Another long post today! Thanks for all the reviews and thoughts!

Chapter 23

The ride was long and James was continually bragging about his new position as Head Boy. Talking about what was going to change around Hogwarts, what he was going to do to this boy Snivellus I think he's called, and talking about this person called Evans.

It was almost eleven by the time we reached King's Cross. There were a lot of people rushing here and there and it was almost impossible to smoothly push our trolleys through the crowd. When we finally got our ticket (which read Platform 9¾) we hurried down the platform. I saw no sign bearing 9¾ but Sirius and James seemed to know where they were going.

They stopped at a barrier and waited for me to catch up.

"After you," said James giving a little bow.

"What do I do?" I asked. We were at a barrier anyway... what was I supposed to do? Run into the wall?

"Run into the wall," said Sirius cheerfully. "Here, I'll go first."

After positioning his trolley carefully, he bent forwards over the handle and ran straight into the brick wall leaving nothing behind.

"Go on, the train's gonna leave soon!" James said. He prodded me forwards, and again an involuntary flinch burst through my body. I gave him a look before I pushed my trolley and did what Sirius had done.

Another whole new different train station materialized in front of me. Smoke was billowing out from a vibrant red steam engine, waiting for all of its passengers to board. Sirius was waving to me, barely visible through the smoke. Just after I had moved clear out of the barrier, James burst through, shaking his mane of dark hair away from his eyes.

We headed towards Sirius and loaded our trunks in the baggage compartment. We got onto the train and walked down the corridor where students were still busy walking around or like us, finding compartments. A lot of the bigger students seemed to know James and Sirius and greeted them happily when they passed by.

Sirius and James headed further down the train. The train had already started moving with a soft rumble.

"Ah, here they are," said James and he pulled the compartment door open. There were two boys seated inside. One had sandy hair and was reading a large book I recognized was our Charms book, and the other was stout and chubby with mousy hair.

"Hey James! Sirius!" Said the mousy haired boy excitedly.

"Pete! Nice to see ya," said James giving the boy called Pete a special handshake as he walked in.

"James, Sirius!" Said the sandy haired boy, looking up from his book. He had kind, wise brown eyes that seemed like they knew a lot. After they had greeted their friends, their eyes averted to me.

"This is Reine," said Sirius beckoning me in.

It seemed uncomfortable being in the presence of so many boys. I would have preferred it there were at least a few girls around... I didn't feel too comfortable around them, even if I wanted to, I couldn't. But they were friendly. They greeted me cheerfully and told me a little bit about themselves.

The sandy haired boy was Remus Lupin. He was a prefect. Remus extended a hand for me to shake, but I shook my head slightly and returned a weak smile instead.

The other was called Peter Pettigrew; he looked like a bit of an oddball if you compare him to the other boys. He was somewhat unpopular-looking, I can tell, and really nerdy.

They embarked at once into heated conversations about Quidditch, teachers, lessons, their summers and in James and Sirius' case, girls.

"So is she your girlfriend anymore?" Asked James casually.

"Who, Anna Maria or Ellis?" Said Sirius.

"Wasn't Anna Maria your most recent one?"

"Um, well, I was dating both of them at the same time until summer break," said Sirius.

"Right on!" Cheered James enthusiastically. "And they didn't know?"

"Nope, but I broke it up with both of them...earned a slap from Ellis when she found out about Anna Maria. Anna on the other hand, bawled her eyes out after I told her... I guess she wasn't expecting it," Sirius shrugged.

"I wonder why they think that it'll actually last," scoffed James. "There's just something not there... They just don't have that something that say... someone like Lily Evans has..."

"They were most probably thinking that they might be the one you keep for life?" Suggested Remus quietly, not taking his eyes off his book. "Each girl had her hopes crushed... and you guys took pleasure from that didn't you?"

"No!" Argued James. "We just like experimenting a bit. Who wants to be stuck on just one? If you had a girl before Remus, you would know that it gets boring."

I frowned. I can't believe my own ears. I can't believe that Sirius was such a person. All my past feelings of wanting to be his were shattered. He dates girls for a few days and dumps them later after he gets bored of them. I just... it was disgusting, unthinkable. How did so many girls fall into their trap?

Oh I know... the same way I did... charmed by their looks.

And suddenly I felt I didn't want to be there anymore. I glanced sideways at Sirius who was still talking about his past experiences and then at James who too, was exactly like him. Remus and Peter seemed to be the most decent ones in the group... but they weren't as energetic and good-looking as James and Sirius was. Remus was quiet; he liked to keep to himself a lot. Peter... who in their right minds would go out with him anyway?

"But really, James, I think I'm going to look for one and stick with her for a while," said Sirius in a relaxed sort of tone. "Too many girls hate me already."

A group of giggling girls stopped by our compartment not long after that, blushing and flicking and twirling their hair. They wore tummy-revealing shirts and such short skirts; they almost look like really big belts.

"Hello James," the girls crooned in unison, grinning flirtatiously. "Hello Sirius."

James flashed his most charming grin and the girls almost swooned with excitement as I watched in disgust. Sirius gave them a wink. The girls giggled again. Ooh, I wanted to tell them to shut their stupid mouths and get the butts out of there before I puke. But I restrained myself.

I noticed they cast oddly nasty looks in my direction before they left and I shot an equally nasty one in return.

Remus tore his eyes off the book and looked meaningfully at me. He leaned forwards slightly and put a hand by his lips to cover his mouth from James.

"You'll be seeing lots of that..."

"Hey James, do you like-" Sirius stopped in his sentence.

"You won't believe what dad is doing," hissed James under his breath.

I leaned my head against the glass window, stared outside and heard no more except for the rumbling of the train. There were rolling hills that looked like frozen green waves... grazing sheep... a lot of lush green trees.

"Oh alright. So anyway, going for a new strategy this year?" Asked Sirius curiously.

"On Evans? I dunno..."

"Nothing seems to be working on her, is it..."

"I know she wants me," said James heatedly. "She's just playing hard to get."

Peter laughed.

I distinctly heard Remus mutter "Yeah right" under his breath as he flipped a page of the book.

"But since... y'know, I am Head Boy this year... she might think of me differently," he said proudly. "I'll show her who I truly am. Sophisticated, mature and oh so terribly romantic."

Remus snorted and shook his head.

The snack lady passed by just a while later, and James bought a generous amount of sweets, chocolates, pumpkin pasties and more to share among ourselves.

James dumped the armful of candy onto an empty seat next to Peter and everyone's hands shot towards it. Peter grabbed some ice mice; Remus took a packet of Bertie Bott's every flavour beans; Sirius and James both grabbed handfuls of chocolate frogs.

"Have one," Sirius said through a mouthful of chocolate, dropping a packet on my lap.

"Uh, thanks."

After about two hours or so, two girls were passing by our compartment. James obviously saw them through the glass and jumped onto his feet at once.

"Hey!" He called out as he tripped over many outstretched legs to get to the compartment door. "Lily!"

He opened the door just in time to grab the girl's hand.