AN: Hi, this is my very first fic and thanks for clicking and checking it out. This was a plot bunny that got into my head after visiting JKR's new site and it would not leave me alone so I had to put it in print. Anyway, the main character is Remus and though a few original characters are in this first chapter, they have no lines and most do in fact exist in JKR's world but only because they must, so don't worry about Mary Sue's or too many OC's. This chapter also mostly focuses on the past, hence its name Memories, but the story is set in the summer after OotP with a few references to things gone by. So, w/o further ado, here is my fic, hope you enjoy.

Remus Lupin collapsed onto the ancient worn armchair, closing his eyes with exhaustion. He had just experienced one of the most trying weeks of his life (and considering all that had happened to Remus Lupin, that was an extraordinary achievement). His best friend, Sirius Black, had just met an untimely end, leaving Remus with all his responsibilities, including the aptly named Grimmauld Place and the guardianship of one fifteen-year-old boy, Harry Potter. As part of his responsibility to Harry, Remus had threatened the boy's relatives only minutes before crashing into the chair, alone, tired and emotionally drained at Grimmauld Place.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Remus contemplated the situation he was now in. Over the years, Remus had learnt how to grieve for those lost because of Voldemort or his followers. Many of his closest friends and relatives had been killed by the Dark Lord or his supporters. In fact, Remus Lupin had the dubious distinction of being one of only a handful of wizards who had lived to see the Dark Mark glowing above their homes. It was nearly seventeen years ago to the day when Remus had returned to his parents' cottage after spending the night as a werewolf, locked in a nearby shed.

He knew something was wrong when his mother didn't come to fetch him, as she usually did after the full moon. Remus soon found out the worst when he approached his childhood home to find the door wide open and a green snake and skull shimmering eerily above it in the early morning light.

In shock, young Remus went into the house to find his father dead on the kitchen floor, dressed in his nightgown and cap with his eyes still opened and his face frozen in a mask of terror. Mr. Lupin's wand was in hand, proof he had fought the attack but to no avail. There wasn't a mark on the older man's body, and it became obvious that he had been killed by the deadliest Unforgivable.

His hands shaking, Remus closed his father's eyes and tried to think rationally. His father wasn't the only one in the house that night, there were others to think about. Gathering his wits, Remus left the kitchen and headed into the parlor. What he found there only lead to more grief and desolation. His mother was lying on the floor in a pool of blood, with numerous gashes all over her body. It was obvious she had been killed by a slashing hex, a gruesome method of murder that caused the victim much pain before they eventually bled to death. Remus knelt down next to the woman who had loved and cared for him all his life. As she had done so many times for him, he wiped the blood from her cold face and his shoulders shook with sobs as he saw her beautiful face marred in death.

Tears falling down his face, Remus leaned back and stood up, his knees nearly buckling in the process. He looked down at his hands and saw them to be now covered in his mother's blood, which he noticed was also splattered across the walls of their parlor. The reality of it all was finally settling in and the initial surprised shock wearing off. Remus had never considered himself to be overly squeamish, but the metallic smell of his mother's blood was overwhelming the room and making him quite nauseous. In a matter of seconds, Remus was bent over behind the sofa emptying his stomach.

When he was through, Remus shakily tried to gather his thoughts once again. He went through the facts: his family had been attacked by Death Eaters, his father had been slain by the killing curse and was lying in the kitchen, his mother had bled to death in the parlor as a result of a slashing hex, and Remus himself was in a poor state. He knew he needed help, not only for the injuries he had sustained during his time as a werewolf but he was also in shock and couldn't stop shaking. And his sister. . . his sister . . .

In all the horror of finding his parents dead, Remus had completely forgotten about his younger sister, who was also in the house. Not daring to get his hopes up, Remus approached her room, steeling himself against whatever state he might find her in. After seeing what had happened to his parents, Remus expected to find the girl also brutally murdered, but when he entered her room it was completely empty. To his untrained eye, absolutely nothing had been disturbed. Frowning, and forgetting for a moment about his parents, Remus wondered what could have become of his sister.

Remus was very good at being rational and thinking things through, and thus he mechanically figured that his sister's body must be in one of the other rooms. A little voice in the back of his head said she could have escaped the Death Eater's attack and simply be hiding somewhere, but Remus did not allow that irrational voice to take control. His entire family was dead and he knew it. Nobody escaped the Death Eaters. But as he searched every other room in the house and found them all to be empty, that sanguine voice became louder.

Eventually Remus found himself back in the bloodied parlor with his mother's body, his search yielding nothing. He ran a hand through his mussed hair not knowing what to do next. Again he examined the facts: his parents had been murdered, his sister was missing, and he was in bad shape and didn't know what to do about it. As he stared off, Remus's eyes landed on the answer to his dilemma: the fireplace. More specifically, he remembered the Floo Network and realized that he ought to call someone. Careful of his mother's prone form, Remus strode to the fireplace and made a call to the first person that came to mind: his best friend Sirius Black.

