Chapter 22: Not Goodbye
It was a pure May Day morning. Remus could see for miles over the treetops, all the way out to where the sun bloomed in lemony magnificence on the horizon. It had rained overnight and a dewy steam rose from the canopy, making the air his broomstick floated on heavy and fragrant. Remus knew Teddy couldn't see far beyond his nose, so he described everything to him: the birds that soared past, the cloud that was shaped like a chimaera, every detail of the world that one day be his to roam.
Remus had initially baulked at the idea of flying a hundred metres up with a newborn harnessed to his chest, no matter how failsafe the charms, but Tonks insisted that Teddy liked it: no baby of hers was going to be wrapped in cotton wool and kept cooped up beneath the branches when there was an open sky to experience - and, as usual, she was right. Teddy did like it up here, exercising his newly acquired skills of turning his head and making funny little sounds that were not quite coos. He was changing all the time. Remus felt a pinch of pride, laced with a nostalgic melancholy, at the thought that they would soon have to grow Teddy's clothing to fit.
He breathed slowly. The breeze was like a stroke of silk on his face and he could almost imagine the throb in his head and the itch of his wounds under their bandages beginning to fade, taking all memory of his terrified madness in the cellar with them.
He kissed the indigo crown of Teddy's head. "Let's take you back to Dora."
They descended slowly through the bending branches until his feet met the daisy-scattered grass of the garden. Tucking his broomstick under his arm, Remus meandered through the vegetable patch, pausing among the herbs to pick some rosemary for dinner and to let Teddy smell the fronds of lavender. As he approached the house, a crackling sound wafted through the open kitchen door and Andromeda waved at him through the back window.
"Morning!" Remus propped the broomstick against the wall. "Breakfast looks wonderful."
"I'm attempting to do justice to Ted's signature omelette," Andromeda replied, leaning against the cupboard in her silk robe, wand bobbing in her hand as salt and pepper tipped gracefully into the pan. "How's my darling boy today?"
"Good as gold," said Remus, summoning Teddy's day basket and settling him there. "Would you mind watching him for a minute? I'm going to coax Dora from her lie-in in time for Potterwatch."
Andromeda's dark eyes glinted as she passed him two mugs of tea. "Rather you than me."
Remus laughed and passed from the kitchen into the main room, passing the dining table (topped with fresh flowers, the cutlery already laid out for breakfast), the old cauldron (dormant on the faded rug in the corner), and the sofa (neatly stacked with toys and games) to reach the creaking staircase.
He had expected Tonks to still be asleep, but she wasn't. She was lying on her front with the sheets mussed beneath her, a shaft of morning light making her ginger hair glow, face close to the page of a book. She looked up when he entered the bedroom and looked so radiant that all he could do was put the teas down and immediately climb onto the bed to kiss her. She pulled him close and they rolled across the sheets.
"Mmm morning," she said, ruffling his hair when their lips parted, "you smell like fresh air. Teddy enjoy his flight?"
"He'll be zooming around himself any day now."
"Told you he wouldn't go splat. Ooh - tea!"
Tonks sat up and the mug wobbled across the room into her hand. She took a gulp, then set it down hard - so hard Remus was surprised the china didn't crack - on the bedside table. He looked down at the book they had just squashed. It was one of Mad Eye's old duelling handbooks, splayed-open on a page of joint-cracking jinxes.
"What's Mum making down there? Smells great."
Remus closed the book and slid it away out of sight. "Your father's signature omelette apparently."
Tonks made a high-pitched noise of anticipation. "Listen," she said, after another sip of tea, "I've been thinking. Me and you should start training together again. We can set up a proper area for it in the garden, two hours in the morning and another two in the afternoon, Mum won't mind taking Teddy."
"That sounds quite intensive…you may still need a little more recovery time - perhaps if we eased into it, start with just one hour a day?"
Tonks poked an uninjured portion of his stomach. "Scared I'll clobber you?"
"NYMPHADORA! REMUS!"
