"You don't look like your sisters, you have similarities of course. The same eyes." Sonny said, grabbing a sausage roll.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"It's hard to find a blood relative that doesn't share them." I said. Referring to my stone grey coloured eyes that we all shared. A dominant gene passed from generation to generation.

"You're friends with Sirius right? You must have things in common with him?" He questioned. I nodded taking a bite of my food.

"To my knowledge, I don't think we're that similar though." I smiled.

Sirius and I still had a complicated relationship, there was no hardship anymore. Equally there was no definite bond made.

"What do you think of Lucius? Have you spoken to him? Narcissa must have introduced you by now?" He smirked at the question, retucking his loose hair behind his ears. He had a glint of mischief in his bright blue eyes.

"Unfortunately I have, only properly once mind- on the train. Before I was sorted of course." I observed his reaction. He rolled his eyes dramatically.

"He acts like he's got a stick shoved up his arse, doesn't he? I don't get it personally, Narcissa has always been a positive delight compared to the group she hangs around with. Lucius is full of himself. I wonder what she sees in him?" He laughed. I laughed too, finding his blunt honesty funny.

"You like her then?" I asked, surprised considering I haven't heard positive reviews about either sibling yet.

"Yeah I do. We don't talk much, never really have but there's a stereotype for Slytherins and we gained it for a reason. Bad? No, anyone can be bad. Moody on the other hand? Narcissa is a joy to have around the common room sometimes. Teen angst thrives in the dungeons!" He said seriously but I laughed again at his comment.

Narcissa has never been moody...but a joy to be around was a stretch. She's pragmatic and at times even dull with boredom. Perhaps she flourished in an environment far from home though, letting Lucius take over that hard-headed role.

"What's the Gryffindor common room like? I've been there for a party or two but you never get the full experience with what it's like in that environment, do you?" He asked.

He was extremely curious, you could tell both of his parents were Ravenclaw. He had a natural thirst for knowledge.

I didn't really know how to explain the common rooms, only ever focusing on the small amount of friends I had managed to grip onto whilst there and not much else.

"Calmly chaotic." I contradicted myself, physically cringing at the poor response.

He narrowed his blue eyes at me, not judging but visualising. Interpreting my choice of words.

"I understand that, I get that feeling from a lot of Gryffindors. There's a type of acceptance with the madness within. Whether it feels that way or not, I guess is a different matter." He said wisely.

I was taken aback by how understanding he was. How open and honest he easily was behaving, there was no sense of hierarchy that I wasn't qualifying for. Quite laidback but with strong standing opinions peaking through.

When I had imagined Slytherins it had only been in the shape and form of my sisters; calculating and cunning.

My parents, aunts and uncles; short tempered and masters of manipulation.

Lucius and Severus; Arrogant and abrasive.

"Severus Snape-" I started to ask while thinking of him, but was cut off by a big groan escaping Sonny's lips.

"Merlin he's a pain! The kid has so much potential if he would only stop mopping around and stop taking himself so seriously!" He cracked a childish grin.

"-we really don't appear like the friendliest house do we? Most of us aren't like that. Most of us joke about the ones who are difficult, like everyone else does. The bad ones are just easier to notice. I promise!" He laughed.

I giggled lightly, then agreed with him over the bad are easier to notice amongst the rest that are regular. Standing out was never hard for a Slytherin to do. They had a natural flair for the dramatics.

"You look pretty when you laugh, Arty. You should find reasons to do it more!" he said again, honestly. A small genuine smile on his mouth as he casually ate another sandwich.

I felt a blush creep onto my cheeks at the unexpected compliment, not knowing how to accept it gracefully.

"So, you're a Slytherin and your parents are Ravenclaws huh? Tell me about that." I diverted the conversation.

REMUS' POV.
"You feeling alright sweetheart?" A small knock on the door as my mum peered around the frame.

I groaned in response.

Full moons were different when experiencing them at home. There was no qualified nurse, no big shack to retreat to.

Instead there was my mum and a heavy duty shed in the garden where chains were kept attached to the back wall.

When symptoms started to show themselves, before the sun began to set, a walk of shame was to be executed over to the shed whilst accompanied by my Dad. My Mum could never manage sticking around to watch how I was chained up like a wild animal whilst in my regular form.

