A/N: Aaaand now I've made myself sad. Yay for Marauder's feelings. Listen to A Light On A Hill by Margot and the Nuclear So & So's while you're reading this. It makes it better (HAHA IT'S JUST REALLY SAD, OKAY?).

Splinters and Glass

It was a rather normal night. No strange chatter from the Order. No alerts or warnings about Death Eaters. It had even been pretty warm that day which had translated nicely into a cool and pleasant night. For the first time in a while, Remus was sure that he was going to get a full night's sleep and that thought made him happier than he had been for a very long time.

But when Sirius came crashing into his bedroom, he knew something was immediately wrong. Sirius Black was not a man known to cry. He made it about two steps toward Remus's bed before he collapsed, his face bent toward the floor as his shoulders shook. Remus was at his side in less than a second and threw himself next to his friend, hands hovering everywhere and quickly making sure that no limbs were missing and that there were no visible wounds. He finally clasped Sirius's face firmly with his hands and forced the man to look him in the eyes.

"Sirius," Remus breathed, a bit taken back by the sheer grief and pain he saw in Sirius's eyes. He brushed some stray pieces of hair away from Sirius's face and roughly wiped the tears away with his thumbs. "Sirius what happened?" A shaking hand grasped Lupin's arm and pulled him closer and Remus found himself with Sirius's face pressed into the crook of his neck. His hand clutched at Remus's arm with such strength that the taller man was sure he'd find a bruise there tomorrow morning.

"I didn't-" Sirius began, but a sob cut off his sentence and he bit his teeth together bitterly to stop crying. Remus felt his own hands begin to tremble at this sudden show of emotion, knowing that something very bad had happened. He encircled Sirius with his arms, holding on tightly and breathing out shakily into his hair. He could feel his friend's heart beating furiously through his back.

Sirius suddenly pulled back with such force that it sent Remus back a foot with a loud grunt. He let out an inhuman snarl and turned to punch the nearest thing available to him which happened to be Remus's dresser. The wood splintered under his hand and a picture frame fell and crashed onto the floor, shattering the glass.

"They're dead," Sirius choked out, removing his hand and slamming it back into the wood. Remus heard the crack of bones and scrambled to his feet, catching Sirius's fist before it impacted with his dresser again.

"For god's sake, stop this, who's dead," Remus asked incredulously, almost knowing the answer before he had asked the question. He struggled with Sirius's arm for a moment before the dark haired man went limp. Silence followed, only broken by Sirius's ragged breathing.

"James and Lily are dead," he breathed, and the words sounded so tired and pained that Lupin almost didn't believe that they had come from Sirius.

"Wh-what?" Sirius didn't turn to face him, and Remus loosened his grip on his arm in order to steady himself against the dresses. Thousands of things crossed his mind at the same time, and he held on tighter as he felt his head spin dangerously.

"Voldemort broke into their house." Remus choked slightly as he tried to make words come out of his mouth, but all he could think about was how he hadn't been there for them. He should have been there for them, protected them. And he knew that it was that exact thought that was going through Sirius's head too.

"I thought Peter-" Remus began harshly, referring to the fact that Peter should have been there to warn them. That had been his job. His thought was interrupted when Sirius's head snapped up to meet his eyes at the mention of Peter's name. In that moment, Remus saw Sirius's face change from grief to unadulterated anger, and his breath hitched in his throat and the amount of pure hatred he saw reflected in his friend's eyes. It was also in that moment that it clicked in Remus's head that Sirius was about to do something he shouldn't do. "Sirius don't," he whispered, afraid to disturb the animal that was building up inside of the man in front of him. He didn't have the chance to react before Sirius had appareted away, and Remus felt his heart clench painfully as he stared at the spot where Sirius had been standing moments ago.

All that was left was the shattered picture frame of him and his three best friends. As he appareted away after Sirius, he hoped and he prayed to whatever god was out there that he wouldn't be the only one left when morning came.