Lupin heard something drop to the floor with a thud. It could have been the stairs groaning or something shifting in the kitchen. The house had taken to creaking louder and more often and was finally starting to take on a very faint smell of mildew, finally in bloom in warm weather, from the flood it had contained. Sirius and Emmeline heard nothing because they were insulting each other through gritted teeth and taut vocal chords straining against yelling. They were being openly rude to each other under the guise of figuring out what everyone should do next and how best to do it. Edgar wasn't paying much attention to anything but the paper in front of him. He didn't pay their arguments any attention after the first one and did not notice Emmeline's voice get slightly emphatic and shrill as the argument heated. It was either a result of or even spite of this that they were in the position they were in. He read the rumors of families finding asylum abroad. He calculated how much time it would take to move his family and how safe it might be. He would have to come back and fight. His family would have to understand, he was mostly gone anyway but where would they go? Where would there be to go? He went down a list of places he could relocate them. France, Spain and parts of Italy, Lord Voldemort had strong knots of supporters in those countries. They could go to North Africa or Asia but who did they know there and how long would it take to get the family settled? By the time he turned around, they might need to leave those places too. He felt the frustration of the positions they were all in. He told himself there was nothing for it but to keep fighting even as he noted the number of dead or disappeared wizards seemed unusually long on that day. Lupin got up and none in the room even noticed. Alice Longbottom, for all that she did have soft demeanor was still an auror. And for all those rounded edges, she wasn't prone to dramatics nor was she weak so it shocked Lupin to find her doubled over on the floor in the kitchen. The door of the nook was still cracked open just behind her and she was gasping and speaking at the same time.
"Padfoot," he called over his shoulder as he bounded to Alice, dropping to his knees to try to better understand what she was saying.
"He's dead, Remus." Alice looked up, her eyes wide with terror.
What now? Who was it, it felt like every face of everyone he might have ever known and loved flash through his mind automatically and sorted through them unconsciously and automatically. He landed on a face and was startled to hear Sirius voice behind him. Even as Lupin knew they had been in the same room moments before, it was still a relief and slight surprise.
"He's dead." Alice repeated, she covered her face with her hands, shook her head.
Emmeline dropped her shoulders as she exhaled. "Who is it, Alice? Who has died?" she demanded but her voice faltered. This war would kill them all, she thought. If they got Kingsley… Alastor. Dumbledore. Emmeline sucked the smell of the house in through her nose, dizzying herself.
When Alice removed her hands her face held a strain of confusion and joy and pain. She breathed to steady herself
"Lord Voldemort." The already silent room echoed with Alice's breath which seemed to grow louder.
Now Edgar was half-kneeled and gently moved Lupin aside. Emmeline could not get mad, she too thought of all the ways this could not be. All the misinformation that had passed through that kitchen alone. She must have misheard. Edgar's hands firmly gripped Alice by the shoulders and she felt steadied by him. She too took in the smell of the house and warmth of the evening.
She spoke as clearly as before.
"Lord Voldemort is dead." She burst into tears of joy with Edgar still holding her shoulders. Lupin sat with his forearms wrapped around his own knees like he was listening to a radio program. Sirius laced his hands behind his head. He opened his mouth to speak and said nothing. Closed his mouth and then he opened his mouth to speak again but no sound came out before he shut his mouth again. Emmeline shook her head.
"Alice, where did you hear th-"
Before she got the remainder of the word out, a grayish bird with blue wings appeared on the table it let out a series of three notes over and over in the same order. Sirius, motioned, alarmed and Emmeline said 'Amelia' and nothing else.
Edgar got up from where he crouched keeping his eyes on Alice, almost tripping over himself, his eyebrows knit. He took out his wand and spun it around perpendicular to the birds beak and twirled slowly like it was pulling the song out of the bird. A thin roll of parchment slowly appeared and wound its way on the wand. He made a little motion and the bird stopped. He momentarily closed his eyes, inhaled, exhaled a sigh and then began to unroll the parchment. In his sister's neat, small block letters it read 'Voldemort dead. Voldemort dead.' Over and over and over. Lupin had since got up from the ground and saw the message from over Edgar's broad shoulders. Another bird appeared on the table and this time, Lupin made the same move Edgar had earlier. Sirius stepped over to Lupin without knowing what the previous message said. Likewise a parchment appeared on his wand. He would live to regret having been the one to do it but they had all been stunned. No one was certain what was going on or how or why. He unfurled the parchment. "Potters dead. Potters dead." surely this is not what it meant. Sirius grabbed the wand with the parchment wrapped around it. He unfurled more of the parchment and read the words as if they weren't the same one repeated over and in doing this Lupin's wand dropped to the floor.
"No." Sirius said.
Around this time many things seemed to happen at once. Emmeline demanded to know what the strips of parchment said as two owls started knocking at the window in the living room. Alastor showed up heaving and confirmed that yes, Alice was correct, Lord Voldemort was dead and, yes, the Potters were presumed dead. Edgar, having only read the parchment he still held in his hand asked, simply, the Potters? Frank arrived very shortly after, having left their son with his parents.
Then a flash of light, a screech, followed by a boom rend the chaos. Even the owls looked around, their heads swiveled around at angles uncharacteristic and uncomfortable even for them. Half of the people in the room had their wands pointed at various windows or doors. They looked around, on alert. Sirius and Frank covered Lupin whose wand had rolled under the table. The flash went off again and again followed by louder and lesser booms. Someone, somewhere in England, close enough to where they were had set off magic enhanced fireworks. And with the loudness came the din of them talking over one another. The potters? Dead? When? Are we sure there hasn't been some confusion? A mix-up? But who told you this?! The parchment is from my sister. He's fine, he's with his grandparents. You need to sit down.
They had lived with the threat for so long that some part of Emmeline didn't believe, wouldn't.
"Enough!" She bellowed. The owls turned their heads with everyone else. "We wait for word from Dumbledore. Just wait. You've already said that! I know they're from Amelia, Edgar. I'm the one who-" and one of the owls hopped over and nipped her on the finger. She carefully unrolled the parchment on its leg.
"No aurors?" She questioned outloud. Alastor, Alice and Frank exchanged looks and made for the door as the parchment Emmeline held burned to ash. Just outside, everyone could barely make out the sound of the three of them disapparating as more fireworks went off.
