Disclaimer: I do not own Hogwarts, Diagon ally or any of the places
mention in this fic. Nor do I own Lupin, Dumbledore, Harry, Sirius or any
of the other main characters. If JK Rowling, or anybody at Warner
Brothers is for some strange reason reading this, please don't sue. You'll
destroy my hopes of going to collage, and deny the world of a wonderful new
writer who someday plans to stop procrastinating and actually write
something of her own. I could end up spending the rest of my life working
as a dishwasher at Taco Bell, just because some stupid egotistical company
sued me for writing a fanfic!
Ch. 1 Remus Lupin leaned against a park bench and smiled, the sun warming back. He was happy, for the first time in twelve years. For the first time since a very close friend had met an untimely death at the hands of his best friend.
But he wasn't thinking about that now. Remus reached his hand into his robes, and pulled out a thick piece of yellow parchment, scanning the content written in deep purple ink, his eyes lingered on the loopy signature.
Albus Dumbledore, the best years of his life had started with that signature. At a time when Remus had thought he was destined to live the rest of his life in a little apartment, being locked in the shower once a month so that he could turn into a raging monster with a desperate craving for human flesh, that signature had come bearing a personal invitation to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, to study magic at one of the best schools of magic in the world.
Now Albus Dumbledore was calling him back to that place, this time to teach. The situation this time was not quite as desperate as the last time as he could now work around his monthly transformation. But jobs were scarce, and it was very seldom that he could find a job that would allow for monthly disappearances on account of becoming a werewolf. People were terrified of werewolves, that was also something he'd had to learn to cope with, but it would be nice to be somewhere where everyone didn't flinch when every he looked at them.
He pulled out his money pouch and winced. He had one galleon and three knuts to his name. That wouldn't even buy him a train ticked to London. He'd have to apperate though he was hardly in condition, the day after the full moon. He pulled out his wand murmuring the complicated spell, hoping he wouldn't splinch.
There was a loud crack and suddenly he was standing in the middle of a dusty street. He stumbled, apperating took a lot of strength and he had used plenty of energy the night before running around as an enraged beast.
Remus leaned against a street lamp to whipe sweat from his forehead. He looked around, and winced, he had miscalculated and ended up in Knocturn instead of Diagon Ally. A thin witch with bright reddish brown hair did not seem at all surprised to see a man in faded tattered robes appear out of nowhere.
"Would you like to buy a paper?" She asked. "Only two knuts." He started to shake his head , but something in the paper caught his eye, it looked like-but it couldn't be.
"Hang on," he said to the witch who had started turn away. He pulled two knuts from his robes and quickly took the paper.
Remus froze starring at the paper in his hands. Blinking up at him was a face he knew well, though the face was much changed since the last time he had looked at it. The immaculate black hair had become a long tangled mask that hung to the man's shoulders the handsome face had become pale and waxy, and the deep energetic eyes were now dull as he stared up from the paper, but it was still Sirius Black.
The same Sirius who had slipped wet-start fireworks into the Slytherin common room, who had cheered the loudest when James had won Gryffindor there second quidditch cup in a row, the same Sirius who had illegally become an anamagi so he could accompany Remus on the full moon.
No. he told himself firmly that's not who your looking at. Your looking at Sirius Black the Death Eater, Sirius Black who betrayed his best friend to the most evil wizard in written history, the Sirius Black who killed fourteen people with one curse- fourteen people including a friend from Hogwarts.
Remus shook his head as if to clear his mind of the memories and forced his eyes to the headline.
'HIGH SECURITY PRISONER ESCAPES FROM AZKABAN' he stared at the bold print, reading it over several times, so Sirius, was out. Suddenly all the thoughts that had been spinning around in his head seemed to disperse into the cold wind that swept over the ally.
Feeling detached from his emotions Remus tucked the paper under his arm, as if it held nothing of disturbance, as if it's bold print didn't cry out the worst news he'd since the abrupt end of James and Lily Potter. He calmly strode towards the place where Knocturn ally melted into the far more pleasant Diagon ally.
People ducked into doorways when they saw him, or crossed to the other side of the road. Almost anyone who came to Diagon ally with any regularity knew he was a werewolf. He had been foolish enough to apply for a job there, and of coarse had had too explain why he'd needed full moons off. He'd only told the owner of Florish and Blott's but the story had spread.
But now, not even the glares from dusty store windows, and the mutterings behind his back annoyed him. He was completely void of emotion, as he walked quickly down the street..
A small bell jingled as Remus entered Ollivander's wand shop.
"Be right with you" Called a voice from the back room.
"It's just me." Remus called back.
