Disclaimer: I am disclaiming legal rights, yo.
Breaking Up Is Never Easy
"If you hadn't been careless, as usual, then perhaps Uncle Rhys's portrait would still be intact. You're lucky, boy, that term starts today," said a woman with a posh accent. Her sleek, impossibly straight black hair was tied in a rather stylish looking low ponytail, something that did not usually look very stylish when on the wrong person. She had thin lips, inked in a rich red color, and tastefully brushed rogue on her cheekbones.
"It wasn't my fault, mum. Blame darling Regulus for once in your bloody life," Sirius Black muttered mutinously. He was slouching and had his arms folded, contrasting greatly with his mother who was sitting with a strict back and properly folded hands and feet. However, Sirius shared the same haughty, attractive features of his mother; his hair was gleaming black, and was constantly falling over his eyes in a graceful swoop. They both seemed a bit withdrawn, and both their eyes were the same intense, dark, saturated blue color.
"Keep me out of this," said Regulus. He, like his mother and and brother, shared the same eyes, hair, and overall good looks.
"What did you call me, Sirius?" his mother said menacingly.
"I said, darling mother, 'Why, of course it was my fault. It's always my fault,'" said Sirius. He had a mocking undertone to it all, and made sure he put emphasis on "mother," in a false display of respect.
"Well, Sirius. You'll be paying for the damages on Uncle Rhys's portrait. I'll be withdrawing ninety galleons from your account to cover the costs," she said crisply. Sirius shot a withering glare at his brother, who stared steadily out the window of the chauffeured ministry car they had been provided to escort them to the platform. His face remained an impassive mask.
-----
Her mother put the car in neutral outside the station and checked her makeup in the rearview mirror. She touched up her lipstick, and smacked her lips together to get the color even.
"Well, bye then, dear, be sure to write," Violet Evans said, pecking her daughter quickly on the cheek and smiling a bit too broadly to be genuine. "Oh, I'm so proud of you! Look at my little Lily, practically grown up! Be sure to keep your grades up. You'll want to get a good job since your father has taken all the money." She said it casually, as if the idea was so familiar to her that she could afford to throw the words around.
"Bye, Mum, see you at Christmas," said Lily, ignoring what she had said and trying to sound as normal as possible. The tone of her mother's voice made her seethe with anger whenever she mentioned dad, for reasons Lily couldn't definitively pinpoint. It just did. She clambered out the car, and dragged her trunk out of the boot. Her mother waved briefly and then drove away. Lily felt momentarily empty, an unpleasant heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach, as she watched her mother drive away. But it soon left her. She dragged her trunk to a trolley and wheeled into the station, going through the usual routine of walking through the barrier.
The summer had been rather boring, and Lily was glad for it to be over. She never liked her summers much. Before Petunia had moved out, they had always gotten into rows, usually over the most ridiculous things. In fact, Lily never really knew what the arguments were about by the end of it. Her parents were always at each others necks as well; the divorce hadn't actually been a surprise to her. She'd been anticipating its occurrence for years. She never shared any of this with her friends. They all lived far away from each other, and when they did see Lily and her mother out or shopping in Diagon Alley, her mother always put on such a good show that no one suspected anything amiss at all.
What was Lily to say? "Had a nice holiday? Really? That's nice. Me? Oh, nothing much, my parents just got divorced." Yes, that would be awkward, not to mention out of the blue. It wasn't as if Lily wasn't close with her friends; on the contrary, they were inseparable. But the topic of her parents had always seemed off-limits in Lily's mind, and she had never really mentioned it. They already had this preconceived notion that her parents were picture-perfect...and really, what was wrong with Lily's parents? Nothing really. People got divorced all the time. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary. And I refuse to act like a baby about it when other people have much worse problems to deal with, thought Lily.
----
Marlene McKinnion stared at herself miserably in the mirror. I look horrible, she thought, putting on another coat of mascara on her eyelashes with the end of her wand. She teased the ends of her lengthy blonde hair with her hands, hoping to give it a bit more volume, and gave one last dazzling practice smile before leaving the girls' room.
She stood on her tiptoes and tried to skim the crowd, but cursed her height. She couldn't see above the heads of the taller boys and girls, and the station was so packed that it was hard to even move her head to search. I knew I should've worn heels today...she said miserably. Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when she heard a high-pitched voice screeching her name and was soon enveloped in a tight hug.
"Alice!" Marlene shrieked, hugging Alice as well and ginning. "How was your summer? God, you look gorgeous, what have you done to yourself!"
