A/N: Next Chapter is up. I'm actually pretty proud of how this one turned out. Tell me what you think of it. It's a bit longer than the previous ones.


Chapter 2 - An Important Visit

Remus Lupin knew of his magical heritage. He knew about the magical society even though he was not a part of it. He knew a little about Quidditch and about the Ministry of Magic and a lot about Hogwarts. He knew his mother was a Muggle and his father had been a known and respected researcher in the field of magical creatures. But even though he knew all that, the magical world was like the moon to him. You knew it was there and you couldn't deny its influence on your life but you could never actually go there, walk on its surface or touch its ground, no matter how hard you wished for it.

He would never have dreamed that the moon would actually come to him one day!

Three weeks after he had received his letter from Hogwarts, Remus found himself staring at a shabby little pub in the heart of London. He took a glimpse at his wristwatch for what felt to be the hundredth time.

They were late!

Nervously he tapped his foot on the pavement and watched his mother emerge from a bookstore right next to the tiny pub, carrying a large paper bag.

"Still not here yet?" she asked him, adjusting her glasses and flipping her long hair back.

"Nope. No sign of them" he muttered. "Are you sure this is the right place?"

"It said The Leaky Cauldron on their note" she answered confidently. "Have you checked the inside? Maybe they're already waiting for us."

"I'm not stupid, Mum. I've checked twice!" he answered subdued.

She just smirked at him and entered the pub, door creaking unpleasantly in its hinges. Sulking a little, he followed her inside, only to receive a slight blow to his head from his mother. "Not stupid, are you?" she said cheerily, pointing at a small family who was sitting next to the bar, sipping their drinks and waving animatedly.

"But…how…I've been in here not five minutes ago! How did they get past me?" he stammered confusedly as his mother grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards the waiting family. They all got up to greet them happily and after a few "How good to see you again"s and "What have you been up to"s his mother took to introducing everybody to Remus.

"Remus, this is Mr and Mrs Potter" she indicated a rather old looking couple. "Mr Potter has been working with your father at the Ministry of Magic..."

"Well now, that's not entirely true, is it, Penny?" the old man said cheerfully, lisping a little. He was almost bald except for a few tufts of white hair behind his large ears. He wore thick spectacles that made his brown eyes look like huge orbs. "You must know, young Remus, your father was always out in the field, exploring and researching. I, on the other hand work for the department of Magical Innovation and Development, which means that I hardly ever get to see the light of day. So yes, we have been working together but not together together, you see?"

Remus didn't see but he still nodded politely.

Mrs Potter was a sight to behold. She had long silver hair that stuck out in all directions and made her look as if she'd just received an electric shock. She wore a long gown that looked as if it had been tailored out of a shower-curtain and her wrinkled face was painted like the face of an old porcelain doll. She smiled at him warmly and had her arms slung around the shoulders of a boy who had to be about Remus's age. He looked like a funny mixture of his parents. His jet-black hair looked ruffled and a pair of hazel eyes glittered behind his round glasses. His striped T-shirt and jeans were extremely dusty, Remus noticed, as were the boy's parents.

"I'm sorry we kept you waiting, Penny" Mrs Potter said. "We're not so good with Muggle traffic, you know? So we flooed here. By the way, darling, you're still covered in soot" she said, brushing some of the dirt off her son's shoulders.

"So are you, mother" he said, imitating her. He wore a huge grin as he turned around and extended his right hand for Remus to shake. "I'm James. Nice to meet you – again! You probably won't remember but you used to fall off my toy-broom when we were little."

"Toy-broom?" he said confusedly, shaking James's hand.

"Yeah. You used to cry a lot. Hope you've gotten around to changing that."

"Alright everybody" Mr Potter cut in and saved Remus the embarrassment. "Drink up, we have lots to do. James, be so kind and show Remus where he can get his uniforms. I'm dying to show his mother the new antique shop that has opened up next to the apothecary's. Be good and I'll get you boys an ice-cream afterwards."