They scrambled off the bed and fled from the room. Their legs tangled on the stairs until Tonks elbowed him behind her and leapt the rest, before hurtling through the main room and skidding into a heap in front of Teddy's basket in the kitchen, Remus at her heels.
"It isn't Teddy, Teddy's fine!"
"Mum!" Tonks wailed from the floor before planting a kiss on one of Teddy's ruddy cheeks. "Are you trying to give us heart attacks?"
"I'm sorry! But shh! Listen! Listen!"
Andromeda turned the volume dial up on the wireless and Remus' racing heart didn't have a chance to slow.
"…I can't believe what I've just seen!" It was Lee Jordan, talking almost too fast to follow. "A DRAGON, I repeat, a DRAGON bursting out of Gringotts, mounting the buildings of Diagon Alley, taking off and flying away over London! That's the shadow of its wings over Oxford Circus! I counted two, maybe three, people on its back, and I'm getting reports - hold onto your hats listeners - eyewitnesses who are swearing, swearing, that it was HARRY POTTER riding that dragon, that's right, HARRY POTTER riding a DRAGON out of Gringotts Bank, out of Diagon Alley, and OUT OF LONDON! Harry Potter is ALIVE and FIGHTING and that is one HELL of a middle finger to the Ministry and to you-know-who!"
Lee's commentary exploded into jubilant laughter and so did the kitchen of Taigh Dorcha. Andromeda span on the spot, fingers buried in her thick hair; Tonks jumped up and down in Remus' arms; Teddy stared in unsmiling wonder at the knitted dragon summoned from the nursery and flying around the room. Hope flared like a struck match between Remus' ribs - could it be that Harry was making progress, could it be that they were all one step closer to the end?
Though the wireless buzzed with rumour for hours, the day was otherwise wholly ordinary. Six feeds, five nappy changes, four naps, three types of games (smoke puffs, animal parade, and silly faces), two outfit swaps and one case of the milky vomits - it was the kind of day Remus could live a thousand times over and still be entirely content. They toasted Harry, Ron, and Hermione over dinner and then, as had become their habit, talked and talked long after the food was finished, whilst a full-bellied Teddy nodded off with his cheek against Tonks' chest.
"…and then your father just shrugged and said to him, 'Well I'm sorry mate, but it clearly says here, buy one get one free!''"
It was as Tonks was silent laughing, her eyes screwed shut with the effort of holding herself still, and Remus was setting his glass down before he spilled it, that the patronus arrived. As elegant and gleaming as it had been on the night of Bill and Fleur's wedding, the lynx landed its silver paws in the air above their table.
"Dumbledore's Army are calling the Order of the Phoenix to Hogwarts. Neville says that Harry is at the castle, searching for some kind of object to help him fight you-know-who. If, or perhaps when, his presence is discovered it will mean a battle. Prepare yourselves. This could be it."
Its message delivered, the huge cat dissipated without a trace. The invasion had been so unreal, so incongruous, that it almost seemed possible for the evening's trajectory to right itself again, for their bubble to remain unpierced. But the silence the lynx had left stretched on and there was no mistaking the call to arms for what it was. Remus had known it would come, of course he had, but not now…not so soon…
He locked eyes with Tonks. The way her face was arranged was not so much an expression as a lack of one. Almost serene in its blankness, it was wholly unfamiliar to him - and it sent a chill down his spine.
He and Andromeda sounded as frightened as each other.
" - Dora, you're not going anywhere."
" - Nymphadora, don't you even think about it."
In the long seconds it took for her to respond, Remus measured the distance between his hand and his wand and saw, in his periphery, Andromeda's arm tense by her side …Tonks couldn't get past the both of them…
"Keep your hair on, would you? The two of you look like you're about to pull wands on me. Obviously I'm not going."
Every vertebrae slackening, Remus exchanged a fleeting look of relief with Andromeda.
"Teddy's three weeks old," Tonks added sharply, clocking their reaction, "I've got giant leaky tits and I'm knackered. Course I'm staying."
Remus felt a flash of guilt. "I'm sorry, Dora. I don't know what came over me. I know you would never leave Teddy."
