Diagon Alley
Remus had read his acceptance letter and list for the year ahead roughly around... a thousand times.
The later stated that they were aware of Remus' condition, and had prepared a secret passage that led to an abandoned safe place where Remus could safely transform, and guaranteed that his secret would remain safe, too. Lyall and Hope could not have been more pleased if they tried.
It was obvious that Remus was over the moon but his mother joked, saying that she didn't know who was more excited out of Remus and his father. Remus' father was just as excited as Remus, if not more, and this showed each time Lyall looked up from his newspaper in the morning to see Remus smiling brightly down at the letter which he carried around the house with him. His father's face lit up each time he saw this sight. He didn't know whether it was because he had never seen his son so happy, or whether it was because of the fact that his son would be attending Hogwarts. He decided it was a perfect mix of the two.
After the most painful wait ever, the time came that Lyall, Hope and Remus would finally go to Diagon Alley to purchase Remus' items for his first year at Hogwarts. The family did not have much money, but they had been saving for a few weeks now, and so if they went to the right places, they'd be able to buy everything that Remus required.
Remus was delighted to finally take the floo network himself, and when they arrived at Diagon Alley, Remus felt his stomach turn and flip in excitement. Diagon Alley was nothing he had expected, for one, he expected a dull and boring little street, but to see the long and bright street filled with the most exciting looking stores was mind-blowing. Hope smiled too, looking around curiously herself, having never seen it before.
First, Remus went to pick his wand, surprised to discover that, actually, 'the wand chooses the wizard, young sir'. 10 1/4 inches made from Unicorn Hair. He loved his wand, it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Picking his robes took much more time than he hoped for it to, finding himself getting rather bored as Madam Malkin took her time with fitting his robes. Remus was surprised at how she seemed so delighted to meet Remus, having remembered fitting his fathers robes for each year of Hogwarts. She was a kind lady who greeted them all brightly, and as they left, she wished Remus good luck at his first year of Hogwarts.
Finally, he picked up his books. He got all the books required on the list, as well as a few additional books to read in his spare time. It was in the book shop that there was the most chaos, but it was not Remus' fault for the chaos.
This was down to two boys- brothers, Remus suspected. One had short black hair that was completely unruly and glasses that framed brown eyes. He was much taller than Remus, but looked around his age. Remus was often mistaken for at least a year younger than he was due to his baby face and height. The second boy was being carried on the first's back, the two laughing loudly. The other boy did not look much like the first, he had blue eyes and longer, curly black hair that fell almost to his shoulders. Other than the physical differences, the two seemed to know each other well, just like brothers. Remus clutched his mothers hand as he watched them curiously, until the boy with blue eyes looked up at Remus, who had been staring. Remus quickly looked away. The fact that they were being looked at did not deter them or calm them down, in fact they remained chaotic until the inevitable happened. The boy with glasses- which were now crooked on his face- tripped, dropping the other boy into an old shelf, causing several books to tumble on top of them both.
All was silent for a moment, until they looked at each other, crooked grins forming across their faces until they began to laugh again. The laughter did not last long as a woman who was short and looked older than Remus' own mother, rushed over. She had the same eyes at the boy with glasses. She did not look shocked at the scene, but with a wave of her wand, she put the books back in their place. Remus watched in awe. Magic was fantastic.
"James, come on that's enough now, you've caused enough trouble", she said sternly, though her face was soft and loving, and if Remus' eyes weren't deceiving him, there was a faint hint of a smirk across her lips. It was clear that the boy with glasses, James, was a troublemaker, and she was used to it. Remus found it rather interesting that she only addressed the boy- James- and not the green eyed boy. That was until his question was answered for him, "And who might you be, young man?" the lady asked fondly. Remus was shocked to realise that the two were not brothers. They seemed as though they had known each other since birth, but from the looks of things, they had not known each other for very long at all.
The boy with glasses looked shocked to have been spoken to so kindly by the woman, looking as though he expected to be smacked. He stepped out from behind James, brushing off his black wizard robes. He cleared his throat and straightened his posture, "I-I'm Sirius Black, ma'am." he said softly, holding out a hand for her to shake after giving a little bow. Remus was surprised that the loud boy who was just being flung about was very well-mannered.
The lady smiled, taking his hand kindly, "Well, I see you and my son have become friends, Sirius", she said with a chuckle, gently ruffling both their heads. "We were about to go to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, would you like to join us?"
Sirius looked shocked to have been offered, and James' eyes lit up, nodding quickly in hopes that Sirius would say yes. Instead Sirius looked torn, glancing around for his own parents before he began to fumble with his fingers. He was stood up so straight that it looked rather painful. "Oh, I would love to, ma'am, but my mother and father are looking for me, I expect. Thank you kindly", he said politely- and it seemed that James looked shocked at how proper Sirius was acting, by the look of pure shock and confusion on his face. "See you, James. It was a pleasure to meet you, ma'am."
The pair parted, and Remus' eyes followed Sirius to where he was heading until Sirius reached his mother and father. His mother had a permanent look of disgust on her face, as did her husband. They looked as though they thought they were better than anyone else, giving dirty looks to people around them. But, there was a pattern in the dirty looks they gave out. It seemed that they were only really throwing these looks to anyone in muggle attire. Remus thought that maybe they weren't used to seeing muggle clothing and didn't agree with the fashion senses. Remus watched as Sirius stood behind them, his mother grabbing him rather roughly by the back of his robes before shoving him out of the store. Remus furrowed his brows at that, watching as Sirius looked like a completely different person. He looked odd without that crooked grin and bright eyes. The action seemed cruel, to have shoved her son like that and almost sent him to the ground, and Remus had to look away. His chest tightened at the sight.
Remus looked down at his mothers hand, squeezing it gently. His parents would never do that to him, so it struck him as odd that Sirius' did. He looked back to where James was stood, who was laughing as his mother ruffled his hair. Remus felt himself smile a little before James' his eyes flicked to where Remus was. Remus was about to look away when he saw James smile at him, too. He quickly smiled back before he looked down at the books beside him, pretending that he hadn't just been watching the entire scene James and Sirius put on for the shop.