The Hogwarts express was definitely the coziest, comfiest train Ramona had ever seen. It smelt of hot butter and fireworks and each compartment seemed to be a small living room unto itself. Students, not yet in their robes, sat in huddles, showing off trinkets and sharing holiday gossip. Ramona followed James down the corridor, trying to take it all in. These people were soon to become a part of her life; it was almost nauseating in a way.
"We're in here." James mumbled, grabbing the young girl by the wrist and pulling her into a compartment that they were currently sharing with three other boys whom, Ramona realized, were probably the notorious 'Marauders'.
"James, buddy!" The boy nearest the door got up and gave his friend a quick hug.
"Hey, who's your friend, Prongs?" The boy turned to Ramona; a smile smeared across his face like chocolate, in that it was nice, and sweet, but you knew it was probably just a little bit bad for you. Ramona's voice stuck in her throat as she stared up at the boy who had just lost her five galleons. Sirius Black was tall, muscular, but in a delicate way. His skin was ivory and smooth, to the extent that Ramona had to control herself and not reach out to touch it. His hair was as long as hers, and black, falling in silky waves on either side of his handsome face. His cheekbones were high and sharp, framing big grey eyes quite nicely. There was no denying that Sirius Black was hot, and he knew it.
"This is Ramona Weatherspoon, the Quidditch captain's little sister. She's in our year, she was… uh… homeschooled."
"Ramona huh?" He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I'm Sirius, and this is Remus and Peter." He gestured to the other two boys in the room, Remus was boyishly handsome, with shaggy brown hair and a kind face; he had a thick book open on his lap.
"Hey."
Peter was a little on the chubby side, with a round face and blonde hair, he had slightly buckteeth and looked a little bit mousey. He grinned up at Ramona, who smiled back, brushed her hair out of her eyes and sat down between Remus and Sirius.
"We're probably the most irresponsible people your sister could have set you up with." Sirius sighed, leaning against the back of the couch.
"But we make up for it by being entertaining, charming and inexplicably sexy."
"And if I may point out that Sirius is always a conceited git?" James added.
"No need." Ramona mumbled, scooting away from the ebony haired boy who was leaning a little too close for comfort.
There was aloud chorus of "Oooooh" throughout the compartment as the three boys guffawed at Sirius' shocked face.
"Not such a ladies' man after all Padfoot?" Remus mumbled. He shot Ramona a smile.
"Shove off Lupin." Sirius spat, a mock growl in his voice. The Marauders laughed.
"Don't listen to these prats Ramona, they'll corrupt your innocence." He ran long fingers through his hair before shaking it off his face to reveal the sort of smile that said things Ramona didn't really want to think about.
"I look forward to it." Ramona muttered dryly.
"Nothing like the company of criminals to release one's inner animal, right Peter?" James stated with a pompous grin.
The Marauders burst into laughter, Ramona knew she didn't get the joke.
"You'll get it later." James tapped her leg, flinching as Remus shot him a dirty look.
"Or not." The bespectacled boy withdrew his hand and slumped back against the wall.
"What are you reading?" Ramona turned to Remus, her mind already unable to cope with the two dark haired scallywags nearest the door, and the pair proceeded to engage in a long conversation about early witch-hunts. Sirius rolled his eyes warily.
"James, when are you going to bring along a girl who isn't terminally nerdy?"
He received a swift kick to the shins from Ramona, on whom he hadn't seemed to make a sufficient first impression.
The train was already rolling deep into the English countryside by the time any Hogwarts students found themselves brave enough to peer into the Marauder's compartment.
Ramona let out a quiet 'eep' as the door rattles open.
Sirius let out a low, derogatory whistle. "Evans, what brings your smokin' hotness into the realm of the great?" he asked, winking profusely at the red-haired girl in the door way who was, in return, eyeing him with the sort of glare that says 'I want to gouge your eyes out'
"Are you lonely Lilly-boo?" Peter, who had not yet spoken, having had his mouth occupied with tastier things than talking, grinned up at the pretty girl with a mischievous smirk.
"Isn't Snivellous here yet?"
"Maybe he drowned in his own slime."
"Actually." Lilly Evans cut in, her voice, which was probably quite quiet and sweet, had a hint of acid in it. "I was just going to inform Remus that the headmaster wants to see him, alone, in his office on arrival."
She smiled nervously at Remus, who nodded shyly. "Thanks Lilly."
Ramona wondered silently, why Remus, who seemed the nicest, best behaved and least likely to be punished, member of the gang, should have any business in Dumbledore's office.
"Lilly?" James' voice was suddenly gentle, and he gazed up at the young woman with a sort of admiration.
"No, Potter. You can NOT copy my potions essay. Do your own work."
"I was just going to say tha…" James began, but Lilly was gone.
"Screw you too," Sirius muttered,
"Padfoot!" James cast his friend a look of disgust.
"She didn't even say hi did she, Mo?"
"Mo?" Ramona stared somewhat quizzically at the ebony-haired wizard.
"Ra-MO-na, Mo, it's easier." He explained. "You know, three syllables versus one. We're guys, it's out given birth rite to be lazy."
"Sure, fine. Mo's good."
Sirius smiled. "And in return you can call me 'darling' 'gorgeous' 'Babe'…"
"Conceited."
"Annoying."
"Sleazy."
