Work Text:
It was a quiet afternoon for the students in the Gryffindor common room, undoubtedly due to the fact that the only Maurader present at the moment was Remus Lupin. Sitting in their preferred spot on the floor in front of the fireplace, Remus and Lily Evans had scores of books laid out in front of them. The sun was shining in a cruel impersonation of springtime, but it was still far too early in March for the weather to be anything near bearable. With less than four months between them and their NEWTS, Remus and Lily had begun to study together while their other friends were in Muggle Studies. Mary Macdonald was supposed to be studying with them but had decided to lounge on the couch the two were leaning against, casually flipping through the pages of a muggle fashion mag.
Remus and Lily didn’t bother to look up as the portrait swung open, but paused their studying after a moment when they came to the realization that they were not met with the usual wall of laughter that tended to follow the Mauraders. Remus looked up to see James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Marlene McKinnon standing close together, eyes wide and faces pale. Lily and Remus jumped to their feet immediately, Mary following quickly behind them.
“What on Earth’s gone wrong now?” Lily cried, walking over to James and wrapping her arms around him. Sirius made his way across the room, coming up to Remus and leaning fully into him. Remus stroked through Sirius’s hair, meeting eyes with Lily over the top of his head.
“They’re going to kill us all,” Peter whispered.
“Who? The death eaters?” Mary asked.
“Was there another attack?” Remus demanded.
Marlene shook her head slowly, eyes scanning over all of them before landing on the magazine that Mary had left forgotten on the rug before the fire.
“The Americans,” she explained.
Remus took a step back, frowning down at Sirius. “The Americans?”
Sirius nodded. “Or one of those other mad countries. We learned all about it, Moony. They’re all proper mad.”
“I just can’t believe it!” James exploded. “How are we supposed to be safe to do anything? We’ve death eaters in our world, and outside of it, they’ve got these- these- these things!”
“Things, James?” Lily prodded.
“Massive things!” Peter yelped.
“Massive! Things! That explode! And loads of countries have them, and the Americans just did this- this thing, admitting that they’re problems, which of course they’re problems, but everyone still has them. And they’re threatening each other with them! They’re going to end the world!” Lily had slowly been leading James over the couch, which he promptly collapsed down onto as he finished his speech, dragging Lily down on top of him.
Remus pulled Sirius over and sat with him in front of the couch in the spots that he and Lily had just vacated. Marlene, Mary, and Peter followed, arranging themselves in a half circle in front of the fire.
“Marls, mind explaining this a bit?” Mary asked.
Marlene rubbed her hands over her eyes and down her face, looking around the group. “Have you heard of- Well, do you know anything about. About nuclear weapons?”
Remus raised an eyebrow. “Nuclear weapons?”
“I’ve heard of them,” Lily stated. Mary nodded with her.
“I’ve as well. What’s that to do with the end of the world?” Remus amended.
“Well, the Americans and the Sovereigns and those other people are going to end the world with them, and it’s all going to be for nothing and we’re all going to be dead before we even reach 21.” Lily was shocked to find that James was actually, properly shaking over this.
“The Soviets, James,” Marlene corrected.
“You lot do realize the Americans have used those things before, right? Like 30 years ago?”
“Yes, yes, but now they’re going to use them on each other . Blow up the world and poison what’s left of it.” Peter was not to be comforted.
“We’re just fucked any way you look at it,” Sirius mumbled into Remus’s shoulder.
“How do you mean, Pads?” Remus asked.
Sirius sat up, looking around at the rest of the group. “Well, and don’t take this wrong, because I know we’re all going to fight, and I’m here for it and will follow you lot into hell and all of that, but I always thought that. Well. I thought that if we couldn’t win, at least this wasn’t the only world.” Sirius moved his eyes from Lily to Mary, before finally settling on Remus. “I thought that you might still be able to be safe outside of it. If we couldn’t win.”
