Chapter One

A Departure

First of September, 1971.

Five o'clock, AM.

Sirius was, for the first time in his life, ecstatic.

He was finally going to Hogwarts! After receiving his letter nearly ten months ago (with loud complaints from his mother), he was finally going to go to Hogwarts! Hogwarts!

He felt honoured to be allowed to attend such a prestigious school. Of course, he was magical - he was far from a squib, he thought to himself - but he was a blood traitor, wasn't he? That's what he was told, anyways. Blood traitors don't go to Hogwarts. Those were her words.

"Bah, who cares?" He smiled to himself, talking quietly. He didn't want to wake anyone up - especially Kreacher, their house elf. "I'm going to Hogwarts!"

He flapped his hands, excitedly. He looked in the mirror, wildly imagining himself in the Hogwarts uniform he always saw in the old family pictures.

Long, black robes, that stupid hat, the green tie-

He paused.

Green tie? Would he even be in Slytherin?

Blood traitors don't get to be in Slytherin, he thought to himself. His smile quickly faded. I'll probably end up in Hufflepuff.

His prior happiness had been quickly replaced with annoyance. What would his family think of him being in Hufflepuff?

His mind raced. Maybe he could lie to them, pretend to get Slytherin. Get a tie specifically for them to see him in. He couldn't let them know he was going to be a Hufflepuff.

He looked at his face in his mirror. Even from the outside, he seemed dejected.

"No," he said to himself. "Sharpen yourself up! Be a man. You're eleven-nearly-twelve, you have to act your age!"

He cleared his throat, standing straight. He checked his posture in the mirror, only to break into a fit of stifled giggles.

You look ridiculous.

He walked, and sat on his bed. Looking around his room, he scanned for anything he hadn't yet packed.

Cauldron? Yep.

Potions ingredients? Yep.

His books? Yep.

His owl cage sat on top of his trunks, said owl sleeping soundly.

His owl was a gift for his eleventh birthday. When he found out, he was astounded. It was the best gift ever.

Of course, he knew that he was only given an owl for anything important in Hogwarts, but he was excited all the same.

He named the owl Leo. He didn't think that his parents had caught onto the reason why - they just thought it was a constellation, like himself.

With a small grin, Sirius lay back onto his bed. He couldn't contain his excitement.

This time tomorrow, he was to be sleeping in a bed in Scotland. How nervewracking.

First of September, 1971.

Five minutes to Eight o'clock, AM.

Sirius and his mother, Walburga, were rushing through King's Cross Station. They needed to get onto the Hogwarts platform, 9 ¾.

"Always so filled with these filthy things," she spoke, sharply. "These muggles really ought to learn how to stay in their place, I do admit."

Sirius said nothing. No response he could have given would have been good enough for her.

They were on their way to the Hogwarts Express, the train that would take them to the magical school Hogwarts. Sirius couldn't believe his luck! He was on his way to Hogwarts, finally. He eyed Leo in his cage on top of the trolley, who was wide awake and attracting many weird looks from muggle onlookers.

"Are you listening to me?" He heard a voice cut through his thoughts. He looked up at his mother.

"Sirius, do not ignore your mother. You are well aware I do not like that."

Sirius' excitement faded.

"I'm sorry, Mother."

She raised an eyebrow. "I should hope you were. We are nearly at the platform, do hurry along. We cannot risk you being late for your first time at Hogwarts."

Sirius hung his head, his pace not changing. A moment passed, and she spoke again.

"Although," she said, a slight snark in her voice. "It would do you good. We could not risk you being in anything but Slytherin."

He gulped slightly. "Yes, Mother."

When they reached the platform, Sirius was astounded by the amount of people there.

He was used to groups of wizards and witches being small and familiar. However, there were faces he did not recognise.

Most faces there he did not recognise, in fact.

"Ah," said Walburga, ushering Sirius along. "There is your older cousin."

He looked around and saw Narcissa Black, his cousin and former partner in crime. He smiled.

The only family member I actually bloody like. Unlike-

"Narcissa!" His mother had ushered them close enough to be in hearing range. Narcissa turned, and smiled at them. She nodded in acknowledgement.

"Narcissa, how is Bellatrix?"

Sirius simply blocked out their meaningless small talk, looking around for anyone his age to talk to on the train.

He saw a boy with the darkest hair he had ever seen in the distance. The boy was busy staring at some random girl to notice him, though.

I want to talk to him. He looks cool.

"Sirius!" His mother's voice cut through his thoughts again. He jumped, and looked up at her.

"Yes, Mother?" Narcissa had wandered off, likely to meet her own friends.

His mother glared. "I told you to stop ignoring me. As I said in the house," her voice lowered. "If you do not make it into Slytherin, there will be frightful consequences. Do you understand?"

The dangerous tone of his mother sent a shiver down his spine. "Of course, Mother."

She waved a hand. "Onto the train. Go."

He scrambled onto the train - he did not need telling twice. The boy he was watching had vanished.

He turned, and held a hand out to wave to his mother, only to find she had left already.

The train was loud, and lonely for a first year like him. He thought to look for Cissy, but he doubted she wanted anything to do with him anymore.

Not after she met that Malfoy, anyways.

He walked along the train, looking for an empty compartment. They had been taken, though.