But I must. Remus only thought the words, but Tonks seemed to hear them anyway. Her shoulders rose and fell as her breathing quickened. She didn't say a word, but she didn't need to: Remus already understood that she was not about to ask him to stay. She understood his duty, knew as well as he did that theirs was a family bound to fight for their survival. Ever since Remus pledged himself to the Order of the Phoenix at the age of eighteen, he had never once fled from a battle cry and he would not start now, not when Harry needed him.
Andromeda looked from Tonks to Remus and touched his wrist. "You're going? Now?"
Remus did not drop his gaze from his wife's. "Yes."
"Could it - could it be a false alarm?" Andromeda asked.
Tonks shook her head slowly, lips shut tight.
"I don't think so," said Remus, standing up from his chair. "First the dragon and now this. They're connected somehow."
Andromeda rose to her feet beside him. "I'll stand with you, Remus."
"NO!"
The shout came from Tonks. Her stoic exterior had burst apart. Teddy let out a cracked bleating noise as he stirred.
"You're staying right here, Mum. No arguments."
Andromeda drew her shoulders back. "I am a member of the Order of the Phoenix too."
"I don't care! I lost Dad, I'm not losing you too! You can't go, I need you here. Remus," she glared at him and Remus saw fear beneath her performed rage, "don't you dare let her go with you."
Remus swallowed. As second-in-command, he knew he should insist on taking every willing fighter they could get. But as a husband…as a father…
"I think you should stay here with Dora and Teddy, Andromeda."
Andromeda blinked in surprise. "But - "
"No buts, Mum," said Tonks.
"I'll have the rest of the Order by my side."
Andromeda clasped her hands together and looked helplessly at Remus. "I'll never forgive myself if I don't say this - "
"Mum, stop it," Tonks hissed, rocking in her seat to try and soothe Teddy's grizzling, "Remus is coming back."
"I should never have doubted you. I was wrong." Remus smiled. "No, you weren't. I had to earn that trust - and I'll always be grateful that you gave me the opportunity to do so."
Andromeda embraced him and spoke in a fast whisper into his ear. "I'll always be proud to have you as a son-in-law."
"It's an honour," he spoke softly back. "Thank you. For everything."
"Take care," said Andromeda as they broke apart. "Come back to us."
"I'll do my best."
Glassy-eyed, Andromeda placed a gentle hand on her daughter's shoulder before leaving them. Tonks' face twitched, the muscles trying to fight against the stillness she was forcing on them.
"It's not goodbye. So don't you dare look at me like that, Remus."
"Dora…"
Remus took a seat beside her and, careful of Teddy, wrapped her in his arms. Despite her hard words, she yielded to his touch, her body melting into his as he kissed her cheek, neck, lips a dozen times; suddenly not knowing how he was ever going to have the strength to leave her.
"I refuse to allow big goodbye speeches," she said, breathily, her nose against his cheek. "We're going to see each other again."
"No speeches, that's fine. A few words though, Dora, please, if I don't come back - "
"Remus - "
"If I don't come back," he said firmly, holding her face in his hands, "remember that at least I went out on a high." Tonks let out a quick shudder of a laugh. Remus pressed his lips to the soft skin just above her eyebrow before he continued. "I've despaired so many times, thought my life was over so many times. Little did I know that the greatest life, the most spectacular life, was waiting for me all along. Because of you. Because of this love. And if it's the end - "
She grabbed his wrist, her strong fingers pushing into his tendons. "Nope. There's no end in sight. You and I don't end. Okay? So you can repeat those pretty words to me when we're celebrating our fiftieth wedding anniversary."
He studied her face, marvelling at her iron-clad will, almost fanatical in its intensity. "How are you always so certain?"
"If I wasn't, I might as well lie down and snuff it right here. Our Teddy deserves victory and we'll never grab him that victory if doubts are tearing us apart. So this is not goodbye. Alright?"
Remus felt her strength moving within him, as though the veins themselves had fused from her hand to his. "Alright," he agreed, making the choice to believe her.
