A Marauder To The Last
Part Four
Remus
The worst thing about war, Remus decided, was waiting for the battle to commence. Pacing the darkness of the Hogwarts grounds, he could feel his stomach doing back flips. Everything was so familiar. Once, this had been a hallowed place, where the worst thing that could happen to him was getting jinxed by a Slytherin. Well, that hadn't changed much, had it? Only instead of Furnunculus, it would be Avada Kedavra, and instead of the hospital wing, it would be the morgue.
Behind him was a group of students, aged fifteen to seventeen. Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws- all so young, with their school robes hanging off their skinny frames, pushing their glasses up their noses and adjusting their sweaty grips on their wands. Remus had watched people die many, many times before, but never a child. He couldn't help but imagine Teddy in their place, a tall, gangly boy with his mother's confidence.
He made up his mind that he would do whatever it took to protect these children.
Off in the distance, the Quidditch pitch stood bathed in moonlight, its brass hoops glinting. Through rain and shine, wind and sleet, Remus had stood in those stands, yelling himself hoarse as he struggled to track the wild, darting movements of the brightly colored players. Nearer was the Whomping Willow, home to horrific, humiliating and marvelous memories all at once. His images of Hogwarts past were painted in red and gold.
Everything about this place reminded him of the Marauders. The two were inseparable. Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs would always reside at Hogwarts, the cleverest pranksters that school had ever known. Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and James Potter had grown up to love and fight and kill and die, but the Marauders lived on in youth, delighting in their own brilliance and the brilliance of the world around them.
That was the world he was fighting to keep safe- not this dark, desolate and desecrated sphere, but the world that he had once lived in and Teddy would one day live in. This too he swore.
Out of the gloom appeared a group of white masks, topped by pointed black hats. Someone behind him let out a muffled noise of fear. "It will be all right," he promised them, risking a glance behind him. He hadn't taught for four years now, but they were still his students. He was responsible for them.
A jet of red light shot towards them. "Protego!" Remus shouted, deflecting it, and the battle began in earnest. His pulse quickened, but his thoughts slowed. Fighting came naturally to him- he was, after all, a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. This was nothing more than a practical exercise, in which a bad grade meant certain death.
In the night, the magic was beautiful, arcing like multi-colored fireworks. The wandwork was graceful, elegant, even as it was fierce, or maybe because it was fierce. Dolohov fought like a wild animal, lunging at Remus again and again, slashing his wand knife-like through the air. Remus would recognize the Death Eater anywhere. Some could stay anonymous behind their masks, but others had been fighting this war for nigh on twenty years. Their gait, their form, the way they held their wands- it was unmistakable. In a way, they were like old friends.
Someone fell to the right of Remus with a sharp cry, and was still. He hesitated, eyes sliding towards the still figure- unmasked, bareheaded, a blue tie! - and just barely stumbled out of the way of Dolohov's curse. Violent violet light scored his arm, and he sucked in a sharp breath. Dolohov snarled and redoubled his efforts.
The pounding of many feet, large and small and far from human, echoed from behind Voldemort's army. Dolohov risked a glance behind him- big mistake. Lips twitching up at the corners, Remus dispatched him with a Stunner to the chest.
"Remus Lupin."
Teeth bared in a feral grimace, Fenrir Greyback emerged like a nightmare apparition. "Remus, Remus, Remus... My son. You should have surrendered when you had the chance. We would have welcomed you into the fold gladly, much more gladly than they have." He gestured with filthy hands towards the army of Hogwarts. "My Lord is more merciful, less prejudiced. It is a pity, then, that you had to kill so many of his faithful servants."
"Pity indeed," agreed Remus tartly, unwilling to let the werewolf see any sign of weakness. "One more shan't make a difference." Greyback leapt out of the way just a moment before Remus' jinx hit the place where he had been standing. With a wordless growl, he disappeared into the night, bounding towards Hogwarts.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Remus shouted, whirling after Greyback, blood thumping hot and loud in his ears. "Stupefy! Tarantallegra! Impedimenta! Reducto! Cruci-"
Something slammed into him, knocking the breath out of him before he could finish the Unforgivable Curse. "Remus, no!" cried a terribly familiar voice, and he looked down into the face of his wife.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded, quickly disentangling himself from her- just in time, as a blast of green light split the air between them. Tonks turned, flicking her wand at their attacker, and he wasn't sure that she had ever looked more beautiful that in that moment, battling for their lives.
"I came to fight," she retorted, turning back to him with eyes flashing emerald. "Teddy's safe with my mother. You can't-" he cut her off, leaning down to kiss her hard on the mouth. "No time," she whispered as they broke away, and side by side, returned to the fight.
By now, Dolohov had recovered and was quickly overpowering a pair of fifth-year Hufflepuffs, who were stumbling backwards under his onslaught. Tonks leapt to their aid, and Remus turned to a masked Death Eater who couldn't have been much older than the students he was dueling.
Springing forward, Remus nearly tripped over the body of the slain Ravenclaw girl who lay spread-eagled on the grass, grey eyes wide-open and staring. He forced himself to ignore her; the horror could be drowned later.
Somehow, he had backed his opponent up to the vicinity of Whomping Willow, and that temperamental tree stirred to life, dispatching the Death Eater with a blow of one of its thick branches. The boy went flying, and did not get up again. Remus spared a moment of thanks for the tree that had protected him for so many years, and then sprinted back towards his wife.
Green lightning shot towards her chest from a few yards away, giving her face a sickly pallor. "Tonks!" he roared, his eyes doing the instant math. There was no way he could reach her in time- but she didn't need him; she could protect herself just fine. He swelled with pride as she battled the Dark Lord's mindless servants, and at the same time wished that she weren't here at all.
The spell that finally cut him down was one he recognized, even without the incantation. This one belonged to Severus Snape, and he wondered if it were the man himself behind the mask. It slashed his throat open, and he fell like a marionette whose strings had been severed.
He knew what the other three must have felt, now. They were with him, urging him to finish it, once and for all. The desperate desire for survival belonged to Peter, giving him speed- oh, how he wanted to live! From Sirius he could feel the delicious power lent by adrenaline, coursing through his veins and drowning out all distractions. And then there was James, willing to do anything with the knowledge that he was giving away time to his child.
A second later, Tonks collapsed to the ground beside him, dead instantly. His vision was already fading, but he groped weakly for her hand, entwining his fingers in hers, and surrendered his soul.
End