It was hard to stay awake after the first hour or so on the train. It clunked along, the countryside whizzing past in a blur of green and grey, and rain started to drum against the window. Remus laid his head against the glass and closed his eyes. He willed himself not to fall asleep, because he was more or less in charge of ensuring they all got off at the right stop. He didn't have much of a choice in taking on this role, since James and Peter were already fast asleep themselves. It wasn't too late, getting on around three o'clock in the afternoon, but it had been quite a hectic morning. Least of all, with the excitement of sneaking away from their homes to travel down to London, it was beginning to exhaust them, and they weren't even out of Scotland yet. Remus realised that they hadn't actually planned on what they were going to do when it got dark. It wasn't possible to make it to London by the end of the day, or at the very least, it would certainly be late when they arrived and they couldn't exactly ask the Black family if they could have a sleepover. Chances are, they'd have to head straight back to the train station after checking on Sirius and sleep on the train. It was far too cold to even suggest sleeping somewhere outside.
It took a few hours for the train to reach Edinburgh. Remus had fallen asleep a few times, but the anxiety of missing their stop managed to keep him mostly awake, and he shook the other two boys out of their own slumber and told them they'd arrived. James recovered quickly from his nap and eagerly jumped off the train.
"Now where?" he asked, looking around the bustling train station. It was busier now, given that it was peak time after work, so the station was filled with men in suits marching their way to their respective platforms. Remus attempted to get his bearings and led Peter and James to the nearest signboard, telling them which trains were at which platform.
"We need to get to King's Cross," explained Remus. "Which means we have to go to platform 3." Platform 3 was back the way they had come, so they all turned around and followed him, dodging all the adults around them and heading towards the nearest ticket kiosk. The train itself was quite packed at first, but it filtered out as they crossed the border into England. Not many people commuted between the two countries for work, so Remus, James and Peter soon had an entire booth to themselves. Remus sat with his back to the window, reading his comic book. James and Peter were playing a game of rock, paper, scissors but were clearly bored by the whole thing. James sighed.
"How long till we get to King's Cross?" Remus chuckled.
"Don't get bored now, it's at least eight hours or so." James sat up and stared, wide-eyed at him.
"How many hours?!"
"It's a muggle train, James. It's nowhere near as fast as the Hogwarts Express." James sighed loudly and slumped down in his seat.
"I'm boooored," he whined. Remus chucked his comic book at him.
"Read that, then." James picked it up and flicked through the pages. It kept him and Peter occupied for at least half an hour because it was the thickest comic book Remus had in his cupboard, more like a graphic novel than one of those thin comic books that you'd buy in a newsagent's. Remus had read it many times before, so he wasn't particularly interested, but James and Peter enjoyed it.
They couldn't read a comic book for eight hours, though, so they soon had to find another form of entertainment. James stood up and went exploring through the train. Being the ever sociable gentleman he was, he made it a challenge to try to strike up a conversation with every passenger there. Peter and Remus stayed behind and left him to it. It began to rain again, softly against the window and Remus watched the droplets fall against the glass. He started up a race with Peter, seeing whose raindrop reached the bottom of the window first. It got old after a few turns, and they eventually decided to stand up and see where James had got to.
YOU ARE READING
Boys Will Be Bugs
Fanfiction[REUPLOAD] Remus Lupin has more than one secret, and there's no way of knowing who he can trust. All he has are his parents, but they can't protect him when he goes off to Hogwarts. But then Remus meets a boy and his two other friends, and soon real...
