Author's Note: Another Chapter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!! Anyways... Read on.... Please!
Chapter 3: Hogwarts
The following morning, James and Sirius woke up bright and early, got dressed, and went down stairs. It was only eight o'clock in the morning and they were already ready to leave for the train. The two of them sat down at the table and ate breakfast in silence; the air was tense and James's parents could really feel their mood. The two were absolutely excited about going to Hogwarts. Apparently James was ecstatic to go with Sirius for they had now become best friends. His parents also noticed that James would only go to Hogwarts if Sirius went with him.
"When are we leaving?" the two asked in unison.
"Erm… An hour before eleven." Mr. Potter said.
That meant a whole hour of waiting. They both shrugged; there wasn't really anything that they could do for an hour. They had already read all of their required books for school that year and Diagon Alley was completely out of the question. The only thing they could do was sit around and wait for the hour to pass.
James sat alone in the living room staring at the enchanted clock that hung on their wall. It was times like these that he wished he could control time. He could always try tampering with the clock, but on the other hand, he didn't know if his parents had put some sort of counter spell on it.
Sirius entered the room from the kitchen, and he kicked back on one of the couches in the corners. James shifted his position to look at Sirius; the handsome chap had his feet on the footstool and he seemed rather smug lying there. James frowned, Sirius was so handsome, and as much as he wished to be like Sirius, the wish would never come true. He rumpled his hair and glanced back at the clock; only five minutes had passed since he last looked at it. He continued to stare.
"Hey James." Sirius said aloud stretching his arms. It was like James was in some sort of trance because he didn't answer Sirius. "James…? James! HEY JAMES!"
James jumped up in surprise and turned to Sirius who had a look of disbelief implanted on his face.
"Sorry… The clock was entertaining me."
"Is that so?" Sirius said standing up, inspecting the clock closely. "Enchanted clock, is it not? This wouldn't happen to be the one that toys with your mind if you stare at it, would it?"
James shrugged his shoulders; he wasn't in the mood for jokes. Sirius sighed and put his hand to his forehead, they were both bored beyond what all could expect.
"Want to hex something?" James asked looking hopeful.
"We've done that."
The two of them began to think of more things to do to keep them occupied.
"How about reading through the Daily Prophet?" Sirius suggested. "Have your parents gotten today's issue yet?"
"I'll go check."
James ran out of the room and a few minutes later came back running in with the paper in his hand. He seemed extremely excited about something, and Sirius couldn't even tell what was on his mind. James hopped onto the couch, causing his glasses to slip to the tip of his nose, and flipped the newspaper open.
"You look happy." James smirked, sitting on the armrest of the couch and peering over to see the newspaper. "Ah… I see."
On the front page there was a picture of a man wearing half moon glasses, he had a long crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and mustache. He also wore a purple tall, pointy-tipped hat and cloak to match with it. The title of the article stated, The "Greatest Headmaster Hogwarts Has Seen to Date!"
"Dumbledore…" said James reading through the article. "Didn't he defeat that dark wizard Grindelwald?"
"Yeah, he's pretty old now. See look at his hair!" Sirius pointed out. "That was way back in 1945, I believe."
"Yeah, I saw it on one of the Chocolate Frog Cards." James said turning the page. "Oh look, the Ministry of Magic is referring to that muggle-hater, Voldemort, as 'he-who-must-not-be-named.' Who in the right mind would call him that? Sounds ridiculous if you ask me!"
Sirius nodded in agreement as they continued to look through the newspaper. By the time the two of them had finished reading the Prophet it was about time they left. Mrs. Potter walked into the room and hugged them both.
"Your father is already outside, James. You two better gather your things outside, and no spell casting, you got that?! Nothing in front of muggles!" she told them both.
They agreed without complaint and went up to get their things. The two of them had to keep from stumbling over since they both had their suitcases to carry and their owls. When they finally got outside, James's father was already getting their car ready for the trip to King's Cross.
The car that they had was the latest model at the time, but it seemed quite small to seat four people and their luggage, so Mrs. Potter decided to stay at home. She waved to them all and they set off.
