The smell of smoke and candy wafted around the train as Remus Lupin sat down in an empty compartment. He looked out of the window at his father, who was waving to him. It wasn't raining, but his father's face was wet. But from sweat or tears he could not tell. Not that Remus was surprised, he was nervous too, having hardly ever been with anyone his age, let alone wizards. He wondered what they'd be like.

Remus' eyes darted from person to person, some dressed in peculiar ways, some dressed rather nice, when his eyes caught on a particular family. A father dressed in mismatched clothing and a mother wearing a shawl were giving their bespectacled son a hug and sending him on his way. The boy looked determined and confident. He felt a ping of jealousy in his chest. He wasn't sure if he had ever felt those things, and he certainly didn't feel them now. But despite the overwhelming nerves he felt, he could still feel excitement bubbling inside of him. He would finally get to be around people his age. Maybe I'll even make some friends. He thought as he looked at the students passing through the corridor.

For a while, nobody joined him. That was until a light-haired boy wearing robes peeked into the compartment.

"Are you waiting for anyone?" The boy asked with a tremor in his voice.

"No," said Remus. The boy nodded and put his things on top of the suitcase rack and took a seat. For a bit, neither of them said anything. Remus wasn't quite sure what the etiquette was for a casual meeting like this. In any case, he gathered himself and introduced himself. "I'm Remus Lupin, it's my first year here."

The boy smiled at him. "I'm Peter Pettigrew, it's my first year too." Remus gave a smile in return and, before he could do or say anything else, was interrupted by a teary-eyed redhead girl, who quickly sat in the compartment and folded her arms across her chest. A greasy black-haired boy with a look of disgust at the other boys followed right behind and sat opposite her.

The girl seemed to snap out of her thoughts though, and a look of regret came across her face. "Oh I'm so sorry, I didn't even ask if it would be alright if I sat with you guys, how terribly rude of me." The girl laughed nervously after speaking.

"It's totally fine, we weren't waiting for anyone. At least I wasn't, anyways," Remus said.

"My friend is coming in but there's plenty of room for mo-" Peter begins but is cut off by a boy with expensive--yet disheveled--clothes walking in and sitting next to Remus. He looked like he didn't want to talk, with folded arms and a look of discomfort spread across his face. His wand rested on top of his ear, which kept his black hair out of his face. These attributes sparked an interest in Remus, who tried to think of something to say to him.

"There you are, Peter." The boy with glasses Remus was looking out the window at before was now standing in front of him. The stinging in his chest came back when he thought of the boy's alive, caring parents.

"I'm James." James sat down in between Peter and the greasy boy. He immediately started talking to the boy next to him. The boy responded back. He tried not to listen to what they were saying but they seemed to both be engaged on the conversation, before James turned to Peter. Remus took out his book.

He felt someone's eyes on him, so he looked up to see the boy next to him, eyes fixed on Remus.

"What?" Remus asked. The boy smirked.

"Whatcha reading?"

"Why?" The boy shrugged. "It's called The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, it's old." Remus didn't have anything else to say, but the boy still looked interested. "It's about a mischievous lad growing up. It's pretty good so far."

"You Welsh?"

"Yeah, Cardiff, born and raised."

"Cool. Well, the book sounds good, maybe I'll read it sometime. I'm serious." The boy stuck out his hand. Remus took it.

"I believe you, what's your name?" To this the boy started laughing.

"No, my name is Sirius."

Remus felt his face flush. "Oh, sorry. I'm Remus."

"Remus. I like that name. Much better than Sirius." He laughed. "My parents were barmy for naming me that. Well, they are anyways but that just made it clear." This intrigued Remus. Apparently, his face showed his thoughts because Sirius added; "I don't like my parents very much," in a somewhat more reserved manner than how he had previously been acting.

"Sorry to hear that." Remus didn't know what to do in a situation like this. He'd only ever comforted his parents, but it felt too soon to hug they boy like he used to his mother. Thankfully, Sirius didn't seem in the mood to talk about it much more.

"S'fine, I manage." They sat in silence for a while. Remus started reading his book and every once and awhile he'd look up beside him and catch Sirius reading over his shoulder or looking at him. He smiled a bit to himself.

"Slytherin?" James said loudly. He hadn't talked to anyone but Sirius and Peter yet, but now seemed to be butting into the boy and girl's conversation. "Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" He now turned to Sirius.

"My whole family have been in Slytherin," Sirius said in a monotone voice.

James chuckled a bit. "Blimey, and I thought you seemed all right!"

To this, Sirius grinned. "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?" At this point, Remus had abandoned his book and was fully listening in on the conversation.

"'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad." To this, the boy James was initially talking to, the one with a seemingly permanent scowl, made an annoyed noise. James turned and said, "Got a problem with that?"

"No," he said with a sneer, "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy--"

"Where're you hoping to go to, seeing as you're neither?" Sirius interjected. Peter stifled a laugh, while James did nothing of the sort and let his loud laughter echo. Remus thought Sirius was bold, not wrong, but bold for saying this. He seemed like a completely different person from a minute ago when he was talking to Remus about his book.

