Chapter One: New Beginnings
"So what have I taught you, James?" The very skinny woman with light brown hair questioned her son.
"Yes, Mum. I remember. 'No wondering around the school or making any trouble. Remember to be well behaved and do things on the double. If you want to succeed at all, you must remember every rule. For if you fail to do so, you won't graduate from school. ' I know. I know mother. You've been telling me all summer."
The boy looked away in agony for having to repeat that for the fiftieth time that morning. The mother looked down with adorations and fertile tears. She gave a great smile before overwhelming him with a hug.
"MUM!" He said anxiously after about twenty seconds of smothering. "Kids from school will see!" He squirmed out of her embrace and smirked at her. Moments later a loud blast was emitted from the scarlet steam engine. "I love you, Mum."
The boy started to run for the bellowing train. "Goodbye James!! Have a wonderful term!! See you at the holidays!!" Yelled the mother as her son, James Potter, waved and then disappeared among all the children.
James was slowly shoved onto the train to find a lavish scarlet red interior. The bustle from the surrounding children clamoring onto the train could be overwhelming for a child of only eleven, but not James. He gazed around in awe of the people, animals, and train. He was casually walking to one of the nearby compartments when the busyness caught up with him.
Boom! James crashed to the floor. His quick reflexes were enacted and he bounced up only to be forced down again by a body. "Oy!! Watch where you're going you great git!!" Yelled the boy on top of James.
James tried to move the body from a top of him. But the person moved and nudged him on the shoulder. James lifted his head and turned around to find a scraggly boy who kind of resembled him. James was too busy looking at the boy's face to see the hand held out in front of him. It wasn't until the boy wiggled his hand a few times before James realized it and grabbed it. Man do you have a firm grip! James thought as he was drawn upwards.
"Hey! Sorry about that." Said the boy wiping his hands on his pants. "I'm Sirius Black. Who are you?" Sirius said in a cheery state while reaching his hand out again. "I'm James Potter." He said loudly over the chatter of all the students while shaking Sirius' hand.
"What year are you?" Sirius asked looking at James up and down.
"A first year. You?"
"Same." The boys paused for a moment.
"Maybe we should find a room? Get changed?" James nodded to Sirius' suggestion and the boys set off looking for an empty compartment.
They had been looking for about ten minutes and hadn't even found a room that wasn't full. James sighed. "This is pointless."
Sirius gave a little laugh and the two continued on. They reached the last compartment on the car.
"Please, Please, Please..." James whispered several times before opening the door. "YES!!"
James leaped in the air and grabbed Sirius by the shoulders. James yelled, "Bloody brilliant!" as he dashed inside of the compartment. Sirius followed him in and then stopped suddenly. James didn't notice and continued in and placed his bag on the floor next to one of the seats. He turned around to the boy sitting on the other seat.
"Hello. I am James Potter! And you are?"
"Remus Lupin. Do you mind keeping it down. I don't feel too well. Quite sick actually. Wouldn't want you to catch anything." The boy was very blunt and unfriendly.
"We should leave then. Let the ruddy prat be to himself." Sirius stated coldly. James spun around in amazement of the rude statement.
"What was that for?!" James was astonished at Sirius' reaction.
"This is the bloody prat who knocked us down earlier and didn't even bother to offer a hand." Sirius was grimacing at the boy staring at him. There was a pause for a moment.
"Sorry," said Remus softly before turning around to face the window at his right. James bit his lower lip. There was another long stretch of unordinary silence followed by more. Finally Sirius moved over to James and sat down next to him. He whispered something to James that the boy couldn't hear and they snickered for a few moments. Remus glanced over to see Sirius staring at him.
"Sorry. Are our whispers too loud?" He said sarcastically.
The boy looked away. Out the window Remus viewed lush green hills periodically filled with massive evergreens. The sky was blue and the sun was shinning. It was a perfect September First. Remus coughed a couple of times and cleared his throat. He really did seem sick.
