Starlight and Moonlight

A Harry Potter Fan Fiction Piece

By Megaella Ballanche-Viewlard

Seventh and Final:

It All Ends Here…

She didn't care if the dense brambles of the wood tore at her face, hands, and robes.

She didn't care if the low-hanging branches left her hair askew.

She didn't even care if Wormtail came after her next.

Remus will be changing back by now, she thought uneasily as she sprinted through the woods. Or maybe he has changed back… Her insides seemed to freeze at that thought. A werewolf who had just changed back to his human form was dreadfully vulnerable as he was drastically weakened by the Change. If Remus had run into Wormtail just as he was changing back… Oh, God, Amihan prayed, please don't let me be too late!

She came upon them in a clearing: the flabby little gray man standing over a naked, defenseless figure lying in a heap before him. The little man was gasping for breath and he held a dagger in his silver hand – a dagger that dripped blood.

Amihan screamed in horror at what she saw. The flabby little man dropped the dagger and stared at her in surprise.

Presently, Sirius and Snape caught up with Amihan. Sirius also froze when he saw the dreadful tableau before them. Never had he seen anything so horrible since the day he came upon the ruined house in Godric's Hollow so long ago. Snape drew back, anger rushing through his veins at seeing the traitor who had caused them all so much grief.

"Wormtail!" Sirius roared, rushing towards the culprit with his wand drawn.

"After him, Black!" Snape ran close behind him, his own wand drawn and ready.

"How convenient." There was a tight smile on Wormtail's face as he raised his own wand. "All of you here at once; that just makes revenge much easier for me."

"What's going on?" Harry demanded as he and the other students arrived. But no one stopped to explain.

Sirius and Snape were rushing at Wormtail while Amihan ran to Remus's side. But before any of them could reach either culprit or victim, Wormtail lifted his silvery hand over them.

"It's all over!" he declared to them. "Avada Kedavra!"

Then Remus – terribly wounded, horribly weakened Remus – stood between Wormtail and his companions. His own wand in hand, he had been muttering something the whole time their enemy had been preparing to throw the curse at them. The tip of his wand began to glow and, before long, the glow enveloped all his allies.

"What's happening?" Pansy shrilled as the light of their DADA teacher's wand covered them all.

"I don't know!" Hermione cried, grabbing hold of Ron's arm. In her other arm, Crookshanks hissed menacingly.

"It's a Blocking Spell!" Harry yelled as the spell enveloped them.

"A Blocking Spell?" Draco shot him an incredulous look. "Are you nuts, Potter? The Avada Kedavra's an unblockable…" He suddenly remembered something. "Potter! It is blockable! You're living proof of that!"

"This is no time for a DADA lecture!" Ron snapped irritably. "We've got to help the others!"

"If you're so smart, Weasley, how do you suppose are we going to do that?"

In truth, the shield about them was absolute. Unless Remus faltered, none of them could get out of it nor could the curse get into it.

Wormtail unleashed the dreadful curse in pretty much the same way a child would toss a ball. Remus, however, held his wand steady before him despite the pain that was searing through his body and the wound that was slowly draining his life away.

"Mamorimasu!" he roared as the curse hurtled towards them.

Amihan blanched when she heard that spell. The spell was part of a blocking sequence called the Bôgyo-Butsu, a technique mastered by Shinto priests in Japan to shield their temples from Dark Forces. As neko-onna, she knew how to perform the sequence. However, she and all the other neko-onna on her mother's side of the family were aware that it was only to be used as a last resort in case it meant saving the temple or the clan itself. The Bôgyo-Butsu almost always meant the ultimate sacrifice of one's life for others as very few of those who had used it ever lived to tell about it.

The Avada Kedavra shattered like a glass that had fallen to the floor as it slammed into the shield. To Wormtail's chagrin, the shield held and the powerful curse he'd thrown at them was rendered useless. As the shield dissolved, Remus slumped unconscious into Amihan's arms and Wormtail fled the premises.

"After him!" Sirius roared, giving chase as soon as he and Snape were freed of the spell's restraint.

"Go, Crookshanks!" Hermione urged her cat on as she set him on the ground. The big ginger tom was only glad to oblige; he, too, had a bone to pick with the treacherous Animagus.

"Potter! Crabbe!" Amihan commanded the two to follow Sirius and Snape. "Help them go after Wormtail," she gasped. "Weasley and Malfoy, take Granger and Parkinson back to the castle. Get the Headmistress and Madam Pomfrey, Malfoy, then come back here as soon as you can. And Weasley: send an owl to Minister Dumbledore as soon as you get there."

The students split up and did as they were told. Meanwhile, Amihan cradled the unconscious Remus in her arms. Only then did she realize how grave his wound was: Wormtail had stabbed him in the back and the wound was deep and bled profusely.

This is no time to start crying, Amihan! Despite the tears that were beginning to sting her eyes, she knew that it was not yet time to mourn. She could still save his life. Prying his mouth open with her fingers, she drew out a small phial from her pocket. It was the Wolfsbane Specific she'd brewed earlier as the full moon rose in the sky. Carefully, she poured it down his throat proceeding with caution lest he choked. When the phial had been emptied, she spied the knife Wormtail had used on his former friend. Amihan's blood boiled angrily when it turned out to be silver – a metal that had long been a bane to werewolves. The scum! The wretched, treacherous scum!

Without thinking, Amihan slashed her own left wrist with the knife. Moving swiftly but cautiously, she turned Remus facedown on the ground to press her bleeding wrist over gaping wound in his back. The wounds of neko-onna healed miraculously for some strange reason and Amihan hoped that a transfusion of her blood would transfer the same capability to Remus even as she saved him from losing any more blood. She drew her wand from her sleeve and tapped it over her other hand.

"Transfusia!" she cried. At once, blood began to flow from one body to another. Amihan raised her eyes to the sky. The sun was rising in the east. She prayed that the others came back soon; she was getting dizzy as blood flowed from her veins into Remus's inert body.

Someone please come for us, soon… Her eyelids grew heavy. Wormtail might come back… Slowly, she began to slip into unconsciousness. Someone… Anyone…

Her body spent by the night's events and the loss of blood, Amihan slumped forward, shielding Remus's body with her own.

***

Wormtail ran through the gnarly wood with Sirius and the others in hot pursuit.

Moony had been easy prey given the fact that he was weakest just after he changed back to his human form. Wormtail had simply sneaked up on him while he was writhing in pain and stabbed him in the back, silver-bladed knife wielded in his silver hand. Silver was, after all, harmful to a werewolf.

