Chapter 1: The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters

September 1971

Platform 9 ¾ lacked its usual chaos. The train wasn't set to depart for another half hour, but it waited patiently at the platform while the over-eager families of first-years loaded their children onto the train. A young boy with a shock of black hair was among the first to arrive, and now he hung out of a compartment near the front of the train talking to his parents while the platform filled up behind them.

"Here's your lunch, son, and I left you some money in there to buy sweets off the trolley," Mr. Potter said, handing James a brown paper bag that looked like it might burst at any moment. "And James, don't forget you promised to write us right after the Sorting. We bought you that owl so you could write to us, not your girlfriend, alright?"

"Dad, I told you! She's not my girlfriend!" James glanced around. "Someone might hear you!"

Mrs. Potter laughed. "Alright, alright, I think that's our cue to leave," she said. "We won't embarrass you anymore than we have to. But sweetie, really do write, okay? We're going to miss you."

"I will, promise." James lowered his voice to a whisper. "And I'll miss you, too."

James ducked back into the carriage as his parents waved goodbye. Dumping his lunch on the seat, he began to tally the treats.

"Blimey, that's a lot of chocolate." A boy about James's age stood in front of him, looking longingly at the small stack of Chocolate Frogs James had piled next to him. "You wouldn't share, would you? My brat of a little brother stole all my Chocolate Frogs again last night."

"Sure, yeah!" James said, pushing the pile towards him. "Have some."

"Thanks, mate, really," the boy said, grabbing two off the top of the pile. "I'm Sirius, by the way."

"James. Where're your parents?"

"Oh, they left already. My brother started crying when they said he couldn't get on the train until next year, so they went to get him ice cream." Sirius bit off the leg of a squirming frog. "Better this way, actually. I'd rather not have them lecture me about the Noble House of Black again."

James opened his mouth to respond, but a quiet knock on the door interrupted him.

A girl with long red hair slid the door halfway open and stuck her head in. Her bright green eyes were rimmed with red, but that didn't stop her from looking James square in the eye.

"Can I sit here?" she asked. "Everywhere else is full."

James nodded and the girl tucked herself into the back corner of the compartment. She covered her face with her hair, but James could hear her crying quietly.

Sirius glanced at her and shrugged before outlining an elaborate prank he had left for his brother. James looked at the girl out of the corner of his eye, but couldn't help laughing at Sirius's story. The girl in the corner soon dropped out of his mind.

The afternoon passed quickly, and it hardly felt like any time at all before James and Sirius found themselves standing in a cavernous hall in front of a singing hat. James wasn't listening to what the hat was saying, and neither, so it seemed, were many of the students.

At the sound of Sirius's name being called, though, James turned towards the front. He liked Sirius and it would be a pity if he lost his new friend to Slytherin house. Sirius had said his whole family were Slytherins, but…

"GRYFFINDOR!" A blacked haired professor pulled the old hat off of Sirius's head as soon as it shouted it's decision, and was already calling the next student up to the front. Sirius smiled as he skipped down the steps, but there was something like worry in his eye.

"My mum will never let me back in the house," he whispered to James as he walked past, but he was laughing again by the time he reached Gryffindor's table.

He saw the crying girl from the train get sorted into Gryffindor as well, which seemed wrong somehow. Brave people weren't supposed to cry.

But then it was James's turn, and he put on his game face and marched up to the stool. The hat was placed on his head and a small voice started talking in his ear.

"Oh, yes, no question about it – GRYFFINDOR!"

James beamed, he shouldn't have been nervous. He strutted down the steps towards his table and took his place next to a pale boy with brown hair. Sirius, who sat on the boy's other side, leaned forward and grinned.

"James, this is Remus. He said that a giant squid lives in that lake we crossed, can you believe that?"

"It's true," Remus said, nodding. "I read it in Hogwarts, a History."

James didn't quite believe him, but the black haired professor was glaring at him and motioning to be quiet. James looked to his right. Remus was looking a little sick, but Sirius was laughing, and the warnings from his dad about staying out of trouble flew right out of his head.

Four courses, two hours, and three angry glares later, James was following the crowd of Gryffindors upstairs and laughing at something Sirius had said when Remus nudged him.

"I think you've got a shadow," he said, jerking his head backwards.

James turned, and the small boy who was sorted before him ran straight into him. "What's your name?" James asked the boy.

"P-Peter," he replied.

"I'm James, and this is Sirius and Remus," he said, gesturing at his new friends. "You're in Gryffindor, I take it?"

Peter hesitated and then nodded. James laughed. "Well, come on, then, the sooner we find our beds, the better. I'm beat."

Peter nodded enthusiastically and fell into step beside Sirius, who looked curiously at James. James just shrugged. "What's the harm?" he mumbled.

There were far too many stairs between the feast and the dormitory, and James was exhausted by the time he located the four-poster with his trunk underneath. He dropped onto his bed and was asleep before he even had a chance to take off his shoes.