Because You Love Me

8. Arrangements

Alaina apparated to Godric's Hollow once she got outside the reach of the enchantments of the school.  She walked up and down every street until she found the funeral home.  The building was small, but as she walked inside, she immediately felt smaller.  The inside was sterile and it smelled just like a hospital.  Her heart racing inside her chest, she walked toward the door at the end of the hall.  It had the word 'OFFICE' on it in golden letters.  She assumed this would be where she had to go.  She knocked on the door when she got to it and stepped back, awaiting some kind of response.  There was some indistinct rustling from inside and then it opened.

The man in front of her was small and frail, but he had a business-like air about him.  He smiled up at her.  

"How can I help you, Miss?"

"I'm Alaina.  Alaina Evans.  I'm looking for-"

Suddenly, Remus popped up behind him.  "Me.  She is Lily's younger sister.  I asked Petunia to come, but she flat out refused."

The man cleared his throat.  "Er, come in then.  We were just finishing up."  He disappeared back into the office.  

Remus stood there for a moment.  Alaina seemed awfully nervous and upset.  "I know you don't really know me well.  I've not been around a whole lot.  But you can trust me, Alaina.  James and Lily did."  He smiled sympathetically at her.

Alaina remember Lily talking about Remus Lupin in one of her letters.  She had told her he was the nicest of James's friends because he truly understood what it was like to be different.  What she had meant by different, she had no idea.  He seemed perfectly normal to her.  His hair was short and shaggy and he had kind eyes.

"Thank you so much," she told him.

Remus stepped out of the way to let Alaina pass and then he shut the door.

The office was larger than it looked from the outside and there were doors on either side, probably connecting other offices of some kind.  The small old man who had first greeted her was sitting at his desk.  Remus ushered her over to a chair and allowed her to sit down.  The old man eyed her carefully and then shoved a folder in front of her.  It had James and Lily's names on the front.  Remus sat down in the chair beside of her.

"I've already got everything ready to go.  I really wasn't expecting you.  When I got the owl from Sirius this morning, he said he thought you were dead.  Then I got a message from Albus when I got here that said otherwise.  He said he might be sending you along so I've been waiting around her for you," he explained.  "Everything is in the folder.  All you have to do is take a look and if there is anything you want to change, then we'll change it, okay?"

Alaina nodded.  She didn't speak because she couldn't.  Tears were already making themselves known, filling her eyes, and spilling down her cheeks.  She was afraid if she spoke then she would lose it again like she had last night.  She took a deep breath and opened the folder.  There were pictures inside.  One was of the flowers that would be atop the casket, one of the place where they would be buried, and the last ones were of caskets.  The red one had James's name written at the top of it and the gold one had Lily's.

"They prided themselves on being in Gryffindor when they were going to Hogwarts," Remus explained.  He noticed her confused expression when she looked at the pictures.  "The colors were red and gold."

Alaina placed her hand over mouth to muffle the sob she found she could no longer hold in.  She closed the folder and turned her head.  Remus wrapped his arms around her tightly.  He held her there for a good two minutes before she calmed down.  By the time she was finished, he was crying, too.