It was a beautiful Tuesday morning. The birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and the drops of dew on the grass sparkled like diamonds.

Remus Lupin lay asleep in bed, blissfully unaware of the waking world around him. Sunlight filtered through the window shades of his bedroom, casting light upon some of the scars and lines that ran along his face. The smell of pancakes wafted through a crack in the doorway.

Remus was still sleeping when the door was pushed open. A blonde woman stood in the doorway, smiling softly at the sleeping figure in the bed. Then, after a moment, she drew herself up and walked across the floor soundlessly, her boots silenced by the carpeted floor. She quietly made her way onto the bed and crawled towards Remus.

"Remus," she said in a hushed voice. She knew they had to leave soon, but she hated waking him up whenever he looked so peaceful and relaxed. "Remus." She spoke louder now and placed a hand upon his shoulder. She brushed her fingers through his hair with her left hand, and a gold ring on her ring finger winked in the sunlight. He shifted at her touch, but remained asleep, looking as young and innocent as ever. "Wake up, babe." She shook his shoulder gently. When he barely stirred, she knew it was time for action.

Remus awoke to uncontrollable laughter. He jumped out of bed only to fall back over, clutching at the stitch in his side and positively howling with laughter.

"A-Alex!" he gasped when he saw who was causing his misery. Said blonde sat on the bed grinning at him, her wand held aloft in her hand. "I-I'm up!" he giggled, feeling tears brim his eyes. He tried to grab his own wand, which lay innocently upon his nightstand, but found that he could barely move, laughing as hard as he was. "S-stop!"

"You didn't say the magic word," she purred, her eyes alit with amusement.

There were quite a few words Remus wanted to say to her, none of them magical, but knowing that they would do him no good, he choked out, "Please!"

Then, just as suddenly as he had started laughing, he stopped. He lay on his side for a brief moment, breathing hard, when, after a quick glance at Alex's wicked grin, he suddenly pounced and tackled her down to the bed. Her wand, which had been pointed at Remus only a moment ago, fell out of her wrist and to the floor. She squealed with surprise and struggled against him, kicking and laughing and cursing.

"Isn't it a little early in the morning for such language?" Remus teased her, holding her by the wrists and straddling her. "You ought to wash your mouth." Chuckling at the murderous look she sent him, he leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. All the fight died from her almost instantly. He chuckled throatily against her and withdrew. He smirked down at her and she scowled at him, her cheeks tinged pink and her chest heaving. The tattoo over her chest peeked through the fabric of her shirt; Remus caught a glimpse of the moon and the paw print that he had memorized by heart. The tattoo had been the cause of many arguments, slammed doors, and tangled sheets.

"Oh, shoot." Alex's voice shook him from his reverie. She was reading the clock on the nightstand. "You better hurry up and get dressed. We have to go soon."

Remus also glanced at the clock; it was half past nine. They had fifteen minutes to get to their destination. "Alright," Remus replied, and he heaved himself off the bed, pulling Alex along with him. "I'll be ready in a few minutes."

"Okay." She kissed him on his stubbly cheek before making her way towards the open door. She was fully dressed, leather jacket and all. "I'll be waiting for you in the kitchen."

Remus walked into the kitchen seven and a half minutes later, clean-shaven and completely dressed. He chatted idly with Alex as he ate his chocolate pancakes. With a minute to spare, he finished off the rest of his milk, stood up, and extended an arm towards Alex.

"Ready?" he asked, grinning.

"For anything," she said as she gripped his arm with a vice-like grip, "as long as I'm with you." She smiled softly at him. He felt the familiar sensation of blood rushing to his cheeks, and Alex laughed affectionately when she saw that he was blushing. "Can't believe I can still make you blush."

"Oh, shut up," he muttered and leaned downed to kiss her on the lips. Then, with a twirl of feet and a crack!, they were gone.

