Balanced

James was partially asleep when he heard the tapping. He ignored it and willed it to be part of his dream. It became more and more insistent, until he decided it wanted to be answered.

'What is it?' he hissed, eyes still shut, 'I want to sleep.'

''Tis the ghost of Christmas past, waiting to show you your past Christmases,' said a spooky voice from his window.

'It's July.'

'Damn, I knew I set my alarm too early, now open the window and let me in.'

'If you're a ghost you should be able to get through the window.'

'James! For Gods' sake! - It's Sirius! I'm nearly freezing to death out here, no wonder I thought it was Christmas.' James opened his eyes and saw his friend peering through his window, which was open by a couple of inches.

'What are you doing here?' he asked blearily, staggering slightly as he clambered out of bed and towards the window, which he forced open. Sirius slipped through, pulling a broom after him, and flopped onto James' bed, apparently exhausted.

'Well, right now I'm sitting down on your bed, trying to warm up a bit, but I was hovering outside your window for no end of time.' James sighed, before rephrasing his question to get the sort of answer he wanted.

'Why did you come?'

'Mum said I should come and see you sometime. She didn't say what time, so I thought to myself, "Why not now?"'

It was nice to see his friend, but James dreaded to think of what Aunt Susan would say, as Sirius had an inexplicable love of the moment. He never thought further than five seconds into the future so he would not be prepared for what a Muggle would think of his sudden appearance.

'Er, Sirius?'

'Yeah?'

'You live miles away from here.'

'So?' He shrugged. 'The broom is my going-away-to-Hogwarts present. I flooed to the Leaky Cauldron and flew the rest of the way.' He stretched out on James' bed, getting comfortable.

'Yeah, but Aunt Susan is a Muggle, she won't know how you got here, or past the locked doors.' Aunt Susan wasn't really James' aunt at all, she was a Muggle foster mother that the Ministry had found for him. James had always had the feeling that she was not picked because she was a wonderful mother, or because she had magical connections, but completely at random.

'Mum'll sort it out. She'll get here in the morning - she knows where I've gone - and do a memory charm or something.'

'You're not allowed a broom in first year, are you?'

'Nope. Anyway, do you want to come to Diagon Alley with us? Mum said she'd come and get you, because Dumbledore is going to send your letter to us, so your weirdo foster mother doesn't get confused about owl post and stuff.'

'Who else is going?'

'Mum very stupidly volunteered to take both me and Remus, or, as she would correct me, both "Remus and I". Peter said he wanted to come, but he couldn't, then I told him he could if he wanted to, and he changed his mind.'

'Poor old Peter, he'll be left behind.'

'Less people to lecture us,' said Sirius, seeing the good side of things, as usual. 'Now, I've got this new smoke bomb, you set it off and it makes a really loud bang, and all this bright purple smoke comes out. I drop one whenever I come into a room, because the smoke takes about ten seconds to disappear, and you can hide behind it. It's very dramatic.'

'Have you used it much?' said James, wistfully. He would love to live somewhere where he could use some of the tricks Sirius had invented or bought.

'Um, yes, a bit, well, a lot actually, the Muggles in town are even more convinced we're nuts, with all these bangs and purple smoke,' James grinned. Sirius' nonchalance meant his mum often had to come up with a lot of explanations as to why some of these tricks happened.

'Want to stay the night?' James shrugged, deciding not to worry about the consequences for once.

'I'm going to stay the night, whether you like it or not, I'm not flying back to Diagon Alley - it might be July, but it ain't half cold.' James grinned; Sirius was his best friend really. He went to a Muggle school, but they all thought he was weird. This was mainly because James had never gone to school before this one, and was used to being alone, or just with his parents. The teachers and students had known that he was an orphan, but in the first few months he had still been bitter about his parents' deaths, and had ignored their kindness.

He and Sirius got along really well though, they were both as daft as each other, although James tended to think of the consequences a bit more. Because of this, they managed to work brilliantly as a team. It was three years since James had been introduced to Sirius. Mrs Lupin, Remus' mother, had taken pity on the small wizard living with Muggles and had got permission from the Ministry of Magic to take James out for the day to meet Remus, Sirius and Peter.

