Epilogue
Remus wakes up in his Hogwarts dorm. He knows it is his dorm, but it isn’t his stuff scattered around it. At first thought, he wonders if James and Sirius have played some sort of prank on him until he notices that their stuff is also nowhere to be found.
“I could’ve beaten him.”
Remus starts. Sirius is in the doorway, propped up against the frame. The memories start flooding back.
“Am I-?”
“Dead? Yes.”
“I was going to say in our old dorm.” Sirius shrugs.
“Well, that too,” he says. “It’s funny, you put us in our old room but didn’t manage to change the decoration. Seems you can’t do everything, eh, Moony?” He smiles.
“I couldn’t stop Dolohov,” Remus says.
“I could’ve,” says Sirius, presumptuously, strolling over to his friend.
“Really?” Remus says with a playful smile, challenging Sirius, “you never fought him in your life and you think you could have beaten him? May I remind you that I am a great wizard and Harry even says that I’m the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher he’s ever had.”
“So you’re calling yourself a ‘great wizard’ now, are you?” says Sirius, “how unlike the Moony I know. If you weren’t dead, I’d ask you if you were drunk.”
“You don’t have to be dead or alive for me to know the answer to that question as it pertains to you,” says Remus.
“True, true,” agrees Sirius, “and back to the main point, Harry calling you the best DADA teachers he’s had isn’t much of a comparison.” Remus nods in smug agreement. The edges of Sirius’ mouth twitch. “Personally, I think you and Lockhart are neck in neck, but the both of you blow away the rest of the competition.” Remus wacks Sirius on the shoulder and the later bursts out laughing.
“Shut up!” says Remus.
“Make me,” says Sirius, stepping closer. Remus leans in and their lips meet and it’s just like their teenage years at Hogwarts and better than when Sirius visited Remus in his dreams. Sirius is warm and real beneath his hands and Remus can’t appreciate that enough.
They break away when a scream cuts through the silence. It’s not your regular scream, this one is full of pain and anguish.
“Are we at Hogwarts?” Remus asks, “real-time Hogwarts?”
“I dunno,” Sirius says, “your mind is the one that created this. Helluva place to go right after you’ve died, I can say.” Remus grabs Sirius’ hand.
“Let’s go find out,” he says uneasily.
They walk down the stairs and through the deserted Gryffindor common room. The fire is out and it is dark. Stray things lie around the room as if tossed there at the last second. They make their way to the Great Hall, spotting rubble and blood stains as they go. Remus spots students he recognize and then - his body.
“Well, this is weird,” says Sirius, trying to make light of the situation.
“Yeah,” says Remus. He moves forward, gazing upon the other bodies in the vicinity. Tonks is right next to his body, her pale form still, eyes closed. Then he spots the Weasleys, they are all clustered around one body, a body with red hair.
“Fred,” says Remus. He hangs his head. “He was too young.” He turns to Sirius and Sirius wraps his arms around him and kisses him briefly on the lips. Remus knows he’s there, Sirius had always been there to some extent, but now he’s here for real. Remus hugs him tighter, pulling him closer, trying to not let the emotions overwhelm him.
“Let’s go,” Sirius says at last and Remus conveys his silent agreement. They leave the Great Hall and mourners, knowing that sometime soon they will know the extent of the deaths. For now, they walk the castle grounds, hand in hand. Hogwarts is at a temporary peace and it won’t last for long. The battle is halfway over and far away from being done.
Eventually, they fell the pull of the Resurrection Stone.
“Harry,” says Remus. Sirius nods and drops Remus’ hand.
“A bit too much of a shocker for him right now, don’t you think?”
“I agree.”