James Potter stared ahead at the brick wall standing in front of him.
Muggles bustled around him, hurrying to get where ever their boring lives needed them to be at, but he couldn't stop grinning. Today would be the first day of the rest of his life.
If only there would be a break in the dang people, he could actually go through the barrier! Ughh, he thought, crossing his arms.
His parents were waiting on the other side of the magical pillar already, and James was struck waiting. His grin faded a little to an annoyed expression. All he wanted to do was yell, "OI, I AM TRYING TO GET SOMEWHERE!" His great day was starting to fizzle into mild aggravation.
"Trying to get to the Hogwarts Express too?" Came a voice to Jame's right, he looked over to find a guy who looked around his age was leaning over his luggage. The eleven year old had shaggy black hair, dark eyes, and a cocky grin that mirrored the one James had been wearing until a minute ago. He seemed very at ease with being alone. It didn't look like he had anybody with him, or maybe his parents were waiting on the other side of the barrier just like James's. Funny, he hadn't even seen him walk over.
"Yeah, you?" James asked, keeping his eyed peeled for an opening, he saw that in around ten seconds there's be a gap in people walking past. "Hold on mate, we talk in a minute, we need to go through the barrier right around..."
The gap had opened and he pushed his trolley as fast as he could through the brick pillar, closing his eyes at the last possible second out of reflex.
When he opened his eyes he was surrounded by swishing cloaks, suits, luggage, and lots of loud chatter. The boy glanced up at the clock and saw that he still had a decent amount of time to get on the whistling train, but decided to wait for the dark haired boy.
Sure enough, he came through, instead of at a run like most people, he just sauntered through the pillars. "Hey." He told James and held out his hand, "Name's Sirius, your's?" "James Potter-"
"James, what too you so long to get through?" His mum's voice questioned from behind him, and he turned to find his mum, Euphemia standing behind him. "Oh, sorry dear, I see you were with a friend." She quickly apologized after catching wind of Sirius standing there. He shrugged a little, still grinning, and flashed James an unreadable look. Was it envy?
James's dad, Fleamont, soon joined his wife and walked over to James. "Ready?"
All he wanted to say was: "Duh." but he figured that would earn him a scolding from his mom, which, call him crazy but he didn't want to suffer that embarrassment in front of his future classmates and their family. "Yeah." He simply replied, finding himself smiling out of anticipation again. His mum walked over and tried to sweep his unmanageable messy hair out of his face and pushed his circular glasses up his nose a little.
"Good luck James, I love you." She told him, kissing his forehead before she stepped away.
Instead of trying to straighten his hair, he dad ruffled it up more earning a sigh from his wife, and he smiled at his son. "Have fun. Write if you need anything, alright?" "I know, I know. Love you guys too." James told him, his face burning a little. He didn't need coddling, he was eleven, he was growing up and wished his parents saw that.
Plus, from his few words with Sirius, he figured the boy wouldn't let him live it down.
He waved and walked over to the train, Sirius quick to follow. "Sorry about that." James apologized, wanting to kick his trolley out of embarrassment. Sirius on the other hand just shrugged again. "It's alright, it's nice to see. My mum didn't even come to see me off, dropped me off at the front of the station with nothing more than a 'Don't disappoint me.'."
Sirius rolled his eyes, frowning as he eyes fell. "Lovely woman, my mum. Really gives the Black family a good reputation."
The Black family? James thought, his eyes narrowing. He had heard of them before, his parents grumbling about a dark wizarding family. Pureblooded, naturally. Funny, he never heard anybody mention that they had a son. "You're a first year right?" James asked, and Sirius nodded in rely. "That's a relief, I'll actually know somebody in our year." James said, punching Sirius's shoulder as they arrived at the train and hauled their luggage into one of the cars. They looked for an empty compartment and found one towards the back of the train.
When they finally had their things all shoved up in the racks above the seats, James flopped down onto the soft cushions.
The dark haired boy sat down across from him, leaning on the arm cushions in a relaxed way. "About what you said with the knowing somebody in your year. That's probably going to be it. Odds are I'll be put in Slytherin."
James looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. "And do you want to be in Slytherin?"
He didn't frankly care about Slytherin, he didn't like what he had heard about them, and new how most of them turned out. Bad.
"I'm supposed to-" "Do you, or do you not?" James asked, sitting up as he swung his legs onto the ground, he pulled out his wand from his jacket and twirled it absentmindedly in between his fingers.
"Not really." Came his friend's voice after a minute of silence.
James nodded and little and pointed his wand at him, "Then you probably won't be put in. The Sorting Hat would be a prick if it put you in there." Things tended to be black and white with James.
Either you liked something, or you didn't.
You wanted to be put into a house, or you didn't want to be put into a house.
Yes. Or no.
James was just about to say something else when there came a quiet knocking at the door to their compartment.
