Hogwarts Express!

Ride the Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!

The train leaves Platform 9¾ without fail on 1 September at 11 o'clock in the morning, arriving at Hogsmeade Station in the early evening. Some students take the train back to King's Cross Station to go home for the Christmas and Easter holidays, but some do not, as they stay at Hogwarts. It also makes the run back again to London at the end of term in June.

Don't be late!

James Potter sat by himself in an almost empty compartment, staring out the window as the landscape zipped by. After a tearful goodbye with his parents, the young Potter boy couldn't have been more excited to be on his way to Hogwarts.

As Remus Lupin made his way through the train, trying to find a place to sit, he found himself fretting over the upcoming months. If he made friends, how would he explain his disappearance every month? How would he keep others, and himself, safe? Blowing his hair out of his face, he kept looking for a compartment until he found one that looked empty until he opened the door. His eyes then landed on a boy who looked his age, sitting next to the window on the right, staring at the outside world. Clearing his throat, he glanced down. "Mind if I sit here?" he asked.

James had been so wrapped up in his thoughts, he didn't even notice the compartment door open. When the sound of someone clearing their throat echoed through the small area, he turned his head and saw a boy with shaggy brown hair staring at the ground, asking if he could sit. "Oh, of course. It's not a problem at all," he said and offered a polite smile whilst gesturing to the bench across from him.

Lily Evans had been nervous, going away from her parents for the first time (Petunia had refused to come to wave her off, which had hurt more than a little) but once the barrier of getting all her things into the train and into an empty compartment, it seemed like an awfully big adventure. She'd met another girl and welcomed her into the compartment, making friends terribly easily with this Leia Organa, despite the differences in their upbringing. She couldn't help but keep an eye out for Severus, eager to enthuse about all of this to her friend, but she hadn't seen him of yet. She had waved goodbye enthusiastically to her parents through the window, Leia doing the same, then delved back into conversation with her new friend, only occasionally getting distracted by the scenery whipping by.

It was nothing new to Leia, not seeing her parents for a long time, and she'd been waiting for this her whole life. So she was about as teary as her parents (not) and more enthusiastic in her waving than them. She'd already found a friend, and likely the compartment would fill up as well as last-minute arrivers came through looking for a mostly empty place to sit and spend the journey. She hoped she'd make more friends, too, and hoped that her hair didn't make her look too pretentious; she'd tried to go for presentable but not over the top, a flat bun and two looping braids hanging down from it, enough to make an impact but not too much of one.

Sirius was enjoying infuriating his parents. He'd 'forgotten' so many things and had to turn back for them that  they were almost late for the train, and therefore no time for the pro-Slytherin speech and schtick they were going to give him; he just dived onto the train and didn't wave goodbye. He came across a carriage with only two boys in, and dragged open the door. "Hi. You look like nice, non-Slytherin-y people. Mind if I join you?"

Remus had sat down and was going to speak to the other boy when the compartment door opened. His shaggy hair fell into his eyes as he turned to look at the boy in the doorway. His eyebrows raised at the words he spoke before he glanced at the other boy. "I don't mind, do you?" he asked.

Han pushed his way through the crowd aggressively. "That's really helpful people! Standing in the middle of the aisle!" he said loudly, with sarcasm dripping from every word. Finally shoving through the last of the people, he made his way to an empty compartment, sitting by himself and staring at the ground. He didn't have anyone to wave goodbye to, so there was no point in doing so.

James moved his body so he could lean against the wall and looked at the boy in the doorway. "The more the merrier," he said with a grin. "Although, I think we should try and limit it to four. Anymore and we might suffocate."

Luke got on the train after a very tearful goodbye with his aunt and a stern goodbye with his uncle. He made his way through the train, waving at them through the window as he went. Finding an almost empty compartment, he opened the door and stepped in. He went straight to the window and waved goodbye. "Goodbye!" he called out and then sat down to look at the boy in front of him. "Hi, I'm Luke, what's your name?"

