Silver Bullet

Author's Note: Alrighty, I got half-way through this, and realized how AU it is. Pretend that they all realized that it was Peter from the beginning, because that's how this is gonna go. Anyhow, this is my very first Marauders fic, and I'm excited, yet nervous at the same time. I hope that I got everyone right, and since I am new to this, I really need feedback. Help me?

Sirius Black stood on his friend's doorstep, feeling extremely out of place. But, then again, after the course of events that had happened in the last forty-eight hours, Sirius felt out of place everywhere. Knowing that he'd never see them again was…horrible, to say the very least. He'd always thought that they would grow old together, still be playing pranks as old grandfathers. Unfortunately, this was far from the case. He and Lily had only been twenty-three…

Sirius took a deep breath, squaring his shoulders. He had to be strong. If not for anyone else, he had to be strong for James. Puckering up all of the courage inside himself, Sirius Black did one of the hardest things in his life: he rang the doorbell. Hearing the series of major notes on the other side of the door, Sirius felt his heart skip a beat as he heard footsteps accompanying them. Oh sh-

"Oh! Erm…hi Sirius. I'm kind of in the middle of something; what is it?" Remus Lupin asked, stepping out onto the porch. He smiled, and it made Sirius balk. It was amazing how he was smiling after what had just happened. But, of course, he didn't know that it had happened. Albus had left telling Moony to him.

"Can I just come in? I need to talk to you," Sirius said, taking a deep breath. He hadn't even told him yet, and he wanted to cry. What had happened to the invincible demeanor he put out, the smugness, the confidence? It'd been here this morning, he swore it.

Remus ran his hand through his brown, unruly hair before answering. "I'm really busy, Padfoot. Are you sure you can't just tell me out here? Or tell me in a few days?" It was obvious that he was not exactly welcome. Sirius wasn't sure why, but Remus was putting up a pretty big fight to keep him out.

Then Sirius noticed: Remus didn't look well. His hands were shaking horribly, his eyes were rimmed with a bright scarlet, and his skin was as white as a bucket of flobberworms. He'd looked up at the moon last night. What had it looked like? Sirius pondered, and then realized. Remus had a "furry little problem" tonight. And it was already five o'clock. Less than two hours until sunset. Shit.

Sirius looked to his friend for a confirmation. "Is tonight—?"

He didn't even need to finish his sentence; Remus knew right away, and nodded his head. "That's why I'd really prefer to put this off. I really should be in my study," he said, alluding to the chains he kept there to keep himself from hurting the general populace.

Now he had a quandary, because, in all honesty, he wanted to wait to tell Remus. Hell, he wanted to run away from the house like a first-year and never look back, leaving the shambles of his life behind! But he couldn't. Moony would undoubtedly hear it through the grapevine before it could be broken gently if he waited. He had to hear it from one of his best friends. Or, he realized, the only best friend he had left. "I'm sorry, Moony. It can't wait. It's about James…and Lily."

Remus's eyes widened and his eyebrows rose into his mop of hair. Sirius had learned to read Remus well. He was wondering what more could there possibly be about James and Lily's predicament that he didn't know. They'd had an Order meeting about it just last week, and it had lasted well into the night. Apparently, though, Remus noticed Sirius's urgency and ushered him into the house.

Stepping in, Sirius realized that Remus's current living arrangement was far from spiffy. The house was one-story, and had four small rooms that were each visible from the front door. The walls were plain white, and the furniture did not match and was placed mel pel around the room.

Remus gestured towards one of the nicer pieces of furniture in the small room, a red armchair. Sirius sunk anxiously into it as Remus sat across from him on an ugly sofa with steadily peeling upholstery.

Once both were seated, a moment of silence wedged between them, caused by Remus's patience and Sirius's hesitation. This was so hard for him. Sirius was never very serious; he was always the one who brightened the situation, not the one driving it. He and James had always left that to Remus….

Finally, Remus began to become antsy. He cleared his throat, and Sirius jumped, like he'd been in another place entirely "Padfoot, are you sure that this can't wait?"

"Yes, Moony. I'm positive. You're sitting right?" he asked, looking down at his friend seated in the blue armchair. He had gotten up and begun to pace without realizing it, something that kept him from seeing his friend's face. "Well, bloody hell; of course you're sitting. Well that's good. Good…" Then he quickened the rate at which he paced.

"Sirius, we've all established that I am, in fact, sitting down. Now would you please tell me what it is that you need to before I start to grow fur?"

"It's about James and Lily," he said, clearing his throat. "Last night, Voldemort…got past the Fidelius charm and…got in." His voice was starting to crack, and he chanced a look at his friend, but all he saw was astonishment.

"But how? We tested it so many times!" Remus didn't understand what this meant, Sirius realized. He thought that it was just annoying that Voldemort had broken in. He assumed that James and Lily had fought him off like they always did, and were now hiding somewhere else.

"Peter. Peter was the secret keeper, and he must have turned. He told Voldemort where Lily and James and Harry were hiding, and…"

Remus shivered, his mouth agape. "We always knew that he was a bit of a coward, but no one expected anything like this."

