Disclaimer: The usual, move along now.
Beginnings
"I seem to recall, a certain young man whose first audible comment upon arrival in the Great Hall in his first year was 'Great Merlin, his beard's enormous!' "-Albus Dumbeldore, Living with Danger, Chapter 23
"Yeh almos' ran over two o' yer classmates before one o' the purebloods told yeh who I was an' all."-Rubeus Hagrid, Living with Danger, Chapter 23
Sirius Valentine Black, though the second of those names was fiercely loathed by said person, was for the first time in his conscious life, truly and undeniably happy. Oh sure, he'd had happy dreams, but that was all they were, dreams.
When awake, he had to be all prim and proper whenever his mother was around and always wary when she wasn't, conditions not exactly conducive to happiness. Playing with his cousins had brought him joy, but then Bella left for Hogwarts, coming back all snooty and cool. Andy had left the year following, leaving him with Narcy, who been taken as Bella's protégé.
So, it was a sad and lonely seven years in Slytherin (after all no Black in centuries had been sorted anywhere else), that Sirius had to look forward to. That is until a hazel-eyed boy with untidy black hair walked into his compartment chatting with a quiet looking brown haired boy. The duo were followed by a shorter pudgy boy, whose manner years later Sirius would describe as 'furitive, rat-like ad totally fitting for that traitorous son of a Blast-Ended Skrewt'. However at present, lacking experience and all that it entailed, at the black haired boy's opening of "Hi, name's James Potter and you are?" Sirius Black took the first steps down a friendship that would help shape the Wizarding World.
It was with this group of friends behind him, that Sirius took his first steps into the Great Hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and laid eyes for the first time on Albus Dumbeldore in person.
Dumbeldore was and is still acknowledged to be one of the most powerful wizards in history, only being surpassed, in the future, by the son (biological and adopted) of three of the young men staring up at him at that moment. Most of those who encountered him, spoke of the feeling of restrained power, let loose only in battle, hidden beneath the mien of a grandfatherly, highly intelligent, yet slightly eccentric old man. Some, such as Orion Black, Sirius' father, considered him well past the point of senility, but respected the power, both political and magical, that the Headmaster of Hogwarts wielded and kept their opinions confined to their own circles.
Sirius had never cared about his patriarch's opinion or most of everyone else's for that matter; with a fearlessness and bluntness that would become a trademark of his Hogwarts tenure, he voiced his opinion on what had first caught his attention, his voice clearly cutting through the low chatter throughout the hall.
"Great Merlin, his beard's enormous!"
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Aletha Freeman was nervous, oh when she'd first learnt she was a witch and that magic was real she was excited. When Professor McGonagall had taken her parents and her to Diagon Alley, she'd been giddy with excitement. But now after being on a train full of other kids who seemed to know so much more than she did, even the ones her age who she'd shared her compartment with were busy discussing the latest Quidditch scores, comparing Houses and what not; it was a bit of an understatement that she was feeling overwhelmed.
And then a simply gigantic shadow loomed out of the night on the Hogsmeade Station platform practically bellowing "Firs' Years this way! Firs' Years, follow me ter the boats! Come 'long now!"
That was it, she'd had it. She was going home, back to her parents, back to Danger, back to normal! Aletha turned and ran knocking over the red-haired green eyed girl behind her and the girls companion. She was just picking up speed when she collided with a boy and both went tumbling.
"Look where your going!" the boy yelled in a snooty tone.
"I'm sorry, it's just that I saw this giant of a man and I .." Aletha started.
"Don't you know anything? That's Hagrid the Groundskeeper, though if my father is to be believed he's definitely not fully Human." The boy interrupted with a superior air.
"Come now Patroclus, she's obviously a Mud-Muggleborn. Now hurry up, our Fathers would be most displeased if we were the cause for any delay." A cool voice interrupted.
"Yes, yes. Of course Lucius," The boy accepted the speaker's, a blond haired boy, hand and gracefully got up to his feet before continuing on with 'nary a glance at the uncouth girl who'd barged into him.
Aletha just sat there trying to figure out what happened and whether or not she'd just been insulted. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, looking up she saw the kind eyes of the giant, no Hagrid twinkling down at her.
"Alrigh' there little miss? Where wer' you off to in such a hurry? The castle's the other way innit?" With that Hagrid picked her up and put her on her feet before turning her around, all one-handed. "Don' want to miss your first Feast do we now?"
Aletha found herself shaking her head and smiling back at the man. 'Maybe it won't be so bad.' She thought following him to the boats and the start of a very interesting life.
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And thus two members of the Pack, whose lives would be closely entwined in days to come made their own memorable entrances into the hallowed environs of Hogwarts.