Disclaimer: All people, places, and things that you recognize as J.K. Rowling's work are. "My Immortal" is property of Evanescence.
The song is posted at the bottom. You can scroll past it if you so choose.
PART TWO
Dec. 23, 1993
Professor Remus Lupin wandered the empty corridors of Hogwarts somewhat despondently. He felt sick. Of course, the Wolfsbane potion Snape gave him always made him feel a bit green, and he had often suspected Snape of mixing in some harmless element that just made him feel really nauseous, but this time he knew the feeling had little to do with the potion. He'd felt ill for months, and it was directly related to the fact that Sirius Black was out of Azkaban.
Remus shoved a lock of prematurely greying hair out of his eyes for the third time in ten minutes. It wasn't as if Sirius was coming after him, Remus told himself logically. Still, Remus felt uneasy that Sirius wasn't safely behind bars. Especially since the rumor was that he was looking for Harry. Who was at Hogwarts, along with a certain Defence against the Dark Arts professor. And even though Sirius had betrayed him and James and Lily, and outright killed Peter, Remus still wasn't sure if his willpower would hold if it came down to him and Sirius, or worse, if Sirius asked Remus to protect him.
Remus shrugged off this thought. He turned the spare button he'd found in his coat pocket over in his fingers. It always calmed Remus when his hands had something to do. If not for that button, he might be going mad.
He found himself at the end of a hallway, faced with a large wooden door. Shrugging, he turned the knob. The door opened on a long, rectangular room. All the desks were stacked at the back of the room except for one bench set in front of an ornately framed window. Remus sat down on the bench with his back to the window, fingering his button and trying to stop thinking. When this proved to be a fruitless exercise, he turned to look out the window. He flipped his legs over the bench with a sigh.
It wasn't a window after all, he discovered, but a mirror set close to the wall. Remus didn't really care for mirrors; they reminded him of the hand life had dealt him.
Nonetheless, he began to examine his face in the mirror; he noted the color of his eyes, the lines that had appeared around them since the last time he'd seen himself, the strands of white running through his sandy hair. He caught a flicker of movement behind him in the mirror and looked up.
Sirius Black was standing directly behind him.
Remus whirled around-- but no one was there.
Remus's heart was pounding in his throat. He turned back to the mirror. Sirius was still there, looking just as he had twelve years ago. Remus shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut. when he opened them, the Sirius in the mirror had moved to sit beside him. Instinctively, Remus turned his head to the side, but no one was there. His heart jumped every time that happened. Damn it. Remus looked up-- anywhere but Sirius. Seeing him again was making his heart feel as if someone were pounding a chisel into it.
His eyes lit on the top of the mirror frame. there were words there. he could tell they were in English (or at least the letters were), but they were written in a strange, old-fashioned sort of script that made them hard to read.
He only needed to read the first word, however. Erised.
"Damn it. Of all the classrooms in the school, I have to run into this one. Why does Dumbledore have to keep this blasted thing here, anyway?"
Remus chanced a look at the mirror. Sirius now had his arm around Remus and was saying in something into his ear. The Remus in the mirror grinned and placed his hand over Sirius's.
As Remus watched, Sirius kissed his cheek, now wrapping his other arm around Remus.
Remus's heart was clenched with fear and anger. Why the Hell did he still want this? Sirius had betrayed them all! Why did Sirius have to keep smiling that unnerving smile at him? And why did his reflection smile back blissfully, as if nothing was wrong? EVERYTHING was wrong! Remus threw the button he had been holding at the mirror with all his strength. It simply bounced off, not leaving a crack or even a scratch.
"Damn you!" Remus shouted at the mirror. "Damn you to Hell, Black!"
Remus, standing now, kicked the bench over and left the room. Unlike Harry a few years before, he never went back to that room; never sought out the Mirror of Erised again.
It was too painful.
-----
My Immortal - Evanescence
I'm so tired of being here
Suppressed by all my childish fears
And if you have to leave
I wish that you would just leave
'Cause your presence still lingers here
And it won't leave me alone
These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase
When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have
All of me
You used to captivate me
By your resonating light
Now I'm bound by the life you left behind
Your face it haunts
My once pleasant dreams
Your voice it chased away
All the sanity in me
These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase
When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have
All of me
I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone
But though you're still with me
I've been alone all along
When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have
All of me
Me...
Next chapter: A summons, bellbottom trousers, and... well, you'll just have to find out, won't you?