Padfoot, on the other hand, was a completely different matter all together. Wormtail had been mortally afraid of him since they were boys. Sirius's disposition had always been apt to be rash and he was not one to show any mercy to his foes. If Harry hadn't intervened on that awful night some years back, Sirius would have certainly killed him.

Harry… Wormtail was only too aware of the fact that he still owed the boy his life. But even Harry knew that Remus and Sirius had every right to kill him if they found out that Wormtail had dared to go anywhere near him ever again.

Then you should have died! Sirius had roared angrily on that terrible night. Died rather than betray your friends as we would have done for you!

Then, adding all the more to Wormtail's guilt, Remus's gentle but stern voice rang in his ears: You should have realized if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would.

Saving his own skin had been the foremost thought in Peter Pettigrew's mind since he was a boy at Hogwarts, self-preservation his life's goal. He'd used people bigger and stronger and smarter than he was to stay alive. Now that he was all alone, he dreaded the very same people on whom he used to depend on for his safety. There was only one way by which he could feel safe, and that was to kill them all.

Unfortunately, he had the chance to do so but botched just as he almost always did, having forgotten that one of them knew how to block the deadly curse he'd meant to inflict upon them. Even with Wormtail's knife still sticking out of his back, Remus had managed to cast the ward that had saved their lives.

Did Moony survive that? he thought as he ran away from his pursuers. Personally, Wormtail doubted it. Remus was so weak and the knife had plunged in deep enough for the wound to be a mortal one.

Wormtail was on the run again. This time, he was running away from the very same people he'd betrayed so long ago. As the Muggles would say, it was payback time.

"You won't get away from us so easily this time, traitor!" Sirius roared, hacking through the branches and brambles in his way. "This time, you're dead!"

"Not if I can help it, Padfoot!" Wormtail taunted him. He held up his silver hand and roared, "Metamorphose!" A big gray rat appeared in his place, scampering out of harm's way.

Sirius swore and changed form; Snape and Harry also took on their Animagi forms. But, before any of them could reach the rat, Hermione's big ginger cat had pounced upon its tail. The rat screamed and fled, his tail getting torn off in the process.

"Marked him!" Sirius declared triumphantly as he changed back. "Probably won't be able to go too far this time."

"I hope so," Snape muttered as he and Harry changed forms. "There's no forgiveness for what he just did."

Snape's seemingly off-hand remark brought Sirius's mind back to those they'd left far behind.

"Good God!" he gasped, sprinting back to where they left the others. "Moony!"

***

Just as those who had gone after Wormtail returned to the scene of the crime, Draco had returned with Madam Pomfrey and a couple of seventh-years bearing stretchers.

Hagrid had been on his morning rounds and had come upon Remus and Amihan before the others did. The massive gamekeeper had wrapped the naked DADA teacher in his moleskin cloak and the latter was, to everyone's surprise, awake and alert. He was presently laying the unconscious Amihan onto a stretcher, his handsome face filled with concern for her. They saw that her wrist was bloody. Strangely enough, though, there was no scar.

"Moony!" Fiercely, Sirius and Harry swamped him into a big hug.

"We thought we'd lost you!" Harry gasped, scarcely believing that Remus was okay. In fact, it seemed that nothing happened at all. And, besides that…

"I'm all right," Remus assured him. "Amihan isn't, though. She's lost a lot of blood." He slid a guilt-ridden glance towards the unconscious girl even as the seventh-years bore her off to the castle.

"You're out on your feet, Remus!" Madam Pomfrey declared heatedly. "Best that you come along to the hospital wing as well."

"In a minute, Poppy," he called after her. He turned to the others, lowering his voice intently. "Did you get him?"

A soft meow by his feet made him look down. Crookshanks nuzzled one of his hands and deposited what appeared to be a rat's tail into it.

"Not quite," Snape replied. "But the cat did a good job of marking him."

Remus was silent as he studied the tail in his hand. Wormtail was gone. For now, anyway. But who knew when he would strike again? In the meantime, he took his leave of the others as he followed Madam Pomfrey back to the school.

***

Remus refused to leave Amihan's bedside despite Madam Pomfrey's order for him to stay in bed.

He knew that the wounds of neko-onna healed in an almost miraculous fashion that never left any scars – her slender left wrist was proof of that. But even neko-onna were drastically weakened by a massive loss of blood and Amihan did not stir where she lay. Her honey-tinged skin was terribly pale and she scarcely seemed to be breathing.

Remus looked miserable as he sat at her bedside, thinking that he hadn't thanked her enough for everything she'd done to help alleviate the misery of the Change. He held one of her hands as he sat there, seemingly unreachable by anyone around him.

The Headmistress had suggested that he leave Amihan in Madam Pomfrey's capable hands. She had made the suggestion in the hope that Remus would try to psych himself up to going to his classes. Alas, the DADA teacher ventured out of the hospital wing just long enough to assign some seatwork, taking care to ask a few students to collect their classmates' essays after class. Otherwise, he simply refused to budge from where he was.

For his part, Sirius couldn't stand to see his best friend so and could not bear to stay in the hospital wing. Instead, he went off to teach his classes as best as he could in order to keep from worrying. Around lunchtime, however, the Headmistress summoned him for an errand.

"You called, Minerva?" he asked as he peeked around the door of her office.

"Ah, there you are, Sirius." Headmistress McGonagall rose and motioned for him to enter. "You're not the only one who's worried about them, you know. All of us are worried as well."

"Remus had quite a close call," Sirius grunted uneasily. "It came as a shock when we found him on his feet."

"It seems like Amihan gave him a blood transfusion and that obviously saved his life."

"True, but look at the mess it got her into. She's still out cold."

The Headmistress looked distressed at that. However, she said nothing as she handed a slip of paper to Sirius.

"In that case, I think a member of her family would do well to come here," she said. "I've sent word to her sister in New York. Mediwitch Sinagtala will be using a Portkey to come to Hogsmeade."

"What does this have to do with me?" Sirius cocked his head to one side, his curiosity piqued.

"Well, we all have our responsibilities and I checked your schedule. As you're free for the afternoon, I'd like to ask you to fetch Marilag Sinagtala from Hogsmeade."

"Okay." Mutely, Sirius accepted the paper that had been handed to him. Amihan's sister would be Apparating near the Three Broomsticks. That was good; he needed a drink, anyway – and bother the fact that it was broad daylight.

He went out of the Headmistress's office and ran into the Gryffindor sixth-years, all of whom looked upset by the news of what had happened at dawn. He tried as best as he could to reassure them that everything – and everyone – would be okay. Unfortunately, the grim expression on his face seemed to tell them otherwise.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked his foster-father as they walked down the corridor together.

