The Hogwarts Express shone brightly in the warm autumnal sunshine of an early September morning. It was only half past ten, so there were only a few people ambling their way along Platform nine and three. Among this small number was a group of three boys. One, a tall boy with lengthening, straggly black hair, relaxed against the side of the train and listened lazily as one of his companions relayed a dramatic tale that involved windmill arm movements.
Sirius Black watched through half open eyes as James recounted the story of his cousin Muriel falling off her broom for the third time today. “Why isn’t Peter here yet?” he asked Remus. The young Mr. Lupin was currently searching faces in the hope of finding their friend.
“I don’t know,” he shrugged.
“You did tell him quarter past, didn’t you?” James broke out of his story to address Sirius. James Potter was undoubtedly the shortest of the group, owing to the fact that both Remus and Sirius were excessively tall for their age.
“Of course I did,” Sirius bit back defensively. “I was very clear, ‘Quarter past ten. Carriage six. Bring Hippogriff dung.’” Sirius quickly recited his last letter to Peter.
“Maybe he got held up, you know what his mum and dad are like,” Remus suggested.
“Yeah,” snorted James. He then adopted an unnaturally high voice before he began to wail “Oh, Petie-Pie, you be a good boy for Professor Dumbledore. My little, Peter-Poo, you’re getting so grown up!”
Remus and Sirius snorted at James’ almost spot on impression of Mrs. Pettigrew. “Now, now, James, you know that we can’t be held responsible for our parents,” Remus reasoned. He was busy straining his neck to see through the thickening crowd. A little further up the train he saw a short Asian couple ushering their thoroughly distraught daughter on to the train. Remus felt a terrible pang in his heart. She looked so terribly upset; it was almost as if her heart was breaking.
“So who is it that’s grabbed your attention, Remmy?” Sirius asked, slinging an arm around Remus’ shoulders and craning his neck to follow his friend’s line of vision. His eyes quickly fell upon the young girl with tears streaming down her face. “You’re a fool for the ones in pain, aren’t you?” The young man shook his head sadly. “D’you fancy her then?”
“No! Look at her; she’s crying her eyes out! What’s to fancy?” Remus protested quickly.
“I don’t know,” James added thoughtfully. “She’d be quite pretty if she wasn’t crying.”
“We’ll have to see if we can get you two introduced.” Sirius rubbed his hands gleefully.
“Sirius, look at her. She’s a first-year…” Remus began.
“So, we’re only third years, it’s not like we’re the golden oldie troop yet,” James argued as he glared at his friend accusingly.
“Can we just get on the train?” Lupin changed the subject as quickly as was humanely possible while the colour began to creep up his cheeks.
“What about Peter?” Sirius asked as he began to grab his trunk.
“He’ll catch up,” the taller boy grumped and forged ahead. Sirius and James just smirked at each other, a Lupin temper tantrum was a sure sign that they’d hit a nerve.
________________________________________
The moments that followed her parents’ departure could have lasted minutes, hours or even days. All Kim knew was that she was alone.
In fact, she had only been sitting on her own for a minute or two when a round-faced girl with auburn hair slid the compartment door open. “Would you mind if I sat in here?” she asked warily. Kim wiped her tears away with her sleeve and nodded. “Are you okay?” she inquired with concern. Again, Kim nodded. There was a second of silence as the girl dragged her trunk into the compartment and struggled to sling it up into the luggage rack. She then threw herself into the seat opposite Kim and puffed loudly as she tried to get her breath back. She was quite a chubby girl and was now very red in the face. “It’s quite hard, isn’t it?” the newcomer asked the floor.
“What is?” Kim slipped out of her daydream and refocused on the girl in front of her.
“Leaving everything behind,” the girl responded sadly.
“I didn’t have anything to leave behind.”
“Oh,” she whispered with implicit understanding. After a few more moments of quiet she looked up and smiled widely. “I’ve forgotten my manners. I’m Natalie.” She held her hand out for Kim to shake. “Most people call me Nat, or Nats, which ever suits you.”
“I’m Kimberly, most people call me Kim, although my friends used to call me Lei,” Kim replied as she shook Natalie’s hand gently.
“So…where are you from?”
“The Philippines. What about you?”
“Scotland.” Kim stared at Natalie for a few moments before she ventured any further.
“You don’t sound very Scottish.”
“And you don’t sound very Filipino,” Natalie remarked with a smile. “I’ve lived in England for a while now,” she explained further.
“Same here.” More awkward silence followed until another girl appeared in the doorway.
“C-could I possibly take a seat in here? Most of the other ones are full up.” The newcomer had an oval face, friendly brown eyes and shoulder length, light brown hair.
“One condition,” Natalie said boldly while Kim watched in confusion.
“What’s the condition?” the girl asked with a look of fear beginning to brew on her features.
“You have to tell us your name.”
“Oh!” she gasped in relief. “It’s Marie.”
