WARNING: This chapter contains detailed descriptions of injuries sustained by torture and torture aftermath as well as character deaths!
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Biting back a yawn, Frank stretched a little, watching Pettigrew and Lupin argue good-naturedly about something before refocusing on the conversation between Sirius, Vance and Moody as he heard his name fall.
"No, I disagree," Moody grunted in reply. "Frank might be a good spotter, but Lupin simply doesn't have the front line experience to scout."
"Fabian and I could scout while Frank and Abe spot us," Sirius suggested as they walked down the lane. "That would mean we're covered while you, Vance and Gideon take the longer way around and we can strike at the same time. Remus and Peter can team up to reel in any stragglers while on the look-out for reinforcements."
"That's a good idea," Moody gave him a narrowed look. "Seeing as most of Dumbledore's information comes from that spineless worm, I'd rather take unnecessary precautions than be surprised...con."
"Constant Vigilance," Sirius and Frank said in unison, grinning as Moody grumbled.
"Dung's information usually pans out," Sirius said. "He might be on the wrong side of shady but he wouldn't knowingly put us into danger."
"I wish I had your confidence, lad," sighing, Moody turned to Lupin and Pettigrew. "If you two are done, then perhaps we could get a move on?"
"Of course," they both immediately straightened and hurried to catch up.
"Seeing as you were too busy chatting about candy than participate in planning, you will have to wait for your briefing until we've gathered at the Prewetts," huffing at them in distaste, Moody turned on the stop. "See you there."
With a loud pop to signal his annoyance, Moody disappeared moments after Sirius did and Frank followed suit.
Rematerialising in the agreed upon location, Frank's heart stopped as his eyes immediately zeroed in on the Dark Mark floating above the house, already knowing they were too late.
"Sirius no!" Moody reached out to stop the younger man as Sirius dashed forward quicker than any of them could react and he was already halfway to the house before Frank had finished his Apparition completely. "Blast it, stop him!"
But before any of them had even moved, Sirius disappeared into the house and almost immediately flashes of spells flared as it became clear the house was not deserted as Frank had thought, which meant that Sirius was on his own against who knew how many opponents.
He only vaguely heard Moody call out orders for an anti-Apparition field as he ran faster than he'd ever run before and burst into the house just in time to see one of the Death Eaters explode in a rain of blood and body parts, one of them slamming into the two Death Eaters nearest to the body with enough force that their masks were knocked off and he found himself staring at the faces of Dolohov and Rosier.
"Go...go!" Neither Death Eater even attempted to engage him in a duel as they scrambled to get away from Sirius' obvious rage; their expression utterly terrified as the young man ruthlessly cut down a second Death Eater with a sort of slashing spell Frank had never seen before; the man dead before he hit the ground as blood splashed everywhere.
"Dolohov, Rosier, you are both under arrest!" Moody called out, stepping into the path of the two fleeing Death Eaters and Frank automatically flanked him.
"Go to hell," Dolohov cried out as a spell from Sirius nearly cut his arm clean off and despite the blood caking his clearly injured body, Dolohov didn't waste time casting Fiendfyre; forcing both Frank and Moody to dive out of the way even as Sirius mindlessly reflected the fire back at them and the two Death Eaters scrambled to get out of the way themselves before it vaporised.
As the two Death Eaters dashed out of the house, Moody hurried after them while shouting orders at the members still outside and Frank turned to provide Sirius with cover.
But it was clear Sirius didn't need his help as he cast a vicious sounding curse and was on the move before his opponent even hit the ground, choking on his own blood as half his face was gone.
It was a truly horrifying display of magic and Frank's stomach turned at the casualness with which his dark-haired companion had taken the three out before his eyes found what Sirius had obviously long since seen and his heart dropped as the other knelt beside a mutilated body to begin casting Healing spells.
"Sirius..." swallowing thickly at the sight of unseeing brown eyes staring up from the nearly unrecognisable body against the far wall, he turned away from the sight to move to Sirius' side. "It's too..."
