Chapter Text
Harry was trying to find a compartment that either had Jamie or with some first years in it who he could sit with and make some friends. It would also offer him somewhere to hide from the seventh years who unwittingly granted him access to the Express.
He was reaching the end of the second carriage when he found a compartment with a girl and boy with plain black robes. Harry decided that they looked friendly enough, so he knocked on the door before sliding it open.
“Hello, would you mind if I sit with you?” he asked glancing from one to the other.
The red-haired girl looked to her dark-haired friend and raised a shoulder at him, he gave a slight nod back. Their short silent conversation over, she turned to face the interloper in the compartment.
“Sure, have a seat. I’m Lily Evans,” she said holding her hand out to shake.
“Thanks. Harold Potter, though I prefer Harry,” he replied, easy smile on his face. He fully entered the compartment and took the offered hand before kissing the back of it and offering a formal bow, as he had seen his dad do on occasion.
Lily blushed lightly at the other’s actions. Her friend simply raised a brow in contemplation of their newest companion.
“Severus Snape, nice to meet you,” the dark-haired friend said offering his hand.
Harry smiled and repeated his actions, before freezing much like Severus did. “S-s-sorry,” Harry stuttered quickly pulling his jumper sleeve over his hand and wiped the back of Severus’ hand for him. “Only meant to kiss girls’ hands, sorry.”
It took a moment for Severus to do more than blink, at which point his hand had been wiped and shaken instead. Lily had laughed outright at the shocked look on Sev’s face which caused Harry to blush even more.
“Right, do you have a trunk, Potter?” Severus asked once he reclaimed his voice, shooting a glare at Lily who was still laughing at them.
“Oh, call me Harry, and um, nope, no trunk,” he said taking a seat on the bench beside Lily.
“You don’t have a trunk?” Lily asked confused.
“Nope. So, are you excited to be going to Hogwarts?” Harry questioned moving the conversation away from himself.
“Yes, Sev and I have been looking forward to Hogwarts for years, it was very exciting to finally receive my letter. I’m really excited to see the castle for myself and to learn some magic,” Lily gushed in excitement.
Harry turned to Severus in question, interested in hearing his opinion.
“I am also excited to get to learn more about potions, I know some already, but it will be great to brew more complex potions. What about yourself, Harry?”
“I’m really excited, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to come with Jamie but I had a plan, though thankfully when that failed a seventh year Ravenclaw student helped me onto the train,” Harry rambled his excitement clear in his voice.
“Helped you onto the train?” Lily questioned, looking more closely at the other boy. He was a bit small for eleven and not having luggage was strange, but he could have left it with this ‘Jamie’ she supposed.
“Uhuh, the barrier stopped me before when I was helping Jamie get his trunk and owl cage on. But then when I had almost given up on getting aboard, Samuel Rivers, the Ravenclaw, asked if I would help him test a hi-po-fee-sis and I ended up on the train. So, I got what I wanted in the end.”
“Right, and you’re a first year?” Severus asked regarding the smaller boy carefully.
“Well, no… not technically,” Harry said glancing away from their eyes to the floor of the compartment.
“Not technically?” Lily asked kindly.
“Well, technically only Jamie is a first year, but I didn’t want to be left behind and I really want to come, so I made a plan to come with him, and here I am.”
“And how old are you, Harry?”
“Eight.”
“Eight!” came the shocked voice of his fellow travellers.
At that moment, the compartment door opened, “there you are Harry, your parents said they would collect you at the other end, alright?” Samuel Rivers said looking slightly rumpled having hurried to get his belongings in a compartment before looking for his runaway theory tester.
“Oh, okay, thanks Samuel.” Harry said sinking into his seat. Samuel nodded, ruffling his hair before heading back to his friends.
“Your Ravenclaw accomplice, I take it,” Severus said looking to Harry for confirmation. He received a quick forlorn nod in response.
“At least you can enjoy the journey, Harry, that’s more than most kids get before their first year,” Lily said trying to cheer him up.
“I guess, yeah, that is quite cool.” Harry perked up a little at that, “so what houses do you want to be in?”
“I’ll most likely be Slytherin,” Severus said simply.
“I think I’ll probably get Ravenclaw or Gryffindor,” Lily said explaining that from what she had been told by Sev and some she’d learnt from Professor McGonagall about the houses they seemd the best fits.
“You might be with Jamie then Lily, as he’ll most likely be in Gryffindor, lots in our family are.” A moment of contemplation settled over the group before a thought struck Harry, “don’t you want to be in the same house though?”
“We’ll be friends no matter what,” Lily said with surety, her passion causing her eyes to brighten as she spoke firmly, no waiver or doubt, “we don’t need to be in the same house to still be friends.”
“Precisely. Friends despite house divides,” Severus agreed, it was as if an unknown weight had been removed from him.
“Great, do you know how to play exploding snap?” Harry asked pulling his card from his pocket, a smile growing on his face as he started explaining the rules to Lily who looked curious, more to do with the magic behind it having played snap with her family, but she indulged the younger boy.
