By the Light of the Moon

By the Light of the Moon: Chapter 1

A flurry of activity filled Platform Nine and Three-Quarters in Kings Cross station. As he had gone through the barrier, Remus Lupin had realized that this would be his last time starting a year at Hogwarts. He would be sad to leave. Hogwarts had been his first school, the place where he had made his first friends, and one of the few places where he felt truly happy. Hopefully his seventh year would be the best yet.

With his parents behind him, Remus walked several steps, scanning the crowd for his friends. A group of wizards was loudly talking about politics. Several small children were chasing after each other, while their parents tried to calm them and their siblings tried to ignore them. A cat had gotten free and was running wild through the maze of people and a little girl, probably a first year, was struggling to grab it. Remus laughed. For seven years now, September first had been the most exciting day of the year for him.

Remus finally saw one of the people he was looking for.

"Moony!" Sirius yelled, waving crazily at him.

"Padfoot!" He greeted Sirius Black happily. The boys gave each other brotherly hugs. "It's great to finally see you!" It had been such a long summer without his three best friends. It had been wonderful to be around his parents, but he had missed the company of people his own age. Especially during transformation times; it just wasn't the same without them. "Are Prongs and Wormtail here yet?"

"I haven't seen Peter," Sirius rolled his eyes and made a face, "but James is off with Lily." He gestured towards the couple, standing on the other side of Platform 9 ¾. They were embracing each other. "You'd think they hadn't seen each other in a century, rather than just two months."

Remus laughed at this. He, Sirius, and Peter constantly made fun of James and Lily, but Remus had to admit that she was good for him. James had become much more mature and less self-centered when he began dating her the year before.

"Mr. and Mrs. Lupin, how wonderful to see you again," Sirius said, giving them a charming smile. "How are you doing?"

"Very well, thank you, Sirius," his mother said.

"And how is work at the Ministry going, Mr. Lupin?" Sirius asked.

Remus didn't listen to the response. His father talked daily about the drudgery of working at the Ministry and Remus already knew all about how horrible it was.

"But we'll miss our dear son," he heard his mother telling Sirius. "The house isn't the same without him!" She grabbed Remus in a hug.

Ever since he had been bitten by a werewolf at age four, his parents had been overprotective and constantly worried about letting him leave the house. However, they had made so many sacrifices for him. Although his father worked long hours, he still earned very little. His mother had gotten a job when Remus went away to school, but the combined wages of the two of them was still barely enough to get by. Several years earlier, Remus had been embarrassed by them, especially because all of his friends had a lot of money, but his humiliation had developed into an enormous amount of respect. Both of his parents were hard-working, and he loved them very much.

"Sirius!" a woman's voice said.

"Oh, great," Sirius grumbled under his breath. Then he raised his voice to its normal tone. "Aunt Cassiopeia, Uncle Cepheus, Narcissa. How lovely to see you all!"

Remus watched as the three of them greeting Sirius. He knew of Sirius' relatives, but had never actually met any of them. Well, unless he counted having classes with Narcissa Black, who hadn't spoken to him in their entire six years at Hogwarts. Sirius had told him that everyone in his family--with the exception of one uncle, and a cousin who had married a muggle and had been ostracized from the family--was narrow-minded and stuck up.

Narcissa Black looked bored at the moment and her father had a sullen look on his face. At least Sirius' aunt seemed somewhat pleasant, surprisingly. Remus turned towards his own parents, not wanting to impose on Sirius's meeting with his aunt, uncle, and cousin. Sirius had moved out of his parents' house a few months earlier, and had apparently not talked to them since.

Remus glanced at Sirius again, worried about the way he would react to his family. He looked unhappy. Finally, Cepheus Black began hinting that they needed to leave.

"Goodbye, Sirius, darling," Cassiopeia Black said.

As the three of them were leaving, Remus saw Black Cepheus stare straight at him, then his parents. He had a snide look on his face. Then he spoke in a soft, but snooty voice, one that Remus wouldn't have heard if it had not been for his acute senses. "It's appalling how unselective Hogwarts has gotten recently," he said to his wife. "It's because of that damned fool, Dumbledore. He's opened the school the Mudbloods and the peasants."

Remus suddenly felt all of the blood drain from his face as he looked down at his shabby robes, and then over at his parents, who hadn't been paying attention to Cepheus Black. Apparently Sirius had heard the remark, too. He looked completely furious, ready to lash out at his uncle. Remus grabbed his arm before he could move. "Don't, Sirius," he whispered pleadingly. Sirius took a few deep breaths until the Black family was out of earshot.

