~ Prologue - or a hint of what is to come ~

Undoubtedly, the worst thing to happen to Professor McGonagall's nerves were James Potter and Sirius Black. When the list of the matriculated first years appeared on her desk, McGonagall had thought nothing off it except that relief that these two would see each other but rarely: a Black and a Potter getting along? McGonagall would eat a mouse before that ever happened.

A Black and a Potter had one or two common denominators, and at least a dozen that set them apart: they were both ancient, rich, pure-blooded families (although the Potters were native to Britain while the Blacks were not - but try reminding them of that) and family was important to them, but while for the former the importance lay in the prestige of a legacy and maintaining the pureblood line, the Potters thought of family as a loving, loyal unit, and they couldn't care less about the blood status of a person. The Potters could have done a lot more with themselves - even McGonagall thought so; but interestingly enough, the Potters were content - and some might even say, proud - with a solid and comfortable existence in the backwaters*. The Blacks, however, kept themselves at a distance of everything, but never far enough to allow the others to forget about their importance.

In school-related terms: the Blacks were Slytherin, the Potters Gryffindor. Anything else was impossible.

A Potter and a Black in the same year in the same school meant trouble. McGonagall could already envision the fights, the hexes in the corridors. A Potter and a Black were trouble, because a Potter and a Black never got along.

McGonagall would learn to regret her initial, naive thoughts, because worse than a Potter and a Black being enemies, was a Potter and a Black getting along. She did not believe in the stars' influence on worldly events, but really, in this case the universe had definitely conspired against her.

McGonagall wasn't the only one who thought the way she did: the parents of the involved students certainly expected nothing unusual to happen: their child was meant to be sorted in the same house as they, and that was the end of it; neither of the children expected anything other than that either. Why should they? It was all they knew.

The two families stayed out of each other's way as their children boarded the train to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; in fact, Walburga Black would later assure her sister she had not even seen the Potters, for why should she be able to distinguish them from those Halfbloods and Mudbloods?

Sirius Black and James Potter were both eager to leave their homes and begin a new life in Hogwarts. Both were not shy boys. They both would come to share a great sense for adventure and mischief - Black sorely for the sake of rebellion and the thrill, Potter because he found it exciting and funny. But as excited (and yes, even a little bit afraid) as they were to board the Hogwarts express, they could not help but feel lonely. It's not easy to be eleven and be alone for the first time, and to see all those older, taller, better, students chat and laugh with their friends, showing off their magic tricks to each other solely for the fun of it. Would they make friends? They both believed so, but this couldn't happen quickly enough.

Neither Sirius Black nor James Potter knew of each other. So when they found the other standing in front of an empty compartment (the very last one in the whole train, as James Potter thought) they shrugged, and the former let the latter enter first. They sat down opposite to each other, gauging each other to see if they had anything interesting to offer.

It was James Potter who, unaware of anything, broke the tradition of mutual animosity - by offering Sirius Black a hand.

"I'm James Potter, and you?"

The other boy took the offered hand and shook it, grey eyes narrowed slightly. "Sirius Black."

"Odd name, I like it," said James, and his mouth split into a broad grin.

Sirius Black was startled into grinning himself. "And your name couldn't be more boring," he replied.

"It means I can pass as anybody," countered James. "Means I could use a shifting potion and pass as an auror."

Sirius Black furrowed his brow. "If I was an auror," said he, "I would change my name into something even..."

"Odder?"

Sirius laughed. "Yes, like... hm... what of Evander?"

"Evander?" James scrunched his nose. "Sounds like Lavender."

"Well it's not, I read it in a book in my father's library."

James sat closer to the edge of the seating bank. "Your father has a library too? Awesome!"

"Yes, some books are older than our house!"

"Ours... well, I don't know how old our house is, but some books are really old. I once ripped a page out. By accident of course."

"Oh, your parents must have gotten angry then."

"My mum was upset, I don't think my father ever found out; she fixed it very quickly, but my mum can fix pretty much everything."

"I'm surprised they let you touch that book," said Sirius thoughtfully. "I'm not allowed to touch some books, because they're afraid I might break them."

"Do you like to read?" James asked.

He shrugged. "If there's nothing else to do..."

"Well then you must wait until they're not looking, and be careful when you open the books. But even if you do break something accidentally, we don't have magic just for stirring a pot, you know?"

Sirius didn't look to sure about James' suggestion, but filed it away for later. The silence of the beginning was returning, and it was James who broke it again.

"So, you like Quidditch?"

They chatted on and laughed together as they hadn't for a long time. A girl joined them at some point, with dark red hair, but they didn't talk to her, for she was crying and it made them uncomfortable. Later, another boy entered their compartment, and James and Sirius disliked him the moment he spoke to them. The girl took the boy's side, and together they left.

James and Sirius talked and talked the whole ride through, shared the treats they bought off the trolley and traded wizard cards. Once it was time to change into their school uniforms, they were delighted to discover they shared the same size in clothing and immediately had to switch just for the sake of it.

'Slytherin? Who'd want to be in Slytherin?' - James' words had hit a cord inside Sirius. When he'd said he might break with the family tradition he had only been half joking. The longer they spent together, the more he couldn't shake off the thought of being in the same Hogwarts House with James. His parents... well, they very well might kill him, but at least he'd get to have some fun first.

By the time they stepped, mouths open with awe at the marvellous sight, into the castle (bigger than any student could ever have imagined) Sirius had made his first serious decision, fully aware that it would change his life forever. He didn't fall for any of the ridiculous theories of sorting the others (and James) were murmuring to each other. He knew from his cousins that it just involved a silly old hat shouting out the House name. He expected it to be quite boring - and it was. He barely had the hat on for three seconds when it shouted out loud for all ears to hear,

"GRYFFINDOR!",

and Sirius joined the Gryffindor table; and after a while James took a seat right next to him.

They retired with full stomachs into their dorm room, which they shared with three other boys. James quickly wrote a note to send to his parents the next morning, and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Sirius Black, however, stayed awake far longer than he. His happiness at being together with his first friend ebbed with the awareness of his mother's wrath. He was afraid she might take him away from Hogwarts and send him to a boarding school somewhere in France as she had threatened once, but regardless of his fears, he couldn't, did not, regret having been sorted into Gryffindor.

Sirius Black then fell asleep, unaware that there was one other boy who was still awake - and if possible, even more afraid than he was.

Letter 1, September.

'To Stinchcombe, Mum and Dad.

'Mum! Dad! You won't believe how quickly the hat sorted me into gryffindor! I can't believe you leid about that! You said we had to face a troll! but anyway, I got a friend and he's name is Sirius. he's my age obviously and we decided on our way to the great hall to explore the castle grounds after class. if we can ever find our way to class, because i I swear noone really knows where they're going. I also don kno when I'll be writing again, because I'll be quite busy with exploring and all that. also Quidditch lessons, but I already know that better than most I think.

James Potter.

Ps: I love you.

[Added the next morning]

Sirius got a howler. i think its really bad.'

Author's notes:

* with a solid and comfortable existence in the backwaters - direct quote from Pottermore

Also the name Evander I got from Roman mythology. A hero if I remember correctly. I have my own headcanons about Sirius and James' upbringing, but I will be revealing them as the story progresses.

The spelling of the letter is done on purpose. I like to think that James' thoughts are quicker than his hand and he gets distracted very quickly. It's also not something he cares about much either, so.