A/N: Hi! This story was written for the "I hate you, you hate me now let's snog competition" (by Forever Siriusly Sirius) and the "52 weeks of writing 2013 competiton" (by AlwaysPadfoot - using the prompts drunk and fire) Hope you enjoy!

PS: How I Met Your Mother fans should get the title ;)

It was the first of September and platform 9¾ was buzzing with excited children and anxious parents. There was laughter as friends reunited with each other, and tears as children parted with their parents. Thousands of students were trying to get their heavy trunks on the Hogwarts Express, and there was much moaning and grumbling each time an unfortunate first year feebly attempted to hoist his heavy belongings through the door of the train, creating a large traffic jam of people. It was an amazing sight and to Norah Callahan, who had grown up in a small muggle village, deep in the Irish countryside, it was the most amazing she had ever seen.

She walked behind her father, silently taking in everything about this place. Never before had she been faced with such an extraordinary sight. She devoured everything with her eyes, there was no way she would miss anything. Surely there couldn't be any place greater than this one… of course, she hadn't ever been to Hogwarts yet. Consumed with awe, she ended up unable to keep up with her father.

"Norah will ya keep up al'eady!" he scolded her. Rowan Callahan was not embracing the magical world as his daughter was. He wore a sour look on his face, but if you had asked his children, they would've told you he always looked that way, magic or no magic. He smelt of whisky and cigarettes. More often than not Norah would find him drunk to the point of unconsciousness on the front steps of their "home". That day he seemed to have restrained himself; he was only drunk to the point of vomiting violently in one of the rubbish bins of the station.

Norah quickly caught up with the man and as they waited patiently on platform 9¾, father and daughter did not speak another word to one another. Instead Mr. Callahan took a cigarette from his pocket and started puffing toxic smoke, whilst Norah sat on her trunk, looking around at other students who seemed around her age. One in particular caught her attention; he was a young boy with jet black hair, glasses and an excited look on his face. His parents, who were significantly older than most of the other parents, were too far away from Norah for her to hear what they said but the pride in their eyes was enough. They said their last goodbyes and his mother shed a few tears, it was quite a moving scene, but it only brought up even more feelings of desolation in Norah.

Norah looked up at her father and couldn't help but wish that, drunk bastard or not, he too would turn to her with tears of joy in his eyes and tell her he was proud.

"Shouldn't you be gettin' on 'at train o' yours." grumbled her father instead, " d'be a shame to miss it n' be stuck wit' me all year!" Norah looked up at her father and shuddered as he smiled with those horrendous yellow teeth of his. She couldn't help but hate him. He had made her suffer so much all these years, and now, with her gone, he'd only have one other person to take his anger out on. As that thought ran through her head, fear filled her heart; she started to walk off towards the train but suddenly turned back and looked at her father with fire in her eyes.

"If you so much as touch Tommy, I will come home and use every piece of magic I've learnt to make your insides burn, your eyes pop out of their sockets and your skin melt." And for the first time in her life, as she saw fear in this grown man's eyes, she felt satisfied. Her father would not harm her younger brother; he was too much of a coward. She hopped her way unto the train and searched for a seat, leaving her father on the platform, staring out into the distance in disbelief. She felt this year would be totally awesome.

Sirius Black got on the platform with his parent and younger brother, and when he saw the train he didn't just see a gleaming red engine, but he saw his ticket to freedom. He hated living with his obnoxious father, loathsome mother and idiot of a brother, and couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts where he wouldn't have to tolerate their incessant critiques. Sirius was about to leave without looking back at his family, but his mother stopped him.

"Sirius! Come kiss goodbye to your mother, won't you?" Sirius frowned slightly, but seeing the look on his father's face he did as he was told and went to kiss his mother. As his mother crouched down and Sirius pressed his stiff lips on her cold cheek, she grabbed him, as if she were hugging him, but with ten times the strength.

