"Sirius! Hurry up, you're going to be late!" Arcanus Black bellowed up the
stairs at his 11-year-old son.
"Coming, Da!" Sirius shouted as he scrabbled in a desk drawer, knowing he'd forgotten something important, but unable to remember what it was. A sheepish grin stole over his angular features as his fingers contacted it -- a rememberall, something he'd doubtless need at Hogwarts and really needed pretty much anywhere if he were completely honest with himself. He stuffed it in his knapsack along with robes to change into on the train and an assortment of whimsies to keep him occupied during the trip. The rest of his wizarding things were safely locked away in a pair of trunks. As he shoved the cluttered desk drawer shut, his eyes caught on something shiny and colorful. With out knowing exactly why, he plucked the small, kaleidoscopic sphere from the drawer on impulse and thrust it into his sack after the rememberall.
"Sirius!!"
"Okay, okay, I'm coming!" He clattered down the stairs and into the Great Hall of Black Castle, hoping he hadn't made them late. All during his primary school years, it had been "Hogwarts this" and "Hogwarts that." Sirius supposed that was only natural for an old wizarding family like his own, but it had put him under a rather unfair amount of pressure, if he did say so himself. His relief when he'd received the invitation to study at Hogwarts had been inexpressible. He'd positively die of embarrassment if he missed the train.
"Ah, there you are. I was beginning to think you'd reconsidered," Arcanus teased his gangly son.
"Reconsidered?!" Sirius was horrified. Surely his father couldn't think...
Arcanus pulled the overexcited boy around to face him and met the earnest deep blue eyes. "I'm just kidding, son. I know how badly you've wanted to go to Hogwarts."
Sirius deflated a little, and Arcanus' heart lurched painfully. Sometimes his precocious young son could be at once so brash and yet so vulnerable. "I just want to make you proud, Da."
The older man tousled Sirius' long black hair. "Never worry about that, Sirius; I'll always be proud of you. Your mother would've been immensely proud of you had she lived to see this day. You go to Hogwarts for yourself, not for me. Live and learn and be happy."
Sirius' trademark roguish smile spread lopsidedly over his face. "I will, Da. Thanks."
"Good lad," Arcanus said approvingly. "We'll go through the fireplace to your aunt's flat since she lives so close to King's Cross.
Sirius nodded and seized the cart that held his trunks, cauldron, and a caged owl named Screech. He thundered into the parlor as fast as his legs would take him.
Arcanus caught his hand. "Sirius, I need you to listen to me for a moment. You know there are other wizarding families out there; families that have been around as long as or longer than ours. You know that I don't hold with feuding -- silly practice, really. But not everyone will feel that way, so I feel I need to warn you. The Snapes have a boy starting at Hogwarts this year, and the Malfoys' son is in his third year. They may try to make trouble for you. The lot of them have been flirting with the Dark of late, and they've never been fond of us for reasons that have never been entirely clear, so watch your step. The kids may well be okay, but if their parents are pulling the strings, things could become deadly serious."
Sirius had stood, wide-eyed and silent as he listened to his father's warning. He somehow felt that this was important; too important for a flippant "sure thing, Da." So he solemnly gripped his father's forearm in a warrior's clasp. "I'll be careful, Father, and I'll never turn. I promise."
Arcanus returned the grip just as seriously. "Good lad," he said again, voice hoarse with emotion. He cleared his throat. All right, let's be off." He flung a pinch of floo powder into the fireplace, causing the flames dancing merrily there to flare bright green. "Zarelda Black's flat, London," he said clearly. "All right, son, go ahead. Better let me take the cart since it's tricky traveling with luggage."
Sirius nodded and stepped into the fireplace, being sure to keep his elbows tucked in tightly. He shut his eyes against the vertigo that assailed him, and a moment later, tumbled unceremoniously into his aunt's front room.
"Ah, there you are at last," a feminine voice said, and a long, slender hand was stuck in Sirius' face to help him to his feet. "Where's your bags, then, young man? You can't go to Hogwarts like that," she admonished.
