A rather tall and good-looking young man walked into the noisy, crowded area of Kings Cross Station. It would be his seventh and final year at Hogwarts... how he would miss the place. It was his real home, the place where everyone he cared about was. Sighing in a slightly sad way, Sirius Black searched for one of his friends. He did not have to search for long.
Walking side-by-side, laughing and joking merrily, were Remus Lupin, and James Potter, two of his three best friends. Pushing his two suitcases over to them, Sirius was quite relieved he had found his friends quickly.
"Hey Prongs, Moony!" Sirius said cheerfully. Those were the nicknames that they had been given, because of the animal that they would (both willingly and unwillingly) turn into every time a full moon appeared.
"Hey Padfoot." James and Remus said in unison. And that was Sirius' alias.
Sirius glanced around him. "Any idea where Wormtail is?" he asked, seeing no sign of him. Wormtail was the name that they called their small, pudgy friend Peter, whose animagus form was a rat.
"Nope. Haven't seen him all summer. Been with Remus most of the time." James said, grinning at the lad next to him.
"Oh. So that's why you didn't come an' see me?" Sirius asked dully.
"Erm...yeah. Sorry, mate! I really was going to, I guess I kind of just… lost track of time." James apologized.
Remus bit his tongue and painstakingly watched the two give each other unfriendly looks. He watched as James shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
"Well, I hope you two had fun together while I was by myself!" Sirius said sarcastically.
In the summer holidays separating their fifth and sixth years, Sirius had stayed with James' family, and they had gotten a lot closer. But after that, in the summer holiday which had just past, the one separating their sixth and upcoming seventh year, Sirius had gotten a place of his own, and not been able to see any of his friends.
"Well, Moony is my friend, alright?" James said, frustrated, continuing to walk toward the barrier.
"He's just as much your friend as he is mine!" Sirius said, catching up with the two.
"What? Sirius, that's not even the point! Of course Remus is your friend, we're the four marauders, we stick together. I'm just pointing out that you're not my only friend!" James said, gesturing wildly with one hand, while the other pushed his cart.
"I'm not your only friend, huh? You think you're too good for me, huh? How do you know that Remus even wanted to hang out with you? You probably gave him no choice and just arrived on his doorstep."
James had grown more irritated now. "No, it wasn't like that. Plus, he arrived on my doorstep, and if I remember correctly, I think that a year ago I recall something of my family letting you stay with us for the whole summer."
"Well I'll show you. If I'm not your only friend, don't forget that you're not my only friend either! Remus and Peter will follow me. Not you. They're my friends."
Remus widened his eyes. "This is idiotic! You guys are fighting about who has more friends? About who my friends are, and who Peter's friends are? This is not a popularity contest, and as James said, we're the four marauders and we stick together. Stop arguing!"
The other two were silent for a while, and stopped in their tracks, as Remus continued to walk on slowly.
"You'll just see, Sirius. At the end of the year, I'll show you; I'll walk away with my friends and Lily." James said in a hushed voice.
At the latter name, Sirius retorted, "Not if I can help it. I can get any girl I want, including Lily."
Remus sighed exasperatedly. It was amazing how two best friends could fight about such a stupid matter, and take it so seriously. He thought better than to contradict them. He'd been in this situation nearly every year...
The three split up into different directions and crossed the barrier separately. The start of their last year at Hogwarts did not look like a good one.
---------------------------------------------
Author's Note:
Welp, that's the first chapter... Heehee, yes very corny. If you think about those obnoxious idiots though, they could very easily get into a fight about something that stupid.
And yes, Sirius did live with the Potters when he was around 16 years old, and when he was 17 he got his own place. It says so in OOTP.
