A Prologue

Sirius stood stock still, hearing the awkward silence chime and echo inside the bubble that had formed around his family. On the platform there were hundreds of kids – a few slightly shorter, but most taller, some the sort of taller that Sirius thought only grownups did – who were laughing and crying with their families. It wasn't all good news, he could tell, but at least there was some level of noise. That was what had struck him most, leaving his house for the first time that summer in over two months: a summer of quiet tiptoeing round corners and through narrow hallways, waiting to be called upon, waiting to be talked to, waiting to be instructed, months of quiet waiting. The level of noise that London could produce had surprised him, despite having experienced it before, but this – this collective and growing noise of wizards and witches being excited and sad and happy all at once – this was something Sirius had never heard before.

He looked up at his mother, trying to mask his face. He waited for her to speak, unsure of her mood. She smiled at him. "Have a safe journey," she said, sounding polite, as if she were seeing off a distant relative who had outstayed their welcome.

"Thank you," Sirius replied. He turned round to speak to his brother, but Reg had vanished. "Where did Reg go?" he asked his mother.

"He's gone back to the car," replied his mother, smile wavering. "You know how your father doesn't like to wait around. Now, off you go, the train is leaving in ten minutes." Sirius was aware that ten minutes was more than enough time to say goodbye properly, but he wasn't any more interested in saying it than his mother was. "Ok," was all he said, and he pulled his suitcase towards a train door.

He heaved it up onto his knee, grasping the handle and, half pulling half pushing, managed to squash it on along with all the other luggage. He grabbed a small bag which contained a sandwich and got on board.

The train was busier than he expected it to be, somehow. Maybe it was the size of it. The Hogwarts Express was big, bigger than he expected from the photos he had of it, but it was still impossibly small compared to the vast number of children that were running up and down its corridors. Everyone seemed to have friends already, and something inside Sirius tightened. He thought of Reg, and was surprised to discover how much he missed his younger brother in that moment. Sirius made a quick decision and opened the third compartment door to his right.

Inside were three boys, one owl and a cat. One of the boys looked up curiously but the other two were in quiet, polite discussion, so Sirius sat down, uncertain of how he should sit or where he should look.

"Hi," said one boy quite brightly, and Sirius looked at him in relief. He wasn't one of the tall ones, but looked about his age, and from the fact that he had introduced himself Sirius guessed that this was a carriage of first years too. He braved a smile. "Hello."

"I'm James," said the boy, who had black hair, unfashionable glasses and a wonky, if persistent, smile. "Who are you?"

Sirius hesitated. It occurred to him, looking at the other two boys in the carriage who were sat opposite each other and seemed to be exchanging conversation about whether they had any siblings already at Hogwarts, that everyone in this room was on the same level. They were all new, didn't know each other, perhaps didn't know anyone. No one knew about Sirius' family, or even Sirius, at all.

"My name's Sirius," he answered, trying to mirror the wonky grin that James had given him. In his moment of confidence Sirius even looked next to them. "What at your names?"

"This is Remus and Peter," replied James, indicating with a wave of the hand that Sirius missed in all his furious concentration at being somebody different which boy was who.

"Hi," said the smallest boy who was sat next to James, stroking the ginger cat on his lap with enthusiasm. The cat, on the other hand, looked vaguely bored and was staring out of the carriage window, perhaps wondering when its next rat might appear. "This is my cat Kerriwinkle," he added, wrinkling his face slightly as he said it. "Family name," he muttered, as if that was supposed to explain something that Sirius hadn't understood.

"Right," replied Sirius, then, "cool. I don't have a pet."

"Not even an owl?" James asked in disbelief. Sirius shook his head, glancing at the boy sat next to him who was fiddling with the straps on his cloak. "Oh you have to get an owl, surely your parents will get you one," he said, speaking fast, as though this were the most obvious thing in the world, and that perhaps Sirius' parents had just forgotten. "Mine is a screech owl, so I've called her Screech." He beamed with pride, and Sirius wasn't sure if he was supposed to laugh or wince. He merely nodded.

At that moment the door opened and a red-headed girl walked in. Sirius glanced at her and then back to James as she sat down beside Remus, next to the window. "Maybe I'll ask for one for my birthday," Sirius said, knowing it was an empty thought.

"You could get a screech owl, then they could be friends," suggested James. From the fact that he had already known the names of the other two boys in the carriage and had been smiling constantly, as if to put Sirius at ease, he could tell that he liked him already.

"Do you play chess much?" asked James. Sirius shook his head, but the small boy looked up from his cat eagerly.

"I do!" The two then entered a spot of banter which Sirius droned in and out of, not having played chess before himself. He realised he would have to learn. James was laughing with Peter as the door opened for what Sirius thought must be the last time, as there was only one seat left in the small compartment, and a boy with scraggly black hair walked in and sat opposite the girl. They started chatting and Sirius looked at his knees. "So," he started, turning to the boy to his side, "do you play chess too?" The boy with brown hair didn't smile, but opened his mouth to speak, before James interrupted loudly.

"Slytherin?" he'd almost shouted with disdain, a look of incredulity on his face. Sirius' stomach dropped, and he raced back through the last five minutes in his head, wishing he had chosen a different compartment, wishing he hadn't decided to be someone else, wishing he'd just stayed quiet. "Who wants to be in Slytherin," went on James, talking directly to the new boy. "I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" Sirius realised with some horror that this last part had been directed at him, as James looked to him for some back up.

He swallowed, and slouched in his seat slightly. "My whole family have been in Slytherin." The words came out of his mouth before he'd had time to double check them.

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

A short moment passed, during which Sirius weighed up his options. He could sit, quietly, side with the new boy in the carriage, who hadn't said a word to him, side with his brother, and parents, and decades and decades of Blacks before them, all of whom had (if he believed his mother) gone to Slytherin and then gone on to be all right sort of people. But he thought of his mum, and the bored smile she had given him before he left.

Making a quick decision, Sirius grinned at James. "Maybe I'll break the tradition."