CHAPTER 1

From a web of silk, a small spider ventured her way out onto a nearby surface. Her children were hungry and food was scarce this time of year. If she was lucky, she'd find a fly nest and bring home larvae. By now she was at the edge of the surface when she looked up-

"Eew, I hate spiders!" a young boy just squashed the spider with a book.

"Wormtail! Why'd ya have to be a wimp? You see, a REAL man would've just picked it up and then killed it. With their fingers!" a tall, messy-haired boy picked up the book, "besides, I was reading that."

"Temper James, temper." Another boy that sat next to James said.

James just yawned. "Anything you say mother." He stood up, "Well mates, I'll turn in for the day. G'night." He headed upstairs to the boy's dormitory.

It was James Potter's fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And even in November exciting things have already happened. But he wasn't going to share that information with just anybody.

He walked to the trunk at the end of his bed to begin changing into his bed cloths. While putting on his pants, he lost his balance and was forced to step on the ground with his left foot, hard. James felt a sharp pain at the bottom of his foot. Subconsciously he shrieked from the pain. Stepping off of it, he sat down on his bed. His mind automatically began thinking of the worst and he was shure he had a deep gash and blood was pouring out of his foot. To his surprise, there was just a red colored dent in his skin.

He looked down to see what hit him and he saw a little rock, no bigger than the upper segment of his thumb. The rock had hundreds of shiny, flat surfaces all colored gold. James picked up the rock and smiled at it fondly. He remembered he father gave him that rock as a keepsake. When he was five his dad told him is had magic beyond belief and wouldn't give it to him until he was old enough to handle it's power.

James Potter looked up at the giant, red train for the first time. Being only 5" it looked as tall as a giant. Although he had never seen a giant before, he could easily imagine the height.

"James! James! Slow down!" he heard his mother's voice in the background. "James Potter! You shouldn't be running off like that! Now look at yourself. Your hair is messed up and your collar's uneven. See what happens when you run like that?"

His mother went on telling him all the things that were wrong with his appearance, but he wasn't paying attention. He was paying more attention to the people around him. He was praying that they didn't notice his mother fussing over him like this, that was the last thing he wanted, his first year at Hogwarts being known as the "mama's boy" or, at least, that's what his brother, Adam, would tell every one if they didn't see it already.

His brother, like all older brothers were, could be cruel to him at times. And last night Adam told him what Hogwarts would be like. He told him that every year the 7th years played horrible pranks and would go out of their ways to humiliate first years. And that peeves the poltergeist would embarrass you as well. And his brother went on telling him that the first year would be miserable.

Frankly, after hearing these things, he was terrified. Panic began to grow inside him and he pushed his mother away after thirty seconds of his mind thinking about this.

"Marie, calm down. If you haven't noticed already, his hair is always messy, it's genetic, so stop trying to fix it. Besides, you putting him through this is has to be torture!" his father, Floyd, had just caught up with the two just in time to save him from his mother's hopeless attempts to fix his hair.

James' mother stormed off in protest and waited by the entrance to platform 9 ¾. Floyd knelt down to be at the same level with his son. He was at least 6'5 so even kneeling down, he would still be taller. "James, do remember what I told you last night?"

"Uh, go to bed?" James looked up as if trying to remember.

His father chuckled, "Yes, but I also told you that the train ride to Hogwarts this year would establish your standing with the people you meet. So remember, have fun, be nice and don't get caught!" he stood up and winked at his son.

Hearing his father say this made James smile uncontrollably. He turned around and felt a small bulge in his pocket. He reached in and found the little gold colored rock that his father kept. Floyd told him that he found it while in California, America's most magically bizarre state. And although he didn't know what a state was, he figured that it would have to be really bizarre to be AMERICA's most bizarre state.

James' thoughts were interrupted by his brother hitting him in the head. "C'mmon, we'll be late. Don't grab you bags, the school will take care of that." Adam walked on forcing his brother to run to catch up.

On the train, Adam warned his brother that if he ever talked to him this year, he'd be sorry. So they went their separate ways. James looked from compartment to compartment looking for some other first years or even better, an empty compartment.

To his disappointment, there were no empty compartment available, but he did find one with a boy who looked his age. The boy looked tired, sick, and grey. Bags under his eyes and some grey hares made him look like he'd cought some sort of flu. But being no more compartments, he knocked on the door frame.

"Excuse me, can I sit with you? I mean, you don't have to, but you look alright, sort of." James mentally punished himself for the words he chose. It made him sound like some sort of wimp or something.

But the boy's face brightened up, his pale blue eyes sparkled and a smile came over him. "Yes! Please, do come in! I'm so glad that you're here, I was afraid that I would sit alone the whole time! Sit down."

"Cool, thank you. I'm James, James Potter, are you a first year too?" He again mentally scolded himself because of the words he chose.

"Hello James. Yeah, I'm a first year, my name's Remus Lupin."

"Glad to meet you, Remus."

And for the next half hour or so, they chatted about various things: Family, Quiddish, etc. James thought that he'd found a new friend.