The ginger stood. "Come on Severus, let's find another compartment." The boys ooo'd at this and shouted a few things at them, James even trying to trip Severus as he walked out. Was this how kids his age acted? Remus thought. Maybe he really was different. Was eleven too late to start making friends? If everyone is fighting like this all the time, maybe he would be better off alone.

On the other hand, the boys left in the compartment seemed to be having a lot of fun. Before he could stop himself, he blurted out; "Why were you acting like that to the boy?"

Sirius and James' grins wavered. Peter looked surprised that Remus had said anything.

"I know people like him," Sirius answered, "they aren't the kind of people I treat with much kindness. They aren't the kind that deserve it, either. D'you grow up a wizard?"

Remus bit his lip. "Um, sort of."

Sirius just nodded, seemingly not wanting to continue, so James said; "Well there are some people who believe themselves above other sorts. Most are Slytherins, and I know the sneer of a supremacist when I see one." Remus knew the prejudice of the Wizarding community very well. It was the reason he had to ask these lads he just met why they were acting the way they were instead of joining in.

Remus nodded, thinking to himself, and started reading again. He tried to rid himself of the embarrassment by pretending like he didn't care and going back to his book. Sirius wouldn't have this though. Just as Remus was putting his book back where it was before, Sirius flung his legs over Remus's lap.

A look of shock swept Remus's face, so Sirius said; "Lighten up, now it's just us cool kids." Sirius tried to do a cool-leaning-back pose but incorrectly estimated where the wall was and came crashing down onto the floor. James and Peter started laughing immediately, and Remus joined in soon after.

Sirius was the strangest lad Remus had ever met. Not that that's saying much, but still it stands true. His hair and face made him look cool and unbothered, but he seemed to enjoy being the joke and the center of attention more than anything else. He had only known him for a single train ride, and he had already made a very big impression to Remus. While Remus did not truly know if this behavior was common, his gut told him Sirius was anything but common.

Sirius got up, rubbing the back of his head and shooting a funny look at James, who hadn't stopped laughing since he fell. James was strange too. He seemed to have a more genuine confidence to him than the other two boys, like he was used to people adoring him. But he didn't seem mean, he just seemed like he liked himself. That was something Remus didn't have in him.

"Would you like anything from the trolley, dears?" A short woman asked, pushing a large trolley filled with decadent candies and sweets. While the other three bought things, Remus looked down at the muggle money mixed with a few wizarding coins in his pocket. His father and him retrieved the coins just yesterday at Gringotts. Lyall Lupin dreaded going to Diagon Alley, almost as much as he dreaded the Ministry. He had tried to keep Remus away from things like that, wizard things. But he knew Hogwarts was different, that he'd be safer there. He hoped so, at least. Remus hoped so too.

Sirius took his seat next to Remus again and handed him a chocolate frog. Remus smiled. Every time, albeit rare, he and his father went to Diagon Alley, he begged to go into Honeydukes. His favorite thing to get was chocolate frogs. Muggle chocolate bars were his favorite food, but that wasn't the only reason he liked chocolate frogs. Each one gave him a little more of wizard history, something he desperately wanted to know about. He had all of his chocolate cards in a little box under his bed that he packed in his trunk.

He looked at the card, taking a bite of the frog's head. Godric Gryffindor.

"I'll trade you a Dumbledore for that!" Said Peter. Peter wasn't very loud, but wasn't very quiet either. He would look over at James before doing anything. Remus saw him talking to himself at least five times on the train ride.

"No thanks, I've already got Dumbledore," He replied.

"Hang on, you aren't a muggleborn? I assumed you were, with the muggle book, not knowing about the houses and not having any mon-" Peter started before James whacked his arm. "What?"

"Don't be a twat, Peter."

Before Peter could respond Remus chimed in. "I'm a half-blood. I didn't grow up in a Wizarding community but my dad's a wizard."

"What's his name? Maybe my dad knows him."

Remus bit his lip. "Lyall Lupin, he--erm--used to work in the ministry." Remus hoped that would be the end of the conversation.

James shrugged. "I dunno him."

However, Peter's eyes widened. "I do, he was the one who--" Remus felt fear creeping onto his face. "Nevermind."

James scrunched his eyebrows. "What is it?"

"It's probably nothing, I just forgot." Peter said. He smiled knowingly at Remus, who smiled back.

"Here, try this." Sirius, who had been eating jelly beans throughout the conversation, handed a bean to Remus. The second Remus bit into it, he spit it out.

"Aw, yuck!" The boys all laughed as Remus took a piece of chocolate from Sirius' hand and ate it to get the taste out of his mouth. Remus kicked Sirius in the shin and smiled to himself.

If this was how school would be, maybe there was nothing to worry about.

A/N

Thank you so much for reading! I'm not typically a fanfiction writer but the marauders are so so dear to me so I decided to write a full story of how I view their hogwarts years. This will have many different relationships (both lgbtq and straight). It will also switch POV's to tell everyone's story and develop their characters over the years. Next up is James :))

-Thessie (Meg)