Title: The Last Stand
Author: Seadragon
Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama
Rating: PG-13
Summary: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Lily Potter had a plan. A very critical plan. A plan that took three years of planning to perfect. A plan involving extreme sacrifice. A plan full of dangers. A plan that would change the way the war was fought. Forever…
~
Four there once were
One by one they fell
And now,
Four there are once again
The last chance for salvation
If they fall, so shall we all.
Moony. Wormtail. Padfoot. Prongs.
The last line of defense
"It is the choices we make who shape us for who we really are."
~
The Last Stand
Seadragon
Chapter Two: The Future Starts Now…
~
As spell and cloak alike were dropped, insignificant now, the five people who had emerged from beneath them had to bite back their loud and joyous greetings. And tears. Definitely tears. It was vital that they weren't discovered now. Instead, they all formed a group hug. They had to convince themselves that this was indeed real. But slowly, all but two backed away, with respect for the bond between those left.
Sirius Black and James Potter.
They had survived more than anyone could imagine together. They had sacrificed everything to save the world together, more than once. It wasn't the sort of thing that could be faked. In just their sixth year, when James and Lily had been trapped in the forest, with no hope, Sirius had risked life and limb to find them. And James had done much in return. Over the years, since they had first met when they were just children, they had saved each other's lives. From both physical and mental harm. It was a bond that could not be broken, and the others respected that. Even Lily, who had once been jealous beyond belief of what the two of them shared. She too had learned over time, that this wasn't to be taken lightly. There are no words to describe it.
Slowly, the two moved apart, and James went to Lily.
"Too long Lily. Is it really you?" He whispered holding a hand up to her face, his voice only audible to her. Her only response was a bone-breaking embrace. She buried her face in his shirt, which was rapidly getting soaked with tears. They stayed that way for many minutes, just holding each other for comfort, much like many times before, and many times to come. These were the things that never changed, no matter how much time past, or what happened in the world around you. The world could fall to the ground at their feet, and still what the five of them shared would stand against the destruction of everything.
After they had been reassured that it was indeed who they had hoped, they greeted the others, who had been standing back a ways, smiling. Too much bad had happened. It was hard to believe that it could change, that they could have another chance. But first they had to know exactly where the stood. And before that, James needed his power back. It was a matter of life or death.
Finally, someone said the inevitable.
"I think it's time we found Dumbledore." James said quietly. They all exchanged nervous glances. Planning it was one thing, going about it, well, that was a different story altogether. Include the fact that they had not planned this small part, except that one of them would go, in disguise, to meet with him, while the others followed closely, invisible. They hadn't decided who would wear the disguise, or how they would meet with Dumbledore.
"Who?" Peter asked, his voice still had the slight tremor that it had had when he was in Voldemort's service. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he cringed, expecting the sharp, burning pain of Cruciatus. After sixteen dreadful years under the Dark Lord, he had learned that offering an opinion, or speaking out of place, earned you pain. Harsh, dreadful pain. Only Lily seemed to notice, as the other three were looking at each other, unsure. She gave him a sympathetic look and he smiled. It was a strained smile, but a smile nonetheless, one of the first genuine smiles he had offered in years.
"Not James." Was all Sirius had to say. They could understand that, James had been disguised for fifteen years, and still wasn't wholly his self. Of the five of them, only Lily, Remus, and Peter were levelheaded enough to pull of a stunt like this now, and Peter was still shaken from his encounters with Voldemort over a long-term basis. Lily had only just been able to shed her disguise, and wasn't completely willing to adopt it again, but she would if she had too. As four minds worked this all out, their eyes slowly turned to Remus.
"Fine. I'll do it."
Remus Lupin
"Good man, Moony." Sirius smiled at him. Slowly, as all of them were unwilling to hide again, cloaks and spells were set. This time, Lily cast an invisibility charm on Sirius for him, because a camouflage spell would never fool Dumbledore. James transformed Remus, so quickly and so efficiently, that one minute their friend was standing there, the next, a complete stranger, totally unrecognizable.
