A/N: The normal text is now, just after Remus died. The Italics are flashbacks during his "Life movie."
"Stupefy!" A jet of red light bursts from my wand towards Antonin Dolohov. He dodges it and counters "Petrificus Totalus!" The shot is slightly wide and hits the statue to my right, missing me by inches. It shatters and white granite flies everywhere. Bits of the bust hit me and scratch my skin, but it doesn't matter. We throw spells, hexes, curses, and jinxes back at each other, prying for the lead. We are constantly dodging, weaving and strafing around the corridor. I've just dodged a badly aimed "Crucio!" when I see a flash of black out of the corner of my eye. The black blur is followed by a sound I know far too well. I recognize the mad, cackling laughter of Bellatrix Lestrange, the murderer of my last remaining friend, the last true Marauder besides myself. My insides writhe and burn with hatred; it takes every ounce of self control that I posses not to break from Dolohov and chase after her, make her pay for taking Sirius.
I cast the Jelly Legs Jinx at the Death Eater. At first it seems as if he will dodge it, but it lands solidly on his right arm. While he is wobbling around on the floor, trying to desperately stabilize long enough to get a curse of at me, I turn my head towards the hallway where Lestrange had been only moments before. To my utter shock and horror, however, I spot Dora, my wife who is supposed to be home with little Teddy, running after the maniac. I completely forget the duel, "Dora! No!" It is in this instant of distraction that he must have regained his balance.
Dolohov yells an unfamiliar incantation. A streak of brilliant purple comes speeding towards me, hitting me squarely in the chest. As my body twists, I make out a cruel smile flashing across the unmasked Death Eater. I hit the cold, dusty, marble floor hard, my wand flying out of my hand and my head cracking against the wall. Surprisingly, there is no pain, only a curiously peaceful sensation spreading throughout my entire body. The last image that flashes through my conscience mind is of Teddy and Dora. I smile faintly at the thought of my little boy and the world fades to black. And then, as though someone had pressed "Play" on a Muggle movie, scenes begin to flash right before my eyes.
A small, scrawny boy of about five was playing in a brook. I remember the brook! I used to love playing in it until…well, until that night…He looked nervous, as if worried he would get caught breaking a rule. The young boy glanced behind him and then continued on with his journey. He climbed onto one of the sandy banks and crouched down for a moment, examining some smooth stones that had washed up. He grabbed a few in his spidery hands and proceeded to toss them into the water, one of them even skipping a little. He was delighted and did a little victory dance.
A clatter resounded across the wood from the direction of the house and young Remus seemed to realize he had better get back. He stripped off his swimming trunks. Remus had changed into a pair of thick pajama pants and was gazing up at the enormous moon in the sky. A "Crack!" resounded through the silent forest and the boy's face leapt. I bite my lip; I hear myself shouting silently at my younger counterpart "Run, Remus, run!" The young Remus whirled around to face what he expected to be his dog, Ryder. He was instead staring into the angry green eyes of a snarling werewolf. The boy froze, shocked ant terrified. For a moment, the two stared at each other, waiting for one to make the first move. Then a piercing scream emerged for Remus Lupin's mouth. The creature bore his yellowing, blood spattered fangs and lunged, taking a fist sized piece out of Remus' torso. Blood spurted and covered the forest floor. I can't watch. The werewolf prepared to finish his now unconscious prey but was startled by an angry shout. Dad? "Get away from my son, Greyback! He's just a boy!" The creature did not back down, but instead took a few steps towards the pale figure sprawled on the leafy ground, as if goading the man to try something. "Get the hell away from him!" John Lupin pulled out his wand. "I'm warning you, move away." He paused, but the creature didn't so much as twitch. "NOW!" The werewolf, who seemed much saner then was typical, made a resentful noise deep in its throat and backed away. The man, with his eyes still on Fenrir Greyback, crouched down and gathered his son in his arms. The wand dropped from his hand as the realization of what had happened dawned upon him. "No. Not my boy. Not my Remus." He murmured. He got up and shouted something at a woman who was running from the direction of the Lupin house. The memory was becoming blurred and distant. Another was emerging from behind it.