He still didn't realize. Remus didn't realize that the four Marauders and Lily, the tight-knit group that had become so close, was completely torn apart, all in one night. Two were dead, and one was the traitor responsible for it. There were only the two of them now.

"But that's not the end of it, Moony," Sirius told him, trying to remain stoical and calm, but he could feel himself shaking all over. He'd had his time to mourn; it was Remus's turn, and he didn't need to have a weeping person tell him the news. "The second that he burst in, James went down to defend Lily and Harry. He was hoping to give them time to escape, I suppose. Moony, he's…he's…"

Remus's eyes widened. It had hit him. "No…no…are you absolutely positive? Maybe he just faked it to throw the Death Eaters off. Maybe he'll phone…." He was in denial, just as Sirius had been.

Sirius just nodded shook his head as he felt the tears start to come again. How was he still not out of tears? "They found his body, Remus. Still had his wand in his hand."

Through his tears, steadily falling down his face now, Remus said, "Always the bloody hero." After a few minutes of letting this news soak in, he managed to croak, "What about Lily?"

"Lily, too. She stood in front of Harry, tried to get Voldemort to take her instead. He killed her, too, Moony."

Moony's breath was raspy now, from a combination of the utter shock and the quickly approaching tension of the full moon. "Harry? What about Harry?" Harry was the only hopeful part about the situation.

"Harry's alright, more or less. He's got a few cuts and bruises, but he'll be ok," Sirius told him.

"But how could he be alive? He's not ever a two-year-old. How could two of the most gifted wizards in the world die, and not him?" Moony asked. It struck Sirius how similar his talk with Dumbledore and this were.

"It took Dumbledore some time to figure that bit out, too, actually," his voice had stopped faltering, and this surprised him. "There's some spell that takes effect when a woman sacrifices herself for her child by standing right in front of them. I guess Lily's the only one to do it in thousands of years."

"She must have read about it somewhere at Hogwarts. Talented and smart all the way to the very end," Moony said, a pained look on his face.

Sirius continued, "It killed Voldemort. Or at least temporarily. Harry got a killing curse shot at him, but he's not dead. Lily must have known what she was bloody doing."

This news seemed to brighten Remus a bit, but only a bit. His sobs were still wracking his body, his eyes growing redder and redder by the second. "Where's Harry staying?"

"I tried to get Dumbledore to let me take him in—I'm his godfather after all—but he said that it wasn't an option. He's staying with Lily's sister and her husband."

"Muggles?" was all Remus had to say. The child of two of the best wizards in the world was going to be raised by Muggles? Much less Lily's family, who, he had heard from James, were far from hospitable.

"Dumbledore must have his reasons," Sirius said, more than a bit of resentment in his voice. "But, I mean, why would Harry, a well-rounded Half-blood wizard, have to live with them instead of me? I mean, he could live with you, of course, but you have your whole "furry-little-problem" thing, and—"

Suddenly, there was an odd noise coming from across the table, and Sirius came out with his rant. Looking over, he saw that Remus had begun to gasp, and looked to be in extreme pain. Sirius got out of his chair and ran around the coffee table hurriedly, trying to help his friend. Just then, he looked out of the window. It was dark now, and the moon was coming out from behind a dark cloud.

For some reason or another, this made Sirius unusually nervous. He'd seen Sirius transform what felt like thousands of times, and it'd always been an opportunity to wreak havoc with his best friends. But then he realized. Peter was a traitor, and James was dead. There would be no fun tonight, and Moony would probably be extremely hostile because of this news.

Again, he was struck with the temptation to run. He wanted to leave Rumus alone, but he knew that he couldn't. Remus hadn't taken his potion, so he was far from safe. Anyhow, he was his friend, and he had an obligation to him. The only thing that he could do was watch and comfort as Remus began to transform.

It was all a gruesome process that he'd seen many times over. However, as he watched Remus's back begin to hunch and his teeth begin to elongate, he felt as though he wanted to cry. Remus had just heard the worst news in the entire world, gone through some of the worst emotional pain he'd probably ever experience, and now he had to endure horrid physical pain. It was all too much, and Sirius began to break down as he watched.

Once Remus was almost in form, Sirius had the sense to transform into his Animagus form. As Sirius watched Remus, he saw only pain in his eyes, not the usual thirst and anger. And once Moony had completely transformed, he didn't run around or sniff the ground or take interest in the dog like he normally did. He just stood there for several moments, and Sirius watched curiously. Then, Remus let out a horrible howl.

It wasn't the howl of a predator. It was a cry of pain, of something like…sorrow. Sirius couldn't believe it. James and Lily's deaths had been like the fabled "silver bullet" used to kill a werewolf in those dreadfully inaccurate Muggle movies. It had killed Remus in a way that Sirius had never expected, something seeded so deeply that it could never come back.

In that moment, he began to whimper too. The silver bullet had gone through them both, tearing apart their hearts and making a noticeable hole that could never be filled again. The two dogs spent the entire night howling, only wishing that there was a way to bring back their favorite stag.

AN: I hope that everyone was at least close to in-character. I had tons of trouble with this, and I'd love to know if I did alright. Thanks so much for the read, and please, please review!