AN: This is the first chapter and my first fanfic, I hope you enjoy! :D
Chapter One: The Hogwarts Express
A great scarlet steam engine sat on the far side of platform 9 ¾. The excitement that the beginning of the new term brought could be tasted in the air. All the students of Hogwarts were rushing around greeting friends they hadn't seen over the summer, double checking their belongings to make sure that they had everything and rushing back to their families to say yet another good bye.
The first year students were easily spotted standing close by their parents, yet to make friends. Some of the faces stood in awe, taking in their surroundings with a sense of astonishment. And then there were those, equally excited, but having grown up in the wizarding world they were accustomed to magic.
Lily Evan's fell into the first category. She was standing next to her Muggle parents and sister looking around the platform and trying to take it all in. When she had first been told she was a witch, by Severus Snape two years ago, she had thought he had been teasing her. After a few weeks though, he had her convinced that the wizarding world actually did exist and that she would one day get to attend the most noble and ancient school of magic. Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry.
"What a beautiful train." Her father said, running his hand through his thinning hair and letting out a heavy sigh. Because really, what does one say when they drop their daughter off to go to a school for witches and wizards? David Evan's had taken it well though, much better than Lily's sister.
"I thought it was a magic school." Petunia scoffed. "What's so magical about a train?"
"Where it takes the children that board it." Rose Evans answered her. "I think destination is what makes the train extraordinary." She too had taken the knowledge of her youngest daughter being a witch extremely well.
"It's ten to eleven." Lily said, trying to hide her face from her parents. Her eyes were still watering from her conversation with Petunia a few minutes earlier in which Petunia had called her a freak. "I should probably get my things onto the train."
"Yes," Her dad said, walking over to her trunk. "I'll help you."
"Thank you." She said, trying to put on a smile for her parents sake.
"Oh, Lily!" Her mother cried, pulling her into a hug. "I'm going to miss you so much dear! You make sure to write to me every chance you get." She pulled away and placed a kiss on her forehead. "But put your studies first, yes? Don't worry about us, we'll be fine."
"More than fine." Lily heard Petunia mutter. Lily's mum either didn't hear or pretended she didn't hear and handed Lily her bag, which Lily had put her school uniform in so she could change on the train without having to rummage through her trunk.
Lily followed her dad to the train and then hugged him goodbye after he had heaved her trunk onto the train.
"I'll miss you, Lils." He said, kissing her cheek. "Have fun."
"Thanks, dad. I will." She gave him another hug and then jumped onto the train.
James Potter stood about 10 feet from one of the doors of the train, trying to sneak closer and closer in-between hugs he was receiving from his mother. He didn't want to hurt her feelings, but he was growing impatient and wanted to get on the train before all the compartments filled up and he was forced to ride with Slytherins.
"Just promise me that you'll write home!" His mother exclaimed in a pleading voice pulling him in for, what seemed to James, the one hundredth hug.
"I promise to return all of your letters. Really mum, I will." James said while trying to pull away from her. He looked around his shoulder to make sure that no one was watching this embarrassing spectacle.
"You better!" His dad laughed gently prying his wife from their only son. "Because I am the one that's stuck with her the whole time that you're at school." James smiled appreciatively at his dad and his mum laughed at herself as older women learn to do. She tucked a strand of her grey hair behind her ear and then rested a hand on James shoulder.
"I know that you two think that I am being foolish, but you're my little boy and you're leaving me for more then 3 months! What am I going to do for 3 months?" She exclaimed throwing her hands in the air. By the look on her face, it appeared to be the first time that it actually dawned on her. Luckily Charles Potter was a fast thinker, and diverted the crisis.
"Not have to worry about the house being destroyed. Luckily, the castle is probably a bit harder to blow up." His dad smiled ruffling his son's unruly black hair.
"That was one time, and it really was an accident!" James said quickly. His parents laughed and then his dad helped him get his trunk onto the train. James aloud his mother to hug him one more time before the warning whistle sounded, letting all the students know that the train would be leaving shortly.
"We love you!" His mother called once he was on the train and waving from and open window. "Miss you already!"
"Love you too." James said blushing; looking around to make sure that no one heard him.
"Have fun James!" His father said waving.
"But not too much fun!" His mother called, suddenly looking as though she had forgotten something really important. "Don't get into any trouble! Do you hear me?"