"I'm to meet someone in Hogsmeade," Sirius informed him as calmly as he could. He slowed to a halt and motioned for Harry to do the same. "Has your Uncle Moony taken you for class?"

Harry nodded. "But he was only there for a bit, though," he told his foster-father. "Just did a short demonstration with a Kôrime is all." The boy shivered at the memory of how the Japanese ice-demon had frosted up the classroom before Remus subdued it with a Heating Spell. "He left us to do an essay on Kôrime. He's awfully worried about Professor Sinagtala, isn't he?"

"Yes, he is," Sirius murmured quietly. "Would you see to it that Remus has a proper lunch, Harry? You do know how he gets when he's worried about someone, don't you?"

"Yeah," Harry sighed. "He'll forget about his own good." Glumly, he jammed his hands into his pockets as he got ready to turn away. "Don't worry, Sirius; I'll make sure he's okay."

"That's my boy." With a fond hug, Sirius sent him off to the Great Hall and went on his way to the teachers' broom closet.

On the way, he came upon diminutive Professor Flitwick. The tiny Charms teacher was struggling down the corridor with a long, slender box much bigger than he was in his arms. Sirius immediately came to his aid.

"Oh, thank you, Sirius!" Professor Flitwick managed to wheeze gratefully as he was relieved of his burden. "It arrived at breakfast this morning and I meant to take it to the staff room at first." He frowned. "But when I found out that Starlight was unconscious in the hospital wing, I thought about putting it in the broom closet for safekeeping."

"It's a package for her, then?"

"Yes. Six Great Grays flew in carrying that box. Minerva took one look at the owls and declared that they were probably from Italy."

"Italy?" Sirius suddenly stopped when he saw writing on the box lid. His eyes widened at what he saw:

Stracciatello e Figli Scope Fine ed Altri Modi di Trasporto Magico Milano-Roma-Firenze-Venezia

(Stracciatello and Sons: Fine Broomsticks and Other Modes of Magical Transport. Milan-Rome-Florence-Venice.)

"Good God!" he exclaimed, quite nearly dropping the box in his excitement. "It's an Accelerato, Professor Flitwick! Someone's bought Starlight an Accelerato!"

"Oh, my!" Flitwick stared at the box in astonishment. "But aren't they frightfully expensive, Sirius? I sincerely doubt that any student would have enough money to order that sort of present for a favorite teacher, popular as Amihan is among them." The tiny teacher's eyes narrowed speculatively. "Besides that, I doubt if you can order an Accelerato from Which Broomstick."

"True," Sirius agreed thoughtfully. "Unless it came from an older admirer."

It was only then that the realization sank into both their brains and the two teachers stared at each other in surprise.

"Remus!" they gasped in unison.

"Yes?" an exhausted-sounding voice asked from behind them. They turned to see Remus limping towards them, his pale face wan and sad. "I thought I heard you gentlemen say my name. Is anything the matter?"

"Were you the one who ordered this broomstick, Remus?" Professor Flitwick asked him.

"Oh!" Remus managed to smile despite the depression he was under as Sirius handed him the box. "That was fast; I wasn't expecting it till Halloween." There was a hint of deep sorrow in his eyes as he spoke. "I had it crafted for Amihan when I learned that her old broom got smashed to bits after it bucked her off some time ago. It was meant to be a surprise for the Halloween Feast."

"How is she?" Flitwick murmured concernedly.

"She still hasn't come around," came the dull-voiced reply. It broke Sirius's heart to see his best friend so despondent but he said nothing lest it came out wrong and did more harm than good. "But Poppy says she'll be up any time now." He gulped uneasily and his voice was barely more than a croak. "I hope she's right."

Sirius studied his friend for a bit. It was uncanny that he had bounced back so fast after getting stabbed in the back while he was at his weakest. It was more than a little disturbing. Besides that, Sirius wasn't sure if it was just the light in the corridor but it seemed that Remus looked barely older than Harry.

"I daresay she'll need a bit of cheering up once she awakens," Flitwick smiled kindly, patting the younger teacher's thin arm. "Perhaps your little surprise might just do the trick, Remus."

He managed a small smile. "I hope so, too, Professor Flitwick."

Flitwick gripped his hand encouragingly and excused himself. As the tiny professor went away, Sirius drew his best friend aside.

"What's going on here, Moony?" he hissed underbreath. "How is it that you're up and running considering that the way Wormtail stabbed you should've killed you? And that counterspell you used to save our lives was the same one that nearly killed you more than twenty years ago!"

"That's what's been bothering me, too." Remus lowered his voice and rolled up one of his sleeves. "You, of all people, are aware that the Change usually leaves me dreadfully scarred, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, take a look now." The forearm he bared was smooth and unmarred by any scars. Sirius grabbed Remus's arm as he choked back an oath. Remus grimaced uneasily at what they both saw. "The scars have all gone, Padfoot – even the wound on my back didn't leave a trace."

"How'd it happen?" Sirius gasped.

"When I came around, Amihan was slumped unconscious over me, her left wrist pressed to where Wormtail stabbed me." His face was contorted by anguish as he spoke. "She gave me a blood transfusion, Sirius. That's why she's out cold right now; the spell she used was a very complex one that allowed blood to flow from her body to mine by way of a wound – she slashed her wrist to save my life." Sirius blanched at what he just said, but Remus went on. "Neko-onna have periodically shed their blood willingly for a sort of quick-healing ointment Japanese wizards have been concocting for ages. When applied to wounds – even the gravest ones – the wounds close almost automatically and leave no scars."

"But, Remus, that still doesn't explain why…" He gulped and stared frankly at his best friend. "It still doesn't explain why you look about Harry's age."

Remus's lips pressed into a thin line. "The other use of neko-onna blood is for youth-sustaining potions," he said in a quiet voice. "You see, neko-onna – and men born within a neko-onna line – live lives twice as long as that of the average wizard and they don't seem to age at all. In fact, the only way you'll know how the age of a neko-onna is by looking at how white her hair is. They stop aging at sixteen."

The two friends stared at each other uneasily.

"What are you driving at?" Sirius mumbled. "That she's transferred some measure of her powers to you?"

Remus nodded nervously. "Besides that…" He fished something out of his pocket. "Look."

In his hand was a pretty silver ring wrought in the shape of a full-blown rose. But it wasn't the intricate workmanship that made Sirius's jaw drop in consternation. It was the fact that it was silver. That was the reason why Remus made it a point not to carry money around: his skin burned horribly whenever he came too close to anything made of silver.

