Disclaimer: Once again...I do not own Harry Potter, nor would I ever claim to own Harry Potter. Sad fact of life.

The rain fell down diagonally from the sky, soaking the small group of people gathered in the graveyard. Not that any of us care, Sirius thought bleakly.

He looked over to his friend, and his jaw locked at the sight. He had never seen Remus look worse. Considering his friend was a werewolf that was saying something.

Since Alex's death three days ago, watching Remus had been like watching a train wreck in slow motion, over and over again. At first all his friend could do was sob. But by the next day he had hardened, and Sirius wasn't sure whichreaction he liked less. It wasn't just that Remus was pale as death or had grown haggard from lack of eating. It was his eyes that bothered Sirius so much. It was like looking into the eyes of a corpse. Completely deadened.

Of course Sirius himself hadn't been numb to the effects of Alex's death. Over the past few days he had come to realize that she was more a sister to him than a cousin. The only part of his family he truly cared about.

Killed by her own family. Sirius bit his lip in anger, imagining the blood that trickled down his chin to be Bellatrix's own.

He kept asking himself why, though in truth, he knew why. Alex and Bellatrix's mutual hatred wasn't exactly a quiet family affair, though the Black family might have wished to keep it so.

That evil bitch. She'll pay. I'll be sure of that.

Remus didn't bother to put up his black umbrella.

Lily had kindly tried to shelter him with hers, but he had only stepped coldly away, unable to even apologize for his rude action.

The rain slid down his face, mixing with the silent tears. Remus was surprised that he could even cry anymore since he could no longer sob or yell or become angry. The past few days had been a blur, but a few vivid scenes were etched permanently into his memory. Sirius' face that morning, shocked and drenched but happy. Alex's body, cold and small on the floor, her eyes dead and staring. And now her coffin, shiny wood made shinier by the pouring rain.

It had all happened so fast. Just three days ago he had been so happy, so sure of his future. And now he had nothing. He was nothing. He felt dead.

He had watched the events after Alex's death unfold as if in a dream or some drug-induced stupor. He clung to the hope that this was all a dream. That the body on the floor wasn't Alex. That he would wake up on his wedding day and laugh at the stupidity of it all.

Now her coffin was lowering into the cold, hard ground. No. This is not happening. Remus made a move to jump in after Alex's coffin, but found himself constrained by James' strong arms, his voice insistent but shaky in his ear.

"Remus, you have to let her go."

But you don't understand, he wanted to say. She's not dead. She can't be. We were getting married. We were going to have children. We had plans. She needs air. I can't leave her. Coffin suffocating her. He wanted to say all of this, to push James off of him and leap into the grave. He'd open the coffin, and she'd be there, a little breathless maybe, but smiling and certainly not dead.

But he didn't. Because he knew it was true. Alex was dead.

"Where in bloody hell is Peter?" James hissed to Lily as he watched his friend bend slowly, painfully down to pick up a handful of dirt.

"Maybe he got caught up at work, or sick or-"

"He said he would be here. For Remus. For Sirius. Hell, even for you and me."

"He'll have a good excuse."

"For missing Alex's funeral! If he's dead that wouldn't be a good excuse!"

Lily caught his eye. "James, I know you're angry, but don't even joke about that. Peter was Alex's friend too. I'm sure he has a good excuse so drop it."

"Fine."

Sirius watched Remus' movements very closely as the gravediggers steadily covered up his fiancée's coffin with dirt. His grief had progressed to yet another level somewhere during the funeral. His face frozen, jaw twitching but clenched tightly shut, Sirius instinctively knew that Remus had decided upon his method of coping with the tragedy: the self-destructive method of repression.

Without some major monitoring by his friends, he wouldn't last through the next full moon when that carefully contained exterior exploded.

Of course Remus' friends wouldn't leave him alone for a minute, much less for the full moon. But soon James would have to go back to work, leaving Remus unguarded from himself.

Unless...Sirius would stay with him, watch his every move, even live in that rundown old cottage his friend called home. With Sirius breathing down his neck, measuring his every step, Remus wouldn't dare do anything to hurt himself. At least it was worth a shot.

The more Sirius thought about his plan, the more it made sense to him. It was the only solution, the only way to save his friend from himself, and he would do it not only for Remus but for Alex.

Alex. While he was spending so much time at home, he could continue her work: to hunt down Bellatrix and bring the scum to justice. Assuming that justice is very painful, Sirius thought grimly. And ends in death.

Sirius was so preoccupied with his plan, not to mention with imagining Bellatrix dying a thousand horrible ways, that he completely missed the fact that one of his friends, Peter Pettigrew, was strangely absent from the scene.

Concerned for the werewolf, he missed the rat.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! And please please please REVIEW! At this point you could say anything in your review and I'd still love it (sad, isn't it? so REVIEW!). I'm really enjoying this multi-character viewpoint. I think I'll continue with that. Oh, and I'm sorry about some of the language, but their friend has just died and "darn" or "heck" just doesn't cover that. As for Sirius, cussing just seems to come naturally to him, and I'm perfectly okay with that.

Thanks neurotica for reading and thanks for your wonderful comments! They made my day and inspired me to update this so quickly. Somehow I don't think Alex would have been scared off by anything Remus could do (or that any decent girl would be for that matter). So she doesn't see him on the full moons. Or she becomes an Animagus. I justdidn't really see that as so much of a problem.On another note,I'm quite shocked(but very flattered) that I made you cry. I wish he could have been happy for more than five minutes. Poor Remus. He'll be in for a tough time of it for quite a while. And thanks for adding me to your favorite stories list! That's so cool!

Once again, thanks for reading everyone and REVIEW!