AN: Thank you for all the great reviews and support! The recommendations have been extremely helpful, even if I haven't been able to adjust this story to meet all of them. The advice has definitely give me something to work on for next time.

On another note, I apologize in advance if this chapter is a little...gloomy. ; For some reason, whenever I write from Remus's point of view, that's how it turns out.

The shadows of Grimmauld Place seemed even darker now

The shadows of Grimmauld Place seemed even darker now. Longer. They stretched out from every corner, hung heavily from curtains and ceilings and shrouded portraits. Candle light and flickering fireplaces only seemed to make it worse as the house struggle to strangle every shred of hope out of any who dared to stay there.

Remus Lupin considered himself a capable wizard, familiar with the Dark Arts and how to resist their crushing weight. He had adjusted quickly to the old house once the Order chose it as their headquarters. He had been one of the main people involved in trying clean out as much of the dark taint as possible. Some of his former students, still very much children, were going to be staying there, and he had been as thorough as possible in making it a safe place for them to stay.

Sirius's death, however, seemed to undo all of the good he had ever thought he had done.

There was no funeral, because there was no body. Wizards did not consider someone dead until the body has been carefully examined. No body, meant no record of death, meant no funeral. Not even a quite service.

And those that remained behind were left to suffer without closure.

Remus sat in the library, by the empty fireplace, and stared at its blackened stones. A book was propped open lazily in his lap, a folded bit of parchment on hand in case he felt the need to take notes, and another bright summer day passed by outside while those within Grimmauld's dark rooms waited.

He'd been without order for the passed three months. His work on the Continent had not gone as well as desired. A new strategy was going to be needed, and until one could be devised or until another task needed to be accomplished, he had been living, quietly, at Grimmauld.

He had never been in this house as a young man. Sirius had spent as much time away from his family home as possible, and his association with Remus was only one of the many reasons as to why. Sirius had hated this house in the way only Sirius could hate –completely and passionately. He swore that he would never again step foot in this house, but like many things that had been promised in their youth, that too had had to change. Headmaster Dumbledore himself had come to Sirius, asking for permission to once more open the doors of the Black family home. Not as the heir, but as a fugitive against the rising forced of Voldemort.

Sirius had agreed, and the Order was once more.

At times, as the two of them had sat in the sacred warmth of the kitchen and discussed scenarios, it was as if no time had passed, nothing had changed, and they were still fighting the same war that had swallowed up their childhood. At the same time, it was impossible to forget all that had happened and all that had changed. The empty chairs around the table had never seemed so loud before.

Remus found it difficult now, to sit in that kitchen. The one room in the whole house that ever felt alive and warm, and he could not bare to enjoy its comfort. Not alone.

No, the library suited him much better now. It was always quiet here and there was always something to read, something that might one day be helpful.

Just as Remus was losing himself into such thoughts, a loud bang echoed through the house and several crashing noises could be heard from down the hall. He tensed, immediately, deeply buried instincts rising up instantaneously at the hint of threat. His wand was already in hand, his mind moving over where the doors in and out of this room were and what could be used as shelter and what could be used as weapon.

And then Tonks's loud clear voice rang through the halls. "I can fix that!" she called out right away with a nervous laugh.

Remus sighed as he smiled just a little. She must have knocked over the hall table again. She kept catching it with one hip as she hurried around the corner coming from the floo fire place in the kitchen towards the library. He'd tried moving it to the other side of the hall, but she still managed to tangle herself up into it. It must be some kind of side affect of being a Metamorphmagus. Perhaps she never lost that awkward teenage long limbed syndrome or her depth perception was just continually off from her constant transformations. Depth perception was always a real problem after any kind of major transformation. Remus was well aware of that from his own shifts back and forth from wolf to man and back again. He, however, had learned how to adjust to it quickly. Perhaps that just wasn't possible for someone who could change anything and everything at will.

Her hair was bright purple today, long in the front and spiked up in the back. It gave her a cute androgynous kind of look that had him smiling again. "Hello, Tonks," he greeted her as she stumbled into the room.

