Of Wolf and Wizard

A small brown owl had been perched on the front porch rail for a good ten minutes, hooting impatiently in hopes that the noise would awaken the woman it sought. All of its efforts thus far were ineffective, however - she slept on in the comfort of her cushioned wicker chair, heedless of the bird that regarded her with obvious annoyance. A few stray rays of sun broke through the sheet of clouds overhead, and the owl blinked, not liking this at all. It was beginning to seriously consider giving up on its mission, when the screen door clanged shut and a man came outside, stretching his arms in a manner that clearly betrayed his exhaustion.

The door's sudden noise caused the woman to wake up with a start, a slightly dazed expression on her face. The owl, giving her a meaningful look, spread its wings and fluttered over to land on the man's arm. He smiled despite the circles under his eyes. "Post already, eh? I must've slept longer than I thought," he murmured, giving the owl's feathers a friendly stroke and untying the rolled parchment from its leg.

His wife muttered something that sounded vaguely like "I don't know," and craned her neck in his direction, though not bothering to get up.

As soon as the parchment was untied, the owl took off into the afternoon sky, but the man didn't even notice. Unrolling the parchment, he scanned it quickly, his expression slowly shifting from suspicion to disbelief, and then, as he read it again more slowly, to wonder.

"Hogwarts," he said softly, still staring at the paper.

"Hmm?" said his wife, who had begun to doze off again.

He was already rereading the letter, checking it carefully to see that there had been no mistake. "Hogwarts," he said again, as if willing himself to believe it. "This is an acceptance letter."

In a flash, his wife was standing by his side, fully awake, and reading the letter over his shoulder. "They didn't," she breathed, looking up at him with wide eyes, now fully awake.

A grin spread across his face. "They did!"

The same grin, almost manic, filled her face with glee at those two words, and she attacked him in a huge hug, practically jumping up and down as she said breathlessly, "He's going! He's really going!" All he could do was hug her tight, thanking every higher power he could think of.

"Where is he?" she asked as she pulled away from him.

"Sleeping," he said with a fond smile. "I daresay last night wore him out even more than it did us."

"He'll probably sleep right through the day, just like last month," she said with a shake of her head.

At her words, a shadow seemed to pass over her husband's face, erasing the irrepressible happiness of only a moment ago. He looked down at the parchment again. "Does he know?"

She blinked. "Does who know what?"

"Dumbledore," he replied quietly. "Does Dumbledore know about..."

"About the... the bite?" she finished for him. "I suppose he must, though one can't be sure." A frown creased her brow as the same thought nestled in her mind. "I do suppose we should owl him back. Tell him. Make sure he wants to risk it, you know."

"Risk?" he repeated. "What risk? He's been going to Muggle primary school for years now, and aside from a few monthly absences, they don't see anything different."

"They're not Muggles at Hogwarts," she interrupted. "Muggles don't even believe that they exist, let alone go to school and behave like normal children. They don't have the fear of his kind that wizards do. And besides, we won't simply be able to put him in the basement when he transforms at school - he'll be in a dormitory with other boys, and what if he should bite one of them? Trouble for him, trouble for us, trouble for the school, not to mention the poor boy and his family, having to go through what we did...."

"Hush, hush," said her husband. "Nobody's been bit. And nobody will be bit, if I know Albus Dumbledore. He'll think of something. We've already got the letter. I'm sure he wouldn't turn Remus away now."

"Do you really think so? If someone should even find out what he is," and here she paused, as if voicing the thought pained her, "well, he has so few friends already."

He wrapped his arms around her again, holding her tightly against him as he ran soothing fingers through her hair. "That's only because he's so quiet," he said. "Living among Muggles has been as hard on him as it has been on us, if not more so. When he goes to Hogwarts, there'll be one less secret he'll have to keep."

She looked up at him with a worried frown. "You mean if he goes," she corrected him.

"No," he smiled, "I said when, and when is exactly what I mean."

* * * * *

Four weeks later, on the first of September, the boy in question was pushing his way through the Muggles who crowded what seemed like every inch of space that there was in King's Cross Station. Open-mouthed and wide-eyed, Remus Lupin asked about the nature of every new thing that his sharp eyes encountered, from the electrically-powered train schedules to the ticketing booths along the walls, from the cheap Muggle food being sold beneath neon signs to the vending machines in the corners.

