He can hear the others converging and gathering for a final meeting. Neither he nor Black are summoned in.
Kingsley cannot think of anything worth saying. He's always been a man of few words, and now, more than ever, he doesn't believe words will be enough.
He takes another look over at Black, searching for anything he might have missed so far. He pretends, as he's done before at other crime scenes, that the world has shrunk down to only this room and the two of them and he must study every corner and crevice as though it is a new country.
Azkaban is the undiscovered country that lurks in Black's eyes and it unnerves Kingsley too much for him to look at closely as he wants to. There's a secret about insanity that only Black knows – a fight that he's already won.
The weight of his eyes makes Kingsley want to summon his patronus.
The knock on the door startles him badly from his thoughts but he turns away and opens the door thankfully, only to watch Lupin's face fall to not receive Black.
"You can come through now." His words fall out of him in a mad scramble.
"Both of us?" Kingsley half turns his head but Black doesn't react to either his question or Lupin's nod.
Black doesn't shy away from Lupin the way Kingsley had half expects him to but neither does he present anything close to the desperation Lupin wears. He takes Lupin's hand to help him stand but releases it quickly once he's up. Lupin's face falls.