Fallen Heroes
Remus quietly sat at the front of the funeral attendants, seated between Professor Minerva McGonagall and Rubeus Hagrid, both of whom had tears streaming down their faces. James and Lily had been killed two days previous and for Remus, it had still not quite set in. James was more then his best friend, he was a brother to him.
Remus had never had to attend a funeral in his life, he and his parents had never gotten along and so he never bothered to attend their funerals. Now, here he was attending Lily and James Potter's funeral and dreading Peter Pettigrew's teh next day.
Albus Dumbledore was presiding over the funeral and Remus was to read teh eulogy, something that he really had not written much of. After the passing of two of his best friends and the incarciration of another, Remus was not up to it, whether the deaths had sunk in or not. Instead, Remus had asked Faith to wrote the eulogy for him and he had not even read it before today.
Had it not been for Faith, he wouldnt have been able to even attend teh funeral. Remus had never owned any dress clothes and never had a reason to really learn to tie a real tie. At school, he had always tied them magicaly, something that did not look appropriate for a funeral.
Dumbledore finished his opening remarks as Remus felt his heart rate quickening and quickening. He hated speaking in front of people...why did it have to be him.
"Perhaps teh only person who truely knew Lily and James Potter was their friend Remus Lupin, who had been good friends with James since their first year at Hogwarts. Remus, will you please..." Dumbledore gestured toward the podium as he proceeded to take a seat.
Remus pulled the notecard Faith had written for him from his pocket and nervously made his way to the podium. He glanced at the notcard and then crumpled it into a ball and stuck it back into his pocket.
"Lily and James' deaths is the deepest of blows to me as one of James' best friends. As many of you know, I am a lycanthrope, meaning I turn into a monster every full moon. Growing up, this was a burden to me until I came to Hogwarts. Before I was even at Hogwarts, I met James. He was more then a friend to me, he was a brother. When nobody else would accept me for what I was, James was there." At this point, Remus felt tears begin to swell up in his eyes, but he continued from the heart. "Not only was James there for me, but he convinced my two other best friends taht I wasn't just a monter but a human being like teh rest of you who are seated here today. I am glad to say that I was one fo teh few that saw James for what he was."
"While at school here, and even afterwards, James had a reputation for being a bit of a prankster. James had teh ability to make anybody laugh, even if the sittuation was a bad one. I feel taht James, my brother, would want us to all be laughing and not crying on this sad day, and with that said I hope that we can all come up with a fond memory of James causing trouble in our lives."
"As for Lily, she was one of teh few people I could truely let my guard down around. I'm not sure I'm teh person to be giving this eulogy for Lily, but albus has asked me to, so I will do my best. Never in my life have I met a more brilliant or caring witch then Lily Potter. She was always willing to give a hand to any wiotch or wizard who needed it and-" At last, Remus could take it no more. As he stood before the gatehred witches and wizards memories of time spent with Lily and James poured through his head and at last teh meaning of death got to him. He would never see his best friend again. Never play a prank on old Snivelus, and never go stay the night at his place when he felt lonesome. Never again would he eat the hearty meals Lily was fond of cooking or be able to discuss the decisions the Mnister had made.
It was wrong, wrong that he should be cursed as a wolf. Wrong that he should live while Lily and James left behind all these friends and a son. Tears poured down his cheeeks and he had no control of what happened. He felt an arm sliparound him and his legs turn to jello as Dumbledore took over the speaking. Before he knew what hit him, he was sitting in a chair next to Faith who had led him to the seat.
"I am sorry Remus," Albus' voice carried across the courtyard in the enchanted megaphone. "And I am sorry for the loss that we have all taken. Let this be a symbol to any dark wizardwho wishes to do harm. There are still kind people in this world, people very much like Lily Evans and James Potter, people like Remus Lupin and Faith Backs who will stand in the way of evil. Lily and James faced Voldemort (many of those gatherd shiverd at the sound of the name) head on, not in fear. They lived their lives head on right up until the end, and I know that both Lily and James are now welcoming death as the next grand adventure in existance."
Those gatherd in the Godric's Hollow park aplauded Dumbledore while Remus and Faith held eachother, tears rolling down both of their cheeks. Remus wiped his eyes and rose to his feet as did Hagrid and several others who had been members of the Order. Together, they carried the cascuts of Lily and James Potter to their final resting places in the cemetary next door. Remus held back the tears while Dumbledore said teh last words and waved his wand, causing dirt to fall back in over the cascuts. As the funeral procession proceeded to leave teh cemetary, Remus shook hands with Albus Dumbledore for teh last time in several years, before dissaperating to the house of Abigale Pettigrew. She had decided that she wanted a private funeral for Peter, and only Remus and Peter's great aunt would be in attendance.
