Disclaimer: See Prologue
A/N: It is a super fast update, but guess who's feeling miserable? So this poured out and I think it helped a bit. It now sounds like emotional blackmail, but reviews are love. Thanks ever so much everyone who reviewed the last one. It feels like the end of an era with all those photographs written about.

November 1981

Lupin sucked in a breath and forced himself to close his eyes and forget where he was and why he was here.

"I believe in God," he said, reciting from memory the Apostle's Creed.

It shocked him how false this statement was. No God would snatch the lives of two remarkably young people. No God would abandon their son to such people as the Dursleys. No God would leave him with only twitchy little Peter, taking Sirius and James - the biggest personalities. It was a terrible thought, but he wouldn't miss Peter quite so much as he missed James and Sirius.

"I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only son, Our Lord; Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen."

Lupin shook and finally addressed the large crowd of people, all dressed in a myriad of colour. Dumbledore in particular, he thought, had gone all out in orange. He clashed furiously beside the emerald clad McGonagall.

"I…er…I asked you all not to wear black today. It was a colour that washed James out and he never liked it. Besides, in light of what the recent tragedy has done for the world, black did not seem an appropriate colour. Most importantly, he wouldn't have wanted a church full of weeping people. Last we talked about it, he wanted it to be a reflection on himself. He wanted people to laugh. I can't promise you the time of your life because frankly, I'm not having mine right now."

Peter (in crimson) whispered, "Remus, stop wittering."

It echoed around the church and a weak collective laugh followed. Lupin smiled grimly.

"Sorry. He wanted two things from death. He wanted to go out with a bang. I don't know whether he achieved this, but he will be remembered as a hero and that's a pretty good way to go. He also wanted the best funeral. He wanted everyone to talk about it for the rest of their lives. That's why I'm up here wearing sunshine yellow. Next time you see me, you won't be able to look me in the eyes and you'll have to suppress a smile. So I like to think you won't forget it in a hurry." He sniffed. "He's probably watching this and wishing a bolt of lightening would strike me to shut me up."

Peter nodded from the front row.

"Peter, stop agreeing with me. You're supposed to tell me I'm doing very well."

"I refuse to lie in church, Moony."

This produced the same half-hearted laughter. Lupin even managed a brief genuine smile.

"I don't do very well in funerals," he confessed. "In fact, at the last one, James had to drag me out before I started wailing in front of everyone present. When I refused to show up at the wake, James stayed with me and missed out on the cake and whiskey. That's who James was. He was self-sacrificing. He was fiercely loyal. Made all the more tragic by the fact that his most trusted friend was not."

Peter locked eyes with him and smiled sadly.

"James was always there for me. I could call round at four in the morning and James would make tea and pretend to listen as he slowly fell asleep. I remember one afternoon, I was bringing back a punch bowl that Lily had allowed me to borrow for a party, and I found him crying on the doorstep because Harry wouldn't shut up. He had been up all night with him and twelve hours later, he couldn't handle it anymore. Lily had gone to her sister's as it was nearing Christmas, and he was alone in the house. I spent a whole afternoon babysitting him and his son. Looking after James Potter was a thankless job but I would have done it for as long as he needed me to. I would never have betrayed him. But he knows this, wherever he is. He trusted me. Even when he didn't believe I was on his side one hundred percent, he knew I wouldn't have betrayed him. He considered it the height of dishonour."

A hushed silence fell and Lupin sighed with relief.

"It's not all I have to say," he said, "but if I told you everything I wanted to, we'd be here for weeks. So I'm going to give you a break from the sound of my voice and now I'm going to heckle Peter so he knows how it feels."

Peter stood and allowed Lupin to take his seat.

"Well," he said, leaning heavily on the lectern, "there's not much to say really. James never treated me with quite the same respect he reserved for Sirius. James never treated anyone with quite the same respect he reserved for Sirius. He was the first real friend I ever had. He hated me. He used to think I was a bit of a stalker. It's true. I idolised him. I used to think my life would be so much better if I could be like James Potter. He was good looking, clever, charming. He was everything everyone wants to be. It's true, he could also be a total bastard, but who doesn't have that side to them? I think my fondest memory would have be him asking me to make him spot cream. I made him Polyjuice Potion once. Remus used to practice Charms with Lily on Thursday nights so one night, when I knew I could keep him busy, James strolled out of the common room and Remus here didn't even bat an eyelid. I miss Hogwarts. Everything was so much simpler when we were children. James' blatant bias didn't matter. Sirius' background didn't matter. Remus' problem didn't matter. Betrayal didn't hurt so much."

"It's all right, you know," Lupin whispered as he sat down. "Eventually, the pain is going to ebb."

"I swear it, Remus. Black is going to spend the rest of his life with Dementors if it's the last thing I do."

Lupin frowned. "Don't talk like that. Not at a funeral."

"Indeed, Remus. How dare we talk about death at a funeral?"

Lupin sighed irritably and got to his feet. "In keeping with who James was and what James wanted, Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to thank you for your presence and your kind words, and leave you with The Bee Gees."