Drink With Me

Remus lay on his stomach in the darkness, trusting in the Concealing Charm surrounding them to keep him hidden from Voldemort's servants. He looked sideways at Sirius, who was staring with intensity at the safehouse they were watching. Sirius was unmoving, his face showing nothing of what he was feeling, but in his eyes the haunted look of Azkaban was as strong as ever. He seemed to sense Remus watching him - he looked around and smiled crookedly before turning again to watch the safehouse for signs of activity. Remus thought, fleetingly, of Sirius' flashing, cheerful, and nearly permanent grin of fifteen years ago - before Azkaban, before Peter's betrayal, before Lily and James... He quickly left that line of thought, and forced himself to concentrate on the safehouse again.

Drink with me
To days gone by...

Remus heard a loud bang as the door of their dormitory was pushed aside so hard that it bashed the wall, and jumped up.

"Did it work?" he asked excitedly.

James held up a large box, grinning proudly. "Like a dream. Sirius and Peter should be up in a minute, they had to throw Filch off the scent - "

"We're here already," Peter announced, as he and Sirius stepped from underneath the invisibility cloak. "You should have been there, Remus, it was priceless."

Sirius laughed. "He's busy with your homework, Peter," he said, pointing at the unmistakable scrawl on the parchment Remus held.

Peter joined in the good-natured laughter.

Sing with me
The songs we knew...

James carefully added the last ingredient to the simmering cauldron, and watched it critically as it changed to a rich brown colour.

"What happens now?" he asked Sirius, who was consulting the book they had sneaked out of the Restricted Section.

"It should be a 'natural, earthy brown colour'," said Sirius, running his finger down the page. "And then 'The fire should be put out' - done that - and 'A Cooling Charm should be cast upon the potion. If it turns clear, it is ready for use immediately.'"

James performed the spell, and the four boys crowded around the cauldron and watched the colour drain out of the potion.

"It worked," said James. "Who's going to try it first?"

There was silence for a minute, and then Peter said, "I'll do it."

"Are you sure, Peter?" asked Remus. "None of you have to do this, you know that..." The sentence trailed into silence as the other three stared at him.

"Not do it?" Sirius exclaimed. "And waste three years' work? Don't be stupid, Moony." The other two agreed just as firmly.

"If I go first," said Peter, "and it doesn't work, you can take me down to Madam Pomfrey and say I botched a piece of homework. She'll believe it more from me than she will from James or Sirius."

The three boys looked at Remus. Finally, he nodded. "Nothing I say is going to change your minds, is it?" he said resignedly.

"Not a thing!" laughed Sirius.

"We're your friends, Remus," added James. "You're stuck with us."

Here's to pretty girls who went to our heads...

The entire common room watched, amused, as Lily and James argued. Lily in a temper was really quite terrifying - she tended to shout and gesture wildly. James, on the other hand, went quiet and controlled when he was angry - not worrying at all, that is if you didn't know him normally. Tonight, however, the argument seemed one-sided.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, POTTER?" yelled Lily, green eyes blazing.

James took a step back. "But - Tigerli -"

"AND DON'T CALL ME TIGERLILY! IT'S NOT FUNNY!"

"Look, Ti - uh - Lily, I was just - "

"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU JUST! I'M NOT LETTING YOU PULL ANOTHER PRANK AND LOSE GRYFFINDOR EVEN MORE POINTS THAN YOU HAVE ALREADY!"

James looked hurt. "It's only the first week of term! We haven't done anything yet!"

"We haven't been caught doing anything yet," muttered Remus. Sirius snorted, and stopped short when Lily whipped round and glared at him.

"ARE YOU LAUGHING AT ME?"

"Um, no, Lily," Peter piped up. "We were laughing at James."

"That's right, Lily!" added Sirius. "Do you know, he's head over heels in lo - "

"Shut up!" hissed James.

