I know the end

Something felt different.

With his eyes still closed, the first thing Remus perceived was a scent that he couldn't put his fingers on but that he knew deep down.
It was like a mixture of fireplace, smelly feet, cigarettes and chocolate. It felt way too familiar but somehow he couldn’t remember what it was.
Remus was laying down, covers pulled all the way up to his nose, and he felt actually comfortable, something he hadn’t experienced in a long time. He opened his eyes, only to find everything plunged into darkness. How did he end up being here in the first place? Wasn’t he at the Hogwarts battle just a few moments ago?
He tried to listen if there was any noise regarding the battle, but the room was almost silent, just the sound of someone sleeping filled the space. Remus didn’t know how many people were in the room, but it was certainly more than one.
Perhaps he could be in the hospital wing, although he knew the place too well, having spent many nights there during his seven years at Hogwarts, to know that it was never that dark in the infirmary.

He sat down on the bed with a pounding pain in his head and stretched out his arms, only to find a set of curtains surrounding the bed.
No.
No.
No.
It could not be.
There was no way.
But there was just one way to find out, so he opened the curtains and his mouth fell open. He was into nothing less than his dorm room, into the Gryffindor tower, everything in the exact same way he remembered it. Sirius’ posters of David Bowie were pinned to the wall, Peter's chessboard was on the table in front of the fireplace, the pieces scattered everywhere, indicating a match yet to finish and James’ quidditch equipment was all over the room, his wardrobe wide open.
In disbelief, Remus' hands came to his face to scratch his eyes, it was impossible, he must have gone mad. There was no way that he could hear Peter snoring in the opposite bed and see Sirius’ curtains slightly open, as they always were during their time at Hogwarts, allowing Remus to see a glimpse of his unmistakable dark hair.

Remus started panicking and ran to the common bathroom of their dorm, didn't even bother to close the door behind him, just went straight to the mirror.
It couldn't be, the person staring back at him was his seventeen years old self, and suddenly his chest felt really tigh, air not finding its way through his lungs.
He must be dreaming, there was no way he was seventeen, furthermore in the only place he ever felt at home in his entire life, where most of his happy memories belonged.
Trying to take deep breaths Remus placed his hands on the sink in an attempt to ground himself, muttering under his breath “this is not real, calm down, this is not real” over and over like a prayer, almost like those few simple words could keep him from collapsing right there.

Remus thought he was most certainly over reacting and should be keeping it quiet if he didn’t want to wake anyone up, besides, he was most likely just dreaming and soon enough he would wake up. Everything felt very real though, the sink under his hands felt very real, his panic felt very real, the people sleeping in the other room felt very real. The bathroom was definitely cold and he should be freezing considering his bare feet on the icy stone but he was almost sweating, cheeks flushing crimson red, and that felt real too.
Hoping it might help him regain temperature, Remus tried to wash his face with cold water.

It actually did help, and after a few minutes he managed to calm down a bit. With his face still wet and with no intention of drying it, Remus turned around, and if he thought that seeing a version of himself more than 20 years younger staring back at him from the mirror was too much, he just hadn’t had to face his long-lost best friend that he hadn’t seen for decades.

Remus had always been good at compartmentalizing things and feelings and putting everything under a labeled box, but this was something else entirely, and in front of James Potter, who was looking at him with his eyes almost still closed, he almost lost it again.
One look at Remus' face though and a much more wokened James was looking at him, eyes full of genuine concern, asking “ ‘re you ok Moony? You look like you’ve seen a ghost” his voice a little hoarse.

Remus swallowed, trying to re-compose and nodded multiple times, perhaps to convince himself too, “yeah yeah i'm fine, jus-just going back to sleep”.
Carefully he tried to keep his knees from crumbling down at James feet, and
slowly began to walk towards the door.
James, thankfully, seemed a little less concerned after hearing that and started walking to use the loo, which was probably the reason he was awake.

