I really hate to say it, but THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER!!!

But… there's a sequel! Yay!

Oh, the poem-thingy at the end is from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by one Will Shakespeare. Never heard of the guy… ;-)

Epilogue.

The bright red train was steaming. The platform, 9 and ¾, was crowded with Hogwarts students, from nervous little first-years with their parents to tall last-year students talking to their friends. Remus stood alone at the end of the platform, watching them. It looked so much like his own schooldays, and yet it didn't.
The memories…
"Ready to go back to another Hogwarts year, filled with pranks and Snape torture?"
He shook his melancholic mood away and picked up his old battered suitcase. The poor thing had certainly seen better days. Remus had packed his things yesterday evening, but when he'd lifted up his suitcase, it had decided to give up, and it had clapped open. Everything had fallen out. Remus had had to use string to tie his suitcase together. Then he had stamped his name on it, but the ink had been so dry and so old, it was already peeling off. Nice first impression his students would get of their new teacher.
After once last glance to the crowd of students, he got on the train. Looking for a compartment, he passed several students who were looking curiously at him.
Suddenly, he noticed where he was going. The last compartment, their compartment. Smiling inwardly, he started walking faster, hoping no one was sitting there.
When he'd reached his destination, he glanced through the window in the door. Empty.
He softly opened the door, stepped inside. He looked around the compartment. When he closed his eyes, he could see three boys sitting on the benches, eating candy and plotting pranks…
"Sirius, how about we find a way into Slytherin dungeons and turn it all red and gold?"
"Haven't we done that before?"
He would usually sit quietly in a corner, pointing out errors in their plans. Without hesitation, he sat down in that very same corner, after he'd put his suitcase in the luggage rack above him. His place was next to the window. Peter always sat opposite him, James next to him, while Sirius always took a seat next to Remus.
Remus would usually stare out of the window and enjoy the view, while listening to his friends. He never missed a word of their conversation, though he would seem far away.
He suddenly yawned. His eyes pricked from a lack of sleep. He had transformed only days ago, and was still exhausted. He was actually about to fall asleep right on the spot…
Blinking, he shook his head to wake himself up. Ridiculous, to fall asleep in a train. Stifling another yawn, he looked out of the window and saw the last students get into the train. A red-haired identical twin walked by and got in.
Tiredness blurred Remus' vision. He blinked and yawned at the same moment. His head sunk down and he closed his eyes. A little time wouldn't hurt…
He fell asleep, ignorant as to what the future would bring for him, not knowing what would happen this coming year, unaware of the events that would reunite him with people he had thought lost…

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended:
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
If we pardon, we will mend.
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck,
Now to escape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call:
So, goodnight unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

The end

Long author's note…

- sigh – that was it… end of story. Finally.
I calculated yesterday that I spent one year and three months writing this – I started April 14 2001 with what would later be known as "James & Lily" and finished this on July 12 2002. When I was on vacation last summer, Sirius hadn't even attempted to kill Snape. I had just finished the ball on Halloween and was in Scotland at the moment I did my final exams (and passed with good marks, thank you).
There are some cameo's and guest appearances in this fict. Let me name them for you:
- First of all Beth Black, Sirius' little sister. She's an actual person who wanted to be in this (well, she actually wanted to date Sirius, but that part was already taken) so there she was.
- Anne Zwarts is a real person too; my best friend in fact. She kind of threatened to kill me if I didn't let her go to the ball with Sirius and I wrote the whole "would you want to go with the ball to me?"chapter especially for her, on her request…
- Anne Zwarts' friend, who wanted to go to the library, is none other than me!
- Rose and Juvenis Fortus Angelus are real persons too, two people I know from the 'net and who wanted to be in it. and who am I to deny such a request? Juvenis was happy they were in Gryffindor, and Rose, I remember, was extremely happy she said a few words to Sirius…
- Then Remus' trip to the Netherlands. The two people he almost walked into at the airport were my parents, who had just been married the day before (no it isn't a coincidence that they married on the same day as James and Lily did…).
- Little Eric and his mother are the brother and mother of Anne!
- Mr and Mrs Raben are real, though I've never met them or talked to them in any kind of way. Timo Raben, in this fict mentioned as their grandson, is a math teacher at my school and could easily double for Remus, so he had to be in the fict!
- It's all rather cameo- or guest appearance-less until Remus goes to Scotland. The woman who is writing in the pub is of course JK Rowling. Has she based the character Remus on someone she has met some day? I wonder…
- The biggest (and best?) guest appearance has Crystal McCowan, who is also a real person. This story was first posted on the forum of harrypotterguide.co.uk, and she was the first to react on my request for a love interest for Remus, so she got the part. But I think this wasn't exactly the ending she had imagined, or hoped for…
- Not really a guest appearance or cameo, but Midas' name comes from the Big Bad Wolf from the Disney cartoon. Apparently he only has a name in the Netherlands…
- Speaking of names with a meaning: Lova means female wolf.

