Part 1 - A Toast

People never guessed that Remus was actually the older twin. And why would they? Mina did most of the talking, was taller, had the healthier coloring. She looked out for her sickly brother, protected him. She always had, except for that one time when she didn't...

"Mina," Remus said, his amber eyes wide and his gaunt face unusually pale. He always got pale when he was scared, and the thin, almost imperceptible scars across his right cheek always stood out most when he got pale.

Mina hated those scars.

"Don't worry," the slim eleven-year-old soothed as she hefted her trunk and then her twin's up onto the Hogwarts Express, "It's going to be fine. I won't leave you."

Nodding, practically shivering in baggy new muggle clothes (the first they'd been allowed in what seemed like forever), Remus took his sister's hand and let himself be pulled onto the train. He wasn't good in crowds, immediately grabbed a fistful of Mina's t-shirt and pressed himself close against her back as she navigated through the throngs of shouting, laughing, bustling students.

Well, navigated may not be the right word: Mina shoved, crashing her trunk into people and objects when they didn't move out of the way fast enough, snarling, "Make a path, dung-brains!"

Amidst snide comments and dark looks, the Lupins got their own compartment (finally), and Remus flopped limply onto the plush bench seat. He was still shaky and white, his sandy fringe (not quite brown, not quite blonde, just like Mina's own) damp with fear-sweat.

Abandoning their trunks in the doorway, Mina sat beside him, threw both arms around her big brother and squeezed tight. "I'm not leaving you," the girl insisted once more, "And I won't let anybody be mean. So, relax, ok? You want to play cards?"

"Chess," Remus answered, cracking a ghostly smirk at his sister's answering groan.

"I hate chess," she grumbled, even as she moved away and began digging their battered old muggle set out of Remus's trunk.

Seconds later, a reedy black-haired boy threw open the door and came rushing in, tripped spectacularly over both trunks and his own too-big feet, flailed wildly, and crashed directly onto Mina.

"Wanker!" she shouted, lashing out without a second thought, rolling the boy under her and punching him in the face. His thick glasses shattered with a satisfying crunch.

"OW!" he crowed, punching back blindly, "Get off, you crazy bastard!"

Mina felt her lip split, the taste of hot iron filling her mouth as she and the boy grappled across the floor of the compartment. She was slightly smaller, but he couldn't see; the match was an even one.

"Mina, it was an accident," Remus observed, almost too quiet to be heard except that his sister always listened for his voice more than any other sound.

She stopped punching but stayed straddling the boy, pinning his hands under her knees and watching the blood from his puffy nose leak back toward his big goofy ears and unruly black hair. Her whole face throbbed and stung. She scowled and declared, "Watch where you're going next time." She was back next to her brother, letting him fuss over her bloody lip and swelling eye before the black-haired boy even managed to struggle into a sitting position.

He blinked stupidly around the compartment, hazel eyes bright but clearly useless. His hair was on end. His left cheekbone was already starting to bruise. "Where are my glasses?" he asked helplessly.

Remus, feeling the guilt and sympathy his twin wasn't, stood and retrieved the smashed bits. "They're broken," he reported, kneeling. His sad, timid voice (not the gory mess on the floor) made his sister's heart hurt.

A tall, good-looking blonde teen appeared in their doorway, where Mina noticed a small, frightened audience had also formed. The blonde teen was broad, had short hair and freckles and a badge pinned to his chest. "Merlin's sakes," he grumbled, swooping in to start repairing and healing as best he could (no more blood, at least, and the pain was dulled, but Mina could tell she'd have a black eye to match the one she'd given to the black-haired boy). "We haven't even left the station yet," the blonde teen nagged, "I thought I'd be keeping first-years from wetting themselves, not killing each other."

As soon as the black-haired boy had his glasses back on, he turned to glare at Mina. The glare morphed very quickly into a stare of stunned disbelief. "You're a girl?" the boy demanded.

"Last time I checked," Mina snapped in reply, snobbishly flipping short, sandy hair away from her face. She was pleased that the tidy job her grandmother had made of the choppy locks before they left the house that morning had already been obliterated into a more typical didn't-brush-it-and-don't-plan-to-ever style.

