Words: 1779

Description: The Marauders meet on the train for the first time.

Story:

Remus was nervous. Well, nervous was an understatement. He was incredibly anxious, more so than he ever recalled being in his entire life. He was about to leave home for the first time ever. He stood on the Platform, staring up at the scarlet train with wide eyes, his mother's hands firmly on his shoulders. 

She was the only thing grounding him in that moment. His father stood behind the both of them, arms held stiffly behind his back. His face betrayed no emotion, but Remus was picking up on his uneasiness. None of them expected Remus to go anywhere in his life. 

He was a werewolf, after all. What opportunities did he have? And Merlin was he anxious. 

The warning whistle sounded and Hope squeezed Remus's shoulders, turning him around and pulling him into a tight hug. Her curly blonde hair tickled his face but he couldn't bear to let her go. 

Lyall cleared his throat. Remus pulled away from Hope, quickly wiping his eyes before Lyall saw that he'd been crying. "Remember what we talked about son. You mustn't make friends because they will discover your secret. If you are discovered they'll report you and you'll be taken to the ministry. There is harsh punishment for those beasts that don't register. And for their families. Your only chance at a place in this world is if you study and get good grades, son. No one will accept you until you've made a name for yourself."

Remus nodded frantically, absorbing all this information like a sponge. Hope offered him one last tearful smile and a nod. Remus tucked his shaking hands into his sleeves, searched Lyall's face once more for a hint of pride and, when he found none, ignored the sinking of his heart and steeled himself. He grabbed the handle of his old and worn trunk tightly in his fists and dragged it along behind him and boarded the train, refusing to look back.

+++

Sirius had never been more ready for anything in his entire life. He'd been practically bouncing off the walls all week. The morning of September 1st, Regulus sat on Sirius's bed while Sirius flew around the room, throwing every unnecessary thing into his trunk as he did. Regulus patiently took everything back out, folded it neatly, and set it back in to the very expensive dark trunk with Slytherin green accents. It even had the Black family crest on the buckles.

"Will ya miss me, Reggie?" Sirius exclaimed, flopping onto the bed with the biggest smile. Regulus frowned, playing at the hem of his pajamas. 

"I reckon I'll be awfully lonely," he said quietly. 

"Aw, Reg, you'll find plenty to keep yourself busy," Sirius said, pulling him into his shoulder. "Pull some pranks in my honor?"

Regulus shrugged. "You know Mum hates that."

Sirius scoffed. "Hence the exact reason pranks are pulled."

Regulus couldn't keep the smile off his face. "Be good at school, Siri. Don't be getting into trouble."

"Pfft, you should know me better than that."

"I'm serious!"

"No, I am."

Regulus sighed. "I really am going to miss you, Sirius. I can't wait 'til I grow up and I can go to Hogwarts and be in Slytherin with you."

Sirius smiled. "Yeah, I can't wait either." But for some reason, something about that didn't sit right with him.

"SIRIUS! REGULUS!" Walburga yelled up the stairs. 

Sirius stiffened and hurried to clasp his trunk shut and Regulus sprinted to his room to change out of his pajamas and the two skidded to a stop at the bottom of the stairs. Orion's jaw was clenched tightly and he stood at the doorway glancing down at his pocket watch. "Don't want to miss the train now, do we?"

"No, sir," Sirius said, subconsciously straightening his back and puffing up his chest. 

Walburga clucked her tongue and led the way out to the cab they were riding to the station in. The boys sat silently in the back seat the whole ride and looked out the windows at the city of London with wonder. It was a rare occasion when they were allowed outside of Grimmauld Place or another relatives Manor.

The four of them stood in King's Cross a short time later. Orion was looking as unimpressed as ever while Walburga's face showed her underlying disapproval of every little thing Sirius ever did. He tried to push that aside and instead looked to Regulus, who stared up at him as though he were the entire world. 

This is where Sirius chose to draw his confidence from and he let out the breath he'd been holding, grabbed up his trunk, waved goodbye to Regulus, and went on his way.

+++

Sirius tried not to let on how heavy his trunk was as he dragged it along behind him through the carpeted hallways of the train. Every compartment he looked into was full and he began to grow more and more discouraged the farther back he went. He spotted a few of his cousins but kept walking before they could see him. He'd really rather not spend his first train ride listening to them prattle on about filthy mudbloods. 

He was just about to the end when he saw a compartment with a boy that looked about his age. The boy had messy black hair and glasses that took up half his face. Sirius opened the compartment door to ask if he could sit there but didn't expect to see a redheaded girl crying by the window. 

