It was another listless Thursday morning. The Ministry’s staff workers milled around, a few relaxed by the corridors, others on their desks, or some just plainly leaned by the wall. Most of them enjoyed their early morning coffee. Suddenly, a young woman with spikey pink hair came and zigzagged around everyone, she jumped over some file boxes, and amazingly not a single drop spilled from the cup of coffee she carried. She finally reached her destination and smiled. She took a deep breath to compose herself before she opened the door and stepped inside the room.

Behind the large desk sat a man with shoulder-length gray hair, a slightly hooked nose, and an eerie magical glass eye. On the front, right-hand side of the desk sat a tall and well built black man without a single hair atop his head. The young woman nervously cleared her throat. “Ummm...Mr Moody, I have your coffee.”

The man behind the desk nodded. “Ah yes, Nymphadora please come inside and take a seat.”

The young woman walked forward and muttered under her breath. “It’s Tonks.” To her horror, her right foot caught on the carpet, she stumbled forward and found the contents of the cup, which she held spilled all over Alastor Moody. The dark skinned man tried to keep a straight face, but unfortunately his shoulders shook, and thus gave away his mirth.

Moody glared at his former student and muttered a spell to clean off the mess. He mumbled. “It must be in the blood.” Then he introduced the two other occupants in the room to one another, “Kingsley Shacklebolt, meet Nymphadora Tonks. You will be acting as her mentor for the next few months.”

“Tonks?” Kingsley started, “Any relation to the Hell Spawn?”

Tonks stared at her newly appointed mentor. “Excuse me?”

Kingsley Shacklebolt grinned. “I meant Sirius Black.”

Tonks could not believe the audacity of the man in front of her. He dared connect her to the Wizarding World's most feared dark childe, right in front of Alastor Moody. Her purple eyes bored into the man. “My mother renounced that family, their ways, and everything they represented! I was never ...”

The dark haired man raised both his arms in surrender. “Calm down. No offense meant. I happen to like that particular Hell Spawn.”

Tonks’ jaw dropped in shocked. “But ... he ... he’s...”

Alastor Moody sighed. “A mere child that was often left to our care whenever the Malfoys had to attend a function. Due to unfortunate prejudices, no witch or wizard is willing to take the job.”

Kingsley Shacklebolt smirked. “They wouldn’t have been able to handle him. Even the Ministry’s best Auror has had a hard time keeping up with the kid, isn’t that right Alastor?"

Moody shook his head and grumbled. “Mr. Shacklebolt, would you and Ms. Tonks kindly show yourselves out of my office I have lots of work to do.”

Both Aurors left the room and closed the door. Tonks curiously turned to her new mentor. “Hell Spawn?”

Kingsley chuckled. “Moody gave him that nick name. That little second cousin of yours is quite a prankster; my favorite was that time when he placed hysteria flowers on each and every cafeteria table. You do know how those flowers tend to affect the nervous sort? Halfway through lunch most of the occupants where having some sort of paranoia fit about the contents of the meat loaf. Moody actually thought it was some new form of the Imperius curse designed to hit numerous people with a single spell.”

Hestia Jones, another Auror joined them and smirked. “I think I liked the one where he spiked the water cooler more. I never knew Alastor had a nice singing voice, and 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' truly suits him.”

Kingsley howled in laughter. "Moody was grumbling about sending 'the hell spawn' off to Azkaban to replace the dementors for weeks."

Hestia laughed as she too recalled the event. "He figured that our hell spawn would be just as effective as those creatures in driving the prisoners crazy."

"I think I even saw the first draft of that proposal on his desk," Kingsley gave both women a conspiratory wink.

Tonks laughed. “I’m now truly looking forward to meeting this cousin of mine.”

Kingsley Shacklebolt sighed. “Unfortunately, he will be leaving for Hogwarts this year. We, at the Auror Department, are really going to miss our little Hell Spawn.”

Hestia Jones grinned. “And we hope to assist him in bringing as much joy to Hogwarts as he did here.”

Tonks gave both her seniors a puzzled stare.

“Those Devil’s Advocates sent the little Hell Spawn a Zonko’s Professional Set!”

All three Aurors turned around to see Alastor Moody as he stood by the doorway and rolled his magical eye.

Inside the grand white house with tall white columns, a child’s wail could be heard, “Mum! Dad!”

Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy rushed towards their son’s room, they found their son and his two companions in a tangled mess of arms and legs. All three were stuck on the eastern corner of the wall. The fourth child sat calmly in the middle of the room, his gray eyes twinkled in silent mirth.

Nacissa looked at all four boys and asked “What happened?”

