Dear Mr. Lupin,

You have probably heard of the events that have a occurred over the past few days, but whether or not you have, I should like to speak with you about them. There may be a few things you do not know. Please report to Hogwarts immediately. The password to my office is "acid pop."

I shall see you there.

Sincerely,

Professor Dumbledore.

Remus stared at the letter in shock. What could have possible happened that Dumbledore needed him for so soon? It was the end of a full moon week, so he was rather exhausted and hadn't been paying much attention to the wizarding world. Sirius hadn't talked to him in a while, but that wasn't a problem; they weren't going anywhere anytime soon, he could always find him if he needed something.

Of course he couldn't talk to James, since he didn't where he was. But of course he wasn't supposed to, and he didn't want to.

Well, whatever Dumbledore wanted, there was no use wondering about it, now was there? He would find out soon enough. Remus folded up his letter and looked at the owl that had delivered it. "You can go back," he told it, "I'm going to see Dumbledore, I don't need to write a reply."

The owl gave a soft hoot, took a sip of water from the dish Remus had offered it, and sailed back out of the window. Remus yawned widely; it was still early in the morning; and looked around his house. Everything was in place. Well, no one could get in unless he was at home, so it would all be safe. With another yawn, he Apparated quickly to a point just outside of Hogwarts.

A few minutes later, Remus was in Dumbledore's office looking into the face of the old man, who looked decidedly grim for once. "What's wrong?" he asked nervously.

"I had hoped you would have known," Dumbledore said sadly, "It would have made it easier on me. Remus....Lily and James are dead."

Remus gasped, and a lump rose quickly in his throat. "They're--what? Are you sure? What happened?"

"Voldemort happened. Last Halloween, he showed up at their house and..." Dumbledore trailed off meaningfully.

He stared disbelievingly. "But...Harry...is Harry..."

Dumbledore smiled a little. "Harry is still alive. When Voldemort went to kill him, something...deflected the curse, and he fell, but Harry still lives, with a lightning bolt scar left to show of his encounter."

Remus shook his head, as if to clear it. "How's Sirius taking this? Is Harry with--" he stopped abruptly, noticing the look on Professor Dumbledore's face. "What?" he said, a feeling of dread growing rapidly in his stomach.

Dumbledore sighed heavily. "Sirius was their Secret-Keeper," he said finally, "He...he betrayed them to Voldemort."

Remus stared. "No," he croaked, "Sirius--he couldn't have--no--"

Dumbledore's eyes closed, as if in pain. "Yes, he did."

"But--are you sure? He couldn't have--Sirius--" Memories of Sirius were running through Remus' mind like wildfire. Sirius' eyes lighting up with laughter as he played another prank on Lily...Sirius and James joking around endlessly about Snape...Sirius turning into a dog at the full moon, just to help Remus...Sirius holding Harry gently in his arms, looking at him with an expression almost equal to the one in James' eyes when he looked at his son...Sirius looking way out of place in a tuxedo at James' wedding, as the best man...

Remus looked down at Dumbledore's desk, disbelief filling his mind. That just didn't seem like the Sirius he knew. It just didn't. It couldn't be. "No..." he said again, looking at Dumbledore like an innocent child looking at their parent, waiting for him to deny it, just to say it wasn't true, it was all a joke, Sirius was in on it, it was all a joke, it had to be...

But no. Dumbledore was nodding sadly. "He is in Azkaban. It is highly unlikely that he will have a trial; he murdered Peter Pettigrew, and 13 Muggles."

Peter!! It was all too much!! No, Dumbledore had to be wrong, Remus decided. Sirius simply couldn't do that. Yes, he got angry, yes he had a temper, but Sirius would never kill anyone...would he? NO, he wouldn't. He loved life, loved it too much. How many times had he seen Sirius make fun of Snape and Malfoy and their gang? And everyone with an ounce of sense knew they were Death Eaters. Sirius would never go over to them, never in a million years...would he?

It didn't seem possible, but doubts filled Remus' find nonetheless. He hadn't seen Black for a while, maybe he had....Remus tried to keep the suspicions out, but they came in. Maybe Sirius had gone over to Voldemort. Maybe, maybe, maybe. There was a spy, wasn't there? Maybe it was Sirius. He had seemed distant in the past few days, avoiding Remus whenever possible. Maybe...

Remus became suddenly aware of Dumbledore watching him, waiting for his reaction. "Thank you," he said shortly.

"For what?" Dumbledore replied seriously.

"For telling me." Remus stood up, and, without another word, left the room.

Dumbledore watched him go, with a troubled expression on his face. He would have to watch Remus, to make sure he didn't get chronically depressed. But no, he would be all right. He had had enough problems in his life to not get discouraged by a thing like this.

But in his life, he had had James Potter and Sirius Black by his side practically all the time.

And now one of them was dead, and the other a traitor.

It would be a miracle if Lupin managed to live through this.

Remus, in his wolfish state, woke briefly from the Wolfsbane Potion-induced sleep he had been in and yawned widely. He rarely had dreams while he was a wolf, but apparently this was one of those rare occasions when he did.

The overshadowed part of his mind that was still human turned over the events of his dream. How happy he had been when he found out Sirius wasn't the traitor after all! Deep down, he must have known it, or he really wouldn't have survived. It just didn't fit together. Sirius, the bubbling, happy prankster could never have betrayed Lily and James on purpose. Never.

To Remus' logical mind, it never had made sense. All the evidence was in place, but Sirius' personality just didn't go along with it. Remus had grown accustomed to hearing about it and had resigned himself to the facts in front of him and kept quiet about it. He didn't want to take chances, and he certainly didn't want anyone to believe he was in league with Sirius Black.

But now he knew Sirius wasn't the traitor, and it was a great relief to him.

He hadn't lost all his friends after all.

And Dumbledore knew, too, so everything would be all right eventually.

Remus the wolf yawned again, breaking the hold of his human mind on him. The wolf mind took over again, and as it did, so did the Potion.

Remus rolled over and fell once more into a deep sleep.