September 1971.
"For the first time ever, I had friends, three great friends."
The bright red train was steaming. The platform, 9 and ¾, was crowded with Hogwarts students, from nervous little first-years with their parents to tall last-year students talking to their friends. Remus´ father was carrying his trunk, while his mother was giving him all kind of advises. His little brother, Romulus, was just looking admiring at him; Romulus had to wait two more years until he could come to Hogwarts.
"Now remember, Remus" continued his mother, "to send an owl the moment you get there. We just want to know if everything is all right. And if you ever get homesick, you can just send us a letter and tell us. Don't be ashamed."
"Yeah, yeah, I will, mom" (Like he was really going to…)
His father had dragged his trunk to a wagon somewhere at the end of the train. He helped Remus get it in.
"Well…." he said, looking at his parents. Suddenly, he found himself in a tight hug. "Please take good care of yourself" whispered his mother in his ear. She had tears in her eyes, and his father wasn't looking to comfortable either. A whistle blew.
"The train is leaving. You must get on!" said Romulus.
"Okay then. Er… see you at Christmas, I guess." Remus swallowed. Christmas suddenly seemed ages and ages away. He got on the train and walked to a window. The train started moving. He waved at his family until he couldn't see them anymore. Then he started looking for a compartment to sit in.
~*~
All the compartments were loaded with students, except for the last one. There were only two people in it, two boys, and an owl. The owl was zooming around the compartment, just below the ceiling, and the boys were jumping around, trying to get it. One of the boys was tall, with untidy black hair. The other one was smaller. The tall boy jumped on one of the benches. He seized one of the owl's paws, and the bird, not capable of holding his weight, fell down. The boy stuffed the owl in a cage.
"See, you got your bird again" he said to the other boy. "I told you I could get it!"
"My owl! You hurt him! How could you!" yelled the other boy. Then he saw Remus standing in the opening of the door. "Hi, who are you?" he asked.
"I'm er… Remus Lupin. Are you first-years too?"
"Yup. My name is Sirius Black, and that maniac who hurt my owl calls himself James Potter." He looked furiously at the tall boy, but Remus could see he wasn't really angry.
"What's your owl's name?" he asked.
"My owl's name? His name is Severus."
"And that's a stupid name" added James.
"No, it's not! Severus was a Roman emperor! That's not stupid! That's cool!"
"Why don't you sit down with us?" suggested James. He didn't want to have an argument with Sirius.
"Er… okay." They dragged Remus´ trunk in the compartment and sat down. Sirius was occupied with his owl. He tried to comfort it by giving it owl-treats. James and Remus started chatting about Quidditch. After a few hours, a witch with a trolley came walking by. They bought a lot of sweets and started eating them, enjoying all the weird flavours of the Bertie Bott´s All-Flavoured Beans, a new type of candy. When they were halfway through the pile of sweets, another boy appeared in the opening of the door. He was slightly smaller than James, skinny, and he had greasy hair. He looked disapprovingly at the pile of sweets and sweet-wrappers which was lying on a seat. "Did you have to make such a mess?" he asked.
"And who are you? Our mother?" asked James coldly.
"My name is Severus Snape" the boy replied just as cold. The eyes of James, Sirius and Remus quickly shot from the boy to the owl, who was now sleeping in its cage.
"Did you say Severus?" asked Sirius carefully.
"Are you deaf? Yes, I did say Severus. Severus was a Roman emperor. But I expect you don't know that. I'm going now, I don't want to stay in your company for a long time." The boy left. The tree boys looked at each other.
"Do you know a good name for an owl?" asked Sirius.