Harry Potter One Shots

Young Remus

For @namithra - thank you for all your support! I hope you like it!

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     They encouraged many things at Hogwarts, including being yourself, forming interhouse relations and becoming the best version of yourself. In Hufflepuff, they encouraged loyalty and kindness. In Slytherin, ambition and pride. As a Ravenclaw, I was mostly encouraged to use my intelligence and wit, while the Gryffindors were encouraged to be brave and fierce.

     Not everyone fit in those exact brackets, take Professor McGonogall for example, Gryffindor's head of house. As a student, she was a hatstall, the sorting hat had contemplated wether to put her into Ravenclaw or Gryffindor when he finally decided that Gryffindor would suit her best.

     But besides that, there were also those who crossed the fine line between what they were encouraged to be and discouraged to be. Let me explain, for example, you could be so ambitious that you actually turned out to be vicious towards others.

     A better example might be the marauders. Four gryffindor boys who had made a name for themselves over the years. A lot of the time, their encouraged bravery turned into acts of stupidity, like the time Sirius Black and James Potter had oh-so-bravely tried to trick professor McGonogall into not giving them detention for setting of dungbombs in the dungeons. Trying to trick professor McGonogall will always be plainly stupid. She'd given them an extra week worth of detention

     I found it rather amusing to see the disappointed looks on the marauders' faces when they realised they'd failed. Of course, I did enjoy the pranks they pulled on mister Filch and the Slytherin students who turned vicious more often than ambitious. I can't forget to mention the hilarious pranks they would pull on each other, but that's where my fascination with the group ended. With their remarkable ability to figure out advanced pranks yet never turn in their homework on time.

     There was one exception in their group though, who fascinated me more than anything else Hogwarts had to offer. Remus Lupin. He was one of the most intelligent people I'd come across, if he wasn't hanging out with his friends, you could spot him in the library, third row on the right.

     Most people stayed clear of him, the scars on his face scaring them away. They didn't know Remus, they just assumed what he was like and decided that he wasn't the kind of person they wanted to hang out with. They didn't know how kind he was, how his favourite subject was charms rather than defence against the dark arts. They didn't know he kept a worn copy of The Tales of Beetle the Bard on him at all times to read when he was feeling stressed out.

     My parents had taught me to never judge a person's character by the way they looked and it so happened that when I tripped in the library last year because I was carrying too many books, it was Remus that helped me up and we'd started talking.

     It became tradition for us to study together in the library, third row on the right, until either his friends or mine came to get us. Today was no different.

     "Remus, mate, come on. You've been in here all day." James Potter announced his presence and I looked up from my transfiguration's book to see him approaching our table with Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew by his side.

     "Yeah, Moony, you promised you wouldn't spend another weekend hidden away in the dust." Sirius crossed his arms. "How are you today, Smith?" He winked at me and I rolled my eyes at him in amusement.

     "Maybe you should all take a page from Remus' book and spend more time in the library instead of setting off dungbombs." I commented jokingly and Remus chuckled when James and Sirius gasped at me, fake hurt showing on their faces.