There were four people, two men, a woman, and a boy of about eleven, sitting in a grand office. Dumbledore's office! I had forgotten that he'd used to wear those hair ties! Ha! The younger man spoke in a puzzled voice while young Remus Lupin gazed at the elder wizard hopefully. "But, Headmaster, I don't understand. While we are quite eager to give Remus this opportunity, I must admit that I am confused as to how it would be possible with his…with his condition."
The man looked away from the sparkling blue eyes. Dad never was completely comfortable with me after the attack, I don't think.
"Remus' Lycanthropy won't be a problem, I assure you. There will be a small shack constructed on the outskirts of Hogsmeade for his transformations. We will create a discreet tunnel that will connect the shack and the grounds. His classmates will be completely ignorant as to his condition. Though", he looked at the exited boy, "I wouldn't think it a bad idea for you to figure out some excuses this summer so that when your friends inquire as to your monthly disappearances, you will have an answer for them."
Young Remus' face fell. "Like I'll have any friends." Sir. I remember that. I almost forgot to call him Sir. "Sir."
Dumbledore regarded him fondly. "I am quite sure that you will make some very good companions, my boy. I know for a fact that a certain Mr. James Potter and a Mr. Sirius Black will be attending the school next year. I have a feeling that you three will get on splendidly."
The pale child considered the Headmaster's statement for a moment and, with a look of comprehension dawning on his peaky features "You mean I'm in? I've been accepted? I can go?" He turned his attention to his parents. "I can go, can't I? Mum? Dad?"
His father sighed and bit his lip in contemplation. "Yes, Remus. If the professor deems it safe, of course you may go." Remus Lupin's face exploded with excitement. He was going to Hogwarts. The memory, like the last, fades and blurs. It zooms into the distance and another takes its place.
I recognize the scene before my eyes, when my friends finally figured it out. My secret, revealed. "Oy! Remus! Come over here; we want to talk to you about something!" The Gryffindor student, a second year, by the look of him, closed The Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration and joined the three boys who had beckoned him over. The one with messy black hair and gasses, seemingly the leader of the group, spoke first. "We know where you go every month, Remus." The boy paled considerably.
"I-I know. I told you, my mum gets ill, often. W-what's so off about that?"
The tallest of the gang, a boy of about thirteen with long, shaggy, black hair shook his head. "No one's ill that much, mate. We've been, er, studying you, I guess the word would be. And, you know what we've noticed?" Young Remus Lupin visibly swallowed and shook his head. "Well, we've found that your mum gets sick only on the full moon. So, that drew us to thinking 'Now, what kind of person only gets sick on the full moon?' A werewolf of course. And it couldn't be your mother, now could it? She'd want you as far away as possible during her time of the month. So, in conclusion, we only have on question for you, Remus."
The sweaty boy bit his lip and nodded. "When were you bitten?"
"I, uh um, w-whatever are you t-talking about, Sirius? Me, a-a werewolf? Dumbledore wouldn't let one of them near the school. Haha! Nope, no wolf here! J-just Remus Lupin! Whoa, look at the time! I'd better be off to bed! Night, chaps!" He practically sprinted up the stair and leapt into the four poster bed. I was so scared. I was so sure that they would hate me.
The twelve year old lay in the bed, staring at the ceiling, for the remainder of the night. He pretended to be asleep when James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew came into the Dormitory. The boy looked terrified. I was. What if my friends hated me? I'd never had friends before and the thought of losing them was too much to bear. What if they told everyone? I thought that I'd be expelled for sure. I've never been so unsure in my life…
The memory seemed to fast forward to the next morning. The four boys dressed with the usual scuttling about: looking for socks, searching for a misplaced tie, desperately digging through the laundry pile for clean underpants, or realizing that one's robes were on backwards. Finally, Peter broke the silence. "So…are you going to admit it?"
Remus stopped in the midst of tying his shoe. "To what?"
Sirius halted in the middle of re-tying his tie. He was always awful at that. Good thing that the teachers never inspected our dress. His tie would have failed every time. "Come on, Remus! You know what he means. We won't hate you, ya know! Give us more credit than that!"
The brown haired boy breathed in once, twice. He opened his mouth, trying to form the words and work up his courage. "I-I am a-a." he said the last word in almost a whisper. "a werewolf."
