Over the next week, James tried to spend as much time as he could with Lily. But September the 1st was quickly upon him.
The morning that he was to leave for school, he went over to Lily's house to say goodbye.
James stood in Lily's room, not trusting himself to say anything in case he burst into tears. Lily seemed in the same position so she just hugged him and they stood there in each other's arms in silence. Finally James's mother stuck her head round the door and pried the tearful friends apart. As she led him from the room, he looked back over his shoulder at Lily standing forlornly on her own.
'I'll miss you.' he mouthed, and she smiled slightly. 'I'll miss you too.' she said before he was literally dragged from the room.
On the way to St. Pancras, he took a quick inventory of the tricks and pranks he had bought at the shop in Diagon Alley. He had been amazed at the amount of stuff the wizarding world had compared to muggles.
'Lets see,' he said to himself, 'dungbombs, wet start fireworks, slimebombs….' but just as he had started, the car pulled up to the station and he had to stop.
As they walked along the platform, James looked at the ticket in his hand.
"Mum, I think there's been a mistake with my ticket. There isn't a platform 9 3/4, is there?"
Melinda smiled mysteriously but said nothing. They carried on walking until they stopped in front of the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. James looked around in panic.
"Dad, what's happening? Why isn't there a platform? Has something gone wrong?" He span around half expecting it to appear out of thin air.
'How am I going to get to school when there's no train!' He thought wildly.
"Calm down! It's all right, nothings gone wrong. Look all you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Your Mum'll go first to show you."
Melinda walked briskly towards the barrier carrying James's owl, Lily. When, suddenly, she was gone! James stared at the spot where she'd vanished in amazement.
James took a deep breath and jogged towards the barrier towing his suitcase behind him. He felt a cold sensation go though him and then he was facing a huge black steam train with 'HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY' emblazoned on the side in gold lettering. His father came through a few seconds after and together they managed to heave his trunk onto the train and into a compartment. As they were half an hour early it was practically deserted so they quickly found one. James put Lily's cage onto the seat and they shoved his case onto the rack above them. Then James said goodbye to his parents, (they had a meeting to get to), and started to explore the train. He ended up talking to the driver for about a quarter of an hour until he heard voices outside and went to see the other young witches and wizards of the school. But unfortunately all the people he could see were 2 or 3 years older than him, so, feeling very alone he walked along the corridor to his compartment and settled down at the window to read. A few minutes later though the door to his compartment opened and two boys that looked to be about James's age looked in.
The taller of the two had brown eyes and looked very pale. The other had dark hair and had a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"Can we join you? Everywhere else is full." the dark haired boy asked.
"Of course." James got up to help out the two trunks on the rack and they sat down.
"So, I'm James Potter."
"Pleased to meet you James, I'm Sirius Black, and this here is Remus Lupin." James grinned and leant back in his seat. Just then the whistle went and train began to move slowly out of the station.
As it pulled out, Sirius pulled a pack of cards out of his pocket and said,
"Anyone for exploding snap?"
They spent the next hour playing various variations and talking about families.
"I'm pureblood," Sirius said dealing the cards out. "Me mum and dad are both magic."
"I'm half and half," Remus said, "Dad's a wizard, and my mum's a muggle. She didn't believe him when he said he was a wizard and when he proved it to her by turning her pet turtle into a teapot she threw a hairdryer at him. I'm not totally sure why but there you go."
"What about you James? What are you?"
"I'm not sure, I could be pureblood I suppose but then my mum and dad could have both been muggles until they went to Hogwarts. They didn't tell me."
Just then the tea lady opened the compartment door and all three boys leapt at the goodies that were on offer.
They spent the rest of the journey eating their way through whilst educating James about them all.
A few hours later when the train began to slow down the door slammed open and a small boy with mousy hair was thrown in. James and Sirius leapt up and jumped over the boy into the corridor. They faced a tall boy with very blonde hair and a slightly smaller one with a hooked nose and very greasy hair.
"Well, well. What do we have hear?" The blonde boy said in a very posh voice. "A couple of filthy mud-bloods if I not mistaken. What do you think Severus?" The greasy haired louse that answers to that name looked down at James and Sirius with a cruel smile.
"I think you're right Lucius. I also think we should educate them on what happens when mud-bloods get in our way."
"What a good idea." And with that Lucius and Severus both whipped out their wands, and found themselves staring at the point of Sirius's.
"You dare to even raise your wands and I will make your lives a living hell. My name is Sirius Black. And you will leave us NOW!"
As soon as he said these words, Lucius's face went white. He grabbed Severus's arm and dragged him down the corridor and into the next carriage.
As James and Sirius went back into the compartment to sit down, the boy that had been thrown into it ran out. James stared at his friend in amazement.
"How did you do that?!" he exclaimed. "You said your name and they were scared out of their wits!"
Sirius grinned.
"I thought that I'd let them know that I wasn't a muggle born. The Blacks, unfortunately, have the bluest wizarding blood in the country."
"Is that what it meant then, Mud-blood I mean?"
Sirius scowled.
"Yes, it's a word only snobs use. It a hateful thing to say to someone with muggle parents." If he ever calls you that again mate, I swear I'm gonna make him wish he'd never been born!"
"Hey! I can look after myself!" James protested. But he didn't get much further than that because at that minute the train stopped and they all had to get out. James, Sirius and Remus stuck together as they made their way towards the towering man who was yelling,
"Firs' years this way! Over here you lot. Come on, hurry up." The stopped at the side of a huge lake and saw a gigantic castle towering up on the other side.
"Quickly now, only four to a boat!"
The three friends quickly scrambled into a boat and were followed in by a small girl with straight blonde hair. They sailed very quickly over the lake as there was no wind or rain to hinder them.
As soon as they got to the other side they all jumped out and walked behind the huge man up the steps of the castle where a woman met them and herded them inside.
AN: Can anyone tell me if Remus is half an half or a muggle or a pureblood. I just made it up on the spot so I don't know.
Poetbrit: They will find out soon enough. Okay I don't actually know but they will. Did u have caps lock stuck or something or was it meant to be like that?
kat6528
ManicPlea: Thanks for telling me about Lily's family, I'd totally forgotten
Sky21
Lani
Delphi
Thank uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!
* Dari *