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A Chance Beginning | | Author: | the 5th marauder | | Genre: | General | | Rating: | G | | Score: | 4.71429   | | Story: | Remus heaved his dusty old trunk onto the train with difficulty; it was the only one he could find at home, and even though it wasn’t even half full, he swore it was heavier then he was. Well… it wouldn’t be hard, he thought to himself, as he saw his reflection in the window of one of the carriages.
A small, thin boy was staring back at him; his fair, limp hair fell over his dark eyes, so he brushed it to the side. He was already wearing his robes; they were as shabby as his trunk, except to small, rather than too large.
“C’mon boy… move along…” said a tall prefect, who had just pulled himself up into the Hogwarts Express, behind Remus. Remus stammered, then hastily pulled his trunk out of the way, starting to check for an empty carriage. This task seemed impossible; every compartment was full with people, talking about the quidditch, (“No way are the Cannons better than the Tornadoes this year! You must’ve ran into the wrong ticket barrier on your way here!”) Or else laughing at a joke someone had told. The prefects were no help – Remus tried a number of times to get their attention, but they just walked past, as though he wasn’t even there. In the confusion, Remus even managed to end up in the prefect’s compartment at one point, much to their annoyance.
As he quickly made his way up the train, (the Slytherin prefects were not that friendly,) Remus was starting to get fed up; surely he wouldn’t be standing for the entire journey? Just as he was about to give up hope, he walked past a compartment that seemed different from the rest, quieter. He struggled to get a good look in, balancing on his toes. There was only one person on there; a young girl, probably new as well. She had flaming red hair, and was wearing a scared look on her face, clutching a letter in her hand. Remus recognised the Hogwarts crest on it – it was her Hogwarts acceptance letter. She was fiddling with it, but had still not noticed Remus staring at her. He stood down from the window, and raised his hand to knock the glass, figuring he may as well be polite. However, just as he did this, a group of loud, burly seventh year slytherins came crashing into the corridor, heading in his direction. Remus grabbed hold of his trunk, and shot off down the train once again, having no desire to be trampled before the year began.
Eventually, Remus found another compartment, which, after a quick look, he found to contain only two first years. He knocked, and slid the door open. The two boys inside gave a quick glance at Remus as he sat down, but did not talk. One of the boys had dark hair that covered his ears, with eyes of the same colour. However, despite this, Remus couldn’t help notice the small, permanent sparkle in his eyes. The other boy had slightly shorter hair, which was black and extremely untidy. Remus could see his own reflection in the boy’s round glasses, who had started to look back at him. The boy cleared his throat, and then introduced himself.
“Hello, I’m James, James Potter,” The boy held out his hand. Remus shook it once.
“Remus Lupin. I guess you’re new too?”
“Yeah… can’t wait really. Only ever heard good things about Dumbledore.”
“Same… my mum couldn’t ever say a bad word against him!”
The remaining occupant of the compartment mumbled something, as though his mum would definitely have had something to say, but neither James nor Remus noticed. Remus turned to the long haired boy.
“Hi, first year too?”
“yeah… hullo… Sirius… Sirius Black,” the boy mumbled, giving Remus the impression that he would rather not tell them his last name. Remus could not think of a reason for this, but did not matter. Everyone had their secrets, their problems…
Half an hour later, the three boys were deep in conversation. It quickly came apparent that Sirius was not as quiet as Remus had first thought, but was rather louder than both he and James put together. He was also very funny, which greatly livened up the journey. Soon, the sweets trolley was pushed past, and both James and Sirius bought a large portion of the food on offer. Remus felt slightly taken aback by this; he only just had enough for one pumpkin pasty, and that was if he didn't buy a drink as well. As the door slammed shut, the other two boys threw their food onto the seats beside them, and started their feasts.
“Helfh youshelf remush!” Said James, through a mouthful of pasty.
“Yeash… couldn’ eat thish all by ourshelvesh!” finished Sirius, who seemed to be trying to fit in anything and everything he had bought. Remus slowly reached out, picking up a single chocolate frog from the pile. James swallowed, then laughed.
“C’mon, you can take whatever… no way am I gonna eat all this!”
“Thanks!” replied Remus gratefully, and they continued their feast.
A while later, the pile had shrunk considerably, and the three of them were sitting looking rather pleased. Sirius was massaging his stomach, and James was looking at the chocolate frog cards he had found. Remus was looking absent-mindedly out of the window, to content to speak for the moment. The countryside rushed passed, turning into mountainside as they neared their destination. The sky had started dimming, the sunlight shrinking behind the mountains, which dominated Remus’s view. He was brought back when a prefect came through into their compartment, telling them they would arrive at Hogsmeade soon, and that they should get changed into their robes. Remus was already in his, but James and Sirius pulled out their trunks from under their seats ( they were all to small to reach the luggage racks,) and rummaged through them for their robes.
Just as James was wiping some stray floo powder off of the arm of his robes, a small boy came crashing into the compartment, struggling for breath. Remus jumped down next to him; the boy’s eyes were watering, teardrops hanging on to the end of his pointy nose.
“What’s wrong with you?” asked Sirius, who was still sitting on the seat, looking half amused.
“Stood… on… A 5th years… cat… came… after me….” The boy managed to force out eventually. Sure enough, a large, pug-faced girl came storming down their corridor. To their relief, she did not come into their compartment, and they heard her stamping all the way along to the next carriage. The boy stood up slowly; he was a lot shorter than the other three, and slightly rounder, with sandy coloured hair. James held out his hand once again.
“Hi. I’m James, and this is Remus and Sirius. Who are you?”
“Peter… Peter Pettigrew…” the boy said, looking slightly taken back that someone was asking him. James shook his hand, and sat down again.
Quite soon after this second meeting, the train started to slow down, and Hogsmeade station came into view. However, it was now completely dark outside, and the station was only obvious because of the oil lamps that lit it. People had started filing into the corridors, so the four of them slid the door open, dragging their cases out as well. The train ground to a halt, the smoke layering the station outside. The Carriage doors opened, and their journey was finished. However, unbeknown to them, the next had already started.
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