James sorted out a bed for Sirius with some pillows and blankets he had in his cupboard. It was a little crude, but Sirius didn't seem to mind. He jumped into it, wide-awake, but fell asleep within seconds. James sighed, wishing he could do that.

*

James was rudely awoken for the second time by Aunt Susan's yell.

'What on earth happened here?' James snapped upright in his bed and tried to realise what the problem was. He suddenly remembered as he surveyed his bedroom - Sirius. His room, which had been fairly neat and tidy when Aunt Susan had left the night before, now had a large heap of blankets on the floor, the cupboard door was wide open and in the middle of the heap lay Sirius, still fully dressed, with a broom by his side. James didn't need long to realise that this was not the best situation to be in.

Sirius sat up in his pile of blankets, apparently unconcerned.

'Hello,' he said to Aunt Susan, as though it should be completely normal for her to find him lying in the middle of the floor.

'Who are you?'

'James is my best friend,' replied Sirius, 'I thought I'd stay the night.'

'How did you get in?'

'I let him in,' said James, 'sorry we didn't tell you.'

'Well,' she said suspiciously, 'It's nice to see you're inviting friends over, but could you warn me in future?' James nodded, a sweet look on his face. 'It's a little early for Hallowe'en isn't it?' she asked Sirius, gesturing to the broom.

'It's never too early for Hallowe'en,' he said seriously. Aunt Susan raised her eyebrows, obviously worried about the type of friends James was making.

Aunt Susan left and James scrambled into some clothes, which were crumpled up after he had flung them in a heap. Still, he supposed he looked slightly neater than Sirius, who had slept in his. While he was dressing, Sirius wandered around the room, poking the Muggle toys and games with his wand, as though expecting them to do something. He finally settled on the torch, and continued switching it on and off, peering at the light, until they headed down to breakfast.

Aunt Susan had made some toast for them, and was halfway through making porridge for James' adoptive brother, Simon, who was five. James surveyed the black toast in disgust, wondering whether there was any unburned bread. Sirius, however, took a bite with relish, but not before coating it with several different kinds of jam and spread.

The doorbell rang and James used the opportunity to grab some fresh bread and throw his own toast away. Sirius grinned and helped himself to more of the toast Aunt Susan had made. He froze when he heard his mother's voice at the door.

'I thought you said you expected her to come,' said James.

''Course I didn't, that was to keep you from worrying about it. I didn't think she'd find me.' James couldn't help laughing, he should have known better than to trust his friend's word.

'... It's been no trouble,' came Aunt Susan's voice as the two headed down the hall,

'I doubt that, but it was very kind of you to take him in,' answered Mrs Black, before they both appeared at the kitchen door, to the innocent smiles of both James and Sirius. Mrs Black was tall, like her son, and fairly thin. She looked quite young, but had a sharp face, with piercing grey eyes, and she looked strict. She also looked fairly relieved that Aunt Susan hadn't realised how Sirius had got there. 'Now, Mrs Smallshaw, I do believe that by a lucky coincidence, Sirius is down to go to the same school James' parents wished him to go to. Why don't I take these two boys to get their school supplies today, as I have the lists and paperwork required?'

'That would be very kind of you, but honestly, I can do it,'

'Don't worry,' said Mrs Black, 'I'm taking another of their friends as well; we might as well do the trip in one go. Come on boys, get ready, I'll be waiting outside.' James swallowed the last of his bread quickly and Sirius grabbed a couple more slices of toast for good measure. Forgetting what trouble they were probably in, they both grabbed everything they needed and dashed out the front door.

'Sirius Black!' hissed his mother the second they were out and the door was shut. 'I've warned you enough times.' Her voice was quieter than Aunt Susan's when she was annoyed, which somehow made her far scarier. 'I have a good mind to leave you at home today.' James gulped - Mrs Black was very scary sometimes.

'Oh come on, Mum,' said Sirius, 'you know I love you, and you did say I could visit James.' He smiled at her and gave her a big hug around the waist. James watched as she visibly softened. He had often wondered how adults could possibly be so stupid.

'Come on,' she sighed. 'We'll go the Muggle way, to be safe.'