The rest of Gryffindor house chuckled appreciatively. Lily stood nonplussed for a minute, then glared around the room, turned on her heel and stormed out, slamming the portrait shut behind her.

The people in the common room went back to what they had been doing, and James walked over to the rest of the group.

"What did I do?" he asked them.

"Did you want the long list or the short list?" replied Sirius, grinning.

James scowled.

Here's to witty girls who went to our beds...

James was pale and shaking. "Moony, you're sensible," he begged. "Talk me out of doing this."

Remus shook his head. "Too late, Prongs," he said, mock-solemnly. "I'm afraid you're trapped."

James jumped up and resumed pacing the room. "I can't be getting married," he exclaimed. "It's not possible!"

"How exactly were you planning on telling the Tigerlily that?" asked Remus. "Tell me, so that I've got a chance to take cover."

James spun around to look at him. "But there's this - this Voldemort person out there, and I'm an Auror, and if he attacks - if he attacks..." He sat down heavily on a spindly chair. "What if I can't protect her, Moony?"

"You can only do your best, James," said Remus gently. "And Lily won't ask more of you. You know she won't. She loves you."

"But - "

Peter appeared in the doorway. "Prongs, if you don't go now, you're going to be late for your own wedding."

James Disapparated straight away. Remus looked around, picked up James' cloak, and followed, smiling.

Here's to them
And here's to you.

Remus jerked his head up as a light went on in one of the rooms of the safehouse. He looked over at Sirius again, who was crouched, tense, with his wand in his hand. Remus hoped that Snape's information was correct, and that Wor- Pettigrew was indeed in this house tonight.

Pettigrew. Not Wormtail, or Peter, ever again.

Drink with me
To days gone by...

Lily, laughing and scolding, allowed Remus to pick Harry up. He looked in fascination at the tiny form in his arms.

"He looks just like James," he said. Harry curled his hand around Remus' finger.

"He has Lily's eyes," said James proudly. Lily laughed.

"You've named Sirius godfather?"

Lily nodded. "Against my better judgement, I might add. Sirius will probably turn him into a prankster as bad as any of you were."

"As any of us are," corrected Remus. "With James Potter as his father, he'll be a prankster anyway. And I claim the right to be godfather to number two."

Lily laughed again. "Granted. And no doubt Peter will want be godfather for number three."

James laughed as well. "What about number four? I suppose we could always ask your sister..."

"No, I wouldn't wish Petunia on any child," said Lily. "I pity her son."

They laughed and chatted well into the evening, while Harry slumbered in his mother's arms.

Can it be
You fear to die?

They were talking, all four of them, in the Three Broomsticks. Remus was reminded of their Hogwarts days as he had not been in a while - with James married, and both he and Sirius in top secret Auror jobs, Peter as a clerk in the Daily Prophet, and Remus himself working in research, they seldom had a chance to meet up and talk now.

"Guys," said James suddenly, "If I die, will you look after Lily and Harry for me?"

"Course we will, Prongs," said Sirius. "But why the sudden pessimism? Do you think you're going to die?"

"I'm not being pessimistic..." said James slowly. "But there's more and more attacks now - I just want to be sure that if - if I'm not there, they'll be looked after and happy and everything."

"We promise, Prongs," said Remus.

Peter nodded. He had been rather quiet the whole day.

Will the world remember you when you fall?

Remus woke the morning after full moon feeling cold and groggy. He summoned some clean clothes and put them on, performed some healing charms on the worst of the cuts, and then broke the wards on the small shed before walking up to the cottage and letting himself in.

As he ravenously ate his breakfast, an owl tapped on the window. He let it in, paid it, and propped the Daily Prophet it brought against the cereal packet. His eyes fell on the headline, written in inch-high letters.

Harry Potter : The Boy Who Lived!

Underneath was a wizarding photograph of the Dark Mark hovering over the village of Godric's Hollow. He stared at it for a moment, mechanically chewing his cereal. Then the full implications of the headline hit him.

