When the Moon Rises



Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters featured in the "Harry Potter" series. They were created by and are the property of JK Rowling. Any characters not featured in "Harry Potter" were created by me.

Author's Note: This is my first Harry Potter fanfiction. I'm a pretty new HP fan, and although I'm an experienced reader and writer in other areas of fanfiction, I have not read much HP fanfiction yet. I do know that this plot is not original or uncommon, but it was the only thing I wanted to write about, so I'm writing about it, whether it's been done before or not. I have no idea how far I'm going to go on it and whether it will ever get finished or not. My other stories and my website will always come first, so I can't promise how big a commitment I'll make to this story. I just thought I'd give it a try while I felt inspired. Please R/R and let me know what you think. Good feedback is always very encouraging and greatly appreciated. Thank you!



Chapter 1

Eleven-year-old James Potter stood at King's Cross Station in London, England, nervously looking at the barrier that stood between Platforms Nine and Ten.

"Are you ready, James?" asked his father. Like his young son, Benjamin Potter was a thin man with unruly black hair and glasses. "All you have to do is walk straight into the barrier. I'll go with you. Come now, be casual and act like what you're doing is perfectly normal. We don't want any Muggles getting suspicious."

James nodded at his father's advice and gripped the handle of his cart firmly. His father nodded down at him, and the two of them started towards the barrier. Just when James was afraid the cart was going to crash right into the barrier, it seemed to vanish, and he walked into another world, or so it seemed. The Muggle-filled King's Cross Station was gone, replaced with a new train station with a large red steam engine parked on the tracks next to the platform. A wrought-iron archway stretched over his head. Platform Nine-And-Three-Quarters, it read. He was there.

"Ahh, the Hogwarts Express," Benjamin said fondly, gazing at the gleaming scarlet train. "I remember the first time I rode it, my first year at Hogwarts. You're going to have a wonderful time, son. Well, go on now, you'd better get a move on. It's almost eleven."

James nodded and gave his father a quick hug, suddenly anxious to get on the train. "I'll see you at Christmas, Dad," he said, his voice muffled against his father's chest.

"Send us an owl when you get there. We'll be in touch," Benjamin replied, patting his son's tousled, dark hair affectionately. "And have fun."

James pulled back and smiled. "I will. Bye, Dad." With that, he turned and pushed his cart of luggage towards the train. He pushed his cart down the platform in search of an empty train car. Most of the cars were already filled with students, who were chattering animatedly with one another, their voices carrying out the open windows. Finally, he found a nearly empty compartment towards the back of the train. It was occupied by only one person, a boy who looked to be about his age.

"Excuse me?" James called into the compartment. "Could I sit here, or are you saving seats for anyone?"

"What? Oh, no, go right ahead," the boy replied. He helped James lift his suitcases into the compartment and then said, "I'm Sirius Black. What's your name?"

"James Potter," James replied, giving the other boy a timid smile. "Is this your first year at Hogwarts too?" he asked hopefully.

Sirius nodded. He was a tall, thin boy with dark, shaggy hair and dark brown eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the voice coming from the other entrance to the compartment, which came from inside the train.

Both Sirius and James looked up to see another boy standing in the doorway of the compartment, looking in at them nervously. This boy was pale and had light brown hair.

"Sorry to bother you, but are these seats saved?" he asked, shifting from one foot to another.

"No, come on in," said James, giving the boy a smile. "I'm James Potter, and this is Sirius Black. We're first-years. How about you?"

The boy smiled in relief and sat down. "Remus Lupin. I'm a first-year too," he replied. "I'm glad I met some other first-years. I was so nervous."

James and Sirius both smiled knowingly.

"I think we all are," said Sirius, and James nodded, glad that the others were as anxious as he was.

Before the train departed, they were joined by one more boy, a short, plump first-year with light blonde hair, a pointed nose, and small, watery eyes.

"Peter Pettigrew," he introduced himself awkwardly, his eyes flicking around the compartment at the other three boys. They all introduced themselves, and before no time, the four boys were talking and laughing as if they had known each other for years.

They found they all had a lot in common. All four of them had parents who were wizards (though Peter's father was a Muggle, or non-magical person). They all had gotten letters from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, inviting them to attend the school that fall, where they would learn magic and become wizards themselves. Although they were all nervous about going to Hogwarts for the first time, they were very excited too. All of their parents (except for Peter's Muggle father) had been educated at Hogwarts, and they were looking forward to keeping the tradition.

Two hours into the train ride, a small, elderly woman came to their compartment, pushing a large cart laden with food. The four boys skipped the heaps of sandwiches and healthy things and went straight for the snacks and sweets. When the witch moved on down the corridor with her food cart, there were mounds of junk food piled on all the remaining seats in the compartment.

"Mmm, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans," Peter said, licking his lips as he opened up his box of them. He pulled out a red one and studied it. "What d'you think this one is?" he asked. "Cherry maybe?"

