The early morning light began to shine in the room. Remus was on the couch, he was sick again. Holly wished she hadn't left with Sirius, she could have help Remus. She once again helped him into his bed. Once he was asleep, she took a short shower got dressed and went to work.

It was hard for her to focus on her work, taking her twice as long to do it. When she finally finished and put it in the out box, she heard a tapping sound. Holly looked up to find her Boss standing at the "door" of her cubicle.
"What can I do for you Sir?" she asked.

"I wanted to make sure you were going to the Charity Event this weekend."

"I'm going to stop by for a few moments."

"I hope it's more than a few moments. You'll be moved up in about two weeks, and you'll need to get to know a few people."

"As wonderful as that sounds I'm really not sure how long I can say. My friend Remus is really sick and I'm the only one he has to take care of him, and I'm not sure how long I can leave him by himself." He boss nodded in understanding, and left.

She knew that she could get Lily to come over and check in on Remus, but she thought this was a great excuse to stay home instead.

"Absolutely not." Remus said sitting up in his bed Friday morning. He recovered rather quickly this time, but he was still weak.

"Be reasonable Remus. Your too sick to go, I'm not exactly on speaking terms with Sirius, and I highly doubt I cold steal James away from Lily with the wedding so close, and I haven't even seen or heard of Peter once sense I've gotten back." Remus' eyes gave a twinge at the mention of Peter. But it went away. "What's going on with him anyway?"
"He's working all the time. We hardly see him at all. James sees him the most out of all of us. They don't work to far from each other, so they go out to lunch. Sirius and I see him about once a month though."

"Oh." she said relived. "For awhile I thought he was dead or something."

"No. He's quite alive. Look I'll talk to Lily. I'm sure she can spare James for an hour."

"Why are you so bent on me going?"

"Because you should go. It's for work. And it sounds like you boss wants you there."

"Damnit Remus!" was all she could come up with. She was so frustrated, she knew she'd never win. He knew this, that's why he did it.

"Great, now that I've got you all fired up, how about you go get ready and I'll have James here in a few hours."

"Really Remy, it's not going to take me that long." he laughed at her she left the room. "Jerk." she muttered.

"I heard that!"

"How does he do that?" she thought.

"Why are you mad a Sirius?" James asked as they entered the banquette hall. Lily was more than corporative to lend James out for a few hours. He had been driving her insane all day, and Holly got a bit of a lecture from Lily about how Remus was right and she should have been planning to go all along.

"Gee James, you didn't even wait a full five minutes inside before pulling out the big guns." She said hanging up her cloak, she had on a plain, but nice, black robe on over a black skirt and a light blue top.

"Well, I'm tired of seeing you two moping around."

"I'm not moping."

"No, according to Remus you're down right depressed, and more stubborn than usual."

"Funny James." she said as they entered the giant room filled with people she didn't know. She immediately grabbed a shot of alcohol and drained it quickly. James moved her away quickly on Remus' order not to let her drink. "Ok, we're here for ten minutes, then we leave."

"Why so soon? Common, it's a party."

"No. It's a boring event, filled with a bunch of old men trying to show off who has the most money, and who's got the prettiest trophy wife. Not exactly my idea of a good time. Oh good Lucius is here. Let's leave. Please?"

"So you mad at him?"

"James can we have this conversation later?"

"Why? Now seems good enough?"

"Not really, here comes my boss."

"Ah! Miss Evans, it's nice to see you could make it. Is this the friend you were telling me about, he looks healthy to me." Mr. Rogers said looking quite pleased with himself.

"Actually, Remus is still quite ill, this is my other friend James Potter." she said as the two men shook hands politely.

"Potter? That seems familiar. Have we met before?"

"I don't think so sir." James said politely. Holly could tell he wanted to crack a joke, but she was grateful he held his tongue.

"So, how do you know Miss Evans then?" Fair question, enough. Holly hoped he wouldn't mention moving her up coming promotion.

"We went to school together, and I'm married to her cousin, so were family now."

"Oh, James, your not married yet." she let out a fake laugh.

"Well, congratulations then. So as soon-to-be family you must be rather excited about Holly here's promotion."

"Oh fuck." Holly thought.

