Taking a deep breath, Remus softly knocked on Sirius' bedroom door before entering when getting a soft reply.

At the sight of his two friends seated on the ground surrounded by books, he hesitated on the threshold; unsure if he really wanted to go through with this but before he could change his mind, Sirius looked up and immediately seemed to sense something was wrong as he shut the book he'd been reading.

Looking up at the sound, James only spared him a glance before closing his own book and making to get up. "I'll go get a drink."

"I...you..." While he was beyond grateful his bespectacled friend seemed to realise he was aiming to speak with Sirius alone, he couldn't help the flash of anger and pain that went through him as he wondered how much the other knew; if Sirius had told James while keeping it a secret from him since neither questioned his presence at the Manor.

"You can stay here and keep researching, we'll go for a walk instead," Sirius' expression was unreadable as he got to his feet; retrieving a small piece of rolled up parchment from the desk before crossing the room and Remus' anger intensified as he realised his friend knew why he wanted to speak to him alone. "Come with me."

The lingering silence between them reminded Remus eerily of the time after the disastrous prank, tension hanging in the air between them as they walked down the stairs and Sirius indicated he should follow him into a side corridor.

Aunt Dorea came out of a side room, carrying a cup of tea, coming to a stop as she caught sight of them. "Remus? What... is everything all right?"

Warm eyes, so much like her adoptive son's gazed down at him in worry and he had to fight back tears at the motherly tone; not trusting himself to speak.

"It's all right, Mum," Sirius came to his rescue, sending her a little half smile and handed over the roll before holding open another side door. "We'll just need a bit of time. If I'm not back before tea, James knows to come get me."

"All right, dear," something passed between them but although Remus felt guilt wash over him at the worried frown between her eyebrows as her fingers closed over the roll of parchment; his anger at her sons was stronger so he only gave a half hearted wave while ducking through the door opening; Sirius following behind him through.

"The library should be deserted right now since Dad's not back yet."

Mutely following behind him as his friend took the lead, dread filled him as he wasn't quite sure he'd be able to keep a hold of his temper and all too soon they arrived at the library where Sirius closed the door behind them, casting a Muffliato Charm before sitting down at the table and Remus automatically took the seat across from him.

"I...have you...I mean..." he wasn't sure if he was grateful or not that the other didn't interrupt him while he struggled to gather his thoughts. "Mum's sick."

"I know," Sirius confirmed softly.

"How long have you known?" He fought to control his anger once more as if he had understood his mother correctly; Sirius had known for weeks already but hadn't told him.

"Since January," clearing his throat, Sirius looked down guiltily.

"You've known...why didn't you tell me?"

"She wanted to be the one to tell you and I respected that."

Part of him was infuriated at the unbendable way Sirius kept secrets that weren't his to keep and he wanted to yell, scream and throw things around in anger. But the smaller, more logical part of him respected his friend's loyalty and ability to keep a secret, even from those he was closest to no matter how difficult it had to have been and he appreciated he had respected his mother's wish to tell him herself and that was enough to deflate his anger.

"Did...did she tell you?" It was something he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to or had dared to ask his mother and she hadn't elaborated beyond the fact that Sirius was helping her.

"No, I noticed something off about her scent when Dad and I visited her for the whole legal emancipation thing and it came up a week or two later when she asked what was bothering me."

"She said you've been helping her..." trailing off, Remus swallowed; not sure how to ask his next question.

"I can't heal her," Sirius seemed aware of what he was thinking and his stomach dropped at the confirmation of what his mother had already said.

"Why not? What's a tumour to a wizard? You have a way with magic unlike anyone else. Even your Mum admitted that your flair for magic is unlike anything she's ever seen before and she's been a Healer for most of her life."

"I'm sure there are a lot of people out there much more talented than I am and I do promise I am doing everything I can to help her, but I can't heal her."

"It's just a tumour, surely you could fix her," he insisted; after all, the things he'd seen Sirius do with his magic was amazing and something as cancer would be a silly nothing to a wizard.

