A/N - Hello everyone : ) Although I have rather a fondness of leaving long author's notes I'll keep this one brief, since I know they can become rather annoying.

Disclaimer - JK Rowling owns everything you recognize.

Hope you enjoy it!


Chapter 1

"James Potter," Sirius whispered, his breath fogging the surface of the glass. "Hullo, James Potter…." A face appeared in the mirror, blinking sleepily.

"What is it, Sirius?" James yawned. "It had better be good if you're getting me up at 2:00 in the morning." His best friend laughed.

"Sorry mate – Mum was on my back all day today, I only just got rid of her ten minutes ago. Anyway, I wanted to ask you what time you are going to be at the station tomorrow."

"Um, I think we're leaving at 10:15, so we'll probably get there at 10:30." said James, looking confused. "Why?"

Sirius grinned. "I think it's time you met my parents."

"Bye Mum!" Sirius said energetically, sticking out his hand. Mrs. Black glowered.

"You watch your attitude, boy." she said menacingly. "Now, on no grounds whatsoever are you to fraternize with any one from another house, especially Gryffindor. Listen and obey Bellatrix and Narcissa, and send an owl as soon as you get there, so we can be sure you're in – "

"Hello ma'am!" said a voice cheerfully from somewhere behind Sirius. Turning, he saw it was James, who had walked away from his parents to join Sirius, who grinned. Mrs. Black looked seriously affronted.

"And who, may I ask, are you?" she said, a sneer playing around the edge of her mouth.

"James Potter." he replied promptly, offering her his hand. She didn't take it.

"As I was saying – " she continued, turning towards Sirius, but she stopped abruptly as she saw James sling his arm comradely over Sirius' shoulders.

"Just came by to make sure Sirius and I get seats together on the train." he said, grinning cheekily up at her. "Friends stick together, you know. Anyway, don't mind me, please continue with what you were saying."

Sirius almost doubled over with laughter as he watched her tiny eyes dilate with anger. Breathing heavily, she glared at James and Sirius once more before turning and striding over to where Bellatrix and Narcissa Black, Sirius' cousins, stood with their mother. "Nasty old bat, isn't she?" James asked, laughing as he waved energetically at her.

"Yep." Sirius chortled. "C'mon, let's go find a compartment - the train's going to leave in five minutes."

"No, wait – you still have to meet my Mum and Dad." said James, dragging Sirius off to where his parents stood.

"James, what – oh, hello, Mrs. Potter, Mr. Potter…."

"Hello," said Mrs. Potter good-naturedly, smiling at him and her son. "How are you?"

"I'm fine…," he said awkwardly. My parents are never this nice…. he thought, slightly unsettled. Mrs. Potter smiled at him again.

"I'm sorry I didn't get to meet your mother – that was her over there, wasn't it? I hope James didn't scare her off….He can be rather a bother sometimes, I'm afraid." She sighed self-deprecatingly. "Anyway, enjoy your first term at Hogwarts, both of you! Good-bye!" She kissed James on the cheek before letting them dash off to the train, which was about to leave.

"Look, this one's almost empty," James said, stopping suddenly and pointing. Sirius looked in. There seemed to be only one occupant here, a boy who looked to be about their age. He had light brown hair and gray eyes, and had a rather thin, peaky look about him. He was staring out the window, watching almost apprehensively as the hills, lakes, and valleys passed by.

He glanced up as they came in and smiled shyly. "Hello," he said, moving over slightly to make room for them. "Are you new at Hogwarts too?"

"Yep," said James, standing on a seat to push his trunk onto the luggage rack. "Here Sirius, I'll put yours up too…. I'm James Potter, by the way. And this is my friend, Sirius Black."

"My name's Remus Lupin." he said, watching amusedly as James tried to shove Sirius' trunk onto the luggage rack. "Er, do you need help with that?"

"No, I think I got - oh, damn!" As he gave a final shove at Sirius' trunk he had pushed his own off the rack, causing it to fall heavily and noisily to the floor and spill its contents everywhere. Sirius laughed and Remus grinned.

"D'you need help?" he asked, looking sympathetic but highly amused.

"Yeah, thanks." James said, eyeing his trunk disgustedly. "The stupid thing always breaks – you know, you could help too, Sirius."

"Could." said Sirius, shrugging, then laughing as James kicked him. "Alright, alright, I'll help, even though it was you that broke it in the first place….What do you two want?" His two cousins, Bellatrix and Narcissa Black, had just entered the compartment, their wands held like swords before them. Sirius, James, and Remus stood up, all three looking wary.

"Your mother told us you were to stay with us for the train ride, and after you're sorted." Bellatrix said silkily. "Doesn't want your new, ah, friendships to jeopardize your chances of getting into Slytherin, though I must say it's rather late for that now…." Sirius let out a short, bark-like laugh.

"Well, that's lucky than, isn't it?" he said, still eyeing Bellatrix' wand, which was pointed straight at him, apprehensively. "Because, now I think about it, I really don't think Slytherin is the house for me. I mean, the whole obsession with snakes is just a little too bizarre…and then of course, there's the fact the fact that you and Narc are in it…."

Bellatrix sneered at him. "Quite the little rebel, aren't you?" she said softly, raising her right arm slowly.

"Yep, that's me!" said Sirius, trying to sound cheerful. "Well, now this little family chat is over, could you leave?"

They both laughed. "You know, I think we'll stay." Narcissa said, her wand pointed straight at James, who gulped. "I mean Sirius, we haven't even gotten to meet your friends yet…."

