1st September, 1971
"Goodbye Mom! Goodbye Dad!" yelled James Potter, as the Hogwarts express pulled out from the station.
"Be good! Don't break any rules," called his mother, Anne Potter.
Harold Potter grinned and waved at his son as the train bended past view.
Inside the train, James dragged his trunk and the cage containing his tawny owl, Melly, along the corridor. He found an empty carriage and opened the door.
A boy around his age with black hair and dark gray eyes was the only occupant of the carriage.
"Mind if I come in?" asked James with a friendly smile.
The boy grinned back. "Not at all."
James held out his hand. "James Potter," he said.
The stranger shook his hand. "I'm Sirius."
Just then, the door opened and a girl came in. She had a long dark red hair and startling green eyes but her face was crumpled as if she had been crying. She sat down in a corner without a word, sniffing slightly.
After barely a minute, a greasy haired boy entered. The girl glanced at him and looked back out of the window.
"I don't want to talk to you," she sniffed.
"Why not?"
"Tuney h-hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore."
"So what?" asked the boy.
"So she's my sister!" said Lily, annoyed.
"She's only a—" He stopped himself quickly. "But we're going! This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!" said the boy with a suppressed triumph in his voice.
Lily gave him a small smile.
"You'd better be in Slytherin," said the boy encouragingly.
"Slytherin?" asked Lily.
"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" James asked Sirius.
Sirius did not smile. "My whole family has been in Slytherin."
"Blimey!" cried James. "And I thought you seemed all right."
Now Sirius grinned. "Maybe I'll change the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"
"Gryffindor," said James. "Where dwell the brave at heart. Like my dad," he said proudly.
The unknown boy made a scornful sound.
"Got a problem with that?" asked James.
"No," said the boy, "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy—"
"Where do you intend to go, seeing that you are neither?" asked Sirius swiftly.
The boy flushed with anger as James and Sirius roared with laughter.
Lily looked at the boys with dislike. "Come on Severus, let's find another compartment."
James and Sirius imitated Lily's high-and-mighty voice and James tried to trip Severus as they left.
"See ya, Snivellus!" called Sirius, as the door closed behind them.
James and Sirius, now alone, both realized that they had found an able like-minded partner.
"He was a greasy git, that one," said James. "And he was misguiding the poor girl."
Sirius laughed. "The poor girl? She seemed quite able to stand up for herself and her friend."
YOU ARE READING
The Ghosts of the Past (The Marauders' Story)
Fanfiction"We're friends. We're the Marauders. We stick together, remember?" "Yes, Moony. I remember." One of them was mischievous and brave and had the perfect life. Another of them was reckless and loyal and desperate to leave behind his family name. The th...
