We Are

A/N: Hello! I hope all my Christian readers are having a lovely Palm Sunday, and happy Passover to all my Jewish readers. Thank you to Arnisse for reviewing!

Chapter 3: Settling In

The first of September was a Wednesday. Lily and her classmates spent Thursday and Friday rushing from the dormitories to the Great Hall, from the Great Hall to classes, back to the Great Hall for lunch and dinner, and finally back to their dormitories. On the weekend they explored the castle and grounds and tried to stay on top of their homework.

On Monday morning, the sixth of September, Sirius Black was sitting at the breakfast table, stuffing several sausages into his mouth at once and generally minding his own business, when a menacing-looking eagle owl landed in front of him.

Sirius looked up and gave a muffled groan through his mouthful of food.

James Potter sitting next to him shot a wary but curious glance at the red envelope in the owl's beak. "A howler?"

Sirius swallowed valiantly. "Mum," he said with admirable bravado, though he paled slightly as he pried the letter from the owl's beak.

The letter began to smoke slightly. James leaned away from it. Many people in the near vicinity covered their ears, gesturing for perplexed friends and neighbors to do the same.

Nonetheless, the entire Great Hall soon heard what Walburga Black had to say to her oldest son.

~~~~~~

Sirius was late. After the incident at breakfast, he had remembered that he had forgotten a book in the dormitory, and had insisted that his friends go to class without him. Now he rushed down flight after flight of stairs, without a watch to tell him whether it was necessary.

Sirius sped past a group of older students and skidded to a halt when he heard his own name called out. Sirius turned and swallowed nervously as he recognized the tallest girl.

Bellatrix Black beckoned her younger cousin. Sirius approached reluctantly, his grey eyes shifting between his seventh-year cousin, her sixth-year boyfriend Lucius Malfoy, and a formidable-looking Slytherin boy Sirius didn't know. Sixth-year Andromeda stood in the background, watching carefully with her dark, shrewd eyes.

"I heard her at breakfast," Bellatrix began. Sirius' jaw tightened. "'Is this how you repay your mother for eleven years of diligent education and flawless upbringing? I had believed you to have an auspicious future ahead of you. I haven't seen such uproar in the Black household since that...despicable Muggle-lover who...'" Bellatrix's memory failed her and she trailed off. "Do you now regret not begging the Sorting Hat to put you where you belong, despite your unworthiness?"

Sirius was rather impressed that his cousin could quote his mother's lecture word for word. It was certainly more than he could have accomplished. Sirius took a deep breath and looked his cousin in the eye. "I don't regret a thing," said Sirius defiantly. When Bellatrix simply stared at him, he continued recklessly. "In fact, I'm proud to be a Gryffindor."

Bellatrix's eyes widened. "You ungrateful little brat!" she said indignantly, drawing her wand. "I'll teach you a thing or two about pride--"

"Is there a problem?" Sirius twisted around to see the Head Girl, a Ravenclaw whose name he had forgotten, come up behind him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Black?"

"Not at all, Leland," said Bellatrix, with the amount of friendliness she usually reserved for particularly disgusting insects. Muggleborn, Sirius thought to himself, firmly squashing the small part of him that wanted to flinch away from her touch.

"Good," said Leland calmly. "Then I would ask you not to threaten the first-years. If you do it again I'll inform Professor Slughorn. You've made this one late already," she added.

Bellatrix glared and spun on her heel. Her companions hurriedly made way for her and followed her down the hall and out of sight. Sirius ducked away from Leland and darted off with a quick "thanks" thrown over his shoulder.

~~~~~~

Lily strolled into the Great Hall with her roommates for breakfast Tuesday morning. Just as the girls were helping themselves to scrambled eggs and toast, the post owls flew in. Lily jumped as a tawny owl landed in front of her. She gently pried a letter from his beak. The owl fluffed his feathers importantly--he was a school owl--and flew off.

