Reading those emails again, Remus felt the same overwhelming rush of belonging he'd experienced that summer. The Potters hadn't just taken Sirius in—they'd adopted all of them, made it clear that their home was open to any of James's "brothers."

And that was when it had really hit him: he had a family. Not the father who barely spoke to him, not the children's home that had shuffled him around, but these three boys and the adults who loved them. He belonged somewhere. People would fight for him, worry about him, celebrate with him.

The feeling had been intoxicating and terrifying in equal measure.

But that was before everything fell apart. Before the betrayal that shattered their perfect little family into jagged pieces that still cut when he tried to hold them.

His cursor moved to the next folder, the one he'd been avoiding. The one that contained the records of their darkest hour.