Those Ocean Eyes

Chapter 12

The summer had been terrible, to say the very least. Every full moon Remus had spent locked up in a silver plated room. He had more scars on his torso and legs, but Remus was just glad there weren't any more on his face. He couldn't bear to see Sirius's face looking at his own scarred one in pity.

Not only that, but the orphanage wouldn't let Remus communicate through owl, and as all three of his friends were pureblood, they didn't understand the Muggle post.

Remus hoped with all his heart that they would still want to be friends after a long summer of complete silence. During the summer, Remus had took to mapping out Hogwarts. He didn't remember very specific things, but he mapped where all the common rooms were, along with the Main Hall, and some of the classrooms he knew. He found it kept him calm, and he didn't suffer from any nervous breakdowns when he thought about Hogwarts.

So Remus was scared as he stepped on the Hogwarts Express for the third time. He stepped into an empty compartment, and looked out the window peacefully. He had changed, he knew, not only emotionally, but physically, too. He had grew about four inches over summer, so fast that the orphanage started giving him old t-shirts from thrift stores instead of the uniform he would grow out of in a day.

He spotted Lily, who was hugging her bony sister goodbye, and she grabbed Snape's hand, pulling him towards the train.

Remus wanted to motion her to come and sit with him, but he didn't want Severus to come with her, so he kept quiet. The train started chugging along the track, leaving the station.

He was getting anxious now. All his friends were probably in their own compartment, having a great time without him. Sirius was probably flashing those amazing eyes, smiling his amazing smile, and tossing his amazing hair, while Remus slouched in his seat, trying to cover up his scars.

Before Remus could finish his thought, the glass door of the compartment slid open noisily.

"Godric, you'd think in a train full of wizards they'd be able to fix a squeaky door." Sirius grinned at him.

"Sirius!" Remus yelled, jumping up. He wasn't sure if it was okay to hug him, so instead, he awkwardly sat back down.

"Hiya. Wow. You grew." Sirius glanced up and down Remus's body.

"Yeah. Four inches, to be exact." Remus grimaced.

"Wicked! Mother said I was too short to be a Black, and I told her there was nothing I could do about that, because unfortunately I was a Black, and I was a perfectly normal height, thank you very much, and then-"

James and Peter's arrival cut Sirius's story short.

"Your favorite people have arrived!" James announced proudly.

"Remus was already here!" Sirius said slyly.

"Oi! Low blow, but fair." James chuckled and sat down next to Remus.

James had grown, too, but in a different way. His face was more toned, and more attractive, and his shoulders were broader than before. He still had the same calming smile, however, and obviously the same cockiness as last year.

Sirius looked mainly the same, though with closer inspection Remus noticed he had grown maybe an inch, and his jawline was even more defined.

Peter had grown wider, to be blunt. He looked almost the exact same, simply with a freckle or so more.

The compartment door slid open again, and Mary and Marlene came in.

"Hey. Can we hang here? We were sitting with Lily, but Snivellous was with her, and he's too unbearable to be around for long." Marlene sunk into the seat next to Peter.

"Lily's alone with that slimeball?" James said, trying to contain his obvious jealousy. "I'm...going to use the toilet." He rushed out of the compartment, with Peter closely in tail.

Now only the girls and Sirius were left with Remus, Marlene sitting next to him, and Sirius directly across, with Mary next to Sirius.

Mary and Marlene seemed to be having a very competitive staring contest, snapping in each other's faces to see who would blink first.

Sirius, bored easily, clapped loudly I both their faces, causing them to blink.

"Bugger off, Black!" Mary frowned at him.

"I have an idea!" Marlene said excitedly. "Let's play Spin The Bottle!" Marlene glanced quickly at Mary, and looked down, blushing.

"Sounds incredible!" Sirius mimicked Marlene's exact moments without meaning to.

Remus didn't know what Spin The Bottle was, except for that everyone wanted Mary to play desperately.

"Let's wait for James, Lily, and Peter to come back." Remus said, trying to buy some time.

He didn't buy much, because at that same moment, the door slid open once more and they all piled in.

"We're playing Spin The Bottle!" Sirius said excitedly, taking a bottle of pumpkin juice from his pack.

James grinned, ruffled his hair, glanced at Lily, and sat down.

Peter sat down as well, looking worried. Remus felt worried, too. There were four boys and three girls, and everyone knew except Lily herself that if anyone spun for Lily, James would make them spin again.

That left it up to Marlene and Mary. He didn't feel like he wanted to kiss either one of them, but he guessed he didn't understand what a crush felt like.

"I'll go first!" James said.

"I'm not playing." Lily said dryly, crossing her arms.

James sank.

"Alright." James spun weakly.

It landed on Marlene. Both of them looked disappointed.

"Maybe this was a bad idea..." Marlene began.

"Yeah, we're all too young for this anyway." James breathed a sigh of relief.

"Awww! You guys are no fun!" Sirius pouted.

Remus was glad they scrapped that idea, too. He didn't want to kiss any of the girls, thank you very much.

"Well," Mary said awkwardly. "I guess we should change into our robes."

Everyone agreed. The girls went to the toilets to change, and James closed the curtains across the glass door for some privacy.

"Oh. We're changing in here? Together?" Remus felt his cheeks get hot for the first time in a few months. He forgot how much he liked the feeling. And hated it.

"Yeah. We change in the dorms all the time." James said casually, already pulling off his shirt.

Remus turned away, embarrassed. There was something different about the spacious dorm and the warm compartment.

Sirius also took his shirt off, facing his  friends so as not to show the brandings on his back. Remus stared at the abs. How was that even possible? Sirius started unzipping his jeans, and Remus turned bright red. He turned away as quick as he could.

Remus took off his shirt and hurriedly threw his robes over his scarred body.

He unzipped his pants and let them drop, scooping up his uniform trousers and trying to put them on as fast as he could.

Everyone else was already done changing, having started before him. He hoped they weren't staring at his scars.

Once he finished, he turned, and Peter and James were in a game of Wizard's Chess, while Sirius was staring out the window, looking like he was daydreaming. Sirius's cheeks were a bit pink, but Remus didn't notice.