Spoilers for DH(though if any of that is still a shock, I don't even know.) This is my take on how Remus died and what might have immediately happened after his arrival in 'Dead Land' as I have dubbed it. It's a tad sad at parts, but there is some humor thrown in there. Anyway, I own nothing! This story was planted in my head via an icon, (the last line is what it said), so not even that belongs to me...So don't sue me! Read, review, and hopefully enjoy!

a/n 7/20/11: I know it's been about a billion years since I've updated but I still think about this sometimes. I decided I'm going to do some minor editing and see if I can inspire myself to write more. I saw DH p.2 so maybe that might knock something loose. Anyway, that's about it, so please enjoy what I have so far!

Welcome Home

Remus Lupin ran through the corridors of Hogwarts trying to remember the last place he had seen Harry. This was a particularly difficult task as he was also trying to doge hexes and curses along the way. He jumped to the side as a piece of the hallway started to collapse behind him, courtesy of the giants.

Remus dodged yet another spell by the Death Eaters and quickly slipped into another hallway. Not that he wanted to admit it, but he was scared. Scared for Harry, scared for his friends, scared for his former students, and...scared for his wife.

Remus cursed as that last thought hit him. He had told her to stay home, stay safe. He didn't want his son to grow up parentless. He had hoped that even if he died, which he wasn't planning on, Teddy would still have a mother. He didn't want him growing up alone, like Harry.

He was suddenly drawn back into his task at that last thought. Harry. He had to find him, to keep him safe. He had already lost all of his best friends; he didn't want to let down James by letting his only son die.

Another burst of light barely missed him, this one green. Remus paled slightly. Even though he had known they would all be out to kill tonight, to acknowledge the death around him made him start to lose hope. Rounding another corner he stopped suddenly, frozen at the sight in front of him.

Had he not been so preoccupied by his chosen task he had not even thought of the possibility of running into one of his thoughts, namely his wife. He watched in horror for a couple of seconds as she stood in a duel with a Death Eater. Remus was drawn back into the thick of the battle as yet another spell flew at him. Dragging his eyes from the scene in front of him he finally turned to fire return spells at his attackers. He winced as a mild hex struck him on the arm.

His attention was suddenly drawn back to his wife's duel when he heard her scream. She had been struck by a cutting curse and was currently trying to avoid other spells while trying to stop the bleeding on her shoulder. It seemed like things were going in slow motion as he ran towards her. Time seemed to almost stop as he saw the green light coming towards her.

As he threw himself in the way of the Killing Curse his last thoughts rested on his son. His son, Teddy, he didn't want to have to grow up alone. The green light engulfed his vision and he never heard her scream his name.

xXx

Remus winced as he opened his eyes. Everything was so bright; a pure white light seemed to be emanating from all around the room. As his vision cleared a little he began to see the finer details of the room.

He could immediately tell it was a classroom, the tables, chairs and teachers' desk gave that away. As he stood up he realized he had been lying in the front of the classroom, in front of a chalkboard. The chalkboard had writing on it. As Remus read what it said he started smiling. This was obviously his classroom, meant especially for the werewolf.

Remus paused a minute, thinking. Yes, this room was meant for him, but someone would have had to have known him and known that he would be coming here, wherever here was. He lingered on that thought. He should know where this was. It was blatantly obvious to him, though he didn't want to admit to himself that he really was dead.

'Dead. Yes, that's it, I'm dead. This must be the place people go when they die.' Remus thought as he examined the room more thoroughly. He noticed some things that never could have possibly been real in, well, real life. 'But, if I'm dead, which I am, that would mean there has to be other people here.'

As he thought this he turned toward the door that had just appeared. He grinned a little. 'Just like magic,' he thought, but then grew a little more serious, wondering what was going to happen now.

Remus tensed as the door slowly opened. He held his hand up to shield his eyes from the pure white light that had just invaded the room. His eyes still hadn't adjusted when he was engulfed in a hug.

"Remus, Remus, Remus!" James yelled as he squeezed his friend. "It's been so long! Not to say that I'm...happy that you're dead...but still!" he released his death grip and pushed him back to take a look at his shell-shocked friend.

