Chapter Text
September 1st, 1971 - King’s Cross Station, London
Sometimes I wonder if I’m ever gonna make it home again.
It’s so far and out of sight.
I really need someone to talk to, and nobody else knows how to comfort me tonight.
Home Again, Carole King. February 10th, 1971
Against all odds, Remus Lupin was going to school. When Albus Dumbledore had appeared on his family’s stoop on his 11th birthday, his father had been suspicious, and his mum had been worried. Remus had been ecstatic. He never thought he would be able to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but here he was, headed towards platform 9 ¾ while his father pushed his trunk on a rolling cart through a bustling train station.
After being bitten by a werewolf at four years old, Remus’ father, Lyall Lupin, had told him that he would never be able to attend school and would instead have to wait until he was of age to have his father teach him simple spells and charms.
Hope Lupin didn’t quite understand the wizarding world, as she grew up as a Muggle, blissfully unaware of Britain’s secret wizarding world. However, when her son was attacked, she knew by looking at Lyall’s face that her baby was about to go through a life much more difficult than anyone else’s
Remus didn’t care about his past; today, he intended to march towards his future, or through a brick wall.
“Remus, watch me very closely,” his father said, coming to a stop. “I am going to walk straight through the wall here between platforms 9 and 10, which will get me onto platform 9 ¾, and once I cross, you're going to do the same.”
Remus nodded. He had always looked up to his father, despite his being the stricter of the two parents.
Aside from his father, who worked at the Ministry of Magic, the Lupins lived a very Muggle life in rural Wales, close to his mother's family. It was safer that way, his father had said. Muggles didn’t know enough to put his symptoms together and figure out the truth.
His father walked briskly towards the brick wall. Nobody around them seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary as his father vanished, seemingly into thin air.
Knowing that now it was his turn, Remus gathered all of his courage and walked as quickly as he could towards the wall, shutting his eyes and bracing himself for impact.
“Good lad, see now that wasn’t so hard,” he opened his eyes as his father clapped him on the back and led him towards the large steam-powered black and red train sitting at the platform.
His father turned to him and crouched to be eye level with Remus.
“Listen to me, son, you can’t let anyone know about your illness. They will treat you differently, and you likely won’t be allowed to attend school anymore. It was unfathomably kind of Headmaster Dumbledore to let you attend school here, and I don’t want you to ever forget that,” said his father, in a weary tone.
“Yes, Father,” Remus replied, trying to keep his tone even. “I’ll be careful.”
Before they had made the journey to King’s Cross Station, Remus’ parents had sat him down and prepared him for what awaited at Hogwarts.
“You’ll be sharing a room with other boys, Remus, and you mustn’t give them any reason to suspect you. People are not kind to werewolves, and 11-year-old boys can be even crueller,” his father warned him.
So Remus was intent on focusing on his schoolwork to get the top marks, with no interest in making friends. Even now, he knew if he was going to stay at school, he had to make himself indispensable.
“Alright, now take your trunk and keep it with you in your compartment so you can change into your robes before you arrive,” said his father. “Your mother packed you a snack to have during the journey as well.”
Taking one last look at his father, Remus grabbed the end of his trunk and made his way to the train.
“Goodbye, Remus, your mother and I will be here to pick you up at Christmas,” his father waved at him. “Your mother expects plenty of letters from you as well.”
In a spur-of-the-moment decision, Remus dropped his trunk and ran the few steps back to his father, wrapping his arms tightly around his middle. “Bye, Dad, I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too, lad. Now hurry, or you’ll miss the train.”
Dragging the large trunk behind him, Remus made his way down the train, looking for an empty compartment. Towards the end of the third train car, he finally found a free one and set his trunk on the floor next to him, as he was neither tall nor strong enough to lift it into the overhead rack. He settled into the seat with his worn copy of The Hobbit, which his mother had been reading with him before he left.
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As the train began to move, he heard a knock at the door to his compartment. Looking up, he saw the brightest red hair he’d ever seen in real life, and lurking behind the girl attached to the hair was a slightly taller, but darker boy sporting a very impressive frown.
“Do you mind if we sit with you?” she asked, “everywhere else is full.”
Remus thought about what his father had told him about friends. The girl looked quite desperate, though, and what harm could a short train ride cause? It’s not like tonight was the full moon anyway.
“Sure,” he said, gesturing to the seats across from him. The girl and the boy managed to lift their trunks to the overhead rack together before taking their seats.
“I’m Lily,” the girl said, “Lily Evans, and this is my friend Severus.” The boy just continued to stare at Remus without so much as a smile.
