A/N: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.
It was cold. That was the first thing she noticed. Not just it was cold, but she was cold. Blinking her eyes, she sat up. She had never felt cold like this. She felt for her cloak. She was sure she'd been wearing it. Instead she only felt her bare arms.
That was when she realized she wasn't in her room. She wasn't anywhere she'd seen before. There were bright columns of what appeared to be pure light.
She rose to her feet, noticing they were bare also. She looked down just to make sure she wasn't nude. No, she was wearing a white dress she knew she didn't own.
"Hello?" she called. Her voice echoed. There were no walls, just white as far as she could see. She tried to remember what had happened. She'd been home when, she paused. The war. There was a war, she had gone to help fight.
"Merlin, I'm dead!' she screamed in disbelief. She hadn't thought she would die. Yes, it was war, yes people died, but she was young, an auror. She had a son! Thinking of Teddy made her sink to her knees.
"Tonks? Tonks, is that you?!" She blinked. She knew she had heard her name. But the whiteness was so bright she could barely see. Shading her eyes slightly, she finally made out a dark silhouette coming towards her. She stood. It wouldn't do any good for anyone to see her crying. The light seemed to dim slightly.
"Or my eyes are just getting used to it," she grumbled walking towards the person. She was starting to be able to make out details. Her brain still wasn't working. Finally they were close enough she could see him entirely.
"Fred?" she looked to see if he had both ears real quick.
"Unfortunately. Where are we?"
"I think we're dead, Fred. This doesn't look much like Heaven though."
"Dead?" Fred blinked in disbelief. "Do you remember..."
"How? No. I was fighting, that much I remember. Is anyone else here? Have you seen..." Tonks was afraid to say his name. She hoped he wasn't here. Then someone could raise Teddy.
"No, I haven't seen anyone else, not yet anyway. Maybe they're not in this part? I think this place is bigger than it looks." Tonks nodded. She knew there would be more causalities. This was war after all.
"Should we stay here? Wait to see what happens?" she asked looking at Fred. She wondered how his family was coping with his death.
"I found you by walking around. Maybe we're supposed to find the others? I mean, at least you figured out we were dead. I hadn't even realized it yet." Tonks nodded.
"So, which way? You came from over there, I think." The pair looked that direction.
"I didn't see anyone or anything else that way, so this way?"
"Sure, why not." The pair started walking trying to peer though the whiteness. Tonks was starting to notice the whiteness swirled around the pair, almost like a mist of sorts.
"I think I hear something over there," she whispered to Fred. The pair stopped and fell silent. Crying. That's the sound echoing through the white.
"Should we...?" she whispered. Fred nodded. Slowly they moved towards the sound. While they walked, Tonks tried to tell if the crying was familiar. She couldn't place it though.
"I think, Lavender?" Fred called. He waited a second with no reply. "She was Ron's girlfriend for awhile. It kind of sounds like her. C'mon." He darted towards the noise with Tonks running after him. They found a young woman sitting on the ground, her arms around her knees, with tears running down her face.
"Lavender." The woman looked up.
"Fred? Or are you George?"
"Fred. This is Tonks.
"Hi, I'm Lavender. Where are we? I remember fighting, and then, something tearing my skin. Then darkness, now here. I think I didn't survive, did I?" Fred shook his head.
"We both think we're dead too. This doesn't look much like anything though. Have you heard anyone else?"
"I heard some screaming, it came from over there, but I was too scared to go look."
"Well, we're here now. Want to go see, or we could go another way?" Tonks offered her hand to Lavender and helped her up. She noticed Lavender was wearing a dress very similar to her own.
"I really don't want to know what would cause a person to scream like that."
"Other way sounds good." Fred nodded. The three had just started walking when a large beam of light lit up the area. In the middle was a dark spot. The light pulsed and then vanished leaving a humanoid figure behind.
"Guess that explains how we got here," Fred muttered. "Beam of light. Not very practical," he joked. Lavender smiled a little but Tonks froze.
"Remus? You idiot!" she screamed running over to the new figure.
"Tonks?"
"Yes, you weren't supposed to die!" Tonks screamed. Fred and Lavender glanced at each other and took a few steps in another direction. They could hear the couple arguing for a minute and then silence.
"Do you think they stopped fighting, I mean, they couldn't really kill each other, if we're all already dead..."
"They stopped fighting," Lavender stated looking past Fred. "And have moved on to the next step."
"Next step?"
"Fight, then snog, remember?" Fred laughed. Even here love seemed possible.
"Hello? Anyone out here?" a new female voice joined the white.
"We're over here," Fred called. Tonks and Remus had stopped kissing long enough to look up. They walked back over to Lavender and Fred.
"Who's there?" Tonks asked cautiously.
"I am so glad I finally found you. They're over here," the voice called to someone else. Remus perked up, sure he recognized the voice, although he was sure it was one he hadn't heard in a long long time.
"Did they get lost? I thought the meeting point was way back there," a male voice complained.
"Prongs?!"
"Moony? Really? Padfood, it's Moony!" Remus smiled running and joining his old friends while Tonks watched.
"Tonks? You too?"
"Yup. This is Fred and Lavender."
"Hello, I'm James, this is Lily, and you know Sirius?"
"Hi Sirius," Fred said with a smile. "So what's exactly going on?"
"We were told there would be some new people arriving that needed some help finding the gates, so we volunteered to go find you," Lily explained. "Are you the only four?"
"Most likely not, it's a war, Lily. Do you know if we're winning?"
"Afraid not, at least not yet. We'll find out once we get out of purgatory. If you four found each other, then you must be the lot we're after. All four of you have a choice."
"What's the choice?" Lavender asked.
"You can either move on, which is what we all did, or you can go back as a ghost. If you chose the ghost route, you're stuck. You can never move on."
"We'll give you a minute to decide. Remember this affects your entire afterlife. Any questions?"
"Um, will we be able to watch those who are still alive?" Fred asked wondering how George was going to live without him. Tonks nodded. She needed to know Teddy would be safe and loved.
"Yes, you'll be able to see anything, or anyone you want," James promised.
"Move on then," Fred said without hesitation. He knew he could have become a ghost, spent all his time at Hogwarts, playing jokes with Peeves, but then George would never, he would never grieve, never move on himself.
"Moony?"
"I want to move on, will you come with me Tonks?" He asked smiling at his wife.
"I already said 'yes' to spending my life with you, Remus. I think I'll say 'yes' to spending the afterlife with you too," she whispered giving him a kiss.
"Moony, I didn't realize she was your wife," James howled. "Good job!" Lily just shook her head and rolled her eyes. She turned to Lavender.
"Lavender?"
"I think I'll move on too. I never really like the ghosts hanging around Hogwarts, they creeped me out."
"So, how do we do it? Move on?" Fred asked.
"Simple, just follow us," Lily stated. The group had barely walked three feet when a glowing door appeared out the whiteness.
"Your afterlife starts now," James announced pulling the door open. "Viewing pond is to the left, Quiddich pitch to the right, any one play?"
