Aftermath

"Oh my God!" That was Molly.

"No...no it couldn't-" That was Charlie.

"Not Sirius...no...he....he could go...like....like that?" That was Arthur.

"Damn....damn..." That was Bill.

"Oh God...God damn it!" That was Fred.

Dumbledore listened to the muttering and crying emitted by Weasleys and the rest of the Order as they soaked in what he had said. He had just told them of Sirius's death, how it happened, who had done it...

Most people would have been surprised to see the two men at the back of the room, immobile and seemingly unaffected by the sudden news. Dumbledore gazed into the shadows of the kitchen and distinguished him as Severus. Oh course he won't be mourning for Sirius anytime soon...but then again you never can tell with Severus.

Dumbledore shifted his gaze from Severus to the brown-haired werewolf who was already being pitied by a gaggle of people. Molly was acting as if Remus were one of her own children, embracing in bone-cracking hugs and speaking kind words to him.

God bless the woman Dumbledore thought but I better get in there before Remus cracks Dumbledore had enough experience with Remus to know that it was nothing short of dangerous to be noticing Remus was even in the room in a situation like this, let alone treating him like a child. Remus was the type of person that kept to himself, worked out all his own problems, never asked for help from anyone, and needed to be alone when in deep distress. Add to that the fact that he was constantly keeping a raging blood-thirsty wolf behind bars in his mind at all times and you had a potentially lethal combination. Even as he thought this, Dumbledore saw the werewolf's bright amber eyes flare with anger. Dumbledore rushed over to Remus, who was now being consoled by Arthur.

"I truly am very sorry Remus," he said kindly, with his hand on the other man's shoulder. "I know you knew Sirius much better than me and I know how hard this must be for you."

"I suppose I'll find a way to live through it," Remus answered the other man in a hollow voice that unnerved Dumbledore. It was a tone that Remus only used when masking his anger or grief (probably both in this case) was taking up so much of his concentration that he was forgetting to replace new emotions in his voice. And Dumbledore had learned over the years that it took a so much more than a lot to do that to that to Remus's self-control. Dumbledore also knew there was only one way to go from here. All he could do was hope Arthur-

"But I suppose if he had to die, he died in battle and that would've been the way he wanted to go, right?"

It took a lot to keep from wincing. Arthur had done it. Dumbledore could see Remus's body go rigid, as if poised for attack, an imaginary fuel being added to the fire that was in his eyes. If there was one thing Arthur could've done to write his death wish, it was give Remus a piece of optimism after his only remaining friend's death.

Remus began to tremble threateningly. He lifted his gaze to meet Arthur's, found it and held it. Arthur looked as if he'd just been hit by a lightening rod.

Remus's voice was low and sounded so much like a growl that all the people around him backed away except for Arthur, whose legs seemed to not be working properly under Remus's piercing glare, and Dumbledore, "He didn't want to die at all...not without me."

With that, Remus whipped his hand across Arthur's face, throwing the older, and not to mention much larger, man careening onto the floor. Dumbledore advanced and was met in the jaw with a punch with the force of an anvil. His jaw broke and emitted a sickening crack. Severus dashed out of his corner and advanced upon Remus, who whipped around, dropped to the floor and kicked Severus's legs out from underneath him. While Remus was doing this, Mad-Eye and Kingsley advanced on him from either side. Remus leapt over both of their heads in a tremendous jump and landed in back of Kingsley, who had narrowly missed running straight into Mad-Eye. Remus gave Kingsley a sharp jab in the back with his elbow sending him into the man in front of him and effectively pinning them both to the ground. But before so much as a hair touched the stone, Remus had his thin fingers around Arthur's neck. All of this was done in a matter of six seconds.

