All around the platform, partially visible through the smoke issuing from the scarlet steam engine, families were hugging their children goodbye. Many of the smaller children were looking nervous, but they were reassured by their parents or siblings. Students were catching up with their friends after the holiday and parents were going through mental check lists to ensure that nothing had been forgotten. Through all the laughter and happy chatter, a shrill female voice rang.
"Filth! Mudbloods everywhere! There were never this many mudbloods when I went to Hogwarts! I can scarcely believe my eyes!"
The voice belonged to a tall witch with dark hair, who clearly couldn't be bothered to keep her voice down. She had a proud face with bold features that may have been considered striking at some point. By her side was a stern looking wizard in formal robes who kept glancing down at the eleven year old boy his wife was ushering along with apparent distaste. Another boy scurried along beside them, almost a perfect miniature of his brother.
Both boys had inherited their mother's dark hair, though the older boy's was slightly longer. His father seemed to have noticed this.
"You need to cut your hair, boy. It's getting indecently long," he said with a sneer.
The witch glanced down at his words.
"Your father's right, Sirius," she sniffed, grabbing his chin and roughly turning his head from side to side. "No son of mine will be sorted while looking like an urchin. You need to bear your family name with pride!"
Sirius looked at the floor to hide his scowl as soon as his mother let go.
"And speaking of pride," she continued, "Be sure to make friends with the right type of people." She glanced to their left where a little girl with red hair was hugging her muggle parents goodbye and visibly cringed. "In fact, stick to your own house. Slytherin rarely accepts mudbloods."
By this point they had reached the train and Sirius turned to face his parents. There would be no sentiment or hugging in their goodbyes.
His father looked down his nose at him. "Stay out of trouble," he growled.
Sirius' mother bent over slightly so that he could kiss her cheek. "Toujours pur," she reminded him as a farewell. Then he picked up his bags, turned his back on his family and climbed the steps onto the train.
Due to the formal but brief nature of their farewell, many of the compartments were still empty. At least half of the students were still outside with their families.
As he was making his way down the corridor, he spotted a familiar face in a compartment full of fourth years and hesitated. Unfortunately, his cousin had noticed him too, as well as his hesitation outside her compartment.
Bellatrix shrieked with laughter at the sight. "Oh look!" she exclaimed with equal measures of mirth and malice. "If it isn't 'ickle Siwius Bwack! Thought I'd let you share our compartment, did you, Baby Black?"
The other students roared with laughter and Sirius felt his face grow hot.
"I'll tell you what," she continued with an evil grin, "We can duel, and if you win, you can come in."
"Does he even have a wand?" mocked one of her friends.
More laughter ensued as Sirius remembered the last time his cousin had pointed a wand at him, saying she wanted to practice a spell she'd learned. He could still hear her ringing cry of "Crucio!" She hadn't stopped until the adults rushed in from their meeting that was cut short by his screams.
"Keep moving, you first year slime," she hissed and he hurried off down the corridor to more laughter and jeering from her friends.
He was nearing the back of the train and he walked a little faster as he felt his eyes sting.
"Oi, you all right there?" called a voice behind him.
Sirius lifted his head high as he turned around, putting on his haughtiest expression.
"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked the boy with messy black hair that was now in front of him. He didn't need pity.
"You in first year then?" asked the boy and Sirius nodded stiffly.
"How about you?" he asked in return.
"Yeah," replied the boy. "I'm James, by the way. James Potter."
"Sirius Black," said Sirius in a pompous tone. "Are you a pureblood?"
James frowned. "Yeah, but why does that matter?"
Sirius couldn't believe what he was hearing. Of course it mattered! His parents had always said so. But looking at this boy, with his messy hair and easy, slightly arrogant grin, he began to wonder if maybe it didn't matter after all. This James kid seemed all right and Sirius certainly felt more comfortable around him than any time he was with his family.
Maybe his confusion had showed on his face, because James changed the subject.
"You want to share a compartment?" he asked, gesturing to an empty one near where they stood.
Sirius decided that he liked this boy. He gave a haughty approximation of James' grin.
"All right then," he said, and the two boys moved through the sliding door.
As they sat talking, the compartment filled with more first years that joined the conversation.
One was a very skinny sickly looking boy whose name was Remus and the other was a short, fat little boy with watery blue eyes that said his name was Peter. After a few minutes, a pale boy with greasy hair entered the compartment, followed by the red haired girl that Sirius' mother had sneered at earlier. They sat down across from each other, but the boys didn't pay them any attention and just carried on with their conversation.
