AN: The potter universe belongs to J.K.
A cold wind ruffled the trees in the courtyard of a small church situated in the village of Godric's Hollow, making the night colder than it should be in the middle of June. The non-magical community of the village blamed environmental degradation for such cold summers but the man currently opening the kissing gate to the graveyard knew that this cold was caused by dark creatures invisible to the non- magical community. As the residents of Godric's Hollow slept fretfully, plagued by nightmares and painful memories, waking up occasionally to comfort themselves that all this negativity that they were feeling was because of the bad weather, the man walked briskly, haunted by memories of carefree laughter and warmth. The man stopped abruptly as if forced to stop by an invisible wall, in front of a gravestone of white marble which seemed to shine in the dark.
James Potter, born 27 March 1960, died 31 October 1981
Lily Potter, born 30 January 1960, died 31 October 1981
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
Remus Lupin's eyes remained unfocused as he stared at the headstone. He could hear them again, their voices, laughter, even the occasional teasing. As the wind stung his cheeks he looked up, as if electrocuted; staring wildly around before looking down again, panting slightly. He looked around again, wistfully. He wished Sirius was resting next to them too. He wanted to talk to all of them. He looked down guiltily at the gravestone. He hadn't visited them since their funeral. He wished they would understand that he had never stopped loving any of them; that he thought about them every day; it was just hard to visit them, to see their graves. Remus lowered himself to a sitting position in front of the graves as the wind ruffled his hair. He allowed himself a moment of peace in the company of his family in all senses but blood; the war would still be raging on outside but he needed this moment with his friends.
"Hello James and Lily" Remus said softly, and the cold wind ruffled his hair, he looked up smiling slightly and greeted the person he knew was there in spirit, "Hello to you too, Sirius." He smiled again, relaxing a little, looking at the headstone again, he decided that as soon as the war was over he would make an honorary grave for Sirius next to James and Lily and he would request to lie down next to them too. All of them should be bonded in death, as they were bonded in life.
"I am sorry I haven't visited for a long time. Losing all of your family in a night was difficult. I escaped to the muggle world to escape the pain I felt. It's not an excuse but it was just so damn hard. But I am glad I am here now. I know Sirius must have told you all about Harry by now. You won't believe how much that kid has grown up. I still can't believe that this amazing, strong man in front of me is the same kid that had screamed bloody murder because Padfoot had growled at him for getting too close to a burning candle. He is a perfect blend of the two of you. I wish you were here though. He needs you; I need you."
He could almost hear James laugh, the wind felt as if James was patting his back, telling him that everything would be fine. He smiled again.
"You know I never believed you when all of you said that there just might be someone out there for me. I had a hard time believing that anyone could love someone like me. Someone who turns into a mindless monster once a month but there is someone who doesn't mind any of it. It doesn't matter to her that I am a monster once a month; that I am much older than her; that I am poor; that there is nothing I can give her. She loves me. It's a miracle that she loves me and despite all my reservations; despite the fact that I feel so guilty for feeling this way, I love her too. I wish I didn't but I do and I am happy with her. She makes me so happy, sometimes, it feels like I don't deserve this happiness, that she deserves someone better but then she looks at me and glows and I don't know what to think or feel anymore. She asked me to marry her today. I don't know loving her and being with her is one thing. Marrying her and dragging her down especially with a war around is a completely different issue, I don't know what to do anymore."
Remus could almost imagine himself sitting in the drawing of the cottage not far from the graveyard. He could see James in his favourite armchair, Lily next to him on the sofa and Sirius sitting cross legged on the floor as he worked on the crossword puzzles in the newspaper. He could see James roll his eyes and frown at him before saying something along the lines of "Honestly Moony, quit being a drama queen for heaven's sake. She loves you, you love her. You are not a dreadful monster; you have a problem that you know how to deal with by now. It doesn't matter what a bunch of bigoted fools think, she loves you and wants to marry you, I don't see a problem."
Sirius would look up from his paper with an unfocused look and say "Oh! I don't know Moony. You are such a hideous monster. You keep your home so clean and ordered, poor Tonks would be hard pressed to match up to that, with all her clumsiness. If she marries you she would lead a miserable life in a clean and ordered home, being loved by a drama queen who would throw a fit if his shirt was folded wrong or arranged in the wrong order. The horror!" At this Sirius and James would start laughing; Lily would roll her eyes and smirk; trying very hard to control her laughter before smacking him upside on the head and saying "You are such a fool, Remus Lupin. Here is a girl who loves you and wants to marry you. There are people who choose to focus on the person you are. You deserve happiness, Remus. There is a war going on out there, it's sad as it is. You deserve some happiness, she deserves some happiness. Just marry her already, and I am telling you this right now, I will be your evil sister and plan the wedding, and decorate it with white and pink roses and the bridesmaids will wear sea green, it looks good on me that's why." She would crack a mischievous smile before continuing on about the food and music and threatening Sirius with dire consequences if he dares to pull some stupid stunt like he did on James and Lily's wedding.
Remus smiled wistfully at the scene in his head; how he wished he could hear all three of them making the same arguments, almost forcing him down the altar. "There is a war going out there" he said quietly, "You would know, now that he has joined you, Dumbledore is not here to guide us anymore. I will fight to the end. For you, For Harry, For Dumbledore; but what if it's not enough? What if we lose and she is branded as my wife? She would be hunted down and murdered for her choice. I want to protect her from all of that."
The cold wind slapped his face and stung his eyes; it almost felt like all three of them had slapped him for thinking of losing.
"Honestly, Remus! What is wrong with you? She is an Auror, she can handle herself. You won't die; you have to live for us, for Harry, for her. I don't see her being afraid of choosing you. It's her life and she chose you. Stop over thinking this. It will be fine. Now would you like a gooey chocolate cake on your wedding or one with chocolate chips?" He could hear Lily, first shouting at him for being an idiot and then comforting him with a charming smile and the idea of chocolate cake.
He laughed; he had forgotten how stubborn Lily was. Once she decided Sirius needed a haircut nothing stopped her from giving him a haircut. Sirius had moaned about it for a week, accusing James of marrying a "hair stealing monster". Lily had only rolled her eyes and asked him about the number of women who had thrown themselves on him after the haircut. That had shut Sirius up quite fine. Now it looked like, Lily had decided that Remus should get married.
He grinned at the headstone. "I guess it shouldn't matter. We will all be damned if we lose. I love her; Merlin! I really do love her. Maybe you are right, maybe I should marry her. "
The wind caressed his face, he laughed, and he could almost hear sarcastic slow claps from Sirius and James and a gleeful shriek from Lily. "Thank you James and Lily and you too Sirius. I wish you could be there, I know you would be, but I still wish I could see you guys. But I will always love you. I will visit soon I promise, probably with my wife." He grinned before getting up and walking briskly out of the graveyard. He stopped once at the kissing gate, turning to look in the direction of his family's graves and smiling before he walked out and disapparated with a soft pop.
AN: This is a three chapter short story. I hope you like it. Please read and review. Happy reading.
P.s.: I am still working on welcome home Harry, as well as a couple of more fics. I hope you enjoy them. Please do read and review. I need them to make my stories better.