"Maybe it's a fake," Sirius said in a dazed fashion.

"That's what we all thought when it snagged somewhere and came off Amihan's hand," Remus agreed. "But Severus always carries this potion around. He says it lets him spot potential counterfeiters when he shops. He applied some of it on the ring." Remus's hand shook a bit now. "It's silver, Padfoot," he said calmly. When Sirius looked up, he saw a faint, almost adoring glow in his friend's face. "I have a hunch that Amihan managed to stumble onto the cure she's been seeking for ages." He smiled. "If she has, Padfoot, I'm going to marry her."

"And if she hasn't?"

"I'd still marry her. She's the only woman who's actually taken an active interest in me apart from what I am."

"Even if she did want you dead some time ago?" Sirius grinned slyly.

"Yes, even then."

"Well…" Tears stung Sirius's eyes as he gripped Remus in a bear hug. "Best of luck to you," he said bravely. He let Remus go and started for the broom closet. "In the meantime, I'm off to Hogsmeade."

"Why?"

"The Headmistress called for Amihan's sister; she'll be landing by the Three Broomsticks in a bit."

"And you're flying over?"

"Yes. Why?"

Remus shook his head in disbelief. "You're obviously getting old, Padfoot," he chuckled. "Don't you remember our old shortcut to Hogsmeade?"

Sirius glared at him but was rather put out with himself for forgetting about the trapdoor at Honeydukes.

"I'm not that old," he muttered as they went their separate ways.

***

Marilag Sinagtala's heart was pounding as she landed near the local tavern.

It had been one in the morning in New York when a head appeared in her fireplace. Having seen the face in so many pictures her sister had taken in her schooldays, she knew at once that it was the former Head of Gryffindor House – Hogwarts Headmistress Minerva McGonagall.

The Headmistress's news was not at all pleasant. Voldemort's right-hand man had escaped from Azkaban, sending threats to those instrumental to his imprisonment. Amihan had been one of those tasked by the British Minister of Magic to help recapture Peter Pettigrew. She'd had a hunch that he was probably heading for the school by way of the nearby forest and had gone to search for him with three other teachers. They'd sensed his trail, but he caught them by surprise when he attacked one of the teachers who'd gone ahead. He then tried to kill the whole search party along with a number of foolhardy students who seemed to have some score to settle with Pettigrew. To their surprise, it was the injured teacher who saved their lives. The others went after him, but Amihan had stayed behind to administer to their fallen comrade – and had done herself injury in the process. She was now confined in the school's hospital wing, still unconscious.

Marilag scurried frantically about her apartment like a headless chicken as she gathered a few necessities for the trip to Scotland. The worst part of it all was when her parents called from their home in Baguio minutes after they'd been told of the incident. It broke Marilag's heart to see both their parents in tears. Their normally stoic father was horribly shaken and their similarly unshakable mother wept copiously at the thought of their youngest in mortal peril. Marilag knew the reason for their grief: they'd already lost one child. Were they to lose another?

By the time she'd finished packing, she was tense, upset, furious, and most definitely hungry. But there was no time to spare. She grabbed Alapaap's old fountain pen from one of the bookshelves; Amihan had charmed it as a Portkey to Hogsmeade, the village near the school. Squeezing her eyes shut, she felt herself being borne aloft, speeding across the miles to some place far, far away.

She made a graceful landing beside The Three Broomsticks and was wondering how to get to the school when she found herself facing a rather young, handsome fellow with dark hair tied back in a low ponytail, striking blue eyes, and a similarly smashing smile.

"Mediwitch Sinagtala, I presume?" he asked as he took her by the hand.

"Yes," Marilag replied, a nervous blush spreading across her cheeks. He was a looker, this fellow. "You're from Hogwarts?"

The handsome stranger nodded, still grinning. "Obviously," he chuckled. "Headmistress McGonagall sent me out to fetch you. By the way, I almost forgot to introduce myself." He bowed with a flourish. "Sirius Black, professor of Transfiguration and colleague to your lovely wonder of a sister."

Marilag's jaw dropped in surprise. "Sirius Black?" she exclaimed in bewilderment. "The Sirius Black? One of the Heroes of the Final Stand?" If her older sister Sining were here, she'd faint from shock; she and her husband idolized those of the Order of the Phoenix and would've given anything to meet any of them. She can just faint dead away! Marilag thought mischievously.

"Ah!" Sirius pressed the back of his hand to his forehead in an attitude of feigned dismay. "Alas, my reputation precedes me yet again!" He winked at her. "Yes, my dear Mediwitch Sinagtala; the very same."

"Marilag, please." Amihan's older sister was every bit as beautiful as she was, but her manner around Sirius was certainly warmer. His cheerful ways relieved her tension, preparing her for what she would probably be facing at Hogwarts. In short, she liked him at once. "Mediwitch Sinagtala is such a mouthful."

"If you wish." Sirius moved to pick up the one suitcase she'd brought. Mental note: ask Moony what her name means. It sounds pretty! "Have you had anything to eat?"

"Actually, Professor Black, I'm starving!" Ruefully, she explained that she'd received the summons at dawn and had been so upset that she hadn't even picked up a bite to eat. However, food was currently the farthest thing on her mind at the moment. "But I'd better go check on my sister first," she admitted fearfully.

"Call me Sirius and I'll have you in Hogwarts before you could say Dissendium!"

"Dissendium?"

At once, Sirius whisked her off to Honeydukes. The shop was rather crowded for a weekday and provided the perfect cover under which he could bring their guest through the passageway. He did, however, decide to pick up a few treats for Marilag before they left.

"Here you go," he said when he handed her a couple of Cauldron Cakes and a Pumpkin Pasty. "You must be ravenous."

"Oh, my!" Marilag blushed prettily as she accepted the sweets. "Thank you!"

He led her down into the shop's storage area and opened the trap door that led back to Hogwarts. Marilag's golden eyes widened as Sirius slipped into the trapdoor.

"It's a shortcut," he explained upon seeing the incredulous expression she threw at him. "We've known it for years and it's quite safe." He gently coaxed her into following him. "Come on; don't be scared."

She was every bit as graceful as her younger sister was when she slipped into the trapdoor in a rather feline fashion while Sirius held it open for her.

"You must've been quite a sneak as a student, Sirius," she beamed at him, looking very impressed.

That startled Sirius. He was expecting her to be more like Amihan who didn't seem to tolerate any sort of nonsense whatsoever.

"I wish I'd been here as a kid," Marilag dimpled wistfully. "It would've been fun to have a partner-in-crime seeing how I was the only joker at my old school years ago."