"Look," the blonde teen stated with an exasperated sigh, "You can't fight on the train, but I'd rather not have to give out detentions already. I haven't even had my first prefect meeting yet. So why don't you two just shake hands and make nice, and we can all be on our way."

Mina and the black-haired boy glared at each other.

But then Remus nudged his sister, tugged on her pant leg and whispered, "Please, Mina."

She chanced a glance down at his face and saw that he was pale again, shaking a little; Mina knew that he wanted the crowd gone, wanted her to make them go away.

"Sorry," Mina announced flatly, holding out a dainty hand; there was nothing she wouldn't do for Remus, and that included apologizing even when she didn't think she should have to.

The black-haired boy gave her another look of disbelief, big insect eyes darting momentarily back to the prefect before he reached out for the truce.

"FRANK!" someone called, loud laugh booming down the hallway, "Get your big butt over here already!"

In a hurry to be gone, the blonde prefect Frank said, "Alright then. Stay out of trouble. If I catch wind of you two fighting again, you'll be scrubbing bedpans until Christmas." He turned and left, shooing away the gathered crowd and closing the compartment door.

Remus gave a relieved sigh, sagging back against the far wall.

The black-haired boy also stayed on the floor. He looked puzzled.

"Why are you still here?" Mina demanded.

"Trying to figure out how I got beat up by a girl," the black-haired boy replied, laughing bitterly to himself. Vaguely impressed, he added, "You punch pretty hard."

"Thanks," Mina said, "You weren't half bad. I'm sure you would've stood more of a chance if you weren't blind as a bat."

Giving a quirky smile, the black-haired boy announced, "It is too bad about that... I'm James, by the way. James Potter."

"Mina Lupin," the petite girl answered, "And that's my brother, Remus."

Remus grinned shyly, still slumped on floor against the far wall.

The compartment banged open. Another black-haired boy stood in the doorway. He was handsomer than James, features hard and sharp and dangerous where James's were soft and round and cute (almost pretty); the new boy's black locks were longer, shaggy but sleek, skimming his slight shoulders and framing his haughty face. His smile was just slightly cruel, probably without the boy even meaning it to be; Mina had the same problem with her own smile sometimes, or at least that's what her brother told her.

"Are you the ones who were fighting?" the new boy asked cheerfully.

"Ya," James answered.

"Wicked," the new boy declared, hopping over the trunks and throwing himself down onto the open bench, "Who won?" He was looking between James and Remus.

"I did," Mina declared pointedly.

The new boy did a double-take, his smile fading for a moment and then blooming bright like Christmas morning. "Even better!" he cackled, expensive black robes completely at odds with his childish presence, too old and stodgy for such a clearly vivacious personality, "And what would the lovely champion's lovely name be?"

Arching a thin eyebrow, the girl challenged, "And who, exactly, wants to know?"

"Sirius Orion Black," the new boy stated, sweeping into a flourished but seated bow. When he glanced up again, he beamed across at Mina and added, "At your service, m'lady."

Unimpressed, the girl answered, "Even if I were a lady, I certainly wouldn't be your lady. Now piss off."

"Oh come on," Sirius pleaded, plump bottom lip poking out theatrically, "You're by far the most interesting other first-years I've met. And I've been introducing myself around for almost an hour trying to find people worthy of my presence. Don't send me away. I'll be bored. And lonely."

"Have a heart," James piped up, flashing a syrupy sweet grin, "I think we should keep him. Like adopting a stray puppy, you know?"

"What are we? Forming a gang?" Mina challenged, getting frustrated and angry (as was her tendency), "Both of you can piss off!"

"Mina," Remus murmured, calming his sister in an instant, gazing up at her with big, desperate eyes.

All Remus ever wanted was to be liked, to have friends.

And all Mina ever wanted was for Remus to be happy.

"Fine," she grumbled, huffing and folding her thin arms across her thin chest, "I'm Mina Lupin. That's my brother Remus. This sod right here is James Potter, but I don't know him except for the fact that he bleeds easy and can't tell bloke from bird without his glasses."

"Good to know," Sirius laughed, enthusiastically shaking hands with James and then Remus, who seemed stunned by the gesture. "So," Sirius eventually chirped, "Mina, huh? Is that perhaps short for Wilhelmina?"

"Romina," she quipped.

