Fin First Year Sympathy PV Remy

@Sylvain Indarys

Being eleven years old now and being in Diagon Alley had a completely different feel to it compared to his father's stories about Uagadou, the main African Wizarding school, who said the school gave everything to the students and even a little bit more "special treatment" if you were a pure-blood but here; it seem everyone was equal when it came to affording robes, snacks and so on.

Standing next to him was an older man, a maintained beard and Kufi that was designed black and trimmed with white as what Remi had in his collection of African themed clothing. While looking at Remi, he appeared to be wearing very causal clothing like a jean jacket, a white shirt and some jeans and on his feet, trainers.

"Back in my day, you wouldn't have seen these many muggle-borns around, wonder how they deal with all of our quirks of wizarding culture. Hah, you could say the same thing about the muggle culture, Remi." Remi's father spoke, even with the amount of people around, the hustle and bustle of people talking and doing their own business about getting items from the Hogwarts list, his dad managed to stand out of the main voice in the large amount of people. He was the very unbashful types, Remi being a tamed version of his talking style.

Remi nodded his head quietly, internally sighing as he looked around for anything from the shops as he glanced at his own copy of the Hogwarts list.

"Papa, do we have enough Galleons for the rest of the equipment?"

Suddenly, his eyes traveled to a ice-cream shop and looking at the young kids inside ordering the many flavors.

"Of course I brought enough money. I'm not your mama but I know how to count money, boy -" His father didn't say anything for a moment and placed his hand onto Remi's shoulder, and Remi jolted slightly as his dad wasn't really the touchy type.

"I can go get the rest of your stuff, Remi." Remi could hear his father softly smiling as his boy wanted some snacks, "How much it cost? A few Knuts?" His father said, placing a couple of the bronze coins to the boy's hands, and trading it with the enchanted trunk of items. Before the boy could tell his father to get him a couple more coins, his father walked off.

Remi sucked his teeth...

"Darn. Mama would make sure I had more coins if she wasn't busy. If only she could have taken me..."

He said sourly but he gave a limp shrug to himself. As he wanted closer to Florean Fortescue's Ice cream Parlour, the price was there which made Remi's ears go red for a moment.

Still, being hard-headed as he opened the door and stood out of line, hoping something would be cheap enough to afford. Ugh, he felt poor in this situation and being well-off money wise.

His father made a very foolish mistake not to double-check the cost.

"HEY, you!"

Looking up at his coins, as if to double-check if his father really did make a counting mistake with the coins, to a face. A kid, maybe a year or two older than him.

"First year student? Let me buy you some ice cream."

Remi sighed in relief but gulped softly as it appeared the actual price was a whole galleon. Knowing how frugal that Yaos were, he made a face that said it was a little too expensive for some ice-cream but he couldn't complain as this cool kid was about to bless him with a frozen treat, and a new flavor he never had before; bubblegum flavor!

"M'name's Sylvain, but you can call me Syl if that's easier."

"Is it safe to assume you've got a name?"

Remi smiled, nodding his head,

"I have a name. A good name too, I'm Remi -"

He gave a short pause before adding,

"-us. Remius, yeah."

He told himself he wanted to change his name to Remius as it sounded cool compared to Remi, something from a kid movie muggles watch that made him embarrassed as the main character was a nasty rat.

"Syl, was it? Uh, what house you're in? - I'dunno what house I'm going to be in, they don't do the house thing in Ivory Coast."

Remi said, rubbing his cheek idlely,

"First generation of Yao to be born outside of Cote d'ivoire."

He said, more to himself than the kid named Syl.

Hexcode= #507091

He took his first lick of the succulent praline swirls. The nutty caramel helix of soft frozen dairy was possibly the most refreshing and long-awaited treat Sylvain had ever had the patience to save up for. It was delicious, and worth every hour of salivary hell on the train ride here. The second lick smoothed the cone out into the sort of semi-capsule shape of child's ice cream on a cone.

Sylvain sat patiently eating as Remi lied to him about his name. He had no reason to distrust Remi, and no reason not to abide by his request, but it was clear the boy lied about his name. The boy's name was probably just Remi, but Syl let it slide.

As a drip of the frozen treat landed on the sleeve of his white shirt, Sylvain dabbed it with a napkin and did his best to ward off an incoming brain freeze. Finding his chance to respond, he nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Pleased to meet you Remius." Sylvain said including the minor pause hoping not to botch his the pronunciation. "I'm not sure what house you'll end up in, but I can tell you what getting sorted was like. The hat didn't even touch my head before shouting Ravenclaw. it was certain in it's decision at the least. I think I fit in."

"Where's Cote d'ivoire about then?" Sylvain quizzed the newcomer. The awkward quizzer himself was supposedly from Scotland, but, he didn't really know his birth parents either. For all he knew, he could have been from the Ivory Coast too. Lineage was already on Sylvain's list of priorities to look into this year. Raising his eyebrow and taking another lick at his cone of praline, Sylvain awaited Remi's answer with curiosity on his vigilant face.

Syl also watched to see if the Remi enjoyed his ice cream.

