we are a low word count, any level of experience rp set in harry's 3rd year at hogwarts. students and adults alike are welcome! given we are set fairly early in the series, everything that happens from this point on will be up to us! perhaps sirius black will be cleared and peter arrested, or perhaps something darker lurks in the shadows...
September First, Nineteen-Ninety-Three; Eleven A.M.
The Hogwarts express whistle sounded loudly as it finally pulled into the platform. Part of her wished she had not done something, just so she could have kept her mind off the impending situation wiht the hustle of the Weasley house. She should have left her laundry for late, or not made lunches for everyone as she did, but, here she was, collected as ever, having all her things in order the night before, all just so she could stay up all night and worry and be angry. This wasn't good for her health, but she couldn't help it. He had not contacted her once and yet, he was announced as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Her emotions were high and barely controlled. She avoided speaking to anyone except for a forced smile and a 'good morning'. They knew something was up, but her reluctance to speak on it gave them pause. She sighed, rubbing her face before pulling her luggage behind her, setting it near the poor bloke loading it onto the train and stepping onto the train.
Of course, by the time she managed to get herself onto the train it was full and the only compartment that wasn't had one lone person in it. This person, seemed to be attempting to nap, his brown coat in tatters, pulled up over his head, trying to block out the world. She could tell who it was instantly, but a quick flick of her eyes to the briefcase on the luggage rack confirmed it. This would be her luck, right? Like fate was just pushing them together. She could've gone to sit with the Twins, but the headache she was nursing pushed her to find somewhere quiet. With a heavy sigh, she snapped the compartment door closed, not caring if it startled him awake. She set down Eiko's carrier on the seat across from her, opening it up to allow her freedom if she wished before sitting heavily down on the bench. She couldn't help but to stare pericingly at him, eyes burning holes into his jacket.
Well, if they were gonna do this, might as well get it out of the way in semi-privacy, right?
After having spent the last thirteen years essentially in exile, Remus Lupin wasn’t quite used to interacting like a normal human being anymore… Then again when he was in school he was awkward as well, so perhaps he never was used to it. Things had been so much easier when there were people around him who loved and cared for him – and now? He had nothing. His family hated him – his sister was going to school here as well, and he was sure she would hate him as well after everything. Yet, despite all of this, Remus Lupin was still on the train riding his way to Hogwarts to be a professor. Despite the fact he was a danger to himself and others, he was going to be teaching students of all ages Defense Against the Dark Arts.
He hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in ages it felt like. Given his lack of money, he was unable to really get anything new – in fact this suit? James bought it for him and it still fit him. Old and tattered, but it was still fairly nice. Just as he thought he would drift off to sleep in the compartment which his friends had already claimed (hey there was a stain still here from that time Peter set off one of their ‘pranking’ mechanisms – such good memories yet so painful…), the sound of the door closing and someone entering had sounded through – well that was a bit rude given he was curled up and looked as though he was sleeping.
Slowly uncovering himself, ready to see who the interrupter was, he found himself staring, his jaw dropped. No, it couldn’t be – out of everyone to have come into this compartment… She looked so grown-up. He remembered when she was a baby and he was holding her and playing with her – he remembered seeing her playing and laughing on the broom James had bought for her all those years ago… Man, he felt old. After a short moment of silence followed by her saying his name angrily he took in a deep breath and glanced up at his suitcase.
“If you want me to leave, I’ll find another compartment.” Despite everything, Remus would do practically anything for his baby sister. Except apparently remember to write her letters.
"Everywhere else is full, unsurprisingly. I'm late. Came in with the Weasleys."
Her reply was terse, but she couldn't help inspecting him as well. Her anger was lowering to a buzzing simmer, as she took in his appearance. It was damn near impossible to stay angry at someone who looked as beaten as he did. Life had already taken it's punches at him, she would feel terrible adding to it, no matter how angry she was. She sighed heavily.
"No need to leave. I might be angry, but I'm not heartless."
Finally, she averted her eyes, her lips trembling as the next question fell off her lips. "What happened?"
She had to admit, now that she'd seen him alive and... well, alive. Her anger was diminish and sadness was replacing it. How could he just stop writing to her? How could he make her worry like he did? Their parents, sure, she understood the issues of why he was on tense relations with them. Her mother was working for he-who-must-not-be-named. So his anger towards them was understandable, but her? His adoring little sister? Quite frankly, she was feeling betrayed and hurt.