Nodding, smirking in a way he probably thought was charming, Sirius said, "Ah. Enchanting. Can I call you Romy?"

She saw Remus flinch slightly, getting ready to call his sister off again. But Mina contained herself (she did have some restraint) and hissed, "Not if you want to keep all ten of your fingers attached."

"Well, eight fingers and two thumbs," Sirius corrected, wiggling the digits dangerously close to Mina's face, "But I am quite fond of the whole set. We've had some good times together. Just this morning we had ourselves a private party in the downstairs loo. There was cake and streamers, and my mum walked in and looked very disturbed. We enjoy disturbing her."

The train lurched to life, and, almost immediately, the compartment door opened once more to yet another black-haired boy. This one was also thin but in a rather emaciated way. His skin was waxy and yellowy (almost jaundiced), his hair oily and stringy. And he had dead black eyes and a nose like a great beak.

Beside him was a redheaded girl. She had vibrant green eyes and perfect freckled skin and was very pretty, soft and naturally alluring.

Mina instantly disliked her.

"Can we sit here?" the redheaded girl inquired very sweetly.

"Sure," Mina bit back, probably nastier than was strictly necessary, "But you have to fight me first."

The redheaded girl scowled, face still pretty even when contorted with anger and annoyance. She countered, "What? That's ridiculous. We're not going to fight you."

"But that's the rule," Mina insisted, pointing toward James and his very convincing bruises, "Just ask this dope. I cleaned his clock not quite ten minutes past, but it earned him a nice spot at my feet."

"S'true," James contributed, playing along with an exaggerated sigh, "Mina's the undefeated champ of this compartment and, therefore, our beloved queen. Her word is law."

Both James and Sirius threw themselves down and began bowing and worshipping, chanting, "We're not worthy. We're not worthy."

Her elegant nose wrinkled in disgust, the redheaded girl grabbed the greasy black-haired boy and dragged him away. "Come on, Sev," Mina heard her say, "We'll find somewhere a little more sane to sit."

As soon as the stuffy redhead and her waxy companion were gone, everyone laughed. Everyone. Even Remus.

Mina didn't like people as a general rule, but if James and Sirius could keep making her brother laugh like that, then they were all going to get along just fine.

xxXxx

James played chess, which was great because it meant that Mina didn't have to. She was instead free to produce a lunch feast from her trunk.

"Grandmother is going to be mad," Remus remarked softly as he watched her pulling out the entire previous contents of their home's icebox.

"So what?" Mina answered, chuckling at the elated face Sirius made when she handed him a carton of mostly melted chocolate ice cream, "It's not like the old bat can actually do anything anymore. We won't see her again until Christmas, and I'm sure she'll have forgotten by then, if she lives that long. Besides, it's her own fault. She wouldn't give us any money to buy lunch. What'd she expect us to do? Starve?"

"She packed us sandwiches," Remus defended, rolling his eyes.

"When?" Mina demanded.

"When you were fiddling around upstairs," her brother replied, "She put them with my things."

Shrugging, the girl said, "Well, knowing that would've saved me a lot of effort." She took out a delicate, very expensive set of china plates, crystal goblets, and polished silverware. "I guess I'll send these back to her when we get to school," the girl mused. She unfurled a white linen table cloth and, after fetching the sandwiches, spread it out over Remus's trunk. The silver candlesticks went in the center and were lit with a flourish.

"Genius," Sirius laughed, taking the dishes and preparing four perfect place settings with ease that seemed automatic. "I nicked my mum's whole jewelry box," the shaggy boy declared, winking cockily at Mina, "Great minds, eh? You guys want to wear her stuff while we feast?"

"YES!" James cried, kind of absurdly and inappropriately excited.

Leaping to his feet, Sirius declared, "Never fear! I shall return! With sparkly stolen things! AWAY!" He dove out through the doorway.

They all giggled, even Remus.

While Sirius was gone, Mina doled out ham and cheese sandwiches, cold lasagna, and melty chocolate ice cream. And that was just the first course.

Sirius returned with a large, ornate silver box and a small, pudgy, pasty, nervous boy whose knees gave out just as soon as he got within falling distance of the open bench seat. The new boy seemed to have no color, his thin blonde hair and clammy white skin and small, watery blue eyes almost opaque. He wheezed instead of breathed through a nose that was far too pointy, and he smelled faintly of old B.O. Mina felt like she needed to wash just from being in the same room as him.