James nodded in approval. "Well, that's that, then. Come on, if we don't get a move on we'll miss breakfast."
Young Remus stared at his three best friends. "Wait. That's it? No 'Oh my gawd, you freak!' or 'Burn him at the stake, the filth'?
The others looked bemused at that statement. "Come on, Remus. We're not that bad. You're our friend, forever. Werewolf or not." I'm still proud of them for that. Not many of my friends have been fine with my "Furry little problem." God, I miss you. Like the others, this memory flashes away, leaving empty space for a fraction of a second. This is definitely not one of my favorites…
The Fifth years were emerging from the entrance hall. Four of them broke off from the group and headed towards the lake to rest in the shade of the trees. The group consisted of tall, messy haired James Potter, handsome, mischievous Sirius Black, shy, portly Peter Pettigrew, and pale, geeky Remus Lupin. Another teenager, this one scrawny with limp, shoulder length black hair, wandered into the secluded bushes by the lake. He sat down and began to read a piece of parchment, completely unaware of the goings on near him.
The gang of four were entertaining themselves, celebrating the near end of O.W.L.s. James was catching a gleaming Snitch, Sirius was taunting Peter, and Peter was admiring James' Seeking skills. Fifteen year old Remus Lupin, however, was buried in a book, as per usual.
While Severus Snape was still looking over the exam questions, the Maurders had become quite bored. James had replaced the Snitch in his pocket and Remus was pushing a Transfiguration book at Sirius. He refused and, at James' mention, refocused himself at Severus "Snivellus" Snape. While the other Maurders looked exited at the prospect of abusing the Slytherin, Remus stared at Transfiguration: A Guide to Passing Your O.W.L.sI never did want to be involved. I was a Prefect, though! I should have stopped them, told them off, at least! Coward! I crave that acceptance; I'm blind to what's in front of me!
The teens jinxed and taunted Snape. The washed his mouth out with soap, leaving him gasping and sputtering. Young Remus stared determinately at his study book. The jeers continued until "Leave him ALONE!" rang out across the laughter of the crowd that had gathered. Lily Evans had come to Snape's defense. She and James verbally battled for a few minutes until Snape began inching towards his fallen wand. Sirius didn't get a warning out soon enough and James ended up with a deep cut across his face.
Remus Lupin was still staring at the same page, not taking in a word. He was completely focused on the demonstration occurring in front of him. James, in retaliation, cast a silent "Levicorpus" which put Snape, upside down, ten feet in the air. His robes fell over his head, showing a pair of tattered, gray boxers. It was the style to forgo pants in the summer.
The boy buried in the book and Lily were the only ones (aside from Severus Snape) not laughing. Remus' face had turned bright red in anger. I told myself that I'd talk to them later, but I didn't. If, maybe I'd stood up for him, maybe he would have turned out different…
At Lily's demand, James released Snape, who promptly insulted Lily's parentage. Calling someone a Mudblood was unacceptable and James made sure that Snape realized this. "Locomoter Mortis!" The severely embarrassed Slytherin fell to the grassy floor, muscles taut, leaving him paralyzed. Lily and James argued and eventually, James let Severus Snape go and Lily, furious with both of them, stormed away. James, now in his element, resumed his torture with a vengeance now that his would-be girlfriend was out of sight. Teenaged Remus sighed and turned the page, completely ignoring the scene unfolding merely feet from him.
James returned Snape to his upside down position and asked the crowd who wanted to see Snape lose his trousers. A roar of approval greeted him and he promptly did the deed. A deafening shout of glee resounded from the circle of onlookers as a cry of shame and outrage was emitted by the hostage. Remus didn't even twitch. He missed class for a week after that, to ashamed to leave his dormitory. They didn't even get detention. Lousy Prefect, I was. I lose focus of the recollection and another materializes.
An earsplitting scream echoes through an abandoned building. The moon has just sunk below the distant mountains. A naked, twenty-one year old man was lying prone on a tattered Persian rug. The room was in shreds. The winds, which were faintly glittering with a magical seal, were scratched clean through. The curtains had been half ingested, the couch was now threadbare, and the doors looked as though they had been run through a saw.
