A whimper flew from ripe lips as hands came up to bat at the offender that threatened to rip him from his all but peaceful slumber. "-ey! Wake up!" broke through the nightmarish haze that seemed cast upon the young werewolf. A shudder wracked the slight frame and eyelids fluttered open violently to reveal honey-brown eyes that bordered more on yellow. The orbs stared for a few moments, unseeing to their surroundings.

"Are you all right?" said the same voice that had been the catalyst for Remus's wakefulness. Bright eyes shifted and met brilliant blue. Sapphire, for that is the only reasonable word to describe such a marvel, eyes connected with a useful face, black hair in a "bowl cut" and a fifteen-thousand watt smile.

"I-I'm fine," Remus told blue-eyes quietly when the question processed fully. He looked down at small, graceful hands that played idly with the hem of a well-worn blue-checkered shirt.

Noticing the awkward motions of the small pre-teen, black hair and blue eyes took the opportunity to introduce himself. "I'm Sirius Black, although you can just call me Sirius and not any of that 'Mr. Black' stuff that Adam and the house elves say all the time. I'm a first year, but I do have a few relatives already attending Hogwarts...who are you?" he managed, a small lisp present as he talked.

"I'm Remus Lupin..." said the small werewolf carefully, eyes looking up only momentarily before returning to his lap.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Remus!" said Sirius, seemingly oblivious to Remus's shy nature. "Your eyes are really cool, did you know that? They look kind of like the moon...you know, the one in the sky at night?" Remus's eyes widened, but he gained control over his face quickly and looked up at Sirius.

"I-I've never noticed before..." he lied with no reason to. He wanted this black-and blue boy to be a friend if it was at all possible.

"Well they do," Sirius said, laughing. "They're pretty cool, moony, pretty cool..."

"Moony?" asked Remus, confused.

"It's a nickname. Pretty good, if I do say so, myself! If you don't like it, I won't use it, though," said Sirius in a tone that suggested he would be disappointed if he wasn't allowed to use the nickname he had so carefully chosen.

Remus, having never had one before, decided to give this nickname thing a try. After all, he had never had friends whom he knew well enough to want a nickname from and here was the perfect chance to have a friend.

"I like it," he said honestly, "I've just never had a nickname before." Remus didn't stop the small smile that graced his features.

"All right, then, Moony!" Sirius would most likely have continued with inane chatter had not the compartment door flown open, a boy with extremely messy black hair stepping into the train car.

"There you are, old Sirius, pal!" the other black-haired boy exclaimed, a wide, mischievous smile on the youth's face. He turned to Remus and whispered loudly, "Never leave this chap alone, he'll wander off at the slightest taste of boredom if you don't keep the dog locked up!"

Sirius pouted, having had no trouble hearing the stage whisper. "I'm not that bad! Honestly, you'd think I'd left him multiple times in multiple places or something similar."

The newcomer mock-glared at Sirius. "You have," he said crossly. Taking the conversation on a 360 degree spin, the boy said, "By the way, my name is James. James Potter." Sirius just shrugged and grinned comically.

"Are you looking forward to Hogwarts?" Sirius asked, directing the question toward Remus, turning blue eyes onto honey.

"Very much so. My parents told me much about it, but I guess you have to experience it to get the full force of Hogwarts.. ." said Remus, a small smile living on his face now. Sirius appeared to think for a few moments before hopping up and grabbing James, dragging him to the opposite side of the compartment where they proceeded to have a whispered debate about something of, seeming, importance. The two broke up, both grinning and looking at Remus, whose eyes shifted from one boy to the other.

"I heard there have been some very nice pranks pulled in all the years that Hogwarts has been alive," said Sirius, smiling. "James and I are going to try and beat them...and I think that you would be of great service to our noble cause." James, next to him, nodded.

Remus was shell-shocked. He had just met the two young wizards, and he was already being included as a...friend? All he knew, right now, was that he desperately wanted friends. Consequences aside, Remus knew he would do anything Sirius asked of him up until it would get someone killed. When he realized they the two were waiting for a response, he nodded his head slowly, his smile growing larger.

"Yes!" Sirius yelled, startling a large owl that none of the boys had noticed. "You won't regret this, mate! You'll be terrific, I swear it, Remus!" Having never been called anything that remotely resembled 'terrific', Remus blushed prettily, which Sirius took great joy in noticing.

It mattered not to Remus that his secret would probably be found out by these smart boys. He finally felt included, which is what he had hoped for since he was very small and his problem had first been acquired. He could only hope that they would live long, healthy lives in which they would always be friends. For the rest of the train ride, the three boys talked about meaningless subjects to pass the time.

--------------------------

The line of first years that filed into the great hall filled the entire room with a tense reverberation throughout, even making some of the second and third years nervous for this years' newcomers--and they had done this in the years previous. From the back of the hall, a lone surveyor took a chance and cast his glance about the hall, his stance not unlike his heir's, although less strict. He noticed the small children and basked in their terror, although he knew it was cruel to do so.

His eyes, though, hit something that should not have been--three smiling faces in a sea of nervous apprehension. One such face belonged to a black-haired youth who would surely be a nuisance in the coming years--good thing this was his last. The boy was making faces and obviously telling an enthralling story; the movements of his body suggested such.

Another boy, enraptured by the storyteller, also possessed black hair, although his hair flew in every direction, and the observer could not help but wonder what the boy's parents must think about his lack of hair care. This boy's features were set in a wide grin, leaving no room to guess how these two were related--they were obviously twins (albeit fraternal), and Marcormic Ferrell felt distaste immediately for the pair.

His eyes flickered to the last of the threesome, a boy the same age who looked worried beyond his years. His smile, although pure, seemed etched with lines of age not becoming of such a young face. His light brown hair was cut the shortest of the three--at a length of barely an inch long--but he stood more gracefully, almost as if he were part cat.

Marcormic's eyes were drawn away from the children by Professor McGonagall's sudden presence as she carried in the Sorting Hat for the use of sorting the newest additions to Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.