Chapter Two: Win Me Over with that Smile

The next few days were spent packing bags and preparing for the journey to the school. Sky's mother had taken Remus and Sky to Diagon Alley to buy school supplies such as wands, books, writing materials, robes, and she even bought one gift for each of the kids as a going away present. Sky bought a strapless yellow sundress she planned on wearing when they went to the train station and Remus got "Claws, Fangs, and Tails: Your Everyday Guide to Magical Creatures", a book he had his eye on for weeks. It was the night before they were to go to the Platform 9 ¾ and Sky had been over at Remus's side of the valley down by the lake. They sat together on a large rock, Sky's feet dangling over the side not able to reach the crystal clear water while Remus's splashed around making ripples in its smooth surface.

"Are you excited?" Sky finally asked Remus after about ten minutes of them sitting in silence.

"Nervous actually, it's easy for you to be excited, everyone's going to love you…they always do but me…what if people find out?" Sky could hear Remus's voice shake as he spoke. He really was nervous.

"Dumbledore's set everything up Remus, he has a system. Nobody will find out, plus, you'll have me to cover for you. Trust me, it will be great!" Before Remus had a chance to retaliate a voice carried over the cool night sky. It was Sky's father. He was calling her home. She jumped off the rock and into the water splashing Remus and herself knowing that keeping her father waiting would just ruin this perfect night. Her father worked at the Ministry and Sky really didn't know much about what he did. He was a short tempered man and in Sky's opinion he really didn't fit into her family, he was different than Sky and her mother. Her mother was a sweet, tender woman who insisted they call her by her first name, Naomi, so that they could be better friends. Next to Remus, Naomi was one of the only people in Sky's life she truly cared for. Her father was harsh and his friends frightened her. Fortunately for her, he was barely ever home and it was usually just Sky and Naomi at the dinner table.

After a quick jog back to her cottage, Sky burst through the door short of breath where she found her father sitting on the brown leather chair in their living room. Sky slowly walked into the living room so he would see she was home when he turned around and looked up at her. "Took you long enough. Do you always have to hang around with that boy? He's no good you know. Go upstairs and get into bed, we have to get up early if we want to catch the train."

And with that Sky obeyed her father. When she entered her bedroom her mother was sitting on the white lace blanket that lay delicately across Sky's bed, "Don't mind your father he's had a long day. We'll leave early tomorrow morning and we've arranged a ministry car to pick us up. The Lupins will be joining us." Naomi stood up and kissed her daughter on the forehead before leaving the room. Sky fell back onto her bed looking up at the ceiling. She thought back to the night when Remus and she had spent hours painting stars and moons all over the ceiling above Sky's bed. Ever since she would spend every night tracing the doodles with her eyes until she fell asleep; on this night, it took her twice as long.

The two families had met up early the next day to take the car to the train station. Though Sky's father wasn't fond of Remus he was kind to the family and never embarrassed Sky by being rude. They arrived at the train station early, with about 30 minutes to spare before the train left. Remus and Sky were extremely eager to get to the platform so their parents allowed them to run ahead while they took care of the bags.

Walking on the platform was more incredible than they could have ever imagined. Aside from the train being massive, the platform was filled with bustling families. Older students who obviously hadn't seen their fellow classmates all summer hugged each other yelling, "How was your summer!" and "You look so great!" The first years stuck out like sore thumbs. They were shy and most were small aside from Remus who Sky always thought was a bit tall for their age. The small children stood with their families with frightened look on their faces as they looked around at all the other students. Sky told herself she wouldn't be like that, she wasn't scared of older students and she wasn't scared of school, she wanted to be one of those first years who everyone knew and figured was a fourth year.

Nearby, a tall, shaggy haired boy stood leaning casually against a brick wall. His father stood next to him in deep conversation with someone who the boy thought looked stuck-up. This boy was Sirius Black. He couldn't wait to get onto that train and away from his ridiculous father; he looked around at all the happy families saying their goodbyes to their children, fathers slapping their sons on the shoulder and mothers holding back tears.

One family especially caught his eye. A sweet looking women and her husband stood with their small son. The boy was thin with messy black hair and glasses. At first Sirius laughed at the boy for his awkward appearance, then he realized he shouldn't be laughing when that boy had everything he wanted. They all looked so happy. Some kids are so lucky, Sirius thought to himself, when in mid thought he felt his father's strong hand grabbing the back of his t-shirt.

When Remus and Sky's parents arrived on the platform Sky's father immediately grabbed Sky's arm and pulled her away from Remus, most likely to introduce her to someone she wouldn't like. Sky really felt this unnecessary being as she was completely capable of meeting and making her own friends. He dragged her over to a tall, handsome man with neat black hair and dark eyes.

"Orion! Good to see you! I'd like you to meet my lovely daughter Sky. Sky this is Orion Black, good friend of mine. Orion I assume you've bought your son with you." This is pathetic; this was completely planned, thought Sky. Just then Mr. Black turned around a grabbed the shaggy haired boy standing behind him by the collar of his t-shirt and pulled him into the conversation. The boy turned around and faced Sky. He had a look of annoyance across his face that instantly turned into a silly smirk the second their eyes met.

