Epilogue: In Loving Memory

"Do you remember that time that mum told us not to jump on the bed because we looked like monkeys and I fell off the bed and I bumped my head?" Viktor asked as he looked over at his sister. Viktoria laughed, they were both sitting with their backs to the tree and resting against it. Viktoria took her brothers hand.

'Dad got so mad at you for not obeying and mother simply sang the song of the monkeys jumping on the bed and how they all fell of the bed and racked their heads. How old where we, four?' the words appeared in black ink on the palm of his hand as he laughed as turned his sight to the boughs of the tree.

"Yes I think we were four," he said as he stared up at the tree. As they were seventh years and Remus was gone and so was Severus, he had Viktoria all to himself, just as he had always wished. She was the only one that understood him and loved him with all her heart. She was his better half and she would always be her better half. "I started to cry so hard and you were there to make it all go away," he said as he looked up into his sisters eyes. She smiled as she looked at him.

'Of course and I always will be. You are my other half and you complete me,' her words appeared as she leaned her head against his shoulder. Viktor smiled as he placed a kiss on the top of his sister's head and rested his head atop of hers. 'I don't know what I would do without you.'

"Nor I without you," he replied.

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"James, you're throwing him too high, be careful!" Lily said as she looked at her husband with a smile. Viktoria looked over at the happily married couple and Harry who was in his fathers arms and laughing happily. Viktoria smiled and went back to reading her book.

"Oh Lily, he's fine! You worry far too much," James said as he held his son. Lily smiled at him and shook her head as she took Harry into her arms. "He is our previous little boy but he'd not made of glass," James said as he ran his hands through Harry's soft hair. Viktoria looked over at Lily who was staring up at her husband adoringly.

"No but until the day that men are made of stronger metal then earth, perhaps it would be best that we do no endanger him," Lily said as she looked at James with a smile. James looked down into her green eyes and ran a hand through her red hair.

"Come now Mrs. Potter, surely you know that it doesn't matter what our son is made of only of whom he comes from. He will be a great wizard," James said as he looked down into her eyes. Lily merely smiled as she looked up into her husbands hazel eyes and placed a kiss on his lips, causing Viktoria to smile and look away. Her heart aching a little at the thought of her beloved and the dreams of one day being able to have the type of love that Lily and James had.

"Sorry Vik, we must be grossing you out," Lily said as she pulled away from James and looked over at Viktoria, who turned to look at them with a smile.

'Don't worry about it. Next I have a boyfriend I'll do the same around you,' Viktoria's words glowed as she started to laugh. Lily and James chuckled lightly as they shook their heads and bounced Harry between them. Life was perfect, despite everything in the world going on. Those matters simply did not penetrate Godric's Hollow.

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"Hello Miss Lupin," Sirius said as he popped up behind Viktoria in Diagon alley. She jumped in surprise and smiled as she looked at him.

'Sirius, why do you do that?' her green words appeared as she swatted him on the arm. He merely shrugged. 'How did you know I was here?'

"I didn't, I came with Remus. Apparently brother and sister are very alike if they both come to Flourish and Blotts on the same day at the exact same time," Sirius said as Remus walked up to them.

"Viktoria!" he exclaimed as he walked over and through his arms around her. He hadn't seen her since the wedding of Lily and James, which was only a few months ago. "What are you doing here?"

'Apparently the same thing you're doing here,' Viktoria's response hung before him causing him to merely smile and shake his head. He walked away as he made his way to find what he was looking for.

"Have you told him yet?" Sirius asked as he took a step closer to her. She stared up into his black eyes and shook her head with a shrug, causing him to shake his head.

'What should I say? Oh yes brother, Sirius and I shagged each other on Lily's and James' wedding and we are having a love affair, but we're not dating so you don't have to worry about that,' he looked down at the palm of his hand and looked up at her smiling face as he grinned down at her with his sexy grin.

"Well I was thinking something much more along the lines of, Sirius and I are starting a very light courtship to see were it takes us. Perhaps it will lead to something or perhaps not, but you know that we care very much about each other that we wouldn't hurt each other," he said as he stared down at her eyes, coming quite close to her. Viktoria stared at his lips for a moment.

'Well Mr. Black, perhaps you should endeavor to say such things to my brother,' Viktorias black words appeared on his palm as she brought it up so that he may look at it. After staring at her hand for a moment he turned his gaze back to her amber eyes, which bewitched him so much.

"Maybe no words are required and he should just see a public display of affection," Sirius said as he looked down into her eyes. She smiled flirtatiously up at him.

'Oh you would like that very much wouldn't you?' he read from his palm.

"Of course, by the way, you look absolutely beautiful today," he replied as he leaned in and placed a kiss on her lips wonderfully soft lips. She often made him feel like there would never be moments happier then the moments he spent with her and he often felt that if he had to die, it would be of his love for her and nothing else.

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"Viktoria, my dear, what are you doing wandering around at this hour?" Dumbledore asked as he spotted Viktoria, one of his favorite fourth years. She turned around and looked at him with her sad eyes and tried her best to smile as she looked at him.

'I couldn't sleep. Nightmares,' she responded as she looked over at Dumbledore. He stared at her through his half moon spectacles and stared at her with concern in his wonderfully blue eyes. He walked over to her and placed an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him. He didn't know why it was, perhaps the poor situation that the Lupin children came from, or perhaps it was that they all seemed to be cursed one way or other, but he had a very soft spot for the three of them.