Remus Lupin slowly got to his feet, his bruised, bleeding body protesting all the while. The transformation had been tough this month. For a while, the young man merely stood there, preparing to make the costly move to the door and then to the bathroom. Finally, he stumbled over to the wooden exit, and wordlessly passed through the wards he had previously set to keep the wolf contained to the sitting room. He walked to the bathroom, leaning on the paneled walls for support. The man practically fell into the heated bath water that was waiting for him. It quickly turned a diluted red, though this went unnoticed by the lame adult.
After a while, he had regained some of his color and toweled off. He changed into the set of wizard's robes in the cabinet and retrieved his wand from the vanity drawer. Eventually, Remus made his way out of the shack and walked aways. When he reached the waiting Portkey, an orange kettle, he took hold of the handle and was thrown into his living room. After recovering from the journey, he ventured unstably into his small kitchen where a great tawny owl was impatiently pacing. It was Sirius' owl, Erik. He removed the letter attached to the bird's leg and the owl immediately departed through the open window. That creature was always the most annoying thing. Constantly pecking and pacing. I wonder if he's still around.
The younger Remus unfolded the letter and his eyes began to move across the parchment.
Remus-
I know that you've probably just gotten back, but I thought you should know as soon as possible. I don't want to write it, because then it's tree but… James and Lilly are dead, Remus. Voldemort got them on Halloween. Harry made it and he's been sent to his aunt and uncle. They're saying that Voldemort was killed, I don't know for sure. But I know one thing: It was Peter who told Him where they were. I swear, Remus, I'm gonna find the pathetic little runt and kill him I it's the last thing I do.
I've got to go, Remus. There are some Aurors at the door; they want to ask me some stuff. I'm really sorry Moony.
Sirius
I still have that letter, or, I did. Whoever sifts through my stuff will probably just chuck it in the bin. The man had tears running down his face by the end. His hands were violently trembling and he fell into the kitchen chair behind him. The parchment fluttered to the ground as the man's rough hands went to his face. His jaw was trembling with grief. "No! No! Not my friends, please, not my friends. Why? WHY? W-what happened? How could Dumbledore have let this happen? HOW?" Remus was beside himself with anger and grief. Then, his eyes widened and with a "Pop" he Disapperated.
My memory swirls and changes. I'm in the Headmaster's office now. The man reappeared; somewhat surprised that he had been able to Apperate directly into the school. Dumbledore was perched on his desk chair. His face was haggard, more lined now than ever before. "How could this have happened? I thought they were SAFE!" Twenty-one year old Remus was angry and the only one he could direct his rage at was sitting before him. Dumbledore put the piece of parchment aside and looked up at Remus with his usually sparkling blue eyes. All traces of this sparkle were gone, however.
"They were safe, Remus, just not safe enough."
"W-what about Harry? Sirius said something about his aunt and uncle…"
"Harry has indeed been sent to live with his mother's sister and her family. He will be well protected, there."
"But, Headmaster, Lily is a Muggleborn. Surely he would be safer in a wizard's home. Perhaps Sirius or I could take him…"
"No," the man seemed overly sharp. "Sirius, I fear, may have been involved with the Potters death,"
"WHAT?"
"And you, Remus, unfortunately, find yourself indisposed once a month. So, neither of you are in a situation to care for a child."
"Wait, what do you mean 'Sirius may have been involved?'" His voice was a deadly whisper now.
"Sirius Black was the Potter's secret keeper. He was the only person capable of disclosing their location."
The peaky man shook his head slowly in disbelief. "No. That's impossible. Sirius couldn't have, wouldn't have. Voldemort must have…must have forced him or something! He'd NEVER give up Lily and James!"
Albus Dumbledore sadly shook his head. "The Fidelius Charm does not allow the secret keeper to reveal the location unless it is completely without coercion. That is to say, Sirius would have had to have wanted to tell Lord Voldemort where the Potters lived. I'm sorry Remus, but that is the way it is."
"No. Not Sirius. No…" The man sank into the arm chair in front of the Headmaster's desk. Sobs began to rack his body as the realization of what his "Friend" had done hit him. My memory finally, finally fades into something more pleasant…
A man in his late twenties sat on a rickety chair at the smallest table in the darkest corner of the Leaky Cauldron. His clothes were raggedy, his hair disheveled, and his face was unshaven. A bowl of steaming pea soup was sitting in front of him; the spoon was moving rhythmically between the slightly bubbling liquid and Remus' mouth. "Try to eat it before it eats you." That's what the Head always told me. Ha! It definitely had a life of its own. The light in the tired looking man's eyes was almost extinguished, as if he had lived for twenty-eight decades rather than twenty-eight years.
