"Walk Straight Through the Wall, James!"

Prologue: The Platform

James Potter licked the palm of his hand and pressed it firmly on the top of his head.
His hair was becoming another being entirely, and he was tired of it trying to take over his head.
Alas, the spit did nothing but make his hair messy and wet.
And, most unfortunately, another child on the platform for 9 ¾ had seen him, and was now watching him with disgusted interest.

He shifted uncomfortably.
He pulled his collar (which now seemed strangely tight) away from his neck.
He jerked his slipping suitcase back under the crook of his arm.
His stomach felt rather wiggly.
It was ten o'clock.

The train was supposed to be here by now.
He distinctively remembered his father telling him that the train left at eleven o'clock sharp.
He also remembered his mother telling him that he had to be there early in order to get a nice seat.
What was the point of coming early to get a good seat when there were no seats?

Both of his parents had walked him to the entrance to Platform 9 ¾, and told him just to walk straight through the wall.
After looking at them as though they were mad, and sharing goodbyes with them, he did just that.
And was pleasantly surprised that his nose wasn't broken!

The trunk with all of his books and supplies was resting on the ground behind him, and on top of that was a small cage with the kitten that his parents had bought him last month for his eleventh birthday.
She was small, and fluffy, with a pattern of brown and yellow mashed and swirled together.
Her name was Nox.
Because, the only two spells that James was allowed to practice were 'Lumos' and 'Nox'.
And quite frankly, James thought that 'Lumos' was a rather horrible name for a cat.
Now, it was 10:20.

James looked up as he heard a rather loud whoooosh! of air and a ear-piercing horn.
Finally, there, barreling toward the platform, was the Hogwarts Express.

The knots in James' stomach twisted up tighter.
He knew that Hogwarts was a very nice school. He knew that you had to be smart to go there, too.
That part worried him a little bit.

The dark red steam-engine slowed as it neared them, and with a heavy screeching noise, it came to a stop.
Smoke billowed from the train tracks, and as he watched the doors to the train open, James swallowed some air, causing it to go down into his belly with a gurgling noise.

He grabbed the handle on his trunk, and tugged on it hard, causing it to scrape across the ground behind him as he walked toward the nearest open door.
With a great effort, he managed to lift the trunk enough to get it through the entrance, and climb up after it, making sure that Nox's cage was carefully placed on top.

Lugging his trunk behind him again, he made his way down the walkway to his left, and picked a compartment halfway down the way.
He pulled open the door, and set his suitcase down on the seat, before dragging the trunk into the room as well.
After setting the suitcase on a shelf above the seats, he opened Nox's pen to see her curled up and asleep.

He plucked her from the cage and sat down with her on his lap, still dozing.
James had a theory that sitting by the window was a good idea: if the person that sat with him wasn't very talkative (or too talkative), he could just look out the window, instead of staring off into space and looking like a loon.
It was 10:45.

The door to his compartment clicked open, and James looked up to see a boy with messy (though, a large amount less chaotic than his own) brown hair, with two large scars across his face, and one trailing down his neck.
He didn't look alarming, it just made James feel a little bit sad.

"Oh," said the boy. "I'm sorry, I didn't think there was anybody in here."

"It's okay," James replied. "I'm not waiting for anyone or anything - these seats are empty."

"Are you sure?" The boy looked hesitant.

"Absolutely," he said.

"All right. Thank you," the boy said, and turned around to pull his trunk into the compartment.
He was very thin, and he looked a little bit sick.

James wanted to ask him what happened to him, but he didn't think it would be polite.
His mother taught him that.

Once everything was inside the room, he shut the door and sat across from James, and looked very awkward in his large sweater.

They were both silent for a few moments, and the boy suddenly said, "I like your cat. It's pretty."

"Oh!" said James. "Thank you. Her name is Nox."

The boy smiled at him for the first time. "I like that. That's clever."

"Thank you," James said again, and returned the smile.

He wanted to be polite and make a good impression. His mother said that was necessary.
It was then that he realized that he hadn't introduced himself. "Oh! My name is James, by the way. James Potter."

"It's nice to meet you, James. My name's Remus. Lupin."

James smiled and suddenly felt much better. His stomach didn't hurt as much.