"S….Siri..."
His breathing hitched as a faint whisper reached his ears in the otherwise deadly silent room and he watched in horror as drops of blood splattered onto Sirius as Fabian attempted to speak; though Frank wasn't even quite sure how he was even still alive as he came close enough to take in the horrific wounds covering their friend.
"Shhhh, save your strength," Sirius gently brushed a hand through the redhead's matted hair while his other frantically tried to heal the damage despite the clear futileness of it.
"Si...pl..." it clearly pained Fabian to try and speak, his clouded eyes closing briefly in a grimace as blood seeped into them before they blinked open again as he clearly felt Sirius' fingers caressed the blood away from them; his gaze clearing a little as his pain was obviously numbed.
"I'm here….I'm here, Fabian."
"M...m-marry me," a shaky hand reached out to brush over Sirius' cheek, leaving a bloody streak over a tear stricken cheek and grey eyes snapped up to meet his.
"What?"
"M-marry me," it was surreal to see those bloodshot brown eyes twinkle and a bloody grin to appear as Sirius let out a strangled disbelieving laugh.
"Seriously?"
His only answer was a strained smile as Fabian's bloody hand cupped his cheek and their eyes remained locked for a long moment.
"All right, yes."
"Y...yes?" If anything the brown eyes lit up even more and a blinding smile momentarily crossed over pained features.
"Yes," Sirius repeated softly as he leaned into Fabian's touch, tears shining in his eyes. "But you have to be alive for me to be able to do so, so you better hold on, you hear me?"
"I...d-don't think….I can," breathing the words out between pained gasps, the redhead's eyes momentarily closed as he was overcome with pain despite the numbing spell and he tried to curl up around Sirius despite there not being anything left to curl up with, but a moment later his eyes opened again and a small smile crossed over bloodied lips. "I..I lo-love….you, S-Siri...m-may..."
Tears spilled down Sirius' devastated eyes as he seemed to realise his actions were useless and so, giving a tiny nod, he leaned down to softly press his lips against Fabian's bloody ones in a gentle kiss.
A quiet gasp escaped Fabian as they parted again, a single tear sliding down over his dirty cheek and a truly brilliantly dazzling smile crossed over his lips as he gazed up to Sirius with clear love in his eyes before they glazed over and the hand still cupping his cheek slid down over his throat to his chest and further down to his knee; leaving behind a bloody trail.
"no...no….Fabian….please no…." Frank's knees buckled as Sirius cried out and he sank to the ground, watching frozen as he buried his face into his neck.
He only became aware of his hands trembling when his fingers touched his face and he folded into himself with a silent cry, heart-wrenching sobs reaching his ears as he helplessly watched Sirius curl into Fabian's lifeless body.
He wasn't quite sure how much time passed when a curse snapped his head up to see Moody throw his hat to the ground in obvious anger, eyes taking in the full scene.
"Did you get them?" Anger washed over Frank as he remembered the two Death Eaters who had run, rising to his feet with the intent to hunt them down and make them pay for what they'd done.
"Yes, Rosier is dead but Dolohov was arrested and is already on his way to the Ministry," he hadn't been aware he'd been moving until Moody's hand pressed against his chest to stop him. "I will make sure he will get the highest punishment for this."
The man made an aborted movement towards Sirius before seemingly thinking better of it. "I...I didn't realise..."
"Yeah..." swallowing thickly, Frank felt his anger die down as his eyes followed Moody's to Sirius, unable to think of anything else to say as he hadn't quite been aware either. "We...we need to get him to James."
"Right," Moody blinked a few times rapidly before he moved around Frank to kneel beside Sirius and reach past him to gently close unseeing eyes before reaching for him. "Laddie, you need to let go."
He wasn't the only one surprised as he managed to pull Sirius upright without any effort, the black-haired young man moving as if he were a puppet and allowing Moody to get him to his feet without any argument.
