~*Epilogue - Irony's Twisted Hand*~
June 24, 1996
No...
Everything seemed to move in slow motion. As he watched Harry and Neville alight on the stairs leading out of the room, he became aware of the vicious duel that was still going on behind him. He heard Bellatrix cast her Stunning Spell, just as he heard Sirius' triumphant, "Come on, you can do better than that!"
But as he heard Bellatrix Lestrange cry out the two most dreaded words, all breath seemed to flee from Remus' lungs. He turned as the large room lit up in a flash of deadly green, and his silvery eyes widened as he saw Sirius, a mixture of fading mirth and growing shock on his thin face, fall in a painfully slow arch into the veiled archway and vanish from sight.
"No..."
A horrible leaden feeling sank in his stomach and his throat became dry as he watched the scene, and began to reply it slowly in his mind. He heard Lestrange shout in victory behind him, but before fury and hatred could seize him, he saw Harry, and he reached out quickly, grasping Harry in his arms before the boy could do anything rash. He held him tight, fighting to keep collected and calm as Harry voiced what he so fervently wished was true.
"There's nothing you can do, Harry-"
"Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!"
"It's too late, Harry-"
"We can still reach him-"
As his next words came from his mouth...it was almost as though someone else was saying them; someone else very far away.
"There's nothing you can do, Harry," he said, his voice somewhat shaky and faint. "Nothing...he's gone..."
No...
"He can't come back, Harry," he said, his voice almost betraying him. "He can't come back, because he's d-"
"HE - IS - NOT - DEAD! SIRIUS!"
He refused to let horror and unconsolable sorrow overcome his senses as he uttered those words...but he gritted his teeth as Harry struggled, refusing to believe that Sirius really was...
Dead.
The word slammed into his mind like a leaden sepulcher as he thought it...Harry's cries for Sirius were vague but piercing...and even now, so many weeks after Sirius' death, the scene was so very vivid in his mind...
To have come so far...only to have it all cut so short...
Death...
Remus sighed as he stepped through the gates of Hogwarts, unnoticed. School had been let out a few days ago, and after seeing Harry off at Platform 9 3/4, he had decided to return here...
His home. Hogwarts would always be his home...it had been his home before the castle had even been concieved...
Tears threatened his eyes as he trudged along, the sun slowly setting and the moon, waxing to full this night, began to ascend.
Sirius...how quickly the life had been snuffed from him...how powerless he was to stop it...How, for the second and final time, he had perished in front of his eyes by those who had once been his own blood...
He clenched his fists angrilly and closed his eyes, the tears slipping down his prematurely lined face. He strode quietly up to the lake, watching it quietly as the waves, which had once rippled with movement of the creatures below, suddenly seemed to cease all movement, as though transfigured into a great strech of ebony glass. He looked up into the night sky as the stars began to twinkle, and he noticed painfully that the Dog Star, Sirius, within the constellation Canis Major, was no longer quite so bright as it had been only weeks before. Keeping his eye trained on the faded star, he sighed. He had only promised reincarnation once...never had he expected in all his years that it would end this way...
And now...his promise was fulfilled...he would return...
Lowering his eyes, he looked about his surroundings one last time...The Celtics had died long ago..he was now only a relic of the past...the last druid had died, along with all that had given Remus such hope. His eyes fell upon the ancient, moss-covered rock that lay near the banks of the lake, and closed his eyes. He had met the druid there...had watched him die there...and as he opened his eyes, he saw, for the briefest of moments, a faint apparition sitting upon the rock, looking at him with a slight, familiar smile, wearing long, somewhat tattered robes and lengthy dark hair. But just as quickly as it had appeared, it had vanished like a Patronus on the wind. Closing his eyes resolutely, Remus took a breath and stepped out onto the glassy water, his feet barely gracing the top of the water. Not a ripple stirred as he stepped, and as he paused in the middle, he looked up as the moon began its advent across the skies. He had given up on mortality long ago...He had given up the name Remus Lupin upon his first step onto the lake...
As the moonlight fell upon him, casting him in a silvery glow, he took a deep breath. But instead of a flurry of fur and fangs, his threadbare, tattered robes seemed to gain an otherworldly glow about them, silivery and gleaming. An aura of light bathed him in white, and he sighed as his robes waved about him, no longer tattered, but full and the color of snow. His face, so worn with woe and weariness, seemed to regain youth, but never lost its completely lost and saddened expression.
Then, with one last glance, he vanished into the light, faded from the Earth and departed for the heavens. But as he dissapated onto the wind, the water rippled below him...
For when spirits weep, all the world weeps with them.
