Chapter 3: James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew

In the last few weeks of vacation I practiced the simple spells I found in my schoolbooks. Addi loved it. There were no hard feelings between us because I had magic blood and she didn't. She was almost relieved. Some of the old books she had read were worrying her. What muggles did to witches, all the witch burning and everything. Not to mention, she'd seen the reactions my random magic spells had caused, for now I knew what they were now. I laughed it off and told her to write me if anyone teased her in school. I was dying to try out some of the curses I had found. She would be going to Clearglen, Dad's old school. It had a good reputation and wasn't as far away as Hogwarts where ever that was, Dad wouldn't say. But we would still write using Ernie.

 Dad had flat out refused to get Addi an owl. But then he relented and bought her a cat, all black with bright green eyes, which she promptly named Sirius.  I tried to change her mind, but she refused, saying the cat was just like me, temperamental, demanding, selfish, and arrogant.  Then I chased her with a pillow and a very large pillow fight ensued for which we were both grounded.

Secondary school was something we'd never really thought about. We had never been apart for more than a few days before and now we were going to be living a hundred miles apart. It would be hard. We had practically an ESP connection. We knew exactly what the other was thinking.

I miss her. She was part of me and now it feels like there is a giant hole in my heart where she used to be, right next to James's, Lily's ,Remus's,, Peter's, Erin's, Mari's, mum and dad's. Even my child, Cassiopeia whose life I am missing .I'm surprised I'm still alive with all these pieces of me missing.

She and I were different as night and day. She liked to be by herself. I loved being with people and being the center of attention. She liked to read. I liked to play sports.  She was a model student. I got in trouble constantly. In fact my dad worried if I hadn't got in trouble at least once a day. She excelled at school. I didn't, at least in primary school. It would turn out I was the scholar of the family. Not really the scholar as my job later on had little to do with the things I learned in primary school. An Aurer isn't exactly a muggle career. She didn't exactly look much like me either. She had Dad's light green eyes, while I had Mum's pale ones. She had Dad's light red hair and I had Mum's raven black. I was tall and she short. You would never have known we were twins.

On 1st September, we were at Kings Cross Station, looking for platform 9 ¾.I said goodbye to Dad and Addi who burst into tears, and begged to go. But Dad told her she couldn't go if she had no magic. I promised to write and set off at a run for the barrier.

 I didn't see the other boy until it was too late and we both crashed though the barrier. We looked at our stuff and ourselves on the ground and stared to laugh. He was still laughing as he helped me up. He had untidy black hair and twinkling dark blue eyes.

"Sorry. I didn't see you." He said, still laughing.

"It's okay. I didn't see you either." I stuck out my hand. Something strange ran through me when he took my hand. It was if a sharp jolt ran through  my skin as soon as both our hands touched.  We let go quickly and studied each other. I seemed to know him from somewhere. But I couldn't remember where.  There was something about him, something both old and familiar and new and exciting. Seeing him was like coming home.

" I'm James Potter. What's your name?" I grinned.

'Sirius Lee Black."  He frowned.

"What? What is?"

"What is what?" I asked, looking confused and tilting my head to the side.

"Seriously black."

I grinned. "I am."

"No, you're not."

"Yes I am."  He looked so confused, I had to explain. "That's my name. Sirius, spelled  s.i.r.i.u.s Lee, L.e.e. Black. Sirius Black." Then he laughed.

"That's a good one. Your parents must have a great sense of humor. I pity any siblings you have."

"I have a sister, but I guess mum won that round, cause her name's just Adhara."  He laughed.  Then we  started towards the train.

" This your first year?" He asked me.

"Yep."

"Me too."

We gathered our things and worked our way over to the train. We managed to get both our trunks on very quickly. I'm still amazed at how well we worked together then even though we had only know each other a few minutes. It's like we knew we were meant to be friends .

We found a compartment with only one person in it. A boy with red brown hair, bright blue eyes, and a lonely expression. He gazed longingly out at the families gathered to wish the students' farewell. He looked like he could use a friend or two. James and I exchanged a look. If he wanted some friends,  then that's what he would get.

"Oy, are these seats taken?" James asked. The boy jumped then he looked at his hands and shook his head.

"Thanks."  We got our trunks inside. The boy watched us forlornly. I smiled at him. For a second I debated using my full name again. He looked like he could use a laugh.

 "Sirius Lee Black." I said, grinning. He frowned.

"What? He looked very confused.  "What's black?" James groaned.

"He is.  That's his name.  Sirius Lee Black." 

I growled at James. "Oh, you're no fun, you know that?"

            The boy smiled slowly. " Seriously?  Oh! Sirius Lee. I get it." I grinned again and I held out my hand. He stared at it for a second as if unsure of what to do, then he shook it.

" Remus, Remus Lupin."

"James Potter." He shook James's hand. "So, this your first year?"

"Yeah."

"Ours too. Hey maybe we'll be in the same house."

Remus nodded. " That'd be nice." Just then the whistle blew and the train gave a jolt as it pulled out. James jumped up to wave to his family, and Remus looked out the window as if he were searching for someone in the crowd.  I sat back. I knew dad wouldn't be there, he was making sure Addi got to her train.

"Aren't you going to say goodbye?"  James asked. I shook my head.

"It's alright.  My dad is seeing my sister off."

After we'd turned the corner and the station had vanished, we turned back to the conversation we'd been having.