~ - x - ~ - x - ~ - x - ~

Harry Potter was checking the contents of his trunk for the twelfth time that day when he heard the doorbell ring. He hastily closed the trunk and heaved it off the bed. He then grabbed his owl cage, careful not to awake the snowy white owl sleeping within it. Harry wobbled his way to his bedroom door and took one last look around his room (which looked strangely bare without his posters – he was used to seeing Appleby Arrows Captain, Lucinda Stebbins, zooming around in her autographed poster) to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. Satisfied that he had packed everything away, he walked out of his room and closed it behind him. It would be Christmas time when he saw his room again.

He hurried towards the sounds of voices coming from the family room. There, sitting around on the couch and engrossed in conversation, were Harry's three favorite people in the whole world: his godfather and Auror, Sirius Black, and Sirius's two closest friends, fiery bartender Alex Lupin and her kind but unemployed werewolf husband, Remus Lupin. They were all dressed in their Muggle best, the look which seemed to suit Harry's handsome godfather rather well. Still, they all looked a little out of place to Harry, as he was accustomed to them wearing robes.

"...she's lucky that Shacklebolt was there to hold me back," Sirius was saying furiously. "Who knows what would've happened if he hadn't been there to stop me."

"You would've ended up in serious trouble," Remus said sternly, frowning.

"Siriusly?" muttered Alex out the corner of her mouth, her lips curving upward into an amused smirk. Sirius rolled his eyes and grumbled something about hearing the same joke for fifteen years. Remus did not appear to have heard Alex (although his lips did twitch, as if he was fighting back a smile) and continued speaking.

"You might've even been put on probation."

Sirius didn't seem the least bit worried about Remus's concern. He grinned and shrugged nonchalantly. "Would've been worth it," he smirked.

"Wish I'd been there," growled Alex, apparently just as unconcerned about Remus's worries as Sirius was. "Then we both could've put that toad woman in her place–"

"Harry!" Remus interrupted loudly when his eyes landed on the skinny boy. He looked pointedly at Alex and Sirius. Sirius settled further back in the couch with a slight pout, and Alex pursed her lips.

"Hello, Remus," Harry smiled, briefly placing his luggage on the floor. "Hello, Alex."

Alex brightened immediately upon hearing her name. "Heya, Harry!" She grinned and stood up, opening her arms wide.

It had only been two or three weeks since Harry had last seen her (Remus had been over just the other day), yet, as always, she greeted him with what Harry now considered her signature hug. Evidently, this did not surprise Harry. He smiled and tumbled into her warm, protective arms. Unlike other eleven year olds who would've rather been caught stealing than in their loved ones' arms, Harry felt like the luckiest kid in the world whenever he was being embraced. The Dursleys never showed him such affection, although his aunt and uncle certainly showered his cousin with a lot of attention (and food, Harry thought inwardly). Since he spent the majority of his life under their roof, it was always a bit of a rare treat to be embraced as lovingly as Alex was embracing him now. Harry had only ever felt such love and affection when he came to stay with Sirius over the holidays, but those few short weeks were what made living at the Dursleys' bearable.

"How're yah feeling?" Alex grinned at him, ruffling his jet black hair so that it stuck up even more.

"Nervous," Harry admitted with a weak smile. Remus smiled kindly at him and Sirius grinned understandingly. "But also excited." Alex smiled at him with her eyes.

"That's completely understandable," Remus reassured, his eyes crinkling warmly. "But don't worry, Harry, you'll have a great time."

"Yeah," agreed Sirius. He clapped a supportive hand on Harry's shoulder. "You'll love Hogwarts, I promise!"

Harry grinned. He no longer felt the butterflies that had been flying about in his stomach just a moment ago. Sirius had never broken his promises before, and Harry had no reason to doubt his godfather now. Besides, he knew deep down that he would love Hogwarts. He had grown up listening to the tales of the Marauders, a self-proclaimed group of friends that had consisted of Sirius, Remus, Harry's late father, and Peter Pettigrew (Alex, according to Sirius and Remus, had been deemed an honorary Marauder).

