prologue
Remus never really understood why anyone would prefer a live in a big city. He was very fond of the more rural approach on live, at least that’s what he told himself while he and Warren were walking through muggle London because of an appointment Warren had to attend. Every loud noise, which were quite a lot, caused Remus to wince. Why was it so bloody loud here? And smelly… Merlin, it smelled even worse here than accidently stomping on a rotting rabbit, which luckily only happened once but the sound and smell were pretty much imprinted in Remus’s brain. Remus found himself trying to focus on “the mantra” (at least that’s what Warren called it) and count his breaths, which wasn’t as easy as it sounds. Especially with so many new impressions on basically every sense. And it’s not like he didn’t notice that some of the family’s they passed were quickly pulling in their children and whispering things among each other, which he really had to concentrate on overhearing with the full moon only three days away and his senses heightened. He kind of understood them. Living full-time in the woods really showed on the outside. His clothes were mostly clean but compared to the muggles he knew he looked like he crawled straight out of a cave.
“Warren?” he mumbled “How much longer do we have to walk?”. Warren glanced down on him and eyed him a little bit warily which was, to be quite honest, a funny look on his sun-tanned square face. He sometimes reminded Remus off the beginning of humanity with his long dark brown hair, broad shoulders and a walking style that looked more like stomping rather than walking.
“You see that building with the umbrella sign?” Warren pointed straight ahead “We need to go there.” Remus squinted his eyes against the way too harsh sunlight to make out the umbrella sign. God he should’ve worn his sunglasses. “And why are we going there? You never told me.” Remus knew Warren basically dedicated his life to keeping him out of trouble which sometimes meant not being honest with him. To a certain point Remus understood his worries because after all he could be quite dangerous, especially around the full moon. Warren never failed to mention that other wizards are also quite dangerous when it comes to finding out that somebody is an unregistered werewolf. All in all, it didn’t make much sense that Warren would force him out of their lonely hut in the woods that near to a full moon.
“Well… You are now almost eleven years old and I feel like I’ve taught you as much as I possibly can so I th- “Remus grabbed his muscular arm and brought them to a hold “You’re not sending me away, are you? Just because you think you know what’s best for me, doesn’t mean that I want that!” Warren took his hand from his arm and tried to comfort Remus by putting both his hand on his shoulders which Remus flinched away from. “Just hear him out, okay? I’m not abandoning you Remus, I never would.” Warren said in his low voice while trying to look as sincere as possible. “Him?” Remus asked, genuinely confused.
“Good afternoon, Warren. I suppose you must be Remus?” An old very wizard-dy looking man spoke. Remus searched for an answer in Warrens body language if they were able to trust this blue-robed man or if they had to make an emergence escape because he wanted to skin Remus and sell his fur to some creepy wizards. Without really noticing Remus hid behind Warrens broad statue which earned him a chuckle from the wizard. “It’s okay Remus. We are here to meet him.” Warren spoke softly toward him but redirected his gaze and held out his hand towards the man “Good afternoon, Albus. I hope you found here alright. I apologize for the inconvenience, but you can never be too sure where to go without being listened to.” The old man, Albus, shook his hand and gestured toward the shop with the umbrella sign on it. “Shall we?” Without waiting for an answer, he opened the door and guided Warren and Remus to a back door after exchanging a quick nod with the women behind the counter. Albus summoned three chairs and gestured for them to sit. Remus waited for Warren to take a seat and followed him quickly. He did not like this one bit. The room was sticky and a headache was beginning to form. He constantly had to restart counting his breaths because the rustling sound of the wizards’ long beard kept distracting him.
“Remus, we are here to talk about your future education. I am here because Warren contacted me a while ago to discuss the possibility of you joining Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Since then, I’ve arranged some things to have you safely as a student.” Albus explained with a small (and in Remus opinion creepy) smile while holding steady eye contact with him. Remus kept on looking to Warren who tried his best to look affirmingly towards him. He just wanted to crawl under his chair and hope that Albus would just leave him alone. Why can’t he just stay in the hut? It’s not like it would bother anyone… That’s why they moved there in the first place: to not bother anyone. And now he is supposed to go to some wizard school? That’s not fair.
“Can we leave? I don’t feel good.” He directed his questions towards Warren. “No, this must be discussed. You need to be among other wizards. Other children, Remus. You could have friends and read even more books than you do now.” Unfair. He mentioned once, maybe twice, in a rather heated argument that he doesn’t want his only friend to be an old sack. But that doesn’t mean that he suddenly wants to leave his home to learn how to levitate a table. “Think about it Remus, you could get back some normal.” Warren was unfair to play his cards like this. It was mean to trap Remus in this room with this long-bearded man, hold a wand to his head and say be happy now about going to school. Remus crossed his arms and furrowed his brows. He just won’t say anything. Stupid grown-ups and their need to know everything better. Remus always thought he had a pretty good view on himself and life in general. Yes, he was only ten years old but that doesn’t mean he’s stupid.
“I would like for you to consider the possibility of visiting my school. It is very important for a young man like you to experience friendships among other young fellows. We also provide a wide range of interesting course material which would allow you to actually use your magic. As I’ve heard you seem to be quite eager about that.” Albus spoke again to which Remus nervously began fiddling with his long shirt. Surely Warren hadn’t told Albus that he was already using magic. Mostly out of accident and followed by a stern lecture about the dangers from Warren who rarely used magic himself out of fear of being tracked by somebody, but he couldn’t deny the fact that he absolutely loved the feeling of actually feeling his own magic. “You would be able to practice with a wand and you would be allowed to perform magic within the walls of Hogwarts. Measures about your lycanthropy have been made, so no need to worry about that.” He continued to which Remus heartbeat quickened.
He’d never heard anyone talk about his condition so normally. He’d actually hasn’t ever heard anyone talk about his condition except for Warren. Remus found that he absolutely hated it. He hated everything about this whole situation. He just wanted to go home and help Warren dig holes for the shed they were building to burn off some of his nervous energy. Why can’t they just leave him alone? It’s always Remus do this… Remus do that… Remus don’t be mad about your parents, they didn’t know any better… Remus you have to accept it, it isn’t going away… Well, what if he didn’t want to? What if he didn’t- He was pulled out of his thought process by accidentally ripping through his sleeves with his fingers. Warren shot him a worried look while Albus’s face stayed the same with his unchanged weirdly friendly stare.
“Maybe I should leave you two to it.” Albus exchanged a knowing look with Warren before getting up and extending his hand to Remus. “It was very nice meeting you and I hope I can welcome you into Hogwarts in September.” Remus weirdly shook his hand and quickly walked over to Warren who was already standing and looking rather drained. “Thank you Albus for coming. I’ll let you know when we’ve decided” He also shook Albus’ hand and they exchanged quick goodbyes before Albus apparated.
“Can we go now?” Remus asked and looked up to Warren who just held out his arm for Remus to grab onto before also apparating to go back home.