Hello everyone! Yes, I am alive, and yes, I am posting a one-shot instead of working on the new chapter for Marauders Marauding. Sorry. I call it: procrastination. Dun dun DUN! Anyway, this is canon and goes with my Marauders Marauding story, but you don't have to read that to read this. Thanks for reading!

*DISCLAIMER* 1) Harry Potter and friends are not mine 2) Anything you see underlined (other than the title of this one-shot) belongs to J.K. Rowling. She wrote it. Not me. Don't sue please.

How James Met Sirius

James tiptoed lightly down the hardwood floor, his heart pounding in his chest as his sock-clad feet noiselessly crept around a corner. A long, but thankfully quiet, creek sounded as he stepped near the stairs. James froze, eyes and ears straining to find if anyone had heard. Nothing. Carefully, he stepped forward, the floor giving one last little creek of protest as he silently slipped toward the Master Bedroom.

There! The fancy doorknob was easy to open without a sound, and James was confronted with the sounds of two people peacefully asleep and the smell of his parents' room. Undeterred by the state of his prey, indeed, he had expected this, James crept forward. His father, tall and strong, though with a few gray hairs showing over his receding hairline, was far off to one side with a pillow pulled over his face. On the other side, his mother: tangled red hair streaked with gray and smile wrinkles around her eyes. James felt no pity or remorse for what he was about to do.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up! It's September first! I go to Hogwarts in four and a half hours!" James yelled as loud as he could, simultaneously jumping on the middle of the bed. "C'mon, hurry up! I want to eat some breakfast! The sooner we eat, the sooner we can go!"

James' dad groaned pitifully. "I can't wait to get rid of this little menace. What say you, Dorea?"

"Nothing but agreement here. I do believe he deserves some punishment for waking us up so early, don't you dear?"

"Oh yes," his dad agreed. James gulped. His dad had a mischievous look in his eye. "Perhaps he should be disciplined with a… PILLOW FIGHT!"

James screamed and tried to duck as his dad swung a thick and heavy pillow at his head. No use. Instead, he stole another pillow and began to fend off attacks from his dad, getting in some good hits for himself as well, ignoring his mother's admonitions to be careful.

"Alright, truce! Truce!" his mother finally called over the fighting. James got in one last sneak attack before turning to listen to her. "Now, we're going to go downstairs and eat breakfast like semi-civilized people, alright? Good."

James and his dad exchanged a glance, sighed, and left the pillows and tangled blankets behind. "I'm too old for this," his dad groaned as he rolled out of bed, but with the promise of breakfast, James' stomach informed his brain that it would, in fact, like some food, and he raced down the stairs and stumbled into his chair at the big dining table in record time. His parents followed at a much more leisurely pace.

"You took forever," James complained. "Can we eat now?"

"Of course, dear," his mum smiled. "Twilly!"

At her call, a strange little creature appeared with a crack! It was very short, only coming up to James' waist, and he was short for his age. If one looked closer, it had large, bat-like ears, and a few hairs growing off the top of its head. It wore a clean blanket toga-style, with a Potter crest emblazoned on its small chest. James, so used to this creature that it did not startle him - it had been there as long as he could remember - ordered breakfast.

"Twilly, I'll have two scrambled eggs, some sausage, two pieces of toast with jam, and orange juice." After his parents placed their orders as well, the house-elf gave a happy nod and disappeared back to the kitchen. It wasn't long until the three were happily eating at the large dining table meant for twelve, a small chandelier hanging overhead.

"Do you have your school supplies packed yet, young man?" James' mum asked over her eggs. James shrugged.

"It's all in piles on my floor, at least. I thought you could help me fit it all, since I've never packed a whole trunk before?" he phrased it as a question, and looked at his mother hopefully. His puppydog eyes didn't fail him often, and neither did they fail now.

"Alright," his mother sighed, giving in to the power of the puppydog eyes, "but you'll be packing after Christmas, mark my words!"

"'Course mum," James smiled at her charmingly and raced back to his room. The blue walls were nearly completely covered with quidditch posters, and a large Gryffindor banner was hung from the far wall. A huge window opposite the door showed the branches of an excellent climbing tree with a magical swing hanging from it.

