James watched the craziness out on the platform from the comfort of his own, empty compartment aboard the Hogwarts Express. His mother had already Dispparated some time ago; James had known she was needed early at the Ministry and promised that he would be fine if she did not wait around. His father had already gone in to be a consultant on some top-secret project there, some counter-Voldemort project, from what James had gathered from eavesdropping. They still did freelance work, even after being retired from the Ministry for some time. Now, however, he could relax in peace and detachedly watch from a vantage point while others grappled with their families…most notably his crazy friend Serious, who was looking quite harassed. James put his feet up on the seat in front of him and lounged back in his seat, in the mood to be entertained.

"Regulus, geroff!" Sirius complained, shoving back his little brother, disentangling the boy's fingers his robes. "You're like a little spider monkey…and ugh, your hands are sticky!"

The boy in question, a small, rail-thin, child of nine, was bouncing around, trying to get his older brother's attention. He could be considered cute, yes, but lacked the classically handsome overall good looks of his older brother, maybe they would come with age. He had those same grey eyes, pale skin, and arrogant look about him as his older brother, yet less defined. He wore his black hair cropped short, an effect which only served to emphasize his much finer bone structure, which gave him a fragile-looking appearance. He looked dwarfed when standing next to the much taller, much stronger, and much more imposing-looking Sirius.

Regulus had been attempting to latch onto Sirius by tugging on his robes, before being unceremoniously removed. He stumbled backwards at Sirius' shove, tripping over the hem of his own robes and landed on his bottom on the floor, his legs splayed out in front of him, tangled up in his robes. Sirius crossed his arms over his chest and made no effort to try and help the kid up, looking down upon the mess Regulus had made of his robes with distaste.

Cassiopeia promptly slapped Sirius upside the back of the head, hard enough to make a sound.

"Ow!" Sirius cried out, running a hand over his now-throbbing scalp. "What was that for?"

"Don't be rude to your brother. He's worth more than you, Boy."

Sirius scowled at her when she turned away, attempting to wipe off the sticky, gelatinous substance Regulus had gotten on his new robes. Did she have to do it with the hand with all her gaudy rings on it?

Bellatrix swooped in to assist Regulus to his feet, brusquely thrusting Sirius out of the way. She pulled him back into a standing position, whispering something in his ear as she did so. Andromeda, too, shoved Sirius aside.

"Do you really need to be such a prat, Sirius?" Andromeda snapped, having watched the exchange and moving forward to help.

"I doubt he can help it." Bellatrix drawled, shooting him a nasty glare. "It's an ingrained habit by now."

"Oh, Regs, are you alright?" Cassiopeia asked, making Sirius scowl once again, this time at the injustice of being considered a second-class son, while Regulus got all of the concern and adulation.

"What did he do to you?" Andromeda challenged. "He's just a little kid! And you call me a bully!"

"Just look at my robes!" Sirius exclaimed throwing out his hands. "He got ice cream or whatever the hell it is all over them!"

"That doesn't give you the right to fling him aside!"

"Yes it does!"

"Why don't you grow up and stop being a git, for once?" She snarled.

"Why don't you just get over our argument and not hassle me just for the sake of making yourself feel better?"

"Oh, if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sirius demanded.

"What's a spider monkey?" Regulus piped up, looking around expectantly.

"An arboreal monkey of tropical America with long slender legs and long prehensile tail." Andromeda repeated by rote. "Although how Sirius knew what one was is beyond me…"

"Hey!" Sirius protested. "I read books!"

Andromeda slapped him upside the head, just like Cassiopeia had, only moments before. "Don't call him that! It's cruel."

Regulus frowned, confused. "So why am I a spider monkey?"

"Because spider monkeys climb things and latch on to things and their cute appearance hides how annoying they can be." Sirius answered.

Regulus glared at him. "I'm not annoying!"

"Yes, you are." Sirius replied crossly, to which he was promptly slapped by all three women. I hate when they all team up on me! He thought to himself. Aloud, he griped, "Hey, watch the hair! And my head is already throbbing, and Regulus has got whatever nasty thing he was inhaling onto my new robes, and I would appreciate it if you would all leave me be."

"Don't talk to me like that!" Cassiopeia thundered. "Just because we are in a public place, don't think I won't beat you in front of all your little schoolmates."

Andromeda smirked. "I'd pay to see that."

"He deserves it." Bellatrix said menacingly, glaring at him through heavily lidded eyes. "That and much more, Auntie. I think you should do it."

"I have half a mind to, Bellatrix…" Cassiopeia responded, as she briskly check Regulus over for any injuries.

Sirius stared impudently up at his mother, as if daring her to do it. He really didn't care either way…he'd be free of them soon enough, for almost an entire year. The Hogwarts Express was only a few yards away…

"Auntie, I think you—" Andromeda began smugly, before Sirius cut her off.

"Watch it Andromeda, I'm sure there's news about you that your dear sister would love to hear…"

Andromeda's eyebrows went up, and her grey eyes flashed dangerously. However, she held her tongue and fell silent.

