A/N: J. K. Rowling created Hogwarts and most of the characters in this story. I made them younger, but they are still HERS!!!!!

First Meetings

James Potter shoved his trunk up onto the luggage rack, and stretched like a cat. Looking around the empty compartment, he nodded in satisfaction. He knew that it had been a good idea to get to the train early, before the rest of the students crowded up platform and train.

Idly he wondered what House he would be in, but decided it wouldn't matter, as long as the other boys in his year weren't too big of goody-goodies. That probably ruled out Hufflepuff, and James would kill himself rather than be put in Slytherin, so that left him Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.

Yawning, he leaned back in his seat. He would find out in a few hours anyway, so he might as well relax and forget about it. Yawning again, James tried to keep his eyes open. He had been too excited to get much sleep the night before, and it was getting harder and harder to stay awake. Slowly his head dropped to his chest.

A loud thump woke him up. Rubbing the back of his neck, James investigated the noise. It was not hard to find the source. Just outside his door, a boy about his own age of eleven was glaring at his trunk, which had apparently just fallen on his foot.

The boy glanced up. "A little help here?" he asked, gesturing at the trunk.

James looked surprised for a second, then stepped out into the corridor and grabbed one end of the trunk. Together, the two boys managed to get it into the compartment and up onto the luggage rack.

"So," James asked, "what's your name?"

"Remus Lupin. What's yours?"

"James Potter. You a first year?"

"Yeah."

James grinned. "Good. So'm I."

Remus grinned back. He started to say something, but was interrupted by the entrance of a tall, dark haired boy.

"Mind if I join you?" the newcomer asked.

"I don't. What about you, James?"

James grinned again. "Have a seat," he said, gesturing towards the empty seats.

"Thanks," the new boy replied. "The only other compartments that have seats left are occupied by my cousins." His face showed what he thought about sitting with his cousins. "I'm Sirius Black, by the way."

"James Potter."

"Remus Lupin."

"Say, do either of you know what House you want to be in?" James asked suddenly.

"Gryffindor," Sirius replied immediately. "My parents would be–will be-furious." Somehow, that thought didn't seem to disturb him. If anything, it seemed to thrill him. James and Remus didn't appear to notice.

Lupin shrugged. "I don't really care, I just don't want to be in Slytherin."

"I don't want Hufflepuff or Slytherin. Anything else would be fine, I think." James nodded sharply, as if to emphasize his point. "Yup, anything but Hufflepuff and Slytherin."

Remus frowned. "What's wrong with Hufflepuff?" he asked, a bit sharper than he had intended.

James looked slightly taken aback. "Nothing, really, I guess. But I bet that every time I try to pull a prank, one of them will run off and tattle."

"What makes you say that?"

"Dad said that Hufflepuffs like rules. Sorry if I…offended you somehow."

Remus looked down at his feet. "Sorry, James. I didn't mean to bite your head off."

"Would you both please stop apologizing?" Sirius broke in. "You're both idiots. Does that make you feel better?"

"Not particularly, no."

"Good."

James laughed. "Sirius," he began, "I think I'm going to like you."

Sirius mock-bowed. "I live to serve," he joked.

A girl, looking strikingly similar to Sirius, poked her head in. Her mouth twisted into a smirk. "What are you doing here, Sirius? I thought the Hogwarts Express was reserved for actual people!" she said mockingly.

Sirius growled something and reached for his new wand, all his joking flown out the window. The girl smirked again and left.

"Who was that?" Remus asked.

"My cousin," Sirius responded shortly. "Bellatrix Black. One of her sisters, Andromeda, is all right, but Bellatrix is like most of my family: obsessed with purity of blood and the Dark Arts."

"That's pretty much how my mum described your family," James said absently, as if he was only paying attention with half of his mind. The other half was firmly fixed on a red-haired girl he had spotted on the platform. He smiled foolishly. She was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

"James! James! Hogwarts Express to James!"

"Huh?" James asked, coming out of his reverie.

"What happened to you? You weren't paying attention to anything in here!" Sirius caught sight of the pack of girls. "Ohhhh. Which one?"

"Which one what?" Remus asked, leaning over. He too noticed the girls. "Oh." He leaned back into his seat and took out one of his textbooks, apparently uninterested.

James scowled at both of them. "She'll hear you!" he hissed.

"Which one is going to hear us?" Sirius asked impatiently.

"The redhead," he muttered. "Now will you shut up?!"

Sirius looked at her. "She's okay," he said indifferently, losing interest.

"Just okay!" James yelped looking liking Sirius had mortally wounded him. "She's beautiful."

"You need to get out more, mate. She's not that wonderful."

James shook his head in disbelief and would have gone on if an older blond boy hadn't appeared just then to toss a much smaller boy into their compartment. James and Sirius jumped to their feet, wands out. The blond did not appear to feel the least bit threatened. He sneered at them and left.

"Malfoy," Sirius said, shoving his wand into his robes with unnecessary force.

"What?" Remus asked, helping the small boy up.

"Lucius Malfoy," Sirius explained. "His parents and mine are friends."

"Ah," Remus replied, much enlightened. "Are you alright?" he asked the kid, who nodded.

"I…I'm Peter," he said nervously. "P…Peter Pettigrew."

"Hello, Peter," Remus said, smiling encouragingly. "I'm Remus, that's James, and that's Sirius."

Peter managed a small smile. "H…hello."

"Hey Peter." James smiled back politely.

Sirius just nodded at Peter, his brain working overtime. Slowly he smiled. "I have an idea," he said. "Anyone else want to teach Malfoy not toss people around?"

James looked up. "Sounds great to me. What'd you have in mind?"

"Wait. Remus, Peter. In or out?"

Peter shook his head mutely.

"Remus?"

Remus bit his lip. These might be the first friends since he was five, but he didn't want to get in trouble. But then again, Malfoy really should learn not to throw people around… A glance at James and Sirius made up his mind. "I'm in, but we better not get caught."

Sirius' grin widened. "Fair enough. All right, this is what we have to do…"