Tonks smiled, laughed and dusted herself off hastily. "You didn't really like that vase back there, did you?" she asked quickly.

Remus just smiled and shook his head.

She sighed. "Oh, good, 'cause I tried putting it back together but it does want to take to any charm I know, so I think it's going to have to just stay broken. There's enough junk in this house that no one should notice, right?"

"It is unlikely anyone but the two of us shall even be here for at least another week," Remus told her in agreement. "The next meeting is still scheduled for the Tuesday after next."

Tonks flopped down in the other arm chair with a tired sigh. "Ugh. Work stinks. When are the Weasley's coming back? I miss Molly's cooking."

Remus grinned. Molly's cooking truly was something remarkable. "Soon, I hope," he agreed. "I didn't think you had work today."

She rolled her head to the side so that her ice blue eyes could focus on him. "I wasn't. I didn't, I mean. I was there yesterday and it ran into today and now I'm here."

Remus flinched sympathetically. "Things are getting worse out there," he said softly.

"Yeah," she agreed. "Yeah." They sat in silence after that. It was summer, so there was no crackling fire to listen to, only the wind that never seemed to end whistling through the rafters. Then Tonks sat forward and literally shook herself. "Anyway. I'm due on Potter Watch in half an hour. How's he doing?"

Remus sighed slowly and shifted his eyes away. "About the same as always. Miserable, but alive." There wasn't more he could do for Harry. He wasn't Sirius. He had never been able to fill the space Sirius had before now and he certainly couldn't in Sirius's wake.

But Tonks just grinned lopsidedly. "That good, huh? Well, at least it's only temporary. He's a good kid. He'll manage," she said confidently.

She meant well, but Remus wasn't so sure. He was intimately familiar with what that kind of loneliness could do to a person. The changes in Harry had been apparent last summer. Even Sirius had commented on it, quietly, when he knew the two of them were alone. Sirius wasn't the type to analyze his own feelings, much less someone else's, but things were different for him with Harry. He could see the changes, he just didn't know what to make of it. He thought it was his fault. After all, he'd failed to keep his promise to take care of Harry. Failed to be there when Harry was younger, then failed again to protect him once he was free. Remus had had to constantly reassure him that that wasn't it. Harry was under a lot of pressure. It was only natural that a boy his age would be angry. He kept telling Sirius, it wasn't his fault. Kept telling himself that it wasn't his either.

"You in there, Remus?"

Tonks was already standing, bending over him slightly. She was smiling playfully but her eyes were focused on him the way only an Auror could. Someone who was used to watching people for secrets. "You zoned out there pretty bad," she commented lightly. "I know! You ought to come with me!"

Remus blinked. "What?"

Tonks laughed. "Yes! You need to get out of this house." She looked around quickly and shuddered dramatically. "I don't know how you stand to stay here all the time as it is."

He did it because it was Sirius's house and he was used to dark places. And he didn't have anywhere else to go. But Tonks didn't need to know that. Not her with her purple hair and easy laugh.

"Come on, Remy," she wheeled. "It's just a walk around outside. You know how to pass as a muggle easily. And you can see Harry." She reached out and pulled at his hand, mindless of the scars that covered it like a spider web or deeply set wrinkles. Her fingers were very small compared to his and perfectly smooth.

"Please?"

She really shouldn't be touching his hand like that. She was still holding it, gently cradling it between both of her own. One thumb swiped down, running across his knuckles, then back up again, over and over.

He opened his mouth to refuse. He was just fine on his own. He was always on his own. She shouldn't be holding his hand like that.

And then the wards shrieked, snapped and shattered into a million pieces they could almost feel failing around them.

Remus was on his feet, wand in hand, everything else forgotten. Tonks was beside him, body tense, but ready. "The Fidelius charm?" she asked in confusion.

Remus felt like the floor shifted out from underneath him. "No," he rasped out. "Not here. Harry."