Chapter 3: Friendships on a Train

Part 1: Prongs

King's Cross was bustling with people as James loaded his trunk onto a trolley. Most of them were muggles but he did see the occasional owl go by. James topped his trolley off with the owl's cage and walked toward platforms 9 and 10. He had never been onto the Hogwarts Express platform and was rather nervous. He could feel the sweat between his palms and the cart's handle.

He came out the other side of the wall onto the platform and was immediately in awe. Families were standing in groups saying goodbye to each other. James' mother and father were following close behind their son as they walked across the platform. James' eyes darted back and forth as he took in his surroundings. The crimson train was filling up quickly as the time ticked closer to 11am.

"Okay James, make sure to write when you get there and please stay out of trouble." Euphemia Potter patted down her son's unmanageable hair and lifted his trunk onto the waiting Hogwarts express.

"Okay mum I will. I love you!" James hugged both his parents and got onto the train right as it began to leave the station.

The compartments lining the Hogwarts Express were full of young wizards laughing and talking together. James walked along through the train in search of an empty compartment, his trunk following closely behind him. Some of the wizards were dressed in robes and others were still in their muggle clothes. James looked into the compartments as he passed. He enjoyed seeing the groups chatting and couldn't wait until he made friends he could do the same with.

As James neared the back of the train he heard the sound of two boys laughing. He walked closer to the compartment and saw two older Slytherin boys, already dressed in their full robes, holding a wand over the head of a shorter boy. The shorter boy looked to be in his first year as well and was still dressed in his muggle clothes. The boy was jumping up to try and get his wand back.

"Give it back!" James yelled at the older boys as he swung into the compartment, his wand pointed squarely at the taller of the two boys chest.

"Wow, you know what Lucius, we should probably give this kid his wand back or we're going to be hexed pretty bad." The shorter boy started laughing and the one he called Lucius was smirking and waving the younger boys wand through the air.

"You're right, we should definitely give in to this little first year. He is clearly a threat to us." They both began laughing.

James ran into compartment and jumped up grabbing the wand from Lucius and handing it to the smaller, younger boy. "Come on! We need to go!"

James grabbed the boy and ran out into the corridor. They got a few compartments away and pulled into an empty one.

"Thanks." The small boy said as he sat down.

"Any time, I'm James by the way." James put out his hand and the other boy shook it.

"I'm Peter."

Part 2: Padfoot

Sirius walked beside his mother along the platform. He could see his cousins standing together near the train. Narcissa was talking to a tall boy with long blonde hair. He recognized him as her boyfriend Lucius Malfoy. Narcissa and Lucius both looked extremely annoyed by the people around them. Andromeda looked over and saw Sirius. She immediately started smiling.

"Hi Sirius! Come over here, we're about to get on the train, we can help you out since it's your first time." Sirius smiled back and walked faster toward his cousin.

"Hi Andromeda, hi Narcissa." Sirius was excited to go to Hogwarts and it showed in his voice.

"Sirius, you must be so excited." Andromeda said.

"I am, I'm really happy to be starting at Hogwarts."

"Sirius we need to talk for a moment before you get on the train." Orion Black was standing behind his son. He cupped his hand on his shoulder as he spoke. His voice oozed with authority.

"Of course father."Sirius' smile faded as he walked along side his father.

"Sirius, you are going to Hogwarts but you will still represent the Black family while you are there. It is important to remember the values of our family Sirius. I don't want to hear that you have been talking to mudbloods and blood traitors. I'll have your cousins watching over you and letting me know what kind of trouble you get into. There will be plenty of wonderful young slytherins that you can become friends with, there is no need to go outside of your house and risk befriending the worst of wizardkind. Do you understand what I'm saying Sirius?" Orion stared into his son's eyes and awaited his response.

"Yes father. I understand." Sirius forced himself to look his father in the eye. "I won't disappoint you."

The train whistle blew and Sirius turned to face the large crimson engine.

"Come on Sirius, we need to get on the train now!" Andromeda grabbed her younger cousin and they jumped onto the train as it began to move.

Sirius walked along the train as it moved out of the station. His cousins had gone off to sit with their friends and Sirius was left to navigate the train on his own. He found a compartment with a rather small, pale boy sitting alone reading a book.

"Mind if I join you?" Sirius asked. The boy looked up from his book and a small smile crept across his face.

"Sure. Do you need help with your trunk? I had some trouble getting mine up there." The boy stood up and they both lifted a side of the trunk and placed it carefully onto the shelf.

"Thanks! I'm Sirius by the way, Sirius Black" once he said his last name he regretted it, he couldn't figure out why.

"I'm Remus."

Part 3: Wormtail

"I'm Peter" his voiced seemed weak to him but James didn't appear to notice.

"Well it's good to meet you Peter." James smiled.

Peter looked around the compartment feeling uncomfortable. He had never been all that great at starting conversation with new people. He glanced toward James who was sitting next to him twirling his wand between his fingers.

"How do you do that?" Peter asked pulling his own wand from his pocket and attempting to twirl it. It quickly tumbled to the ground.

