Beyond the Door

XIV

Several hours have passed since the discovery of Sirius' death. No one dared to ask when; Harry knew it would haunt him forever, Memory Charm or not. All that mattered to him was to spend as much time with his godfather and Remus as possible. Harry was still shaken, but he refused to let that waste the time he could be spending with Sirius and Remus.

The sun was nearing the horizon, and James felt a pang of homesickness he hadn't felt since his first night at Hogwarts. He missed his home in Godric Hollow, he missed hearing his parents tease each other—he even missed the days spent restoring Grimmauld Place with all of his aunts and uncles.

He knew he wasn't the only one who felt the same. On every face, there was a clear longing for home. Molly and Arthur did their best to cheer them up, and all of the kids from the future truly appreciated it, however it still couldn't entirely quell the sadness they felt.

Tonks had gone back upstairs with Bill to take a look at the door behind the bookcase again while everyone else stayed in the parlor. Sirius and Remus had taken to telling them stories of their time at Hogwarts, and Teddy especially had enjoyed hearing about it.

"Merlin Padfoot, do you remember the time that little fifth-year followed you around?" Remus asked with a fond laugh. "She was your shadow for nearly three months!"

"Oh, don't remind me of that!" Sirius groaned with a bright grin. "It was almost impossible to get away from her, and I swear James was egging her on! He'd trip me up in the hallway and I'd fall straight into her arms!"

Remus let out a hearty laugh.

"Oh you laugh now," Sirius goaded, "but I seem to recall a little Ravenclaw you were utterly smitten with, Lupin."

Remus' laughter stopped abruptly and he gaped at his friend. "What? How do you—"

"For goodness sake, Moony, you'd lose the use of your tongue around her," Sirius teased. "I remember once you'd stuttered so badly that it took all Prongs and I had to not burst out laughing. 'D-d-d-do you know wh-wh-wh-where—'" Sirius' mockery was interrupted as an irate Remus jabbed his fingers into Sirius' side, causing him to let out a puff of air and jerk away.

Laughter warmed the parlor, competing with the crackling fire, and Sirius and Remus smiled fondly at the memories.

"Oh Sirius," Remus heaved. "Those were such good days."

"They were, Moony," Sirius agreed. "And I'd suffer a thousand times over just to have them as memories; I wouldn't trade them for anything."

That meant a great deal coming from his weary friend, and Remus was reminded again that Sirius had never known anything better than his times at Hogwarts, and Remus didn't think he had either.

Harry watched fondly as the two old friends reminisced, but he was struck with a pang of jealousy. He wished he knew his father as well as they once did.

"Hey," Sirius suddenly said to the group from the future, "is that old map of ours still around?"

Very cunning and coy glances were shared amongst the most prominent troublemakers; Rose rolled her eyes, but she was no better than the rest of them.

"Yeah it is, actually," Teddy answered. "Harry let me take it when I started at Hogwarts."

Remus smiled at that. He was happy to see their legacy was still appreciated.

"And then when I left, he let James take it, which..." Teddy trailed off with an amused look. "Well, he's fully taken advantage of its perks."

"Well of course, what else am I supposed to do with it?" James questioned. "Use it to find my classes, oh please, Teddy."