Sirius dusted the ash off his 'civvies' and turned to face his aunt. His father's unmarried sister, Zarelda Black had done her best to mother young Sirius when her sister-in-law had died so suddenly when he was small. She wasn't really the motherly type, she supposed, but that had turned out for the best. When Sirius had caught a frog on an outing in the country in an attempt to make her screech, she'd merely laughed and helped catch the little creature a friend instead. They'd got on famously after that. And she was a first rate witch, which helped immensely in little things like levitating the ever-inquisitive and notoriously uncareful Sirius out of the path of imminent danger.
"Da's coming with the bags, Auntie," Sirius piped. "Said it was a bit tricky with luggage."
With a rumble and a thump, Arcanus Black was abruptly spat out of the fireplace with Sirius' bags in tow. Sirius tried to contain his laughter as father and trunks tumbled across the floor to collapse in a heap against the wall, Screech violently protesting all the way at such an undignified mode of transportation.
"Gracious goodness!" Aunt Zarelda exclaimed.
Arcanus huffed indignantly and clambered to his feet. "Well then! Next time we'll have to apparate the bags. The fireplace was most annoyed with me."
Sirius dissolved into giggles. "Hurry, Father! I don't want to miss the train."
"All right, all right, you impatient whelp, let's go."
"Do remember to wear your muffler when it gets cold, Sirius."
Sirius sighed. "Yes, Auntie," he promised as he hustled his father out the door.
Arcanus chuckled and hurried down the street after his impatient son until they arrived at King's Cross.
"How do I do it again, Da?" Sirius asked worriedly as they approached Platforms 9 and 10.
Arcanus' reply was cut off as a matronly woman shoved her spindly young son at the wall, thrusting two scrolls into his small hand. "One for Headmaster Dumbledore and one for Madame Pomfrey," she said firmly. "Light knows *we've* done all we can for you. Maybe *they* will have more luck." With that, she breezed away without a backward glance.
Sirius looked at the boy, standing forlornly there with his trunks and cauldron, and cast a desperate glance at his father.
Arcanus stood there stupidly for a moment, then caught on to the message in his son's eyes. He cleared his throat.
"Well then, young man," he addressed the child, "is this your first time?"
The boy turned enormous hazel eyes toward the father and son standing near him. He blinked, then turned to look behind him to see who the tall man had been addressing. No one was there.
"Me, sir?" the boy squeaked in a nervous soprano, visibly trembling with apprehension.
Arcanus swallowed hard, wishing he'd had the presence of mind to hex the bat who'd gone off and left the poor kid alone. "Yes, of course you," he said warmly, sensing that he had to be a bit gentle with this one.
"Yes, sir," the child said, as he tucked the scrolls into his knapsack. "It's my first year at Hogwarts."
"Oh good then," Arcanus said jovially. "It's Sirius' first time, as well. I can teach you both at once." He smiled encouragingly at brown-haired waif while giving Sirius a sharp nudge in the ribs.
Sirius surreptitiously rubbed his sore ribs and stuck out his hand toward the other boy. "Hi, my name's Sirius Black, what's yours?"
Honey-amber eyes wavered for a moment, uncertain. Then, the other child seemed to screw up his courage and lifted his pointed chin almost defiantly. "I'm Remus," he said shyly as he accepted the proffered hand for a quick handshake. "Remus Lupin."
"Lupin? As in Cliff Lupin?" Arcanus asked.
Remus nodded. "Yes, sir."
Arcanus smiled. "I went to Hogwarts with your dad," he told the boy while mentally making a note to get in touch with his former schoolmate. Something just didn't smell right about this whole situation.
Remus returned the smile tentatively.
"All right, then," Arcanus said. "All you have to do is get a good running start and head straight for the wall."
Sirius blinked and looked askance at his father. "You're kidding," he said, plainly skeptical.
Arcanus grinned. "Nope." He pointed, and the two boys watched as an older student barreled at the wall and plunged through.
Sirius goggled. "Wow. That's all there is to it?"
"All there is to it."
Remus tried valiantly to hide his nervousness and uncertainty.
"Why don't you go first, son," Arcanus directed, sensing Remus' fear, "and wait for Remus on the other side."