"Lemme see." Sirius, who had just opened up his own box, took the small jelly bean from Peter's hand and held it up close to his face. "Oh, don't eat that one," he said seriously. "It's blood-flavored."

"Blood?" Peter made a face.

"Here, take this one instead. I think it's caramel." Sirius took out a tan bean from his own box and handed it to Peter.

"Caramel? Yum! Thanks, Sirius," said Peter, popping it into his mouth.

Sirius glanced quickly at James, and winked when he met his eye. Seeing the devious grin that had come over Sirius' face, James watched Peter in interest. All of a sudden, Peter's chubby face contorted in an expression of disgust, and he spat the bean out into his hand.

"Ew!" he cried, making a horrible face and sticking out his tongue. "I think that was-"

"Vomit," Sirius finished, roaring with laughter. James burst out laughing as well, and Remus, realizing that Sirius had given Peter the bean on purpose, joined in. Peter's face flushed pink.

Sirius popped Peter's red bean into his mouth and smiled in satisfaction. "Ahh… strawberry. Guess I was wrong about it being blood. Sorry Peter." He did not sound sorry at all; instead he grinned devilishly at Peter. Luckily, Peter was good-natured, and once he had washed the bad taste out of his mouth with a cotton candy-flavored bean, he laughed along with the others.

The rest of the train ride seemed to fly by, although, in actuality, it took hours. When the train finally came to a stop at the station in Hogsmeade, the wizard village near Hogwarts, it was dark outside.

"I'm starving," Peter commented, as he got his trunk from the luggage rack. "I hope we get to eat right away."

"We get sorted first," James said, remembering what his father had told him about the yearly ritual. "Then the feast."

"Sorted?" Peter suddenly looked panicked. "Oh no… I just know I'm going to be in Hufflepuff!"

Studying Peter, who seemed nice, but rather timid and naive, James silently had to agree. His father had explained about the four Hogwarts houses – there was Gryffindor (Benjamin Potter's former house) whose trademark quality was bravery, Ravenclaw for intelligence, Slytherin for cunningness, and Hufflepuff for loyalty. There was nothing wrong with Hufflepuff ('I'd rather be there than in Slytherin,' James thought, knowing that more evil wizards came from Slytherin than from anywhere else), but it had the reputation of being the lowliest house.

"Oh, you never know," James said to Peter with a shrug. "I just hope I'm not in Slytherin."

"Me too," Remus agreed.

"I'm hoping for Gryffindor," Sirius said.

"Me too," replied James. "That or Ravenclaw." James figured Ravenclaw was where he was going to be placed; he had always been smart. He really wanted to be in Gryffindor, like his father was, but he didn't know if he had the bravery to be in it or not. But it didn't really matter which house he was in, as long as he was with his friends. And after spending hours on the train with Sirius, Remus, and Peter, he wanted nothing more than to be in the same house as them.

The four boys dragged their trunks out onto the platform at the train station. There they found themselves lost in a large swarm of students. Bewildered, they looked at one another, not sure what to do or where to go.

Suddenly, a booming voice sounded over the buzz of the crowd. "Firs' years! Firs' years, over here!"

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all turned towards the source of the voice and saw a mammoth-sized man towering over the students. They immediately made their way towards him.

"Everyone here?" asked the giant man, surveying the group of small first- years that had clustered around him. "Right, I'm Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of the Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. You kin jus' call me Hagrid. Follow me now, and I'll take ya 'cross the lake to Hogwarts. Stay close now. Don't want ya ta get lost."

Like a mother duck with her ducklings, Hagrid led the group of first-years away from the platform. They went down a dark, steep path, surrounded by tall trees on each side. Finally, just when James was beginning to think the path would never end, the trees thinned, and they found themselves nearing a large lake. Across the dark, black waters was a cliff on which a sweeping castle with many wings, towers, and turrets sat.

"Wow…" breathed many of the students, in awe of the immense structure.

Hagrid pointed them all to a line of small rowboats, which they eagerly hurried towards.

"Four to a boat," Hagrid called, as they scrambled in.

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter climbed into one of the boats.

"How do we get across?" Remus asked. "There's no oars."

As if on cue, Hagrid shouted "Forward!" and all of the boats suddenly began to move on their own. Side by side, they glided effortlessly through the dark water. The boats took them through a tunnel that led under the cliff and stopped at a dark, underground port. They all climbed out onto the land and followed Hagrid up a steep, rocky flight of stairs. Finally, they left the darkness of the tunnel and found themselves outside in the night air again. The area around them was lit by the moon overhead, and, looking around, they realized they were standing on the vast front lawn of the castle, which towered over their heads.

James felt a rush of nervous excitement run through him. At last, he was at Hogwarts.

***

AN: Well, what do you think so far? Should I keep going? Please review or email me at rokofages75@dreamers-sanctuary.com and let me know. Thanks!