So I realise that it was clarified that James' parents were actually Fleamont and Euphoria and they weren't a Healer or an Auror but for the sake of this story I've decided to change it a bit (that and the fact that I like the names Dorea and Charlus a lot more).

Please tell me what you think of Remus, kinda what you pictured, or not really?

Thanks guys!

*Edited as of 09.04.2017*

He didn't think they'd go so far. They told him they wouldn't. He'd believed them.

He should have seen it coming. He knew it was only a matter of time before something happened. But this? Had he really readied himself for the possibility of so much pain?

As the rest of the house lay dark and quiet, Remus could only blink up at the roof. He'd uttered his last words of the day an eternity ago. He had said them to James, who, from the soft yet uneven breathing coming from the other side of the room, seemed to be just as awake as Remus was now.

Their last words to each other hadn't been ones of well wishes, of wishing pleasant dreams. No, the days of such sentiments were well and truly behind them now.

No matter how much he thought he'd prepared himself for all the realities of life, nothing could have prepared him for hearing the desperate, harrowing way in which Sirius had called for James that afternoon. And nothing, nothing could have prepared him for the sight that met them at the end of those cries.

Blood, so much blood. Remus was used to blood, from him and occasionally from the boys. But not this much, not the amount that had painted Sirius' left leg that oozed in thick coats from the jagged gash that tore down its length. But even that amount was nothing compared to the amount coming from what Sirius held in his shaking arms.

Lyra.

Remus was sure that that was the only thing repeating itself over and over in his mind, like a mantra.

Lyra, Lyra, Lyra.

The next hours were a blur. A slow-motion tumult of painful cries, hurried voices, curses, shouts and tears.

There seemed to be some time missing. One second he had been taking Lyra from Sirius as the boy collapsed against James' shoulder, the next thing he was carrying her again, this time guided by Mrs Potter as Remus brought Lyra to the guest bedroom.

She was too quiet, too still. Remus longed for her to say something, do anything. Because then he'd know she was alright, he'd know that he was worrying for no reason, as per usual she would say. But she just lay there, unmoving on the bed and he didn't realise how long he'd been standing over her, watching her.

Lyra, Lyra, Lyra.

Some time ago Mrs Potter had conjured up a fresh set of clothes had gently taken off Lyra's blood soaked clothes and exchanged them for clean, fresh pyjamas. She, with the help of Remus, had tucked Lyra into the bed, lifting the covers around the girl, placing her scarred arms on top. As she passed, Dorea placed a consoling hand on Remus' arm. Of it would have been if he'd noticed it.

Lyra, Lyra –

'For Merlin's sake, Sirius!'

Sirius?

It was like being dowsed in a bucket of iced water, it seeped quickly through Remus' skin and strangled his insides.

His feet took him thoughtlessly back into the Potter's sitting room.

Sirius, pale and sweaty, sat in the armchair he had fallen into when he'd arrived, but it was clear that he no longer had any wishes in remaining there.

James was holding onto Sirius, he pushed down on one shoulder whilst his father pushed down on the other. Remus could do nothing other than watch.

'It's okay, Sirius! Lyra's okay!' James said through clenched teeth, all his remaining energy going in to keeping Sirius sitting.

'Like hell she is!' Sirius' voice was terrifying, it was hoarse and hollow but it came out in a fierce growl that did nothing to melt the ice pounding through Remus' veins.

'Hold him still, Charlus!'

Remus hadn't even noticed Mrs Potter kneeling on the floor by Sirius' feet. She held her wand out steady, ducking and weaving, obviously trying to get to the gaping wound running the length of the back of Sirius' leg. But Sirius was outright thrashing now.

Remus jumped when a flash of red light hit Sirius squarely in the chest and the boy slumped, unconscious, his head lolling to one side.

James gave Remus a terrified look, shiny with unshed tears, whilst Dorea huffed a thank you to her husband. Remus hadn't even noticed that Charlus had moved away from Sirius in order to cast the stunning spell.

Dorea and Charlus then set about fixing Sirius' wounds. The leg wound took top priority but there was plenty else to occupy them, the least of all was a nasty purple bruise on the side of his head.

