"Nice one James!" came Sirius' gleeful voice, and it cut Remus down to the core. Amidst the battle in the darkness of the department of mysteries surrounded by his fellow order members, Remus felt quite alone.
All these years he'd spent thinking he was the only one left, the last of the Marauders and yet… after twelve years of that being his hideous reality, it turns out he had been wrong. Peter was alive, not that he counted as one of them anymore as much as it pained Remus to say so, yet there were things not even Remus Lupin could forgive. Sweet Remus who tried to find the good in everyone, who still did not hate the world which ostracised him and attempted to diminish his humanity. No not even Remus could forgive Peter.
But he now had Sirius, kind hearted Sirius who after twelve years of pain had found his way back again, shown his innocence to those who mattered most. To Harry… to Remus. But his name had not yet been cleared. In fact there was still a while to go until that happened. But when it did, Sirius would be able to live in the countryside, live in peace… grow old with his godson.
Yet Remus' heart clenched at the sight of Bellatrix raising her wand at his only true friend left in the world to deal the final blow…
And Remus didn't even blink before he had apperated in front of the spell, knocking his companion to the side as the left side of his body took the brunt of blow.
The world seemed to go silent. Remus' eyes remained closed, his arms outstretch feeling light and carefree for the first time in more than twelve years. But soon the feeling was gone as quickly as he had apperated, all too soon replaced with lead, weighing his suddenly weary body down to the rock floor of the ministry.
And then the darkness took him, and he went gladly.
Sirius didn't understand what was happening. One moment he was whipping Lucius' fat ass of the floor and next he heard a whooshing sound (which sounded like someone apperating) and was pushed to the ground. But when he looked up, the air seemed to still.
There was Remus, eyes closed and chest open as he took the spell intended for Sirius. He watched on in horror as the green flames enveloped his only friend's left side, giving off the rancid smell of burnt flesh.
Without a further ado, anger boiling in his veins, Sirius flicked his wand at his disgusting cousin knocking her out. With another quick spell, vines appeared and bound the now unconscious woman, as well as gagging her and snapping her wand in half.
"Remus?" his hands grabbed his friend's shoulders. "Remus, look at me."
Slowly the amber eyes opened to stare at the grey ones, both filled with pain.
"Why did you do that?" Sirius looked at his friend for answers, his eyes attempting to avoid the burning flesh which now took up all of his left side. "Why did you take that spell? It was meant for me."
Remus gazed up at Sirius with tear-filled eyes. "You never had a good life other than at Hogwarts. The pain you'd endured just so that you could come back. You'd just started to live again. I heard you laugh for the first time in more than twelve years." He shook his head. "I couldn't watch you die, not now. Now you get to live."
"But you need to live, you have a life Remus!" gasped Sirius, his grip tightening on his friend's shoulders. Remus smiled sadly up at Sirius.
"No Sirius, I never have. Ever since I left Hogwarts and that night… I have never lived again. This world has no place for a werewolf like me," he smirked "no matter how clever."
He lifted his hand to the side of Sirius' face which had only recently lost its pale and sickly look, one which Lupin had worn since he was little. He was glad that now only he would have it.
"No, I have nothing left Sirius…" his breath became shallower "they wouldn't even give me custody of Harry when he was a baby. I…" his face broke as the tears of shame ran down his gaunt face "I really did try Sirius!" he was almost shouting, pleading Sirius to forgive him, making Sirius hold his shivering body all the closer.
"I know I believe you."
"I…I tried to see you but… but I'm a dark creature… they wouldn't let me see you! I wasn't allowed to set foot in Askaban. They wouldn't let me in Sirius!"
Sirius cradled Remus' upper body, resting his chin on the other man's unruly mop of light brown hair as he gently rocked back and forth.
"Shh, I believe you Remus. I believe you. I believe you Moony."
Remus merely nodded, his chest now rattling with the effort to take in air. He looked up and gazed into Sirius' grey eyes as his hand cupped the man's tear-stained cheek and his face lifted into a pained smile.
"Look after Harry for me. Live for me Sirius. Live for both of us Padfoot. I'll say h…hi to Lily and J…James for you."
Sirius couldn't hold back the sob that shook his body, the tears falling freely now.
"M…misch…chief m…managed." Remus said with a knowing smirk before his body went limp and the light left his eyes.
"No… No, no, no. NO!" Sirius shook Remus' body violently as if he waking him up to go to breakfast the painful days after the full moon at Hogwarts. But this time Remus' eyes remained glazed.
"NOOOOOOO!" Sirius' anguished voice filled the room. "NOOOOOOO, Moony don't leave me! I don't want to be alone anymore! Moony! MOONY! REMUS!"
"Sirius…" came Shacklebolts's voice as he attempted to take Remus from him.
"Don't touch him!" Sirius' grip tightened on the now lifeless body of his friend, his voice already wrecked from screaming. "Don't touch him! He was the only one left! I don't want to be the last! I can't be the last!"
Tears now streamed down Sirius' face which he buried in Remus' unmoving chest, his still thin frame wracked with sobs for the loss of his last friend… his dearest friend.
Sirius didn't remember what happened after that. All he remembers is them tearing Remus' body away from him, out of his arms. And he screamed. He screamed for James, for Lily… for Moony.
But then Voldemort had foolishly sent Wormtail to see if Bellatrix had retrieved the prophecy. And when Sirius once again laid eyes on his once close friend, something broke.
He managed to slam the pathetic excuse for a man against the floor as he punched him over and over again. He counted each blow, told the piece of filth for whom each blow was for.
In the end it took three people to get him off Wormtail. He cursed them all to hell, to Askaban but they held him down as Mrs Weasley poured a sleeping draft down his throat.
In the following years they'd lost Dumbledore and Moody but they'd managed to take down Voldemort. Peace had been restored to the Wizarding world and Sirius' name had been cleared of all charges. He was a free man.
But now with Harry at his side in Godric's Hollow, staring at the new headstone Sirius felt empty.
To Remus John Lupin
Dearest of friends
Who always saw the light
Even in the darkest of times
But the numbness was pushed aside as he wrapped an arm around Harry's should for both of their comfort.
"Well Remus, I'll have you know that Harry is officially an aura. Just like James and I." he chuckled. "You always wanted to be something like that but the world didn't let you did it?"
"But Uncle Remus," began Harry "we thought that you would like to see this. You're… you're a hero Uncle Remus."
And with that Harry knelt down to place the latest edition of the Daily Prophet at the tombstones' feet before walking over to the graveyard's entrance where Ginny stood. Sirius couldn't help but smile.
"They remind me of James and Lily, Moony. It makes me smile every time. Well I hope the newspaper shows you how your life was worth something. But know that it was always worth something Moony, newspaper or no newspaper. It was worth something to me."
Sirius smiled sadly.
"I guess I'll be seeing you around then. Till next time Moony old friend." And with that, he walked off, hands stuffed in his pockets.
Now if one was to look down at this specific edition of the Daily Prophet, one wouldn't have seen any outrageous comments made by Rita Skita. In fact one would have seen the moving photograph of Hermione Granger signing an important document, a smiling faced Ron and Harry in the background.
The title read
"Minister Granger signs the Lupin Law. Werewolves made human once more."
And from some far off place, James and Lily Potter as well as Remus John Lupin smiled as they looked down upon the graveyard, with the newspaper lying on the green grass.