"Oh, hush, you know as well as I do that I look awful. I didn't even brush my hair this morning, I woke up so late. Fabian, that git, forgot to set the alarm," Alice said. Indeed, Alice's soft, round face was flushed pink, and she looked a little winded, probably from all the rushed activity that morning. Fabian, her brother, appeared at her shoulder and smiled in greeting at Marlene. Like Alice, he had rosy splotches on his cheeks and his hair was mussed up, but it all seemed to make him look more adorable. "Ally, You've left mum with the luggage all by herself, you ungrateful daughter. Did you know I had to bring all of our stuff onto the train? That's right, all five million kilograms of rubbish you brought."
"I didn't bring that much! And it's certainly not rubbish!" Alice said.
----
"Brush your hair, James. I don't know why you insist keeping it so unkempt," said his mother. James nodded mutely in submission, but did not move to fix his hair. He was quite used to getting that particular order, but he never bothered to amend the problem. It wouldn't have worked to brush it anyway; it never did.
"And what is that awful outfit?" she demanded.
"It's muggle clothes, mum. We go through this every year...we've got to dress like muggles when we go to the platform."
"Oh, right. Well, why are you wearing that atrocious shirt? Put on the nice ones I buy you," she said as she twisted her hair into a demure bun and then fastened the clasp on the string of pearls she was going to wear. "And don't forget to tuck it in. You know it's very important how you look. And all those prominent people taking their children to the platform; how would I look if my son was dressed like a dog?"
James muttered something indescript as he was buttoning up a starchy crisp, white, button-up shirt and tucked it into the dressy-casual black slacks he was being forced to wear.
Katherine Potter turned around expectantly and nodded in approval upon seeing her son. "You look like a winner now. Perhaps if you keep this sort of appearance up, you'll get a nice job at the ministry. But that's only if you keep your grades up too," she said sternly. James squirmed uncomfortably at the thought of his OWLs. In truth, they were not bad at all. But he had received two acceptable grades, which, in his mother's eyes, was not acceptable. In fact, she was rather disappointed upon discovering that he had received the "mediocre" grade of Exceeds Expectations in three subjects, and only two O's.
"Oh what is this nonsense about James working at the ministry, Katherine?" asked William Potter as he waltzed into the room while adjusting his expensive black velvet robes. "James is going to be a professional Quidditch player, aren't you, my boy?"
James did not respond, but William Potter had continued on anyway. "I think I've almost got the manager of the Wasps convinced you're the next Rowan Manning! Make sure you're top of your game this year, because I know Yorke will show up at one of your matches. I don't actually know when though, so you've got to just play the best all year--hear that? No screwing up!" he said, slapping James genially on the back. James tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace. Neither of his parents seemed to notice though, as his father was putting on his Green Welsh felt skin shoes and his mother was putting on her niffler fur scarf.
"Let's head off to the station then, or we'll be late. Bye dear,"Katherine said, pecking her husband on the cheek and strolling toward the door.
----
"I'm not retarded, mother," said Remus, irritated. His mother sighed and continued to comb his hair and straighten the wrinkles in his robes. He looked haggard and pallid as if he hadn't gotten much sleep lately.
"Drink your energizing potion, dear, you look a right state," she tutted. Remus rolled his eyes, but took the potion anyway and downed the acidic tasting contents as quick as he could. He felt the familiar rush of life course through him, and, even though he was still pale and there were still dark bags underneath his eyes, he seemed to be more alive. The dullness in his eyes disappeared and brightened considerably. The tenseness he usually felt in his arms, back, and legs relaxed, and he let out a sigh of relief.
---
Peter looked miserable as he tried to keep up with his grandmother, who was walking so briskly that her legs looked a blur. "Not one bit of post back yet from any of the universities your applied for. What will become of you? Look at your OWLs! What your mother and father think of this? They were so brilliant, and you Peter, you've got so much potential but you just don't try hard enough."
"I do too try hard enough!" he said indignantly.
"Quit lying Peter Pettiegrew! I want to see your grades up this year, perfect grades. Not one toe out of line! You make yourself look like a squib! Do you want to embarrass this family anymore than you have? Honestly, what would your parents be saying..." Peter felt himself go pink with shame. What was wrong with him? Why was he such rubbish as magic? I'm so stupid, he thought. What would his parents say?
A/N: Okay, for those of you who are confused, I've started off the story with little sections on each of the characters so you get a little background on what their lives are like from context. All of the events occur on the same day, but at different times in the day, not necessarily in chronological order. Also, note: Peter is a main character in the story and will be included. Don't hate!