Eyes of the Future

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HP characters, except characters that I make up. This takes place before Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but after Sirius gets sent to Azkaban. This was the first of a series, but the sequels were too hard to write, so I canceled them. If I ever do finish them though, I'll upload them here.


Remus looked up at the night sky through the only window of the bar as he reminisced about his three friends that were all gone now. James Potter. He was killed by the whole wizarding world's enemy and his followers. Peter Pettigrew. He was with Voldemort, the enemy that killed James. He was the one that betrayed James, and gave away his and his families location to Voldemort. Sirius Black. He was sent to Azkaban for apparently killing Peter. Remus knew he was innocent, but, unless someone found Peter, he would stay there until his death.

Remus was all alone now. He had noone. The only living relative of any of his friends left was Harry Potter. James Potter's son. And he was living with his aunt, uncle, and cousin, and they hated him. It's a miracle they didn't send him to an orphanage the minute he was left on their doorstep. Remus was alone. All alone. Those words echoed countless times through Remus' head. There was noone there for him. Noone there that he could talk to. Noone there to comfort him. He had sunk into a deep depression. Not only that, but he was becoming an alcoholic. The only way he could feel better about himself was alcohol. Wine, champagne, beer, whiskey, vodka. You name it, he drunk it. It was the only way he could escape.

"Gimme another one." said Remus while he slammed his bottle down onto the table. The bartender filled up the glass for the third time that night.

"Can't. Closin' time. You'll hafta go somewheres else." said the bartender as he cleaned up Remus' glass.

"Damn." said Remus before getting up and leaving the now empty bar. Most people didn't stay there past four o'clock. It was a muggle bar in a muggle town, but it was the only bar anywhere near where Remus lived. He stumbled along the dirt road back to his house, not noticing that he had just bumped into a young woman, knocking her over in the process.

"Hey! Watch where your going!" said the woman as she got back up and dusted herself off.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you." said Remus, stopping in his tracks when he heard the young woman.

"Well, that's okay. It is kind of dark." said the woman while picking up her purse from the ground.

"What's a young lady out here at this hour for? It's gets dangerous this time of night." said Remus.

"I work the night shift. I was just going home. My name's Karen." she said,then holding out her hand for Remus to shake.

"Remus." he said as he shook her outstretched hand.

"You live alone?" asked Karen as she let go of Remus' hand and drew her own back.

"Yeah. No friends, no family. Nowhere else I can go." said Remus, one of the smaller hints that he was in a fit of self pity.

"Really? You don't have any family or friends?" asked Karen, looking slightly concerned.

"Nope. I did have three friends. One is dead, the others in jail, and I don't know where the last one is, but he's no longer my friend." said Remus in reply.

"Wow. I'm sorry." said Karen.

"It's alright. I'm perfectly happy." he lied.

"Yeah, right. Hey, if you wanna go get a cup of coffee and talk or something, I'm at the cafe on the corner every Saturday morning. It's the Cafe de Leur." she said as she wrote the address down on a piece of paper and handed it to Remus.

"Thanks. I'd like someone to talk too." said Remus after he examined the piece of paper Karen handed him.

"I'm sure you would. Well, maybe I'll see you there sometime." said Karen.

"Yeah." said Remus, and they both went their separate ways. Remus just looked at the piece of paper until he got home.

'Huh. I guess it couldn't hurt.' he thought as he put the paper on the nightstand and turned out the light. He pondered the woman for almost an hour before he finally fell asleep. His dreams were filled with memories of his past friends, and that fateful night when James and Lily Potter were killed in their own home. He could hear that cold, shrill, evil laugh in his head. He could hear James and Lilly's screams. He could hear Harry's crying. He could hear it all. It was like he was there. He'd been having these dreams for a month now. Ever since the night that Sirius was taken away to Azkaban. The night that crushed his world into a fine powder of nightmares and depression.