"Promotion? Holly, you didn't tell us the good news." James got genuinely excited at the news, she hoped he was still excited once he knew the whole story. It was enviably coming out tonight at some point, but it would be on her terms.

"Miss Evans. I can't believe you wouldn't share the news that you'll be one of the highest regarded Aurors in the Ministry starting Monday."

"Monday sir?" Holly didn't like this at all. She was scared out of her mind that he'd say something in front of James that she should tell him first.

"Monday. The board passed your promotion this morning. What would you expect with a background like yours, all your experience in the felid, all your captures and…well less pleasant experiences, did you really think you'd be in the office long? Now if you'll excuse me I've got to have a word with the Minister." He left. James' mouth was wide open, and Holly wanted to run away. She turned and left, quickly grabbing her cloak she ran out into the cold, damp night. James was right behind her.

"Holly. What's going on." he said finally catching up with her and stopping her after she had gotten a block away. "Experience? Captures? Less pleasant experiences? You're an Auror? Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because I just became an Auror."

"But he said…"

"I know what he said. And I wish he wouldn't have." she said hotly.

"Holly, if you can't tell me who can you? Please, this is really bothering you. Dose anyone else know what's going on?"

"No. No one knows what happened. Not Lily, not you, not Remus, not Peter, not Sirius, nobody."

"This is all to do of why you left so abruptly." She couldn't look at him. The memory was flooding back to her, like the rain that began to pour down on top of them.

"Ok, let's get this party started, I've got stuff to do." Sirius said sitting down at a café table in Diagon Ally. Remus, James, Lily and Peter had already arrived. Holly had never been this nervous before. Her hands were shaking so bad she kept them on a death grip on her robes.

"Ok Holly everyone's here let's hear the good news." Lily said encouragingly. She looked at her friends. She wanted to look at them one last time before she broke the news to them. She knew how they would react. Lily would cry, James would put his arm around her and comfort her while trying to hide the fact he was sad. Peter would look as sad a Lily, but not say anything. Sirius…well, he'd either get really angry or pretend like it was no big deal. And Remus, he'd offer his compliments and look very serious.

How could she tell them this? They looked so happy. James could hardly take his eyes off of Lily, as if he looked away she'd be gone. Peter who looked up so much to Sirius and James. Remus who looked like he had just woken up from a long sleep, and Sirius who looked like he was ready for a good time. She took a deep breath.

"I quit my job at The Leaky Cauldron, and I got a…uh…real job." she said quietly.

"That's great!" Peter offered excitedly, the rest of the group looked so happy for her. But she stopped them before they got too excited. Her heart was breaking, maybe if she just left it at this and left suddenly in the night it would be easer. Why did she get the notion to tell them in person? She had to look at the table. She couldn't look at their faces once she told the.

"I…" she was having trouble getting the words out. "I have to leave though."

"Leave?" Sirius said suddenly. "What do you mean leave?" he was anxious.

"I have to leave for five years. It's abroad. I'll be doing…my work all over the place. But don't worry, I'll write all the time, to all of you." she said quietly, the silence was killing her.

"Five years?" Remus spoke, in disbelief, first. Holly nodded.

"I'm sorry." she whispered. More silence.

"Hey, you got to do what you got to do." James said encouragingly, but she could tell it was forced. Peter agreed.

"At least you'll have a while to get ready and we'll just have to spend a lot more time together before you go." Lily said hopefully. It was this last statement that ripped her heart out.

"I have to leave tomorrow." She finally braved it and looked at them. Lily and Peter were near tears, James looked confused, Sirius who hadn't said anything looked angry and like he didn't know what to do, and Remus. He wasn't looking at anyone. He stared down at the table, as if he was trying to analyze what just happened. "I'm sorry." she said quietly.

"Don't be." Remus finally said. "We're all sad you have to go, but we all understand. What's five years anyway? Before we know it, you'll be back here safe and sound." he gave her a weak smile. Everyone nodded, except for Sirius. He just sat there staring at the table. Holly began to say a tearful goodbye. Lily hugged her hard, as did all the others. When it came to Sirius, he put his arms around her and it felt like he was holding her together.

"If you ever need anything, I'll come and find you. I don't care where you are. I'll be there. You'll always have me lovely."