Chapter 1
Remus was alone, but was expecting a chaperone. His parents had waved him off at the
docks in France and he had taken the overnight ferry to London all on his own. He was proud
of himself, but wary still the same. He would not call himself afraid, but he was definitely
nervous.
He scanned the crowd from the boat, and made his way down the walkway and onto the
boardwalk that ran along the dock. He was expecting a man named Hagrid and had been told
in a letter that the man could not be missed.
The letter he had received, from the Headmaster of Hogwarts, had told him to pack light,
and to expect a most suitable companion for the journey to the Leaky Cauldron. Which, as he
had found out from Lily, was a wizarding pub in a more shady, slightly less Muggle-fied side of
London.
A thick, booming voice sounded from over the crowd, " 'ey! 'scuse me, 'scuse me! Comin'
through; pardon me, sir. Ma'am. Wotcher, miss! Oi!" A very tall man, gigantic, he seemed, to
Remus, stopped in front of him. Remus gulped. The big man smiled.
" 'ello, there. Might you be Master Remus?"
"I am, sir." Remus said apprehensively.
"Perfect!" The man stuck out a large, puffy hand and grasped Remus' in it. "Names Hagrid,
Dumbledore sent me. Headmaster Dumbledore to you, though, I expect. You can call me
Hagrid, though. I'm no professor, no headmaster, either!" Hagrid smiled down at Remus,
who, though he smiled back, was still slightly afraid. "Got everythin'?" Hagrid asked.
"Yes, sir. Hagrid. I do."
"Marvelous! We'll just be heading' along then. What are you lookin' at?" He said to a tall,
thin man in a bowler. The man in the hat harrumphed and moved out of Hagrid and Remus'
way as they began to wade through the crowd. Although, to Remus it was more that the mass
of people on the docks parted for them. Or, at least for the man named Hagrid.