Alliances Run Deep

"You wouldn't believe my Da's reaction as Mum took us to Diagon Alley," Sirius Black was telling his oldest, greatest friend James Potter as they and the other new students caught their first glimpse ever of the towering Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. "As a Muggle, after all, he'd never been. You should have seen the look in his eyes! Especially when he saw his first broomstick. It made me feel almost bad for him, knowing he'd never get to fly one himself."

"That is sad, indeed," James concurred, arm slung easily across the edge of their small, four-person boat -- led across the great moat by Hogwart's gamekeeper and first-year-student guide, Rubeus Hagrid. "But he took it well? The few Muggles I've seen entering Diagon Alley have been either frightened out of their wits or in total disbelief of it all."

"He was absolutely fascinated, with the robes, with the wands, with everything! Especially the chocolate frogs," Sirius snickered. "Mum had to promise to buy him a stash before they left."

"Your Da' sounds cool, even if he is a Muggle," said James, grinning. "Maybe there's chance we can teach him a little magic yet!"

For a time, the two boys prattled on, too wrapped up in their own conversation to take notice of the other first-year students occupying the boat with them. One, they had carelessly observed as they had boarded earlier in the evening, was a sallow-skinned, hook-nosed boy, who had said precious little other than a cold introduction.

"Snape," he had said in a slow, assessing voice. "Severus Snape. I've been accepted to Hogwart's for my exceptional knowledge of potions brewing. Which I'm sure you know little about yourselves." The last comment quelled any further conversation that James and Sirius may have had with the boy, and they took great pains to pointedly ignore him for the remainder of the trip.

The other -- a painfully skinny boy with unruly, sandy brown hair, dressed in faded, second-hand robes -- had spoken even less as he sat uncomfortably beside Severus, his hands twisted tightly together in his lap. Yet there was something benign about him, much more so than the coldly haughty Severus, and James felt a twinge of sympathy for him. As Sirius' nattering about his Da' trailed off, James gave his friend a nudge upon the shoulder, and nodded towards the silent, skinny boy sitting behind them.

Sirius took the hint as he turned from James and demanded, "You there, what's your name, then?"

The boy looked surprised that he had, in fact, been spoken to, and he blinked his wide, grey eyes at Sirius. "Remus Lupin," he said quietly.

"Well, what is it you do?"

"What do I do?" Remus repeated, the startled expression never leaving his face.

"Yeah," said Sirius, grinning. "What do you like to do in your spare time? James here is into Quidditch. I like Muggle studies, as you could probably gather. And Sev apparently likes making smelly potions that no one but he understands. What are you into?"

Ignoring the disdainful glare from Severus, Remus straightened himself, hands picking at the stray threads on the sleeves of his robe. "I'm not a big Quidditch player. I usually just like to read, and sometimes I draw."

"You draw?" Sirius laughed incredulously. "That seems like a pansy thing to do!"

"No more pansy than watching the lives of boring Muggles," the smaller boy returned without skipping a beat.

Sirius blinked, but then burst into laughter as Remus gave him a tentative grin. "I suppose you've got me there, Remus. It isn't always the most exciting of hobbies, to be truthful."

"I, for one, find it dreadful that young wizards can find nothing better to do than chase after flying balls," interjected the soft, cold voice of Severus Snape from his corner of the boat, looking at each of the other occupants in turn. "Or pine away after useless Muggles. Or waste precious time drawing when you could be studying."

"I don't think anyone's asked you, Severus," said James, scowling behind his oversized glasses. He knew precious little about the other boy, but already he knew that he just didn't like him. Probably be sorted into that dreadful Slytherin house when the time comes...

"Don't you realize," the sallow boy continued, as if he hadn't even heard James, "that there are Dark Forces still at work? That we need to be learning immediately how to fight these forces? We are the very future of the wizarding community!"

"There seems very little we can do now, seeing as how we're not full wizards yet," James replied evenly. "Most of us haven't even learned a simple charm yet. In the meantime, some of us children still want to be children."

"You fool," hissed Severus. "We can't afford to be children! Not when Lord Voldemort --"

"Don't say that name!" Sirius suddenly cried, lunging forward so the small boat gave a lurch. With an innate speed, James snatched the back of his friend's robes and yanked him roughly back to his seat.

Severus had already pulled his wand, a thick bow of ebon-colored wood, from his robes and pointed it menacingly at Sirius. "Go ahead. Try and attack me, Mudblood."

James' eyes widened at the nastiest of insults spilling forth from the other boy's lips and Remus let out an audible gasp as he edged closer to the other side of the boat. But Sirius went almost purple in the face and again leapt towards Severus, this time managing to break free of his stunned friend's grasp, fumbling for his wand within the folds of his robe.