It was obvious that Tom the bartender was used to this customer and his solitude. The graying man made no move to interact with his only patron. Had the bell attached to the door not chimed, Remus might have noticed that his pea soup gurgled menacingly at him, but his attention was turned towards the newcomer. A man in his mid thirties dressed in immaculate dress robes had entered and immediately approached the counter. Though his fashion was that of a regular, he seemed out of place in a pub. Had Remus Lupin's attention been on his meal, he might have noticed that the liquid in his stationary spoon had migrated back into the bowl, but he was still fixated on the man now ordering a glass of Firewhiskey. He never did tell me what on earth he was doing in a pub dressed like that. Once Tom had filled his frosted glass to the brim and money was exchanged, the man turned around and headed straight for the corner table that a younger Remus occupied. The shabby man wiped the curious look off of his face and tried to return his attention to his soup, which he now noticed was swishing around the bowl of its own accord.
"Good morning, Remus." The stranger sat down across from Remus and grinned at him, his dark eyes twinkling.
"It's morn-? Sorry, I mean hello and it's morning already? And how do you know my name Mr…" Remus was looking suspiciously at this new addition to his nightly routine.
"Chandler Willow, and yes, it is nearly three in the morning. I know your name because you have been a hot topic at my office for the past two and a half weeks." He said this all in one breath, though the regular customer thought that he would be a fast talker anyway.
"Wow! Three already?" Remus yawned and glanced at his broken watch before remembering that it had been broken for four years. "Mr. Willow,"
"Please, call me Chandler. All of my friends do."
"Well, Chandler, I don't know if you could consider me a 'friend' as you have just met me but…"
"Oh, but we will be friends, Remus. You see, you have been the sole topic of conversation at my place of work for over a fortnight. We have been looking to hire a new employee for ages and your application has certainly caught our eye."
"Application? Sir, I have not applied for any job since early last year."
"Yes, well, we do take our time processing our applicants. But, anyhow, we would like you to be one of our book keepers at Books and Beans. You would be in charge of organizing our shelves, keeping everything neat and tidy, you know. Your hours will be from seven in the a.m. to four in the p.m. The wage would be nine sickles per hour and Sunday pay is eleven sickles per hour. Well? What do you say, my friend?"
"Um… well this is certainly unexpected. Well, this sounds almost too good to be true."
"I guarantee you, it is not. I know what you will probably be telling me in a few sentences. We have absolutely no problem having a werewolf on our staff. Just give us a few days notice of your absence." He looked at the flabbergasted man expectantly. \
"I…uh…well that is most generous of you. Uh, well, seeing as this is the first job offer I've had in quite some time, yes. I would be glad to be your book keeper. When can I start?" That was a great job. Like out of a dream. No problem with me whatsoever. Pity it closed down two years later.
"Tomorrow acceptable? Yes? Wonderful! Congratulations Remus Lupin, you have yourself a job! Though, I do recommend that you clean up a bit. Ah is that the time? I'd best be going! Ciaw!" His green dress robes billowed behind him as he rushed out the door. Twenty-eight year old Remus stared at his soup bowl, which had mysteriously emptied during his conversation. "I have a job." He whispered into the air. "I have a job!" He yelled this time, causing Tom the bartender to startle and glower at Remus.
He, however, could care less. He was employed and that was the best thing to have occurred in months. The bar seemed to shimmer and then suddenly dissolved. It takes me no time at all to remember the scene that emerges.
A thirty-four year old man with graying hair briskly walked along an earthy tunnel leading to a destination that few had ever discovered. His wand tip was a light, though he did not need it to guide him. He traversed the worn dirt path with a certainty that came only after years of repetition. His frayed robes were wrapped tightly around him for protection against the draft. As Remus Lupin neared the doorway at the end of the passageway, he extinguished his wand with a silent flick.