Mrs Black knew where she was going and what she was doing in the Muggle world. She bought them bus tickets, and they boarded the crowded smelly bus and began the slow ride to London.

Neither James nor Sirius was very impressed by this. The bus seemed to barely move and it took far longer than any magical methods would have done. Mrs Black just sat back and stared at the ceiling, and when a pregnant mother came to ask her for her seat, she stared blankly at the lady and told her to go away and pay for her own. James supposed she probably didn't know that it would have been nice to let the other lady sit, but he didn't mention it.

Once leaving the bus they only had a ten-minute walk before the Leaky Cauldron came into view.

'Finally,' murmured Sirius.

'Race you there!' shouted James, sprinting ahead. He was a fairly quick runner, but Sirius was still taller than him and they finished at the same time. James opened the door to the Leaky Cauldron a few inches and both of them peered through the crack. Most of the people in there didn't even notice the two small boys, but a few looked up to see where the strip of daylight was coming from. Mrs Black opened the door further from behind them and they headed in.

The pub was dark and it took a few moments for James' eyes to get used to the lack of light. It wasn't exactly busy, but there were a fair few people there. Most were talking quietly and still did not look up at the newcomers. To James it was almost like coming home. He had last been to Diagon Alley when he was six - only three weeks before his parents had been murdered - and he had missed it a lot. Sirius seemed to adapt to the darkness straight away and plonked himself down on a table. He took up as much space as was possible for an eleven-year-old boy and James sat down opposite him.

'Now you two stay here,' ordered Mrs Black. 'I have to fetch Remus and go back to my house to fetch some things. If you move so much as an inch, I'll know, and you'll regret it.' She turned away and headed over to use the Fireplace to get to Remus.'

James and Sirius looked at each other and silently they switched tables to the empty one next to their old one. James wondered if Mrs Black would notice, although he doubted it. They sat in silence for once, both occupied in staring around the Leaky Cauldron to take in their surroundings.

Remus shot out of the fire about a minute after. He brushed the soot away, coughing slightly and peered around, looking for them. Sirius stood up and waved rapidly at their friend.

'Over here Remus!' he yelled, making everyone in the pub turn towards him. Completely unfazed, he continued waving like an idiot until Remus walked over, looking incredibly embarrassed.

'Do you have to?' he asked Sirius.

'Nope,' said Sirius placidly, and sat back down again.

'Your mum said she'd be back soon,' Remus told them.

'Hey, you!' James called to the wizard behind the bar, 'We'll take three Fire-whiskies please.' It was very sensible for the wizard to ignore him. Sirius sniggered and Remus even managed a smile, despite his embarrassment.

It wasn't long before someone else shot out of the fire, but it wasn't Mrs Black, it was ... Peter.

'Peter, over here!' yelled Sirius, 'I thought you said you weren't coming!' Peter walked over and James noted that the boy seemed slightly worried.

'Is everything OK, Peter?' he asked.

'I got a letter,' replied Peter, 'I'm going to Hogwarts.'

It was Remus who broke the silence.

'Good for you,' he said. 'We're all going now, it's great isn't it?'

'Yup!' agreed Sirius and James nodded fervently.

'Don't worry, Peter,' he said, as Mrs Black apparated next to them.

'Right,' she said, taking charge at once. 'Peter, I have some Muggle money for you to change at Gringotts bank, don't worry; Remus, your mother gave me their key, she told me that you should spend only in moderation; James, here's your key, Mrs Lupin had it, it's now yours for safekeeping; Sirius, I have our key, you don't need to worry about anything. I also have all four Hogwarts letters. Follow me, you lot.'

They followed her out the back of the Leaky Cauldron, where she tapped a brick on the wall, which slowly opened. Peter looked amazed at all this, although the others had clearly seen it before. James looked around Diagon Alley again, the shops were just the same as they had been five years ago, and he even recognised some of the people there. It was crowded, but then it always seemed to be, with people bustling between the shops in different sized groups, parents trying to keep their children in sight of them and a couple of weird looking creatures.

'Your mum can be really bossy when she wants can't she?' murmured James.

'If by "when she wants" you mean "all the time" then yes, definitely.' muttered Sirius. '"Don't worry" - ha! That means I'll have no control about anything I get.'