"Petrificus totalus!" Severus cried, and a burst of wind spewed from his wand, hitting Sirius straight in the chest. Sirius went suddenly rigid, his own wand falling from his fingertips, and he fell heavily forward. Yet before his stunned body could fall into Severus' lap, the sallow boy thrust his hand instinctively forward and Sirius toppled over the edge of the boat into the murky moat waters.

"What did you do that for, you fool?" James gasped as he leapt to his feet. Without waiting for an answer, or for the assistance of the gamekeeper Hagrid, who was suddenly steering his own lighted boat to theirs, he tossed aside his glasses and dove in after the swiftly sinking form of Sirius Black.

James kicked hard as he went down, his hands thrust forward and blindly groping for Sirius. Even if it were full daylight, he didn't think he'd have been able to see more than several inches in front of his face. Swinging his arms in sweeping arcs, his fingertips soon brushed a swell of fabric, and James twined his hands within it to yank the unmoving body of his friend to the surface.

But Sirius' rigid form was dead weight, and try as he might, James could barely get him to budge. Indeed, even though his feet kicked fiercely as he struggled to propel the two of them towards the surface, James merely sank deeper into the blackened depths.

This is it

, thought James dimly. I can't let Sirius go! But if I don't get us to the surface soon...

The thought died fast in James' mind as a second splash echoed through the water, and a pair of hands groped across his shoulders before looping about his chest. His mind spinning, his chest throbbing for air, James gave a final, frantic series of kicks towards the surface. It seemed so far away, and Sirius was so unbearably heavy...

Just when he thought his lungs were going to burst from lack of oxygen, James' head broke the surface, and he gasped convulsively. A moment later, a second head emerged, and Remus Lupin surfaced behind him, coughing and spluttering even as he lifted his wand from the water and pointed it at the stiff, bobbing form of Sirius.

"En-Enervate!" Remus finally managed to gasp before another fit of choking overtook him.

In a flash of blue-tinged light, the spell took effect instantly, and Sirius dipped briefly beneath the surface of the water before he began to kick fiercely to keep himself afloat. "Dear God!" he exclaimed as his jaw unfroze with Remus' spell. "Can this water be any colder?"

"Are you okay?" James asked breathlessly, releasing his grip on Sirius' shoulders as the boy began to tread water on his own.

"Dammit, James, these were brand new robes! My mom's going to have a bird when she finds out!"

James stared at his friend incredulously for a moment, before exclaiming, "You... prawn!" and flinging a handful of murky moat water in his face. How he can recover so quickly after nearly drowning us both...

"Prat," muttered Sirius as he shook water from his eyes and reared his hand back to give his friend a rough splash in return. "Prepare to meet your match, James Potter!"

James raised his hands just in time to block a large wave as it hurtled towards his face. Laughing, the two proceeded to splash each other without abandon, occasionally assisted by an unexpectedly fierce arc of water from Remus' direction, until a great voice thundered above them, causing each of them to break apart and tread water with sudden, wide-eyed silence.

"Children! Are yer alright there?" Hagrid boomed, his boat finally swinging around beside them. "Sirius Black?"

"Yeah," Sirius responded, almost carelessly as he flipped strands of sopping hair from his face and caught his breath. "I'm fine, Hagrid. Thanks to James and Remus here."

Hagrid let out an immensely shaky sigh of relief, but James could see, as he looked up, a glimmer of amusement in those beetle-black eyes. "Yep, no bones broke. Back in yer boats with yeh!"

Smiling sheepishly, the three boys paddled to the edge of the boat, where Severus Snape sat imperiously above them, arms laced stiffly across his chest.

"Come now, Sev, give us a hand back up, would you?" James asked, his fingers extended to the other boy.

Severus glared down his hooked nose at the three boys before sticking it pointedly in the air. "Not for any friend of a Mudblood," he sniffed.

The disdainful look swiftly turned to one of wide-eyed surprise, however, as a thin voice exclaimed, "Leviosa!" and a weak, sputtering spell lifted him from his seat before giving out entirely. Severus landed awkwardly against the side of the boat and toppled over the side, spilling unceremoniously into the brackish moat water and bobbing to the surface like a drowned rat.

"Hey, Pettigrew, way to go!" Sirius exclaimed, looking to a nearby boat where a round-faced boy stood, swaying perilously and holding his wand at the ready. With his free hand, Pettigrew waved and wobbled, before falling heavily backwards to his seat.

"You -- did that -- on purpose," Severus spat, water flying from his lips and a cold glare settling in his beady, black eyes.