"If it was just one tumour, I probably could have," Sirius hesitated. "But it's not. If she had gone to the Healers the moment the main tumour began to develop, they might've been able to do something for her but as it was, she herself didn't even notice something was wrong until it was much too late already."

"How many are we talking about then? Two, three? Magic should still be able to fix that," he pressed on, unable to take no for an answer.

"Magic can't fix everything, Rem," finally those warm grey eyes met his own; surprising Remus with the sadness in them and his stomach clenched as he realised the other was serious.

"How many?"

"Its spread throughout most of her brain; having begun to affect her nerve system and short-term memory already before it was first discovered," came the honest answer and his heart plummeted. "To remove the spread, I would need to take part of her brain away and she'd become catatonic."

"But she'd be alive?"

"Not really," taking a deep breath, Sirius continued. "She wouldn't be able to move or speak; no memory or higher brain functions left. She would be an empty shell with no escape; a Dementors Kiss would be a kinder fate."

Fighting back tears, his last hopes were crashed as it began to sink in his friend wouldn't be able to help. He had put all of his faith on Sirius in the hopes he would be able to help, only to now learn there truly was nothing to be done.

"How long...until..."

"I'm trying to buy her as much time as I can, hopefully I can make her last until graduation; it's her greatest wish to still be around to see you graduate."

Unable to choke back a sob, he crumbled as it came crashing down she might not even make it to his graduation and warm arms wrapped around him; pulling him close as his grief overwhelmed him.

Burying his face in the other's loose sweater, choking on his sobs; Sirius didn't speak as he softy rubbed his back and held him close. He just let him cry and offered comfort.

Eventually his tears subdued and as his friend's full words registered properly, he pulled back.

"How are you buying her time?"

Hands no longer occupied, Sirius dropped his head into them, suddenly looking tired. "I tried to shrink it slowly but that didn't work so I've been pouring healing magic onto the tumours to keep them from growing even bigger and I isolated the infected areas so they won't infect the healthy tissue left either."

"Is she in pain?"

"She shouldn't be as long as she doesn't overdo things. I'm numbing the pieces of tumour pressing down on her nerve system for as long as I can," he sighed. "I'm sorry I can't do more for her."

"Right," he was sure it was a lot more complicated than that, but understood that Sirius truly was doing everything in his power to help; making worry for him flash through him.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," a faint hint of a bemused smile crossed Sirius' lips before vanishing again. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"You respected Mum's wishes," Remus swallowed. "Does James know?"

"He knows that something's off," Sirius absent-mindedly traced the spine of the book in front of him with his fingers. "He noticed something was bothering me after I first visited your Mum back in January but he understood that whatever it was wasn't mine to talk about so didn't ask even when I figured out what was wrong."

"Would you have told him if he had asked?" He couldn't help but ask despite knowing the other wouldn't have and wasn't let down when Sirius shook his head.

"But he does know?"

"I'm not sure. Though his sense of smell as Prongs is much more developed than Padfoot's, he doesn't share the trait in human form like I do and as such, it's possible he doesn't know a thing," he hesitated, trailing off.

"But?"

"Your dad's sadness was palpable so he might've picked something up from him when your mum wasn't at the train station."

"Is that how he knew I wanted to speak to you alone?"

"I think the devastation on your face told him enough," grey eyes flickered to his own. "If the fact that you showed up unannounced a mere two hours after we returned home wasn't enough of an indication that something was bothering you."

"I...I'm sorry I just showed up like this," realising it was indeed rather rude to have just showed up unannounced, he bit his lip but Sirius waved his apology off.

"Nonsense, you know you're always welcome here and I was half expecting you to show up."

"Because you knew she would tell me today?"

"She wanted to tell you after Easter, but I told her you'd know something was wrong the moment you'd see her so assumed she stayed home so that she could talk to you in the privacy of your home without anyone being around."