~*Owari*~
Built by Text2Html
June 24, 1996
No...
Everything seemed to move in slow motion. As he watched Harry and Neville alight on the stairs leading out of the room, he became aware of the vicious duel that was still going on behind him. He heard Bellatrix cast her Stunning Spell, just as he heard Sirius' triumphant, "Come on, you can do better than that!"
But as he heard Bellatrix Lestrange cry out the two most dreaded words, all breath seemed to flee from Remus' lungs. He turned as the large room lit up in a flash of deadly green, and his silvery eyes widened as he saw Sirius, a mixture of fading mirth and growing shock on his thin face, fall in a painfully slow arch into the veiled archway and vanish from sight.
"No..."
A horrible leaden feeling sank in his stomach and his throat became dry as he watched the scene, and began to reply it slowly in his mind. He heard Lestrange shout in victory behind him, but before fury and hatred could seize him, he saw Harry, and he reached out quickly, grasping Harry in his arms before the boy could do anything rash. He held him tight, fighting to keep collected and calm as Harry voiced what he so fervently wished was true.
"There's nothing you can do, Harry-"
"Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!"
"It's too late, Harry-"
"We can still reach him-"
As his next words came from his mouth...it was almost as though someone else was saying them; someone else very far away.
"There's nothing you can do, Harry," he said, his voice somewhat shaky and faint. "Nothing...he's gone..."
No...
"He can't come back, Harry," he said, his voice almost betraying him. "He can't come back, because he's d-"
"HE - IS - NOT - DEAD! SIRIUS!"
He refused to let horror and unconsolable sorrow overcome his senses as he uttered those words...but he gritted his teeth as Harry struggled, refusing to believe that Sirius really was...
Dead.
The word slammed into his mind like a leaden sepulcher as he thought it...Harry's cries for Sirius were vague but piercing...and even now, so many weeks after Sirius' death, the scene was so very vivid in his mind...
To have come so far...only to have it all cut so short...
Death...
Remus sighed as he stepped through the gates of Hogwarts, unnoticed. School had been let out a few days ago, and after seeing Harry off at Platform 9 3/4, he had decided to return here...
His home. Hogwarts would always be his home...it had been his home before the castle had even been concieved...
Tears threatened his eyes as he trudged along, the sun slowly setting and the moon, waxing to full this night, began to ascend.
Sirius...how quickly the life had been snuffed from him...how powerless he was to stop it...How, for the second and final time, he had perished in front of his eyes by those who had once been his own blood...
He clenched his fists angrilly and closed his eyes, the tears slipping down his prematurely lined face. He strode quietly up to the lake, watching it quietly as the waves, which had once rippled with movement of the creatures below, suddenly seemed to cease all movement, as though transfigured into a great strech of ebony glass. He looked up into the night sky as the stars began to twinkle, and he noticed painfully that the Dog Star, Sirius, within the constellation Canis Major, was no longer quite so bright as it had been only weeks before. Keeping his eye trained on the faded star, he sighed. He had only promised reincarnation once...never had he expected in all his years that it would end this way...
And now...his promise was fulfilled...he would return...
Lowering his eyes, he looked about his surroundings one last time...The Celtics had died long ago..he was now only a relic of the past...the last druid had died, along with all that had given Remus such hope. His eyes fell upon the ancient, moss-covered rock that lay near the banks of the lake, and closed his eyes. He had met the druid there...had watched him die there...and as he opened his eyes, he saw, for the briefest of moments, a faint apparition sitting upon the rock, looking at him with a slight, familiar smile, wearing long, somewhat tattered robes and lengthy dark hair. But just as quickly as it had appeared, it had vanished like a Patronus on the wind. Closing his eyes resolutely, Remus took a breath and stepped out onto the glassy water, his feet barely gracing the top of the water. Not a ripple stirred as he stepped, and as he paused in the middle, he looked up as the moon began its advent across the skies. He had given up on mortality long ago...He had given up the name Remus Lupin upon his first step onto the lake...
As the moonlight fell upon him, casting him in a silvery glow, he took a deep breath. But instead of a flurry of fur and fangs, his threadbare, tattered robes seemed to gain an otherworldly glow about them, silivery and gleaming. An aura of light bathed him in white, and he sighed as his robes waved about him, no longer tattered, but full and the color of snow. His face, so worn with woe and weariness, seemed to regain youth, but never lost its completely lost and saddened expression.
Then, with one last glance, he vanished into the light, faded from the Earth and departed for the heavens. But as he dissapated onto the wind, the water rippled below him...
For when spirits weep, all the world weeps with them.
~*Owari*~
Built by Text2Html