"Oh, stuff it already, Sev," Sirius said as he swung his arm back and, unmindful of the gamekeeper Hagrid still towering above them in his boat, flung a wave of water at the other boy. With a brilliant laugh, James reared his hand back and thrust a second wave of water at Severus so the boy was drenched from both sides. Severus let out a whimpering snivel, one hand held before his face and the other waving a weak, fluttering, fruitless stream of splashes blindly before him.

"Arright! Tha's enough!" Hagrid's great arms suddenly reached down and wrenched the squirming Sirius and James from the water. "Yeh had yer fun, and now it's time ter get going! Else, the Headmaster'll have my neck, 'e will!"

Roughly, the towering gamekeeper thrust the two boys towards the edge of their boat, and they clambered in with the assistance of Remus, who had managed to clamber into the boat while Sirius and James were drenching Severus as much as wizardly possible. Once the three boys were safely huddled in their seats, shivering beneath the chilly autumn night's sky, Hagrid then grasped Severus by the scruff of the neck and pulled him aloft with ease.

"I refuse to go back with them!" Severus hissed, his feet kicking at the edge of the boat as Hagrid tried to plunk him back in. "They have it in for me!"

"An' if I heard yeh correctly, I wouldn't right blame them either," Hagrid uttered sternly. "Yeh don't go callin' someone that name, Muggle parents or no. Yer mouth should be washed out with Mrs. Scower's Magical Mess Remover fer that."

Severus scowled, shivering, and repeated firmly, "I'm not going back with them!"

"Then yer can come inter the boat with me," Hagrid unceremoniously plunked the sour-faced, sopping boy on the seat beside him. The two other first-years occupying Hagrid's boat edged away, looking mildly disgusted. "Yer just lucky I can't take any points away, seein' as how none of yeh are yet sorted into yer houses."

The boats again began to glide towards the castle once again, and the three boys, now secure -- if trembling from head to foot with chill -- lapsed into silence as they wrung out their robes and regrouped from their swim in the moat. James found his glasses and placed them back upon his face, his world again returning to clear view; Remus secured his wand within his robes; and Sirius sighed as he emptied his pockets of the chocolate frogs he'd stashed aside for later -- they were currently croaking and bubbling unhappily within their waterlogged packages.

Sirius was the one to break the silence after a time, giving Remus' shoulder a playful nudge as he said, "Hey. Thanks... You didn't have to jump in after me, you know."

"Of course I did," Remus returned with a confused frown. "I couldn't just let you drown."

"All the same, I do appreciate it."

Remus gave a shy, tentative smile, and shivered.

"So what other spells do you know?" Sirius whispered, grinning conspiratorially.

Remus flushed faintly and murmured, "Not very many. Mostly defensive -- disarming, reducing, releasing charms."

"That's amazing for a first-year," Sirius said, awed. "James, I want this one on our side."

James smiled easily. "It looks as if you have no choice now, Remus. You're sitting with us at the feast."

"But what if I'm not sorted into your house?" the smaller boy murmured uncomfortably.

"Never you mind that," Sirius said, waving his hand dismissively. "You'll be sorted into our house. You're one of us now, after all."

"One of you?" Remus repeated, a ghost of a grin -- albeit a nervous one -- alighting on his face. "How many more of you are there?"

"There's Peter Pettigrew, whom I'm sure you saw assisting us rather nicely with that Severus slimeball," said Sirius, grinning wickedly. "He's an old friend of the family's. And not normally that skilled with a wand. Remind me to ask him who he stole those moves from when we get to Hogwart's."

"Don't forget about Lily," James added quickly.

"Yes, yes." Sirius rolled his eyes. "I suppose Lily Evans is one of us too, even if she is a girl."

Remus fidgeted with the sleeves of his robe, ducking his head so his tangled hair fell before his eyes. "One of you... And you said that I have no other choice?"

"None whatsoever," said James with a wide grin. "Come on, Remus, what do you say?"

"I suppose I can deal with that," Remus returned, his smile growing steadily more confident. "Hey, are you -- interested in fireworks?"

"Are we ever!" Sirius exclaimed, leaning forward curiously. "Why do you ask?"

"I snuck some into my luggage before I left. They're the waterproof kind, by Fillibusters," the smaller boy returned. "Maybe one night..."

"We could sneak them into that slimeball Snape's shoes," Sirius finished for him, clapping Remus soundly upon the back. "I knew I liked this kid, James!"

"So you show him you like him by beating him," James said with a roll of his eyes and a grin. "Listen, I've got a plan. Here's what we're going to do with Remus' fireworks and a certain Muggle-hating ignoramus. Tonight, after everyone's been sorted..."

The two other boys huddled close -- Sirius with a wicked glint in his eyes, and Remus with nervous anticipation -- as James unveiled his great plan, what was to be their first and indeed greatest prank in their seven years attending Hogwart's.

Severus Snape would soon know better than to cross paths with budding Marauders again...