Remus' friends were all surprised when he told them the news about Camellia. And James was shocked to hear that they wanted to get married in only a month. No one had really expected Camellia to move that quickly. And they were only nineteen; they hardly classified as adults and here they were getting married.
It was going to be a small wedding. Camellia didn't have any close relatives, and Remus only had his parents. His mother had fallen ill, and they weren't sure if she'd be able to make it. The news wasn't great, and the morning after they'd found out Camellia had insisted that they cuddle in bed for another hour.
James, Lily, Sirius, and Peter were all coming, as well as Anna and Mark. Anna was to be Camellia's maid of honor-Camellia had insisted on that much. Remus had noticed Peter acting down as of late, so he'd asked Peter to be his best man. He hadn't seen Peter smile quite as widely as he did in that moment.
Remus assumed that purebloods were used to having large weddings, though Camellia seemed relieved to not have to deal with that. She was currently out with Sirius, buying a wedding dress. He had no idea how she'd managed to convince Sirius to take her, but she had. They'd all found that fairly amusing. Then again, she had grown incredibly close to Sirius. Remus sometimes wondered if her old friendship with Regulus had something to do with the development. He didn't really care too much; Remus was just happy that they got along.
Days passed, and each one ended with Remus lying in bed next to Camellia. He did enjoy getting to cuddle up next to her each night and hear the steady sound of her breathing. They were alive, and together, and that was more than some others could say.
They usually ended up talking for a good hour after their first laid down. Remus was surprised that they still hadn't run out of things to talk about yet, because they spent so much time chatting with each other. And now they were laying next to each other in a comfortable silence, and Remus couldn't help but to think about how much he loved her. Whenever he thought about that, though, Remus would think about how easily he could lose her in the war. They'd been together for a while now, and he wasn't really sure what he'd do without her. Remus knew it was bad to depend so much on her, but she depended on him too. It worked, for them at least.
"You're thinking about something, I can tell," Camellia said quietly. She'd shifted until her back was facing him and his arm was draped over her stomach, though that made sure he couldn't see her face at all. He almost wanted to sigh; Remus loved watching her eyes when they talked. They'd light up, and that would make him smile.
"Just about how much I love you," Remus said quietly, hugging Camellia a little tighter.
"I don't want to lose you either," she answered quietly. Remus chose not to wonder how she'd known.
"I… I'm glad you want to stay with me," Remus said softly. "Well make it through the war, and we'll be okay along with all our friends. Evil never wins, right?"
Camellia nodded, and took Remus' hand so she could kiss the back of it. "We'll be just fine, and so will our friends,"
"Maybe I'll be able to get a nice job," Remus said. "You'd have your book, and we'll be happy," Remus could tell that Camellia was starting to drift off, because she only nodded and made a small noise of commitment. "I could teach, eventually. Maybe? I'd love to teach. James, Sirius, and Pete think I'd be a great teacher. They even got me a briefcase for when it happens. If it happens," Camellia was asleep by then, and Remus soon followed suit.
Time seemed to fly after that night, until Remus was standing in the Potter's garden near the makeshift ceremony space. It had been the easiest place for Remus' mother to go, besides their own home, and the garden looked really nice. James had offered it up, and Sirius had helped to decorate. Remus was surprised at how nice it looked, because of that fact. But then again, Sirius would want things to look beautiful for Camellia; he wouldn't ruin it on purpose.
He was nervous. They were getting married, they were only nineteen, and there was a long list of things that could go wrong. They could die, or fall out of love, or Remus could accidentally attack her, or- "Mate, calm down," James said from beside him. "She loves you, and you love her, and everything will be fine,"
"Yeah, Moony, and think about it. She wouldn't marry you if she wasn't sure about it," Sirius said
Lily was about to add her piece, but at that moment Pete came running over to them. He looked worried, which made Remus worried as well. "Pete?" Sirius asked, noticing the fear as well. "Pete, what's wrong?"
"She's gone, Remus-" His heart sunk, and his face burned red in shame. She hadn't wanted to marry him after all. "-there was so much blood I thought I'd be sick; I don't know what happened or if it was hers, but it was all over your flat,"
His friends were staring at him, and Remus looked around in confusion. Blood? "Could...Could you repeat that?"
"She told me that she had to pop back to your flat to get a necklace or something like that. I waited, and then I figured it had taken too long so I went over too and the flat was covered in blood. I don't know whose it was, but it looked like there had been a struggle. I'm sorry, Remus, I should have gone with her and made sure she was alright. I wasn't thinking,"
"It's not your fault, Pete," James said, quickly trying to comfort his friend. He glanced at Lily and saw a horrified look on her face, so he put an arm around her shoulders. "Remus, are you… are you thinking what I am?"
