On The Platform

"Remus, just be careful, alright?" Lyall Lupin told his son. "Just mind your own business and no one will bother you."

Remus nodded, and swallowed heavily. He was incredibly excited to go to Hogwarts, but he was also rather nervous.

"Bye Dad. I'll see you at Christmas, right?" Remus asked. His father nodded. Remus took a deep breath, then turned and walked towards the Hogwarts Express.

—

"Have fun, James!" Fleamont Potter yelled to his son, who was already making a beeline for the train.

"Do write us sometimes, James!" Euphemia Potter called. James waved from afar, before disappearing into the scarlet steam engine.

—

"Stop doing that this instant!" Walburga Black shrieked. Sirius was making golden sparks burst out of his wand tip. "Straighten up, boy, Blacks do not slouch. I'll be expecting a letter the moment you are placed in Slytherin house."

"Yes, Mum," Sirius groaned.

"You'd better behave yourself or you'll find yourself at Durmstrang before you can say Tojours Purs."

"Of course, Mum. I wouldn't even think of causing trouble," Sirius answered, not really listening. He was too busy staring at the train, anticipation bubbling up inside of him.

He climbed onto the Hogwarts Express, and was immediately accosted by his cousin Narcissa.

"Your mother has instructed me to watch over you this year, Sirius." Narcissa said, rather snootily.

"Oh, bugger off," Sirius said, pushing Narcissa aside, and continuing to walk in search of a compartment. Narcissa looked rather affronted, and marched off to join the other Slytherins.

The only empty compartment he could find was housing a boy with messy black hair, and round wire glasses. He pushed the door open, hoping this boy would welcome his presence.

"Oh, hello," the boy with messy hair said. "I'm James Potter." He grinned.

"Sirius Black."

His grin seemed to disappear. "Oh. Shouldn't you be sitting somewhere else?"

"What do you mean?" Sirius said, rather defensively.

"Nothing, sorry mate. I just, um, you know what? Nevermind." He looked sheepish, so Sirius assumed his apology was authentic. He took a seat opposite James.

Just then, the compartment door was pushed open once again. It was a red headed girl, and she appeared to be crying.

"Hi," James said to her. "What house do you suppose you'll be in?" Sirius could tell he was trying to be nice to her.

"Oh, I'm not sure. My family are all muggles, you see." She answered quietly.

"I know I'll be sorted into Gryffindor," said James proudly. "Just like my Dad. It's the best house for—

but before he could finish another figure appeared in the doorway. He had long greasy hair, and a large hooked nose.

"Only if you'd rather be brawny than brainy." He scoffed.

"Where are you hoping to go, then?" Sirius smirked. "Seeing as you're neither?"

James howled with laughter and Lily grabbed the other boy and pulled him out the door.

"Come on, Severus." She said, leading him away.

James and Sirius's laughter died down once they saw the lady pushing the trolley come to a stop in front of their open door.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?"

"Could I get some pumpkin pasties and chocolate frogs?" James asked, handing over a few coins.

"I'll take licorice wands, jelly slugs, ice mice…." Sirius seemed to list every kind of candy the woman had. He handed over a huge sackful of galleons in exchange for an armful of sweets.

"So, thats true then, about the Black fortune?" James asked. Sirius looked uncomfortable for a moment and then scoffed.

"Oh, please, you're a Potter. It's not like your destitute." James grinned in response.

Two more figures had suddenly appeared in the door. One was rather plump, with blond hair. The other looked somewhat sickly, and had gray hair and hazel eyes.

"Hi, would it be alright if we sat here?" The blond boy asked. "Everywhere else is full, and we got lost on the other side of the train and… whoah." He breathed. "That is a lot of candy."

"He's a Black," James nodded towards Sirius. Peter gasped. The gray haired boy looked rather confused, but he didn't say anything. "And sure, you guys can sit down."

"I'm Peter Pettigrew, by the way, and this is Remus Lupin." Peter said, introducing himself and his companion. He sat down next to Sirius, and Remus took a seat next to James.

"I'm James Potter." Peter smiled in answer. They heard a small snore, and everyone jumped. It appeared that Remus had fallen asleep in his seat. "Poor bloke," James said. "He looks awful."

