The Losing One || Sirius Black

6. The Train Ride

James Potter

Wednesday, 1st September 1971.

King's Cross Station

"Come on Pete, hurry up!"

"I'm right behind you! I can't hurry because of you!"

James and Peter were running. They bid their families a short goodbye because Peter was, of course, running late, again. Thankfully, James' photo of his first day at the station was successfully taken somehow in all that chaos. The Potter Manor wall will, as promised, receive new decoration.

The two boys stumbled into the train just as it released its last whistle before starting to move. Peter tripped on the train steps and collided with James' back, making both of them fall onto the floor. They looked at each other, disheveled and confused, before bursting into laughter. It didn't matter that they were laying on the dirty train floor, what mattered was that they made it! They are on the train to freaking Hogwarts!

"That was a close one.", James said smiling while standing up and offering Peter a hand. The smaller boy excepted it immediately, "Yeah, remind me to never sleep in again."

The search for the empty compartment then began. It took them only a couple of minutes, but their luck today was invincible. There, in the middle of the train to the right was an empty compartment on the Hogwarts Express, on their first ride ever.

Just as they finally sat down and got comfortable, James heard Peter slap himself on the forehead, "Oh, shoot. I have to find William, I haven't seen him in weeks.", he said worriedly while getting to his feet.

James stood up as well, "I'll come with you to say hi.", he added and followed the smaller boy out.

They were recklessly running through the train towards the end due to James' insistence on making this a competition of who could find William first. Somewhere in the middle, they came to a halt. Peter bumped into someone, and, naturally, James then bumped into Peter resulting in three groans. When James readjusted his glasses and looked up, he was met with an unknown boy. The boy was about the same height as James, but had paler skin and styled hair, although one black, curly strand was hanging messily to the side.

James smiled and tried to apologize, "Sorry, mate, Peter here is just trying to find his brother, we got a bit carried away."

"Sorry, my fault.", Peter added while scratching the back of his neck nervously.

The boy's lips quirked upwards at the corners, making him look more amused than mad or irritated, "Not a problem. Do you happen to have a compartment with a seat to spare? Everywhere else is full?", he had a really aristocratic tone to his words.

James saw this as a perfect opportunity to make a new friend for him and Peter, "Of course, mate! Pete why don't you continue the search for William while I show him the compartment?", he said placing a hand on the smaller boys' shoulder.

With the similar intention as James, Peter nodded enthusiastically, "Of course! I'll be there in a minute.", he continued going towards the back of the train, leaving the two on their own.

"James Potter.", he announced while holding a hand out for the other boy to shake. He was grinning from ear to ear.

"Sirius Black.", the boy said while shaking his hand, the same grin plastered on the pale face.

From that handshake, James just felt that they clicked. He didn't know how to explain it. It just felt like they were going to be great friends. Somehow everything James mentioned Sirius knew about or vice versa. The first topic of conversation was, naturally, Quidditch. They talked about their favorite teams and the World Cup that went on that year, both enthusiastically gesturing with their hands as they spoke.