It's been a long day without you my friend

And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again

We've come along way from where we began

Oh I'll tell you all about it when I see you again

When I see you again

As he took his place on the ramparts, Remus gazed out over the grounds and wondered to himself at how similar it all looked from there. He could almost see himself at eleven years old, running across the great, sloping laws after James and Sirius, feeling happy and carefree because he finally had friends. He could vividly recall the night they had first shown him there were animagi, dragging him out of bed and under James' invisibility cloack in the middle of the night. They stood outside, wandlight gleaming in their eyes as they told him with proud smiles what they had done. And then they had shown him, and he watched in disbelief as antlers burst from the top of James' head and shaggy black fur sprouted all over Sirius' body and Peter shrank rapidly, until before him stood a dog, a stag, and a rat. He could easily recall James sneaking back into the dorm in their seventh year after late nights with Lily, could remember Sirius pranking him with a fog charm on his glasses or a sticking charm on the pages of his book so that when he fell asleep studying in the common room he would wake with it plastered to his face, unable to pull it off while James and Sirius howled with laughter. He remembers the night Harry was born, when James had apparated into Sirius' tiny apartment where they were waiting, and he was crying as he hugged them because Harry was perfect, perfect, and he'd never loved anything so much. He can recall the night they died too, when Sirius had turned up, fuming because he knew what Peter had done and they fought because he hadn't believed his best friend, he had thought Sirius was Secret Keeper, they all had, and when he pulled out his want, Sirius just left, which was just as well because he never could have used it. He found out the truth twelve years later.

Look at me now, he thought, glancing up at the stars, with a wife and a son, fighting alongside your boy, James. I get it now, why you cried with joy when he was born. He wondered if his friend would recognize the man he had become in the long years of his absence. He looked at the stars again, each one of them a memory of his friends and his heart ached for them.

When his fight is over and he leaves his body behind, they each embrace him in turn - Lily with a soft smile and a tear in her eye, James with a pat on the back, and Sirius with his fist forming a death grip on his jacket. They whisper apologies for his sacrifice and words of gratitude for supporting Harry, but all he thinks is how nice it is to hear their voices again after so long.

"I have missed you," he says softly as Sirius envelops him in another hug. "I have so much to tell you about your son."

"Later," Lily answers, smiling gently. "There will be more to welcome before the night is over." She nods behind him and he turns, the sight of Tonks walking toward him sending a dagger through his heart. He cries as he holds her, thinking that this is not what he wanted for her, for their son, but she reassures him that Teddy will be well looked after and very loved, and that one day he will understand that his parents died fighting for a better world for him.

It is not long before they are joined by Fred Weasley, Colin Creevey, Lavender Brown, and others, and they weep every time a child who was too young for war crosses over, and more and more family members appear to greet them mournfully. Remus feels a gently tugging and Sirius turns to him, a grim smile on his face.

"There is something we must do," he says, and Remus nods as they join James and Lily, the four of them comforting Harry on his walk to the Forbidden Forest, giving him the courage he needs in these last moments.