disclaimer: of course i don't own harry potter, but if anyone would like to pay me for writing this i'm not opposed. everything in bold is taken straight from harry potter and the deathly hallows, chapter 33: the prince's tale. i made some edits to fit into the story, but that whole section is mainly rowling's words. thanks!
Chapter 2: James
The train smelled like sweets. And also B.O. coming from pre-teens clueless enough to not realize they were drowning in puberty and from students of all ages who just didn't give a damn. But mostly sweets.
"Hey, James," called out a familiar voice. James looked around to see one of his best friends from Godric's Hollow in a compartment, "come over here you thick-headed wanker!" James smiled and hurried over to his friends. Mikey Corner, Bruce Clark, and J.J. Turpin were three of James' best friends from the Hollow. Three boys he went on all sorts of adventures with. Mikey had been the last one to get his Hogwarts letter because of where his birthday fell, and Bruce, James, and J.J. had all refused to open their letters until Mikey got his (much to their parents' dismay.)
James sat down in the compartment with his friends and put his feet up on Bruce's lap. "Fellas, can you believe it," he said blissfully, "Hogwarts."
"We made it," said Bruce.
"Cheers to that," said Mikey, raising his bottle of pumpkin juice.
"Oi, Michael, spot me a bottle of whatever's in that," said James, pointing at the pumpkin juice.
"Oh shut it, Potter," said J.J., "we all know your mum and dad give you, what, a million galleons as allowance and ol' Mikey gets a knut, like."
"The trolley lady should be coming by in just a bit," said Bruce, "Mikey managed to swipe a bottle of juice off her cart-she ought to be right upset. It'll be glorious!" They rambled on and on about Merlin knows what as boys their age tend to do for a bit, and just when J.J. was threatening to leave the compartment over their "bloody stupid" opinions on the recent match, there was a knock at the compartment door. James turned his head to seea strangely posh looking boy standing there. His wavy black hair fell into intimidating gray eyes-a Black. James could tell from the chiseled face, the gray eyes, and the posture. But there was something different about this one than he had ever seen. A glint in the usually stone cold eyes that was usually extinct in Purebloods like them.
James got up and opened the door. "Hullo, I'm James," he said cheerily, "this is Mikey, Bruce, and J.J. and you're-"
"Sirius," said the boy, seemingly caught off guard by the immediate acceptance.
"Got a last name?" asked Bruce. Sirius looked down. James thought he looked… ashamed?
"Never heard of a Black who didn't start off a sentence by saying they were one," said James.
"How did you know?" asked Sirius. "That I'm a Black I mean."
"Oh thank Merlin you are," said James with a lopsided smile, "would be right embarrassing if you weren't, y'know."
"I was just wondering if-"
"If you could sit here?" finished J.J., "Sure thing, Black. Come on in." Sirius' face lit up like a lantern or lights on a Christmas tree or a lamp when it's… lamp time. Sirius sat down and set his bags next to him, at the end by the door next to James and Bruce.
"I'll stand," said Bruce, "it's a bit cramped anyways."
"Oh no, really I-"
"He likes standing," said Mikey.
"It's true," agreed Bruce, "it helps your digestion."
"What the hell?"
"Welcome aboard, Sirius Black."
Turns out, Sirius Black was brilliant. A true legend. Never had James ever met anyone as good at celebrity impressions.
"Ooh-er, looks like me pooch's takin' a shite on me lap," said Sirius in a high pitched voice, "but that's life! Just like when me marriage went as bad as a brown apple but I didn't learn me lessons and kept on keepin' on!"
"Bloody hell," said J.J. breathlessly, wiping tears from his eyes. "I've never, in all my eleven years seen an impression of Lupa Bagsley so flipping accurate!"
"Go on, Black," pleaded James, "give us some more!"
"I work for a price, y'know," said Sirius, "I need cash for some chocolate frogs! I'm not just a prostitute for comedy!"
"Does Mummy Black know her darling boy talks about prostitutes in his off hours?" asked Mikey, laughing.
"Nope," said Sirius, beaming, "I honestly don't think she knows what they are. Lord only knows I was dropped down from a stork, because she and my father have certainly never even kissed in front of me or my brother."
"Speaking of banging,"
"You're truly disgusting, J.J."
"Oi, shut it Potter. Like I was saying, speaking of banging, take a look at the bird in the hall." A girl with long auburn hair was walking down the corridor. She looked to have been crying.
"For heaven's sakes, J," said Bruce, "we're bloody eleven!"
"And that's over a decade," retorted J.J., "live a little, Clarky! She's a pretty girl and I've got blue eyes."
"So?" challenged James, who could honestly care less about girls.
"So," said J.J. like it was obvious, "birds go positively batty for a fellow with blue peepers."
"And gray," said Sirius smugly, "trust me, lads."