Tonks had been right about so much. Following her convictions had always led him home. What was one more miracle, after so many?
Teddy wailed.
"Oh, Teddy, it's alright, it's alright," Remus said, receiving him from Tonks, "you should be upstairs now, shouldn't you? I know, I know, I'm sorry."
They went upstairs to the bedroom together and Remus lay Teddy down in the soft white of his basket and knelt beside him on the floor. "Your silly dad has to leave you for a little while, Teddy," Remus started and Tonks buried her face in his shoulder with a tiny, muffled gasp, "I won't say farewell though, because I'm not going far. I'll never be far away from you. I'll always be here, watching your bright future unfurl. Come what may, you're my son and I will always, always, love you."
Teddy was fast asleep. Remus kissed him softly on the forehead.
"It's time."
Back downstairs, Tonks rattled through the kitchen cupboards, stuffing his pockets with all the portable vials she could find. Left robe pockets for healing, right robe pockets for attack, she told him before seizing his travelling cloak and draping it around his shoulders. Remus tried to recall how long it had been since his last duel, but Tonks killed his thoughts dead when her fingers locked in his hair and she dragged him to bump against her. They kissed and all their dormant desires came raging back. Please let it not be the last time, Remus thought as she tugged on his bottom lip; surely it wasn't possible that they would never make love again, that he had already felt the freedom of joining his body to hers for the final time and been blissfully ignorant of it.
Tonks leant back and gripped his shoulders roughly, her lips swollen but her eyes warlike.
"Constant vigilance."
"I know."
"Keep your mind on the fight, don't let it wander back here."
"I won't, but there's something I need you to do for me, Dora. If it all falls apart, if there's no hope, I will send you a patronus. If you see that jack rabbit, don't hesitate. Teddy's too young for apparition so you and your mother will need to take him out of the country by broomstick." Tonks looked up at the ceiling, her expression pained, but Remus pulled her closer. "There's no shame in running - not when you're running for Teddy's sake. I want you to promise me that you won't look back. No revenge, no heroics, you do whatever you can to get out and stay alive. Promise me. Don't just nod, Dora - I won't be able to fight properly if I don't hear you say it."
Tonks brought his hand up to her neck and he felt the pulse there, hot and steady. "I promise. Now go show those bastards what happens to anyone who messes with our family."
Their final kiss was sweet, a little clumsy, over far too soon. Tonks took his hand and walked with him down the path. Every step deepened the ache in his heart, as if an invisible line connected it to where his son slept upstairs. When they reached the boundary line, Remus found himself tongue-tied. Words crowded his mouth, there were too many to give her, there was too much she already knew. Tonks' eyes were very round and their whites very white as she stared back, as paralysed as him.
"- I love you."
" - I'll see you soon," she blurted, at the same time.
She didn't let go of his hand until the very last second.
x-x
The twisting air spat him out and Remus stumbled on arrival, struggling to catch his breath in the hanging smoke. A large hand clapped him on the back.
"Don't just stand there, Lupin! Do you want to get into the castle or don't you?"
"Aberforth! I do, er, thank you…"
The hand pushed him, none too gently, towards a square hole in the wall above a mantelpiece. Remus stepped onto an upturned wooden crate which seemed to have been placed there for the purpose of climbing up into the cavity, which Remus now saw was a tunnel. He ascended up the smooth stone steps into the flame-lit blackness, all the while assailed by the definite sensation that he had forgotten something, until he remembered that Teddy hadn't had his bathtime. Concentrate, he mentally shook himself. You'll never see him again if you don't start thinking like a soldier.
A hum of voices grew steadily louder. Remus reached a door, pushed it open and arrived somewhere he had never been before in his life. Wood panelled and strewn with hammocks and banners in the Hogwarts house colours, it looked like the cabin of an enormous ship.
The Room of Requirement. The only room in the entire castle we never mapped.
