Chapter 1

Sirius was never big on people. He always disliked hanging around with his family and the people his parents thought he ought to be friends with. I mean, sure he never really agreed with any of these people most of the time, and Regulus could be okay sometimes, but he always knew he was different from the other pureblood families surrounding his childhood.

The day he had gotten his Hogwarts letter had been an exciting one indeed. His parents certainly seemed proud of him, and were happy to have yet another Black pass through the Slytherin house. September 1st rolled around, and Sirius had a sort of nervous excitement within the pit of his stomach. Standing there on Platform 9 and ¾, glad to be leaving his abusive family behind, for at least a school year, Sirius felt prepared for what lie ahead of his school days.

After stiff goodbyes from his parents and a slightly tearful goodbye from his younger brother, Sirius had finally boarded the train and was moving along to find himself an empty compartment. Not long after he had found one and had stowed his trunk in the overhead rack, had a tanned boy with dark messy hair walked in and asked if he could sit with him. Sirius said yes, and not recognizing the boy felt as if he would not be the type of person his parents felt he should be hanging out with. The boy introduced himself as "James Potter, first year, who is quite excited to be sorted into Gryffindor like my dad." This comment surprised Sirius who responded with "Really? My whole family has been in Slytherin; that's where my parents expect me to get sorted to." The boy called James looked just as surprised by Sirius's response as Sirius was with James's. "Well," said James, "Where do you want to be sorted?" Sirius thought for a moment. "I'm not sure. I've only heard about Slytherin, and seeing as that's where my whole family has been I didn't really think about any other house I would like to be in." James looked at him curiously and responded with "Well, if we're to keep being friends you might want to think about it. Slytherins and Gryffindors don't tend to get along all that well." However, before Sirius could get a response out, another boy entered the compartment.

"Mind if I join you?" asked the newcomer politely. "Sure." James shrugged. Sirius was slowly becoming more apprehensive about the amount of people in their compartment. "I'm Remus Lupin by the way, it's my first year at Hogwarts, and I was hoping to make some friends before everyone gets sorted and starts hating each other over house differences. What about you guys?" Sirius was beginning to feel as if the fairly roomy compartment was rapidly shrinking and hoped no one else joined them while James responded. "I'm James Potter, and this...well come to think of it you haven't told me your name, so I am unaware of it as is the lovely Remus here." Sirius was pulled out of his thoughts by this comment and replied with "Oh, right, yeah, I'm Sirius." James looked at him quizzically, but soon returned to his conversation with Remus Lupin. "Well yeah, so I'm James and he's Sirius, and we're both first years as well."

As the train ride droned on Sirius became lost in thought and began making inputs on the conversation less and less. He was taking James's question seriously, and thinking about what house he would actually like to be in. He thought back to everything he knew about each house and, even though he still knew the most about Slytherin, he discovered he knew a fair amount about each of the other houses as well. He knew that Hufflepuff was the house of the kindhearted, although he felt as though he wasn't exactly the kindest person in the world; he also knew that Ravenclaw was the house of smart people, which considering he struggled to remember all the names on the Black family tree, and the steps to the dances his mother had tried to teach him, he didn't feel as if he was too particular smart either. Now Gryffindor he knew a little more about considering the rivalry between them and Slytherin, but, prejudices aside, he knew they were the house of the brave and loyal. Now he supposed that he wouldn't be the most loyal if he decided to go against his entire family and was in a house other than Slytherin, but he figured he must be pretty brave to endure the long dinner parties he had to go to as a child, and to deal with all the unpleasantness dealt to him by his mother. And then there was Slytherin, the house of cunning, he supposed he felt a certain affinity for that house since his whole family had been there, but was that really where he fit in? As these thoughts possessed him, he was shaken out of his reverie by James whom had said, "It's starting to get dark, we must nearly be there. We should probably get our robes on." So all three boys pulled on their robes and Sirius realized that if he were making friends here these two wouldn't be all that bad of a start, but what if they're in a different house, he thought bitterly, well, he thought, I guess I'll just have to wait till the sorting to find out then. And Sirius decided it would be best to just let the Sorting Hat decide his fate for the next seven years, rather than trying to figure it out then.

