Sirius climbed enthusiastically onto the train, hauling his trunk and a frantic Sterling behind him. The train was already abuzz with students, flitting in and out of compartments, chatting eagerly with their friends as if they were long-lost relatives. 

But where to go? Bellatrix,Andromeda, and Narcissa his older cousins, had already left Hogwarts. Sirius felt some relief at this, since he had never really got on with Bellatrix or Narcissa, but he had never had any quarrell with Andromeda, and he half wished he had some familar friendly face on wich to anchor. He was alone. Perhaps he could just sit in an empty compartment by himself? As far as he was concerned, it was better to sit by himself than with the wrong crowd. 

He was about to seriously consider this option, when he toppled over sideways. His owl cage went flying and sprang open as it landed on the floor of the train car with a mighty crash. The train had given a mighty lurch and whoever had been behind him had not had very good footing. This character lay half-over him. His owl cage had also fallen to the ground, but the latch had reamined fastened shut. The owl inside was flapping his wings furiously. 

"Sorry!" the boy exclaimed, pushing himself up, righting his owl, and offering Sirius a hand. Sirius accepted it. Whirled around, he found that Sterling had made her way halfway down the compartment. She had paused not too far away, but was cheekily enjoying her momentary freedom. Sirius lunged forward, managing to grab her before she flew away. She allowed herself to be locked back in her cage with minimal resistance. 

"I'm just so excited," the boy explained apologetically. "I slipped when the train started." Sirius got his first good look at him. His hair was sticking every-witch way and pointed upwards. His glasses had slipped down on his nose. His eyes were hazel, and he was wearing one of the better muggle ensembles he had seen that day. His socks were neon pink, but that might have been more personality than ignorance. 

"That's alright," Sirius said carefully. He was hopeful that this may segway into not sitting alone. 

"Please clear out of the hallways!" The trolley with called a few cars down. "Find your seats, get a move on! Anything from the trolley?" 

"Would you like to sit with me?" the other boy asked before Sirius had the chance. 

"Sure!" Sirius said more quickly than he would have liked. The boy grinned. 

"We'll just have to find-"

"Get out of my way!" Both boys whirled around. a few feet behind them, a scuffle seemed to have occured. They moved towards the distrubance to see if they could help. A boy who must have been in their year with long, greasy, black hair was scowling at a boy on the floor next to him. He seemed to have pushed him. The boy on the floor was small and wiry. His sandy hair was untidy. His outfit was muggle to the T, but Sirius doubted that had anything to do with factors within his control. His jeans were ripped and dirty, and his sweater was stained and dashed with holes. He looked like someone had just pulled him out of the forest, and Sirius felt bad for him. He looked petrified. He mumbled something indiscernable in a frightened tone. The boy standing over him scoffed. 

"What pathetic rags. Stay out of my way, filth," he said bitterly. 

"Hey!" the boy next to Sirius cried indignantly. The boy with the greasy hair looked up. His nose wrinkled. 

"What?" He said rudely. "Got something to say?"

"You bet I do!" the boy next to Sirius said boldly. "Leave him alone! He hasn't done anything to you!"

"What's it to you?" the boy with the greasy hair took a threatening step forward. Both Sirius and the other boy held their ground unflinchingly. 

"Leave him alone," Sirius repeated for the boy next to him. "Don't be a bully." The boy with the greasy hair rested his gaze on Sirius. His eyes narrowed, and he looked like he would have said something ghastly had he not been interrupted. 

"Severus?" The boy with the greasy hair turned around. As he turned, he revealed a girl their age with flaming red hair behind him. She surveyed the scene with curiousity and confusion. 

"Is everything alright?" she asked cautiously. She looked down at the boy on the ground. "Are you okay?" the boy nodded violently, but Sirius thought he was probably just in shock. 

"I was just leaving, Lily," the boy with the greasy hair (Severus?), said coldly, his eyes not leaving Sirius and the boy next to him. 

"Well, come on," she said uncertainly. "We'll want to get a compartment before they all fill up. I think there's on down this way." She took his sleeve and gently tugged him in her direction. He left without any hesitation. As they dissapeared out of sight into another traincar, Sirius bent down to help the grungy boy up. His hand was trembling as he accepted Sirius'.

"Th-Th-Thanks!" He stuttered, looking between Sirius and the other boy. The fear dissipated from his face and was replaced with one of awe and admiration. 

"Don't mention it," the other boy said. He looked around warily. "Let's find a comparment," he added. Sirius and the stuttering boy followed him down the hallway, until he opened a compartment door. 

"Can we sit here?" they heard him say. Sirius peeked over his shoulder. There was only one student in the compartment. He was wearing a pale blue button-up dress shirt and brown slacks under a brown coat. His hair was a mousy brown. His face was pale, and possibly a little green, but it was etched with such terror that Sirius would go so far as to say he was more petrified than the stuttering boy had been just a moment ago. 

"Um... y-yeah. Sure. I... I guess." He stammered. He blushed and looked down at his book in embarassment. 

"Thanks!" the boy with the glasses exclaimed, determined to ignore his embarrassment. Sirius followed him and the stuttering boy into the comparment and shut the door. He took a seat next to the original ocupant, as the boy with glasses and the stuttering boy had seated themselves across the compartment from him. 

"Names," Sirius said in exasperation. 

"Oh, right!" the boy with glasses agreed as if he had just thought of it. He held out his hand to Sirius. "I'm James!" Sirus accepted his hand and shook it. 

"Sirius," he replied. "And you?" he said to stuttering boy.

"Peter," he said quickly. All eyes fell on the original occupant of the compartment. It took him a few moments to realize why. 

"Oh-uh...R-Remus." Sirius chuckled and held out his hand. 

