Remus sat in Grimmauld Place, looking through Sirius’ belongings. He was truly the only marauder left this time. His friends all dead or worse. Tonks kept after him to cheer up, but she didn’t understand his heart had died. It needed time. That night fifteen years ago his three friends had been torn from him, two killed by his Sirius, the one who had promised him every night that the four of them would stay strong, that – this always with his bark-laugh – if their friendship had survived a werewolf and a wedding, what was the most evil wizard around anyway?

My old friend, I recall
The times we had hanging on my wall
I wouldn't trade them for gold
Cause they laugh and they cry me
Somehow sanctify me
Their woven in the stories I have told
And tell again

After all those years believing he was alone, to find Sirius standing before him in his despicable hut was breath-taking. When he had seen it on the map he hadn’t dared allow himself to believe it, but here Sirius was. If he was here, everything was going to be alright. He took a deep breath and moved across the room to embrace his best friend.

My old friend, I apologize
For the years that have passed
Since the last time you and I
Dusted off those memories
But the running and the races
The people and the places
There's always somewhere else I had to be
Time gets slim, my old friend

They had lived in Sirius’ childhood mansion, Remus reassuring Sirius every night now, that Harry was as protected and loved as the child could stand, that this awful old house had no power left over Sirius. Remus had learned more about Sirius’ early childhood and the hag he had called ‘Mother’ for lack of a better name, than he had ever desired to, and loved Sirius all the more for having risen above such bile to become the friend who had always been there for them. He smiled, remembering briefly an early winter – first or second year – and Sirius blowing a virtual snow tornado at Snape after Snape had attacked Peter. Sirius had listened for years to James’ lovesick chatter, and had been the one to finally suggest the plan that was finally successful. Sirius and he had discussed it one day, after Harry floo-ed his concerns about his parents.

Sirius had suggested that he and Remus reenact the scene, and the two of them had pretended to be Lily and James for the rest of the day. That night they had discussed their death in depth. It had been the first time that they had had the chance to go over the marauders’ end.

It hadn’t only been the death of James and Lily, but the death of the marauders too. When one of them had betrayed the others so completely, the group itself had been injured beyond repair. As it almost had in their sixth year. Sirius had laughed later about how it was just like Snivellous, getting in the way of friendship.

The morning after, Remus had returned to his own shape to find a dog in front of him that had immediately become Sirius. Sirius had taken all the blame for the situation, told him that he had thought Remus would want to know that he had already gone to Dumbledore and told him that Remus had nothing to do with it. Remus remembered the intense look Sirius had given him and how furious he had been with him. James had refused to give Sirius the time of day for weeks, going beyond even Remus. If Sirius walked into the dorm, James walked out. After Sirius had spent two weeks sleeping on the couch in the common room, Remus had walked down one evening and told Sirius to take his bed, that he would deal with James, but he was tired of dirty glances from people who thought he had broken up the closest friendship around.

That had been when they figured out that Lily really liked James. She had come in as they were sitting there. “I hope you are proud of yourself, Remus, for breaking between James and that cur.� Her lip had curled looking at Sirius. It had been the first time she called him James. Remus and Sirius did quite a bit of plotting in true marauder fashion that night. Their plot hadn’t been finished for six months, but Operation By Friends For Friends had been put into action Valentine’s Day seventh year.

Don't know why, don't know why
Don't know why, don't know why

Lily had walked into the common room to find an impromptu head’s breakfast set up in one corner. Sirius and Remus had explained that it had impossible for them to bring her breakfast in bed, and James, as they had known he would, had refused to eat upstairs when she was eating in the common room. She had been accosted by James’ owl halfway through the meal with his annual gift, which he had left anonymous this year, and he had finished out the plan by offering some fruit to a first year who was racing through the common room late to class. (Remus and Sirius had bribed the boy earlier.) Demonstrating all the qualities Lily had grown to appreciate at once had been the basis of their plan. That evening they had set up a romantic head’s dinner in the room of requirement, and when James and Lily had come out, they had been together. One of Sirius’ many success stories, Remus thought, a bitter smile on his face now. It was always the best ones who disappeared. The rats seemed indestructible. Peter should have been a cockroach.

My old friend, this song's for you
Cause a few a few simple verses
Was the least that I could do
To tell the world that you were here
Cause the love and the laughter
Will live long after
All of the sadness and the tears
We'll meet again, my old friend

Remus wiped his face – all the dust in here was making him tear up – and smiled a genuine smile (his first of the afternoon) as he found a journal next to Sirius’ side of the bed. “Swan Song.� The four of them had written down stories, poems, and a song and had created four copies of the journal. The commemoration of their activities and friendship.

Goodbye, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye

He flipped through, caught a few words here and there. “Three dungbombs and a bottle of hairspray we used, on top of the pink dye!� “Padfoot got right up next to her and she started scratching his tummy. And later, all he had to say? ‘It’s my animal magnatism’ Truer words were never spoken.� “I started to think that it was no use, but at that point cutting Padfoot had become a habit, and I had to hope that Moony would take pity on him sooner or later.� And then his writing. “I could never have asked for better friends. Time and again I thought they couldn’t surprise me with their generosity again, but every time, they found another something extra. I learned soon enough to quit worrying about it if I wanted any sleep at night.�

My old friend, my old friend
Goodbye, goodbye

At the end were two last sentences. “The only explanation we ever gave for it all,� Prongs had declared. It was written by all of them together. “Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs bid you a good day. We all owe it all to our friends.� Remus bowed his head over Sirius’ copy and sighed.