Sirius grinned at her remark; they would get along just fine.

The two of them ran down the burrow-like passageway that led back to the school.

***

Amihan found herself in a very familiar room with someone whom she missed for a very long time.

"I see you've decided to pay me a visit." Alapaap Sinagtala grinned hugely at her twin. She would always be sixteen now, always be at the age when she died. Same waist-length hair done up in two braid that trailed down her back, same elfin look on her face, same white denim jumper-dress over a long-sleeved black turtleneck and white ankle socks: same old Alapaap. She sat on the bed she used to sleep in her lifetime: a pretty brass affair with a frilly lace canopy and a sweet quilted spread Amihan had so painstakingly pieced for her twin for some long-ago Christmas.

Amihan looked around and realized that she was in the room she used to share with her twin – except that where her side of the room should have been was a completely blank space. Alapaap's side of the room was quintessentially feminine but Amihan's – if it had been there – had been decorated in the Japanese fashion, a study in Zen-like simplicity.

"A visit?" Amihan raised an eyebrow at her twin. "You mean I'm not staying?"

"Of course not!" Alapaap sat up, looking more than a little scandalized. "You're not due here for ages, sis. You're here for a rest; that's all." She cocked her head to one side and winked impishly at her sister. "If I were you, though, I'd get back as soon as I could. Your poor boyfriend's worried sick about you."

Boyfriend?! Amihan suddenly put her guard up. "I don't know what you're talking about," she snorted defensively. "I'm too busy to have one and I'm most definitely not interested in anyone at the moment." The blush that was spreading over he face spoke otherwise, though.

"Oh, please!" Alapaap laughingly waved her protest off. "Spare me, Amihan! Then what do you call that adorable werewolf – I mean ex-werewolf – whose currently wringing his hands by you bedside?"

"Ex-werewolf!" Amihan exclaimed, bouncing onto her twin's bed with an air of bewilderment. "I definitely don't know what you're talking about!"

"Good grief, Amihan! Don't tell me you weren't aware that you'd finally found the most vital ingredient for the Lycanthropic Cure!" The look of bewilderment on Amihan's face caused Alapaap's eyebrows to rise alarmingly. "The transfusion did it," she said simply.

"The transfusion?"

"Yeah. Don't you remember those mushy Muggle novels Ate Marilag and I were so nuts about years ago? Those medieval romances where the hero or heroine shed blood to save the one they loved?"

Amihan grimaced as she remembered how her sisters wept copiously over those badly written books. Why any girl – magic or Muggle – ever read them was a complete mystery to the pragmatic young witch.

"I guess those Muggles were on to something," Alapaap giggled. "True love does work wonders after all: breaks the spells of Dark wizards, brings the dead back to life, turns beasts into princes…"

Amihan had suddenly gone quiet. True love… Her mind kept screaming at her to tell Alapaap that nothing could be farther from the truth; her heart, on the other hand, was whispering otherwise.

"Still won't admit it, huh?" Alapaap shook her head with a sigh. "Same old Amihan: iron-fisted Amihan with a heart of stone." She regarded her twin seriously. "Would you have given your life away if you didn't care?"

"I cared because he was my test subject," Amihan replied coldly but didn't quite dare to meet her sister's candid gaze. "How would it look if I lost him just as we were about to make the breakthrough?" She stared unseeingly into the nothingness before them. "He's nothing to me but a colleague."

"You've been after him since we were fourteen," Alapaap reminded her.

"Alapaap, that was different. Back then – and quite some time afterwards – I wanted him, all right. I wanted him dead."

Alapaap merely shrugged. "So you say," she murmured, eyes narrowing critically. "But that wasn't what you were thinking a while ago when you performed the Transfusion Spell." The tone of her voice slowly, relentlessly began to goad her twin into reacting. "That wasn't what you were thinking when you told him to be careful when he ran after…"

"ENOUGH!" Amihan held a hand up to quell her sister's relentless questioning. Alapaap may have been a Squib in her lifetime, but she had always had an odd knack for getting answers where her twin was concerned. Wryly, Amihan admitted to herself that death did nothing to blunt this strange talent of her twin's.

"I owe him for saving my life," she said coldly. "Twice, as a matter of fact. Can't we just leave it at that?"

"It's gone beyond saving you from a hundred-foot potentially debilitating freefall or stopping the Killing Curse dead in its tracks." Alapaap punched her sister in the arm, half-annoyed by the way she was behaving. "Anak ng tinapa, Amihan!" she swore in their native tongue.

"You needn't call me a smoked fish!" Amihan shot back.

"Well, you're getting to be as salty as one the way you've been acting! Why do you always have to attach values for anything you do?"

"Um…"

"He's been through more troubles than he's cared to let on," Alapaap began quietly. "All he wanted was a normal life. All he wanted was to be a good kid who could be a good son, friend, and worker. The monster within him got in the way, though, and all his life he's been struggling to let it go and leave him to live his life in peace."

"What's that got to do with me?" Amihan was goaded into asking.

"You gave him the hope that he could be normal one day," Alapaap replied, eyes softening. "Now, he is normal and he has a brighter future to look forward to. Besides that…" She smiled at her twin. "…the fact that you are what you are gave him something more."

Something more… It took a moment for it to sink into Amihan's mind. Then, it hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Oh my God!" she shrieked, gripping her twin's arms excitedly. "I transferred some of my powers to him! That's wonderful! He can go hunting with me! It's been ages since I've hunted for fun and…" She suddenly seemed to get a grip on herself and drew herself up somewhat huffily. "Sorry," she grunted indecorously.

"What are you apologizing for?" Alapaap cried, smacking her over the head with a pillow. "He likes you and vice versa! Will you quit being such a prat already, Amihan." She shook her head, laughing. "You scared him at first, though; what your ol' Potions master said about your plan to shoot him if you ever met freaked him out. But now…" She hugged her twin. "Good luck, Amihan. You deserve that wonderful fellow who's crying his eyes out beside you at this very moment."

"Crying?" It was only at that point that Amihan seemed to hear someone sobbing, calling her name, begging her to come back. When she looked into the nothingness, she saw herself in the hospital wing with Remus by her bedside. Her heart broke when she saw the tears running down his face. "Oh, no…"

"Don't let him worry about you too long," her twin advised her, patting her shoulder as she spoke. "I'll miss you, sis."

"And I'll miss you." The twins hugged and looked into each other's eyes: one pair brown and the other gold. "You will be watching over us, won't you?"

"Don't worry; I got you both covered."

Amihan rose to her feet and felt herself being borne away, back to the world of the living. When she looked back, Alapaap was fading away even as she waved farewell.