Ramona laughed, she was beginning to think Sirius Black was a right git; it was reassuring to know that his friends weren't having any of his crap either.
The Marauders, and their female accomplice, spent a good deal of the trip giggling, fooling and hurling insults, and sweets from the passing trolley, at one another. Ramona's grin didn't fade for a long time. She knew that once she got to Hogwarts, her sensibilities, and fear of getting into trouble, would force her into finding a more sated, responsible group of associates, but for now she was an honourary Marauder, and enjoying it.
"So who do you suppose'll get prefects this year?" James asked, tearing off a hunk of licorice wand.
Sirius shrugged. "Not us, anyhow."
"Um… well… I wanted to tell you guys by owl but…" Remus was looking a little pink as he pinned a shiny red and gold badge to the breast of his robes.
"No way! Moony that's great!" Sirius sort of leapt over Ramona to give his friend a tight hug.
"Awesome! I mean, I'm not surprised, you've always been the studious one." James was patting Remus' knee, as the shaggy haired boy grew even redder.
"I bet your folks are proud."
"You won't be handing out detentions to us though will you."
"Of course, well… I might hold back a little, but Lilly won't, you can count on that."
Sirius' grin faltered. "Oh not Evans." He groaned. "We'll be spending every minute of our lives scrubbing floors with Filch."
"Maybe if you were a bit nicer to her." James muttered.
"Me? The only reason she hates us is because you keep making moves on her all the time."
"Not to mention all the pranks we play on Snivellous…"
"Hmm… that too. I can't honestly comprehend what she sees in that slime ball."
Ramona wondered who Snivellous was, and hoped that wasn't his real name. The Marauders seemed to dislike him a little. Maybe he was in Slytherin. Her stomach knotted a little as she wondered what house she'd end up in. The Marauders were all in Gryffindor, as was Joanna, and siblings are usually in the same houses… but what if she wasn't? What if there was a mistake? Ravenclaw wouldn't be so bad. Hufflepuff… she could live with that, but Slytherin. Not only would she never live it down, but Ramona had a bad feeling that Slytherin, the house of snakes, would change her. Slytherins were nasty, would that make her nasty too?
"I heard Burglebee's retiring," Peter said.
Sirius was chasing his chocolate frog around the room "Yeah, Dumbledore was interviewing people for Dark Arts Professor when we left."
"Do you know who got the job?" Remus asked.
"Something Riddle… " Peter began, but the looks on his friends faces stopped him short.
"Not Tom Riddle?" Ramona tuned around so fast that her neck clicked in protest.
"Yeah, that's the one." Peter mumbled. "Is there something wrong with him?"
"Honestly Peter, don't you read?" James spat. "The man's a psycho, what the hell is Dumbledore thinking?"
"Wasn't he the one that got Hagrid thrown out of school?"
"I heard that he wants to make an army to wipe out muggle-borns."
"I read in the daily prophet just last week that he was supposedly a parslemouth."
"Just like Salazar Slytherin."
"And we all know he was a git."
Peter and Remus watched in amusement as the other three wound themselves up in rumours that probably weren't even true. They were going to give themselves nightmares before they'd even met the guy.
"Look, " Said Remus loudly, "If Dumbledore trusts him, what need have we to presume the man's a criminal?"
"Dumbledore's made mistakes before." James replied, looking fearful.
"And everyone knows that that position is pretty much cursed." Sirius added. "I mean, come on Moony, how many teachers can you name that have lasted more than a year?"
Remus rolled his eyes and went back to his book. The compartment was suddenly thick with tension. Ramona felt heavy, as though there were lead in her gut. They're letting Tom Riddle teach at Hogwarts? The man thinks murder of muggles should be called 'racial cleansing'… this isn't right, this really isn't right.
"Look James! I can see Hogwarts! Can you see it?" Peter had his face pressed against the glass.
Remus pulled Ramona closer to the window. "Take a look Mo, it's pretty impressive at night."
Ramona crawled awkwardly over Remus to get a peek at the legendary school. She'd seen photos and paintings in her textbooks, but the small two-dimensional replicas of the castle couldn't even begin to compete with the sense of awe that flooded her body as the Castle came into view. Turrets, lit by a thousand cozy fires, climbed high into the star spangled night, bridges and halls and arches scattered across the castle like an architect's dream. It was so beautiful, so majestic, so big. Hogwarts was nestled in amongst great forests, mountain ranges and… was that a lake? Ramona was practically itching to see the castle from the inside. Remus let out a little whimper, and Ramona realized she was gripping his thigh very tightly. She let go suddenly, blushing.
"Sorry."
"It's okay. It's pretty amazing huh?"
Ramona didn't answer, her whole body filled up with happiness as the train began to slow. She was finally there, at Hogwarts, after all those years of refusing the temptation, she had given in, and it was the best feeling in the world.
"We'll see you in the great hall okay Moony." Sirius gave the sandy-haired boy's knee a squeeze as they got up.
"I'm sure it's nothing too serious, probably just about… you know."
Ramona was wondering what it was that Remus and the Marauders were hiding. Why did they call Remus 'Moony'? She was going to ask when a booming voice cut her off.
"Firs' ye'rs this way!"
"So, Mo," Sirius wrapped one long arm around her shoulders as they stepped off the train. "Welcome to Hogwarts."