James laughed, "It's just practice I guess, try not to think too hard about it."

Peter tried it again and was able to keep it spinning for a couple seconds before it fell from his hands again.

"You're getting better Peter." James smiled and Peter started laughing. They kept swirling their wands as the train moved steadily toward the country.

The sky was getting darker outside of the train and the view through the window had changed from neighbourhoods into sprawling country. Peter and James had changed into their Hogwarts robes. James had a small pin with the gryffindor crest attached to his robes. They had a pile of snacks from the snack trolley spread between them.

"Another Dumbledore," Peter exclaimed as he opened a chocolate frog. He put the card on the top of a pile of cards and took a bite out of the frog as it attempted to jump from his hand before becoming still.

James laughed and picked up a cauldron cake from the pile of treats. "Dumbledore is a pretty common one. I need to find a Gryffindor card." James lifted the pile of chocolate frog cards in front of him and rummaged through it.

Peter finished his chocolate frog and leaned back in his seat. James looked over at him. "Are you okay Peter?" James asked. Peter thought about it. He was better than okay, he felt happy.

"Ya, I'm great." Peter replied. James smiled at him.

"Great, how about we walk around a bit. I'm bored and there has got to be something interesting going on on this train." James got up and Peter was surprised but he followed suit.

The two boys walked out of the compartment and into the hall of the train. Peter walked behind James as they passed by groups of students, some dressed in robes and others who hadn't quite gotten around to it. Peter heard raised voices coming from a compartment ahead of him. He could tell James heard it as well. He watched as James walked toward the compartment and looked inside. Peter stepped up and looked in on the group of probable first years. He noticed a girl with long red hair, tears were running down her face. Beside her was a boy with long greasy hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in years.

Part 4: Moony

"I'm Remus" Remus' smile grew. He had only known this boy for a few seconds and he already felt like he could talk to him for some reason. Maybe it was the look on his face when he said his name. It was the same look that Remus had whenever he thought about his situation, disappointment or maybe embarrassment.

Sirius took a seat beside him and a smile crept across his face. "So, Remus, excited for Hogwarts?"

Remus wanted to shout yes at the top of his lungs but the fear of his transformations shifted its way into his brain and the pure excitement combined with an unsettling anxiety. "Ya, I'm pretty excited" He responded, he could feel the smile on his face fading and he forced it back on. He didn't want to make Sirius suspicious.

"I'm pretty excited too." Remus looked at Sirius and could see his smile shift. It no longer looked care free. There was an uncertainty to it. "A little nervous too" Sirius looked at Remus and Remus smiled.

"Ya I'm a bit nervous too." Remus felt good being honest with his new friend.

Remus and Sirius walked along the corridor in their newly adorned Hogwarts robes. More people had started wandering around the train and they wanted to join in on the adventure. Remus walked a few steps behind his new friend, he watched as Sirius walked with an air of confidence that radiated to everyone they passed. They walked along until Remus noticed two boys arguing in a compartment toward the end of the train.

"I wonder what that's all about?" Sirius said exactly what Remus had been thinking. "We should check it out."

Before Remus could respond Sirius had stepped into the compartment with the arguing boys. Remus followed him in and noticed a small boy sitting in the corner and a girl who was crying and trying to calm the two boys down.

"Sev, stop!" The girl yelled at one of the boys. He had greasy black hair.

"You're defending him! After he called you that awful word." The other boy looked very angry and Remus immediately wondered what word could possibly cause all of this.

"He's my friend!" The girl yelled back in the boy's face. Remus noticed the boy wipe a bit of spit off his face before he turned back toward Sev. "Sev let's go, I don't want to be anywhere near here anymore."

The girl and Sev left the compartment and an odd silence fell over the group.

"When did you get here?" The boy who had been arguing asked. His dark hair was a mess, it looked like he had just gotten out of bed.

"Apparently not early enough, what was that all about?" Sirius asked with a smirk on his face.

Remus looked back and forth between Sirius and the other boy watching for any sort of reaction.

"He called her a mudblood, I wouldn't stand for that kind of bigoted nonsense. All though it shouldn't surprise me, he said he wants to be in Slytherin." The boy had a look of disgust on his face when he mentioned slytherin.

"What's wrong with slytherin. My whole family has been in slytherin for generations." Sirius looked the other boy straight in the eye. Remus noticed the same look as he saw earlier, an embarrassment had washed over Sirius' face.

"If you have to ask that we may have a problem."

"So where would you like to end up then."

"Gryffindor of course," the messy haired boy puffed his chest and continued, "where dwell the brave at heart."

The two boys watched each other for a second before Sirius allowed a smile to break across his face. "Well perhaps I'll be a bit different from my family. I'm Sirius." He put out his hand and the other boy shook it.

"And I'm James. That's Peter." James responded as he nodded toward the boy sitting in the corner.

"This is my friend Remus." Sirius grabbed Remus by the arm and toward James who started laughing. Remus started laughing as well and he could feel his fear starting to dull. He was getting more and more friends and the year hadn't even started yet. He just hoped his secret wouldn't stop them from liking him, had they ever found out.