There was a knock on the compartment door, and they both looked up to see a little boy with a tidy mop of blonde hair and a round face waving at them.

"Oh, his name is Peter," Remus said. "I met him on the platform. Can he sit with us?" He looked at James, and added in a lower voice, "It didn't look like he had many friends."

"Of course," he answered, nodding his head.

Remus stood up to open the door, and Peter smiled. "Thanks. The train's filling up fast."

"It's no problem, Peter," Remus said, and helped him pull in his trunk. "This is James Potter, I've just met him."

"Hi, James! I'm Peter Pettigrew, it's nice to meet you!"

James grinned - the boy's attitude was infectious. He seemed to be bubbling just to be having a conversation with someone. "Your owl is very nice, Peter," he said, when the owl came into sight.

It was a brown owl with bright orange eyes.

"Oh!" Peter said, "Thanks, his name is Oliver."

"Oliver the Owl," Remus mused, now back in his seat across from James.

Peter laughed. "Yeah!" He sat down next to Remus and the smile was still on his face.

James didn't think that he'd ever seen anyone so happy.

Quite suddenly, their compartment door was whipped open and then slammed shut as a boy with shaggy black hair dove into the seat next to James, and crossed his legs, twiddling his thumbs, as though nothing strange had just happened.

A second later, the door was abruptly opened again, and an angry looking witch with glasses and long, dark hair stood in the doorway.

"Sirius Black! What on earth do you think you are doing!?"

"What do you mean, Professor?" the boy with the black hair asked innocently.

"Black, are you trying to tell me that I didn't just see you hex Lucius Malfoy outside?" she demanded.

"No, Professor McGonagall!" he exclaimed. "I don't even know any hexes yet! I've been sitting in here the whole time!"

"Oh, is that so?" she crossed her arms, and looked at him skeptically.

"Of course, Professor!" he insisted.

"Well, if your story is true, then you could tell me the name of the young man to your left, couldn't you?"

Sirius looked at James, and then looked back at the Professor. "He was just about to tell me his name when you came in, Professor!

Professor McGonagall looked like she was going through an internal struggle between punishing Sirius and just letting him off the hook. She chewed on her bottom lip before sighing.
"All right, Sirius. I think we both know that you're lying, but, just between you and me, I think that you may not have been entirely out of line."

Sirius grinned in complete surprised, but McGonagall cut in quickly, "But! Do not ever let me catch you trying to hex somebody again!" She paused, and looked at James, before looking back at Sirius. "And by the way, the boy to your left is James Potter."

And with that, she swept out of the compartment, closing the door behind her.

The boy named Sirius let out a loud laugh, and stretched out on the seat, kicking up his feet on James' trunk.
The other three boys stared at him, and he seemed unaware until he looked over at James, and he jumped, noticing all three sets of eyes on him. "I'm Sirius Black," he said, addressing them all at once.

"James Potter."

"Remus Lupin."

"Peter Pettigrew... "

"Great!" Sirius replied, and relaxed again, setting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes.

"What kind of hex were you trying to use?" Peter asked, sounding a little afraid that Sirius might hex him if he asked.

"I used an Engorgement Charm on his head. It was about as big as a watermelon when I saw McGonagall and ran for it."

James laughed, and Peter smiled, while Remus just looked reproachful.

"She'll be able to fix him," Sirius said, seeing Remus' expression.

James was pretty sure that he heard him add "unfortunately" at the end of the sentence, but he wasn't sure.

"Were you actually able to jinx him?" Remus asked, a curious look on his face.

"Of course, I was!" Sirius exclaimed, insulted. "I'm not an idiot!"

"I wasn't implying that you were," he responded calmly. "I was only wondering how you were able to create a perfect jinx without ever using magic before."

"I've used magic before!" he answered aggressively.

"I believe you," Remus said, ending the conversation, and pulling a book from his trunk.

James was curious as to how Sirius had used magic before. His mother told him that if he ever used magic when he wasn't in school that he would be in a lot of trouble.

Why could Sirius practice magic when James couldn't?
James thought about it for a second.
Maybe, Sirius didn't actually hex the boy.
It didn't seem that Remus believed him either.

Either way, James was positive that if Sirius Black planned on sticking around, he would have plenty of time to figure it out.