James had let go of Sirius as soon as he saw the stunner coming. Looking dazed and not really focussing on anything or anyone in particular, James left the room in silence. Remus followed behind him into Charlus' study.

Without talking, James found an old and battered looking tome on the bookshelf. He turned it on it's side gently. The book grew until it took up the entire corner of the shelf on which it sat, where the title used to be, a handle had grown. James took hold and lifted the spine of the book, revealing a secret compartment. He extracted a bottle of Firewhiskey from it's depths and walked to his father's desk, filling the tumblers Remus had found in the bottom shelf half way. Taking one for himself, James pushed the other one towards Remus before falling back into one of the high-backed chairs.

At some point in the afternoon the two boys were joined by James' parents. They poured themselves each a glass before lowering themselves into the two remaining chairs around the table. Silence fell over the room like a thick fog.

'Did either of you know?'

Mr Potter's voice came to Remus as if he were underwater, it was muffled, sluggish.

Looking across to James, Remus wasn't sure the bespectacled boy was capable of speaking, he wasn't sure he was either. All the muscles within him seemed to have vanished. The mere thought of talking was exhausting.

'Not this much,' James croaked, swallowing thickly before taking another sip of his Firewhiskey.

Remus nodded in agreement. Between Sirius' sarcasm and Lyra's shrugs, it was true that none of them had realised that their home life had become this bad.

Charlus rubbed his face and Remus fleetingly wondered how long the man had had so much grey in his hair, and so many wrinkles about his face.

Remus desperately wanted to ask the question that had slowly become his new mantra. Still he found he couldn't open his mouth long enough to do anything other than take another sip from his glass. And he didn't know whether to tense or to relax when James voiced that mantra.

'How bad …' He trailed off, unable or unwilling to finish.

Now it was Dorea's turn to shuffle in her seat. She gave a short, soft sigh before leaning forwards, looking firmly between the two boys. 'I'm not going to lie to either of you.'

Remus' chest squeezed painfully.

'If the last few hours have proved anything to me it's that both of you can handle the reality of this.' She turned to look out into the hall before addressing them again. 'They're both stable. I expect Sirius to regain consciousness later this evening and when that happens he'll need your support.' She was clear, firm but heartfelt and understanding, the perfect blend for a Healer dealing with a sensitive case. 'Because I don't expect that Lyra will be waking up anytime soon.'

Lyra, Lyra, Lyra.

The words, that tragic melody, had returned. And it was deafening.

As Dorea turned her Healer's gaze on him, she saw something in his face that had that detached, clam mask melt slightly.

'She will wake up, Remus,' she assured him. 'But she's still critical and she's going to have a pretty tough recovery.' Her throat bobbed, the only sign of difficulty on her end. 'Dark Magic isn't exactly designed for quick healing.'

XXXXXX

It was a while before the group silently split up and left the study, leaving the nearly empty bottle of Firewhiskey sitting forgotten on the desk.

Mr Potter left the house under the pretext of doing some work in the shed. Remus spotted him soon afterwards waving his wand in a rather complicated pattern around the perimeter of the house. No doubt reinforcing the estate's protection. For some reason this did not make Remus feel any better, in fact, it may have made him feel worse.

James retreated to his room upstairs, Remus thought about following him but he had the sneaking suspicion that James would be writing Lily. The two had become rather avid pen pals over the holidays.

Mrs Potter went straight to the guest bedroom. Initially, Remus had made to follow her. He made it a meter from the door when he stopped abruptly. The memory of the blood-soaked twins held his legs still. Steadying his breathing, he willed the vision to vanish.

Sirius was awake when Remus entered the room. The raven haired boy had rolled onto his side and was watching, unblinking, as Mrs Potter checked over Lyra. Mrs Potter took a jar from the bedside table, unscrewed it and applied a thick, pink paste to a cut running along Lyra's right arm and to a few cuts that littered her face.

Those cuts on her pale skin seemed to taunt him, they screamed at him. He turned to look at Sirius instead.