After an interesting boat ride across the lake, where they had been joined by a fourth boy, who introduced himself as Peter Pettigrew, the boys caught their first glimpse of the castle. Shock and awe was emitted from each of their mouths, and, although Sirius had seen pictures of the castle, as well as having been to plenty of other mansions growing up, he was amazed by the striking beauty of the castle. "It's amazing!" murmured Lupin, voicing the thoughts of the other boys. All four boys were still awestruck as they disembarked from the boats, and began the walk up to the castle.

Soon enough, the first years arrived in the Entrance Hall as Professor McGonagall explained the sorting ceremony. "If you're all ready then we shall proceed into the Great Hall to begin your sorting." And with that, McGonagall opened the doors to the Great Hall. Once all the first years were in a queue of sorts in front of the staff table, Professor McGonagall pulled out a scroll and set a raggedy, old hat on a stool. And with that the hat begun to sing, which surprised even those students who had been raised in magical households. Soon after the sorting began, beginning with an "Avery, Samuel" who was sorted into Slytherin. Sirius was still in deep contemplation about what house he would want to be in, when his own name, "Black, Sirius" was called. Nervously he shuffled up to the stool and placed the Sorting Hat upon his head. "Ah," the hat whispered into his ear, "Another Black have we? Slytherin it seems; unless...I see, having second thoughts are we?" It was as if the hat could read his mind, "Hm, lets see, quite clever it seems, although not particularly witty, lots of fire, lots of cunning. It seems to me," the hat mumbled, "That Gryffindor or Slytherin would be the best fit. Yet, there it is, that want to be a Slytherin out of simple loyalty for your family, however putting you in Gryffindor might be countering that objective, it shows your loyalty." Sirius took the pause in the hat's whispering to reflect on James Potter, the boy who had such high hopes for Gryffindor and thought that maybe, it wouldn't be such a bad house after all, even if his family would come close to killing him for it. The Sorting Hat took this as an affirmation of what he had been claiming the whole time and with a final, "I suppose that settles the matter then," exclaimed for the whole hall to hear, "GRYFFINDOR!" Sirius took a seat at the table belonging to his new house, and prepared to watch the rest of the sorting with an excitement he felt he would not have had if he had been sorted into Slytherin.

Soon many other first years had joined the Gryffindor table including an "Evans, Lily" , the Lupin bloke he had met on the train, a "MacDonald, Mary" , a "McKinnon, Adam" , the "Pettigrew, Peter" who had joined them in their boat, and the James Potter whom he now considered a friend. As James slid into the seat next to him, Sirius began to consider for the first time, what his parents would do once they found out he was in Gryffindor. James must have noticed the panicked look that came over his friend's face because he asked, "What's up mate?" This comment brought Sirius out of his reverie. He was unsure still of how much trust he put in James, he was after all a Potter, and hadn't his parents always warned him against consorting with Potters? Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all, Sirius thought, I'm not cut out to be a Gryffindor, and my parents will be furious, I should've just played it safe and stuck with Slytherin. "I'll tell you later." Sirius told James, with the full intention to never divulge what was truely bothering him to his new friend. "Okay, whatever." James shrugged and turned back to the sorting just in time to watch a "Zambini, Michael" get sorted into Slytherin, thus concluding the sorting ceremony.

An old wizard with a long, silver beard and loud robes then got to his feet. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" he energetically exclaimed, "I am Professor Dumbledore, the school's Headmaster. I would like to reiterate to our older students and notify our younger ones, that curfew is at 9:00 exactly and any students caught out of their dormitories after hours will receive a detention. Mister Filch would also like me to remind you that dungbombs and other such items are strictly forbidden, and should he catch you with any banned item you shall be severely punished." At these words James and Sirius exchanged skeptical looks, James leaning over to whisper to Sirius, "I have three boxes of dungbombs in my trunk right now." with a mischievous look in his eyes, Sirius giggled in response and they returned their attention back to Professor Dumbledore's speech. "I look forward to another excellent year! Now, I shall not deny you all food any longer!" And with that he clapped his hands and a magnificent feast appeared on the table in front of them.

