Boys Will Be Bugs

Chapter 11: Family

The journey back on the Hogwarts Express was much more fun than the first journey there had been. For starters, Remus's compartment was full this time. Sirius, Peter and Owain were there with him (James had left a few days early for his trip to India with his parents), and Lily showed up halfway through, with Snape tagging along beside her. He looked as if he'd rather be anywhere else than a compartment filled with Lily's other friends. Everyone introduced themselves, however, but Snape mainly kept to himself, his nose in a book and only really speaking to Lily; although he did show some interest in Sirius, attempting to draw him into a conversation. Weirdly, Sirius wasn't being very engaging, which wasn't like him at all. Snape eventually gave up and went back to talking solely with Lily, but he at least accepted Owain's offer of a Bertie Bott Every Flavoured Bean. Luckily for him, it turned out to be marmalade flavoured.

As the journey neared its end a few hours later, and the train started to slow down, everyone turned their attention to the train window, craning to see their parents and family. Remus noticed that Sirius didn't even move from his seat, or bother to search like everyone else, but didn't have long to ponder this, because at that moment he spotted his own parents. He waved excitedly to them and they, equally as excited, waved back.

"Remus, sweetheart, how are you?" Remus had barely taken two steps out of the train carriage before he was engulfed by his mother's arms.

"Muuuum, I'm fine, you're squeezing me." But Remus was happy to be able to hug her again.

"Oh it's mum now, is it?" She joked. "I hope that school isn't turning you into an Englishman."

"And what's wrong with an Englishman?" Lyall interrupted, joining in with the joke. Hope finally let go of Remus long enough to give Lyall a chance to hug him as well.

"Nice to have you back, Remus," he said, ruffling his hair. Before Remus could respond, Owain ran up to him to say goodbye.

"Write to me, yeah?" He said.

"Of course! Mam, dad, this is Owain."

"Good afternoon," greeted Owain to Lyall, and "Prynhawn da," to Hope, which made her beam at him.

"S'mae, cariad, we've heard a lot about you!" Remus blushed red.

"All good I hope!" replied Owain, just as his parents walked up behind him with his twin sister Anwen, who, throughout the term, had spent more time with her friends in the Ravenclaw house than her own house, so Remus hadn't had much of a chance to get to know her. He said goodbye nonetheless, and she politely waved back in acknowledgement.

Remus also spotted Peter, being greeted with hugs from assorted family members, and Lily as well was in a similar position, although a very sour-faced girl stood next to her, whom Remus took to be her older sister. She certainly didn't seem happy to see Lily, which Remus thought was odd. What was more noticeable to him, however, was Sirius, who was standing next to two adults— his parents— and a boy who looked strikingly similar to him, but with much shorter hair. That must have been his brother, Regulus, the only member of the Black family that Sirius was actually close to. But even so, there were no smiles and hugs between Sirius and his family, and Remus once again felt slightly guilty that Sirius had to spend his whole Christmas with them, while Remus could do nothing to help. He managed to catch Sirius's eye and he waved at him. Sirius plastered a smile on his face and waved back, out of sight from his parents.

"Shall we go then?" said Hope from behind him, which shook him from his thoughts and he turned away from where Sirius had left. "We've got the Christmas tree up, but we haven't decorated it yet." Remus loved decorating the tree. His mother had done it once without him years ago and Remus had been upset for the entire rest of the day because of it. She hadn't made the same mistake since.