Remus nodded numbly, still trying to process everything. It didn't make sense; his mother wanted Camellia to wear one of her necklaces. They'd planned on it, so why would Camellia just go back home? Had she been put under the Imperius Curse? "Rosier?"
An hour later, they were all sitting in an old house that the Order used for emergency meetings. And the abduction of one of their own, in Remus' opinion, meant that there had to be an emergency meeting. Especially because it was Camellia who'd gone missing. Remus was more worried than he'd ever been before, and he was sure that something would go terribly wrong and he'd never get the chance to see her again. Rosier would kill her, or another one of the Death Eaters would, or she'd escape and never come back to Remus because he'd failed to protect her.
Lily was holding his hand. She was the only one of his friends at the meeting now. James, Sirius, and Peter had all gone to check out his flat, and Remus had been told not to go back for a while. Lily had stated that he would be staying with her and James, and hadn't given him any other choice. She was, however, doing very well at comforting him. Order members were talking about their theories, and about where they thought her body might turn up. Everyone seemed to be convinced that the blood at his flat meant that Camellia was already dead, or very close to dying. The thought of that made Remus' stomach churn; he'd already thrown up once. Then again, the full moon was in another few days and he knew that probably had to do with him feeling sick as well.
"Remus," Lily whispered, ignoring Frank Longbottom saying that they could get the aurors at the Ministry to help look for her, since she still relatively young and there was foul play suspected. Alastor Moody, Frank said, would have agreed but Alastor Moody was out looking for someone else at the moment. "Remus, I think… I think she'll be okay,"
He glanced at Lily and sighed; if no one else thought that, then how could it be true? "Lily, the odds of that being the case…" He had to think logically, he knew, even though he was really bad at it. But thinking only with his emotions would have him already out looking for Camellia instead of just sitting in a chair.
"But Remus, think about it," Lily said quietly. "Rosier only ever wanted to play with her, and make her feel uncomfortable and scared. What fun, for him, would killing her provide? And we're all fairly sure it's Rosier, since he's disappeared today as well. He's...He's doing this for his own amusement, I think. I don't believe this is something the other Death Eaters are in on. At least not yet,"
"But then the blood…"
"It could be fake," Lily suggested. "They use it for things in the muggle world, fake blood. Or maybe Camellia put up a fight, and maybe she's injured, but maybe she injured him too. I just… I can't think that she's...that she's dead. Remus, she's our friend. We can't just assume,"
The meeting continued, Remus sitting in silence because he can't help but think about what Lily had said. If Camellia was okay, that meant there was a chance she could come back. He could see her again, if she was okay. Hope, he knew, was a dangerous thing.
That night, Lily dragged him back to her home with James. In the end, Sirius and James were there as well. Peter, they were told, had to go visit his mother. Remus didn't mind, and he knew that Peter felt a bit guilty for what had happened. He'd have to explain to his friend that he wasn't to blame, not at all, and that it was Remus who was. He should have believed her when she told him about Rosier's threat, and he should have taken it more seriously. He should have put up better enchantments, and he should have made sure she wasn't alone.
Sirius poured everyone a drink, and he and James and Lily talked theories while Remus sat and thought. He should have made sure she wasn't alone; he should have- "Remus, you should get some rest," Lily said gently, patting his shoulder. "You can go help look in the morning, we won't stop you, but get some sleep so you're not feeling awful, okay?"
"I already feel awful, Lily," Remus said. "She's gone, and it's…"
"Not your fault," Sirius supplied, looking at Remus with a frown. "We'll all go out in the morning, okay? And we'll find her, and she'll be fine. She's our friend, Remus. We won't just leave her,"
Remus nodded slightly, though he wasn't at all reassured by his friend. He wanted Camellia back; he wanted to get to marry the girl he loved. "We'll find her?" He asked softly, and his friends all nodded. Lily hugged him tightly, and Remus hugged her back. The rest of their night was spent trying to figure out where Evan Rosier would take Camellia.
Three weeks later his mother passed away. Remus had no idea how to handle it, and for a while he just sat in his flat doing nothing. It was James who got him out, promising chocolate and someone to talk to. He wished it could have been Camellia. Still, having his friends around did help, at least for a while. Remus stopped seeing them as often has he had been when he realized how hard of a time his father was having. Remus decided to go and stay with him, which meant leaving his flat. He wanted to stay, in case Camellia turned up. She might not want to go home, but at least she'd know where he was. But three weeks had gone by. Any hope for finding her was slim, according to everyone he spoke with. And his father needed him. Surely Camellia would understand that when she came back? If she came back.