"Liza, just say good bye to the boy." Charles laughed, throwing an arm around his wife.
"I'll miss you too mum." James smiled, still waving as the train started to pull away from the station. His mum shook her head, knowing perfectly well that her warning had simply gone in one ear and out the other.
James did his parents the courtesy of waving until he could no longer see them, but by then he was too excited to move much. He couldn't believe that he was actually going to Hogwarts. He had waited 11 years for this.
James continued to stare at the blur of scenery until he was brought out of his stupor by something knocking into him.
"Oh, sorry." A boy with long black hair looked up at him. "Just trying to get this thing to a compartment." He said motioning towards his trunk. The boy looked very upset.
"S'okay." James said picking up a handle of his own trunk. "I'm James by the way."
"Sirius." The boy forced himself to smile. "You a first year too?" He said politely, not really looking as if he wanted to stand around in the hall and talk to James.
"Yes." James said brightly. The two boys dragged their trunks down a hall, James in the front and Sirius shortly behind him because the halls were to narrow for them to walk next to each other. They walked all the way down the hall finding every compartment full.
"This is what we get for not getting seats earlier." Sirius muttered gloomily, as they reached the last compartment.
"Got your fingers crossed?" James said hopefully, trying to ignore Sirius' mood, as he walked up to the window only to find the blinds drawn. James looked warily at Sirius, who shrugged. "Should I knock?" James asked.
"Maybe." Sirius said. James did.
"It's open." Called a voice from within the compartment. James pushed the door open to find a mop of blond hair sitting atop a book. The book looked as though it had been strategically placed so that the reader's face couldn't be seen. The robes that the book faced boy was wearing were torn in places and patched in others. They were older robes and a bit to big for the small frame.
"Do you mind if we share the compartment with you?" James said motioning to Sirius, who he hadn't originally planed on sitting with.
"No, it's quite alright." The boy said, not looking up from his book, or moving at all as far as James could tell.
"Thanks, mate." Sirius sighed and then, without James asking, he helped him get James' trunk up onto the luggage rack and then James helped Sirius with his.
James and Sirius sat down a crossed from the boy, who still hadn't moved since they entered. Sirius looked at James and reached up to his own face pointedly, shifting his eyes from James to the boy. James shrugged and turned to face the boy.
"So, I am James and this is Sirius." The boy reluctantly lowered his book to his lap and looked at James and Sirius. The effect was much more dramatic then the boy wished it to be. As he lowered the book, three thin long scars were revealed in a perfect pattern a crossed his face. They started up above his left eye and worked they're way diagonally towards the right side of his face where they stopped just below his cheek bone. Sirius and James both gasped in shock, and the boy took a raggedy breath before speaking.
"I am Remus Lupin." The boy said looking anxiously between them. James suddenly realized that he was staring and averted his gaze to the floor.
"What happened to your face?" Sirius inquired in a curios tone. James' head shot up quickly and he stared at Sirius with wide eyes, surprised that he could be so blunt, but soon his curiosity got the best of him and he turned his head to look at Remus who looked shocked.
"Umm… flying accident. Fell off my broom." Remus said slowly. James could see Remus struggling with himself as he pronounced each word. "I landed on a rake." He then motioned to the identical lines on his face.
"Aw! That's nasty luck. You could have lost an eye." Sirius said, believing the story without second thought. Remus nodded and looked at his book that was still in his hands.
"Yeah, I've only fallen off my broom a few times, but I don't have any scars." James said thoughtfully, in almost an envious way. "Though I did manage to break both my legs and a few ribs once. My mom didn't let me fly for almost two months after that." James shook his head at the memory. "Anyway, you play Quidditch?"
"No." Remus said, surprised that he was still speaking to him.
"Me neither." Sirius said, the look he was wearing in the hall when James met him found its way back to his face. "My brother tries to get me to play with him sometimes, but my brother is a git, so I try and avoid him." James again tried to ignore Sirius's mood and went on with what he wanted to say.
"I wish I had had someone to play with. I want to tryout for the house team. I know they'll never let me on yet though. First years never make the house team. But it would still be fun to try out. I want to be a chaser."
"That's neat." Sirius said still looking upset. James decided that it was time for a subject change.
"What houses do you want to be in?" James asked.
"It doesn't really matter much to me. I am just glad that I get to go." Remus said softly. Then he looked up surprised, and James didn't think that Remus was aware that he had said that out loud.