His parents explained everything that they could, though they too were slightly baffled by the nature or usefulness of many of these things. They steered him through the crowds, all the time trying to appear as though they belonged to this throng as much as the next Muggle; his mother had even Transfigured her house slippers into worn-looking Nikes to wear with her blue cotton dress for the occasion, saying that Muggle women nearly always dressed that way when they took the train. Remus somehow doubted this, but didn't see fit to argue the point.

"Almost there," said Mr. Lupin, with one hand on his son's shoulder and the other carrying an extremely large trunk, which he had charmed to be feather-light and which he was carrying as easily as one might carry a fruit basket.

"Round that corner, Remus," instructed Mrs. Lupin. "And mind how you swing that thing," she said to her husband, "you'll put somebody's eye out."

Remus took the corner at a sprint, his excitement growing as he saw two signs before him: one for Platform Nine and one for Platform Ten. Having reached walkway between them, he turned and announced, "Nine and Three-Quarters should definitely be around here somewhere. Right, Mum?"

Mrs. Lupin shushed him with a finger to her lips, but her husband smiled proudly at his son. "Right you are, my lad. If you'd just follow me."

The boy did so, keeping his eyes open for another sign, or even anyone who might look like a wizard - anything that might lead to Platform 9 ¾ - but he saw nothing. "Where--?" he began to ask, but the enigmatic smile on his mother's face effectively quieted him.

"Watch your father," she said as the family drew to a stop about halfway along the platform. Intrigued, Remus did so. As he watched, Mr. Lupin looked nonchalantly about, saw that nobody was paying him any particular attention, and leaned casually against the barrier that separated Nine and Ten. Remus blinked, and when he looked again, his father had disappeared, trunk and all.

"Mum!" he said, startled.

Mrs. Lupin smiled and gave him a gentle push between his shoulder blades. "Your turn," she said. Remus looked horrified. "Just stand against the barrier, dear, and you'll go right through."

He didn't move. "Go on!" she said with a laugh. "It won't hurt a bit. Your father will be waiting for you on the other side."

Although his expression indicated that he was doubtful of this fact, he nevertheless steeled himself and marched bravely toward the barrier. Squeezing his eyes shut, he leaned gingerly against it - and found that he was leaning against nothing but air. His eyes flew open of their own accord, and he found himself stumbling onto an entirely different platform, this one alive with excitement and tension, as opposed to the Muggle platforms, which all held a distinct atmosphere of boredom. He guessed that this difference was due at least in part to the presence of a large red steam engine, which gave the impression of being just as impatient to leave as its passengers were. A quick glance up at the nearest sign confirmed it: this was indeed Platform 9 ¾.

"All right there, Remus?" came the voice of his father from a few feet away, and his mother smiled at both of them as she appeared on the platform.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" she said, in that told-you-so tone that always made Remus desperately want to stick his tongue out at her.

"I'll stow your trunk in the rear compartment, shall I?" said Mr. Lupin eagerly, lifting the trunk again and hurrying toward the train.

He disappeared quickly, and Remus watched in amazement the bustling energy of so many witches and wizards crowded together in one place. Of course, he'd always known that there were more magical folk in the world than just his immediate family, but he'd rarely got the opportunity to meet them. Even Diagon Alley, the immensely crowded street to which his parents had taken him for his school shopping, paled in comparison to this. He smiled to himself - it seemed like an adventure waiting to happen.

Mrs. Lupin knelt down so that she was at eye-level with her son. She too had been watching the crowds, but their effect on her was almost the opposite; the sparkle in her eyes had been replaced with an earnest, almost worried look. "Write to us often, won't you?" she said quietly, and Remus nodded.

"Course I will, Mum," he said easily.

"I expect an owl from Professor Dumbledore within the week, once he's worked out all of his plans with you. But I want to hear from you as well," and here she lowered her voice, "before the full moon. Understand?" He nodded, and she continued, "If you're not ready to spend the full moon at school, let me know, and your father and I will send for you. Deal?"

"Deal," he agreed, feeling his stomach flutter a little bit.

"And do give Dumbledore my best, when you see him," she added. "Oh, you did bring that box of biscuits that I baked? Good. And do you have your wand - ah yes, there it is," she said as he pulled it out of his pocket to show her. "Remember to keep it handy, dear. And don't forget to put on your gloves when you're handling money...."

"I know, Mum, I know!" said Remus with a half-exasperated laugh, just as his father sauntered back over to join them.

