Marauders One-Shots

ii | live on

"Mate, come on. They've finished. Let's go home."

James' hand on his shoulder was trying to move him away from her grave. Sirius dug his feet in, refusing to leave.

"Come on, Padfoot," James said urgently. "You'll freeze out here. If you die of hypothermia, Marlene won't thank you for it."

"Sirius?" It was Lily that was speaking to him now.

Sirius looked up at her. Her emerald eyes stared back at him, tear tracks etched down her face and her eyes were red-rimmed.

"Sirius, we need to go home now. You can come home with us. Help me look after Harry, 'Kay?"

Sirius opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

"Sirius, do you feel that?" Lily asked him, placing a hand over his heart. "I know that you loved her very much, and I know that it hurts now but as long as that heart keeps beating, Marlene won't be gone. She'll still be with us in spirit and in memory... Just so long as we are around to remember her."

Sirius stared at her. "How did you...?"

"I knew her." Lily replied. "She was a hopeless romantic. Listen to what she said, Sirius. Believe it."

Warmth slowly started to creep throughout Sirius' body. It wasn't happiness - it still hurt to breathe, but the pain was more bearable now than before.

He wasn't alone. He had James, Lily and Harry.

Lily was right. Marlene would live on in his heart.

Finally, he properly understood the meaning of those words.

"The ones who love us truly never leave us. And you can always find them... In here."