Chapter Two

James was missing his ma and dad already. He trudged along the aisle, looking in each of the windows, checking if it was free or not.

He was getting close to the end of the train, when he saw one with a single, golden-haired boy in it. He looked about James' age, so James entered and asked, "Hello, may I sit here?"

The other boy looked up. He had pretty features, with amber eyes, and full lips, but they were marred with white scars, stark against his pale skin. One mark, the biggest of them, ran from his brow bone on his left side, all the way to his jaw on the right, crossing over his nose and just missing his lips. The scarred boy blinked and nodded, shyly. James took a seat opposite him.

"What's your name?" James inquired of the boy, "Mine's James Potter."

"R-Remus Lupin," Remus replied, "It's nice to meet you."

Remus' voice was soft and sweet. He put his book, that had been open and on his lap, on the seat next to him.

"Ditto that." James grinned at him, and Remus Lupin gave him a small grin back.

Leaving his parents didn't feel quite so bad any more.

Sirius strode confidently towards the train, but as he turned on the spot to look at his surroundings, he slammed straight into a red-haired girl. "Oh merlin, I'm so sorry!"

"Oh, it's ok! Don't worry about it. Are you a first year too?" She spoke very fast as though her brain was working ten times faster than average, and her mouth was trying to run alongside it.

He smiled, "Yeah, Sirius Black, lovely to meet you." He held out a hand and she shook it firmly.

"Lily Evans. Nice to meet you, too. I haven't a clue what Hogwarts is like! Do you?" The grey-eyed boy looked at her, curiously.

"Are your parents' muggles?" She nodded, "Ah. Well, that explains it. I know a bit about Hogwarts. Not much though, it's tradition for a family to not say much about it before a kid goes to school." He smiled and leaned in a bit, "What I do know, is that you don't have to worry about the sorting. You don't fight a troll! You sit on a stool, and wear a hat and it sorts you into one of the four houses. Don't have a clue how though."

"What are the houses?" They started walking towards the train.

"Slytherin – the cunning and ambitious go there. Ravenclaw – the smart and witty. Hufflepuff – loyal and hard working. And finally, Gryffindor – the house for the brave and chivalrous." Sirius sounded wistful while talking about the last house, but his voice hardened as he said, "I need to get into Slytherin. My family always have, and I cannot be the first to break the chain."

Lily's brow furrowed, and she smiled at him sympathetically, as he sounded reluctant about this fact.

As they stepped foot on the train, "On that note, I've gotta be off. Gotta find my cousin. See you round, Lils." He grinned at her and she smiled back.

"Oh, that reminds me, I've got to find Sev!" She twisted on the spot, waving as she went, and ran off down the aisle.

He walked off in the opposite direction.

Sirius walked along the train until he arrived outside one of the less empty ones, with only two people inside. One was Indian, with messy, black hair, and the other was pale with dark blonde hair, both were grinning, and they looked about his age, so he opened the door, and said, "Mind if I join?"

The dark-skinned one spoke. "Sure."

Sirius stepped in. The fair-haired boy said, "My names Remus Lupin. And this is James." He spoke quietly but was heard by both.

"Sirius."

"Potter." He held out a hand.

Sirius eyed him warily, and took his hand gingerly, "Black…" He wondered if his surname would effect James' thoughts about him.

Remus snorted and gave a slow clap, "Well done for pointing that out. There's a thing called tact. Get some." Sirius became very confused.

James glared at him, "if you have a problem with my skin colour, you can step outside." As realisation spread across Sirius' features, horror joined it.

Sirius put his hands in the air, "Oh, no! There isn't a problem! At all! I meant that I'm Sirius Black. Black's my surname."

Remus cracked up, and soon James and Sirius joined in.

Once they finished laughing, they asked each other about house placement and the such.

"What house do you lot want to be in? My parents want me in Slytherin."

"Gryffindor! Definitely Gryffindor."

"Don't care, long as I am able to be sorted." James and Sirius looked at Remus, their confusion showing on their faces.

"Why wouldn't you?" Sirius asked.

"My mind isn't quite the same as yours."

"Right…" James stated slowly, not sure if he quite believed him, but let it go because they did only just meet him about twenty minutes ago. Sirius nodded, but stored the information away – he wasn't quite so accepting of leaving the subject as James was.

Remus changed the topic, "Anyways, where are you both from?"

"London."

"Potter Manor," James shrugged, "It's unplottable, but I think it's in Cornwall at the moment… Where'd you live, mate?"

"Up north, small village called Shrowley. It's in Northumbria."

"So, you have to go all the way to London, only to go back up past your house?!" Sirius thought that that was a little bit backwards.

"Yep, but it's fine. We went in the Floo, so it was easy." Sirius nodded in understanding.

Just then the door flew open and in came a short, slightly rotund boy, with blue eyes and blonde hair. He was slightly out of breath.

"Hey, names Pete. Can I stay in here, please?" They nodded, "Thanks."

"My name's Remus."

"James"

"I'm Sirius. Why're you out of breath?"

"Threw a stink-bomb. Running away." He smiled weakly. James' face lit up.

"You prank?" He was jumping in his seat. Sirius started grinning, too, his whole body radiating mischief, and Remus only put a palm to his face, wondering how he got this lot as a group of friends.

"Think we can come up with a prank for the feast in time?" James was almost out of his seat, bouncing with ideas. He deflated slightly, "But… I don't know many spells and I'm guessing you guys don't either…?"

Remus sighed, and decided to bring out his sneaky side, resigned to his fate, he said, reluctantly, "I know a couple we could use."

Sirius smiled at him, "Do you? That's cool. Alright, so what we're gunna do is-" And with that, the Marauders planned their first prank together.

:):):)