"All set," announced Mr. Lupin. Remus smiled. "You'll never guess who I ran into over there. Do you remember that little Slytherin girl, the one I tutored when we were in sixth year?"

"Not Eileen? Goodness, I haven't heard that name in years!" Mrs. Lupin's face adopted a thoughtful smile as she looked around for the person in question; Remus let out a polite but very pointed sigh, which both his parents failed to notice.

"She's over there with... well, I assume he's her husband. A fellow named Snape; I don't recognize him," shrugged Mr. Lupin. "But apparently her son is starting his first year as well."

"Her son? But she's so young," whispered Mrs. Lupin fervently. But Mr. Lupin made a little shushing noise, and she didn't say anything more.

"Yes, her son," said Mr. Lupin. "Severus, his name is."

"Severus," repeated Mrs. Lupin.

"Yes. Awful name," said her husband in a rather offhand way, and this time it was she who shushed him, though she couldn't suppress a smile herself.

Remus, however, was beginning to feel his attention wander, mainly due to the small group of boys he had just spotted, who looked as though they might be his own age. They were all talking and laughing as they boarded the train - and as Remus looked at the large clock looming over the platform, he realized that he probably ought to board too.

"I should go now, don't you think?" he said, and his parents' conversation stopped dead in its tracks. They looked down at him, suddenly quiet, as though neither of them had actually believed until now that he would really be going.

Remus resigned himself to the numerous hugs and last-minute bits of advice that his parents insisted on giving, but eventually managed to extricate himself from their grasp and start running toward the train, his heart pounding. With a last wave in their direction, he climbed on board.

Once on the train, he found himself bumped into and jostled by what seemed like hundreds of hurriedly apologetic students, most of whom looked much older than he. He wondered briefly if they had perhaps made a mistake and sent him the letter a few years early - but he dismissed the thought as silly, since his parents seemed very confident that everyone started at Hogwarts when they turned eleven, which he had done half a year before. He supposed that he should find a place to sit, as the train had just blown its warning whistle and everyone else seemed to be in search of a suitable compartment.

After dodging aside to avoid being knocked over by a knot of tall, cheerful-looking girls, Remus picked a direction and walked purposefully down the corridor, peering into each window he passed. Every compartment was filled with people who already seemed to know each other, so he moved on, keeping his eye out for either a fellow first year (preferably one who looked as lost as Remus felt) or an empty compartment.

Just as the train started to move, Remus finally spotted a compartment that was empty save for one student: a boy who didn't look much older, flipping through the pages of a rather large book. The prospect of finding an empty compartment suddenly seemed much more appealing, as that option wouldn't involve as many difficult questions, not the least of which was the question of what he ought to say to someone he'd never met before. He didn't know why, but he found the idea somewhat worrisome.

He started to head in the direction in which he'd been going, but realized that he'd nearly reached the end of the train - the odds of finding an empty compartment were very slim. So there was little choice but to sit with the lone boy. But at least, he decided optimistically, it was only one.

Remus slid the door open rather more forcefully than he'd intended, and the other boy looked up with a start. Remus looked at the boy. The boy looked at Remus. Remus cleared his throat, gathering that the boy wanted him to say something first. He finally settled on "Er," then decided to add a "Hi!" for good measure.

The boy gave him an understanding sort of half-smile. "First year?" he asked.

"Yes," said Remus gratefully, then fell backwards against the opposite seat as the train gave a lurch and began to gather speed. "And you...?"

"First year as well," the boy answered as he closed his book, which Remus recognized as The Standard Book of Spells, Grade One. "Severus Snape," the boy announced, extending his hand in a manner that was no doubt meant to be friendly, though it came across as rather haughty. "Pleased to meet you."

"Oh," said Remus as he shook Severus' hand, recalling his parents' conversation from only a little while ago. "My parents know yours, I think. Isn't that funny?"

"Do they?" said Severus, looking curiously at Remus.

"I think so," said Remus, pleased that he'd finally been able to catch the other boy's interest. "Your mum, at least. I don't know how... but I'm Remus Lupin, anyway. Good to meet you too."

"Lupin, hm?" Severus thought for a moment, then said, "I don't think I've heard my mother mention that name."

Remus deflated slightly. "Ah... well, they only said they knew her at school. Maybe she'd forgot." He shrugged it off, deciding it best to attempt a new topic. He thought frantically for a moment, and then his eyes fell back on Severus' book. "Have you learned any spells, then?"

