A/N: I fixed the quotation marks and rewrote a few very minor things. I deleted the Sorting Hat song because it was atrocious.

Disclaimer: All I own is the plot.

First Year

The whistle sounded. A puff of smoke blew out of the engine. The few students left standing on the wet platform, jumped onto the train as it began to roll out of the station. A young black haired boy hauled his trunk through the narrow corridor, searching for an empty compartment.

"Well, if it isn't little Siwius all gwoed up!" cooed a sugary voice.

"Hello Narcissa," grumbled Sirius in the general direction of the seventh year.

"That's no way to speak to us," snapped Narcissa primly, abandoning the baby voice she had picked up from her older sister.

Sirius looked up for the first time, to see that she was standing with one of her fellow seventh years, who had his arm wrapped around her waist.

"Malfoy," acknowledged Sirius with distaste, regarding his cousin's fiancé. He wondered idly why anyone would be betrothed before even leaving school.

"Narcissa and Bellatrix have told me so much about you," responded the pale Malfoy, with barely masked contempt.

Sirius smirked, before adopting a fake pained voice.

"Ah, so Andromeda had nothing to say about me?"

Narcissa's face contorted, and even Malfoy's mask of indifference faltered for a moment.

"Andromeda and her mudblood husband," she spat contemptuously, "their union is a disgrace to wizards everywhere."

"Your sister alone is worth ten of you," Sirius retorted, and pushed past them quickly, "she always has been."

"You'll be sorry Sirius. You're following the wrong path. Let us only hope that during this year we'll be able to show you the truth."

With Malfoy's threat ringing in his ears, Sirius didn't notice the messy haired boy standing directly in his path.

"Good on you mate," a friendly boyish voice cut through his thoughts, "you held your own against those bullies."

Sirius looked up, startled. The boy in front of him looked to be about his age, with black hair, and round glasses. He was standing with his hand on the edge of a compartment, which he had obviously just exited.

"My name is James Potter," the boy went on, "are you a first year too? Come on, sit in here with me."

Instead of grinning, and entering the compartment, Sirius looked frightened, and steped back a pace. "Um… I appreciate the offer, but you really don't want me to sit with you, I might not be in Griffindor."

James raised his eyebrow, "Well I might not be in Griffindor either you know."

Sirius stared at him incredulously, "The Potters are always in Griffindor. You're the last descendants of Godric Griffindor himself!"

"You're going to have to bring me up to speed on my family history," commented James dryly, "but really, what does it matter. You can still sit with me on the train."

With that, James grabbed Sirius's trunk, and hauled it through the door behind him. Sirius followed grudgingly and helped boost the trunk into the overhead compartment. They sat down across from each other.

"So," said James, "how do you know the Black sisters? My parents warned me to steer clear of them and that Malfoy boy."

Sirius gulped visibly, but was saved having to answer by the arrival of a tired looking blond haired boy.

"Good Morning," he said politely, "do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full, and you two look like first years."

James grinned again, "Of course not! The more the merrier. I'm James Potter, and this is…"

He stopped as he realized he didn't know Sirius's name yet.

"I'm Sirius," he offered quickly, and if James noticed that he didn't add his last name, he said nothing.

The blond smiled tentatively. "I'm Remus Lupin."

The train carried them on through the mountains and over rivers towards Scotland, and Hogwarts. The three new friends ate and played chess and cards, while anxiously discussing the Sorting Ceremony.

A young witch with black hair tied tightly back, stepped forward with a bound scroll. She faced the group of nervous First Years. 'When I call your name, step forward, sit on the stool, and I will place the hat over your head,' she ordered, as she unrolled the scroll.

As McGonagall called out the first name, Sirius's palms started to sweat. As she finished reading off the A's, beads of sweat formed on his forehead. When she got halfway through the B's, he felt faint, and nauseas. Just when he'd made up his mind to sprint out of the hall, McGonagall called another name.

"Black, Sirius"

He could feel James' eyes on him as he stepped up to the stool, but he refused to look at him, until the hat fell over his face

"So," said the hat, "you're a Black, that should make this easy. However I sense something different in you… your distaste for your family is certainly interesting."

"I like Andromeda," thought Sirius duly.

"Ah, so the black sheep stick together I see. Well, Slytherin won't do at all then… in fact, let's make you GRYFFINDOR."

Sirius didn't dare let his eyes stray to his cousin's, but he couldn't help the huge smile that erupted onto his face as he walked towards the cheering table.

Remus soon came to sit next to him, followed by a small chubby boy with light hair. James came last, and sat across the table from Sirius. He regarded him for a second.

"I guess you must be alright, since you're in Gryffindor," he said finally.

Sirius grinned in relief, "I'm different from my family. You'll see. I don't like any of them anyways."

Remus was lost, "James what? We met Sirius on the train remember?"

"Yeah, but his family is bad news. My parents warned me to stay away from all the Black's, they've got quite the reputation."

Remus was quiet for a moment.

"Well I'm glad you're not judging him because of things he can't control," he said finally. But his serious tone didn't dampen his, or his new friends spirits. Starting school is always exciting, but for a boy who was never welcome in his own family, and a werewolf, condemned by society, having friends made the experience positively euphoric.

"I'm Peter Pettigrew," said the small boy, "Do you think we could share a dormitory?"

A/N: I know that back in the Marauder year's most of the teachers would be different. However I took the liberty of assuming that Hagrid would be there since I'm assuming he started as gamekeeper right after he was expelled. Also, in this story Dumbledore is already headmaster. Dippet has retired. And so yes, McGonagall is already there as Transfiguration teacher. Flitwick is also there, because in PoA, he is reminiscing about Black and Potter. Binns is a ghost here too. Snape is obviously not a teacher, but we know Slughorn was there, and I'll need a new DADA teacher. I may choose to include other teachers from Harry's time as well, but I haven't decided yet.

In this story Andromeda is a few years older than Narcissa, and Bellatrix a few years older than her. Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewett are in the same year as Narcissa and Malfoy.

I've also decided not to use excessive detail with the parts of the story that we already know, such as the way Hogwarts looks, and what the food is like.

Coming Soon: Second Year (no really... it IS coming)