Harry Potter Three Dead at the Hands of the Fourth

_Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter related._

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**Three Dead at the Hands of the Fourth **

Remus looked up at the old clock in his small flat and realised he was running late. Quickly eating the last bit of his sandwich and grabbed his cloak on the way out the door. He was going to spend the day with James, Lily and Harry. Because of the Fidelius charm, they couldn't leave the house so someone from the Order brought them anything they needed and today it was his turn – Lily didn't trust Sirius not to spend their money on things they didn't need.

As Remus walked down the path he noticed cloaked people standing on the street corner. He frowned, why were wizards loitering around Muggle London in such plain sight? The four seemed excited about something but Remus shrugged it off and took a right into the alley which he used to Apparate out of the way of Muggles.

After the familiar swooping sensation of apparating, he landed in Godric's Hollow and set off to the small corner shop and took out the list and muggle money Lily had given him. That was another reason Sirius wasn't given this job – he didn't understand the currency.

Remus chuckled to himself when he saw James had added 'lots of chocolate frogs' to the list and made a mental note to visit Honeydukes soon but found one in his pocket that would have to do for now. Once he'd paid, Remus continued through the village to the cottage where his best friends lived. It had been months since they had gone into hiding and James hated being 'trapped' as he put it, Remus knew that Lily and Harry were the only things that kept James sane.

The cottage was at the end of a row and Remus knew the walk to it so well he could do it with his eyes closed – he didn't of course, as you could never tell who was lurking in the shadows. As he approached the cottage and took a good look at it, he froze dead in his tracks. The right hand side of the house looked as if it had been blown apart, the front door was hanging off by its hinges and the gate was swinging sinisterly in the wind.

"No," breathed Remus. "Oh no, Sirius what have you done?"

He dropped the bag of groceries and ran forward stopping short at the threshold of the house, not wanting to know what he would find inside. With a trembling hand he pulled the door back and entered the hall which was lit only by the sunlight coming through the living room window. The light fell right at the foot of the stairs. Right where James Potter lay, unmoving.

Remus felt his knees give out beneath him as he fell beside what was left of his best friend. His glasses were crooked, his eyes wide open. His wand hand was empty. Remus wondered had he been disarmed or had he been wandless to begin with.

"Prongs?" he whispered.

James's brown eyes stared back at him blankly and a wave of memories hit Remus like a ton of bricks. They met on the train. They became friends. James found out Remus was a werewolf. He didn't care. James suggested that Peter, Sirius and he became Animagus. They came up with their nicknames. They made the Marauders Map. All those times James asked Lily out. That one time she said yes. All those pranks they pulled at school. Every laugh, every joke, every smile. Gone.

"No, please no."

Remus realised he had tears rolling down his face. He didn't try to stop them. James was the best friend he'd ever had. He had always been there for Remus, the first to accept that he was a werewolf and the first to suggest they do something to help him. James always put his friends and his family before himself.

Suddenly Remus's head snapped up. Where were Harry and Lily?

His hand shaking he reached out and closed James's eyelids not wanting to remember the vacant look in them. He then scrambled up, they couldn't all be gone … not Lily … not innocent little Harry. Remus almost ran into the living room looking around for any sign of them. Then his eyes fell on the two wands lying discarded on the sofa. Wherever Lily was she was wandless, Remus took a deep breath telling himself _she's alive, Harry's alive, they've got to be, they'll have escaped._

Back out in the hall Remus looked back at James and noticed how his arms were spread out as if he was trying to protect those behind him. It was a strange position Remus noticed and his eyes went up the stairs, remembering the upstairs of the house had been blown out. Bile rose in Remus's throat as he carefully stepped round James and shakily walked upstairs.

He opened Lily and James's door first but the room seemed untouched and he stepped out. The door to Harry's nursery was ajar and as if in a daze Remus pushed it open not fully accepting what he saw.

Lily lay crumpled on the floor, her vibrant red hair splayed out around her head like a fiery halo. A look of anguish on her face, her hand reaching out behind her in what Remus could only assume was a last attempt to protect Harry.

"Oh, Lily," Remus whispered as tears continued to flow. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I should have been here."

His eyes flashed to Harry's cot but it was empty apart from the little blue blanket and Harry's stuffed snowy owl.

Panicking, Remus looked around what remained of the room – most of it was blown apart. After frantically searching around the room and checking the bathroom he realised there was no sign of Harry anywhere. Had Voldemort taken him instead of killing him? Was he even alive? Had Sirius taken him, he was his godfather after all.

"He did this," Remus hissed to himself knowing he was right. Sirius had been the secret keeper, only he could have told Voldemort the Potter's whereabouts. Anger boiled inside of Remus. Sirius had done this, he betrayed them all … especially James! James thought of Sirius as a brother! And what had he done with Harry?

Remus picked up the stuffed snowy owl and threw it out of the hole in the wall in anger, remembering Sirius had given it to Harry.

"Why?" he called out hoping Sirius would hear him. "You were their friend!"

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The morning air was crisp as the black clad group surrounded the double grave in Godric's Hollow. The sky was overcast and it looked like it would rain. The preacher was speaking but Remus wasn't listening. He couldn't, he was numb from the pain.

Dumbledore had visited him to explain what happened. Sirius had indeed betrayed Lily and James to Voldemort. Voldemort had killed them both but when he attempted to kill Harry the curse backfired and he somehow destroyed himself. Then Peter of all people had gone after Sirius to avenge James and Lily's murders. Remus wished he'd gone with him – Peter never had been the best dueller, especially against Sirius. Sirius blew a muggle street apart killing Peter and twelve muggles and was now rotting in Azkaban – where he belonged. Harry was now living with Lily's sister and her family. Dumbledore had asked Remus not to visit Harry. Remus could only hope little Harry would be looked after.

The preacher had finished speaking. Remus drew his wand and conjured a bouquet of lilies which he dropped into the earth on top of the two coffins. It was all he could do but lilies always where the only flower James had ever liked.

As the soil was pushed back into the grave, Remus turned on his heel and walked away. He couldn't stay there a moment longer. He felt completely destroyed – three of his best friends were dead all because of the fourth. Voldemort had fallen but Remus couldn't have cared less. What did victory matter if you had no one to rejoice with? Sirius had done something far worse than Voldemort – he had betrayed his friends and in Remus's book there was no greater crime.

On the way out of the kissing gate he caught sight of a tall dark figure beneath the trees. Remus recognised him at once as Severus Snape. Remus longed to ask him why he was there but let it go. He knew Snape had been Lily's best friend for five years and never really got over the loss of her friendship. Snape's face was contorted with such a look of pain that Remus thought that maybe, just maybe – but he couldn't think why – there was someone as hurt as he was.

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_Thank you for reading :)_

_ I know its short but it was just something that was floating around my head for a while. _

_If you want you can ignore the bit at the end about Snape, I always think he would have gone to the funeral but hid because everyone thought he was a Death Eater. But I don't think Remus would have called him out on it when he was so broken himself._

_Published: 10 June 2013_


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Harry Potter, Friendship, Hurt-Comfort