Sirius stared at the mirror with an anguished expression on his face. There were so many emotions rushing through him— relief, sadness, heartache. It was completely overwhelming. Next to him, James let out a deep sigh as the air was expelled from his lungs in shock.

"You found him?" James whispered. "It doesn't look like… it doesn't look like he suffered or anything, does it?"

Kate shook her head and started half laughing, half crying, but before she could say another word the tunnel the three of them were sitting in suddenly trembled.

"What was that?" Sirius whispered, looking around.

Small streams of dirt and sand spilled from a few cracks in the ceiling. A thunderous boom had shaken them at the same time. As they sat there, frozen in shock, another crash emanated towards them, coming from somewhere high above.

"You don't think— it can't be collapsing, could it?"

"You guys!"

Sirius lifted the mirror. Kate was now yelling at them, terrified.

"They're destroying the tunnels! The Aurors— they don't realize we're down here!"

The three of them sprang to their feet at once as a third, much louder, BOOM! shook their corridor.

"Kate! Can you get out safely?"

"Yes, just go, quickly! Apparate next to that boulder we were hiding behind, it's a much shorter distance than where I'm going, I need to get to St. Mungos—,"

"What? Why do you need to—?"

BOOM!

An earsplitting crash rained down on them. Dust filled the air and thick chunks of stone and dirt fell hard, suffocating them as they reached out blindly for the others' hands and turned on the spot, concentrating hard on their destination. Their fingers dug painfully into the others forearms as they all struggled to help each other through the spell. And just when darkness pressed in on them— leaving them wondering if they were going to make it out at all— the air cleared, their feet came back in contact with the ground, and dim sunlight fell over them as they collapsed gratefully into the snow.

Sirius opened his eyes. Spells were flying fast in all directions. As his lungs fought to expel the dust from his throat, his mind registered the presence of several cloaked figures in white masks dueling furiously with a crowd of Aurors. Sirius saw one of them aim their wand at a young man not ten feet from where they lay, and he reacted on instinct.

"Protego!"

The spell ricocheted off his shield charm. With a scream of terror, the Death Eater fell to the ground, impaled on his own curse with several bleeding slash wounds across his chest.

The Auror looked around in surprise for the source of the shield charm and ran doubled-over to their fort behind the boulder.

"Thanks mate!" he yelled. "We've nearly got them all now!"

He pulled back the sleeve of his robe and started mending a deep gash on his arm as the three of them looked around.

It was true. While there were several fallen Aurors being tended to, well over double the number of Death Eater's and werewolves were lying unconscious on the ground.

Sirius and James grinned to each other, pulling their wands out and standing up back-to-back to take aim at any remaining Death Eaters in sight.

"Incarcerous!"

"Stupefy!"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Peter was still crouching down low behind the boulder, keeping a constant Shield Charm alive around them.

The young wizard watched them closely as his wound melted itself back together. When he was done testing his wand arm again, he joined in with the group of Aurors that were busy pummeling spells at the forest floor, continuing their work of destroying the tunnels beneath.

Sirius' arm ached from swirling it so fast. He was dueling harder than he'd ever thought himself capable of. Thinking of revenge, and of his Remus, a surge of power rushed through his fingertips, straight through his wand, and produced a stunning charm so powerful that it blasted through the Death Eater's spell and knocked him unconscious. He moved on to another, ready to take down as many as he could.

There was no better feeling than this, no drug that could take him higher.

As he aimed another stunning spell at a Death Eater though, he saw out of the corner of his eye as one of them shot the Dark Mark into the air.

With a jolt, he realized what they were about to do.

"Damnit!" Sirius yelled loudly as the remaining dozen Death Eaters swirled and Dissaparated away with twelve loud cracks!

"Bloody cowards," James spat in disappointment. "I was just getting warmed up."

Peter stopped casting the Shield Charm and stood shakily.

"Thanks Pete," they grinned at him as he leaned against the boulder.

"H-how many did you get?"

James pointed at a Death Eater lying on the ground.

"That one. Shit he was tricky, kept deflecting with a nonverbal spell. I was working on a second when they fled."

"Well, uh," Sirius said smugly, "if you count the one I saved that Auror from, I got two."

"Well, uh, fuck you then," James mocked jealously.

Sirius and Peter started laughing and looked around at the bustling crowd of Aurors.

