I stood in front of the mirror, looking at my robes. Ragged and patched, just like everything else my mother and I owned. We made a good team, Mum and I. I wore the clothes out, and she sewed them. Good, huh? Well, there I was. The palest, skinniest, most sickly boy that would ever walk the halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I blew a bit of sandy hair out of my amber eyes. Amber. They used to be green. The slight twinge in my shoulder came back as I remembered that fateful night six years ago. Small, pinkish scars covered my face and neck. Mum tried spells, but they kept coming back. Mum. Her goodbye at the platform was enough for me. A simple, "Remember, you're here to learn from the best. And I love you. And," with the trademark Lupin smile, "Wash behind your ears." And with that, I was off to independence for a year. Now I stood in the bathroom on the train, regretting the moment I stepped on. A sudden knock on the door aroused me. "Hey! We need to use the loo, too!"

"Nice rhyme, Sirius."

"Thank you, James."

"No problem, Sirius."

"Quit it!"

"Sorry, Sirius."

"James!"

"Shutting up." I giggled to myself. The two were obviously good friends. I opened the door to one of the most handsome boys I had ever seen. He had slightly tanned skin, with bright, playful blue eyes and black hair tied back in a ponytail. "Hey, Big Gulp! Finally out of there, huh?" The speaker was the handsome boy's bespectacled friend. He had chocolate eyes with messy black hair. "Y-yeah," was my pathetic answer. I went back to my compartment, thinking about the boys. Then I noticed something. I saw a horseshoe hanging from the baggage rack on the wall. It was dirty, not polished like an ornament. I could tell that this had actually been worn by a horse. Suddenly, I remembered. A horse was being loaded onto the train when I got on. I heard it whinnying and rearing. After it, a few more were loaded. The rearing one was black. Pure black. I will never forget that animal. The others were black and white, brown and white, tan with black legs, brown, white, and gray. I then noticed the bags. Someone was sitting there! A large black mass lay heaped on the seat. I thought that I would be relatively nice and fold up the thing that appeared to be a blanket, so that they (whoever "they" were) wouldn't have to. As I reached out to grab the black blanket, a hand shot out from under it and grabbed my wrist. Needless to say, I was terrified. The hand was adorned with a black, fingerless glove which had silver studs on the knuckles.

Silver. I hated it. I still do.

Anyways, back to my hand. A predatory voice from under the blanket growled "Let…go."

I did.

I realized that the speaker was a girl. She was apparently one of those people who, once they are awakened, they cannot go back to sleep. So, she sat up and stretched. I was absolutely gobsmacked. She had long, black hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail. Her skin was ever so slightly tanned, giving the notion that she didn't work in the sun all too often. She wore a T-shirt, black, bearing the words "Built Ford Tough" in ice blue. I wouldn't figure out till later what a Ford was. Her jeans were baggy and black, not to mention torn in several places. Her shoes were workboots, black and encrusted with mud. Her ears were adorned with simple silver hoop earrings, maybe five in each mysteriously pointed ear. Her face, however, was what caught my attention (hey, I'm not a complete and total saint). Her lips weren't too full or too dull, but just the right shade of pink. Hey eyebrows were delicately arched, her hair falling beautifully in front of them. The most interesting features, however, were her eyes. Beautifully almond-shaped, shaded over lightly in black--but that's not the catch. They were different colors. Her eyes were two different colors! The left eye (her left, my right) was an icy but bright blue. I had seen pictures of thestrals and their clear eyes, but hers would make any Night Mare run in fear. I almost had to find her pupil in the icy mass. The other eye was gray with flecks of--was it?--violet. The most fascinating creature I had ever seen. So what did I do? I tried to make conversation. Yeah, that went well…