𝟏.| ✬ 𝒟ℯ𝒶𝓇 ℬ𝒾𝓁𝓁, ✬ {ℬ. 𝒲ℯ𝒶𝓈𝓁ℯ𝓎}

\\𝒞ℋ𝒜ℳℬℰℛ 𝒪ℱ 𝒮ℰ𝒞ℛℰ𝒯𝒮\\

~

They sat in the living room. Eveline huddled on the couch, holding a mug of tea close and her daughter closer. Remus sat in an armchair across the room. His glazed eyes stared vacantly at the nearby bookshelf. "Remus... Remus." He snapped out of it, focusing his gaze as best he could on Eveline Marks and pulling his legs to his chest. Eleanora watched him closely. "Remus, what are we going to do?" Eveline asked. Her own brown eyes were bloodshot and ringed with red. Her hands were shaking so bad she had to set the tea mug down on the coffee table. She pulled Eleanora closer. Remus didn't answer for a long time. "Remus?"

"What are we going to do? You mean what are you going to do."

"What do you mean?"

Remus shook his head hard. "I did my part. You can stay here as long as you want, whatever, but this isn't a we situation. I have my future cut out for me. You can figure you and your little death eater husband's out for yourselves."

"Death eater?"

"You don't even know what that means, do you?" He let out a humorless laugh. Eveline pulled Eleanora even closer. Eleanora tried unsuccessfully to squirm away. "You have no idea what a death eater is. You have no idea what your husband has actually done, do you?"

"He's- he's made some mistakes, sure-"

Remus jumped to his feet. "Some mistakes? Lily and James' deaths were not mistakes." He was practically shouting.

"What are you talking about?" Eveline whispered, her voice cracking. Remus turned away from Eveline and Eleanora to face a a picture on the wall. A picture of himself and his best friends, smiling on a sunny afternoon with their arms around each other. His breath hitched as he turned back to face Eleanora.

"Your husband killed Lily and James Potter."

"No, he didn't."

"He betrayed them!" Remus shouted, losing his cool completely. "He made us all believe he was on our side. Hell, I thought of him as a friend. We all knew he was in with the wrong crowd but we trusted him. We trusted him with everything and he threw it all away to get in good with Voldemort. And guess what? Guess what Eveline? Voldemort's dead. Voldemort's dead and all his little followers are running to get into hiding and that's precisely why you're here right now. Because Cillian fucked up and ruined your lives. And he ruined my life too. He got my best friends in the entire world killed, and I'm still here helping you. So I'm sorry if I'm not exactly the Remus you remember but my world is shattering because of your husband and I'm doing the best I can." His voice broke. Tears streamed down his face as he said "I'm doing the best I can. I'm doing the best I can."

Eveline cried too. She put her hand to her mouth and she sobbed, but she didn't stand up. She didn't go to Remus. Eleanora watched her mother and the strange man she didn't know cry together. She watched in silence and then she managed to wriggle free of her mother's grasp and leave the living room. Eveline watched her daughter walk away and then covered her face with her hands, her entire body racked with sobs. Remus crashed onto the couch next to her, exhausted from the pain of the last few days. Eveline lifted her head from her hands just enough to turn to Remus. He didn't look at her. He didn't move.