Second Year Beginnings
“James!” Euphemia yelled from downstairs. “If you don’t hurry, you’ll miss the train!”
“I’m coming, mom! I promise!” James yelled through his open door, putting the last of his quidditch posters in his trunk. He quickly grabbed it as he started running for the stairs.
On his way down, he almost tripped from the weight of his trunk and pure excitement of returning to Hogwarts. “Woah, James,” Fleamont said, levitating the trunk. “Don’t want you getting hurt before you even get to the station.”
“James,” Euphemia sighed. “What are we going to do with you?”
James grinned widely. “Whatever do you mean mother? You’re already getting rid of me.”
Euphemia gave him a sweet smile as she guided both of them to the floo.
_____
James practically buzzed with excitement as he gave his parents their last hugs until Christmas. He spun from the hug so fast that his dad gave a great laugh as James frantically searched for any of his friends.
They were nowhere in sight. He couldn’t even see the fierce redhead he was most looking forward to seeing. He had the perfect plan to woo her this year, and wanted to tell the group immediately.
“‘Ello, James.”
James quickly turned to the side, seeing Remus approach. James almost flung himself for a hug. “REMUS! Oh, I’m so excited to be back! Aren’t you?”
Remus stiffed in James’ arms, but put one of his own around to hug James anyway. He gave a small smile. “Yes, very excited. Have you seen Pete or Sirius?”
James let go as his smile dropped, but only a little. “No, not yet.”
“JAMES!”
As he looked up, Peter was on his way over. “Good ol’ Petey! Come give your Jamsie a hug!” James said as he pulled Pete into a hug just as forceful as the one he had given Remus.
Once out of the embrace, Peter looked over to Remus. “Hiya, Rem!”
“Hey, Pete.” Remus gave him a slight nod as a small grin tugged on his mouth.
One more left. James looked through the crowd one more time, but there was still no Sirius.
“Last call for the train, James.” Euphemia was quiet and gentle when she said it. “You guys need to get on.”
“But, mom, I haven’t found Sirius yet.” James' face had almost completely fallen now.
“I know, love, but you can’t miss the train. He’ll be there. I’m sure of it.” And she did look very sure of it.
“Okay.” James gave his mom and dad one last hug before heading towards the train. Peter and Remus were walking in front of him.
_____
As the train started to move, James stared out the window. He refused to look away in hopes that Sirius would pop up. He didn’t.
James turned to his other friends in the compartment with the biggest smile he could muster. “So, boys. Second year! Big plans?”
“Haven’t thought about it,” Peter said as took out a snack. “Want some?” He stuck out some chocolate for James or Remus to take.
Remus leaned over from the other side of the compartment to take some, nodding a thanks. “Not really.”
“Well,” James started with a growing grin, “I have a big plan for Lily.”
“Lily?” Peter asked. Remus let his eyebrows rise a bit in question.
“Yeah! I really think I’m going to get her this year.” James' grin had turned into a big smile as he talked about her.
“Yeah?” Remus gave a small smirk while looking up. “And how are you planning on doing that?”
Despite the teasing, James was still smiling. “Well, obviously I-“
The compartment door slid open with a loud crash as it hit the other side. James looked up, a little shocked.
“Hello boys!” Sirius had a huge grin on as he looked at all of his friends. “The one and only, Sirius Black, has arrived.” Sirius opened his arm in a big, dramatic gesture as he began to bow.
James got up and hugged Sirius all in one swift motion. Sirius made an umph sound from the impact as he closed his arms around his best friend. “Sirius!” James pulled away, keeping his hands on Sirius’ shoulder. “I thought you missed the train. Where were you?”
If it were possible, Sirius’ smile grew as he stepped to the side and away from James’ hands. “With my little brother of course! This is my little Reggie.” Sirius put a hand behind his brother’s back to push him further into the compartment.
“It’s Regulus not Reggie.” Regulus said the nickname with a disgusted voice. He wore an annoyed and slightly bored expression as he stared up at Sirius.
James can’t take his eyes off Regulus though. It’s odd the way his eyes refused to move. He couldn’t figure out why, but he just wanted to continue looking.
Regulus looked a lot like Sirius. However, Regulus was smaller. His hair was shorter and fluffed out a bit more. It looked tailored though. It was like Regulus had maneuvered every curl and placed them to sit perfectly on his head.
When Regulus finally looked at James, he had an odd look on his face. It dropped for a second before Regulus scowled at him. He then sat in a huff across from James, turning to look out the window.
“James!” Sirius half shouted at him.
James looked away from Regulus, startled. Sirius was still standing and watching James with expectant eyes.
“What’s going on with you?” Sirius asked him.
“What do you mean?” James didn’t understand why anything would be going wrong. He had just been sitting there.
“I said your name like five times.” Sirius was still staring at James confused, but he moved to take a seat next to Regulus. Peter seemed to have thought it better to move and sit next to James.
“Sorry.” James chewed on the inside of his cheek. He hadn’t heard Sirius try to get his attention. James turned back to Regulus. “Hi, Regulus. I’m James Potter.” James stuck his hand out for Regulus to take.
Regulus peeled his eyes away from the window. He looked down at James’ extended hand but didn’t take it. “Mhm.” He turned his head back towards the window.
“Reg, you could at least say hi.” Sirius whined. Regulus only turned to give him a hard glare before ignoring everyone again. Sirius just rolled his eyes at his brother before engaging in more conversation. “So,” he started to lean back against the bench and spread his arms behind Regulus and Remus, “how was everyone’s summer?” He was wearing his signature Sirius Black grin.
There was a collective good said into the compartment.
“Mhm. Mhm. Well, I had an amazing summer break.” Sirius had a smile on his face, but it looked fake. There wasn’t a happy gleam behind his eyes, no mischievous glimmer.
James eyed him for a moment. He didn't want to make Sirius uncomfortable, so he changed the subject before the others started to notice too. “Before you so rudely burst through the door-”
“I did not rudely burst through the door!” Sirius interrupted James, sitting forward with a very offended look.
“You kinda did.” James states for a moment. He wasn’t actually upset with the way Sirius entered. He just liked to tease him. He could tell Sirius knew too because there was a faint smile on his mouth.
“What James is trying to say,” Remus spoke up, clearly getting a little peeved with the looks, “is he has a big plan for Lily this year.”
Sirius’ eyebrows rose a bit, making James excited all over again to tell his plan. “Yes! I’m going to woo her.” He smiled as he noticed Regulus move in his peripheral vision. He seemed to have moved his head like he was listening.
James didn’t think Regulus would care about this stuff, but he continued anyway. “I’m going to learn how to conjure a bouquet of flowers. You know how those musicians do?”
“James, those are fake, and they’re called magicians. Because they do magic.” Remus had put an emphasis on magic because it’s not real magic. James knows that, but there has to be a spell out there like it.
“I’m going to find a spell that does it. I have to. She’d love it.” James was practically gushing by now.
“I mean, do you really know what she’d like?” Peter asked. It was almost an awkward question.
“Of course I would. I’ve only been going after her for a year. I think I would know by now.”
Peter narrowed his eyes a bit at James. His brows creased and he skeptically watched James. “Sure. You definitely know.”
“Well, I think it’s a great idea!” Sirius chimed in. “When we get to the castle and ready, we can all look for that spell, and James can finally get Lily.”
“We should start getting our robes on.” Remus stopped the conversation. All of them changed into their robes and settled into friendly banter and small conversations.
James started to feel the train slow. They were finally back at Hogwarts. The rest of the boys started to get up, but James just turned to look out the window. He wanted to watch as the castle came into view. Regulus seemed to have the same idea.