James shut the door and turned around. On this side of the door was a mirror. He frowned. His messy black hair - inherited from his dad - was even messier than usual, all sticking up and to the right except for one lone strand that stuck out to the left. At least his round glasses looked straight over his nose, but if they were straight then that meant his eyes were crooked. James tried tilting his head, hazel eyes looking intently at their reflection. Now his eyes were straight but his glasses were crooked. James frowned and gave up, turning back to his room.

On the floor, as promised, were his trunk, piles of robes, cloaks, pants, shirts, two pairs of shoes, all of James' school supplies, and bathroom items. James' eyes wandered over to the old toy chest, but that would have to wait until his mother was done packing everything else. Maybe he could just go over and…

James was halfway across the room when his door opened and his mum came in. He jumped, whirled around, and tried not to look guilty. Luckily, she was looking at the supplies on the floor and not at her still-guilty-looking son.

"Alright, Jamie, trainers go on the bottom. You ought to know that. Now after that we'll put in things you won't use as much, like this rain coat. You'll want your textbooks near the bottom as well because they're so heavy, but put some clothes underneath so you don't go digging through all of them looking for your books on the first day. We don't want them all wrinkled and dirty before you even wear them!"

James rolled his eyes. "Mum, they're robes! No one but you can even tell if they're wrinkled or not!"

"Of course they can, Jamie. You just don't care enough to look for it."

James sighed, sat on the bed, and let her continue her packing. She seemed to have forgotten to make him help, so James knew he could even pull the 'not-knowing-how-to-pack-a-trunk' excuse again after Christmas. It was too easy!

Finally, his mother was done packing. "Finish getting ready for the day, Jamie. We leave in an hour. Merlin knows we had plenty of time since you woke us up so early!" She closed the door behind her.

An hour. A whole hour with nothing to do but brush his teeth and fix his hair (to the extent that it could be fixed) and… well, important things first. James headed over to the old dusty toy chest that he hadn't used since he was five - as far as his parents knew anyway- and dug around inside. Stuffed rabbit… no… moving toy soldiers… no… finally he found what he was looking for. James carefully unzipped what used to be a carrying bag for a baby broom. The broom itself had broken a long time ago when he was four and tried to use it to carry himself and a bag of ever-falling confetti onto the roof. Instead, safely tucked inside the bag were the supplies his dad had secretly gotten him for his birthday: several packages of TURDs (Traitorously Unsuspicious Rainbow Drops), several cannons of ever-falling confetti, permanently sticky silly string, and several other important supplies. On a whim, he also grabbed Jumbled Jinxes: Non-Permanent Spells with Style in case he ever made any enemies.

James carefully tucked all of the pranking supplies into his trunk, making sure to spread them under the top layer of school robes in case his trunk was inspected by his mum. He even put a confetti cannon inside of his hat. That done, James went about the rest of his morning getting ready to board the Hogwarts Express. He hoped to Merlin that he found a friend who liked tricks as much as he did.

Finally, it was time to head over to King's Cross. Since his dad was Head Auror, James and his parents got to take their own ministry car out to the station. James' owl, Otis the Feathered, began hooting inexplicably halfway there. Needless to say, they were all quite glad to get out of the car when they finally arrived. Otis stopped hooting when a small mouse scampered out from under one of the seats and dashed away. James stuck out his tongue at the owl and followed his parents to the barrier.

"You walk through here to get to platform 9 ¾," his dad said. It seemed like he was talking a little louder than strictly necessary, but James just shrugged it off as excitement. He raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, now how do I really get through?"

"Just what I said! You only have to walk through the wall, right Dorea?" James' dad held up his hands innocently and looked pleadingly at Mum.

"He's telling the truth, Jamie," she backing him up. Okay then. James' mother hadn't played a trick like this on him once, so it must be the real thing. "If you're nervous, it might be better to go quickly."

"I'll try," James said doubtfully. He hesitantly began walking toward the barrier, picking up speed quickly until he was running and his trolley was out of control. Otis the Feathered hooted in fear and James closed his eyes, ready for a crash-

Nothing. James opened his eyes and ready a sign overhead: Platform 9 ¾. He'd made it.

"Welcome to platform 9 ¾!" Dad said, coming up behind him. It appeared to be a large station just like any other, except that the huge scarlett engine was billowing steam so much that James could hardly see more that three meters (10 feet) in front of him. Behind them, what sounded like a muggleborn and their family entered the platform. James suddenly realised why his dad had been talking louder than normal at the platform: that family must have been nearby, unsure of what to do.

