A.N. * evil cackle* Thanks to Tadariada who helped me get out of my writer's block!

Malena

"Sirius…."

Harry's hand automatically went for the latch on the door. Mr. Weasley quickly grabbed Harry's wrist and held him back.

"Harry wait! It could be dangerous!" Mr. Weasley said quickly.

"But-"

"All of you, stay in the car." Mr. Weaslsy let go of Harry's arm, got up and walked over to the dog.

"Poor dog," Mr. Weasley said, walking past the animal lying on the ground. Evidently, Mr. Weasley did not know about Sirius being an Animagus. Harry went for the door latch again, but this time he was stopped by Ron grabbing his arm.

"What are you doing?" Ron growled. "You heard Dad!"

Harry didn't answer, and just continued struggling.

"Harry! Ow! Jeez, stop it!"

"You-don't-get-it!" Harry nearly yelled. "Let-go-of me-Ron!"

"Harry! Just… STOP!" Ron yelled back. "What if the thing that did this is still out there! It was probably looking for you in the first place!"

"I don't care!" Harry continued struggling. Hermione watched as the little battle continued beside her.

"Both of you! Stop it!" She finally shrieked. Ron and Harry froze. "Ron, let go of Harry."
Ron released him, but still kept an eye on him. For the first time Harry realized that he was shaking horribly. Harry eyed the door again, and before anyone could stop him he ran out the door.

"Harry wait!" Hermione called after him. Harry was already running over to where the dog was lying. Harry heard Mrs. Weasley, Ron, and Hermione running after him. He fell to the ground, next to the dog that was Sirius.

"Sirius," Harry whispered, reaching out his hand and gently touching the dog's leg. Sirius didn't respond.

"Harry what the hell do you think you're doing?" Ron exclaimed. "What-oh…" Ron's eyes fell on the dog laying at his feet. Harry was trembling again.

He shook the dog gently.

"Harry… he's not breathing," Mrs. Weasley said softly. Harry gulped and sat back.

"Harry," Ron said, sitting down next to him. "I-I'm sorry." Harry nodded, and looked away from the lifeless body. "Harry-"

"Forget it," Harry said flatly. "Just… don't…" Harry got back to his feet and went to the car. Tears were slowly running down Hermione's cheeks as Harry passed.

"I'm so sorry Harry," she said, reaching out to hug Harry. He pulled out of her reach and slid back into the car.

"Remus and Sirius are no where to be seen," Mr. Weasley said, coming up beside them.

Ron turned to his father and said, "Did you know that Sirius was an Animagus?"

"No, I didn't. And what are you doing out of the c-"

"Dad, Sirius' Animagus form was a dog. A black dog," Ron pointed to the body lying on the ground.

"Oh…" Mr. Weasley said softly. "Where's Harry now?"

"He-he's in the car," Hermione sobbed. They turned and saw him sitting in his seat, not moving and just staring at the back of the seat in front of him. He was hardly even blinking.

"Well, he's taking it… well."

"We'd better go alert the Ministry," Mrs. Weasley said softly. "Ron, I don't want you to talk about any of this to Harry until he's ready. You too Hermione." The two of them nodded solemnly and followed the adults back to the car.

~*~

Remus moaned and pulled himself up, using a tree to steady him. His clothes were a bit shredded, but then again, they were always like that after a transformation. He had a splitting headache too. Remus moaned as he tried to figure out where he was. Somewhere in the forest by his house… Remus staggered along a thin path that had been made there years ago.

"What happened last night?" Remus wondered aloud, rubbing his head. He limped down the path. His leg was injured from something during his transformation. Usually Sirius was with him during transformations… it was quite odd that he wasn't there. Remus stumbled along the path until he heard something. Voices? Remus looked around. Maybe he had come out on the wrong side of the woods.

Remus stepped through the trees. He stood there, stunned as he saw his wreck of a house. Only a few things that had been enchanted remained. Smoke was still billowing out from random places.

"What the…"

"Remus Lupin?" Said a voice from somewhere. "Remus Lupin?"

Remus turned and saw a Ministry wizard standing behind him.

"Yes?" Remus said softly.

"We need to ask you some questions," said the wizard, conjuring up a quill and some parchment.

"Uh… okay," Remus said, running a hand through his light brown hair. "Can you tell me what happened here last night?"

"Actually I was going to ask you that question," said the wizard. "It appears that it was an attack of Death Eaters-"

"Death Eaters?" Remus choked out.

"Yes, Mr. Lupin," said the wizard. "Mr. Lupin?"

"Wh-ho-why?"

"We don't know Mr. Lupin."

"Where's Sirius?"

The wizard shifted uncomfortably.

"Where is he?"

"Mr. Black… Well… when we arrived at the scene of this accident-"

"Accident? I doubt that this would be classified as an accident."

"When we arrived the house was completely destroyed and Mr. Black was… he was dead. Death Eaters…"

Remus sank to his knees on the grass. "D-dead?"

"I'm sorry Mr. Lupin," said the wizard, patting him on the back.

Remus didn't reply and just stared at his wrecked house.

"Mr. Lupin, we need to take you in for questioning. Mr. Lupin?"

Remus slowly nodded and stood up, "Can I do that later?" he managed to choke out.

"Of course Mr. Lupin."