"I'll pull it off you at the right moment," James whispered. "When we all become visible to everyone."
Remus nodded, and examined his disguise. He was wearing some nice robes for a change, a deep blue that went nicely with his newly black hair. His wand, still held tightly in his hand, was longer, and a lighter color wood. "Alright, let's go." He spoke to thin air; already the four others were invisible. A voice came to him from his left.
"Just act normal, but not too normal. Make a lot of noise to attract Filch, and say you need to see the Headmaster. We all know he'll take you right there, hoping to get someone in trouble." This was James, speaking to him from about three feet away, as near as he could guess. His voice was quiet, but urgent. "Here, I'll do something that'll bring him running." He paused a second, apparently thinking. "Close your eyes and cover your ears everyone."
"BANG!"
An explosion went off five feet above their heads. Even with his eyes closed, Remus could see flashes of silver. Whatever James had done, it had worked. Already, he could hear a set of frantic footsteps running towards them. "What about the students?" He asked quietly. This could all fail if there were students running around the castle.
"I placed Silencing wards around the dormitories."
Remus gaped at him. That should take him thirty minutes at the least to set up wards like that, not thirty seconds. He realized how little he knew about what James could do. He didn't even have all of his power, just a trace of it. Remus cleared his head of the thought; there would be time enough to go into that later, now he needed to be taken to Headmaster Albus Dumbledore's office.
The voice was gone, and Remus knew the others were standing behind him, watching silently, waiting just a few more minutes for the moment they had been waiting for, for fifteen long years.
The footsteps were just around the corner now. Remus took a deep breath. If he messed this up… Well, there would be serious repercussions.
Argus Filch
Argus Filch rounded the corner and stopped. He had been expecting a student. Sure, the Weasley twins were gone, but that didn't mean other students didn't cause trouble ever now and again. Instead, a tall man with black hair and blue eyes was standing underneath the remnants of the magical explosion, wand in hand.
This was strange, very strange, for two reasons. One, the only adults in Hogwarts were the professors, and this wasn't one. Two, it was the students who were troublemakers, not grown men.
For the first time in recent history, Argus Filch was scared.
How did this man get here? He didn't look like anyone he had seen before. You couldn't Apparate on the Hogwarts grounds, and the only way here besides from Hogsmeade, and you had to have a password to get through the gate, besides that fact that there were more wards on that gate than would be needed to guard a thirty story building. The only way onto the grounds was through the Forbidden Forest, and this man didn't look like he had been sneaking around in the most dangerous wood this side of Europe.
There were also some secret passages, but no one knew where most of them were. Even he himself didn't know the whereabouts of all of them. This stranger most certainly would not have known. He didn't look like the kind of man who would break in either, and, despite his obviously expensive robes, didn't appear to be all that powerful.
That this man would be making demands never occurred to Filch.
"Take me to Albus Dumbledore." The man's voice was full of authority, and left no room for argument. Filch missed his eyes twitching to the side, and the slight ripple in the air beside the man. What he didn't miss was the man's wand, held tightly in his hand. He was holding it by his side, in a non-threatening position, but that could change at any moment, and Argus Filch, for all his talk, couldn't do a drop of magic.
Filch hesitated for but a moment. Making a rare split second decision, he nodded and turned back around. He started walking on the route to the Headmaster's office, one he had memorized years ago after making thousands of trips there with troublesome students. Though, he would rather he didn't know it, because that would have meant his job was easy. With students all nice and proper, polite. But that was, of course, too much to ask. After all, they were children, aged from ten to eighteen. But he wasn't even allowed to discipline them properly, with whips and chains, because that was barbaric, in the words of Minerva McGonagall. Albus Dumbledore had never said so much, but he knew the old man felt the same. He had nearly forgotten about the stranger. He turned his head to see if he was there.
Indeed he was. Filch twisted his head back around and brushed his stringy hair out of his eyes. He walked up the stairs quietly, leaving dirt on the floor, a crime he frequently punished students for. The strange man followed behind him, silent again.
