The Waffle Iron of Death

Remus John Lupin was not happy. No, not at all. He had lost one of his best friends 15 years ago and he had lost the other very recently. Dealing with the death of James Potter and his wife had been hard enough; he had barely dealt with it. He had "lost" Sirius Black 15 years ago when he was sent to Azkaban but he had gotten him back since then. Losing him once again, this time permanently, was not biding well with him.

Since that fateful night, Remus had been in a state of extreme sorrow. He stayed to his own business and his eyes lost that sparkling that they had once had. Going to Grimmuald Place for a meeting was not one thing he was looking forward to, so close to the death of its most recent owner. Nothing he could do could stop him from attending and his sensible side, knew that it was the best thing for him and he had to except it. That did not make anything any easier.

The meeting dealt mainly with Harry's "adventure" and the issue of who would own headquarters. After the meeting, Remus met up with Arthur.

Arthur did not seem to have anything to say to him but he did show his feelings by patting Remus on the shoulder.

Remus appreciated the small gesture and was grateful for having friends in the Order who were willing to appreciate his condition. "Don't worry about me. I'll have to get used to it anyway and for me, the sooner the better."

Arthur was sympathetic for him. "That doesn't make anything any easier."

"What I really need is something to get my mind off things. I would like to have your job right about now. There'd always be something to think about."

Arthur looked as if Christmas had come early. "Then maybe you'd like to hear something about my job."

Remus smiled and nodded. "Sure, let's get out of this hallway." They walked into the nearest room and Arthur started talking.

"I got a really interesting object in my office. I think it's called a 'waffle iron.' I got it because it seemed to be hiccupping. That was quickly resolved but I just had to take it back with me." He pulled out a black, rectangular object out of the bag he had placed in the room after he had come from his job. "This is it. You can open it," he did so, revealing a grid of metal poking out from the strange object, "and there's this grid inside. I'm not sure what you do with it but you can put into a plug and it burns whatever's inside."

Remus looked at Arthur strangely. "You've plugged it in?"

"Yes, I have a small 'outlet' in the kitchen that's hidden and before the beginning of the meeting; I used it to plug the 'waffle iron' in."

"That is exactly why I envy you now. You have these types of things to keep your mind off more important things."

"Yes, well, I'm going to plug it in again tonight and see if I can figure anything out about it. You want to join me? I could start early." Arthur was so eager; it hurt Remus to turn down his offer.

"No," Remus spoke gently. "I think that I'd rather try to get a good night's sleep today. Maybe we could do that another time."

Arthur was disappointed but forgot it easily. It seemed that the prospect of tinkering with the foreign object kept him happy. "That's too bad but, the offer still stands."

Remus nodded and said, "Fine, I'll be going up now. Have a good night." He turned away and started walking up the stairs.

Arthur nodded. "Good night." He picked up the waffle iron and carried it gently into the kitchen to play around with it a little.

That night Remus had trouble sleeping. He had nightmares about Sirius falling through the veil and they were worse then they had ever been before. After waking up numerous times, he finally decided to get out of bed a little and to walk it off by going to the kitchen for a glass of water.

When he entered the kitchen, he was met with a very strange sight. Apparently Arthur had left his waffle iron out and forgotten about hiding it and the outlet he had created. But that was not the strange thing. Kreacher was poking it and muttering something.

Remus had meant to say something and get Kreacher's attention, but he never did end up doing that. He leaned on the frame of the door and watched as Kreacher poked the strange object. After some time, he managed to open it and after not getting anything out of it, he slammed his open hands onto the grid and received an extreme shock as he was burned. He jerked up his hands in shock but in his hurry he tripped forward and his face met with the grid of the waffle iron. He did not even manage a scream as his eyes were burned out and he was killed.

Remus was in shock. He had not expected this. He rushed up to Kreacher and gently shook in hope that he was still alive. He wished he had not done that as he saw the eyes had exploded. He was thinking about getting someone and telling them what happened when an image suddenly popped into his head.

Sirius, who was laughing loudly in his bark-like way and thoroughly enjoying the fact that his house elf had just suffered a painful death. That was not all. James was standing next to him and was bent forward and clutching his sides and he laughed at Kreacher's plight as well. Lily was standing behind them, smiling slightly and shaking her head at her husband and his best friend.

It was Lily smiling so kindly at him that made Remus realize that they weren't gone. They were still his best friends in the world and they would always be there for him. They obviously wouldn't change either.

Remus smiled widely. He thought: Oh, let them find out on their own. He took a glass of water and walked away. His eyes had their sparkle back and as soon as he was back in his room, he was laughing. After drinking his water he went to sleep and slept more fitfully than he had for some time.