"You know Sirius Black," said J.J. with a smirk, "I think you're a pretty brilliant lad. Brilliant enough to possibly join our four man group of partners-in-crime."
"Hey Jimmy, if you want that bird you might as well make your move right about now, she's looking for a compartment."
"Thanks Michael, you're a saint," said J.J. "and don't call me Jimmy." He slid the door open.
"Hey, Red," said J.J.
The red haired girl turned around. "What is it?"
"Need a place to sit?"
She looked around, and seeing no other empty or welcoming compartments, nodded and walked over to the lads' compartment.
J.J. stopped her. "I'm J.J. Turpin. And you are…?"
"Lily. Lily Evans."
Lily Evans wasn't nearly as great of a guest as Sirius was. She just turned her back to the boys in the corner and looked out the window at the London they were steadily leaving. James reckoned she was just a bit homesick. It was emotional sort of day for parents and students, especially of first years. James' parents had full blown sobbed when James had waved out the compartment window at them as the train pulled away.
But Lily wasn't being interesting, just sulking, so the boys pretended like she wasn't even there. Which was easy enough until another boy burst into the compartment unauthorized. He had probably the greasiest hair that James had ever laid eyes on and had sallow skin that made him look closer to eight thousand years old than eleven.
The boy, without taking into account James, Sirius, J.J., Mikey, and Bruce, sat down opposite of Lily where Bruce had been sitting.
"I don't want to talk to you," she said in a constricted voice.
"Why not?"
"Tuney h-hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore."
James and his friends exchanged glances.
Sirius leaned in. "What the hell is going on?" he whispered. Apparently the boy heard him and sent him a look, then turned his attention back to Lily.
"So what?"
She threw him a look of deep dislike.
"So she's my sister!"
"She's only a-" He stopped suddenly. James could only imagine what he was about to say, but he could only guess the girl-Lily's sister "Tuney"-must've been a Muggle or Squib or something and couldn't go to Hogwarts. Evans wasn't a wizarding name. After all, James was a pureblood, which meant his family practically knew everyone in the wizarding parts of the U.K. She certainly wasn't one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, but she could have in theory just been a half-blood, though James found that unlikely.
"But we're going!" he said, unable to suppress the amount of exhilaration in his voice. "This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!"
She nodded, mopping her eyes, but in spite of herself she half smiled.
"You'd better be in Slytherin," said Snape, encouraged that she had brightened a little.
Slytherin? thought James, who in their right mind would want to be in Slytherin?
"Slytherin?"
"Who wants to be in Slytherin?" said James, looking around at his friends, "I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" He asked Sirius.
"My whole family have been in Slytherin," he said.
"Blimey," said James, "and I thought you seemed alright!"
Sirius grinned.
"Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading if you've got the choice?"
James lifted an invisible sword.
"'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave of heart!' Like my dad."
The boy made a small, disparaging noise. James peered at him.
"Got a problem with that?"
"No," said the boy, though his slight sneer said otherwise. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy-"
"Where're you going, seeing as you're neither?" interjected Sirius.
James, J.J., Mikey, and Bruce roared with laughter. Lily sat up, rather flushed, and looked from James to Sirius in dislike.
"Come on Severus, let's find another compartment."
"Oooooo…"
James and Sirius imitated her lofty voice; James tried to trip "Severus" as he passed.
"See ya Snivellus!" called Sirius as the compartment door slammed.
"Snivellus," said James nodding, "that's good."
"Truly impressive," said J.J.
"Oi," said Bruce, "the trolley lady's coming!" He smiled. "Now, who's got cash, because I think we need about forty chocolate frogs each to celebrate."
"Celebrate what?" asked Mikey.
"Michael Edward you daft twat," said Bruce rolling his eyes, "celebrate Sirius of course!"
So there they were. Five boys chanting "one of us, one of us" over pumpkin juice and chocolate frogs. But of course, dear reader, we know that James and Sirius will break apart from James' childhood best friends. James would stay close with J.J. Turpin, Mikey Corner, and Bruce Clark, mostly hanging out with them during holidays. These boys that were so important to James are forgotten, lost in the passage of time because they weren't Sirius Black or Remus Lupin or Peter Pettigrew. But James loved them nonetheless. Though it's true, they weren't Sirius or Remus or Peter, but that doesn't matter. Brothers are brothers, no matter how we remember, or decline to remember, them. Because the world isn't interested in boys who grow to be men, fall in love, and die happy at old ages. The world is interested in tragedy. Drawn to it like moths to a flame.
a/n: as you can see, i'm going to be going slightly off of canon for some parts of the story, such as james' friends from his hometown. i just thought it was more realistic that he would have known people going in. throughout the story, i'll have some "canon divergence" (more like pottermore divergence) but nothing too major. i've just got some ideas. :) thanks for reading! -cay