Disclaimer: See Prologue for full disclaimer. In short: Not mine. JK's.

Chapter 1: Severus and Sirius

Steam billowed from the scarlet steam engine and the assembled teenagers bid final farewells to their parents and boarded the train. The whistle was blown, and the last few stragglers dragged their trunks towards the train and clambered aboard. A black haired first year stepped back so a larger, harder-looking boy of the same age could go ahead.

"After you," said the black haired boy, avoiding the other's gaze.

"Thanks," the larger boy said curtly, refraining from showing emotion as he cast a last, fleeting glance behind him at a tall woman and smaller boy, who were watching him coldly as he moved away. He stepped onto the train, pulling his trunk behind him. The black haired boy followed.

The larger boy moved along the corridor, eventually finding an empty compartment and shoving his trunk roughly inside. After checking down the train for a vacant space, and finding none, the black haired boy reluctantly joined him.

"Hello?" he asked carefully, pulling open the compartment door. The other boy, who had been slumped in a corner with his arms folded and his gaze fixed on a spot on the floor, looked up.

"Yeah?"

"May I sit in here? It's just, everywhere else is full."

"Suit yourself."

The black haired boy sat opposite his new companion, and immediately turned to stare out of the window to avoid meeting the sullen boy's face.

"My name's Sirius, by the way. Sirius Black."

The boy turned away from the window, to look at Sirius. "Severus Snape."

"Snape? Can't say I've heard that name before, and believe me- I've heard most wizarding names from my dear family. Are you a half-blood? Or a Muggleborn?"

"I'm a pureblood," said Severus defensively, feeling the sudden need to appear so to this boy. "My father's…a recluse, so you wouldn't know the name."

"Yeah, whatever," Sirius snorted.

Severus bit his lip. Had his lie been that obvious?

Silence fell for a while. Then, Sirius spoke again.

"Any idea what house you're going to be in?"

Severus blinked. He hadn't thought about it that much, he had been to busy avoiding his father's wrath and his mother's snide comments about the school, despite the fact that she had attended Hogwarts, too. "I'm not sure. Slytherin, perhaps? Or maybe Ravenclaw?"

Sirius' face hardened at the mention of Slytherin house. "I'm supposed to be in Slytherin," he said in a low voice, almost a growl. "But I'll be damned to hell before I actually am."

There was another silence, but this time it was broken by Severus.

"I've heard of the Blacks."

"Have you now?" Sirius tried to sound uninterested, but in reality he was keen to know what Severus' family said about his. "What exactly have you heard?"

"That you're an old pureblood family, who have been sorted into Slytherin for seven generations, excluding a few Ravenclaws and one Gryffindor a few years ago. I've also heard that many members of your family have become prominent dark wizards." Severus glanced at Sirius, unsure of how he would react. Most Blacks would have boasted their bloodline and dark lineage, but apparently not Sirius. The boy's face had clouded over, and a very ugly look came into his eyes.

"Well, well, you have been doing your homework on my family, haven't you?" Sirius said, sneering unpleasantly, before tipping his head back to stare at the ceiling. "And, unfortunately, you're correct. Except that after tonight, it'll be two Gryffindors from our family." He lowered his head, and looked at Severus. "Me."

Severus stared at him, shocked. "You're going to deliberately go against your family?"

"Yup."

Severus looked slightly confused. "But- why?"

Sirius' eyes flashed and he leant forward slightly. "Because I will never follow my family's path and become a dark wizard. I will never immerse myself so far in the dark arts as they did."

Severus now looked entirely lost. "How on earth can you detest the dark arts?" he asked, quietly incredulous.

"I've seen enough innocent people die to know that following a path of murder and destruction is wrong," Sirius growled, and then, quite suddenly, turned away to face the window. The look in his eyes as he stared out over the countryside flashing past was clear: this conversation was over.

Severus, too, returned to staring out of the window, mulling over Sirius' situation in his head. He would have given anything to be in Sirius' place, to be part of a pureblood family that embraced the dark arts like the Blacks, and here was Sirius, openly scorning everything he, Severus, so desperately craved.

He shook his head. Life never dealt people the hand they wanted, and the player opposite always seemed to have the cards you needed.

A/N Yay, short chapterness…sorry to any of you readers, I really am hopeless at writing at length. Hope you're enjoying it, please read and review…a bit hopeless saying read at the bottom of the chapter…OK, anyway, I'll update soon, really hope it's OK! But please remember what I said about awful grammar and possibly spelling! I pray you also remember that someone is borrowing all my Harry Potter books, so I can't refer to the for detail. Oh, and Severus Snape is my favourite character, so he may be glorified a bit. But I'll do my best to keep him average! If they seem a little OOC here, don't worry, it gets better…promise…