Sirius Black
Sirius watched as Filch led Remus, in his clean new robes, a sharp contrast to the janitor's filthy attire, to the Headmaster's office. He and the others were following close behind, invisible to everyone, including each other. Really, he could only guess that the others were there, but he knew they were. This was incredibly important. To everything.
The invisibility spell Lily had placed on him was amazingly complex. Not only was he invisible, but also if people walked into him, they wouldn't feel it, and would go around him unconsciously. He tried to remember the incantation, if he could learn this, things could only get better. Perhaps, once they had settled to await the next part of the plan, Lily could teach him how to use it successfully.
But right now, he had to watch where he was going, after running into a wall trying to see if he could pick out his friends around him, he realized it would be in his best interests if he looked where he was going. Straining his ears, he could only hear two sets of footsteps. Remus's and Filch's. He couldn't even hear his own.
Silencing wards.
Sirius grinned. Of course. James would have set Silence on them so no one would hear the footsteps of people who weren't there. It was undeniably handy to have a friend who could read minds. Well that confirmed that they were indeed there with him, albeit invisible and completely silent.
Of course we are.
Though, it could get slightly annoying, having your best friend making sarcastic comments in your mind that you couldn't block out or ignore. As if he got the hint, there were no more random comments in his head. Sirius could still remember the first time he learned James could read minds, and experienced it. He had thought he had gone crazy. After all, he had only been seven; hearing voices would scare any kid. It had happened when James had gotten lost in a park outside his house.
They never had told anyone exactly how Sirius knew where to find him. It scared both of them. Six-year-old James hadn't even meant to enter his mind, he had just been screaming for help, terrified out of his mind, like any normal six year old would be, yet, he wasn't exactly a normal six year old. They didn't understand it until much later.
But, again, that didn't matter now.
Remus Lupin
Remus followed Filch without protest; after all, he was taking him where he wanted to go. Somewhere he wouldn't be able to get into with his help. Sure he knew exactly where it was, all the Marauders did, they had been there enough, but he was pretty sure the password would have changed in the last seventeen years. Of the five of them, he had been at Hogwarts the most recently, but he still missed the familiar walls. He recognized a lot from his many years here.
But something was new.
The portrait of the four of them hadn't been there three years ago when he was a teacher. That was definite. He would have remembered something like that. He stared at it, and felt his chest tighten.
Filch heard Remus's footsteps stop and he turned around to see what was going on. Seeing Remus's eyes on the portrait, he decided to offered an explanation, just incase this man was someone important, perhaps a Ministry Official, they had had a few visit before. But, if he was Ministry, why didn't he recognize him, and why hadn't he identified himself before?
"That's a new addition, just added at the beginning of this year. It's the only picture in this whole school of students. But the Headmaster wanted it. They were special students." He said this with such contempt that Remus wanted to hit him. Of course, he didn't. He had too much self-control. Sirius or James would have most definitely beaten on the poor man, but even they had enough control not too when they were meant to be invisible, at least, he hoped they did.
"Er, who were they?" If he didn't ask, Filch would become suspicious, and that was the last thing he needed. He gazed at the younger versions of themselves, remembering the day the picture was taken. It had been sixth year, just after the disastrous muggle camp. The four of them had been sitting beneath their tree, planning a prank. It was an excellent photo, he had a copy on his desk.
"They called themselves the Marauders, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter." Filch still wore the look of disgust on his face as he stared at the picture of the four boys. "They caused the most trouble of all the students this school has ever had. The Headmaster's favorites. And now, two of them are dead, one's a traitor, and one's a bloody werewolf." It took every shred of Remus's self control not to pummel Filch, a pummeling he sorely wished to deliver. Again, he remembered this was why he was chosen for this part, not one of the others. Because he wouldn't kill anyone. Which was more than he could say for Sirius or James.
