House: Ravenclaw
Class: Charms
Word Count: 910
Prompt: [Pairing-negative] Remus/Sirius
Warnings: Mentions of character death
Shattered Trust
Fall, 1981
Remus arrived at the safe house late in the evening. The young man softly opened the door, hoping not to wake any of the Order members that were hiding within. Or what's left of the Order, Remus glumly thought. The last few months fighting Lord Voldemort had taken the largest toll on the Order of the Phoenix. More than half of the witches and wizards who were brave enough to stand against the Dark Wizard and his followers had perished one by one.
Dorcas Meadows, Marlene McKinnon, Gideon and Fabian Prewett, Edgar Bones, and Benjy Fenwick were all gone. Even James, Lily, and their one-year-old son, Harry, were forced into hiding after Voldemort made it his mission to kill the young child. It was always nice to return from long, secretive missions and see the Potters and their optimistic faces, but now Remus would only be greeted by a dimly lit kitchen and a dying fire in the living room. Or so he thought.
A low voice pulled Remus away from his thoughts. "Getting in late again, Remus?" the voice almost growled.
Remus searched the area to find the familiar voice. That was when he saw Sirius Black, another one of his friends, sitting in a chair in the corner of the living room, holding the Daily Prophet in one hand and a pencil in the other. Sirius wasn't wearing one of his striped suits, but instead a simple black button-down shirt, black pants, and black shoes. His long black hair was tucked behind his ears, so it didn't distract him.
Remus moved closer to the figure and spoke quietly. "It's a bit late to be working on the crossword, isn't it?"
Sirius gave no response and wrote another word in the spaces.
"How has everything been here? How is everyone? Any words from James and Lily yet?" Remus asked a few questions to try and get Sirius's attention.
Sirius let out a snort and set the paper and pencil down on a side table. "Wouldn't you like to know?" he responded bitterly.
Remus took a few steps back. "Did I say something?" Remus asked.
"Not exactly. But…" Sirius rose to his feet and motioned to a piece of paper on the coffee table, "Would you care to explain this to me?"
Remus stepped closer to the coffee table and saw a letter. It was a recruitment letter from Voldemort's followers offering werewolves a better life if the Dark Lord was in charge of things. Remus found it while talking to a pack of werewolves for Dumbledore. Remus had kept it as evidence and stored it in his room at the safe house. "Where did you get that?" Remus asked, bewildered that his long-time friend would go through his things without his permission.
Sirius's gray eyes glared at Remus in such a way that it shook the young werewolf to his core. "Some things haven't been sitting right with me lately. You go on all of these long missions, never telling any of us where you're going. You claim it's for Dumbledore, but he never mentions if he received new intelligence on the Death Eaters or Voldemort. Then, when I got a letter from James telling me you had something of his in your room, I found this instead."
Remus shook his head. "Sirius, I don't know what you're implying, but there is no way I would betray my friends. If I could tell you what Dumbledore has been having me do, I would in a heartbeat. You know that." Remus tried to reason.
"Do I? It seems to me every time you leave for one of your 'missions', one of our people ends up dead a week later." Sirius's tone was all but accusing now.
Remus gently placed a hand on Sirius's shoulder. "Come on, Padfoot, it's late, you're tired, you're not thinking clearly. You trust me, right? You know I would never-"
In one quick motion, Sirius grabbed Remus's hand, spun the werewolf around, shoved him against the wall and pinned him there. The Animagus's eyes were now filled with a wild, raged fervor. "Don't you dare try to make me look like the bad guy!" he hissed. "I swear if you are a traitor, I will kill you myself!"
Remus's green eyes filled with fear. "I can't believe you, Sirius! I wouldn't do anything to hurt James, Lily, or anyone else! Why would you think I would? Hell, does the word 'friend' mean nothing to you anymore?"
Sirius released Remus. "It means the world to me. Call me tired. Call me mad. Call me paranoid; I don't care. I know a pattern when I see one, and I know there is a spy within the Order. If anything happens to James, Lily, or Peter, I will be coming after you," Sirius warned as he picked up the newspaper and pencil and stormed out of the room.
Remus remained frozen in the living room, mortified that his friend would treat him like that. "It's not me." He moaned as he buried his head in his hands. The young man cursed Dumbledore for not letting him tell his friends about the things he had been doing to help stop the war. Sirius was right, Dumbledore was not disclosing the information Remus gathered to anyone. If he did, Remus could try to repair the shattered trust between him and Sirius. At least, he hoped he could.