Sirius grinned as one of the boys spoke in the affirmative, and reached for his trunk, but realised it would probably be a lot politer to wait for the other boy to agree as well before he enforced his company on him. He was all the more grateful when he did agree, lugging the heavy luggage inside, along with his owl cage, shoving them into the racks, feeding his owl a couple of treats to keep her quiet. Then he flopped down on his seat, hair flopping in his eyes. "I'm Sirius," he introduced himself.

"Remus," the lad said, nodding slightly. He inspected Sirius slightly, as there was something interesting about him. Then again, there was something interesting about Remus himself. Turning his head to the other boy in the compartment, he found himself wondering who he was, as they hadn't had the chance to introduce themselves.

James watched introduce themselves and grinned once again. "I'm James," he added, and glanced a the boy called Remus. "It's nice to meet you both." He adjusted his glasses and sat up. "Do either of you have any idea what it'll be like there? My parents wouldn't shut up about it."

"Well, I know very much what the Slytherins are like," Sirius huffed, kicking back and relaxing a little. "And you don't want to be in Slytherin." He was going to throw a fit if the Sorting Hat placed him there, he genuinely would.

Remus waited until Sirius finished talking and then looked at James. "My father talked about it a little, but he barely told me anything," he said.

"My parents were rambling on about Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. I think that's where they want me to be," James said and looked at Remus as he spoke. "Just your father? Is your mother a muggle?"

Sirius shoved his hands in his pockets, making a disgusted noise when he discovered his mother (undoubtedly it was her) had planted a Slytherin tie in there for him to wear. He flung it on the floor with a glare, pulling out his wand to try a spell to ruin it for good.

Remus watched in surprise. He had never seen such aggression towards a tie before.

"Slytherin smells," James said, watching Sirius carefully.

"Indeed it does," Sirius muttered grumpily, sending a spray of water at the tie before remembering the right spell and setting it firmly on fire.

A minute or so later, Lily appeared at their compartment door and raised an eyebrow at them all. "Who thought that was a good idea?" she asked, pointing at the burning tie.

Remus raised his eyebrows as Sirius set the tie on fire and then looked up at the girl. "Just an accident," Remus said, trying to cover up Sirius' rage.

James grinned as the tie was set on fire and then heard a voice speak, so he looked up. His eyes rested on a young girl about their age, and his eyes widened. Her red hair was what caught his attention first, as it was so unique compared to the boys in the compartment, with their plain brown and black hair. He had to speak, he knew he did, so he spoke the first thing that came to his mind. "Sirius here was doing a ritual. You burn the tie and all your bad luck goes away." he said.

"Oh, and with the bad luck the whole train sets on fire and everyone on board burns to death," Lily returned snappily. "It was a stupid idea, whoever had it." She raised her eyebrow at Sirius as he slowly mumbled the water spell again to put out the smouldering tie, turning her attention to Leia as her new friend appeared at her shoulder.
"What's the problem with Slytherin?" the pureblood asked, recognising the tie, flinching back as Sirius surged to his feet angrily.

Remus watched as Sirius got up, fearful of what would happen next but couldn't find it in himself to get involved.

James chuckled at the redhead's snappy comeback but then jumped up and put himself between Sirius and the girls. "The problem with Slytherin is they're a bunch of purebloods with little to no respect for anything other then their blood status and looks," James shot at the brunette, purposefully inspecting her hair.

Leia drew herself up to her full height, even though it wasn't much, and glared at James. "Not all Slytherins are like that. Not all Slytherins are pureblood, and not all of them are like that. You can't judge people based on that, because if I judged you on your personality right now, I'd Sort you into Slytherin," she spat, folding her arms, trying to look intimidating.

Remus' eyes shot up again, and he curled into himself more, looking away quickly.

Holding back a glare, James forced a smile onto his face. "I'd have to say the same," he replied, with such fake sweetness in his voice, you would think he was speaking to his worst enemy.