Fan Fiction ❯ Fleeting Love ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

"Don't…forget…"

A chilling breeze brushed past them, although a blizzard could not have compared with the cold of his heart. It seemed any happiness was so far away: unattainable. And yet, it had happened, back when- How had all this begun? Ah yes…

Two years earlier:

"What is that? Is your lip bleeding?" Remus asked Sirius, who had just walked up to join them, with a look of slight panic spreading across his face.

"What?" Sirius wiped his mouth on his hand. "Nothing! It's nothing! What do we have next, Prongs?" Sirius asked his friend casually.

"How should I know? Moony's the one that remembers all those things… I have to focus on the more important parts of life…like jinxing people!" James replied nonchalantly.

"Speak of the devil…Here's Snivelly, now!" Sirius smirked at the lanky boy approaching them.

"Pssh…not worth my time, today," James sighed, while throwing a spell over his shoulder at Snape after he had passed James.

"So…which class are we going to then?" Peter asked with his usual twitchy movements and sharp voice.

"It's Potions," Remus said. He had the air of someone much older than he was, and looked the part, too: bags were under his hazel eyes, his face was rather pasty, and an expressionless mouth seemed to be eternally on his listless face. The extremities of these attributes were intensified because of the approaching of the full moon. For those of you who don't know, Remus is a werewolf.

"Excellent, a class to doze off in!" James joked.

"James, you shouldn't-" Remus' reprimand was cut short by three people pushing everyone to the side as they rushed past. Two girls were helping a third to hobble through the corridor. The girl in the middle had blood stains on her robes around her shoulder. Blood was dripping onto the ground and showed the path the three had been taking to this point. The injured one suddenly turned her head back at where Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter were standing, and looked wide-eyed briefly. Remus tried to see who she was looking at more clearly, but people seemed to be gathering around the three as they rushed down the hall, making them impossible to see from where he was still standing.

"I wonder what that's all about," Sirius nervously said.

"Let's find out, then!" James suggested.

"What?" Sirius looked petrified. "No, that's okay, I don't really care that much!"

"I want to find out, too!" Peter said cautiously, obviously wanting to see, but not wanting to get Sirius angry at him.

"Oh, come on, Padfoot! Let's go!" James grabbed Sirius' arm and whisked him down the corridor.

"But-but we'll be late for class-and…" Sirius trailed off. Remus and Peter followed the two down the hall and exchanged curious glances. Both were wondering about Sirius' odd behavior. Usually he is the first to want to skip class and find out what's happening to anyone and everyone on the Hogwarts campus.

The mass of students traveled down many corridors and wound up at the Hospital Wing, many of the group leaving to go to class during the journey. A few remained at the door after the girls had gone in, including James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and a boy named Kingsley Shacklebot who was in the year ahead of theirs. They all stood around talking; as they had nothing better to do other than go to class, and, after a while, the two girls who had escorted the injured girl in to the Hospital Wing came out again, looking rather rattled.

"What's the news?" Kingsley asked them as they closed the door gently behind them. "Who was that girl, anyway? I don't think I've seen her before."

"Oh, that's Minette Espoir-Douleur," One of the girls said. The other kept silent and looked rather sick. "She's just transferred here. We found her stumbling out of the forest. We think she got attacked or something. It looks like she was clawed or bitten or stabbed in the neck; it's really bad. There's blood all over her."

Remus glanced at Sirius with a raised eyebrow, but Sirius seemed to have suddenly found a beetle crawling across the floor extremely fascinating. James and Peter didn't seem to have made any connection, but Remus' suspicion was constantly rising. He couldn't say anything here, of course. Not in front of Kingsley and the two girls. They didn't know of Remus' condition, or that the others standing with him were animagus, and if they found out, there would be a lot of trouble. So Remus kept to himself, and nodded along with the conversation, trying to find another excuse that was more plausible as to how this Minette had been injured. A monster in the forest? It was unlikely: they've never just attacked students in the forest before. But wait, why was this Minette girl in the forest? It was against the school rules, after all. Remus became lost in thought further and further until a sudden burst of noise roused him. Class had been let out, and the halls were filled with bustling students once again.

"Oh no!" Peter exclaimed. "We missed all of Potions! I'm already behind on my homework! Professor Diggle's going to kill me!"

"Oh, who cares? Another essay to write, big deal," James said rolling his eyes. James and Sirius wouldn't care, of course. They were top students. Nothing ever gave them any trouble. Peter, on the other hand, was the epitome of mediocrity. He had average grades, average appearance, and average skills in all areas, it seemed. One might say he still had to find his strong suit, but how would he? Peter was surrounded by great friends who would go to any length to help him, as they had done for Remus when they had realized his condition as a werewolf. Not that Remus didn't care for Peter; on the contrary, their friendship was as strong as any of the others'. Still, Remus got the severe impression he was the only one who really saw that Peter was in a state of never having "left the nest."

"What're you thinking so hard about, Moony?" James stuck his head in Remus' view as they all started to walk off to class.

"Nothing, really," Remus replied perhaps too quickly. After he thought they were out of Kingsley and the others' earshot, he turned to Sirius. "Please don't confirm what I'm thinking, dear Padfoot… Please."

"What? I-I don't know what you mean…" Sirius portrayed an obviously forced grin.

"So you're saying that," Remus started counting off points on his fingers, "you, who has never been hexed in your life, showing up with blood on your lip, the girl being bitten and rushed to the Hospital Wing seconds after you arrive, and yourself acting so jumpy for no other reason-those are all odd coincidences?"

James caught on to what Remus was implying, and jumped at him. "What're you trying to say, Moony?" He shot Remus a ferocious look. "It might as well have been you! Your kind are supposed to be violent anyway, but Sirius is normal! Who knows what you do in your free time, though! The whole forest could be full of people like-" James clapped a hand over his own mouth. It was obvious to all of them that he had crossed a line, and they had stopped walking. "I-I didn't mean-I mean, but-by normal I didn't mean-"

Remus did not care to hear another of James' excuses. He pushed past the group and walked faster and faster to get away from them as fast as possible. Those words still rang in his head. Your kind. He rushed past the doors to the Great Hall and out of the doors of the castle. Normal. There were only a scarce few on the lawn, as most people were still going to their last class of the evening before dinner. Your kind. Remus tried to push the words out of his mind as he strode into the trees of the forest.

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I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Please review and tell me what you thought! I'm open to any suggestions, although the next chapter is already written, I could revise it if something major is brought up.