Author's Note: This takes place soon after Voldemort's first fall. Sirius is already in Azkaban by this point.
Honesty, how many more firework shows were there going to be? How much longer were people going to celebrate for?
Remus knew that he wasn't being fair to all the wizards and the witches that were celebrating. Voldemort had fallen, and his Death Eaters were being rounded up. After so many long years of horrible war, the age of terror was finally ending.
There were plenty of reasons to celebrate. There were plenty of reasons to be happy.
But Remus was in no mood to celebrate. And he most definitely wasn't in the mood to be happy.
He didn't have much to be happy about.
Remus looked up at the night sky as the wizards and witches around him shot up fireworks into the air from their wands.
The fireworks were of various colors. Red. Yellow. Blue.
But Remus never once saw the color green.
Remus could understand the reasoning behind that, but it was faulty reasoning.
Slytherins weren't the only evil ones. Gryffindors could be evil as well.
How could Sirius have done it? How could Sirius have betrayed James and Lily to Voldemort? How could Sirius have killed Peter?
James and Sirius had been like brothers at Hogwarts, and Remus had assumed that their friendship had only grown stronger during all the years they had fought together for the Order.
And even though Sirius had never been as close to Peter as he had been towards James, Sirius had always looked after Peter while they had been at Hogwarts. And Remus had assumed that Sirius would never lose that protective nature towards Peter.
Apparently, Remus had assumed wrong in both cases.
How could Sirius have done it? Sirius had been their friend. Or at least, that was what Remus had thought. Apparently, he had thought wrong.
"Why aren't you celebrating?" a wizard beside Remus suddenly asked. "Get out your wand and shoot up some fireworks."
"I'm not in the mood to celebrate," Remus mumbled.
"Why not?"
What could Remus say? He couldn't exactly say, "One of my best friends was responsible for the deaths of my three other best friends. And, by the way, that friend who betrayed them is now going to spend the rest of his life in Azkaban."
Remus didn't say any of those words, however. In fact, he didn't say anything. Instead, he just shrugged his shoulders and moved on. It was a slow process.
How many wizards and witches were here? How many wizards and witches actually had a reason to celebrate?
How could they possibly be in the mood to celebrate?
Remus most definitely was in no mood to celebrate.
Back in their Hogwarts days, James and Sirius had both been the biggest celebrators in the world.
Remus remembered the final day of their seventh year. A crowd of their fellow housemates were gathered around James and Sirius in the Gryffindor common room.
James and Sirius had their wands out and pointed up at the ceiling.
Remus watched as red fireworks shot out of their wands and towards the ceiling.
"Are you two sure that's safe?" Remus asked.
Out of the corner of his eye, Remus noticed that Peter was huddled in one of the corners of the room, looking absolutely terrified. Remus also noticed Lily standing nearby, her hands on her hips. She was clearly torn between amusement and a desire to lecture James and Sirius about their immaturity.
"You worry too much, Moony," Sirius laughed. "You need to let loose for once and just have some fun."
"I'm not in the mood for that," Remus mumbled.
Sirius just laughed again. James also looked amused.
Lily gave Remus a sympathetic look, but she didn't say anything.
Remus just shook his head, but he didn't say anything either. When James and Sirius were in the mood to celebrate, there was no stopping them.
How times had changed, changed for the worse. Neither James nor Sirius would ever celebrate again. James was dead because Sirius had betrayed him to Voldemort. As for Sirius, he would be spending the rest of his life in Azkaban. He might as well be dead.
As far as Remus was concerned, Sirius was just as dead as James was because there was no way that the Sirius that Remus had known would have ever betrayed his friends.
The fireworks continued to light up the night sky around Remus, but he was in no mood to celebrate.
He had nothing to celebrate.