"Okay, Da." He turned to Remus and grinned. "Provided I don't smack up against the wall, I'll be waiting for you on the platform." Sirius was ridiculously pleased to see Remus smile and laugh at his rather lame attempt at humor.
Sirius took a deep breath, squinched his eyes shut, and trundled his baggage cart at the wall, full tilt. Remus held his breath, certain that his new friend would do himself harm.
A flash of cold, a bit of dizziness like he'd come through the fireplace, and Sirius was...still standing. Not smashed flat against the wall, thank goodness. He opened one eye and peeked out cautiously. And there it was, the Hogwarts Express, puffing and chugging and waiting for its cargo of young witches and wizards. He grinned.
On the other side of the wall, Remus looked up at Sirius' father.
"See there?" Arcanus asked. "Sirius went through okay, and it was his first time. Now you go on ahead with your things, and I'll be right behind you to see you both off."
Remus nodded, then looked at the wall and gulped. He turned back to the tall, dark-haired man. "Thank you, Mr. Black," he said quietly, suddenly far too mature for his eleven years. "For...everything."
Arcanus nodded encouragingly, and watched as Remus took a deep breath, shut his eyes tightly, flung himself and his baggage cart at the wall, and disappeared. Not for the first time, Arcanus promised himself to get in touch with Cliff Lupin at once. Surely the man couldn't know how Remus' mother had treated her son. Cliff had always been a first-rate sort of chap, and it was inconceivable to Arcanus that he could know about this and allow his son to be treated this way.
He stopped his woolgathering and stepped through the wall.
On Platform 9¾, Sirius drank in the sight of the shining Hogwarts train for a moment before a noise from behind him startled him out of his reverie. He whirled around just in time to catch Remus in one arm and his baggage cart in the other as the smaller boy careened out of the wall and onto the platform.
"Steady on," he said jokingly as Remus' momentum flattened him against Sirius' taller frame. For the first time, he noticed how much smaller Remus was than himself; the tousled brown head fit neatly under his chin. He felt a surge of sudden, fierce protectiveness well up in him, for something told him that Remus was very much worth protecting.
Remus warily opened his eyes and found himself nose-to-chest with Sirius Black. He tipped his head back to meet amused blue eyes and a lopsided smile. Blushing furiously, he cleared his throat and stepped away from Sirius.
"Er, sorry. Thanks for catching me."
"Anytime," Sirius said warmly, just as his father came through the wall.
"All right then, lads, onto the train with you! I'll see that your bags are stowed properly." He promptly took charge of the luggage carts. "And Sirius, DO at least try to behave yourself, eh?"
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Yes, Da. I promise."
Remus stifled a grin, certain he liked his shaggy-haired new friend already.
"C'mon, Remus, you can sit with me if you like."
Remus smiled shyly. "Thanks, Sirius. I'd like that."
Arcanus watched as the two boys headed for the passenger coaches, chattering all the while. "Take care of each other," he murmured, suddenly certain that these two boys would come to mean a lot to each other. He handed off the luggage carts to the porters, then waved to the two boys through their compartment window.
Sirius waved back at his father, and Remus, when prodded, followed suit. Satisfied that all was in order, Arcanus disapparated, bound for Black Castle in the Scottish highlands.
"Fancy that, your da and mine going to Hogwarts together, and now the two of us on the train together" Sirius said jovially as he settled into the padded seat.
Remus smiled that half-shy, half-joyful little grin that Sirius already wanted to see more of. "Rather a coincidence, I'd say."
"I wonder if they were mates. Da's never really mentioned much about his time at Hogwarts, aside from telling me to look out for the ghosts and about the Houses and such."
Remus shrugged. "I wouldn't know, honestly. My father doesn't... well, he's very busy," he prevaricated. "I wonder what it's like," he mused distractedly, "to have friends like that." He blushed when he realized what he'd said.
Sirius blinked. "Haven't you ever had a best friend, or even just the other boys from grammar school?"
"No," Remus mumbled. "I was taught at home. Didn't get out much."
Sirius looked at the other boy, who was slumped dejectedly, refusing to meet his eyes, and suddenly became Very Angry. Obviously, something had happened in Remus' life to keep him from having friends, and Sirius was furious at whoever it was that had mistreated him so. Anybody who could make Remus look so miserable... well, Sirius decided that they would have to answer to him from now on.