Walking down Diagon Alley with James was like hovering between waking and dreaming. A load of impressions flooded him, accompanied by flashes of very old memories. He could, for instance, remember the huge white building in the centre of the cobbled street. James told him it was Gringotts, the wizard's bank. He had a vague memory of Flourish and Blotts with its towers of books staked everywhere and fought the urge to storm in to explore. But James dragged him onwards to a little shop that displayed a variety of broomsticks. While James stood there, his hands pressed against the shop window, gaping at the brooms admiringly, Remus couldn't help but laugh. He knew of course, that broomsticks were the most important means of transportation in the Wizarding World but to him, a broom was nothing more than a cleaning tool.

The shop door flew open and a tall boy with long, white-blond hair came storming out, a brand-new racing broom tucked under his arm. He stopped as he saw the two boys, eyeballing them. As he walked past Remus, he elbowed him hard in the ribs which sent him to the ground. "Out of my way, filthy mudblood" he spat as he stormed off.

"Wha- HEY! Are you out of your mind? How dare you call him that, you slimy-" James yelled and made to run after the boy but Remus grabbed his arm to hold him back.

"Don't" he huffed, rubbing his aching ribs.

"How dare he! That swine! Let go of me. I'll get him back for that" James stormed, shaking Remus off. His face burned with anger and his glasses had slipped to the tip of his nose, dreading to fall off any minute.

"Never mind. I can take more than that. Doesn't even hurt anymore, so don't bother."

"That's not it! That word! That filthy, bloody- Oh, sorry. Are you hurt? I got a little carried away just now."

"I already told you, it's nothing" Remus mumbled, still rubbing his chest. "What's with that word, anyway?"

"Oh, don't get me going again" James fumed. "That arrogant bastard! And it's not even appropriate in your case – if it were appropriate to use it at all, that is. You're a half-blood after all!"

Remus knew that James had simply tried to defend him but somehow he felt he'd just been labelled. Half-blood. Was that a good or a bad thing?

"Is it so obvious then, that I'm not a true wizard" he asked quietly.

James didn't respond for a while. "Don't worry" he said finally.

He was still in a very bad mood as they entered the shop where they wanted to buy their uniforms a few minutes later. A bell chimed somewhere in the back of the shop and a melodious voice called "I'll be with you in a minute! Have a look around in the meantime!"

Remus did so. The store was packed with shelves of clothing in every colour imaginable. One corner housed a variety of sports-robes and James's mood brightened up instantly as he spotted the colours of his favourite Quidditch-team. He ran off to have a closer look and left Remus all by himself. A cardboard sign at the other end of the shop read Hogwarts uniforms in a very artful hand. In the right bottom corner someone had scribbled 10% off for first years. He approached a huge basket full of plain black robes and pulled one out. It looked very simple and boring. The only colourful thing on it was the Hogwarts crest on its left side. Remus's gaze fell on a shelf right next to the basket. It stretched from the floor of the shop up to the ceiling. On it were a variety of robes just like the one Remus held in his hand, apart from very small details. He dropped the first-year robe back into its basket and pulled one of the others off its shelf. Its sleeves and the lining were emerald green and the coat of arms on its side didn't show the Hogwarts H but a silver S and a serpent which coiled itself in front of a green background. He liked this colourful version of the school uniforms a lot more so he pulled it over his head and looked for a mirror to check his reflexion. The uniform was definitely too big for him. It dragged behind him and he had to be very careful not to step on it. His hands had vanished completely in the sleeves and he felt like a small child toying with its father's wardrobe.

"Oi" James shouted and stormed over to rap him sharply on the head. "What do you think you're doing, eh?"

"I'm doing what we're supposed to do, remember? We're supposed to get our uniforms!" Remus said somewhat defensively, rubbing his head. "And what did you have to hit me for?"

"Are you planning to go Slytherin on me?" James asked, ignoring his comment and gesturing furiously at Remus's outfit.

"Slytherin?" he repeated dumbly.

"Yes, Slytherin. One of the four houses. And the only one you really don't want to end up in – at least not if our friendship means anything to you, that is."

Remus's heart gave an involuntary pang as James had said "friendship" and he felt his cheeks burn.