"Alright, Jamie," his mum said, "don't get into trouble with those infernal pranks you always seem to play. Do your best to get good marks, because I know you are capable of doing well if you try. We've given you 23 sickles* for the train, but don't you dare spend it all at once!" Suddenly she pulled him into the tightest hug James had ever had. "We'll miss you, Jamie," she whispered tearfully, "take care of yourself."

James, though he would never admit it, hugged her back just as tightly. It was starting to sink in that he wouldn't be seeing his parents for nearly four whole months. "I will." Owls and indistinct murmuring filled his ears in the pause, and James wondered how many other families were also saying goodbye right then.

His dad slapped him on the back, and placed his hands on James's shoulders when his mum finally let go, kneeling down so they were eye-to-eye. "I love you, son." James nodded. "Now go have fun. Don't get caught too many times or your mother will kill both of us. Please keep that in mind." James nodded once again. "Don't forget to watch out for Slytherins - especially those Blacks. They're a nasty family the lot of them, probably followed by the Malfoys. Don't let them corner you anywhere because they're always up to no good. If I had any proof I'd have them locked away for supporting the Voldemort fellow I told you about two weeks ago." James kept nodding, hoping that his dad would let him go. The man chuckled, obviously aware of James' impatience. "Now off with you, so your poor old parents can have some peace!" his dad smiled.

"Bye dad!" James grinned himself and ran to put his trolley away before all the good spots were taken. Not that he knew where the good spots were, but it was the principal of the thing.

As he rushed off to the train, James spotted another figure heading the same direction as him. Unable to stop, James called out a warning. It was too late. He crashed into the figure, who turned out to be a boy about his age, though taller than him and with impeccable robes and unruffled hair. At least, it would have been neat and unruffled if they hadn't just crashed into each other and landed sprawled in a heap.

"Sorry!" both boys cried at the same time. James dragged over a large black trunk that said 'Sirius' on the handle in a fancy script. This was a rich kid if he ever saw one, not that James could judge, as he was guilty of the same thing. Still, it might be one of the evil purebloods from Slytherin he had heard about.

"Who're you?" James asked.

"I'm Sirius. Are you a first year too?"

"Yeah, the name's James. James Potter." James stuck out his hand to shake. The other boy happily did, so James decided that he couldn't be too bad. After all, there weren't many people who hadn't heard of the Potters, or that they were on the side of light.

"Good to meet you," Sirius smirked. "Care to find a compartment?"

"Sounds good to me. Do you know where the best place to sit is?"

"My cousins say they like the front," Sirius began.

"So we should head up there?" James didn't want his new friend to miss out on something because of him.

"Actually, I was thinking the very back. My cousins are all girls and they hate me, so the farther from them we are the better."

"Alright then." James was a little confused about the whole thing, but he and Sirius headed toward the back of the train. All the compartments seemed to be pretty full except for one with a red-headed girl.

"Can we sit here?" James asked. She shrugged and turned toward the window. Talk about being polite…

Sirius flopped down on one of the seats without a care and James sat across from him. "So…" he said, "did you hear that quidditch game on the radio, Ireland vs. Wales? I can't believe they had such a come-from-behind game!"

"No!" James groaned, "That's what the paper said, but I missed the ending! I thought for sure Ireland would win, too. I heard the beginning up until Ireland was up 130 to 60, but then my mom changed it for one of her stupid shows!"

"What? But that was right before the best part! The announcer was trying to say Taggins and Borngin really fast and mixed it all up; it was hilarious. He was stuttering over it for like two minutes before he got back to the game."

"Taggins and Bornghn," James tried. "Tanggins and Born- Tag-ig and Borin… wow. That's harder than it sounds," James laughed. "How could my mom have turned it off just to hear the new song I Love you Like a Love Potion?"

"Gross!" Sirius cried.

James nodded with an air of great suffering. "It was horrible. I only just survived. But the worst was when, and I quote, 'If I love you like that love potion, baby, and you love me too… I'll just take a little bit of motion, baby, give me all-' hey stop! Help!"

Sirius had covered James' mouth with his hand. "Never ever say or sing those lyrics again. I have been mentally scarred for life as it is."

James nodded. "Deal," he said when Sirius cautiously removed his hand. Another boy had come into the compartment during the song fiasco, but James didn't pay much attention until he heard the words "You'd better be in Slytherin."

