"MUM, stop fussing." James Potter ruffled his hair just as his mother finished flattening it.
"Oh I wish you had let me cut it before you left for School." His mother fretted, reaching over to flatten it again.
"NO Mum!" He laughed, ducking out of her reach, turning instead to his Father, "Bye Dad.
A man of little words was James' father. Instead, he pulled his only son in for a quick hug, handed over his tawny owl and smiled.
"You better be in Gryffindor." He winked.
James laughed, pushing his father lightly and ducking past his mums kiss, he finally made it onto the train. Finding an empty carriage he dumped his trunk and pushed Gizmos cage (his owl) in the corner of his seat. Sighing with pleasure he grinned to himself. James had been waiting for this moment for a long time. Finally, he was off to Hogwarts and like his Dad has said, he'd better be in Gryffindor, just like everyone in his family before him. A footstep alerted him to someone else in the carriage, and quickly he turned.
"Uh... Hi." A boy with shaggy dark hair was standing in front of him, "Can I sit with you? I'm a first year..."
"Me too!" James grinned, "I'm Potter, James Potter." He held out his hand for the other boy to shake. Breaking into a smile, the other boys face seemed to light up, he held out his hand and shook James' vigirously.
"I'm Sirius Black." Sirius smirked, "So, Which house are you hoping for-?"
He was interrupted by two more boys walking into the carriage, a tall boy with cropped light hair and a serious face and a short, dumpy, scared-looking boy.
"Do you mind awfully?" The tall boy asked, Sirius and James shared a look, they could read the humour in each others eyes.
"Of course not." The taller boy sat next to Sirius and the dumpy one next to James.
"I'm James, and this is Sirius" James began,
The taller boy broke into a smile, "Remus Lupin and... Sorry I don't actually know your name."
"Peter." The dumpy boy squeaked, "Peter Pettigrew"
"...and Peter." Lupin finished.
They all smiled shyly. At that moment, a girl with long red hair came in. She was sniffing back tears, missing her parents already, James thought. A boy followed her, tall with long greasy black hair and a big nose, he sat next to her ignoring the four boys. The girl glanced at him and then back out the window, sniffing and wiping her eyes.
"I don't want to talk to you," she said in a constricted voice, James eavesdropped, the rest of the boys falling silent too.
"Why not?"
"Tuney h-hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore."
"So What?" The boy said unkindly, the girl threw him a look of deep dislike.
"So she's my sister!"
"She's only a-" He caught himself, the girl didn't seem to hear him. But James could guess what he was about to say and immediately decided he hated this greasey boy.
"But we're going!" the boy said excitedly, "This is it, we're off to Hogwarts!"
The girl nodded, wiping her eyes and half smiling. James couldn't help grinning at the shy excitement on her face.
"You'd better be in Slytherin." The boy said. At that moment, both James and Sirius snorted with withheld laughter.
"Slytherin?" James scoffed, "Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" James asked Sirius,
"My whole family have been in Slytherin." He said, not smiling,
"BLIMEY!" laughed James, "and I thought you seemed alright!"
Sirius punched him lightly on the arm and grinned, "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where you heading, if you've got the choice?"
"'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!'" James grinned, lifting an invisible sword, "Like my Dad."
It was the greasy boys turn to snort.
"Got a problem with that?" James sneered, the rest of the boys glared at the outcast in unison.
"No." said Snape, sneering right back, "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy-"
"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" interjected Sirius, James roared with laughter, the other two boys sniggered. The red head glared at Sirius and James.
"Come on Severus, lets find another compartment."
"Oooooooo..." James and Sirius imitated her voice, sticking one leg out to try and trip Severus up as he left.
"See ya Snivellus!" Sirius called as the door slammed.
"SNIVELLUS!" Remus guffawed, turning to Sirius and high-fiving him.
"Oh this year is going to be so much fun." James muttered, the other boys turned to him, a mischievous look in their eyes.
"Agreed."