Reluctantly Remus tore his eyes away from the picture and nodded to Filch. "Let's keep going." Filch complied and started walking again. Remus followed him, eyes on the ground. Why had Dumbledore insisted upon that picture being put up? If anything it proved that everything would break with pressure, not exactly the ideal message to pass along to his students at this point in the war. And they would know who the people were, as their names were engraved on a gold plaque below the picture. It read "The Marauders" and below that, "James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew".
Remus had been extremely careful that Dumbledore would not know anything. He had even tested the man with Veritaserum after a recent Order meeting and had wiped the whole incident from his mind immediately after. There was no way he could know. This thought safe in his mind, Remus lifted his eyes to look around once again. Almost there.
James Potter
James had also seen the picture. He had stopped and stared at it for long moments, before picking up the trail again, following Sirius, Lily, and Peter, who remained visible to his eyes. Even with his limited power, he still held more than the average wizard. Even here he could feel the pull of his power. It was a constant headache at the back of his mind. He needed to reclaim it, otherwise it would drive him mad. He felt the call of his wand as well, requesting for him to retrieve it, to hold it in his hand again.
Fighting the urge to break away from his friends and submit to the will of his power, he followed them dutifully. He watched them forge on, ignoring familiarities all around them. He too had not been here for many, many years. The picture represented what they had once been, four boys with everything. But now, they were believed to be broken. Just as Remus had moments before, James wondered why Albus Dumbledore would place such a picture in this castle, where the students would need day-to-day reassurance that there was hope. This picture proved the opposite. At least, it had done so, but no longer. They had never really broken, even though they had been miles apart, they were still one.
They always would be.
As they approached the entrance to the Headmaster's office, James came up behind Sirius, Lily, and Peter. They had all halted just behind Remus and Filch, and were staring apprehensively at the place where the staircase would soon be revealed. This was the reason they needed Filch, the password. Other than that, they would be able to get right through. James had considered breaking through the password protections, but this way there was no suspicion before hand, and they could hold all the cards.
"Lemon drops."
James grinned, Albus Dumbledore had always had a strange fascination with the muggle candies. Trust him to use it as a password. It followed the pattern though, for the past twenty-five years the brilliant, if eccentric, man had used candy for passwords. It was quite inspired actually, because who would expect one of the most respected wizards in the entire world to use the names of various candies for a password? No one, which ensured that they wouldn't be able to guess it, and break in.
The statue rose, and Remus and Filch stepped onto the staircase. Hurriedly, as so not to be left behind, the other four followed. They all crowded onto the steps, extremely close but not touching, as Lily and Sirius had the same spell covering them, which cause people to step around them without even knowing why, much like the giant, purple Knight bus, and James could see the others clear as day.
As the staircase spiraled upwards towards Albus Dumbledore's office, the five former students braced themselves. It was only a matter of time now.
Argus Filch
This strange, unknown man had just appeared in Hogwarts, and he already had Filch following his orders. There was something wrong with that. But Argus wasn't too concerned, after all, the man only wanted to see Dumbledore, it wasn't like he had asked to murder all the students. Though, it wasn't like someone would actually ask something like that, they would just do it. And they wouldn't ask to see the Headmaster. It wasn't like they would be able to harm anyone anyway. Despite the fact that he disagreed with Dumbledore on many things, he kept the school safe. It wouldn't fall while he was there, despite the increased killings in the muggle and wizarding world.
Whatever this man wanted to speak to Albus Dumbledore about, it couldn't be something bad, or dangerous, because no Death Eater would have dressed like that, or asked politely. At least, he hoped they wouldn't, or he was in a lot of trouble. A thought struck him.
"What's your name then?"
"Uh, Jonathan Marshall." Came the hurried reply. Filch looked at the other man curiously, there was something a little off about him, no doubt. But he already knew that, (what sort of normal person appeared in a magical school in the middle of the night?), and he wasn't too worried about it. A lot of people in this world were slightly strange, it went without saying.
"Here we are."
Filch stepped off the stairs and knocked on the large door. Unbeknownst to him, Lily, Peter, Sirius, and James ran up the rest of the staircase and settled behind them just before the stairs began their slow descent down, closing off the entrance to any student sneaking around the school.
