"There's nothing you can do, Harry ... nothing .... He's gone."
-Remus Lupin ~ J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
It took hours for Sirius to explain the entire story to Lupin. By the time he was done, the sun had long since set, but “Remy” looked as though he had never been more awake. His eyes were wide with childlike wonder.
“And you expect me to believe all of this?” he said after Sirius gave the details of falling through the veil and winding up in this world.
“I don’t just expect you to believe it, I need you to. I need your help to find my godson.” Sirius’s voice was that of a desperate man.
“That kind of a story sure would be hard to make up…”
“Every word is true.”
Remus frowned, as though he was in very deep thought. “You say that… that in this world of yours, I was a werewolf?” Sirius nodded. “Hold on, I think you should take a look at these.” He handed Sirius the stack of books that had been thrown at him by his (now ex-) girlfriend, Sharon. Sirius, turning one of the books over in his palm, suddenly noticed the name on the binding.
“Lupin? You wrote these?”
“Of course I did! Look at the covers.”
The covers of Lupin’s books featured dark nights, full moons, and most frequently of all, pictures of fearsome-looking wolves.
“You write novels... about werewolves?”
“I’ve been having dreams about them ever since I was a kid. Only in the dreams, I was the wolf, transforming in the light of the full moon, losing my human mind.” He paused. “What do you think it means?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you have some sort of connection with your real world self?”
“How do you know that this isn’t the real world?”
“That is irrelevant. Do you believe me, old friend?”
“Of course I believe you. I’m a fantasy writer. We make our living believing in magic.”
Sirius had no idea where to start searching for Harry, or who might have been Harry. It occurred to him that Lily might have a son named Harry, but that Harry wouldn’t be his godson. After all, he wouldn’t have James’s face or James’s jet-black hair. Those had been passed down to “Franklin.” Sirius silently cursed James.
“You know, all you have to do is give me an address, and I can get us there.” Remus gestured toward a black rectangle to the left of the steering wheel, which puzzled Sirius.
“You mean you can Apparate?”
Remus raised an eyebrow. “It’s called a GPS. They don’t have these where you’re from, I presume?” He pressed a button and the screen came to life, showing a map of the surrounding streets.
“Ah.” Sirius thought for a moment. There was only one address where there was the slightest chance that Harry might be. He had heard a lot about Privet Drive, and he had never planned on paying a visit. “Number Four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey.”
“Surrey? Oh, that’s not far at all.”
Remus pushed a few more buttons, and the little rectangle suddenly came to life.
“Proceed one half of a kilometer and turn left.” The voice seemed to come out of nowhere, making Sirius jump.
“What was that?”
“I call her Betsey.”
“I see.”
As the Muggle vehicle lurched forward, the little dot on the illuminated map moved also, reminding Sirius of the Marauder’s map. Remus seemed to be too concentrated on operating the vehicle to talk, so Sirius picked up one of the werewolf novels and began to read. It was, admittedly, not that great.
“Park a few blocks away,” Sirius said when they reached Privet driving at around 2:30 a.m. “It’s the middle of the night “ I’ll talk to them in the morning.”
Remus nodded and pulled over on the curb of Magnolia Crescent. After he turned the key and the beelike hum of the car subsided, they both fell asleep in their seats: Sirius with an uneasy feeling in his stomach about what the next day would hold, and Remus with a giddy feeling in his heart about the idea of having found a friend.
From what Sirius had heard about it, Number Four Privet Drive was not a very pleasant place. He figured it couldn’t be much worse than Grimmauld Place. He wasn’t sure whether he should ring or knock, but before he could do either, a stocky teenage boy, who had apparently spied him out the window, opened the door and frowned.
“Excuse me,” Sirius said in the most polite way possible, “Do you think I could talk to your mum or dad for a moment?”
The boy smirked. “I’m not seven, you know.” He turned around and called into the hall, “Mummy! Someone’s here!”
A woman came into view who must have been Petunia. She hardly bore any resemblance to Lily; perhaps they had similar noses, but that was where the similarities ended.
“Yes?”
“Are you… er… Petunia Evans?”
She raised one eyebrow at him. “Petunia Dursley. Evans is my maiden name “ do I know you?”
“No, but I know Lily, your sister, and I uh…” Sirius paused and watched Petunia’s reaction to the mention of her sister. He had heard that she hated her, but her face seemed to light up a little bit at the sound of Lily’s name. “I wanted to pay her a visit, and I was wondering where I might find her.”
Petunia looked increasingly suspicious. “But how did you know -”
“A friend of Lily’s! How delightful!” A large, red-faced man came bounding into the doorway and cut Petunia off mid-sentence. “Yes, yes, of course we can help!”
“Vernon, we don’t know this man -”
“Nonsense!” He cut her off again. He seemed quite a lot jollier than Sirius had been anticipating. “Now, where was it that she and that nice Severus fellow moved to with the twins? ‘Twas somewhere in Wales, I believe….”
Sirius was no longer listening. For a moment or two, he actually felt as though his heart had stopped beating. Lily and Snape “ Snivellus “ the slimy git “ first James, now this “ twins? “ it couldn’t be “ no, no, no: thoughts streamed through Sirius’s mind at a thousand miles per second. He muttered a quick “thank you” to Vernon and hurried back to the car, where Remus was still lying asleep with his mouth curved up in a smile.
Something about that smile told Sirius that everything was going to be all right.
A Short Epilogue
Harry went on to save the modern world, but Sirius never saw his godson again. He and Remus (who got used to answering to his real name) became writing partners, and together they wrote a fantasy series about four best friends causing mischief in a school of magic named Hogwarts. This series, “The Marauders,” became an international bestseller.
Every night, Sirius thought of Harry and wondered about the fate of his world. For all he knew, Voldemort could have killed all of the Muggle-borns and taken over Europe. However, he had a feeling in his gut that told him Harry had been victorious.
“All was well.”
-J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
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Behind the Curtain by Virgil
Chapter Notes:For John Green, who has mastered the art of the road trip as a literary device.
Chapter Endnotes: Thank you very much for reading! Reviews = love, and the little white box is located conveniently below. This is the end of "Behind the Curtain" - indeed, I had only ever intended it to be a short chapter-ed fic. I apologise that it took so long to get the last one updated!
Peace,
Virgil