Hogwarts train, 1st of September, 1975
James Potter was finally back at school and he could not be more ready. He had an amazing summer with Remus, Peter, and occasionally Sirius. They all tried to get together at every full moon, because the wolf always did better with them around. All he really wanted was someone to play with. His favorite to play with was Sirius in dog form, which is why it was hard for Remus when he didn’t come.
Sirius’ parents were the main reason he couldn’t join them. The whole Black family is the most racist and heartless people that are in the wizarding world. Of course James didn’t know this first hand but Sirius has had his fair share of rants about them. James still couldn’t see how is family could be that bad. They made Sirius for starters, and Sirius was pretty awesome.
The other Black that confuses James is Regulus. It’s the only Black that hasn’t been disowned that Sirius seems to think is ok. On the other hand he is a complete git that hangs around bad influencing Slytherins. James was never sure what to think of him.
Peter barged into James’ compartment, interrupting his thoughts.
“Prongs, why are you all by yourself in here? We’ve all been looking for you!”
“Sorry didn’t know where you guys were,” James said, flustered, feeling as if he was caught doing something he shouldn’t have been. What was he thinking all he was doing was thinking about Regulus. There was nothing wrong with that.
“Come on Prongs, lets go! We even convinced Lily and Mar to sit with us.” Pete says, in a rush.
James got up, now excited to see Lily after the long summer. He had always had a crush on her, and he couldn’t wait to see how she grew. He rarely took is mind off her, and promised her he would be more mature in his attempts to swoon her.
They finally reached the compartment and James stopped in his tracks. Lily had grown up. Her hair was longer and she probably grew 5 inches. She was stunning. James had to remind himself to breathe as he made his way next to Sirius.
“So, Moony how was the last couple weeks of summer?” asked James, trying to focus.
“Best part of the whole summer,” Remus says, “I suppose it was quieter than I am used to since my father doesn’t talk much.”
“Oh but you have Hope to keep you company,” Sirius says, swooning, “What a wonderful woman.”
“Oh, shut it,” Remus sighs.
“But Moony how can we keep ourselves quiest,” James plays along, “Those eyes, that hair, my heart aches just thinking of her.”
Pete joins in with a heavy sigh, “To be loved by Hope Lupin.”
“Can you guys just stop?” Remus asks, an annoyed smile hidden in his eyes, “We have a whole train ride to play annoy Moony.”
“And we will be,” Sirius says with a sly smirk.
Everyone laughs, and eventually Remus joins in after faking a glare. Lily and Mary know the antics of these boys by now. Mary makes eye contact with James and she can immediately see the love he is trying to hide. He promised Lily he would be mature and not act as ridiculous as he had in the past. She gives him a small smile, letting him know that she understands. He starts to wonder who has made her feel like this. She never shows interest in anyone and has only dated Sirius, though that only lasted a couple of weeks. They both said it was a mutual break up, but maybe she still has feelings for him. He decided he would see if she was doing alright later, making sure that she knew he was someone she could trust.
Sirius on the other hand is seemingly happier than ever. He’s smiling and joking around like his usual self. James starts watching him, trying to see if he is actualy ok. He has always been so good at putting on a face for everyone else. Every once in a while throughout the train ride James catches his smile break and his laugh stutter. He’ll have to talk to him about it later.
James finds himself getting back into the conversation just in time for Lily and Remus to start arguing about the correct way to perform some kind of spell. He decides that it would probable just be better to tune them all out again. He never really cared about grades, even though he knows he should. He’s always been pretty smart without the studying, but Remus wants him to actually try.
Suddenly Regulus Black opens the door. He stands in the doorway for a second, with all eyes on him. Everyone is shocked to see him, because they all had assumed he hated all of them.
Slowly he starts to talk. “Sirius, do you mind if I sit in here for the rest of the ride?”
“Course Reggie, why?”
“No reason, just needed a place to sit,” he responds briskly.
“Well then, how was your second year Regulus?” Lily asks, polite as ever.
“It was fine,” He responds.
James wonders how he could have even come from the same family as Sirius. He is so cold and rude.
Everyone looks around, unsure of what to think.
Slowly quiet chatter starts to make it’s was back to a normal volume, but James can’t seem to concentrate on any of the conversations. Pete keeps trying to explain a prank that he wants to pull off, but James is just thinking about the Black family.
He had so many questions. Why was Regulus sitting with them? What made him resort to finding the brother that he hates? Where are his friends? Why wouldn’t he eve make an attempt to talk to them? Why couldn’t James seem to look away from him?
Regulus just stared out the window, looking at the scenery that continues to rush past. He avoided everyone in the compartment, and answered every question as vaguely as possible. How can he just sit there and not even care about anyone around him? He doesn’t even make an effort with Sirirs. James was starting to see why he hated his family so much.
Still he finds himself staring. He just can’t seem to take his eyes off of the small boy. His dark brown shoulder length hair, almost the same as Sirius’, his green eyes, the same emerald of his house emblem. He just wants to know more and more about him.
As the ride passes, and James’ thoughts intrude his mind, there seems to be a different aura about the train. James knows something is going to be different about this year.