Astrophile [J.P]

Chapter 66

~ Since the day we found you, you have been our friend and your voice, 

Still echoes in the hallways of this house but now it's the end. ~

***

Magnolia Crescent felt horribly empty with half of its occupants gone. 

Besides after all that had befallen them, a somber air hung about the place, making it seem no less than a state of lamentation.

Remus sat on the couch with a blank expression on his face though he wasn't alone as Felicity joined him too, sitting down beside him.

Only those two could understand what either of them were going through but neither had the strength to speak up. Remus had turned alarmingly silent ever since Sirius had been sentenced to Azkaban and Felicity who had just been recovering from the loss of Marlene's death felt as if James and Lily's deaths along with it were too much to handle.

But they didn't have anyone else left to support them in such trialing times. Peter was supposedly dead by Sirius's hand while the latter was sentenced to a prison from where no one had been able to escape.

Remus and Felicity only had each other left but both of them were not in the state to give support to each other either. They were both the type of people who shut their emotions within them and locked other people out when going through things as devastating as the sorrow they were facing. 

Both would never open up to one another and in that case, both would never share their sorrows.

Still, the silence that hung about them marked them as equal victims of the war, as they had lost almost everything they cherished due to Lord Voldemort.

While the rest of the Wizarding World was celebrating the ascent of a savior and the defeat of Lord Voldemort, Remus and Felicity were exempt from it all as that end of the war had cost them heavily.

Their friends were gone, their lives were in turmoil and though the darkness seemed to have lifted by the defeat of the Dark Forces, Remus and Fel seemed to be stuck in the darkness because for them their friends were the light and happiness.

But those friends could never return to them hence their light and happiness had gone too.

"It's the full moon next week," Remus spoke up, his voice sounding alien to his own self even as he had been silent for too long, "I will have to leave."

"I know," she tilted her head to look at him briefly, "but you do know that you're welcome here any time... I would never shut my doors on you."

"That's very sweet of you," he mumbled, "but I guess it's better if I find someplace else to live. I will keep in touch, I promise, but... I just can't stay here."

Felicity knew exactly why he was saying that.

The house was a reminder of all the memories they had had together back when Marlene, James and Lily were alive, Sirius and Peter were with them too and the Dark Lord hadn't wrecked everything.

She had felt the same way after her father's death and continuing to stay in that house had been very difficult for her until she made new memories with her friends to cherish. Yet once again, all those memories were scattered into ashes due to the calamities of the war.

It was hard to think about what the future would hold for them but they knew one thing very well; nothing would be the same as it had been when all of them were together.

They would face a lot of changes and they would have to accept it and move on with their lives. Because the sad truth was that no matter what happened, no matter how many wars were waged and no matter how many lives were sacrificed, time never stopped.

The clock kept ticking and life continued, with only time proving to be an ointment over the wounds inflicted by the distresses one faced in his or her life.

For Remus and Felicity, a dark period of loneliness stood ahead of them but they knew with time things would improve. Even if they couldn't go back to how they used to be, there was some hope that time would transform their bleeding cuts to bruises.

***

Years lapsed and though life had come back on track after the war still the hole left in the lives of the people who had lost their loved ones in the war couldn't be filled.

Felicity and Remus met occasionally and visited James and Lily's grave together but other than that they refrained from meeting a lot since it would bring back all those past memories and they would get saddened.

Remus had been very busy in finding jobs in the Wizarding World since it was quite hard for him to be employed due to his state of being a lycanthrope and there was an evident discrimination for werewolves. He worked very hard but lived a struggling life, dealing with both his lycanthropy as well as his financial problems.

Felicity on the other hand had secluded herself from the Wizarding World a great deal, living her life almost like a Muggle. She taught in a primary school that was close to the neighborhood, kept to herself mostly and there were very few times when her friend Alicia paid her a visit or vice versa.

Alicia had sought a career in Care of Magical Creatures and for that she was mostly traveling around the world, she had been working on a book too for which she had recently met the famous magizoologist, Newt Scamander.

Time was passing by and though initially Felicity had tried a lot to be able to meet Sirius for one last time, filing applications to the Ministry to let her visit the Azkaban inmate, the applications had been constantly rejected.

By then she had almost lost hope that she would ever see her cousin again.

Though the reason she wanted to see him was to ask him the truth about what really happened on that fateful Halloween night of 1981. Since even after all those years, she couldn't believe that Sirius would have betrayed his friends so terribly. 

She might not have known him her entire life but they were cousins and he had been like a brother to her. He had been so supportive towards her after Alphard's death and he was definitely not the type of person to betray his friends' trust in him.

She knew enough about him to doubt that he had been framed for being the spy but all the proofs pointed in his direction so she couldn't do anything except wait and hope for the truth to be revealed.

Deep down, she felt he was innocent and prayed for him to be released if that was the case.

Knowing that Sirius was alive yet subjected to such brutal torture made her heart churn and she still had nightmares about her cousin rotting in Azkaban, saying those painful words over and over again:

"I did not betray them! It wasn't me. I would never even think of hurting my friends..." 

***