The Marauders and the Arenotelicon

Remus stepped through the barrier between platforms nine and ten at King's Cross Station in London a few weeks later and he could feel the excitement boiling inside him. His father appeared behind him seconds later and they headed toward the hissing steam engine that occupied the tracks. People milled about, gathering their belongings, hugging, kissing or shouting farewell. Remus took it all in, his keen senses going into overdrive to keep up with it all.

"Remus." Phineas' voice was somber and Remus immediately diverted his attention to his sire. "Now pay attention. Send an owl in the morning at breakfast, let me know what house you're in and how everything went, alright?"

"Yes, Papa." Remus swallowed. It was suddenly striking him that he was on his own now, without his father there to help him, to guide him.

"And don't forget to get to the shack early just in case. If any accidents happen, you, Professor Dumbledore and myself will be in a lot of trouble."

"Y-yes, Papa," stammered Remus.

Phineas looked at his son, his eyes bright with tears. "I'm proud of you, Remus. I know it's been hard sometimes but I want you to know that I love you and am proud of you." Remus blinked back his own tears, unable to speak. He merely nodded and hugged his father tightly around the waist. "Now, behave and send me owls regularly so I don't worry."

Remus nodded again, trying to speak past the lump in his throat. He cleared it and spoke in a ragged voice. "When you... when you visit Mum, tell her... tell her that I love her and that I'm all right?" Remus had realized the night before it would be the first time that he would not be visiting his mother's grave on her birthday. It was a special outing for father and son that neither had missed since her death four years earlier.

Phineas smiled at his son, a lone tear streaking down his cheek. "You know I will. Teffie gave me this to give you. She was sobbing her heart out when I left her in the kitchen this morning. She said it has your favorite cakes and sweetmeats. Here's some money for the sweet cart. There's always someone selling sweets on the train. Don't overindulge but have a couple of chocolate frogs."

Remus nodded again. "Okay." He hesitated and then hugged his father again. "Thank you, Papa, I love you. Bye."

Phineas whispered good bye and soon Remus was watching his father stroll down the platform and disappear through the barrier. The younger Lupin straightened his shoulders, turned around and marched to the nearest empty car. He clambered in and pulled the door shut, pressing his face against the window as he searched for his friends from Diagon Alley.

He spotted chubby Peter Pettigrew getting bussed on the cheek by his weeping mother. Remus waited until Peter was actually walking down the train tracks, rubbing his cheek in chagrin, before poking his head out to shout. "Hey, Peter! Over here!" Peter's face lit up and he raced to the door. Remus pulled his new friend in and they began chatting immediately.

"Excuse me," drawled a voice. The two boys stopped talking and turned to the interior doorway. "I'm looking for James Potter. Seen him?"

Remus took immediate measure of the tall, lanky, black-haired boy and liked what he saw. "He was going to sit with us," Peter said cheerily. "You can join us if you like."

The other boy looked bemused, but shrugged and collapsed next to Remus. "I'm Sirius Black and you are?" He gave a roguish grin and ran a hand through his longish hair. Remus noted that the hand shook just a bit, betraying the calm exterior that Black presented.

"Peter Pettigrew, nice to meet you." Peter grabbed Sirius' hand and shook it vigorously. Sirius gently pulled his hand away after a moment and shoved it toward Remus.

Remus tentatively shook it, aware of his own magnified strength and then let go quickly. "Remus Lupin."

"You're kidding," Sirius said in stunned disbelief. "Honestly?"

Remus was confused for a moment. "Yes," he replied hesitantly.

"I'd sue. Your parents have a wicked sense of humor. Ragged a lot for that name, weren't you?"

Remus started to understand what Sirius was saying. He privately thought that Sirius had no idea how coincidental his name really was. After all, according to Roman myth, Romulus and Remus were two twins, raised by a she-wolf, who founded the Roman civilization. "Not really. I was tutored at home."

"Wish I was. Either of you from Muggle families?" Sirius leaned forward.

"Muggle?" queried Remus curiously. "No. Why?"

Sirius shrugged. "No reason. With all the fuss my family makes about them I was curious. You'd think they were four-armed demons sent to devour wizards the way they go on about them."

Sirius continued to talk while Remus studied him. Black hair and piercing blue eyes, Sirius Black had the look of a pure blood....the manners of one too. He was elegant and arrogant, yet there was something distinctly different about him. For one thing he had no respect for his parents' opinions of Muggles and seemed eager to meet Muggle-borns. Something in his tone suggested to Remus that Sirius' home life wasn't comfortable because of his alternate views regarding Muggle-born wizards and witches.

"...can't stand anyone who's not pureblood. At least at school I won't have to listen to them rant on!"

