just like me || remus lupin

it didn't feel right.

The adults and teenagers were chatting amongst themselves. They had just finished up an Order meeting at Grimmauld's Place in London. James and Lily held hands as they sat on a couch together, while Cerise was beating Remus up with a pillow on the other couch. They were "arguing" over a silly little thing when Sirius walked into the room. They all turned to Sirius who was slightly pale. They all slightly froze waiting for him to say something. His body drooped down into a chair.

"My father passed away," he finally spoke. "No one will tell me why or how, either." The room went dead silent. They didn't know how to react. The Black Family despised Sirius, so his reaction to the news was slightly surprising.

"I'm so sorry, Sirius," Cerise finally spoke. The others soon followed along with their separate condolences.

Sirius smiled. "Don't be. I shouldn't even care anyway. They don't even consider me as their son, so..." Sirius sighed. "I just want to know why, y'know? Along with the news about Reggie—, it's just a lot."

All of them knew the news about Regulus. He became a deatheater sometime around his sixth year of Hogwarts, and just earlier in the year did they hear the news that he had fled his life and no one has seen him since. There had been various rumors. Some said he had gone mad, others said Sirius helped him escape, and others even said he was going to start his own legacy. Sirius didn't know who to believe. Even though they had cut off all ties with each other ever since that incident with Remus's secret, Sirius couldn't help but care for his younger brother.

"Have you heard any news from the Ministry about Reg?" Lily asked.

Sirius exhaled. "No. Reggie was the reason I couldn't finish the London mission with Griff and Moony. Dumbledore wanted to inform me about my little bro. If there were news, no one would even want to tell me anyway. I'm the outcast in the pureblood world if you forgot."

They all stayed silent once more. Cerise began to say something but stopped once someone scurried in the hallway and out the door in a flash. The door slammed shut and Mad-Eye Moody popped up into the doorway. The person ran fast but Cerise knew who it was.

"That Pettigrew character's been in such an awful rush lately, hasn't he? Running around town and leaving the meetings pretty early. Strange," Moody commented. He looked at the group of young adults. They all awkwardly stared at him. He grunted before wobbling off.

Cerise wanted to know what was up with Peter. Every time she tried to start a conversation with her old friend he would be very jittery, dismissive, and overall weird. She wanted to ignore his behavior but a part of her knew something was up.

"How is the wedding planning going, Prongs?" Remus said breaking the silence. James smiled before reaching to hold Lily's hand.

"Brillant. At least I hope. I wouldn't know since Lily won't let me make any decisions," James rolled his eyes. Lily hit his arm.

"In defense, James doesn't know how to color coordinate anything. It'd be a disaster if he had any choice in this. He already forced me to marry him, might as well do everything else myself," Lily chuckled. "I never would've thought I'd marry James Potter. My sixth year self would've gone ballistic."

"With me as the best man, I think the wedding will be perfect," Sirius smirked. Remus groaned in annoyance.

"I'm still disturbed you picked him as you're best man, Prongs. I feel offended," Remus slammed his fist onto his chest. Sirius stuck his tongue out as his response.

"You were Marlene and Dorcas's best man for their wedding! It's my turn! Hey, so you can see I'm not a major arse, I give James permission to be your best man at you and Griff's wedding," Sirius bragged not realizing what he had just mentioned. The five of them went into an awkward silence. Remus rubbed the back of his next as he moved his focus onto the fireplace. Cerise mouthed the words, you idiot to Sirius. He began frantically apologizing to her, but still made sure that Remus wouldn't notice.