Rain.

It was raining. It was raining on the first day of the school year.

School? I'm not even sure if you could call it a school. Sure, it taught you stuff that you'll probably never need in the future, it had those pathetic teachers who couldn't find anything useful to do in life, and chances were that it would be boring…

Still, school? Hogwarts… Hogwarts wasn't a school. Okay, maybe it was, but it wasn't a normal school. Conversely, it's not meant for normal people is it?

Yeah, that last line makes me sound like a deranged and delusional sucker… amongst other things… But I would NEVER deny it.

To make things ever more welcoming, we were having a blackout, and that wasn't meant to be sarcastic. Yeah, it's a bit stupid for a blackout to occur in a magic train (isn't there supposed to be this kind of special orb that has a never ending energy source) but it was better than to listen and look atAlice. At this point, I was just listening.

Okay, we had this golden-ish compartment. On one side there was a sliding glass/wooden door, and on the other was a transparent window, both parallel to each other. I know, all windows are transparent, but I was expecting some sort of black obsidian glass… you know… because this is a train transporting tons of wizards/wizards to be. Anyway, we had this rectangular shaped compartment, and we (obviously) had seats. Back when the light was on, (that was ages ago) there were 3 other people 'accompanying' me. There was Alice (the only name I could decipher from their high pitched squealing), a girl with big toady eyes, and an electric red head.

I had the window seat, and apparently, I was the only one who noticed the torrential rain pouring outside… Why don't they notice it? That was the only thing my mind could think of through their stupid conversation. Would they notice it if I threw them out the window? I love my brain.

I tried to clear my mind. Nothing worked. They kept on droning on… Was it so hard to acquire bliss?They kept on talking: Potter this… Black that… Lupin, Pettigrew, Marauders… Do wizards have to lose their sanity to become what they are?

Drone, drone, drone…

They were talking so blithely, yet each one had that sarcastic and bitter edge to their tone.

Redhead: Nawwwwww!

Googly Eyes: Yessssssss!

Alice: Go and die in HELL!

Forget dying in hell, I'm living in it!

I tried to look out, with a blank mind… serenity…

Oh yeah… serenity was too far to reach from this compartment...

I got up. I walked out. Nobody cared.

I stood outside the compartment, my mind was blank. I cringed with disgust when I realised that the only reason I had that stoic attitude was because I wasn't part of the conversation. I couldn't contribute to whether Jack… Jack someone (let's say that's his second name) was totally awesome, or whether an old geezer called McGonagall was really a geezer. I wasn't used to being left out of the conversation… in fact I was always the ignition of the conversation. Anyways, whatever they were talking about must've been stupid anyway.

At least I could resume my reverie.

It was too good to last.

A foray of exultant laughter roiled my thoughts. I surreptitiously crept down towards the sound. I passed one compartment, and I balked. I wanted to proceed forward, but I didn't, I balked. I took two steps back, and it caught my eye. I slid open the compartment door, with 2 pairs of eyes watching me, and I couldn't care less.

They say that only fools stare at the sun, but at that moment I felt like one. I wanted reassurance. I trudged out of the room, down the corridor and into the next compartment. The source of the noise that departed shortly before my arrival.

I saw what I saw in the previous compartment, sunlight.

Only this time, I saw more than four pairs of eyes, each smirking at me.

"Finally… they catch on." He mused, taunting me with those stormy grey eyes, and complacent smirk. His jet black hair added reality to his unbelievable features, but all the same it made him look angelic. His expression said otherwise.

My eyes dropped from the dark angel to the floor. "Sorry." I muttered, just under audible levels. I turned on my heel, hesitantly reached out to the door and tugged.

"No use, you're in the Marauder's compartment now, mate."

The Marauders… that rung a bell. Unfortunately, that bell was in the bell tower that was abundant with bells.

OH! I'd just been locked in, with a bunch of boys. Funny, last time I checked, that wasn't on my wish-list.

Let's see, there was the dark angel, a boy with glasses, an assiduous looking one, and a boy with mouse–like features.

The boy with the glasses took the lead. "So, you're a friend of Evans's, I'd reckon." A twinkle in his eyes at the mentioning of Evans… I was guessing that Evans was probably a girl.