"Damn him! I hate him, he's worse than my father!" Sirius hissed, shaking in anger. Remus was upset, but not as much as Sirius. He had faced much worse remarks than that in his seventeen and a half years and was used to hearing snide comments.

"Come on, Sirius, the Hogwarts Express is going to leave in a few minutes." Remus and Sirius attempted to conceal their emotions as they said goodbye to the Lupins.

Remus's parents hugged him harder than usual. "Mum, Dad, I have to go!" he finally said with a laugh. As happy as he was to be going back to Hogwarts, he knew that he would miss his parents as much as they would miss him.

They hurried onto the train, finding that James, Lily, and Peter already had a compartment. Remus greeted the three of them enthusiastically. Still irate, Sirius threw his trunk onto the shelf with a loud BANG, then finally sat down next to James.

"What's with him?" Peter whispered to Remus, who was sitting next to him.

"He had a run-in with some of his relatives." Remus didn't elaborate.

Peter nodded knowingly. It was common knowledge among them that the Black family--with the exception of Sirius--was very much into dark magic, which conflicted with all of Sirius' principles.

"Moony, time for the Prefect's meeting," James said, standing up, holding Lily's hand. "Padfoot, Wormtail, don't get into any trouble while we're gone!" He smirked at the two of them.

"I'm sure we will!" Peter said cheerfully. Sirius still had a sullen look on his face.

"Oh, Moony," James explained as the three of them walked towards the Prefect's compartment, "Dumbledore has the most abysmal plan for Prefects. As much as I love the old headmaster, it's a horrid idea. He's convinced that the houses, especially Gryffindor and Slytherin, need to work out their differences and--"

"James, we're not supposed to say anything until the meeting!" Lily jabbed him in the side. James gave her a sheepish grin.

Remus wished that James had finished the sentence. Anything involving Slytherin couldn't be good. Of course, he would find out soon enough. Remus sat down with the other Gryffindor prefects and waited for the meeting to begin.

**************

Narcissa Black boarded the Hogwarts Express, glad to finally be rid of her parents. Honestly, was it really necessary for them to make a scene? Her father had arrogantly criticized everything and everyone he saw, and her mother had actually been crying in the middle of Kings Cross Station. The two were complete opposites, but had one major thing in common. They were both completely embarrassing to her. Narcissa sighed.

In the past few years, her two elder sisters had both married and moved away. Her father was not speaking to Andromeda, who had married a Muggle and now had a five-year-old daughter. Narcissa had a feeling her mother kept in contact with her, however. As for Bellatrix...well, she had always been a bit wild, so they had been happy when she settled down with Rudolphus Lestrange a few months earlier. Narcissa was relieved about the distance between her and Bellatrix, who had constantly bullied her. But, she missed Andromeda and wrote to her in secret.

This was most likely the last summer that Narcissa would be at home, which caused her mother to become frantic that all of her daughters were leaving her. And Narcissa was her pride and joy, after all. This made Narcissa roll her eyes. Her father, on the other hand, was always irritable and overly critical. Usually he was less harsh on Narcissa than the other two, but he had been merciless ever since Bellatrix's wedding. He expected her to marry a pureblood of similar or higher stature, of course. Narcissa was constantly attempting to please her father. Her parents spoiled her more than her sisters, which she truly didn't mind (who would?); but, at the same time, she felt more forced to conform to their expectations than Bellatrix and Andromeda.

She found a compartment with a few other Slytherin girls, who were already gossiping about their summers. After talking with them for a few minutes, the train departed, and Narcissa left to go to the Prefects' meeting. It was her seventh year, the third in a row that she had been chosen to be a prefect. It had pleased her parents immensely, although they had been upset that she had been beaten out by a muggle for Head Girl.

Narcissa reached the compartment right as the meeting was beginning. She took a seat next to Severus Snape, the other seventh-year Slytherin prefect. Lily Evans and James Potter, the Head Girl and Boy for this year, were Gryffindors. She looked up at them as they stood at the front of the room.

"Hello, everyone," Potter began. "I hope that you have all had a pleasant summer. Congratulations to all of you for achieving prefect status. It's a privilege bestowed only upon the finest Hogwarts students. All of you will benefit greatly from it."

Narcissa felt herself tuning him out as he droned on about the importance of setting a good example for other students. She had heard the same speech the two years before, and didn't see the necessity of listening again. She sat up when Lily Evans spoke, the Sorting Hat in her hands.

"This year, Headmaster Dumbledore has decided to do something different in setting up prefect duty. It is customary for the prefects of the same year in each house to patrol together. However, he thinks it's necessary to encourage inter-House relations, so we're planning on having prefects from different houses patrolling together. All of your names were placed in the Sorting Hat, and were matched up accordingly." A few people groaned.

