Author: Sazmuffin
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Title: Hold Tight
Rating: PG
A/N: One of my more original ideas.
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The fire never stopped burning. The stars never stopped twinkling. The joyous laughter could be heard at all corners of the common room. The toothy grins and the lovable smiles never faded. When the sun came up, the rays never felt too hot. The lake never stopped rippling. The Whomping Willow never lost it's fury.
Remus sat in the Gryffindor common room, fifteen years before his death. His face was smoother, devoid of many wrinkles he once possessed. His body was leaner and he showed no sign of fatigue from living his life as a werewolf. He remembered all of his past experiences, including the ones from later years as he looked around the familiar room.
Footsteps bounded down the boy's dormitory and voices resounded around the otherwise empty common room; they were all too familiar. James and Sirius appeared before him, with their arms around each other, laughing at an unknown joke. They too did not possess any ailments Remus remembered them having. James was as delightful as he once was, that winning smile showcased on his sharp features. Remus would never have guessed Sirius spent twelve years in Azkaban from how he looked now. As handsome he ever was, his barky laugh brought the smile back to Remus' face.
"Guess who's dead, Prongs?" he said, laughing.
"Dear lord, Sirius, must you be so blunt?" Remus turned his gaze to the girl's dormitory staircase as Lily entered. She walked swiftly into Remus' arms, engulfing him in the hugs he had so desperately missed. "Remus, it's lovely to see you again. Although on such horrible circumstances." Lily gave him a sad smile.
"I'm dead?"
The trio shared a small look, and sat down around him. Lily linked her hands around James' arm as he sat with his elbows on his knees. Sirius joined him on the couch and wrapped an arm tightly around his shoulders, patting his back in turn.
"Yes, Moony, you're dead," spoke James. Dread was evident in his tone.
"But Dora - Teddy - are they..?"
"Teddy is fine," Lily assured him, squeezing his hand. "They are taking good care of him. Nymphadora, I'm afraid, has passed away as well."
"Where is she? I need to see her, she must be scared out of her wits." Remus made to stand but Sirius held him down.
"I suspect she's seeing Ted Tonks at the moment, mate," the dog-like man said, "She'll be along."
"Where - Where are we?"
"We're in seventh year, mate, in the Gryffindor common room." James hugged Lily to him, smiling.
"Is this.. heaven?" Remus looked at each of them. By their expressions he knew.
"In a sense," Lily answered for him, "When you die, Remus, you see the people you most want to see who have also passed away. That's the simple version, really. Lots of Dumbledore-like logic behind this occurrence."
Remus laughed at her last comment. "I reckon I'll be seeing him soon."
James gulped before he spoke, "Moony, I know that you must be really preoccupied with this right now, but - Harry, is-is he okay?"
He nodded. "Harry is everything you ever wanted him to be, Prongs. Quidditch star, savior, troublemaker.."
"Spot on, he is," Sirius added, patting his back once more.
James let out a sigh of relief. "So long as he's a troublemaker. I don't think I could stomach the thought of having a son who did everything by the book."
Lily swatted his arm playfully, and then asked, "Does he have a girlfriend, Remus?"
"I daresay he does now, now that the war is over," the former werewolf smiled. "Little Ginny Weasley."
"You don't say!" exclaimed Sirius, grinning madly.
"Weasley? Don't tell me, Molly and Arthur got married?" James slapped his knee, "I always knew they were meant for each other."
"And you seem to have guessed right, Prongs. They've got seven kids."
"Seven?!" Lily looked nearly scandalized.
Remus nodded, laughing. "Ginny's the only girl, too."
"I wish we had gotten that busy, Lil," James winked at her and nudged her body with his own.
The redheaded woman rolled her eyes at her husband's antics. "The Weasleys were always good people. Sirius told us they really took care of our boy."
Remus nodded. "If it hadn't been for the ancient magic attaching your sister and Harry, I wouldn't be wrong if I said that Molly nearly adopted him, all the time he spent there."
