Most of us just assumed that when James and Sirius first met they just hit it off... Well in acutal truth, no that wasn't true. The thing is Sirius didn't even know James existed, or if he did he didn't care. Why would one of the god-like populars even notice a social reject like James anyway? Second of all Remus didn't even come into the picture until thrid year. Well this is how it all started...

So the beginning of the story brings us to, well, the beginning of a term roughly 20 years ago...

'Bye, Mum!' called the thick voice of a geeky boy hanging out a Hogwarts Express window. 'Bye, Dad!'

'Bye, James!' a wizard of 40 called back, waving madly at the third year.

'Make us proud, son!' said a woman, with light brown hair holding a tissue, her voice wavering. 'And be careful of the forbidden forest!' she squealed after James who began to close the window.

'I will Mum, see you-' the rest of what he said was cut off by the train's whistle blowing and the wheels marching out of the station nine and three quarters.

James sat down, in the seat next to the window, slicked up the 7 inch spike of hair on his head that defied gravity and sorted out the green pom poms on his brown robes then looked up at his friend who was sitting in the seat across from him. Short and stubby, pointed nose, watery eyes that darted about in suspicion and whispy mousy brown hair James' friend was not at all attractive, but some how thought all the girls seemed to fancy him like crazy. However this was far from true.

'So... how was it in Spain, James?' asked James' friend, Peter, trying to hide the fact he was itching to know by picking at his knitted pink robes with purple dancing dogs.

'Well-' started James but he was cut off by the glass on the compartment door smashing.

The blur of a extremely chubby first year in red velvet robes came flying though the compartment door's window, and hit the table in between the seats, making James and Peter jump. He was closely followed by a girl's voice saying 'Don't ever touch me again, you creep!' and a sickly pale, grim looking, skinny boy in expensive silky dark blue robes, who opened the smashed door and sat in the furthest away corner from James.

'Why did you do that, René-Briand?' asked the skinny boy, frowning and turning his dull grey eyes on the chubby boy who was thrown though the window.

'Did you see ze vay she vas looking at me? She even vinked at me,' explained René-Briand standing up and dusting himself down, James noticed a strong French accent.

The skinny boy looked extremly sad and tired. Then said in a stiff voice, 'You poked her in the eye with your wand, René-Briand. She wasn't winking at you.'

'Well, yes, but... ahhh you are just jealous! Zat she chose me over y- Hey what you frowning at?!'

'I'm not jealous,' sighed the pale petite the corners of his mouth turned down. 'She's my cousin, René-Briand.'

'Well, Remus, I've only been on ze 'Ogwarts Express for five minutes and already two girls 'ave flirted with me,' lied René-Briand turning up his squeashed nose and closing his black-brown eyes.

'Two?' asked Remus with a mild unbelieving tone to his voice.

The tubby boy's eyes shot open again. 'Yes, two. Your cousin's friend, Laura, and-'

'Laura? When?' asked Remus hiding a small chuckle.

'Back in ze other cabin-'

'What when you sat in her lap by accident?' asked Remus with a small smirk on his face.

'HEY! She asked me to sit in 'er lap!'

'Right, René-Pierre, I believe you now,' sighed Remus squinting his eyes and leaning his head against the wall, having clearly not believed a word of it.

James who had witnessed the whole conversation was starting to get a brief out line of what the boys' relationship consisted of; one who looked too well fed, very tanned, and was complete and utter liar; one who looked almost anorexic, very pale, and was too used to the continueous lying to care anymore.

'Em... hello,' said James awkwardly, waving his hand. Remus blinked and turned his gaze and René-Pierre pivoted on the spot to face James.

'Oh hello sorry I didn't notice you there...' Said Remus smiling kindly at James. 'I'm Remus.'

'Quite all right. I'm James and this is Peter,' he said politely, pointing to his friend, while gazing at Remus. He wasn't excatly a complete stunner, he was more of the adorable type or to put it plainly cute, dusty coloured light brown hair, grey-blue eyes, unnaturally pale, almost white, skin scattered with just a few freckles...

Remus noticed James was goggling at him and introduced René-Briand to shift the unblinking stare he was receiving.

'This... is... um... René-Briand, my brother,' said Remus looking at the floor and gesturing to his chubby flat nosed sibling.

'STEP brother,' corrected René-Briand squeezing into the seat in-between Remus and Peter. 'MY father is a pure blood!' Remus raised his eye brows at this comment but never said anything.

'Oh right...' Said James glancing at René-Briand for a split second then turning back to Remus. Bet he burns easy, thought James, must go though anti-sun spell at the rate of notts.

'What year are you in?' Shot Peter at Remus.

'I'm in third year and René-Briand's in first year,' said Remus awkwardly. 'We just moved here,' he added at Peter's suspicious, narrowed eyes, look.

'Fascinating...' Breathed James still looking at Remus with interest. 'Peter and I are in third year as well.'

'We only had to move because you got chucked out of the school,' huffed René-Briand grumpily with his arms folded tightly around his bulging belly.

