Aurelia spent the next few days in Sirius apartment, barely functioning, breaking apart in that big Pink Floyd t-shirt that smelled like him and burying herself under the covers of his bed. The truth was she didn't feel capable in the least. She was barely capable to get up and make herself a cup of tea, and yet, on the morning of his birthday she got out of bed and sent two owls before moving herself to the sofa with a piece of empty parchment and a quill. She had no right to break down and do absolutely nothing. Not when that was exactly what she had done throughout this war. Not when her friends had given their safety, their freedom, and their lives to win this war, while she had done nothing to help them. She had no right to feel sorry for herself. Not when Sirius was spending his twenty-second birthday in Azkaban prison, alone with all the ghosts of his past, convinced that everyone he loved had either died or abandoned him.
The floo roared with green flames as Remus stepped out of the fireplace, his arms around her within seconds, as though she would be the one who needed to be held together. But he was the one who had lost everything, all four of his best friends in one night. Wrapping her arms around his middle, Aurelia found herself in an unusual position. She had never been particularly close with Remus. Not like with James or Sirius, naturally, but like she was with Regulus either. She had always felt like Remus wasn't exactly happy with her presence, not with Sirius and definitely not with James. But now, as he stood leaning his much taller frame against hers, with shaky breaths, she couldn't picture him anywhere else. He was family, one of the very few she had left. He was like the brother she wished she'd had, and she couldn't let him fall apart.
"I'm so sorry, Remus," she mumbled into his chest, only realizing the fleeting tears as they soaked his jumper.
"Me too. Me too, Lia," he managed, swallowing down hardly before letting go of her and collecting himself.
"Can I get you some tea?" he asked, and she nodded with a weak smile on her lips before following him into the kitchen.
Thirty minutes later, the pair were sitting by the kitchen table, somewhat calmed down by the tea and the heavy silence.
"I called you here because I need your help, Remus," Aurelia stated shakily, setting down her teacup on the table.
"Sirius is innocent," she continued.
"Aurelia-" he protested, but was quickly cut off.
"He couldn't have done it. You know it as well as I do. I know him, Remus. You know him. He loved them."
"We all thought we knew him, Lia. And yet, we didn't. You need to let him go."
"That's the stupidest-" the girl begun, but it was her time to be cut off.
"Don't you think I see what you're doing? You're out here playing house, in his apartment, in his clothes! It's not healthy, and you can't keep-"
The sudden pop of apparition interrupted the young man's lecture, and right behind him a familiar shape took form. One with dark, heavy curls and furious grey eyes.
"What is he doing here!?" Regulus demanded, before the other boy had the chance to turn around and see who had arrived. He could hear it though, Aurelia thought, as she witnessed his amber eyes darken and his expression shift from concern to rage before he turned around to face the younger man.
"I could ask you the same thing," Remus muttered darkly, hand moving to grab the cypress wand in his back pocket.
"He didn't do it," Regulus warned, his wand firmly in hand. "That's what I've been trying to tell Remus," Aurelia cried in the background, already questioning her choice to invite them both over.
"For all we know it was you," Regulus spat out, raising his wand at the taller wizard.
"Me?!" Remus managed, barking out a laugh in disbelief.
"Well, you haven't exactly been around, have you?" the younger of the pair inquired, his grey eyes set on the wizard in front of him.
"Would you two just stop this?"
"Stay out of this, Lia," Remus threatened, not taking his eyes off Regulus for a second. "For all I know, you're as much of a death eater and a traitor as your brother," he continued, finally raising his wand on his opponent.
"And that's exactly how I know he didn't do it," the younger man replied madly, shakily, before lifting his sleeve to reveal the dark mark on his lower arm.
"Oh god," Remus let out, for a moment sounding as though he was going to get sick, before shaking his head frantically, taking a step closer to Regulus only to press his wand into his throat. "How does this help your case?! You sicken me! I was hoping I was wrong, you know," he barked, tears forming in the outer corners of his eyes right before the shortest of the three threw herself in between the two wizards, effectively pushing Remus' wand away from Regulus' throat. "Stop this madness!"
"Lia, did you know about this?" Remus questioned, lower lip trembling as he tried to stay angry, rather than broken.
"Would you both just sit down for a moment?!" she ordered, earning a disbelieving laugh from the tall boy with sandy blonde hair, who used to be so kind and patient. He wasn't patient anymore. He was furious.
"Sit down?! You want me to sit down with a death eater?!"
"Merlin's beard, Remus! Would you calm down? He's a spy, alright? He's on your bloody side! Now sit your arse down, I'm trying to figure out how to get Sirius out of Azkaban here, and you're not helping!"
Silence filled the room after her outburst, and the two young men absentmindedly took their seats by the kitchen table, followed by the tense blonde who had barely managed to get out of bed that same morning.
"Well, if it wasn't you it must've been Pettigrew," Regulus finally muttered, grey eyes finally managing to look up at Remus through heavy lashes, his expression bland.
"Peter would never-" Remus mumbled, cut off by an irritated Regulus.
"Oh, but Sirius would?"
"No. Yes. I don't know," Remus sighed, dropping his face into his palms.
