Spoilers/ Warning: for book 7 and a (canon) character death
A/N: Another drabble for Harry Potter Last Author Standing. Honestly, I'm not happy with this one (wrote it a few hours before it the deadline so it was rushed) but I'll post it anyway.
Prompt: Coincidence
It was no one's fault really. No matter how much John Lupin hated himself for angering a sadistic werewolf. No matter how much Astoria Lupin blamed herself for letting her baby play outside in the moonlight. No matter how many tears a five-year-old Remus shed after the full moon, promising he'd be a good boy as long as they'd stop punishing him.
It had been a coincidence. A horrible, terrible coincidence that John would argue with Fenrir Greyback on the day before the full moon. It was an accident that Astoria left the gate open. It was chance that little Remus loved to dance in the tall grass during the night, trying to catch lightning bugs.
After that night, Remus had to grow up. There was no more playing in the mystical moonlight when there were new remedies to try, debts to watch his parents struggle to pay, fear filling the eyes of the other children when they realised what he was. While it hadn't been fair, it was necessary and there was no point in asking why because life just happens.
It doesn't have a real plan or sense of sanity. It's like a riding a speeding train that won't stop until it reaches its destination. You think you know where you're going but there's no point in thinking about it. So you just have to try the different compartment doors. Let accidents shape the ride. If you're lucky, you'll stumble upon people who end up meaning the world to you. If you're unlucky, their ride with you gets cut extraordinarily short and you find yourself back on a train with uncaring strangers and locked compartments.
But if you're patient then you might be able to meet them once again at your final destination. At least that's what Remus told himself whilst he stood at a darkened train station. The only light was that of the full moon and an approaching train. He knew he was dead. A flash of green had told him as much but it worried him slightly to see that he was the only one waiting. Maybe that meant not many had died during the battle.
One could hope at least.
He looked up and was surprised to find the train had already stopped and was waiting. Thoughts of punishment and what really waited on the other side filled his head, causing his chest to tighten and his legs to lock up. Maybe if he just stood there, he could prolong life. Or maybe he'd wake up in bed, sweating and screaming.
Taking a sharp turn in hope for an exit, Remus suddenly found that the station had turned into a large grassy field filled with lightning bugs. Behind him, where the train still waited, he heard the familiar laughter of three young boys. The very same three boys that taught him to love the uncertain, the adrenaline of fear and the dark creature that he was.
With a deep breath, Remus faced the train once more and started to climb up the stairs. The melodic laughter of a woman joined the almost childlike giggles that had faded to give way for a deeper chorus. Memories of red and black hair, grey, green and blue eyes swam agitatedly in his head. The train started to move once Remus stood in the door and he realised there was no going back now.
Life is one big accident that you don't question. It is the love you find in others and the love in simple things like catching lightning bugs. It is pain, happiness, anger, confusion. It is hard. It is simple. It is a train ride.
And the best part is the destination.