Draco Malfoy whined “It’s Sirius. He taught us how to perform the flying charm, but he snuck some sticking charms onto our clothes and ...”

Lucius frowned and cursed the problematic child that he had been forced to take in. He grabbed the dark-haired boy by the arm and dragged him towards the door.“Narcissa, you take our son, Crabbe and Goyle down from that wall. I will be having a talk with this irreverent cousin of yours.”

Sirius’ cousin-in-law painfully dragged him into his room, closed the door, and uttered a silencing charm, “Silencio!”

Sirius then felt a hand slapped on his face with such force that he fell towards the floor. He bit his lip and winced, for he knew what was to come again.

“You ungrateful brat! We take you in and this is how you repay us?”

Sirius slowly got to his feet and performed the usual formal bow, he kept his head down as he spoke. “I’m sorry, sir. I again overstepped my bounds.”

Lucius glared at the child “Yes, you did! I don’t even know why I put up with you! You remember, boy, that NOBODY wants you! Even that blood traitor cousin of yours, Andromeda, wants nothing to do with you! Because you’re far worse than a blood traitor! You’re filth! The whole Wizarding community wants nothing to do with you! We still took you in, despite everything! We gave you everything that money can buy! You should be grateful that we even bothered. Had we not, you would have been sent to Azkaban with the rest of your kind! ”

Sirius winced and nodded.

“Now go fix yourself up, and tomorrow, when you leave for Hogwarts, you must stick with Draco and do whatever he says.”

Sirius stared at his feet and nodded again.

“And remember, Slytherin is the only proper house to be in. Hopefully they’ll be able to fix you up, because heaven knows we tried."

At that Lucius Malfoy left the room, slammed the door behind him.

Sirius sighed and opened his trunk. He pulled out a portable potions set, and started to brew a ‘Healing Potion.’ He bit his lip and dreaded whatever it was that would come the next day. His thoughts were suddenly disturbed by a soft tapping on the window. He opened the window, accepted a large package, and opened the card that went with it.

Our dear Hell Spawn,

We will surely miss all of the laughter that you’ve brought into our dreary jobs. Here’s a little something to assist you in your future endeavors. Don’t be a stranger. You’d better write and tell us about how you’re putting our gift to good use.

Kingsley and Hestia

Sirius grinned as he once again looked forward to Hogwarts.

-0-

It was a busy morning in the train station as usual. The only thing unusual was the number of people who seemed to be in their night gown that walked about. Most of them had children who wore similar attire and carried owl cages atop their trunks. The train operators shook their head for this had been an annual occurrence. They figured that it must be some cult congregation, strangely though they found themselves uninterested on its going ons.

A boy with messy, dark hair pulled his trunk towards the end of the train. He figured that fewer people would pass by that area, thus avoid any more uncomfortable stares. The whole Wizarding World viewed Harry Potter as a hero, but he did not believe that he had ever did anything to deserve to be seen or treated as one. Those looks of awe that people gave him, made him extremely uncomfortable. He was not used to attention, after all the Dursleys ignored him whenever they could. He slid open the door to the last compartment and was surprised to see another boy already in it. The boy had his back towards Harry and had just placed a pitcher on a small side table. He whirled around in surprise as he heard Harry’s entrance.

Harry bit his lower lip nervously. “Uhh... Hi. Do you mind if I sit here?”

The other boy quickly placed the pitcher on the table and nodded. “Of course you can. I don’t think this compartment is taken ... I was just ... well ... taking a tour around.” Harry took note of the mischievous twinkle in the boy’s gray eyes.

Harry gave a small smile and mumbled, “ Umm..thanks.” He decided not to introduce himself whenever possible, for it would cause more unnecessary stares and requests to see his scar.

The other boy smirked, pulled out his wand, and tapped it on Harry’s glasses. “Reparo!”

Harry took off his glasses and stared at them in amazement. Gone was the thick line of tape that was holding it together, as the glasses were now whole and undamaged. The other boy gave a formal bow. “Sirius Black, at your service.”

“Thanks. Nice to meet you, I’m Harry.” Harry smiled. The other boy wore an expensive looking robe with what seemed to be a family crest on the front. Judging from his manner, he must've been from an old Wizarding class family, much like the boy he met in Diagon Alley. However, Sirius Black seemed open and friendly, unlike Draco Malfoy.

Sirius frowned; he had expected the other boy to run out the room or maybe just flinch, as this was the reaction from all of the other students whenever he introduced himself. He shrugged and figured it didn't really matter. The laughs he got from those types of reactions got old pretty fast anyway. He raised an eyebrow, and tried to figure out the reason for the other boy’s lack of fear. “Mudblood?”

