I do not own Harry Potter, nor the characters, just the ideas that got this story running.
"I could never hurt him enough to make his betrayal stop hurting. And it hurts in every part of my body." -Veronica Roth
The Potters were dead. Of course, Remus knew it was only a matter of time before Sirius let their secret slip, just like he let everything slip. But no, Sirius wouldn't do that, everyone had shrieked, had cried. Bullshit.
"He's a fucking spy!" Sirius had shouted at Remus from across the room. The former Black heir looked worse for wear, with cuts and scrapes all across his face and body. The Prewett brothers had to restrain him, to keep him from ripping Remus's throat out. "He knew we were going to be there. He was the only one that knew. He told them!"
Remus figured it would only be a matter of time before the Black family madness set in on his former best friend. When James mentioned he wanted Sirius to be his and Lily's Secret Keeper, Remus had tried to talk them out of it. Sirius was losing it. Not to mention he was too much like the rest of his family. It was only a matter of time before he went bad, just like the rest of them did.
Sirius and Frank Longbottom had been assigned to keep a close eye on Greyback's pack, not knowing that Remus was among them, on Dumbledore's orders of course. Sirius, as Padfoot, had been watching the pack closely, wanting to hear something. Frank was under James's invisibility cloak.
"He'll do the same thing he does every Saturday, go to the local pub, have a few drinks with his neighbor friends, and go back home," Remus said to Greyback. He'd arranged a plan with Dumbledore on what to say to the werewolf pack, had been instructed to give them half-truths. He frowned when he thought he heard a low growl coming from nearby.
Frank had had to restrain Padfoot from ripping Remus's throat out.
Remus sighed and started packing up his things. There was no way in hell he was going to continue living in his shitty flat one town over from where his best friends had been murdered by the darkest wizard in a century, especially not when his other, former best friend had been the one to betray them. Not to mention werewolves always seemed to be the first ones blamed.
"Information keeps getting leaked," Fabian sighed and shook his head. He had managed to escape the Death Eaters, though barely. He'd been tortured nearly to insanity, and it had taken days for him to get most of his mind back. "There has to be a leak," he shook his head again.
"Three guesses who," Sirius turned to glare at Remus.
"Twelve Muggles dead," Remus sighed and he read through the copy of the Daily Prophet he'd managed to bum off a man in the Leaky Cauldron. "One curse." His heart skipped a beat when he saw they'd found Peter, or rather Peter's finger.
"That whole Black family was fucked to begin with if you ask me," a drunken twenty-something said to him. "Not one good one in that lot. Not one."
Remus couldn't help but agree with that. It was ironic, the whole thing, he thought as he took a large gulp from whatever cheap alcohol he'd ordered. He couldn't remember anymore. Sirius had been framing him when Sirius turned out to be the spy. And why shouldn't he have? It was brilliant. No one was going to trust the word of a werewolf. The words seemed to go together too well. "Notorious mass murderer, Sirius Black."
Remus had woken up unable to move his hands or feet. Fabian, one of the Order's better members when it came to getting information out of people was standing over him. Remus couldn't help but think the half-sanity played a part there. He struggled to remember how he'd gotten into that situation. He had been speaking with Greyback, then Sirius and Frank had confronted him, then everything had gone black…
"I really hate traitors," Fabian said coldly. "Granted I'm not surprised you turned out to be one, werewolf scum." Remus couldn't believe how fast the people he had thought were his friends had turned on him. He told himself he wouldn't scream.
He lied.
Remus was completely alone in the world. His best friends were dead. The man he thought had been his best friend had betrayed them all, gone completely mental, and got himself life in Azkaban. He couldn't help but think the bastard deserved it, though. He'd betrayed them. He'd killed all those Muggles. He'd destroyed Peter. He'd readily given Remus up to be tortured with little information to go on. Remus had been damn lucky Dumbledore found out and put a stop to it.
Remus hadn't been free a week when the news came. "The Prewett brothers are dead," James sighed and sat across from the werewolf. He had been the only one not to suspect Remus. The others hadn't even apologized when Dumbledore set them straight. "Caradoc's missing."
Remus went tense. That wasn't going to look good, not when barely a week had passed since the incident involving Fabian. James didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. Remus knew the look. He knew James didn't trust him.
Remus slammed the door to his flat. He'd been turned down for another position because of his condition. It wasn't fair. He kicked his beat-up folding chair, one of the few pieces of furniture he owned, and punched the wall hard. It wasn't until he caught his reflection in his small, cracked mirror that he realized he'd been crying.
"We think it would be best if you spent some time in the northern part of the country," Dumbledore looked over at Remus, who was trying to keep a neutral expression. He knew what they were doing. They were keeping him as far away from the Order and its secrets as they could.
Remus growled when he saw a picture of him, Sirius, and Peter from their fifth year. He couldn't help but think they all looked so young. That had been before the Shrieking Shack incident (another reason to distrust Sirius, at least in Remus's opinion), before they'd gotten involved with the Order, before things had gotten so damn complicated. "They trusted you," he screamed at the Sirius in the picture, the Sirius he thought he had known. Without thinking, he ripped the photograph in half and sank to the floor. "We trusted you."