The reunited group of friends fell into a comfortable silence as Remus stopped speaking. Lily was just as beautiful as he remembered her. He had never forgotten how much he missed James and Lily; seeing them again was an event he wished for nearly ever day. Sirius was added to that wish from the moment he fell into the veil. He felt eyes on him and he looked up into Lily's evergreen eyes, sparkling with tears.
"You have a child, Remus?"
He felt his eyes burn at the thought of his son. He nodded. "Theodore Remus Lupin."
Lily clapped her hands together in obvious delight. "That's simply wonderful, Remus. I am supremely happy for you."
Two, fat tears glided down his face as he smiled a wide smile at her.
Every head turned at the sound of a knock on the door. Dumbledore entered with his usual pleasant expression, his eccentric robes filled with muggle candy, and his half-moon spectacles. Taking a seat in an worn, old armchair astride the couches, he smiled at all of them.
"Hello, Remus," he spoke.
Remus' young formed looked shocked to see his old professor without a mangled, blackened hand. "Hello, Albus."
"I'm sorry to hear about you and Nymphadora."
At this, he laughed. "Thank you." He paused, and added, "You gave us all a right tough time, Albus, think you could've left a few more clues?"
The former headmaster chuckled. "You seem to have managed. I knew Harry and his friends would figure it out."
Remus hesitated before asking his next question. "Rita Skeeter published a book about your past.. Is it true?"
Dumbledore heard the real question beneath his voice. He nodded, sadly.
Lily extended her hand out and grasped his own, mimicking her movements with Remus.
Another comfortable silence overtook the deceased, exchanging glances and small laughs every now and then. Then, Sirius jumped from his seat, standing in front of the group, the fireplace to his back. Pulling his wand from his robes, he jabbed the tip with his palm.
"Hello? Is this thing on?" he then brandished the stick of wood as a microphone and belted, "Anyway you want it, that's the way you need it, any way you want it!"
Lily laughed at loud at his antics, clapping her hands together.
Sirius continued, preforming various acts of rock stars from the past, "She loves to laugh,
she loves to sing, she does everything. She loves to move, she loves to grove, she loves the lovin' things."
James looked very confused, not knowing the song, but still enjoyed watching his best mate make an attempt at lightening the mood.
"Ooh, all night, all night, oh, every night. So hold tight, hold tight. Ooh, baby, hold tight."
Remus was in peals of laughter, clutching his stomach as his face scrunched up into a ball.
"Oh, she said, any way you want it, that's the way you need it. Any way you want it, she said, any way you want it, that's the way you need it, any way you want it."
Dumbledore, having been very well versed on everything muggle, watching intently as he snacked on his beloved lemon drops.
"I was alone, I never knew what good love could do. Ooh, then we touched, then we sang about the lovin' things."
James, in a spurt of confidence, sprang from his seat, holding his wand in a similar fashion as he sang next to Sirius. "Ooh, all night, all night, oh, every night. So hold tight, hold tight. Ooh baby, hold tight."
Remus reached an entirely different level of laughter as tears spilled down his cheeks. It had been a long time since he witnessed an episode of Prongs and Padfoot together, enjoying life. That's what spurred him to get up as well, standing on Sirius' other side as he sang the chorus line. "Oh, she said, any way you want it, that's the way you need it. Any way you want it, she said, any way you want it, that's the way you need it, any way you want it."
The serenade ended in an explosion of applause from Dumbledore and Lily, laughing so hard they could barely manage anything else. Sirius hugged Remus fiercely, James following almost instantly. Lily soon joined in on the fun, hauled into the middle of three crying grown men, huddled together.
All at once, a pensive-like event flooded their vision. Harry lay on his bed at the Burrow, crying into his hands. The door opened and a young, redheaded woman stepped into the room. She opened her arms to him and he gladly accepted, holding him as only a mother could.
Lily stretched her arm out as if to touch him. "Hold tight, baby, hold tight. Everything will be all right."