Is He or Isn't He?

"Ah!" Apollo yelled, jerking up from his confining slumber. Cold sweat rushed down his face.

"Huh?" Artemis gasped loudly, quickly sitting up at the same time as Apollo. Her heart beat at strange rhythmic patters.

Tonks squealed. "Artemis! Apollo! You're alright!" She swept down and hugged them tightly, laughing. The twins looked around. To their relief, they were no longer in a lonesome oblivion where a ravenous tarn lusted for their souls. They were back in Lupin's cabin, lying on the sofa. They were surrounded by the Order, safely tucked under three blankets. Apollo noticed his arm was in a sling. Artemis winced, just discovering the bandage on the back of her neck.

Kingsley and Mad-Eye chuckled with glee. "Welcome back, Warwicks," Kingsley chortled warmly.

"It's good to be back," Apollo replied, grinning. Tonks let them go, pulling up a chair by their sides.

"Ugh," Artemis moaned, rubbing the back of her neck. "I feel like hell."

Mad-Eye smirked. "You've both been through hell," he said. "And Madame Pomfrey gave you some herbs and potions that will make you feel terrible, but you'll heal more quickly."

The eyes in Apollo's head bugged out. "Madame Pomfrey was here?" he asked, amazed.

"O' course," Kingsley replied. "Dumbledore sent her."

"Dumbledore?"

"Yes!" Mad-Eye growled, growing annoyed with the twins' questions. "Dumbedore! Your headmaster!"

Artemis frowned, furrowing her brow. "But how'd he know?" she inquired.

Tonks shrugged. "He knows everything, don't he?"

The twins decided that would be the best answer they would receive. Dumbledore was, after all, a very mysterious figure to everyone. His power was no one else's business, they guessed. As long as he used for good, they didn't much care.

"Has Lupin woken up yet?" Apollo asked the Order.

Mad-Eye shook his head. "No," he replied. "We were hoping th----Hey!"

Before he had time to finish, the twins leapt up and rushed over to their guardian's bed. Lupin was paler than usual. In fact, he had a deathly pallor to his complexity. His face, besides being pallid, was covered in scratches, on of them with a future as a scar. The twins stood by his side, gazing down sadly at their former teacher. The Order followed them into Lupin's room. They stopped in the doorway.

"As I was saying," Mad-Eye snarled impatiently. "We were hoping that when you two woke up, he would too."

Artemis gulped. She placed her hand on Lupin's. It was cold. Tonks stumbled into the room in what seemed to be a stupor. Her breath quivered. She went to Lupin's other side. Something lachrymose and nascent was hidden behind her eyes.

"Is he?" Apollo asked, though it came out more like a whisper. "Or . . .or isn't he?"

Mad-Eye sighed. He looked to Kingsley. The wizard nodded, turning his sad eyes to the twins. "We think . . ." he began, ". . . that he is."

"Dead?" Artemis asked urgently.

In response, Kingsley nodded.

Tonks's shriek tore through the air like an owl's talon. She collapsed across the bed, covering Lupin's torso with her shaking body. Artemis burst into tears, whimpering. She fell to the floor, kneeling at the bed's side. She buried her face into the covers. Apollo let his tears fall freely and silently. Mad-Eye and Kingsley decided to leave the three to their mourning. They retired to the living room, where they sat and grieved quietly.

Artemis stood up, sniffing her nose. She stared at Lupin. He finally looked peaceful. His face had a silver sheen to it, as if all of the burdens he'd had were lifted away. Her lips quivered. Lupin may have been ragged and weary in life, but in death he was blanketed with serenity. And however pale his face was, there was still a little blush to his white cheeks.

Blush?

Rosy euphoria possessed Artemis as the meaning of the blush kissed her brain. She smiled broadly. Apollo turned to her. "Why the bloody hell're you so damn happy?" he hissed. "This isn't a time----"

"But it is!" Artemis exclaimed happily. Tonks looked up, her eyes red and puffy from weeping.

"Wha'?" she asked lethargically. Artemis swept over to the mourning witch. She brought an impish air with her.

"Tonks!" she laughed. "Lupin isn't dead!"

Tonks leapt up. "What?" she breathed. Apollo's eyes moved towards the scene in front of them, a teardrop taking its final descent. The Order in the living room jerked their attention towards the room. Hope clouded Tonks's eyes. Artemis grinned. She pointed to his cheeks.

"Look," she said.

Tonks followed her gaze. "They weren't there before . . ."

"But now they are."

The wretched frown on Tonks's lips turned into a broad and beautiful smile. "Remus."

Mad-Eye and Kingsley rushed into the room. Tonks carefully shuffled to Lupin's upper body and shook his shoulder. "Remus?" she whispered softly. "Remus?"

Everyone in the room held their breath. Was it true? Would the kind wizard awake? Was he even alive? They braced themselves for a good or bad answer.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of biting their lips, a reply came. It manifested itself into a groan and a shifting of the shoulders. And to everyone's extreme happiness, they came from Lupin.

"Lupin!" Artemis exclaimed, throwing her arms around the wizard. Apollo gaped, a smile forming at the corner of his mouth. Tonks broke down into tears of joy, casting her upper body upon the bed. Kingsley and Mad-Eye grinned. The younger of the two sighed in relief. Lupin stirred even more.

In a moment in which it seemed all of the souls damned during Lycaon's emergence were saved, Lupin opened his eyes.