Murray and his little clique of criminals leave the room in a loud swarm, and when they're gone, the room falls into a silence heavy enough to make Remus' shoulders droop.

"Sirius—" James reaches for Sirius, who jerks away from James' outstretched hand, and just vanishes. Literally vanishes. Into thin fucking air.

Remus blinks. He stares at the empty chair next to him where Sirius was sat just half a second ago.

"Did he just—" James chokes out, but Lily cuts him off, "I think he Apparated."

"Sirius doesn't even know how to Apparate," James says, "He could've really hurt himself..."

"If he doesn't know how to, then he can't have gone too far," Auguste stands up, "We should go find him, before he..." he doesn't finish his sentence. Instead, he places his hand on Remus' shoulder. Remus is the only one left sitting.

"Remus," Auguste asks, leaning down to look at him. "Are you alright?"

"Of course he's not," James snaps, "How could he be?"

Auguste gives James a hard look.

"Sorry," James mutters, kneeling in front of Remus. "Re, I know this is a lot for you to take in... But we really need to look for Sirius. Why don't you go home with Lily?"

"No," Remus tells him, snapping back to reality. Well, as close go reality as it can get. "I'm not going home, I want to help you look for him,"

"Okay," James doesn't protest, "Come on, then. Let's go."

The four of them enter the corridor, which is crammed with people of every imagineable shape, colour and size.

"Fucking hell," James mutters, scanning the corridors.

"Okay, Remus and I will go left," Lily grabs Remus by his hand, already tugging him away. "You two go right."

They don't remain to hear any potential response from the two other boys. Remus tries to use his height to his advantage, but there's no sight of Sirius at all.

"Can't you see him?" Lily pants as they marsh down the corridor, peering into rooms whose doors are open.

"I can't," Remus mumbles.

"Fuck," Lily curses. Remus flinches a little, because he's never heard her curse before.

And then it occurs to him. They all know. What exactly they know Remus can't tell for sure, but they know something all the same. Something that's making them all worry a lot more.

The same man who claimed to hear his dead boyfriend's voice until six months after his death.

Remus shudders.

A good part of a year at St. Mungo's...

Remus' blood runs cold. God, it's so much worse than he could've ever imagined it to be.

"Remus, slow down, I can't keep up," Lily calls out after him, making him realise that he's sped up considerably, leaving her to run after him.

"Sorry," Remus tries to smile at her, but he can't. "I was just..."

"I know," Lily squeezes his hand. They're at the end of the corridor, in front of a staircase. "It's okay. Let's call James and see."

Anxiously, Remus waits for her to make the call, barely managing to stop himself from running down the stairs calling Sirius' name.

He knows it's hopeless, but he stares at Lily after she's done anyway, waiting for an answer. Lily shakes her head, sighing. "They're going to search the lower floors. Let's go up."

***

Almost four hours later, Remus, James, Lily and Auguste are sat at James and Lily's tiny dining table. They order a pizza for lunch, because no one has the energy to cook.

Sirius would've cooked, if he were here.

Everyone's worried, no one talks much.

"Can we call your sister?" James asks tiredly, leaning his forehead on one hand.

"I already did," Auguste sighs.

"Do you think we should tell Reg?" James asks, raising his head to look at Lily.

"I don't know," Lily admits. "On one hand, he'll just get worried and... on the other, he deserves to know, doesn't he?"

"Maybe we should wait a while," Auguste suggests, "At least until tomorrow. And if we still can't find him..."

"Yeah. Okay, we'll wait until tomorrow." James agrees, putting his head back in his palm. Lily leans closer to put her head on his shoulder. He raises his head again, gives her a little kiss on the top of her head, and wraps an arm around her.

Remus watches all of this unfold in silence, feeling largely peripheral in the grand scheme of things.

"Re?" Lily's voice makes him blink a couple times.

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

"I... yeah," Remus shifts in his seat, "Just worried. A lot. And... scared. And I don't know, lost, too."

"I'm sure it's difficult to process," Auguste says from beside him.

"I don't think I know what to process in the first place," Remus says. He wishes it was Sirius sat next to him, so that he can reach under the table and find Sirius' hand.

"I'm sorry we kept it from you, Re," Lily says, her voice going quiet towards the end of her words.

Remus shakes his head quickly, "What? Lily, no. You... I'm not saying that you should've told me,"

"I know, but... I wish I did,"

"Sirius wouldn't have liked that," Remus tells her.

"Sirius doesn't like anything, Remus,"

"He likes Remus," James points out.

"He does," Auguste agrees, "He told me that himself."

Remus looks down. "That's hardly what I'm worried about."

"I know," James moves his arm so that Lily can sit straight again. "We could go look for him again..."

"But where?" Lily sighs, running her hand through her bright hair.

"I don't know," James says miserably, picking at the table cloth.

"But we have to do something," Remus says, "Right?"

"You're right," Auguste says, "It's just that none of us know what, Remus."

Remus sighs, nodding. It's true, what is he supposed to do? Put up posters?

"Maybe I should just go home," Remus says, "Maybe... maybe Sirius will come back there."

Both James and Lily smile at him like they know he doesn't believe his own words but don't want to call him out on it.

"Yeah, maybe he will," Auguste smiles at him too, the same indulgent smile that James and Lily gave Remus. "Come on. I'll drive you home."