At that point, the Sorting Hat began reading off the assignments. The horrified look on the face of the Hufflepuff girl who was paired with Severus was absolutely priceless. Finally, it announced: "Remus Lupin, Gryffindor, and Narcissa Black, Slytherin." Narcissa noticed that both Evans and Potter gave Remus Lupin sympathetic looks. She frowned at this. How rude, she thought.

She glanced at Lupin, the prefect she was paired with. A sickening feeling welled up inside of her when she realized that he was her cousin Sirius's friend, the one that her father had turned his nose up at earlier. He was thin, with light brown hair, and looked tired. Or maybe he just wasn't happy to be there. His robes were ragged, and just by looking at him, it was obvious that he was poor, as her father had so rudely pointed out. Narcissa scowled. What a stupid idea. Putting people from rivaling Houses together would only cause arguments and fights.

She had a feeling that she would not enjoy this year.

Narcissa was certain that Lupin, like everyone else in the school, thought that she was a snob. There were negative rumors about her behavior to non-Slytherins, especially those who were Muggleborn or poor. She had a hunch that they had been started by a series of Ravenclaw boys who had wanted to go out with her a year earlier. She hadn't have the slightest interest in any of them, and had discouraged them. Unfortunately, this had insulted and angered them. Stupid boys. Narcissa had never actually had a boyfriend--only a few dates that had been set up by her parents. Because of that, everyone in school thought that she considered herself to be better than them.

Looking around the compartment, she noticed that nearly all of the other Prefects were making conversation with their partners. The only ones (besides her and Remus Lupin) who remained quiet were Severus and the frightened Hufflepuff prefect. Narcissa smirked. It was common knowledge that Severus had been into the Dark Arts for several years, and many of the students in other houses were afraid of him.

With a sigh, Narcissa turned towards Remus Lupin. She knew that saying nothing would be proof that she was unfriendly. She had always been quite shy around people who were different from her. She knew well enough how to act around others of the upper class because of all the social training she had received. However, it was one thing to talk with her parents' rich friends, who had a lot in common with her...but it was completely different to try to strike up a conversation with a penniless Gryffindor.

"Um, hi," she said weakly. "You're a friend of Sirius, aren't you?"

He twirled around to face her, obviously surprised that she spoke. Do I really seem that unfriendly? She wondered with a grimace.

"Yes, I am," he replied.

"He's my cousin," she said.

Lupin nodded. "I know."

Of course he knows, she thought, annoyed at herself for stating the obvious.

She wondered if Sirius had ever mentioned anything about her to his friends or if all of their opinions were shaped by her father's actions and the rumors. Narcissa and Sirius had spent the first eleven years of their lives as the best of friends. They had played together as children, since they had been the same age. Whenever they were at family gatherings, which were quite frequent until their grandparents had died eight years earlier, the two had always sought each other out, never wanting to interact with the other children. Sirius had even taught her how to play Quidditch (which she unfortunately had never taken part in at Hogwarts since Slytherin girls were strongly discouraged from trying out for the team). However, their entire friendship had changed the day that they began at Hogwarts. Narcissa had been sorted into Slytherin, and Sirius had become a Gryffindor. The two had made their own friends and house rivalry had pushed them apart. Now they only spoke to each other when they were forced to.

She realized that Lupin was staring intently at her. Looking back at him, she felt her face grow hot under his gaze. She wondered if he was wishing that he had been teamed up with a different prefect. Probably. She sighed unhappily. She wouldn't be surprised if he spoke with the headmaster to attempt get assigned to do the rounds with somebody else. Why had Headmaster Dumbledore wanted to do something like this? It wasn't like the houses would ever get along. This will most likely only cause more problems, she thought. The troubles in the past few years were mainly between Slytherin and the other houses, especially Gryffindor.

"So, what times are good for you to do the patrols?" he finally asked, still gazing at her.

She gave him a small but sincere smile, somewhat relieved that he wasn't planning on trying to change partners. "I have club meetings on Tuesday and Thursday nights, but any other time is fine."

He looked shocked at the smile, but still managed to grin back at her. "Okay, let's go tell Lily and James."

They walked over to the Head Boy and Girl together. "Hey, Moony, did you two decide on a time?" Potter asked.

Moony? What kind of weird nickname was that? Narcissa shook her head and rolled her eyes. James Potter pretty much ignored her, but Lily Evans was glaring at her. I wonder if she's still holding a grudge for the time I called her a Mudblood. Narcissa had said it to her once in their second year, but stopped using the word altogether in her fourth year, when she realized how rude it was.

