For Jess.

x

"I've been waiting," he whispered. This world was full of whispers, as though talking any louder would shatter the barrier between here and the world of the living. "It's been six hundred eighty-four days, Remus."

"I had to keep an eye on Harry, didn't I?" Remus answered, looking into the grey eyes he'd only seen in dreams for the past two years. Dreams, and nightmares of that last night. He didn't even get to say goodbye. But Sirius was right here, in front of him—he never thought he'd see him again. He looked young, the strain from Azkaban having been removed. He looked happy.

Sirius nodded. "So he's safe now? I mean, really, properly safe?" he asked, hopeful.

Remus closed his eyes gently. "I can only hope. I didn't make it that far," he said, his voice quivering. "I—I know I should've been more careful, but I had to fight. From what I knew, he wasn't in the heat of things himself, thankfully. Merlin knows he's a good dueler—brilliant—but…"

"I know," Sirius said calmly, putting an arm around Remus' waist. "You did wonderfully, keeping that boy safe for two whole years, at least! Don't beat yourself up, Rem. I'm sure he's gonna be fine, trust me. Just have faith. I know you believe in him, give him a chance to prove himself. It'll be fine. Besides, there's something I want to show you."

Sirius led the way through a white, misty corridor lined with moving photographs. "What're all these? The…living, right?" Remus wondered aloud, still getting used to this new world, the new not-quite-life.

"Yup. There's tons of hallways like this all over the place, all filled with portraits of living people."

"And when they're no longer living? What d'you do with them then?"

They continued on through countless photographs. "That's what we're doing here. Give them to whoever died. There's always someone to greet the new people when they come in—family, close friends, et cetera—someone to guide them through all this," he said, gesturing around the gallery. "They go off and find the portrait they need and their new life begins. Simple as that. We're nearly at yours."

After a handful of corners and long, narrow corridors, they stopped, but Remus' portrait was nowhere to be found. He looked at the photograph of a very familiar face with extremely messy black hair and green eyes. "Harry," Remus whispered.

"See, Rem. Still there, still standing strong." Remus nodded proudly. "Now, let's go find your portrait, shall we?"

Remus grinned as he followed Sirius to the end of Harry's hallway and around the corner. He didn't know how long that war out there was going to last, but to know for certain that Harry was alive and fighting was a huge source of relief. Before he knew it, he was face-to-face with a smiling portrait of himself. "This is so weird. This is all soweird," he breathed, watching himself from up on the wall. Remus was dead—really dead, and this was one of the last things holding him to his life on earth. He helped Sirius take down the portrait, not thinking about what he was doing nearly as much as he thought about why he was doing it. "I'm dead. Actually dead."

"Come on, Rem. I've got something that might cheer you up, let's go." Sirius turned back the way they came. Where Remus expected the portraits they had passed, he saw a small, familiar village. He shot Sirius a fleeting look of curiosity before dashing off to the old cottage in Godric's Hollow. Sirius trailed behind, explaining. "This world takes the form of where you're trying to go. It gives you the place, you get to the specific area yourself. Always takes you where you need to go, even if you're not exactly sure where it is." By the time he'd finished, Remus had reached the front door and pulled it open, not bothering to knock.

"Who is it? Sirius, is that you, mate?"

"James!" Remus shouted. "James and—and Lily," he breathed. "You're… it's been so long. You're just…here." Lily and James came into the entryway, beaming at Remus. He was in tears—it'd been over sixteen years since he'd last seen them, with no thought of ever seeing them in person again. James hugged him, Remus resting his head on his friend's shoulder, tears streaming down his face. Sirius and Lily watched their exchange—tears welling up in Lily's eyes, and a proud, fond smile on Sirius' face.

James and Remus broke apart, and he turned to Lily. "Lils," he murmured, holding her tight. "I never thought I'd see you again. I—I didn't…"

"Remus," she said consolingly. "Shush, it's alright. We're all back together now, see? We were all wondering when you'd come. Peter's in the back room—"

"Peter? Bu…but Lily, you know he betrayed you, you must know. You—you and James," he muttered, wiping his nose with his sleeve. Lily took a small step back, hands on Remus' shoulders gently.

