The last time Ted went to Diagon Alley he was there to pick pockets when he was ten. He'd been too busy sticking his hands in Wizards pockets and running away from the more vigilant ones to be able to enjoy it.
Mark and Liam planned to accompany Ted. Alistar, who had already had to spend a whole day alone with the children at headquarters, was quite annoyed that Liam planned to leave him alone again to go with Ted.
"He's sixteen years old Liam. He doesn't need you to follow him around and wipe his ass. Now the baby werewolf at headquarters does need you to wipe his ass," Alistar said.
"He's never been to Diagon Alley. He'll need help buying all this crap." Liam replied.
"Then I'll take him," Alistar offered.
"That's alright," Ted said hastily. "It will be a long and boring day and the kids will miss you here." Mark snorted at that.
"At least leave Mark here to help me with the kids. I can't take care of all these paste-eaters alone," Alistar said. The smile instantly vanished from Mark's face.
"Alistar taking care of Mark will be much harder than taking care of these children. He still eats paste you know," Liam stated.
"Yup it's true," Mark said, not wanting to be alone with Alistar and the kids all day. He didn't like kids and he didn't like Alistar. Also, Ted suspected that it might be true.
"Ok fine, whatever, but you owe me," said Alistar. "A few kids have stomach bugs. There will be quite a few puddles of puke with your name on them, Liam."
Diagon Alley was huge. It was filled with all kinds of magnificent looking shops filled with phenomenal items. Ted hated to admit it, but the Wizards had created something good.
"There are so many books on this list," Mark complained, as if he were the one who had to read them. "Where do we get these from?"
"Mark, you've been to Diagon Alley a dozen times in your life and you don't know where the bookstore is?" Liam questioned.
"I didn't even know they had a bookstore," Mark replied. Liam rolled his eyes. He led them towards a shop called Flourish and Blotts.
"Greyback wants us to spend as little as possible so that we can put the rest of the money that that professor gave you in the werewolf funds. So we'll have to get you used books." Liam told Ted as he opened the door to the bookstore. Many people stared at them as they entered the bookstore due to their tattered clothing, Ted's turquoise hair, and the disheveled appearances of Liam and Mark. Liam and Mark only bothered about their appearance when going out to find women to hook-up with.
Liam asked a shop worker to lead them to the used books. There were several different books and many of them were in horrible condition with loose spines, tattered covers, and ripped and stained pages. It was difficult for them to find any of the books Ted needed, much less books in decent condition. Mark complained non-stop about being bored or hungry and said they should just forget about the books and go get burgers.
Liam found Mark a book called 777 Jokes for Wizards in order to keep him quiet. After an hour they were able to find all of the books on Ted's list. An Advanced Guide to Transfiguration had a few missing pages and Advanced Potion Making was missing the cover, but they got all of the books for extremely low prices. Mark stole several pages from the joke book.
On the way to the next shop Mark had Ted and Liam cracking up from all the jokes he read from the joke book. He was so good at delivering the jokes that even the dumbest ones had Ted and Liam grasping at their sides. His funny personality always helped him get girls. Well it must have been that, because Ted knew it certainly wasn't his brains or his looks.
Ted got his potion supplies at a small new potions shop that gave a discount to all its customers to attract people to the new shop. He bought a used cauldron and brass scale too. Ted also found a set of glass vials for only five knuts because it was missing two vials. Liam wanted to buy the more expensive but full set for him, but Ted firmly refused. He wanted to save as much as possible for the funds.
The next item on the list was 3 sets of plain black work robes. Ted, Liam and Mark each had a set of black robes so Ted was planning to take those to Hogwarts. Liam was taller than Ted so his robes would be long on Ted. Mark was shorter and broader so his robes were bound to look awkward on Ted. All the robes were tattered too. Ted didn't want to wear the same robes everyone else was wearing anyway. He found it rather stupid that they all had to wear the same clothes, that they couldn't express themselves with the clothing of their choice. But it was just another idiotic thing Ted was going to have to get used to.
The last item on the list was a wand. Ted already had a wand. Greyback had been stealing several wands over the years. Whenever a werewolf child joined the headquarters they were sent to Greyback to receive a wand. Ted remembered how hard it was to find a wand that would work for him. He recalled the day he was summoned to Greyback at headquarters to receive a wand.
He entered the wand room – a closet with a round table with wands sprawled out on it timidly. Greyback was seated behind the table with his second in command standing next to him.
"Master Greyback," Ted greeted Greyback with a bow as per the rules of the Werewolves. "(insert something you could refer a 2nd in command as: leftenant, lieutenant, sir, deputy, commander, etc.) Pendergrass," Ted bowed to Greyback's 2nd in command.
"What's your name, boy?" Greyback demanded. His voice was a terrifying rasp.