"You know Sirius. If he hadn't knocked you into me, we would have never met." He laughed for a moment by himself until Remus gave a small snicker that Sirius and James took as a laugh, which got Sirius laughing as well. They all started laughing quite hard until Sirius stopped.
"Why are we laughing? That wasn't even funny." There was once again a paused among the boys until Remus coughed seven times in a row and started hacking. He stood up holding his throat and then it just stopped.
"Hairball!" He said rubbing his throat. That was the point that really released the pent up energy and laughter. Sirius fell to the floor and rolled into the other seat knocking Remus over. James didn't want to miss out on all of the fun and fell to the floor rolling in pain from laughing so hard. After about five minutes they calmed down and leaned against the seats.
Remus cleared his throat after a few more coughs. "Wow. That was interesting, now wasn't it?"
"Yes!" James and Sirius said at the same time, which caused a few giggles, but they were pretty much giggled out.
"Well, I guess we are even now, aren't we?"
Sirius was confused. He didn't understand what Remus was talking about.
"Maybe you're sicker than I thought. What are you talking about?'
"I knock you to the floor, you knock me to the floor. We're even now, right?"
James laughed and Sirius looked at Remus before a slight snicker. "Yes, we're even now."
The boys sat up onto the seats and started talking. "So...Where are you two from?"
"Well, I am from London. My Mum and Da work at the Ministry. Not sure what they do exactly, but we're not to bad off I suppose." James said quickly.
"I live on the outskirts. My parents work at the Ministry too. My cousin is two years older than me, so I don't really know anyone, except for you two now. What about you Remus? Where are you from?"
Remus looked up at James and Sirius. He seemed a bit scared.
"I'm...well...I'm from Hounslow. I don't know what my parents do. I have never asked. Well, me dad comes home from work at 6 every night. My mom, well she stays with me. Or at least since I got sick." He paused and looked out the window away from the two boys.
"What's wrong? What do you mean when you got sick?" James asked. Remus coughed slightly a few times and rubbed his throat. The he looked at them.
"Oh... it's nothing really. I just kinda got sick one day. I cough a lot and get these really bad...er...um...well...it's hard to explain. But professor Dumbledore is helping me so I can come to school."
The two boys looked at each other. "Wait. You've actually met Headmaster Dumbledore?" Sirius paused for a moment. "What's he like? I heard he is the most powerful wizard in the world."
"I don't know. He just promised my mom that he and the school nurse would keep an eye on me when I get...er...sick."
James and Sirius looked at each other and then gave up the pursuit to learn more about Dumbledore. Just then, the door to the compartment opened and a woman appeared with a large cart of an assortment of sweets. "Want anything Dearies?" The lady asked sweetly. James leapt into the air and dashed over to the cart. Sirius and Remus followed suit and they grabbed furiously at their favorite treats, paid, and sat down again.
They had bought the best candy in the world. Wizard candy. The different assorted colors of the Bert's Every Flavored beans filled the two bags next to Whompper's Wiggling Worm Candies. They were chocolate candies in the shape of a foot long worm that wiggled in your mouth.
"Slimy! These are delicious!" James said as he pulled his favorite candy into view. "Chocolate-Covered Frogs!! I love these things. Me Mum, brought on home every night." He paused to think. "The downside from not living at home anymore."
They all shared the wealth and were lazily full after their candy binge. "I don't think I've ever eaten that much candy before in my life," said Sirius as his stomach grumbled. They all laughed and then held their tummies. It hurt to laugh. Silence and the smell of candy filled the room. Within ten minutes they were all fast asleep.
Two hours later, Sirius nudged James. "We are stopping in about ten minutes. We are supposed to get on our robes."
"How do you know this?" James said groggily thinking it was a joke.
"Some redheaded girl opened the door and woke me up. If I was going losing sleep, so were the rest of you." He said this while reaching over to Remus. "Get up. We have to change."