A scrawny boy with light brown hair, a bit better kept than James, wearing shabby robes was standing at the door. "Um...I couldn't find any other compartments, mind if I sit in here?" The kid's voice shook a little, it didn't take a genius to see that the guy was shy and a little awkward. Sirius looked over at James as if to see if it was alright.
James tapped the empty seat next to him with his wand and smiled at him. "Join the party."
A minute later, after helping the kid put his surprisingly light luggage up above them, James looked at their new companion. "So what's your name?" "Remus Lupin."
"Sirius Black." Sirius gave a nonchalant one-handed wave.
Finally James introduced himself, grinning at Remus. "And I'm James Potter."
"You two seem close, how long have you been friends?" Remus asked, sitting down, looking stiffer than a board. If the kid was strung up any tighter, James could played him like a violin. Either Remus had major anxiety, had a secret, or slept uncomfortably last night which severely ruined how he acted around people.
Something told him it wasn't the latter option.
The pair, Sirius and James, laughed. James shook his head. "We seriously met fifteen minutes ago." "Oh. You guys just seemed so comfortable around each other I thought...ah, nevermind." Remus said, shaking his head as there was a loud whistle.
If anybody hadn't got on the train, out of the window, James could see that people were down sprinting to catch the train. Kids waved out of the window to their parents who were standing while they watched their child leave.
None of the boys in the compartment seemed to be too concerned about leaving their families.
It wasn't that James hated his parents, on the contrary, he loved them. They could be a little overbearing at times, and their coddling could be suffocating. He needed to find his own way, and be his own person, and he couldn't do that if they were always there holding his hand. He knew that they were starting to realize that too, and that gave him conflicting feelings. He didn't now the full extent of Sirius's relationship with his mom, but he figured he was more than happy to get away from her.
As for Remus, well, he intended to find out more about the shabby guy. "So you're a first year I take it?" James asked, and Remus nodded, "Are you guys?"
Sirius rolled his eyes, "No, we're just midget seventh years." James could've reached out and touched the sarcasm dripping off of his friend's voice.
Remus laughed a little, and it was only then that James noticed he had three pale scars running down the left part of his forehead and partially down his cheek. Now how in the world could an eleven year old have scars like that?
"Um...do you want to ask me about something? You're staring." Remus muttered, his small smile faded. Sirius ran a hand through his hair, his eyes flicking over to Remus. "He's looking at your scars."
The eleven year old's face went blank and he was silent for a little bit. "Just a bad accident, I'd rather not talk about it."
Everything about the topic of scars sent up red flags, course James was still interested in what had happened. But he would tell them in his own time if at all.
"Alright, fair enough." James replied, holding up a hand.
A moment of silence passed, and Jame knew that if he didn't say something an oppressive silence would consume them. If there was something James couldn't stand, it was silence.
He leaned forward so that he was resting his knees on his legs and he looked over at Remus. "You're a muggleborn?" He asked, and Remus looked over at James. "Half-blood. Mum's the muggle."
Sirius looked up at Remus's luggage and folded his arms. "Did you get all the supplies you needed?" "I got most of what I need...parchment I'm running low on.." He muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.
James noticed there were quite a few patches on his robes.
A silent message passed between James and Sirius as they looked over at each other. "We're taking this guy under our wing."
"Hey, I have more than enough, and if I ever need more I can write to my mum and dad." James explained to Remus, smiling over at him and Remus looked at him surprised.
"No, I couldn't take your things-" He started to protest and Sirius rolled his eyes. "We aren't just going to let you go without supplies, Remus, so you might as well accept it."
For a moment, Remus didn't say anything, but his eyes seemed to get glassy. Like he couldn't imagine anybody doing anything like this for him. "Thank you." Sirius waved his hand aside dismissively and looked out of the window as the train pulled off, making everybody in the cabin sway a little. "Don't thank me, odds are I probably won't even be doing half the assignments." A laugh escaped Sirius as he finally seemed to fully relax at the thought of going to Hogwarts.
Remus looked out of the window at the passing families and his eyes seemed to linger on a couple towards the back of the crowd, who looked worried and nervous. A nearly inaudible sigh escaped Remus as he sat back in his chair, tapping his foot on the ground. Probably a nervous habit, James guessed.
"Nervous?" He asked Remus, who looked over at him. "A little." He replied. "I don't know what house I'm going to be put into. Do you?"
"I'm kind of hoping for Gyffindor." James explained, "And Sirius doesn't want to be put into Slytherin so there's that."
Their new friend narrowed his eyes at them. "I know what you're talking about...but what exactly are the houses? Dad never got the chance to explain to me."
Sirius shrugged and over at me like he didn't feel lie explaining. Lazy arse. James thought, but couldn't help but grinning a little as he thought that. "Alright, I'll try and sum it up as best as I can. Each house was named after one of the four founders of Hogwarts. Slytherin is named after Salazar Slytherin, they're determined and cunning. There's Ravenclaw, named after Rowena Ravenclaw, those are the wise. Helga Hufflepuff founded Hufflepuffs and they're the kind and loyal. Finally, there's Gryffindor, named after Godric Gryffindor. They're brave, and chivalrous."