"Oh." He said, obviously put out. "Well, I want to be in Gryffindor. Just like my dad." James stood up and pulled out an invisible sword. Remus laughed a bit, but Sirius just crossed his arms. James turned to him fearing that he had, again, chose the wrong thing to talk about. "What about you?"
Sirius hung his head before answering. "My whole family has been in Slytherin. I am just bound to get put there. With a last name of Black, I'd be foolish to expect anything else."
"And I thought you were a decant bloke. You could still get put in Gryffindor though. It just depends."
Sirius looked up and smiled at him for real this time to. "You think so?" "Definitely." Remus said, adding something to the conversation without being directly addressed first. "I doubt that they are going to put you in a house you really don't want to be in. I've been reading about the school. The founders used to hand pick the students they taught, but of course they use a different method now…" Remus trailed off but James and Sirius were listening to his every word.
"They use the sorting hat now." James said filling in the gap in Remus' knowledge. "My dad won't tell me much about it, says it's a surprise. But I don't think he remembers much about the hat. He went to school ages ago."
With the ice broken, and Sirius in better spirits, the boys spent the next few hours talking about Hogwarts, James found a few places to mention Quidditch and playing exploding snaps. Sirius and Remus found themselves having more fun then they could have imagined. They were all enjoying themselves.
"Umm…" A squeaky voice came from the doorway and all three boys, who were now sitting on the floor to play exploding snaps, looked up to see who it was. A blonde haired boy, with nervous looking blue eyes was standing there shaking at the sight of them. "The prefect asked me to tell you to change into your robes." With that, he slammed the door shut and ran back to his own compartment.
After they got over the initial shock, the boys started laughing.
James and Sirius got dressed, and Remus just got back into a seat seeing as he was already in his robes. After James and Sirius had put their muggle clothes into their trunks, they took their seats across from Remus. After a few minutes of idle chatter, Remus leaned towards the window and pushed his face against the glass. "I think I see it!" He said excitedly. "We're really here!" He said talking mostly to himself, but James and Sirius still jumped up and pressed their faces to the glass as well.
"Bloody hell!" Sirius sighed. "Look how big it is!"
And it was big too. The castle loomed over a lake with high towers penetrating the night sky, and when you looked at it, it seemed as though there no possible way that it could be staying up without magical means. The towers and there roofs seemed to be forever falling as the clouds rolled by them completing the allusion. The whole castle was reflected on the shiny surface of the Black lake making it all appear twice as large and twice as grand.
When the train came to a stop at the Hogsmade station and James, Sirius and Remus all dragged their trunks out onto the platform.
"Firs' years over 'ere!" James heard a rough voice shout over the heads of all the excited students. "Over 'ere! Leave your trunks. Come on!" James had just caught sight of who was calling them. He was about twice as tall as a normal man and about three times as wide. He gapped at him and then looked over to find Sirius and Remus looking just as taken back.
"That's wicked." James said pulling on Sirius's robe to make him stop staring and start moving. Remus noticed them walking toward the half giant and followed in suit.
The giant instructed them to get on boats in groups of three and make their way a crossed the lake.
"Well, that lucky isn't it." James said smiling at his new friends.
"What is?" Sirius said sulking. "That they're going to make us row across the lake? Not really."
"No, that there are three of us." James laughed and hopped in a boat. Remus chuckled to and hopped in after him. "But it's good to know that a little manual labor upsets you." Sirius smirked before hoping in the boat a little haphazardly and making it rock.
"Watch it, Potter." He said sitting down as James and Remus tried to steady the boat.
"Watch it yourself, Black." James grinned, shoving him.
Once they were all seated, they looked round for oars but found none.
"How are we supposed to get across the lake without oars?" Sirius asked.
"Do you think it's a test?" Remus asked crinkling his brow in worry. "Only those who can get across while get to go to school here?"
"I'll swim." Sirius said pushing up his sleeves and looking ready to dive into the icy water.
They only had to wait a moment to dwell on that frightening thought before their question was answered. The boat began to move smoothly over the water as if being pulled by something they couldn't see. They all laughed in relief at how silly they were to assume otherwise.
When they got to the other side, the half giant led them up a path, through a gate, and to the stone steps that would lead them through the front doors of Hogwarts.
AN: Well, there is the first chapter of the Minnie Marauders, hope you enjoy! Reviews are always welcome. :D