His breakfast forgotten, he grabbed the paper and read the article. At first he read avidly, his eyes scudding across the lines and his fingers scrambling to turn the pages, but gradually he slowed. When he had finished, he put the paper carefully down on the table.

Then Remus Lupin put his head in his hands and sobbed.

Could it be your death means nothing at all?

"We interrupt this program to bring you a special announcement. Sirius Black, who revealed himself yesterday as a double agent when he murdered thirteen people, among them childhood friend Peter Pettigrew, with one curse, has been convicted of murder and sympathy to the Dark Side and sentenced to a lifetime in Azkaban."

Remus switched off the radio with a flick of his wand. His gaze fell on a photograph on a table. It was Lily and James' wedding day. They stood arm in arm, with Sirius beside them laughing merrily, and Peter and himself both crying openly. Angrily, he pointed his wand at it. It sailed across the room and landed in the bin.

Is your life
Just one more lie?

There were definitely people inside the safehouse. He looked across at Sirius. "Do we go closer?" he mouthed.

Sirius shook his head and whispered "They'll have wards. But they can't Apparate because of that, so they'll have to come out at some point." He resumed watching the door, ferocity in his eyes. Remus followed suit. He hoped with all his heart that Pettigrew was in there, hoped that maybe, just maybe they could secure Sirius' acquittal.

Drink with me
To days gone by...

On Harry's first birthday, Sirius, Remus, and Peter visited the house in Godric's Hollow, bringing with them piles of gifts. Harry chuckled at 'Worml's' gift of a toy broomstick, which hovered a few feet above the ground, and manoeuvred it, a little drunkenly and with much assistance from 'Worml', around the room. James laughed outright. "Look at that!" he exclaimed. "My son's already a Quidditch player!"

Remus' gift was a huge box of assorted sweets. Little Harry immediately seized on a sugar quill and sucked at it ferociously. When he finished it, he started on another. Lily indulgently ignored it. "It's his birthday," she said, smiling. "Besides, he's only got another ten years 'til Hogwarts, and he needs to practice for History of Magic lessons."

It was Sirius' bag of Dungbombs, however, that caused the most mirth. 'Paffut' explained carefully how to throw them at Mummy and guided Harry's aim. Lily's resulting shriek and her scoldings were completely ignored by the unashamed culprit, who sucked innocently at another sugar quill.

To the life
That used to be...

Moony loped, carefree, through the darkness of the forest. The moon shone brightly above, and Padfoot ran by his side. Through the trees he caught sight of Prongs, running ahead for the sheer joy of speed. He smelt the path where Wormtail had been, barked once, and swerved aside. The stag and the dog followed him; all four finally met in a clearing near the center of the forest. Prongs took the lead, and the other three followed. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, Magical Mischief-Makers, played under the full moon.

At the shrine of friendship never say die...

James finished reading the dog-eared newspaper and tossed it into the bin.

"Another killing," he said. "Muggle-borns again. That makes four in a week." He paused. "I'm going to stop him. No matter what it takes, even if I die doing it, I'm going to stop the bastard."

Sirius put a hand on his shoulder. "We're with you."

Remus and Peter both nodded.

"Remember," added Remus, "we're your friends. You're stuck with us."

Let the wine of friendship never run dry...

"We don't want your sort in our town!"

"Get out!"

Remus left the town hurriedly, and Disapparated to Peter's flat in London. When Peter came in, he took one look at Remus and immediately sent an owl for a Healer.

"Wormtail," protested Remus weakly, "I won't be here long. I'm just passing through."

"Just passing through on your way from being drummed out of town?" asked Peter, smiling. Remus chuckled and admitted it.

"Right, you're staying here for at least a week. I'll get your stuff from your old house and sell the place."

"But -"

Peter shook his head. "I've got enough room. And besides, Moony, what are friends for?"

Here's to you
And here's to me.

