Fate

Chapter 39 - Their Journey Came to an End

It was the strangest form of déjà vu that Harry had ever experienced in his life.

He saw the stars swell around him, their blinding light invading even his tightly clamped eyelids. The explosion of light seemed to shake the ground this time, again cutting out the sound of everything around him and he could not find the strength to scream.

Then, for the second time, he was consumed by the darkness.

It seemed to last forever and all three of them waited with bated breath as the pitch black around them lingered and lingered...

Waiting...

----

Back in the early fall of 1981, Remus Lupin entered his small apartment, lazily flipping the lights on and browsing through the mail he had just received. He was hoping to receive a note from Emily, as she hadn't written him in at least three days.

His heart stopped dead as he saw untidy scraw scribbled on a small note.

The rest of the mail dropped to the ground and he raced out of the house.

Emily was gone.

----

James Potter stood pensively next to Sirius Black as they gathered with about twenty others at the graveyard. Off to the side of them were their two best friends, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin, neither looking any happier.

Remus himself looked as if his own life had just ended.

The four young men watched with heavy hearts as Emily Fairchild was lowered into the ground.

----

Sirius Black made the finishing touches on his newly washed motorbike, standing back with pride as he looked on his work and allowing himself a small moment to bask in one small thing that was able to give him pleasure in these dark times.

He went back inside his small flat, cleaning up a bit before getting on his bike and flying over to the Potter's house.

He didn't even notice the two rings that were sitting on his bedside table, and as he rarely slept at his own place anymore, they laid unnoticed for quite some time.

The small calendar beside them read October 1^st.

----

Remus watched with a heavy heart as he once again saw Sirius whispering with Peter as they all waited for the Order meeting to start in the Potter's home. Remus' gaze strayed to James whose attention was focused on his wife and small child, as well it should be.

Remus pretended not to notice when Sirius looked at him with a hint of mistrust, and pretended not to notice when Peter's eyes went wide at the sight of him.

He sipped his drink casually, taking the news rather well that at least two of his friends were beginning to distrust him.

After all, he sighed, he knew it was only a matter of time.

He glanced at the calendar hanging on the wall.

October 9^th.

----

Sirius finally got out of his bed after a sleepless night, pulling on a loose shirt and padding out of his bedroom to get a small wake-me-up.

His yawns were few, but he felt his feet dragging still. The war was getting too unpredictable, and though Sirius himself didn't fear his inevitable end, for he knew it would probably come eventually, in this war or the next, his fear was on a much grander scale when it came to his friends.

He paid the owl for the morning paper and shook his head sadly at the numerous deaths spoken of on the front page.

His eyes scanned quickly as he read a centerfold that named all the victims in the war so far. He stopped short at the most familiar name on the list.

Arianna Moore.

It gave no indication of how she had died; only that it had been some time in late August. Sirius frowned, not quite remembering the details but wondering for a moment why he wasn't more emotional about her tragic demise.

A knock on his front door startled him out of his thoughts and he grabbed his motorbike keys, running out to meet Peter.

The date on the paper read October 20^th.

----

James Potter paced up and down the confines of the office room in his house, barely hearing the sounds of Lily upstairs as she put little Harry to bed.

He could practically feel the wards that were placed around the house, shielding it, protecting it...hiding it.

But James knew it still wasn't enough.

He glanced at the calendar on his desk.

October 25^th.

He heard the sound of Sirius' motorbike land outside and could only hope that his best mate's plan was going to work.

----

Remus wanted to cry, but held himself back. He sat all alone in his apartment, glancing anxiously at the clock on his mantle and wishing time would go faster.

Beside the clock stood a small framed picture of four teenage boys, fresh out of Hogwarts. They smiled and waved, but their joyful faces did nothing to cheer up the depressed werewolf.

He hadn't spoken to any of those men in over a week, trying to keep his distance so that Sirius would stop thinking him so guilty.

But the plan had backfired.

