"It didn't go well, did it?" Ophelia asked. Remus sighed and took her hand.
"He seemed so adamant…I know everyone always claims to be innocent…but…he acted more like a scared kid than a remorseless killer. Do you think…could it be possible…"
"No! That murdering bastard is not your friend, Remus! How can you even think such a thing?"
"Because he is my friend! I don't want to leave Padfoot in that terrible place."
"He killed Lily!" Ophelia shouted. Remus pulled her close and held her while she cried for her best friend.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Let's not argue here, now. It's going to start soon." Sniffing, Ophelia nodded and let him lead her over to the folding chairs set up by the gravesite. They joined a group of people dressed in somber muggle-style clothes—James and Lily were being buried in a muggle cemetery, near the graves of Lily's parents. Later, at the funerals of Peter and the other wizards, the Potters would have a second memorial service, but there were some wizards in attendance at this one, too. Remus saw Minerva McGonagall and Albus Dumbledore in deep conversation—Dumbledore looked very peculiar in a navy blue suit. Rubeus Hagrid, crying into a handkerchief, was impossible to miss. There was Arthur Weasley, who had befriended Lily during his seventh year when she'd helped him with Muggle Studies. Two of his sons were playing with Andromeda Tonks's little girl. Even Severus Snape was there, looking as if he'd rather not be.
Remus scanned the crowd for Lily's sister and little Harry. They were nowhere to be found.
Remus had first met Petunia Evans at the Yule Ball—the last remaining tradition of the ancient Triwizard Tournament. After that year, even the ball had quietly disappeared.
It had been Remus's fifth year, and he had intended to ask Lily, even though by that time he'd begun to realize that she and James were interested in each other.
But Sirius had gotten to her first, and Lily had accepted. They went as "just friends."
As a prank, James had asked Professor McGonagall. When she politely turned him down, he declared that he'd rather go stag than take any other woman.
Peter had found a date, a first-year Hufflepuff who was so shy she had hardly said two words to anyone all year.
Remus had been resigned to going arm-in-arm with James until Lily had asked him to take her sister. She'd gotten special permission from the headmaster for her to come because the two of them had been fighting, and Lily wanted to show Petunia that the wizarding world was perfectly nice, not the frightful place she seemed to think it was.
When Remus first met Petunia, she struck him as generally all right, if a bit sour. She wasn't beautiful, but she was pretty enough in a pale green muggles' gown with her hair all done up. Of course, the witches outshone her, but Remus had been polite enough not to say so.
What an awful night that had been. Lily had spent most of the night dancing with James, and Peter's date had left early, so Sirius and Peter had nothing better to do than to torment Remus and his date. They couldn't even escape to the dance floor because neither of them were very good dancers, and the one time he'd tried the spell to let them dance on air, she'd screamed and demanded that he put her down.
By the time of the wedding, Petunia had developed from an awkward girl into a very unpleasant woman who had made an awful scene, and Remus had been glad that Sirius was the one who had to deal with her, although Remus probably would have dealt more kindly with her.
And now she wouldn't even come to her own sister's funeral. Even if she didn't care, she could have let Harry say goodbye to his parents.
The prayers were short, punctuated by quiet tears from the mourners. Remus's eyes were dry this time. He remembered them all: Lily, the first girl he'd ever loved. James, the only man worthy of her. Peter, who had always been so far behind, and had struggled so valiantly to keep up. Sirius…Sirius. He wasn't going to visit Sirius again.
The sound of dirt on the coffin lids was so…final. It was the end of everything.
Ophelia squeezed his hand. He hugged her.
"Let's go."
Go where? To the wizards' cemetery, to kneel at the grave that held Peter Pettigrew's finger, the only part of him that Sirius had left? To see the stones that didn't mark the final resting place of James and Lily Potter? To pay his respects to James's parents, killed by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named when they wouldn't reveal where their son was hiding?
"I don't want to," he said out loud.
"Remus, come on." Together they walked away from the other people.
"Why won't you tell me?" he asked abruptly.
"What?"
"Whatever it is you've been wanting to tell me lately. You think this isn't the proper time. You don't want to hurt me. Please, Ophelia, just tell me. Are you leaving me?"
"I…I just feel like I'm going crazy, and I just can't do this anymore, Remus, I can't!"
"You can't keep taking care of a werewolf?"
"It's…not that," she lied. Remus kissed her cheek.
"I saw this coming a long time ago. You're a good person, Ophelia. Take care of yourself."
"But…Remus?"
He walked away.