For a brief moment, he felt a flicker of ‘over-protective brother’ instinct coming over him. The Weasleys – he had heard of them and their parents were in the order. However, they had six boys and only one girl. Which meant she was hanging out with some boys. His little sister! Hanging out with boys! She was still far too young to be hanging out with boys. Especially since when he was hired, a certain transfiguration professor informed him of the second generation of his friends in the form of twins – Weasleys as well. If she was hanging out with them! He knew how it was to hang out with pranksters, she could get in trouble! She could get hurt! They probably had good intentions, but they still could get her in trouble and he didn’t want that –
And then he remembered. He hadn’t really talked to her in a long time. Did he even have the right to play older brother? Did she still consider them family?
He looked at her with a weary look in his tired eyes. He was an adult and he couldn’t just run from her – after all he was going to be her professor, so they would see each other practically every day. Despite the fear he felt dreading the day when she said she hated him and how they were not family… He had to face it head-on. Regardless if that happened or not, he was her professor and he had to be professional about it. Even if they had stayed in touch and they were very close – he couldn’t let those feelings get in the way either. Punishment would still have to take place if she broke the rules and he would be impartial. That had to be the case even if she hated him like he believed.
“Well, I was approached by Dumbledore to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts this year…” He knew that was not what she meant and yet he was dodging the question. Guilt. Yes. Would he do it again? Also yes.
Her entire body shook. That was his answer? That was his excuse? He had not written in years! So the moment Dumbledore call on him, he's 'yes, sir! of course sir!' A frown deeply marred her face. She couldn't believe this. She chewed on her bottom lip, worrying it further than she had been last night, early this morning, eyes frozen she looked at him.
"Oh, so, that's how it is, is it?" she inhaled sharply, pinning him with her eyes again, her voice was low and firm. "Remus, I can understand your relationship with our parents. Why your conversations with them are few and far between. But do you know, do you know what it did to me when your letters stopped coming? Do you know what thoughts I had? What happened to unite we are strong and divided we fall?"
Her voice was rising and its firm quality was wavering now as her emotions rose, her eyes filled with un-spilling tears.
"How could you do this to me? How could you instil such worry in me? I-"
Her voice cracked as tear fell down her cheek, her next words spoken in a whisper. "I don't know what I would do if you had died."
He looked down with regret, wondering if he could just tell Dumbledore ‘sorry I can’t’. It was a job and he really did need the money that came with it. Adult having to deal with adult problems. Man they didn’t teach you this at school. He’d been essentially homeless for thirteen years. At least he wasn’t in Azkaban like a certain traitor...
”Together people are strong, but not while I’m around.” She was one of the few who knew what his furry little problem was so why did she want to spend time with him? After all it was things like him who cursed her. She didn’t deserve such a curse. She was innocent. He looked at her with a deep sadness in his eyes, almost fear sleeping through. He was tired and the dark circles around his eyes really showed - just like the scars on his face marred into his skin from his monthly problem. The best thing about going to Hogwarts was the fact Severus was willing to brew the wolfsbane potion for him. He could finally experience some sort of normalcy during the moon. That and meet a boy who would have been like a nephew to him, Harry.
”I thought you’d celebrate to be perfectly honest. Finally rid of the beast of a brother. I was never any good for you, and it’s my fault that - that things are rough.”
Well, the anger was back, and if that's what he'd planned on, he was doing it well. Problem was, tonight was a full moon, and she could feel it. It was like a tsunami in her soul. Her blue eyes flashed, turning stormy. The real curse was, wasn't that she turned into a wolf during the nights of the full moon. No, it was the absolute torture it played on her with her emotions and this situation wasn't helping anything. Like any affliction it treated each person differently, unfortunately for her, it pulled on her emotions hard and fast. Biting her bottom lip and any reply she had, knowing the next thing out of her mouth she would regret later, she flashed him a sad, yet angry expression and sat down on the bench in the compartment. Letting loose a very agitated huff, she turned to her bag, digging through it a moment before pulling out a large glass bottle filled with clear liquid. She popped the cork out of it and downed half the bottle like it was no big deal. The only way it seemed to effect her was the disguested expression she pulled and the cough. She then turned her eyes to her brother again, seemingly much calmer.
"Here, drink," she then turned to her bag again, pulling out a large bar of chocolate, she tore it open and broke off a large peice. "And have some of this too. You'll feel better. At least, that's what my brother used to always tell me."
Oh there it was again. That overprotective brother thing? Big glass bottle and clear liquid? He could feel it now fairly powerful. He wanted to take it and just confiscate it (hey it would be a waste to break it). And then she proceeded to drink a large amount of it too. Right in front of him. There was a slight huffiness that she could see appear for a second before he calmed himself taking the bottle and staring at the chocolate. Oh boy she knew just how to get him.
”You’re a little young to be drinking this stuff,” he noted with a raised eyebrow. He took a drink himself, a modest small one and took a small nibble from the chocolate feeling the sweet taste in his mouth lifting his downtrodden spirit. It was amazing chocolate was. He would do anything for chocolate just about - Okay he wouldn’t murder for it but still.
