The laughter was what chilled her the most. Hazel and Moody had apparated in as soon as they'd heard about the explosion. Nearly twenty other Aurors were with them, all encircling the man who was still cackling in the street. She hadn't seen him for ages. He'd gone under the radar and missed a lot of Order meetings, and now she knew why. The Aurors approached cautiously. Another group of Ministry officials had been dispatched to interview the Muggles on the street and wipe their memories afterwards, but they all knew what had happened already. This was the man who had gotten the Potters killed, and now it was up to her to talk him calmly into custody. She was the one who knew him the best. "Sirius?"

His head spun like an owl's, the man pivoting to look at her. His eyes were hollow, made darker by the ash and dust that he was caked with. Together all of the other Aurors raised their wands, hoping they wouldn't hit Hazel if they had to stun him. "We should've known. It was him all along - the rat. We should have known."

"Sirius, what have you done?"

"It was the rat. You knew him!" He stepped forward, but the Aurors threatened him enough that he stopped short of reaching her. "He was our friend!"

Hazel was the one to take a step forward, holding out her hand. "Sirius, you're not thinking right. Give me your wand." He hesitated. "It's going to be a lot easier if you come with us willingly. We can sort this all out."

"It's better if you kill me." Still shaking with anger, part of him seemed like he was pleading with her to just get it over with. It was inevitable. Auror or dementor, he didn't care.

But she refused. "C'mon, Sirius. I know we weren't great friends, but I can help you. You've got to give me your wand, though." She reached out, Sirius letting her take it and slowly back away.

As soon as she was safely a few steps back, a dozen Aurors tackled him. Everyone seemingly forgot about their wands, at least until Moody bellowed and pushed his way through the crowd. He would bring Sirius Black to Azkaban in person.

That was the night Remus had shown up on her doorstep, looking worse than he ever had the morning after a full moon. Hazel hadn't said a word, instead pulling him into a hug on her doorstep. He had lost all of his best friends in the span of a day. James had been murdered the night before. Peter was blown to pieces that afternoon. And Sirius was in Azkaban, awaiting charges on the thirteen deaths he'd caused and helping Voldemort get at the Potters. "They're all gone," he mumbled as both of them started to cry. "I always thought I would be the first. Now they're all gone."

Hazel steered him inside, insisting that he sit down and let her make tea. There was nothing she could do to make it better, and tea was always better than nothing in a crisis. She herself hadn't begun to process any of it until she'd filled out all of the standard Ministry paperwork and left for home. Moody gave her the next day off, saying that she'd better rest up. There were still plenty of Death Eater holdouts that needed to be captured, and they had their work cut out for them even in Voldemort's absence. The weight of the last few days finally hit her when she was in the shower, trying to wash off all of the dirt and dust of the past few days. She and Moody had been on a regular patrol the evening of Halloween and they hadn't stopped to rest ever since.

It was a good thing she was awake. She'd started sobbing in the shower, continuing until she'd collapsed in bed and cried herself into a much-needed nap. She'd just gotten up to make something to eat, numbly moving through the house, when Remus knocked. "Wait." She stepped back, turning her wand on him. "Tell me something only the real Remus Lupin would know."

"You were our watch-woman," Remus answered as he sat down in her kitchen. "Whenever there was a full moon, you would get up early to be sure there was no one to see us all coming back through the Whomping Willow. Your turn."

"You got me a wizard's chess set the Christmas of our fourth year, and my queen beat one of James' pawns so badly it flew into the fire. We managed to salvage it, but it was cross with me for all of spring term. Do you want sugar in your tea?"

"Thank you. And if you have anything to snack on..."

As she brought the cups over, she noticed something outside. It was a shadow, but in times like these, they couldn't be too careful. So with Remus following behind her, Hazel checked the door. She exhaled as she realized it really was just a shadow. "Sorry, I'm exhausted." A fresh wave of tears overcame her as she turned back to him. "I've been... Remus... All three of them. And Molly's brothers. And half of the people I work with... And Sev, I still can't - I still miss him and -" The words caught in her throat as she thought about him sprinting away from her back at the ball. She'd held out hope then, but deep down, she knew it was over. The other side had claimed him.

The two of them sat up talking until they were both too exhausted to string words together in any way that made sense. Remus camped out on her sofa as Hazel went to bed, taking one last look out over the street before shutting her curtains. If she'd looked hard enough, she would have seen the same shadowy figure that had been watching before. The figure stared longingly at the window until it too went dark, the last light in the house turning off. He waited a little while longer before apparating away. Would she have even bothered answering the door if he knocked? He didn't want to risk knowing.

"You're just a replacement for Evans, you know that, right?" James Potter sat on the table, Sirius leaning next to him. Both of them had loosened their ties, confident as the ringleaders of the group of Gryffindor sixth-years at the ball.

Hazel had come to compliment Molly on her dress but got trapped by Potter and his cronies on her way back to the gaggle of Ravenclaws. "Excuse me?"

"The Pureblood ginger Ravenclaw and the slimy Slytherin nerd, everyone knows you two." Sirius crossed his arms, not bothering to look to James for his approval. "He's only hanging around you because Evans can't stand him. I'm surprised you can stand him, given... what he is."

"I'm surprised Lily can stand the two of you. You nearly got Sev killed and you're still daft enough to think dunking first-years in the lake is funny," she spat back. "Look, tell Remus hi for me. And stop hogging all of the Peppermint Toads." She turned her back on them, disappearing into the crowd to find Sev again. But the thought stuck with her. Was he just trying to replace Lily? They had been friends for over a year now, gotten much closer, and spent nearly every waking moment together, at least when he wasn't with the Slytherins. But was it all just an attempt to have something like his old life back?

The idea nagged at her enough for Sev to notice. When he turned to smile at her from the group of mostly Ravenclaws that had gathered by the Butterbeer, she noticed something was off about him too. He looked older, much older. Impossible. "It's not true. It never was."

"Get out of my dream, Sev." Hazel sat up in bed, looking to where Sev was already sitting up and pretending to read the morning copy of The Daily Prophet. "Not funny." He raised an eyebrow in his trademark quizzical expression, as if to ask what he could have possibly been doing. "Legilimency - when someone's asleep they have no idea what you're doing until you're there. It's not fair."

"You were talking in your sleep," he answered, setting the newspaper aside. "You sounded like you wanted to fight someone. Naturally I had to find out who."

"How often do you do that?" she scowled.

"Never tried it before."

Hazel frowned, unsure if he was lying. "Well don't do it again."

"It's not true, you know." It was her turn to raise an eyebrow. "You're not a replacement for Lily. You never were. You were the only one who - You understood. You always do. You were the only one outside of Slytherin who bothered to talk to me after that. They all thought it was a good thing, what I'd done. You were the only one who realized it was a mistake and how much I instantly regretted it. You gave me a chance. And then I fell in love with you." He caught himself, realizing what he'd just said. Hazel smiled as he continued, his voice faltering only slightly. "The war broke out and I made a million mistakes. I thought I would never see you again. And then years later you came back, and I fell in love with you again."

"I love you, Sev." She leaned in to give him a kiss before laying her head on his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head as she asked, "What was that you were reading? Page four, I think. Something about a yeti sighting in Siberia?"

"Do you want me to read it to you?"

"That would be nice. We don't have anywhere to be, at least not until breakfast."