"Look at you, Remus. No scars. You look so much younger than I've ever seen you. See, it's different here. It's sort of like all the bad things from life there have been erased. Back to the good old days, eh? C'mon, I'll show you," she said, one arm around his shoulders as she led him through the house he never thought he'd be in again. Everything was as he remembered it, down to the splotch of red paint that lingered when they choose the paint colours, which James claimed added character and refused to let anyone paint over.

"Bu—but…" Remus sighed, walking with Lily down the hallway, James and Sirius trailing behind. They reached the sitting room, Remus catching sight of Peter sitting in his favourite spot on the couch, just like usual. 'Maybe this could be alright,' Remus thought. 'Back to the good old days, like Lily said.'

Sorting out his emotions—barely. The realization that he was certainly going mad was still occupying his thoughts, but that was ruled out by far by his joy at seeing his best friends again—, Remus went over to the couch, wrapping his arms around Peter.

"Do you believe me when I say I'm sorry?"

Peter looked into Remus' eyes, and memories flooded back into Remus' mind of a younger, more innocent Peter standing in front of him. He remembered the little, naïve, impressionable boy he'd befriended in first year. He was reminded again of how Lily had told him that bad choices had been removed here, and hugged Peter tighter, whispering, "Yes, of course I believe you, Pete."

They broke apart, and Peter resumed his seat on the couch, with Remus by his side. Sirius sat on Remus' side, with James and Lily across from them in their armchairs next to the crackling fireplace.

"So," James prompted. "What's happened while we were all gone, Remus? How's Harry holding up?" he added hopefully.

Remus caught Sirius' eye before replying. "Harry is safe, as far as we know. There's a war going on there now, that's how I got here. From what I saw, he was doing a pretty good job of keeping himself safe. Knowing him, he'll work his way to the heat of the fight soon enough, but he's a good enough dueler to carry himself through. I hope," he added in an undertone.

"Well, he's gotten this far, hasn't he? He's got plenty of people on his side, they won't let him down. I believe in him," James said.

Lily held James' hand in hers, looking up at Remus with hope shining in her eyes. "So, what've we missed on your side, Remus? Sirius let us in on what happened up until he passed, but we don't know much after that."

"Well," Remus started, recalling the events after Sirius' passing when nearly all your thoughts resided on him. "We were all a mess after you died, Sirius. Harry especially. I did all I could to help, but I also had to keep up on work with the Order. I was living with other werewolves for most of that following year, trying to convince them to join us, you know. Dumbledore got closer to Harry during his sixth year, thankfully. Remember, Pads," he said, turning to his friend. "Dumbledore thought it'd be for Harry's best to distance himself from him, but that didn't work out, obviously. He spent a lot of time talking with him on the weekends, from what I've learned.

"Dumbledore was trying to teach Harry how to take Voldemort down, all throughout that year. That's the reason I felt a bit better leaving him when I did. He knew what he was supposed to be doing, and he had the strength to actually get it done. He's grown so much, you'd be so proud, Lily, James. He really is your son, there's no denying that." Remus grinned at James' and Lily's beams of pleasure.

James furrowed his brow, recalling what Remus had said. "What was it that Dumbledore was telling him? Voldemort had some big, dark secret, did he?"

"Yeah. Apparently he'd made Horcruxes—remember those, we talked about them in Defence, seventh year. I never thought I'd know someone to use them, they're some of the darkest magic out there. And notice I said Horcruxes, plural. Seven, if I heard correctly." He watched the shock wash over his friends' faces before continuing. "Dumbledore told Harry about them, and how to destroy them. They worked together to get rid of them that year, as well."

"Harry got rid of Horcruxes? I knew the boy was brilliant, but that's way above his level, isn't it?" Peter looked to Remus, trying to recall the few instances he'd seen Harry use magic first-hand.