Lily Potter
Lily had been ready, as soon as the stairs stopped, she bolted up them and onto the landing outside Dumbledore's office. She stopped behind Remus and Filch once again and waited for the door to open. Her red hair rested on her back, settled once again after her run up the stairs. She watched as Filch knocked on the large wooden door, and saw the frightened expression in Remus's newly blue eyes.
She imagined the same expression would be mirrored in her own emerald green eyes, if anyone could see them. She was just as frightened as Remus was, if not more. She knew nothing of what had been happening for the past fifteen years. She didn't even know what her own son looked like. And she wouldn't until the next morning. No, until later this morning, it was past midnight. But a mere few hours wasn't long at all after a decade and a half, she would survive the wait.
First they needed to clear some things up with Dumbledore.
Then she could see her son again, Remus had said he looked a lot like James. But she wouldn't have cared if he looked like a polka-dotted whale. He was her son, and she hadn't seen him for fifteen years. He had had to live with her bitch of a sister, and her husband and bullying toe rag of a son. They would have made his life a misery, though, at least he would have had Hogwarts as an escape for the past six years, and now he could have a proper home, even if only for a little while. A voice from within the office snapped her mind back to here and now.
"Come in."
Filch opened the door and stepped in. Remus followed him, with the other four close behind him. The door swung shut behind them. Lily was wondering exactly where to stand when suddenly she could see the other three. When Filch and Dumbledore didn't comment she realized James must have done something fancy, something she couldn't even begin to understand. She and Peter exchanged glances, Sirius didn't look surprised. But, he always had known James best, better than even her.
They can't see you. Don't worry about it, I've got it covered. But we need to line up in some sort of order, so he will be able to see all of us right away.
Lily knew exactly what that order should be. She had known for a long time too. There was only one obvious way. Organizing the thought in her mind, she waited, she knew he would see it. He had warned her twenty years ago that if she didn't want him to know it, don't think it around him. Well, this time she wanted him to know.
Alright, this is what it'll be, where we all stand. Lily thought of it, I'm just following orders.
The three of them snorted. It seemed the Silencing wards had been lifted so they could hear, as well as see, each other. James didn't take orders, he never had. Even as an Auror, he had been famous for making his own rules, and then breaking them along with the Department regulations. But somehow, he got the job done, with almost no casualties on his record, so they had suffered his rebelling quietly, after they had realized it would never change, no matter what they said or did, short of firing him, something they could never do. It would have been one of the stupidest the Ministry had done, and, as everyone knew, they had done some extremely stupid things over the years.
I heard that. Sirius, go stand on Remus's left side, right beside him. Lily, stand next to Sirius, just behind him, and Peter do the same on Remus's side. I'll stand just in front of Remus and Sirius.
Silently, they complied, and lined up. As soon as they all were in position, the other three blinked out of sight, it appeared James had raised the wards again. Lily examined where she was standing, almost directly behind Filch, to her left were bookshelves, piled high with valuable items. One such thing was a handful of small silver bubbles, that reflected the room void of all it's occupants. Each one was about an inch in diameter, and shined to a sparkle. As already mentioned, they reflected the room in an exact replica, every inch of it displayed around the circle, except without any people, or animals, she noticed that Fawkes was also absent from the mirror image. Beside them, a miniature of the solar system hovered above a silver stand. Each planet was an intricately worked precious stone. It was a beautiful piece of work, something many people would killed to get their hands on. Though, knowing Dumbledore, he would give it away with out a thought.
Earth in particular was particularly well crafted and beautiful. It was a mixture of emeralds, sapphires, and the occasional topaz dotting the emeralds as mountains. It was translucent, with a small ball of light on the inside, making the entire thing sparkle. It was as though there was a tiny sun trapped inside. Lily sighed with repressed longing. All these objects were both beautiful and powerful. She would have loved to examine them. But that too would have to wait.