"Yeah...it was hard to miss," he would never forget the sense of wrongness that he had detected the moment he arrived home; his horror intensifying as he realised his mother was the source. But he had also been confused to sense Sirius' magical signature all over her, not understanding what he was picking up. "You are constantly guiding her, aren't you? How much magic are you pouring into her?"

Before Sirius could answer there was a knock on the door and James poked his head inside so Sirius cancelled the Muffliato. "Are you done yet?"

"It's already eight?" Surprised Sirius blinked.

"No, it's nearly eight-thirty," James corrected him with an apologetic smile. "Mum's been keeping Dad occupied so you could talk in private."

"I should go," rising to his feet, Remus swallowed. "I didn't mean to keep him away this long."

"No problem, you looked like you need it," James eyed him worriedly. "Are you feeling better now?"

"No, yes...I really don't know," choking out a wry laugh, Remus rubbed a hand over his face; flushing as he realised Sirius hadn't been joking when he said he'd looked desperate. "Mum's sick."

"Yeah...I figured as much when she wasn't at the station and your dad...," biting his lip, James hesitated. "What's..."

"She's going to die," he finally managed to say it out loud, choking back a sob as tears spilled out once more. "I'm going to lose her and there's nothing anyone can do."

He wasn't quite aware how he got on the couch with both of his friends' arms around him, but that's where he found himself when he came to his senses again.

From the paleness of James' face he figured Sirius had told him the truth; relieved he didn't have to be the one to do so.

"We're going to have tea together so you can calm further down and then we can either play games or watch one of those programs you love so much in the Pensieve room," James told him calmly, softly rubbing his back; shaky laughter escaping Remus at how eerily much James sounded like his mother just then since tea seemed to be Aunt Dorea's answer for everything as well.

"I've had Mum send word to your parents to invite them over for the night," Sirius softly added and he suddenly realised what the piece of parchment had been that the other had handed to Aunt Dorea. He had known why he was there after all and would know he needed his parents sooner than later so had prepared accordingly. "They're in the sitting room when you're ready. Do you want me to contact Pete?"

He was overwhelmed with gratitude for his friends' thoughtfulness and understanding. "No, you know how happy his mother is to have him home. I already interrupted your first afternoon home."

"Not really, we were just looking up various potions combinations," James waved his concern off. "Nothing we can't do later."

"Are you still trying to find various uses for the Polyjuice Potion?" Incredulous, he watched as the two shrugged. "I'd have figured you were long done with that by now, you've been studying the subject for years."

"There is always more to learn," Sirius gave him a half smile. "And I really needed a break from all the legal stuff I'm still handling and studying for Counter–Curses."

"Only the two of you could think of research as a break," fondly shaking his head, Remus used his sleeve to wipe away the last of his tears. "What are we having for tea?"

"Scones," pausing, James met Sirius' eyes for confirmation. "With jam and cream?"

"And sponge cake," Sirius added. "Jazzy and Misty told me there was still some left over from yesterday and they've made cucumber sandwiches to go with them."

"Sounds good," biting back his initial reaction of thinking it was too much, he simply nodded as it was one of the things he always had to get used to when staying over at Potter Manor as they simply had tea with a biscuit at home for evening tea while doing their own things.

But in Potter Manor, it was tradition to drop anything they were doing and meet up in the sitting room to indulge themselves in several cups of tea with sweets; about the only time he'd ever seen Sirius willingly eat a variety of sweets, at least until the Potter House-Elves had learned of his preference for more healthy and salty snacks and a variety of little sandwiches and fruity treats had begun to appear on the trays whenever he was present, becoming a permanent fixture when he moved in.

It was a tradition that he knew his mother loved to participate in whenever they came over and although the prolonged evening tea time still seemed a little odd to him, he did enjoy them and now vowed to himself to try and do the same back home whenever he could.

Following his two friends to the sitting room, he found himself curling up on a large couch with his parents; listening to the various conversations seamlessly going over into each other while eating small bites of the delicious food.

Although he wasn't coming to terms with what he'd learned yet, the close presence of his parents as well as those of his closest friends was a balm he hadn't quite realised he was yearning for.