"Sounds horrible," commiserated Peter bracingly.

Sirius nodded and then looked around slyly. "Wanna see my impression of my father?"

Remus and Peter's mouths twitched as Sirius acted his impression of his father and his family in a situation where they had to meet Muggles. Soon the three of them were howling with laughter.

"I've been searching all over this train for you three and here you are making fun of me!" James Potter appeared suddenly with a mock outraged expression.

"Don't be guff," snorted Sirius. "Was making fun of my," he affected the snobbish tone again, "fahthah."

"Oh for the love of Merlin," James said with a roll of his eyes. "What'd he do this time?"

"He's still angry at me about going into Muggle London. If he wasn't so eager to get me out of the house with my 'radical notions', I wouldn't have even gotten to go to Hogwarts!" Sirius vented. James merely grinned. "Was never so glad to see the back of anyone than my mother and father today. And that brown-nosing brother of mine. And then that blasted house-elf gave me this!" He held out a smashed sandwich that he'd dug from his jacket pocket. Or at least Remus thought it was a sandwich. The glob in Sirius' hand was a bit indescribable.

Remus peered at it. "Looks like one of my father's experiments."

Sirius gave a shout of laughter. "Probably tastes worse though."

"I wouldn't bet on that," Remus informed him. "I've had to taste some of them." He shuddered at the thought of the last one his father had conjoled him into sip. It had given him stomach cramps for three days.

"What is it?" Peter poked it cautiously with one of his index fingers.

"No idea, want it?" Sirius offered it but Peter reared back and shook his head emphatically.

"No worries, Sirius, I'm sure we can all spare you something, or you can get something off the cart. I've heard this witch comes around with sweets," James advised his friend.

The train gave a lurch and then began to pull away from the station. The four of them pressed their noses against the windows for a last look at the station. James sat back with a cat-ate-the-canary smile and announced, "Well, we're on our way, fellows, and it looks like we've got it made."

"Any idea what house you might be in?" asked Peter nervously.

"Both my Mum and Papa were in Ravenclaw. I'll probably go there," Remus volunteered.

"Anything but Slytherin," groaned Sirius. "I'll even take Hufflepuff. It would hack my parents off to no end if I wound up in Gryffindor though!"

James laughed. "My family's always been Gryffindor, so I'd wager I'll be there too." He turned to Peter. "What about you?"

"My mum's family was all Hufflepuff, my Dad was Ravenclaw," shrugged Peter. "Anywhere is fine with me."

"Not bad," commented Remus bracingly. "It could be worse."

"Yeah, you could be in Slytherin," chortled Sirius.

"No offense, Sirius, but I'd shoot myself with a Muggle gun if I were in Slytherin," James stated firmly.

Sirius' "no offense taken" was drowned out by another voice, a sneering whispery voice from across the hall.

"There's a prayer to be answered if ever I heard one. If it happens I do believe I could believe in miracles."

"Shut up, Snape, and stick your nose back in your books." James seemed to bristle on the spot. Another boy appeared in the doorway. He had sallow features, a sharp, slightly hooked nose and black hair that looked slightly greasy. "For those of you who care, this is Severus Snape, an all around irritating, slightly foul-smelling, and definitely watch-your-back-around-him-type. He's perfect for Slytherin. Note the beady eyes."

Snape sneered at James and turned his attention to Sirius, who was gazing at him malevolently. "So you must be the wanna-be Muggle in our generation, eh? Every generation has to have one, I suppose."

Sirius leaned back, suddenly every inch the aristocrat, and drawled in a perfect Oxford tone, "My good man, I'm as pure blood as you're going to find on this train. I would have thought a vampire like you would be able to spot prime pure blood the moment you laid eyes on me."

Snape froze, his black eyes narrowing. "Too bad the purity ran only to blood and not to brains. Perhaps pure bloodedness isn't such a good thing. Inbreeding will occur, I suppose." With that, the boy turned away and went back across the hall, slamming the door to his compartment shut with a bang.

James sighed. "I'll never understand the working of that boy's mind for as long as I live. His dad's gives me the creeps though and my mum is always muttering under her breath when Mrs. Snape passes us at Diagon Alley." James leaned forward. "Watch your back around him, he knows loads of Dark Arts stuff."

The four of them turned pensive faces to the shut compartment door. "He was creepy," confessed Peter into the silence.

"I agree. He's a sad tosser," agreed Sirius. "Reminds me a lot of my dear family."

"He's what?" asked Remus.

"An idiot," translated James. "Get used to it. We'll probably know more Muggle slang than anyone else by the time this train ride's through. Sirius is an expert."

Sirius merely grinned. "Anything to hack off the parents."