Remus was sitting on the sofa in the living room with his head in his hands. Unfortunately, a very familiar position for him these days. Sometimes it was the only thing he could do. There were so many things happening which he couldn't help with. No one could help with. All you could do was sit in despair.

He hated it because it meant that all this bad was going on and he couldn't do anything about it. Couldn't take action, couldn't even come up with a plan. How were you supposed to plan for something that you didn't even know about the bare facts? Facts that wouldn't be coming their way any time soon because no one had the facts.

Ginny and Neville hadn't seen what happened to Luna. Or even where or when it happened. Luna had left to use the toilets on the train about halfway into their journey home and had simply not returned. It was when she hadn't come back after thirty minutes that Ginny and Neville had become concerned and had gone looking for her only to not find her.

They had seen signs of a struggle in the corridor of one carriage that they assumed was because of Luna. It was three carriages up from where they had been. One carriage past the toilets. Why had she gone past them? Had she run? Tried to fight? There had been scorch marks but with Death Eaters on the train who knew what those could have meant.

She was only a teenager. Apparently a very skilled one but still a teenager. She would have stood no chance against Death Eaters. Why would they want a teenager? Was it because of the articles her father was printing? But he owned the Quibbler. No one really took that seriously, no matter how truthful the articles were. But apparently someone was. Maybe. And they were getting their revenge?

But on a teenager? Was Luna Lovegood really a threat? A worthwhile bargaining chip? Remus didn't know much about her, he had to be honest. He felt like he should. She was one of Harry's friends, wasn't she?

The situation was just getting worse and worse. Even on days where he thought that they had hit rock bottom the universe found a way to show them that it could get even lower. Like Death Eaters capturing one Luna Lovegood right off the train with no warning. There hadn't even been any hint of it to their knowledge, not even from Hogwarts if Ginny could be believed. Luna Lovegood. He remembered her being this strange little second year with an odd perspective on the world. The girls everyone deemed too weird and strange and she was, unfortunately, treated accordingly. Teenagers really were cruel sometimes. Personally, Remus thought that Luna Lovegood had been wiser than any of them, from the fleeting conversations they had had together. Which hadn't been many but they were always insightful.

She didn't deserve to be at the mercy of the Death Eaters. He shuddered at the thought of what they could do to her.

He heard an exclamation from Dora in the kitchen but he thought nothing of it. Kingsley had come over just a minute ago and the two of them were just hanging out, catching up. Pretending to be normal for a few precious minutes. He hoped they managed that because he knew how much Dora yearned for it.

Strangely, he didn't really find himself wanting it. Normal life, that was. Maybe it was because he never really had a normal or steady sort of life. The most normal life he'd had was when he was at Hogwarts to that... that Hallowe'en night. And that was him growing up in a way, for crying out loud, not normal at all. War wasn't normal. Shouldn't be normal. But here it was, feeling very normal to him.

'Crash!'

The noise made him jump but Dora called out an, "I'm okay! Knocked over the drying rack!"

"Thank Merlin it's empty," Kingsley teased.

Remus heard a 'thud' noise and chuckled, shaking his head. He assumed that Dora had gotten her revenge for that particular comment and Kingsley had made rather forceful contact with a cupboard.

Yep, there was the normal. It was a nice sound. It was nice to listen to. But he found that he didn't really want to participate in it. Couldn't, really.

There was a brief moment of silence, which was very odd but Remus didn't think much of it until he heard a gasp. A gasp from Dora, to be exact. Dora didn't gasp. Which meant that something was wrong.

"Remus," Dora said, looking very pale and shocked as she stood in the doorway.

Remus immediately sprang to his feet and got by her side. Had something happened to her? Their baby?

"What's wrong? Are you feeling, okay? What's happened?"

"I'm fine, Remus, nothing's wrong with me," she tried to dismiss him but he wasn't having it.

"I heard you gasp, are you hurt? Did you fall-?"

"Remus, seriously, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

"Because-" Dora began but she was interrupted by Kingsley following her in with a solemn look on his face.

"Sorry, I had to send of a Patronus to Arthur. Ask for use of the Burrow," he explained.

"What do we need the Burrow for?" Remus asked, feeling himself get irritable at the lack of information forthcoming. "Our next meeting isn't until next week."

"An emergency one," Kingsley said and then turned to Dora. "You haven't told him."

"You were literally only seconds behind me. I haven't had the chance."

"Can one of you please explain what is going on?"

Remus knew that he probably sounded unnecessarily forceful but he found that he didn't care. Not when he was very obviously out of the loop and no one was saying anything!

"An informant of mine..."

"You have an informant?" Remus couldn't help but interrupt but then realised what he had done. "Sorry, go on."

"Yes. Well," Kingsley frowned at him. "An informant of mine just sent me an owl."

"Your informants send you owls?" Dora interrupted with a frown.

"Dora!" Remus said in exasperation, he really didn't need to have any distractions. "Wait. Seriously. And *owl*?"

He expected more from Kingsley, quite frankly.

"It's written in code," Kingsley said with an eye roll. "And it's only this one informant. He can't do a Patronus."

"Right. Whatever." Remus waved him off. "Your news?"

Dora was biting her lip and colour still hadn't returned to her face. She was looking expectantly at Kingsley. Why could she just say it if she knew as well?

"I only caught what Kingsley blurted out to me," she explained after noticing his frown. "It's not like I could hear what the Patronus said."

"Sorry," he apologised, he'd forgotten in his impatience that she wouldn't have been able to listen for the message meant for Kingsley.

That was how patronuses worked, after all. Though Remus thought that he could be forgiven for forgetting because he was somewhat stressed at the moment. Because no one was telling him a damn thing!

But what Kingsley said next made his blood run cold.

"There's been an incident at Godric's Hollow."