Yay, third chapter. Things get better now. Please review

"Oi! For god's sake man, wake up!" Sirius felt cold water splash his face, and groaned.

"Not now..." Everything hurt, and he didn't want to be bothered. He just wanted to go back to sleep.

"Get up!" More water splashed his face, and this time Sirius rolled over.

"Oomph!"

"Well, I think that woke him up." Sirius opened his eyes, confused. He found himself lying on the floor, sopping wet from the waist up.

"That was a hard fall just now, wasn't it?" He looked up to see a boy about his age standing over him, offering him a hand. He took it gratefully, allowing the boy to haul him up back into his seat.

"What happened?"

Now he was looking properly, he found he was sitting in a compartment with two other boys -- one with neat dirty blond hair and a kind twinkle in his hazel eyes, the other with incredibly messy black hair, startlingly blue eyes just like Sirius', and a lopsided grin Sirius found contagious. "We found you on the floor in the hall, mate." the one with black hair said, holding out his hand for Sirius to shake. "I'm James."

Sirius took it. "Sirius."

James sat back, smiling. "Nice to meet you, Sirius."

"Well met indeed," the other boy added, also holding out his hand. "I'm Remus."

Sirius winced suddenly as he turned to shake Remus' hand. "My neck..." He rubbed it gently, feeling a bruise beginning to form.

Remus nodded understandingly. "We got you some ice," he explained, holding up a bag slowly leaking water. "But you rolled over onto it when it melted. I can get some more," he added.

"Is that why I'm so wet?" Sirius asked. "Yeah, could I have some more, do you think?"

Remus nodded. "Sure -- i'll be right back." With that, he left the compartment.

There was an awkward silence in the room. "Er -- here's your wand," James said, holding it out for him. "And you dropped this." It was the package Sirius' father had given him at the station.

Sirius accepted the two items, pocketing the package. "Thanks." Another pause.

"All right -- let's stop beating around the bush." James said suddenly, leaning forward. "Why was Lucius Malfoy attacking you?"

Sirius frowned. He hadn't realised James had seen that. "You know him?" he asked, stalling.

James nodded. "My family is pure-blood -- we all know the Malfoys. Not that we like them," he added bitterly. Sirius nodded in agreement. All the pure-blood families knew each other, seeing as there weren't that many left.

"And you're a Black, aren't you?" James asked, a knowing twinkle in his eye. Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Recognized the cheeks," he explained. "You all have high cheekbones."

Sirius studied him carefully, taking in his prominent chin, looking once more at his hair. "And you're a Potter, i'll bet."

James grimaced. "Let's get this out now, shall we?" He hesitated, not quite knowing how to put it.

Sirius knew what he meant. "I don't think you're a blood traitor," he said slowly. "I think your parents are great people to pull themselves out of the twisted lives --" others have to live, he thought, breaking off mid-sentence. I have to live.

"Here's some ice," Remus said cheerfully, coming back into the room. He stopped. "Oof." he said. "You could cut the tension in here with a knife. What happened?" Sirius reflected that that question had come up quite a lot in the past few minutes.

James glanced at him. "Nothing," he said easily, leaning back into his seat. "Nothing at all."

Remus looked doubtful, but let the subject slide. He handed Sirius the ice, asking as he sat down, "Did you tell him what happened yet?"

James shook his head. "We heard you smash into a compartment door, stuck our heads out to look and there you were, just being knocked out cold by that git Malfoy."

"Then we both drew our wands and attacked him -- or tried to at least," Remus put in, blushing slightly. "Neither of us knew any really good spells." he explained, "so we had to resort to the Muggle way of fighting." Remus rolled up his sleeve, revealing a nasty cut. "One of the girls opened up the compartment door at exactly the wrong time," he said grimly.

"Don't blame it on her," James snapped. "she wanted to help." Remus rolled his eyes.

"She wanted to get you to leave, James." he said tiredly. "Can't you stop following her around?!"

"I wasn't following her that time," James said in a hurt voice. "I was trying to help Sirius here."

"Of course you were." Remus said tolerantly, turning back to a bemused looking Sirius. "Girl he's got a crush on -- Lily Evans. Nearly chopped my arm clean off."

Sirius almost laughed. "Sounds charming."

"Oh, she is!" James exclaimed, missing the sarcasm. "She's the most beautiful girl i've ever seen. I'm going to marry her some day, you know," he added.

Remus shook his head bewilderingly. "He's crazy," he mouthed to Sirius. Sirius grinned.

"I saw that!" James whined. "You think she doesn't like me, don't you?!"

"Only because she told you that herself around a million times," Remus replied.

"There's a thin line between love and hate."

"I beg to differ."

"Too bad."

Sirius laughed. "You have got to point her out to me," he told them. "I want to meet this love-hate girl."

"So which house do you want to be in?" asked Remus, getting bored of the conversation line.

"We both want to be in Gryffindor," James told Sirius.

"Honestly?" They nodded. "Me too! But we're Sorted by some sort of hat, right? You don't get to choose yourself."

"No, but people usually get what they want anyway." James said.

The three of them chatted for a while longer, and Sirius found himself liking them more and more. I'm lucky to have found friends already! He thought happily. Bet I'm doing better than Malfoy is.

Next up, romance! (And the Sorting). Excited? Review!