'What was he chucked out for?' asked Peter hurriedly as if his life depended on Remus having a bad reputation.

René-Briand smirked at the worried face his pale step brother had and said to Peter, 'I'm not telling you, you stupid twit.'

Peter opened his mouth to fight back but Remus got in there first with, 'BRILIANT... um... weather we've been getting... You not think?'

'You-' Started Peter but James cut him off.

'Great weather. Oh yes... Very great weather.'

There was something about the way James said weather that made Remus cringe.

No one said anything after that, and they travelled the rest of the way to Hogwarts in an awkward silence which they occasionally punctured with a dry cough or a genuine sneeze. And when ever Remus dared to look up, from the patch on floor he found so interesting, his dark blue eyes met James' unshifting gaze and he looked quickly back.

Finally, after a journey that felt like a life time, the Hogwarts Express screeched to a long waited halt at the arrival station. Some students scattered themselves about the place trying to find their lost valuables, while other's shouts and laughter filled the air over the screeching owls and hissing cats.

'How big is this school?' asked Remus stepping on to the platform, hundreds of students in dark coloured robes bustling past him.

René-Briand had made his way to a large hairy man shouting Firs' years this way! without even saying goodbye.

'Oh this place is pretty big,' said James proudly after René-Briand was well out of ear shot. 'Where you go before? Dumpsangey?'

Remus grinned but said politely, 'I went to Beauxbatons in France. Durmstrang's in Germany.'

'Right I see... You don't sound French, like your...' James trailed off.

'Like René-Briand?' asked Remus his grin exposing his eye teeth.

Oh God, thought James, he must think I'm really thick.

Then Remus began to frown, shaking his head as if in answer to what James was thinking, and said, 'No, no my mother only married Alexandre, René-Briand's dear sweet pap, just 3 years ago. So I've only lived in France for 3 years.' Remus stressed Alexandre and mother with a bitter voice.

'Oh,' said James wanting to ask more, but realising he'd touched an nerve.

'I hate them,' growled Remus under his breath, staring at the carriages darkly.

'Are we going to move any time today?' asked Peter, annoyed he had been ignored.

'Yeah, good idea, Pete. We take these carriages the rest of the way up to Hogwarts,' explained James, then added. 'We don't know what pulls them yet...'

Remus looked quizzical for a moment then his mouth shaped into a "O".

'Well I reckon its some kind of movement charm,' said Peter making his way towards an empty carriage.

'I dunno,' said James following Peter. 'Do moving charms neigh and make clip-clop noises?'

'Charms can be enhanced to make noises,' sighed Remus closing his eyes at the foot of the ladder, 'but I doubt there's a charm complex and powerful enough to shift 30 odd carriages that move at their own accord.'

They all scrambled up the ladder and sat down on the hard leather seats. Once the carriage was clattering up to Hogwarts Peter decided to ask, with René-Briand well out the way, 'Why were you kicked out of Bexbtons?'

'Beauxbatons,' corrected Remus glaring at Peter with silent mutual dislike. 'Its a long story-'

'We-have-a-long-time,' Peter practically sneered.

'Come off the whole Beuxtrans thing Pete,' grummbled James, his single huge spike of hair touching the ceiling and curling around.

Peter dropped the whole topic at once but keep on shooting nasty glares at Remus the rest of the journey up to Hogwarts.

The trio arrived at the two huge doors of the great hall drenched from head to foot, it had in the short space of time it took for the carriages to make the short trip began to rain down icy cold rain. It didn't make them any eariler when most of the students had already found seats by the time Peter had been punched by a waitng Lucius Malfoy on arrival.

Remus had barely taken one step into the hall when he felt a bony hand grip his shoulder. A sharp 'Take your seat boys,' dismissed Peter and James. There was now no one else standing in the hall except Remus and his captor. The person pulled Remus out of the hall just as the hat burst into song:

Welcome all students, and don't look so stern
Here you have come to do magic and learn.
Young witches and warlocks will begin sorcery
After my accurate sorting ceremony.

There's Hufflepuff and Gryffindo-

The song was cut off by a door slamming. Remus looked around he was in a drab office with stone walls, he looked up at the person who dragged him away. She was a grim looking youngish woman, with hair in a tight bun, who gave the impression she seldom smiled.

'Lupin, Remus,' she said, neutrally, taking her seat behind a wooden desk. 'Which houses of Beauxbatons' where you in?'

'Er...' Remus was intimadated, all the women at Beauxbaton had long floaty hair, soft kind voices and happy smiley faces, this one clearly had neither of these qualitys. 'Um... I can't remember.'

'Is this some kind of joke?'

Remus' voice caught in his throat, he was scared as hell of this woman, 'I-I dunno, ma'am.'

She coughed out a angry sigh and sorted papers on her desk, 'You had beter remember soon.' She silently hoped he did because she had lost all the paper work on him. 'Can you remember what classes you had taken?' Silence. 'Mister Lupin?'

She looked up the boy had fainted. 'Merin's beard,' she grummbled angryly.