Title: Memories

Author: Jeannie

Rating: T

Summary: The final fight has its consequences. Death fic. Part of my Seventh Book drabbles collection.

Author's Note: This was inspired by several Marauder videos that I watched, all of the videos were about remembering the Marauders, or how Remus felt being the last Marauder. They all had such sad songs, that I just had to write a sad story to go with them. So if you find a sad Marauder's video and read this whilst listening to the music the story may feel more poignant. I'm not sure, I may just be wittering,

Thanks for reading and please do review.

Was this how it was all going to end? Lying on the cold, hard floor of the Ministry of Magic, with the horrible face of Bellatrix Lestrange sneering down at him. He could already feel the blood from his various wounds seeping through his shabby clothes, and the woman's face before him kept swimming in and out of focus. All around him he could hear the shouting and screaming of his friends, his colleagues as they fought for their lives. They had to win; they just had to, because if they didn't then the world wasn't worth living for.

Remus Lupin glared up at Bella as he tried to pull himself up, trying to keep on fighting. She cackled manically at him, as he struggled to his feet.

"Oh, he's still got some fight in him. Looney Lupin." When Remus was finally upright, he straightened up as best he could and glared at the maniac before him. He thought 'accio wand' and his trusty wand flew to his fingers; he closed his fist around it and pointed it back at Bellatrix.

"He's still got fight." He said, and he shot a jet of red light at the cackling Death Eater. She was knocked off her feet, obviously not expecting him to attack her just yet. Her mistake. She landed a few feet away, and Remus smiled savagely.

"Come on Bellatrix." Memories flashed through his mind, as he heard Sirius' voice say almost those exact words back at the Ministry three years ago. Remus felt tears threatening to spill from his eyes as he thought of his friend, but he bit his lip and managed to contain them. No time for tears, no time for grief, now he would destroy this beast of a woman to avenge his friend.

Bellatrix was swift to return to her feet, and she sent a jet of green light flying towards him. Remus' eyes widened for a second, before he ducked down and the beam missed him by inches. Before he could stand properly, she hit him with another spell and he was sent down to the floor writhing in agony.

"I'm going to make you beg for mercy, Lupin." Remus could feel a scream building up inside him, and he tried to contain it, he didn't want to give her the satisfaction. Suddenly the pain stopped and he lay there on the floor once more, panting and trying to get a hold on the pain that was ricocheting all through his body. Bellatrix smiled coldly down at him, and raised her wand again.

"EXPELLIARMUS." He shouted, pointing his wand at her. As he wand went flying away, he kicked out at her and caught her in the stomach. Yes, he was willing to fight dirty if it meant that he could get rid of her. She fell with a satisfying 'bang' on the floor, and Remus took a few seconds to collect his breathing and thoughts. Then he was struggling upright, desperate to finish the job. Spells flew around him, but he ignored them only concentrating on keeping his wand steady as he pointed it at the Death Eater lying on the floor.

"This is for Sirius," He whispered, and took a deep steadying breath. Bellatrix began to cackle again, sending a shiver up his spine. "AVADA KADAVRA." He shouted, and the jet of green light flew from his wand and hit the woman before him. The cackling died immediately, and she slumped on the floor. All life was gone from her, and it was then that Remus realised how young she looked. He felt a wave of guilt hit him, and had to turn away from her body. He'd just killed someone, a woman not much older then himself.

As he turned he noticed the others, many were still fighting the Death Eaters but some were lying motionless on the floor. Arthur, George, Fred, Kingsley and Hermione were lying on the cold floor, none of them were moving.

"REMUS!" He looked up sharply, but was not in time to duck from the jet of green light that hit him squarely in the chest. His eyes widened as he fell to the ground, memories flashed before his eyes…

' "Hey Padfoot!" Remus ran up to his friend by the water's edge, his bag bumping into his side as he ran. The black haired boy by the water looked up, and grinned when he noticed his friend running towards him.

"Hey Mooney," The two fifth years grinned up at each other, and Remus pulled out a textbook from his bag. Sirius rolled his eyes, and gave a small groan. "Please Mooney, tell me you haven't come here to tell me to do my homework!" It was Remus' turn to roll his eyes, but he didn't speak as he opened up the textbook. Inside the front cover it said 'Property of James Potter'. This caught Sirius' attention, and he glanced up curiously at Remus,

"Why've you got Prong's book?" Remus fought hard to contain his laughter, as he began to flick through the pages until he found the right page. Sirius' eyes widened and he let out a bark of laughter.

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me!" He said, grabbing the textbook from his friend and looking at all the words written in black ink on the page.

'Mrs Lily Potter.' 'I (heart) Evans' 'Harry James Potter, name of first child.' Sirius began to chuckle,

"He's already decided the name of their first child? Now that's scary!" Remus took the textbook off his friend,

"Oh that's nothing. See what he's written in his Potion's book."…'

'Lily was standing at the top of the stairs, dressed in her wedding dress and looking absolutely gorgeous. Remus felt a glow of pride bubble inside him as he watched her slowly walk down the steps, towards him. She was smiling in an embarrassed way, probably slightly scared at the massive grin that was spreading across her friend's face.

"You look…beautiful." Remus said, when she reached the bottom step and he stood back to let her pass.

"Thanks Remus." He noticed that she was shaking slightly, and this only made him smile more. Today she'd be getting married to one of his best friends, and then everything would be perfect.

"You okay?" He asked, as one of her bridesmaids handed her, her bouquet. Her smile changed from embarrassed to happy, as she turned to look at him.