The good thing about James was this. You could tell anything to him and he would trust you, not because he was a dupe but because when he had something to say, he was the kind of person that simply said it, straight up, and if he didn't say it, he just didn't think it, no tip toeing around it, unlike Remus who had the tendency to keep everything inside and deal with things alone in his own head.

“G’night then” James said, and Remus almost really went back to bed without another word, but then without even thinking he called James back, in an uncertain voice that didn't sound like Remus at all “P-Prongs?”
James turned back to him with a small grin on his face and Remus simply couldn’t help himself anymore. He hugged his best friend so tightly that he probably couldn’t even breathe, inhaling his unmistakable scent.
“Are you sure it's alright?”
Remus nodded, unsure his voice would actually come out if he tried to talk and still not ready to break the hug.

James was shocked between his arms, it could really be counted on one hand the times Remus hugged someone first.
“Wanna talk about it? I can get Padfoot and Wormtail too if you want”
He definitely couldn’t talk about it, at least not until he figured out what the hell was going on. Remus took a deep breath, and reluctantly detangled himself from the embrace. He looked James in the eyes with a wistful ache in his heart, still not believing his best friend was standing alive in front of him, but forced himself to put on the most convincing smile he could. “its alright mate really, no need to wake them up, just needed a hug”
At this James seemed even more concerned, but since he probably didn’t want to force Remus to talk, he smiled and said “Okay Moony, but wake me up if you want to talk about it” and with a pat on his shoulder let him go back to the bedroom.
Merlin, he had forgotten how it felt like to be with James.
°°°

As it was to be expected Remus didn’t sleep at all that night, turning in bed relentlessly the whole night, the bathroom scene haunting him everytime he closed his eyes.
He even cried a bit when he thought about how it felt to hug James after all this time, and how he thought he'd never be able to do it again.

Around six Remus got annoyed and decided that perhaps he could get up without giving the impression that he had something to hide. But this was only a part of the reason he wanted to escape from the dorm room, the biggest reason was due to the fact that he hadn't really thought about how he would react and behaved once he saw Peter, who for Remus had been a hard spot since that night, even in his own head. Never knowing how to think about him, not always able to remember that there was good in him and that he was in fact a great friend before the chaos the war had brought to them all. But not always able to remember that he betrayed them either, because, perhaps in an attempt of preserving what was left of his scarred soul, Remus preferred to remember only the good times, to pretend nothing ever changed.
To Remus, they were two completely different people, who walked on two separate paths who never crossed one another.
Because how could Peter have been able to do such thing? And how was Remus supposed to accept the fact that Peter was in fact, not the person he thought he was?

With a mess in his mind, Remus got out of bed, dressed up as silently as possible, and started searching for his lessons timetable, hoping to avoid the other three marauders as long as he could.
Once he found it, Remus left Gryffindor tower as fast as possible, trying to not stare too much as he walked through the common room, which was thankfully still empty since it was still relatively early.
He began to wander around aimlessly, not really hungry, even though he knew he would feel much calmer with a full stomach.

He walked all around the castle. The same questions running in a circle inside his mind. How had he gotten here? Was he dreaming? Was the other reality just a dream? No, the maim he felt was definitely real and he couldn't remember anything from what he had done last night in this dimension. The last thing he remembered was dueling in the battle and then… oh… of course… How did he forget that.
Being hit by the killing curse. He was dying in his reality, then closed his eyes and the next thing he knew he was in his Hogwarts bed, more comfortable than he had been in years.

So that means he actually died in his other dimension? Well, he certainly wasn't complaining since he went back home.
Suddenly a realisation hit Remus' head. He just travelled more than 20 years into the past, but the most important fact was that he knew exactly what, when and how things were going to happen. Was this meaning he could actually change what happened?
He had the opportunity to save James and Lily, Sirius and even save Peter from himself.

Remus didn't know what he did to deserve a second opportunity but he surely wasn't here to waste it.
With this in mind a still very much confused but definitely pleased Remus started walking towards the great hall with a new re-found spirit.
It felt good to be back.