And they’re off!
Remus wouldn't have given the run down pub a second thought had his father not pointed it out. He and his parents were in London. The Leaky Cauldron sat in front of the Lubin, family squeezed between two, far less shabby stores.
The sign that hung above the door’s letters was so faded that they read “T’e Leaky Cauld’,” and the few people who walked by as they approached didn’t even give the building a single glance. The pub’s dilapidated appearance did not phase Remus, as most rural pubs didn't even have signs, but he was a bit confused how they would be getting any school shopping done in a run down pub.
Remus eye’s had to adjust to the dim atmosphere of the pub, but once they did, it was clear that this was indeed a wizard establishment. The place was more crowded than expected, and only a few tables and seats at the bar were left empty.
Lively chatter bounced off the walls, as floating trays with mugs of beer and other beverages made their way to tables, a couple cats darted between legs and tables. Pointy witch hats stuck up among the few patrons in the pub, and everyone was wearing a robe or decades-out-of-date clothes.
A couple robed figures had turned to see who had entered, and then quickly resumed their conversation. This was good because Remus’s heart had leapt into his throat the moment they had looked at him.
As he and his parents made their way to the bar, Remus stared at his shoes as he walked. He had never been around this many wizards. He had never been around any wizards.
It felt like they would take one look at him and just know. Remus tried his best to walk like someone that didn’t turn into a man-hunting wolf once a month. As if sensing his apprehension, his mother, Hope, grabbed Remus’s hand from beside it and gave it a squeeze. They made their way forward.
“Now there’s a face I haven’t seen in years,” a bald, and toothless man said from behind the bar.
“Tom, it’s good to see you.” Lyall, Remus’ father said from beside the boy. “This is my wife, Hope, and my son, Remus.”
“Blimey, I'll be..” the old hunched bartender said, looking at Remus with a crooked smile. Remus tried his best to politely smile back. “S’pose you’re here to do your school shopping then? Off to ‘ogwarts this year then?”
Remus nodded.
“Well, I won’t keep ya. Train leaves tomorrow, it does. Go on back.” Tom said, nodding toward the backdoor of the pub.
“It was good to see you,” Lyall said to Tom before ushering his wife and child toward the door.
They emerged in the back courtyard of the establishment, walled in by old red brick. Lyall approached the wall, and pulled out his wand, tapping a few of the bricks. The brick he had touched quivered, wriggling to reveal a hole. The effect rippled out and revealed an archway opening to a bustling cobbled street lined with colorful buildings.
'Welcome,' said Lyall, 'to Diagon Alley.'"
The street angled at a decline, turning and disappearing around a corner. Diagon Alley felt alive: colorfully dressed wizards and witches rushed about between shops. Bunting zigzagged strung above head hung with its colorful squares waving in the wind. The sweet smell of chocolates and strange herbs floated by as the Lupins began to make their way down the street. Remus looked up at his parents, to see them both smiling at the scene before them and he felt a little less nervous.
Gringotts Bank felt eerily similar to muggle banks, minus the parchment planes zooming overhead and the bank tellers not being human. The cold white marble lined the floor and walls, and made each step echo through the large hall. Remus had never met a Goblin but tried his best to be polite. They did not leave the bank with much more money than they had entered, and Remus felt the mood between his parents shift as his father recounted the knuts and sickles in his pouch.
“Let's get you a wand first. I’m sure my old school books and pewter cauldron will just be fine so that just leaves robes and your other potions materials,” Lyall said looking at the supply list and motioning to one of the shops nearby. “Ollivander’s is where I got mine.”
It was a strange thing to hear his father talk about magic, specifically his own experience with it so openly. It was even stranger to see a glimmer in his eyes that Remus had never seen before when he spoke about it. Remus couldn’t tell if his father looked happy or sad.
-
The young Welsh boy did not feel any bit confident in his decision to attend Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry as he wheeled his trolley through King’s Cross Station. Remus’s parents had spent a night in London and then taken him to King’s Cross.
Everything up until that point had been entirely overwhelming. From the initial train from Whales, to the Leaky Cauldron, to the shops in Diagon alley: from the moment they left home, the whole journey had been a blur, a terrifying, stressful, wonderful, magical journey.
He had never been around this many wizards. He had never been around any wizards.
It felt like they would take one look at him and just know. Remus tried his best to walk through the station like someone that didn’t turn into a man-hunting wolf once a month. As if sensing his apprehension, his mother, Hope, grabbed Remus’s hand from beside it and gave it a squeeze. They made their way forward. Such a trip was a completely new, and overwhelming experience. Mam had said that doing things outside of his comfort zone was good for his growth.
He now stood very far outside of his comfort zone, between Platform 9 and 10 in King’s Cross Station, London, and did not feel any taller for it. There were too many people going in too many different directions. There were too many noises, too many smells, too many things to look at.
Up until this point, all of these new sights and sounds had provided a distraction from what was next. The whole day, Remus had only focused on putting one foot in front of another, but now, he stood staring at the brick wall his father had described before their journey.
The Whole running though an actual wall part seem impossible, and even if he didn’t smash into the surface, he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to make it through to the platform. He wasn’t sure he wanted to go to Hogwarts at all.
His heart was pounding in his chest. He had to keep reminding himself to breathe. It wasn’t too late to turn back. To go home, and have a cry with his Mam and eat chocolate and forget that Hogwarts was ever an option for him.
But then what?
