Sky full of stars {Harry Potter Fanfiction}

3. A trip to Diagon Alley

Remus Lupin's house looked just like him: small, scarred but warm and kind at the same time. He had a saucepan in the hallway where a constant drip came from the ceiling, and the plaster was cracked in several places.

"It's not much, but its home," Remus said, leading us into the living room.

This room was more put together; bookshelves took up one side of the room and a sagging brown sofa and chairs surrounded an old-fashioned television. But there was artwork of animals and flowers which brightened the room; as well as wizard photographs hanging above the TV and covering the one dresser.

"I didn't think you'd still be living here, Remus, it was a total gamble." Mum confessed, as she placed her suitcase on the floor. "I thought you might have moved on."

Remus shrugged and looked embarrassed. "Well mum died... what was it, five years ago and I couldn't afford anything else. I also figured one day you'd come looking for me."

"Were you friends in school?" Sasha asked curiously. Mum didn't speak much about her past, so anything we did learn was always interesting.

"Yes," Remus' face brightened. "We were in the same year, I was a Gryffindor... They were good times."

Both he and mum sighed nostalgically. Then Remus clapped his hands together. "Right, I'll sort your rooms out—then I'll make us all a cup of tea."

He darted from the room, a new energy seeming to flow from him, entirely different to the tired man who greeted us at the door.

"Mum, did you and him ever date?" I asked curiously. It was the only reason I could think that mum had never brought us—that we could remember—to visit such a lovely man, who had obviously been a close friend.

Mum snorted. "Remus? Never, he's like a brother to me. James always used to say we should have when we were younger... I was much fonder of the rules than James and Peter..."

"James and Peter? Who are they?" I wondered.

"James Potter was one of my dearest friends," Mum said softly, and Sasha and I exchanged a look. "Yes, as in Harry Potter... James and Lily—Harry's mum—were so good to me over the years. The Potter's took me in after the hag threw me out."

Sasha and I always knew mum hated our grandparents. She'd gotten pregnant with Sasha when she was seventeen and had been thrown out when they found out. She hadn't finished Hogwarts as a result but told us she regretted nothing because she had us.

"Is that why you were upset when you saw Harry at the zoo today?" I asked quietly, thinking of how small he was, and how cruel his family was.

Mum nodded, tears coming to her eyes. "I was made godmother to him. He's your godbrother."

"Wicked," Sasha said. Then she frowned. "Why didn't he come and live with us after his parents were killed?"

Anger glinted in the corner of Mum's eyes. "Believe me, that's what I wanted to happen. I begged Dumbledore, begged him to let your father and I take him. But he said Harry needed to be with Lily's sister... For what reason, God knows why."

"They were horrible to him at the zoo!" I exclaimed, feeling the loss of a childhood with the soft, sweet boy I'd met. "His Uncle practically bruised his arm with how tight he was holding him!"

Anger flickered in Mum's eyes again. "I want you both to look out for him in school. Tell him about me, and that he can come and stay with us for however long he likes."

"In Remus' woodland getaway cottage for werewolves?" Sasha snorted. Mum and I both looked at her with surprise. "I'm not stupid—those were werewolf claws in the mud outside, and you called him moony?"