@Remi Yao

Reducio

@Sylvain Indarys

Hexcode= #507091

Sylvain was courteous, nodding and reassuring Remi that his message had been received. As the the unsorted wizard lapped up the bright pink bubblegum icecream, Sylvain listened closely to his description of growing up with a large family. Uncles, cousins, aunts and other family. Sylvain had come from a particularly small family himself, just him, his adoptive mothers, and his younger adopted sister. He had never been sure of his lineage, but it was explained to him pretty early on that the lad didn't actually belong with the family. Sylvain had just shown up unannounced one day. Showing up unannounced was a talent he possessed in droves.

As the sweet-toothed boy gnawed at the soggy remains of his waffle cone impatiently, Sylvain finished his treat because it was his turn to speak. Syl's eyes squinted shut as he presented the Ivorian wizard with a half-hearted smile that masked his pain. Sylvain answered Remi's quesition. "Ah, I'm not sure about my lineage actually." Beads of sweat began to percolate onto his forehead. Why had the subject of lineage always bothered him so much? "That is, I sort of showed up on the doorstep of a muggle family." Remi's question seemed innocent enough, but Sylvain had met more than a few kids who'd picked on others for their blood. Sylvain never saw logic behind their reasons for it, just ugly emotions.

Seeing that Remi had finished his cone, Sylvain's smile perked back up. [color=#[/color]]"You sure know how to eat an Ice cream cone Remius!"[/color] The shy lad covered his mouth and chuckled a little, it was a warm friendly laugh. Determining that their time together might be coming to an end, Sylvain crossed his arms and leaned on the table in between them. As the lad slid forward to show his interest in continuing their acquaintance beyond the delectable frozen treats he spoke with an air of reassurance in his voice. "Hey Remius, you want to hang out a little longer? I was thinking of going over to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes to look at the new Wizard Chess Sets to see if they've got any fancy chessmen to replace my old ones. If not, that's cool too, we could catch back up at Hogwarts sometime. We'll eat ice cream and be friends."

He smiled and gave Remi a wink. "Do you think we can be friends?"

"Don'know-yer linage?"

Remi was still munching onto his cone but he looked at Syl, more interested with learning more about Syl than the Ice cream cone which was now just cone, a weak tasting waffle flavor.

He took a subtle gulp,

"And you showed up at some muggles doorstep? Tssk..."

He shook his head, looking concern with Syl's living circumstances.

"I could never. Unable to do magic in front of them, no enchantments, no-nothing from the wizarding. That sounds god-awful."

He frowned, as if listening to living in muggle ways of living is giving Remi a stomach ache.

"Though..."

He thought out-loud, for Syl to hear as well,

"Kinda reminds me of that Potter family that I heard from my Uncle and my papa talking. Some wizard in the Gryffindor house who lived with Muggles, became some Auror and now they're apparently in Azkaban for..."

Remi's eyes looked bored at the very topic he brought up.

"Real snoring stuff."

He shuffled oddly nervously, not wanting to appear like he knows what he was talking about. All of the information he gathered was from hearing his family talk about the matter, nothing more.

"Annnnyway."

He said, grinning, standing more calm,

"We can hang out as long as you want, Syl! And sure, we can be friends!"

It was clear that Remi liked positive reinforcement like this, as he was practically beaming with excitement and praise.

"Plus, I can meet more of your second year friends and that'll be so cool!"

Ready to get more ice-cream and more fun as he appeared by the door, looking back at Syl,

"Coming, mon frère?"

Hexcode= #507091

Sylvain watched as Remi fought off some sort of stomach pain. The curious lad couldn't tell if it was the ice cream, or his lacking knowledge of personal history. Sylvain loved to know the answers, but these ones had eluded him all of his first year. It was then that he decided that his name wouldn't be hidden from him for long. Sylvain was going to spend all of his life searching for the answer to his questions.

Sylvain nodded at the mention of Potter and his woes. It was not the first time the comparison was made. Truth be told he sort of related better to Merlin anyways. Washing up on the shore of some minor Scottish village unplanned, no idea who he was. No idea where he came from. His eyes grew heavy the more he talked about Potter and lineage. It would be clear that the topic produced a lot of drag for the wistful mage and truly troubled his young mind. He looked to Remi, catching his eyes.

"You bet I'm coming with you!" Sylvain grabbed his satchel, and gathered the trash the two left behind, wadding it up into balls and tossing it into the appropriate bins. "I don't have too many friends, but, well there's one @Willow Anderson. She's my best friend, and I'd love for you to meet her." Then something caught at the edge of Sylvain's attention. Pointing at an older man with a salt and pepper beard, Sylvain focused on the brightly dressed Ivorian. "Remi, do you know that man? He looks an awful lot like you."

Sylvain watched as Remi wheeled towards the door. The man in question was quite a lot like Remi indeed. The same posture of confidence, and a toothy smile that gave away any attempt to hide their relation. Not to mention the colorful clothes he wore, which were almost well enough described that Sylvain nearly had a chance to guess at them by memory alone.

@Remi Yao @Willow Anderson

A warm, swelling feeling could be felt in his stomach. It was something intangible but it was there, it was the feeling of comfort as he was with Sylvain.

