battle of the furries

Chapter 1: Language, Lupin

The Hogwarts Express, September first, 1975

"Why the fuck are you lot here?" Remus asked as soon as he stepped foot inside the compartment.

"Language, Lupin," Ainsley chastised.

"Yeah what kind of greeting is that? Asshole" lexi deadpanned.

"Whatever happened to hello, how are you??" Vivi asked with mock offense.

"And here i thought you'd be happy to see us" Lo added slumping back against the seat.

The four of them were sitting in the compartment, ainsley sitting criss cross applesauce with her back against the window facing Lo who seemed to be the only one of all of them who knew how to properly sit on a train seat.

Remus stared at all of them, still waiting for an answer though it soon became apparent they weren't gonna elaborate. "Yeah yeah hello i'm thrilled that you're all here now please answer the question." He said exasperatedly, looking at them expectantly

"Oh yeah" Lo piped up "it's a long story really but basically we set the school on fire and got expelled." She finished cheerfully.

"I'm sorry, you WHAT," Remus replied, the surprise evident in his voice. He leaned against the doorframe and looked at the four of them. "So you mean to tell me, of all the time we spent together this summer, not a single one of you bothered to tell me you were going to hogwarts?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah pretty much," Ainsley said, stretching her legs out and throwing them over Lo's lap, much to Lo's obvious annoyance.

"Okay well i hope you enjoyed this surprise but I hope you know my friends are probably gonna freak out," he sighed before breaking into a smile.

"He is happy to see us!" Lo yelled happily as she shoved Ainsley's legs off her lap and jumped to her feet. Remus grinned as she threw her arms around him.

"Obviously I'm happy to see you, loser." He joked as Lo stepped back, grinning like a crazy person until they were interrupted by a cough from the compartment door.

"Hey remus? mind explaining where these girls came from?" A tall boy with dark hair that stuck up in all directions asked, confusion evident in his voice.

"Vivi, the hot one" she replied quickly, nodding in the boy's direction.

"You wish," Ainsley said, rolling her eyes. "I'm Ainsley, the actually hot one." She flipped her hair over her shoulder while standing up and extending a hand to the boy who's confusion only seemed to be growing as the next girl started to introduce herself.

"I'm Lex, I'm the hot one and i will break your knee caps if you disagree."

the only blonde in the compartment stared at lexi for a second before returning her attention back to the boy. "uh, okay then... i'm Lo, nice to meet ya" she said with a smile.

"er, yeah nice to meet you? I'm james" he said looking at Remus. I appreciate the interesting introductions, but it didn't exactly answer my question. You're definitely not first years but I've never met you guys before" He rambled looking around at the group again.

"Oh yeah um these are my friends that I see in the summer and stuff, the ones from Beauxbatons." Remus explained watching the realization spread across James' face.

"Oh my God, dude, they actually exist? I was really starting to think you made them up" James laughed as Remus dug his elbow into the boy's stomach. "Merlin remus, what was that for?"

"Yeah moony why are you bullying james this early in the morning?" a new voice asked as a third boy suddenly appeared in the doorway. He had long dark hair and high cheekbones. his eyebrows raised in amusement.

"First of all, it's 11 am which is not early, and definitely not too early to bully James; Second, he didn't believe I had friends.'' The tallest boy defended his display of violence.

"Wait, what do you mean he didn't think you had friends? Is he not your friend? The new boy asked, seemingly unaware of the girls who watched the whole encounter with varying levels of amusement.

"He didn't think I had other friends, idiot" Remus sighed, gesturing to his four friends staring at them. the boy blinked, seeming to notice them for the first time. Lo fought back a laugh as she watched the boy's face flip through about fifty different expressions as he tried to figure out how to proceed.

"Oh. Yeah that makes more sense." He stated dumbly. "Um, I'm Sirius and you guys are..?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. Vivi opened her mouth but Remus jumped in before they could repeat the whole introduction they just gave james.

"This is Lo, Ainsley, Lex and Vivi" Remus said, gesturing at each of them. Lo gave a little wave at her introduction and Ainsley gave the boy a salute. "they're my friends from beauxbatons but they're here now."

"Oh neat" said yet another new voice from behind sirius. They all stared at the fourth boy as sirius moved out of the way. Lo blinked, Lex cleared her throat, and Vivi shuffled in her seat. they all sat in an awkward moment of silence as the new boy, who was shorter than the others rocked back on his heels. "Uhm, I'm Peter," he squeaked. Lo blinked again.

Sirius cleared his throat and all attention snapped to him. "Well it was a pleasure to meet you all but seeing as the train is now moving, you should leave." He said, moving away from the door so they could leave.

Lot's eyebrows shot up as she stared at Sirius in disbelief. "I'm sorry what?" She asked, not breaking eye contact as the boy moved to rub the back of his neck.

"It's just, well, we always sit here, with remus ya know, and there's not really room for eight people in here so..." he trailed off as everyone looked at him. James nodded in agreement as Remus looked between his two groups of friends. He knew there was no way this was gonna end well.

"Yeah, no." Vivi said defensively "we were already here, before Remus even showed up" she said, glaring at the three boys.

"Yeah, well we're here now and we always sit with remus" Sirius replied, crossing his arms, making it clear he wasn't gonna back down.

"Okay then go sit somewhere else with him, asho—"

"Vampy!" Remus cut her off with a stern look, "be nice"

Ainsley was about to retaliate when James interjected. "Wait, Vampy" he asked curiously. Looking between remus and the girl for an explanation.

"Yeah it's a nickname" she replied, still glaring at Sirius. James burst into laughter. The girls glared at him as he tried to compose himself. "What... what kind of nickname is vampy?" He asked between laughter.

"If you think that's bad, you should hear Lo's nickname" Lex snickered as James finally composed himself. Lo shot Her friend a glare.

"Wait, do you all have nicknames?" James asked the group. They all nodded. "Yup, Mine is Buzz, Lex's is Mouser and Lo's is nuts" Vivi explained as the three boys burst into laughter.

"I'm sorry," peter choked out through laughter, but how exactly did you get stuck with nuts?" he asked before completely losing it. Los face was bright red as she looked at remus, a question in her eyes. "Show em" remus smirked answering his friends unasked question. She smiled and closed her eyes. She slowly started shrinking down as the three boys gasped.

"What the fuck— you're a squirrel!!" James pointed out the obvious. "So you're an animagus?" He asked, disbelief laced his voice. "We all are" Vivi said as Lo scampered um the seat into Ainsley's hand

"Okay so that's cool and all, but like, can you still leave" Sirius interjected, annoyance evident in his voice though no one really seemed to know why. Remus ran a hand over his face as he turned to the long haired boy. "Okay you don't need to be a dick, Sirius" Remus said as his friend's mouth fell open.

"I'm not!" He snapped, "I just wanna sit down and these random girls are taking our seats" Ainsley looked about ready to flip her lid when remus turned to the girls, trying to keep the peace.

"Okay, what if you four changed into your animagus forms, then we'll all have room and no one has to kill each other" he proposed.

"Yeah and then they won't have to talk" Sirius muttered under his breath as they all agreed to the plan.

Published 5/2/21, 1432 words