James jerked awake, his heart pounding in his chest, shaking with cold and fright. "Damn." He whispered to himself as he willed his heart rate to slow down, flushing a little at using a word his mother would never approve of had she heard it. The blind panic that gripped him loosened a little and he found himself able to think once more. It was that dream again, a dream that made less than no sense to him for all he remembered were the emotions; agonizing love for a woman and a baby he couldn't see, cold hard determination for the woman to live, and shaking terror. Well, that wasn't quite true, he always remembered the flash of green light at the end but, thankfully, he woke up right before the light could touch him. That was the sixth time he had had that dream this month, well, the past month, he snorted to himself, glancing at the calender above his head. Today was September 1st after all...

Later on that morning, at precisely 10:50 A.M., James slid through the gateway in the King's Cross Station onto Platform 9 and 3/4s. Not pausing to gawk around, even if this was his first time on the Platform, he moved out of the way quickly so that his mother and father could join him. His mother was talking as she came through the portal, "Now James, I want you to try and stay out of trouble." She reached down to smooth his hair back, a useless gesture, but stayed her hand as James flinched away.

"Mother!" He replied back to her in his very best 'I am so put upon voice,' "Someone will see you doing that and I won't ever be able to live it down."

His father grinned down at his son and knelt down to gather James into his arms, "You know we love you, James." He said gruffly, a man already missing his son, "And we know that you are going to get into trouble. Just try to do us proud."

James returned his father's hug with interest, what with his job and all as an Auror for the Ministry of Magic, James did not get to spend that much time with his father. "I will, dad." He said softly, loath to admit that this leave-taking was harder than he thought it would be. As if sensing how close James was to tears, his father ruffled a hand through James' hair and squeezed his shoulder, "We know you will." He said simply before standing again, steeling himself to wave goodbye to his only son.

Resisting the urge to fling himself into his mother's arms and howl to be taken home, James said, "Well, I guess this is it then." Picking up the handle of his trunk, he began pulling it toward the train, glancing back at his parents from the corner of his eye. His mother was white and shaking, she was not ready to loose her only child, even if it was just til December, and his father had wrapped a supporting arm about her. Unable to stand it, James dropped the trunk and ran over to where his parents stood, flinging his arms about both of them, "I love you."

James would never remember clearly of how he got onto the train that day. It was just a haze of hugs and kisses and running to the train. Finally, however, he did manage to get everything aboard and stowed into the first empty compartment that he found, taking advantage of the solitude to rub his eyes on the corner of his sleeve and wipe the mist off his glasses. He sat down and looked out the window, trying very hard not to feel sorry for himself or lonely...he, at least, came from a wizarding family and knew what to expect unlike the first year Muggle born children aboard the train.

Fortunately for him, just as the loneliness was starting to get to him, there was a knock on the door and it slid open to reveal a red headed girl about his age. The two of them stared at one another for a moment before she asked hesitantly, "Do you mind if I join you? Everywhere else is either full or they don't want..." She trailed off, blushing furiously and staring at the floor, obviously not willing to tell him what they had said to her face.

"Please." James said, indicating that she take the empty seat. When she had seated herself, he smiled at her, "My name is James Potter and this is my first year."

The girl reached across and shook his hand gravely, just as if she were an adult, "I'm Lily Evans. This is my first year too."

Though James did not know it, the adult formalities the girl was using were just a front to hide her nervousness, he thought she looked perfectly at ease. That might have intimidated him into not talking to her at all but, before they could lapse into an awkward silence, there was another knock at the door and it slid open to a drawling voice, "I might have known you would be hiding out by yourself, James."

James looked up at his long time friend and smiled, "Sirius." He indicated Lily with a wave of his hand and added indignantly, "I am not alone."

Flopping down on the seat next to James with a boneless that would make any adult shudder, Sirius punched James lightly on the shoulder, "So I see." Turning his fathomless gray eyes onto the girl, he smiled easily, "I'm Sirius Black." He said, somewhat surprised when the girl reached out for his hand, not knowing about that particular Muggle custom.

James stifled a smile as Sirius stared down at Lily's hand, obviously confused. Before he could say anything, however, Lily cocked one ruddy eyebrow at Sirius and said, "My name is Lily Evans." She withdrew her hand quickly, fisting it into her sweater, a flush of embarrassment rising on her cheeks. "I take it the two of you know each other?" She asked, her tone a trifle cooler than it had been earlier.

Ignoring the nuances, Sirius grinned at the girl, once more at his ease, "We live a couple of miles apart but we don't get to see each other that often." James shot Sirius a look at his words, not sure that he wanted the new girl to know why that was which, true to form, Sirius ignored, "My parents don't like his parents all that much so it's kind of hard for us to get together but we went to the same elementary school for like ever."