'I'll lend you some,' said James. He was under no delusions about how rich is family was.

'Sounds good,' said Sirius, who had no qualms about accepting things like that.

'So Peter, what did your mum say about the letter?' asked James.

'She thought it was a practical joke. So did I at first.'

'But you know Hogwarts exists?' said Sirius, confused.

'Yeah, but I also live a couple of streets away from you,' said Peter. 'And I'm not as dumb as I look.'

'Wouldn't be difficult,' Sirius responded, and Peter ignored him.

'So, I went to Sirius' house to ask him why he stuck it in my letterbox and when I knocked on the door Mrs Black answered and showed me it was real. Then she persuaded my mum to let me come and everything. So, here I am.'

'Excellent,' said Remus.

'Yeah Peter, I can't imagine what it'd have been like without you,' said James.

'Catch up you lot,' called Mrs Black as they arrived in front of a white marble building: Gringotts Bank. James had been only once before, but he had enjoyed the ride in the cart immensely. Mrs Black approached one of the goblins at a desk and regarded it imperiously.

'I would like to change some Muggle money, and I need to go to the Black's vault, the Potter's vault and the Lupin's vault.' the goblin nodded and James and Sirius headed up behind Mrs Black. Peter stayed back until Remus grabbed him by the arm and pulled him forward. James put his key on the desk, closely followed by Mrs Black and Remus. Mrs Black also handed over a quite a bit of Muggle money for the goblin to change.

He handed over a pile of galleons, which Mrs Black gave to Peter, and then summoned up another goblin to take them into the passageways. James loved going down away from all the white marble. As the goblin opened the doors, some hot air blew in his face and he peered into the dark. Peter and Remus both stood back and even Sirius looked a little worried.

'I've never been down here,' he told them quietly.

'Don't worry,' said James reassuringly, 'It's fun, but a little quick.'

When the trolley they were in started to move, all three of them yelped in some way at the speed and suddenness of it. James just smirked smugly and Mrs Black sat proudly, as though she couldn't even tell that they were moving. When they got out, James was pleased to note that Sirius looked slightly queasy and he leant against the wall of the cave breathing deeply for a few seconds.

'This is the Lupin vault,' said the goblin in a high nasal voice and James caught Sirius' eye as he had spoken for the first time; it was all he could do not to laugh. Remus squinted through the smoke and caught sigh of the money in the vault. He grinned widely at the glittering pile of gold.

'Cool, we've got a lot,' he said.

'Not nearly as much as Sirius and me,' said James, but smiling to show it was a tease.

'It's Sirius and I dear,' said Mrs Black, and Remus pulled a face at James as he shovelled some gold into a large money bag. Sirius just ignored the remark.

They headed on to the Potters' vault next. Sirius had been most reluctant to get back in the cart. It wasn't until the other three started making chicken noises that he jumped in, scowling and red in the face. James just smiled at his friend as the cart zoomed off again.

James was the only one who wasn't surprised at the many golden coins in his vault, Sirius followed him inside.

'You know you're my best friend, right mate?' he asked hopefully,

'I said I'd lend you some, don't stoop any lower and start to beg,' retorted James as he filled his own money bag and Sirius smiled, despite still looking slightly green.

The Black vault had a fair amount in it, but Mrs Black pocketed the lot, giving Sirius a couple of knuts to "buy an ice-cream later", which made him scowl even more than further chicken impressions from Remus and Peter had done. They left Gringotts and went back out into the sunlight, which seemed blinding after their time underground.

'Now, we'll get you your school stuff first,' said Mrs Black decisively and she led the boys to the robe shop. A young brown-haired witch came up, pulled the boys onto some small stools and set some tape measures to work. Peter became very worried at the fact that they were moving without human assistance; Sirius tried to put his off by moving every so often, but it still got his measurements in the end. The witch who had been watching, with a look of slight amusement on her face, went into the back room, pulled out some sets of robes and flung them roughly over the boys, making a few minor adjustments. Silently, she wrapped them up in brown paper and priced them all separately.