“But you said the Americans just did something about it, didn’t you?” Lily asked. “Admitted it was a problem?”
James nodded. “Yeah, passed a- a note? A- paper? A… a bill! Merlin, I need to study for that class more. Anyways. They passed a bill. About how they need to start regulating these big mass Avada things.”
“So we’re all fine then,” Mary pointed out, relaxing back on her hands.
James and Sirius blinked at each other.
“I guess?” James agreed.
“What on Earth were you so upset for then?” Remus laughed, messing up Sirius’s hair.
Sirius shrugged, batting Remus’s hand away. “Oh bollocks, I don’t know. It was just. It was.”
“It was rather a bit terrifying,” Marlene finished.
“I felt like I could see it happening,” James explained.
Lily propped herself up so she could look down at James. “You really were scared, weren’t you?”
James looked away to the fire. Remus could see it. Would they know the world was going to end, or would it catch them off guard? All of them sitting together, just waiting for it to be over. He would hold Sirius’s hand, maybe get to kiss him one last time. He could see James and Lily, watching bombs fall while holding hands, standing out in front of all of them, as though the sheer power of James and Lily could save the world. Peter would try to run but refuse to leave alone. Marlene and Mary would be right up there with all of them. Maybe they would all hold each other’s hands like in some muggle film, forming a line at the end of the world. Hoping at least for a painless death, after a youth spent preparing for a war that would never be fought.
Remus startled as he felt his own eyes begin to tear up. “I understand. How that could be upsetting.”
“You’ve looked at it all wrong. I mean, imagine being the last man on Earth. That’s a bit interesting, isn’t it?” Mary pointed out.
Lily rolled her eyes. “A bit tragic, more like.”
“No, I think Mary has a bit of a point,” James argued, rearranging himself and Lily into a sitting position. “We could do loads of things if there wasn’t anyone else about!”
Sirius grinned. “Steal ourselves some motorbikes and ride all over the place. You could share with me, of course, Moony.”
Remus bit his lip. “Um, Pads, I don’t think-”
“Why would we ride motorbikes instead of flying?” Peter questioned.
“So we could see everything better, Merlin Wormtail, keep up,” Sirius explained.
James tilted his head to the side. “We’d have to fly to get over to America though. Because of course, we’d go to America, right? I mean, if someone did drop one of those things, imagine seeing what it left behind.”
“Of course, Prongs. We’d just… strap the motorbikes to our brooms.”
“We could even take a boat! Not like we’d have to do anything.”
“What do you say, Moony, fancy a road trip at the end of the world with us?”
“The girls, too, of course!” James added.
Mary stared at them with her mouth dropped. Lily was trying not to laugh.
“For the brightest of our class, you really misunderstood that question,” Remus sighed.
“How do you mean?” Sirius questioned.
“The point of being the last man on Earth is that there is no one else around, boys,” Mary laughed, shaking her head. “We wouldn’t all be together.”
James and Sirius looked as though they had never heard of such a concept before in their lives.
“Well, what could be the point in imagining just one of us living in the world?” James furrowed his brows.
Lily brushed her hand over his forehead. “It’s just a hypothetical, James. The world isn’t ending, remember?”
“It would just never work,” Sirius shrugged. “We’re a massive package deal, the lot of us. We all make it through, or none of us at all.”
“Well, I don’t know about that,” Peter cautioned. “Why do we all have to die, at the end of the world?”
“Why are we even talking about us dying?” Marlene questioned.
“Marls is right. We’ve got NEWTS coming, we’re 17! Let’s talk about something more cheerful,” Mary agreed.
“I just think it’s topical,” Peter mumbled.
“Why would you think that?” demanded Lily.
Peter gripped his hands into fists, sticking up his chin. “Well. Well! Well, because even if the whole world isn’t ending, our world might be ending! And I just. Maybe being a package deal isn’t the best thing.”
“That’s ridiculous, Wormtail,” Sirius scoffed.