Unlike her the moon just made him antsy and depressed as opposed to more emotional. Tired too. And he was going to have one hell of a night. ”Thank you. Your brother must be a wise man.”He gave her a small smile.
She hated being angry at her beloved brother and with it being a full moon it exhausted her to no end, so she decided on a different approach to this conversation. Lighten up, he's been gone awhile, probably separated from actual people, at this point, it would be better to show him, love, than to yell at him with it. So show him she would.
Though, if she had to be honest with herself, she was just as self-deprecating. A complete hypocrite. Since she couldn't even trust the person she considered her own best friend with her furry little problem. Another sigh. They were just two peas in a pod, weren't they?
She scoffed at him, claiming her too young to be drinking; "if that was alcohol, I would be in a much better mood. That concoction doesn't have quite the same effect, but it'll keep me from eating people regardless. She gave a wry smile. "But thanks for the idea. I may get the twins to nick me something a bit stronger than pumpkin juice from the kitchens tonight."
She gave a wiggle of her eyebrows and ate a bit more of the chocolate herself. "He's wise, for sure. But sometimes also very stupid."
She leveled him with her gaze, her eyes falling back to the potion bottle. "Well, if you're not gonna finish it, I will. I prefer to sleep in my dorm room at night and not the shreiking shack."
Once he took the small drink he realized he had made a mistake with assuming what was in the bottle. Well he felt like a bit of an idiot, but even still he looked from the bottle and up to her. He wasn’t used to the potion, but he was going to get used to it given the whole potions master brewing it up for him. After all, when did he have the money or the resources to have the potion before this? However, when he took the drink he could tell instantly it made him feel a little bit better than before – of course the chocolate was even better. His tiredness was lifted ever so slightly and looked just a tad brighter than he had before.
“So you are friends with the Weasley twins.” Oh no. Overprotective brother again. She was apparently more like him than he thought. Of course, she was friends with the pranksters of the school, the next generation of his friends. However, he was worried. After what happened with his friends – could he trust them not to do the same to her? Could he trust anyone anymore? After all, he was incredibly close to Sirius and everything he had done – it hurt so much. Should he let that one major betrayal make him lose faith in humanity? “Now I know who to keep my eye on.” He gives her a small wink to show it was slightly a joke and also not one at the same time. If they hurt his little sister, they would regret it.
“Ah, well you can have the rest. I have someone at the school who will provide some more for me. I’d rather not take all of your delightful beverage.” He was actually smiling even if it was slightly. He missed this – he missed being around her and talking to her. She made him feel like he wasn’t alone – that there was some good in humanity still left.
"Friends?" she scoffed and gave a knowing look at the bottle, wordlessly telling him to drink more. "More like Mrs Weasley numero dos. Molly set me up, told me to watch over them so they don't blow up something. And then McGonagall heard about it, and now they're my SOUL responsibility. And they know this. So they're always giving me hell! They turned my hair green last year! GREEN! Do you know how many counterspells and potions I had to try before it reverted back?"
Man, it felt good to rant about something other than how pissed off she was at her brother. "I hope you do keep an eye on them! Give me a break! Oh, and you'll never believe the best part. They found someones old Marauder's Map in Filch's office and they nicked it! Now they just appear out of NOWHERE!"
She pursed her lips, huffing once more and crossing her arms. "No, you finish it. I have another. We'll both be getting our meds from the same source this year. He actually gave me that to give to you anyways. I'm sure I'll have more waiting in my room at Hogwarts anyway. Drink it, please. It's not just ordinary wolfsbane, it's something Snape, Mom and I worked on. It's better. You'll see. Like I said, I'm able to sleep in my dorm and not outside of the school."
She was smiling, she couldn't help it. He was smiling, it was small and it didn't reach his eyes, but it was infectious anyways. She missed this. She missed him. God and the first thing she did was yell at him? What kind of sister - without a second thought she had thrown herself at him, snuggling into his side, wrapping her arms around him, tears streaming down her face. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. I just... I was just so worried. You stopped writing. I thought the worst. And then suddenly I hear from Snape that you were hired by Dumbledore and you still hadn't written? I thought you hated me. I thought I did something wrong."
Man, her actions and words about them – there were so many memories pouring in. Remus was the one who had to watch over James and Sirius, well along with Peter who people didn’t think had any sway over them (he did, they all did, they were the best of friends). He was the one who had to clean up their messes and he covered for them too many times, reversing damage before a professor would find out, trying to figure out what they did to cause whatever was going on.
