James Potter was an extremely fortunate boy. He was rich, handsome, had two loving parents, and had a good head on his shoulders. He had three best friends that he loved more than he loved himself, but none of them were as fortunate as him.
Remus Lupin was a werewolf, and his family was dirt poor. He lived in a bad neighborhood outside Cardiff. Growing up, the other kids picked on him for his scars. The whispers about his scars continued at Hogwarts, but to a worse extent. Teenagers were mean.
Sirius was abused and raised a bigot. Although his views had changed, many people still believed that he was just like his parents. His pugnacious attitude and willingness to fight anybody who looked at him the wrong way didn't help.
Peter Pettigrew didn't have a dad, and thought of himself as the stupidest person to ever exist. Thus was far from the truth, but other students often made remarks on either his brains or his body. He was short and slightly chubby, and wasn't very popular with girls.
After meeting the other three boys, James had decided in his eleven year old brain to be their friend for life. He defended them against anyone who said a bad word about them, bought them chocolate frogs on a bad day, and took notes for them when they weren't feeling well. All in all, he was an excellent friend.
Remus was also a great friend, but in a different type of way. He was fun to be around, with his snarky jokes and sarcastic remarks. He was great at giving advice, but not so much in the 'helping somebody feel better department.' Sirius Black sitting one the bathroom floor was no exception to this.
Remus cast a nervous glance back at James, who brushed past him to crouch next to Sirius.
Sirius looked shellshocked. James pulled him up by his forearms. "Shower, Pads, alright?"
He nodded, and James clapped him on the shoulder once before pulling Remus out the door and closing it behind As as soon as it was shut, Remus asked under his breath, "What the bloody hell was that?"
James sighed and once again ran a hand through his hair. "His summers are terrible, Moony. He said a week or two ago that he spent basically the whole time in his room and tried not to start arguments."
They heard the shower running, finally.
"We'll, his mum usually hits him for saying things, but since he tried to lay low, she didn't do it a lot this summer," James continued.
Remus sat down on a bed. "Isn't that good?"
"She's moved on to Regulus, is what he thinks. their father made him watch him kill someone, apparently."
Remus shuddered. Whatever he thought Sirius went through at his house, he didn't think it would be this bad. Killing a person, and making your child watch? That was barbaric. "That's fucked up," he whispered.
James nodded and sat next to Remus. "I'm just surprised that he's not surprised. Regulus listens to everything they say- they probably bring him along in all of their blood purity outings. You would think that he would see it coming."
"He's probably just in shock. I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but making your kid watch you kill someone is different than beating them up every other day." Remus said this slowly, like he was scared of what James' response would be.
"True. I think the woman beats all of them, though."
Remus furrowed his brow. "Even the twins? Aren't they blood purists and everything?"
James leaned back and let his long torso hang over the edge of the bed. His glasses teetered from his nose and threatened to fall off if he bent back any further. "The girl, I can't remember her name right now, but she's not great at school. It drives their mum nuts. Regulus defends her and the house elf- for some reason- and then gets punished for it. At least that's what Pads said."
Remus grit his teeth. "I hate that bloody woman."
___________________________________________
Ana repressed a groan as Goyle sat himself next to her at breakfast the next morning. He gave her a somewhat polite smile, which she returned only because Narcissa was sitting across from her, watching like a hawk. The blonde had a sealed letter in her hand. The twins were terrified that it was to their mother about the situation from the day before.
"It's a nice day out," Goyle said to no one in particular.
"It's raining." Eddie took another pastry from the center of the table. He had ate four already.
Goyle let out a nervous laugh and didn't respond. He grabbed himself breakfast and ate like a pig. Ana slightly scooted away from him.
The table ate in silence for a few minutes. Everyone was half awake and too groggy to hold a conversation.
Aba felt a foot brush her's underneath the table. she ignored it, thinking it was an accident, until she felt a hand brush her knee, which then crept up her thigh. She glanced at goyle from the corner of his eye. Only his right hand could be seen above the table.
She gulped. "I think I left my charms textbook in the common room. Come with me, Reg?" She was supposed to be going to the library with her roommates to study. Alberta Yaxley had insisted that they started revising for their OWLs, which weren't for another year.
Regulus gave her a slight look of annoyance. He wasn't done eating and breakfast food was his favorite. He stood up when he saw her pleading look. His sister never pleaded, especially in public.
"I'll meet you at the library, Yaxley."
Once the twins were out of hearing range of the table, Reg asked, "What was that all about? Your textbook is in your bag."
"Yes, I know. Never let Goyle sit next to me again." Anastasia pushed open the door exiting the great hall and leaned against the wall next to it.
"Why?"
"He kept touching me," she said simply.
Regulus cursed under his breath. "Touching you? Where?"
"Just my leg. But still, he's a creep." Ana hugged her arms to her chest and blinked back her tears.
