TW AND CW: mentions of death

A song Remus knew well started playing slowly on the radio. It did not help his mood,

He sipped his cup of tea as "Reminiscing" by The Little River Band begun to play.

The song that the Marauders had blasted on full volume throughout the entire school on the last day of their 7th year.

It kept playing slowly, until Remus' pent up frustration finally caught up with him, and he yelped, throwing the small radio off the table... hard.

It crashed to the ground and pieces fell off.

Remus breathed heavily, his hands shaking, and his tea spilling down the front of his shirt slightly.

The doorbell rang once.

He ignored it, not wanting to be bothered at the moment.

It rang again.

Remus kept ignoring it.

Then, the doorbell began ringing so much and so obnoxiously, that Remus grumbled and walked to the front door to pull it open harshly.

"What?" he growled.

No one was standing there... at least, he thought.

Remus glanced down, and saw a very short girl with lightly tanned skin, freckles, and a bush of red hair. She looked around the age of 6, and very familiar.

"Hiya," she said, sounding a little sad.

"Do I know you?"

"Not personally," she said with a slight squeak. The girl had a pretty good vocabulary for a 6-year old.

"What's your name, and where are your parents?" Remus asked, in a much more gentle tone, but his anger was still boiling up inside his chest.

"Molly. Molly Prewett. And my parents are down the street."

A gear clicked in Remus' mind. "You're Fabian and Gideon's younger sister?"

Then another gear clicked, making him think it was probably insensitive to ask that.

"Yeah," Molly said, looking a little downcast.

"What are you doing here, Molly?"

"I overheard Mum and Dad talking about someone dying- Lily and James," she said. "And I know you were friends with them. So I brought you a flower!"

She held up a bright yellow dandelion.

Remus took it gently from her hands. "Thank you, Molly, that was very kind of you. But you ought to head back home. Do your parents know you're here?"

Molly nodded. "They do."

"Then you ought to head back home. Bye."

Remus was about to shut the door, but Molly stood there, unmoving.

"Is something wrong?" he asked uneasily.

"Are you okay, Mr. Lupin?" she asked gently. "You seem very sad."

A tear swelled up in Remus' eye.

She sounded just like Lily, when she had comforted him after a particularly difficult full moon.

Her eyes were a deep brown, like Marlene's, who offered him tea and scones every time he went over.

Her expression looked just like Peter's, worried, whenever a full moon ended and Remus was hurt and in the hospital wing.

"I'm fine," he said quietly. "Please, go back home to your parents. They must be getting worried."

This time, Molly obliged, and walked away, allowing Remus to slam it shut.