Sirius Black climbed on board the Hogwarts Express, trying to find an empty compartment. All were full, apart from one with a girl his age and a boy who was several years older than both of them.

He slid the door open and asked, "Hey, can I sit here?"

"Sure. I'm Tobias De Rodgers and this is my sister, Rebecca. She's new as well." The boy said, extending a hand. He had thick, light brown hair, piercing blue eyes and seemed to have an aura of authority coming off him. The prefect badge on his chest seemed to explain that.

"Sirius Black." Sirius mumbled.

Tobias' eyebrows rose a little, "Not another one from the infamous Black clan?"

"Regrettably, yes." He sighed, shifting in his seat uncomfortably.

"Well, I'd better go. Prefect duties, you know. See you soon." Tobias strode swiftly out of the compartment.

"He's not that bad, you know." A tiny voice said from the corner.

"What?" Sirius turned round and looked at the girl properly. She had a pretty, porcelain-toned face with strikingly warm hazel eyes and darker hair than her brother.

"Tobias. I know he's acting like a pompous git. I guess it's cause he's a prefect. Mum was acting just awful on the platform." She explained and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I kind of noticed." Sirius grinned.

"To be honest, she's been fussing over him since he got the badge."

"Join the club. We have croutons."

"Huh?"

"My mum doesn't give a damn about me. Too busy pampering sweet 'ickle Regulus." Sirius smiled grimly.

"I feel your pain. Parents suck." Rebecca stated firmly.

"So, do you know what house you're going to be in?" Sirius quickly changed the subject; worried about opening his problems up to a person he'd only met minutes ago.

"Well, Tobias is in Gryffindor, and he's the only relative of mine that's been to Hogwarts."

"Why?" Sirius looked at her inquisitively.

"My family is from France. So, almost all of my relatives attended Beauxbatons."

"Beauxbatons?"

"It's the French equivalent of Hogwarts."

"I see." Sirius nodded in comprehension.

"What about you? What house do you want to be put in?" Rebecca questioned him.

"My whole family's been in Slytherin. They'd probably kill me if I was placed in Gryffindor. But just try and catch me wanting to be in any house they approve of." Sirius muttered darkly, staring outside the window at the changing scenery.

Sirius was placed in Gryffindor, along with Rebecca De Rodgers, James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Lily Evans, Lottie Moriarty and two blonde girls who were constantly giggling.

The common room gave off an amazing aura of warmth; perhaps it was because there was a blazing fire on the hearth, or because the room was decorated in deep scarlet and gold, Sirius couldn't decide. The dormitory was done in the same colours as well. Unfortunately, James Potter, who hated Sirius because of his lineage, shared his dormitory as well as the other two Gryffindor boys. 'Oh well,' He thought grimly, 'It can't be much worse than home.'

"Aww, look, Black has himself a girlfriend!" James mocked Sirius viciously. Jessica and Charlotte sent Rebecca death stares, obviously taking James' words to be true.

"Shut up, Potter." Sirius growled, his words dripping with venom.

"Why don't you go back where you belong? You know, the Slytherin table's over that side of the hall." James continued. He loathed Sirius Black and never could see why he was placed in Gryffindor. Clearly the sorting hat was going senile…or so he thought.

"What amazes me," Rebecca glared at James. "Is that how you got into Gryffindor, Potter. Maybe this will help you find your way over there." She pointed her wand at him and recited 'Wingardium Leviosa.' She was just deciding where to drop him, when-

"REBECCA! Poser-il maintenant!" Tobias yelled furiously, scrutinised his sister. How dare his younger sister break the school rules on her first day at Hogwarts? Did she know how badly he wanted to be Head Boy next year?

"Non! Il a merité cette punition!" Rebecca glared back at him. So far, Hogwarts wasn't what she had hoped it would have been. Her brother was telling her off for standing up for herself and her only friend against a bully? Oh, the hypocrisy.

Tobias muttered an incantation and soon James was on the ground, who then collapsed into a seat beside Remus. Tobias turned back to glower at his sister.

"Pas par toi! Seulement les professeurs peuvent punir les élèves!"

"Tais-toi, Tobias! Juste parce que tu est un préfet, tu est ne pas mieux que tous les autres!"

"C'est faux! C'est ton mauvais comportement!"

"What is going on here?" Professor McGonagall strode over to the scene, her face looking thunderstruck. "Explain yourselves!"

"Nothing, Professor. Just a clash of opinions between me and my sister." Tobias came back to earth, his tone much more polite now.

"By having a heated diatribe with her in a foreign language? Five points will be taken from Gryffindor for your disruptive behaviour!" And with that, she promptly turned her heel and returned to the staff table.

Tobias glared at Rebecca one last time, then left for the Gryffindor common room.

Feeling worse than ever, Rebecca sat back down and began to stab angrily at her stone-cold piece of toast.

"Wow. You can speak French?" The red-haired girl next to Rebecca said softly.

"Mais oui. My family is French" Rebecca half-whispered, half-growled.

"Cool. I'm Lily, by the way. And this is Lottie." The girl said, and then indicated the other girl on her left.

Please excuse me for this chapter, I promise you that it does get much better later on! Erm yes I'd better translate the French for anyone out there who doesn't understand it (also, if any French people read this, and notice some obvious errors in my French, please pm me and let me know-I hope I haven't offended you!):

"REBECCA! Poser-il maintenant!"-Basicallymeans : "REBECCA! Put himdown NOW!"

"Non! Il a merité cette punition!"- "No! He deserves to be punished"

"Pas par toi! Seulement les professeurs peuvent punir les élèves!" -"Not by you! Only the teachers can punish students!"

"Tais-toi, Tobias! Juste parce que tu est un préfet, tu est ne pas mieux que tous les autres!"- "Shut up, Tobias! Just because you are a prefect, you are not better than everyone else!"

"C'est faux! C'est ton mauvais comportement!"- "That's not true! It's you bad behaviour!"

Yes, so basically your average quarrel between siblings in French.