Remus sat on the edge of the hole and dropped to the ground. He pushed through the crowd, catching snippets of riotous conversations ("A dragon! Unbelievable!", "But where's Harry gone now? He was just here, wasn't he?", "What's going on? Are we going to fight Death Eaters?"), glimpsing the top of Dean Thomas' head near a stuffed eagle, hearing the unmistakeable guffaw of one of the Weasley twins until he identified Kingsley in the far corner, his solemn expression belying the party atmosphere surrounding him, and headed in his direction.
"Remus!" It was Molly. She eased herself through a group of young women Remus recognised as former Gryffindor chasers and squeezed his hand. "I'm so pleased to be able to say congratulations in person, despite the circumstances. How is Teddy?"
Nothing could stop the huge, automatic smile that rose to Remus' face as he answered, "Teddy's well, very well indeed. Thank you, Molly. We've almost got him into a routine now. You should see how Tonks is with him, she's utterly wonderful."
"Yes, Molly just told me the news." Kingsley stepped forward to shake his hand with a fleeting smile. "Rather unexpected, I have to say, but…congratulations to you both, of course."
"Where is Tonks?" Asked Fleur, joining them.
"At home," said Remus. "With her mother."
Bill raised his eyebrows, his hands on Fleur's shoulders. "How'd you manage to convince her to stay behind?"
"She didn't need convincing."
"Of course she didn't! Don't be ridiculous, Bill," Molly chided, "what mother would leave her three week old to come here?"
Just then the far door opened and Harry emerged. The whole room seemed to take a collective breath in. Remus rushed to the foot of the stairs.
"Harry, what's happening?"
"Voldemort's on his way," Harry announced, half to Remus, half to the room at large. "They've barricaded the school. Snape's run for it. What are you doing here? How did you know?"
"We sent messages to the rest of Dumbledore's Army," Fred piped up. "You couldn't expect everyone to miss the fun, Harry. And the DA let the Order of the Phoenix know. And it all kind of…snowballed."
"What first, Harry?" George called. "What's going on?"
"They're evacuating the younger kids and everyone's meeting in the Great Hall to get organized. We're fighting."
Remus felt the answering roar resound in his chest. A wave of bodies crashed past him and Harry had to flatten himself against the wall to let them pass. A scuffle soon broke out between Molly and Ginny ("My whole family's here, I can't stand waiting there alone and not knowing and - ") who, for reasons unfathomable to Remus, the twins had brought along with them. Before Ginny could be persuaded back to the Hog's Head, a bang came from the entrance and a newcomer toppled out of the hole.
"Tu te moques de moi?" Fleur muttered under her breath as Percy Weasley straightened up.
"Am I too late? Has it started? I've only just found out so I - I - "
Percy Weasley spluttered into silence. The twins were glaring daggers. Bill had raised two cold eyebrows. But it was Molly's expression that magnetised Remus: here was her son, returned to her last…
"So - 'ow is little Teddy?"
It took Remus a second to realise Fleur was talking to him and he blinked at her, startled.
"I - oh yes, he's fine! Yes, he's at home with Tonks and her mother. Here! I've got a picture."
He pulled out one of his favourites and Fleur's feigned nonchalance split into genuine joy. "Oh, comme c'est mignon," she murmured, reaching out for it.
"I was a fool!"
Fleur jumped and Remus almost dropped the photograph. Silently, they agreed to retreat from the circle, leaving space free for the Weasleys. Kingsley must have reentered the room to look for them because Remus heard his voice, low and grave, near his ear.
"Tonks truly isn't coming? Andromeda neither?"
"No."
Kingsley looked on the verge of asking another question, but seemed to catch himself. "We should get moving," he said instead, looking dispassionately at the embracing Weasleys.
The remaining members of the Order gathered themselves and started heading for the staircase, until -
"Ginny!"
She had been trying to blend in with her brothers in an attempt to sneak into the castle. Molly tried to hold her daughter still, eyes gleaming with fear, and Remus had to step forward to help.
"Molly, how about this, why doesn't Ginny stay here, then at least she'll be on the scene and know what's going on but she won't be in the middle of the fighting."
