20 YEARS AGO, TODAY
A/N: Slightly AU Remus&Tonks!Live, As it is the 2nd of May, twenty years since the 2nd War ended I felt inspired to write something to Mark the occasion.
It was a warm but breezy spring day, the leaves on the trees blew with the wind and the grounds were filled with pink and white blossom petals, the midday sun shone brightly upon Hogwarts as if the even the sun had joined the celebrations in solidarity.
It was a far cry from what the same setting looked like exactly twenty years ago, the castle was in ruins, the grounds had the burning smell and those who were there that terrible day would never ever forget what they almost lost and what they did lose.
Sixty nine year old, Minister for Magic; Arthur Weasley looked upon his eldest grandchild; Victoire Weasley with pride, as she stood upon the podium, he could see she was a little nervous at speaking to so many people, but the class of 2018 was a significant year group, and Victoire Weasley was head girl and had been chosen to make a speech by her classmates, the girl looked over at Arthur who nodded with encouragement, she smiled as she started to speak.
"Twenty years ago today, many of our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles stood in the great halls of Hogwarts to make a final stand against a creature, so vile, so evil, that for many years many people refused to say his name, but I will say his name because an uncle of mine once said to me 'fear of a name increases the fear itself'" she said looking at her uncle Harry, smiling at him, thirty seven year old Harry smiled back at his niece "that creature's name was Voldemort" some members of Arthur's generation, including Arthur himself shuddered "Otherwise known as Tom Marvolo Riddle, for two generations he terrorised our community, he ripped families apart, turned long time friends against each other, and created unwarranted prejudice between Muggleborns and Pureblood's & wizardkind and half-breeds, but still Tom and his death eaters could not break us, because through sheer will And unbroken bonds they could not destroy us, and it is my huge honour to take this moment to thank my Uncle Harry, he gave up his childhood, along with many others to fight to make our world a better place, so that our generation would never again have to suffer what they suffered" at this many people stood up to applaud Harry who looked awkward at the attention he received, over the applause many could hear James and Albus shout "That's our dad!" Many laughed at this, in the far corner Draco clapped awkwardly.
After the applause died down Victoire continued her speech "We as a community have spent the last two decades, recovering and forgiving, now the time has come to look forward and continue what our parents and grandparents started, it's our time now, i would like to introduce my head of house; Professor Remus Lupin" more applause came for the beloved Head of House/Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher as the aging werewolf, encouraged by his wife; Dora Tonks-Lupin, head of the Auror department and poised to replace Arthur Weasley as Minister for Magic next year also with Remus were his oldest son Teddy, and two daughters; Hope Andromeda and Hermione Molly who were in their sixth and third years respectively all Hufflepuffs, Dora was proud to say,
Remus approached the podium and hugged his Head Girl and future daughter in law, as she reciprocated and she sat with the Teddy, Remus took a sip of water before he spoke "I am saddened to say that I am among a small number of my generation to have fought and survived through both wars against Voldemort, as a werewolf I always believed that I would be the first among my best friends to die, without ever having the benefits of having a family and watching them grow, without ever having a paid job, I know first hand what being a victim of prejudice is like and what it could do to a person, I could have turned to Voldemort with his false claims that he would elevate werewolves to the same social standing as Purebloods, I could have hated wizards, I could have gone down a wrong road, but instead I was saved from that life and welcomed with open arms by one kind wizard, the people werewolves are supposed to hate, that kind wizard was Albus Dumbledore, nearly fifty years ago he came to my home and offered me a place at Hogwarts, my parents could not believe it, I could not believe it, me a werewolf since the age of five, would be going to Hogwarts" he wiped his eyes, Dora and his three children had were crying, there was not a dry eye in the audience, Remus Lupin was a well loved member of the wizarding community, Remus continued "I started Hogwarts in 1971, the first purity war had been raging on for nearly two years at that point, at the age of eleven I never gave the war a second thought, why? because I was worried about finding friends who would understand me but I gave up hope of that until one day in the Easter of 1972, three dorm mates; Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and James Potter, had guessed that I was a werewolf, I think the fact that my mother always fell ill every full moon might've given it a way a bit" he chuckled the hall broke into laughter.
"Rather than fear me, hate me or reject me, they kept my secret, they accepted me, they became my brothers, they became my pack, the only pack I would ever need, for the first time since I was five I had hope, hope that I could somehow change people's minds on werewolves that we aren't all bad, some of us are waiting for the right person to give a damn about them, but alas the war grew progressively worse, and so did wizardkinds attitude to werewolves, with more and more of them joint Voldemorts army of death eaters, I joined my friends in the Order of the Phoenix upon graduation in 1978, I couldn't find employment due to my werewolf status so James and his wife Lily chose to financially support me, for the next few years we continued to fight against the death eaters but the more we fought the more people we lost, I can name them all but sadly there's too many to count, I too suffered a personal loss on the now infamous night of the thirty first of October 1981, the day Harry Potter lost his parents; Lily and James, the day the purity war ended after eleven, nearly twelve years, Sirius Black was also lost to myself and Harry due to Peter betraying Lily and James, Sirius was thrown into Azkaban because of another prejudice; he was a member of the Black family, his cousins were open Voldemort supporters and because of that he lost twelve years of his life for a crime he never committed, because of prejudice, My main point I want to stress today is prejudice can lead to anything that is wrong with this world, what we need to do is listen to the other person's side of the story, walk a day in their shoes, I see a new prejudice rising in these last twenty years, a prejudice against a particular house, a house that many believe is evil and only children of death eaters go there, let me tell me tell you now that isn't true, Peter Pettigrew was in Gryffindor and he became a spy for Voldemort, as a werewolf, should I have gone to Slytherin? because werewolves should be evil and therefore I should have ended up in Slytherin, wrong, there is good and bad wherever you go in all walks of life, no one has a monopoly on being good or bad" Remus got a standing ovation and gained woops and cheers from students past and present from all four houses.