"T-Ted, Master. Ted Lupin, master," Ted stuttered.
"Well T-ted, what are you waiting for?" He looked down at the wands pointedly. Ted looked down at them too. "Grab a wand and give it wave!" Greyback barked. Ted tried not to jump. He picked up the first wand he could find and waved it hard. Nothing happened.
Greyback seized the wand back from him and tossed it aside carelessly. "I don't have all day. Grab another one."
Ted tried wand after wand, but not a single wand seemed to work in Ted's hand. He watched the pile of wands that didn't work pile up hopelessly. Perhaps something was wrong with him? Maybe he really didn't have any magical powers and would have to be like the muggle werewolf children. The idea was quite depressing for Ted. As the last few wands remained, Ted grew nauseous with fear with each wand he tried. Finally Ted had tried every single wand in the wand room. He gave the last wand a helpless wave. That was that. He wasn't going to get a wand after all.
Greyback's second-in-command whispered something into Greyback's ear. A look of rage crossed Greyback's face. The second-in-command tried to calm him down and whispered some more in his ear. Greyback closed his eyes and said "Very well. We will try it out, but I doubt it will work." He turned to Ted. Ted swallowed nervously. "Ted, I will return in one hour. Wait here until I return." It was probably the most nerve-racking hour of Ted's life. He didn't know if he would get a wand or not.
Finally Greyback returned holding a slim black box in his hands. He removed a long wand from the box. None of the other wands Ted tried were in boxes. Ted wondered why this wand had its own box and wasn't kept with the rest of the wands.
Greyback shoved the wand into Ted's hand. Ted eyed it apprehensively.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Give it a wave!" Greyback snapped. In fear, Ted gave it a sharp flick. Swirls of gold light flooded out of the wand.
"It worked!" Greyback's second-in-command squealed in excitement.
"Hush!" shouted Greyback. He turned back to Ted. The words he said to Ted were, "Congratulations. You now have an excellent wand." But the look of contorted rage on his face said something completely different.
Ted bowed and thanked Greyback as he was required to, then left the room as quickly as he could to meet Liam. He wanted to tell Liam what happened but he didn't quite know how to explain the look of rage on Greyback's face so he left the matter unspoken.
Ted shuddered at the memory as he Liam and Mark walked down the road of Diagon Alley. (Dear John, that was supposed to be Voldy's old wand that he ditched for the elder wand. In canon no one knows what happened to it. So I decided Greyback picked it up so now Ted has it and he and Harry share wand cores which I think is pretty cool. Yay!)
"Let's go to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes!" Mark exclaimed. He was rolling back and forth on the balls of his feet like an excited child.
"Alright," said Liam. "Ted you're going to love this place. The Weasley's are geniuses. They are the only Wizards I could probably ever stand in my life."
Ted thought Weasley's Wizard Wheezes would only be one shop, but it was a block of seven large purple shops. One was called Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Joke Shop. One was called Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Defensive Magical Objects. Another one was called Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Sweets Shop. A shop called Weasley's Wizard Wheezes WonderWitch Shop caught Ted's eye. Not because it was the only pink shop amongst the purple shops but because of the large poster that took up the entire window.
The poster was a large, smiling picture of Victoire's sister. Underneath it a caption read, "Want to look like this? Then come on in and try out our wide range of WonderWitch products. Buy a new WonderWitch hairstyler and get your first hairstyle for free!"
"Looks like Ted wants to buy himself a new bra," Mark said from behind him. Liam elbowed him in the ribs.
"No dumbass. He's looking at the poster of the girl. It's that Veela he danced with at the club," Liam explained to Mark.
"Oh yeah, that Veela who ran away from him," Mark recalled.
"She wasn't a Veela, and I danced with her sister," Ted told them for the hundredth time. But Ted wasn't so sure. Once Mark brought some Veelas over to their apartment, he was sure that the Veelas would hook up with him, Ted, and Liam. All that ended up happening was that the boys gave the Veelas back, foot, and scalp massages, cooked them a five course meal, and ordered them designer dressing robes from Witch Weekly – which arrived on the spot when ordered. The robes cost Ted and Mark 3 months' rent.
But Victoire couldn't be a Veela. Then again, she certainly was beautiful enough to be one. And there was the way everyone in the room seemed to be drawn to her. But there was just something so innocent about her, something that Veelas didn't have, that made Ted doubt that she was a Veela.
A woman in hot pink robes which matched the shop came up to Ted, Liam, and Mark. She had a large white smile that seemed to take up more than half of her face.
"Hello! Can I interest you in our newest product?" She held up a strange contraption of scissors, combs, hair curlers, empty potion vials, and a straightening rod all clumped together haphazardly. "This is a called the WonderWitch Hairstyler. It styles your hair any way you want it in just seven minutes." She held up a magazine with Victoire's sister's face on it again.