Later that day Remus found out what Mrs Potter had meant when she had said that she and her family had flooed to the Leaky Cauldron. After a long and hard but also very entertaining day of shopping, the Potters had decided to invite the Lupins over for dinner. They had all gathered around the pub's enormous fireplace and one Potter after the other had thrown in a pinch of a strange powder, bellowed "The Potter Residence" and vanished in a burst of green flames. Remus tried to fight his fear – which had been implanted by James who had told him flooing felt like being burnt alive – threw a bit of the green powder into the fireplace and pressed his eyes together while he shouted the destination. Surprisingly he didn't feel like being burnt but rather like being sucked down a toilet. Thankfully the sensation lasted only a few moments before he landed face forward on a cold stone floor. Mr Potter grabbed him under his arms and pulled him to his feet before his mother followed after him.

"Oh, I've totally forgotten how much fun that is!" she screamed, laughing as she swiped some soot off her blouse to clean her glasses with it.

Remus felt very dizzy but was given no time to recover before James jumped out behind him and dragged him off. "Gotta show you my room before dinner is ready" he announced.

"Don't be too long, darling. We'll eat in half an hour!" his mother shouted behind them.

The Potter's Residence was enormous and Remus was glad that he had James to show him the way. It seemed to be a very old house – at least it smelled like one. James dragged him up a flight of stairs and along a long corridor that was lined with a series of large windows which stretched from the floor almost up to the ceiling and allowed Remus a glimpse of the garden – which seemed to be enormous too.

Remus's room, which wasn't exactly small, would have easily fitted twice into James's which was very light and friendly and dominated by a huge bed with covers that showed little men on broomsticks zooming around and throwing balls at each other. The walls too were covered with all kinds of Quidditch-related motives. Apart from that, his room looked just like every other eleven-year-old's – messy.

"Please excuse the chaos. Apparently Minsy hasn't been in to clean yet. I suppose she must be busy preparing our dinner" James said. Someone chose that moment to knock on the door. "Come in" James called and in came a tiny creature dressed in what appeared to be a rather flowery old shower cap. It was laden with an amount of packages and bags which turned out to be the boys' shopping. The creature bowed low after it had placed the various goods neatly on the bed and turned to James.

"Mistress wants you in the kitchens, master. Please follow Minsy, Sir" it said with a surprisingly deep voice. James looked at Remus, gave him an apologetic grin and followed Minsy outside, calling "Make yourself at home!" over his shoulder.

A little awkwardly Remus looked around to find something to sit down on. Since he couldn't find anything apart from James's bed he sat down on the floor which was covered by an exceptionally fluffy and comfortable scarlet carpet. He reached for some of his bags to check upon his new belongings. Apart from three sets of plain black school robes he had bought a brand-new cauldron, second-hand brass scales and a whole set of school books which where required for his first year at Hogwarts, second-hand again. He had also bought a copy of Magic for Dummies by Tarn Bigsnout when James hadn't been looking, hiding it under his T-shirt until it was safe for him to put it with his other books without risking being laughed at. But his most valuable new possession was his magic wand which he had bought from a creepy old man in a creepy old shop that had smelled of the dust of centuries. He rummaged around in one of his paper bags and pulled out a small box in which his wand lay. He took it out carefully and looked at it admiringly. It was 25 centimetres long and made of spruce with unicorn hair at its core. It felt cool, smooth and powerful under his fingers. He couldn't wait to give it a real try, see what he was really capable of, how much real magic was within him. But of course Mr Potter had told him about the law that forbade underage magic outside school.

The door flew open suddenly and yanked Remus out of his thoughts. "There's someone downstairs who wants to see you, mate" James said with a strange air.

"Me? Who is it" asked Remus, feeling nervous and uneasy all of a sudden.

"You'll see" was all he got for an answer and once more James grabbed his arm and dragged him along. Together they entered what had to be the Potters' living room.

Seated on the couch next to his mother was a tall old man with long silver hair and a matching beard. He had a very crooked nose and a pair of startling blue eyes which twinkled behind his half-moon spectacles. The man looked up as he heard the two boys entering and smiled warmly at them.

"Thank you, James" he said with a deep and pleasant voice. "You must be young Remus if I am not mistaken" he got up to shake a startled Remus's hand. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Albus Dumbledore. I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts."