Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter
Future-Remus let's go of the time-turner and steps away.
"DAD!" Hope screams as she and Teddy disappear.
"Err, Moony?" James asks, "What are you doing?"
"What I should have been doing all along," Future-Remus replies, pulling another time-turner out from his pocket.
"And what is that?" Peter asks him.
Future-Remus looks at him, unsure how to feel about being faced with this young, innocent, Wormtail. "Whatever it takes to protect the world, instead of protecting myself."
"How the hell am I supposed to get back to 1979?" Remus asks the ghost of his best mate's brother.
"Evans seems to think that Arthur's put all the time turner's in the Muggle world. Normative Headquarters or whatever you call it these days."
"That's illegal!" Remus claims agitatedly, "No magical item is allowed to enter the Normative sector, what if one of them had gotten a hold of them!? They can't be exposed to magic, they couldn't handle it, can't be trusted with it."
"You know, add a bit more of a scowl and you'll really remind me of my Father," Regulus deadpans causing Remus to physically flinch away almost three whole steps. "When you find the time turners, take two of them. I'm sure you will see what the second is for in time."
"What are you going to do?" Alice questions uncertainly.
Future-Remus' face grows determined as he stands before them all, and suddenly they can all quite easily see him leading a war effort. "I'm going to go back to 1995, I'm going to stop Voldemort from destabilising the wizarding world, I'm going to prevent the war from ever starting, and I'm going to save your son's life," He says, directing the last part to James and Lily.
Sirius smirks, "There's the Moony I know and love."
Future-Remus chuckles slightly, "I fractured my world and raised two kids to borderline hate me, hiding behind laws I pushed to be created. That kind of fear is exactly what lead to people following Voldemort the first time he rose…which is now, I suppose. Regulus said that Teddy and Hope weren't sent back here to teach me a lesson. I was always supposed to come back here, not to save them, but to be reminded of exactly why I started fighting." Future-Remus smiles wetly at his friends, "I believed in a better future. I'm not ready to give up that dream."
Sirius walks up to him and grabs his shoulder, "You are the one who taught me to never give up on my dreams. Go and live yours. Save our nephew. Save the world."
Future-Remus steps away from them all, putting the time-turner on and preparing to turn it.
"We won't remember this, will we?" Past-Remus asks. Future-Remus hesitates for a moment before he nods. "Then you might as well answer me this, why would you ever help Greyback?"
Future-Remus purses his lips as he nods once, "The same reason Voldemort ended up in such a position of power. After everything was divvied up between the sectors, extremists like that had gotten what they wanted. We had created the world they had wanted to see. Magic without Muggles, Creatures without Wizards, and after they had gotten what they'd wanted all along, they weren't a threat."
"But to work so closely with him…" Past-Remus presses.
"Do you remember when we started at Hogwarts and Sirius called Mary Macdonald a mudblood?" Past-Remus nods as Sirius cringes. "He didn't know any different, but once taken out of the environment that had made such beliefs a necessary part of survival, he flourished into a person we admire."
"You think Greyback could be a good person?" James asks him incredulously.
"He wants to free Werewolves from the oppression of wizards, and knowing his story like I do now, I completely understand why. If not for you lot, and Dumbledore allowing me to attend school, I may have ended up the same way. So I gave him a chance, and he took it." Future-Remus nods at them all, "Good bye."
"Bye, Moony," James says, the others all saying good bye as well.
Future-Remus looks at Lily and James a moment longer, then Marlene, then Alice and Frank, knowing that he won't be saving them as well, knowing that he can't. What happened to all of them ended the first war, he can't risk that changing.
He looks down at his time turner, then frowns and shakes his head. "Yeah, this was a metaphor more than anything,' He realises, knowing that having a time-turner will just make two of him in one timeline again. "You'd better all stand back."
"Are you going to perform the spell Hope was going to? Using primal magic?" Alice asks, sounding curious.
Future-Remus nods, "It's the only way to ensure I'll merge with the past version of me, or I'll be no help at all."
"Good luck, Moony," Peter tells him.
Future-Remus nods at him. He then breathes in, focusing on the air he feels filling his lunges and being distributed throughout his body. He calls on the power within him and…exhales.
The power swirls around him in green light before he feels as though a bubble has popped.
He looks around and sees himself standing in his old office as History of Magic teacher. Remus walks over to the window and sees no purple barrier around Hogwarts meant to stop students from running off between sectors.
"Lupin?"
Remus spins around to see Mad-Eye standing in his doorway. "Alastor," Remus comments, he's not seen the man in many years.
"Ready to go?" Moody asks.
Remus takes a calming breath, pulling his wand out. He's got one chance to stop Voldemort before he kills Harry. He has to be ready to cast that spell the moment they arrive.
"Let's go."