"Oh, hello Remus." As short man came into the room, dusting wood chips off his robes. "How long will you be staying this time?"
"Not long." Remus replied. "only tonight. I'll be heading off to Hogwarts August first."
"Hogwarts you say? What'll you be doing there?"
"Teaching. Dumbledore asked me to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Wonderful!" the small man said cheerfully. "Let me guess," he added going more serious. "The Leaky Cauldron doesn't want to put you up?"
Remus winced. "I'm broke." He admitted.
Ollivander shook his head. "Tom's a good lad, but I suppose he's got to keep his customers happy."
Remus couldn't help but smile. Ollivander was the only one he knew aside from Dumbledore, who could call someone as old as Tom a lad.
"I think there pretty full." He said "I heard he's got a bunch of people for the week before school starts."
"Well, my back room's always open." The old man said.
"I don't want to put you out Ollivander." Remus said quietly.
"Nonsense." The wand maker said cheerfully. "it's nice to know my wands are protected."
Before Remus could argue, the bell above the door jingled and a man entered with a happy looking boy. The both had very red hair, and the sight stirred something in Remus. Especially the father, he looked extremely familiar, but at the moment he was feeling too removed to remember.
Too tired to argue Remus turned and opened the door to the workroom. The soft smell of sawdust filled his nostrils as he looked upon the small cluttered room. Wood chips scattered across the floor, a few delicate unicorn hairs lay in one pan of a silver scale, catching the light, so that they seemed to glitter with many colors. A large pile of thin rods of different kinds of wood lay piled in one corner.
Remus paused staring at something in the corner.
"Ollivander," he called, "You kept my trunk?"
"Well of course I did, you were only gone a month." The man replied.
"Yeah.." Remus said "but I kind of disappeared on you. I didn't think you'd want to see me again, much less keep my trunk."
"Well it does make a nice shelf, leaving half made wands on other wood, can warp them." Ollivander said, busily bustling in.
Remus cracked a thin, tired smile. "Thanks Ollivander."
"For heavens sake boy, you look like you haven't slept in days, which of course is probably true, I doubt slept last night anyway. Sit down, go read the paper or something. And there goes the door again." Ollivander said turning to leave the room.
Remus grimaced, today's headline suddenly flashed across his memory. Sliding to the floor, he eyed the Daily Prophet still held in one hand. Slowly, he turned it over, staring at the photo once more, Sirius stared out at him, his face pale and emotionless, eyes like dull pits, all thought gone.
Abruptly Remus stood up, the paper fell to the floor. He crossed the room quickly, pulling open the door that lead out into the alleyway behind the shops.
The sun was sinking quickly, and the chill of the evening had already set in. Remus ignored this however, and set off slowly down the road. I'm the last one, he thought, the last marauder, Sirius' gone mad, James killed by Voldemort,, and Peter killed by Sirius, leaving only me, the only survivor of a friendship we'd thought would last forever. A promise never to fail each other, to always lend a hand when the other's needed it most. A bond held together by shared dreams and hopes, and by Fears and sufferings endured together. A bond that had felt so true and so strong torn apart by death an betrayal.
But now Sirius was out again, Sirius the enraged killer wandered the streets.
He's got to be up to something . Remus thought kicking a stone against the gutter not even Sirius could break out of Azkaban without a clear purpose, without a motivation to get him through twelve long, joyless years. But what could it be?
Suddenly an involuntary shiver shot dawn Remus' spine. What if it was him, what if Sirius was after Remus, the last of the Marauders, what if some hidden corner of Sirius' strange and twisted mind felt guilt, maybe Sirius thought that killing the last of his childhood friends would relive him of his last connections to the good side.
With such thoughts whirling in his mind, Remus prowled through Diagon Ally, as the nearly full moon, rose higher in the night sky. Then Eventually it began to sink towards eastern horizon. It was nearly two in the morning, when Remus finally started back towards Ollivander's Wand Shop.
Carefully Remus pushed open the back door to the workroom. He moved carefully trough the dark room not wanting to wake Ollivander who's room was next door.
Remus didn't wake up until eight o'clock the next morning. Grumbling about wasted time, he checked his trunk one last time before dragging it out to the front door of the shop. Ollivander was waiting for him, polishing his wands with an old rag that glowed faintly with multi colored wand dust. He raised an eyebrow when Remus entered the room, trunk in tow.
"You didn't sleep much last night." The old man stated setting down the cloth.
"I had a lot on my mind." Remus said rather defensively.
"You really are going to over-exhaust yourself." Ollivander said rummaging through a drawer behind the counter.
"Here." He said, handing Remus a large bar of Honey Dukes' chocolate.
