Chapter Five:
Outside Grimmauld Place Remus slipped into the shadows and quickly disapparated.
He reappeared in front of Flourish and Blotts. Witches and wizards of assorted eccentricity bustled past him clutching their parcels and purchases closely to their robed and cloaked bodies.
Next to the bright colours and pleasant atmosphere Remus seemed to be the harbinger of doom. A grey cloud seemed almost to cling to his body and waves of sadness spilled out over the stone ground.
Putting his wand away he solemnly walked down the crowded street looking for signs of a girl with bright red hair.
"Ginny!" he called; his voice almost cracking with grief. He couldn't believe it. Kingsley was dead. He had seen him less than twenty-four hours ago. The image of the Dark Mark scratched into his head threatened to send Remus over the edge.
"Auror dead!" shouted a young boy with messy brown hair. "Found in a muggle alley!" He held up a copy of the Daily Prophet. A picture of Kingsley Shacklebolt smiled at Remus.
This time he really did break down. He sat on a street corner holding his face in his hands. Tears stained his worn leather gloves.
James was dead. Sirius was dead. Lily was dead. Kingsley was dead. People he had known and cared about were leaving him in the dark. They abandoned him and at times he felt so alone. Like there was no one in the world that would ever be able to save him from the darkness.
If only Romulus were still alive. He would've been able to save Remus. With his brotherly love and unwaveringly devotion to protecting Remus from all the things that went bump in the night.
But he was just as dead as the rest of them. Killed trying to protect Remus from the werewolf that eventually bit him. The night came back to Remus in small flashes.
A dark forest. He was lost. Glowing green eyes. White fangs. Running and screaming. Romulus standing up to the creature. Remus cradled his dying brother in his arms. "Don't leave me." "I'll always be with you, Remus." The werewolf came back and bit Remus. Pain. Hurt. Tears. Quiet. White rooms. Bright lights. Healers. "No way to reverse it."
The tears came even harder soaking through the leather.
"Are you okay, sir?" whispered a young voice. It was filled with compassion and care.
Remus looked up into the face of a little witch. Her hair was blonde and she had empathetic violet eyes.
He wiped away the tears, nodding. "I'm okay."
"If you're okay then why are you crying so much?"
She was so innocent. That was the moment Remus knew why life was worth living. Why this war was worth fighting. Innocence.
His whole life he had been trying to answer and it finally came in the form of an angelic five-year-old.
"My friend died," he told her, trying not to cry again.
"I'm sorry." She leaned forward and gave him a small hug. "Feel better." Then she disappeared into the crowd, almost as if she had never been there.
Remus stood up, wiped away the rest of his tears, breathed in deeply, and decided from this moment he wouldn't let grief pull him down. He had to be strong. Because if he didn't he'd be letting down all the innocence in the world.
With a stronger sense about him Remus continued down Diagon Alley looking for Ginny. He finally spotted her outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. Her and Luna were sharing a chocolate shake and talking.
"Daddy's planning an expedition to Africa. There are rumours of a lion born with the ability to tell the future. He says it will be the biggest story of the decade." Luna's airy mystical voice floated across the air.
Ginny looked up passed and saw Remus moving towards her. She waved happily and urged him to come sit with them.
"We have to go, Ginny," he said in a stern voice. She stared at him with a baffled look on her face.
"What happened?" Her voice became frantic. She tried to pry the answer from Remus' eyes but he shut them tightly. Succeeding in holding back the tears.
"We can't talk about it here but your mother wants you back at headquarters immediately." His sacred, shaky voice was enough to get Ginny onto her feet.
Just then the newspaper boy moved closer to them and his ringing voice shot through the crowd.
"Kingsley Shacklebolt! Dead! Read all about it!"
Ginny's eyes widened. She flung her hand over her mouth. "Oh god," she cried, sitting back down.
Luna's usually glazed eyes glistened with a deep sadness. She scooted her chair closer to Ginny's and held the girl in her arms. "It will be okay," she whispered in a soothing voice, petting Ginny's red hair.
Remus felt a pang of jealously. He wished someone would hold him like that.
"I'm coming with you, father won't mind," Luna said, dabbing away Ginny's tears.
Remus sighed. "It's not that easy, Luna. We can't just let people in at random."
"I don't think..." Luna's voice dropped, her misty eyes widening in a surprise.
"What's the matter?" Remus asked in worry, watching as a shadow darkened her face.
"Lupin," purred a smoky voice.
He spun around reaching for his wand. The woman standing there was a complete stranger. But that's when he saw her eyes. Half sane, half wild, fully dangerous.
"Bellatrix?" He sputtered in fright, moving to block the two girls.
"The one and only." She pulled a black velvet hood away from her now blonde head. "How do you like the new do?" She smiled at him crazily.
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A/n: Dun, dun, dun. Bwahahahaha!