Wendy woke and wasn't immediately sure why. She was alone, which was odd since Remus had hardly left her side since she regained consciousness. It was dark outside and had the feeling of being quite late. She heard a sound and jumped out of bed. Fear clenching her heart, she fumbled for her slippers before summoning her wand. Cautiously, she moved out into the hall, searching for the source of the sound. The rational part of her mind knew that only members of the Order could get into the house, but the irrational part of her mind feared the Death Eaters had found her. She couldn't stand the thought of being trapped with Lucius again.
The noise was coming from downstairs, and it sounded like some sort of strange laughter. She rushed downstairs, wand at the ready. "Albus? What are you doing here?" she asked, relieved that it was just Albus. Strangely, it was Kreacher that was producing the laughter.
"Ah, Wendy, good to see you. Where are the others?" he asked.
"I don't know. I just woke up." She found it odd that Albus wouldn't know where everyone was. If they were all gone, they were likely on Order business.
"No matter. Kreacher will tell us."
Kreacher continued his maniacal laughing. "I don't have to tell you nothing. You isn't my master."
Wendy watched Dumbledore continue to question Kreacher, drawing out the answers in a most elegant manner. She was in awe of his skills as a Legilimens. When he was finished questioning Kreacher and rose to leave, she followed.
"Wendy, I need you to stay here," he said gently.
"I want to help. Remus might be in trouble."
He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You aren't ready to face them."
"I want to help," she repeated quietly, fighting back the tears.
Gently wiping the tear from her cheek, he said softly, "When you are recovered, you will be ready to help. It's not safe for you to be there. You still have nightmares, don't you?"
She looked away from him, closed her eyes, and bit her lower lip to stem the flow of tears. "I'm a trained Auror. Fighting Dark Wizards is what I do," she insisted, though her voice lacked conviction.
"Another day, Wendy. You would be no help to them tonight." He then slipped out the door, leaving her alone.
She heard Kreacher cackling behind her and spun on him. "Shut up!" she shouted.
"Oh, the blood traitor isn't allowed to play and now she gives Kreacher an order. The mistress would be so disappointed." He wandered off, his laughter echoing in the empty house.
Wendy decided to ignore Albus and ran upstairs to dress. Once she was ready, she ran back downstairs and tried to open the front door. She found the door wouldn't open for her. After trying every unlocking spell she could remember, she gave up and went upstairs.
&&&&&&&&
Hours passed and still no one returned. Wendy grew quite nervous. She jumped out of her skin when an unfamiliar voice called from behind her, "You! Where is Sirius Black?"
She spun towards the voice, wand at the ready, and saw it was a portrait. Since she knew her history, she recognized him. Of course, any Slytherin would have known him. "Headmaster Nigellus?"
He replied sarcastically, "Wonderful. You know who I am. Where. Is. Black?"
"He's not here, hasn't been here for hours. He and a group of the others went to the Ministry. Has Dumbledore returned to Hogwarts? How are the others?" She watched as Phineas disappeared through the paintings without answering.
She paced nervously. Apparently, Albus was back at Hogwarts. That meant the battle had to be over. When she heard the door open, she ran downstairs. She saw Remus standing in the doorway in a state of shock. Throwing her arms around him, she asked, "How are you?"
He held her tightly, as though his life depended on it. "He's gone," he replied quietly.
"Who's gone?" she asked gently.
"Sirius. They are all gone. James… Lily… Now Sirius… I'm the last."
She could feel him crying and held him tight. "I'm here for you."
He pulled back just far enough to lean his forehead against hers. "He just fell… Right through the veil." He kissed her, wanting to feel alive.
"Should I put the kettle on?" she asked as she led him downstairs. He didn't say anything, but didn't fight against her. Once tea was served, she placed a cup in front of him. "What happened?" she asked cautiously.
He recapped the battle for her and took comfort from her presence. "We'll have to leave now that he's gone. Of course, we'll have to clean up first, make sure we don't leave anything behind."
She took hold of his hands. "Naturally. I'll help."
He looked into her eyes and smiled weakly. "You're wonderful."
"With Lucius captured, I think we'll be safe back at my place. We can move back there after we are done here."
After a few moments of silence, he blurted out, "I don't want to wait any longer."
"For what?" She had no idea what he was talking about.
"To get married. Time is finite and we never know when our time will come." He cupped her cheek.
She looked into his eyes and could see that he was very serious. "Of course. I love you and want to be with you. Let's make the arrangements after we are done here."
He pulled her to her feet and embraced her tightly. "Thank you. Do you know how much I love you?"
"I'm here for you," she replied. "I love you more than I've ever loved anyone. We'll be all right."
"We will," he replied with conviction.
&&&&&&&&&
A/N: That's it. Thanks folks for those that stuck with me. This story grew quite a bit longer than I had initially intended, and I know it must have taken a great deal of patience to keep going. This story is more than 300 pages long, by far the longest thing I have written, and the longest story I am likely to write. One hundred fifty pages is a more reasonable story length for the chaptered fics.
I would especially like to thank winna, whose insightful review helped prod my muses into completing this story. Interestingly enough, I compared that to hitting a wall in a marathon and I managed to hold true to my idea to wrap this one up in 26.2 chapters.
Also, many thanks to my good friend Giton, who provided a nice sanity check on the end of the story for me.