After everyone had eaten their fill of the delicious food, Dumbledore stood and clapped his hands again, causing all the leftover food to vanish. "Now that you've all been sufficiently stuffed," Dumbledore began, "I would like for the prefects to lead their houses up to their dormitories." And on that final note, the headmaster and other staff members departed. "Gryffindors this way!" yelled an older student from further down the table. James and Sirius rose to join the throng of people fighting their way to a giant marble staircase just inside the Entrance Hall. Following the rest of the Gryffindors, the boys eventually ended up outside of a large painting of a woman. Here they all stopped and an older student (whom Sirius assumed to be a prefect) turned to them and said, "In order to get into the Gryffindor common room you have to have a password. The password right now is 'fortis'. Anytime the password is changed you will be notified ahead of time by the prefects. It is important that you always know the password, or else you will be unable to gain access to the dormitory. It's also important that anyone not from the Gryffindor house remains unaware of where our common room is located, but also how to enter it. Well I think that's everything then." And with that the prefect turned to the lady in the painting and said, "Fortis." The portrait then swung forward to reveal a sort of door through which they followed the rest of their house through.

Inside was the Gryffindor common room. It was warm and cozy, and seemed to be the complete opposite of what he had always imagined Slytherin to be. Sirius loved everything about it. The prefect spoke again to tell them where their dorms were located, and the first year boys climbed the spiral staircase to see their room.

The first year boy's dormitory consisted of five, four-poster beds aligned in a circle around a wood stove serving as a center point for the room. There was a door leading to a washroom, as well as a wardrobe and a desk for each boy. James was the first of the five to say something, exclaiming, "I call the bed by the window!" And with that each of the boys scrambled to claim a bed for themselves.

Their trunks had also magically appeared in their dorm, and the boys chatted as they unpacked. The first year Gryffindor boys consisted of Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Adam McKinnon, James Potter, and Sirius Black. Sirius learned that Lupin was a halfblood, with his father being a wizard, and his mother a muggle. He also learned that Pettigrew was a halfblood as well, with his mother being a witch, his father was a muggle who left his family after Peter's mom disclosed to him that she was a witch. Adam McKinnon's parents were both magical, but he wasn't a pureblood. Potter, although he already knew this, was a pureblood, his mother being a Dearborn. After a bit of awkward conversation, and some attempts to get to know each other, the five boys decided to go to bed.

Sirius lay awake for quite some time after everyone else had long fallen asleep. He was turning over everything that had transpired throughout the day in his head. He remembered his parents request on the platform, before he boarded the train. "I want you to write us as soon as you can." His mother had said, with his father adding, "We want to hear all about how you like Slytherin and your classes, write often." They had been so sure he would be in Slytherin, and now that he wasn't he knew they would be upset with him. The thought of lying to them and telling them that he was in Slytherin crossed his mind, but he immediately threw out this idea after realizing his cousin Narcissa would owl his parents that he was in Gryffindor. He realized that the only option he had was to tell his parents the truth, no matter the repercussions. He was no longer that perfect Black child anymore he supposed. Blacks aren't in Gryffindor. Did that mean he was no longer a Black? No, he assured himself, just because I'm not in the house my parents hoped I would be in doesn't mean I'm no longer part of the family. I'm their son, they'll still love me, they have to. And with that somewhat forced thought, Sirius went to sleep.

AN: Well I'm finally getting my life together and doing what I've wanted to do for quite some time now. Write a Harry Potter fanfic! More specifically, write a Marauders fanfic! You all should be quite proud of me, because I am absolutely horrid at starting stories. Sorry for how long the title is, I might end up changing it like halfway through, but who knows. I'm also going to apologize in advance for how rare this story is going to be updated. I'm a busy person so the chances I will get to write are few and far between. Either way I'm glad I've started this because it has been a while since I've written anything other than poetry, and as much as I love writing poetry, it feels good to be writing fiction again. Harass me with reviews if that's what it takes to get me to update. Much love, Leah