Chapter 2: Remus

Merlin. That was a horrible night. Probably the worst full moon of my life. Everything seems to be whirling around in my head: James and Lily and Harry in hiding, anger at whomever the traitor is, anger and pain at Sarah… No. Don't think about Sarah.

Groaning, I lift my head about an inch from the floor, register the sunrise, and drop back to sleep. I don't care about the fact I'm sleeping on a cold dirt floor, and if I could pull myself together for five minutes, I could at least make into the house and onto the couch. Normally, James or Sirius is here to poke and prod and basically annoy me until I get up, but they're both in hiding. And I don't have a job anymore, so I have nothing to convince me that there is any use in moving from my spot.

***

I'm awakened by something crawling onto my back. I didn't think I had any rats in the shed, but maybe I was wrong.

"Mus, me."

I'm still too exhausted to do much besides pull Harry off. "'Lo, Harry," I mumble. James does that sometimes when he can't spend the night here, if Lily has a night shift or something – he comes first thing in the morning with Harry to annoy me into consciousness.

"Mus, me," Harry repeats with a giggle, crawling under my arms this time. "Mus, up."

"All right, all right, all right, I'm up," I finally sigh and sit up. Then it dawns on me: what is Harry doing here? James is in hiding. Picking Harry up and settling him in my lap, I ask, "James?"

"No," comes Sirius' voice. Sitting back against one of the walls, he looks haggard, stricken as if in shock. His robes are rumpled, his hair messed.

"What's going on?" I ask warily, instinctively tightening my hold on Harry. For the first time, I see the fresh lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

Sirius watches me for a moment and then finally, he answers. "James… James and Lily were killed last night, Remus. Peter betrayed them to Voldemort."

I stare at him. James and Lily, dead? No, it couldn't be true. Slowly, I shake my head, but he nods.

I can only sit in stunned disbelief as Sirius tells me the story. And then it's the two of us, sitting on this cold dirt floor and staring at one another while Harry happily toddles his way around the shed, occasionally picking up a rock or a stick and depositing it in front of one of us. Now what?

***

"How in the world are we supposed to keep a low profile?" I hiss irritably at Sirius as we go inside my house. "Not go outside for three days? What are we supposed to do about things for Harry? I have nothing here for him!"

"I don't know," Sirius says softly, setting Harry down on the floor. "I haven't had much time to think in the last twelve hours, Remus." His voice wavers.

"Sius, me!" Harry insists, reaching up. Sighing, Sirius reaches down and lifts him up again. "Fissy?"

"No, Felicity's not here, Harry," Sirius says quietly.

"Go Fissy?" Harry persists hopefully. A knock sounds at the door and I head for it, grateful for any chance to distract myself, while Sirius and Harry disappear from direct view of the front door.

I open the door to see Felicity standing outside. "Morning, Felicity," I say.

"Remus, have you heard about James and Lily?" she asks.

"Yeah," I say quietly. "Yeah, I have. Come in."

"I can't find Sirius anywhere," she says desperately. "I was hoping he might've come here. And nobody will tell me anything about where Harry's gone."

"Fissy!" Harry shrieks happily and he dashes out from the hallway. "Fissy, me!"

Felicity's face floods with relief and she scoops Harry up, cuddling him closely. She looks up only when Sirius emerges.

***

We explain the situation as best we can to Felicity. She immediately offers her late parents' coastal cabin as a lying point.

"You guys go," I say quietly, rocking Harry gently. He's just fallen asleep. "Nobody's going to bother asking me questions."

"You sure?" Sirius asks worriedly as he carefully takes Harry from me. "You can come."

"No," I reply. "You two go on. It's only a few days, anyway."