On the morning of November 1st, the Daily Prophet was plastered with the news of the Dark Lord's death. The news travelled fast, and within an hour the entire wizarding world was celebrating their new freedom, the safety following the death of a tyrant.
Amid this joy, Remus Lupin sat in the back of the Leaky Cauldron, firewhisky in one shaking hand. By now, Dumbledore had already been and explained the situation, but it was impossible to believe, impossible to even imagine that the world was now absent of both James and Lily. Remus' throat was raw, his eyes red as he sat oblivious to the celebrations and cheering surrounding him. Just yesterday, he had seen his friends, had held their baby in his arms, and now they were gone.
He hadn't been able to contact Sirius yet, but then again, they hadn't spoken in quite some time, with Sirius having deemed Remus a traitor and hiding himself away from the Order. Remus shook his head; he dreaded to think what reaction Sirius would have, how badly this would break him. He thought of James' little Mia, a small baby completely unaware of what was happening to her, unaware of the sudden fame.
"The Girl Who Lived," Remus muttered though himself. "What'll happen to her now?"
Lifting his glass to his lips, he took the final swig of his drink before the door flew open as a pair of yelling, dishevelled wizards barrelled through the door.
"Black's a murderer!" one of them cried, grabbing the arms of a poor patron near the entrance. "A Death Eater!"
Remus' head whipped around, rising to his feet and edging closer towards the commotion.
"What are you talking about, mate?" the barman asked, raising at eyebrow at the strange man. "Sit down and have a drink, you should be celebrating-"
"Sirius Black!" the other man yelled, his eyes wide. "He's a murderer!"
"He's murdered Peter Pettigrew and a load of muggles," the first wizard shook his head, his voice weak. "No reason for it, he just did it."
The pub broke into questions and yelling, but Remus' head reeled as he staggered backwards. He couldn't believe it. It wasn't possible that Sirius would have done such a thing, especially not after James and Lily.
Poor Peter.
Remus' eyes filled with tears. Poor, innocent Peter. What did Sirius think he was doing-
What about Mia? Remus had assumed Sirius would take her, being her godfather, but what on heard would happen to the poor darling now? James' parents weren't long dead, and he was vaguely aware that Lily had a sister somewhere but as far as he knew they didn't speak, so where did that leave?
Steadying his feet, Remus blinked to refocus and apparated. Dumbledore would know what to do.