The lack of protest clearly unnerved Moody as he kept an arm around him. "Let's get you home, all right?"
His intention to clearly get them moving was immediately aborted as Sirius shook his head. "No...I need to find his legs….he can't go without his legs."
His blank eyes listlessly looked around and Moody's grip tightened slightly to prevent him from being able to turn around and see the body again.
"If they're anywhere, then I will find them," he promised, reaching up to his face before abruptly pulling back as his eyes fell onto the bloody handprint on his cheek and the trail leading down. "He...he was still..."
Moody's eyes widened in shock as they immediately returned to Fabian before snapping to Frank.
"Yeah...he...eh," fighting the tears threatening to rise again, Frank forced back the lump threatening to close his throat. 'He got to say goodbye before…."
"That's good….that's good," Moody's dark eyes closed briefly as if searching for strength before they blinked open to refocus on his charge. "Let's get you to James, laddie."
"James?" Bloodshot eyes blinked slowly as Sirius was clearly in shock and Moody nodded.
"Shit," they both looked up to see Lupin in the door opening, his green eyes wide in horror as he hurriedly covered his nose; no doubt overwhelmed by the stench of blood and Frank distractedly wondered why the heavy copper scent of it wasn't bothering Sirius.
"What..." Lupin hesitated as if afraid to enter as he took in the bodies before his eyes found his friend's blood soaked appearance, moving aside as Moody guided Sirius out of the house.
"Get him to James," Moody ordered, gently steering his quiet burden towards Lupin but instead of pulling him close as they both clearly expected, Lupin instead nearly tripped over his own two feet to get back and Frank automatically stepped up to accept Sirius from the stunned Moody.
Moody shot Lupin a strange look before shaking his head. "And stay with him."
"What are you going to do?"
"I am going to find his legs, no matter how small a part left. I will find it and then I'm going to arrange for them to be taken to the morgue and notify their next of kins before I am going to personally book Dolohov in," there was a hard edge to Moody's voice, belaying the softness of his eyes as they looked at Sirius' frighteningly quiet form. "Then, I'm going to make sure that when he's ready, he has the opportunity to say goodbye properly. That we all do."
"Right," which was actually a good idea because if their sister had her way, none of them would be coming anywhere close enough to ever be able to say a proper goodbye. Which reminded him. "You eh….you should know they were engaged."
"What?" Lupin's eyes snapped to them and Moody's own dark ones met his surprised.
"Oh? Since when?"
"It eh...it's a recent development," rubbing his arm, Frank swallowed. "He...uh….Fabian asked him moments before….Sirius accepted, it was sealed with a kiss so it should count for something, right?"
"I see," understanding filled Moody's eyes as they fell onto the blood on Sirius' lips and Frank was struck with the overwhelming urge to at least clean his face before Moody's grim nod distracted him. "I'll make sure it does not matter what Weasley might think."
"Thank you, are the anti-Apparition wards gone?"
"I...you didn't cast them?" at Moody's surprised look, they both looked at Sirius. "I guess..."
"Huh," pushing his surprise down, Frank gently turned Sirius around with the intention of walking far enough away from the house to Apparate when the older Auror called out. "Oh, Frank?"
"Yeah?" Letting go of Sirius momentarily to turn back to Moody, he met the older man's eyes.
"Make sure he's not alone."
"Of course," glancing at Lupin as he made an aborted motion towards Sirius, Frank wet his lips. "Are you staying or coming to James' with us?"
"I...I'm coming," Lupin swallowed and Frank's eyes shifted to Pettigrew's pale face as he'd joined them without Frank having noticed.
"And you?"
Pettigrew's eyes flashed between Sirius, Lupin and the house, hesitating briefly as they returned to Sirius' unresponsive form before shaking his head. "I...I'll stay here. Help make sure they are….erm….taken care of."
Nodding in agreement, Frank turned back just in time to see Sirius Disapparate with a small pop.
