It was bright, so bright, and he was warm, warmer than he'd been in years. And someone was stroking their fingers through his hair, and pressing soft lips to his forehead, his eyebrows, his cheeks and his lips. He opened his eyes to see Sirius smiling down at him.

"Hey." Sirius leaned in to kiss him again. "Feeling okay?"

Remus just stared. Sirius looked to be the same age that he'd been at the Department of Mysteries, but healthy, as if he'd never been to Azkaban. Healthy and impossibly beautiful, as always. Remus wondered vaguely what he himself looked like, and if his hair was still white. He hoped it wasn't.

"Am I dead?" he whispered hoarsely.

Sirius laughed. "Yes, and about time, too. I've been waiting."

"Oh." Remus looked around him. They were in a forest, but it didn't look much like the one he'd transformed in. "Where am I?"

"You're with me now, Moony. You're with me." Sirius took his hand. "Come on. Let's go."

Remus found himself being helped to his feet. He wasn't aching like he usually was after a transformation. That if nothing else convinced him that he must be dead. "Where are we going?"

Sirius kept hold of his hand and started walking, pulling Remus up alongside him. "To see the others. They've been waiting too."

"Others? Who? James and Lily?"

"And Peter too."

Remus stopped, his free hand going to his throat reflexively. "Peter! Sirius, I don't think…"

Sirius shook his head. "Don't worry Remus, it's not like that. Things are different here. It's all right."

Remus was forced to take Sirius at his word. He let Sirius start walking again, and followed after. "Different how?"

Sirius shrugged. "Don't know exactly. They just are."

"Are you still an Animagus?"

Sirius nodded. "Yep."

"Am I still a werewolf?"

"Don't know that yet. Maybe not. It seems that the bad things kind of…disappear here."

Remus thought about that for a minute. "Is this heaven?"

Sirius turned to him and gave him a blindingly bright smile. "It is now you're here. But don't tell James I said that, he'll give me a right bollocking."

Remus smiled. "It's less white than I imagined it would be."

Sirius laughed and squeezed his hand, and started to say something else, but just then through the trees came the sound of thundering hooves, and as they got closer he heard the squeaking of a rat, and shrieking laughter that he hadn't heard in more years than he cared to remember. A few moments before the stag burst through the trees, a rat on his head and a cackling, red-haired girl on his back, Remus turned to Sirius and hugged him tightly, whispering in his ear, "I missed you, you know. So much. I can't even say how much."

Sirius hugged him back, so tightly that he could barely breathe and whispered back, "I know. I missed you too. But everything's all right now, Moony. You're with us again now. You're home."