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Return on the Hogwarts Express (Prongs)


James was nearly as excited to get back to Hogwarts as he'd been to go in the first place. The moment his mum had let go of him, he made a mad dash across Platform 9¾ to find his friends. He was looking forward to showing the invisibility cloak to Sirius Black and getting back to the castle to find that map of the secret passages in Filch's office. James found Sirius in a compartment about midway through the train, laying across the seat and staring up at the ceiling. “There you are, mate, been lookin' for you,” James exclaimed as he shoved his way into the compartment and slid the door shut behind him. “I've got some brilliant stuff to tell you 'bout. My dad told me --” James stopped short, seeing the look on Sirius's face. “What's the matter with you?” he asked.

Sirius sighed and sat up, not looking directly at James. “It's my folks,” he said, “They don't get me.”

“Don't get you?” James asked. “Was your mum mad about Gryffindor then? Did she shout at you?”

“Worse,” Sirius answered, “She didn't speak to me, all of Christmas. Nor did Father. Regulus, my brother, he did a bit, but we didn't get on real well. It was dreadful being in that big dark house, basically alone up in my room.” He sighed. “The summer's going to be even worse.” He shook his head and ran a hand along the back of his neck absently.

James frowned, “I'm sorry, Sirius,” he said. “I thought you and Regulus got on okay?”

“We used to,” Sirius answered, “Which is part of why it was so awful. Mother's got him good and trained in believing everything she always has. He said everything I worried Mother might about my being a Gryffindor.” He looked out the window for a long moment, then shrugged, “I guess it just bothered me more than I thought it might,” he admitted.

James was about to answer when the door burst open again and they both looked up to see Peter Pettigrew. “There you two are,” he exclaimed as though he'd been looking for them for eons. “I haven't seen you since we boarded in Hogsmeade before the holidays!” James realized, only as Peter said it, that he hadn't seen him since they'd been in the carriages coming down from the castle itself to the station and he felt a teensy bit bad that he hadn't. Peter was forgettable was all, merely a part of their clan because he was the only other first year Gryffindor there and it would be rude to simply leave him out, though if James were honest (if any of them were, really) he'd prefer if they could.

“Been wondering about you,” James lied, “Wondering where you'd got to and such.”

“I had to share a compartment with this strange bloke, Xenophilius,” said Peter. “Nobody else wanted to sit with him and I couldn't find any other compartments.” He sat down now beside Sirius. “Good Christmas, you two?” he asked.

“Bloody brilliant,” Sirius murmured.

“Was alright,” James understated.

“Oh. Well, mine was great,” Peter said, and he paused, looking 'round at them, as though he expected one of the two of them to ask him what had been so great about it, but neither did, so after a few moments of silence, Peter launched into his story about one of his uncles having jinxed one of his other uncles and having to spend some time Christmas Eve at St. Mungo's trying to get it all sorted out while one uncle tap-danced and the other sneezed uncontrollably.

About halfway through the ridiculously long tale, the door slid opened and Lily Evans, followed by Alice Bell, stood in the doorway. Peter looked up, surprised to see them willingly stopping by the compartment. Lily cleared her throat, “James,” she asked, “Can I talk to you a second, I have a question.”

Sirius and Peter exchanged looks behind his back as James nodded and got up to follow Lily out of the compartment. He could hear them chanting embarrassing things at him, even after he'd closed the compartment door to block them out. Alice flanked Lily, looking about like she was a bodyguard of some sort. “What is it?” James asked her.

“Do you know anything about the Shooting Star broomsticks?” Lily asked.

James hadn't been expecting that for a question. “I – uh -the Shooting Stars, you say?” he stammered, “Sure. I mean, they're pretty new. Great racing brooms. They have some killer speed...” he paused, “Why?”

“I've gotten one for Christmas,” Lily explained.

“No way,” James said, impressed, “You got a broom for the Holidays?”

“Yeah, my mum and dad are new to the wizarding world and they wanted to get me something fantastic. Apparently they asked a bunch of kids about our age 'round Diagon Alley what the best present they could think of would be for Christmas and all those kids told'em a broomstick was best. So… I got a broomstick.” Lily shrugged.

“Well, wish my folks would do that,” laughed James. Lily laughed, too. He smiled at the sound of her voice all sparkly like laughing made it sound. When she'd stopped, he gestured at the door of the compartment. “D'you want to join us?”

“I've just seen Derek down the end of the train,” said Alice, answering before Lily could, proving she'd been listening all along.

Lily pointed the direction Alice had indicated, “Our group's down that way.”

“My group's in here,” James answered, waving at the compartment where Sirius and Peter were.

Lily nodded. “Alright.”

“Alright,” James echoed.

“See you, then,” Lily said, “Around the castle.”

“Yup,” James nodded.

“Oh come on then,” Alice groaned, grabbing Lily by the wrist and hauling her off. James hung 'round the door for a moment, watching them go and distinctly heard Alice hiss, “And you said you wouldn't even pay a knut for him! Really!” as they walked away.

Grinning, James let himself back in the compartment. Sirius's attention instantly snapped to James, even though Peter was still talking, and he leaped up, interrupting Peter's new story. “So what was that about?” Sirius demanded.

“She just had a question,” James answered nonchalantly.

“What sort of question would Lily Evans have to ask you?” Peter asked, hurt about having both his stories interrupted and meaning his question quite as offensively as it sounded.

“About a broomstick,” James answered. “Seems that Lily's parents got her a Shooting Star for Christmas.”

“A Shooting Star,” gasped Sirius enviously.

“Why didn't she just ask Derek Bell about it?” demanded Peter.

James was haughty in his reply, “Because Peter, she wanted to ask me.”

Sirius held up his hand for a high-five, which James gladly slapped him on, and exclaimed, “She likes you! I knew it! She does like you. Oh just wait, James, when you get on the Quidditch team and all the school is amazed by you, you'll see… you'll see, she'll be your main witch.”

James was red about the ears.

The entire ride to Hogwarts was made even brighter for James, who kept thinking of how she'd hesitated to go, and she'd sought him out just to ask him a question she could've asked Derek Bell. He felt quite good about himself, and was able to day dream very effectively the entire time that Peter droned on and on about his holiday. He was so distracted that James forgot he'd meant to tell Sirius about the invisibility cloak and the maps in Filch's office until they were nearly at Hogwarts and by then he was so annoyed with Peter and his rambling on that he decided to wait and tell Sirius later on in private, without Peter's ears about to hear it.

There was a rush of students on the platform at Hogsmeade Station and the boys had to work to stay together. James felt Peter clutch onto his robes. “I'm not getting separated again,” Peter explained. They got into a carriage going up to the castle and watched as outside a light rain that had been falling turned into sleet and began to coat everything with a fine layer of ice.

“Carefully now, don't go slipping on the ice,” called McGonagall's voice over the tinkling of the sleet. James stuck close to Sirius and Peter and they climbed the stairs into the entrance hall and on to the Great Hall for dinner. They were all frozen half to death but the Great Hall was warm and each place at the table was equipped with a steaming stein of hot chocolate.

James looked around once they'd sat down, his eyes skimming over to the Slytherin table, where he saw Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape sitting together, and then up and down the Gryffindor table with confusion. “Remus isn't here,” he said.

Sirius looked about once really quickly to confirm. He leaned in to James's ear and said, in a low voice so that Peter, who was talking eagerly to third year boy about his uncles again, would not hear. “I didn't think he would be. We need to talk after dinner. Alone.” He looked over at Peter to make sure he wasn't listening in, then said, even more quietly, “I know what's going on with Remus.”