Remus opened his eyes slowly to just shut them again. James and Sirius were in their knickers. Sirius nudged him again. He hadn't seen him actually open his eyes. "Get up! We're going to be there any minute." Remus kept his eyes tight shut. "No thanks you. I will wait till you are done."
Sirius and James laughed. "Laugh all you want. I think it is gross." Remus stated solemnly.
"Well, I am only laughing, because in about five minutes when we stop, all of the doors are going to open, and you will be half naked in front of everyone. So, I would get dressed now."
It didn't take more than a few split seconds for Remus to decide what he was to do. He jumped up still avoiding looking at the other two boys. He reached into his trunk and grabbed his robes and then turned around, walked back to his corner and took off his shirt. The other boys had been talking during all of this, but Remus noticed that the noise had stopped when he took his shirt off.
"Oh, cause I don't want to look at you means that you have to look at me? Turn around!" He joked with Sirius and James, but they didn't seem to notice. They were still staring at his back.
Remus turned around. "What? What is so interesting about my bac..." Remus threw his robe over himself and glared at them. He slowly turned around and put on the rest of his clothes under his robe. When he finished he turned around. Sirius and James were sitting silently looking out the window.
There was a very awkward silence rapidly encompassing the room. "Please don't tell anyone. Please?" Remus suddenly pleaded. The two boys looked at each other.
"Well. You know. We would like to tell the world about those fine sc..."
"NO! YOU CAN'T!" Remus yelled back at Sirius.
"Wait, wait, wait! I was only joking! What happened anyways?"
"I don't want to talk about it!" He snapped back at Sirius once more.
"Well, you do know that you have long scratches down your back donchya? I mean, that must hurt. Why didn't you get them removed?"
"I SAID I DON' T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!" James had pressed an unwelcome button with Remus.
As the train came to a slow crawl, Remus walked to the door. When it fully stopped he swung it open and dashed out of the room. Sirius and James ran quickly after him but were suddenly besieged by hundreds of students emerging from their rooms at the same time. They had lost Remus and were surround by chattering people once more.
"So what have I taught you, James?" The very skinny woman with light brown hair questioned her son.
"Yes, Mum. I remember. 'No wondering around the school or making any trouble. Remember to be well behaved and do things on the double. If you want to succeed at all, you must remember every rule. For if you fail to do so, you won't graduate from school. ' I know. I know mother. You've been telling me all summer."
The boy looked away in agony for having to repeat that for the fiftieth time that morning. The mother looked down with adorations and fertile tears. She gave a great smile before overwhelming him with a hug.
"MUM!" He said anxiously after about twenty seconds of smothering. "Kids from school will see!" He squirmed out of her embrace and smirked at her. Moments later a loud blast was emitted from the scarlet steam engine. "I love you, Mum."
The boy started to run for the bellowing train. "Goodbye James!! Have a wonderful term!! See you at the holidays!!" Yelled the mother as her son, James Potter, waved and then disappeared among all the children.
James was slowly shoved onto the train to find a lavish scarlet red interior. The bustle from the surrounding children clamoring onto the train could be overwhelming for a child of only eleven, but not James. He gazed around in awe of the people, animals, and train. He was casually walking to one of the nearby compartments when the busyness caught up with him.
Boom! James crashed to the floor. His quick reflexes were enacted and he bounced up only to be forced down again by a body. "Oy!! Watch where you're going you great git!!" Yelled the boy on top of James.
James tried to move the body from a top of him. But the person moved and nudged him on the shoulder. James lifted his head and turned around to find a scraggly boy who kind of resembled him. James was too busy looking at the boy's face to see the hand held out in front of him. It wasn't until the boy wiggled his hand a few times before James realized it and grabbed it. Man do you have a firm grip! James thought as he was drawn upwards.
"Hey! Sorry about that." Said the boy wiping his hands on his pants. "I'm Sirius Black. Who are you?" Sirius said in a cheery state while reaching his hand out again. "I'm James Potter." He said loudly over the chatter of all the students while shaking Sirius' hand.