" I hope I'm in Gryffindor. That's where my mom and dad where."

"My dad was in Gryffindor and my mom was in Ravenclaw. I think either one would be cool."

"What about you Sirius? What house do you want to be in?" James asked me.

What house did I want to be in? I didn't know what to say. I didn't know any of the houses. They were definitely pureblood. What if they acted the way that boy in Diagon alley had once they found out I was half. I took a chance.

"I don't know any of the houses."

" Are you from a muggle family?" James asked his face never changing.

" Half. My mum was a witch."

" Why didn't she tell you?" Remus asked.

" Well, she died when I was born. My Dad's a muggle, he raised me."

I looked at them and saw nothing but sympathy in their eyes.

" Sorry." James said softly.

"S'okay. It was a long time ago."

We sat for a while in silence, not the awkward kind, the kind where everyone is thinking their own thoughts.

Suddenly the door burst open. It was the thin-faced greasy hair boy from Diagon alley and what looked like some cronies.

"Oh it's the half breed." He sneered when he saw me. Then he turned and saw James. From the look on both their faces, I figured they must have known each other.

"Oh, it's you, Potter."

"What are you doing here, Snape?"

"I was looking for a compartment. But now that I find this one's been contaminated with mudbloods, I'll have to leave." He sneered.  "By the way, Potter what are you doing in here?"

"I'm sitting with my friends." James was getting mad, I could tell. But then so was I.

 "Your friends? And who may I ask have the privilege of being friends with the great James Potter?"

"This is Sirius Black and Remus Lupin."

"You are pureblood aren't you?" he asked Remus, addressing him for the first time.

"Yes, what does that matter?" Remus asked. He was glaring at Snape.

"What are two purebloods like you doing hanging around with some filthy half blood like him?" I'd had enough.  I took a step closer, but was held back by Remus's hand on my shoulder.

"Because he is our friend. If you have a problem with that, then leave." James said, his jaw clenched.

"Why should I?"

"Because you're not wanted here." He sneered and slithered back to the slimly pit he'd crawled out of.  I was fuming.

"That is not fair!  He shouldn't be saying things like that to anyone, especially Sirius! Stupid  pureblood beliefs." James muttered. 

"He's not telling the truth.  Some pureblood wizards think that because they  can trace their lines back far enough, they  are better than muggle born wizards." Remus explained to me. Then he changed the subject.

"So Sirius, you never said what house you want to be in."

" Whatever house I'm in I hope he's not in it."

"That goes double for me." James was still angry about what he'd said.

" Hey look here's the lunch cart. I'm starved." Remus said. James brightened. He grabbed a hand full of candy and brought it back. He threw me a plastic wrapped frog.

"Try it, it's great."

It was.  I recognized them as some of the candies Dumbledore used to bring for us when we were younger. Remus had a bag of every flavor beans. He handed me some.

" You want to be careful with those. When they say every flavor they mean every flavor."

James nodded " Once I got raw fish. My dad thinks he got puke one time."

"Really?"

"Yeah." I though for a minute.

"Cool." They laughed.

All the way we talked and eat our way though the candy. James told us about his family, and I told them about Addi and about some of the things that had happened to me before I knew I was a wizard. I soon had both of them clutching their sides as they laughed. Remus was crying from laughing so hard when I told them about unknowingly performing the full body-bind on my gym teacher after he blamed me for picking a fight in class. It felt good to make someone laugh that hard. I would come to know that feeling very well in my years at Hogwarts.

We were just recovering when a small pump boy raced into our compartment. Followed seconds later by Snape and his cronies.  One, I noticed, was tall with pale blond hair and looked much older, sixteen or seventeen.

"Where is he?" Immediately we all jumped to our feet, our smiles gone.

"What do you want, Snape?" I glared at him. He glared back.

"Oh it's you three again. "

"These were the ones you were telling us about, Severus?"  the tall boy asked. James growled.

"Lucious Malfoy. What a pleasure."  He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Likewise, Potter." He glared.

"What do you want?" James asked.  Snape and Malfoy grinned.

"That little rat is bothering us so we're teaching him a lesson." The boy gave a small squeak from where he was hiding behind James and me.

"I don't think so." James took a step closer to them.

"Why'd don't you just leave?" I stood next to him.

"And pick on someone else." Remus joined us.
"Like you?" Snape scoffed. Remus backed off a little

"Yes Like us." I took another step closer.    Malfoy laughed.

"Is this that muggle born mutt you were talking about?"  he laughed. "Not much, is he?"

Before anyone could do anything, my wand was up and pointing at them.  James and Remus  went to stop me.

"Oh! I'm scared!  The mudblood has a wand!" Snape cried, in mock horror.  Slowly, I muttered something under my breath.  There was a certain spell I'd seen in one of my books, and I'd tried it out, but it had never worked. This time, it worked very well.  Snape and Malfoy began to sprout flowers.  They quickly backed out of the room. James made sure they were gone before he closed the door.

"Good one, Sirius!"

"Where did you learn to do that?" Remus asked. I shrugged.

"It was in one of the books. I was practicing it, but it never worked before." I grinned and  I slapped a high five with Remus and James before we turned to the boy.

"Th, thanks." He stammered. I grinned.

"Don't mention it. I'm Sirius Black and this is James Potter and Remus Lupin."

"Peter Pettigrew." And so Peter was welcomed into our circle.

Soon it began to get dark and the train slowed down.