"Now, you listen here you ungrateful child, your father and I have given up a lot to raise you and now it is time you paid us back. When you get to Hogwarts you had better not ruin the reputation that the Black family has spent centuries building up. You will keep your ugly little mouth shut and not put a single foot out of line. Am I understood?" Sirius clenched his teeth.

"Yes, mother…" he hissed. She let go of him, looked at him with a fake smile and said loud enough, so that the few people at close distance could hear:

"Goodbye, my dear, and don't get yourself in any trouble, now." Sirius face was emotionless as he turned from his despicable family. He trudged towards the train furious however as the train built up speed and Sirius took place in a compartment with still a few seats vacant, he soon forgot all about his mother and all he could think was, "This is going to be totally awesome!"

On the Hogwarts Express if you're lucky you will be able to find a completely empty compartment before the train leaves the station. However it is only if you haven't taken a shower in a couple months that will you find that this compartment stays empty throughout the whole journey. That's what happened to Norah, she had been gladly sitting on her own when little by little the seats around her started to fill up. First a young boy came to sit opposite of her. He introduced himself as James Potter and Norah recognized him as the young boy with the emotional parents back on the platform. A few moments later a girl came through the door, followed by a boy with greasy black hair. His name was Severus Snape and hers Lily Evans . Lastly another boy joined them. He wasn't too shabby looking at all; he had long, glistening black hair and ravishing grey eyes. He sat next to James and as they started to talk he introduced himself as "Sirius" just "Sirius".

Sirius took place in a compartment with a few vacant seats left. The boy next to him seemed like a decent guy and so did most of the people he was sat around. There was a boy who seemed quite out of shape, he wore dirty clothes and was morbidly skinny. Him and the girl next to him seemed to already know each other and, just as everyone else, seemed quite excited at the idea of going to Hogwarts. The boy spoke:

"I really hope you get into Slytherin with me! It would be a shame not be in the same classes!" James who was next to Sirius snickered and opened his mouth.

"What? You want to go to Slytherin? I'd probably go home if I were put in Slytherin, wouldn't you?" James nudged Sirius on the arm, who nodded half-heartedly as he knew there was a good chance he would be put in that house as the rest of his ancestors. "Gryffindor is the only worthwhile house!"

"Sure, if you're an arrogant twat." Severus countered.

It didn't take long for a fight to break out between two of the boys in the compartment and Norah couldn't help but be on Severus' side. All about him reminded her of Tommy; she could read the neglect in his eyes and she immediately felt protective of him. However Norah wasn't one to fight and she stayed there silent as Sirius and James ganged up on Severus. Lily tried with all her might but they dismissed any attempt of hers to defend her friend.

"What's with the clothes Snivellus?" Sirius had already nicknamed his new victim. "Mommy too busy regretting ever having you to clean them?"

Norah snapped, she didn't know what went down in Severus' house but she knew there was more truth to that sentence than false and that Sirius had no business making assumptions like that.

"We can't all have a mother that cries on our first day of school now can we James? And you Sirius, I take one look at you and I can tell you have an army of servants that bathe and feed you every day! I'd like to see you both spend a day in Severus' shoes and then, maybe then, I'll let you make fun of his hair and his clothes but you privileged little pricks have no right to bully him just because he didn't have the chance to be born in a filthy rich, loving family like you!"

Sirius was taken aback when the second girl in the compartment spoke for the first time. She hadn't even noticed her before then. She had short curly brown hair that fell to her shoulders and piercing blue eyes that were looking at him with such hatred he felt like she could stab him with those orbs.

Who did she think she was? His family was far from loving, and sure he did have servants and there was more truth to that sentence than false but she had no business making assumptions like that!

There was a silence and Norah thought the two boys had understood, but then Sirius opened that ungodly mouth of his and said:

"I wouldn't be caught dead walking in Snivellus' shoes. I'd be afraid to catch the plague!"

Ever since both Norah and Sirius hated each other unconditionally.

Please review whether you enjoyed or not! :)