Living at home without his mother was odd. Well, living at home after being on his own for so long was odd, if Remus was being honest. He loved seeing his father, and to be with someone who missed his mother as much as he did made Remus feel a bit better. His father asked about Camellia every now and then, which was hard, but Remus found comfort in his father's soothing words.
He stayed there for another month, trying to function normally without Camellia and his mother. His father started doing better around the third week, or at least functioning slightly normally instead of wallowing in sadness. Remus knew that his father would be okay eventually, and that thought was the one that allowed him to start attending Order meetings again. Not one person mentioned Camellia's name, or any plans to try and find her. It made Remus furious, but he couldn't say anything because the other things they were focusing on were important too.
What really bothered him was the fact that his friends were being silent about Camellia. They saw him, and they knew how he felt about Camellia and how worried he actually was. Remus managed to convince himself that his friends had turned their backs on her, which he knew was wrong, but he still felt angry. Because he was angry, he started volunteering for more and more missions, and Dumbledore started sending him to the werewolves again.
Months passed, where Remus hardly saw his friends and his father. He missed them, and he wished he could spend more than a couple of days in their presence, but the missions kept his mind busy. If he was working on something for the Order then he couldn't think about Camellia, or the fact that she'd been missing for months at that point. Mindless activity, he decided, was better than thinking about her day in and day out.
Remus knew that Evan Rosier had her. He just didn't know where she was being kept. Frank Longbottom had managed to perform a raid on the Rosier's manor, and she hadn't been found. There was no other logical place for her to be kept, which was probably why the Order assumed she was dead. But Remus would know if she was, wouldn't he? He loved Camellia; he'd know if something had happened to her.
Finally, though, things paused when James and Lily had their wedding. Remus went back to his friends, and while Sirius gave him cold looks, James, Lily, and Peter all smiled and hugged him. They were happy he was back, and Remus knew that he should have been happy as well. But he couldn't help but to be jealous, because James and Lily got to have the perfect wedding. It was one he could have imagined himself having with Camellia, had they gotten the chance. He was reminded that day of how much he missed her, though that wasn't too uncommon by that point.
There were people taking pictures at the reception. Remus knew he had to stay, despite wanting to go home and just lay in bed for a few days. He ended up forcing wide smiles in the pictures so that James and Lily could remember how happy the day had been, fifty years down the road, instead of thinking about the sadness he'd felt. He wouldn't ruin their day for them, not like that.
Remus ends up staying long after James and Lily have left for the night. He helps clean up first, and then, because the wedding had been in the Potter's garden, he stayed around and talked with Sirius and Peter. Sirius still looked distrustful, but Remus tried to ignore that. He couldn't figure out why Sirius seemed to dislike him so suddenly, but it made Remus feel self conscious and worried that the rest of his friends would start to dislike him too. Maybe he'd done something wrong? But he couldn't figure out what he'd done; he hadn't even been around to upset Sirius. Unless… Unless Sirius knew something he didn't?
Peter left first, and for a few minutes Remus and Sirius just sat in silence. Finally, though, Remus asked, "Did you find something out?"
Sirius glanced at him, and said, "What do you mean?"
"I just… You seem like you're mad at me, and I can't figure out why, and the only thing...the only thing I can think of, Sirius, is that you know something about Camellia and you're blaming me for it. If that's the case, I… I'm sorry, I…"
Sirius sighed, and shook his head. "It's not like that. And I'm not… I'm not mad at you," he said. "I'm just...I don't know; everything is stressful now, and I guess I'm taking it out on you. I'm sorry about that,"
Remus sighed as well, but nodded. "It's fine. I'm stressed too. I'm...I guess I'd kind of hoped that you knew something about her, just so… just so I could know what had happened, but it's better that we don't know, in the end,"
"Hey, we'll find her eventually," Sirius said softly. "Don't you worry,"
But there was still nothing after that night. Remus would always hope to find her, but everyone around him thought she was dead, and their words had started to stick in his mind. He didn't know how to combat them, and every day got more and more stressful. Remus could only hope that things would get better soon.
Another month passed, and Lily and James announced that Lily was going to have their first child. Their friends all celebrated, and Remus actually forgot, for just a little while, how terrified he was that everyone else was right when it came to Camellia.