This one's a bit shorter; but we meet James, and unknowingly Snape and Lily. Enjoy; hope it's okay :)
Harry didn't see the girl again for quite a while. He was simply made to watch Black's parents torment him. The father took pleasure in physical pain, using spells Harry had never heard of which cut his son's skin. Harry however was most surprised by Black's mother, who deprived the boy of food and water and constantly left him in dark rooms, including one which had a dozen boggarts hiding inside. The child was often made to sit at the dinner table whilst the rest of the family ate; though he was forbidden to touch the food in front of him. Despite the harsh punishments waiting, Black insisted on disobeying his parents; Harry watched him sneak out to go see Sarah twice without getting caught, and he wouldn't hear the word 'mudblood' uttered in front of him. Harry admired his nerve, but often wondered if it was mere stupidity.
Harry wondered if the boy had simply stopped caring about the punishment waiting; as often he was blamed for things he didn't do. This happened one particular day when Orion Black came home from the Ministry shouting about how a mudblood was threatening to usurp him from his position in his Department. The Black's youngest son, Regulus, sensed the danger and subtly left the room, leaving his brother to take the beating.
Regulus had a better sense of self-preservation than his brother; making him his parent's favourite. The favouritism ripped the brother's friendship apart so completely that Harry wondered if the scheming adults did it deliberately.
The pattern continued for years, Harry guessed after watching the fourth Christmas where Sirius received nothing whilst his younger brother gained the latest brooms and games from the wizarding world. Harry knew Sirius' oldest cousin Andromeda snuck him things he could hide, like food and books, half of which were muggle creations; Andromeda was dating a muggleborn in secret. Harry immediately liked her for her kindness and sense of humour. She and Sirius banded together in the mad house during the cousin's visits.
A milestone was reached when Sirius' Hogwart's letter came. The eleven year old read it completely calmly in front of his parents, before disappearing to his room and dancing, quietly, for joy. He made a calendar similar to Harry's own to count down the days until he could leave. Orion Black found it the day before Sirius boarded the Hogwarts Express, and beat his son for being an 'ungrateful brat.' When he was finished the boy could barely stand.
Harry found himself almost as excited as Sirius when they reached platform Nine and Three Quarters. The boy left his parents as quick as he could and found himself a compartment alone near the rear of the train.
Sirius was joined quickly by a red haired girl who was crying softly. Sirius had tried to talk to her but she made it clear that she wanted to be left alone. When the train started moving, Harry's heart leapt as an eleven year old version of his father walked through the door. James at eleven looked very much like Harry, just as scrawny, though slightly taller than Harry was at that age. He also looked slightly nervous.
"Hi," James said, very self conciously. The girl continued staring out of the window, but Sirius looked up and smiled. "Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full," James explained apologetically.
"Sure; I'm Sirius," Black said, offering his hand.
"I'm James, nice to meet you," James returned, shaking his hand.
The two boys got on like a house on fire, joking and laughing about nothing at all. They talked about everything from Quidditch to pranking, so much that they reminded Harry strongly of the Weasley twins, especially when they began finishing each other's sentences. Harry grinned as he watched them, realising why the teachers had said they were shocked that Black became what he did. Harry could no longer hate the boy Black had been, Sirius, having watched what the boy went through at home.
After the train had been moving quite a while, another boy entered the compartment. He completely ignored the two new friends and headed straight for the girl sat in the window. Harry didn't pay much attention to their conversation, until the boy said "You better be in Slytherin."
"Sytherin," James said disgustedly, "Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" he asked Sirius, who suddenly looked depressed.
"My whole family has been in Slytherin," he muttered.
"Blimey, and I thought you were alright," James said, though he was smiling.
"Maybe I'll break the tradition," Sirius replied, also grinning. "Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?" he asked James, who grinned wider and lifted an invisible sword.
"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave of heart, like my Dad," he replied.
The other boy snorted, so James turned to glare at him, looking affronted.
"Got a problem with that?" James snapped.
"No, if you'd rather be brawny than brainy," the boy sneered, very similar to Snape.
"Where are you going since you're neither?" Sirius sneered back, causing James to laugh hysterically.
The girl led the other boy out of the compartment. Harry didn't catch either of their names; but guessed that they'd be important. He hoped he'd hear their names at the upcoming sorting.
So, sorting next chapter. Hope everyone's looking forward to it. anyway, I'd like to thank the four wonderful people who reviewed: sparrow, I'm glad it's interesting and hope it continues to be so, llLethell, once again i hope it's still interesting and that the update was quick enough :), Tam, sorry, that was a typo, i meant virtual :), most of the story does have spell check apart from the author's notes so i'm sorry about that, anotherbuskitten, no girl in this chapter, in future chapers it might become way too obvious :), don't worry if you forget, i forget to review your awesome story often enough :), Thankyou everybody!