At the exact same time, they all came back to their senses about what they'd been talking about with Kate before having to escape. As their laughter subsided, it was replaced with sorrow and the dull feel of mourning. They had all been through this before, in the months behind them. They were very familiar by now with the affliction of grief.

"At least he's going home," James said depressingly. "On Christmas."

Peter nodded.

Sirius tried to speak but found he couldn't. There was a lump in his throat that had temporarily blocked his voice.

For a long while, they leaned against the boulder and watched Aurors Dissaparating back and forth to the hospital to get their casualties treated.

"Should we get over to St. Mungos, then?" Peter said finally.

Sirius sighed.

"Yeah. I suppose we should find Kate, anyway."

They all straightened up, ready to Apparate together, when the young Auror from earlier ran up to them.

"Are you leaving?" he said breathlessly. "I didn't get the chance to meet you properly. That was some wicked dueling you three did back there. I haven't seen that kind of teamwork in years."

They grinned awkwardly at him.

"And thanks again," he said to Sirius. "It's my first official mission, I would have felt like such a rookie if I'd been taken out like that."

Sirius was struck with a sudden idea.

"What'd you say your name was?"

"I didn't," he grinned. "It's Frank Longbottom, though."

"Well, my name's Sirius Black, and this is James Potter and Peter Pettigrew. And… we could use some help from someone like you."

Frank raised his eyebrows

"Uh… how so?"

James realized where Sirius was going with this.

"We've just been expelled," he said.

"From Hogwarts," Sirius elaborated.

"And we'd really like to not be expelled," Peter finished.

Frank laughed at them.

"You wouldn't be expelled if you were defending yourselves."

"Er," Sirius said. "Well… we were the ones doing the attacking in this case. And not all our spells were defensive."

Frank nodded and put his hands on his hips, thinking. He glanced over at Crouch, who was binding ropes around several fallen werewolves.

"I'll do everything I can," he said finally.

"Thanks," Sirius breathed.

They shook hands with him and stood around one more time, a feeling of accomplishment washing over them.

They'd actually done it. And although it would be a bittersweet achievement, they would finally be able to lay Remus to rest where he belonged. None of them had been hurt, and with some luck, none of them would be expelled either.

"Oh no..." James said all of a sudden.

"What?" Peter and Sirius said quickly.

James sighed dramatically.

"It's just that, now that I'm such a hero, poor Lily isn't going to be able to control herself. She's just going to be all over me."

Sirius laughed openly and shook his head.

"Let's just get to St. Mungos, shall we? You two need to write your parents."

"They need to hear from you too," James frowned. "They adopted you, remember?"

"Yeah, you're right. And they love me more anyways."

James shoved him in the shoulder and together they turned, concentrating on the main entry hall of St. Mungos Hospital as they went. With three loud cracks they landed safely, checking themselves to make sure they were all in one piece.

"We're going to ace those Apparation tests," Peter said, smiling widely.

They'd never seen the waiting room so crowded before. There were many injured wizards who had obviously been on the receiving end of some bad Christmas family feuds (or at least, they could only assume that's how one wizard had gotten a nutcracker lodged up his nostril). But the rest of the room was packed with casualties from the battle. Healers were flitting about with clipboards, mending smaller injuries and directing the Aurors to the proper wards. The line to the front desk stretched halfway across the room.

As they stood there one of Healers came up to them with a clipboard.

"Injured or visiting?" she asked briskly.

"Er— we're looking for a friend. Kate— or Katherine— O'Falin?"

The witch scanned her clipboard, flipped the parchment, and scanned the second page as well.

"Ah, here she is. Miss O'Falin was treated for minor bruising and abrasions and released as a visitor to recuperation ward 46 on the Fifth Floor— Spell Damage."

Sirius frowned at her.

"Visitor to who?"

The witch flipped the parchment again.

"A Mister Remus Lupin," she said smartly.

They stared at her.

"Huh?" Peter said.

The witch blinked and looked back down.

"Is that wrong? She's also listed as a visitor to a Miss Jacqueline Kelso," she added.

This only deepened their confusion.

"So… when you say visitor…," James said slowly.

"Anyone visiting a patient currently under treatment," she said crisply.

"Even the deceased?"

The Healer frowned at them.