Remus stood there shocked. He was, well, to say he was just shocked would be an understatement. After a few moments he finally got a small amount of control over his mouth. "James...you-I. Uh, hello?" he managed to stutter.

James just gave him a grin, though it was slightly toned down. "Yes, hello to you too. We have a lot of catching up to do. Lily is outside. I think she wanted to give us a little time to...adjust to the situation." There was the sheepish grin Remus had come to associate with James all those years ago.

"Well, why hasn't she come in yet? It would be nice to see her again." Remus said, still slightly overwhelmed with the situation.

James chuckled a little and replied, "She has to talk a certain someone into coming too. This someone is very nervous about seeing you again, you know."

"Sirius?" Remus questioned, disbelievingly, "I thought...so he really is dead. I had always tried to hope that there was a way to get him out of that curtain...back to Harry," he suddenly winced, realizing he was talking to Harry's father, the man who hadn't gotten to see his son grow up.

James seemed to sense Remus' discomfort and tried to dismiss the subject, they could talk about it some other time. In the meantime he said, "Yes, Sirius. He's not sure if he's happy to see you or not, the prat."

Remus grinned again, feeling the tension going away, "Well, if he's not going to come in here, I'm just going to have to go and get him myself!"

He started walking toward the door determinedly, James following closely behind him. Even if Remus couldn't see his face, he could still tell James was grinning like a loon. Remus' pace faltered a bit as he got to the last few steps before the door. He stopped for a moment, took a deep breath, let it out and walked out the door.

Once again Remus was unkindly blinded by the stupid pure white light, but this time he recovered sooner rather than later. When he finished blinking the last few spots from his eyes he saw what he was expecting, but yet was still shocked to see.

Lily stood a few feet from the entrance to the classroom, with her hands locked around Sirius' arm trying to pull him toward the door. They hadn't noticed his appearance so they were still arguing.

"Just go and see him! It's not like he'll be mad at you for being happy to see him!" Lily said, still pulling determinedly at his arm, but Sirius was still resisting.

"No! I'll go when I want to, I mean, when I feel I can. Stop pressuring me!" whined Sirius, shooting Lily an exasperated look.

"And I said you should see him. You'd better hurry up before he comes and gets you himself!" Lily said defiantly, giving his arm another firm yank.

"Too late, that already happened." James grinned as the two jumped and gave him a dirty look for startling them. Their attention was immediately diverted, though, as Remus gave a little cough.

"Um, hello. It's nice to see you both." Remus blushed a little as they stared at him in shock.

Lily was the first to recover and said, "It's nice to see you too, Remus. We have a lot of catching up to do, and all the time in the, um, world," she gave him bright, but slightly lopsided grin which he returned.

Remus' attention shifted to Sirius as the other man shifted nervously, unsure of what to say. Finally he spoke, "I missed you, Moony. Even though it's only been a couple years it seems like so much more than that," he shrugged and looked sheepish, "I feel like a spoiled brat. Here I am, happy that you're here and not even giving a thought as to what happened for you to be here.."

Remus smiled at the use of the nickname and said quietly, "I missed you too, Padfoot." He merely shrugged at the mention of his death, the initial shock already wearing off. "As to how I got here, I'll probably tell you all later, but I truly am happy to see you all again."

He was suddenly engulfed in a group hug courtesy of his friends. He smiled and chuckled a little, the rest of the group following his lead. As they all backed away to really get a good look at each other Sirius caught Remus' eyes.

Taking a deep, hopefully calming, breath Sirius stated the hardest words he had thought to say to his friend. "Messrs. Padfoot and Prongs would like to welcome Mr. Moony home."

xXx

End Chapter One

So, there it is? Love it? Hate it? Indifferent to it? Please let me know. Thank you for reading!

Also another note: This works as a oneshot as it was originally going to be one. If you don't feel like torturing yourself waiting I would suggest only reading the first chapter. If you're a glutton for punishment or don't mind waiting forever go ahead and read the rest, and please enjoy!