"Say Remus," he said, trying to be a bit cheerful without making Remus feel any worse, "I haven't got a best mate at Hogwarts. Would you be my best mate?"
The change in Remus' demeanor was as remarkable as it was sudden. His shoulders straightened, and his marvelous eyes positively glowed as a beatific smile bloomed across his thin face. "Really??" he said in disbelief.
Sirius gulped and pasted a not-quite-genuine companionable smile on his face to cover the ache in his heart for the other boy. "'Course really," he said reassuringly. "So what say you? Shall we be best mates?"
Remus was already nodding enthusiastically, his light brown hair becoming even more tousled. "I-I'd like that very much," he said shyly, casting his eyes downward as his cheeks pinked.
Sirius immediately decided that happy-shy-abashed was a really good look for Remus. The other boy looked quite fetching, if truth be told, and Sirius was certain that the girls would be all over him at Hogwarts. Half of them would think Remus was dreamy, and the other half would think he was unbearably cute and want to mother him to death. Some fellows just got all the luck.
Sirius stood up, crossed the compartment, and plunked down next to Remus. He cleared his throat and rummaged briefly in his knapsack. "Since you're my new best mate," he began, "I want you to have this." He produced the colored sphere, about the size of a large marble, with a flourish. "My aunt made this for me when I was little. I think she just wanted to know what I was thinking half the time, but it's still neat to look at. It changes colors based on the mood of the person holding it. See it's yellow and bright blue now 'cause I'm happy and I'm a bit nervous about going to Hogwarts. Here, you take it," he encouraged.
Remus had been staring at the little sphere with fascinated eyes. He blinked at Sirius' offer and glanced up apologetically. "Oh, I couldn't possibly. I haven't got anything to give you in return... Wait, maybe I do." Remus began rifling through his own bag.
Meanwhile, Sirius was wondering how to extract his foot from his mouth. He'd genuinely meant to give Remus his little sphere as a gesture of friendship, not as an invitation to be given something in return.
"No, no, really Remus, you don't have to give me anything. I just wanted you to have this. Seemed right, somehow."
A muffled "Aha!" came from the bag within which Remus' head was buried. He came up with a peculiar-looking lumpish thing clutched triumphantly in one small hand.
Sirius looked at it uncertainly. "What's that?" he blurted, then realizing how disgusted he'd sounded, hastened to cover his tracks. "Er, I mean, I've never seen anything quite like that before. What's it do?"
Remus giggled and broke the brownish thing into two equally sized pieces, handing half to Sirius. "My parting gift from Cook," Remus explained. "She made me a lump of Regenerating Fudge. Break off a piece, and watch what happens."
Sirius complied and was astonished to see the broken portion regrow itself as he munched contentedly on the fragment. "Mmm, thims s'reamlly goomptd," he mumbled approvingly around his mouthful.
Remus was also happily chewing away. "Caramel pecan fudge. My very favorite. Cook used to sneak it to me every now and then."
Sirius shoved the kaleidoscopic sphere into Remus' hand. Remus shyly accepted it, and Sirius watched in growing alarm as it turned the dark purples and blues of sorrow and loneliness. Slowly, so slowly, a tiny, fragile, golden filament of joy snaked its way through the deep murky mist.
Worried for his new friend, Sirius gently clasped Remus' shoulder. "Why are you so sad?" he asked with artless concern.
Remus blinked, disconcerted that the sphere had told his friend so much about himself. Sirius' genuine distress struck a chord within him and smashed the carefully constructed walls around his inner self to smithereens. To his mortification, he sniffled, and a tear escaped to roll slowly down his cheek. "I'm sorry," he whispered brokenly.
Something in Sirius twinged in sympathetic pain. He remembered how much it had hurt when his mother died, and he remembered how the only thing that had made him feel remotely better was when his father held him. Innocently figuring that the same sort of treatment might help fix whatever hurt his new friend harbored, he unselfconsciously hauled Remus into his lap and threw his arms around the smaller boy.
