remus. He knows that everyone will be talking about him and Sirius. They are the new kids, after all.
At the sound of the bell Mr Biggs stands up and claps with a big smile on his face. “Everyone, welcome back to school! I know that most of you weren’t exactly waiting for this day, and the whole year, in anticipation, but I truly believe that if you put your mind to it and keep the good work up, you will all enjoy it as much as you can.”
Yeah, right. Remus tries really hard not to scuff right here and there. No one enjoys school. You can work hard and get good grades, but there’s no way you like it.
“So, before we begin, I’d like to introduce two new students that have joined us this year. Come here you two.” The teacher waves at them to come closer. Against his will, Remus stands up at the same time as Sirius and they both join the teacher at the front of the class.
“Please welcome Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. I’d like you all to be nice to these two lads and make sure they don’t stumble in the wrong classroom or do something stupid.”
The boys are finally allowed to sit back down and Remus had never been more thankful for the fact that he is sitting in the back. It makes it harder for others to stare at him. And he doesn’t like staring. He tries to concentrate on the teacher who is now talking about something else, but his eyes keep wandering around the classroom. The kids somehow seem different than the kids at his old school. More... relaxed and happy, it appears to him. He wonders why. It is a school after all. You aren’t there to be happy. But maybe it’s just the first day. Nothing important happens there.
“Now, this is the important part here, everyone. You will each get a file, with your name written on it. Inside, there are your timetable, locker combination, list of clubs and activities and stuff like that. When I call your name, I want each of you to come up here and take yours.” Remus manages to focus on the teacher just in time to hear him say.
The teacher sits back down and pulls out a big pack of files out of his desk. “Maya Annick, Sirius Black, Henry Charleston, Lily Evans...” Remus gets lost in the list and hears only some names, mostly the ones he remembers from before.
Then he hears his name and stands up. He felt like the whole class was watching him, but he keep his head high. In his opinion, it is the best to show people that he is confident and not scared of others. Because of that, bullies usually leave him alone. And every school has them.
With the file in his hand he sits back down and starts listing through it, listening to the other names, paying only half of his attention. “Mary McDonald, Marlene McKinnon, Dorcas Meadowes, Andrew Obrew, Peter Pettigrew, James Potter, Katie Reynolds, Severus Snape, Frankie Swan and Sydney Trench. That’s everyone. Now you’ve all got about 5 minutes to go out in the hall and check your lockers. The number of them is written on the paper.”
Remus glances at Sirius who takes the paper and waits for him so they could go together. He joins the other boy and they follow Peter and James. “I’ve got number 315. What about you?” Remus asks Sirius.
“Oh, umm, I’ve got 316. Guess we are next to each other.” Oh, thank god. The black haired boy grins at Remus from side as he finds their lockers. “Oh, that’s cool.” Remus is so very glad he doesn’t have to stand next to some giggling girl or a football-obsessed boy every morning.
After making sure his locker is okay, Remus looks at the other side, to see who he is standing next to. On his left is standing another boy, this one with blonde hair and blue eyes. It’s Jason, right? Remus remembers him from earlier. The boy catches Remus looking at him and turned to him.
“Hey. You’re Remus, right? I’m Jason.” The boy smiles at him
“Oh, hey Jason.” Remus feels stupid. He has no idea what to say and he just can’t help but notice that Jason is really good looking. He almost misses what James is telling him.
“I’m in drama club, if you’re interested. We need new students this year and I’m trying to convince just anyone to join. So think about it, okay? I have a gut feeling you’d make a great actor.”
“Oh, thanks, I guess. I’ll think about it.” That’s... weird. Remus doesn’t play. He’d probably suck if he would try it. Ugh, the embarrassment. Remus shivers just at the thought of it.
“Great!” Jason grins at Remus and then goes back to the classroom, leaving Remus alone with Sirius, who finally manages to open his locker.
“This damn code. I keep getting it wrong.” Sirius mutters to himself, sounding annoyed, then turns to Remus. “So, who’s your new friend?” he adds, locking the locker and stepping away from it, like he’s distancing himself from it.
“Oh, that’s Jason.” Remus replies sheepishly.
“And he wanted you to join the drama club? You don’t look a lot like a theater kid to me, no offence.”
