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Remus had heard stories of Diagon Alley for as long as he could remember; the very idea of somewhere so public made his skin crawl uncomfortably. His mother had reassured him time and time again that nothing would happen and he was simply overthinking. However, he could not help but feel a part of himself writhe at the very thought of being surrounded by humans.

"Are you ready?" Hope asked as she stowed away the coins in her purse, having already went to Gringotts to exchange pounds for galleons. They were, by no means, rich; rather, they had to use their money sparingly because they could not afford a lot. But, Hope was willing to give up whatever she had to for Remus.

Remus, on the other hand, was thinking about everything but money. He took one glance at the Hogwarts acceptance letter (given to him personally by none other than the Headmaster himsef). Hope most certainly brought the list of supplies, but her biggest concern was getting Remus into the fireplace.

"Come now, Remus," she said lightly, holding out her hand and wiggling her fingeres. "This connection Professor Dumbledore had so kindly set up for us will not last us all day. If we want to go, we need to go now."

"What if they find out what I am?" Remus fretted, shuffling his feet so he was at least moving forward, just at his own pace. "What if they...say something? Have you ever seen medieval films, Mum? They hurl those big spears and flaming torches at the monsters..."

And suddenly, his mind was racing with all sorts of different scenarios that gave him quite the fright. People in robes, flashing their wands and waving their torches as they screamed at the top of their lungs, chasing him until he was driven into exile...

"Remus!" Hope said shrilly, grabbing his hand and kneeling on one knee before him. "Listen to me, Remus. As long as I stand, I will let no one hurt or even touch you...not as long as my heart beats steadily in my chest."

Remus looked at his mother and immediately threw his arms around her neck, burying his face in her shoulder. His fear and other roiled emotions finally flooded as the tears began to pool from his eyes; his shoulders shook from the force of the silent weeping, but his trembling body revealed his true feelings. Hope was patient; she was kind and held him close to her breast as she whispered gentle words in his ear.

Remus closed his eyes tight as he felt her soft hands run its fingers through his hair. He averted his attention from his pounding heart and listened solely to the breezy voice of his mother. She rubbed his back soothingly as she hummed a little tune.

"As long as you are with me and I you," Hope said, kissing him on the cheek and pulling back so he could look at her in the eye. "Nothing can hurt us."

Remus bit his trembling lip, trying to dry his eyes hurriedly so he would not look blotchy before going to Diagon Alley. He sniffled and wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve before inhaling deeply.

"You're wrong, Mum..." he said as he pulled himself apart and looked away, forcing his feet to take him to the fireplace. He grabbed the Floo Powder from the bookshelf and wrapped his cloak around him tighter.

Sirius screwed his eyes shut tight and braced himself for the slap to the cheek.

Crack.

He winced as the wind stung his skin like a hundred tiny blades. His mother reared back her heavily ringed hand and poised herself, ready to strike again. But, before she could send another blow, her husband came to the scene and put a hand on her shoulder.

"What happened?" Orion dared to ask...as if he would care.

"This brat has been mouthing me all day," Walburga snarled, pointing a gnarly finger at her eldest son, who was still gritting his teeth from the slap. "I will not tolerate disrespect, Orion. You will not ask me to."

"Of course not," Orion agreed and looked at his pocketwatch before beckoning the younger Black forward. "But we musn't be late to Diagon Alley. The sooner we begin, the sooner we can leave."

Walburga huffed angrily, fixing her fur scarf that was wrapped so fashionably around her vulture-like neck. Her eyes bore down on Sirius before she finally turned away with an angry sigh. Sirius let his hand drop to his side, the heat from the impact beginning to redden his cheek. Regulus, from the distance merely watched with a slight raise of his eyebrow.

"Well? Shouldn't we be off then?" Walburga snapped impatiently as she grabbed her wand and stowed it proudly in its sheath. "Let us waste no time as you said, Orion. Come! We leave!"

She aggressively grabbed a handful of Floo Powder, making quite the mess on the front of their grand, all marble fireplace. With a hearty shout of her destination, she threw down the powder and erupted into flames. How fitting, Sirius sneered in his mind. Regulus was next, quickly following in suit. After Regulus, Orion gave Sirius a great shove from behind.

