There were far more people than usual in Diagon Alley as Remus Lupin entered it. At first he did not know why, until he saw a huge banner strung across an awning. Weasley's Wizard Wheezes - Opening Today! it screamed loudly in huge red letters, flashing every now and then to a violent orange that rivalled their younger brother's bedspread. Remus smiled wryly. Fred and George Weasley, the newest members of the Order of the Phoenix (much to their mother's chagrin), were among the most exuberant, that was for sure.

But thinking about the Order of the Phoenix made him think about Sirius, and the smile soon disappeared from his face.

He had had nightmares about that veil ever since he was young. Many mothers would tell their children stories about monsters or demons that would get them if they were bad, but not Arethusa Lupin, Arethusa the Unspeakable. Every night, before he went to sleep, she would tell Remus, in her quiet, calm voice, about the veil that was hidden in the Department of Mysteries. A veil that led to a no-place, where there was no light, love, friendship, magic. Just a private hell built for those unlucky to be pushed through. A gateway to the Void.

"And," she would finish, still as quiet and calm as when she began, "if you are bad, that is where I will take you."

I wasn't lying when I said I had a sick mother at school, Remus thought. My mother was sick.

He still visited her, occasionally. Locked up in the Ward for the Psychotic and Criminally Insane in St. Mungo's, Arethusa would strain against the straitjacket that bound her, fight the leather between her teeth. Once, she had broken the leather and swallowed it. The only time he had heard her speak was after they locked her up for what she did. Only a few words she had spoken, and they chilled Remus to the bone. "She was bad," she had hissed, her face twisted in a horrid parody of a smile, "so I took her."

Not many people knew about Remus's mother, deemed too mentally ill to be sent to Azkaban - though Merlin only knew that was what she deserved. Dumbledore knew, of course, and Moody, and Arthur and Molly Weasley, but no one else. Sirius knew, he thought, sickened, but he is gone

Remus had seen Sirius fall. It had seemed to take an age, and he had run forward, heedless of Bellatrix Lestrange, to try to pull him back, but he was too late, too late, too late. He had grabbed Harry instead, stopped him from following. Merlin only knew he could not afford to lose Harry too.

Once Harry was all that was left of Lily and James, Remus thought, now he is all that is left of Sirius too.

He mentally reproached himself for thinking of Harry like that. Harry is himself, he told himself firmly, and if you think otherwise, you deserve to be locked up in the bed next to your mother.

"Ho, Lupin!"

Remus turned. "Hello, Charlie."

Charlie Weasley came up beside him. "Have you heard the news?"

"What news?"

"I take it you haven't heard yet. Fudge -"

"- has resigned?" Remus said hopefully.

Charlie grinned. "No such luck, unfortunately. No, his daughter -"

"Aemilia?" Remus interrupted.

"You know her?"

"Slightly," Remus admitted. "She was in my year at Hogwarts, but she was in Ravenclaw. I think she was friends with Lily - Harry's mother. Anyway, what about her?"

"She and Fudge have had a very public - how shall I say it? - parting of the ways," Charlie said.

"How do you mean?"

"Oh, the usual. Argument on the doorstep about how Fudge is controlling her life, and she doesn't like it, and she doesn't want to play any part in his stupid political schemes any more. He was trying to marry her off to the new Minister of Magic in America, but -"

"Aemilia didn't want any part of it?" Remus finished.

"Something like that," Charlie replied. "Don't blame her - the American Minister was round at the Ministry the other day, and Dad and Kingsley had dinner with him, and they both said he was a prat. And he's about a hundred years old," he added as an afterthought.

"How very like Aemilia," Remus mused.

"Don't think I'm intruding or anything," Charlie said slowly, "but it sounds like you knew Aemilia Fudge a bit better than 'slightly.'"

Remus shrugged. "There weren't that many people in my year when I went through, and we had a lot of classes with the Ravenclaws. Aemilia had a very distinctive personality."

Charlie looked sideways at Remus as if he didn't believe him, but let it pass. "Anyway, do you think Fudge and Aemilia might have staged it? For some political agenda or something?"

Remus thought about it. "No," he said finally. "It's not only that Aemilia is a damn sight too shrewd, but I also suspect that Fudge is probably a mite too stupid."

"I take it Aemilia isn't like her father, then."

"Not at all. I'd severely doubt the paternity of my daughter, if I were Cornelius Fudge."