Four tense voices drifted through the door: three males and one female. He gathered his strength and burst through the wooden entrance and cast the Disarming spell to relieve Harry Potter and Hermione Granger of their wands. His childhood friend, Sirius Black, lay at the boy's feet. I'm not sure whether I was more shocked or relieved to see him, after what I'd thought he'd done. "Where is he, Sirius?" The man's voice was tense, a mixture of anger and revulsion. Sirius pointed at Ron Weasly's rat and a look of comprehension dawned on Remus' bloodless face. It wasn't until then that I realized that Peter was the Secret Keeper. Seems that I should have known, looking back at it.
Harry began a question as the younger Remus helped Sirius to his feet. As the escapee dusted himself off Hermione raged at her professor. "I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Remus calmly tried to reason with the girl but there was no stopping he anger. She felt betrayed and, in return, betrayed him. "He's a werewolf!"The room became eerily silent. The teacher berated her errors, somewhat jokingly. He admitted to his condition and then moved to help the red headed boy. The fear was obvious as "Get away from me, werewolf." left Ron's mouth.
The teenagers and Remus went back and forth until everything was finally explained and the volume of the conversation finally reached something less then deafening. Their voices regained their loudness as Sirius informed them that Peter Pettigrew was an Animagus. The three children protested and listed their somewhat pathetic arguments of how Scabbers couldn't be Peter. The best reasoning belonged to Hermione Granger who told the room that Animagi had to be registered.
Remus laughed and shot down her theory. He informed the wary teens of the three unregistered Animagi and how they came to be. It took nearly a half an hour to tell the story of how he was bitten and how his friends stepped up to the plate and became animals once a month for him. The conversation, now quite calm, continued on until a deep, triumphant voice sounded from just behind Remus. Severus Snape emerged from under Harry's Invisibility Cloak and proceeded to patronize the room. All the images became blurred and moved faster until they re- focused, becoming recognizable once more.
The younger Remus Lupin was removing himself from the floor, rubbing his reddened wrists. "You, boy-give me Peter, please. Now." Ron refused and brought the 'Rat' closer to himself. He weakly tried to defend the rat, but it failed to deter the professor and the prisoner. Sirius revealed a scrap of the Daily Prophet and he, Remus, and Ron argued about how Peter had lost his toe. By the end of the discussion, Ron appeared to be no closer to believing that his beloved pet could be a mass murderer.
"Enough of this. There's one certain way to prove what's really happened. Ron, give me that rat."Finally, the boy held out a shaking hand containing a terrified rat. Sirius grabbed the unconscious Professor Snape's wand and Remus counted to three. The rat became a man. His body elongated, his limbs lengthened and reformed. Peter Pettigrew stood where a common garden rodent had been seconds before. We would have killed him I think, had Harry not stopped us. He deserved it, though, the little bugger. We walk through the door and as Snape's head bumps into the frame, everything fades to black.
A darkened house comes shooting out of the black and another recollection begins. A graying man was sitting in an emerald green armchair in the middle of the sitting room of a deserted house. He was nursing a glass of Firewhiskey though it was not his custom as he grimaced with each measured sip. The clock chimed nine in the morning as the doorbell rang. Remus Lupin jumped out of his reverie and a moment later the door opened. An elderly man with a long white beard entered. Albus Dumbledore looked entirely out of place in a tweed Muggle suit. Though he normally gave of the essence of a younger man, he looked every one of his 148 years that night.
"Remus." He gravely nodded his head towards the seated man.
"Albus, nice of ya ter drop in," his speech was slurred from the intake of a little too much drink.
"It has been nearly a week, my friend. You should get out of this place. It doesn't seem to be doing you much good." Albus surveyed landscape of empty bottles and discarded books.
"I don't want to get out."
The Headmaster of Hogwarts sighed. "Remus, this is not how Sirius…"
"DON'T! Don't you DARE tell me what he would have wanted." Remus' voice had taken on an angry, steely tone. A tone of great loss and sorrow.
"Fine. I want you to leave this house. Stewing in memories is not healthy for anyone. You are not the only one who has lost him, Remus. Harry is having a time of his own."
"'s different." His voice had once again become slurred. "He still has friends. All mine are dead." His voice broke and he looked determinedly at the threadbare carpet under his feet.
"Peter is not dead."
