Four of Them

There had always been four of them. At Hogwarts and after. Because after Hogwarts had been the time when everyone had their own little cliques, the groups they stayed in, because anyone else might be working for Voldemort. And they, like everyone else, had had theirs.

Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs.

And now Prongs was dead.

Wormtail was dead.

And Padfoot had killed them. How useful it had been to have a small group of trusted friends when one of them couldn't be trusted.

And he, Moony, was left here, the last one, in his flat staring at the walls, looking for work he would never find, and remembering all the times he could have told someone, anyone, that Sirius must be the spy, and never had.

And remembering all the times after Hogwarts.

And a year ago these were good memories, happy ones, and now they were still. But they were tinged with something else.

Was he already the traitor?

Was he already telling Voldemort everything they did?

Was he already plotting the murders of his best friends?

Sirius' attitude had changed toward him in the months before he betrayed them. Maybe it had just been then that he changed...

Talking, and suddenly stopping when Remus walked into the room.

His carefully guarded manner around Remus, as if afraid he would give something incriminating away.

No one else suspected him, and Sirius must have known, he was fine around them. But he must have noticed Remus suspected him...

Remus had changed toward Sirius as well. He had realised the obvious.

Lily laughed at the idea, James was furious at the suggestion of it, Peter was doubtful that it was Sirius. But Remus was sure.

And he hadn't even tried to tell anyone.

He had tried to convince himself that he was imagining it, that it was impossible, that Sirius would never go to Voldemort, Sirius who was always so outspoken against Dark Magic. And so he hadn't told anyone, not even Dumbledore. And now Lily and James were dead.

He hadn't even told anyone when they had decided to use the Fidelius Charm. He hadn't even told them when they decided to use Sirius as the Secret-Keeper. He hadn't told them not to trust Sirius.

He had suggested it to Sirius.

He had suggested that maybe he should be the Secret-Keeper, that he could hide somewhere and Voldemort would never suspect him.

And Sirius had brushed it off, told Remus he was fine as the Secret-Keeper, told him he wouldn't be in any serious danger. And Remus had agreed. He hadn't insisted, and maybe if he had they would still be alive ... or maybe Sirius would just have told Voldemort about the change, and they would have gone after him.

But it didn't matter. Because now they were all dead, and Sirius was in Azkaban, and it was his own fault. And now he was paying for his silence. Now they were dead. And now he was left alone, regretting that he hadn't told anyone.