Their journey passed pleasantly and peacefully. Lily learnt about the magical world and the things that her three companions had got up to. About half-way through their journey the refreshment cart came by. The boys took this break in the conversation as a sign to leave and wandered away. The girls remained and Lily told Alex about her experiences in the muggle world. Alex was fascinated.
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The boys journeyed to the opposite end of the train. Behind them lay a scene chaos. Jelly-like blobs of once human students pooled onto the floor. Some had sprouted extra limbs or facial features. Screams issued from the mouths of those who hadn't been affected. So much so, in fact, that the boys quite literally tied their tongues. Any speech or noise they tried to make came out thick and heavy.
Laughing triumphantly the boys failed to notice they had come face-to-face with a fair-haired boy their own age. His skin was a pale yellow and his eyes sunken. In his hand he clutched a battered copy of Magic Made Easy. He had come out to inspect the commotion. Seeing the terror opposite him he sighed and shook his head, though a smile twitched at his lips.
"Nice to see you've grown up," he remarked to Sirius and James, who smiled.
"Remus Lupin," said Sirius slowly.
"How've you been?" James asked, continuing Sirius' speech.
The fair-haired boy they had called "Remus" allowed the smile to break out on his face.
"Ah, P and B. I should have known it, who else could cause such a scene?" He laughed joyfully. "It's good to see you guys. I almost forgot you were starting this year, too."
"You forgot about us? Your two best friends?" asked Sirius, feigning hurt.
"Oh please," Remus muttered. "You're not offended. You don't take offence, remember?"
"You know me too well," Sirius replied sadly.
The three boys broke into a hearty laughter. The meld of James' soft but masculine tones with Sirius' baritone laughter and Remus' deep yet calming sound was like a perfect piece of music.
They entered Remus' compartment and talked about old times and their recent achievements.
It transpired that the three boys had gone to primary school together where they had learnt the basics of magic. Together they could do anything they were taught in 5 minutes. Their extra time, whilst others practised, was used on experimenting with other magic's. Thus grew their thirst for practical jokes. And so it became known that James, Sirius and Remus; the cutie, the joker and the brain, were not to be messed with.
It was with great relief, for the teachers at least, when one day, all of a sudden, Remus announced he was leaving. His father had gotten a transfer to another department in another town. With Remus gone, it was believed that the other two would settle down.
Hah, no such luck.
It seemed that with Remus gone, so was the calming influence. James and Sirius' pranks became more spur-of-the-moment and completely random. Almost everyday they were taken to see the head teacher.
Whilst the boys were doing this, Remus was put in a lower ability class than the rest of his fellow students. It was a great surprise when he could already do the magic and spells they set him. They soon moved him up, with this came his shadow. Being in the lower class had meant he'd befriended some people. After he got moved up, most people forgot about him. One boy however, had stuck to him like glue. At lunch and breaks and any other interaction time, the boy had been there. Following him, watching his every move. Oh, how Remus had struggled to make friends after that.
This fact Sirius and James had found hilarious. "Aww, how cute." Sirius had remarked through laughter. At this Remus had to join in, too. They stopped only when a small boy popped his head around the door.
"Remus," the boy squeaked. "I thought that was your laughter I heard. I wasn't sure because I didn't see you get on the train."
"Yeah, sorry about that Pete. I got here earlier than I'd anticipated." In truth he deliberately didn't arrive at the arranged time in hope of avoiding Peter.
"Oh, right," came the quiet but pitched reply. "I thought it must have been something like that." He lowered himself into a chair, knocking over an empty cage as he went.
Silently James and Sirius shook with refrained laughter. Peter noticed the movement.
"Who are they?" he asked shortly.
"These are the friends I was telling you about. You know, from my old school? James Potter and Sirius Black." He turned then to the boys. "This is Peter Pettigrew….My friend."
"Hi," Peter smiled, though the boys were still too busy laughing to reply. Instead, Peter looked around the room, spying the discarded book beside Remus. "Magic Made Easy," he muttered, reading the cover. "Hey! Is that my book?"
"Yeah, you left it in my bag for some reason. Here," he handed the book over to Peter, who snatched it and attempted to hide it quickly. In his haste he fell off his chair, the book fell in front of James and Sirius. On seeing this sight and the book before them, they could no longer keep quiet. Their laughter echoed loudly around the compartment.