Most of the Slytherin seventh-years still did it, however, not caring that it only caused other houses to hate them more.

After a few more announcements, the meeting was over. She left the prefect's car in a hurry, then went back to sit with her friends. Narcissa spent most of the remaining portion of the train ride trying to pay attention to the chattering of the girls she had been sitting with. However, her mind was on other things.

This was her last year at Hogwarts. Because of the scandals caused by her sisters' romantic attachments, her parents expected her to marry right out of school to prevent any further embarrassment to the family. Narcissa had been angry when they told her that. Did they really think that she would follow in the footsteps of her sisters? Narcissa was nothing like either of them; she was the daughter that her parents were almost always pleased with. And she didn't think that would change any time soon.

Unfortunately, her parents refused to be logical. They had spent the entire summer introducing her to the richest and most eligible bachelors around. Very few of them were even remotely intelligent, and nearly all of the dates that she had gone on had practically bored her to tears. The only one who had piqued her interest even a little was Lucius Malfoy. He was five years older than her, and was both attractive and intelligent. In her first year at Hogwarts, she had a crush on him. But he seemed conceited, which had gotten on her nerves the times she had seen him over the summer. Nevertheless, she had promised her parents to give him a chance. And her parents were the most important people in the world to her. Despite everything they demanded from her, she loved them, and wanted to please them. They were all she had in her life, and she didn't want to lose that. However, she still didn't know what to do about their insistence about marriage. She had always had a romantic vision of marrying for love, but doubted that she would ever feel love for Lucius Malfoy or any of the other men in her parent's circle of friends.

Narcissa closed her eyes. She was getting a headache just thinking about this. After what seemed like years, the Hogwarts Express arrived at the station. The ride to the castle and the Sorting Feast passed rather uneventfully, which she was grateful for. It was nice to be with her friends, but at the moment, she just wanted to be alone. The stress being put on her by her parents was exhausting, and she knew it would only get worse as the year wore on. At least I won't be at home, though. After escorting all of the new Slytherin students to their dorm rooms, Narcissa went to her room, glad to finally have some peace. She quickly changed into a nightgown, then got into bed, falling into a deep sleep.

*************

After they parted, Remus had stared after Narcissa Black with his heart pounding, which was extremely surprising to him. Most of the boys in his year agreed that she was the prettiest girl in the school. Remus couldn't have cared less about something as shallow as her outward appearance. It was also common knowledge that she was one of the richest girls in the school...and one of the snobbiest. Her father, based on what Sirius had told him, was very much into dark wizardry. On a more personal level for Remus, it had been humiliating when Black made that snide comment about Remus and his family. He wondered if Narcissa Black had the same opinions as her father. His instincts told him that he should at least give her a chance, despite the fact that she always had a frown on her face.

Well, not always. She had smiled at him today, which had caused his pulse to begin racing. He had never seen a genuine smile on her face...until now. And it had been directed at him.

However, Remus wasn't stupid enough to let a pretty smile get to him. He was the most level-headed out of all of his friends, and wasn't about to let that change.

James was the only one out of the four who had actually ever had a girlfriend. Despite the fact that James was the Head Boy, he still often acted like an idiot. Especially around Lily. She was the only girl who was actually able to hold James' interest. But, he was constantly trying to impress her, usually by doing crazy things. As for Sirius, he never paid attention to all of the girls who liked him; instead he was more interested in pulling pranks and causing trouble. Not that Remus didn't occasionally join in, but Sirius was--with the help of James--the most mischievous student that Hogwarts had seen for years, and he was proud of it. Occasionally, Remus thought that he was immature, but usually was glad to be around him. As for Peter, he always wanted to be a part of the things that Sirius and James were planning. In the beginning, it had only been Sirius, James, and Remus, but Peter had continuously tried to befriend the three of them. After a while, Remus had begun to enjoy Peter's company, and then convinced Sirius and James to let him be a part of their group. After that, the four of them became inseparable.

Sirius, James, and Peter were really the three greatest friends he could imagine having. In fact, they were the first friends he had ever made. Until Hogwarts, he had never actually attended school--he was just tutored by his mother at home. Because of that, he rarely had the chance to associate with other children. Getting his acceptance letter to Hogwarts was the greatest thing to ever happen to him. He had been amazed when his friends went through all of the work necessary to be animagi just because of him. Never in his life had outside of his family made such a sacrifice for him. For that, he would be eternally grateful to his three best friends.

Remus sighed. The next full moon was in a few days. However, he didn't feel the dread that had plagued him throughout the summer. The transformation would still happen, but now he would be with his friends again. And because of that, it would be substantially more endurable. He smiled to himself, actually looking forward to the year ahead of him.