"You can purchase as many hairstyles as you would like from this magazine. All you have to do is tap the style you want in the magazine with your wand, and then tap the styler with your wand, and the styler will begin to style your hair! The style lasts until you wash your hair. You can charge different styles to your WonderWitch account through this magazine. You get your first style free when you buy the styler. Then for every seven styles you purchase you get one style free! You can keep buying the same style if you like it, or you can keep trying different styles. This would be a perfect gift for a girlfriend. We also have a magazine of boy styles too. It's a great buy!" Several girls were walking out of the pink shop with the styler and a magazine in their arms. The sales woman held up the boy magazine.
"You know what, I think I'm good," Ted said. He casually ran a hand through his hair, and as he did, he used his metamorphagus abilities to make his hair look exactly like the hair of the boy on the cover of the magazine. The sales girl's eyes widened.
"Well that was impressive, how did you do that?" the girl asked excitedly.
"I can't reveal all my secrets, now can I?" Ted said with a wink. When he winked his eye turned from its usual hazel to a brilliant shade of blue. The girl flashed a smile that was too big for her face.
"Well, perhaps when my shift ends I can buy you a drink at the Leaky Cauldron, and you can reveal one or two of your secrets for me."
"Only if you bring that beautiful smile with you," Ted replied. Ted didn't think it was possible, but the girl's smile grew wider.
"Ok I get off at 7. I'll meet you back here?"
"Sure. I'm Ted by the way."
"Amber," said the girl. She waved and went back into the pink shop.
"You're on a roll Ted!" Mark exclaimed when Amber was out of earshot. He clasped Ted on the back.
"We've taught you well," Liam said with a smile.
They moved on to browse through the Defense and Joke shops. Mark begged Liam to let them go to the candy store.
"No not again. You'll waste all of our money on candy then eat yourself sick," said Liam. "Ted, take Mark to the burger place and order a large burger and a chocolate milkshake for me. I have something I need to take care of. I'll see you guys soon."
"Where are you going?" Ted asked as Liam handed him a few sickles for the food.
"You'll see," Liam said with a smile. Liam was a very fast wolf. He was gone before Ted could object.
"C'mon, I'm starving!" said Mark.
Mark was eating his third burger with still no sign of Liam.
Ted only ate a few onion rings because he wanted to wait for Liam before eating.
"Dude, your food's getting cold," Mark said before taking another large bite of his burger. Ted chewed the end of another onion ring thoughtfully as he wondered what Liam could possibly be doing.
"So that Veela," said Mark as he took a sip of his strawberry milkshake. "Are you going to bang her at Hogwarts?" Ted nearly choked on his onion ring. The thought of "banging her" had never crossed Ted's mind. Ted threw a handful of fries at Mark.
"What was that for?" Normally Ted would tell Mark all about his plans to bang a girl to seem cool if Mark would ask him something like that. But for some reason when Mark talked that way about Victoire it irritated Ted almost to the point of anger.
"Life isn't all about sex you know," said Ted crossly.
"Yeah it's also about drinking and good music," Mark replied. Ted couldn't disagree with the music part.
Liam returned with a large tank in his arms.
"I got you a going-away present, Ted!" he exclaimed.
"A tank? Um, thanks. That's really thoughtful of you," said Ted.
"Not the tank, prat. What's inside the tank," Liam handed Ted the tank. It was so small that Ted hadn't noticed it before. But a small orange toad was sitting inside the tank.
"It's called a golden toad of Monteverde," Liam stated, "though it looks more orange to me. They're quite rare so I was extremely lucky to get it for the price I did. Your school list says you may bring an owl or a cat or a toad. Owls were a bit pricey. You never seemed very fond of Caramel, so I didn't get a cat. Toads are starting to come back into style now. They're dead useful too. You can practice magic on them since toads have a magical property to not feel pain by magic, and they recover from spells quickly."
Ted was touched. It wasn't just Caramel. Ted just wasn't fond of animals in the first place, but this gift had been so thoughtful. And looking at the little toad, Ted had a feeling that the little guy just might grow on him.
"Liam, I don't know what I'm going to do without you. You've always had my back. You've been like a real brother to me my entire life. I'm going to miss you so much," Ted said.
"Don't worry. Even when you'll be thousands of miles away at Hogwarts, you know that I'll still have your back," Ted gave Liam a hug. Liam wasn't normally comfortable with hugs, but Ted knew that the moment called for a hug.
"Get a room," said Mark. Ted knew he just felt left out of the moment. Liam pulled Mark out of his seat – Mark dropped his fourth burger onto his plate – and gave him a hug too.