***

Meanwhile, Snape had skipped lunch and remained in his office down in the dungeons.

The morning's troubles caused him to put his guard up. He couldn't sit still and thus studied his copy of the Map standing up. His eyes shifted from one part of it to another, coming to rest on the hubbub in the Great Hall.

The area was covered with lots of tiny dots representing the studentry. There were also several teachers present: Professors Flitwick, Sprout, and Vector. All seemed normal…

Or did it?

Snape's eyes widened when he saw a flock of students leaving the Great Hall.

Pettigrew was, in one form or another, among them.

***

Sirius and Marilag emerged from behind the statue of the one-eyed witch on the third floor of the castle.

To Sirius's surprise, Harry and Ginny were waiting for them. The two youngsters looked worried.

"We figured you'd be back from Hogsmeade," Ginny informed the startled teacher. "So Harry thought you must've used this particular way in."

"Why?" Sirius demanded as he helped Marilag into the corridor. "Anything happen while I was away?"

"I'm afraid so," Harry replied grimly. Sirius shot him a worried look. "It's Wormtail; Snape's seen him in the castle."

***

The first thing she saw when she regained consciousness was a red-rimmed pair of violet eyes staring balefully back at her.

"Remus?" Amihan managed to gasp weakly, clutching at his thin hands as she came to.

"I'm all right," he hastened to assure her, taking care not to let her sit up too soon. He gripped her hands. "For a minute there, I thought…"

"Never mind what you thought earlier." She pressed a finger to his lips with a weak but happy smile. "All that matters is that you're all right and you're perfectly normal now." She winked playfully, though. "Well, not exactly normal but…"

Remus managed a shy smile. "Because my blood donor turned out to be a neko-onna?" he murmured.

Amihan carefully sat up; Remus promptly began plumping up the pillows to support her back. She studied him carefully, noting that the transfusion gave him the looks of an exceptionally handsome sixteen-year-old boy.

"Girls must've gone nuts around you when you were sixteen," she murmured ruefully.

"Maybe," Remus shrugged. "I didn't bother to notice them." He sighed as he went back to his seat. "I was always afraid they'd run away screaming when they found out what I was. Being a werewolf's a secret that's particularly difficult to hide, so what was the point of finding a lifelong partner?"

"Will you look for a wife now that you're normal?" Amihan asked quietly, her normally bold gaze suddenly downcast.

"Why would I look for one?" A faint blush colored Remus's pale face as he gazed candidly into her amber eyes. "I've already found you."

Amihan blushed furiously but showed no displeasure. In fact, a faint smile played at the corners of her lips.

"Oh!" Sheepishly, Remus picked a long box off the floor and placed it in Amihan's lap. "Um, here: remember how your old broom got smashed when you tried to come after me after that practice match with the Ravenclaw team? It isn't much, but I hope it's an ample enough replacement."

Her curiosity piqued, Amihan carefully opened the box. Inside, nestled in a soft pile of tissue paper was an Accelerato with a blue Pathsetter gleaming at the tip of its handle.

"It's lovely!" she exclaimed breathlessly. Her eyes glowed warmly as she cuddled it the way other girls would've cuddled a new kitten or a plush animal. "Oh, Moony, you shouldn't have! Thank you!"

She was fairly sure Remus would have kissed her if Sirius hadn't burst into the hospital wing together with – of all people! – her older sister Marilag.

"Sorry to burst in on this romantic interlude," Sirius gasped with neither preamble nor even the faintest shadow of a smile. "But Wormtail's in here and…"

They didn't give him time to finish what he had to say. Remus and Amihan took one look at each other and promptly bolted off, the former whisking the latter off the bed. They ran out of the hospital wing, nearly knocking Madam Pomfrey off her feet as she entered to look in on her patient.

"Well, I never!" the school nurse exclaimed indignantly. "Fastest recoveries of all time and they suddenly leave!"

"It's an emergency, Poppy," Sirius declared as he and Marilag sped by.

***

Snape looked badly shaken when they found him at the end of the corridor.

"Where is he?" Remus demanded, setting Amihan onto her feet.

"Mixed up with a bunch of students leaving the Great Hall," Snape replied, his voice tight with strained agitation. "I've set every prefect to monitor the passageways leading to the House Towers."

"The Headmistress?"

"Parkinson's gone up to tell her."

"Minister Dumbledore?"

"Weasley sent an owl this morning to tell him about the dawn attack. I had another sent as soon as I spotted Wormtail on the Map." Snape's face was set grimly as he spoke, his words half-choked by the horror they implied. "He doesn't care much for the idea, but he's coming in with Dementors."

"Dementors?" Remus looked up sharply. "I thought he had issues against those creatures!" he exclaimed.

"Oh, he definitely does." There was a look of almost beatific anticipation on Snape's pinched features. "But in this case, they would be the ones best suited to deal with our little traitor."

"I must say I agree with you on that score," Sirius murmured, nodding vigorously.

Amihan was studying the Map, taking careful note of the sixth-year Prefects guarding the corridors. Ernie Macmillan was patrolling the way to the Hufflepuff Tower near the teachers' broom closet. Mandy Brocklehurst stood guard in the library where the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower was located. Draco was impatiently pacing the dungeon corridor to Slytherin Tower while Hermione and Ron were monitoring the area closest to Gryffindor Tower. The young professor's golden eyes impatiently sought out the group of students into which Pettigrew had mingled. Her heart began to pound when the group parted ways and Pettigrew remained with those heading for Gryffindor Tower.

"He's on his way to where Granger and Weasley are!" she yelled, melting into her alternative form as she leapt into the corridor.

The plump little raven-furred Persian was followed in a bit by a sleek raven-furred shorthair with a very mischievous grin.

"What were you doing when we came in?" the feline Marilag purred to her sister.

"None of you business," Amihan snarled.

"He's cute. Is he yours?"

"He is; what of it?"

"Good! That means I have dibs on the dark-haired guy!"

"You mean Snape, don't you?"

"Snape's the guy we just met, right? Greasy hair and craggy sort of nose?"

"Yep. He's available if you're interested."

"Oh, yuck!" Marilag shuddered in horror at the thought. "No, thanks! I meant the other dark-haired guy."

"Sirius Black!" Amihan stared at her sister without pausing. "What would you want with that practical joker? Sure his name's Sirius but he's anything but!"

"I noticed; that's why I like him."

"For crying out loud, Ate! The guy's a dog!"

"No, he's not: he's absolutely cute."

"That's not what I meant!"

As if to help Amihan explain the matter further, a huge Newfoundland dog came bounding alongside them.