"We don't deal with the deceased here. If you need to identify someone or arrange a funeral, you need to go our outreach center in Bristol."

They stared blankly at her again.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" she said pointedly.

When none of them answered she huffed and turned to speak with an Auror nearby.

James turned to Sirius and Peter.

"You don't think—?" he breathed.

Sirius looked hard into his eyes. There was a glimmer of hope behind them that he was feeling inside his own chest.

Time seemed to slow down.

It wasn't possible…

Sirius looked around at the staircases that led upstairs.

"C'mon," he said to the other two.

They ran as fast as they could through the crowd, knocking into other patients and rounding the corner up the first flight of stairs.

Sirius could feel the blood rushing in his ears. He was running on pure adrenaline now… but he didn't dare hope for the best… it was perfectly logical the Healer had gotten the wrong information… and if he thought the entire way upstairs that Remus was alive, then found out he wasn't… it would destroy him… it would utterly ruin him forever…

His legs felt like they were going to give out from under him by the time they'd reached the third floor. His lungs were burning in protest, and a sharp cramp in his side was piercing him like a knife by the fourth floor. But they ran on… they kept running, even through their exhaustion, even in their anxiety, they just needed to know for sure, they had to see it for themselves…

Fifth floor.

Sirius ran up to the floor plan on the wall, panting hard, and searched frantically for ward 46. The other two did the same, tracing their fingers swiftly over the map until they located it on a hallway in the far corner of the hospital.

James hit his shoulder and it felt like a jolt of energy shocked him. They started running again, following the numbers higher and higher… ward 8… ward 13… ward 27… ward 32…

When they turned the last corner, they could see a small waiting area around the recuperation wards. Three people were sitting in the chairs and as they ran closer they saw that one of them was—

"Kate!"

Kate jumped and looked around.

"You made it!" she cried out, standing up and meeting them halfway.

She threw her arms around all three of them at once and their heads banged together.

"Ah!"

"Kate! gheroff!"

She let go of them and then stood back, staring at them proudly.

"So you've heard?"

Sirius stopped breathing.

"Is Remus… is he…?"

She smiled at him.

"He's here." She breathed. "He's alive."

Peter let out a mix between a scream and a burst of laughter and reached up to clutch his hair. James yelled "Oh my God!" before struggling with himself and grabbing Kate's face to kiss her full on the mouth.

Sirius just lost it.

All those months of composing himself to cry in bathroom stalls. All those nights of muffling his sobs into his pillow. All that effort to hide his grief and preserve any shred of dignity he had left— it vanished in that moment when he sank into the nearest chair, clutched his face, and cried silently but harder than he'd ever cried in his entire life.

"Oh, Pads," James choked weakly. He dropped into the chair next to him and gripped his shoulder.

It didn't help. There was nothing Sirius could do to hold back the tidal wave of relief and desperation that was seeking release.

"No, James, it's okay," Kate whispered. She kneeled down in front of him and patted his knee. "He doesn't need to hold it in anymore. Just let it go, Sirius. It's over."

He pressed both hands hard over his mouth and kept his eyes shut as the emotions rocked through him. It felt like every ounce of tension was being wrung out as he sat there trembling and trying to breathe normally through the tears.

He needed to see him— he had to see him— he had to—

He felt humiliated when he finally moved his hands away five minutes later to wipe his face with Kate's handkerchief. But James looked at him sideways and gave him a small crooked smile and he didn't feel quite as embarrassed.

"Where is he?" Sirius gulped. "Has he asked for us yet?"

Kate pressed her lips together sheepishly.

"He's not awake right now. When I found him I identified him with Nomen Revelio," she smiled widely, "and then I realized he was breathing. But he doesn't know he's here right now, he never woke up."

"Well, is he injured?" James asked. "What are they doing to him right now?"

"They're cleaning him up," she said. "He was a bit of a mess. He had some obvious injuries, but I think they're screening for curses and injuries they can't see by first glance."

Sirius looked around and found ward 46 two doors down. He stood up and walked over to it, looking through the large window.

Long yellow curtains were drawn around two beds and five Healers were scurrying around in and out of them. With a jolt, he saw one of them carry bloody bandages away from one bed and dump them into a basket.

"Who's the other patient?"

Kate sighed.

"There was this little girl in there. I think she's a Muggle. They must have kidnapped her and were about to make her their next victim. She looks to be around ten years old. But she's not a werewolf."