“Is it? Because let’s be honest here if the world was ending, the reason that we’d all die together is that you two would go off to find a way to save it, and we’d all go barreling off into oblivion after you, and then we’re all dead.”
“Nobody said you had to follow any of us anywhere, Pete,” James edged, raising an eyebrow at him.
“You still will though,” Sirius pointed out. “Of course, you will. We all will.”
Peter sighed, putting his head in his hands. “I know I will. I hate it.”
“Come on Pete, loads better to die with your friends than live all by yourself, I think.” Remus was rather disturbed by the turns the conversation had taken thus far.
“You’re all frighteningly co-dependent.”
“So you wouldn’t run off to die with me, Mary?” Lily teased.
Mary laughed. “Fat chance of it. I’m too full of life to die so young. I’ll go and do something fun while you all try to do the right thing, and when the world ends I’ll go around eating what I want and wearing what I want and dancing in the rain until the world kills me itself. That’s how you actually become the last person on Earth.”
“Sounds rather lonely,” Marlene pointed out.
Mary shrugged. “I’ve plenty of years of being social behind me. Plus, I’m great at making friends. If there are no people around, maybe I’ll just find me a couple of dogs. Or fish. And you know. Eventually. Eventually, I guess I’d just… forget what it was like when we were all together… Oh, bollocks now I’m sad, can’t we just talk about something else now?”
James looked down at Lily. “Help me study muggles?”
“I don’t know, you know your sovereigns and your notes, I think you’re doing great.”
James rolled his eyes and pulled Lily off of the couch. He saluted the group before heading up the stairs.
“If the oblivion tries to take over while we’re gone, be sure to come and get us,” James called.
Lily followed right behind. “Being as we’re evidently leading the charge against it.”
Peter pouted, pulling a set of exploding snap cards out of his bag. “Anyone fancy a game?
Mary and Marlene nodded. Peter looked over at Remus and Sirius. Sirius was folded into Remus’s side, fiddling with his tie, their arms wrapped around each other.
“Maybe in a bit, Pete,” Remus called. Peter shrugged and turned to the girls. Remus noticed Sirius frowning as the sounds of tiny explosions started in front of the fire.
“What is it, Pads?” Remus whispered.
“What would you do?” he asked, looking up at Remus, running his hand along Remus’s jaw. “If we were all gone, and you were the last man on Earth?”
Remus shifted. “I don’t know Pads. Rather depressing, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but what would you do?”
Remus sighed. “Does it matter?”
Sirius cut his eyes back to the group for a moment before looking back at Remus and nodding. “I just. I want to know. In case something ever does happen.”
Remus thought for a moment. “Alright.”
Remus pulled Sirius into his lap and turned him until they were facing each other, cupping Sirius’s face in his hands. “First, I’d find all of the chocolate I could, and form a massive stash of it.”
“Naturally.”
“Of course. Then, I’d gather up a good amount of butterbeer and firewhiskey, because there’s no way chocolate would be enough for the apocalypse.”
“That’s fair.”
Remus’s lips quirked. “I’m glad it matches with your approval. Finally, I’d wander out into the woods, to one of the spots we’ve all gone to so many times on full moons. And I’d sit down with my stash, and some books, and I’d wait for you to come and find me.”
“What if I can’t?”
Remus shrugged. “You will. You always do. Not even the end of the world can change us, love.”
Remus kissed Sirius, before pulling his books back over to be in front of him.
“Now, if you’re finished with your crisis, being as the world is not ending and we will have to take our NEWTS, perhaps it’s time to start studying, hmm?”
“Oh… you know Remus, maybe we can go back to talking about our eventual demise and the deaths of everyone we care about. You know. Cheerful subjects.”
“Hmm… save it for tonight. Now, how about history of magic?”
“I think I’d rather fight one of those big explosive American things.”
“Plenty of time for that when James and Lily are leading us to death, come now…”