"Oi Remus, what the hell are you doing, calling at six in the morning?" said a disheveled Sirius Black as his head appeared amongst the flames. He looked quite angry and it appeared as though he had slept less than Remus. For a moment, part of Remus just wanted to apologize and tell his friend to go back to sleep, for Remus hated angering people and had a great desire to keep everyone happy. But then the rational part of Remus spoke up and said he had a bloody good reason for awaking Sirius and that the young man would understand and in fact be quite helpful.

"I-I, er, I . . . " Remus trailed off shakily, not knowing what to say. "Some-something's happened," he managed to stutter, not looking his friend in the eye. Instead, Remus's gaze wandered to his hands, covered with blood that was not his own.

"What's happened Remus?" asked Sirius, a new sense of urgency and worry in his voice, though it was more of a firm worry than a panicked one. Apparently, Remus's quaking voice and odd behavior had woken him up and alerted him that all was not well with his friend. "Remus," Sirius said again after a few seconds of silence, "answer me."

"My mum and my dad," Remus began feebly, "they - they're . . . The Death Eaters - they c-came, and Mum and Dad were - were . . . and I - I was out in the shed, 'cause you know, and . . . now Mum and Dad are gone . . . and I've got blood on my hands, Sirius. And, I don't - I don't know what to do . . . and c-could you help, please?"

"Yeah, yeah of course Remus," said Sirius, looking down and frowning as if deciding what to do. "Just step back and I'll come through the Floo."

Remus did as instructed and in a matter of moments Sirius was in his living room, dressed in his pajamas and looking rather sooty. At the sight of Remus's dead and mutilated mother, the young animagus lost all color in his face and looked for a moment as though he too would be sick. After a moment, however, Sirius seemed to have gathered his senses and turned to his traumatized friend.

"Death Eaters, you said?"

"Yes, the Mark's above the house," gulped Remus as he closed his eyes and tried to speak sensibly. "Dad's in the kitchen, I'm fairly sure he was Avada Kedavra'd. He has his wand in his hand . . . You see what happened to Mum . . . And I can't find my sister. I looked everywhere I could think, Sirius, and I know she's dead but I just can't find her!"

At this point Remus broke down and began to sob vigorously. Sirius embraced his friend and muttered a few soothing words, though in truth he had no idea how to comfort Remus, and was just as scared and unsure as the werewolf. But Sirius Black was not the type show his fear or uncertainty, so, after Remus calmed a bit, he took charge.

"First off," ordered Sirius in what he hoped was a confident voice, "let's clean you up and get some clothes on you."

Truly, Remus was quite a mess and quite naked too. His face was marred with exhaustion and grief, his hands were caked in stiff, brown blood, his body was covered in dirt from the previous night and he was sporting a few gashes and bruises of his own, courtesy of the wolf's anger. Also, at that moment Remus was 'wearing' a moldy (and now bloodied) horse blanket that he had found outside his shed and had been using to keep himself warm.

Sirius helpfully directed his friend to the bathroom, where Remus washed most of the blood and grime off quickly before Sirius returned with a set of robes and undergarments. When he brought the clothes to Remus, Sirius explained that he had Flooed the Ministry and Aurors and mediwizards would be here shortly. Sirius also said that they had instructed him to 'vacate the premises' so as not to disturb or contaminate any evidence. Remus did as he was told, silently leaving his home and parents. The day was inappropriately beautiful, with the sun now shining so brightly the Dark Mark could barely be seen.

The Aurors arrived quickly, apparating onto the front lawn with loud cracks. They shouted instructions at one another, and had their wands ready to strike at the slightest provocation, but Remus barely noticed any of this. A few mediwizards and witches began to arrive as well, as soon as it was determined that the home was secured. One of them, a young and pretty witch in blinding white robes and a square-ish red cap approached Remus and Sirius, smiling in a pitying manner.

"Hello, were you the ones who called?" she asked in sweet voice that made Remus want to cringe. He made no suggestion that he'd heard her, so Sirius was forced to answer. He also explained all that he knew and the witch nodded solemnly, diagnosing Remus with shock and declaring that a calming potion would greatly help him. "Do you have any allergies, Mr. Lupin?" She asked as she removed a scarlet potion from her medicine bag. Again Remus didn't answer, nor did he really hear her request.

"Monkshood," said Sirius with a worried glance at his friend. Remus had stopped shaking and crying a while ago, but this silence caused Sirius greater fear for his friend.

"This won't hurt then," said the mediwitch, as she moved the vile up to Remus's lips and with expert instructions got him to drink it. After a few coughs, Remus felt much more relaxed and Sirius was quite relieved.

"Gideon, he's all ready for you," the witch called and an Auror who had been standing on the Lupin's front step made his way to the pair.