I didn't know how to react, he seemed propitious, but he'd just put a lock spell on the door to keep me in. "You're not really good at reckoning." I replied, excluding any bitterness my tone produced. I looked around the compartment. I figured that if I was no use to them, they'd let me go, but they appeared to think that I was a benefit shop. Now how could I get the memo across?

The one adjacent to me was the mouse boy. He looked like weak, pathetic, and gullible, I could go on…

"Budge up." He did as I instructed. He moved closer to the studious one, who glowered at him, giving him the 'you touch me, you die' look. I felt sympathetic, for a second, and then I lost all emotion and sat down. "So," I sighed, "since you've got no apparent intentions of letting me go, let's get to know each other, shall we?" I returned that devious smirk, and I didn't look, but I knew that the angel's face was smouldering. Wow, angels have bad temper.

"James Potter." Mr. glasses held out his hand, I shook it, "Alex Wolfe." I countered.

"Remus Lupin." That was Mr. clever. I noticed his slight hesitation towards my name.

"Peter Pettigrew." The timid mouse declared.

I looked at the dark angel; he sat next to Potter, with a grin sprouting on his face.

He leaned forward, "Sirius Black, you'll remember the name." His eyes were yearning to say more. Ironically, he was no longer the dark angel, he was the Black one.

Taking a few seconds for useless attempts at decoding the mystery of his eyes, I used the effect of sarcasm, "Yeah, I have a pretty good memory." He chuckled darkly. I broke him of from my gaze, but his gaze was still on me, as was the whole compartment's. I turned towards the apparent leader, James. "So, I presume you're the Marauders." I found the bell. James reflected my smile, injecting his shrewdness in. "You're good at presuming, mate." I couldn't argue with that. "If I'm so good, then 'Evans' must be one of the girls in my compartment." I pressed him for more answers. "Correct." His eyes shining brighter at this point, expecting more questions. I decided not to make his expectations plummet, "Which one?" I inquired, with no interest this time round. "The pretty one." He was getting more eager, "The redhead." My plan wasn't working; I wasn't getting out anytime soon. Eh, since I was staying for I while, my mind drifted towards the matter of the torrential rain pouring outside my compartment window.

I opened my mouth… BANG! BANG! BANG!

I swung my head towards the direction of the door. Outside there stood the three girls from the compartment with the watery view, and they were all drenched.

The boys exploded. Continuous guffawing blocked out the girls' 'knocking' at the door.

With tears welling up in his eyes, James turned toward his comrade, "Remus!" he croaked with compressed laughter.

"With pleasure!" he replied under the same drunk-ish condition. He waved his wand, and the doors swung open. At that moment I really shouldn't have started laughing, but it was so contagious. Screw them if they found it offensive! They looked ridiculous, and to this we acted ludicrous.

I'm going to make a hypothesis: they were really offended.

Googly eyes glared at me, which was creepy because of those freakishly big eyes stalking me. The redhead and Alice were to busy chiding their newly found rivals.

And that's when I realised, I had a chance. Googly eye's attention averted from me, and onto the Marauders, as for the rest… they were engaged in Compartment War 1. I slipped out the compartment doors, trying to maintain myself from the sight I just saw. I was breathing heavily. I leaned against the corridor wall, chuckling, mimicking and shouting echoed in my ears. I pressed my hands on the wall, same for my head and whole body. I stood there, motionless, my eye lids were lolling, and then they closed.

Something clutched my wrist. I urged and forced my eyes to open; my vision was hazy as I recovered from the shock. Something was breathing cold air against my neck. Peering down at me were two grey eyes. My eyes were locked on to his eyes, and his were locked on to mine. I looked into those deft eyes, and I saw my reflection. As he examined mine, I expected him to see his, but he acted as though he saw more.

Then it dawned on me. My body felt numb and lithe as he supported me with a hand on my back. I felt nauseas, and I could tell he knew this feeling.

Sirius knew this feeling.

I supported myself, straightened up. I was only a centimetre shorter than him in comparison.

His serrated tone then struck me, "Remember my name."

We were literally a centimetre apart. "Remember mine." That was all I managed to say. That was all he needed to hear.

He was gone. Did that really just happen? I hindered against the noise coming from the compartment. That didn't mean that everything was no longer earshot, because those few words rung in my ears: Remember my name.

Good to know that I had a new bell to add to my collection…