"Sirius!" But the distraught young man was already gone and even though Frank immediately tried to reach for his magical signature, he already knew he wouldn't be able to follow it as his friend was much too good at covering his tracks. "Darn it!"
"Where did he go?!" Moody cursed.
"He'll have gone to James'," Lupin advised him and without another word wasted, they both Apparated away.
Reappearing at the beginning of the street to the Potter house, Frank hurried towards the house with Lupin right on his heels; heart dropping as he saw Lily was working in the garden.
"Lily, did you see Sirius?"
"Frank? No, he...what happened?" Her eyes widened as she took in his own, no doubt bloody, appearance and immediately she drew her wand but he waved her off.
"I'm fine, I need to find Sirius. I was so sure he'd go here, is James in?"
"No, he was summoned by Dumbledore twenty minutes ago. Is Sirius all right?"
"No, he's not," he distractedly answered her as he realised he had no idea where else Sirius could have gone. "He's unharmed but just took off and if he didn't come here then I have no idea where to even begin to look for him."
"That doesn't sound like Sirius," frowning, Lily tucked away her wand. "Come inside so that you can tell me what happened."
"I can't, I need to find him."
"If he just took off without telling you where he went then you are not going to find him without James' help," she argued.
"Not if he doesn't want to be found, he's much too good at covering his tracks," there was something dark in Lupin's expression but Frank dismissed it as Lupin had been acting strange already. "We'd be better off sending James a message and wait here."
"Wait? He's out there, alone and upset...how can you even suggest we just sit around and do nothing?"
"Because it's better than to run around without the faintest clue of where to look," Lily backed Lupin up. "I don't know what happened or why he is upset, but I can send him a message to see if he'll answer."
"I know…." rubbing a hand over his face, Frank cursed again. "I just...it feels wrong to just sit around and wait when he could be Merlin knows where."
"We could Floo the rest? I know Fabian was on today's mission with you so he's probably out, but what about Alice and Pandora?" Lily's words stabbed a dagger in him as he realised she had no idea what had happened.
"I..."
"The Prewetts are dead," Lupin spoke up as he found himself unable to speak past the sudden lump in his throat, fighting back tears.
"What?" covering her mouth in shock, Lily gasped as his words registered and tears gathered in her eyes. "How….is that why Sirius took off?"
"Yeah...I...you're right, we should go inside so that we can Floo Ali and Lovegood just to be sure, even if I don't think he'd have gone to them."
Lily's eyes turned determined, evidently pushing her own grief down as she led the way inside, making her way to the fireplace to kneel down on the thick mat specifically placed there for Floo calls and she tossed some Floo powder in before sticking her head into the green flames. "Lovegood house."
"Hey Pandora, is Sirius with you by any chance? No, no...he's all right, something just happened and he took off so we're trying to locate him. If you do see him, can you let me know?"
Frank couldn't hear Lovegood's side of the conversation but his heart sank deeper at the clear negative answer and crossed his fingers as Lily ended the call to immediately place a new one.
"Alice, is Sirius with you? No, Frank is here and we're looking for him...I….no…...no….you really don't…..I don't know what's going on yet, but you really don't….I…..all right," pulling back, Lily rose to her feet moments before the flames flared up and Alice stepped through in person.
"Why are you looking for Sirius? He's supposed to be with you, isn't he? What happened?" His wife shot off her questions even before she'd stepped out of the fireplace, eyes widening as she caught sight of him. "Are you all right?!"
"I'm fine," the mere sight of his wife was enough to make the tight control he'd been keeping on his emotions waver and he choked on a sob as he stepped forward to pull his wife into his arms. "Where's Neville?"
"Mum is visiting so I left him with her."
"Oh...okay..."
"What happened?"
"There was an attack."
"Where?"
