A/N: Bit of a break, but I'm back! Here is your first action scene; I'd love to hear what you think since action isn't as much my "thing" as angst and fluff. But, hey, *HINT* that's what reviews are for! *winks dramatically*

A brilliant flash of green light nearly skimmed Remus' left ear.

Somewhere in the background, Sirius cursed.

Remus rolled his eyes and flicked his wand, casting a shield spell like a bubble around himself. He held his wand out, tensed, waiting for cracks in the barrier to appear. He could see the spells bouncing off of it, but it muffled the sound of curses, hexes, and cries of rage that surrounded him.
Then—crash!
His shield shattered like the thinnest glass. Remus staggered slightly, almost caught off guard, and spun, shooting burning orbs from his wand faster than the spell could fly from his lips.

Malfoy, Avery, Goyle, Mulciber—Merlin, it's like they knew there would only be two of us!

He ducked and wove between spellfire, causing two of the Death Eaters' spells to hit each other.
Then Sirius was there, standing next to him, shooting off a haze of blinding spells and barely drawing breath.
Then he smirked at Remus.

Oh, no. That never means anything good—

He barely had time to finish thinking before a curse caught him on the arm. He gritted his teeth and fired back.

"Anaticula!" Sirius shouted beside him.

Remus cast a shield in front of them. "What spell—?" he yelled over the sounds of the battle.
Sirius just kept smirking.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Avery screamed, enraged.

Remus instinctually dropped to the ground, but by the time he was back on his feet seconds later, he realized that there had been no green light. Instead, a duck was waddling around amidst the chaos.

"Avery, mate, is that a duck?" Sirius cried, barely able to suppress his glee.

"Not—the—time," Remus ground out.

Avery roared a stream of swears and hexes.
Sirius and Remus ducked, rolled, and spun to avoid them, but Sirius was still hit on the side with some sort of nasty curse. He stumbled, breathing purple smoke, and placed a hand to his side, swearing vindictively under his breath.

"Save your breath for spells," Remus hissed. "It'll get us out of here faster."

Sirius grabbed him and threw them both to the ground behind a rock as a beam of light whizzed over their heads.

"Goyle's down," he panted, pressing a hand to his side and still breathing purple smoke.

"Avery's more or less out of commission until that spell wears off. That just leaves Mulciber—not the worst—and my slimy cousin-in-law."

"Right," Remus muttered. His arm still stung. "We'll take them better together at this point. Start with Mulciber."
They both leaned sideways, narrowly missing a sinister-looking jinx.

"Count of three," Remus whispered. "One...two.."

"THREE!" Sirius yelled, jumping out from behind the rock and barely covering a wince. Mulciber was easy to identify as the taller and broader of the two. His mask didn't hide a cruel smirk.

"Seems as though you like a bit of slicing, Lupin," he taunted.

Remus had no idea what spell it was, but it hit his outstretched wand hand before he could react, carving three gashes into his skin that immediately welled with blood. He gave a hiss of pain through his teeth but retained his grip on his wand, slashing back with the first hex that came to mind. Mulciber staggered but didn't fall.

"That pretty face could use a bit of carving, traitor Black," he continued musingly.

Sirius shot a stream of hexes and jinxes with at the Death Eater before he'd even raised his wand.

"You good?" he muttered over his shoulder.

Remus shrugged, joining him in the attack. In truth, none of the healing spells he knew had worked, but, then, that was common with magical wounds.

"Two against one? Hardly fair, I'd say," said a delicate voice that dripped like oil. It seemed Malfoy had come to act as backup.

"So you've finally come to fight, princess," Sirius growled. "Stupe—"

"Protego!"

Remus shot off a number of his favorite jinxes, but few seemed to find their mark. With Malfoy defending and Mulciber attacking, he could tell that he and Sirius, both injured, were losing.

"Come on, Padfoot," he muttered. There wasn't anything to say at this point; all they could do was act.

As if they had all had the same thought, all at once, the battlefield exploded in a myriad of spells. They were flying back and forth, coming from every direction, glancing off of shields when they were put up in time; the combatants ducked, rolled, and spun in a bizarre, death-defying sort of dance. Nobody was missed entirely. There were seconds of hope and minutes of blinding pain.

Then the barrage of magic started to slow. The shields were getting sloppy. A red spell made its way past Malfoy's, and suddenly Mulciber was on the ground. Then it was just Sirius and Remus, fighting together, fighting with strength they didn't have, because what else was left? When the last shield faded—when Malfoy turned on the spot in a whirl of blonde hair and black smoke and Disapparated—only then did they look at each other.

"We won."

"This time."

Remus' hand was almost too sore to grip his wand, which was becoming slippery with blood. His arm burned. They were both shaking, not quite standing upright; Sirius was gasping for breath, the clouds of purple smoke coming erratically. But they'd won. They were bruised and battered. But they'd won.

Now they had more than ideals to fight for. Now they had Harry. And he was the future they all wanted to create.

"Let's go back and get cleaned up, yeah?" Sirius said quietly. "We need to report the news—let James and Lily know we're fine—"

Remus frowned slightly. "Yeah. But—I might not be there—at there house, I mean—er, today."

Sirius glanced at him. "Why?"

"I—things to do," Remus said stiffly. Before Sirius could argue, Remus grabbed his arm.
"Let's go."

Then they vanished, leaving an empty, charred battlefield behind.