Hello. This is my authors note. You don't have to read this if you don't want to it's just some things I'd like to get off my chest. I wrote this completely for my own enjoyment, originally it was a very private thing but then I got to thinking, would other people like it? So I'll wait and see. This is a Marauders era fiction. Pretty basic James loves Lily, Lily hates James thing for now. However, I should warn, this story is not just a love story and it is not a light read. I fully intend to at least try to develop characters and plot. This is a story about growing up, actually it has people and events from when I was growing up all mixed with the wonderful world of Harry Potter, for which I am forever grateful to JK Rowling for bringing to us all. Anyway, enough from me; enjoy and I hope my friends never read this.
Chapter 1 - Only the Beginning:
Sally was feeling very nervous. Her stomach seemed to be doing somersaults. What if no one liked her? What if she was bad at all her subjects? Her older brother Keanu seemed to know what she was thinking because he gripped her shoulder reassuringly, "You'll do fine," he said.
"Yeah I know," Sally answered weakly. She glanced around to see if anyone else was pushing a trolley and an owl. Her eyes rested on a little family behind her. There was a haughty looking woman who was tall with pointed features and impressive cheekbones. Her dark hair was pulled tightly into a bun. She was surveying the rest of the station with a look of disgust. Holding her hand was a young boy who could not have been older that ten. He had a square face and a stocky build. He had a mop of dark, brown hair and cold, grey, hawk-like eyes like his mother. Next to him pushing a trunk was a tall boy with neat, black hair and intense grey eyes. He was being yelled at by his father who was walking beside him. The boy looked Sally's age. He noticed her watching him and smiled ruefully at her. She grinned back. Unfortunately this earned him a smack on the back of the head from his father.
"Are you even listening to me, Sirius?" the man shouted, "Don't you dare associate yourself with the unworthy, no mudbloods. I will not have you shame the family, otherwise it's straight to Durmstrang with you".
"That sounds familiar," Keanu muttered.
"Yeah," Sally agreed looking away, "So what new duties do you have as prefect?"
"Well, I'll get to use a special bathroom, and I get a special carriage on the train and I get to order little first years like you around," He teased.
"Oh ha ha," Sally said sarcastically.
"Here's the barrier," Keanu pointed to the divide between platforms nine and ten, "Just walk straight".
"I know, I know," Sally rolled her eyes.
"Well hurry, I don't want that family to catch up with us, we probably know them," Keanu muttered pushing Sally through the barrier.
"Why does everyone care so much about that pure-blood stuff?" Sally asked irritably.
"Because families like that want to stay pure-blood, so don't go marrying a muggle," Keanu grinned, "And don't get into Hufflepuff or even Gryffindor if you know what's good for you. You argue with mum and dad enough as it is." His face became suddenly serious, "I mean it Sally, you don't want to bring them down to school do you?"
"No," She mumbled.
"Right," Keanu looked around, "Oh its Carrie-Anne, I better go meet her. You'll be fine on your own now right?"
Sally nodded and he grinned and pushed his trolley over to a tall, dark girl in his year.
Sally looked around the station, the platform was swarming with people, but she felt so alone. Sally sighed and pulled her trunk and eagle owl Luthien onto the train. She peered into compartment after compartment but they were all full. Sally reached the final one, she would have to interrupt someone and ask if she could sit with them. This compartment seemed as good as any, there was only one girl in it. She was tall and had dark brown hair which covered her face partly and deep set dark brown eyes. She was wearing a bored expression. Sally opened the door and pushed her trunk in, "Do you mind if I sit here?"
"Whatever," the girl shrugged. Sally took this as an agreement and stored her trunk before sitting down. Sally looked out the window to see the family she had seen earlier again. The oldest boy was being yelled at again and his father was pointing to a group of triplets who were giggling. The boy looked reluctant to join them.
Sally turned away to look at the girl sitting across from her and smiled, "Hi, I'm Sally," She announced.
"I'm Ale-" the girl said.
Sally didn't quite hear it but decided she had said 'Alexis', "What year will you be in?" asked Sally.
"First," the girl replied looking a little more cheerful.
"Me too are-" Sally was interrupted by a new arrival to the compartment. A short girl with blonde hair and a cheerful face entered.
"Ally? There you are, oh, hello," said the girl and sat down next to Ally.
"Hello. I'm Sally," Sally quickly introduced herself.
"I'm Sasha, you've met Alice right?
Sally nodded, realising her mistake and glad she had discovered it now. Sasha pulled out a container from a basket she was holding and a sandy coloured kitten poked its head out.
"Wow, she's so cute," Sally said stroking the cat.
"Yeah, mum and dad brought her as a going-away-to-school present," Sasha beamed at the cat which was now climbing the luggage rack, "Mum made you some cookies, Ally, as well as me."
"You two already know each other then?" Sally asked.
"Yep, we've been friends since primary school," Sasha replied.
"Primary school?" Sally was confused; she had never been to school before this.
"Yeah, you know school for little kids," Sasha said almost laughing.
