My beta reader was bothered that in my other story 'The wolves and the lamb' that I never bothered to explain how Remus and Sirius came back. So this will just be a short bit, maybe 3 chapters or so, to explain how they came back from the dead, and how they came to be living together and... in love?
I have no idea. I also did not have her read this, so if you notice any mistakes... lemme know3
"Come clean, Mate. This actually is hell, isn't it?" Sirius was looking down the long endless line of identical houses.
"For the last time, no." Lupin couldn't hold back the little smile that was forming. He did not know how long they had been here in the serene suburbia. But time had little to no meaning in a place like this.
"It's so boring." Sirius was not whining, just grumping. After years in Azkaban and then being secluded in his childhood home, all he had wanted was to run free. Then he died. Somehow death was worse than either incarceration. The sky was always a lightly clouded noon and the streets were the same repeating, cookie cutter houses. Remus had assured him many times that it was not hell. Sirius knew that his old friend must be wrong. Surely a place as unchanging and boring as where he stood must either be hell …or Sussex. He ran his rough hands through his messy black locks. "Come on, Moony. Let's go on a walk or something. I can't stand just sitting here."
Remus smiled again and walked with his friend. Death was not so bad in his opinion. He knew that the war was over and their side had won, he also had the chance to be with Sirius again. Remus had known that he had missed his dear friend, but he had not realized just how much until he found him again.
That day had been the same as every other once since he had arrived. But that afternoon (despite the fact that every day, at every time was noon) he heard yelling. At first he had been weary to investigate, but there was something familiar about the noise. When he finally traced down the source he was surprised if not delighted to see that it was Sirius Black… smashing things and yelling at the debris. It seemed that they were the only two people trapped in the never changing space.
Eventually he reached the conclusion that it must be some sort of purgatory, but certainly not hell. If it was hell they would not have found one another.
They walked, for either a few minute or a few years; it did not matter how long. Then without warning the houses gave way to grassy plains. Sirius whooped and started running through the tall grass. Remus laughed at the sight and kept his more sedate pace.
"Do you see it, Moony, do you? It's different."
"Yes, Padfoot, I see it." A warm smile colored his voice.
They stayed in the field for a long time, days moving into weeks, until Sirius grew board of the fact that it too did not seem to change other than the long stalks blowing like waves in the gentle wind. He would often disappear, searching for something, anything really. Remus chose to lie in the cool grass, watching the clouds.
**
"You have to come with me." Sirius demanded, tugging on the old werewolf's arm. "It never changes when I go alone."
"I don't see how me coming will make the slightest bit of difference." He stood, chestnut eyes smiling around the edges.
"Don't be a stick in the mud, just come on."
It was strange to see how almost immediately the world changed when the two crested the hill that Remus had been resting on. There, in the soft shadows were old ruins. Crumbling grey stone wall that had stood for what looked like centuries, surrounded brittle towers and mossy courtyards.
"See, I told you it would change." He let go of Remus's hand and ran down the hill at full tilt.
"It is possible that you have just never gone over this hill before."
"Sod off, Moony." He was already a distance off, climbing over the low walls. "Well, come on, I don't have all day." His barking laugh rang off the hills. "Actually I do. I have all the time in the world." His mess of dark hair disappeared over the wall.
Remus chuckled to himself and kept walking. Little rocks crunched under his shoes as he walked around the wall instead of following his friend's example and going over it. He stopped dead. Sirius was standing on the balls of his feet, gazing up at a softly billowing curtain that hung suspended by a fragile looking stone arch
"I know this." Sirius's voice had taken on a dream like quality. "I've been here before."
"Sirius, get away from that." Remus recognized it too. That curtain, as innocent as it looked, had haunted his dreams until he died. "Sirius, stop!" He ran forward as his friend took the final few steps towards the innocuous drapery. And then Sirius Black was gone.
Topping over himself in an effort to stop before he too was consumed by damask, Remus Lupin stood stairing at the place that his companion had been only moments before. "Sirius… you can't die when you're already dead!" He yelled into the folds of the curtain. "How can you even… why … would you leave me." He ran his hands shakily through his grey flecked hair. He didn't want to be left alone in the quiet world. With a sharp intake of breath he followed after Sirius.
**
It was a great uncertainty as to what Lupin expected to find on the other side of the veil. What he had not expected, above all else was one of the inner chambers of the Ministry of Magic. "Sirius?" His voice was hesitant.
Bounding around from the other side of the curtain came his gaunt friend. "Moony, were home." He lifted the slender werewolf and spun him round.
Lupin looked around, eyes trying to foucus on the world around him, senses taking in the smell of cold stone and the musk that was distinctly Sirius. A small smile started to grow as he untangled himself from the long arms of his friend. "I think, for once, you're right."