"Move along," he growled.

Sirius grabbed a handful and sent himself to Diagon Alley, watching his own great room disappear in a blur while he spun uncontrollably. He could catch glimpses of different gates at Diagon Alley, but was careful not to choose the wrong one. He kept his elbows tucked in close to his body while he waited until he could see his stop. With swift feet, he stepped out from the cycle and brushed himself off as he came face-to-face with his mother and younger brother.

"I have the list," Walburga said and pulled it out with a wave of her ebony wand. She hummed to herself, one of the very few times she did not sound angry at the world, and studied the handwriting. "Pish posh, what horrid scrawl...I can hardly read a thing..."

"Books," Sirius said, trying to keep his tone neutral and as non-suggestive or patronizing as possible. "Flourish and Blotts usually has stuff like that, right?"

"I do not want to shop at Flourish and Blotts," Walburga replied immediately, turning her nose up at the very idea of being seen shopping somewhere so...common. "Surely we can get your books at Knockturn Alley..."

"Walburga, dear," Orion cut in before Sirius could say anything to refute. He stepped forward, pushing past his eldest son without a care in the world. "I know we promised we would be more selective, but I doubt you could find first year textbooks there. That pansy Headmaster would never send students there for supplies..."

Walburga sighed as she listened to reason. "Flourish and Blotts it is."

Peter, his mother, and his father all looked at the list together, going down each item one-by-one. Their boy, Peter, looked on while bouncing on the balls of his feet, excitement bursting through his seams.

"I remember when my parents took me shopping for my supplies," Prius said with a sense of longing. "The poor lot had no idea what was going on! They didn't even know what robes to get me!"

"They were Muggles," Deborah said with a tut as she looked at the list of books. "Can't believe the price of these textbooks, Prius. How are we...going to manage?"

The look on Peter's face suddenly vanished and deep concern and sadness filled its place. Prius looked at Peter and gave him a reassuring smile while Deborah looked on with a slight frown.

"We will manage as we always do," Prius said and gave Deborah a firm nod. "Let's get going before all the supplies is gone! I bet everyone is shopping today so we best be on our way."

Peter, Deborah, and Prius all managed to make it to Diagon Alley with very little trouble (other than Peter falling on his knees and bruising them quite badly from the impact). He winced as he stood back up but Deborah helped him brush off the debris.

"Perhaps books should not be the first thing we look for," Prius suggested as he pointed to the long line winding around the shelves in the store called Flourish and Blotts. "Perhaps there is something else we can look for instead. What else is on the list?"

"Robes."

"We can start there," Deborah said and made her way to the Twilfitt and Tatting's. The moment she stepped in, several heads turned in her direction to see who was the newcomer.

Prius followed close behind with Peter trailing at his heels. The awkward silence only lasted for a matter of seconds before a young witch stepped forward and cleared her throat pointedly.

"What can I assist you with, Madam?" she asked, tapping her wand against her temple as if she was suffering from an ongoing headache. "We have just about everything you could imagine from casual attire to dress robes."

"School robes," Deborah said with a slight smile, hoping her friendly demeanor would lighten up the slightly tense atmosphere. "My son will be a first year and he needs black school robes..."

"Say no more," the young witch said and turned swiftly on her heel, hair flying over her shoulder as she made her way through the winding aisles of the shop. She flicked her wand and levitated a few different robes into the air. "Are these plain black robes or will there be houses included?"

"Just plain black robes, please," Deborah said and looked at the robes that were suspended above her head. She turned to her son. "Peter, dear, please take off your jacket so we can try these on..."

Peter obeyed awkwardly and clambered up onto the raised platform in front of a mirror; the young witch, who had introduced herself as Anita Frittlebit, had begun to fit the robes around Peter's shoulders, humming to herself as she began to pin up the bottom.

"That looks lovely," Deborah said contently, smiling with pride as she looked at her son wearing Hogwarts robes for the first time. "He is going to look wonderful. Thank you, Ms. Frittlebit."

Anita nodded curtly before turning away from Peter to face Deborah. "Three galleons and six knuts. I will have this hemmed and packaged for you without the extra charge. Payment has to be upfront."