"The Dark Mark was already over their house when we arrived," he began, not really registering his wife's question and he distantly heard her gasp as she no doubt was already putting together what had happened. "Sirius reacted faster than any of us and was already at the house before I'd even blinked, which is also when it became clear that the Death Eaters hadn't left yet. There were five of them inside, two tried to flee so Moody went after them. One was killed as I assume he resisted arrest and Moody arrested the other."
"Fabian and Gideon….are they…." the sob Alice released was like another knife to his chest as he shook his head and he automatically pulled her tighter against him.
"No….no..." Alice cried in his arms, hitting her firsts against his chest as she grieved for the two men she'd always been close with. "How?"
"You don't want to know."
"Tell me," she bit out, pulling back to look at him with burning eyes. "Tell me how they died."
"It was a bloodbath and they must have fought like hell," he admitted. "But Dolohov and Rosier are extremely powerful and I don't know who the other three were, but they must've been pretty strong, too, to be able to win against the twins."
"Did the other three get away?" Lily asked.
"No, Sirius killed them," he swallowed. "I've never seen him fight with such brutality before...not that I blame him when I finally saw the twins. And they were already injured by the time Sirius got to them so…."
"They didn't go down without a fight," Alice's breathing hitched as she angrily wiped at her tears. "How did you recognise Dolohov and Rosier?"
"Because of Sirius, actually. I entered the house just in time to see him blow one of them up and a body part slammed into them, breaking their masks," a choked laugh escaped him. "I've never seen either of those bastards scared before, but I can tell you that they were absolutely terrified by his casual actions and nearly wet themselves when he used some kind of slashing curse on the second Death Eater."
"Sectumsempra," Lupin flinched back even as he identified the spell, as if the mere word had power.
"You know it?"
"It's an invention of the Blacks and something they used against him before," he admitted. "Snape once used a bastardised version of it on me and James, too. Wounds caused by it can't be healed unless you know the counter-spell. I can't believe he would use something like that himself, though."
"Every time I think nothing those sick Blacks did can surprise me any more, you reveal shit like this," rubbing a hand over his face, Frank sighed. "Well, I assume this was the real thing as he was dead before he hit the ground."
"For Sirius to willingly use such dark magic… I can't imagine what would have driven him to do so," Lily said thickly.
"If you'd seen what they'd done to the twins, you would understand," he hesitated to elaborate with Alice present, but one look at her burning anger made him speak. "They quite literally tore them apart, their bodies...and I don't know how, by all means he really shouldn't have been, but Fabian was still alive when we got to him."
"Merlin..." taking a shuttering breath, Alice rubbed at her own arms. "But Sirius couldn't..."
"No, he tried desperately, but there was just so much damage and his legs were just….they were just gone. Moody said he'd try to find them, but I'm not sure there's anything left to find."
Closing her eyes briefly to compose herself, Lily walked to the side table to grab a small hand mirror and touched her wand with it momentarily. "I've send a message to James and Sirius respectively, I'll know when either of them has read it."
"Right."
"So Fabian died in Sirius' arms?" Alice asked.
"Yeah," wetting his lips, Frank moved to the couch and heavily sat down. "He proposed, you know? It was insane, he was barely able to speak and yet, that was still the only thought on his mind."
"Of course he did," new tears fell down as Alice choked out a laugh. "He's always been flirting with him."
"He accepted this time," meeting the utter surprise on both women's faces, Frank was unable to stop new tears from falling. "He actually accepted and then with his dying breaths he told him that he loved him and Sirius kissed him and then he just...he just died. With this absolutely gorgeous stupid smile on his lips as if all his dreams had just come true….he just died."
Bursting into tears, Alice sank down beside him and they leaned into each other, taking a few moments to simply grieve before composing themselves. "I didn't even know they'd ever been serious. I mean, Fabian's always been flirting with him, but I never..."
"He's always loved him…..and..."
"I didn't know Sirius is gay," Lupin admitted as she faltered. "I mean, he's never given any indication of being so before."