“You think green is bad?” He actually chuckled, nodding and taking another drink of the clear liquid. ”You should’ve seen my friends in our prime. Once I was stuck with hair that cycled through the rainbow for a week before I figured out how to reverse it. Sometimes they’d even make it a challenge to try to prank someone so thoroughly I couldn’t figure out how to reverse it on my own. They never did succeed…” His smile fades for a moment while he thinks of he old times and just how wonderful it had been. It was the only time in his life he didn’t feel like an absolute monster – a short fleeting few years with them before it all came crashing down.
He took in a deep breath and looked at Rose for a moment before taking another drink and a bigger bite of chocolate letting the sweetness melt in his mouth, his eyes filling with bliss during the short fleeting moment the chocolate danced on his taste buds helping wash down the liquid a bit more. The taste left some to be desired, but he could feel the effect. “While it is nice it is being used for what we intended it to be used for… there is a certain person… on the loose now who also would love to get his hands on our old map. It could be very dangerous. I should talk to the twins about it when we have the time. I’d rather not take any chances…”
James would kill him for saying something like that – but that was who he was, the one who kept control even if just slightly, and did his best to protect them from doing anything too dangerous. That didn’t always work given the whole Snape situation with him and James and all of that. Thinking about it… Sirius had essentially used him to get Snape hurt – why didn’t he see the betrayal coming? Man he would feel guilty about thinking this later.
“I thought you hated me. I thought you were just too kind to say ‘stop writing me’ and just… dealt with me. Especially after what happened. I should’ve been there. It’s my fault things are like this.”
"I would've rathered the rainbow, thank you very much. That would've actually been cool. But no, my hair was LIME GREEN, Remus. LIME GREEN."
She shook her head, sighing. To take the Map again? Ha. There would be more luck in Dumbledore not getting an earwax jellybean. "Good luck on catching them using it. Though..."
She grinned widely. "You should hear the way they talk about those Marauders though. they will go on for hours about how cool they are. Did you all like, charm a script into it or something, because the way it talks to you is unreal. Though I'm hazarding a guess that it might be yours. You seem to be the most prominent replier with this map. With wry and witty humour. I should know, I stole it from the twins for quite sometime when I was feeling the most alone."
Her hands made fists in his robes, her sobbing quieted for the moment. "Hate you? what reason have you given me to hate you? Sure you've made me angry, you and your stupid decisions, but Remus. I'm your little sister. I could never hate you. You're my brother. My pack. It's us against the world, Remus. We have always got to have each other, because if we don't have that, we'll have nothing at all."
She closes her eyes and leans forward to press her forehead against his. "I'm glad you're alive. I thought the worst, but somehow I knew you were out there. I'm so very glad my instinct was right. So don't do that again. Don't hide from me ever again. Please."
She released his robes to place a hand on each of his cheeks, just like her mother does to her when she's trying to get her to listen, to really listen.
“Hey, my skin was turned blue for a couple days. Do you have any idea how many looks I got? Some people thought I was sick even. I would have been totally fine with lime green hair compared to some of the things I went through back in school.” His chuckle was starting to fade slightly, replaced by a bittersweet smile. All of those happy memories were spoiled by the betrayal and it kept stinging. He needed to think of something else – something that didn’t hold that trauma of losing almost everyone he cared about in one night and finding out one of his best friends was lying to him the whole time.
“Well, it’s an enchantment,” He smiled a bit, it was related to them but it wasn’t quite the same as remembering times of them having a lot of fun. It was more about a technical side of the magic they had come up with in the past. “You essentially tell the map what you would reply to in certain cases and tell it to learn from those responses. So we’d ask all the question we could think of to help make it learn. It’s a bit unfortunate – the response we have on it for if Severus ever got hold of it… well it was priceless.” Oh good he’s smiling again.
”… alright. I swear I’ll do my best to keep in contact with you more – as long as you’re sure you want to of course. Just tell me… if you want me to stop. I would not like to be annoying to you or cause you any undue stress.”
"Well," she chuckled browkenly and sitting back, rubbing at her eyes. "You're in luck because we get to spend the whole school year together! Thanks Dumbledore!"
She sobered, looking down and away for a moment before returning her gaze to his. "No more running, it's all I ask. You'll never hear it from me that I don't want anything to have to do with you. Never, I promise you this."
She sat back on the bench, feeling very tired and sobered and as if a great weight was lifted off her chest. Now if she could just get a certian Weasley off her mind life would be good. Crap, she was thinking about him again. Nooooo.... she forced herself to pay attention to him explain about the map. "It's really ingenious you know. Though Mr Weasley is always telling me not to trust thing when you can't see where it keeps it's brain." She laughed lightly. The map learns fast. The you in the map said a lot of kinds things to me. Very you things. It helped. But it wasn't you. I had to give it back to Fred and George before I got obsessed with it. Like Harry and his mirror of desires."