And he was very gratified to see the sphere slowly begin to glow in the pink and golden tones of comfort and contentment.
"Coming, Da!" Sirius shouted as he scrabbled in a desk drawer, knowing he'd forgotten something important, but unable to remember what it was. A sheepish grin stole over his angular features as his fingers contacted it -- a rememberall, something he'd doubtless need at Hogwarts and really needed pretty much anywhere if he were completely honest with himself. He stuffed it in his knapsack along with robes to change into on the train and an assortment of whimsies to keep him occupied during the trip. The rest of his wizarding things were safely locked away in a pair of trunks. As he shoved the cluttered desk drawer shut, his eyes caught on something shiny and colorful. With out knowing exactly why, he plucked the small, kaleidoscopic sphere from the drawer on impulse and thrust it into his sack after the rememberall.
"Sirius!!"
"Okay, okay, I'm coming!" He clattered down the stairs and into the Great Hall of Black Castle, hoping he hadn't made them late. All during his primary school years, it had been "Hogwarts this" and "Hogwarts that." Sirius supposed that was only natural for an old wizarding family like his own, but it had put him under a rather unfair amount of pressure, if he did say so himself. His relief when he'd received the invitation to study at Hogwarts had been inexpressible. He'd positively die of embarrassment if he missed the train.
"Ah, there you are. I was beginning to think you'd reconsidered," Arcanus teased his gangly son.
"Reconsidered?!" Sirius was horrified. Surely his father couldn't think...
Arcanus pulled the overexcited boy around to face him and met the earnest deep blue eyes. "I'm just kidding, son. I know how badly you've wanted to go to Hogwarts."
Sirius deflated a little, and Arcanus' heart lurched painfully. Sometimes his precocious young son could be at once so brash and yet so vulnerable. "I just want to make you proud, Da."
The older man tousled Sirius' long black hair. "Never worry about that, Sirius; I'll always be proud of you. Your mother would've been immensely proud of you had she lived to see this day. You go to Hogwarts for yourself, not for me. Live and learn and be happy."
Sirius' trademark roguish smile spread lopsidedly over his face. "I will, Da. Thanks."
"Good lad," Arcanus said approvingly. "We'll go through the fireplace to your aunt's flat since she lives so close to King's Cross.
Sirius nodded and seized the cart that held his trunks, cauldron, and a caged owl named Screech. He thundered into the parlor as fast as his legs would take him.
Arcanus caught his hand. "Sirius, I need you to listen to me for a moment. You know there are other wizarding families out there; families that have been around as long as or longer than ours. You know that I don't hold with feuding -- silly practice, really. But not everyone will feel that way, so I feel I need to warn you. The Snapes have a boy starting at Hogwarts this year, and the Malfoys' son is in his third year. They may try to make trouble for you. The lot of them have been flirting with the Dark of late, and they've never been fond of us for reasons that have never been entirely clear, so watch your step. The kids may well be okay, but if their parents are pulling the strings, things could become deadly serious."
Sirius had stood, wide-eyed and silent as he listened to his father's warning. He somehow felt that this was important; too important for a flippant "sure thing, Da." So he solemnly gripped his father's forearm in a warrior's clasp. "I'll be careful, Father, and I'll never turn. I promise."
Arcanus returned the grip just as seriously. "Good lad," he said again, voice hoarse with emotion. He cleared his throat. All right, let's be off." He flung a pinch of floo powder into the fireplace, causing the flames dancing merrily there to flare bright green. "Zarelda Black's flat, London," he said clearly. "All right, son, go ahead. Better let me take the cart since it's tricky traveling with luggage."
Sirius nodded and stepped into the fireplace, being sure to keep his elbows tucked in tightly. He shut his eyes against the vertigo that assailed him, and a moment later, tumbled unceremoniously into his aunt's front room.
"Ah, there you are at last," a feminine voice said, and a long, slender hand was stuck in Sirius' face to help him to his feet. "Where's your bags, then, young man? You can't go to Hogwarts like that," she admonished.