"I never went, what did you learn?" Sally gaped. Alice smirked at Sasha and they both looked bemusedly at Sally, "You know, maths and English and shit like that."
"Oh!" Sally exclaimed, "Your both muggle born!"
"Yeah, so?" Alice said defensively.
"No, there's nothing wrong with it, I just didn't know," Sally explained.
"Both your parents are magic?" Sasha gasped, "Wow!"
"My whole family are," Sally smiled.
"Yeah but that means you must know heaps of magic already," Sasha continued.
"No, not really, your not really allowed to do magic until this age, but I've done a bit because otherwise you wouldn't know you were a witch would you?" Sally said.
Alice frowned, "So you don't know any maths or anything?"
"Well I was taught basic stuff like that from my Granny," Sally nodded.
The door opened again. This time two girls walked in. One of them, a girl with medium length, brown hair, glasses and pale, blue eyes waved at Sasha. The two proceeded to sit down on the empty seats.
"You know her too?" Sally asked Sasha.
"Only since I asked her and her mum how to get onto the station," Sasha explained.
"I'm Kit," said the girl, "And this is Anieka," she indicated to the black girl with the kind beetle black eyes,
"I'm so excited about school," Anieka announced, "I've read all the school books already, to get a head start you know."
Sally gaped, she hadn't done that, she looked around to see Kit gaping too and felt a little better.
"Have you tried any spells?" Sasha asked.
"One or two, they didn't come off very well though. Except one, I did a summoning charm on my mum's chinaware but it dropped and all broke," Anieka said guiltily.
"Hey does anyone understand this? This older boy saw me at the platform and he called me something, a dirt something of something like that."
Sally frowned, "Mudblood?"
Sasha nodded, "That's bad isn't it?"
"Yes, it's evil," Anieka spat, "It means dirty blood."
"Oh!" Sasha scowled.
"Its rubbish," Sally reassured her.
"It's just old wizarding families think their better because their pure-blood," Kit said turning up her nose. Sally shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Her family was just like the sort of families that Kit was talking about. She didn't want that to come out in front of her new friends.
"-wizards would die out if they didn't mix a bit. Besides most people like that end up in Slytherin".
"Slytherin?" Sasha asked.
"It's the school houses," Sally said, happy to steer the conversation away from dangerous waters.
"How do you know what house you'll be in?" asked Alice.
"You get sorted at school," Anieka explained.
"There's Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw," Kit counted on her fingers.
"Which is best?" Sasha asked.
"Matter of opinion," Sally shrugged, "Gryffindor if your brave, Slytherin if your cunning, Ravenclaw if your smart and Hufflepuff if you're good natured or thick some say".
"I don't want to be in Hufflepuff than," Sasha said.
"Its rubbish though!" Kit said indignantly. Sasha glared at her and then turned away,
"Anyway, what house was the rest of your family in?"
"Slytherin," Sally looked at her feet, avoiding Kit's eyes. There was a silence which Sasha shortly broke.
"What's the word for normal, I mean not magic people?"
"Muggles," Anieka said, to which Sasha burst out laughing,
"What a funny word!" She said through laughter. The laugh was infectious and soon the whole carriage was laughing.
James Potter was so excited to be to be on the Hogwarts Express at last! His Dad had told him such exciting stories about his days there. His Dad had been Quidditch captain and quite a prankster in his day and James was very excited to follow in his footsteps. He found the first compartment he could and walked in. There was a pretty girl with long red hair sitting by the window and a boy slouching in his seat by the door. They seemed to be ignoring each other. "Hello!" James said cheerfully, "I'm James."
"Sirius," the boy said holding out his hand. James shook it and sat down opposite. "Hello?" he called to the girl who hadn't yet looked at him. She continued to stare out the window. James shrugged at Sirius who almost laughed. "First year?" James asked.
"Yep, you?" Sirius said.
"Yep. Can't wait, my Dad says it's amazing," James beamed.
"My father says he'll send my to Durmstrang if I screw up," Sirius said gloomily. James looked sorrowfully at his new companion.
"I know what will cheer you up," James dug into his pocket and pulled out-
"A quill?" Sirius said sceptically.
"Ah ha you'll see, take it," James insisted. Sirius did and the minute he did it rose into the air and sprayed a jet of water into his face. James burst into hysterical laughter as did Sirius after he got over the shock. "Where'd you get it?" he asked eagerly. They were so enraptured by the object they didn't notice another boy enter their compartment and sit down with the girl by the window. Only when James heard the boy say, "You'd better be in Slytherin," did he look up. "Slytherin?" James said disgustedly, "Who wants to be in Slytherin? I'd think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" He asked Sirius who looking gloomy again sunk further into his seat.
"My whole family's been in Slytherin," he said.
"Blimey," said James, "And I thought you seemed alright!"
Sirius grinned, "Maybe I'll break tradition. Where are you heading, if you've go the choice?"
James grinned and pretended to lift an invisible sword, "'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad."
James heard the boy in the corner make a disparaging noise and James became angry, "You got a problem with that?"
