In the nights before the Potters died, Padfoot, Prongs, Lily, Nighthowler, and I planned to go to the rehearsal dinner for the wedding of one of my Muggle relatives, the groom-to-be. I had never anticipated the long road ahead of me. After Lily and Jamed died, everything had changed

Not wanting to disappoint my Muggle relatives, I went to their wedding rehearsal party, though in anything-but-happy spirits. Sirius, James, Lily, and I were supposed to go together, Peter having had to stay with his family. James and Lily would meet my relatives. Sirius and I would joke together, maybe get a couple of girls who were froends of the bride.

Instead, I went alone and depressed, wondering why Sirius had betrayed James and killed Peter. Hoping to escape my troubles, I spent my night at the bar, drinking everything away, my pain, my sorrow. Eventually, I passed out.

The next morning, I found myself back in my hotel room, the shower running in the bathroom, but I thought nothing of it. I felt worse than I had ever felt before. I was angry at Sirius for betraying James, angry at James for trusting Sirius, angry at myself for attempting to drink them away. Hearing the shower turn off, I became aware that I wasn't the only one in my small, single-bed hotel room. By then, with all that had happened in the past week, I didn't care if Voldemort's Death Eaters were after me, seeking to kill me. The door to the bathroom opened, and a girl, no, young woman I recognized stepped out, dressed simply in a tee-shirt and bikini. She was the last person I expected to see, the last person I WANTED to see. Now that I look back on it, she was the person I needed to see most.

"Remus," she said, sitting down next to me on the bed. "Are, are you okay?"

"My best friend has just been sent to Azkaban for killing my other two friends and I'm having the biggest hangover of my life." I attempted to joke, "Never been better." Apparently, this wasn't a great thing to say, as tears filled her eyes then.

"Look, Remus," I could hear her voice breaking up. "I never thought he'd do something like that. It's not your fault. Stop beating yourself up about it."

"The Marauders are over! James and Peter are dead, Sirius betrayed us! I'm the only one left! Why couldn't he have done me in too, instead of making me suffer like this?!?" I was on the verge of breaking down, wanting it all to have been a nightmare. Wanting to wake up and see James, eager to go out on one of our adventures, his face cheerful as it always had been.

"I'm not sure." She said between sobs, surprising me. I had forgotten she was there, trapped in my own thoughts. I hugged her, partially to comfort her, partially to convince myself that I still had something, something to hold on to. All the world seemed to disappear in that moment. "I'm not sure of anything anymore." She cried into my shoulder. I'll admit, it was good to have her back. I gripped her close to me, in what was probably the most emotional moment for either of us, and we cried ourselves silently to sleep.