Sirius nodded, but in reality he was thinking about the houses, and the possibility that he might end up in Slytherin.

"Do you really think you'll be a Gryffindor?" Sirius asked James.

"Yeah. I mean my whole family was so it's almost a given." James answered. Sirius looked nervous.

"But my whole family's in Slytherin." Sirius said quietly. James looked uncomfortable.

"Well, I mean, Slytherin would be alright…" But he clearly was only saying this to make Sirius feel better.

"But I'm not like them. That means I won't be a Slytherin, right?" Sirius looked a little bit scared.

"Right, you're right, you probably won't be in Slytherin then." James reassured him, although he looked skeptical.

Peter had watched their whole conversation in something that might've been awe.

"I wish I could be in Gryffindor," He said miserably. "I'm sure I'll end up in Hufflepuff."

"Well, at any rate, I just hope we'll all be in the same house," James said, trying to lift up their spirits. They all nodded rather forlornly.

Sirius wondered what if would've been like to be James, and know that he was going to end up in Gryffindor his whole life. He had always thought he would end up in Slytherin, whether he wanted to or not. But now, he felt like maybe he could be a Gryffindor just like James.

They all felt the train screech to a halt, and they could hear a voice outside calling,

"First yers', first yer's over here!" They all looked at each other with glee, excited to finally be at Hogwarts. They were about to leave their compartment when James called,

"Wait! We should wake up Remus." They all nodded in agreement, so James gently shook Remus awake.

"Wha-whats going on?" Remus said groggily.

"We've arrived at Hogwarts, we just wanted to wake you up and make sure you got off the train in time," James said. Remus looked rather shocked at this display of kindness.

"Um, thanks, that was really nice," Remus responded. James nodded, and then making sure Remus was fully awake, they departed the train.

They found that the man yelling for first years was exceedingly large, and had a very hairy beard. James and Sirius laughed at his appearance, while Peter giggled behind them.

Hagrid directed the first years towards a fleet of boats that would sail across the lake and lead them to the castle. James, Sirius, and Peter were all seated in a boat. Remus was looking rather lost, so they all beckoned for him to join them. He was making his way over when the fourth seat was suddenly occupied by the red haired girl from the train. Remus ended up sitting in the boat next to them, which, unfortunately, housed Severus Snape.

"What's your name?" Peter asked Lily rather shyly.

"I'm Lily Evans." She didn't smile at him.

"These are-" Peter was about to introduce James and Sirius when Lily cut in,

"Oh don't bother introducing them. I already know all about them." She then promptly turned her back on the boys and set her gaze firmly on the castle in the distance.

James put his finger next to his head and moved it in a circle, indicating that she was crazy. Sirius snickered.

"Poor Remus. He has to sit next to that greasy git." Sirius said, motioning towards where Remus was sitting. Snape was clearly glaring at Remus disdainfully.

"Hey!" Lily said, standing up for her friend. "Sev is very nice once you get to know him." James laughed.

"Yeah, about as nice as the giant squid. Oh look, there he is now!" James was pointing some distance away where a purple tentacle was clearly visible above the waves. "Come attack the red head! Her name is Lily!" He yelled to the giant squid. The tentacle disappeared under the water.

"Come on, Potter, I don't think the squid speaks English," Lily said.

"Look behind you, I think that'll change your mind," James laughed. Sirius and Peter were now pointing and snickering.

"I'm not going to look because there's nothing there. I know you're just trying to trick me." She did not look behind her, but if she had, she would've seen several large tentacles hovering slightly over her shoulder. She felt something wet and sticky touch her back. She tried to brush it off, but it just clamped down harder. Then she felt it happen again, but on her shoulder. Then her arm.

The squid had latched onto her and was trying to pull her into the lake.

"Help!" She squealed. All the boys obliged, even James, who couldn't contain his laughter. They tried to peel the tentacles off of her, but the squid was rather strong. They got into sort of an arm wrestle with the squid, which amused many of the other students, but was certainly not amusing to them. They sustained quite a few bruises.

Just as they reached the opposite bank, they managed to pull the tentacles off of Lily and scare the squid away. Lily did not thank them for their heroism and they didn't care, because in front of them was the castle.

It was glorious, and it seemed to be glowing with some other worldly light.

"Welcome, first yers,' to Hogwarts!"