Disclaimer-Anything you may recognize belongs to the lovely JKR.
James
Jame's Potter was bored already,he'd been sat on the Hogwarts express alone for 20 minute's now waiting for his friend's to arrive,so far the train was only halfway full and platform 9 3/4 was almost deserted apart from students arriving through the barrier with their parent's.
James's own parent's were still on the platform having an animated conversation with Mr and Mrs Evans,James cringed and bowed his head as his father let out a rather too loud laugh at something Mr Evans had said.
he looked up as he heard the compartment door slide open,his face split into a huge grin as the one and only Lily Evans stood in the doorway throwing him an amused look
"our parent's seem to get along well" she told him nodding in the groups direction through the window raising one eyebrow
"well hello to you too Miss Evans" James replied after a long pause "I've had a lovely summer,thanks for asking"
Lily's eyes narrowed glaring at James " well I know someone who's had a lousy summer" Lily told him as she took the seat opposite sighing.
"what happened?" James asked concerned knowing Lily's sister hated anything to do with magic due to eavesdropping on a few of Lily and Petunia's arguments four years in a row "was it your sister again?"
"oh no my summer's been just fine,Petunia's still being...well Petunia" she sighed sadly "she threw a tantrum so she didn't have to come this year" Lilly shook her head sadly
"she'll come around" James told her kindly
Lily just snorted in reply, and began watching their parent's for a few minutes out of the window.
"who's had a lousy summer then?" James asked hoping to bring her out of thoughts of her vile sister.
"oh yes! as I was saying before seem's like Sirius has had a lousy summer" she replied frowning still gazing out of the window
that quickly caught James's attention,he'd not heard from Sirius all summer and he knew the other Marauders hadn't either through the letters Remus and Peter had sent.
"he always does when he's stuck at home with his mother" James told her with a frown "but how do you know?" he asked suspiciously
"oh I don't know" Lily told him shrugging slightly "its just he's at the other end of the platform getting his yearly ear full off his mother looking absolutely miserable,so I just assumed" she told him with a slight frown, finally meeting his gaze.
this was nothing new anyone, every year Sirius's mother would yell until she was blue in the face before allowing Siriuson to the school train,while his younger brother Regulus stood by looking smug,he was just about to tell Lily not to worry about it when the compartment door slid open and admitted Mooney and Wormtail
"she's even worse this year" Remus told James in way of greeting,Peter nodded solemnly behind him "oh hello Lily" Remus smiled suddenly noticing the red-head.
"hello Remus,Peter" she replied happily "I was just warning James about Sirius's possible foul mood" she explained.
"nothing new there then" Jame's muttered with a sigh
for the first few days back at Hogwarts Sirius was always in a foul mood ,first years would throw themselves out of his way as he stormed through the corridors like an angry bull.
the other Marauders would always be first in line for Sirius to rage at.
"well im going to head off to the prefect's carriage" Lily announced rising from her seat "you coming Remus?"
Remus shot James an apologetic look before following Lily hastily out of the compartment.
"this year" James told Peter forcefully "Evans wont say no to me this year"
Peter nodded enthusiastically in response.
Sirius
"You are a shame to this family" his mother told him acid in every word
"they'll be no more running around with half blood's and damn near squibs" she all but knew better than to roll his eyes while his mother was on one of her rants 'crazy old hag' he thought while examining his brown leather boots, in a look his mother interpreted for shame. She'd been ranting for a good 30 minutes now,telling Sirius how he was such a disgrace to the rest of the family,how she would make sure he never receive his inheritance if she found out he'd been hanging around with James,Remus and Peter again.
"Bella shall be watching you this year" she told him apparently finished with her rant, making Sirius's head snapped up in alarm
"surely you're not going to have the psychopath stalk me mother?" he asked her disbelieving
"Sirius Orion Black" his mother hissed "you will do as you are told for once in your pathetic life,is that clear?"
Sirius noted the murderous look in her eye and nodded immediately,taking a step back to distance himself away from the old hag for when she pulled out her wand on him.
She glared at him for a long minute before turning to his brother,seizing the opportunity Sirius stepped sideways through one of the train door's and bolted down the corridor narrowly avoiding a sinister looking curse from Bellatrix by inches.
Sirius had to back track realizing he'd rushed past the compartment James and Peter were in,looking up and down the corridor quickly the to be sure Bellatrix hadn't followed him he quickly slipped inside,immediately slamming the door shut behind him and drawing the blinds.
"and how was your summer?" James asked casually,looking up from the Quidditch book he'd been reading.
"you honestly would not believe the hell I've been through" Sirius told them throwing himself on the seat next to James dramatically
"try me" James asked putting his book down and turning towards his best friend
"she intercepted every single owl, took your letters and burnt them" he told them as way to explain his silence "she even used a permanent sticking charm on my window" he fumed jumping back out of his seat and pacing up and down the small compartment
"she made me spend time with the Lestranges and all my demented cousins,if it wasn't for Andromeda id probably have gone insane"
Sirius waved his arms around aggravated when James just raised his eyebrow's
"you've had worse summers" James reminded him shrugging as he picked his book back up
"oh well thanks for the sympathy Prongs you've really made me feel better" Sirius snapped
"you know im right Sirius,remember last summer with that awful house elf,i had to break in to grimmauld place at 3am and unshackled you from the basement" James said gravely
Sirius shuddered at the memory,that was one summer he'd love to forget,his mother had ordered the house elf to chain Sirius in the basement for the duration of the summer holidays only allowing one meal a day and not allowing any privileges such as human contact,the only being that visited was the elf Kretcher and he only arrived to deliver the rotten inedible food or to punish Sirius on his mothers orders,until James showed up 2 weeks into the holidays and basically saved Sirius's life.