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By the time they reached King's Cross it was exactly fifteen minutes till eleven. James and Sirius wasted no time in getting out of the car and finding themselves a trolley to put their things on. They quickly filled their trolleys and nearly ran in the direction of their platform. Mr. Potter shrugged, those two were just so anxious to get on the train.
"Hey dad, what platform again?" James asked glancing around.
"Nine and three quarters." He replied directing them. "Over there, just run right through the middle. The wall you see there is actually a barrier."
The two of them looked at it with awe.
"Hey I'll go first!" James exclaimed readying himself to slowly run through. "Be sure to watch the expert, Sirius."
"I won't be surprised if you miss the barrier, mate." Sirius called back to him.
James pushed the trolley at a walk, and then he went at a running pace. Sirius watched from behind as his best friend disappeared into the wall. He found it strange that muggles could not see this happening right under their noses. By the time Sirius had got through the barrier, James had their old mate, Peter Pettigrew, tagging around him.
"Oh, Sirius!" Peter exclaimed walking over to him, his eyes full of joy that his two friends had finally shown up. Sirius smiled at Peter then walked over to James who apparently looked extremely white.
"P—Peter…" James mumbled taking a deep breathe in, "next time don't stand in front of the barrier… I nearly killed you!"
Peter nodded, his face turning slightly pink. Sirius laughed and patted James on the shoulder. Right when Mr. Potter had rushed in he urged the boys to get on the train, for the three of them had nearly forgotten about the time. He quickly helped the boys get their luggage into the compartments at the back of the Hogwarts Express.
"James, I don't want to hear from your professors about you hexing any toilets, got that?" Mr. Potter said waving. James grinned, waved back at this father, and then hopped onto the train. The two others also followed behind him; all three of them carried their owls with them.
Upon getting on the train, it began to move. The three decided it would be best to find an empty compartment to settle in. Unfortunately for them, it was extremely hard to find and empty compartment at this time; several of them were half full and wouldn't be able to seat the three of them. James kept suggesting to them that they could stay together in the half-full compartments and he'd just go and find another, but the two wouldn't allow him to.
After what seemed like forever, the trio came upon an open compartment. They poked their heads inside to see that there was only a boy seated, looking out the window.
"Erm… Excuse us, is any one else sitting here?" James asked walking inside.
The boy had light brown hair and he wore very shabby looking wizard's robes. He didn't look very happy when the three of them had appeared before him, but he looked quite taken aback and nervous. He sighed, shook his head, and looked out the window again.
The trio abruptly walked in, trying not to ram into one another and sat down. Sirius chose to sit next to the boy, while James and Peter chose to sit opposite of them. It was kind of awkward for them to talk since they didn't want to really disturb the boy.
"So," James said, trying to start conversation. "What's your name?"
The boy tore his gaze from the sky and looked at James with a bit of happiness in his sad eyes and replied in a calm voice, "Remus Lupin, and you are?"
"James Potter, pleasure meeting you!"
"Sirius Black, at your service."
"P—Peter Pettigrew, nice to meet you."
For some reason James felt like wanting to know more about Lupin. They were all equally interested in learning about one another and it rapidly turned into and enjoyable conversation. Lupin's gloomy eyes seemed to become brighter with joy as the conversation grew. James noticed it instantly, and he wanted to the keep the conversation going because of it.
It was about half past twelve when there was a loud clattering heard out in the corridor and a woman slid back their door pushing a rather large cart. "So anyone want something?" she asked, happily smiling at them.
James quickly stood up and walked into the corridor to see what they had. When he reentered, his arms were full of treats and snacks that both Sirius and Lupin had to get up and make sure he didn't fall over. When he finally sat in his seat, he spread all of the food in between Peter and him and took a bite out of one of the licorice wands. Continuing to chew he mumbled, "I boughth enouff fer everyone to share!"
Sirius, Peter, and Lupin all grabbed a bit of everything at James got and happily ate with not much to worry about.
"So Lupin, do you mind if we call you Remus?" James asked looking at him hopefully. He once again rumpled his hair; he was hoping that Lupin would join their small group.