James Potter
James was standing dead center in front of Dumbledore's desk. He could see the old man clearly. To his right stood Filch, as filthy as ever. He too was examining the room, looking at strange artifacts. He noticed Lily's attention on a pile of silver bubbles and smiled. She had always been fascinated with charms such as the one placed on those bubbles.
His own attention was soon focused on a curious medallion on the Headmaster's desk. It didn't really look like anything special, just beautiful. It had no powers to speak of, but it was a finely crafted piece. It was perfectly round, and made of solid gold, the outer edge was encrusted with small glittering rubies. In the center, a diamond sparkled. It looked like a wheel, with eight spokes going from the diamond at the center, to the outer rim, with open air between them. It also looked strangely familiar. All in all, it was about four inches across in all directions, and could have fit easily in his palm.
"Yes Mr. Filch? What do you need?" Dumbledore's voice was as quiet as usually, if slightly curious. His white hair and beard mingled so that the two were not discernable from each other. Yet, his blue eyes were still full of the same vigor for life that they had held when he was a child.
"This man requested to see you, I found him on the fourth floor, by the painting of Ernham Bucktrop and his thirty wives. I've got to be going now though Headmaster, there is a broken cabinet on the second floor, by the girls' washroom." Filch spoke while backing out the door, Lily stepped aside just in time, Dumbledore would know something was up if Filch moved out of her way, while walking backwards, when there was nothing, that could be seen at least, there. As soon as he had passed, she moved back into position, James watched her with a smile.
The door closed soundlessly behind him and they could hear Filch's descent down the stairs. Just as an extra precaution, James raised a Silencing ward that covered every inch of the wall around the office, and block up all the cracks. He was spreading his power thin now, seeing as he had only a whisper of it remaining with him. He still felt the tug of his power in the Gryffindor dormitories. He also felt remnants spread around the castle, from his previous Silencing wards that day. He opened a hole in the wards against magic in Dumbledore's office and let the power flow into the room and into him. James closed the hole and strengthened them, and the Silencing wards. After all, you could never be too careful.
"Would you like some tea? Coffee?" Dumbledore asked Remus, moving over to pour a cup for himself. James dropped a piece of the ward and nodded, then, he raised them completely once again. Even though he could only see the back of James's head, Remus got his meaning. It was such an amazing display of the power James had. He could manipulate his own spells, as well as anyone else's.
Remus remembered when Lily had told him about James's little display, to show her he wasn't joshing her when they had been lost in a forest with Death Eaters everywhere. She had ended up tied to ground with unnaturally strong grass magicked into advanced growth, with a ring of newly fallen trees and magical blue fire all around her, enough to frighten someone into believing anything you said. Then he had restored everything to what it had been before he had tampered with it. And then he had gone and killed an army of Death Eaters, saving a lot of lives. If that wasn't terrifying, he didn't know what was.
Remus smiled and nodded to the Headmaster, a man who had been so kind to him all his life. First he had allowed him into the school, where others would have turned him away, and then he had given him a job. And all the while he had betrayed his trust in someway or another. When he was a student he had led three students to become illegal animagus and to run around the grounds and Hogsmeade at night, endangering human lives. And as a professor, he had neglected to tell him that Sirius was an animagus, despite the fact that he knew nothing would happen. But he had still with held information. But Dumbledore had learned of both, when he had told him, and had forgiven him. That was something he would never forget. "Tea please, milk and sugar, if you have it?"
"Of course." Dumbledore handed Remus a blue china cup of Earl Gray tea and motioned for a chair. "Wont you sit down?" Remus didn't move, except to put the tea onto a small wooden table over to his right, before moving back to exactly where he had been before, down to the last inch. If Dumbledore noticed, he didn't say anything.
"I'm fine here thank you."
"Alright." Albus Dumbledore settled himself into his brown leather chair behind his des, still covered in priceless artifacts, and looked at Remus over the rim of his moon shaped spectacles. "What exactly do you need?"
And then all the spells dropped.
To Be Continued…
~
Four friends who had everything
And then they were left with nothing
Four brothers who were inseparable
And then they were miles apart
One bond that was unbreakable
And then they were broken.
~