Mary looked at the letter curiously. "From your parents?" she asked.

"Yes," answered Lily, opening the letter. "I'm surprised they wrote back so quickly. I only sent the letter Saturday afternoon."

Lily ate her breakfast absently while scanning the letter. When she got to the end she set it down with a sigh.

"What's wrong?" Alice asked, setting down her fork.

"Nothing, it's...it's nothing."

"Come on," Mary pressed. Asha too looked over, her big brown eyes filled with concern.

Lily hesitated, and then said, "Do you have any siblings?"

Mary shook her head. "No."

"I do," said Alice. "Two brothers and a sister, all older than me. My sister is a fourth-year, and my brothers have graduated."

"I have a younger brother," said Mimi.

"Will he go to Hogwarts?" asked Alice.

"I dunno...my whole family is Muggles."

"But here you are," Lily pointed out.

"Yeah," said Mimi uncertainly. "Huh. I hadn't thought about that."

"What will happen if he doesn't get the letter?" asked Lily. "Do you think he'll be mad? Jealous of you?"

Mimi frowned. "I sure hope not."

"What are you on about, Lily?" asked Mary.

Lily sighed. "My parents sent a note from my sister Petunia. She's a Muggle."

"What does it say?"

"It just says hi, how are you, I'm fine, that sort of thing."

"So what's the problem?" asked Mimi.

"The problem is, Petunia wouldn't...she's not..." Lily struggled for words. "She hates me now. She didn't write this. Or maybe my parents made her write it, I don't know. We used to be best friends, before Sev--I mean, um..." she trailed off miserably.

"So she doesn't like Snape?" said Mary.

"You think she's jealous that you're a witch?" Alice asked at the same time.

"I'm not sure," answered Lily. "That's what Sev thought, but she kept saying she didn't want to be a witch. She said she wouldn't go to Hogwarts if you paid her. She said--she said I was a freak."

"Sour grapes," said Mimi.

Alice blinked. "What? Grapes?"

"It means she just wants Lily to think she's not jealous, when she really is," Mary explained.

Lily shrugged and glanced at her watch. "We had better head for Potions."

~~~~~~

Remus Lupin stared into space. His three roommates sat near him, engaged in animated conversation. Remus was only half listening, as his mind was otherwise occupied with a conversation he had had earlier that day.

"The moon rises early, around 8:30 tonight," Professor McGonagall had said when she had pulled him aside after breakfast that morning. "Go to the hospital wing at 7:45; Madam Pomfrey and I will show you the passageway."

Remus glanced at his watch for the tenth time in so many minutes. He sat on the edge of his chair, jiggling his leg nervously. He heard Sirius saying his name; he sounded very far away. Remus nodded and smiled vaguely.

"You okay, mate?" asked James, poking Remus in the arm. Remus blinked. He looked at his watch again.

"No, um, actually I--I've got a stomachache. Think I'd better go to the Hospital wing." Remus jumped up and hurried to the portrait door. He wondered if he only imagined every gaze in the room boring into his back.

Although it was well before curfew, Remus hurried down the stairs and along the corridor to the Hospital Wing, anxiously peering over his shoulder every so often. By the time he reached the Hospital Wing he was nearly trembling with apprehension. Professor McGonagall met him at the door.

"Ah, right on time, Mr. Lupin," she said briskly. She opened the door and called, "Poppy? We're ready."

The brusque but kindly Madam Pomfrey bustled out. "Are you all right, Mr. Lupin?" she asked gently. Remus swallowed hard and nodded.

A faint trace of daylight still lit the grounds, although the sun had sunk below the mountains on the western horizon. The two women led Remus past the Black Lake toward a strong young willow tree. The tree creaked menacingly as they approached, and its branches swung slightly, though the air was still. When they were within ten feet of the tree, it began thrashing about, branches lashing out to try and whip its trespassers off their feet. Madam Pomfrey took hold of a long branch conveniently hidden behind a bush. She crept forward cautiously and poked a large knot on the tree trunk. The tree froze, and Professor McGonagall indicated a gap between two of its roots.

"The passage is down there; you'll find an abandoned house at the other end. Are you ready?"

Remus shivered in the warm, almost stifling air of the September evening. He took a deep breath to steady himself and stepped forward. He reached the passageway, and Madam Pomfrey backed away as the tree began groaning sluggishly. Remus slipped into the darkness, and was alone.