"Oh. Well… why not?" he replied taking a bite into one of the pumpkin pastries. "I've never had any real friends before."
Peter shrugged. Apparently the yellow-headed boy could relate to what Remus was telling them. Sirius on the other hand patted him on the back and grinned, "Well you've got some friends now."
As the Hogwarts Express neared to its destination, the four of them continued to wait with anticipation. Remus had told them about that sorting and they soon began to worry if they'd be separated. James didn't want his friends to be in opposing houses; it would make them rivals for that house winner at the end of the year. Remus began to grow weary, Sirius was beginning to grumble to himself, and Peter had begun whimpering again. James could definitely see himself as a Gryffindor, Remus as a Ravenclaw, Peter in Hufflepuff, and Sirius in Slytherin because of his background. It was so unfair! They all sighed hopelessly trying their best to finish the food.
What seemed like only a few seconds, a voice flooded through the train saying, "We have just reached Hogwarts, please leave you luggage here and it will be taken to school separately." The whistle blew and the wheels of the train came to a creaking stop. The four of them stood up from where they sat, and silently walked out of their compartment and into the corridor with very little hope. They all watched several other people cheerfully walk through the corridor and out the door.
"I heard first years have to ride boats there." Peter said to them as they jumped off the train and on to the hard ground.
"Boats?" James repeated glancing toward Peter. "Wanna fall in the water on purpose?"
"You can, mate." Sirius said chuckling. "But you'd be freezing when you got out."
"What if I wanted to stay in the water or maybe swim to Hogwarts?" James suggested, thinking that Sirius wouldn't be able to come up with a really good come back. Sirius thought about it for a second and shrugged.
"You can't that Giant Squid would put you back in the boat." Said Remus smiling.
"Sushi sounds good." James said grinning.
Peter couldn't stop laughing; James, Sirius, and Remus didn't really think it was that funny. Sirius who got slightly annoyed by Peter's spontaneous laughter was almost yelled at him to shut up, but both Remus and James were able to stop him in time.
"Firs' years!" yelled a deep voice. "Over this way! C'mon follow me… Tha's right. The name's Hagrid and we be seeing a good view o' Hogwarts in a minute now."
There was a sudden gasp of amazement from all the students. James looked around in wonder; it looked like an extremely grand castle, which was perched on a high mountain, its windows sparkling in the starry sky. It was way better than James had ever imagined it to be, and he was glad to be here. People were stumbling and slipping down the narrow path to the great black lake that was up ahead.
"Four to a boat! Yeh all right?" Hagrid asked looking at Peter who looked extremely shaken. Peter stared in horror at Hagrid, who happened to be extremely tall and large, and hid behind James.
"He's fine." Sirius said slowly walking into one of the empty boats. Remus got into the boat next while James had trouble getting Peter to stop clinging to him and was forced to throw Peter into the boat. After Peter had finally seated himself properly, James stepped in too and seated himself comfortably.
"Everyone got a boat?" shouted Hagrid, "Right, well then—FORWARD!"
All of the boats moved in unison, they glided across the lake with ease. Everyone was silent except James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter who were busy making comments about the castle itself.
"Absolutely amazing!" Remus remarked looking around at the landscape.
"Bloody brilliant!" James exclaimed looking at the castle.
"I'm beginning to like it here already." Sirius smirked, crossing his arms.
"There wouldn't be anything here that could hurt us… would there?" Peter whimpered glancing in every direction. He was apparently the only one who wasn't really enjoying himself.
"Careful now, a bi' o' ivy growin from above. Mind yer heads." Hagrid exclaimed ducking his head to avoid one of the ivy vines from the entrance of a tunnel, which seemed to lead right under Hogwarts. They continued to sail within the dark tunnel until they reached a sort of under ground harbor. All of the first years jumped out of their boats and walked out on the rocks and pebbles. They then struggled up a flight of stone steps and they all bunched up around a rather large oak door.
Hagrid, who was in front of the group of shivering students, merely knocked on the door three times and it swung open.
Wee... thanks for reading if you read this far!! Reviews would be most appreciated!