Autumn and James stood, hand in hand, at the wall that served as the entrance to Platform 93/4.
Autumn leaned over to James. “Are you scared?”
James shook his head, his young face reflecting nothing but bravery. From behind them, Euphemia put one of her hands on each of their backs.
“Ready, kids? Run as fast as you can through the wall, me and Dad will be right behind you.” She gave them a light push to get them going.
Taking a deep breath, Autumn began running towards the wall. James ran with her, still holding her hand.
James let go of her hand after they made it through, jumping up and down.
“It actually worked!” He exclaimed, moving towards Autumn to hug her. She brought her arms around him, smiling to herself. A few seconds later their parents came through the wall, pushing the kids' carts with them.
Fleamont came forward, and crouched over to be more on their level.
“Be good. Have fun,” He used both hands to rub their faces affectionately. “C'mon, let's get your stuff on your train.”
As Autumn and James were turning to get their bags, quick footsteps came from behind them. Suddenly, there was a hand on both of the kids' backs.
James turned around, seeing who it was.
“Peter! Did you just get here?”
“No, I've been here for a while. My stuff is already on the train. Let's go!”
Peter was a childhood friend of the Potters, having lived on the same street. Euphemia and Fleamont gave their children firm hugs before passing them their begs and bidding them farewell.
The three children walked to the train door, passing a stern looking woman scolding another kid.
“Jeez, what's her problem?” James quietly asked, observing the woman.
“No idea… let's get on the train.” Autumn said before grabbing James’ arm and leading him into the train.
They made their way to the compartment that Peter had put his bags in, both Autumn and James put their bags away while Peter sat down. Once finished, James sat beside Peter and Autumn sat down across from them.
“You excited, Pete?” James asked the smaller boy.
“Yeah, nervous too! Mum said I'll be fine but.. still a bit scary.”
Just as James was about to reply, a girl with flaming red hair opened the door.
“Is it okay if I sit here? Some of the other compartments still have space, but nobody wanted to let me sit with them.”
“Sure!” Autumn said, waving her in. “I'm Autumn but um.. friends call me Auta.”
Lily sat down beside her and shook her hand, smiling sweetly.
“I'm James,” He said, always eager for attention, “And this is Peter.”
Peter gave an awkward wave while James shook Lily's hand. Lily began putting her bags up into the overhead compartments, and the same boy they saw being scolded earlier stormed into the room. He slammed himself down onto the far end of one of the seats, a few feet away from the other boys.
“Hi?” Autumn asked, a little confused at the sudden entrance.
The boy moved to look over at her, his icy-blue eyes piercing Autumn's soul.
“You got a problem with me sitting here?” He asked.
James answered for Autumn, “No… you're just kinda unannounced.”
“I'm Sirius.”