The figures in the safehouse had left the upstairs room and were coming down. Sirius and Remus both tensed, ready to cast Stunning Spells, but the figures went into a downstairs room instead of coming out.

Drink with me
To days gone by...

Remus sat aboard the Hogwarts Express, in the same seat that he had occupied every time he had travelled on it since he was eleven. It had been the full moon last night, and he slept, worn out.

He woke at the sound of a Dementor's dry, rattling breath. Standing up, he advanced towards it, a half-formed Patronus quivering at the end of his wand - it was a difficult charm to cast at the best of times, and just waking up from an exhausted sleep was not the best of times.

Only when he had driven the creature back did he notice the occupants of the compartment. There was a tall, red-headed, freckled boy - a Weasley - a girl with bushy brown hair, and -

At first Remus thought he was looking at James - James aged thirteen. Then he saw the bright green eyes, with a hint of sadness in them that James had never had, and realised that this must be Harry. He was shaken. To hide his astonishment, he handed round chocolate to combat the effects of the Dementor.

Although he pretended to go back to sleep, for the rest of the journey he listened to Harry's conversation with his friends.

Sing with me
The songs we knew...

Remus had never been a real Quidditch fan. That had always been James and Sirius' department. But, when he was in the teacher's stands on the Quidditch pitch, with Gryffindor playing their hardest and Harry flying as spectacularly as James ever had, he was surprised to find himself belting out a Gryffindor cheer Sirius had written - at least, until McGonagall left off scolding the Jordan boy long enough to glare at him. He fell sheepishly silent - he was pretty sure she still classed him as 'Remus Lupin, Troublemaker' and was not altogether sure she would balk at giving him detention. It was a little late, though - the entire Gryffindor house were now bellowing the cheer full voice. Just before McGonagall turned away, he thought he caught her smiling slightly.

At the shrine of friendship raise your glass high...

Remus often couldn't help but laugh at Harry, Ron and Hermione's ongoing feud with Malfoy - it reminded him a great deal of their own with Snape. The three were indeed the best of friends, and Remus was nearly certain that they had in their keeping James' old Invisibility cloak. The other teachers had told him a great deal about the threesome's escapades and adventures, and Remus found himself feeling incredibly proud of Harry. He was very like James.

Let the wine of friendship never run dry...

Remus stared, astonished, from the nearly-unrecognisable Sirius - Sirius who was innocent - to Wormtail, grovelling on the floor - Wormtail, the betrayer. Anger filled him. He wanted nothing more than to kill Wormtail then and there.

And Harry stopped him. Harry, with Ron and Hermione beside him - Harry white-faced and angry. Harry, so very like James. He stared, disgusted, at Wormtail.

"My dad wouldn't have wanted his best friends to become killers - just for you."

If I die...

The Death Eaters finally left the safehouse. Even from his vantage point, flat in the long grass, Remus could see that one of them was Pettigrew. For a moment there was a lump in his throat as he remembered Peter at school - and then it was gone. "Stupefy!" he yelled.

Pettigrew blocked the curse and returned one of his own. Sirius was standing and fighting too, but there were five Death Eaters and only two of them. "We - have - to - run!" he panted to Sirius. Sirius nodded, and they both Disapparated.

I die...

Harry looked up at Professor Dumbledore along with the rest of the Great Hall. Dumbledore waited for silence, then spoke.

"You know that last summer, Voldemort returned to corporeal form. You know that he is out there, rebuilding his strength, gathering followers. You know that he could target any one of you, any one of your families."

Dumbledore surveyed the room, his blue eyes solemn.

"Every one of you can do something. Every one of you can make a difference. Every one of you has the capacity for trust, for love. I ask that you lay aside petty rivalries to concentrate on something greater and more important. I ask that you do not live in hate and anger.

"Voldemort has many strengths, many followers. But he does not understand love. He cannot comprehend it. It can defeat him. It has done so before now."

Harry looked down at his plate.

"We may be few, but we are united. Do not underestimate the power of friendship."

...with you.

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