He doubted his friend even realised Mrs Potter was in the room let alone recognising Remus' presence. From the looks of it, Sirius might have been in a trance, he may even have been in shock from the way he was staring. That was until a single tear leaked from Sirius' eye and trailed down his cheek.

Remus turned away from him too. But suddenly, there was nowhere else to look.

XX

The last thing that ran through Remus' head before sleep finally took him was that this may have been the longest day of his life.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

'What do you mean "they left"?'

Regulus tried as hard as he could to meet the hard stare of Lucius Malfoy, which proved a difficult thing despite the older man's face being so close to his. A small trembling part of him was regretting ever coming to Malfoy Manor in the first place. But it was a very small part and the part of him that felt duty-bound to report what had just happened had easily overpowered it.

'My mother tried to stop him, but,'

'And what were you doing during all this?' Malfoy glared at him from across the table, his hands still pressed hard into the polished wood of the table.

'I tried to stop him as well!' Regulus tried again, starting to get frustrated by Malfoy's dismissiveness. He was all too aware however of the lack of conviction in his own voice. He had tried to stop Sirius, when he had been in his bedroom, watching his brother prepare to leave and to take Lyra with him. Regulus had followed Sirius down the hall, after he had gathered his wits, but he still remembered how he'd frozen half way down the steps as he watched his mother unleash hell on her own son.

'I don't give a damn about your pathetic excuse of a brother, Black!' Lucius growled at him. 'And neither will the Dark Lord. You should've stopped him from taking her!'

'He never would have left her there!' Regulus' calm broke, finally. He felt this whole conversation was a pointless waste of time. He couldn't think of any situation in which Sirius would've left the house and left Lyra behind. The faster Malfoy accepted that fact the better it would be for the both of them. 'What does she have to do with anything anyway?'

Lucius held his stern gaze for another moment before sighing, leaning away and slumping back down in his chair. He ran a hand over his pale, pointed face, it came to rest over his eyes.

'Where are they now?'

Regulus thought it best not to provoke him further, he'd try and rehash that particular line of questioning later. 'My guess would be the Potters. But their house is one of the most protected dwellings in Britain, trying to penetrate it would be pointless.'

Lucius got up and strode over to the side table, he poured himself a honey coloured drink. 'What in Merlin's name were your parents thinking, Regulus.' He put the stopper back in the crystal decanter and returned to the table. A wide-eyed Regulus watched him cross the room.

'What will he do to them?'

'I'm not sure,' Lucius took a sip. 'If they were within arm's reach, I have no doubt that he would punish them on the spot.' Seeing the relief that overcame Regulus, Lucius said, louder this time, 'But that does not mean that he won't seek them out and punish them later, you should be thankful that your families house is well hidden. The fact that you have confided in me your desire to take the mark soon may just be enough to save you from punishment, but you will have to prove yourself, your worth to the Dark Lord and his cause.' Regulus was just about to release the breath he had been holding until Lucius spoke again, softer this time, as if he was speaking to himself. 'We'll just have to wait until they return to Hogwarts.'

Regulus tried to keep his breathing steady as he tried again. 'Why her?'

Lucius considered him for a moment. 'You're right,' Regulus furrowed his brow but Lucius continued, not noticing. 'Apart from being sorted into Gryffindor as well, she didn't even come close to being as noteworthy as your unfortunate brother.' He paused again. 'Let's just say that the Dark Lord has come across some information regarding her and is most eager in having it confirmed.'

Regulus didn't need any more explanation. He knew exactly what kind of information the Dark Lord might have stumbled upon regarding his siblings. But they were rumours. They were nothing but unsubstantiated gossip spread by jealous pureblood housewives and then perpetuated in order to cover up disappointments. The Dark Lord couldn't possibly believe any of them, surely. If he did though, that meant that his sister might be in a terrible amount of danger, as well as his mother.

'And you might have a role play in that, Regulus,' Lucius pointed a finger to him, pulling Regulus out of his disbelieving stupor. 'The Dark Lord is not often denied what he desires, and when he is, he doesn't stop until he gets it.'