Chapter Two

"A short life and a merry one, my buck!

We used to say we'd hate to live dead-old,–

Yet now… I'd willingly be puffy, bald,

And patriotic."

Wilfred Owen, A Terre (being the philosophy of many soldiers)

# # #

Sirius had spent his days blasting inanimate objects in the Grimmauld Place drawing room and brushing up on his duelling skills, and as such his reactions were precise, calculated, and razor-sharp. It was with an energetic intensity that he fought, firing hexes and curses in an unending stream. All around him the battle raged and the sounds of the apocalypse thundered; the curses, the destruction, were like the pounding rumble of the horse's hooves as they carried the horsemen closer. The chanting curses were recited like a liturgy, like obsessive prayers of survival. Hogwarts was on fire; the world was about to fall.

But Sirius- the Lamb of God- thought not of the damage and the destruction and the death as he trudged closer, with only the victory outweighing the grief of the sacrifice.

When suddenly, he caught sight of the flaw in his plan, battling furiously with Antonin Dolohov. Sirius pushed between duelling pairs until he rushed forward and rammed Dolohov with his shoulder; Dolohov was caught off guard and overbalanced, toppling onto the floor. Sirius seized Lupin and dragged him back.

"What are you doing here?" Sirius cried, pulling Lupin with him as he jostled through the duellers.

Lupin looked furious, and Sirius saw a shadow of the wolf flicker across his human face. "Why didn't you tell me? Why were there anti-apparition limits all around the village? I had to run miles out just so I could apparate here!"

Sirius shoved Lupin violently behind a pillar and narrowly avoided a curse as it shot past his ear. He fired one back over his shoulder. "I don't want you here!"

"I can help!" They were screaming at each other but their words were lost within the cries of the fighters.

"I was saving the day!"

"Don't be a hero, Sirius," Lupin warned him.

Sirius scoffed. "Go home!" It was not a request, it was an order.

"You need someone to watch your back!" Lupin looked like he was struggling for the right words. "Sirius, don't be a fool! You'll sacrifice yourself? That's the end, you know. You can't break out of that one."

"It's only the end if the story's about me." Sirius's eyes glinted eerily and it made Lupin's skin crawl.

"What are you on about?"

Sirius took a deep breath to calm himself, and swiftly dodged a flying curse. He pulled Lupin into a gap in the brick wall of the crumbling castle; they would be shielded- for a moment, at least. "Remus, please." He said imploringly. "I've been to the future. It's wonderful, and I want you to see it."

"You're delirious. You're going mad." Lupin tried to reason.

He shook his head fiercely. "Not this time."

"Sirius-"

Sirius seized Lupin's collar, and shook him. "Do you remember the veil? The one I fell through two years ago? It's a time turner, Remus!"

"A time-?" He blinked disbelievingly. "Sirius, what-"

"I've met Teddy. In the future. I met him when he was fifteen." Sirius knew he sounded delusional, but he needed Lupin to understand. "You're dead, Remus. You don't even see his first birthday. Hell, you never see his first smile. And it isn't the werewolf that kills you, it's this battle."

Lupin's face was set, firm. "He'll understand why I died-"

"Can't you hear yourself?" Sirius laughed scathingly. "I tell you, you're about to die, that you'll never get to see your son grow up, and you don't want to change that? Go, Remus, save yourself!"

"How do I know you're telling the truth? I'm supposed to believe you went to the future and you met my son?" Lupin deflected a curse suddenly before it had the chance to hit, and it veered off, shattering a nearby pillar.

Sirius growled, frustrated. "Do you want me to prove it? Do you want me to tell you the Quidditch results for the next fifteen years? Because I will Remus, only perhaps we could do it later when we're not quite as busy!" He swiftly fired a hex back at a Death Eater running past. "You have to believe me. Friends don't lie to each other. Please, trust me."

"James's trust got him killed."

"James put his trust into the wrong person."

Lupin studied his face carefully, and sighed, his chest heaving. "What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to go home. Please, Remus. I've risked everything to make sure you make it out of this battle alive. If you don't go, you'll never see your son again. Go." Sirius pressed gently. "Get out to the edge of the grounds, and you can apparate away."

"Alright." Lupin nodded, swallowing thickly. "Keep us informed. As soon as it's over, send a Patronus."

"Give Teddy a hug from me. He'll thank me for this one day." Said Sirius, laughing slightly, trying to ease the tension.

"You can give him your own hug. You know where we are. When it's over, bring Harry back with you." Lupin nodded tightly once again, turned his back on Sirius, and looked out across the courtyard. The gates to Hogsmeade were down at the bottom of the long field- a fast run and some quick charmwork would be all he needed to get there safely.

"Be good, Moony." Called Sirius suddenly, catching Remus's attention. The edges of his lip curled up into a sideways grin. "And if you can't be good, be careful."

Lupin turned his head to reply. "Stay safe, Padfoot."