“I’m Remus Lupin,” he said, putting down his book.
“Oh, you must come from a wizarding family with a name like that,” the girl, no Lily, said. “Both my parents and sister are muggles, you can’t imagine how excited we all are that I’m a witch.”
“My father’s a wizard, he works for the ministry, but I guess my mum’s a muggle,” he replied.
“Oh, that’s the same as Sev, well, ‘cept his dad’s a muggle, and his mom’s the witch,” Lily answered quickly. “Have you thought about what house you want to be sorted into? I was hoping for Ravenclaw myself, Sev is too.”
“House?” Remus questioned. Which was when the smudgy boy sitting next to Lily finally decided to enter the conversation.
“Your school house,” he snarked. “There are four you could be sorted into. I thought you said your father was a wizard.”
Unable to explain why his father had never bothered to explain the details of school without giving away too much, he just shrugged.
“Well like Sev said, there are four houses, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. In Hogwarts: A History, it’s said that you’re sorted based on your personality, and Ravenclaw is known for dedicated academics, so I want to be sorted into that house,” Lily supplied.
Remus nodded, not sure himself what kind of student he even wanted to be. He supposed that if his goal was to focus on his studies, Ravenclaw wouldn’t be a poor place for him either. Not wanting to contribute much more to the conversation, he turns away from the other two to look at the rolling countryside passing by his window. Remus had no idea what was awaiting him once he got off this train, and he certainly didn’t think he would be ready for it, whatever it was, but he planned to give it his all, determined not to waste this opportunity. Watching the green hills speed past, Remus was lulled into a restless sleep as his compartment companions took the hint and began to talk amongst themselves about their hopes and plans for school.
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Remus woke an undetermined amount of time later to Lily lightly shoving his shoulder.
“You’ll want to change into your robes for the feast,” she said, “we’re getting close to the school now.”
Blinking slowly at Lily, Remus remembered where he was. He sat up and opened his trunk, finding his plain school uniform folded neatly at the top of his belongings. Grabbing them, he stood up and made his way towards the loo at the end of the carriage. As he walked down the train, he heard the sounds of boys shouting about something called ‘chocolate frog cards’ and arguing over who had the better ones in their collection. Stopping for a moment, Remus let his curiosity get the better of him as he stood in front of the glass door observing them. In the compartment were, in fact, three boys, one looking a mess with a mop of unruly black hair atop his tan skin, wearing thick black frames and smiling eye to eye. The one sat next to him was a shorter, paler, slightly chubby blonde boy who was looking at the other boy as if he hung the moon and stars. Lastly, there was a pale boy with short, neat black hair cut just above his ears, who seemed to be regaling the other two boys with stories or arguments to support his card over theirs.
As Remus was lost in thought, he didn’t realize the other boys had noticed his presence until he noticed sharp grey eyes make contact with his own. Realizing his mistake, Remus took off briskly towards the end of the corridor, locking himself in the loo. Changing quickly into his robes, Remus practically sprinted back to his own compartment. Opening the sliding glass doors and setting himself rather harshly back onto his seat, Remus picked up his book and read for the rest of his journey, ignoring the prying eyes of Lily and Severus.
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The train was finally coming to a stop just as Bilbo reached Rivendell. Following Lily and Severus, Remus was guided to a burly man who towered over them, holding a lamp and wearing a coat made of something Remus had never seen before.
“First Years follow me, we’re takin’ boats across the lake to get to Hogwarts,” the large man boomed. A few dozen students clambered after him as he led them towards the docks, all while talking in his thick accent.
“My name’s Hagrid, and I’m the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts ‘ere. You won’t ever find yourself a school or a headmaster as fine as Dumbledore,” Hagrid said.
Remus watched wearily as he loaded students onto little boats four or five at a time.
“Will we have to row the boats ourselves?” Lily asked from behind him.
“No, no,” said Hagrid, “you just sit ‘ere in the boats, and they’ll make their ways to the school while you just sit there and look pretty.”
Satisfied with the answer, Lily and Severus climbed into a boat. As she sat down, Lily made a beckoning motion with her hand, signalling for Remus to join them. Without a real excuse making its way into his head, Remus reluctantly climbed into the boat. One by one, the boats full of students began to follow Hagrid's in a V-like formation towards the school. Looking up, Remus saw the shape of the school, illuminated by the nearly full moon and lights flickering inside. It was a bloody castle, he thought. The grandiose towers and large stone buildings that jutted out from the school in every direction stunned Remus, and for the first time since getting on that train and leaving home, Remus thought about how impossible it was going to be not to fall in love with this place.