'You go and get yourselves some wands,' Mrs Black told them. 'I'll get your books, then I'll come and find you. Do not leave Ollivanders.' Sirius and James both smiled sweetly at her.

'We wouldn't do something silly like that,' said James smoothly, 'we'll be fine.' Mrs Black sighed and headed over to Flourish and Blotts.

'Where do we go for wands?' asked Peter, who had been fairly quiet since they'd come out of Gringotts.

'Ollivanders,' said Sirius knowledgeably, 'I got mine from there, ages ago.'

'Show-off,' James told him and he didn't deny it.

They reached the small shop and Sirius strode in.

'Mr Ollivander!' he called to the back of the dusty shelves, 'It's me! I've got some friends for you!' James, Remus and Peter all jumped when the strange looking wizard suddenly appeared.

'It is nice to see you again Mr Black,' he said softly and Sirius sat down heavily on the small chair.

'James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew,' he told Ollivander who picked up another tape measure. James took a step forward.

'Mr Potter, it is nice to see you, please hold out your wand arm,' he said in the same soft tone, and James extended his arm for Ollivander to measure him. As the tape measure continued by itself, Ollivander stood back and watched.

'You know, of course, Mr Potter, that all of my wands here are unique,' he said. 'They each contain a magical core: either the tail feather of a phoenix, the tail hair of a unicorn of a dragon's heartstring.' James sensed that this talk was mainly for Peter's benefit, as he knew it all. 'The wand chooses the wizard of course,' Ollivander added, and the tape measure dropped slightly, then flew back to his desk. Ollivander himself was searching through his shelves until he edged a small box from the middle of a pile.

'Try this one: yew, 8 inches with a dragon's heartstring.' James took the wand and flicked it around lazily, knowing this wasn't the right one. Ollivander selected another wand carefully and handed it to James: the same result. It took twenty-four tries before James found the right match, he didn't even need to wave it to tell: it just suited him. It was eleven inches, mahogany with a unicorn tail hair core.

James shoved Sirius partly off the chair and sat down himself to wait. With Remus it took forty-nine tries, and Peter took only five. The four boys flicked their wands around randomly as they left Ollivanders and bumped into Mrs Black.

'Just in time,' she said, 'I've got all your school things so we'll go for a drink now, and then home.'

'Mrs Black,' asked James nervously, 'Could we go round a bit by ourselves and have a look at some of the other shops?' She looked calculatingly at the four boys.

'And where did you want to go?' she asked.

'Nowhere special,' said James,

'The joke shop, or Quality Quidditch supplies, or we could show Peter around some more,' said Remus, smiling just as sweetly as the others, only with Remus it was probably more believable.

'I suppose so,' she replied. 'Behave, and don't cause any trouble, or I'll never trust you again. I'll meet you in the Leaky Cauldron in forty-five minutes for lunch.' she headed off and the four boys went in the opposite direction as quickly as they could, so she couldn't change her mind and stop them.

They first went to the joke shop, which had expanded since James had last been there. They browsed through the items, selecting a lot of things to buy. Peter tried out a lot of the products for testing, and never ceased to be amazed by the different products. Quality Quidditch Supplies was as good as ever - there was so much James wanted to buy. Sirius boasted about his new broom, which was the latest model on sale, but the proprietor shut him up by saying they would soon be having a new one in stock.

They headed back to the Leaky Cauldron all too soon.

'I'm so glad I'm going too,' said Peter, finally, 'it's so different to what I expected.'

'We're all glad you're going, Peter,' said Remus.

'It wouldn't feel right without you,' added Sirius.

'Friends forever, right guys?' said James, grinning at them all, and they all smiled back, not needing to reply.

~*~

A/N:

Let's hope the formatting is OK now! (review!) Stupid machines. Thanks again for all my reviews, on the prologue and on chapter one the first time I uploaded.

I will not stoop as low as begging (you know you want to leave a review) but that's not to say I don't have other methods (please!)

Thanks again to all my betas, and to JKR who gave me ideas to plagiarise.

Remember: this fic is slightly AU in regards to the houses of MWPP and the fact that they knew each other before school (please review!). I am aware that this is mostly just ignoring small canon details that I don't like and nothing major (you just have to click on the link saying "review").