Sirius dusted the ash off his 'civvies' and turned to face his aunt. His father's unmarried sister, Zarelda Black had done her best to mother young Sirius when her sister-in-law had died so suddenly when he was small. She wasn't really the motherly type, she supposed, but that had turned out for the best. When Sirius had caught a frog on an outing in the country in an attempt to make her screech, she'd merely laughed and helped catch the little creature a friend instead. They'd got on famously after that. And she was a first rate witch, which helped immensely in little things like levitating the ever-inquisitive and notoriously uncareful Sirius out of the path of imminent danger.
"Da's coming with the bags, Auntie," Sirius piped. "Said it was a bit tricky with luggage."
With a rumble and a thump, Arcanus Black was abruptly spat out of the fireplace with Sirius' bags in tow. Sirius tried to contain his laughter as father and trunks tumbled across the floor to collapse in a heap against the wall, Screech violently protesting all the way at such an undignified mode of transportation.
"Gracious goodness!" Aunt Zarelda exclaimed.
Arcanus huffed indignantly and clambered to his feet. "Well then! Next time we'll have to apparate the bags. The fireplace was most annoyed with me."
Sirius dissolved into giggles. "Hurry, Father! I don't want to miss the train."
"All right, all right, you impatient whelp, let's go."
"Do remember to wear your muffler when it gets cold, Sirius."
Sirius sighed. "Yes, Auntie," he promised as he hustled his father out the door.
Arcanus chuckled and hurried down the street after his impatient son until they arrived at King's Cross.
"How do I do it again, Da?" Sirius asked worriedly as they approached Platforms 9 and 10.
Arcanus' reply was cut off as a matronly woman shoved her spindly young son at the wall, thrusting two scrolls into his small hand. "One for Headmaster Dumbledore and one for Madame Pomfrey," she said firmly. "Light knows *we've* done all we can for you. Maybe *they* will have more luck." With that, she breezed away without a backward glance.
Sirius looked at the boy, standing forlornly there with his trunks and cauldron, and cast a desperate glance at his father.
Arcanus stood there stupidly for a moment, then caught on to the message in his son's eyes. He cleared his throat.
"Well then, young man," he addressed the child, "is this your first time?"
The boy turned enormous hazel eyes toward the father and son standing near him. He blinked, then turned to look behind him to see who the tall man had been addressing. No one was there.
"Me, sir?" the boy squeaked in a nervous soprano, visibly trembling with apprehension.
Arcanus swallowed hard, wishing he'd had the presence of mind to hex the bat who'd gone off and left the poor kid alone. "Yes, of course you," he said warmly, sensing that he had to be a bit gentle with this one.
"Yes, sir," the child said, as he tucked the scrolls into his knapsack. "It's my first year at Hogwarts."
"Oh good then," Arcanus said jovially. "It's Sirius' first time, as well. I can teach you both at once." He smiled encouragingly at brown-haired waif while giving Sirius a sharp nudge in the ribs.
Sirius surreptitiously rubbed his sore ribs and stuck out his hand toward the other boy. "Hi, my name's Sirius Black, what's yours?"
Honey-amber eyes wavered for a moment, uncertain. Then, the other child seemed to screw up his courage and lifted his pointed chin almost defiantly. "I'm Remus," he said shyly as he accepted the proffered hand for a quick handshake. "Remus Lupin."
"Lupin? As in Cliff Lupin?" Arcanus asked.
Remus nodded. "Yes, sir."
Arcanus smiled. "I went to Hogwarts with your dad," he told the boy while mentally making a note to get in touch with his former schoolmate. Something just didn't smell right about this whole situation.
Remus returned the smile tentatively.
"All right, then," Arcanus said. "All you have to do is get a good running start and head straight for the wall."
Sirius blinked and looked askance at his father. "You're kidding," he said, plainly skeptical.
Arcanus grinned. "Nope." He pointed, and the two boys watched as an older student barreled at the wall and plunged through.
Sirius goggled. "Wow. That's all there is to it?"
"All there is to it."
Remus tried valiantly to hide his nervousness and uncertainty.
"Why don't you go first, son," Arcanus directed, sensing Remus' fear, "and wait for Remus on the other side."
"Okay, Da." He turned to Remus and grinned. "Provided I don't smack up against the wall, I'll be waiting for you on the platform." Sirius was ridiculously pleased to see Remus smile and laugh at his rather lame attempt at humor.