"Uhhh," Sirius didn't know what to do, so he squared his shoulders and turned up his nose. 

The boy's eyes lit up and he stood, offering his hand. "Hello, mate! My names James Potter, wanna be best friends?"

Sirius shook his hand apprehensively. He should've known this lad was a Potter. The hair, the glasses...all signs of the blood traitors. 

"What's your name?" The boy asked, oblivious to Sirius's distrust. 

"Sirius Black," he answered. 

Potter's eyes widened. "Of the--"

"Most Noble House of Black, yada yada yada," Sirius interrupted, rolling his eyes. 

He almost gawked at himself! Had he just said such a thing about his own family? But, he realized, it kind of felt great. And he realized also that he meant it, too. 

Just then, the compartment door opened once again and a boy with greasy hair and a great big nose sighed in relief. "Ah! Finally. Lily, I've been looking for you all over, why didn't you wait for me on the Platform?"

Sirius screwed up his nose in disgust at the boy. This was Severus Snape, he knew. They were distantly related somehow on the Black Family Tree and Sirius desperately wished they weren't. 

James's face lit up at the prospect of making new friends. "Hullo, my name is--"

"I was talking to my friend, Lily," Severus interrupted rudely. "If you can't tell, she's quite distressed."

James looked like he'd taken a punch to the gut, the poor lad. Sirius could tell he'd never been denied a day in his life. 

"Yes, I can obviously tell. I've tried asking her what's the matter, but she mustn't want to--"

"It's Tuney, Sev. Oh, why is she so mean?"

Severus hugged Lily and smiled evilly at James over her shoulder. "She's just rude, Lily. And jealous. Forget about her."

James narrowed his eyes at Severus and Sirius felt this urge to defend the Potter boy. 

After a few minutes, the girl named Lily stopped crying and the four of them settled into an awkward environment. James and Sirius were talking about Quidditch when they overheard Severus say to Lily, "I can't wait for you to be sorted Slytherin, so we can be together all the--"

"Slytherin?" James interrupted, screwing up his nose. "I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" 

Sirius shrugged. "My whole family's been in Slytherin."

"Blimey! 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 wasted no time. "Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart! Just like my dad."

Severus snorted. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy..."

Sirius again felt the need to defend his new friend. He laughed. "Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?"

James laughed, going for a high-five. 

Lily pointed at them. "Get out if you're going to be so mean!"

The two left the compartment, giggling to themselves. They stumbled into another compartment that was also occupied by a few first years. 

"Do ya mind if we sit here, mate?" James asked the pudgy boy with scruffy blond hair and pale blue eyes. 

"Shhh," the boy said. Sirius looked over at the corner where a scrawny boy was sleeping against the window. He had originally thought it to be a rolled up cloak or a trunk, but it was indeed a boy.

"Should we poke him? See if he's dead?" James asked in a loud whisper. 

Sirius snickered. "No, James."

"I'm gonna poke him."

"James!"

The kid startled badly, punching James in the face on instinct and Sirius had never seen such palpable fear in anyone's eyes before. 

"Bloody hell!" James cried, holding his jaw. 

The boy's golden eyes widened and filled with tears as he scrambled back in his seat like he expected to be hit back and something inside of Sirius lurched. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," the boy said. 

Sirius thought James was crying at first, but it soon became apparent that he was laughing. "Bloody hell," he said again. "Nice arm!"

Sirius plopped himself down on the bench next to the boy and tried to ignore the way he flinched away, and James sat down next to the other boy.

"What's your name? Mine's Sirius Black and that idiot over there is James Potter."

The boy's mouth hung open slightly. He looked like he couldn't quite believe this treatment he was getting. Theses boys wanted to be friends with him even after he'd punched one of them. 

"Remus Lupin," he said quietly. 

Sirius's smile widened and he shook Remus's tiny, trembling hand in his bigger firm one. "Nice to meet you, Lupin. We're all gonna be the greatest friends in the whole wide world!"

"I'm Peter Pettigrew!" The other boy blurted out, blushing immediately after his outburst. 

James laughed. "Hullo, Peter Pettigrew!"

In the back of his head, Remus could hear his father yelling at him to find another compartment, they were gonna figure him out, he couldn't be friends with them...But he sat up a little straighter, allowed himself a smile, and said, "I think being friends sounds nice."

+++

I'm probably going to do a part 2 to this for the sorting, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Also, a few lines of the house conversation between Sirius, James, and Severus were from Pengiwen's Year One Marauders story.