proper care ! remus lupin

aftermath

all remus remembered was a flash of green before his eyes flew open. his head was spinning, but he took a glance around him and found himself confused. he tried to remember what happened. there was a fight. . . no a war. a man in a death eater mask lifted his wand and shot the curse at him before the werewolf could even think about producing a shield charm.

none of that explained to him where he was, or how he got there. there was warm grass underneath his hands from his position on the ground. for the first time since he was four, he felt the burden of moony fall off his shoulders. remus lupin was dead, he could just sense it.

he wasnt surrounded by fiery pits of hell, so he took ot as a good sign and wondered around the barren hill he found himself on. the sun was hot on his skin, but somehow the perfect temperature to keep him from breaking into a sweat. as he walked down from the hill, he saw a cabin in the distance. it wasn't very big, but quite larger than the one he had previously called home.

he decided if he was dead, he didn't want to spend the rest of eternity wondering around alone, so he waltzed up to the wood door and knocked.

it took a while for something to happen, and he had begun to feel silly for trying. he had spent the majority of his life alone, he could do it here, too. as he turned on his heel to leave once more, the creaking sound of the door opening caught his attention.

standing at the door was someone he hadn't seen in years.

"lily?" he asked incredulously, not believing his own eyes. i suppose it makes sense to see her here, considering she was dead, and he was now dead as well.

"remus! how lovely it is you're finally here! come in, come in, the others will be so excited you've made it." she hadn't aged a day since he last saw her, and her smile was even more vibrant than he remembered.

as he passed a mirror that was placed in front of the door, he noticed he too looked as he once did in his younger days. scars from his illness were gone and he looked healthy, unlike he ever had in the past. "sorry, did you say others?" he questioned, after bringing the redhead into a long overdue embrace.

lily grabbed ahold of his hand and guided him around what he presumed to be her house. it had been seventeen long years since he had seen her and yet she barely seemed fazed at the fact that they were together again. maybe time passed differently in the afterlife.

"moony! youve made it!" came the unmistakable voice of james potter who, like lily, hadnt aged a day. "how'd it happen? sirius and i made a bet that you'd break a poor ladys heart and she'd murder you in her sleep."

remus was in such shock over the fact of seeing his best friends after so long, but also had an eery calmness to it all. like he was right where he was supposed to be. "well i did get murdered, but not by a lass." he joked, holding a genuine smile on his face for what felt like the first time in a decade.

"that's my boy. oi, siri! get ur fat arse down here!"

"i swear to merlin, jamie." sirius huffed, trudging down the steps to respond to james. "remus, glad you're here, ive missed you, yadi yadi ya. anyways, can you please tell james he's a prick." he said with a bored expression, like he had expected to see the disheveled boy on the couch.

remus couldnt help but pinch himself, thinking that this must be a dream. having his best friends all together in the same room seemed almost too good to be true. it was still missing something though. . . "venus. wheres venus, shes here, right?" he asked with a racing heart.

this is it. the day he finally reconnects with the love of his life.

"ooh. bad news, moony. venus didn't make it. she's actually in the bad place." sirius said with a straight face, making remus's face drop.