Giving him a slightly wary look, Severus said that he hadn't. "You aren't supposed to start until you begin lessons... right?"

"I suppose not," said Remus uncertainly, though he had heard nothing of that nature. "Just getting a head start?"

"I was just seeing how advanced we're going to get in the first year. Not very, it seems. I watch my mother do magic all the time, of course, so I don't think that the simple spells should be terribly hard to learn." Severus looked at him with a sudden sharpness that made Remus shiver. "Have you learned magic from your parents at all?"

Remus found himself fumbling for words again; it seemed like a strange thing to be so adamant about. "Well, yes. Er, not really, but I mean, they've shown me things. I haven't actually done anything though, because I didn't have a wand, you see--"

Severus' gaze relaxed a little bit, and he even gave Remus a morose sort of smile. "Of course you haven't. I just meant that your parents are both wizards," he clarified stiffly.

Remus nodded, wondering why the other boy had brought up such an odd subject, and so soon. "They are," he said. "Well, they're a witch and a wizard, not two wizards, but that's what you meant, right?"

Surprisingly, Severus laughed - and Remus, once he realized why what he said had been funny, chanced a laugh as well. The mood now considerably lighter, Severus dropped the subject of their parents, instead showing Remus some of the more interesting spells he'd seen in their textbook. The conversation became far easier after that point, which made Remus quite happy, especially considering that he'd decided only moments before that Severus had probably made up his mind to hate him already.

They talked of many things as the time passed. Remus mentioned his eagerness to learn to play Quidditch; Severus had no interest in flying. Severus wondered if the Potions professor might let him learn how to brew a Polyjuice Potion; Remus thought it a frightening prospect, as neither boy was sure whether one could inhabit another person's thoughts as well as their body when taking the potion. Remus wondered if they would have night lessons to study the stars (and the moon, though he didn't say so); Severus hoped they wouldn't, as he didn't make a habit of staying up very late. Severus was eager to learn about vampires in their Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons; Remus pretended to have no interest in the Dark Arts whatsoever.

"What house do you think you'll end up in?" asked Remus, grinning. That subject in particular had been a constant topic of discussion (and friendly arguments) at home, as both of his parents wanted desperately for him to be sorted into their house. The only trouble was that he couldn't very well be in two houses at once....

"Slytherin," said Severus promptly. "That's where my... er, my family was. We've been Slytherins for generations now."

Remus couldn't help but notice a certain shiftiness in Severus' manner as he said this, but he decided that it wasn't worth mentioning. "What about you?" said Severus quickly.

"Dunno," sighed Remus. "Mum was in Gryffindor, Dad was in Ravenclaw. I think one of my grandparents was in Hufflepuff, but I'm not sure. But it's not all based on where your family was, right?"

"Well," Severus began slowly, furrowing his brow, "I don't know...."

But Remus never heard whatever it was that Severus might have said next, for just then an elderly, kind-looking wizard opened their compartment door. "Either of you hungry?" he said in an inviting tone, gesturing to the cart that stood beside him, which was laden with all kinds of sweets.

Remus, who had not eaten breakfast that morning because he'd been so nervous, suddenly realized that he was very hungry indeed. After Severus had purchased a pack of Drooble's, Remus poked carefully through the sweets, then decided to get a Cauldron Cake (which he'd never tried before) and five Chocolate Frogs (which were his favourites). He handed the old wizard a Galleon and, without thinking twice about it, took the Sickle and several Knuts that made up his change.

With a sharp exclamation of pain, Remus dropped the money (and the sweets) on the compartment floor. He balled his hand into a fist, trying not to wince at the burning sensation that had lanced up his arm when he'd touched the Sickle.

"What is it?" said Severus, standing up in alarm.

"It's fine, it's fine," Remus quickly replied. "Just, er, a sharp edge, I think."

Severus gave him an inquisitive look, but did not press the matter. Willing himself not to betray the pain again, Remus knelt on the compartment floor and began to gather up the things that he'd dropped. The offending Sickle had dropped right between his feet, but he pretended not to see it, beginning instead with the sweets, which he piled on his seat. He gathered the Knuts one by one and dropped them into his moneybag, wondering how he might pick the Sickle up without touching it or, for that matter, giving away to Severus that he was deliberately not touching it.

He sat back on his seat, the last Knut safely inside the bag, but the Sickle was still in plain sight. "You missed one," said Severus, nodding toward the silver coin.