***
Several hours later after the Trolley lady had been through and the compartment had enjoyed a large lunch which contained a large majority of sweets and chocolate, some of which had been homemade by Mrs. Evans, who Harry would happily tell you, could bake very, very, very well.
It was whilst on his way back from the loo that Harry walked past a compartment which contained a lone first year student who was reading a book. Harry decided he looked lonely, so he knocked.
The other boy looked up at the knock and the door slid open, showing a short boy with hair that stuck up in every direction and eyes that were a bright shade of green.
“Hey, I’m Harry,” said the bubbly kid, who was stood in the doorway to the compartment. Walking closer and sticking out his hand.
“Hi, Lupin. Remus Lupin,” the tawny haired boy said with a small pleased smile on his face.
“Nice to meet you, Remus, do you want to come meet my new friends?” Harry asked wanting to make sure he wasn’t all by himself.
Remus just looked at the other boy in confusion and shock, “um, sure.”
“Come on, then. This way,” Harry said leading the other towards his other compartment. Babbling the whole way about Lily and Severus and all that they had done so far including their lunch.
As they entered the compartment, Lily turned at the door opening. “There you are, Harry, we were,” at a pointed cough from Severus she amended, “sorry, I was starting to worry. Oh, who’s this?”
“This is my new friend Remus. Remus, this is Lily and Severus,” Harry said pointing at them in turn.
“Hi,” Remus said slightly nervous at the staring.
“Hey, Remus, do you know what house you want to be in?” Lily asked hoping to relax the other boy who seemed so unsure of what to say and do.
“I don’t mind. Probably be a Ravenclaw though, I’m a bit of a bookworm,” he replied, a light blush covering his cheeks as he adds the final part.
“Really? What are your favourite books?” Lily asked excitedly.
The conversation and friendship grow quickly after that question as it turns out that the older trio have read and enjoyed many of the same books.
***
It was maybe an hour or two later as they were getting closer to Hogwarts that another disturbance to their compartment occurred.
The new friends had been sitting quietly after showing harry some magic that they had been wanting to try when noise from the corridor grew louder as though a large group of people were walking through.
Not a minute later, the door to their compartment was flung open and a voice declared, “hello, beaut… Harry?”
“Jamie!” Harry called in response. He turned to his new friends who were still in slight shock at the violent way the new person had entered and begun introducing themselves. “This is my brother, Jamie, who I’ve been telling you about.”
“Harry, how did you get on the train?” James asked in confusion moving into the compartment and taking a seat. Another black-haired boy had followed him in.
“Magic,” Harry said with a cheeky smile on his face. “Anyway, these are my new friends, Jamie, this is Remus, Severus, and Lily,” he said pointing to each of the first years in turn.
“Right, well it’s nice to meet you,” James said giving a smile to them all. “This is Sirius, my new friend,” he added pointing to the other boy who was still stood closer to the door.
“Sirius Black, a pleasure to make your acquaintances,” Sirius added, friendly mischievous smile on his face as he added a flourishing formal bow.
He received several variations of “it’s nice to meet you too” and an enthusiastic “hello” from Harry in return, and James pulled him into the seat beside him.
After a beat of silence James continued, “Sirius, this is my baby brother, Harry.”
“‘m not a baby, Jamie,” Harry said in a whine, looking horrified at his older brother’s way of introducing him.
“Course not, Haz, but you’ll always be my baby brother,” James responded swapping seats to be able to pinch Harry’s cheek.
“Back off the face, Jamie. I will fight back, and you won’t like it,” Harry warned lifting his arms in a fighting stance, whilst trying to escape his brother’s longer reach.
“So, how did you get on the train, baby Potter?” Sirius asked.
“‘m not a baby,” Harry somewhat undermined his statement by the inclusion of a pout, “and I already said it was magic.” Sticking his tongue out at Sirius.
“There may also have been a Ravenclaw hoping to test a theory,” Severus added after a beat. Only to receive a betrayed look from Harry for ruining his fun.
“Huh, makes sense, but how’d you stay on the train?” James asked turning his attention back to Harry.
“Slipped away when they were hurrying to get their trunk on the train,” he muttered mutinously.
“Ha. That’s brilliant,” Sirius exclaimed, his smile bright and eyes shining with a mischievous light.
“He’s probably the youngest person to ride the Hogwarts Express on September first in at least a century if not longer,” Remus added thoughtfully.
“Look at you go, Haz, following in my footsteps,” James said pulling his brother into a hug, “so did you get any sweets from the trolley?”
From there the conversation flowed and sweets were exchanged and competed to be won in games of exploding snap and 'guess the magical creature I’m thinking of'. It was a group of tired but excited eleven-year-olds who arrived at Hogwarts several hours later, with a slowly forming friendship group which had been founded by an eight-year-old. Said eight-year-old had fallen asleep on his brother about an hour before the train was due to arrive, it had been a very exciting and emotional day after all.