I think this is the last chapter, unfortunately. I don't like this fic as much as my first one… but, eh.

I'm not pretending to be J.K. Rowling, because everyone knows she's a blonde and I most certainly am not. So I don't own Harry Potter. Enjoy the angst!

"Did you hear the great news, young man? Of course you didn't, you've been in bed all week… well, you will not believe it when I tell you – I sure didn't – but the clouds have lifted at last! He Who Shall Not be Named has his hand around this magical earth no longer, my boy! Remember this day, July fifteenth, for the rest of your life! He's gone! Finished! And all by that little Potter child, bless his tiny soul…" Remus Lupin's rotund old healer woman was dancing and twirling around the room, talking to him in a singsong voice.

"Potter?" Remus sat upright, not bothering to wince as several cuts reopened. "What are you talking about?"

The healer stopped and gazed at him for a moment, seemingly reorganizing the fantastical tale in her mind. "Well, see, this brave and wonderful family known as the Potters, who had a year-old son named Harry, was set to be yet another victim of He Who Must Not be Named. They went into hiding immediately, of course, but somehow You Know Who found them. That bit of the story is still missing, I suppose… oh, but anyway, You Know Who came to their home last night and killed both parents, Lily and… John? Jack… James! That's the name! But when He goes and tries to kill the little boy, something wonky happens and the curse is deflected and You Know Who disappears! It's a sad story with a happy ending for the ages!" She waltzed out happily, singing lightly to herself.

Remus sat in a total daze. Two of his best friends – the only ones with the responsibility of a child – were gone. Completely. Who did it? Sirius was their secret keeper, but… no. Impossible. Sirius would never betray anyone. He was a dog, for Christ's sake! Everyone knows that dogs are loyal. And Sirius was always loyal… Perhaps it had been tortured out of him, but then, Sirius would rather die than betray his friends. Right?

Except, of course, when they broke up three days earlier. It took Remus hours to remember that every morning.

Too stunned for tears, with his ears faintly buzzing, Remus stared at a dot on the wall for what must have been hours as people danced in the hallway outside. It was only when he heard the muffled, tentative sound of someone opening his door that he moved even slightly. His immediate hopes – that Sirius had come to explain to him, to take him back and apologize and let Remus cry on his shoulder – were dashed as he saw a tall, wizened wizard at the door.

"Dumbledore…" His voice was shaky and low. "What's going on?"

The headmaster gave him a kind smile and moved a chair next to Remus's bed. "I see you weren't invited to the party outside. How is your leg?"

His what? Oh… that. "They were able to heal that right away, it's just the cuts that have to heal by themselves." He hesitated and paled slightly as he succumbed to the familiar feeling that one could trust Dumbledore with anything. "They're under orders to not come in physical contact with me – I'm taking something to keep me from dying of blood loss, but they can't actually try to help me stop losing blood." He hadn't meant such a bitter tone to slip into his voice, but it was just as well.

"I've lobbied for decades, Remus, trying to get St. Mungo's to understand that degrading treatment is never acceptable. They don't entirely appreciate, I suppose, what it feels like to be treated like an infection and not a person. I am sorry." His smile turned to a more sympathetic one as he laid a meaningful hand on Remus's shoulder. Remus looked down and chewed on one of his nails in silence.

"…I just wish I knew where Sirius was. He was acting so oddly, and then he just left me. And now…" he looked up at Dumbledore. "…What happened to him? He didn't… did he tell Voldemort willingly?"

The headmaster faltered slightly. "What have you heard?"

"That someone sold out Lily and James, and something happened with Harry that made Voldemort disappear, and Harry's… alive. What else is there?"

"I've just gotten news, I'm afraid, that there was an altercation between Mr. Pettigrew and Mr. Black." He paused for longer than Remus was comfortable with. "Peter accused Sirius of killing the Potters by betraying them, and Sirius reacted rather rashly… The entire street block is gone. The most of Peter they've managed to find was a finger and a pile of robes. I'm to testify in court that Sirius was, indeed, the secret keeper of the Potters… this is, to the best of your knowledge, true?"

Remus's voice was strained nearly to the point of not being understandable. "As far as I know," he looked up at Dumbledore, "James and I were closer to Sirius than anyone… at least, I thought I was. I suppose James thought so, too. After all those years of fighting everything that he was raised to believe, why… I just don't understand."

"Everyone is still reeling at his actions, Remus. I only wish I knew how to answer you." With that, Dumbledore stood up and gave him yet another sympathetic smile. "However, the Order has been officially disbanded in light of this recent event. While mourning the loss of four close friends, I hope you find it in yourself to rejoice at the end of a dark age. I am sure we'll meet again."

A slightly adolescent irritation met Remus as he waved a solemn goodbye to Dumbledore. Remus had a right to mourn all he wanted to, rejoice-free…

But, of course, Dumbledore was right. As soon as he was well enough to leave, Remus began a fruitless job search in order to keep himself busy, made an attempt to see Harry, ("how did you find us? There isn't a Harry Potter here. If my husband sees you in the neighborhood again, we'll call the police! You freak!") and paid a visit to Peter Pettigrew's mother. He even entertained the idea of returning to his parents' house when he ran out of money, but not all that seriously. Yes, he thought, as he curled into a cramped bed late at night, this funk is behind me – and a bland, jobless one waits just ahead.

Miles away, the newest prisoner of Azkaban gave a loud cry in his sleep, and a small rat scurried through the gutters of London.

Hope you liked it; I'll have better things up soon. I promise. You'll get to learn all sorts of things about Remus from my little point of view, at nearly every age.