Please note that the world of Harry Potter belongs to Rowling, therefore I take no credit in it or the characters I use for this fanfic.
2 May 1998
He's there now, Harry's at Hogwarts and we suspect Voldemort is about to attack the school. Nymph and I are going now, we're leaving Teddy with his grandmother. I'm writing you this just in case. To warn you. I love you, so much, and it's not like I'm planning on getting killed in the fight, but I kind of am hoping for it.. Damn you, Siri, for making me suicidal, for making me love you even though you've passed. Damn you for making me love you, until the very end.
I've got to go now, they're waiting for me. And I've got your godson to look after.
Love, Rem.
Lupin attached the letter to his owl Paddy's leg, opened the round window in his study and more or less threw him out. On his way to the door he suddenly stopped, turned and ran to his drawer, there he rummaged through a couple of drawers until he found what he was looking for.
It was a necklace with a pawprint and a full moon on it, made from platinum so he wouldn't burn himself. Sirius used to wear an exact replica of it, but they had both kept them tucked safely inside their shirts when they were out in public. It's not like they were ashamed of their relationship, but society at that time didn't respond well to homosexual wizards.
But this time Remus let the necklace lie on top of his shirt, this time he was proud of his past lover, and this time he really needed the comfort it gave him. It was his lucky-charm, what he always wore when he was about to do something he was afraid of, and this time he would die with it too, just like Sirius.
When he caught himself just standing there, thinking about Sirius when Hogwarts was under threat, he was deeply upset with himself. Hogwarts had been his home for eight years, seven of them when he himself was in school, and one when he was a teacher there. The love he felt for that old castle was, if possible, even greater than his love for Sirius.
The castle had been the one place on earth he had truly considered his home, it was a place where he knew he was constantly surrounded by friends. It was a place where he felt loved and respected, unlike at home, where his parents struggled to see the human underneath the wolf. And best of all, Hogwarts had been the place where he could snuggle up with his boyfriend at night without raising any suspicions or discomfort.
He really, really missed that warm body beside him at night. Even though he had Nymph there now, she didn't feel the same. She was soft in all the wrong places, unlike Sirius who had been very skinny, just like Remus himself. Remus liked to think of it as a canine thing.
When Remus had snapped out of his daze, he quickly ran down the stairs, taking two steps at a time, almost tumbling into a big pile at the bottom of the stairs because he temporarily lost his balance. As he stepped into the tiny livingroom he saw Nymphadora sitting on the ugly, floral sofa he had always hated. She looked rather impatient and irritated.
"I've called your name like a million times already, we need to GO NOW, or the battle will start without us!" she said angrily.
"Yes, I know, I'm sorry. Let's just apparate to the Hog's Head now and take the tunnel from there, we'll be there in no time. Surely they can't have started already, love?"
And so they did.