"Hello," he said politely and without the pitying manner of the mediwitch, "my name's Gideon Prewett and I'm an Auror from the Ministry of Magic." He then quickly flashed a badge bearing the proud crest of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Remus and Sirius also recognized him as a member of the Order of the Phoenix, though neither knew him very well, as he was much older than the pair and often could not attend meetings due to Auror business.

"I must ask you a few questions for the record, all right?" He then conjured out a blue quill and a pocket-sized scroll of parchment. Remus and Sirius both nodded after glancing at each other. "First off, your names please."

Both answered shortly and a flash of recognition showed in Prewett's eyes. He obviously remembered their names from the Order, but didn't mention anything.

"Okay, Mr. Lupin could you recall the events of this morning?"

With a sigh Remus recalled the horrifying and gruesome events of the past few hours. He even included the information about his lycanthropy, something he doubted he would have done had he not been under the influence of a calming potion. Throughout Remus's soliloquy, Prewett scribbled on his parchment hurriedly, jotting down everything Remus said. After he had finished, there were a few moments of silence as the Auror chewed on the tip of his quill in thought.

"Now you haven't found any trace of your sister, is that correct?" he eventually said and Remus nodded in affirmation. "And you're certain she was here last night?" Again Remus nodded.

"All right," said Prewett with a tired sigh. It appeared that no matter how battle-hardened an Auror became, they were still sapped by all the emotional strain of their business. "We are going to declare your sister a missing person for now. That means there will be an advert thing in the papers and the WWN will run the information during its news hours. Possibly, we'll alert the Muggles as well. But first, I need a description of her from you. Can you do this for me, Mr. Lupin?"

"Yes," said Remus quietly, but he needed a minute to gather himself and think of his sister. After spending some time in though, Remus finally began to speak, articulately and plainly. "Her name is Roberta Anne Lupin, but she goes by Bertie. She's fourteen, nearly fifteen her birthday's in two weeks. Her hair's the same color as mine, but she wears it long and usually she has the front bit pulled back, you know. And her eye's are blue, like my mum's." Here Remus stopped and it appeared that the calming potion was wearing off, as images of his mother's bloodied face flashed through his head. Prewett, however, realized what was happening and quickly got the conversation back on track.

"What about her height, weight things like that?" he asked, bringing Remus back to the matter at hand.

"I don't really know . . . She's about five four, I'd say, maybe one hundred and five, one hundred and ten pounds. She's not very big," he said lamely, for he had never really thought of things like that. Remus racked his brain for anything else that might help them find his sister, as the voice that had been proclaiming her vitality was now at the forefront of his mind. "Oh and she's a Muggle!"

"A Muggle?" Prewett repeated confusedly.

"Yes like my mum," explained Remus calmly. Though his father was from a long line of Purebloods, he had scandalized the family when he had married Remus's mother, a Muggle girl from a farm in Devonshire. Though Remus had been born a wizard, his younger sister was without magical powers.

"Well, that sounds like we have everything we need," declared Prewett, putting away his quill and scroll. "If you could provide us with a picture, we'll have it posted in all the papers. And we'll definitely inform the Muggles."

"Yes, yes of course," said Remus. After a pause he asked, "Do you think there's any chance you'll find her?"

Prewett looked down at his boots and sighed angrily, "I promise you, kid, we'll do all in our power to find her. But it is not uncommon for the Death Eaters to wipe people off the face of the earth and your sister being a Muggle complicates things. I'll be honest with you, Remus, it's highly unlikely your sister will be alive if we find her, so prepare yourself for the worst. I'm sorry for your losses."

And that was the last Remus heard of his sister. Though he knew Gideon had searched tirelessly, nothing had turned up and finally Remus gave up hope and had a headstone placed in her memory next to that of their parents. She was just one of the many people killed during Voldemort's first war, and indeed one of many people Remus had lost over the years. Remus bowed his head in memory of her, his parents, Sirius and everyone else who had lost their lives to evil.

The silence of the house was broken as a squawking sounded downstairs and the portrait of Mrs. Black began to shriek profanities about insolent birds. With a groan, Remus sat up knowing that an owl had arrived and been caught in one of the many protection charms guarding Grimmauld Place. Little did he know that as he went to free the owl, he was about to receive news he had been waiting nearly seventeen years for.

AN: So, what'd you think? Click on that blue-ish button down there and let me know! This is my first fic, so constructive criticism is appreciated. And as of now, I haven't a beta, so if anyone would like to volunteer you'd be much appreciated as well. Just so you know, I have this story all planned out and will continue with regular updates (though these updates might occur faster if you click that little blue button and type UPDATE SOON!!!!!!!!, in an encouraging fashion ;) ), whether I get a decent amount of review or not, simply because this plot bunny will kill me if I don't. Thanks for readin!