"Slytherin?" The red-headed girl perked up a bit. James jerked his head up at the word and stared at the other first years. Wasn't Slytherin the house of evil snakes? Who in their right mind would want to go there? He wrinkled his nose.

"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" James asked Sirius, who was once againlounging on the seats opposite him. Sirius did not smile.

"My whole family have been in Slytherin," he said.

"Blimey," said James, "and I thought you seemed all right!"

Sirius grinned.

"Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"

James lifted an invisible sword.

"'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad."

The other boy, who had old patched robes that even James could tell were wrinkled and greasy black hair that fell past his ears, but with none of the good looks that Sirius had, made a small noise that was something like a disdainful snort. James turned on him.

"Got a problem with that?" No one was going to insult his family's house or his dad while he was around.

"No," said the boy, though his slight sneer said otherwise. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy - "

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" interjected Sirius.

James roared with laughter. I'll have to remember that one, he thought to himself. The girl turned to them, her cheeks flushed with anger. James had never had anyone glare at him quite so strongly before, but he knew he was in the right here. No one good ever came from Slytherin, right?

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment." The girl stood, taking 'Severus' with her.

"Oooooo…"

James imitated her in a high, lofty voice. "Let's go find another compartment!"

"No like this: come on, Severus! Let's go find another compartment! One for slimy snakes!" James laughed again and tried to trip Severus as he passed. Unfortunately, the other boy jumped over his foot, but James knew he could get him back later.

"See ya, Snivellus!" Sirius called after their retreating backs. The two new friends fell back laughing as the pair left.

"That was brilliant!" James grinned, holding his sides and hooting. "James and Sirius triumph over the Slimy Snakes! There's no way you'll get stuck with them, mate."

"My mum's convinced otherwise," Sirius stated grimly. "My family's been in Slytherin for generations; there've only ever been a few exceptions."

"What if you got sorted into Ravenclaw? That wouldn't be too bad would it?" James could live with Ravenclaw if he had to, especially if his new friend was there as well. They could still beat snakes together.

"Well my mum wouldn't be too pleased, but it'd be better than Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. I don't know what she'd say if I was in one of them."

"So you want to be in one of them I take it?" James grinned wickedly, imagining what Sirius' apparently evil Slytherin family would say if he were in Gryffindor with James Potter…

"Ding ding ding, we have a winner! Give the boy a prize!" Sirius grinned, "Although I can never be sure. If I'm in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff my family will probably hate me. What would I do over the summer, you know?" A pensive look came over his face, vaguely concerned. James wondered how he would feel if his family wanted him to be in Slytherin. Suddenly, Sirius seemed to notice someone else outside their compartment.

"Hey are you a first year too? Come in! I'm Sirius Black and this here is James Potter. We have been best mates for about…" He checked his watch. James wondered if it was the same as the one he had gotten for Christmas last year; they sure looked similar. "Sixteen minutes now! What's your name? What house do you want to be in when we get sorted? Please tell me you're not a stuck-up pureblood! The last people in here wanted to be in Slytherin, for Godric's sake! My family is all Slytherins and they're idiots, don't know why you'd want to be one."

The new kid was short and skinny. His skin was pale as if he spent a lot of time inside, and he looked like he could use a good night's sleep. His light brown hair hung flat over his eyes, and James thought he might see a little scar on the boy's chin. His curiosity peaked, but then he realised what Sirius had said.

"Really? You're one of those Blacks? I wouldn't have thought so with you being so friendly. Oh well," he shrugged, turning back to the new boy. Sirius couldn't have been the kind of person James' dad had warned him about. At least, James didn't think so. "I'm James, like he said."

The boy shifted, as if he wasn't used to being the center of attention. "Hello. My name is Remus Lupin, and I wasn't stuck-up or a pureblood the last time I checked." James grinned happily. This kid had a sense of humor, he was sure of it. Now it was time to bring it out. James Potter liked nothing better than a challenge, and a little mystery wasn't going to go astray either. This was going to be one interesting year.

-END-

* According to the website, in the late 20th century one sickle was worth about 0.29 pounds or about 0.59 US dollars. James' parents gave him about 6.67 pounds or $13.57

This has been: How James met Sirius! I kind of left it open in my other fic, and then I was wondering about it. After I realised that it was, in fact, my fic, I figured I would just right down what I imagined happened. Leave a review to tell me what you thought!

Keep reading and writing! ~Meg