A Friendship Broken!

The rain was wild but she fought through it as it lashed down soaking her clothes, her face and her hair. She had not bothered to try and keep herself dry but instead had tried to keep her daughter dry. The black haired one year old clung t her mother not hassled at all by the rain. It would have been to the amazement to many who she did that but as she was a member of the wizarding community all those who knew her knew she was a witch. The wild hair which was straight brown littered in white ringlets was soaked but she didn't care. She didn't care about much at the present moment. The rain made it impossible to tell she had been crying. She had been crying for hours on end and now she was determined to do something about the present situation. She ran up the steps of the mansion which she had been running towards and threw herself in through the doorway banging the door shut behind her.

'Serena.' She turned to see her twin brother Jonathon running down the vast staircase towards her looking utterly pale and worried beneath the brown hair. 'Serena I was so worried about you. Are you all right? Is Kerr all right? Come on in and get warm by the fire. You look terrible.'

He made to put his arm around her but Serena retracted and instead placed her baby girl Kerr into his arms. He looked surprised momentarily but joggled his niece obligingly wondering if his sister was all right. He knew she wasn't but he wasn't going to say that. Serena was an independent woman and she could handle every situation she was presented with. He knew that she was far from all right though because unless something was terribly wrong she would have never set foot out in that weather with Kerr. On this occasion however Jonathon knew exactly what was wrong with her. How could anyone of the Wizarding community not know? It was the biggest betrayal that had ever happened and the largest massacre by one man. Not only that but Voldemort was gone. Harry had vanquished Voldemort. Jonathon could hardly believe it. Everyone in the Wizarding world had lived under the fear of Voldemort for years and now he was gone. At present though Jonathon could only worry about his sister who was extremely pale and shaking. While this was a joyous day for many witches and wizards across the world this day was probably one of the worst Serena would ever experience.

'Jonnie,' she said suddenly her voice croaking and so unlike her usual soft lilting voice, 'I need you to look after Kerr for a little bit. I need to go and see if I can get him out. I need to see Remus, Hesita and Emmeline. We need to get him out of there as soon as possible. I will not have him in there for something that I know he didn't do.'

Jonathon was about to protest when she turned and threw herself out of the door back into the howling weather. She immediately disappeared with a loud crack. Jonathon sighed and closed the door tightly. Joggling Kerr again he wandered off in the direction of the massive living room hoping Serena would be all right, hoping she would do anything stupid and hoping Kerr wouldn't catch a cold.

Serena had disaparated from outside of her home and aparated into Raymond Wynd. Glancing around she saw no one and she began to run. Her emerald green eyes were streaming with tears again as she ran through the rain down Raymond Wynd to a large block of flats. She ran up the path to the door and fumbled in her pocket finally producing a set of keys that she had wanted. She inserted one into the lock and turned it. The door opened and she flung herself into the quiet lobby. She pulled out the key and shut the door. She ran down the full length of the hall to the stairs not waiting to take the elevator. She ran up the stairs two at a time coming to flat three. She inserted the key into the lock on this door. The door clicked open and she yanked out the key throwing herself inside. Standing in the hall she slammed the door shut and ran through to the living room passing the doors on either side of the hall.

'Remus,' she shouted as she burst into the living room. 'Remus. Remus.' She glanced around the living room but he wasn't there. She turned about to run out the room and into one of the other rooms in the flat when the living room door opened and a sandy blond haired man with a pale face and a drawn look about him appeared looking thoroughly surprised by her appearance. He opened his mouth to say something when Serena grabbed hold of his arms.

'Remus,' she gasped, 'quickly. They accused Sirius and he's in Azkaban. They think he sold Lily and James to Voldemort. You have to come with me to the Ministry of Magic and tell them it wasn't him. You have to tell them that Sirius wasn't the secret keeper. They're going to send him to Azkaban if we don't go now. Come on.'

Serena was starting to panick as Remus just stared at her as if she had gone insane. She had to get him to come with her. Lily and James were dead. Voldemort had got them last night. He had destroyed their house but Harry defeated him. Sirius had gone after Peter. He had got Peter but now the Ministry had Sirius and the thought he was a Death Eater. Serena would have laugh if the situation hadn't been so serious. The justice was done, Peter was dead but Sirius needed to be let go and she needed Remus to come with her and tell them that Sirius wasn't the secret keeper. Dumbledore had said that he had been but Serena knew he hadn't. He hadn't.

