Chapter Text
September 1st. Kings Cross Station, platform 9¾.
The platform is a magnificent chaos. Suitcases clatter together, owls hoot from their cages, and the white smoke of the Hogwarts Express envelops everyone in a soft, slightly unreal mist. The smell is of coal, fresh rain, and something indefinable, something like magic waiting.
Sirius Black leaps onto the train's step with the energy of someone who's been waiting for this all summer, his hair already tousled, laughing at something Peter just said. Remus steps on right behind him, calmer, a book tucked under his arm. Peter trots along behind them.
James, for his part, stops for a second on the platform and turns back towards his little sister.
- Come on, he said with a sly smile, the kind of smile that saysI'm pretending to be cool, but I'm glad you're here.He grabs her suitcase without her having to ask and loads it into the train corridor.
- Back compartment, that's our usual spot. Well… our spot NOW he adds proudly.
In the corridor, Sirius leans back to catch a glimpse of Liana and gives her a theatrical wink.
- Liana Potter. Welcome aboard the best train in the world.
The back compartment is already half full of their things. Remus has taken out his book. Peter is unpacking something to eat. It's noisy, a bit cramped, and smells of chocolate and socks, but it's reassuring. Through the window, the platform still unfolds. Families bustle about, hands wave goodbye. Somewhere on that platform, amidst the throng, a boy with dark hair and a somber face boards the train without looking back.
- Thanks.
Liana Potter, James's little sister, had inherited the same hair as her brother, the same energy, and absolutely the same smile. If he hadn't grown so much this summer, she and James could easily have passed for twins. But she was a year younger and quite overwhelmed by all this newness. So she sat down in a corner of the compartment, against the window, as if she didn't quite know what to do yet. James noticed her out of the corner of his eye; he had that big brother instinct, even when he pretended not to look. He made a little space for her next to him without making a fuss, just a natural movement of his shoulder to include her. So she got up to sit a little closer to her brother. Sirius, on the other hand, had no subtlety whatsoever.
- So, he said, turning to face her, his arms crossed on the back of his seat as if he were holding a press conference, are you afraid of being in Slytherin?
- Sirius, let her, James whispered without looking up.
- That's a legitimate question!
- That's a stupid question.
Remus turns a page of his book, but a small smile crosses his face. Peter, his mouth full of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, looks at Liana with kind curiosity.
- I hope you'll be a Hufflepuff, he said very enthusiastically after swallowing. That's good, Hufflepuff. There's no bad guy in there.
- No one interesting either. They're all so soft, murmurs Sirius, but it's very low, and James immediately elbows him.
The train begins to move. Gently at first, then with more conviction, and platform 9¾ slides behind the window, the silhouettes of the parents shrink, and London gives way to the soft grey of the English countryside.
- I would love to be a Gryffindor, like James.
James turns to look at her this time, really, and there is something sincere in his gaze behind the round glasses.
- Dad says the Sorting Hat can sense what's going on in you, Not what you want to be, he said. But anyway… He also said that all the Potters have ended up in Gryffindor for generations, so…
- So you have a good chance, concluded Sirius with a big smile, as if the matter were settled.
Remus places his book on his knees.
- At the same time, the Sorting Hat doesn't belong to you, he said calmly. If you're a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw, It is Not a catastrophe. It's just... you.
Peter nodded enthusiastically, as if Remus had just said something profoundly wise, which was probably the case.
Sirius, for his part, makes a slightly dramatic face.
- Easy for a Gryffindor to say.
The landscape outside the window had become decidedly rural now. Fields, hills, the low, grey skies of approaching Scotland. Someone in the corridor was running and laughing, and a voice shouted something in response.
James gives Liana a friendly little nudge with his shoulder.
- Anyway, no matter which house you're in... you're my sister.That changes nothing.
- I hope not to be Slytherin…
Sirius bursts laughing a little too loudly for the space in the compartment.
- Welcome to the club, he said, and there was something slightly bitter beneath the joke, something he quickly covered with a smile. My whole family is in Slytherin. It's… charming.
- Reg is in his first year too, I think, Peter remarked in a neutral tone, without really realizing that he had just put his finger on something.
A half-second silence passes. Sirius looks out the window.
- Yeah, he breathed simply.
James changes the subject with the natural fluidity of someone who knows his friends inside and out.
- Slytherin isn't a curse, he replied to Liana with a slightly forced lightness. It's just... a house with very questionable interior design. Lots of green. Lots of stone and portholes.
- They are under the lake, Remus said calmly, his nose back in his book.
- Exactly, says James.Under the lake. Like fish. Ambitious and slightly condescending fish.
Peter chuckled. Sirius smiled again, more naturally this time. And the train continued its journey north.
- Under the lake? By Merlin!!
Sirius suddenly springs back to life, delighted to have a receptive audience.
- And apparently they see the Giant Squid's tentacles passing by their windows at night, he said conspiratorially, his eyes wide. Just… floating in the dark.
- That's not proven, says Remus without looking up.
- It is absolutely proven, Moony.
- By whom?
- By me. I asked a second-year Slytherin last year and he didn't deny it.
- He may have just not wanted to talk to you.
- Detail.
Peter shivered in a somewhat exaggerated way.
Me, I wouldn’t sleep with the tentacles and everything.
- Me neither, James admits. Frankly, I feel sorry for those people. Well. A little.
Remus is turning a page.
- Their dormitory is probably very comfortable apart from the hypothetical tentacles.
- Hypothetical, Sirius repeats in a scandalized tone.
The compartment is warm despite the grey sky outside. The candy cart passes in the corridor with its characteristic clinking, and the lady's voice echoes.Surprise sugared almonds, chocolate frogs, caramel cream puffs…James half stands up, looking at Liana.
