checkmate | remus lupin.

chapter seven | 7.

AUTHORS NOTE: Everything here belongs to J.K. Rowling. I'm just playing in her sandbox, and while that's said, everything in italics is taken straight from The Sorcerer's Stone.

September 1st, 1971

As it turned out, Sirius was in fact not the one to blame. The sweets trolley had come and gone when the girls were changing into their robes and James and Sirius had split the cost of 7 of each sweet. One of every sweet for every person in the cabin. James had tore into his chocolate frog first and had scoffed at the card. "Beatrix Bloxam was the author of the Toadstool Tales, a series of children's books since banned because they have been found to cause nausea and vomiting. I had about five of her before I got rid of most of them. I want at least one of each card."

James had tossed the card to the floor of the cabin as Severus greedily snatched up the card. "You never know when something like this will come in handy. This might be on a quiz!" Severus read over the card twice before sliding it in his pocket. His eyes roamed the array of sweets he had in front of him, debating on which one to indulge in now and which to save for later. He eventually chose the liquorice wands.

"Yeah? What are you going to do, carry every card you get with you all term? Don't be silly." James said, carefully taking out his chocolate frog. He took a bite out of the head, effectively removing the spell on the sweet. "Besides, a quiz on the chocolate frog cards? That's realistic."

"There might not be a quiz on this specific card, James but I do agree with Severus. Take Dumbledore's card for instance, a question might be 'what are the twelve uses for dragon's blood and who discovered them?' Having the cards may come in handy then." Remus chirped up, happily shoving his frog into his mouth.

James rolled his eyes and reached across the cabin, grabbing Severus's chocolate frog for himself. He wasted no time in ripping the packaging open, grabbing the card and reading it out loud. "Herpo the Foul was an Ancient Greek wizard and the first known creator of the Basilisk. See? That's useful information and I'll have you know, I don't have any of his cards. I'll keep it for myself, thank you very much." James leaned back into his seat with a small smirk on his face. He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his coat while grabbing a bag of Roasted Chimera Potato Crisps with his other hand.

"Hey! That's mine, give it back Potter!" Severus yelled.

"No can do, my friend. I paid for it."

"Actually, I paid half of it so technically, the card is half mine." Sirius said, laughing.

Severus huffed, pushed the rest of his sweets off his lap and onto the floor before he got up and left the cabin. In his haste he didn't see Lily reaching for the door handle nor Maia pulling Lily back in surprise.

"Sirius, what did you do?"

The boys eventually changed into their robes with only minutes to spare before the train pulled into Hogsmeade station. Maia was the first one out of her seat, following the herd of students spilling out onto the platform. She turned into a slow 360°, surveying the old structures of the undamaged area that she missed so dearly.

Shops weren't closed down, weren't boarded up; the employees weren't terrified for their lives and the station wasn't a ghost town. It was refreshing, seeing it happy and full of life once more.

The boys met up with her and they walked to the enormous beckoning man at the end of the platform. While Maia knew that Hagrid was younger now than he was in her time, she certainly didn't look it. His beard was still bushy and plump and the colors of his clothing was still faded beyond hope. He looked down at them with a wide toothy smile and held out his arms. "Firs' years! Firs' years over here now! All right there? C'mon follow me- any more firs' years? Mind yer step now! Firs' years follow me!"