Chapter Ten
Aboard the Hogwarts Express

"Hurry, the train's leaving in fifteen minutes!"

"I'm coming... darn trolley... move!" Rachael went racing through the train station as Ms. Marshall jogged ahead of her, speeding towards Platform Nine and Three Quarters. It was ten forty five and, unless they hurried, they would miss the train. Rachael dodged a few people, and nearly ran Ms. Marshall over as they dashed through the barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten. They fell through on the other side of the platform to see a scarlet steam engine standing proudly before them, huffing and puffing clouds of smoke into the blue sky. There were dozens of students running about the platform saying goodbyes and loading their trunks in the train. Rachael went to put her trunk and owl in the train, said a rushed goodbye to Ms. Marshall and dashed off to find a compartment.

She walked down the train, peering through the compartment door windows, trying to find one. But all she found were full ones or ones with rather nasty looking students. Near the middle she found one with a single occupant, a rather familiar one, she couldn't place him. She slid the compartment door open and looked at the boy.

"Can I sit here?" she asked politely. The boy nodded. Rachael sat down across from him. She looked at the boy; he appeared very tired and sick. He had dark circles under his drooping eyes, his mouth was curved into a small frown as he gazed lazily out of the train and out onto the platform. Why did he look so familiar? She didn't think she had seen him before. She looked harder at him, feeling rather awkward, but luckily he didn't seem to notice her. She knew... it was!

"Remus!" she shouted happily.

Remus jerked his head up suddenly. For a moment it didn't look as though he knew who Rachael was. He was looking at her strangely, but then his eyes widened.

"Rachael!" he shouted, smiling, eyes sparkling.

"I can't believe it's you! Wow, I almost didn't recognise you."

Remus smiled. "Well I didn't even know it was you. Three years... you haven't changed a bit!"

"Let's see if you have. Stand up, come on, stand up!" Feeling foolish, Remus stood up. Rachael stood next to him and moved her hand across her and Remus's head. It grazed the top of his hair. "No, you haven't either; we're still the same height." She gave a short laugh. Soon enough, she and Remus were talking as though they had never been separated, even though they were talking about the three years when they were separated. Rachael was telling Remus all about her life in the orphanage and how she had to put up with Ms. Marshall, Becky and all Becky's friends. She went into detail about how they acted, doing accurate impressions of them that made Remus laugh hysterically.

She asked Remus why he looked so tired.

"Full moon last night," he answered, casting his eyes down towards the floor. Rachael squirmed uneasily in her seat. Remus looked up at her, knowing what she was thinking. "It's not your fault... just forget it ever happened." Rachael opened her mouth to protest but Remus wouldn't let her. "Just forget it."

Rachael nodded, although she knew she couldn't forget.

"So...err... how has Dad been?" she asked, trying to keep the conversation light. Remus began to look uncomfortable and immediately Rachael sensed something was wrong. "Is something wrong with him?"

"Well... uh... the day you left... Dad and Mum got into a fight and... Dad left the house. We haven't seen him for years," Remus explained, looking out the window. The train had started leaving. Rachael nodded. Dad had left, all because of her? She had caused everyone so much pain, especially Remus. She couldn't stand it. Why did her dad have to leave... and if he did, he could've come and got her. No, she was being selfish. But he probably would have, unless something went wrong... maybe.

"Hey, can we sit in here?" Two boys had appeared at the doorway. One was James from the owl emporium the other she had never seen before. He had light blue eyes and short black hair that fell elegantly into his eyes.

"Sure," Remus said.

The boy Rachael had never seen sat next to her brother and James sat down next to Rachael.

"Hey, I remember you," James said suddenly. "I saw you in Eeylops. I never did introduce myself, so might as well now. I'm James Potter. You two are?" He looked at Rachael and Remus.

"Rachael Lupin," Rachael answered.

"Remus Lupin," Remus said.

"I'm Sirius Black," the other boy said. "You two're brother and sister?"

"Yeah, we're twins," Rachael answered.

James and Sirius nodded.

"Cool," Sirius said. "I've never met twins before... but anyway... You guys know what house you want to be in?"

Rachael hadn't given this much thought. Of course, her being separated from her family gave her a jolt away from the magic circulation. Who on Earth could she discuss her house hopes with in the orphanage. Well, Gryffindor had always been appealing.

"I think I want to be in Gryffindor," Remus was saying. Remus would probably get in; he was brave, smart, and loyal. Gryffindor was one of the best houses. The headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, was in that house himself. She knew any house was better than Slytherin. If she got into Slytherin she'd hop on the train back home in a split second. Everyone said Hufflepuff was for dodders, people who weren't that great with magic, but it was a load of garbage. There were plenty of good Hufflepuffs. Ravenclaws were the brainy magic folk, so it wouldn't be too bad if she got into there.

"I hope I'm in Gryffindor," Sirius said. "I doubt it though; my entire family's been in Slytherin, now they expect me to get in."

"Why? What's the big deal if you're in Gryffindor?" Rachael asked, interested in what the reason might be.

Sirius sighed. "Because they hate Muggle-borns. We're purebloods, and they think I shouldn't mix with anyone from a Muggle family. Load of junk, if you ask me." He leaned back in his seat and looked around. "I assume we're all purebloods on here?"

Remus and Rachael shook their heads, while James nodded.

"We're half bloods," Remus explained.