"I see." Lily said as Sirius wound down, not sure at all that she did see but was not willing to do anything to get herself tossed out of the compartment. Once again, she twisted her hands into her sweater, looking as if she wanted to ask the pair of them something. She hesitated and visibly steeled herself, "So, the two of you from wizarding families, then?"

Both James and Sirius nodded slowly and James added, with considerable pride, "Both my parents are witch and wizard, my father works as an Auror for the Ministry of Magic and mum also works for the Ministry of Magic Department of Games and Sports." He grinned over at his friend and added, "Sirius' parents are witch and wizard also." He would have told this girl what Sirius' parents did but, truth be told, he had no idea and Sirius wasn't exactly forthcoming with that information.

Lily nodded to show that she understood and glanced down at the floor, directing her next question to the maroon carpet, "So, I was wondering," she stammered slightly and flushed, still staring at the floor, "what does Mudblood mean?" As two explosive gasps reached her ears, Lily jerked her eyes back up to the two boys sitting across from her, a defensive look on her face, "There were some boys and they..." she broke off again and composed herself, "I mean, I just heard it while I was out in the hall."

Sharing a quick look with Sirius who shook his head slightly, James frowned as he answered her, "Mudblood is a particularly stupid thing that the 'purebloods' like to call people from non magic families." Angry now, he clenched his fists and continued, "It's just a damned stupid thing to call someone, if you asked me or my parents."

Lily looked faintly shocked at hearing an 11 year old James swear in front of her, Sirius looked mildly impressed, and Lily might have asked yet another question were they not interrupted by the door once more. The three of them looked up as one to see a girl who looked remarkably like Sirius, a tall blond haired boy, and another boy, this one with his arm wrapped around the girl's waist. "Mum and dad said that you were coming to Hogwarts this year, Sirius." The girl drawled out in a lazy voice and added with a slight sneer, "They told me to look out for you." She grinned at James then, a nasty feral grin, "My, my, it looks like I will have something to write home about already. Didn't your parents forbid you to see that blood traitor?" She pointed at James as she asked the question, leaving no doubt in anyone's mind who she was talking about.

Already angry from Lily's innocent question, Bellatrix's question brought Sirius temper boiling very close to the surface, "Bellatrix," He said coldly, shaking with anger, "Get out."

"Now, now, dearest cousin," her voice positively dripped poison, "Is that anyway to talk to the person who will be writing home to your parents?"

Lily shrank back further into the cushions as Sirius bolted to his feet, James not half a second behind him, "Write to them, Bellatrix. See if I give a damn." Sirius ground out, advancing on his cousin with clenched fists, "Go ahead and do it. It's not like they give a damn about me or what I do."

Bellatrix stared down at her small cousin, a grin playing about the corner of her lips. As Sirius advanced, both her companions moved to flank her but she stopped them with a shake of her head. Leaning down, she stuck her nose right into Sirius' face and hissed, "We will see, my darling cousin." Raising herself once more, she lifted an imperious eyebrow at James and sneered, "So sticky sweet, little Jamie Rotter backing up a looser like my cousin." The two boys with her laughed at her comment and she caught sight of Lily for the first time, recognizing her from earlier, "Really Sirius, not only are you hanging out with the Rotter there but with a Mudblood as well? Tut, tut, your parents will be so pleased." With that last bit of sarcasm and warning, Bellatrix swept her superiority about her like a cloak and left the compartment, her two companions shadowing her.

Sirius reached out and slammed the door impotently behind his cousin, trying to block out the hateful sounds of their laughter floating back down the hall to their ears. It was his turn to stare down at the carpet, breathing hard, as he ground out, "Sorry about that, James, Lily." He let out a bitter laugh, "I guess you..." He trailed off, not sure what to say and too angry to think of anything to say.

Lily and James stared at one another, Lily with an aghast look in her brilliant green eyes and James still showing his anger. As Lily broke off eye contact and excused herself from the compartment, saying that she needed to change into her robes. Left alone, the two boys sat in silence, each of them wishing, in their own way, that the floor would swallow them both...

Writer response to reviews...

From: samber( ) pretty good for starters. But I think you just copied it from the book.

Well, Samber, like I said, the bits in italics are lifted straight from the books but, seeing as how JKR has not actually described what happened in GH in any of the books (other than a bit of conversation and a general feel for what happened), I could hardly copy it. Like I said, that is just my vision of what happened...which is probably wrong anyway. But, hey, thanks for reading and reviewing...