"Yes, I'm very sorry about those, my dear. But I think that the reason your having nightmares once more is because you're feeling guilty about something, as usually is the case," he said as he walked down the hall with her beneath his arm. She looked up at him for a moment before looking down at her feet.

'I'm in love with Severus,' was her glowing green response, causing Dumbledore to nod in understanding. He'd noted that there was something strange going on between the two. He'd seen them recently around each other more often then ever before, and it seemed to have changed ever since Christmas Eve. He'd seen them give each other a brief kiss beneath the missile-toe before McGonagall had separated and wondered if that was the beginning of their relationship.

"Ah, I understand. You and Severus are dating and you have not told Remus. And since you've always told Remus everything, you are feeling guilty for not telling him and for dating Severus in the first place," Dumbledore said as he continued to walk with her. Viktoria merely nodded in response. "Well my dear, if you want my advice, all I have to say is that if it is troubling you, you should simply tell him. He'll understand, he loves you and adores you a great deal."

'Do you really think so?' Viktoria's glowing green question appeared before him. He nodded in response as he looked down at her.

"Now, off you should go to bed my dear. And thank you for the socks, I like them very much," Dumbledore said with his twinkling eyes as he lifted the hem of his rope to show her the socks that she had given him. She giggled lightly as she turned away and started to walk away. "Stop by my office soon my dear, Fawkes would dearly love to hear from you soon," Dumbledore said as Viktoria walked away. She nodded in response as she hopped off. Dumbledore shook his head with a smile on his face as he chuckled lightly. How he loved young love.

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"Severus stop, I can't breath!" Viktoria giggled as she lay on her back and tried to grab his hands to make him stop. He smiled as he stared down at her and stopped tickling her. He got off from straddling her and lay beside her. Viktoria turned around and looked into his eyes, her eyes shinning with mirth and unshed tears from all the laughing. She smiled as she looked at him and playfully hit him on the arm. "What was that for?" she asked as she looked into his eyes.

She'd been making the bed the muggle way when he'd walked in on her and seized the opportunity to tickle her until she couldn't bear to breath. "No reason, you just look so lovely when you laugh," he said as he pulled her into his arms and stared into her eyes. They'd collapsed on the bed in a tickling match, in which, as always, he'd managed to wind up on top, which meant he was in the most advantageous position to hold her down and tickle her.

"Oh Severus, don't you wish there were more moments like this in life?" she asked as she stared at her hand, which was currently playing with a strand of his back hair. Her eyes were shinning sadly and he knew that she was thinking about Lily, James and Harry Potter, all people she'd loved and cared about and recently lost.

"Viktoria there is something that I want to talk to you about," he said as he stared down into her eyes and sat up. She sat up next to him and looked into his eyes.

"What is it Severus?" she asked as she looked into his eyes. He stared at her and took her hands in his own.

"We've been through a lot together, and you know that I love you dearly, more then anything in the world," he said as he stared into her eyes. She stared at him and furrowed her brow. She felt that he was trying to warm her up for a hard blow, for he seemed to be slightly nervous, something that never happened to him. "I would give up everything for you, I would even give up my own life, if just to save yours."

"Severus, you're scaring me. What is this about?" she asked as she stared into his eyes. He smiled as he brought her hands to his mouth and placed a kiss on them before looking up into his eyes.

"I don't think that there is anything in this world that could possibly make me anywhere near as happy as you have made me. I know, that I am very lucky that you love me and I am very aware of the fact that you deserve so much better then me, but the fact that you love me and you chose to stay with me makes me happier then I ever thought possible. Before you came along I thought I've never be happy in my life, but I can think of one thing that could make me even happier," he said as he paused. He got off the bed and kneeled before her, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a diamond ring from his pocket, causing Viktoria's breath to catch in her throat. "Will you marry me and make the rest of my days something worth living and seeing through?"

"Severus!" she said as she brought up a hand to her mouth as her eyes filled with tears. "Of course I'll marry you!" she said as she brought her hand away from her mouth and smiled broadly at him, a tear slipping down her face as he slowly placed the ring on her finger and placed a kiss on her forehead. She giggled lightly as she looked into his eyes and through her arms around his neck. "I thought you'd never ask!"

"I didn't think you'd say yes," he whispered as he held on tight to her. His heart was beating so hard in his chest. He felt that she could feel it beating against her own. He'd been so nervous to ask her. He'd been going out of his mind for the past several weeks, dreading what to say and what she would respond and despite the fact that she'd said yes, it all felt so surreal to him. Like it was just a dream.

"Severus! Wake up!" Severus sat up in bed and looked over at Viktoria. She smiled as she looked over at him. "What were you dreaming about?"

"How do you know I was dreaming about anything?" he asked as he looked over at her.

"Because you were smiling like a fool," she responded. He smiled as he stood up and walked over to his wife, whom he'd been happily married to for seven years. He smiled as he held her and looked into her amber eyes. "So what where you dreaming about?" she asked as she looped her arms around his neck.

"The day I proposed," he said as he stared into her eyes. She smiled and placed a kiss on his lips.

"Then it was a good dream," she said as she looked into his eyes.

"Very good," he said as he placed another kiss on her lips.

The End