But then the greasy haired boy's words drifted over to where James and Sirius sat, absorbed in a conversation that stopped abruptly upon hearing what he had to say.
"You'd better be in Slytherin," he was telling his red haired friend.
"Slytherin?" James said, looking over at the boy and then turning back to Sirius with a grin. "I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"
If he'd been asked that question half an hour ago, he would have shot back some witty line questioning the blood status of the speaker. But now Sirius wasn't so sure. It was becoming more and more apparent the longer he was away from his family that the Blacks weren't very good people. It seemed that there was another way, a better way to behave that he had never known of before. But it was all still so new.
He didn't smile back. "My whole family have been in Slytherin," he replied.
James did an overacted double take. "Blimey," he exclaimed jokingly. "And I thought you were all right!"
At this, Sirius did smile. He liked feeling like he belonged and he had a feeling that being in the same house as his cousins would not bring him the happiness he felt in this little compartment.
"Maybe I'll break the tradition," he said, feeling a little thrill as he said it. "Where are you going, if you've got the choice?"
James' grin got wider as he lifted an invisible sword.
"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave of heart," he said with mock solemnity. "Just like my dad."
The greasy haired boy seemed unimpressed and made a noise to reflect his sentiment. In an instant, James turned back to him.
"Got a problem with that?" James asked, raising his eyebrows.
"No," said the boy with a sneer, "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy-"
"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" Sirius interrupted, causing James to roar with laughter. The red haired girl stood up abruptly.
"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment," she said, giving James and Sirius an icy glare.
"Oh no, Sirius, we've done it now!" exclaimed James, tears of laughter streaming down his face.
Sirius gave a derisive, bark-like laugh and continued the jest. "I don't know what we'll do without them!" he said, imitating the girl's lofty voice and putting a hand over his heart.
The pair stormed out of the compartment. "See ya, Snivellus!" yelled James just before the door slammed behind them.
It took almost half an hour for Sirius and James to stop laughing, with Peter joining in a little too enthusiastically. Remus just buried his nose in one of their textbooks and ignored them until it was time to change into their robes.
"Come on," he said quietly. "We'll be there in ten minutes."
Sirius almost forgot all about his nerves and confusion amidst the jokes and laughter he shared with his new friends. That is, until he was standing in front of the great hall with his name ringing in his ears.
He strode forward with every appearance of careless confidence, but inside he was churning with anxiety. He didn't know what he wanted the hat to call when it was placed in his head. He was the first of his friends to be placed. What if he was in a different house from all of them, all by himself? What if he was stuck with only Bellatrix for company?
He took a deep breath and sat on the stool. Almost instantly, he was enveloped in darkness as the hat fell over his head.
Another Black, eh? whispered a voice in his ear. I've seen quite a few of you pass through here. But you're not the same as them. There's something…different about you.
Sirius thought about his family. What would his mother say if he wasn't in Slytherin?
No, they won't be happy at all, answered the hat, reading the echoes of his mother screaming "Blood Traitor!" in his thoughts.
For a moment his stomach filled with fear at the thought. But then a spark of something flared up, something like the thing he had experienced when he mentioned breaking the family tradition on the train. But now he could put a name to it. It was the thrill of defiance. Rebellion. And at that thought, the hat seemed to make its decision.
"GRRYYFFINDOR!" the hat bellowed and the hall erupted into applause.
He heard James give a whoop behind him as he made his way down the steps toward the table where the Gryffindors had made a space for him. As he passed the Slytherin table, he saw Bellatrix laughing with her head thrown back, but he decided that he didn't care.
In fact, he thought soon after as all of his friends had joined him at the Gryffindor table, he didn't want to be like his family anyway. He wouldn't care about what they thought of him ever again.
He gave a roguish smile to the red haired girl from the train, Lily Evans, who was sitting a few seats down from him.
She glared back at him. "Your hair's too long, Black. You look homeless," she said and James laughed.
"The girl's got a point," he guffawed, and even Remus cracked a smile.
Sirius examined his reflection in his silver goblet and ran a hand through his hair. It wasn't really that long, but it was the longest he'd ever had it.
"You know what Evans?" he said, turning back to her with a grin. "I think I'll grow it out.
And then he returned to his meal.
Author's Note
Thank you for reading! If you liked it and want to read more (or if you didn't and want me to stop) please review! Feel free to let me know what I'm doing right or wrong. Whether or not you want to favourite or follow is up to you. I highly recommend it, but I might be slightly biased.
If I owned Harry Potter or any of these spectacular characters, I would be a lot richer and more talented than I am.