Harry knew very little about Pettigrew, other than that he was a "traitor" who "deserved to rot in Azkaban." Alex seemed to think that Sirius's description of Pettigrew was too soft; whenever his name was mentioned, she would use a rather colorful assortment of words to describe him, but Remus never let her go past "son of a banshee." Neither Sirius nor the Lupins, however, had ever elaborated on the crime that had landed Pettigrew in Azkaban to begin with. Nor had they explained why he was a traitor. Harry knew better than to ask; Sirius and the Lupins did not like to talk about him, so Harry had long since stopped asking questions about him. He concluded that there must've been some sort of falling-out between Pettigrew and the rest of the Marauders, and that the rest was history.

Regardless of what had happened to the Marauders after Hogwarts, Harry still enjoyed listening to stories about all the mischief and mayhem they had caused during their school years. Alex was sometimes included in these stories; Harry particularly remembered the one in which she had started a school-wide food fight. His favorite tale, though, was the one where his late mother had outwitted his yet-to-be father, which, in the end, had landed the pair of them in the Hospital Wing.

"And that," Sirius would always conclude the story, "is how your mother fell in love with your father."

Yes, that was definitely Harry's favorite story. He smiled at the thought, and he just knew he was going to have as much as fun as his parents and their friends had had at Hogwarts.

"So," Sirius said, bringing Harry back to reality, "you ready to be a Gryffindor?" He winked and grinned widely.

Remus raised an eyebrow at Sirius and gave him a reproachful look while Alex scowled. Harry knew that Alex had been a Slytherin, and since the two Houses were natural enemies, he could understand why she was upset.

"You can end up in any House, Harry," Remus said firmly, bending down to become level with him, "and we would be very proud of you. No matter what." He looked around at Alex for support. Her expression softened.

"That's right," she agreed, nodding. "Don't listen to your godfather, he's a stuck up old fool." Harry laughed when Sirius scowled. "It really doesn't matter where you end up. All that matters is where you go from there." She smiled and tousled his hair again, though in a more motherly and affectionate manner than she had done before. "Right, Sirius?" She glared at Sirius over her shoulder, and grudgingly he replied,

"Right."

Harry was silent. His heart had always been – and, despite what the Lupins had just said, was still – set on Gryffindor. His parents had been Sorted into that House, as had been Remus and Sirius. And according to what Sirius often said, Alex might as well have been a Gryffindor too. He did promise to remember Alex and Remus's wise words, though, so he wouldn't be too disappointed if he wasn't Sorted into Gryffindor.

"We better get going," Remus said, glancing at the clock. "Got everything, Harry?"

"Yeah." Harry nodded. Sirius heaved Harry's trunk off the floor and Remus gently lifted Hedwig's cage.

"You ready for this?" grinned Alex, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder.

Harry flattened his hair over the lightening-shaped scar on his forehead and adjusted his glasses. Grinning, his bright green eyes lit up with excitement, he replied,

"Let's do this."

It has taken me 4 years, 7 months, and 9 days for me to officially complete this story. Honestly, I've had the final chapter and the Epilogue done for a few weeks now, but I've had trouble accepting the fact that I was finally done with this story...even now, it's not really registering.

This is my very last Fanfiction story. Although it's a rather bittersweet goodbye, I'm happy and proud that this is my parting story. I've never placed as much time and effort into a story as I have in this one. This is the only multi-chapter story that I've written where I haven't lost passion for the fandom or for the characters by the end - which, I think, means that I really cared for my characters and for the Harry Potter universe as a whole. Harry Potter is and will always be a part of my life...because, I think as many of us Potterheads know, Harry and his story lives on in us. As J.K. Rowling once said, "the stories we love most do live in us forever."

Thank you for accompanying Alex and I on this journey. Thank you for your critique and feedback, your encouragement and thoughts. Thank you for just spending a moment to sit down and read my story. Thank you, J.K. Rowling, for creating the wonderful world of Harry Potter, for giving all of us here a taste of magic and adventure.

And thank you, Harry, for all those magical years.

May you always believe in the magic.

~dogsrock101