Remus' POV
A week later

"He doesn't want a funeral. I've almost begged him to come to something, anything." James sighed adjusting his glasses.

"I haven't even seen him. He won't open the door. Won't respond to any calls. I left that same day to check on him and nothing, I've heard nothing." I sighed back. Feeling incredibly stressed and tired.

"He stayed with us that night, remember? Though I'm not sure for how long. When we woke up he was gone and...I've only had one conversation with him since. It was short." James revealed.

"I could...break in? Turn into a rat and see if there's a crawl space?" Peter suggested.

Sirius had locked himself away. No contact with anyone. Not a single word from him. All I could fear was that it was the calm before the storm, and yet it didn't feel very calm at all. Waiting to here from him felt like preparing for a tsunami.

I attempted to comfort him the same very day I found out Reg had died. Knocked on his door for two hours to a flat I didn't know was empty. Went home after to make sure Arty was coping as well as she could, only to receive a message that James had rang and that they were watching Sirius. I was able to relax a little and focus on my girl; who was dealing with the news remarkably well.

Arty took two rest days for herself. Breakfast and dinner in bed, with a small venture downstairs for lunch. Puffy pink eyes and knotted hair, that I made sure to brush through on the second night.

She told me brief but detailed stories about Regulus. Memories that had filled her mind and consumed it with the remembrance of him.

On the fourth night, Arty woke up from a long evening nap. Pillowcase creases printed on her face and a sudden burst of concentrated energy.

'A want to light a candle for him.' She told me.

So we did.

We went outside as the sky began to mix shades of deep orange and cool purple and sat down together on bricked pavement. Looking up at the sky before lighting any candle we could find inside the house.

We didn't speak until the flame of one of the candles began to flicker manically. A black smog producing from the wick that desperately needed to be cut. The glass rim being lightly covered with dark soot.

Arty blew out the candle and nodded up at the sky. As if she was having a conversation in her head with him all along. That she had finally been given a sign that it was alright to move on.

The next day she managed to drag herself out of bed before noon. Having breakfast downstairs at our dining table.

'Life can be so cruel. So short.' She said.

'You never asked me to take your last name, like Narcissa asked you to. Perhaps that's a conversation we should be having.' She added.

The thought of marriage seemed tone deaf and I was surprised by the directness of her tone and seriousness that rested on her face. I was surprised that death had brought on the thought of grasping onto life, for her.

The thought of all of our mortality playing heavy on her mind, as if time was running out for me to ask her to be my wife. A moment I wanted to wait and build up to.

I never asked for Artemis' hand for marriage when Narcissa asked me to. When she asked me to change her last name and take her away somewhere secret.

I never wanted to feel like marriage was a demand. Like it was a forced choice. It meant more than just a shared surname to me. I don't want to get married purely because of a situation that calls for it and I didn't and don't think Artemis deserves an introduction to such devotion beginning that way; where it's forced, no matter if love exists there.

Sirius wasn't going to have a new surname, so why should Arty? We could still move away and keep our identities.

We moved in with each other pretty quickly, however. That advise truly making sense. We all packed up and moved, everyone with the exception of a few; Sonny, Dorcas and Mary to be exact.

Peter kicked off that I was moving out without him, choosing to live with my girlfriend instead of transferring our man cave to another building. He was pissed until he realised Sirius would be in the same position as him- then suddenly living alone was desirable.

Sirius wanted to be alone after James moved out and in with Lily, taking the opportunity to move to the next natural step during the forced move; Sirius claimed he had been waiting for solitude for years and finally he'd have peace and quiet from James' irritating morning person behaviour.

Sirius never really wanted to be alone though and rarely was. There was always someone at his flat and if there wasn't, he wasn't home and was elsewhere. Constantly enjoying the company of others.

Sirius never wanted to be alone and that's why him choosing to be this isolated was terrifying.

"I don't know about that, Pete." I said finally, breaking deep thought.

None of us knew what the best move to make was. At what point did we desperately need to intervene and at what point is intervention simply delaying the way he's processing this information?

He's allowed to mourn at his own speed. It had only been a week. But it had still been only a week since his brother died.

As a group, we were torn and Sirius was unreachable.

Lily and Marlene had care packages at the ready. Sending multiple Sirius' way through their owl's. Often being sent back with no note. Both girls desperately wanted to intervene, almost immediately. Alice and Frank agreed with them but were less manic (though nice intentioned) in their attempts.

Peter, Arty and I all shared the same worry about Sirius. Wanting to reach out and make sure he was alright but not entirely knowing how. After the first few rejections, giving up. Taking a step back and respecting his choice to be alone; though not enjoying that fact.

James' reaction was interesting. Possibly the most torn out of all of us, yet equally the most certain of his reaction.

"Sirius needs this space. We can't break in. He'd never get over being seen in the state we all know he's probably in." James said.
"I just wish he'd let us do something for him during that space. He needs some type of funeral, right?" He added.

"We could send him candles?" I suggested.

Peter and James both looked at me as if they didn't understand.

"People light a candle as remembrance sometimes. It helped Arty to move onto the next stage of grief." I revealed slightly awkwardly, not feeling knowledgeable at all.

They both shook their heads.

"I don't think he'd do anything with them if we sent him candles." Peter said and I actually agreed, they'd be disregarded to one side like many of the letters we had anxiously posted through his door.

We all sat in silence for a bit. Our heads bowed in deep thought.

"How's Art dealing with it?" James asked, breaking that silence.

"She'll be alright. She's taking each day slowly. I'm not too worried about her, she talks to me...we lit candles for him." I revealed.

They both nodded in understanding on why it was a suggestion I came up with for Sirius.

"Let's just go see him. What's the worst that can happen? He turns us down, we all go home?" Peter said.

"True." Both James and I said.
"We can try." I added.

We all shortly arrived at the small block of flats where Sirius lived; on the first floor, his curtains drawn and no sign of movement or change since the last time I had attempted to visit.

James knocked.

"Pads? It's James." He said loudly enough to be heard but in a sensitive manner.

Movement.

A key turning in the lock, a chain rattling against the wooden door. The handle turning.

My heart started to beat heavily in my chest, the anticipation of seeing Sirius having built throughout the week. Growing sick and exhausted with worry over my friend.

The door opened, only a crack. The chain still attached, only revealing a dark room and a shadowed figure standing further back from the door.

"And Remus and Peter." James added awkwardly.

The door slammed shut and my heart sank.

I didn't know what I had done to be so blatantly ignored and avoided. I just wanted to comfort a friend who had just experienced a huge level of loss.

Suddenly a note was pushed through the letterbox.

'I want to speak to Artemis. Alone.'