Golden Trio Era
A couple walked towards the barrier on kings cross. The woman, with olive-brown hair and a bright smile, was clutching the hand of a man with light brown hair speckled with grey. The man, with scars littering his face, had a bright smile matching the woman next to him. Remus was clutching a battered old trunk in his hand with "Professor Remus J Lupin" inscribed in peeling letters on the side.
They both walked through the wall onto the smoke-filled platform.
"Hey we got here early, it's still empty!" Olive turned to him and saw that he was staring at the train with a sad and hesitant look on his face. She tightened her grip on his hand and placed the other one on his cheek turning him to face her.
"Remus. You'll be fine."
He put a light smile on his face and replied,
"I know. It's not that, it's just......... memories."
Olive removed her hand from the side of his face and turned to look at the train as well.
"How about this." She said abruptly. "You go to Hogwarts on the train. And maybe you can sit in the old marauder's compartment? Bring back some memories of your expert pranking days?"
Remus breathed out a laugh and nodded not saying anything. The smile on Olive's face widened, and she pressed a kiss to his cheek.
"Perfect. I'll see you at the feast, love you."
"Love you too," Remus replied quietly as she walked away and he headed towards the train door.
He walked through the corridors almost on muscle memory, towards his old compartment. When he reached it, he was very glad to see that it was empty. He pulled out his wand and lifted his trunk up above the seats before sitting down on the seat and letting his mind wander.
His memory wandered back to his first day of Hogwarts. First, he never expected to get the letter due to his lycanthropy, and he didn't expect to make friends. So, when he arrived at the train station, his father giving him a hug and warning him to be careful and his mother kissing him on the forehead and doing the same.
He had walked on to the train full of excitement but mainly nerves, he figured that he would just find an empty compartment. However even though he had tried to drag his family out of the house early, they were all full. So panicking he picked the first one he could find. Which he regretted at first.
They had welcomed him in. The scrawny kid with sandy brown hair and scars. Later on, in the train ride, they welcomed the short and pudgy kid in as well. And they became a family. Wormtail, Moony, Padfoot and Prongs. Peter, Remus, Sirius and James. Or so he thought.
With his mind going over his first ride on the Hogwarts express he soon fell asleep.
————————————————————————
When Remus woke up again, it was dark and some students had made their way into the compartment. He didn't dare move, the train wasn't supposed to be this dark. He heard the door slide open and then,
"Who's that?
"Who's that?"
"Ginny?"
"Hermione?"
"What are you doing?"
"I was looking for Ron-"
"Come in and sit down-"
"Not here! I'm here!" A slightly familiar voice said hurriedly
Remus's breath caught in his throat as he started to recognise the cold feeling spreading over his body and the compartment. Dementors. He began to push the jacket of his body preparing to stand up.
"Ouch!"
"Quiet!" He said quickly his voice more hoarse than he thought. The compartment immediately fell silent. The only sound that could be heard was the rustling of him standing up.
Incendio he thought.
There was a sudden crackling noise and a white shivering light filled the compartment. His eyes scanned the compartment, quickly studying its inhabitants.
There were 5 students in the compartment.
A ginger-haired boy clutching a rat in his hands,
A bushy-haired girl already in her Gryffindor school robes
A round-faced boy clutching a toad.
A ginger-haired girl with freckles and brown eyes who reminded him strongly of lily.
Remus's breath caught in his throat. Sitting in front of him, was James Potter. He had the messy black hair, the glasses, all except the eyes. Lily's eyes. Harry. Realising that he was starting to stare, he quickly looked back at the door before anyone noticed and swallowed the lump developing in his throat.
"Stay where you are". His voice still hoarse, and he started to slowly make his way to the door, reaching his arm out to open it. But the door opened by itself.
A tall heavily cloaked figure stood in the doorway. Its body was illuminated by the flames in Remus's hand, and its face was completely covered by its hood. It stood there completely still for a few seconds before it drew in a rattling breath and an intense coldness spread over him.
Remus sucked in a breath and images flashed through his mind.
Being bitten.
Finding James and Lily's bodies.
Discovering that Sirius had betrayed them and Peter was dead.
The same feeling of intense sadness swept through him, the feeling like it was never going to get better. The same feeling that had plagued him for years before he had even started to heal. He was going to lie down and not get up again when the thump of Harry collapsing pulled him back to the real world.
He remembered how he healed, he remembered her smile. Her laugh. Her.
He lifted his wand, and pointed it at the Demeter saying,
"None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go." It didn't move.
So Remus thought back to the day that he had gotten the letter. The two of them, drinking their tea, just them and the countryside. He remembered the look on her face, one of peace and pure unchangeable happiness that he rarely got to see.
"expecto patronum."
A silver wolf burst out of the tip of his wand and charged at the dementer quickly vanishing. The coldness retreated, and Remus walked backwards and fell against the wall as everyone else went to check on Harry and the light turned back on and the train started to move again.
Taking deep breaths and forcing the all too familiar feeling of emptiness down, he reached into his pocket and took out a bar of chocolate.
"Harry! Harry are you alright?"
Someone slapped Harry's face, and his eyes shot open and his face looked about as bad as Remus felt.
"W-What?"
Harry was lifted back up onto the seat by Ron and Hermione and Ron asked,
"Are you OK?"
"Yeah," Harry said looking quickly towards the door checking if the dementor was still there. "What happened? Where's that - that thing? Who screamed?"
"No one screamed," Ron said growing more nervous.
Harry kept talking and looking around the compartment. Suddenly everyone jumped as Remus snapped his chocolate into separate pieces for everyone.
"Here. Eat it. It'll help," Remus said handing the chocolate to Harry, only being able to speak short sentences still shaken up.
"What was that thing?"
