Appalachian Snowfall

Remus Lupin found himself wandering along in an abandoned railway station. He didn't know how he came to be there, nor did he care. All of his body and focus were on mourning his lover, his pack mate, his friend. As though propelled by an invisible hand, Remus made his way to the front of a brick pillar. Suddenly comprehension dawned on his grief-fogged mind. This was King's Cross Station, but a completely deserted King's Cross.

Sighing in resignation, Remus followed the unconscious suggestion and stepped through the entrance to Platform Nine and three quarters. There in front of him was the Hogwarts Express, and a large black dog preparing to board. The ex-Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher stared then rushed to follow. As soon as he set foot on the train, the doors whisked shut and the Hogwarts Express began its journey.

Remus noticed none of this however as his attention was solely focused on finding the dog he had followed aboard. In the third car Remus found two things: first, it had begun to snow, which gave Remus the idea that this scenario was a dream (as it was August) and second his lover Sirius Black sitting by the window watching the snow fall. Remus sat across from him and for a few moments they watched the snow in silence though Remus was dying to ask any number of questions.

Sirius broke the silence first. "I'm dead Remus. You can't grieve forever." Remus tore his gaze from the window and looked at Sirius, eyes full of tears.

"But you're here. I see you. I think, if I tried, I could feel you. How is it you're dead?" Sirius smiled and opened his arms for a hug. Remus sat next to him, and for another few moments they sat, arms entangled, and watched the snow.

"I am dead. You know that. You can come here and talk to me and see me because this is the future. The veil belonged to Voldemort and he had many of his early most loyal followers trapped in it, along with half of his spirit, so when, fifty years from then, he would be released and could again rule."

Remus shook his head. "I'm sorry Sir, I don't think I understand." He could feel Sirius turn his head.

"It's ok. Time is limited, so I can only explain this whole thing once. You noticed that King's Cross seemed deserted?" Without waiting for an answer, Sirius went on. "The time you're in right now is fifty-two tears after James and Lily died. The night Voldemort went to Gordic's Hollow, many of his servants were preparing the veil and the incantation to split his spirit and trap his body in the veil.

"People have been giving Harry the credit for defeating Voldemort for all these years, when it was all really a part of his plan. Not to leave Harry alive, mind you, that victory belongs to him, but to disappear on Halloween night. Just as Voldemort cast the Adava Kedavara his body and half his spirit were brought back to the veil, and because the Adava Kedavara did rebound back to Voldemort, the body that he had planned for that night was destroyed and his spirit was left to wander the Earth until someone, say like Wormtail, found him. Wormtail was able to reestablish Voldemort to a new body because of the incantation, and the malleability it provided.

"Exactly fifty years from that night, Voldemort will be freed from the veil, and he well wreak havoc. He and his followers destroyed most of Hogwarts and Diagon Alley and the Ministry of Magic and all of England's government. All of the students at Hogwarts at that time were taken to Azkaban, and Harry- " Here Sirius' voice grew hoarse. "Voldemort hunted Harry down and publicly executed him. Even fifty years later, Voldemort hated Harry as much as he did when Harry was in school.

"That's why I brought you here. I saw all that Voldemort did when he was released from the veil. I saw the children of Harry's friends taken to Azkaban, I saw members of the Black family kiss the hems of Voldemort's robes." Sirius' voice took on a bitter tone. "I saw the sky darken with Dementors, and the Minister of Magic grovel at Voldemort's feet. In his planning, Voldemort envisioned two scenarios: one was that he'd been vanquished by Dumbledore, so that when he was released, fifty years later, the old man would be dead, and the other was that, with half of his power returned, he'd be even more powerful than before. You have to stop him."

Swallowing hard, though he never gave up his grip on his lover, Remus asked, though he was afraid that he knew the answer. "How?" That little question held so much pain, and when Sirius turned and looked him in the eye, Remus knew he had his answer to how Voldemort was to be stopped.

"You have to destroy the veil. As soon as possible." Any hope in Remus that Voldemort could otherwise be defeated, and everyone would emerge alive from the veil, died. "I have to go. Voldemort had noticed I'm missing. He didn't think I could do anything, so I wasn't guarded." He kissed the other man on the lips, hard and full of passion and sadness, and turned to leave, but not before Remus saw a tear glisten down his face. He whispered, and Remus found himself in his room, the echoes of "I love you" floating in the air.

Sitting up in bed, Remus discovered tears on his own face. Swiping them away Remus gathered all his courage and went to Dumbledore.

Telling Dumbledore what Sirius told him was easily the hardest thing Remus had ever done. Dumbledore agreed to the plan even with Remus' condition, though pain that mirrored Remus' own flashed through his eyes as comprehension dawned on what the ex-teacher wanted to do. Remus left with Dumbledore that afternoon, but the former continued to the veil alone on the agreement of the condition. Remus destroyed the veil alone that afternoon.

Finis

A/N: The title to this isn't of my own brilliance, it belongs to the song that inspired me to write the beginning of this. The song belongs to the Trans Siberian Orchestra, and whoever else they gave credit to. As I said, the beginning was inspired by that song, but for those of you who know it, the first two lines are the only ones that would work. I didn't think that it would end up like this, it wrote itself really. Flames and compliments are accepted at

-Oni