Remus Lupin stood slightly apart from the rest, his head bowed. Before him were the coffins in which two bodies lay. Remus could hardly lift up his eyes and look. He could hear whispers around him.
"Remus Lupin, is he not?"
"The Potters' good friend, yes."
"Why should I bother come here, yes it's thanks to the Potters' all is peaceful again but I'd rather be enjoying my peace with my family…"
At this, Remus looked up and stared at the commenter. His eyes were hardened and his hands shook. The man shuffled his feet uneasily, looking away from the coldness of Remus's eyes. The seconds lengthened and Remus turned his head slowly to face the coffins once more. "How I'd give to be the one lying in there, Prongs." He blinked.
Just then, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Remus turned to face whoever it was and saw that it was none other than Dumbledore. He noted the familiar swift searching look Dumbledore was giving and shrugged off the old man's hand.
He was all numb inside. He was now a captive of himself, drowned in despair over the lost of two best friends. One left him in death. The other left him by being sent to prison. For life. Grief has been in his heart since the day before. Grief that threatened to engulf him anytime.
There were many times he had to stand there and watch funerals. He hated it everytime. The first was when his mother died of sickness. That was when he was in fourth year at Hogwarts. How he tried to smile then, when people came over to comfort him. James's parents, his uncles and aunts, his cousins, James and Sirius themselves.
His smile was just to mask his true emotions. He had skipped many days of classes as his mother's condition worsened. He'd spent hours by her bedside, wishing.
But now, twenty-one, he knew wishes seldom came true. And this was one of them.