"Now, don't you dare mess things up. You hear? It's hard enough trying to keep this quiet in the house, you better keep this quiet at Hogwarts or you'll never be worth anything." His mother snapped, handing him his ticket and throwing his one suitcase onto the trolley. "I have to leave. You know how to get onto the platform. Go on." With that, she walked off in the direction of the parking lot. Remus pushed the trolley towards the barrier between platforms nine and ten, and leaned against it. He immediately shifted through to Platform nine and three quarters.

He looked at the brilliant scarlet engine that was before him, amazed. Suddenly, he was shoved forward, metal hitting the back of his knees and throwing him to the ground. He had lingered in front of the barrier too long. The person who had knocked him down walked forward, held out their hand, and helped him up. "So sorry." They said. "Didn't know anyone was in front of the barrier. Kind of hard to know, you know what I mean?""

"That's okay." Remus said, turning to face the boy. He was pale, with brown eyes, glasses, and jet black untidy hair. "Remus Lupin. I'm a first year I've never done this before."

"James Potter." He held out his hand to shake, and Remus took it. "I'm a first year as well." He smiled. "What compartment are you in?"

"I have no idea."

"Well, would you like to sit with me?"

"Sure." Remus and James wheeled their trolleys over to an empty compartment and put their luggage on the racks. James had four, very nice, very expensive suitcases. They looked even nicer compared to Remus' very old, very ragged one. James poked his head out the window, and started waving violently to someone Remus couldn't make out.

"Oi! Sirius! Over here!" He shouted, waving for the boy to come to their compartment.

The boy walked over, and waved at James. "'Allo James! Been a bit has it? See you still haven't fixed that hair of yours!" The boy was pale, had shoulder length dark brown hair, and deep brown eyes. "Who's that?"

"Oh, this is Remus Lupin. Remus, this is Sirius Black, one of my best mates."

"Hello." Remus stuck out his hand to shake, and Sirius took it.

"Nice to meet you. Could you help me with my luggage? Mum always packs me too much." Sirius showed them his trolley, which had seven suitcases in all. Remus and James helped Sirius put his bags on the racks and he sat down.

Suddenly, the compartment door slid open, and in toppled this very short, fat, brown haired little boy. He looked at them, blushing. "Hullo, I'm Peter Pettigrew. Do you mind if I sit in here? Everywhere else is full."

"Sure Peter, sit down."

--------------------------

Ah, that was how the Marauders had met, all those years ago. They had all been sorted luckily into the Gryffindor house, although later noted Peter should have been in Hufflepuff. The sorting ceremony was finished, and Dumbledore stood up to speak. Dumbledore said his few words of wisdom and then took the liberty to introduce him and Hagrid as their new Defence Against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures teachers. The entire great hall applauded loudly at Hagrid, except the Slytherin Table, and when he was introduced, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and everybody else who had been in the train compartment applauded. Remus smiled, looking out over the enormous group of youngsters and once again longed for those days, when he had friends, a place to call home, not just his flat, but a place where he felt he truly belonged. There was a place for a werewolf at Hogwarts, and Dumbledore made him feel safer than anybody else in the world could ever accomplish.

The feast began, and he started eating slowly, poking around the plate with his fork. It had been a long time since he'd allowed himself to think about the past. It'd been such a long time since he'd wanted to. He longed for the companionship of his three fellow trouble makers, James, Peter, and most of all Sirius. When James and Lily died, and he found out that Sirius was the spy, it felt as though he'd been the one who'd died, not James. He felt as though he died. And when Sirius was caught, he had killed Peter and a dozen or so muggles. That wasn't the Sirius he knew. That wasn't Sirius at all. It wasn't the Sirius he had fallen in love with.

)(Small chappie, I know. More?)(