"Oh... so I did," said Remus, wondering if he might be willing to singe a couple of fingers just to get the bloody thing out of the way.

Remus was just about to get up again, when Severus said, "Hold on a moment." He had a strange sort of glint in his eye. "You don't think they really expect us not to try any magic, do you?" He opened the Standard Book of Spells again and flipped through it until he found the page that he'd been looking for. He pulled his wand out of his pocket, and held it at the ready. "Let me try this one. Wingardium Leviosa!" he said, waving the wand in a pattern that Remus recognized.

To Remus' surprise (and evidently Severus' as well), the silver Sickle rose from the floor and hovered in the air. Holding his wand with a fierce concentration, Severus slowly coaxed the coin into Remus' open moneybag, where it dropped in with a soft clink. "That was excellent!" said Remus. "Can you do any others?"

Severus flipped through the book again and then stopped, examining a page. "I reckon I could fix that cut of yours," he said, looking squarely at Remus, who was now polishing off the remains of a Chocolate Frog.

Shifting in his seat, Remus laid his fisted hand in his lap and covered it with the other hand. "Don't you think it would be better to wait till you're sure you can do the spell?" he said. Severus looked disappointed.

"I don't see why," he said sullenly. "It isn't as if you'd grow an extra head if I made a mistake. Heads and things are very advanced magic, you know, and this is just an easy spell to mend things."

"Even skin?" said Remus, still cradling his hand protectively.

Giving him a scathing look, Severus said nothing in return. Instead, he placed his book back in his lap and began skimming it intently, as though he was once again the only person there.

Remus wondered if he should say anything - but after a few minutes, he got the distinct feeling that Severus was ignoring him on purpose. Quietly, he gathered his remaining cake and frogs and stuck them inside his robes. "I'm going to go see if they have any Stringmints," said Remus, and Severus gave the slightest hint of a nod without even looking up from the book.

Remus left the compartment with a frown. He'd been so sure that Severus had taken a liking to him, maybe even so much that they could wind up being friends, but this sudden change of attitude perplexed Remus. People couldn't really decide not to be friends with you just because you wouldn't let them practise new spells on you... could they?

It was best, he decided, to leave Severus alone for the time being. Perhaps he would come back a bit later - but even if he didn't, they'd surely see each other at school. Maybe they'd even be in the same house. For now that he was free to give it a little bit of thought, Remus decided that there was a good possibility he could end up in Slytherin. After all, his mother had told him that Slytherin students had a tendency to be interested in the Dark Arts, and as the coin-shaped burn mark on his hand proved, he definitely had a natural affinity for that particular branch of magic.

According to Mrs. Lupin, Hufflepuff House prized loyalty, Ravenclaw housed the intellectuals ("the bookworms," as she'd put it), and Gryffindor students were usually the bravest. Remus supposed he could be loyal, though he didn't know for sure, as he'd never had anyone to be loyal to. He doubted that he'd be considered very intellectual, as he'd failed more than one maths test in his last year of primary school... and he certainly wasn't brave. Someone brave wouldn't have left the train compartment just because a boy with a funny name (not to mention rather funny hair) was upset with him.

He considered going back in, but decided that a last-minute display of bravery wouldn't be enough to convince anyone that he belonged in Gryffindor House. So he walked down the corridor, hoping that he might find somewhere more hospitable to sit for the rest of the ride. He peeked through window after window: a trio of girls sat in one compartment, laughing about something in a magazine. In another, two boys were comparing their wands. In another, an older boy and girl were sitting much too close together, talking very quietly. In yet another, a slender, black-haired boy was standing opposite a short blond boy. He raised his wand, and Remus saw that the blond boy looked very nervous.

Remus watched through the window, intrigued - was this boy going to try a spell on the other, just as Severus had wanted to?

The taller boy pushed his rectangular spectacles up his nose, then said something that Remus couldn't hear, and a few sparks flew out of his wand. The blond boy, however, remained unchanged. Remus smiled, supposing that it hadn't worked, whatever it was. He slid the compartment door open.

"Hello," he said tentatively, looking back and forth between them. "Are you practising spells on each other?"

The taller boy sighed, putting his wand in his pocket. "I was trying to, anyway. Say, you don't happen to know the Vino Charm, do you?"

Remus looked surprised. "Vino Charm?"

"Vino... or Vedi. Verdo. Something. It makes things turn green. D'you know the one I mean?"

"No," said Remus, though he couldn't help cracking a smile. "But don't you think you should find out what it is before you practise it on other people?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Remus could see the blond boy nodding his head in agreement. The taller boy shrugged. "Oh well, I just thought it might be good fun to turn Pettigrew's hair green before we got there - oh, this is Peter Pettigrew," he said, as if just remembering that they still didn't know one another. "I'm James Potter."

He said this with flourish, illustrating his name with a broad smile. "That's James-not-Jimmy," said Peter Pettigrew, in what was clearly meant to be a mockery of James' voice.

"Are you first years?" said Remus.

James looked slightly put out. "How can you tell?"

Remus stifled a laugh. "I just have a feeling that the older students don't go around trying to turn each other different colors."

"They do, though!" said James fervently. "Only they do it much better than me. I'll have to make sure to learn the color charms properly."

"And I'm sure I'll have to learn all the countercharms," added Peter with a little smirk.

"So will you, if you know what's good for you," said James to Remus with a smile. "What's your name, anyhow?"

"Remus Lupin," he replied. "Also a first year."

"Lupin, Lupin, Remus Lupin," James repeated, managing to add a certain flourish to this name as well. "Rolls off the tongue, that does. Remus Lupin. Nice to meet you! Have a seat, won't you? Do you have any sweets?"

Mrs. Lupin had told Remus not to be rude to the other students, and he now wondered if asking other people for sweets counted as rude. He decided that if it did, James-not-Jimmy simply didn't know that. And besides, Remus didn't care. "Of course I do," he said as he sat down, shoving a hand inside his robes and pulling out a pair of Chocolate Frogs. "D'you want one?"

James nodded eagerly, and Remus tossed him one of the boxes. He was about to give the other to Peter, but the blond boy stopped him. "Can't eat chocolate," he said mournfully. "I'm allergic."

"Allergic to chocolate?" repeated Remus, who had never heard of such a thing. "That's awful... here, I have a Cauldron Cake you could have instead." He gave the cake to a grateful-looking Peter, who ate the whole thing before James had even unwrapped his frog.

"Fanksh," Peter said with a winning smile.

"Galileo," said James, examining his Chocolate Frog card. "I've got one of him already. You want it, Pete?" Peter nodded eagerly; James handed it over, and it soon disappeared into an inner pocket of Peter's robes.

James and Remus unwrapped their frogs and, almost in unison, bit their heads off. There was a moment of contented silence as they systematically dismembered and devoured the frogs.

"Do you play Quidditch at all?" James asked suddenly, looking at Remus with interest as the latter licked his fingers clean of chocolate.

"Well, not really," said Remus. "But my dad lets me fly on his broom all the time, and I'd love to try! I think I'd be a good Chaser."

James regarded him thoughtfully. "You look more like a Seeker, I think. That's what I want to be. A Seeker or a Chaser. Or a Beater. I suppose being Keeper wouldn't be too bad if it came down to it... but I really want to be a Seeker. Pete and I practise all the time, don't we? If we can get enough people together, I'm always Seeker and he's always Beater."

"But if it's only the two of us," added Peter, "then I play Beater and Keeper at the same time, and James plays Chaser and Seeker. It gets a bit complicated, but it's quite fun."

Remus furrowed his brow. "But if you're the only Seeker, then how can Peter ever win?"

"He doesn't," said James carelessly. "But he doesn't mind, do you, mate?" Peter shrugged. "I need a lot of practise, see, because I reckon I could make it onto the house team!"

"My dad played on the house team," said Remus proudly. "He was a Beater for Ravenclaw three years straight."

"Excellent!" said James. "Do you think you'll be in Ravenclaw too, then?"

"Not sure," Remus shrugged. "My mum was in Gryffindor... and besides, doesn't it depend more on you than on your parents? I mean, I could very well be put into Slytherin even though none of my family ever was, couldn't I?"

"Not likely," said Peter unhappily. "I reckon I've got more of a chance at Slytherin than you - my mum was in Slytherin. My dad was in Hufflepuff though, so I suppose there's hope for that."

"Loyal, are you?" said Remus with a smile.

Peter shrugged. "I guess so. I really want to be in Gryffindor though... but I don't think I'm brave enough."

"I'm going to be in Gryffindor," James said proudly and without any trace of uncertainty. "My family's always been Gryffindors, and my parents would be quite disappointed if I couldn't be one as well."

Remus was fairly sure that he could see a trace of jealousy on Peter's face, but he didn't mention it. "That's good," was all he said, and he never got the chance to find out what he would have said next.

"No you won't!" came a shout from outside their compartment, accompanied by the thumping sound of someone running past. Immediately, all three heads whipped around to see what was going on. A shower of purple sparks arced across their corridor window, but beyond that they could see nothing. The distinct sounds of a scuffle, however, made James perk up. He darted over to the door, trying to see through the window at an angle from both sides.

James threw a grin back at Remus and Peter, then slowly slid the door open. The sounds grew louder as he did, and Remus could make out at least two voices speaking rapidly, though he couldn't pick out the words. He and Peter crowded behind James as the taller boy poked his head out into the corridor.

"What's going on?" said Peter, as James crowed an exclamation of excitement. "Don't go--"

James went.

"--out there," Peter finished. He turned to Remus with a resigned look on his face; Remus grinned and shrugged, and both of them followed James outside.

The commotion was over by the time the three boys got a good look at what had happened. A very strange picture met Remus' eyes: two older girls were facing each other in a now-silent challenge, but they were hindered from movement by two more young witches, each of whom held the arms of one of the duelers behind her back. The witches who held the duelers back, however, did not say anything; instead, they wore expressions of grim resolution, and Remus was struck by the impression that this had all happened before.

The taller witch, who had long white-blonde hair and a sneer on her face, spoke first in a very cold voice. "Just stay out of my business, Andromeda. If Bellatrix was still in school, you wouldn't have dared."

"It's my business too, when you start hexing him for no reason!" said the girl called Andromeda in an equally cold voice.

They stared at one another for another immeasurable second, before the blonde girl broke the silence with a haughty laugh. "Oh, stop trying to play the peacemaker. Why don't you go and play with your little Muggle friend? You aren't worth my time." Without further ado, she broke free of the other witch's grasp, straightened her robes with a certain measure of dignity, and ducked into a compartment further down the train.

"You can let me go now," said Andromeda to her captor, with a sudden touch of humor in her words. The two other witches exchanged an exasperated look, but left her alone without further ado. Only then did Remus realize that there'd been a fifth player in the scene.

A boy, much younger than all of the girls, had been sitting cross-legged between where Andromeda and the other witch had been; now, with a very annoyed expression on his face, he was getting shakily to his feet. Remus saw immediately that there was good reason for his annoyance: his ears, though still shaped like human ears, had somehow grown to at least five times the size that ears ought to be.

James was already stifling a laugh, as were a few other spectators who had stepped out of their compartments to see what was up.

Andromeda extended her hand to steady the boy. Touching her wand to each of his ears in turn, she murmured something under her breath; within seconds, his head looked quite normal again. He gave her a grateful smile, then quickly escaped through a compartment door.

For the first time, Andromeda seemed to take notice of the nine or ten audience members she had acquired, all of whom were waiting to see what she would do next. "What do you want, a dance concert?" she said dryly.

Almost immediately, everyone began to pretend that they hadn't even been looking at her in the first place. Everyone except James, that is. "Can you tap-dance?" he asked brightly.

The girl looked at him in surprise for a moment, before simply rolling her eyes and walking away down the corridor.

Remus and his two companions went back into their own compartment. "First year!" James exclaimed over the fits of laughter that had overtaken them.

"No," Remus said. "She's much older than a first year. Look at the magic she did!"

"Not her," said James, leaning in conspiratorially. "Him! The kid with the big ears."

"Are you sure?" said Peter.

"Of course I'm sure," said James. "If he wasn't a first year, he would have mended his ears on his own, wouldn't he?" James sat back in his seat, evidently very proud of his deduction.

Remus, who had learned a great deal about James' personality in the past few minutes, winced. "You're never going to let him live that down, are you," he said, not even bothering to turn the statement into a question. Peter snickered.

"Not likely," said James. "D'you have any more Chocolate Frogs?"

Remus obligingly tossed him a frog, and got another for himself while he was at it. As he absentmindedly bit its head off, he couldn't help but wonder if Severus Snape was the type to make fun of the boy with the big ears - and decided that yes, he probably was. James and Peter would likely call him names, but Severus would just sneer at him. He had the sort of face that was naturally suited to sneering.

Remus also wondered if he himself was the type to make fun, but realized he didn't know the answer. He shrugged the thought off as James offered him a round of Exploding Snap, and they settled down on the floor to play cards until the train reached its destination.