Orion Black introduced his son, "Thomas White! It sure has been a while. Sky my dear this is my son Sirius. You two are both in the same year and will be in the same house I presume."

After that the two men continued in their conversation completely ignoring their two children. Sky knew what Mr. Black had meant by his introduction. Sky's father was a Slytherin and by the looks of it, so was Mr. Black. Slytherins were always so cocky and always expected their children to follow in their footsteps. Sky had always intended in following her mother's footsteps in becoming a Gryffindor and by the dirty look Sirius gave his father, Sirius planned on doing the same. After a moment or two of awkward silence, Sirius stepped forward and introduced himself, "Sirius Black, so does your father drive you as crazy as mine does?"

Sky giggle and simply replied, "Sky White, so are trying to win me over with that smile?"

"Well Sky White, is it working?"

"No, I have to go join my friend; he's waiting for me to board the train." She decided it was more fun to play hard to get rather than drool over Sirius's gorgeous features and cool grey eyes like many other girls would. So with that she winked at him, as she always had done playfully with Remus, and walked back in the direction of her best mate.

Sirius couldn't help but smile as Sky winked at him and he couldn't help but watch her walk away. Her yellow sundress hugged her body so you could see every curve and the light fell gently on her tanned shoulders. There was something about her that he liked, besides the fact that she was incredibly cute, she was witty and defiant, just like he was. He watched her as she walked up to a taller, skinny, sandy haired boy and hugged him. Before he had a chance to call out to her and tell her to meet him on the train, he was being dragged away by his father to board the train alone. This should be an interesting year, Sirius thought to himself as he ignored his fathers pointless lecturing about "representing the Black family".

Sirius boarded the train and walked down the red carpeted hallway. Most of the compartments were either completely filled or occupied by giggling girls that he didn't feel like dealing with. He finally came to one compartment at the end of the hallway. There was one boy sitting in it all alone and looking a bit too excited for his own good. Sirius did a double take and realized it was the boy he had watched on the platform just minutes before. Sirius opened the door and after getting a welcoming look from the boy, he took a seat just across from him next to the window. It wasn't seconds before the boy was introducing himself. "Hey! James Potter, first year." He then stuck out his hand expecting Sirius to shake it, "How about you? What house do you think you'll be in? Did you hear they don't let first years try out for Quidditch! I'm -"

Before James could get another word in Sirius put his hand up silencing him, "Seriously, breathe." Sirius wasn't easily won over by people; they had to show him something interesting about themselves, give Sirius something intriguing, to get his full attention. Sirius introduced himself to James, though he wasn't very interested in anything else he had to say, "I'm Sirius Black, first year."

James let his hand fall back down to his side when Sirius ignored it and slid it into his jeans pocket. He wanted to make friends at Hogwarts but it seemed like he'd gotten shacked up with the most uninterested person on the train, "Sorry, I ramble when I'm nervous…do you know any spells yet?"

"Nah…"

Suddenly a very mischievous look fell across James's face. He leaned in closer to Sirius and said in a low voice, "Well, maybe I could show you some. My dad's been teaching me some jinxes behind my mom's back all summer and I've been testing them on the neighbor's house elves."

Sirius, who had been looking out the window, looked over at James. Jinxes? Hmm, maybe this kid isn't that bad. After smirking at James he leaned in and simply replied, "I wouldn't mind learning some jinxes."

Sky could see that Remus was nervous and when she had joined him after her little rendezvous with the Blacks he was very relieved. Sky's father was too busy to say goodbye to her so when they departed it was just her mother and the Lupins. Sky saw the tears well up in her mothers' eyes and had to fight her way out of the tight embrace. Sky and Remus boarded the train together and Remus led their way down the hallway of compartments. Remus couldn't seem to find a compartment that would fit the both of them so they made their way to the end of the train. There Remus found one compartment left with only two boys in it. The boys had their dark heads of hair leaned in and they seemed to be whispering. The smaller boy with glasses had his wand out and was showing the other boy different wrist movements.

Remus knocked on the compartment door before opening it; the two boys looked up. "D-Do you mind? Everywhere else is full." asked Remus.

"Of course they don't mind" Answered Sky as she gracefully squeezed her way past Remus sitting next to James. Sirius looked up and smiled at Sky as she sat down and introduced herself to James, "Hi! I'm Sky White and this is Remus Lupin. You are?" She had gestured Remus to sit down but she hesitated. Sirius was giving him an awkward look.

"I'm James Potter, nice to meet you, and this is Sirius Bla-" Answered James but before he could finish introducing Sirius, Sirius had interrupted him.

"Yea we've met. He your boyfriend?" Sirius said shortly as he stared up at Remus even though the question was obviously directed to Sky. He was thrown off guard when Sky and Remus began to laugh uncontrollably. Remus fell back into the chair next to Sirius and shook his head. They were four very different people. They came from four very different families. Yet, somehow, they had everything in common and without even realizing it, they instantly clicked.

There you have it! Second Chapter…I hope you're enjoying it and please, please review so I know what I need to work on! I know it a bit choppy, jumping back and forth bewteen the different characters but that was just temproary until they had all met. Now that they all know each other it shouldn't jump around as much. I'm having a lot of fun writing it and I'll try to update ASAP but I must keep up with school work…yuck! Haha!

-Diana