"That's because he's not," sinking down on the other couch, Lily brushed away her own tears. "I don't think Sirius is anything, really. It's what makes it so hard to tell if he's actually in love with Fabian or if they're just friends."
"How can you not be anything? You're either straight or gay, right?"
"Not necessarily and it's especially not that black and white with him."
"What do you mean?" Frank looked between their two companions.
"For the longest of times I believed him to be in love with James, simply due to how they interacted and how close they were," she shrugged as Frank couldn't be the only one looking at her in disbelief. "It was very weird to see how they interacted with each other."
"That's just wrong on so many levels, they've always been brothers," Alice pulled a face, making Lily release a breathy laugh.
"Yeah well, I saw the way he treated the ones he deemed his friends as he's always been tactile and close to you, Pandora, Fabian and Remus. But his bond with James was just so much closer and I didn't quite realise they were just brothers until James began to flirt with me without Sirius ever batting an eye," she admitted. "But it did make me realise something after we ourselves became friends and I got to truly know him."
"What?"
"That he's never shown any kind of interest in a relationship with anyone, no matter who showed an interest in him and it's made me wonder if he would even recognise if he actually fell in love."
"How would he not recognise that? Everyone knows when they're in love, don't they?" Lupin frowned.
"Do you remember that conversation we once had after that disastrous first date James and I had?"
"Eh...sort of?"
"Sirius described his expectations of a relationship very much like the bonds he shared with you all and said that the one you are romantically interested in is someone who you would want to do all the things you love doing with your family with, too."
"I remember, but what does that have to do with this?"
"Well, how do you know you are romantically interested in someone?"
"Like everyone else does obviously; you want to be close to them, kiss them, hold them...have sex and the likes," Lupin gave her a curious look. "Why?"
"Exactly, everyone always says that when you fall in love, you will have sexual urges and that's how you know. Books, television shows, movies, they all show it that way, too."
"Yeah..."
"But what if you simply don't feel those urges?" Frank caught onto her thought pattern. "I mean, he's indeed never shown the least bit of interest in anything to do with sexuality or even kissing. It's like he's simply unable to feel those urges and if that's true then it's indeed very likely he's never quite figured out there are different ways to love someone."
"That's insane, he's not stupid and like Lily said, he's always treated James differently than the rest of us so he obviously knows there's a difference. Even with the messed up upbringing he's had, he would be able to tell."
"You're talking about Sirius," snorting, Alice gave him a disbelieving look. "You could line all of us up in front of him butt naked and the only thing he'll even care about is if you're not cold."
"I'm pretty sure he'd care if we're naked," Lupin protested. "I mean, he never reacts when I'm walking around in just a towel or less but surely he react if he saw you naked."
"Not really, there's a reason he's usually the one the other female Order members go to when injured and it's not because he's the most profound in healing spells or they trust him unconditionally like Alice and I do, but because they know he'll never look at them twice."
"He's much the same with any of the guys, never batting an eye at our states of undress," Frank shifted. "Why do you think everyone's so comfortable with letting him treat them? They know he won't even make inappropriate comments and is purely professional."
It was amusing to see Lupin's expression change as he clearly went through his own memories to realise that no, Sirius had never once even blinked at any of their states of dress no matter the situation and although the entire conversation made him uncomfortable, Frank wondered how Lupin could've never noticed Sirius' utter lack of interest.
"That's no….it's not exactly normal, is it? To just not have any romantic feelings, at all?"
"I think you are mixing up romantic with sexual," Lily said. "He's plenty romantic."
"He's more romantically inclined than most of us combined and he's the one who gives us most of our date ideas," Alice freely admitted.
"Me too," Lily agreed.
"And just because it's unusual doesn't mean it's not normal," coughing, Frank gratefully accepted the glass of water Lily summoned for him. "My Uncle Algie's married, yet he and Aunt Enid have never had an intimate relationship either."
"Why in Merlin's name do you know the details of your uncle's sexual life...or lack thereof?" Lupin asked in disbelief.
