Marauders - Always - Part One

Never Either Without Laughter

"Deep breaths, Moony," Sirius said quietly, running his fingers over Remus's curls at the back of his neck, staring with concern at his husband.

"Oh Remus, why didn't you disapparate in?" Lily asked, frowning with concern and leaning forward 'round James to see her friend.

"He's afraid he would have splinched," Sirius said in a hushed whisper.

"Oh that would be terrible," Lily agreed.

"And he thought your motorbike was a more viable option?" James asked, incredulous.

"We took a cab," Remus corrected through his gritted teeth. "That motorbike is a death sentence even when I'm perfectly healthy. I would never dream of going near to it now."

"He says that now, but once he jumped out of the window of a flying motor car and onto the back of my motor bike nearly a mile high, just to snog me," Sirius intoned. "And that went perfectly spiffing."

"Yes until Gideon Prewett showed up and --" Remus said, speaking before fully thinking through and utterly regretting it the moment he did.

Utter silence fell over the five of them as Lily sat back, James and Sirius both turned to face forward, Remus stared at his hands, and Peter leaned into Lily's shoulder and closed his eyes.

James hung his head and stared at his trainers, bouncing his knee with anxiety. Lily touched the top of his knee, her palm splaying over it, and he felt a rush of warmth pass through her palm that spread suddenly through his entire body. He closed his eyes.

Sirius had just done the same thing to Remus, taking his hand and holding it tightly in his own, their fingers laced together. Remus leaned into Sirius, who released their hand grip to put his arm around Remus's shoulders as best he could because of their height difference, and hugged him closer. Remus's head rested against Sirius's chest as he leaned down and Sirius stroked his hair.

Suddenly from behind them there came the sound of bagpipes and James whispered, "Here we go."

Remus sat up and Sirius's hand returned to being lace-fingered with his.

The caskets were carried in, then. One before the other, four aurors apiece. They were carried, too, not levitated, James noticed. This was considered a special honor at Wizarding funerals - especially for aurors killed in action, he remembered once reading in one of the Ministry for Magic handbooks. It symbolized the giving of strength. Because the auror had given his or her strength for the sake of the wizarding world, the aurors of the Ministry gave their strength to bear the casket's weight. It was a small thing but the symbolism was very large, and James bit his lip thinking of it.

The aurors carried the caskets to stands that stood side-by-side at the front near to the graves and they put the caskets down, then lined up shoulder-to-shoulder, all eight of them, at the head of the caskets, right arms laid over their hearts as their left hung down.

Frank was one of the four on Fabian's side. They could only tell the difference between the caskets because they'd been engraved with a large F and a large G. A design like peacock feathers had been engraved into the wood as well with a silvery-blue ink so that the caskets seemed to glimmer in the sunlight.

In the front row, a string of Weasleys sat - Molly and Arthur, hugging tightly as Molly cried - Bill, Charlie, Percy, and Bilius, holding one of the two twin babies while Bill held onto the other. James noticed Bill, who was only eight (nearly nine), had tears silently running over his cheeks, and Charlie (six) was staring down at the ground, a red book he held hugged tight to his chest, his eyes unfocused. Charlie was rocking himself so that his little red haired head nodded as he went forward and backward, but he was holding tiny little Percy's hand tight in his own as Percy looked around wide-eyed, chewing on his other hand - a mere three and having no real idea of what was happening.