Remus smiled tiredly in thanks. "I've gotta go, the Hogwarts Express leaves from Kings Cross station at eleven o'clock, and I've got to get there on foot."
Murmuring a spell to lighten the weight in his trunk. Remus set out across London. **************************************************************************** So is this any good? I'm not sure if I should keep going. REVIEW!!!
Ch. 1 Remus Lupin leaned against a park bench and smiled, the sun warming back. He was happy, for the first time in twelve years. For the first time since a very close friend had met an untimely death at the hands of his best friend.
But he wasn't thinking about that now. Remus reached his hand into his robes, and pulled out a thick piece of yellow parchment, scanning the content written in deep purple ink, his eyes lingered on the loopy signature.
Albus Dumbledore, the best years of his life had started with that signature. At a time when Remus had thought he was destined to live the rest of his life in a little apartment, being locked in the shower once a month so that he could turn into a raging monster with a desperate craving for human flesh, that signature had come bearing a personal invitation to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, to study magic at one of the best schools of magic in the world.
Now Albus Dumbledore was calling him back to that place, this time to teach. The situation this time was not quite as desperate as the last time as he could now work around his monthly transformation. But jobs were scarce, and it was very seldom that he could find a job that would allow for monthly disappearances on account of becoming a werewolf. People were terrified of werewolves, that was also something he'd had to learn to cope with, but it would be nice to be somewhere where everyone didn't flinch when every he looked at them.
He pulled out his money pouch and winced. He had one galleon and three knuts to his name. That wouldn't even buy him a train ticked to London. He'd have to apperate though he was hardly in condition, the day after the full moon. He pulled out his wand murmuring the complicated spell, hoping he wouldn't splinch.
There was a loud crack and suddenly he was standing in the middle of a dusty street. He stumbled, apperating took a lot of strength and he had used plenty of energy the night before running around as an enraged beast.
Remus leaned against a street lamp to whipe sweat from his forehead. He looked around, and winced, he had miscalculated and ended up in Knocturn instead of Diagon Ally. A thin witch with bright reddish brown hair did not seem at all surprised to see a man in faded tattered robes appear out of nowhere.
"Would you like to buy a paper?" She asked. "Only two knuts." He started to shake his head , but something in the paper caught his eye, it looked like-but it couldn't be.
"Hang on," he said to the witch who had started turn away. He pulled two knuts from his robes and quickly took the paper.
Remus froze starring at the paper in his hands. Blinking up at him was a face he knew well, though the face was much changed since the last time he had looked at it. The immaculate black hair had become a long tangled mask that hung to the man's shoulders the handsome face had become pale and waxy, and the deep energetic eyes were now dull as he stared up from the paper, but it was still Sirius Black.
The same Sirius who had slipped wet-start fireworks into the Slytherin common room, who had cheered the loudest when James had won Gryffindor there second quidditch cup in a row, the same Sirius who had illegally become an anamagi so he could accompany Remus on the full moon.
No. he told himself firmly that's not who your looking at. Your looking at Sirius Black the Death Eater, Sirius Black who betrayed his best friend to the most evil wizard in written history, the Sirius Black who killed fourteen people with one curse- fourteen people including a friend from Hogwarts.
Remus shook his head as if to clear his mind of the memories and forced his eyes to the headline.
'HIGH SECURITY PRISONER ESCAPES FROM AZKABAN' he stared at the bold print, reading it over several times, so Sirius, was out. Suddenly all the thoughts that had been spinning around in his head seemed to disperse into the cold wind that swept over the ally.
Feeling detached from his emotions Remus tucked the paper under his arm, as if it held nothing of disturbance, as if it's bold print didn't cry out the worst news he'd since the abrupt end of James and Lily Potter. He calmly strode towards the place where Knocturn ally melted into the far more pleasant Diagon ally.
People ducked into doorways when they saw him, or crossed to the other side of the road. Almost anyone who came to Diagon ally with any regularity knew he was a werewolf. He had been foolish enough to apply for a job there, and of coarse had had too explain why he'd needed full moons off. He'd only told the owner of Florish and Blott's but the story had spread.
But now, not even the glares from dusty store windows, and the mutterings behind his back annoyed him. He was completely void of emotion, as he walked quickly down the street..
A small bell jingled as Remus entered Ollivander's wand shop.
"Be right with you" Called a voice from the back room.
"It's just me." Remus called back.
"Oh, hello Remus." As short man came into the room, dusting wood chips off his robes. "How long will you be staying this time?"
"Not long." Remus replied. "only tonight. I'll be heading off to Hogwarts August first."
"Hogwarts you say? What'll you be doing there?"
