Went into another one of my 'looking too much into it' fits. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Much of the dialogue came from Chapter 5: Fallen Warrior from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which is where this little excerpt-ish type of story would fit in.
When Bill returned with news of Mad-Eye's death, Remus felt his stomach clench, first with grief, then with suspicion. Hadn't Mundungus, the most untrustworthy of them all, been with Mad-Eye?
"We saw it," Bill said. Fleur nodded, silently crying. "It happened just after we broke out of the circle: Mad-Eye and Dung were close by us, they were heading north too. Voldemort - he can fly - went straight for them. Dung panicked, I heard him cry out, Mad-Eye tried to stop him, but he disapparated. Voldemort's curse hit Mad-Eye full in the face; he fell backwards off his broom and-there was nothing we could do, nothing, we had half a dozen of them on our tail-"
"Of course you couldn't have done anything," Remus said, and then fell silent, following everybody as they went into the living room.
Fred and George were laughing, Fred crouching down next to his twin brother and best friend who lay down on the couch. However, they realised something was wrong right away.
"What's wrong?" Fred said. "What's happened? Who's - ?"
"Mad-Eye. Dead," Mr. Weasley said.
Fred and George's faces of worry turned into grimaces.
Dora cried silently into a hankerchief, and Remus felt a pang in his chest. He knew that his wife had been close to Mad-Eye, even looked to him as a surrogate grandfather of sorts. The loss struck her the hardest, he knew.
Hagrid dabbed at his eyes with an oversized handkechief, hiccuping and already half-drunk.
Bill sent around glasses of firewhiskey. He raised his own glass, "Mad-Eye."
"Mad-Eye," Everybody echoed. Remus downed his glass in one.
"So Mundungus disappeared?" He said, more of a statement than a question. He tried to keep the accusation out of his voice, but even he could hear it. After all, isn't that what the guilty did after their crimes? Disappear, just as Peter had done?
"I know what you're thinking," Bill said. "And I wondered that too, on the way back here, because they seemed to be expecting us, didn't they? But Mundungus can't have betrayed us. They didn't know there would be seven Harrys, that confused them the moment we appeared, and in case you've forgotten, it was Mundungus who suggested that little bit of skullduggery. Why wouldn't he have told them the essential point? I think Dung panicked, it's as simple as that. He didn't want to come in the first place, but Mad-Eye made him, and You-Know-Who went straight for them: it was enough to make anyone panic."
Remus had to admit, Bill's words made sense. But he still could not expell the sense of suspicion. Years of loss and grief had conditioned him to rely on his skepticism and distrust.
"You-Know-Who acted exactly as Mad-Eye expected him to. Mad-Eye said he'd expect the real Harry to be with the toughest, most skilled Aurors. He chased Mad-Eye first, and when Mundungus gave them away he switched to Kingsley..." Sniffed Tonks.
"Yes, and zat eez all very good, but still eet does not explain 'ow zey knew we were moving 'Arry tonight, does eet? Someone must 'ave been careless. Somebody let slip ze date to an outsider. Eet eez ze only explanation for zem knowing ze date but not ze 'ole plan," Fleur added hostilely, glaring accusingly around the room.
"No," Harry said aloud, and they all looked at him, surprised: The firewhiskey seemed to have amplified his voice. "I mean . . . if somebody made a mistake," Harry went on, "and let something slip, I know they didn't mean to do it. It's not their fault," he repeated, again a little louder than he would usually have spoken. "We've got to trust each other. I trust all of you, I don't think anyone in this room would ever sell me to Voldemort."
Remus was forcibly reminded of a time when another raven-haired boy said the exact same thing...
James paced the room back and forth, running a hand through his messy hair out of habit. Lily was sitting on the couch, holding baby Harry in her arms, a worried look on her pale face.
"James, sit down, you're making me nervous," she said, her voice shaking. James stopped pacing, but remained standing.
Albus Dumbledore also sat on the couch, and across the room sat James' best friends and fellow Marauders: Sirius, Remus, and Peter.
"James, Lily, you must act quickly. Lord Voldemort knows of the prophecy, and I fear that he will act soon," Dumbledore reminded the couple of the reason that they were all there.
"Yeah, yeah..." James appeared to be deep in thought.
"Chose your Secret Keeper wisely," the old wizard said. "This is not a matter to be taken lightly. I would suggest meeting with each candidate privately and telling them. I believe that it would be best to keep the identity of your Secret Keeper ambiguous."
James looked at Dumbledore sharply. "There's no need to keep our Secret Keeper's identity a secret from anybody here. We've got to trust each other. I trust all of you, I don't think anyone in this room would ever sell me, Lily, or Harry to Voldemort."
"Well said, James," Sirius said, getting up and slapping him on the back.
"Yeah James. Your trust means a lot to us." Remus said, but stayed put in his seat.
Dumbledore, who trusted people to a ridiculous extent sometimes, looked skeptical behind his half-moon spectacles.
'We were so young then...' Remus thought with sadness. 'So naive...' The look on his face mirrored his thoughts, and Remus looked at Harry with a hint of pity.
"You think I'm a fool?" demanded Harry.
"No, I think you're like James," said Lupin, "who would have regarded it as the height of dishonor to mistrust his friends."
Remus turned and addressed the business of Mad-Eye's body before Harry could say anything back to him, hoping that he wouldn't make the same mistakes his father had...
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