- Are you hungry?
- Uh, no thanks James, it's fine, Mom has already given me plenty of things.
He sat back down with a casual shrug and ordered for himself and Sirius a slightly absurd quantity of Chocolate Frogs and a few Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, which Sirius immediately began tossing in the air to catch with his mouth. Remus gestured his refusal without looking up from his book.
The journey continues at a leisurely pace. Conversations come and go. The Marauders talk about their plans for the year, a trick they want to play on Filch, a secret passage Sirius claims to have discovered before the holidays. It's lively, a little disjointed, and Liana doesn't necessarily have to participate to feel included. She’s here and that’s enough for now.
At one point, Peter falls asleep against the windowpane, his mouth slightly open. Outside, the sky has turned decidedly dark and it's starting to rain, large drops running diagonally across the window. The Scottish hills are blurred behind the wet glass.
Remus finally closes his book and looks at Liana with quiet curiosity.
- Is there a class you're particularly looking forward to? he asks, as if it were the most natural question in the world.
- I'm really looking forward to my third year so I can choose my options. I would love to take care of magical creatures. For now, I'm looking forward to herbology.
- Good combination, he said. Plants and creatures often go together. And botany is good, Remus continued, ignoring the other two with practiced ease. Sprout is a good teacher. Demanding but fair. And the greenhouses smell nice.
- They smell like compost, James corrects.
- Compost and something else. Something green.
- Something green is not a Moony smell.
Sirius throws a Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean into the air, misses, and it bounces off Peter's head, who wakes with a start and lets out a small, strangled cry. Everyone laughs, even Remus, who tries not to show it. Outside, the rain intensifies. The train crosses a viaduct, and for a few seconds, the lights of the countryside far below are visible, tiny and golden in the darkness.
- What is the best subject for you? Liana asks shyly but very curiously.
- Metamorphosis, said James immediately, without hesitating for a second. It is not a question. I love Minnie.
- The Spells, says Remus at the same time.
They look at each other. Neither of them gives in.
- Metamorphosis, James repeats.
- Spells, Remus repeated. And we say “Professor McGonagall”: not “Minnie”.
Sirius raises his hand like a referee.
Defense against the dark art. Clearly. Objectively. There's no debate.
- You're rubbish at defense, said James.
- I'm there to have fun. It's different. And if I worked, you'd see that I'm too good.
Peter thought seriously, still half asleep, his hair flattened on one side.
- Me… I like the History of Magic.
Silence.
- Really? says Sirius.
- The teacher is a ghost, said Peter, in a slightly defensive tone. I find it relaxing.
- You're asleep, says James.
- …It's relaxing, Peter repeats.
Remus puts his book in his bag and crosses his arms with that calm expression that signifies he has an opinion and is about to express it clearly. But before he can open his mouth, the train slows imperceptibly. Peter sits up and looks out the window with wide eyes.
- Are we there ?
- Not yet, says Remus. But soon.
Outside, the rain had stopped. And somewhere in the Scottish darkness, still very far away but already there, Hogwarts awaited. James looked at his sister one last time before everything began.
- Ready?
- Uh… Yes… Yeah?
James doesn't laugh maliciously, just with that warmth of a big brother who finds his little sister endearing without really saying it.
- That's exactly what I answered too, he said.
- I said absolutely, tells Sirius, raising his chin.
- Your hands were shaking, says Remus without looking up.
- It was the train that was vibrating.
- We were at a standstill.
Sirius opens his mouth, closes it again, and chooses the dignity of silence. Peter begins gathering his belongings with feverish energy, empties his satchel, and huffs and puffs. The atmosphere in the compartment changes slightly; something tightens, crackles gently. Even the most jaded can feel it.
The train slowed down even more. The lights in the corridor seemed yellower, warmer. Voices grew animated behind the partitions.
And then through the window, through the darkness and the trees… Lights. Hundreds of lights, up there on the hill, reflected in the lake below like a second castle turned upside down in the dark water. Peter forgets his satchel. Even Sirius is silent. It is James who speaks, softly, for his sister as much as for himself:
- Here's Hogwarts.
- Merlin! Wow, it's huge.
Remus smiled without saying a word. It's the kind of moment that needs no comment. Sirius rested his chin on his hand against the glass with an expression that tried to be nonchalant but didn't quite succeed.
- The first time is always like that, he says. After that, you get used to it.
- You never really get used to it, corrects Remus quietly.
And Sirius doesn't argue. The train comes to a halt with a long puff of white steam. The corridor immediately explodes with noise: suitcases, cages, voices everywhere, someone shouting that they've lost their toad. The Marauders get up, stretch, and begin gathering their belongings with the practiced efficiency of people who know the drill. James turns to Liana.
- You’re a first year, you took boats. We take horse-drawn carriages. So…
He stops for a second. And despite all his efforts to look cool and detached like a big brother, something in his eyes clearly says that he doesn't really like the idea of dropping her there in the crowd.
- Just follow the other first-year students. Hagrid will guide you, you'll miss it. He's a giant.
A pause.
- It's going to be okay, Li.
- Okay, see you later James.
Liana turns towards the exit, stops for a few seconds, then turns around and hugs James very tightly before leaving with her suitcase. James stood for a second with his arms slightly apart, surprised, and then he smiled, really smiled, and returned her embrace a fraction of a second before she disappeared down the corridor.
Sirius looks at them with a big smile.
- Aww.
- Piss off, Padfoot.
- I'm not saying anything.
- You were about to say something.
- I was going to say aww, as I've already said, retorts Sirius, and he cheerfully grabs his suitcase.
Remus briefly places a hand on James' shoulder as he passes by, nothing more, but it is enough.