"Mind if I joined the hunt, ladies?" Padfoot barked at them.

"That's what I meant!" Amihan meowed as she sprinted ahead. "He's an Animagus – so he's a dog!"

***

Meanwhile, Remus had gone outside the castle to lay a trap for Wormtail.

He had never told anybody what sort of heartache the traitor had put him through for twelve years of his life, not even Sirius or Harry knew the truth.

Twelve years – one hundred and forty-four full moons – had passed in absolute agony for Remus with James dead, Sirius in Azkaban, and Peter off hiding at the Weasleys' as the rat called Scabbers. He was the only Marauder left, his alter ego torturing him horrendously every month while his conscience tormented him with guilt with each passing day.

And yet…

He shook his head sorrowfully. For all he had done, Remus could not bring himself to kill Wormtail. Once, when his duplicity was finally made known, he nearly killed the little traitor. However, Harry – truly James's son – had pled for Wormtail's life on the condition that he stayed away from him forever. But Wormtail had run away and had played young Harry false time and again until the boy finally blew Voldemort to kingdom come and the Dementors had come to take Wormtail to prison.

They should've administered the Kiss! Remus thought angrily as he set up his trap. But Wormtail proved useful to the Ministry, naming the Death Eaters who had returned to the Dark Lord's service: Lucius Malfoy, the Lestranges whom he helped free from Azkaban, Igor Karkaroff, Walden Macnair... It was enough to keep him from getting Kissed by the Dementors, just enough to keep him from losing his soul for all eternity.

But it was no longer enough to spare him from the wrath of those he wronged. Sirius or Snape would definitely kill him if they were the ones who caught him. Not even Harry or Draco would show him any mercy. Amihan had seen Wormtail stab Remus: that was reason enough for her to join the long list of people who wanted to wring Wormtail's neck.

Nevertheless, Remus's conscience begged him not to shed any more blood – his or anyone else's, for that matter. He had never killed anyone as a werewolf and he was sure that no one would like it at all if he started now – regardless of the fact that it was Wormtail they were dealing with.

He had an alternative, though. He wasn't an expert against the Dark Arts for nothing, after all.

He stood at the massive doors that led into the school, waving his wand about as he muttered a spell he'd learned on his travels. The wand left a glittering trail of sparks as it moved, intricately weaving a trap that was meant to be foolproof.

When the sparks ceased to twinkle in the dim hall, Remus stood back and surveyed his work. Satisfied that all was in place, he sped off to Gryffindor Tower.

***

Gryffindor first-year Wendy Trayle lagged behind the other students when she caught sight of a most unusual thing lurking in a corner.

It was a rat. A small gray rat that looked badly hurt; its tail had been ripped off by a cat or probably by some other rat during a fight.

"Oh, you poor thing!" she wailed, falling onto hands and knees as she tried to coax it into her hand. "Don't be scared; I won't hurt you." Carefully, she picked it up and stroked its back with her finger. "I'll take really good care of you; that's a promise"

She did not notice that one of the rat's paws seemed to be made of silver nor did she notice the mad, murderous gleam in its tiny eyes.

***

Remus caught up with Snape, Padfoot, and the Singatalas as they neared the portrait of the Fat Lady.

They all halted and the Animagi changed back to their human forms as they approached Hermione and Ron who were conversing quietly as they cast sharp-eyed glances at the students entering the Tower.

"What's going on?" Ron asked as the teachers came closer.

"Trouble," Sirius replied tersely. "Have the first-years gone by, Ron?"

"Yeah," Ron nodded, jerking a thumb at the portrait of the Fat Lady.

The teachers suddenly fell silent and Remus's already pallid face completely lost color. But this was no time to go haywire – at least, not yet.

"Good God!" Amihan choked as Remus silently, inexorably made his way towards the Fat Lady. "He's in there. Wormtail's inside the Tower!"

***

A little group of the youngest Gryffindors clustered around Wendy and her newfound pet in the common room.

"Oh, the poor thing!" some of them cooed.

"When did you get it, Wendy?"

"Just now," the little girl replied, cuddling the little beast to her cheek. "Isn't he adorable?"

What happened next went by so fast that none of them really knew what hit them until they saw a silver hand around Wendy's tiny throat.

Pandemonium broke loose among the Gryffindors as the students ran for cover, some stampeding up the staircases to the dorms . There were those who tried to run for the portrait hole, but these were nearly obliterated by the blasts from Wormtail's hand.

"Nobody leaves!" the villain roared, beady eyes gleaming insanely. A mere year at Azkaban had scraped off much of his cowardice, replacing it with a cold-blooded madness that made him brave enough to pick on those weaker than he was.

"Help me!" Wendy cried, nearly choking in Wormtail's grip

They could hear a roar of anger from the outside. The portrait swung wide to usher in Remus who was in an uncharacteristic rage with his wand held low. Professors Black, Sinagtala, and Snape flanked him and there was another witch whom they had never seen at Hogwarts.

"Let her go, Peter," Remus demanded in a quiet voice that had a raging undercurrent flowing beneath the civil tone.

"You!" Wormtail stared at him in disbelief. "But – but you're supposed to be…"

"Dead? Well, sorry, Peter." He slid a grateful look towards Amihan. "I'm lucky someone cared enough to try and give her life up for me." His gaze suddenly hardened when he returned to Wormtail. "But that's not the point. The girl has nothing against you; leave her alone."

"Maybe she doesn't" Wormtail sneered at Remus. "But if I hurt her, it'll hurt you, right? Saint Moony, patron of the little ones. The paragon of a father who'll never be one because of what he is: a werewolf." He spat the words mockingly, leering madly at his old friend even as he tightened his grip on the child he held captive. "Some things never change and the fact that you're so daddy-like to the little kiddies is one of them, Remus."

"You haven't changed either, Wormtail," Sirius growled menacingly from beside Remus. "Still picking on those smaller than you, eh? Still think that picking on the weak absolves you of your own weakness?" Brusquely, he moved Remus aside to advance towards Wormtail. If anyone had all the right to kill Wormtail, it was Sirius.

"Come no closer, Padfoot!" Wormtail shrieked, coming close to foaming at the mouth. He clutched tighter around the whimpering child's throat. "Unless you want the child to die!"

"Let her go, Peter!" Remus pleaded; yet, those around him sensed that he was beginning to lose his patience. "Your fight isn't with her; it's with us."

"You want a hostage?" Another voice rang intensely through the taut silence of the common room. Amihan cast her wand towards Wormtail. "Take me instead, Wormtail." She slid a sidelong glance at Remus who nodded imperceptibly at what she was about to do. She walked towards the villain who terrorized the students. "If you really want to hurt your old friends, it had better be me."