~~~~~~

Remus woke to a soft, warm hand on his shoulder and a woman's voice calling his name. "Mum?" he murmured sleepily.

A pause. "No, dear," said a gentle voice his foggy brain now realized was not his mother's. "It's Madam Pomfrey. You fell asleep. You need to get back to the castle before your roommates wake up."

Remus shook his head to clear it and stood stiffly. "Oh. Okay." Blinking in the pale, cloudy light of morning, he realized that he had passed out against the tree trunk next to the passageway. As if the floodgates had opened, the memories of the night before washed back over him.

He had come to himself in the pitch darkness of the shack, crying out loud. He didn't know how long he had sat on the floor as his sobs faded into silent tears streaming through his splayed fingers. The salt stung where it ran into the many cuts and scratches he had inflicted upon himself.

His crying had brought on a wave of homesickness, the first since his arrival at Hogwarts. His mother had always cried with him on nights like this. Even as he grew older, and tried not to let his tears fall, she still cried. His father went out on those nights, and the local bartender knew to expect him once a month when the moon was full, although he never knew why. But Remus' mother stayed, always. There was a little hallway in their house that led to the basement where Remus had made his transformations. The basement was magically secured, and the house was always soundproofed so as not to alert the neighbors. Sometimes his mother shut herself in her bedroom on those nights, but Remus knew that many times she sat at the top of the stairs in front of the locked door, listening. As soon as his tortured howls and whines dwindled into sobs and whimpers, she was there, crying with him. He knew it was childish when he could see how much both his parents loved him, but sometimes he wondered whom she cried for most: Remus, or herself.

~~~~~~

On a Saturday afternoon in the middle of September, Lily Evans finished her last assignment with a sigh of relief. "That's that done, then," she said to herself, stowing ink, quill and parchment in her bag. She glanced out of the window at a bright blue sky. Lily fetched her book from a nearby table and settled into a chair by the window. Looking out she could see sunlight sparkling on the lake. She scanned the lawn for Severus, but didn't see him. She caught sight of some other boys on the shore, however, whom she recognized. James and Sirius had grabbed hold of a large tree branch that had fallen in the previous night's storm, and Peter, Remus and Frank Longbottom with a few of his fellow second-years looked on as the two black-haired boys carefully trailed the end of the branch in the water. Lily almost laughed aloud along with the other boys when a giant tentacle grabbed hold of the branch and yanked, pulling James and Sirius headfirst into the water.

"Are you done yet, Lily?" Lily turned around as three of her roommates climbed through the portrait hole. "It's so gorgeous out," said Mary. "Won't you come outside with us?"

Lily smiled. "I've just finished. All right, but don't the rest of you still have work to do?"

"That's what tomorrow's for," said Mimi with a grin. "It's just too pretty out to work. We've been stuck inside all week with the rain."

Lily tried to look reproachful, but was quickly won over as Mimi clasped her hands, cocked her head and blinked her bright blue eyes. "Please?"

"Okay, fine," Lily said, laughing. "But tomorrow night when you're up at all hours working, don't come complaining to me."

"Yes, ma'am!" Mimi sprang into a salute as Mary clapped her hands gleefully and Alice smiled and shook her head at their antics.

"Where's Asha?" Lily asked as Mimi led the way back out of the portrait hall, down the stairs and out to the lakeshore.