At the tender age of eleven, Remus couldn't remember a time in his life when he wasn’t resigned to the fact that his life was not going to be a good one. His body tearing itself apart to turn into a tiny man-hunting beast each month didn't exactly set him up for success. He had moved around loads. His best and only friends were his mother and the chickens they kept in the yard. Chickens that he had brutally ripped to shreds a few months ago. He wasn’t any good at school. He wasn’t any good at anything. Maybe he was decent at drawing, but what use was that?
Magic. Could he really do something so spectacular? He had always secretly wished to be like his dad, to be able to wave a wand and make unheard of things happen, to have stories he could tell about creatures Remus couldn’t even imagine.
And there it was, a strange sort of warmth built in his chest. His heart was beating faster but it wasn’t just nerves.
“It’s a bit scary to run through for the first time, isn’t it?” A shy British voice said from beside him, shaking him from his thoughts.
“What?” Remus turned to face a young, stout boy, with neatly cut and combed mousy brown hair and a fair complexion. He had a luggage trolley of his own, and was accompanied by two older boys with similar appearances, and what Remus assumed were their parents.
“Oh- c’mon Petey, You’ve practiced with the quilts at home plenty of times,” one of the older boys clapped the younger one on the shoulder as he spoke with a posh British accent before beginning to push his own trolley toward the wall with a running start.
“I have not!” The boy in front of Remus had gone red in the face as he yelled back at the older boy before turning back to Remus. “Are you a first year student as well? My name is Peter, Peter Pettigrew,” The boy put out a pudgy hand.
Between the busy noise of the station and the boy’s accent, Remus had a tough time understanding him, but he got enough to know an introduction was being made.
“Oh- right. Remus,” he hastily took the boy's hand and couldn't help but notice how oddly soft his hands were.
“It’s Peter’s first year as well. No need to be nervous, dear.” the woman behind Peter spoke up with a chipper yet shrill voice. She looked a lot like her son, short and stout with the same mousy brown hair combed and styled just as carefully.
“I’m not nervous, ma’am,” Remus wasn't sure why he lied. Maybe it was the way the woman, with such finely tailored robes, looked him and his parents up and down with a look of thinly veiled pity. Remus pulled at the sleeve of his knit sweater. His arms had grown a bit too long for it, but it was still his nicest one.
“Right then, why don’t you and Peter go on through together, and us five will follow behind you, right Martin?” her words had stopped the other older boy just before he could take off after his brother, who had indeed disappeared into the brick wall in front of all of them. Remus wished he had been watching him more carefully to see how it was done.
“Right,” Martin shifted impatiently and motioned for Remus and Peter to go ahead.
He looked at Peter with a sarcastic smile and Peter stood up straighter shaping his gaze away from his brother to look back at Remus.
“Better if we take it at a bit of a run?” Peter suggested with a shaky voice. Remus tried his best to give him an assured nod, and then gripped his trolley and started towards the brick wall at a jog.
He heard Peter start to move behind him. There was no going back now, unless he wanted the boy behind him to run him over. Remus was heading straight towards the wall, the texture of the brick becoming clearer and clearer, until he thought he surely would crash into it. And then…
Remus almost tripped over his own feet because he and his trolley did indeed, simply pass through the barrier.
He slowed his pace as he took in the new environment. the entire atmosphere around him had shifted, It was as if he had been teleported to a new place entirely. Maybe he had been.
The stone on the floor and brick wall were different from the ones he had just been looking at in Kings cross, more vibrant in color but older and more worn. More importantly Remus was now facing a large and bustling crowd of wizards of every shape color and size.
It was chaos. A cacaphony of families saying goodbye to their children, students making sure they had all their belongings, and a few people rushing aournd trying to wrangle a loose cat or toad.
Remus continued to push his cart through the bustling crowd as his parents caught up to him, when they got to a spot a bit out of the way, Remus stopped to look up at his parents. He met his mother’s eyes and the lump in his throat swelled as he tried to swallow.
He was going to cry.
The feeling hit him like a wave that he had seen building since they got to the station. He had never said goodbye to his mother before. Lyall Lupin had gone and come from home on odd jobs plenty of times, but Mam had always been there. For every scraped knee, every laugh, every afternoon lemonade. What would he do without her chocolate chip scones? What would he do without her to hug him goodnight? He couldn’t even begin to think about the full moons.
Hope Lupin was a strong woman, but she also believed there were moments that it was important to let yourself feel. As her only son looked up at her with tear rimmed eyes, she knew she needed to get him on that train, but she also knew she didn’t want to say goodbye either.
“Now listen here my cairn,” her voice cracked as she bent down to meet him on his level. ”I will be with you even when you’re far away from me,” she put a hand to his heart, “You are strong. Strongest boy I know. I know you can do this. You will learn so much and do great and wonderful things. I know you are scared, but you are ready for this. The hardest things to do are the most worth it. You are ready.” She herself did not feel ready but it was time, the conductor was whistling and everyone who was loitering a few moments rorior were rushing towards the train doors.
Lyall Lupin looked at his son for a moment. They didn’t really… hug, so Remus was very surprised to find his father bend down and wrap him in an admideltly awkward hug. But it was nice. “You can do this. It’ll be wonderful.”
Hope held her son tighter than she had ever before, “I’ll love you always, no matter what. Write or draw to me, they’ve owls you can use to send mail.” Remus hugged her back, and only let go when he heard the conductor whistle and shout that this was the last call. “I love you.”
“Love you.” Remus took up his luggage trolley again, giving his parents one last glance before turning and rushing toward the Hogwarts Express.
He hoped he didn’t look as if he’d been crying.