Sirius took a deep breath, squinched his eyes shut, and trundled his baggage cart at the wall, full tilt. Remus held his breath, certain that his new friend would do himself harm.
A flash of cold, a bit of dizziness like he'd come through the fireplace, and Sirius was...still standing. Not smashed flat against the wall, thank goodness. He opened one eye and peeked out cautiously. And there it was, the Hogwarts Express, puffing and chugging and waiting for its cargo of young witches and wizards. He grinned.
On the other side of the wall, Remus looked up at Sirius' father.
"See there?" Arcanus asked. "Sirius went through okay, and it was his first time. Now you go on ahead with your things, and I'll be right behind you to see you both off."
Remus nodded, then looked at the wall and gulped. He turned back to the tall, dark-haired man. "Thank you, Mr. Black," he said quietly, suddenly far too mature for his eleven years. "For...everything."
Arcanus nodded encouragingly, and watched as Remus took a deep breath, shut his eyes tightly, flung himself and his baggage cart at the wall, and disappeared. Not for the first time, Arcanus promised himself to get in touch with Cliff Lupin at once. Surely the man couldn't know how Remus' mother had treated her son. Cliff had always been a first-rate sort of chap, and it was inconceivable to Arcanus that he could know about this and allow his son to be treated this way.
He stopped his woolgathering and stepped through the wall.
On Platform 9¾, Sirius drank in the sight of the shining Hogwarts train for a moment before a noise from behind him startled him out of his reverie. He whirled around just in time to catch Remus in one arm and his baggage cart in the other as the smaller boy careened out of the wall and onto the platform.
"Steady on," he said jokingly as Remus' momentum flattened him against Sirius' taller frame. For the first time, he noticed how much smaller Remus was than himself; the tousled brown head fit neatly under his chin. He felt a surge of sudden, fierce protectiveness well up in him, for something told him that Remus was very much worth protecting.
Remus warily opened his eyes and found himself nose-to-chest with Sirius Black. He tipped his head back to meet amused blue eyes and a lopsided smile. Blushing furiously, he cleared his throat and stepped away from Sirius.
"Er, sorry. Thanks for catching me."
"Anytime," Sirius said warmly, just as his father came through the wall.
"All right then, lads, onto the train with you! I'll see that your bags are stowed properly." He promptly took charge of the luggage carts. "And Sirius, DO at least try to behave yourself, eh?"
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Yes, Da. I promise."
Remus stifled a grin, certain he liked his shaggy-haired new friend already.
"C'mon, Remus, you can sit with me if you like."
Remus smiled shyly. "Thanks, Sirius. I'd like that."
Arcanus watched as the two boys headed for the passenger coaches, chattering all the while. "Take care of each other," he murmured, suddenly certain that these two boys would come to mean a lot to each other. He handed off the luggage carts to the porters, then waved to the two boys through their compartment window.
Sirius waved back at his father, and Remus, when prodded, followed suit. Satisfied that all was in order, Arcanus disapparated, bound for Black Castle in the Scottish highlands.
"Fancy that, your da and mine going to Hogwarts together, and now the two of us on the train together" Sirius said jovially as he settled into the padded seat.
Remus smiled that half-shy, half-joyful little grin that Sirius already wanted to see more of. "Rather a coincidence, I'd say."
"I wonder if they were mates. Da's never really mentioned much about his time at Hogwarts, aside from telling me to look out for the ghosts and about the Houses and such."
Remus shrugged. "I wouldn't know, honestly. My father doesn't... well, he's very busy," he prevaricated. "I wonder what it's like," he mused distractedly, "to have friends like that." He blushed when he realized what he'd said.
Sirius blinked. "Haven't you ever had a best friend, or even just the other boys from grammar school?"
"No," Remus mumbled. "I was taught at home. Didn't get out much."
Sirius looked at the other boy, who was slumped dejectedly, refusing to meet his eyes, and suddenly became Very Angry. Obviously, something had happened in Remus' life to keep him from having friends, and Sirius was furious at whoever it was that had mistreated him so. Anybody who could make Remus look so miserable... well, Sirius decided that they would have to answer to him from now on.