"Why? Because he's a Black, is that it? Because we're all inherently evil and incorrigible? I'm curious, does this make Aurelia a traitor, too?" the young pureblood spat out, full of resentment, at the boy he used to love.
"Enough, alright?! I can't watch you do this to each other anymore! You're both here, alive, together, and yet you waste your time bashing each other! James and Lily are dead, and Sirius is locked up, and I might never get to see him again. I might never get the chance to tell him that I love him and… and I'll be damned if I have to sit around watching you idiots hurt each other even more when we could be working on a way to get him out of there!"
There were no grins, no snarky comments about her confession. There were lowered gazes and mumbled apologies, heavy breaths and heavy silence.
"So, where have you been?" Regulus finally asked, breaking the silence, as his eyes locked onto the amber ones of the other wizard.
"I, uh… Dumbledore sent me away. Secret mission."
"Me too," mumbled Regulus in response, and Aurelia suddenly felt very out of place. As though, despite knowing most of their secrets, she was in their way.
"I'm gonna… I'll be right back," she excused herself, leaving the kitchen to settle down on the sofa again, with her empty parchment and even emptier head.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have… I was so quick to take you for one of them," Remus began, biting his lip as he looked away from the other boy, showering himself in guilt. It had been so long since they last saw each other. It seemed like forever ago that they had shared drunken kisses in dark corners at parties, and exchanged secret looks in the corridors of Hogwarts. In a way, they were completely different people now. At least Remus was, after all that time with the packs, after losing his best friends – his family. And yet, despite losing just about everything, he was so quick to push Regulus away too.
"No, it's… I had it coming after that dramatic display. I'm sorry too, Rem. I… I was too quick to accuse you. You've just been gone for so long, I guess I… I don't know-"
"It makes sense. We've all been keeping so many secrets, not knowing who to trust. I guess we don't have to anymore, with him gone-"
"I'm not so sure about that," Regulus intervened, concern across his face.
"What?"
"We were hunting horcruxes, Sirius and I. I'm afraid there might be more."
"Shit," Remus managed, holding his breath for a while before pulling himself back together. "I had no idea."
"No one did."
"I was undercover, too," Remus mumbled, swallowing down on the lump in his throat. Even after all these years, even after James, Sirius and Peter and everything they had taught him, there was still a voice in his head telling him that nobody could love a monster like him.
"With the packs, with… Greyback," he managed, clearing his throat as his voice gave up on that last word. There was a silence that followed. A silence he hadn't anticipated. An anxious silence, that confirmed the voice in his head. It had been over three years since they first kissed at Marlene's birthday party, and for three years he had feared this moment. The inevitable moment when it was over for real.
"That… explains a lot," Regulus finally mumbled, a soft smile gracing his lips as he reached out for the other boy's hand, taking it in his.
"What?"
"The disappearance, the scars, the fact that you've been trying to push me away for the better part of three years?"
"Yes, but I…" Remus swallowed down hard, looking around the room out of habit before repeating himself. "I'm… I'm a werewolf."
"I got that," Regulus grinned, shaking his head slightly at the very confused boy in front of him.
"You… you don't mind?"
"Well…" the brunette began, dramatically reaching his torso over the table to look out the window. "I don't see a full moon anywhere so we should be 'right," he smirked, earning himself a slap on the arm.
"What was that? Was I just slapped? By a werewolf? That's… utterly disappointing, Remus Lupin. I expected better from you."
"Oh, you expected better, did you? What did you expect, exactly?" Remus teased, earning nothing but a grin from the younger boy.
"This is more like it."
"Really?" the blonde inquired, under his breath, as he slowly leaned in over the table pulling the other boy in for a long overdue kiss, that quite quickly turned into heavy breaths and wandering hands.
"No, no, NO! Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you've made up, but this is not a motel, you two!" Aurelia yelled as she entered the kitchen again, dropping her parchment on the table in front of them with a slightly panicked expression to her face.
"Oh, you hypocrite," complained Remus, still grinning from cheek to cheek.
"Hey, Fawley? Did I mention I despise you?" Regulus muttered, pulling away from the other boy to face his best friend.
"On multiple occasions, now... believe it or not, we have better things to do."
"Fine, what's the plan?" asked Regulus, pulling a hand through his dark curls, that once again were growing long and reminding her of his brother.
"I'm going to get him a fair trial. We'll need paperwork and witnesses, and… eventually I'll need both of you to make statements. But in the meantime, do you think you can find out where they took Harry? I just… Sirius is his godfather and I feel like they would…"
"FUCK!" Remus exclaimed, interrupting Aurelia's emotional display in a chaotic manner.
"The goddamn CAT! Lily is- Lily would kill me! I… I have to go find the bloody cat. Harry is at his aunt's; I'll check on him later today. Is that- Can I?"
"Go ahead, get the cat, Remus," the girl responded, shaking her head with a small laugh – the first one since she had heard all the terrifying news.
"I'll go with you!" exclaimed Regulus, instantly getting up from his seat to follow the other boy to the floo.
"Right, don't worry about me, I'll be fine on my own," Aurelia yelled after her friends with a chuckle, hearing the fireplace roar as they left the apartment still and silent again, empty with the absence of Sirius Black.