Sirius shuddered at the memory meeting James eyes with a grim look shared between them as Peter looked out of the window uninterested.
"where's Mooney?" Sirius asked flopping back down into his seat with a sigh
"Prefect's compartment" Peter muttered before James could reply
Sirius shook his head at Peters response,it made sense Remus was a prefect, him being the sensible one of the group and all 'I think Dumbledore hopes Remus will be able to reign us in a little" Sirius scoffed clearly amused
"guess who was in here before Padfoot?" James asked suddenly changing the subject
Sirius braced himself knowing this was going to be the longest train ride to date.
Remus returned after half an hour,so Sirius started to tell them what his mother had said before he escaped to board the train.
"well she was more brutal this year" James admitted with a slight grimace
"I forgot to mention Bellatrix was storming through the train" Remus told them with a sly smile
Sirius looked around alarmed,he dint care about being disinherited,in fact he'd be better off without any of his family he'd only miss Andromeda out of the lot of them,he was more concerned with Bellatrix bursting into the compartment and hexing him to death
"I've put a notice me not on our compartment" Remus added quickly noticing Sirius unease
Sirius nodded and felt the tension he didn't realize he was holding out
"the snack trolley's on the way up" Remus commented nodding his head at the door
there was a quick scramble for everyone to cough up their galleons and it was agreed Remus and Peter would go buy the sweets everyone wanted seeing as Sirius was in hiding,just as Remus and Peter stepped out of the carriage a small delicate looking hand quickly stopped the door from sliding shut,Sirius quickly scrambled for his wand on the seat fearing Bellatrix had found him and stood quickly pointing his wand at the door.
A small squeak escaped the girl at the door as she took in the scene in front of her and Sirius quickly lowered his wand noticing James doing the same behind him,Sirius could have sworn for a split second he'd seen the girls eye's flash bright orange but the color was quickly changed back to a chocolate-brown before his brain could register what he'd seen
"im sorry to disturb you" the silky voice said quickly "I was just wondering if you'd maybe seen my cat?"
Sirius's body completely froze as the girl stepped further into the compartment glancing around hopefully.
"no sorry Ava I've not seen your cat,have you Sirius?" James told her reassuringly with a smile
Sirius couldn't answer he was blatantly staring at the young woman,she had smooth ivory skin like she was carved from marble with a small nose and full lip's,her eyes were wide and unblinking,her hair black as the night, with long curled eyelashes and perfectly arched eyebrow's.
she stared back at Sirius looking quite unnerved and darted a quick glance at James with a puzzled expression
"have you seen my cat Sirius?" she shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot "my dad said he'd put him in one of the compartment's before the train left but I cant find him" she explained,her voice quivering slightly by the end of the sentence.
before her question even registered in his brain there was a soft mew from the luggage rack containing Remus and Peter's school trunks, that made Sirius jump out of his skin.
Sirius quickly climbed on to the seats while James heaved down the first trunk from the rack setting it on the floor with a loud THUMP, as he did the biggest, fluffiest, charcoal grey cat Sirius had ever seen popped its head up over Remus's trunk its big green eyes looking at Sirius with interest.
"Ash" Layla called softly from right behind Sirius she placed her hand on his calf unconsciously looking up on to the luggage rack smiling "oh Ash" she giggled when she was rewarded with another alarmed "mew".
Sirius's heart melted into a puddle as soon as those musical notes left her lips,her smile tugged fiercely on his remainingheart-strings as he openly gaped at her,she glanced at Sirius noticing his expression and quickly removed her hand from his calf taking a step back as she did.
"can you reach him Sirius?" she asked standing on her tip toe's and grinning up at her cat.
Sirius nodded in response and held out a hand towards the cat who jumped over the trunk eagerly,immediately erupting with puur's at gaining someone's attention.
Sirius scratched the cats ear's slightly and tickled his chin before seizing him around the middle and lowering him carefully into his waiting owners arms.
this earned Sirius the biggest smile yet as she bent her head towards the overjoyed cat sprawled in her arm's ungracefully as she planted small kisses all over the cat's head and neck.
'I never thought id wish i was a cat,there's a first time for everything' Sirius thought.
"thank you Sirius,i was really worried about him" she admitted with a sigh
"not at all" Sirius replied politely just as Remus and Peter came barging back into the compartment burdened with cauldron cakes,fizzing whizbees,chocolate frogs and Bertie botts every flavored beans, dumping them ungracefully on to the empty seats
"hello Ava" Peter practically purred making Sirius glower at him
"ah Ava!" Remus greeted giving her a quick hug in greeting
"Hello Peter,Remus" she smiled giving Remus a one-armed hug and Peter a pleasant smile "I hope your both well"
Sirius's heart beat so loudly he didn't hear Ava's greeting to his friend's,the green eyed monster had come ripping out of him as he watched Ava's and Remus's exchange,he didn't miss the way Remus's eye's sparkled as she beamed at him.
"will you be joining us?" Remus asked her eagerly while sitting down.
"I'm sorry Remus I cant" Ava told him shifting the cat's weight slightly "Ash need's his lunch,and so I do"
"well we can't withhold Ash food" Remus chuckled,scratching the cats ears causing the animal to erupt into even louder purrs.
"see you at the feast" she grinned nodding goodbye and dashing out of the door.
"she gets better looking every year" Peter sighed dreamily once Ava had left
"she's certainly easy on the eye" James acknowledged before biting into a cauldron cake with gusto
"is she single?" Sirius asked still gazing down the corridor,but his only response was an extremely awkward silence.
"well?" he prompted gesturing with his hands impatiently
"she doesn't date" Remus replied somewhat coldly not looking up from his Transfiguration book
"well this year she might just" Sirius grinned,not noticing the apologetic look James and Peter send Remus as he helped himself to a chocolate frog.