"A dementor," he said shortly giving chocolate to everyone else. "One of the dementors of Azkaban."
He crumpled up the wrapper and shoved it in his pocket as he noticed everyone staring at him with blank expressions on their faces.
"Eat. It'll help. I need to speak to the driver. Excuse me."
Remus stepped around the students in the compartment and walked out sliding the door shut behind him.
As soon as he was out of view, Remus took a deep shuddering breath in to try and control his anxiety before walked determinedly walking towards the front of the train.
Peering into compartments on the way, he could see that everyone had been affected in some way.
Every child was either comforting for being comforted by someone.
As Remus reached the front of the train, he could hear sobbing. Pausing, he looked into the compartment next to him and saw a 4th year curled up in a ball sobbing on the seat. They were alone in the compartment, and Remus could see scar faint lines on their wrists. Immediately he slid open the door to check in they were alright.
Sitting down opposite them, he watched as they quickly sat up and wiped their eyes. They looked over at him and he was amazed at how fast they could put on a fake smile.
"Can I help you?" They said, their smile looking real.
Remus placed a genuine small smile on his face and asked,
"What's your name?"
He watched their smile falter for a second at that question.
"I'm sorry who are you? Are you a teacher? I didn't think they travelled on the train."
"I'm Remus Lupin. I'm the new defence against the dark arts teacher."
The smile had disappeared from their face and he could see them putting up extra walls around themselves.
"That doesn't explain what you're doing on this train."
"My girlfriend recommended that I ride to Hogwarts to.....bring back memories let's say. Can I know your name?"
"Parker." They said after a little bit. "It's they/them by the way."
Remus's smile grew just a little bit as he heard their name.
"Of course." His eyes flickered over to their hands as he watched them pull their sleeves over their wrists. Most people wouldn't notice the small movement, and you could tell that Parker had a lot of practice at hiding it.
"Are you OK, Parker?"
Their face immediately relaxed into a blank expression, one that Remus knew very well, before looking out the window.
"I'm fine Professor."
Trees rushed passed the window as Remus relaxed in his seat and waited for Parker to speak first. They sat in silence for fifteen minutes both of them staring out the window waiting for the other to crack. Eventually, Remus turned his head towards them and said,
"I just wanted to say that I know what you're going through. And if you ever want to talk about it at any time throughout the year that you can always come and talk to me."
"You know nothing about me."
"No? I know what it's like to hurt yourself. To feel that itching desire and hate throughout your body that only quiets down when you take a knife to your skin. I know what it's like to go through hell, to lose all your friends your family and be despised by others and yet still expected to go on. I've been through that myself. Not only have I been through that, but I've also watched someone I love go through that as well. And I honestly think that was worse. Everyone has someone who loves them. And I am positive that anyone who loves you would want you to go through this or want to do this to yourself. Whether they are around anymore or not, they would want you to get help. And so do I. You can always come and talk to me, and if I am not available then you can talk to Professor Martain. She knows what it's like to and she'd want to help."
Remus reached into his pocket and took out the spare chocolate bar that he was saving for later. He handed it to them and then stood up by the door preparing to leave.
Parker was sitting on the seat still curled up in a ball. Their eyes were brimming with tears, and breathing hard to stop from crying. Remus could see that no one had even pretended to care about them for a long time.
"Thank you," They said in a quiet voice wiping away some of the tears that had fallen onto their pale cheeks.
He sent a smile their way, before going to talk to the driver.
——————————————————————-
When Remus walked back into the original compartment after talking with the driver, Harry is sitting back in his original seat though he is still looking a little pale.
Remus smiles and says,
"I haven't poisoned that chocolate you know." he smiles as he sits back down and watches some of the colour come back to Harry's face as he ate the chocolate.
"We will be at Hogwarts in ten minutes. You alright Harry?"
"Fine," Harry mutters.
———————————————————————
Olive walked through the empty halls of Hogwarts towards the Great Hall. It was strange to see the usually crowded halls empty. As she rounded the corner to the Great Hall, she could hear the chatter of the people in the hall getting louder. Realising she was late she sped up only to realise that the doors had already been shut.
She groaned at first, praying the feast hadn't already started, as it was one of her favourite things about Hogwarts. Then, after listening to the notice in the hall a little bit longer and not hearing the clattering of knives and forks, she realised that the feast had not yet started and neither had the sorting.
Taking the chance, Olive smirked and tucked her wand in her sleeve, and stood in front of the big double doors.
The doors were magically bewitched to be weightless, so Olive would have no trouble pushing them open. And she did.
As soon as the doors were open, she marched down the middle of the tables with her robes billowing out behind her.
The smirk still set firmly on her face as she kept her head forward and neared the teacher's table.
As she got closer, she could see Professor McGonagall with a tired look on her face, Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eye and a smirk on his face, and Remus.
He was sitting next to her empty chair with his face in his hands. At the first glance, he just looked tired, like McGonagall, and then she saw his shoulders shaking with laughter that he was desperately trying to hide. Olive walked up to the table and sat down in her seat. The school had quieted down and was going back to talking to each other after Dumbledore had basically told them to mind their own business.
She turned around and smiled at her boyfriend who was staring at her desperately trying not to laugh again.
"You always have to have the most dramatic entrance, don't you."
Olive's smile grew and she resisted the urge to kiss him on the cheek before she replied,
"You know me so well."
*more jazz hands because I don't know what else to do*
Tadaaaa this is officially the longest chapter so far. You are welcome.
Alsoooo
IM SCREAMING
I LOVE OLIVE AND REMUS
AND I LOVE PARKER
we mayyyy see more of parker JUST BECAUSE I LOVE THEM SO MUCH
:D
Andddd please give me feedback! I love hearing what you guys think your comments are some of the best bits
2506 Words