The Train

Sirius Black scampered onto the train at the first opportunity. His parents barely noticed, too busy talking pompously with some no doubt prestigious, pure-blood family; Sirius only paused a moment to wave to his little brother. Regulus waved back sadly, and then Sirius turned away and went to find a place to sit.

Having escaped his parents so early, he found an empty compartment with ease. As he stowed his trunk, he wondered gloomily if anyone would sit with him, or if his seven years at school were doomed to be as lonely as his eleven years at home.

Then his compartment door burst open and he whirled around.

"Oh." A skinny kid with a shock of black hair and lopsided glasses grinned nervously at him. "Hi! Um, can I sit here? D'you mind?"

"No," Sirius said, surprised. "Go ahead."

"Thanks," the boy said brightly, lugging his trunk inside. Unlike Sirius, he had worn Muggle clothing to the platform. Sirius balled up his black cloak and tossed it in the corner of his seat, grateful that he'd put up a fight that morning to wear his new school clothes instead of the stiffly embroidered Black family robes. If he couldn't change his name, he didn't want to make a first impression that supported the stories. He had never made a friend his age before — his parents always yanked him away from Muggle children, and any young wizard he met balked as soon as they heard his name. Sirius eyed the black-haired boy thoughtfully. It was possible he wouldn't know about the Blacks…

The boy finished stowing his trunk and flopped down into a seat. He straightened his glasses and held out his hand. "James Potter, by the way."

"I'm Sirius," he replied, shaking the offered hand. The Potters knew about the Blacks, all right — Sirius' parents would fully expect him to become this boy's sworn enemy. So right then and there Sirius decided, with what would be far from his last fit of rebelliousness, that he would certainly not.

"Nice to meet you," James grinned. He actually hadn't stopped grinning, except when his tongue had poked between his teeth as he'd hefted his trunk onto the rack above the seats. The smile was infectious and Sirius felt himself beginning to grin as well. "Hey, do you follow a Quidditch team?"

Sirius thought about all his brother's prattling on the subject. "Um, I guess England… they got a new Seeker, right?"

James gave him a mock-pitying look. "Allow me to be the first to begin your Hogwarts education, my friend."

Sirius laughed aloud, marveling at James' quick claim of friendship. Could they stay friends, even once Sirius was shunted off into his family's House? They'd have to see, but Sirius felt happier already than he had in a long time, as James rambled on about Quidditch teams. Sirius managed to steer the conversation to the sport itself, and flying, which he himself was actually quite good at.

As the train pulled out of the station, a couple other first-years sat down at the other half of their compartment. Sirius didn't pay them much attention until he heard the mention of Houses.

"You'd better be in Slytherin," the boy said. He had dark hair and looked sort of scrawny, with pale skin and black eyes.

Sirius had intended to keep ignoring them, but James looked around. "Slytherin?" he echoed. "Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" he asked Sirius.

For once Sirius didn't smile back. "My whole family have been in Slytherin," he said.

"Blimey," said James, "and I thought you seemed alright!" But he grinned again, his eyes still dancing. He was just teasing, Sirius realized. Knowing about a Slytherin family didn't faze him.

So Sirius grinned back after all. "Maybe I'll break the tradition," he said brazenly. Good god, if Mum heard me say that… "Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?" he asked, though he already had his suspicions about the answer.

James lifted an invisible sword. "'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad."

The sallow boy — Sirius had almost forgotten about him — made a small, disparaging noise. James turned on him, the smile going dim.

"Got a problem with that?"

"No," the boy said, with a sneer that reminded Sirius horribly of his cousin Bellatrix. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy—"

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" interjected Sirius.

James roared with laughter. Sirius grinned at him. The girl sat up, rather flushed, and looked at them both with dislike. Sirius thought quite cheerfully that the feeling could be mutual. She and her creepy, sneering little friend.

"Come on, Severus," she said, "let's find another compartment."

"Oooooo…" Sirius and James imitated her at the same time. She ignored them, nose in the air; James tried to trip the boy as he passed.

"See ya, Snivellus!" Sirius called happily as the compartment door slammed.

James snickered. "Snivellus."

Sirius shrugged. "Severus, Slytherin, Snivellus…"

James laughed again. "I hope that girl's not in Slytherin with him," he said with a hint of disgust in his voice. That note would only become more prevalent over the years, but for now Sirius just snorted.

"Why? What about her?"

"Well, she was crying when she came in here… and if her friends think she ought to be in Slytherin, obviously she needs new ones…"

Sirius chuckled, agreeing. The two boys continued their banter as if they had known each other for years, swapping stories and, when the food trolley came by, trading food and Chocolate Frog Cards. The sky was just darkening beyond the window when a soft knock on the compartment door caught their attention. "Excuse me," a quiet, calm voice said. Sirius glanced up at the new boy. He was very slight, with sandy hair and pale skin. He looked a bit ill, but he smiled shyly at them. "Does this owl belong to either of you? She got into my compartment…"

"Hey, yeah!" James jumped up and took the bird gently. "What're you doing?" he asked as if the owl would reply. "Hey, wait!" he added as the other boy started to leave. James shifted the owl to his shoulder and held out his hand. "Thanks. James Potter."

