The Lost generation // Marauders

First Year - I

He watched as the platform quickly began to fill up, more and more people, more and more noise. Remus was thankful for the comfort of his little train compartment, no one to talk to, no one to judge him. The full moon was the following weekend and Remus was already feeling it, his head felt like it was about to explode and he could feel every creak and crack in his bones.

He watched all of the mothers saying goodbye to their children, all of the fathers who seemed to care. He wished it was like that with his parents. He wished his mother was here still, he wished his father hadn't given up on him.

"What's with your scars?" Remus was so focused on the platform he hadn't noticed the small mousy haired boy enter the compartment, he sat across from Remus and by the looks of it he was quite interested in Remus. "What do you want?" Remus snapped, he hated his scars, he hated people bringing them up, they were horrible, a part of him he wanted to get rid of.

The other boy wasn't phased by the harsh tone and continued to stare Remus down, "They're pretty cool", "Im Peter by the way", he held out his hand for Remus to shake, "I'm Remus".

The two boys sat in an awkward silence until the train started up. Remus peered outside watching the last few students board the train. He enjoyed watching others, he always had. The compartment door opened for a second time. This time two boys stood there, Peter immediately invited them in, a bit too eager for Remus' liking. They were loud, clearly pureblood with their clean, perfectly fitting clothes and robes. Remus had second hand robes on, they had clearly belonged to someone a lot larger than him, his shoes had holes and his pants were held up by a small tattered belt. Remus could feel all three of the boy's eyes on him, scanning him up and down.

"Im James, James potter, and this is Sirius Black, we just met on the platform" James was tall, probably the tallest out of the boys, though Sirius wasn't far behind. James' hair was all over the place, spiky and dark while Sirius' was long and seemed as though it was taken very good care of.

Remus listened as the others introduced themselves, they fit together so well, all of them shared similar interests, they had grown up surrounded by the same things and they all knew more about the wizarding world than Remus definitely did. Remus had learnt that James was from one of the richest and ancient families in the wizarding world, Peter came from a loving pure blood family and Sirius was part of the sacred 28. They would all hate him if they knew the truth about Remus, why he had the scars and why he wore the clothes he did.

The train ride was longer than Remus expected, he didn't interact with the other boys during the trip apart from their first introduction. James had bought half of the sweets from the trolley, which he shared with Peter and Sirius. Remus had hoped that maybe he would offer him something but of course he didn't, who would want to interact with the battered up poor kid.

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It was dark by the time the train finally came to a halt, Remus peered outside where he saw a small sign swinging back and forth in the wind which read 'Hogsmeade Station'. Remus waited for the others to leave, allowing him to finally take a deep breath and prepare himself.

On the platform stood a man who Remus could only describe as 'huge', he looked to be about 9 ft tall. He ushered the first years over to him before leading them down to a boat dock. Remus got into the first boat he could find, hoping to lose the boys he sat with on the train. This didn't go as planned as soon enough James, Sirius and Peter were in the boat with him. It was a tight squeeze and Remus contemplated moving to another boat, but decided against it as it would bring unnecessary attention to himself.

The boat ride itself was nice, the castle coming into view was the nicest view Remus had ever seen, he hadn't heard about Hogwarts before getting his letter, despite his dad attending Hogwarts, so seeing it for the first time was magical. Remus thought that the boats must have been under a spell as they steered under the castle and into a little underground dock which had a marble staircase leading up to the castle.

A woman was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, she was dressed in green robes and wore a black hat. She ushered Remus and the rest of the first years up the stairs towards an even grander staircase which led to the great hall. "When you enter through these doors you will be led to the front of the room where the sorting will take place". Murmurs sprung up between the other first years as they discussed the houses and where they were wishing to be placed.

Remus watched as the doors opened to reveal the massive great hall, four large tables filled the hall, all with different coloured banners hanging above. The ceiling was dark and full of stars like the sky outside, Remus could see the moon, almost full, could he transform under this moon? 

A stool stood at the front of the room with a worn out brown hat, it looked as though it was 1000 years old. It was talking, or singing but Remus couldn't concentrate, there were so many people, so many people who could figure out his secret. "Black, Sirius", Remus looked up as he heard the name of the boy he shared his train compartment with, Sirius appeared confident, it seemed like nothing bothered him. "Gryffindor!" The room fell silent, Sirius looked shocked, the Slytherins began to boo, most of them sending nasty stares. Remus watched as Gryffindor slowly started to cheer, the shock fading. This was enough for Sirius as he happily walked to the Gryffindor table. "Evans, Lilly", a small redhead girl walked up to the hat, she seemed nervous, almost as nervous as Remus, she was sorted in Gryffindor, although seemed sad and avoided the others at the table. "Snape, Severus", A boy with a big nose and greasy hair walked up to the hat, he was watching Lilly longingly, "Slytherin", Lilly looked even sadder. "Lupin, Remus", his heart was in his throat, he thought he was going to stop breathing. Everyone's eyes were on him, he couldn't run.

Remus placed the hat on his head, he felt as if he was going to be sick "Ah what do we have here, a little cub. Don't worry I won't tell anyone, although I am shocked you are here." Remus' insides began to twist; he was going to be sick. "That is very brave, but also foolish, you have the brains for Ravenclaw and the heart for Hufflepuff", Remus couldn't sit still any longer, "Better be, 'Gryffindor'".

Remus was one of 4 boys to be sorted into Gryffindor that year along with 3 girls. To his luck the boys were no other than James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. Remus avoided them, which they in return avoided him. Remus sat with the girls, Lilly Evans and the other two he had learnt were Mary Macdonald and Marlene McKinnon. Lilly and Mary both came from muggle families whereas Marlene came from a pure blood family.

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The feast was magnificent, Remus had never seen so much food in his life. He had learnt about Lilly's older sister Petunia, how she now hated Lilly all because she was magic. He learnt about Mary's family and how much they had supported her after finding out she was a witch. They asked about his family, he didn't say much, not ready to open up to anyone about his shit life yet. It was strange, having so many people interested in him. Remus wasn't used to other people, his father didn't like him and didn't allow him to go and make friends 'They will find out Remus', 'They will hate you like I do'.

"First years follow me!" An older boy with a shiny badge stood at the foot of the Gryffindor table "I'm Frank, im one of the Gryffindor prefects", he was fit, and even Remus could admit he was good looking. There was a girl wrapped around his waist, probably his girlfriend though she looked to be at least a year or two younger than him.

Remus stood along with the girls and began to follow Frank out of the great hall, the boys behind him. "Remus Lupin!" The teacher who got them from the boats was walking down the aisle between the tables, "Please follow me, we need to meet with Dumbledore."