Glinting eyes appeared within the crowd, fixated on the distracted Lupin. The polished wood of a wand caught the light as it was held aloft. Sirius heard the curse echo through the dark, standing out amongst the screams and pleas for help, making a direct path towards Lupin's turned head. It was his fault; Sirius had distracted Lupin, he had let his guard down, and now he was going to get hit by a deadly curse. The world seemed to stop; it felt like slow motion, in a movement that lasted a lifetime, as Sirius ran forward and pushed Lupin heavily to the ground. Lupin stumbled backwards, the anguish in his face unforgettable and haunting as he realised what had happened, and he watched helplessly. It was the last thing Sirius would ever see.

So long ago, he had felt happy to whatever fate befell him; he was prepared to accept whatever lay behind the veil- even, as he had suspected, if that had been his own death. He would have walked freely through and greeted death willingly, but now, he did not want to die. He wanted to be there when Tonks and Lupin and Teddy were reunited; he wanted to watch Teddy grow. He could think of nothing but the regret that he would never again get to see the smile of the boy who he had met in the future, the one who had reminded him of all his friends, and who had saved him from the depths of his despair. He could not embrace the prospect of dying when there was so much left to live for.

The streak of emerald green light whistled through the air and splintered his heart.

"Oh! Jesus Christ!" Sirius cried, falling like a marionette whose strings had been cut and toppling down onto Lupin. Whether the last thing to pass his lips was a vain curse or a final prayer, they would never know.

# # #

"You'll calm down this year?" Lupin asks over his newspaper. The blue-haired boy sitting across from him at the breakfast table stuffs his mouth full of croissants and waves a vague hand in response. Tonks is standing at the counter, cooking herself toast. The breakfast things still adorn the table, bowls and spoons lie abandoned, and a teapot stands proudly in the centre. Lupin folds his newspaper back up and sighs, world-weary, laying the paper on the table. He takes up his mug and leans an elbow on the table- poor table manners, he knows, and he can almost hear his old, aristocratic school-friend scolding him for it, 'no joints with dishes', Sirius would tut. "Teddy?"

Teddy swallows, and shrugs. "I'll try."

"That's not good enough. You'll be a Prefect this year!"

"So?"

"So you need to start being sensible. Professor McGonagall obviously thinks you're responsible-"

"McGonagall obviously only picked me because I'm Remus Lupin's son."

"Teddy, that's not true."

"You're the werewolf poster boy."

"Ted! Listen to me. You're a Prefect so you better start acting like one. So I don't want to hear about you sneaking off and getting in trouble, or disguising yourself as an old man again to get served in The Three Broomsticks, or throwing punches at every Slytherin you meet."

Teddy stares back at his father with a look of affronted innocence that fools nobody. "It's not every Slytherin," he tell him. "It's just Victor Diablo, and honestly, Dad, he's as thick as a cauldron bottom. Give him another braincell and it would die of loneliness."

Lupin smiles despite himself. "You can't say that, Ted."

"Why not? It's true."

"But it's not a good reason to punch someone." Tonks replies, as she steps around to take an empty seat at the table.

Teddy frowns. "Then what is a good reason?"

"There aren't any!"

"Oh, come off it. There must be one."

Lupin sighs again, rolling his eyes at his son, exasperated. "Look, just be good, Teddy."

The edges of Teddy's lip curls up into a strangely familiar sideways grin. "What if I can't be good?" He asks.

Lupin stumbles; he had almost forgotten that someone else had once uttered something similar to him before, and he is reminded of Sirius Black once again. He watches his son from across the table. Sometimes, Teddy makes him feel like he is back at school. He makes him feel like a marauder again.

It isn't unusual. Lupin and Tonks have taught Teddy impeccable manners, he holds himself with the same languid grace Sirius had always managed. Lupin has- rather unintentionally- sculpted his son into a replica of his friend. But he doesn't mind; he owes his life to Sirius, and in return, he has kept Sirius's spirit alive in the form of his son. Teddy's been told it before, Sirius Black will never be dead as long as you're here.

Teddy's ferocious intensity is admirable; he throws himself into everything with such force that it makes it impossible to forget he is a Black. It isn't always for the best; Teddy can't tell when he's overstepped the line- and they hope his new role of Prefect will calm him down.

But secretly, Lupin doesn't want him to calm down. He doesn't want him to be sensible. He doesn't want Teddy to be the good boy. He wants Teddy to spend all his time in detentions, he wants Teddy to learn illegal hexes, he wants Teddy to break the rules. He wants Teddy to have so much heart and so much daring that he would tease the devil, dance with danger, and if the time ever came, he wants Teddy to have so much love and so much compassion that he would jump in front of a curse to save a friend.

Lupin wants Teddy to resemble his hero. He smiles at his son. He never stops smiling at his son. "If you can't be good," He finally replies, remembering the last thing Sirius ever said to him, "then be careful."

FIN.

If you did read Past The Veil, how much do you recognise Sirius from that in Teddy here? So much that Teddy says/does is something Sirius does in Past The Veil!