"With her brother," said Mary. "She said she'd catch up with us later." The Gryffindor first-year girls found their male counterparts sprawled under a tree by the lake, not far from where Lily had seen them last. Frank and his friends had disappeared.

"Hi, boys!" called Mary, waving happily.

James and Sirius gave half-hearted greetings from where they lay on the ground. Remus had been leaning against the tree, but he sat up and waved as the girls approached. He poked Peter, who was absorbed in a Muggle comic book. "Oh, hi," Peter said absent-mindedly.

"You're wet," Mimi commented to James and Sirius, standing over them with her hands on her hips.

"Yeah..." Sirius grinned. "We had a little..."

"...Accident," James finished.

"Ew!" Mimi jumped back. "Don't you think you're a bit old for that?"

Sirius glared at her. "With water, stupid!"

"And the giant squid," said Remus helpfully.

"They were trying to poke it with a stick and it pulled them in," Lily added without thinking.

"What do you know about it?" asked James, suddenly embarrassed. Mimi was doubled over in laughter, and seeing James' face, Mary and Alice were trying hard not to join her.

"Oh, um, nothing," said Lily hurriedly. "I just...it just seemed like the sort of stupid thing you would try. And I was right, wasn't I?" She turned up her nose haughtily.

James smirked. "You were watching."

"Wasn't," Lily replied unconvincingly.

James grinned knowingly. "Sure you weren't, princess."

Lily narrowed her eyes. "That's Miss Evans to you." An awkward silence ensued.

Mary fidgeted. "Um, so..."

Remus saw Mary's discomfort and decided to help out. "Did you know that some goats urinate on their own heads to make themselves more attractive to the females?"

"What?" Lily demanded. Mimi stared. Alice looked confused. Mary tried to look grateful but couldn't help but be a bit disgusted...

Meanwhile, the boys were cracking up. "Seriously?" said Peter. "That's--"

"That's disgusting!" Lily finished, shaking her head incredulously.

"How could any female find that attractive in the slightest?" Alice wondered.

"Oh, you'd be surprised the number of things females find attractive," said a boy's voice.

Alice turned around. "Oh, hi, Asha. Hi, Damin."

A pretty brunette fourth-year came up behind Damin. "Hey, cutie, I've been looking for you. What've you been up to?"

Damin grinned. "Hi, Charlotte. Just hangin' with my little sis."

Charlotte smiled. "Checking up on her, huh? That's just like you. Hey there, firsties. I'm surprised at you. When I was your age I was still in the boys-are-gross stage."

"You're telling me," Lily remarked, shooting Remus a look. He grinned back a little sheepishly.

Charlotte wrapped her arms around Damin and kissed him on the cheek. He blushed as James and his friends complained loudly.

"Gross!" said Sirius.

"Gross beyond gross," James agreed.

Charlotte laughed. "Let's go find someplace a little more private, Damin."

Damin grinned. "See you around, Asha." Asha smiled bemusedly and waved.

Lily caught sight of a familiar scrawny figure. "I'll see you later, okay?" she told her friends.

Mary followed her gaze and nodded. "Sure. See you, Lily."

~~~~~~

"Hi, Sev!"

Severus glanced up from the ground. His whole face lit up when he saw her. "Hi, Lily." Lily ran along the lakeshore and skidded to a halt beside him.

Lily grinned at him. "Oh my gosh, Sev, you won't believe what happened today!" She launched into a story about Mary MacDonald, Charms class and a small explosion. Severus listened with more animation than he'd shown all day in classes. His bright black eyes watched her every gesture. He laughed so loudly that a passing Slytherin prefect stopped and stared. Lily grabbed his hand and pulled him to a tree, under which she sat. He let her pull him down next to her, feeling more at home than he had all week.

A/N: There you are and I'm sorry it took so long! I hope that if you have any comments, compliments or complaints, you will drop me a review. I promise to read and consider every suggestion carefully. Thank you! ~Lily Luna