"I overheard her discuss it with Alice a few times, how intercourse isn't the most important thing in a good relationship and how happy you can be even without it."
"You discuss..."
"We're good friends," shrugging at Lupin's continued incredulous look, Alice gave a helpless smile but Frank shook his head.
"That's not the point I was trying to make, I mean is that there's probably tons of people who are not interested in either a relationship or sex so Sirius really wouldn't be that unusual."
"We've joked about him just not being interested in dating before but..." Lupin hesitated. "I always just thought he was a late bloomer and just hadn't met the righ..."
"Don't even finish that sentence," Lily bit out sharply. "Either way it's not really any of our business and I don't care either. We're all losing sight of the only thing that's important right now."
"You're right, we shouldn't be speaking about this," pushing her short hair behind her ear, Alice sighed. "What matters is that someone he loved just died in his arms and regardless of the nature of their relationship, it's hurting him. And that's not even taking into account that Gideon was killed too and they were fairly close as well."
"I actually don't know if he even realised that part," rubbing a hand over his face, Frank sighed. "The moment the last Death Eater went down he was off to Fabian and I only noticed Gideon when I came closer and he was already with Fabian then."
"He knows," the women said in unison and trusting their word for it, Frank simply nodded.
"So what happens now?" Accepting the glass of water Lily summoned for her as well, Alice took a sip.
"Moody said he would arrange everything and make sure it's known they were engaged. Might stop their sister from refusing him from coming to the funeral."
"Do you really think she'll try to refuse him the chance to say goodbye? Surely she knows how close they were, right?"
"That just makes it worse in her eyes."
"Why? What does she have against him?"
"Even when we were all still in Hogwarts and would visit their home for their birthday she would be downright hostile to Sirius," Alice remembered. "Not that she treated me, James or Frank with overly kindness, but it was nowhere near as bad as the hostility she treated Sirius with and I never quite figured out why she behaved that way towards him."
"She blames him for the fact her brothers joined the Order and for the fact that Fabian's gay."
"What? How? They joined long before we even graduated," Lupin snorted. "How would it have been his fault that they joined?"
"Beats me, that woman is insane," downing the last of his water, Frank placed the glass on the table. "I can't even remember the amount of times Bilius complained about the rows she would get into with their brothers whenever their friendship was even mentioned."
"Bilius?"
"Their older brother."
"I didn't know they had an older brother, I don't think they ever mentioned him," Remus frowned.
"You might've met him a few times, he's the only red-haired Auror aside from the twins and although not an Order member, often responded to summons by them or Sirius."
"You might best remember him as the guy who showed up right after the Diagon Alley attack to yell at the twins before Sirius intervened," Alice said.
"The one who Sirius hexed and then immediately befriended?"
"One and the same."
"I didn't realise he was their brother."
"Yeah, he's the oldest of the four and actually also never been interested in dating," Frank said. "To be fair, I think the only thing Bilius ever cared about is partying and pulling practical jokes. It's always fun when he arrives at any party."
"Gideon always complained Bilius's a pig, though so I cannot imagine anyone would be happy dating him even if he was interested," pulling a face, Alice pushed her hair behind her ear. "What about that guy Sirius is friends with? From the werewolf community?"
"Garth?" Biting her lip, Lily hesitated. "Even though I know where his land is, none of us can enter the wards surrounding his property without permission."
"Which we can't get as none of us has any way of contacting him," Lupin added. "Sirius and James never shared his information detail with any of us, even if I did meet him a few times."
Sighing, Frank ran a hand through his hair, wincing as it came back wet with blood.
"Why don't you clean up while we wait for an answer from James or Sirius?" Lily suggested as she checked her mirror. "There's little more we can do right now anyway as neither has read the message yet."
"It feels wrong to do nothing to find him," but Frank got to his feet to do so regardless of his unease, aware Lily was right in that there really was nothing more they could do than wait.