Sirius grinned in relief.

"His next victim… you saved her," he muttered to Kate.

She grinned back.

"I never saw Greyback though," she added sadly. "I wanted to pay him back in kind, if you know what I mean."

"We saw him," James said suddenly.

Kate gaped at them.

"You did? Did he— was he captured?"

"Er…" Peter said, and both he and James looked at Sirius.

Kate looked at him too.

"I lit him on fire," he admitted bluntly.

Kate looked at him incredulously.

"You did what? !"

James and Peter started laughing at them.

Sirius shrugged guiltily, grinning a little and looking back into the window of ward 46. The Healers were now taking off their gloves and talking amongst themselves. One of them saw Sirius peering inside and walked over.

Sirius stepped back, craning his neck to try and get a better look inside as the door opened and the wizard walked out.

"Are you relatives?"

"We're here to see Remus," he said quickly. "His parents are deceased, we're his best friends."

The Healer nodded.

"His condition is stable right now," he said. "He's been inflicted with quite a few curses over the last few months, and he's had several injuries sustained from his monthly transformations that haven't been treated properly. He'll need to stay here for a few weeks to recover."

"Can we see him?" James pleaded.

The Healer smiled.

"Well, he's not awake yet. We've put him under an intense purging spell that will keep him in a very deep sleep until all harmful curses have been eliminated from his system. But we've cleaned him up. As long as you don't disturb him in any way, you can come see him."

They gathered around and, holding their breath, followed the wizard over to the right-hand bed and through the curtains.

And there he was.

Sirius couldn't keep the smile off his face.

Remus was lying on his back, his upper body propped up slightly by the bed. The sheets were pulled up under his arms and his hands lay gently across his chest. He could have been carved out of marble in his peacefulness.

Sirius moved closer and sat on the edge of the bed, staring down at the boy he never thought he'd see alive again.

He had to stop himself from reaching up to brush his fingers over those lips, over those soft eyelashes, or along the curve of his cheek and jaw line.

And yet, Remus still didn't look quite the same as they remembered.

His brown hair was longer now by several inches. The bones they could see in his face, hands, and clavicle, were defined from a drastic loss of weight. And they could see several new scars around his neck, including four thin slash marks than ran right through his face.

But he was beautiful. Sirius couldn't imagine anyone more beautiful, more fucking perfect, than Remus, in the entire world.

All three of them felt some deep innate connection seal up again. Remus had been the glue that held them all together. And now, with him back, they felt like they were complete again.

James looked around at the Healer.

"Can we stay with him? How long will it take for him to wake up?"

The wizard picked up a clipboard.

"He should be waking up sometime in the next two days. But that just covers spell damage. Some of his wounds will take at least a week to fully heal. He's been through a lot. The only good thing we can say is that his mind hasn't been altered or damaged in anyway."

The Healer set the clipboard down and took a deep breath.

"And we're not going to release him until his strength is up to normal standards. He's lost a significant amount of weight, and a lot of it has been muscle mass. If he woke up right now I doubt he'd have enough strength to walk across the room."

Sirius looked back down at him.

"Oh, fuck it," he thought, before reaching up and gently caressing the locks of brown hair on his forehead. He was so soft and warm and alive.

"If we hadn't found him," he said out loud, "how much longer could he have survived?"

James and Peter looked around too as the Healer thought about it.

"I'd say another month. Maybe a month and a half. He couldn't have lived through two more transformations, that's for sure. Whoever was keeping him wasn't healing him or feeding him properly."

Sirius sighed, trying not to imagine everything Remus must have gone through. He felt sick and guilty for having a warm bed to sleep in these last months, for having three meals a day, even for having sunshine.

He looked around wanting to speak to Kate, wanting to tell her a million times how grateful they were for her cooperation and for basically saving Remus' life. They would never have been able to find him without her help.

But she wasn't standing around the bed. He got up and pushed the curtain aside.

She was standing next to a desk in the corner, staring horrified at a copy of the Evening Prophet.

"Kate?" he said, stepping closer. "Kate, are you alright?"

She didn't answer.

Feeling more nervous by the second, he walked over to her and looked down at the headline across the front page.

MINISTRY RAIDS WEREWOLF COMPOUND: FENRIR GREYBACK ESCAPES AGAIN

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