Chapter Text
With the adrenaline coursing through his veins it was easy for Remus to hone in on the ball of green light barreling towards him. There was nothing he could do to stop it as it crashed into his chest, leaving a numb coldness in its wake.
Maybe Death would take mercy on him and let the monster in him rest in nothingness rather than suffer in findefyre. After everything, all he'd lost, surely Remus had earned that.
Remus had dimly registered falling after the spell had hit him. But he never expected to feel the hard ground beneath him. Nor the scent of wet earth and nearby herbs, or the joyful cries of people around him, people that surely can't be wherever he ended up.
Slowly, Remus opened his eyes. The sparkling tapestry of the night sky greeted him. The last of his frayed nerves were soothed when he realised there wasn't a moon in sight, never mind a full one.
"Behold, he has already proven himself to be smarter than you, brother." A vaguely familiar voice said. It reminded Remus of polite nods and civil conversations in the library. Of long nights walking around the corridors lamenting over the idiocy of his friends with a wry twist to his lips.
Life had been brighter back then.
"Shut up, you said that everyone does it." Remus' heart stuttered like it did when knife coloured eyes glinted under the light of the full moon. Silently saying 'I'm here to stay.' In every way that mattered.
Those eyes had been reflecting a sickly green last time Remus saw them. And he hadn't seen them in anything other than nightmares since.
Sometimes the nightmares were dreams. Of quiet mornings, peppered kisses and sleepy chuckles or endless bickering over things that were so inconsequential in hindsight. Those were the worst ones.
Remus kept his eyes trained on the sky. This was likely a hallucination, his mind's last stand before Death claimed him for good. He didn't move or dare so much as to imagine their faces. He wanted one last memory to take with him. Even if it was fake.
"Speak for yourself, my eyes were wide open." Remus tried to remember to breathe. Could it be her? The girl who he shared books with in the common room, the only one who never asked about his scars? The woman who married his idiot of a friend and claimed Remus as family?
He had forgotten what her voice sounded like over the years. But here he was, remembering. It hurt more than he thought it would.
"Well, good for you then." Sirius grumbled.
Remus almost twitched when someone poked his cheek. "He's not saying anything–why isn't he saying anything? Moony, why aren't you saying anything? Moony say something, Moony, Moon—"
A familiar annoyance surged through him. "Would you button it for a moment, I just died." Remus snapped.
"Touchy." He could hear the pout in his voice. Merlin, James could be so dramatic sometimes—
Remus' mind screeched to a halt as annoyance gave way to an almost painful joy. "James." He choked out.
"Hello there, old friend." James said softly. Remus' heart clenched as he picked up on the smile in his voice.
"Why won't you look at us?" Lily asked softly.
Remus let out a shuddering breath. "Because you're not real."
A phantom touch on his wrist. "We are. Promise." Sirius murmured.
Remus shook his head. "You can't be."
A familiar face popped into view, blocking Remus' view of the sky. Regulus stared down at him, judgement clear on his face. "Lupin, be reasonable." He said, rolling his eyes. "Would I be here if this was some pathetic, wishful hallucination of yours?" Remus bristled, surely it wasn't necessary for his hallucinations to be so rude? His breath hitched. Unless—
"Merlin, Reggie! You're such a prick sometimes—" Sirius began to shout in Remus' defence. His tone was lacking the usual bite it usually held when faced with his brother, if anything, Sirius sounded closer to amused than anything else.
"Oh, it is real." Remus said, his voice surprisingly level. After all, his friends were never this irritating in his nostalgic memories of them. He smiled up at the Slytherin. "Thank you, Regulus."
Regulus smirked, offering Remus his hand. "See? Lupin appreciates me."
Remus took the hand and pulled himself up into a sitting position. He barely got a second when a flash of red hair took over his vision and he was tackled into a hug.
And of course, instead of waiting for their turn like civilized people, James and Sirius added themselves to the pile. Remus laughed, letting the love he thought he'd lost forever surround him once more.
He felt Sirius move his head so that they were cheek to cheek. "Welcome home, my love." He murmured into his ear.