Remus hadn't seen his other friends for a good month or so, not since the day he'd rushed out of Jethro's house after Rocky Horror. He felt a little awkward seeing them for the first time since their last interaction, but it seemed they had quickly moved on and were more excited to see him again than anything else. Lily ran up to him on the platform and jumped into his arms, making him laugh at her enthusiasm, and the atmosphere was perfectly light as they made their way to an empty compartment. Jethro asked if he was alright when the two finally came across one another, and at Remus's affirmation, he dropped the subject entirely.
They found Marlene in a carriage near the end of the train. She was waiting for Dorcas, and Remus noted that she was still wearing a boys' uniform, despite the fact that Myfanwy had finally bought her own for the new year, a girls' one that properly fit her this time. Marlene was also still sporting her short hair, but most strikingly she had dyed all of it brown except for the roots, which were still blonde. Remus barely recognised her.
"What's with the hair?" he asked. Marlene shrugged.
"Felt like changing things up a bit," she replied. "What do you think?"
"It suits you."
"I like the different colours," remarked Lily. "I kinda miss your old hair colour, though."
"I'll change it back eventually," said Marlene. "I'm just trying something new."
Remus lifted his trunk onto the luggage rack above him, placing the slightly smaller accordion case on top. Luckily the next full moon wasn't for a while, so he was strong enough to lift the case by himself. He'd be pretty embarrassed if one of his friends had to help him, but James caught sight of the case.
"What's that?" he asked, pointing up at it.
"Accordion case," replied Remus. "My grandad gave it to me. I'm trying to fix it."
"An accordion?" said Lily. "Can you play?"
"Not at all, but I'm gonna try to learn." He decided to lift it down and open it up to show them all. He tried to explain the buttons and the keys as best he could, despite not really remembering much himself, but he asked Sirius if he could play anything on it. Sirius lifted it onto his lap and observed the instrument.
"I can't see the buttons," he said. He craned his neck and attempted to play a simple tune on the keys. Remus had to show him how to pull it apart so that it actually made a noise, and Sirius made a relatively decent attempt at playing something, even if he had to slow down the tempo just so he could find each key with his fingers.
"My grandad said the buttons on the side are chords, but I don't really know what that means."
"Chords are just certain keys played at the same time," explained Sirius. Remus pointed at the button with the groove in it.
"Apparently that's the C chord." Sirius pressed it down and opened up the bellows.
"It doesn't sound like the C chord."
"The whole thing's out of tune."
"I thought it sounded off." Sirius handed it back to Remus. "Are you going to tune it?"
"Well, that's the problem," Remus replied. "It's pretty complicated, especially if you don't know what you're doing."
"Why don't you just use magic?" asked James.
"Because that's too easy," said Remus. "I want to do it myself. I'm going to fix it and learn it by the end of this year."
"Really?" remarked Sirius, raising an eyebrow. "You don't even know what a chord is."
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Boys Will Be Bugs
Fanfic[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...