"Nice to meet you R-Remus," he joked. Remus smiled a little and accepted Sirius' hand, shaking it lightly. Without warning, James groaned. 

"What?" Peter asked in alarm. 

"That kid out there was a right prick," he said in disgust. "Treating you like trash for no reason. I was tempted to hex him." Remus gasped softly. 

"You know hexes?" he said with interest. "I mean... your probably shouldn't be using them on other students," he added. 

"Yeah, I do," James said, ignoring the second part. "Not anything fancy, just a couple my dad taught me. 

"I can't wait to learn magic," Peter said. 

"Neither can I," Remus agreed. 

"I'm just happy to be away from home," Sirius muttered. 

"Really?" James asked, not reading Sirius' heavy tone. "I think I'll miss my parents quite a bit. I'm not ashamed to admit that," he said proudly. Determined to avoid the subject, Sirius pressed forward. 

"What house do you think you'll be sorted into?" He inquired. 

"Oh gosh, I hope Gryffindor," James said anxiously. "I don't think I could stand it if I got anything else." Peter shrugged. 

"I have no idea," he said. 

"Dad thinks I'll be a Ravenclaw," Remus added. 

"I'll be in Slytherin," Sirius sighed. James gasped in outrage.

"What? No way!" Sirius shook his head sadly.

"Every Black since the first to attend Hogwarts has been sorted into Slytherin. It's too much to hope I'll be the exception," he said sorrowfully. 

"What's wrong with Slytherin?" Peter piped up. He knew little to nothing about Hogwarts.

"What's wrong with Slytherin?!?" James repeated, dumbfounded and aghast. He, by contrast, had been raised from infancy on tales of Hogwarts. "It's only the worst house you could be sorted into! It's literally where they put all the evil, awful, bullies!"

"That's not exactly true," Remus protested. "The thing is that Slytherin only takes pureblood wizards, and the limited pureblood gene pool has a rich history of pure supremacism by nature. They are the only wizards who haven't by this point married out of the gene pool for the preservation of our kind, due to an attachment to their judgements and ideals. For the most part. So living in that sort of environment, wich thrives on prejudice-"

"English please?" Sirius interrupted. 

"I wouldn't go so far as to say that all evil wizards are placed in Slytherin, but by nature.... They-" Remus sighed in defeat. "They do tend to hold undesirable qualities by nature."

"Ha!" James exclaimed. "See, evil!"

"James-" But James was not listening, so Remus threw in the towel. 

"I reckon your dad's right," Sirius said. "You're so smart. You'll be a Ravenclaw for sure." Remus nodded slightly. 

"Is it weird that I kind of resent that?" Remus asked hesitantly.

"What do you mean?" Peter piped up.

"I mean, I kind of resent the fact that I already know where I'm going to be. There's no mystery in it. And.... well...."

"I understand," Sirius said. "I mean, look at me. At least you're guaranteed a respectable house." Remus shrugged.

"I don't know that it would be so bad, would it? I mean, your house doesn't really change who you are, does it? If you're a good person, couldn't you turn Slytherin around? Or be an exception?" Sirius thought about this. 

"I guess you're right," he consented appreciatively. "I hadn't thought about it that way. I'm still not thrilled, but I guess I could bear it." He paused. James was fidgeting with a loose seam on his trousers absent-mindedly. "Although," Sirius continued at last. "I wish I could be in the same house as you guys." They all looked up at him. "I mean, I haven't known you very long, but I already feel like we'll never be torn apart. Is that strange?" He suddenly felt a little nervous. He shouldn't have said anything.

"Yeah!" James said immediately, filling Sirius with relief. "I mean, when that greasy bloke went off on Peter, and we both jumped in like that, I just instantly felt like we had a connection!" Sirius noticed Remus shift uncomfortably, like an unwelcomed guest at a party, but it only took a fraction of a moment for James to continue. "And this compartment!" He exclaimed, turning to Remus, who jumped involuntarily. "I just got this feeling about this compartment! I couldn't see into them, and I could have chosen any one, but when I got here, I just felt something! And I opened the door, and I saw you, and I just knew!" His eyes quickly flew over the rest of the boys. They were filled with excitement. "I just knew," he repeated with satisfaction. This left a comfortable silence over all of them. 

"You know, I think you're right," Peter said finally. "Remus?" Remus smiled softly, and just nodded. He was a little overwhelmed. He had been alone his entire life. He had a hard time comprehending what was happening. Were these boys committing to be friends with him for.... forever? After only knowing him for fifteen minutes? 

"Well isn't this great?" James exclaimed. Sirius shook his head imperceptibly. His energy was off the walls. "Here!" He put out his hand, and it hovered over the center of the space. "Hands in," he prompted. Sirius was the first to oblige, then Peter followed eagerly, and finally Remus added his hand. James slipped his wand out of his pocket, and pointed it at their connected hands. 

"Liaisonare," He proclaimed. A thin silver light, like a glowing string burst from the tip and coiled itself expertly around their hands. It felt warm and strangely delightful on Sirius' skin. Once it had finished wrapping itself, it flashed a pale blue, and tightened, phasing right through their flesh without a trace. 

"What was that?" Peter inquired nervously. He was staring at his hand with a wary expression. 

"It's a simple and harmless spell," James assured them. "My mom said her friends came up with it when they were at Hogwarts. It's kind of hard to explain. It doesn't do much, it's more of a ceremonial thing, but mom says that as long as you remain true to each other, you have this sort of sense for each other. A connection of sorts. She said she always knew when her best friend needed her, even if she was miles away, and when she died in wand backfire she knew it instantly." He shrugged. 

"Cool," Sirius said. At that moment, the compartment door slid open to reveal the trolley witch. She beamed at them kindly. 

"Anything from the trolley?"