"What year are you?" Sirius asked looking at James up and down.
"A first year. You?"
"Same." The boys paused for a moment.
"Maybe we should find a room? Get changed?" James nodded to Sirius' suggestion and the boys set off looking for an empty compartment.
They had been looking for about ten minutes and hadn't even found a room that wasn't full. James sighed. "This is pointless."
Sirius gave a little laugh and the two continued on. They reached the last compartment on the car.
"Please, Please, Please..." James whispered several times before opening the door. "YES!!"
James leaped in the air and grabbed Sirius by the shoulders. James yelled, "Bloody brilliant!" as he dashed inside of the compartment. Sirius followed him in and then stopped suddenly. James didn't notice and continued in and placed his bag on the floor next to one of the seats. He turned around to the boy sitting on the other seat.
"Hello. I am James Potter! And you are?"
"Remus Lupin. Do you mind keeping it down. I don't feel too well. Quite sick actually. Wouldn't want you to catch anything." The boy was very blunt and unfriendly.
"We should leave then. Let the ruddy prat be to himself." Sirius stated coldly. James spun around in amazement of the rude statement.
"What was that for?!" James was astonished at Sirius' reaction.
"This is the bloody prat who knocked us down earlier and didn't even bother to offer a hand." Sirius was grimacing at the boy staring at him. There was a pause for a moment.
"Sorry," said Remus softly before turning around to face the window at his right. James bit his lower lip. There was another long stretch of unordinary silence followed by more. Finally Sirius moved over to James and sat down next to him. He whispered something to James that the boy couldn't hear and they snickered for a few moments. Remus glanced over to see Sirius staring at him.
"Sorry. Are our whispers too loud?" He said sarcastically.
The boy looked away. Out the window Remus viewed lush green hills periodically filled with massive evergreens. The sky was blue and the sun was shinning. It was a perfect September First. Remus coughed a couple of times and cleared his throat. He really did seem sick.
"You know Sirius. If he hadn't knocked you into me, we would have never met." He laughed for a moment by himself until Remus gave a small snicker that Sirius and James took as a laugh, which got Sirius laughing as well. They all started laughing quite hard until Sirius stopped.
"Why are we laughing? That wasn't even funny." There was once again a paused among the boys until Remus coughed seven times in a row and started hacking. He stood up holding his throat and then it just stopped.
"Hairball!" He said rubbing his throat. That was the point that really released the pent up energy and laughter. Sirius fell to the floor and rolled into the other seat knocking Remus over. James didn't want to miss out on all of the fun and fell to the floor rolling in pain from laughing so hard. After about five minutes they calmed down and leaned against the seats.
Remus cleared his throat after a few more coughs. "Wow. That was interesting, now wasn't it?"
"Yes!" James and Sirius said at the same time, which caused a few giggles, but they were pretty much giggled out.
"Well, I guess we are even now, aren't we?"
Sirius was confused. He didn't understand what Remus was talking about.
"Maybe you're sicker than I thought. What are you talking about?'
"I knock you to the floor, you knock me to the floor. We're even now, right?"
James laughed and Sirius looked at Remus before a slight snicker. "Yes, we're even now."
The boys sat up onto the seats and started talking. "So...Where are you two from?"
"Well, I am from London. My Mum and Da work at the Ministry. Not sure what they do exactly, but we're not to bad off I suppose." James said quickly.
"I live on the outskirts. My parents work at the Ministry too. My cousin is two years older than me, so I don't really know anyone, except for you two now. What about you Remus? Where are you from?"
Remus looked up at James and Sirius. He seemed a bit scared.
"I'm...well...I'm from Hounslow. I don't know what my parents do. I have never asked. Well, me dad comes home from work at 6 every night. My mom, well she stays with me. Or at least since I got sick." He paused and looked out the window away from the two boys.
"What's wrong? What do you mean when you got sick?" James asked. Remus coughed slightly a few times and rubbed his throat. The he looked at them.
