A/N: This is the first chapter. It's up quickly because I can write quickly and because most of it was written before the prologue was up.
Please read and review.
Have fun.
It wasn't like him to be up so early, but there was just no containing his excitement any longer.
"PRONGSIE!" he shouted, flipping the other's mattress over, dumping his best friend on the hard wood floor.
"Bloody Hell, Padfoot! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" The one called Padfoot grinned and jumped over to pull the window hangings open.
"If I say no, you'll say that I'm lying, so… yes." The other boy, Prongsie, just groaned as he stood. He sighed a little and wandered over to his closet.
"Honestly, Sirius, what has you so riled up?" Sirius Black, the only sane member of the Black family, the biggest playboy in Hogwarts history, generally wasn't a morning person. He almost always had problems waking up, but there just wasn't a way for him to sleep when they would soon be on the best train ride of their lives.
"I'm not sure, today just seems like it will be a good day." Prongsie, otherwise known as James Potter, sighed again. He had resigned himself to his fate. Sirius had come to live with him the summer before their sixth year, so he should have been used to such shenanigans by now, but morning pranks had always been his area of expertise considering that Sirius was hardly ever up before noon.
Before a question could be uttered, Sirius was downstairs greeting dear old Mrs. Potter. James couldn't understand his best mate's fascination with his mother. It wasn't as though Sirius didn't have a mother of his own. The again… James just couldn't wrap his head around it. He pulled on an old grey tee shirt and wandered to the kitchen.
"Good morning, James." He smiled up at his mother and sat next to Sirius at the table.
"Morning, mum, when's dad coming home?" The plate she placed in front of him would have been considered an American breakfast. Piled high with scrambled eggs, American bacon and toast, it was a feast fit for… not a king, but something very close. Maybe a duke.
"He should be home just a little after eleven. The train will be gone by the time he gets here." James nodded, taking a few bites. He had been hoping to see his dad before returning, but it just wasn't to be.
"How is she doing?" Sirius chimed in. Mrs. Potter just gave them a sad smile and went to the sink to clean the dishes. She always did the dishes when she was upset, it helped her not to think about the situation.
"She's doing a little better, but she's still trying to cope with Allison's death." The table fell silent, all minds wandering to the day they had gotten the news that Allison Potter had been murdered on the streets of Paris. It hadn't been a pretty sight. According to authorities, there hadn't been a body to recover. Mr. Potter had left at the beginning of the summer to collect her and hadn't returned since. James remembered very little of the twin he hadn't seen in four years. He had wanted to spend his last summer at home, well, at home. Sirius had spent the entire summer without going home, though he had spent a couple of weeks at a distant cousin's.
Despite being twins, James couldn't remember a time he had been alone with his sister. They had either been too different or too similar, he couldn't remember which. It didn't really matter though. The point was that he hadn't gone to see her. It wasn't that he hadn't cared; he just hadn't had the time. Between chasing after Lily, watching Sirius chase after crazy woman and keeping his mum company he just hadn't found the time. He figured that if she had wanted him to visit, she would have said something.
"It's almost time, we should go," they were given a gracious smile as they grabbed Mrs. Potter's arms. It was only for an instant, but aparating still made Sirius feel nauseous. No matter how many times he had done it, he still couldn't shake the feeling of being ripped apart from the inside and then hastily reassembled. He took to the side for a moment, trying to regain composure before looking for someone, anyone other than James.
He adjusted his body to look over the crowd. James was already gone; no doubt off to badger Lily. She had given into the boys charms the year before, but they were still only friends, much to James chagrin. Sirius chuckled to himself, picturing James hounding after Lily like a dog. With his mind wandering, he had stopped in the middle of the platform. It only took a moment of distraction to cause a miniature disaster. His mind was brought back to reality by the feeling of being hit in the stomach with a brick. He lurched backward, barely catching the tiny woman who had crashed into him.
"Ah…" she sputtered, not looking up at him. It was subtle, but Sirius caught onto the fact that she was trying to break his grip. "Excusez-moi s'il vous plait" she had barely escaped his grip on her upper arms before he caught a look at her face. She spun away from him and attempted to run away. Sirius grabbed at her, twirling her back around a keeping a tighter hold on her wrist.
"Arianna?" he questioned, waiting for some recognition on her face.
Platform 9 ¾, a place she never thought she would return to. After 4 years, nothing had changed except the faces. The color of the train, children running around and causing havoc, parents crying over first years leaving, first years squealing about going to school, adults telling students off, howls of laughter, all of it was exactly the same. She just smiled, eyes wide, looking around the platform with wonder and amazement. After 4 years, she never thought that she would be returning to Hogwarts. Even the most painful image that she could bring up couldn't ruin her mood right then. It wouldn't show on her face at any rate.
To her knowledge, no one knew that she was returning. It had been a last minute decision, but her father had insisted that she be closer to home should another… incident occur. Her brother and her brother's friends were somewhere on this platform and she was planning to avoid them like the plague. They hadn't exactly parted on the best of terms, fighting before she left to live with their lonely aunt in France. He hadn't even said goodbye as she boarded the train. Now that she looked back, the teen couldn't even remember what they had been fighting over.
She felt a tug on her sleeve, a little boy and grabbed on and wasn't letting go. The girl smiled and lifted him onto her hip. "What's wrong little guy? Did you get lost?" He didn't say anything, just hugged her and nodded. With a smile, she ruffled his hair and searched the crowd for someone who had been searching frantically for a missing kid. It was a quick process. The mother stepped over and she returned the woman's son. All very easy, very simple.
The only problem was that she didn't entirely remember what her brother looked like. She supposed that he looked rather like their father and that his jet black hair was as unruly as ever. As long as she avoided anyone with that style of hair, she should have been good to go, but it wasn't only James she wanted to avoid.
Sirius Black was someone she felt she didn't need to see at that point in time. The most notorious playboy Hogwarts had ever seen had kept his word about steering clear of his best mate's sister, for the most part. He had been her twelve year old crush, though she would never admit that to anyone. At this point, she doubted the boy could go anywhere without a pack of hyenas nipping at his heels and she would not be one of them. Sirius had been infamous, even in their second year, for stringing girls along and then dropping them like a sack of potatoes when he was done with them. Well, she refused to even be picked up. Potter women did not lose their heads over men.
Within all the confusion, Arianna had lost her bearings and ended up crashing into the aforementioned boy. Just her luck, right? He caught her upper arms to keep her from falling and she got a quick glance at his face. She was doomed.
"Ah…" she sputtered, keeping her eyes firmly on the ground. He couldn't recognize her already; she wasn't prepared to be caught, not yet, not now. "Excusez-moi s'il vous plait". Maybe if she spoke French he would think that he had made a mistake. Barely free of his hold and he had caught her a second time.
"Arianna?" Shit, she was trapped.