“None taken. And he probably says that to just about anyone.” Remus says, feeling weirdly protective of Jason.
“Yeah, you’re probably right. I finally did it.” Sirius gestures at the locker, still a few feet away from it. “Wanna go back now?”
The boys return to the classroom and sit back down. Mr Biggs continues on talking but Remus’s mind drifts away again. He’s thinking about how nice Sirius seems and about how good looking Jason is. Is it weird to think things like that? He doesn’t even realise it until James shoots his arm in the air, causing Remus to wake up from his thoughts.
Remus realises that today there was going to be a fair, with all activities and clubs presented and that he had to choose three. It was probably mentioned a bunch of times, but Remus managed to overhear it each time. Oh well, that’s Remus for you.
Suddenly a paper ball flew to his desk. He looked around and saw Sirius staring at him and the ball. Remus opened it.
i dont want to go alone. ): youll go with me right? seriously sirius
Remus hides a grin, turns the paper around and writes no, it’s strictly forbidden.He throws the paper at Sirius, waiting for his reaction. The boy doesn’t bother hiding his smile. Remus watches as he scrambles something furiously on the paper, then throws it back to him.
sarcasm detected. Remus grins at Sirius.
Suddenly, the bell rings. Remus sees that everyone was getting up and leaving the classroom. He steps to James and asks him “Where do we have to go now?”
“Umm, I think that we have Science with Mrs. Reefes. Pete?” They both turn to Peter for confirmation. The boy nods “Yup, Mrs. Reefes.”
“Sirius, you coming?” Remus looks over his shoulder as Peter and James head towards the door.
“Yeah, I’m coming!” Sirius quickly stuffs something in his bag and joins Remus who is already following the other two boys.
The rest of the day passes Remus by like a blur. He finds Science and Maths pretty boring, just like at has last school. But History seems interesting. He also grows fond of Mr Biggs, who turns out to teach History and Geography.
At Maths he sits alone, since they aren’t allowed to sit together, but at History and Science he sits next to Sirius. He thinks that the other boy will bother him, considering his loud personality, but they both listen to the teacher, without bothering each other.
The first day finishes at 1 pm, because all the students have to go to the Auditorium and then to the clubs’ presentation.
Remus and Sirius follow James and Peter who lead them to the auditorium, which turns out to be pretty huge. They get there early, when the seats in the back are still available. They sit down in the last row and wait for everyone else to arrive.
While waiting, Remus is talking to Sirius. He finds out that Sirius can play the bass guitar, has a younger brother, enjoys video games and has pretty strict parents.
“Where was your brother this morning? He didn’t come to the principal’s office.”
“Oh, Regulus got sick.” Sirius shrugs him off quickly.
“Ah, that sucks. It’s the first day at his new school.”
“Yeah... What about you Remus? You haven’t told me much about yourself.”
“Oh, well there’s not much to tell. I don’t have any siblings, but I do have a dog. His name’s Dave. And, well, I can play the drums. That’s that.” He told Sirius as much as Sirius told him about himself. Siblings, a dog, the drums.
“I’m sure there’s more to you. You just like to play dark and mysterious, that’s it.” Sirius laughs. “By the way, who names their dog Dave? That’s not a dog’s name. No offence.”
“None taken. We got him just when my dad got me into David Bowie. I named our dog David Bowie, but no one bothers calling him that, so we just call him Dave.”
Remus watches Sirius’ face carefully when he mentions David Bowie. Most people don’t know who that is, but he has an odd feeling Sirius would like that kind of music.
“David Bowie... That name sounds familiar to me. David Bowie... Daaaavid Boooowie...” Sirius grimaces at Remus. “Wait! Is that the guy that wrote Starguy? You know, this song.” Sirius starts humming the melody of Starman’s chorus.
Remus can’t help but burst out laughing, which caused a few students to look at him.
“You mean Starman! But yeah, that’s the one.”
“Oh, man I love that song. I’ll have to listen to that Bowie guy and hear more of this music, won’t I?”
“Yeah, you really should. It’s awesome,” Remus’ eyes gleam like they do every time he’s talking about some thing that excites him.
They keep on chattering for a few more minutes, when everyone finally gets in the auditorium and the Headmaster starts talking.