The suggestion seemed to do the trick, but when Remus glanced back down at Ginny from the top of the stairs, there was something about the hard-jawed look on her face and the precise way she scuffed her heels on the floor that unsettled him.
The passageway twisted and turned, narrowing and widening, until it stopped at a solid wall. Kingsley leant his palms on it and it melted away, resealing itself behind them once they'd all trooped out into the corridor. The castle felt more alive than Remus had ever known it. The walls seemed alert somehow, as though blood itself was pumping through the grain of the stone, and Remus felt adrenaline rising in his own veins in sympathy. They set off for the Great Hall, passing plinths empty of their statues and nooks missing their suits of armour. Remus drew level with Kingsley at the head of the group, just as McGonagall swooped around the corner. She wasted no time in telling them the facts: that the coward Snape had fled to his master, that the castle was preparing itself for a siege, that a student evacuation was imminent.
"Voldemort could strike at any time," said Kingsley, speaking the name that had been kept from their lips for so long with a steely defiance. "We need a strategy to defend the castle if the first layer of protection falls."
They agreed upon the bones of their battle plan. Everyone who chose to remain would be divided up into units: McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout would take groups up to the three tallest towers, Remus, Kingsley and Arthur would form a vanguard out in the grounds, whilst the rest of the Order would guard the passageways. More teachers joined their ranks as they headed down the great marble staircase, the castle rumbling into readiness all around them, and Remus imagined all those who had fought over the long years leading to this final stand falling invisibly into step with them.
The watchful stars on the ceiling of the Great Hall were fainter than usual, dim compared to the pearly glow of the Hogwarts ghosts and the tall table candles which flickered as the students' whispering rose upon their arrival onto the platform. Rows upon rows of faces greeted them with various combinations of fear, awe and confusion. A layer of imagining settled over Remus' vision like a film: a kaleidoscopic young boy sitting somewhere out there with a face he could only see as if through water, rippling with the features of Tonks, Ted, his own mother, Sirius… Remus tried to shake off the longing. It was like Tonks said, he had to keep his mind on the battle. He could not soften. Between tonight and the night he dreamed of, there was blood he needed to shed.
"…evacuation will be overseen by Mr Filch and Madam Pomfrey. Prefects, when I give the word, you will organise your house and take your charges, in an orderly fashion, to the evacuation point."
"And what if we want to stay and fight?"
Ernie Macmillan was a mere boy in Remus' eyes. He wanted to tell him to leave, to go home to the parents who had cradled him not so very long ago, even as he knew that Ernie - like them all - had his own choice to make. Remus glanced at McGonagall and saw what it cost her to say what she said next.
"If you are of age, you may stay."
As McGonagall continued to address the students, Harry began to move up the hall, scanning the Gryffindor table for Ron and Hermione who were still unaccounted for, heads turning as he went.
"…we have already placed protection around the castle, but it is unlikely to hold for very long unless we reinforce it. I must ask you therefore to move quickly and calmly and do as your prefects - "
"I know that you are preparing to fight."
The words bled from the very walls of Remus' skull. For one stricken second, he thought it was the wolf itself, speaking to him at last, until he realised the truth of who the high, cold, clear voice belonged to. Screams erupted around the hall but nothing could drown out the words of Lord Voldemort.
"Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts, I do not want to spill magical blood. Give me Harry Potter and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter and you will be rewarded. You have until midnight."
Brain aching at the ringing silence, Remus stared at Harry. He was standing in the centre of the hall: black hair falling almost to his eyes like James' used to just before he would ruffle it, his chin darkened by the beginnings of facial hair, his green eyes burdened by the weight of every life in the castle. Remus' wand was hot in his palm, warmed as though his old friends were gripping it with him. No one was going to take Harry. No one was going to take away the future of all their children. Not while Remus still had breath in his lungs.
x-x
Once Remus had memorised every name in his unit, he led them north. The position he chose was at the tip of a natural slope at the furthest end of the grounds, fifty metres from the dome that blanketed their strong hold. They stood in a triangular formation, staring out at the Forbidden Forest as the fog over the trees grew steadily greener.