The applause died down and Remus said a few more words "All I know is, if I had been excluded from going to Hogwarts, if my friends had rejected me and not risked their lives becoming animagi to help me in my transformations, I know for a fact that I would not be the first werewolf head of a Hogwarts house in its thousand year history, I'm here because of the kindness of people and sometimes all you need is one person being kind to you, being a friend to you, because that one human soul, could be the difference between making a wrong choice or a right choice, thank you for listening to an old werewolf" Remus chuckled "And may we take a moment to remember the fallen" he said, the audience hung their heads, remembering the dark days of Voldemort, remembering loved ones who lost their lives to Voldemort.
Arthur felt a stream of tears down his face he was Remembering Fred, as was his wife of fifty years; Molly, she was also remembering her brave younger twin brothers Fabian and Gideon Prewitt.
Denis Creevey held his parents as they sobbed as they remembered Colin.
Padma rubbed the back of her twin sister; Parvati, who was remembering her sister in all but blood; Lavender
Harry thought of his parents, Cedric, Sirius, Fred, Dumbledore, Hegwig and Dobby
The Weasley siblings all thought of Fred but none more so than George who could never again cast a patronus because he missed his twin.
Hermione looked on the now long faded scar that spelt Mudblood, she wasn't ashamed of it either she was proud, she survived, survived to bring her children into a better world, she looked at Rose and Hugo, the children mellowed her once furry personality, she leant into Ron, comforting him, as she lovingly ruffled Hugo's hair.
Nymphadora looked over at her eldest son and how he had the same eyes as her late father; Ted, she weeped silently wishing he could've seen all she accomplished and his grandchildren.
Remus thought back to James, Lily and Sirius, he was the last one now, the only one left to keep a legacy alive.
Seamus also thought of Lavender, the girl he loved deeply and lost, he never ever found anyone who could match up to Lavender.
Draco mourned but for a different reason, he mourned for the father he wished he had, the man his father could have been he looked at his mother who looked at him back both smiled as they looked upon Scorpius who was nearly twelve, he was a Slytherin whose best friends were the children of his school enemies, Scorpius stood proudly in his Slytherin uniform alongside James, Albus, Rose and Alice, all of who were Gryffindors except for Alice who like her mother Hannah was a Hufflepuff.
The minutes silence was over as Remus handed to podium to the Headmistress;
Aurora Sinistra "Thank you for your cooperation in the silence and thank you Remus Lupin for your wonderful speech, I would like to take this opportunity to make an announcement, after this year I shall be leaving my post as Headmistress to join a former Headmistress; Minerva McGonagall, who sadly could not be with us today due to an important education meeting in Europe, she sends her best wishes, but I will be joining her at the Avalon University for Further Magical Education to head the astronomy department, I feel it's my duty to announce that my replacement will be none other than; Remus John Lupin, who will become headmaster from this September" everyone cheered, Remus looked shocked, The Lupins were jumping up and down, Dora forgetting for a moment that she would soon most likely succeed Arthur in being Minister for Magic shouted "Fuck Yeah"
The audience calmed down as Aurora continued "I feel very secure in the knowledge that Hogwarts will continue to flourish for many years and decades to come under his tutelage, thank you all for being here today" she finished
Later on in Godric's Hollow, two men, formerly student and teacher, now good friends Remus Lupin and Harry Potter were on their annual trip to Godrics Hollow cemetery to lay flowers on the graves of James, Lily and Sirius who was given a plot next to his friends after the war.
"What would they say?" Harry said grinning "a marauder becoming headmaster of the very place they sought to distrupt" he smiled, so did Remus
"Your father and Sirius would no doubt laugh at my expense, but your mother..." he trailed off, Harry looked at his friend curiously "go on" he said.
"Your mother always believed that I would one day be a force of influence in the wizarding community, looking back on it it's like she knew this day would happen for me" Remus said
"She knew you had potential and not be another werewolf statistic" Harry said smiling
His parents and Sirius's death no longer pained him, he knew where he was going once he died and it was to join his loved ones in a world that was far more loving and more beautiful than this world.
"Well I know Lily would be proud you'll be head of Gryffindor" Remus said looking at Harry "James and Sirius would be too" Harry nodded, he had decided to teach DADA with Remus in 2004, he taught years 4-7 while Remus taught years 1-3, now he would be teaching the whole lot.
Harry conjured up a few flowers to lay in the graves, both men stood there for many minutes until they looked at their watches
"C'mon" Harry nudged Remus "let's head back before Teddy, James and Al destroy The Burrow" he smiled, Remus chuckled, Harry took one more look at the graves a warm gust of wind surrounding him "by mum, bye dad, bye Padfoot, love you always" Harry said as he followed his older friend out of the graveyard passed Godric's cottage where they apparated away.
A memorial stood in the village it couldn't be seen by muggles but to wizards it said
TO THOSE WHO GAVE UP THEIR TODAY'S FOR THEIR CHILDREN'S BRIGHTER TOMORROWS
IN GRINDLEWARD'S WAR: 1926 - 1945
IN THE 1ST PURITY WAR: 1970 - 1981
IN THE 2ND PURITY WAR: 1995 - 1998
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN, LOVED BY ALL, ALWAYS
The sun was setting, the leaves rustled in the light breeze, the last of sunlight shine golden over the graves of James, Lily and Sirius, but it also shone upon a hopeful future.
Remember one kind act, one kind word can save someone from a lifetime of regret.