Early in the morning before my Dad had to start leaving for work at the ministry, I had been scraped up from the dusty floor. My bare, tired body, covered by a blanket he wrapped around me; and I was always put to bed ready for my Mum to awake soon in order to care of me, all while unconscious from the pain.

The same routine repeated every moon cycle when I was younger and was home schooled.

I still remember how my body shook walking towards the garden shed, it looking much bigger and daunting back then; to someone who was oblivious to the horrors that happened inside, it just looked rundown and abandoned at the back of the garden. In need of a desperate lick of paint or to be torn down completely, I preferred the idea of the latter.

Harmless as if seemed, only I knew what played out during the dead of the night. My parents could hear, though it was too deadly to stick around.

I still remember the way I felt when I was a child, and not much has changed.

The way I'd wait in fear as the light through the roof cracks began to disappear faster and faster. The chains around my wrists and ankles rattled with every movement I made. Small, scared and alone, I used to recite and make up dialog between the characters in Alice in Wonderland in order to keep me as calm as possible. Creating my own stories within a story I already loved and that my mother read to me whilst I was healing from my transformation.

The story of Alice in Wonderland reminding me that it'll all be over and I'll be in my room, hearing my mum read the words in a soft calming voice soon.

"Mummy it hurts! Help!" I used to scream out into the darkness, hoping she would appear and save me from the torture I was beginning to feel. Bones cracking and muscles stretching at an abnormal length. My skin burning as blades of corse fur stabbed through the surface, breaking apart my young skin.

I remember the first couple of transformations like a haunted dream. Waking up in my bed, mum teary eyed and dabbing thick medical cream over my pink sore skin. Those first couple of times were the worst when it came to sensitivity. The feeling of the fur stabbing through my skin and then shedding by morning light left me in a sunburnt state. I looked and felt like a burn victim, my pores inflamed and rubbed raw. Too much for a young boy to handle.

"-Remus? Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Mum said again, coming up to me and dabbing my forehead with a damp flannel. Snapping me from my state of reminiscence.

"Are you ashamed of me?" I mumbled to her.

She looked taken back and sadly sat at the end of my bed.

"Nothing could ever make me feel ashamed of you. Listen to me, I can't imagine what you have to go through. I can't pretend to know how that feels and how hard it must be for you, not only physically!" She began.

"-but it's hard seeing your baby boy in so much pain and not being able to do anything to help. Your Dad and I deal with it in different ways, he gets frustrated in himself. Not you." She said, her bottom lip wobbling a little towards the end.

I nodded slowly, my neck cracking quietly with the movement.

"I kissed Sirius." I blurted out. The thought playing on my mind.

"You did?" She asked, her eyebrows slightly raised with surprise. I felt my face burning up with embarrassment.

"You said nothing could make you feel ashamed of me..." I whispered, struggling for words to come out. Wanting to crawl into a hole of shame.

She moved in closer and grabbed my hands tightly, holding them in her own.

"Sirius is a handsome young man, Remus. I'm not ashamed that you like boys, don't be silly! I'm glad you told me." She smiled proudly at me.

Strangely her reaction made me feel even more confused about how I felt.

"You're not shocked?" I asked, seeking another kind of reaction.

"A mother knows her child sometimes before her child knows themselves. You used to tell me you were going to marry Peter Pan and live together in Neverland. I've had my suspicions for a while." She laughed to herself, I had no recollection of this. My face burnt up even further.

"I don't want to like Sirius." I started welling up a little. Pushing down my emotions so that I didn't start crying over the thought. Feeling much more sensitive than I usually am, because of the come down from the transformation.

"What's so bad about liking Sirius? You've been close since your very first year and you can't tell me he doesn't like boys too, there was no questioning when I met him." She tried to make light out of the situation. I laughed through a wobbly voice.

"There's not just Sirius..." I lingered.

Mum gave me a gentle push to carry on. I avoided eye contact.

"There's this girl too, she's new. Actually she's his cousin...which makes things even more complicated. This is all so new for me, I've never really paid attention to these kind of feelings before. Sirius or her, i don't know what to do-" I explained, mum just listened.

"I just know that I'm here and she's at hogwarts, she has no other friends and it's upsetting me to think of her being all alone."

(She's not alone is she though Remus, but you feel alone. I'm missing ya guys comments! Don't be shy!)