He had heard, through the grapevine only, that James and Lily had made Sirius their secret keeper.

An obvious choice, but Remus knew that Sirius would not let James down, no matter what.

No matter what.

----

The tears came in a steady flow and despite the occasional smile or laugh, Sirius could not stop crying.

He held to Lily tightly, feeling her own tears splash onto his face as she pulled back and kissed his cheek, telling him not to worry so much.

She pushed little Harry into his arms, making him let out a small sob before he crushed the small boy in a hug, all the while hearing his small voice say "No cy, Pafoo. No cy." He managed to let out a laugh as he swung Harry into the air once, his eyes never leaving the tiny boy's face as it lit up with happiness, feeling the rush of the wind.

As quickly as possible he handed Harry back to Lily, afraid if he didn't do it quickly, he would never let go.

And he turned to James.

For the first time ever no cracks were made by anyone about how wimpy it was to cry, and no jokes were made.

Neither seemed to have the energy.

They fell onto one another, pounding each other on the back and neither caring that they were holding each other so tightly that they couldn't breath. Their tears ran down each other's backs and they seemed to never let go.

Finally, painstakingly, Sirius drew back.

They looked each other in the eyes, unspoken thoughts of "Thank you" and "I'll miss you" being heard with no words said.

Sirius stepped back, grabbing up his small pack and looking back at the family one last time.

Then, without looking back, kicked off on his motorcycle and flew off into the night.

It was October 26^th.

----

Remus shivered, despite the warmth of the wolf's coat, and ran through the winding trees of the forbidden forest.

His mind was ravaged with hunger and he felt his sanity slipping as the wolf gained more and more control.

But for once in his life, Remus felt that the wolf's senses might very well be truer than his own.

Something was happening tonight.

----

Sirius pounded once again on the door, for the first time letting himself worry that Peter wasn't answering.

When no sound was heard from inside, he gathered his strength and kicked the door down with a mighty crash.

----

James stood tall and proud as he heard Lily's frantic footsteps up the stairs and the door crash off its hinges.

He lifted his chin up defiantly as the creature who called himself a man entered the Potter House.

----

Sirius raced through the sky as if his life depended on it, not even noticing the barrage of tears that were streaming out of his eyes, nor the way his hands shook on the steering, nor the faint voice of power off in the distance.

----

James saw blood streaming in his eyes before he registered that he was on the ground. Something was throbbing in the back of his head and he was so overwhelmed with dizziness that he could barely breath.

The monster's twisted laugh seemed to give him more strength and he took himself to his feet, standing at the bottom of the stairway and jutting his chin out once more, not a trace of fear crossing his features.

----

A wolf howled in the distance and Remus felt himself pulled to the call.

No matter how much he had tried to control the wolf that night, it was all in vain.

He succumbed to the insanity, praying he would make it till morning.

----

Sirius heard a loud explosion in front of him and could barely see the green light flicker and die as he got nearer and neared Godric's Hollow.

He almost fainted on sight, but the magical restraints on his bike kept him upright and dragged his weary body towards the disaster.

----

He landed roughly on the ground, not controlling himself at all as he fell to his knees, sobbing at the burnt and destroyed house before him.

He managed to drag himself to the dead body on the ground before him and pulled James close to him, sobbing once again on his shoulder and wishing for nothing in the world except for James to hug him back.

----

The soft whimper of a baby permeated the air.

----

Sirius' head shot up, for a split second all else forgotten as he heard the whimper of a small child.

He ran, stumbling, towards the sound and collapsed in inexpressible joy as Harry reached out from under his tattered blanket, grabbing for anything and finding Sirius' fingers there waiting for him. Shaking, Sirius pulled the blanket off of the baby and heard the whimpers stop and a small voice speak.

"No cy, Pafoo...No cy..."

----

Harry reached out, grabbing for anything in the darkness and finding Sirius' hand waiting for his.

The light finally exploded out, both Harry and Sirius clasping hands tightly as their journey came to an end.