He woke up in a cold sweat. Those sounds still ringing in his head. He glanced at the clock that read six o'clock. He'd only gotten an hour of sleep. This had been going on all week. The lack of sleep had been getting to him. He decided he would take a sleeping potion later and take a nap. He picked up the paper from his nightstand, and looked at it. After a moment of consideration, he made up his mind that he would go to see this Karen. Maybe they would become friends, and he could finally let everything out. After changing his clothes, he went downstairs and went to the kitchen where he made himself breakfast. He missed cooking for his friends. He was the only remotely good cook among the four of them. Sirius was probably the worst chef in the world. No matter what he was making, he would burn it. Remus remembered the first night he had tries Sirius' cooking. He made a pot roast. He remembered how funny James looked when he took the first bite. He looked like he was about to die from flavor loss in his tongue.

Remus chuckled to himself as he plated his eggs and sat down. He quietly ate his breakfast, trying no to think about his friends anymore. After he finished, he washed his plate until it was literally spotless, and put it away into his now crowded and messy cupboard. It was normally so neat, the plates and bowls sorted into different types of occasions that they would be used in. Now, they were just shoved in the cupboard without another thought. Remus saw no point in organizing it in any way anymore. It was now six thirty. With nothing else to do, Remus left the painful memories of his home, and started on the way to the Cafe de Leur. It was a longer walk than he thought. By the time he got there, it was eight o'clock. Remus looked around the small cafe. There was a few people sitting at random places, but he didn't see Karen there. He thought he would wait for her there, so he just sat down in an empty seat at the rear wall, and ordered a coffee, black, when the waitress asked him if he wanted anything. She soon came back with his coffee, and he paid her the price. Remus always thought it safe if he kept at least some muggle money with him, incase he would ever be in a situation where he would need to go to a muggle store, or something of the sort. He had waited for almost half an hour before he saw Karen enter the cafe. He didn't look up when she sat down in front of him.

"Hey. I didn't think you would come." said Karen as she put her black overcoat on the floor beside her. Remus was still looking down at the table.

"Had nothing else to do." he said before taking a sip of his beverage.

"So, how are you?" she asked. He simply shrugged. "You sleep good?"

"Not really. I've been having nightmares the past month." he said.

"Really? What's it about?" she asked with curiosity.

"Well... It's nothing. Just a dream." said Remus, still looking at the table.

"It's not just a dream if it keeps you up at night." she said. Remus did not reply. They were silent for a few minutes before curiosity got the better of Karen.

"So, do you have a girlfriend or something?" she asked. Remus finally looked up at her, astonished that anyone would think that he would have a girlfriend.

"No." he said after looking back down at the table.

"Really? I find that hard to believe. I've always liked the tall, dark and handsome type. You kind of remind me of my brother." Remus blushed slightly at her remark. He let a small smile escape his lips as he looked back up at her.

"You have a brother?" he asked.

"Yeah. He died in a car crash when I was nine though. He was twenty. I have allot of pictures of him though." she said as she pulled a small photo out of her wallet and showed it to Remus.

"Wow. He reminds me of myself." said Remus. The man in the photo looked allot like him. He had his arm around what looked like a child version of Karen. "Were you close?"

"Yeah, really." she said before Remus handed the picture back to her. She looked at it with a sad look on her face for a few seconds before putting it back in her bag. She took a quick glimpse at her watch before picking up her coat. "Say, I've gotta go. Would you like to get together again next weekend?"

"Yeah, I'd like that." said Remus.

"Alright, I'll see you later then." said Karen. as she put her coat back on. She left the cafe without another word. After finishing his coffee, Remus also left. It took him another half an hour to get home. By now, he was quite tired. After making a sleeping potion and drinking nearly half of it, saving some for the next day, he was glad to finally get some sleep. He slept until eight thirty the next day. This time, his dreams were happy. He could see himself with his friends, laughing and joking, just like they always used to do. Maybe he wasn't so alone. And, for once in a long time, he felt good about himself.