The boy shook his hand hesitantly. "I—I'm Remus Lupin."

"Have a seat," Sirius invited.

"Have some food," James added with a grin. "Sirius thought he could eat it all…"

Remus Lupin said down slowly. He glanced at Sirius and James, and gave a slow, small smile. "Are you both first years?" he asked.

James and Sirius both nodded. "Know any spells yet?" Remus asked more eagerly. "I've read through some of my school books, and my dad let me try a couple spells when Mum wasn't looking…" he blushed and stopped talking.

"You'll be in Ravenclaw," James said with amusement. "I know a couple, yeah. So your dad's a wizard?"

Remus nodded. "I'm halfblood on both sides. You?"

"Pureblood," they both replied: James casually, Sirius distastefully. The other two boys looked at him with surprise. Sirius shifted uncomfortably. But neither of them asked him his surname; they launched back into discussion about the school books they'd looked through. Sirius relaxed again, listened to them, and laughed and claimed that he was allergic to books — which made James laugh and Remus toll his eyes — and before he knew it, the train was stopping in the station.

A nervous silence fell over the three boys as they left their trunks and animals with the others, and gathered into a group with the other first-years. Most of the students were making for a line of carriages, but a huge, booming voice caused Sirius, James and Remus to jump and turn away from the queue. "Firs' years! Firs' years, over here! Ri' then, le's get goin'."

Sirius, James, and Remus stuck close together in the throng of first years. The nervous whispering was starting to get to Sirius. At his left side he saw James fiddling in his pockets. He pulled out a couple items which glinted in the faint light, but it was too dark for Sirius to make out what exactly they were. But he could see the mischievous smirk on the other boy's face, and he felt an uncontrollable grin on his face as he scooted closer to Remus. The next time he glanced at James, the bespectacled boy walked along calmly with his hands in his pockets. He and Sirius carefully avoided each other's gazes as they walked.

A loud croak and louder shrieks made Sirius whirl around. A dark shape launched itself into the air, briefly outlined in the faint light, gangly limbs splayed wildly.

"Giant toad!" a girl shrieked.

"No, giant Chocolate Frog!"

"Catch it!" cried a smaller-than-average boy, whose straw-colored hair gleamed in the lantern-light.

"Don't get my robes dirty!" wailed a dark-eyed girl, running away from the giant frog. It croaked again, leaping away from the first-years and off into the woods.

"Aw, we let it get away!" several people sounded disappointed. Others were giggling nervously, others laughing hysterically. James and Sirius were among these. Remus looked intrigued as well as amused.

"How'd you do that?" he asked in a low voice as the gamekeeper kept herding them along.

"Growth Potion," James muttered, still grinning. "I nicked a couple interesting things from my dad's office before I left home."

Sirius snickered. "And you didn't use it on yourself, short stuff?"

James elbowed Sirius in the ribs while Remus chuckled at their antics.

"Four to a boat now, an' try not ta turn yerselves over." They had reached a vast, glittering lake. Sirius clambered aboard on of the small boats with his two new friends, joining the straw-haired boy who had wanted to catch the giant chocolate frog. He grinned nervously at them as the boats began to glide across the lake of their own accord.

"Hi there," James said, smiling back. "I'm James Potter. That's Remus Lupin and Sirius something-or-other."

"Peter," the boy replied. "Peter Pettigrew."

"Oi," Remus said softly. "Will you look at that."

Sirius looked up as the boat rounded a bend in the water, and the world opened up before him. Never before had Sirius Black been at loss for words, but he was now. There was a nameless feeling in his stomach as he, James, Remus, and Peter caught their first glimpse of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. If he'd been asked about it later, Sirius might have forgotten all about it — but at that moment, for the first time in his life, he had the strangest feeling that he was coming home.

Author's note: Hi there, so this is my first venture out of the land of Fire Emblem fics, but I do love these four characters — even Peter, to an extent, it intrigues me how he was once trusted even more than Remus. So, I thought I'd like my own go at the years of the Marauders at school. To disclaim once and for all: I can only aspire to be as awesome and famous as JKR, but I will never be her, so none of these characters, setting, blah blah blah belongs to me. Some of the writing comes directly from the book in this chapter, the conversation with Snape and Lily on the train. Anyway, yes, this story will be partially borrowed and I'll stick to the canon as much as I remember, and feel free to let me know if I miss anything. Also, I don't own the song 'Angels on the Moon', from which the title of this story was derived — it belongs to the awesome band Thriving Ivory. In case anyone wonders, the full verse says "This is to one last day in the shadows, and to know a brother's love. This is to New York City angels, and the rivers of our blood. This is to all of us."

P.S. — to anybody who's looking for A Reason to Fight, I promise I haven't given up. I recently reread the HP books and these little feral plotbunnies attacked me, so this is getting them out of my system. I can multitask, I promise.