"What's this?" Bellatrix asked suspiciously. "What's this you've been keeping secret, Andromeda?" She demanded of Andromeda, whose cheeks tinged red at the address.

"Nothing." Andromeda replied quickly.

"Somehow I doubt that."

"Wow, Bella, pretty quick to turn on your own people." Sirius remarked. As much as he was irritated at Andromeda—and she at him—he did not really want her to get into trouble with Bellatrix. She made a formidable, irritatingly persistent enemy. Sirius had no true compulsion to reveal Andromeda's secret—least of all to Bellatrix, his sworn enemy—he had only wanted to ruffle Andromeda a bit, so he came to her aid by drawing Bellatrix's attention back to himself.

Bellatrix glowered at him. "Not that it's any business of yours, little boy, since you're not among 'my own people'. By blood maybe, but not by anything else."

"Ooo…I'm so scared." Sirius responded, giving a fake yawn of boredom.

Bellatrix opened her mouth to utter another undoubtedly scathing reply, but Sirius was saved from having to deal with more with this argument that could lead to no place that was good, by the arrival of his father, with Narcissa and his Uncle Alphard and Aunt Kalista, the mother and father of Bellatrix, Andromeda, and Narcissa, who appeared to have just arrived.

"Well now!" Alphard commented jovially. "Looks like it is about time to get you lot on the train. Come now, let us say our goodbyes."

Sirius smiled at this; he always had liked the very laid back and genuinely cheery Alphard. He was probably the only other person in the family he was consistently on good terms with, for Andromeda and he definitely had their falling outs from time to time. Luckily, Alphard seemed to feel the same way towards Sirius, always giving him a decent bit of gold to line his pockets with whenever they met up at family gatherings.

"Ah, Sirius," Alphard greeted him with a smile and a pat on the back. "I'm not going to tell you to be good up at school, because that would just be a waste of breath."

Sirius grinned. "Well, at least I can't disappoint you then."

Alphard lightly cuffed his chin. "You always were a rouge one, son." He slipped Sirius a small felt bag full of Galleons. "Take that for some extra spending money, there's a good lad. And try to stay out of too much trouble…don't do anything I wouldn't do…"

"So then I can do anything, right?" Sirius joked.

Alphard guffawed. "That's the spirit, lad!" He glanced around and noticed most of the family had made their way to the train, which was now boarding. "Oh! We should hurry up then, eh? Don't want to make you miss the train and be stuck at Grimmauld Place for anther year, am I right?"

Sirius nodded, smiled and quickened his pace. There's no way I'm getting stuck staying behind!

James watched, amusedly, as he saw Sirius get clambered all over by a tiny sprig of a kid who he supposed must have been Sirius' younger brother. Sirius shoved the kid away, a little too harshly, James thought, as if he had been repulsed by the boy. James also saw Sirius get chewed out by what seemed to be all of the women in his family, a situation for which James' compassion went out to him. Women seemed to know exactly the place to smack you so that it throbbed for hours, and they could scream and argue better than any male he had ever known. He certainly did not envy Sirius in that instance.

James tore his face from Sirius' pitiable scene to watch all of the other kids saying their farewells to their parents and beginning to board the train. There was Remus, that kid Sirius had nearly pushed onto the tracks, getting hugs from his parents, all three dressed in some of the shabbiest clothing James had ever seen. He wondered what was wrong that they wore things like that, so patched up and frayed…he had heard about people dressed like that before…and had seen them on occasion, in Diagon Alley, but never as a whole family like that.

"They must be—oh what was that word?" James muttered to himself, thinking. He knew he had read it in a book before, and was sure his parents had mentioned the term. "It means when someone doesn't have 'two Galleons to press together'." He mused, quoting a phrase of his father's. It hit him suddenly. "Oh, that's right! Poor!" He grinned, excited. "I've never known a poor person before. I wonder what it's like…?"

He turned his attention back to the swarms of people on the platform…the first person he noticed in the crowd was that striking red-haired muggle-born girl, who seemed deeply in conversation with her mother, while her father attempted to cheer up her dour looking sister. There was a kid about his age with a curtain of greasy black hair obscuring his face, who appeared to be getting yelled at by his imposing father…an older boy with a long, white-blond hair in spotless, dapper clothes, who appeared to be nearly as rich as James' family, watching Sirius' beautiful blond cousin from afar, a dejected expression on his face…a pretty girl with long brown hair tied back with a blue ribbon, staring at the Hogwarts Express with an expression of wonderment…a short, chubby kid looking nervously around him, his hands pressed up to his mouth…and many others kids, some only with their parents, some with huge families, some getting last minute hugs and instructions, some chasing escaped pets across the platform, all chattering animatedly.

This is going to be so much fun! James thought excited, bouncing a little in his seat.

A/N: Ah, now they will finally be aboard the Hogwarts Express. Look for a chapter on that (for only two Marauders are properly aquainted as of yet)...and then it will be all Hogwarts from here on out (or well, almost all Hogwarts). :)

Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed so far, you guys are awesome! Please continue to do so!