Narcissa and Bellatrix both raised their wands and opened their mouths, but before they could cast a spell James, Sirius, and Remus had whipped out their own wands. "Expelliarmus!" bellowed James, while Sirius shouted "Callidius!" and Remus yelled "Verruca!" A jet of red light shot out of James' wand and hit Narcissa in the chest – her wand flew from her hand and he caught it triumphantly. Meanwhile, Sirius' spell, which was a blinding shade of yellow, and Remus' hex, a deep midnight blue, hit Bellatrix. With a shrill scream she dropped her wand, as though it were burning hot, then gasped in horror as huge warts erupted all over her hands. Grinning, Sirius darted forward and grabbed her wand, then stepped back quickly to join his friends.

Bellatrix and Narcissa glared at them – they seemed to be furious at being defeated by three eleven year old wizards who had never had any formal training before in their lives.

"Give – me – back – my – wand." said Bellatrix through gritted teeth. "And – take – these – awful – things – off." She gestured towards the warts.

"Hmm, let me think," said James, grinning. "Um, no. Unless, of course, you promise to leave us alone. Then maybe we'll give them back to you. Agree?"

"Fine." glowered Narcissa, holding out her hand for her wand.

"Can I trust you?" asked James, raising an eyebrow. She looked affronted.

"Of course you can, I'm a Black." she said imperiously. "I keep my word, even if it's to some snot-nosed toe rags like yourselves. Now, give it here." James looked at Sirius, who nodded.

"Fine." he said, tossing Narcissa back her wand – his aim was excellent. Bellatrix snatched her wand away from Sirius, and, breathing heavily, the pair of them turned and strode out of the compartment, slamming the door behind them.

"That was brilliant!" Sirius said hoarsely, collapsing onto a nearby seat – James and Remus followed suit. "How'd you two learn to do that?"

James shrugged. "When my dad wasn't looking I took a few of his auror books and memorized some spells."

"Yeah, I looked in a few spell books too." said Remus. "I practiced a few also, before I got my letter. You, Sirius?"

He laughed. "Mum taught me, before she realized I was a 'mudblood conspirator who would never amount to anything.' I learned Callidius when I was seven. I've never seen 'Verruca' before, though – interesting effect, I must say." Remus grinned, unabashed.

"Yeah, that's one of my favorites. Not that I use it too much," he amended hastily. "I mean, once we get to Hogwarts we obviously can't go around hexing people just for the fun of it."

"Says who?" said James indignantly. "I am personally going to curse those cousins of yours, Sirius, as soon as we get there. They were trying to attack us unprovoked! We were just innocent first years who had no idea how to cast a proper spell – " Sirius snorted. "Ok, shouldn't have had any idea how to cast a proper spell, and they attack us! And that group of people at the station – did you see them? Evil looking – Slytherins, the lot of them."

"Do you know what house you're going to be in?" asked Remus, changing the subject. "I hope I'm in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, they seem the best of the four."

"By far." James said, jumping up as a thin, freckly lady pushing a cart laden with sweets passed by their compartment. "Wait a minute…er, yes, I'll have ten of those, and ten of those, and fifteen of these here…."

"Anyway," he resumed, dumping an armload of sweets onto an empty chair, "Gryffindor is the best, that's where all of the brave people go, see – and then Ravenclaw, for the smart people, Hufflepuff for the loyal and honest, and then of course Slytherin for all of the evil little gits. My whole family's been in Gryffindor, so I hope I will be too."

Sirius didn't say anything – his entire family had been in Slytherin and just now he wasn't sure whether a three and a half year friendship could offset decades of tradition.

"You'll be alright." said James confidently, noticing his friend's bleak expression. "Ok, your family's a bunch of idiots, but still, you're brave, right? I mean, remember that time at Diagon Alley when we got both our families to go on the same day, then ran off and met outside Gringotts, jumped two goblins, stole their clothes, and dressed up like them, then went down on the carts to try and kidnap a dragon?"

Sirius laughed. "Remember the look on that passenger's face when he found he was being conducted by two ten year old kids? What was his name again?"

"Cornelius Fudge, I think. Little short guy with a green hat."

"Right, right – Corny Fudge."

"How did you get back out of the tunnels?" asked Remus skeptically. "They're supposed to be near impossible to navigate."

"Well, the original plan was to ride the dragon out." said James, grinning reminiscently. "But once we finally found a dragon Corny started going berserk, so we decided to be charitable souls and leave."

"No, you steered the cart into a stalagmite and one of the wheels broke off." corrected Sirius. "We started careening down the track, Corny was screaming and was about to pitch you out of the cart, and then we hit the dragon."

"Ah, so it was." said James, nodding solemnly, though his eyes were twinkling. "Then, if I remember correctly, we all climbed onto the dragon before she breathed fire on it and made it tumble into a huge chasm. Then you wondered what would happen if you poked her in the eye. She went absolutely insane – started flying around the cavern, breathing fire everywhere – and we passed over a cart steered by a real goblin."

"So," said Sirius, picking up the story, "We jumped off and pulled Corny with us – I think he had fainted by then. Anyway, the goblin drove everybody back up to the main building. When we got there we took off before anybody could catch us and found a bathroom where we could take off the smelly goblin clothes. Then we strolled out of the building (which was in utter chaos, as there was a mad dragon on the loose) and went off to find our parents. All in all a rather interesting day, was it not James?"

"Yep," he said, laughing. "So it was."


A/N - Alright - let me first say that this was probably one of my worst chapters, and I promise the story gets better. Secondly...

PLEASE REVIEW!!!!! You have no idea how much I'd appreciate it.

Alright - I think that's all I have to say. Bye! : )