"How long d'you think the shields will last?" Asked Dean.
"I don't know," Remus replied, honestly.
He turned to face them. Too many of them were only just of age to fight. It was obscene for them even to be here. The shifting face of a Teddy who had not yet come to be rippled again in Remus' imagination, but he forced it away.
"What I do know is that Hogwarts has never fallen," Remus spoke confidently and twenty nervous pairs of eyes flicked in his direction, "and tonight will be no exception. Voldemort may have the numbers, but we have the advantage of the castle's natural defences - not to mention that we, unlike our adversaries, are not fighting out of hatred, fear, or cynical ambition. We are fighting because our conscience tells us that we must. We are fighting because we have hope."
"Yeah!" Said Cho Chang, red sparks blossoming from her wand tip.
"Fuck yeah!" Shouted Seamus Finnegan. "I mean, er - "
"Swear as much as you like," said Remus, managing a smile, "it's been four years since I was your professor - though I daresay it wouldn't hurt to hold a quick refresher in defence."
A flurry of nods greeted this suggestion.
"Right then. First of all, when aiming - "
"Loosen your knees, imagine an invisible line stretching from your wand point out towards your target!"
"That's right, Ernie. Well done."
Ernie puffed out his chest. Seamus' bruised features changed from tense attention into a side smile towards Dean.
"But remember," Remus continued, "speed is of the essence. You must decide what you are going to fire and where, before you've even engaged your first opponent. Myself, I will be aiming to kill: the Avada Kedavra to the torso, minimising my quarry's ability to dodge. If any of you hold any doubt as to your ability to cast the killing curse, decide now on an alternative - casting an unsuccessful spell offers the enemy a gap they will be certain to exploit. Petrificus Totalus should serve you well. Do not forget that curses could be coming your way from all angles, not only from the one you are duelling. If Voldemort's forces attack with fire - " The ground trembled beneath their feet, Remus tried again, a little louder, "if they attack with fire…"
As he spoke, a chill and powerful wind began swirling around them, rustling the leaves until it sounded like there was a waterfall at his back.
"If they attack with the Imperius Curse…"
Remus had to raise his voice to shouting as broomsticks shot over their heads: Madam Hooch flanked by a contingent of other flyers, ready to rain destruction down from the sky.
"If they try to take you prisoner…"
The shaking intensified. Booms, like fireworks, thundered in the distance. Remus glanced at the watch Andromeda had gifted him: the second hand was ticking unstoppably towards midnight.
"Hold firm," he said, his voice hoarse but strong, "and we'll know victory. Nothing will stop the sun from rising tomorrow, it's up to us to make sure that the world it shines on is a world for everyone. Remember who you are and who you love - they will be at your back tonight." Remus turned to face the still-hidden forces of the enemy. "Wands at the ready!"
A deafening boom and green lightning struck the protective enchantments, forking high over their heads. The hour had come. A howling, keening scream cut the night and was followed by a hiss, like the suck of the ocean on stones. Remus' dread was both familiar and alien. He knew this feeling - mouth dry, flesh creeping, the dinner he wished he hadn't eaten congealing in his stomach - but he'd never known it when the moon was on the wane. He wondered whether he would ever transform again. Once there would have been comfort in that thought, but not anymore: the cold ground was no friend to him. Remus had never in his life wanted to die less.
"FOR HARRY!"
The shout came from a distant Weasley, of that Remus was sure. The rallying cry was repeated again and again, until Remus and every other fighter in the grounds was yelling as one at the top of their voice.
"FOR HARRY! FOR HARRY!"
Dora and Teddy, I love you, I love you -
The shield wall shivered again. The night air crackled with static. Green, revolving shapes rose up from the forest ahead of them. Bodies. Contorted, agonised, murdered bodies. Statements of intent.
Stay with me, keep me alive, take me back to that sweet May morning -
Amidst blinding flashes of light, hooded figures appeared between the trees.
"Keep behind me! Stand your ground!"
Dora, I hope you're right this time.