"No," said the boy sneering, "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy-"
"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as your neither?" interjected Sirius. James roared with laughter. The girl stood eye James and Sirius with dislike and said loftily, "Come on, Severus, lets find another compartment."
"Ooooooh," James and Sirius imitated her loftiness as they left. James tried to trip up the boy as he left and Sirius called, "See ya, Snivellus."
"Snivellus!" James laughed, "That's great! Good nickname for the slimy git."
"Isn't that his name?" Sirius said nonplussed. James laughed even harder,
"No! Its Severus!" Sirius started laughing too,
"Not anymore, from now on he will be Snivellus the slimy git."
They spent several minutes chatting before the compartment door opened again.
"There you are Black," several people stood in the doorway, Sirius recognised them as his three cousins and his family friend Lucius Malfoy, among others.
"What do you want?" James snapped, recognising Lucius Malfoy too.
"Listen to this one!" Lucius sneered and the others laughed, "that's no way to speak to your superiors!"
"You better not mean yourselves!" James said whipping out his wand. The Slytherins continued to sneer.
"What are you hanging around this for?" Lucius sneered pointing to James, "Probably Mudblood."
Sirius stood dejectedly, "See you round." He said to James and then stepped out of the corridor with the others.
"What the hell?" James called after him but they had gone. James angrily grabbed his trunk and then stormed off to find another compartment.
By noon the train was passing through mountainous areas. By the time the food trolley came round Sally and Kit were teaching Sasha to play exploding snap. Alice and Anieka were discussing unplottable areas. "Anything from the trolley," the cheery lady called to them. Sally stood up quickly and took some coins from her bag pocket. Sally got an assortment of Cauldron Cakes, Bertie Botts Every Flavoured Beans and Chocolate Frogs. She had a weakness for sweets. Sally noticed that Kit hadn't bought as much as the others so she put all her food in the middle where they were playing snap, "Here guys, I've bought too much, lets all share this lot". This announcement was greeted with enthusiasm.
"So what's magical about these?" asked Alice inspecting a chocolate frog.
"They jump," Kit said, "And they've got cards in them with famous wizards and witches on them. I've got heaps."
"Me too, I've got about 600 of them," Sally said.
"Me too, I have 650," Kit replied.
"Hello!" said a loudly voice from the door. A boy with very messy, black hair, glasses and hazel eyes stood grinning broadly at them. Behind him stood a short, plump boy with watery, blue eyes and blonde hair that looked as though it had been rigorously combed. Behind him was a tall boy with tousled, sandy hair and brown eyes. He seemed to be very interested in his shoes. The girls chorused a greeting back.
"I'm James Potter and this is Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin," said the bespectacled boy smiling even more broadly around, "Exploding snap!" He cried, "Can I play?" he said sitting down not waiting for their answer.
"Ok," Sally said and dealt him a hand.
"What's your name?" James said peering through his spectacles.
"Sally Massey," She replied.
"Massey eh? As in the Massey's involved in all the potions stuff?" James said.
Sally nodded, "Yeah. Potter as in the Potters who own half of Gringotts?"
James nodded smugly. He turned to the others who all introduced themselves too. Sally looked around, Peter Pettigrew was sitting next to Anieka, nervously talking to her, his teeth chattering. Alice looked on in disgust. Remus Lupin was sitting in the corner staring out the window. Sally called to him, "Do you want to play?"
He looked up a frightened look in his eyes and he shook his head.
"Don't worry about it," James muttered, "He doesn't talk much. I haven't been able to get much out of him since I stopped some second year from cursing him and Peter in the hall." Sally grimaced.
"Yeah," James continued, "Some idiot called Nott. Right in with the new power, that lot are."
Sally nodded.
"Do you guys like Quidditch?" James asked around.
"Yeah!" Kit and Sally exclaimed. Then they all went into a fierce discussion about Quidditch. After a while Sasha interrupted,
"Excuse me, but I don't know what Quidditch is?"
James looked up stunned, he looked at Sasha as though she was from a different planet. "You don't know what Quidditch is?" he stammered.
"Neither do I," Alice nodded.
"What?! What?!" James jumped to his feet, "Well I'll tell you." He waved his arms around enthusiastically to describe rules and moves. Sally got up and sat next to Remus,
"Hi, Remus right?" He nodded smiling weakly.
"Right," Sally nodded. "You excited about school?"
"Yes, it sounds like a great school, I've read this book called 'Hogwarts: A History' it has so much information in it and I've been-" He trailed off, looking ashamed. Why was he talking? Remus had promised himself and his parents he would not get to close to people at Hogwarts. It would only hurt them if they found out. Still it might be nice to have people to talk to. Remus scowled himself for this thought. He had only been let into Hogwarts because the new headmaster had made special arrangements. He could not blow his one chance at an education. Even though he knew all this he still felt a twinge of sadness watching the others talking merrily all around him. Well he better get used to it because this would be his life for the next seven years.
Well, that's the first chapter down. Tell what you think but please don't flame me too badly, this is my first time.