"Ah, well, I won't tell her. Then I won't be scolded by Mummy Black. 'If I catch you becoming friends with Muggle-borns, half bloods, blood traitors, or anyone with tainted blood at all, you'll be joining the house elves on the wall!'" They all laughed at Sirius's impression of his mother.

"House elves on the wall?" James asked through laughs.

"Yeah, all the house elves at our house get their head on the wall after they die. Go figure!"

An hour or so later the lunch trolley rolled by and the four of them bought some Cauldron Cakes, Pumpkin Pasties, Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, and Chocolate Frogs. They passed the time by trading Wizard Cards from the Chocolate Frog containers and tasting the Every Flavour Beans, though Remus had gotten a vomit flavoured one and wouldn't touch any after that. As they did this, Rachael amused them by telling them the story of how early in August her owl had pooped on the head of Becky Beckham.

"She freaked out!" Rachael explained, delight twinkling in her eyes. She loved it when Becky was humiliated. "She spent twenty minutes running in circles shouting 'get it off me!' Then again it really did add to her. Nasty, rotten things belong together! I got blamed for it, but it was worth it!"

"Did you do it?" Remus asked as he bit into a cauldron cake.

"No! I didn't know it had to go, if I did I would've made it go a lot earlier than I did." As Rachael told them the tale she made very careful not to mention that she had been at an orphanage. If James and Sirius found that out they would ask why and if they asked why Rachael would have to tell them about Remus, which wasn't an option. Remus was now telling them about the village bully, Philip Runsdown, and how he had finally got caught trying to beat Remus up and was sent to the county correctional facility.

"He'll be there forever or until they get sick of him at least."

James was now off on a tangent about how he met a very pretty girl in Diagon Alley. She had auburn hair, dark green eyes and, as he put it, was "just gorgeous."

Sirius and Remus sniggered.

"Hey, I met a girl like that!" Rachael said unexpectedly.

James looked up quickly. "You did?" he asked hopefully. "Tell me you got her name!"

"Calm down! I did. It was...err... some name that's the name of a flower. Petunia? No."

"Come on!"

"Oh, yeah! It was Lily."

James's eyes went out of focus. "Lily," he said breathlessly. "Such a beautiful name, as she is."

Rachael, Remus and Sirius burst out laughing.

Rachael soon decided to let the boys hang out by themselves, so she went to explore the rest of the train. She walked down the passageway looking at all the compartments, thinking. Sirius and James were really nice; Remus seemed to like them as well, which was good. She walked further down until she heard a voice behind her.

"What're you doing?" It was an icy cold voice, low and menacing, definitely not that of a first year. Rachael wheeled around to find herself face to face with a most shocking sight. There stood a boy who couldn't be much older than she was behind her. He had long, slimy black hair, cold black eyes that glittered threateningly, and a mean face. He was looking down at her with a look of disgust. If she wasn't so shocked she might've been wearing the same look.

"What's it to you?" she snapped.
"Well, I thought you were up to no good," the boy answered in the same icy voice.

Rachael gave him a look, who does he think he is? "What d'you think you are? A prefect?"

The boy's eyes narrowed. "Well aren't you a big mouth."

His hand went into his robe pockets as if he was searching for something, which he was. Rachael began trying to sneak her way back to the compartment when the boy withdrew his wand.

"Y-you're crazy," Rachael said, eyeing the wand nervously.

That set the boy off. He opened his mouth but,

"Oi, Snape!" She and the boy turned around to see Sirius, James and Remus walking towards them. The boy named Snape looked at Sirius with disgust and Sirius seemed to be quite pleased about it, judging by how broad his grin was. They stopped right in front of Snape. "Whatcha doing Snapey?" Sirius asked in a voice suggesting that he was talking to a five year old.

"Stuff it, Black," Snape growled.

James and Sirius laughed; obviously they had dealt with this boy before and didn't see him as much of a threat.

"Stuff what?" Sirius asked innocently. "I haven't got anything to stuff." He walked around Snape and stood beside Rachael. "Now would you mind telling me what you were doing? Because if I didn't know any better-"

"Which you don't."

"I'd say you were trying to hex our friend here."

"I wasn't trying to hex her!" Snape tried hiding his wand out of sight but Sirius saw it and snatched it.

"Wasn't trying to hex her, huh?" Snape growled and walked away furiously. The boys turned around and told her who that was. It had just so happened that while she was out in the hallway they had been discussing Snape and telling Remus about him. As it turned out, Snape was a very rotten kid, no friends, didn't deserve any, knew more about the Dark Arts than any Hogwarts professor, terrible attitude, hated most kids, and was most likely going to be a Slytherin, the usual. They got back to the compartment and James pulled out a pack of Exploding Snap cards, offering a game or two.

Despite her being a witch and knowing it, Rachael had never been much of an Exploding Snap player; she was more for Wizards' Chess. Remus was the card player. Every time she, he, their mum and dad played, Remus would always win. They used to bet on the games, each of them would put up something like a pack of candy or a wizard card, but never money. They soon learnt that was a smart thing to do, Remus never lost. He always took the pool. He once ended up with nearly two hundred packs of candy because in the one-week he and his sister played twenty games with ridiculously high wages.

"Jeez, Remus!" James exclaimed as Remus won for the fourth time in a row. Rachael's, James's and Sirius's faces were covered in ashes from the exploding cards whereas Remus's face was ash free. "How many times do you play a week?"

"Actually, I haven't played in a long time," Remus answered as he dealt out more cards for a new match. James looked at him as though he had five heads. He shook his head and they began to play.