Cage

Prologue: Platform Nine And Three-Quarters

An eleven-year old Remus Lupin looked worriedly around the London Train Station. The young boy shifted his weight from one foot to another, his wide amber eyes darting around the crowded station. People from all around pushed past him, trying to get to their workplace before it started to rain again. They were mostly non-wizarding folks though, or Muggles, as his parents often referred to them as.

His own mother had refused to send him to the platform and left him to fend for his own, looking for the hidden platform between Platform No 9 and 10.

What should I do now? Remus got more worried as time slowly ticked past. He was going to miss his train and lost the only chance he had at a normal childhood. If he could not go to school, he would have to return to that cursed Lupin family and spent the rest of his life under the shadows of his family name.

As the small boy stood helplessly at the station and scared himself witless, a slight commotion came just in time to save Remus from his panic.

"Look," the young girl who was standing next to him whispered to his friend. "It's the Malfoy and Black heirs."

Remus was startled. He spun around a little too fast; tripping over somebody's foot and almost fell on his nose if not for the pair of strong arms who had rescued him from that fate.

"Be careful." The brunette nodded weakly and got back his balance. When he looked up to mutter his thanks, he found himself drowning in a pair of dark blue eyes. They were the color of the night, almost to the point of black. There was only one wizarding family with that shade of eyes, and Remus knew much about them from his parents.

He was face to face with Sirius Black, the eldest son of one of the noblest and richest pureblood family in the community, second only to the Malfoys: the Blacks.

Sirius seemed to have noticed the look of fear and slight intrigue on Remus' face. He smiled in amusement, his eyes lightening to a regular dark blue with warmth.

"Hey," Sirius greeted. "You all right?"

Once again, Remus nodded dumbly, having found himself speechless. What could the son of a penniless wizarding family (even if he was a pureblood) say before the heir to the Black family?

Sirius Black seemed to be oblivious towards what the other boy was feeling, either that or he was too used to such a reaction to care. The dark haired boy shrugged, sweeping some of his wayward bangs away from his eyes with a careless gesture, and then stuck out that hand at Remus.

"Sirius Black. You are?"

Remus' brain finally registered that he was being asked a question after some time. He looked down at his own shabby robes and blushed in embarrassment. He muttered his name softly.

Sirius frowned, leaning in closer. "What did you say again? I didn't quite catch your name."

"Black, we are running late." A pale boy with white blonde hair stepped forward and placed a hand on Sirius's shoulder. Sirius's frown grew deeper and shrugged off the hand violently, almost in anger.

"You can run along with your tagalongs first, Malfoy. I'm sure my cousin is more than willing to go with you." With that, Sirius threw a quick glance at the black-haired girl standing a couple of steps from them, trying hard to hide behind a pillar with a bright pink tint on her face.

Remus watched the entire exchange with interest. It was his first day of school and already he had met the heirs of the two most influential families in the wizarding world. The pale boy was Lucius Malfoy. He had money, power and an attitude. The shy girl was called Narcissus Black, cousin to Sirius Black; while the boy that currently had his interest set on Remus was of course Sirius Black himself.

There were rumors that Sirius Black had always been considered the black sheep of his family, but these rumors were never allowed to be confirmed, as like all others which had negative effects to the reputation of the Blacks. Seeing the obvious tension between the two heirs, Remus had reason to suspect the rumors were not rumors after all.

"I'm sorry." Sirius Black turned his attention back to Remus and offered an apologetic smile. "I've got to run now, I'll see if I can talk to you on the train later."

" 'Kay." Remus smiled back, for the first time and watched the dark haired boy run through a pillar and disappeared. He had found his way to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters after all.

***