Wormtail didn't hesitate. He flung Wendy at Remus who promptly caught her without injury. Then, the fiend snatched at Amihan, gripping her arm tightly with his mortal hand and picking her wand off the floor with his magical one.

"Fools!" he declared triumphantly, waving the wand above his head. "It all ends here!"

"Yes, Peter." Remus's voice was calm, but there was a savage glint in his eyes. "It all ends here."

"Avada Kedavra!" Wormtail roared, pointing the wand at them.

The students screamed, scurrying helter-skelter as they sought cover. However, the teachers remained calm and stoic.

"Doesn't he know?" Marilag murmured sotto voce to Remus.

"I don't think so," Remus replied.

Nothing happened.

"What the…" Wormtail stared at the wand in bewilderment. He shook it again and again to see if sparks would come out. Still, nothing happened. "What gives?"

"That's a neko-onna wand, Peter," Remus explained cheerfully. "It only responds to the witch who gave the hair for its core."

"What are you talking about?"

"It's what I am," a distinctly feline-sounding voice drawled near Wormtail. When he turned, he was looking straight into the eyes of a huge, grinning panther. "What's the matter?" Amihan asked the startled felon. "Haven't you met a cat-woman before?"

"AAAGGGHHH!!!" Horrified by the possibility of being eaten, Wormtail changed back into a rat and scrambled out of the Tower with practically everyone – his old friends, their colleagues, and the students – chasing after him in hot pursuit.

"Afraid of a little kitty-cat like me, Wormtail?" Amihan taunted the little beast scampering ahead of them.

He scampered frantically through corridors and down staircases, desperately trying to elude capture yet another time.

This is getting to be quite a habit! he thought wryly. Just a little farther now…

Before he could reach the entrance hall, however, something definitely gave wings to his flight.

A big gray wolf suddenly emerged as if from nowhere. It growled menacingly at Wormtail and looked ready to pounce.

That's impossible! Wormtail backed away, frightened by the wolf's loud growls and sharp fangs. The full moon's over! It's broad daylight! And…

The wolf pounced. With a frightened squeak, Wormtail bolted. The wolf gave chase and was soon flanked by the panther.

"Nice Animagus form," the panther growled with a slight grin.

"It was the only one available on short notice," the wolf yipped. "The transformation didn't hurt."

"Only stands to reason: you're not a werewolf anymore. You've finally controlled the beast that was gnawing you."

"Well, we have Wormtail to thank for that."

"But…"

"I know: he still has a lot to answer for, though."

"Best thing you've had to say all day."

The frenzied rat scrambled down to the entrance hall.

Only a little more to go…

"Stop!" Remus suddenly changed back to his human form and blocked the panther in its tracks.

"What?" Amihan flowed back into her own form and stared at him in disbelief. "What are we stopping for?"

He motioned towards the massive doors.

"Watch."

I'll be home free! I'll be home free! I'll be…

Suddenly, lightning seemed to flash as the front doors exploded just as Wormtail reached them. The crash was deafening and the ground shook beneath them, knocking everyone to the floor. Remus caught Amihan just in time to cushion her fall.

But Wormtail…

When the smoke cleared, there was a large glass sphere where Wormtail had stood. Lying beside it on the floor was what appeared to be…

"Oh my God!" Amihan clung to Remus's arm as he picked the object up. "Is that what I think it is?"

…a rat's paw wrought in silver.

"What happened to him, Remus?" Amihan's voice was hushed and her eyes widened when she realized what he was holding. "Is he dead?"

"No." Remus tucked the paw into his pocket. "I just banished him somewhere – some place where he won't hurt anyone ever again…"

***

He found himself in a dark, desolate wasteland.

The fact that he was lame was an absolute disadvantage for him.

He could neither hunt as well as the others nor fight as well as the others.

Nevertheless, he would have to fight.

Food was scarce in this place where he'd been exiled. He would have to fight tooth and claw for it, dig the parched earth for it, scrounge in the deepest mire for it.

Never – not even in his worst nightmares – did he expect a fate like this, not even in the years when he hid himself from his many enemies.

Ah, if they could see him now, they would think How appropriate! What a fitting end to a traitor!

For now, he was doomed to the life of a scavenger. He was nothing more than a bit of vermin, nothing more but one of the many.

Such, alas, was the life of a rat.

***

"That's horrid, Remus!"

Headmistress McGonagall was appalled at Remus's explanation of what he'd done to Wormtail.

The whole group involved in the capture were having tea in the Headmistress's study. Minister Dumbledore was with them and nodded at Remus's alternative to simply killing the traitor and finally being done with it. The sphere in which Wormtail was contained in some alternate dimension was handed to the Minister for safekeeping. They would not trust anyone else.

"Horrid, yes," Dumbledore nodded as he set his cup down. "But merciful nonetheless; quite what I expected from you, Remus."

Remus, however, remained quiet the whole time. There was a sad, rather wistful cast to his face as he sipped his tea. The end of Wormtail seemed to close the book on the adventures of the four Marauders who once haunted Hogwarts, playing their mad little pranks against the Slytherins and prowling the grounds under the full moon. Wormtail's defeat would not give back the twelve years lost by Remus, Sirius, and Harry. It would never rewrite the horrid guilt-ridden years Remus spent wandering and seeking for normalcy, the dreadful years Sirius languished in Azkaban, or the miserable ones Harry spent with the Dursleys. Alas, it would not bring James and Lily back to life.

It did change a few things, though. Remus was no longer a werewolf and he'd been granted powers that quite made up for his years of pain-ridden misery. It also spelled the end of his loneliness, his alienation from the rest of the world. The smile Amihan threw his way in the course of the conversation was proof enough of that.

"Well, I guess that settles everything," Remus grinned as they all rose to their feet. He noted that it was already four in the afternoon. Classes would be over and the Gryffindors would be heading for the pitch for Quidditch practice.

"Are you doing anything this afternoon, Amihan?" he asked her as they made their way out of the study.

"Nothing, really," Amihan replied. "Why'd you ask?"

"Care to take your new broom on a test flight?" He offered his hand to her, his cheeks coloring slightly. "Oh! And before I forget…" He took her ring out of his pocket and slid it back on her finger. "Here you go."

Amihan dimpled impishly as she took his hand and they headed for the broom closet together.

"They look happy," Snape smiled.

"Yeah," Sirius agreed, tentatively putting his arm about Marilag's shoulders; luckily, she didn't object. "After all that's happened, they have every right to be so."

--END--