"Three galleons and six knuts?" Deborah echoed in dismay, looking at Prius with an expression of concern and embarrasment. "I...I don't have that much right now...I-I didn't know the prices would be so expensive."

Anita's lip curled back as she folded her arms over her chest. "You should have asked about the prices before I spent all that time trying to fit your son into these robes! They are made of niffler fur and cashmere! Of course they were going to be pricey! What were you expecting when you walked in here?"

"Please..." Deborah said, flushing at the amount of stares she was receiving from bystanders. "I...I didn't know. I am sorry for wasting your time, Ms. I feel awful and I certainly didn't mean any trouble."

Prius stepped forward and put a hand on Deborah's shoulder. He addressed Anita firmly. "Thank you for your time but we changed our minds. We will not be shopping here. I hope you have a wonderful day."

"You certainly did waste my time!" Anita snapped angrily, sparks flying from the end of her wand. "Surely you could find something in the dumpsters outside of Diagon Alley! Do not come back here!"

Peter, in near tears, hung his head as he tried to slip his way out of the robes. Anita flicked her wand aggressively and the robes came flying off, nearly toppling Peter over in the process with such force. The Pettigrew family marched out of the shop with their heads held high but their faces flushed with roiled emotions...

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

"Did you hear that, Mum?" a boy with square glasses asked in disbelief, jaw hanging open.

"Yes, and I certainly did not like the sounds of it," the mother of the bespectacled boy said with a frown. "James, take those robes off. I refuse to give this store a moment's worth of my time!"

The boy threw off the robes, folded them and left them draped over a chair. He, his mother, and his father marched out, sending glares over their shoulders at Anita, the woman who had caused such a scene for that poor family.

Remus walked past past Magical Menagerie with a sad look of longing, but Hope had grabbed his hand and tugged him along.

"We have an owl," Hope reminded Remus as she quickened her pace to Ollivanders. "Great Gray is wonderful and still in considerable condition. We do not need another one right now, Remus."

"I know," he replied with a slight sigh and helped move along. "It's...the wand is the last thing I want to get, Mum. I don't want to know what kind of wand is going to be right for a monster..."

"Remus, please," Hope said gently, looking over her shoulder to shoot him a small and sad smile. "You are so much more than that. Try to find the value that I see in you everyday..."

Ollivanders was, surprisingly, not very busy at the moment, which definitely eased Remus's concerns. He stuck close to his mother's side as she stepped forward, looking around to see if anyone was present.

"Excuse me?" she asked quietly, not quite sure how this worked. "Mr. Ollivander?"

Remus could hear the rustling of boxes and the stirring of dust from behind the huge, endless shelves of boxed wands. Moments later, he came face-to-face with an elderly looking wizard with tussled white hair and pale skin.

"Welcome, madam," he said with a slight bow of his head. "I assume you are here for your first wand."

He looked directly at Remus, who shrunk away from the unwavering stare. He inched closer to his mother, hiding the best he could behind her as he tried to avoid any prolonged eye contact.

"Yes," Hope replied for him, stepping aside to reveal the very apprehensive boy. "And I could think of no one better than you to help him find his first wand. I heard so many good things about you."

Mr. Ollivander seemed to smile at that before he turned his attention back to Remus. "You are shy, aren't you?"

Remus knit his eyebrows in confusion.

"I think I have a pretty good idea," Mr. Ollivander said with a smile. He ventured to the back and returned with nothing but a singular box. He opened it to reveal a very simplistic looking wand with a slight knob at the end and a twisted handle. "If you would..."

Remus grabbed the wand tentatively and felt an electric pulse shoot through his hand and up his arm. The tingling sensation lasted for a good ten seconds before it subsided into a feeling of warmth.

"Excellent," Mr. Ollivander said softly as if he could sense everything that happened during that unspoken moment. "Mr..."

"Lupin," Remus whispered hoarsely, still in awe at the feeling the wand was shooting through his hand. "Remus Lupin..."

"Mr. Lupin, I believe we found you the perfect match."

Ronvolkel: Thanks for following! I hope you enjoy this revised series!

icecatfire: Good to see you again! I definitely am glad you returned to see how this will turn out!

Also, James, Peter, and Sirius's wand stories will be added at some point. I only added Remus's for the time being, but you'll hear about the others', too!