Remus nodded, his eyes were trained on James, like he was trying to soak in anything he said, and remember it for later. His brown eyes drifted over to Sirius, who was now lying on the cushions, looking up at the ceiling, most likely day dreaming. "Wait...so why don't you want to be a Slytherin, they didn't sound that bad."
That got Sirius's attention.
He didn't sit up, but his expression soured. "Most of them turn to the Dark Arts, and my oh-so-lovely mum wants me to be in that house too. Join their ranks."
"Join what ranks?"
"You don't know?" Sirius replied looking over at Remus who seemed just as confused as ever.
(When you're thrown into a world of magic, James suspected it must throw you for a loop, he couldn't lame Remus for asking a lot of questions...though how he didn't know about him was beyond the youngest Potter.)
Can you believe it? Sirius asked James silently and James held up a hand telling him to lay off a little.
Sirius sat up and crossed his arms. "Your dad didn't tell you about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"
Nearly every wizard knew about You-Know-Who. He hadn't been around for long, but he had already left a path of death and destruction in his wake. Any witch or wizard worth their salt knew that even mentioning his name could send everybody into a frenzy.
Remus shook his head and Sirius nodded grimly. To anybody else, it would be weird to see three eleven year old's acting so serious and grim. Well, being in the wizarding world, at a time like this...it wasn't too uncommon. James suspected there were at least a dozen other cabins quietly whispering about the very same subject to each other.
"Probably for the best," Sirius sighed, and he sat forward. James suddenly realized, because of his family, he probably knew more about You-Know-Who than most other people. Even his parents, "anyhow, he's basically the darkest wizard since Grindelwald. Trying to become the most powerful dark wizard of all time and wants to eradicate all muggleborns. Bad. News."
Well, James couldn't have explained it any better if he tried.
"Oh." Was all Remus could reply with and he bit his lip a little. "Your mom wants you to join him? I couldn't imagine."
All Sirius did was shrug, and James wondered to what extent his mom would go to to make sure that Sirius would do it. "Well, I'm not, don't worry."
Now they were buzzing through the country, long plains of green fields flying by them as the train picked up speed. The trolley lady passed them asking about candy. "Hello dears, candy from the trolley?"
Instantaneously, James jumped up. "Yeah, give me six Chocolate Frogs, three Peppermint Toads, and two Berts Every Flavor Beans." He said feeling like he said it rather faster than he would have preferred. six sickles and a minute later, he came back into the compartment with an arm full of sweets.
He could've sworn both Remus and Sirius were drooling. James tossed two of the Chocolate Frogs to Remus and two to Sirius. Remus looked at it like it was the best thing he had ever seen, while before James could blink Sirius had already torn open the wrapper and scarfed one of them down. It looked like Remus almost didn't want to eat it, just admire it. "Hey, Remus, you know you can eat it. I did buy it for you."
"Oh...right, of course." He replied, carefully unwrapping it.
James also tossed the Peppermint Toads two them as well and lounged back in his seat. "So Remus, you have any idea what house you'll be put into?" Sirius asked, stuffing another frog into his mouth. Remus looked up as he nibbled on his frog.
He looked up at Sirius quietly and held his Chocolate Frog in his lap. "I don't know...Maybe Ravenclaw? I've always had a knack for academics..but there's no way I'd be in Gryffindor, I'm not brave."
"I don't believe that." James said, raising an eyebrow as he adjusted his glasses. They always tended to fall to the tip of his nose. "Why not?" Remus asked, looking at James like he was a puzzle, trying to figure out his train of thought. You know, James himself seemed to have trouble even figuring out his own train of thought.
When James had a feeling about something, they were usually right. A solid 88.7% of the time, at the least.
"I have feeling that if the time ever came you'd surprise everybody, if you're a Ravenclaw though, I'm coming to find you to help me with my homework." James said, before opening up his own Chocolate Frog and popped it in his own mouth, wondering if that was how a squirrel feels whenever it shoves acorns into its mouth.
Remus got a kick out of that, James was glad he could make Remus smile. Odds were he didn't often. Maybe it wasn't because of his parents but Remus gave off a serious air of isolation.
"Alright, James, deal." Remus said and Sirius threw a small piece of his frog at Remus. "Hey, I better be included in this pact you're making." "Of course." Remus assured him, his smile not fading.
The rest of the train ride was relatively uneventful, but not in a bad way. Three new friend, just talking, trading stories, laughing at the awful faces they would make when they'd get a bad jelly bean flavor. They'd watch the scenery pass, and things like that.
Finally, the sun had set over the horizon and woods had engulfed the train. "We're almost there I'm guessing, you guys should probably get changed." Remus told them, and James nodded. "Alright, be back in a few minutes." James replied, standing up.
With one last look out of the window, and one at his two friends, he left the compartment.