"Do you want me to tell him off or something? Because I will." Regulus didn't sound particularly angry or mad, but he had a slight look in his eyes that told otherwise.
"If you want. Just don't make a deal of it."
"Of course I wouldn't-"
"Can I speak to you two for a moment?" A familiar but unwanted voice asked.
Anastasia immediately fixed her posture and dropped her arms to her side. Potter stood a meter or two away from her and Regulus, Lupin at his shoulder.
"It depends on what you wish to speak about," she said. Her voice was short and clipped, like she had somewhere better to be.
For once, Potter didn't look like he thought he ruled the world. He looked calm and serious, especially for him.
"It's Sirius."
Regulus turned stony-faced. "No." He turned to leave, but Ana caught his sleeve. She kept a hand on his shoulder to make sure he didn't walk away again.
"What about him?" Ana tried her best to look as uninterested as possible.
"He's been a mess ever since you three spoke yesterday. Peter had to bring him food because he didn't want to go down to breakfast. Listen, we just need your help," Potter said. He ran a large hand through his hair.
"That's unfortunate," Regulus replied. "How do you expect us to help, since you obviously know him better than we do?" His voice was tainted with hate and malice, exactly the voice Sirius had when talking to his father.
"Talk to him," Lupin chimed in. He had moved to stand next to Potter. He looked considerably more healthy than the last time Anastasia had seen him, but the deep scars on his face had remained.
She had forgotten about his Welsh accent. It was much more subtle than it had been the first time she met him in her first year (his second), but it was still present.
"We did," Ana said. "It never turns out well. The results are usually- well, you're seeing them right now."
Potter sighed. "He kinda told us what you said and-"
"He did what?" Regulus asked in a low voice. His face didn't show it, but he was terrified. If his parents found out that other people knew, he would get a beating to rival Sirius'. "He told you?"
"We won't tell anyone, we promise," Lupin cut in.
Regulus set his jaw and looked up at the taller boy. "You better hope not, Lupin." He turned and walked away, presumably to the common room.
Anastasia watched him leave for a moment before turning back to face the older boys. "I know you want to help him. I do too, whether you believe it or not. He's still my brother. But you don't know Regulus and me, Potter. You know Sirius. And despite what he may tell you, you don't know what happens in our house."
Potter blinked. "Right, sorry."
"And having either of us talk to him is going to make this a lot worse. He's as stubborn as a bull, I'm sure you know."
Ana glanced at Remus. "Your shoulder is looking much better, Lupin. Hope it healed up well. Good day to you both." With that, she brushed past the two boys and walked off to the library.
James gave Remus a look of suspicion. "How does she know about your shoulder?"
Remus felt his cheeks go red, but he managed to keep himself as calm as possible. "I walked around with that bandage for a day, remember? I'm pretty sure half the school saw it."
James nodded understandingly and instead turned solemn. "We didn't get very far with them, did we? Regulus stormed off in a huff and the girl went all cryptic."
"Her name is Anastasia, and yeah, they weren't much help." Remus sighed. "He's exactly like Pads, isn't he? Even down to the glare."
James gestured in the direction of the common room, and the two started walking towards it. "Definitely. I doubt neither of them would like to hear it."
Remus raised his eyebrows in response. "We're not gonna tell him about this, you know. It's gonna make him even worse."
"I'm not stupid, Moony! I can figure that much out for myself!"
___________________________________________
Anastasia left the library as soon as she could. She made up a stupid response, muttering something about needing to write a few letters.
Regulus wasn't in the common room, and Eddie said that he wasn't in his dorm either. Ana knew where to look next. Her brother was a very predictable person.
As soon as the doors to the room of requirement appeared, she slipped inside and closed the door behind her. The room looked different than how it usually did when the twins would enter.
Instead of it being a bright, sunny day outside the window, it was a silent, pitch black. The couch was also higher quality, like something you would find in a muggle antique store.
"Reg?"
He turned around, a blank look on his face. He looked indifferent, but Ana knew him better than that. Out of the three of them, Regulus was the best at masking his true emotions, with Ana as a close second. Sirius came in dead last, mostly because of how he blew up when he got angry.
"Yes?"
Ana sat down on the sofa and slightly touched her brother's arm. "I'm sure sirius only told them. You know how he is."
Reg shrugged off her hand. "I do know, ana. But Potter rambles, and what if somebody heard sirius say it? Mother will-"
"I don't think it's Mother we're going to have to worry about," Ana interrupted. "Father's going to know if we know."
Regulus snapped his head up at her, worry evident in his eyes. "What do you mean?" Ana cursed herself for saying anything.
"Over summer I overheard father talking to mother about this thing called occlumency. Apparently you can use it to look into someone's mind. Mother said that father had 'the gift,' but I don't know what that means." Anastasia looked out the window at the moon. It was a waning crescent.
"We'll have to look into that. I don't really like the sound of it." Reg paused. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"Why didn't you tell me about the murder?"
"Touché."