Together
James and Peter took the news so much better than Sirius could ever have hoped. Instead of the fearful looks and ‘oh, I guess you’d better get out of our compartment then’s he’d expected, his new friends were actually sympathetic.
Of course, they’d initially both been shocked when he’d revealed, within ten minutes of meeting them, that the rest of his family were essentially sadistic, evil pureblood monarchy, but when he’d hastily assured them that of course, he was nothing like them. He believed that mud- muggle borns should be allowed to attend Hogwarts and all the rest of it, they relaxed.
Sirius wasn’t actually sure what he believed, but his cousin, Andromeda, his favourite member of the family, had always taught him that blood didn’t matter and, as he and his family didn’t often see eye-to-eye, he was inclined to believe her. Plus, all that stuff about ‘blood purity’ and ‘mudbloods’ had never really made any sense to him, so he figured that Andromeda’s way of thinking was probably better.
James and Peter seemed to agree with this view of the world as they both warmed to him quickly and Sirius found that he enjoyed their presence, particularly James.
Throughout his life, Sirius had never really had any friends, apart from Andromeda, though he barely ever got to see her, and Regulus.
Sirius thought that Regulus and James were complete opposites. His brother was always grumpy and very often, Sirius thought, a cry-baby. He sobbed when he saw a dead bird on their porch, and when Mother shouted at Sirius, and whenever they left Uncle Alphard’s house. James seemed much more exciting and daring, Sirius thought ‘Dromeda would have liked him.
Of course, he still missed Regulus, but his mind was occupied with much more pressing things and is still occupied now, with the arrival of a strange boy.
He pushes open the door of their compartment and Sirius panics.
His first thought is that his cousins, Bella and Cissy, have come to find him and drag him back to wherever they’re sitting, probably with their stuck- up friends, but when he jerks out of his seat, he finds himself staring, not at them, but at a boy.
The first thing Sirius notices is his freckles, speckled over his nose and cheeks, like they’ve been thrown on carelessly, but somehow ended up perfect. His top lip has a scar running through it and Sirius has the sudden urge to touch it, just to see what it would feel like to run his fingers over this boy’s face. His eyes are the colour of honey; golden-brown, with a flash of wild gold that would send shivers down the spine of anyone who looked into them. And his hair is shorter than Sirius’s but fluffy and brown, to match his eyes, with streaks of blond at his roots.
Somehow, Sirius realises he’s been staring and he tries to ask the boy if he’d like to sit with them, tries to express his relief at it not being one of his cousins at the door, but all he can blurt out is, “Well fuck. I thought you were related to me for a second, there.”
***
Remus gapes.
He’s just met this boy and the first thing the stranger does is swear at him! He’s almost too stunned to speak. Almost.
“Hello to you too,” he says, in a way he hopes sounds put-together and smart. His mother raised him to be polite and that’s what he’s going to do.
The boy flushes, apologetic. It’s a good look on him, Remus thinks, as he angles his head so that he can properly take in the pile of posh robes and poncy accent, lounging on the seat below him.
The stranger, he can tell, is quite a bit shorter than Remus and thin, not skinny, like himself, but model slim and with cheekbones girls would surely die for. His eyes are a piercing blue and framed with the longest and darkest eyelashes Remus has ever seen, and his lips are full and moist, unlike Remus’s chapped ones. The most interesting part about this new person, however, is his hair. It curls, shining and black, to just past his jawline and, as Remus watches, the boy reaches up, his fingers brushing against it, to rub just below his ear, a nervous habit.
Remus’s, frankly weird, now that he thinks about it, staring is interrupted by movement from behind him and he turns to see the boy, who was talking when he came in, standing behind him, with his hand out.
“Hi! I’m James Potter,” he says enthusiastically, pausing at the end of his name, as if he was going to say something else, before changing his mind.
“Remus Lupin,” Remus replies, shaking his hand, bemused.
Weird posh boys, he thinks.
“Isn’t that a myth?” Comes a voice from behind James and Remus notices that the third boy is looking at him with some interest.
“What?” he replies, and the boy turns red, embarrassed.
“Y’ know? Roman myths? It’s a story about how Rome was founded,” his voice trails off at the end and Remus suddenly realises what he’s talking about.
“Oh, of course! You like mythology then?” He says.
The other boy nods, “Yeah!”
Remus moves over to him and sits opposite, pushing the swearing boy’s legs out of the way- he promptly puts them back, this time on Remus’s lap.
***
Sirius’s new friends are amazing. He and James are arguing about whether or not there’s a giant squid in the lake- James is convinced there is but Sirius doesn’t believe him- and it’s the most fun Sirius has had since he kicked Uncle Cygnus’s chair out from under him at one of his Father’s gatherings.
Still, there is one problem, and that problem goes by the name of Remus Lupin. Sirius has decided he likes Remus, with his muggle clothes and his kind smile but he never even gets a chance to introduce himself before Peter steals him to go and talk about some weird muggle thing.
Sirius makes up his mind to ask Remus about that as soon as he canso that Remus will find Sirius interesting and want to speak to him just as much as Peter, preferably more, of course. Sirius also makes up his mind to get to touch that scar on Remus’s lip, one day. He wonders if Remus has any other scars.