'Remus please help me,' she cried tears on her face as she clutched at her friend's robes. 'Please hurry.'

'I can't,' he said in a soft voice. Serena stopped and looked into the blue eyes before her. What did he mean he couldn't? Of course he could. He could get on his shoes and get to the Ministry of Magic with her where they could demand a proper trial and tell them that Sirius wasn't the secret keeper but Peter Pettigrew had been.

'What do you mean you can't?' she asked softly. 'Of course you can Remus. We need to go. Sirius could be imprisoned for life if we don't go now.'

Then it came. Then he said it and it felt like he had stabbed her brutally in the back with a large sharp knife and that she was slowly, painfully bleeding to death from a gaping whole.

'Let him rot there.'

He past her and she fell. She had used all her energy to get there, to get Remus to come to the Ministry of Magic, to tell that Sirius was innocent. All her energy had been used up running against the wind and the rain with her daughter and all to be told that Remus thought Sirius should rot in Azkaban with the Dementors and Death Eaters that weren't fit to lick the dust from Sirius's boots. She fell and she felt like she was still falling. Her heart was falling. She was choking and suddenly Remus was beside her helping her to her feet.

'What did you say?' she choked not bearing to look at him again. 'You didn't mean that Remus did you?' You didn't mean you want Sirius to … to …'

She couldn't get the words out. How could Remus even joke about a thing like that? It was Remus! Remus was the serious one. Remus was the calm one. Remus had been Sirius and James's best friend. He had been one of the Marauders as they had so fondly called themselves. How could he say such a thing about Sirius? Didn't he understand that this wasn't a joke? Didn't he understand that the Ministry thought that Sirius had murdered Lily and James?

'He betrayed Lily and James, Serena,' he said softly looking at her. She shook her head choking on her tears.

'No,' she said slowly as he helped her to her feet. 'No. NO.'

She screamed the last one making Remus jump back from her. Serena never lost her temper. She had only done it once before and that was when her father had been murdered. Even then it had only been James that had seen her explode. Serena and James had been best friends since they were two having grown up together on the same street where the White mansion was still situated. She and James had started Hogwarts together and on their first train journey they had met Lily Evans and Sirius Black. She had become friends with Lily and James had become friends with Sirius. Serena got on well with Sirius even though they were in rival families. At Hogwarts Serena had introduced Remus Lupin to James, James and Sirius had introduced her to Peter Pettigrew and Lily and introduced her to Hesita Jones and Emmeline Vance. They had all been friends. Then later Lily and James got together and got married and Sirius and Serena did the same. Now, however, thing were falling apart.

'Remus,' she said looking at him in horror, 'how could you say such a tin? This is Sirius we are talking about. Sirius Black. Your best friend. James's best friend. My husband. Surely you don't mean it. You can't believe that he would betray Lily and James and Harry. He would never. He wasn't the secret keeper. You know he wasn't the secret keeper.'

'Yes he was.'

The words stung and she glared at him. He seemed unbothered. He looked very sad and Serena didn't blame him. They had just lost their best friends and if Remus didn't see sense soon they were going to loose another. He was watching her but not without sympathy. There was however something in his eye. He was looking at her with pity as though she was crazy, as though she didn't really grasp the situation but Serena knew that it was Remus who didn't actually know what was going on. Serena knew what was happening. She knew that Sirius was being accused of something he didn't do. She knew that.

'No he wasn't the secret keeper. He made them switch. He made Lily and James choose … choose Peter instead of him. He made them switch. Peter betrayed them. He thought that Voldemort … he thought that Voldemort would never go after Peter. He thought that it was dangerous to have himself as the secret keeper. It was Peter.' Remus was still just staring at her. Furious she grabbed his clothing and shook him slightly. 'Listen Remus. Listen to me. It was Peter. You have to believe me. It was Peter.'

As she let him go he watched her unmoved. She wondered how he could be so cold. She wondered how he could just stand there. She hated this. She hated it. She thought that she would have her friends forever and now one of them was a murderer, one was an accused murderer, two were dead and the others … from her impression of Remus it seemed that the others thought that Sirius was the murderer too. How could they think that it would be Sirius? After all that had happened with his family? She could hardly believe that was what they thought.