"Harry's mastered a lot of spells above his level, tackling Horcruxes isn't anything too out of the ordinary for him," Remus stated plainly.

"Later that year," he continued. "There was a battle at Hogwarts which didn't end well. We lost Dumbledore that night and Bill Weasley was attacked," he added solemnly. "Greyback."

Sirius took his hand, squeezing it gently. "He doesn't transform, thank God. And that was also the night I got engaged, more or less."

"What?" Sirius asked incredulously.

Remus nodded. "Tonks," he supplied. "It was a quiet wedding, but it was nice all the same."

"Oh, congratulations, Remus! I didn't notice the ring earlier," Lily said, grinning as she pointed as the gold ring gleaming on his finger. "How did that go?"

"It was good. Dora's wonderful, she kept me sane during that war. Or, as close to sane as I could've been. I'm eternally grateful to her for it.

"And we… erm—we have a son together. Teddy, after her father. Harry's godfather. I've got a picture here somewhere," he muttered, searching in his pockets for the photograph of his smiling, blue-haired little boy. "Here." Remus pulled it out and passed it around for the others to see.

"He takes after Tonks, then?" Sirius asked jokingly, admiring the child in the photo before passing it over to Lily. "Congrats, mate."

"Thanks," Remus murmured, smiling.

"So, what happened then?" Peter looked at him, concerned. "

Remus went on recounting what happened during that final year, up through his end in the war. "I was fighting, we were all fighting. I wasn't quick enough, and Dolohov got me." Sirius clenched his fists, and Remus could practically see him vowing to make Dolohov pay when they met again. Remus shot him a questioning look, as though to say Please, just leave it.

"I believe in Harry, I'm sure he'll keep himself safe, there's no doubt in my mind. The thing I regret more than anything is leaving Teddy. He deserved to have parents, and I lost that for him." Remus' tone changed drastically, turning dark and remorseful. "I told Dora to stay with him, and of course she couldn't resist fighting. I can't blame her, I would've done the same. Still…"

Remus found it hard to keep his composure. Lily and James exchanged worried looks, unsure of what to say. Peter looked concertedly at Remus, a look of sympathy on his face. Sirius turned to him, taking Remus' hand in his own and squeezing it tight.

"Rem, listen to me, alright? It'll all be just fine, okay? He's got people there for him. You can't blame yourself for this, you didn't have any choice. Those things just happen, and there's nothing you could've done to change that. He'll be perfectly alright." Sirius wrapped an arm around Remus' waist, pulling him close. Remus nodded into his chest, barely keeping the tears from escaping.

"Please, Rem." Sirius pulled him back gently, looking him in the eyes. "Don't let it get you down, alright? It's not like he's completely alone, you know. He's still got family who love and care for him- he's got Andi and Harry. He'll be taken care of. Please don't blame yourself for this."

Remus shut his eyes tightly, willing for tears not to fall. He hadn't realized, at first, just how many people his passing would affect. He still surely hadn't an inkling of the mourning, but he'd be just another name in the list of the lost, wouldn't he? He wasn't that special, he knew it.

"Look, I know what you're thinking, Rem, and that won't help anything. Trust me. Now come on, let's get your mind off it. Tea?" Sirius asked, not waiting for a response before entering the kitchen and heating the water.

No one talked while Sirius was working on the tea. Breaking the silence, he returned carrying a tea tray and setting it on the table in the center of the room. Peter, James, and Lily took a cup, while Remus sat staring at the teapot, grief etched on his face.

Sirius turned to him. "Come here, Remus, let's talk." He led him outside, down the walkway in the Potters' front yard. Godric's Hollow transformed into an empty and familiar room.

"Man, it's been ages since I've been here. So many memories…" Remus followed Sirius' gaze across the four-poster beds with the trunks at the ends. "Weird thing about this version of Hogwarts," Sirius continued. "Is it shows the past from your memories and it shows the present." He gestured around to where the Marauders' belongings sat, exactly as they were all those years ago.