Now I could tell you from what I've quoted, but that list is almost endless… just a quick little list then: I've quoted from
- Harry Potter (PoA, Gof, CoS).
- Dracula, by Bram Stoker.
- Pride & Prejudice.
- Sonnets 130 and 18 by Shakespeare.
- Romeo & Juliet by Shakespeare.
- The poem The Raven by Edgar Alan Poe.
- The song Our Farewell by the Dutch band Within Temptation.
- The movie Moulin Rouge.
- Imagine by John Lennon.
- The movie Galaxy Quest (extra points if you can find that one!).
- The song Everthing I Do, I Do It For You by Bryan Adams.

That was everything, I think. Hm, that list wasn't that long after all…
Anything else to say? Ah, where did I get my ideas and inspiration from. Well, most of the large storyline (Voldie etc) comes from Harry Potter books, so that isn't really original. The rest all comes from my sick head… I used a lot of music for my inspiration: I listened to Duel Of The Fates, from Star Wars Episode 1, while writing James and Lily's deaths (it was a coincidence, but very cool) and I fed my sad mood while writing Remus' and Crystal's farewell with sad songs ("Unchained Melody" from the movie Ghost for example). I nearly cried my eyes out.
Ahm, some more interesting (and funny?) facts:
- This story has first been released as "The Fall of Voldemort: or the James and Lily Potter story", but everybody calls it "James and Lily".
- I started writing on april 14 2001 (exactly 89 years after Titanic collided with the iceberg) and finished on Friday July 12 2002.
- The final Dutch printed version counts 106 pages, which isn't a long story anymore, it is a book!
- According to my computer, I used (in the Dutch version, that is) 108.520 words and 13.727 lines.
- I can't count the number of times I played patience on my computer, every time I was out of inspiration… It must be thousands!
- I, personally, like the parts around October 31, 1981 the best, while I actually hate most of the Scotland chapter. It's so fluffy and mushy… not to mention the NC-17 experiment…
- I developed three addictions while writing: a Snape addiction, last summer (which made the "Snape is horrible"parts hard but a strange kind of fun to write), an Alan Rickman addiction (after finding out he played Snape in the movie!) and a Lord of the Rings addiction (I have yet to find a person who absolutely hates the movie…).

And last but not least a final word of thanks. Wait, let me do that in a Oscar kind of setting:
Oscardude: "And now, the award for the best fanfiction about Remus Lupin! The nominees are: euh, ******* (yet to be identified…) and Linda Lupos for her fict "Remus Lupin". And the winner is… *drum roll* Linda Lupos, with "Remus Lupin"!"
*audience cheers, camera's zoom on Linda, who is excited and amazed. She hugs the people next to her (also yet to be identified…) and makes her way to the stage, where the Oscardude gives her a nice golden statue of a quill on a piece of parchment. Linda hugs the Oscardude too (obviously in a hugging mood) and steps to the microphone*
Linda: "Oh wow, I never would have thought… I am so excited! * practically jumps up and down* this is really great! Ahm, I want to thank my parents for supporting me, even though they had no idea whatever I was doing or what I was writing, and er, my brothers for inspiring me for the character of Romulus, and, and, all my faithful readers! They supported me through the months and made me write on (even though their begging for more sometimes got annoying…). You have no idea what if feels like, the day after you've posted another chapter, especially when it's a chapter you feel uncertain about (cough cough NC-17 cough cough) and you read all those approving replies! It can really make your day! And let's not forget dear JK Rowling! I did not make up the main character, Remus, he was her idea. I was just playing in her yard, as some people call it… big, mayor thank you!!"
*is pushed off the stage by the Oscardudes*

Ow, I really, really do not want to go, but I honestly don't have anything else to say… You know what? I'm going to miss writing this, I really am. Even though it was horrible at times, when it simply would not come out the way I had imagined it, or when I had a writing block, or just no time to write, while everybody was screaming for more. And I miss Remus… I always just to think about new chapters in class, when I had nothing better to do. * sighs and is lost in memories*
If anyone has an idea for a new fanfict, I´ll be happy to hear it!
Just in an idle attempt to make the farewell less painful, a songtext. "Of Wolf And Man" by Metallica. Is there a song more appropriate for Remus? Mail me!

Of Wolf And Man
Off through the new day's mist I run
Off from the new day's mist I have come

I hunt
Therefore I am
Harvest the land
Taking of the fallen lamb

Off through the new day's mist I run
Off from the new day's mist I have come

We shift
Pulsing with the earth
Company we keep
Roaming the land while you sleep

Shape shift nose to the wind
Shape shift feeling I've been
Move swift all senses clean
Earth's gift back to the meaning of life

Bright is the moon high in starlight
Chill is the air cold as steel tonight

We shift
Call of the wild
Fear in your eyes
It's later than you realised

Shape shift nose to the wind
Shape shift feeling I've been
Move swift all senses clean
Earth's gift back to the meaning of life

I feel I change
Back to a better day
Hair stands on the back of my neck
In wildness is the preservation of the world
So seek the wolf in thyself

Shape shift nose to the wind
Shape shift feeling I've been
Move swift all senses clean
Earth's gift
Back to the meaning of wolf and man


The end…?

Sunday July 21, 2002, 1.10 hours…

No, not the end! Do read the sequel, Prisoner of the Moon, here at fanfiction.net!