Sanctuary

Prologue

February 16th 1965

The sweet smell of chocolate hanging in the air as he passed Sugarplum's Sweetshop made Remus' mouth water. Still, he continued to skip along next to his dad as they made their way down Diagon Alley towards Gringotts bank. It was his fifth birthday in three weeks, and they were there to buy supplies for his party, so they would be going back to Sugarplum's later. Flourish and Blotts, though. Well. That was harder to resist.

'Come along, Remus,' his dad said, tugging on his hand, trying to pull him away from the shop window where he was staring at all the colourful books on display.

He tore his gaze from the window and peered up at his dad, making his eyes as wide as he could. 'Can I buy a new book, Daddy?' he asked.

His dad shook his head, but he was smiling. 'No, it's not polite to buy things for yourself right before your birthday. What if you buy something that someone's bought you as a present?'

'Oh, I didn't think about that.' He frowned. People would be sad if they bought him a present, and he already had it. He didn't want anyone to be sad on his birthday.

'Okay, I'll wait until after my birthday,' he said, before resuming his skipping along the street. He would probably get lots of new books for his birthday, anyway. Everyone knew he loved stories.

After they left the bank, Remus was standing at the top of the steps outside Gringotts, eyeing the different shops and trying to decide where to go first. There were just so many to choose from. It was hard.

'We just need to make a quick stop in the apothecary. I need some potions ingredients,' his dad said.

Remus clenched his jaw and crossed his arms. Why couldn't he do that another day? Today was about the important task of party shopping. By the time they reached the shop, Remus was pouting. He knew he was pouting, and he knew it was silly, but he couldn't seem to stop.

His dad approached the counter to speak to the assistant, and Remus wandered off to look around. The potions ingredients were stacked on the shelves, some in jars or bottles, others were loose in trays. He couldn't stop looking at them, they were all so interesting.

Some of them were disgusting, like the big jar of gloopy pale green liquid that made him feel sick when he looked at it. He hurried away from that one. Others were scary, like the display of enormous claws. He shuddered at the thought of the massive creature they must have come from.

A few of the ingredients were beautiful though, and he stared at these the longest. There was a tiny vial of shimmering silver dust that he particularly liked the look of. He wanted to pick it up. He wanted to take the top off and poke his finger in to see what it felt like, but he knew he shouldn't and heroically stopped himself. It took a great deal of effort, and he was feeling pleased with his self-control when he rounded the corner into the last aisle at the back of the shop and spotted a boy who looked to be about his own age, huddled in the corner.

'Hey, are you okay?' Remus asked, walking over to the boy and squatting in front of him, attempting to see his face behind the curtain of wavy black hair.

The boy glanced up at his words. His eyes were red and puffy; he'd been crying. Remus felt a weird ache in his throat and swallowed it down. The boy stared at him, and Remus stared back. Behind the puffiness, his eyes were the same shade of silver as the glimmering powder he'd been so enchanted by a moment earlier.

'No. I did something bad, and I'm going to be in big trouble when I get home,' the boy said.

'What did you do?'