The Tale of Remus and Sirius

"Wake up, sleepy!" an energetic voice called, breaking through Remus Lupin's peaceful slumber. Remus turned over on his side to shield the light that was now pouring through his curtains. He squinted his eyes open to peak at his watch, which currently read 7:18 A.M. He closed his eyes and pulled the covers over his face, hoping to get back to sleep.

Whoever had roused him in the first place was now sitting upon his bed, thrusting the covers down before prying Remus' eyes open. Remus finally gave up and opened his eyes, seeing a tanned muscular boy with dark black hair past his shoulders, deep brown eyes, and a smiling face.

"Rise and shine, Remus!" the boy grinned.

"I should have known it was you, Sirius Black," Remus sighed, throwing his pillow at Sirius. "Who else would have the nerve to hop right upon my bed and start prying my eyelids open?"

"None other than yours truly," Sirius answered, jumping off the bed to give his friend a hand out.

"I'm not surprised. What time do classes start, anyways?" Remus asked, heading to the bathroom.

"Oh, I thought you were the bookworm, not myself. Don't you know when classes start?" Sirius rolled his eyes mockingly.

Remus poked his head out the door. "Oh, stop it, you know I'm no good at remembering times and schedules and all that," he said through a mouthful of toothpaste.

"Nice look you've got going there," Sirius added.

"Thanks," Remus spat the toothpaste into the sink and wiped his chin with a towel. "Now are you going to answer my question?"

"You just asked another question, and the answer to that one is no," Sirius flopped down on his friend's unmade bed.

"Don't be stupid, Sirius," Remus glared at him mockingly. "Now, what time do classes start?"

"Nine, Remus, nine. Do you think you can remember that? Or do I have to write it across your forehead in permanent ink?" Sirius teased.

"Oh, go bother James and Peter. You haven't even woken them up yet!" Remus answered.

"And why should I?" Sirius challenged him.

"You know Pete'll freak if he's late for classes, he's afraid of that Potions woman enough already. And I supposed James would be equally as pissed if you didn't get him up in time to go down to the commons and say good morning to Lily," Remus fluttered his eyelashes, "before breakfast," Remus popped his head through the door again.

Sirius laughed at his friend's speech. "You were first on my list, Remus, as it's always such a joy to have to pull your eyelids apart and hop all over your bed, shouting at you just to get you to even acknowledge my presence," Sirius joked, running off to awaken his other friends before Remus could answer.

Remus shook his head and laughed to himself before finishing to get ready for his first day of schooling as a first year Gryffindor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And as being a werewolf, but it wasn't the first time that had been the truth.

Five years ago, when Remus had wandered into the woods with his muggle friends, Thomas and Christopher, they'd gotten separated, and none of them knew their way around. The hot summer's night was growing dark, and Remus was getting worried. He'd never been out in the woods before, not without his older sister, Teresa, anyways.

Sweat trickled down his forehead as he heard the howl of a werewolf nearby. Remus had heard about werewolves from his parents, but he never thought that there would be one near his house. Quickly he darted into the trees, hoping to hide from the vile creature. Unfortunately for him, the werewolf was gaining ever closer to his hiding spot.

Remus dashed through the brush, breathing heavily as he did so. He heard a twig snap loudly behind him. But just when he turned around-

Remus shook his head and sighed. He didn't want to think about seeing those pale amber yellow eyes searching him. He didn't want to think about glistening white teeth bearing down upon his calf, sinking deep inside his skin. He didn't want to think about how alone he felt, lying there, crying, waiting for Thomas and Christopher, or Teresa, or Mum and Dad... or anyone to find him.

No, he just wanted to think about his new journey in life at Hogwarts, free of thoughts of that dreadful night.

Remus looked in the mirror. His light brown eyes, hair, and his face didn't look much different now than they did five years ago, aside from the fact that he looked as if he'd aged ten years instead, and there was much more worry showing. But nothing could be changed. Nothing from the past could be undone.

Remus walked out of the bathroom, careful not to slam the door, as he headed up to his bed to grab his robes before going down to join Sirius in the Great Hall.

Evidently James Potter had noticed the worried look upon his face, for he stopped chatting with his friend, Peter Pettigrew, to turn to him.

"What's wrong, Remus?" he looked concerned.

"Oh, nothing, James, nothing at all," Remus headed down the staircase through the Gryffindor commons to the Great Hall.

Nothing's wrong, nothing at all, Remus thought. But yet, what a bittersweet time I'll be having.

Sirius propped his head up with his hand, sighing as he watched the porridge drip from his spoon to his bowl. He was already tired of waiting in the Great Hall for Remus and the others, and it had barely been ten minutes. Sitting and watching the Slytherins go about their business had lost its appeal once he'd witnessed Lucius Malfoy and a small boy with greasy, black, shoulder-length hair and coal black eyes, who he supposed was Severus Snape, yell and threaten each other.

Sirius knew he hated Lucius from the moment he first saw him on the Hogwarts Express that previous day. His pointy, pale face, white-blonde hair, piercing gray eyes, and smirking face were enough to make you despise him in an instant. And the way he was always yelling and cursing Severus for no apparent reason didn't help matters.

This morning Lucius and Severus had been talking quietly, although Snape did look a bit worried. Soon they were both upon their feet, ready to strike each other as Lucius yelled about there being no way to reverse it, while Severus listened calmly as he could before spitting at Lucius' feet. Severus was fuming, looking like a venomous snake, he was so angry. Why these two were always fighting was beyond Sirius, but he didn't really feel like knowing about yet.

He wasn't quite sure about Snape yet. The boy seemed a bit less cold and cruel-hearted than Malfoy, but then again, you could never trust a Slytherin. He'd just have to find out what he was like in... double-Potions, which coincidentally he had with the Slytherin scumbags.

Sirius looked through the rest of his schedule that a Gryffindor Prefect had just handed to him. There wasn't anything else too interesting.

"Hey, Sirius!"

A happy voice broke through Sirius' train of thoughts like a pick through ice. He jumped, startled, and turned to see James, Peter, and Remus.

"You okay, Sirius?" Remus asked, eyeing him.

"Yeah, you look like you've just been attacked by a werewolf!" James joked.

Remus flinched and tensed up at these words, but no one else seemed to notice.

"Actually, I think this spoon my have nipped me once or twice," Sirius said lazily, however, a grin was slowly spreading across his face.

"You silly fool!" Peter slapped his friend's back as they all, aside from Remus, grinned like maniacs.

"Can we sit down and eat now?" Remus asked a little too nervously.

"Calm down, Remus, if you're that hungry, just chow down!" James smiled.

"Yeah, sure," Remus flopped down next to Sirius nervously as he began to munch on a piece of toast.

Lily Evans chose that moment to walk by, quickly attracting the attention of James.

"Sorry, guys, I've got to go work my God-like charm, now!" James puffed out his chest, walking over towards Lily.

"What a buffoon," Peter laughed.

"Well spoken, Pete," Sirius agreed.

Remus couldn't help but smile.

While James was working his God-like charm on Lily Evans, Sirius had a chance to talk to Remus about Malfoy and Snape. Not wanting to miss the rare opportunity of silence, they launched into conversation.

"So," Sirius had finished telling Remus what had happened earlier that morning, "what I want to know is why those two are always arguing."

"Well," Remus said absently, "the Malfoy is from a long line of purebloods, and they may possibly have some of Salazar Slytherin's blood in them..."

Sirius looked fearful. He didn't want to be anywhere near a real Slytherin.

"Of course," Remus continued, "we can't be sure of that. However, I do think that their pureblooded, Slytherin family are all supporters of You-Know-Who. That's probably what they're arguing about : You-Know-Who. Although I don't know why they'd argue about him, Snape's probably on the dark side, too," Remus looked puzzled.

"He's probably got some vampire blood in him," Sirius observed. "God, I wish there weren't any dark creatures around here."

"You know, Sirius," Remus sighed, "not all dark creatures are completely terrible."

"Enough of them are, though," Sirius answered.

"Well, what would you do if one of your best friends was a dark creature?" Remus decided to ask the question hypothetically.

"Like a vampire? I don't think any of you are... but if one of you were, I'd be fine with it, as long as they didn't try to kill me. I suppose that might be difficult, though, since I'm human..." Sirius pondered, and the gears turning in his brain were practically visible as he thought about the statement. "Oh well, none of you are, so I don't have to worry, unless you're keeping something from me, Remus...?" Sirius raised his eyebrows.

"No," Remus tried to keep his face as calm as possible.

"Well then," Sirius said, lightening up the mood, "I don't see what the problem is."

"Hey, what're you two up to?" Peter turned to them.

"Not much," Remus said.

"Except for devising plans to make James' God-like charm," Sirius rolled his eyes, "backfire in front of Lily."

"Oooh... Lily Evans!" Remus fluttered his eyelashes.

"No, Remus, you girly-boy! You must use your God-like charm to attract her, not flutter your eyelashes, you silly twit!" Sirius teased his friend.

"Thanks for the advise, Sirius," Remus looked at him mischievously.

"No problem," Sirius raised his hands.

Peter couldn't help but laugh at the interesting scene his friends were making.

Just then, James strutted back over to the table.

"Hey, guys!" he exclaimed happily.

"And how did Jamesie-Wamesie's little talk with Lily-Wily go?" Sirius mocked him.

"Just fine, and don't call me that," James blushed.

"Okay, Jamesie," Remus grinned.

James lightly punched Remus in the arm.

For some odd reason, Sirius, Remus, and Peter suddenly burst out laughing as James turned around to sit down.

"What? What's so funny?" James asked, noticing their laughter.

"This," Peter said, handing James a sign that had been stuck on his back.

Hello! My name is

James Potter,

And I like to wear

Pink heart pajamas

to bed!

I also have a stuffed

Teddy bear named

Mr. Schnookums

Who I sleep with every

Night while I suck on my

Bottle.

The sign read.

James' face flushed deep red as he bounded for Remus and Sirius, who had already started running down the great hall.

"Sucker!" they shouted.

"I'll get you!" James called, bursting out the doors to find his prankster friends.