“Nice to meet you, Marie, I’m Natalie and this is Kimberly,” Natalie waved a hand through the air in introduction. “Do you want a hand with your trunk?”
“Yes, please,” Marie nodded hastily. Natalie immediately stepped forward to grab one end while Kimberly remained seated. When the chubby girl realised that her new friend hadn’t moved she gave her a pointed look.
“Don’t just sit there, give us a hand!” Interestingly, even though her voice was raised, it was still jovial and friendly. With a good deal of co-operation the girls managed to manoeuvre Marie’s trunk into the luggage rack successfully. Natalie returned to her seat and sighed heavily. “So what now?”
“Have you ever played Exploding Snap?” Marie asked excitedly.
“My little brother burnt his nose during a game once,” Natalie chuckled. Lei just looked at the pair with complete bemusement.
“What’s Exploding Snap?”
Marie and Natalie gaped at her wide-eyed.
“It’s only the best game, ever, besides Quidditch that is,” Marie gushed excitedly.
“And Quidditch is…”Lei inquired tentatively.
“Dear Merlin!” Natalie squealed.
“Quidditch is the most fantastic game, EVER!” Marie screamed excitedly. “It’s played on broomsticks and with three types of ball, they’re called the Quaffle, the Bludgers and the Snitch…” she launched into a highly passionate and very speedy explanation of the ins and outs of her favourite past time. Natalie sat in her corner of the compartment and watched with amusement as Kim tried to take in all the information that was spilling out of the girl in front of her. It was clear that she had never heard of anything half as fantastical as Quidditch. When Marie finally halted to take a breath Kim jumped in with a question.
“What’s Exploding Snap?”
“Oh right, I almost forgot…”
“Muggles play snap too, don’t they?” Natalie asked lazily.
“Well, yes….”
“Exploding Snap is just the same but the cards....well....they explode," Marie explained simply.
"You can't just explain it to her like that, Mar, we'll have to show her. Do you have your deck handy?" Marie gave her a peculiar look.
After a second Natalie half-shrugged and said, "What?"
"You just called me 'Mar'."
"Do you not like having your name shortened?"
"No, it was just...strange to hear it like that."
"Well, do you have your deck or not?"
"Never leave home without it." She turned around and started rifling through a backpack that she had thrown on to the seat beside her. She pulled the large deck of slightly blackened cards out of it and started to shuffle them expertly. "Actually, I think I really like that.”
"Hmm? What?" Natalie mumbled as she watched the other girl shuffle.
"Mar, I like it."
"Good. Now deal," Natalie instructed.
Marie started sharing the cards out equally between the three of them and the game earnestly began.
________________________________________
It wasn't until the train was chugging its way out of King's Cross that Peter came bundling into his friends' compartment. He was almost purple in the face and completely out of breath. "So tell me, Peter, what does quarter past ten mean to you?" Sirius asked sarcastically.
"I know, I know," Peter murmured irritably as James helped him push his trunk into the rack along with the others.
"So where were you then?" Remus asked in a much less accusatory tone than Sirius.
"My mum found the dung," he sulked bitterly and slouched into a free seat by the door.
"Where were you hiding it?" James rested his back against the window and stretched his legs out along the rest of the seat.
“In the bottom of my wardrobe.” Sirius spat his mouthful of Cauldron Cake right into James' lap.
"You what?" Remus asked in disbelief.
"Peter, are you really that stupid?" James chipped in.
"I didn't have anywhere else to put it!" Peter protested. "Unlike some people," he glared at Sirius and James. "I don't have a multi-roomed mansion thingy to live in!"
"But still, the wardrobe," Sirius winced and hid his face behind his hand.
"Don't you have a garden shed or something?" Remus shook his head ever so slightly, rarely was he so astonished by the absurdity of Peter's actions.
"I wanted to make sure that it was safe. My mum uses oodles of the stuff. I didn't want to leave it until the last minute in case she didn't have any left, and then it would have been hard to explain how so much of it went missing.
"Peter, you can be such a dozy prat," James declared.
"What d'you mean?" the portly boy demanded.
"Why didn't you just take some and tell your mum that you were trying to make your own little garden or something. That way you wouldn't have had to sneak the stuff away, she would have been more than happy to give you some of it, and you could have kept it outside." James rolled his eyes. Did he have to think of everything?
"I didn't think of that," Peter admitted, slightly crestfallen.
Sirius shook his head, and pushed himself out of his seat. "Come on, James, I want another Pumpkin Pasty, let's see if we can find the trolley." James naturally fell in behind his friend as they left the compartment. They wandered up the train amiably until Sirius stopped suddenly and James walked right into the back of him.
"Sirius, what'd you do that for?" James yelled as he rubbed the spot where his forehead had nastily collided with Sirius’ bony shoulder blade.
"Look who we have here," Sirius grinned as he waggled his head at the compartment only just ahead. Inside were three girls laughing their heads off and enjoying a riotous game of Exploding Snap.
A/N: Once again, much love goes to Marie for all her wonderous help. You are a star, my love!