Arthur choked for breath as Remus lifted his body up by the neck, a malicious grin flitting across his features, "No...Sirius didn't want to die at all, " Remus growled with dose of unmistakable delight in his voice. Arthur, whose feet were now off the ground, finally ran out of air. His eyes rolled back into his head and fluttered closed. Molly let out a strangled scream. Remus's body went rigid again. His smile vanished, and he dropped Arthur's body as if it had burnt him. He was breathing very fast now, his thin chest rising and falling at an alarming rate; his breaths were quick and shuddering and his eyes were void of the fire they held before and betrayed now only complete and utter terror as he gazed on at the limp body before him. He whipped around and surveyed the damage he had done, his eyes falling last on Dumbledore. The wounded headmaster met Remus's amber eyes with his own blue ones. He saw in them something that he had never seen there before; a self hatred so fierce, so terrifyingly pure that all thoughts of Harry, Voldemort, and Sirius were pushed from his mind for a moment.

Remus broke the connection and dashed to the other side of the kitchen where Kreacher resided when he wasn't prowling around the rest of the house. Dumbledore knew why. When Sirius, Remus, and he had been cleaning out one of the rooms one day, they came across a dagger wrought completely of the finest silver. They had almost thrown it in the trash bag when Kreacher had snatched it out of Sirius's grip to bring it off to his lair. And there was only one thing that a werewolf could possibly want with a dagger of silver. And the thought that Remus Lupin could loose everything that had been the control that he had prided himself so much in maintaining, terrified Dumbledore beyond anything he had seen that night.

"Severus, stop him!" Dumbledore said urgently his still broken jaw throbbing menacingly. Severus probably didn't understand what to do but the fear in Dumbledore's voice urged him to follow anyway.

When Severus got to the door he understood what Dumbledore had meant. Remus stood in the middle of the small room silhouetted against the furnace. There was a gleaming silver blade in his hands, aimed at his stomach. Severus lunged forward and grabbed Remus's pale hands to prevent him from using the dagger. Remus threw him against the wall and turned away. Severus wrapped his arms around the man in front of him (he had always been taller than Remus) and grabbed the knife again. Remus struggled to throw the other man off and when that failed, he decided to try to pierce his skin anyway. By this point Dumbledore had made his way over to the doorway. He ignored the pains in his jaw and forced out, "Stop struggling Remus."

Almost at once, Remus stopped the futile struggle. His figure, still wrapped by Severus's long arms, gave way and took Severus down with him. The blade dropped to the floor with a clang. Remus broke into a fit of sobbing, ignoring completely into whose shoulder he was sobbing. Severus awkwardly patted the other man's head for a moment or two until he finally accepted that the man needed someone to cry on and brushed a lock of delicate gray-streaked hair out of Remus's face.

And there they sat for some time with Dumbledore looking down on them. It was truly a sight for sore eyes; Severus holding Remus in his arms almost protectively and stroking his hair, ignoring all earlier grudges, until Remus passed out from the exposure to the silver. From there Kingsley helped Severus carry a surprisingly light Remus to his room and bandage his hands which had been burned raw from the wretched blade and were now slowly oozing blood.

Dumbledore lay awake the next night in his bed. This was the first time he could really think properly without having to worry about anyone else. Of course he had been scared when he learned that Harry had ventured into the Department of Mysteries with five other students. Of course he had been scared when Harry ran out of the Death Chamber. Of course he had been scared when Voldemort decided to use Harry as a puppet for his sick message. But Remus's sudden outburst had definitely struck him as terrifying. As long as he could remember, he had always admired Remus's strong will and amazing sense of self control. He was like a mountain that was strong and unmoving no matter what hit it and what went up against it. But I suppose he thought to himself even mountains erupt sometimes...

It wasn't only the suicidal acts that left him taken aback, he supposed that it was because when you saw Remus sobbing uncontrollably into the arms of his long time enemy and you saw Severus excepting it. When you saw someone as strong and as young as Sirius die and someone as stupid and stubborn as Cornelius admit he's wrong. When you see the Dark Lord Voldemort lowered to possessing a 15 year old boy to kill him. When you see that same 15 year old boy go and face the world knowing that he will probably never know someone so close to a family as Sirius ever again without even shedding a single tear, you realize something...you realize something even you, the almighty Albus Dumbledore, had been trying to deny.

You realized that the second war has truly begun, all your hope lies in a 15-going-on-16-year-old-boy that is nothing short of amazing...and there's nothing you can do about it.