Remus Lupin's least favorite place in all of Britain was the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures on Level four of the Ministry of Magic. It wasn't that he was ungrateful; in fact, his life could have been much worse. He just hated any reminder of his condition, and reporting to the Werewolf Registry office each month to obtain Wolfsbane was an irritating part of his existence. It didn't help that they made things ridiculously complicated. He had to make sure he showed up towards the beginning of a lunar cycle to put his name on the list so that the Ministry's apothecaries didn't make too much or too little Wolfsbane that month. He understood that, at least. The ingredients were hard to find and expensive, and the potion itself was difficult to make. Remus understood the reasons behind the endless paperwork, he just didn't like it.
He finished submitting his subsidized payment and paperwork in less than an hour that day, and was ready to head to work. He scheduled a later shift today just in case the werewolf registry office was backed up. He checked his watch, he still had another half hour to get to Diagon Alley. That still left him enough time to grab a coffee and perhaps a danish.
He was still lost in thought about breakfast when he bumped into a young woman. "Hells bells, I'm so sorry, I wasn't..." He trailed off, struck by her beauty... and the fact that she wasn't quite human. "Sorry," he said, shaking his head.