"This is Peter," Sirius announced brightly, "I rescued him from a pack of my evil relatives. Can we keep him?"

"I don't know," Mina murmured, speculative, "What's he bringing to the party? I mean, Remus and I shared a womb, James takes my punches like a pro, and you're providing sparkly stolen things. Aside from an offensive odor, what does Peter add to the equation?"

The small boy squeaked a bit, seemingly in an attempt at speech, but Sirius quickly cut him off. "Peter makes us five," Sirius insisted, "Five is my lucky number."

Mina countered, "I could care less, but only if it were actually worth the effort to try."

Sirius remained thoughtful for a few moments before declaring, "Oh! I know! I saved his life, so he probably owes me a debt or something."

"Handy for you maybe," Mina argued brattily, "But I'm not feeding him without knowing how he enhances my existence."

"Well," Sirius said with a slight grin, "He's very slow. So if you ever have to outrun something, it'll be a lot easier to do. Because you won't have to run faster than the thing that's chasing you. You'll only have to run faster than Peter."

Mina was very familiar with the principle. She glanced quickly between her brother and the pudgy boy; she decided that, yes, Remus would probably be able to outrun Peter in a pinch. "Ok," she agreed, loading up a plate for their newest addition.

"He got more," Sirius pouted, jealously eyeing Peter's massive portion.

With a shrug, Mina explained, "If he's going to be the designated slow kid, he might as well be the slowest slow kid he can be. Now, are you going to start passing out sparkly things, or do I have to take your lunch back?"

"Bossy," Sirius complained, snapping open the jewelry box and selecting a diamond and topaz encrusted bangle, a gaudy, square emerald ring, and a delicately beaded black and green choker.

Mina snagged a pair of diamond earrings that looked like chandeliers and dangled past her slight shoulders; she got three ruby rings and a ruby amulet and a handful of gold bracelets that slid past her elbows, clanging merrily every time she moved. The girl draped her brother in sapphires and amethysts and pearls, settled a silver tiara atop his head before passing the collection along to James.

Going around their makeshift table like that, it took them awhile to empty to the magically-expanded box. By the end, everyone had a ring or two on every finger (and a few even on Sirius's toes). They all wore bracelets stacked along their arms and almost a dozen necklaces a piece. James wore a delicate gold circlet around his head, and Peter's dingy t-shirt was covered in ugly, mismatched brooches.

When all they had left were earrings, Sirius complained about not being able to use up all the jewelry. Mina offered to pierce everyone's ears for them, but only Sirius accepted. He was cheerful and excited up until the girl shoved a blunt ruby stud through his right earlobe. The black-haired boy howled and bled and had to be held down for the same treatment on his left side.

Apparently attracted by the screams of pain, Frank returned shortly after Sirius was through being pierced. The blonde prefect stood in the doorway, seeming dumbfounded and disbelieving, like he couldn't possibly be seeing what he was seeing: five first-years covered in elegant, expensive jewelry and crowded around an improvised table that had been set for some kind of gala feast that consisted of cold leftovers; the boy in the ruby earrings was dripping blood from his earlobes onto his shoulders.

"What..." Frank began, seeming to lose steam and words entirely for a few moments. Finally, he just shook his head and walked away, making sure to close the door lest the insanity spread.

"I propose a toast," James piped up, raising his crystal goblet into the air, grinning madly beneath a crust of priceless stolen gems and metals. "To us," the boy declared, "Easily the oddest people on this train. May we never change."

"To thievery and general mayhem!" Sirius giggled, adding his own goblet to the toast with a joyous clink, "To marauding, pestering, pranking, and other socially unacceptable behaviors!"

"To new friends," Remus contributed shyly, holding up his own drink and smiling in genuine happiness as Peter and then Mina did the same, "Who take you as you are, socially unacceptable behaviors and all."

Mina grinned, cackled, "To Hogwarts! If it's still standing when we're through!"

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Nobody kill me for posting another story. I can't be held responsible for the strange places to which my unique mind sometimes wanders. I do have a couple chapters written already so updates should be fairly regular. Reviews are love and might be able to persuade me to update faster :)