"Teaching. Dumbledore asked me to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Wonderful!" the small man said cheerfully. "Let me guess," he added going more serious. "The Leaky Cauldron doesn't want to put you up?"
Remus winced. "I'm broke." He admitted.
Ollivander shook his head. "Tom's a good lad, but I suppose he's got to keep his customers happy."
Remus couldn't help but smile. Ollivander was the only one he knew aside from Dumbledore, who could call someone as old as Tom a lad.
"I think there pretty full." He said "I heard he's got a bunch of people for the week before school starts."
"Well, my back room's always open." The old man said.
"I don't want to put you out Ollivander." Remus said quietly.
"Nonsense." The wand maker said cheerfully. "it's nice to know my wands are protected."
Before Remus could argue, the bell above the door jingled and a man entered with a happy looking boy. The both had very red hair, and the sight stirred something in Remus. Especially the father, he looked extremely familiar, but at the moment he was feeling too removed to remember.
Too tired to argue Remus turned and opened the door to the workroom. The soft smell of sawdust filled his nostrils as he looked upon the small cluttered room. Wood chips scattered across the floor, a few delicate unicorn hairs lay in one pan of a silver scale, catching the light, so that they seemed to glitter with many colors. A large pile of thin rods of different kinds of wood lay piled in one corner.
Remus paused staring at something in the corner.
"Ollivander," he called, "You kept my trunk?"
"Well of course I did, you were only gone a month." The man replied.
"Yeah.." Remus said "but I kind of disappeared on you. I didn't think you'd want to see me again, much less keep my trunk."
"Well it does make a nice shelf, leaving half made wands on other wood, can warp them." Ollivander said, busily bustling in.
Remus cracked a thin, tired smile. "Thanks Ollivander."
"For heavens sake boy, you look like you haven't slept in days, which of course is probably true, I doubt slept last night anyway. Sit down, go read the paper or something. And there goes the door again." Ollivander said turning to leave the room.
Remus grimaced, today's headline suddenly flashed across his memory. Sliding to the floor, he eyed the Daily Prophet still held in one hand. Slowly, he turned it over, staring at the photo once more, Sirius stared out at him, his face pale and emotionless, eyes like dull pits, all thought gone.
Abruptly Remus stood up, the paper fell to the floor. He crossed the room quickly, pulling open the door that lead out into the alleyway behind the shops.
The sun was sinking quickly, and the chill of the evening had already set in. Remus ignored this however, and set off slowly down the road. I'm the last one, he thought, the last marauder, Sirius' gone mad, James killed by Voldemort,, and Peter killed by Sirius, leaving only me, the only survivor of a friendship we'd thought would last forever. A promise never to fail each other, to always lend a hand when the other's needed it most. A bond held together by shared dreams and hopes, and by Fears and sufferings endured together. A bond that had felt so true and so strong torn apart by death an betrayal.
But now Sirius was out again, Sirius the enraged killer wandered the streets.
He's got to be up to something . Remus thought kicking a stone against the gutter not even Sirius could break out of Azkaban without a clear purpose, without a motivation to get him through twelve long, joyless years. But what could it be?
Suddenly an involuntary shiver shot dawn Remus' spine. What if it was him, what if Sirius was after Remus, the last of the Marauders, what if some hidden corner of Sirius' strange and twisted mind felt guilt, maybe Sirius thought that killing the last of his childhood friends would relive him of his last connections to the good side.
With such thoughts whirling in his mind, Remus prowled through Diagon Ally, as the nearly full moon, rose higher in the night sky. Then Eventually it began to sink towards eastern horizon. It was nearly two in the morning, when Remus finally started back towards Ollivander's Wand Shop.
Carefully Remus pushed open the back door to the workroom. He moved carefully trough the dark room not wanting to wake Ollivander who's room was next door.
Remus didn't wake up until eight o'clock the next morning. Grumbling about wasted time, he checked his trunk one last time before dragging it out to the front door of the shop. Ollivander was waiting for him, polishing his wands with an old rag that glowed faintly with multi colored wand dust. He raised an eyebrow when Remus entered the room, trunk in tow.
"You didn't sleep much last night." The old man stated setting down the cloth.
"I had a lot on my mind." Remus said rather defensively.
"You really are going to over-exhaust yourself." Ollivander said rummaging through a drawer behind the counter.
"Here." He said, handing Remus a large bar of Honey Dukes' chocolate.
Remus smiled tiredly in thanks. "I've gotta go, the Hogwarts Express leaves from Kings Cross station at eleven o'clock, and I've got to get there on foot."
Murmuring a spell to lighten the weight in his trunk. Remus set out across London. **************************************************************************** So is this any good? I'm not sure if I should keep going. REVIEW!!!