Remi knew he'll be talking to Syl for a good while and, not wanting him to notice, someone he could immediately trust and that being his only friend that he might see at Hogwarts plenty of times. Maybe if he stuck close to Syl in the coming years, maybe good fortune will fall onto the lap of the Ivorian boy...

As the two of them walked out of the door, Syl talked about his best friend, someone named Willow. Remi tilts his head, asking Syl,

"Oh, your girlfriend."

Remi said obtusely before trying to switch it,

"I mean, a girl who's your friend, yeah."

He grinned at Syl before dropping as he saw his father a couple of meters away from him and Syl.

"Ugh..."

Remi was about to go on and explain why he didn't look like his father from a long-shot, or how he didn't see the resemblance. All he could do was groan!

His dad, as if he had a sixth sense for finding out where his children are. Immediately, Remi's dad looked dead-set on where Remi is,

"Remi, where were you? I was trying to find you for the last thirty minutes."

He said, firmly before looking at Syl for a moment, his face grew slightly softer,

"Hello, you must be Remi's friend, comment ça va (How are you?)?"

Remi's dad aimed his hand out for a hand-shake, awaiting for the boy to do so.

Hexcode= #507091

"Oh, your girlfriend."

Sylvain chuckled as the prideful Ivorian wizard-to-be called Willow Sylvain's girlfriend. If anyone was closer to that title, it was Lizzie Verdine and she was quite a ways off from having Sylvain's full admiration and attention. Instead, Willow was a powerfully compact friend who never failed to have concentrated love when the melancholy scholar had needed it most. The huffle was equal parts supportive, kind and compassionate, but was just as identifiable as fiercely overprotective, competitively affectionate, and constantly involved with a large number of people.

The grin on Remi's face faded with an almost comedic sense of timing as the pureblood boy's father's silhouette broke through the doorway to greet the pair with a concerned but stern look on his features. Ever watchful of people, Sylvain could see now the ways Remi and his father were different. Remi still had the face of someone with a gentle hope of growing to be what he wanted, and Remi's father looked very much like a man who'd settled for nothing less than what he wanted and demanded much from his children maintaining strict discipline. Still, common courtesy was part of social interaction according to more than a couple tomes that found their way into the Hogwart's Library and on Sylvain's desk, so Sylvain shook the hand of the Ivorian Adult whose face had grown softer after noticing the lad.

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. uh...." his voice trailed as he waited for a name. "Mr. Remi's father." Sylvain shot a knowing side glance to Remi, he couldn't hide that he caught Remi's name modification any longer. It was the kind of look that told Remi exactly the type of friend who Sylvain was, someone who had no problem keeping the secrets of his own friends, be it a change of name, or a desire to eat ice cream they shouldn't be having. "Remi was telling me just a little about your family, their heritage and the Cote d'ivoire culture. I'll have to do my own research when I get back to Hogwarts in the fall, and I'm excited to see Remi in the halls." Sylvain enjoyed a good guessing game. "I bet he'll make it in Gryffindor."

Pleased with his choice of cover story for the ice cream and name change, and his own guess at Remi's sorting experience, Sylvain then looked over to Remi in earnest to get them both on the same page. They still wanted to go toy shopping right? Hopefully Remi's dad still valued fun and wasn't in a hurry. "I had hoped I could take him with me to Weaseleys' to look at the chess sets. I promise not to let him out of my sight, scout's honor." With a pleading and innocent look on his face, Sylvain turned back to the firm Ivorian whom he suspected might not budge an inch. "If you have to say no I understand though, Remi seems like a good kid and I'm sure you're not too busy shopping and want to take him with you."

@Remi Yao

With the large, adult figure of Remi's dad as his own shadow covered Remi, in the literal sense. At first, the feeling of being scolded was a palpable feeling as often with trips like these, he needed to be near his parent or his guardian.

Thankfully, Sylvain was around and most parents, they wouldn't dare scold their child in front of their new friend.

Remi's dad, who stood around a solid 5'10 (177.8 cm) and gave a wide smile at both Remi and Syl, before focusing his attention onto Syl,

"I am Mr. Yao, my boy."

He gave a relaxed look onto Sylvain,

"And I see you've met my son, Remi."

As he opened his mouth again, Syl explained what Remi did and talked about respectfully, Remi explaining Ivorian Culture, that is.

"Hmm."

He gave a Remi a short-lived glance, before laughing,

"That is great to hear! My son is going to be an educator."

Remi sighed in relief, though hearing that he might be apart of Gryffindor made him do a sour face, that his father made a face in return,

"Why the dislike about this Gryffindor house, they make fine wizards. Though, Uagadou School of Magic is an even finer school if we were able to go back home..."

As he knew his dad was going to trail off, Remi walked to his dad's side. However, his father didn't continue onto his rant on how African wizarding schools are better than European ones.

"Anyway, it was nice to meet you young man but Remi has to go with me. Our shopping trip is coming to a close, I'm afraid."

Remi's face looked up at Syl as if he will never see him again, but his father placed his hand onto Remi's shoulder,

"You'll see each other again, trust me, son."

With Remi's sad pout, he listened to his father as he waved Syl good-bye as the son and father walked off.