Charlie roared with laughter. "Anyway, Lupin, what is it that brings you to Diagon Alley?"

Remus's face fell. "I'm going to Gringotts," he said. "Sirius made me the executor of his will."

Charlie's face fell too. "Oh. Sorry, mate."

"It's all right," Remus replied. He forced himself to smile a little. "But I think I might stop by Weasley's Wizard Wheezes later. I'm afraid nothing can cure me of being a prankster."

Charlie grinned. "Well, Lupin, I must go. I should see whether or not Fred and George have blown up their shop with demonstrations and such yet."

Remus smiled warmly. "Goodbye, Charlie."

As he watched Charlie walk away from him, Remus knew, even though he was surrounded by people, that he was alone.

I am the last one left, he thought.

James was dead. Sirius was gone. Peter was corrupted.

"I am all that remains of the Marauders," he murmured to himself.

Unbidden, a vision of Minerva McGonagall came into his mind. Remus Lupin, she scolded him, if you don't snap out of that, I shall see to it that you get detention for a month!

Remus smiled wryly. "But you can't give me detention any more, Professor," he murmured. "Too much has changed."


"Business?" the goblin snapped as Remus stepped up to the counter.

He pulled the sheaf of parchment that was Sirius's will out of his bag. "My name is Remus Lupin," he said, "and I am the executor of the will of Sirius Black." He passed the will to the goblin.

"Identification, please," the goblin said, not looking up. The pince-nez on his long nose wobbled slightly as he peered at the will.

Remus pulled one of his identification cards out of his wallet. It was his licence from the Werewolf Registry. It was charmed so as to leave no doubt to its verity.

The goblin looked at the card. "You are a werewolf?"

"Yes," Remus replied firmly, "but that is of no consequence. I am well acquainted with the laws regarding werewolves."

The goblin looked at him. "As too am I." He handed Remus's card back and peered back at the will. "Do any intend to dispute this will?"

"No," Remus replied. "You will find all required signatures at the bottom of the will." And signatures there were, three, in red ink as the law required - Remus's, Dumbledore's, and below that, in an untidy scrawl, Harry's.

The goblin peered at it. "Everything seems to be in order, then," he said slowly. "When this will is processed, seven thousand three hundred Galleons will be paid to the account of Albus Dumbledore, the same amount to yourself and the same amount to Harry Potter as well as an eighteenth century violin. Correct?"

"Yes," Remus replied.

"What do you wish to do with the other items in Mr. Black's account, Mr. Lupin?"

Remus looked at him questioningly. "Other items?"

The goblin consulted something in front of him. "On November the 1st, 1981, documents from the vault of Mr. and Mrs. James Potter were delivered to the vault of Mr. Sirius Black."

Remus felt himself start. Sweet Merlin, he thought. Sirius probably never knew about them - he would have been in Azkaban. Lily and James's documents… Merlin only knows what Dumbledore had them working on when they died.

"Is there… any precedent?" he found himself asking the goblin.

"Yes," the goblin replied. "Under normal circumstances, such documents would be delivered to the scion of the original possessors -"

"-so they would go to Harry," Remus said.

The goblin ignored him and kept going. "-but in this case, the scion is not yet of age, meaning the documents would go to his guardians." He consulted a piece of parchment in front of him. "This means they would come into the possession of Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Dursley."

Remus felt his heart drop. Seeing Lily and James's documents in the hands of those… Muggles… would be almost as bad as seeing Harry in the hands of Lucius Malfoy. "Is there any way to contest this settlement?" he asked the goblin desperately. "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley are Muggles, and I don't think it pertinent that they have wizarding documents of this sort in their hands."

"The settlement could be contested," the goblin replied, "but it could be a lengthy process. Given the nature of these documents, the Wizengamot would be the body of authority."

"And we would need -"

"-a lawyer, yes. If you intend to contest the will, I suggest you speak to the International Magical Office of Law. Good day to you."

"But - what will happen to the documents in the meantime?"

"They will remain in the vault of Mr. Black until such time as a proper settlement has been reached. Under magical law, you have seven days to contest the will and find yourself a counsel."

"The Dursleys - will they be informed?"

"An owl will be dispatched," the goblin snapped. "Good day, Mr. Lupin."

Beaten, Remus left the counter. His fists were clenched. Lily and James's papers in the hands of those wretched Dursleys - I have to tell Dumbledore! he thought suddenly, and with a pop! he Disapparated.