Harry flinched as he remembered Draco asking him the very same question. Sirius must thought that he was rude for he did not gave his last name, and thus assume he knew no better that a Mudblood. He sighed. “No, my dad was a wizard and my mum was a witch. It’s Harry Potter, by the way.”

Sirius nodded. “Figures.”

Harry blinked, as this is not the typical reaction that he’s accustomed to. “What figures?”

Sirius shrugged “That you wouldn’t cower upon hearing who I am.”

Harry stared at Sirius totally confused. “Why would I ...”

The door slid open and another boy about their age with orange-red hair entered “Uh...hi. Mind if I sit here with you guys?”

Harry shrugged “Sure I’m Harry. This is Sirius.”

Sirius turned around to face the newcomer, whose eyes widened at the sight of him. “Black!” He then started to back away from the compartment.

Sirius raised an eyebrow “Don’t bother, Weasley isn’t it? That red hair of yours is a dead give-away. I was on my way out anyway.” He walked towards the door and the red haired boy jumped out of the way to give him a wide berth. As he passed the opened doorway, Sirius turned around and once again gave a formal bow. “It was nice meeting you, Harry.” He nodded towards the other boy, who flinched at meeting Sirius eyes. “You too Weasley.” Sirius smirked as he slid the compartment door close.

Harry shook his head. He would have wanted to ask for Sirius to stay, the boy seemed interesting, but socializing was not something Harry was experienced in. The Dursleys had always locked him in the closet to hide him from any guests. He does not understand why the new boy seemed scared of Sirius. Come to think of it, Sirius did seem to expect that he be scared too. Harry frowned, Sirius Black seemed nice and not a bit scary. He wondered what all that was about.

The red haired boy smiled hesitantly at Harry “I’m Ron Weasley.”

“Harry Potter.”

“THE HARRY POTTER!”

Harry stifled a sigh.

(later)

Harry grinned and listened as Ron enthusiastically explained the mechanics of Quidditch to him. Their compartment was now quite full; Ron’s third year twin brothers, Fred and George, and the twin’s friend, Lee Jordan, had joined them. Also in there was a couple of fellow first year students by the name of Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom.

Almost everyone chatted and drank the free lemonade left in their compartment. Fred, George, and Lee raved that this was the first time Hogwarts Express was thoughtful enough provide free lemonade in every compartment. Of course they attributed this to the fact that ‘the famous Harry Potter’ was currently in the train, thus the added service.

Harry uncomfortably refused another cup, for he remembered that mischievous twinkle in certain gray eyes when he entered this compartment, making him a bit wary of this gift.

The door suddenly slid open, and in walked Draco Malfoy, flanked by two companions that seemed a tad too big to be first years, and behind them Sirius Black followed looking extremely bored.

“Potter, I’ve been wondering where you’ve been,” Draco looked disdainfully at Harry’s new friends. “Associating with mudbloods and worse, Weasley trash, I see.”

Ron glared at Draco. “Better than being in-bred gits like you and Black, Malfoy!”

Sirius raised an eyebrow and drawled. “Finally found your backbone Weasley? You weren’t so brave a while ago.”

Ron, Fred, George, Lee and Neville glared at Sirius. Harry and Hermione looked at one another in confusion.

Draco ignored Ron’s remark and continued. “Being that you were raised by mud-filth and don’t know any better, I’ve decided to do a bit of charity and introduce you to the right people. You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, I can help ensure that you do not make friends with the wrong sort. Associating yourself with mudbloods and trash like these could hurt your future.”

Harry blinked and shook his head. “I appreciate the offer Draco, but no thanks, I can choose my own friends. I can fairly determine who the wrong sort are.”

Fred, George, Ron and Lee laughed.

Draco eyes flashed angrily. “You’ve just made your first great mistake, Potter.”

Fred smirked. “Get over it, Malfoy.”

Draco, seeing that he was outnumbered, turned to walk away. “You’ll regret this, Potter.”

Ron laughed out loud as Malfoy and his two goons’ hair and skin turned into an interesting shade of neon pink. He turned to face the two likely perpetrators and was surprised to see that Fred and George also turned neon pink. He slowly looked down in his own hands. “Ahhhhhh!”

Various screams could be heard all over the Hogwarts Express as a vast majority suddenly found themselves pinked.

Back in the last compartment there was only two non-pinked people. One of them was Sirius Black, who laughed and leaned on the nearby wall for support. The other one was Harry Potter, who was unsuccessful as he attempted to suppress a laugh.

Author's Notes:
This is a lot lighter than the Prologue and Chapter 1, but I just want a light chapter before I peel off the first layer of the plot … just seems more dramatic that way.