"Yeah. I'm great. Thanks Remus, for everything." Remus felt the glow of pride grow slightly, and he was sure that if someone put him in a lighthouse he'd be able to light it for weeks.

"It's nothing, Lily." He extended his arm, and she took it. They walked out of the open door, and towards the car waiting for them. He opened the door and she clambered in, followed by her two bridesmaids. Remus grinned at the both of them, and they smiled back. Once all the females were safely in the car, Remus followed and took the spare seat. A few months ago Lily had asked him to give her away, and he'd accepted straight away. During their schooldays Remus had found himself becoming quite protective of Lily, and right now he felt like a proud brother. Her father had passed away a few days after she'd told him that she was getting married, it had been horrible for all people concerned. But he shouldn't dwell on these unhappy things, he should think about how wonderful the wedding'll be and how happy his two friends will be.

"I'm getting married." Lily said, as though she'd only just realised it. He turned to look at her, one eyebrow slightly raised.

"Yes, you are. To a boy who you used to say you despised." Remus smiled playfully at her, and received a kick in the shin for his trouble. What was worse was she was wearing high heels, so he got the pointy bit hitting his leg. It hurt, quite a lot! But he managed to laugh it off, rubbing at his shin and kept quiet for the rest of the journey…'

'Remus couldn't believe his eyes, it was his friend. Sirius Black, lying on the floor right in front of him. He looked older, and he had more lines across his once handsome face but it was still Padfoot. A part of him leapt for joy, but another part of him couldn't quite understand it. But the next thing he knew he was hugging Sirius, and he was smiling. Grinning in fact. But the look on young Hermione Granger's face was enough to silence the joy that had sprung up only seconds before, now they would have to explain everything…'

' He watched as a flash of light hit Sirius, and then the man's body arched backwards and fell through the veil. No! No! This couldn't be happening. This was all some stupid dream, and it would end and he'd wake up and find out that this was all just some stupid nightmare.

Remus tore his gaze from the veil in time to see Harry running towards it, he jumped forwards and grabbed the young boy holding him back.

"He's gone Harry." He said, over and over again, trying to convince himself of this fact. The young, black haired boy wouldn't stop struggling and Remus was finding it hard to keep control of him.

"He can't come back Harry. He's gone." His words finally got through and the boy stopped struggling, but he could feel the despair radiating off him. Remus felt like crying, but he knew that there would be a time for tears and now was not it. Instead he tore his eyes away from that accursed veil, and looked around at the fighting.

"Let's go find the others. Where are the all Neville?" He asked, turning to the other boy who had a blood all over his face. Then he felt Harry pull away from him, and he turned in time to see James' son charge after Bellatrix Lestrange.

Remus wanted to follow, to make sure that Harry would be okay. But then Dumbledore rushed past him, and he stopped moving. Right now he had to protect the others, that was his job…'

'He couldn't convince Tonks that he wasn't good enough for her; nothing he said made any difference. She still seemed to think that he was perfect, and that she could help him. No one could help him, and he didn't want to hurt anyone else. If he hurt her, then he'd never be able to live with himself. She was so young, and so precious. He sat in the chair next to her bedside, waiting for the sun to appear above the mountains in the distance.

Maybe this was his chance at happiness. Maybe now he had finally found someone who not only accepted him for who he was, but loved him for who he was. Maybe this was right. Maybe he should let her in.

Thousands of different thoughts went through his mind, as he continued to watch the sleeping figure of Tonks. He didn't really understand how she could love him, but apparently she did. It was not something he was used to, and he wasn't sure how to deal with it. But maybe this really was his chance at happiness again, and maybe this time he could put aside his fear and be in a happy relationship. A smile graced his lips as he took a deep breath, and lent forwards towards the sleeping figure. He placed a small kiss on her forehead, and stroked her brown hair. Yes, this was worth putting aside his fear…'

XXXXXXXXX

"REMUS!" Three voices screamed in unison, as Lucius Malfoy sent a killing curse straight at the werewolf. All the members of the Order turned to watch as the young man began to fall to the floor, his eyes wide in shock. Lucius began to laugh, but he was cut off by a curse hitting him in the face and he fell to the floor.

Tonks ran towards him, dropping down to her knees as she reached him. His eyes were still open, but all life was gone from them. Blood was soaking through his clothes from various different wounds he'd accumulated during the fight.

"No!" She whispered, cradling his head in her lap. She began to gently slap his face, wishing him to wake up. "Please, Remus. Wake up, please." When this failed to wake him, she began to shake him. He had to wake up! He just had to! He had a family to get back to! Remus continued to stay immobile, his eyes still open and staring blankly ahead of him. The spells flying around her didn't matter, all that mattered was that Remus should stop pretending that he was dead and come back to her. Behind her she heard someone fall heavily to the ground, and then a clunking as someone walked towards her. She didn't turn around, but kept shaking Remus willing him to wake up.

"Come on Tonks. Leave him, now." It was Moody, but she refused to listen to him. He didn't understand that Remus was just sleeping, he wasn't really gone. Then she felt arms on her, pulling her up and away.

"No!" She cried, and began to struggle as Remus' head hit the floor and Moody pulled her away. She beat her arms against his, but he pulled her in front of him, and did something totally out of character. He hugged her.

"He's gone."

Hope you...enjoyed(?) the story, and please do take the time to review. I love reading your reviews, they make me very happy!

Thanks for reading, and I'll get some more of my drabbles up soon. Seeing as we only have five days until the last Harry Potter book comes out. :)