"Oh... it's nothing really. I just kinda got sick one day. I cough a lot and get these really bad...er...um...well...it's hard to explain. But professor Dumbledore is helping me so I can come to school."
The two boys looked at each other. "Wait. You've actually met Headmaster Dumbledore?" Sirius paused for a moment. "What's he like? I heard he is the most powerful wizard in the world."
"I don't know. He just promised my mom that he and the school nurse would keep an eye on me when I get...er...sick."
James and Sirius looked at each other and then gave up the pursuit to learn more about Dumbledore. Just then, the door to the compartment opened and a woman appeared with a large cart of an assortment of sweets. "Want anything Dearies?" The lady asked sweetly. James leapt into the air and dashed over to the cart. Sirius and Remus followed suit and they grabbed furiously at their favorite treats, paid, and sat down again.
They had bought the best candy in the world. Wizard candy. The different assorted colors of the Bert's Every Flavored beans filled the two bags next to Whompper's Wiggling Worm Candies. They were chocolate candies in the shape of a foot long worm that wiggled in your mouth.
"Slimy! These are delicious!" James said as he pulled his favorite candy into view. "Chocolate-Covered Frogs!! I love these things. Me Mum, brought on home every night." He paused to think. "The downside from not living at home anymore."
They all shared the wealth and were lazily full after their candy binge. "I don't think I've ever eaten that much candy before in my life," said Sirius as his stomach grumbled. They all laughed and then held their tummies. It hurt to laugh. Silence and the smell of candy filled the room. Within ten minutes they were all fast asleep.
Two hours later, Sirius nudged James. "We are stopping in about ten minutes. We are supposed to get on our robes."
"How do you know this?" James said groggily thinking it was a joke.
"Some redheaded girl opened the door and woke me up. If I was going losing sleep, so were the rest of you." He said this while reaching over to Remus. "Get up. We have to change."
Remus opened his eyes slowly to just shut them again. James and Sirius were in their knickers. Sirius nudged him again. He hadn't seen him actually open his eyes. "Get up! We're going to be there any minute." Remus kept his eyes tight shut. "No thanks you. I will wait till you are done."
Sirius and James laughed. "Laugh all you want. I think it is gross." Remus stated solemnly.
"Well, I am only laughing, because in about five minutes when we stop, all of the doors are going to open, and you will be half naked in front of everyone. So, I would get dressed now."
It didn't take more than a few split seconds for Remus to decide what he was to do. He jumped up still avoiding looking at the other two boys. He reached into his trunk and grabbed his robes and then turned around, walked back to his corner and took off his shirt. The other boys had been talking during all of this, but Remus noticed that the noise had stopped when he took his shirt off.
"Oh, cause I don't want to look at you means that you have to look at me? Turn around!" He joked with Sirius and James, but they didn't seem to notice. They were still staring at his back.
Remus turned around. "What? What is so interesting about my bac..." Remus threw his robe over himself and glared at them. He slowly turned around and put on the rest of his clothes under his robe. When he finished he turned around. Sirius and James were sitting silently looking out the window.
There was a very awkward silence rapidly encompassing the room. "Please don't tell anyone. Please?" Remus suddenly pleaded. The two boys looked at each other.
"Well. You know. We would like to tell the world about those fine sc..."
"NO! YOU CAN'T!" Remus yelled back at Sirius.
"Wait, wait, wait! I was only joking! What happened anyways?"
"I don't want to talk about it!" He snapped back at Sirius once more.
"Well, you do know that you have long scratches down your back donchya? I mean, that must hurt. Why didn't you get them removed?"
"I SAID I DON' T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!" James had pressed an unwelcome button with Remus.
As the train came to a slow crawl, Remus walked to the door. When it fully stopped he swung it open and dashed out of the room. Sirius and James ran quickly after him but were suddenly besieged by hundreds of students emerging from their rooms at the same time. They had lost Remus and were surround by chattering people once more.