The voice held barely contained fury when he replied. "Peter died the day he went over to Voldemort's side, whenever that was."
"And if the Peter you knew was still there, deep down, what would you do?"
"He's not."
"Remus, this is going nowhere. When you are ready to talk like a man rather than a child, I will return." He stood up and made for the entrance hallway. As the door clicked shut, Remus' head fell into his hands. He cried, just cried. His tears fell for Sirius, his friend now gone. He cried for Lily and James, his friends betrayed. But most of all, he cried for Peter Pettigrew, his friend who had died without anyone noticing. We should have paid him more attention. Then maybe we would have seen or maybe he wouldn't have turned at all… The sounds are dying away, and the light is dimming. A new, more recent memory takes its place.
A woman in her mid twenties was lying in a St. Mungo's Hospital bed. Her face, normally vibrant and full of life, was twisted in an expression of pain. As another contraction hit, she yelled and griped the hand in hers harder. The man, many years her senior, placed his other hand on top of hers. "You're doing great, Nymphadora. You're doing wonderfully. Just a few more pushes."
Nymphadora Lupin shot daggers at her husband. "Don't…call…me…Nymphadora."
"Okay, a few more pushes, Mrs. Lupin, and it'll be out," called the Healer encouragingly. "Okay, on three."
"On three? Wait," Dora seemed to forget the pains of childbirth for a moment to ask a question. "I always get confused. On three or just after three?"
The Healer, a woman in her forties, shook her head in good humor. "On the actual voicing of three, I would like you to push. One, two….THREE!"
"AAAAGGGGHHHHH!" She pushed and let out a scream loud enough to wake the patients all the way across the hospital.
"The baby's crowning. I can see its head!"
"Aggg, isn't there some potion to make me numb, or something?" Her normally bright pink hair had turned stone grey, betraying the effort she was putting into the birth.
"Sorry, it could put your baby at risk."
"It's alright, Dora," said thirty-eight year old Remus Lupin, emphasizing Dora. "You're almost through. We're going to be parents." These words seemed to put her at ease, until she was called to push again. Three contractions later, a child came into the world.
"Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Lupin. It's a boy." The attending Healer handed the screaming bundle to Dora and left to give the couple some privacy. Happiest moment of my life, that. Seeing him for the first time…I'll miss him so much.
"He's beautiful, Dora." Remus' face was shinning with pride.
"He is isn't he? What should we call him, do ya think?"
"At this moment, I'd be happy with nearly anything."
"Nearly Anything? No, that's a rather rotten choice of name, Remus. I'm sorry, but it won't do. You'll just have to think of something else."
"Haha, fine. How about, em, I don't know. We should call him after someone important. Someone special to both of us."
"How about Sirius? We both loved him."
Remus' face fell, but only slightly. "No .Not Sirius, I'm not quite ready to give him up yet. How about Albus? He's saved both of our necks more than once."
"Albus? Really? No," She was looking at their son, now. "No, you don't look like an Albus. You're missing hair, for one thing." She laughed. "What about… Oh! How could we have not decided by now? We've had nine months to figure this out!"
Remus looked as if a Muggle contraption called a light bulb had turned on. "I have the perfect name." He looked into his wife's eyes. "We'll call him Theodore. Ted for short, after your dad."
Her face broke into a smile full of warmth and love. "That will be," she gazed at her baby, "Just perfect." As she finished her sentence, baby Ted cooed and his dark strands of hair suddenly morphed into a vivid ginger color. The Lupins looked at each other.
"Like mother like son."
The scene continues on, but large, red, velvet curtains are drawing closed on it. The movie is ending and I can feel myself moving on. I leave my body and rise, invisible to those left behind, far up into the starry sky. I rise rapidly through the ceiling of the Great Hall, through the light cloud cover and past the half full moon. I gaze upon it for the last time, though I am no longer afraid. I welcome its beauty and thank it for what it has given me. For without it, I would be a different person. I continue on, past the moon and through the earth's atmosphere. Oxygen is no longer necessary and as I pass through the blackness of space, I cast a glance back at the planet I call home. I will miss it, but something much better is awaiting me. I pass through a shimmering membrane and stop. I have entered a new world and Dora is waiting for me. I leave my life behind and begin the afterlife a new man.