She suddenly felt an arm sliding around her back in comfort but it didn't comfort her, it made her feel colder. She was going to shake it off but she didn't. She couldn't move. She was paralysed in horror. It was slowly beginning to sink in. If Remus thought Sirius was the murderer then he believed that it wad Peter that confronted Sirius and then he thought that …

'Peter is a hero.' The soft voice rang in her ears. 'Sirius betrayed Lily, James and Harry because he was their secret keeper and then Peter went after him. He killed Peter brutally and they only found his finger. Sirius is where he deserves to be and I am sorry I was ever friends with him. You should be horrified that you even married him.'

'Sirius isn't a murderer,' she screamed at Remus shoving his arms off her and then she broke down sobbing. The tears poured down her cheeks as she stood in the middle of the room staring at Remus who looked at her wonderingly. She knew Sirius wasn't a murderer. She knew he wasn't the secret keeper. Secret keeper's had to go into hiding and they hadn't. She knew they hadn't.

'You have to believe me,' she sobbed. 'I know him. I know him.'

'I thought I knew him too,' said Remus quietly wanting to comfort her but not knowing quite how too.

'No. You're just unwilling to believe that it might not have been Sirius,' she accused him wildly although she it was partly true. Remus didn't believe her when she was telling him that it wasn't Sirius. He didn't want to even try and believe her. He wasn't even trying.

'There was a traitor,' he said raising his voice at her, 'and Sirius was the secret keeper. That was how it was arranged and now Lily and James are DEAD! So Sirius is to blame.'

Serena stubbornly shook her head unsure of what to say. What was she to do now? How was she suppose to free him without support? Even Dumbledore was testifying that Sirius had been the secret keeper. Why hadn't Sirius told anyone? Because he suspected Remus? Why had he made them switch? Serena knew that Sirius would never have given Lily and James away. He would never have ever considered it.

'He is as guilty as sin, Serena,' shouted Remus grabbing hold of her arms and shaking her slightly. 'You are just a silly girl too wrapped up in your own desire for him that you can't see that he is a murderer. To think you are said to be the smartest witch in Britain but you still deny the truth that the man you married is a murderer and a betrayer. He is a coward and he makes me sick. He had murdered a lot of people but you are still thinking he is innocent.'

Serena shoved Remus off her suddenly extremely angry. How dare he talk about Sirius like that? How dare he talk about her like that? She wasn't just some girl that Sirius had married. She was Serena Rosa White.

'How dare you Remus Lupin,' she bawled furiously. 'How dare you? How dare you suggest I'm just a silly girl wrapped up in my own desire? How dare you think that I am just sticking up for Sirius because I'm married to him? I am not some girl he married out with Hogwarts. I was part of the group too. If you haven't forgotten I've been best friends with James since we were two and I've known Lily since I was eleven. How dare you suggest that all I care about is Sirius? I have not come here for you to criticise the way I am seeing thing. I though you would be able to help me because I thought you knew the switch had been made. Sirius obviously didn't tell you because he though you were maybe the traitor but no it was Peter and now Sirius is going to pay for what Peter did. You are acting as though it is just you that has lost your best friends and that I have really nothing to do with the situation except the fact that I am Sirius's wife. How dare you! James and Lily were my best friends too you know and no matter what anyone says I will at least know that Sirius is innocent and it was Peter that betrayed Lily and James. I will at least know the truth and so will our daughter. I will not have you stand here and say that Sirius is a traitor when all he had done is try to protect his friends from the real traitor. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way. I can't believe you could ever think that Sirius would do anything like that to James or Lily. You make me sick. How dare you. Sirius isn't the traitor it was Peter but there is another. The Marauders were suppose to stick together and you have betrayed that. You are also a traitor. A traitor to your friends.'

Serena was standing up straight staring at Remus tears pouring down her face which was pale beneath the tan. Remus was watching her obvious alarmed by her outburst but once she had finished another look crept across his face. For a moment Serena thought it might have been belief but she was wrong.

'You need medical attention,' he said slowly. 'You are mentally unbalanced.'

SLAP!

The slim tanned hand collided with the side of Remus's face and then Serena turned on her heel and ran. She flung open the front door and ran out, down the steps and out of the flats. The rain hit her freezing cold like the heat of her heart. She turned left and began to run as fast as she could down Raymond Wynd not looking back. She kept running and running. She couldn't stop. The rain was still pouring down on her and she was extremely cold but she didn't stop. She couldn't stop. Her heart was tearing in pain and she was crying so badly she was choking. She was screaming out loud as she ran and ran. She didn't know how far she ran but she only stopped when she collapsed to the black ground as cold as her soul. She lay there unable to move from the pain in heart knowing exactly what Voldemort did to friends.