"Thank you," Remus said softly.

He Disapparated to Hogsmeade and slowly found his way up to Dumbledore's office.

After he had knocked on Dumbledore's door he walked in.

"Yes Remus?" Dumbledore asked.

"Sirius is dead," Remus said, tears escaping his eyes and trickling down his cheek.

"So I heard," Dumbledore said gravely. "Mrs. Weasley called and told me."

"Molly? They've already been there?" Remus asked, trying desperately to wipe the tears off his face. "Oh my god, what about Harry? Is he okay?"

"The Weasleys have agreed to take in Harry for the time being," Dumbledore said. "Meanwhile, we need to discuss something else."

"Y-yes Professor," Remus said softly.

"Follow me," Dumbledore swept past him. Remus followed slowly, with tears still pouring down his face.

~*~

It was late in the afternoon. The others were in the kitchen or something, while Harry sat in the small living room, staring at a place on the wall. Ron and Hermione were there. They were saying something, but Harry wasn't paying attention at all. He just kept on picturing the dog that was Sirius, lying on the ground, dead.

He also kept remembering something that Ron had said.

"What if the thing that did this is still out there! It was probably looking for you in the first place!"

He was right…the Death Eaters or whatever had been there had probably been looking for him… He was the reason Sirius was dead.

Harry jumped when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Fred standing there.

"I'm sorry Harry," He said solemnly. "For Sirius…"

Harry nodded slightly, and looked at the floor.

"If there's anything George and I could do…" Harry closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Okay."

Fred turned and went to the kitchen.

"Harry, would you like something to eat?" Ron asked timidly.

He shook his head.

"Harry you really should eat something," Hermione pointed out. "You've had a hard day, you need your strength.

"I'm not hungry," Harry said, but it came out as just a whisper.

Hermione looked at her hands.

"Harry, I know you didn't get a lot of time with Sirius," She said. "I know you miss him. But just think of him being with your mum and dad. He's gone to a better place."

Harry nodded, but didn't look either of them in the eye.

"I-I'm going to go take a nap or something," Harry finally said. He slowly got up and walked up to Ron's room.

"I'm worried about him," Hermione said after he had disappeared.

"I think we all are, Hermione," Ron replied.

~*~

By the next morning Sirius' obituary was in the Daily Prophet. Harry didn't eat breakfast, just as he hadn't eaten dinner the night before. Mrs. Weasley was trying to get him to eat a piece of toast, but he just shook his head and said that he wasn't hungry.

"Harry, you really need to eat something!" She squealed. Harry had just shook his head and proclaimed that he was going to go for a walk. Mrs. Weasley told Hermione and Ron to go with him.

"Harry do you want to go play Quidditch or something?" Ron asked, trying to lighten the mood.

He shook his head.

"Do you want to go by the river?"

"I just want to walk," Harry said shortly.

"Oh. Okay then."

They must have walked for three hours, not speaking a word to each other. Ron and Hermione were content with watching Harry walk in silence. They remembered the period of time after the Third Task in which Harry had just watched them play chess in silence.

When they arrived back at the Burrow, they found that Hedwig had arrived. She had a few burnt feathers, but other than that she was okay. She was a bit mad that Harry had left her behind when he first went to stay at the Weasleys, but she soon got over it. Mrs. Weasley let Harry use an old owl cage she found in the attic, to put Hedwig in.

He was some of the only comfort that he felt over the next day. The others were perfectly nice, but Harry didn't feel any better about the death of Sirius.

It had been two days since Harry had slept. On the third night Harry was lying awake, staring at the ceiling. He watched the Quidditch players zoom around the posters for a while, before he rolled over and tried to get some sleep. He was unsuccessful.

He remembered the last few things that Sirius had said to him…

"Ready Harry? It'll be all right… it's Ron and Hermione."

"I'm n-not ready…"

"You will be."

Those were the last few words that Sirius had said to Harry. And Harry hadn't even said goodbye. He had just waved. A dismissive hand-gesture. Harry frowned at himself.

'I didn't say Thank you, I didn't say goodbye, I'm a horrible person.' Harry thought to himself.

Harry clutched his blanket closer to his body and shivered slightly.

'Why didn't I have the decency to say 'thank you for everything'?"

Harry felt horrible, sad, and depressed. Why was it that everyone he cared about kept dying or leaving? First his parents, then Sirius… next it might be Ron and Hermione… Harry rolled over and checked to see if his friend was okay. Ron was drooling and snoring loudly.

Harry turned to look at the wall.

'Its all my fault. Sirius is dead because of me,' Harry thought.

He wanted to cry. He needed to cry. He so wanted to express the pain that he was going through. But the tears wouldn't come. His eyes weren't even stinging like most people's would be if they were near to tears.

Harry hadn't really cried since he was five or so. A decade had passed since that time when Dudley had punched him and broke his nose.

Another horrible thought came into his head. He knew that he couldn't stay with the Weasleys forever… after the school year he would probably have to go back to the Dursleys. Harry grimaced slightly. He wished that he were with Sirius. He wished that he were with his parents. He didn't want to be alone anymore. Harry gave a sad sigh and rolled over to face the ceiling.

All of a sudden a hand clamed over his mouth, and the last thing he saw before he was Stunned was a figure dressed all in black…