"Now." Sirius sighed, turning to Remus. "We need to talk. What's going on, how can I help?" The concern in his voice was practically tangible.

Remus couldn't bring himself to reply, and instead found himself staring meekly at his feet.

"Look, Rem. Everything will be perfectly fine. I promise. Teddy will be alright—he's got people there for him. We all know how you feel. It's like when Lily and James passed. Harry was so young, but look how he turned out. He knows that no matter where they are, he's got parents who care about him. It was damn near impossible for me to leave Harry when it was my time, especially after all that time he'd spent without anyone. It all happened too soon. Teddy's got people who care about him. That's what's different here, and if you think about it, Harry was left worse off that Teddy is, and he turned out marvelously. I can only imagine how great someone like Teddy will turn out. He's got you for a father, for one thing—that's better than anything else I can think of. So what if you won't be right by his side through everything? He'll know how much you cared and care, and he'll carry you in his heart, won't he?"

Remus looked up at Sirius, a half-smile forming on his face. "I suppose," he mumbled. "I don't get why we're here, though…"

"There's something I want to show you." Sirius took Remus' hand, leading him down the stairs, into the ever-so-familiar common room, and out through the corridors. They didn't stop until they reached the Great Hall, where he found the long house tables to be gone.

"Why…?" Remus asked, absentmindedly.

"Present bleeding through. Come over here, you need to see this." He started towards the center of the room, Remus following behind, shooting questioning looks at the empty part of the floor where Sirius was staring.

Remus approached the spot where Sirius stopped, but he couldn't see anything on the floor before him. "I don't know what I'm supposed to be seeing, Sirius."

"You need to look for it. You have to want to see it. What's happening right now, in the present. What happened. The war's over, Rem, just look."

Remus looked down, thoughts now brimming with visions of Harry standing victorious over a Hogwarts that was still brimming with life. The patch of floor before him seemed to shimmer before he was met with the image of Voldemort, defeated and gone, harmless now.

"Harry…he did it," Remus whispered, a mixture of pride and disbelief.

"He didn't use Avada Kedavra, if that's what you're wondering. It's Harry, take a guess at what spell he used."

"Expelliarmus…? How? He—" Remus murmured.

"He's a brilliant dueler, you said so yourself. He knows how to get things done, and he did. Voldemort did more damage to himself than Harry did to him. It's over now, Rem. They're all safe. Teddy is safe."

Remus still looked confused. "How do you even know any of this? You weren't there."

"I didn't need to be. After spending enough time here, the present bleeds through enough for you to know what's happening and how.

"I am about to die."

"Is that—is that Harry?" The colour rushed from Remus' face.

"Time can be altered between here and there, remember that. All goes back to how human the concept of time is. The timelines aren't the same here as they are in the living world. Harry will be safe, but now he needs us there. Come on," Sirius explained, taking Remus' hand as the Great Hall disappeared from around them. They found themselves in a forest—the Forbidden Forest. Memories of his transformations flooded back in his mind as he looked at the trees surrounding him.

He shifted his feet slightly, trying to keep his balance from the sudden transition. Remus looked to his side, seeing Sirius on his right, Lily and James on his left. And directly in front of him stood Harry Potter.

He had never imagined to see Harry like this again, and he beamed at the son of his friends. He may have left the living world, but there were more reunions on this day than he'd ever have dreamed to be possible.

Remus watched Harry look at the four of them, eyes wide. Lily and James met their son's eyes with fervent admiration, bright-eyed and beaming.

"You've been so brave."

"You are nearly there. Very close. We are… so proud of you." And they looked it. Remus didn't think he'd ever seen James and Lily looking so proud or happy in his life.

"Does it hurt?" Harry asked, concern written across his face.

"Dying?" Sirius asked. "Not at all. Quicker and easier than falling asleep."

"And he will want it to be quick." He looked Harry in the eye as you continued, not particularly wanting to say this, but knowing he should. "He wants it over."