His mind raced as he continued down the aisle. What if he were to run into them? His older cousins didn't like him, for the same reasons that his own family didn't. He couldn't handle their ridicule. Not in the same way he heard some of the other families in the Twenty Eight be talked about. Not like the Weasleys, or the-

Oof.

Sirius was winded. In his thoughts, he had forgotten to look where he was going. As a result, he walked directly into somebody.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to not look where I was going-"

"It's fine, why don't you relax a little?"

He looked up at who he bumped into. It's the boy from earlier.

"Oh, I-"

The boy waved a hand. "Don't bother, I'm James. James Potter, actually. Who the hell are you?"

Sirius grinned. He liked this guy.

First of September, 1971.

Twenty minutes past eight o'clock, AM.

"So you mean to tell me you're a Black?" James Potter was sitting in front of him, in one of the only empty compartments on the train. His eyes were filled with distant fascination, that alike of a starstruck fan meeting a distant celebrity. "Gosh, that seems exciting. I thought you were all a bunch of stuck up twits?"

Sirius eyed him. "Yeah, they are. Dunno what happened to me, I guess." He smirked.

James stared. "So you're the odd one out, yeah?"

Sirius nodded.

"That's depressing. I don't care about it, though."

Sirius was about to answer with a snarky comment when the door opened. A short, skinny boy with tired eyes looked at them.

"I'm awfully sorry to interrupt," he said, with a quiet voice. "The other compartments are just filled with older years, would it be so bad for me to sit in with you two?"

Sirius blanked, but James jumped up eagerly. "The more the merrier, didn't you know? Come on in, come on in! Gosh, I sure am glad I'm making friends already."

James ushered the now utterly confused boy in, closing the door behind him.

As he sat down, Sirius caught his eye. He gave a small smile, which was returned.

"So who are you?" James looked to the boy on his right, who was now staring at the floor.

The boy's gaze didn't move. "Remus. Lupin," he added, quietly.

James smiled. "What houses do you guys think you'll get into? I'm hoping for Gryffindor, personally, like my parents. They said they'll love me just the same though."

He looked at Sirius and Remus expectantly.

Remus just shrugged, and attention was brought on himself.

"Well," Sirius said, hesitantly. "I'm not sure. My family wants Slytherin, but…" his voice trailed off.

James nodded fervently. "I hope you guys are in Gryffindor too. Imagine how fun that would be? I wanna stick with you guys, you're cool."

James spoke too fast for Sirius' tired brain to keep up, but he nodded along. He found that the other boy's excitement was almost contagious, and he couldn't keep a smile off of his face.

Looking over at Remus, he saw that although his gaze hadn't moved, he had a small smile on his face, too.

First of September, 1971.

Half past three o'clock, PM.

Sirius was, for lack of a better word, ravenous.

He had barely eaten, and he had his ears talked off, back on and off again by his first friend, James. Remus, the boy quieter than himself, tagged along with them, not really saying much.

As they exited the train, he saw the red haired girl again. James had apparently seen her too, because he nudged his side.

"Say, isn't she just the prettiest?" He stared at her, a smile on his face. "How do you talk to girls, Sirius?"

Sirius just shrugged. "I'm eleven, mate. How am I to know?"

Remus snickered, then resumed his silence. Sirius sighed, and turned back to James.

"I reckon you should just say hi to her."

"D'you reckon?" James was staring at her again. "I think I love her, mate."

Remus looked over. "Do you even know her name?"

James scoffed. "What does that matter?"

"Forget it, James, you're not in love with the girl." Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Yeah?" James had a glint of mischief in his eye. "Alright then."

He took a piece of paper from his pocket, balled it up, and threw it at her.

"Oi, matchstick!" She turned, confused. The boy she was with turned too, and glared at the sight of him.

"Matchstick! What's your name?"

She gave a small smile. "Lily Evans!"

He nodded, triumphantly, and turned to his friends.

"That good enough for you both?"

Sirius glanced over at Remus, and the three of them started to laugh.

They approached a lake, a cold dark mass of what Sirius supposed to be water.

Idiot, he thought to himself. It's a lake. What else would it be? Tar?

"That lake looks an awful lot like tar," Remus pointed out. Sirius stared at him. It was almost as if he had read his mind.

He shrugged it off as James began to speak.

"You aren't wrong. My father told me they use boats to get up to the castle. I hope we get a boat to ourselves."

"Yeah," said Sirius, and Remus just nodded in vague approval.

A loud, booming voice was heard over the crowd. "Firs' years! Come along now! Four students a boa'! Don't forget ter keep yer legs in, else yer migh' drown an' get eaten by a massive squid."

The boys looked over at the voice, to find a ridiculously tall man with a lantern. Sirius saw Remus' face pale, whereas James was awestruck. He himself was simply confused as to how this was biologically possible.

"Who or what is that?" Remus asked. James looked over.

"I think that might be the Groundskeeper. I dunno much about how he's so tall though."

Sirius blinked. They found their way to a boat, to where they found a short girl sitting alone. They climbed onto the boat, the girl's beaded braids swaying slightly as they did so.

"I like your hair," said Sirius, idly. She turned to look at him, a smile upon her face.

"Thank you," she said. "My mum helped me with them yesterday."

She proceeded to introduce herself as Dorcas Meadowes. Sirius liked her, and thought she was rather quite pretty.

Remus seemed to agree, but there was an expression on his face Sirius couldn't quite place.