He buried his face in his hands and sobbed openly. "What if that means that she's hurt,
and she needs me? She's somewhere... Do you feel it, too? Through the Pack Bond?"
"Yes," Remus answered mournfully, wishing like hell he could tell Sirius the truth,
but an Unbreakable Vow was just that: unbreakable. "I don't know what to tell you about
Mia, mate. But you have to focus. Winning this war is what's important right now.
Protecting Prongs and Lily's baby is what's important right now."
"Or Alice and Frank's," Sirius added.
Remus sighed and shook his head. "Either way, we have friends and family to
protect, and you can't bloody well do it drunk. Get cleaned; get dressed. There's an Order
meeting this afternoon."
"Didn't you just get in from work?"
"Full moon's tomorrow," Remus stated, a part of him sad that Sirius had not known
by the way that he winced at the reminder. Then again, Remus had gone without company
for several full moons since Mia left. Prongs was too busy taking care of Lily, and Padfoot
was rarely sober even as Padfoot. Wormtail, though loyal and always willing to accompany
Remus, was fairly useless due to his small size.
"I'll sleep the day after." Remus shrugged and left the bathroom.
"Won't it be dangerous? To give birth outside of St Mungo's?" Alice asked
nervously, wringing her hands in her lap as Dumbledore stood at the front of the room,
Alastor Moody on one side of him, Severus Snape on the other.
"It would be more dangerous to do so inside St Mungo's," Snape chimed in. "As I've
said," he continued, his voice tainted with impatience, something that was earning glares
from everyone in the room except Dumbledore, "it is the Dark Lord's greatest desire to
discover this supposed rival from the prophecy, and the closer we grow to the end of July,
the more volatile he is becoming. He has had the hospital attacked with much less to lose
in the past."
Dumbledore placed a hand on Snape's shoulder, which the defected Death Eater
flinched away from before moving to the side entirely, drawing the focus away from
himself.