Remus knew how this would end, he knew Harry would make it out alive, and the way he was talking now broke Remus' heart.

"I didn't want you to die. Any of you. I'm sorry." Harry's face betrayed his emotions, and it pained Remus to see it, especially as he saw Harry looking primarily at him. "Right after you'd had your son… Remus, I'm sorry."

"I am sorry too," Remus said. "Sorry I will never know him… but he will know why I died and I hope he will understand." He recalled his earlier conversations and what Sirius had said to him, what he had seen in the Great Hall. "I was trying to make a world in which he could live a happier life." And now I have, he added in his head. He was sure something would go wrong if he were to tell Harry now about the war's outcome.

There was silence for a moment, Harry contemplating what to do next.

"You'll stay with me?" he asked.

"Until the very end."

"They won't be able to see you?"

"We are part of you," Sirius replied. "Invisible to anyone else."

Harry's gaze shifted over to his mother, looking deep into the eyes so like his own. "Stay close to me," he whispered before setting off towards where Voldemort was waiting. They heard a noise, a whisper, and stopped in their tracks as two Death Eaters emerged from behind the trees.

"Someone there. He's got an Invisibility Cloak. Could it be…?" They heard the rough voice before they saw the speaker. Remus glanced over at Harry protectively, who had been under the Cloak since they'd come.

The Death Eaters approached where they were standing, but they couldn't see them. Remus recognized Yaxley and Dolohov, the one who had killed him. "Definitely heard something. Animal, d'you reckon?" one asked.

"That head case Hagrid kept a bunch of stuff in here."

They watched as Yaxley checked the time on his watch.

"Time's nearly up. Potter's had his hour. He's not coming."

"Better go back," Yaxley decided. "Find out what the plan is now.

The two of them turned around, walking back the way they had come. Harry followed behind them, heading right to where Voldemort sat waiting.

Reaching the clearing where the Death Eaters sat, Remus watched with bated breath at the exchange between Voldemort and his followers, Harry silently standing by. Remus knew Harry would likely be having second thoughts, but apparently he'd decided.

"I was, it seems… mistaken," Voldemort muttered softly.

"You weren't."

Harry stood tall, facing the man who'd been trying to kill him for the past sixteen years with his head held high. He took a small step forward, and the Resurrection Stone fell from between his slightly trembling fingers.

Suddenly, the world in front of Remus seemed to bleed back out from the world of the living. Harry was brave, he kept repeating in his head. He'll be fine, I know he will. I saw it.

Looking around, Remus realized that he, Sirius, Lily, and James had been taken to the Forbidden Forest, but not Harry, Voldemort, nor his Death Eaters were anywhere to be found. "He'll… he'll be alright." The words escaped his mouth, but he was hardly conscious of saying them. He looked to James and Lily—they surely knew how the war would end, and they wore looks of pride and slight fear at what they had just experienced.

Sirius pulled Remus aside to a secluded portion of the forest. "I just want to tell you that what we saw earlier, in the Great Hall, that's what happens. That's how the war ends, and Harry's the one to bring that about. I don't know how he does it, exactly, but I know for certain that he does. No matter what happened in that forest, he makes it out somehow. What we saw just now happened, but it wasn't the end. Just remember that, alright?

"I don't know what it is about Harry," Sirius continued. "But he's special. I'm starting to doubt there's a thing in this world that could take him down."

Remus chuckled. "Well, I hope that whatever happens with him works out. Merlin knows we'd all love to see him here, but they need him there. But you can't say it like that, Sirius. It's not like we were taken down, there's nothing wrong with this.

"Or maybe it's just that nothing can take us down either."

x

(All quotes from the Resurrection Stone scene were taken directly from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, chapter 34. They do not belong to me.)

This is by far the longest thing I've written, to date, and I'm really rather proud of this fic. Big thanks to my friends Maria and Ann who helped me out all the way through this fic with their support.

Written for January GGE for Jess (autumn midnights) and for the Represent That Character! Challenge on HPFC.