"Say Remus," he said, trying to be a bit cheerful without making Remus feel any worse, "I haven't got a best mate at Hogwarts. Would you be my best mate?"
The change in Remus' demeanor was as remarkable as it was sudden. His shoulders straightened, and his marvelous eyes positively glowed as a beatific smile bloomed across his thin face. "Really??" he said in disbelief.
Sirius gulped and pasted a not-quite-genuine companionable smile on his face to cover the ache in his heart for the other boy. "'Course really," he said reassuringly. "So what say you? Shall we be best mates?"
Remus was already nodding enthusiastically, his light brown hair becoming even more tousled. "I-I'd like that very much," he said shyly, casting his eyes downward as his cheeks pinked.
Sirius immediately decided that happy-shy-abashed was a really good look for Remus. The other boy looked quite fetching, if truth be told, and Sirius was certain that the girls would be all over him at Hogwarts. Half of them would think Remus was dreamy, and the other half would think he was unbearably cute and want to mother him to death. Some fellows just got all the luck.
Sirius stood up, crossed the compartment, and plunked down next to Remus. He cleared his throat and rummaged briefly in his knapsack. "Since you're my new best mate," he began, "I want you to have this." He produced the colored sphere, about the size of a large marble, with a flourish. "My aunt made this for me when I was little. I think she just wanted to know what I was thinking half the time, but it's still neat to look at. It changes colors based on the mood of the person holding it. See it's yellow and bright blue now 'cause I'm happy and I'm a bit nervous about going to Hogwarts. Here, you take it," he encouraged.
Remus had been staring at the little sphere with fascinated eyes. He blinked at Sirius' offer and glanced up apologetically. "Oh, I couldn't possibly. I haven't got anything to give you in return... Wait, maybe I do." Remus began rifling through his own bag.
Meanwhile, Sirius was wondering how to extract his foot from his mouth. He'd genuinely meant to give Remus his little sphere as a gesture of friendship, not as an invitation to be given something in return.
"No, no, really Remus, you don't have to give me anything. I just wanted you to have this. Seemed right, somehow."
A muffled "Aha!" came from the bag within which Remus' head was buried. He came up with a peculiar-looking lumpish thing clutched triumphantly in one small hand.
Sirius looked at it uncertainly. "What's that?" he blurted, then realizing how disgusted he'd sounded, hastened to cover his tracks. "Er, I mean, I've never seen anything quite like that before. What's it do?"
Remus giggled and broke the brownish thing into two equally sized pieces, handing half to Sirius. "My parting gift from Cook," Remus explained. "She made me a lump of Regenerating Fudge. Break off a piece, and watch what happens."
Sirius complied and was astonished to see the broken portion regrow itself as he munched contentedly on the fragment. "Mmm, thims s'reamlly goomptd," he mumbled approvingly around his mouthful.
Remus was also happily chewing away. "Caramel pecan fudge. My very favorite. Cook used to sneak it to me every now and then."
Sirius shoved the kaleidoscopic sphere into Remus' hand. Remus shyly accepted it, and Sirius watched in growing alarm as it turned the dark purples and blues of sorrow and loneliness. Slowly, so slowly, a tiny, fragile, golden filament of joy snaked its way through the deep murky mist.
Worried for his new friend, Sirius gently clasped Remus' shoulder. "Why are you so sad?" he asked with artless concern.
Remus blinked, disconcerted that the sphere had told his friend so much about himself. Sirius' genuine distress struck a chord within him and smashed the carefully constructed walls around his inner self to smithereens. To his mortification, he sniffled, and a tear escaped to roll slowly down his cheek. "I'm sorry," he whispered brokenly.
Something in Sirius twinged in sympathetic pain. He remembered how much it had hurt when his mother died, and he remembered how the only thing that had made him feel remotely better was when his father held him. Innocently figuring that the same sort of treatment might help fix whatever hurt his new friend harbored, he unselfconsciously hauled Remus into his lap and threw his arms around the smaller boy.
And he was very gratified to see the sphere slowly begin to glow in the pink and golden tones of comfort and contentment.