The Haunting of Peter Pettigrew

Godric's Hallow: The Final Betrayal

James, Lily, and Sirius had remained at Headquarters to wait for her and Lana returned to them after haunting Peter. It took hours and hours. Night had blended back into day, and back into night, Peter had returned, shakier than ever, but eventually, Alastor Moody, Dedalus Diggle, and Elphias Doge came back to headquarters. In Moody's arms was the still body of Lana Bowers.

Harry had gone to sleep and was safely tucked away in a spare room of the house that the Order used as headquarters. A muffliato charm had been placed so he wouldn't be disturbed by them but they could hear it if he woke. His parents were thankful that their child wouldn't see his aunt when she was brought in. They wished to protect him from this as long as possible. To protect him from the pain of loss.

While Harry was asleep, his loved ones were in a living nightmare as Moody stepped into the other room and laid her body on a sofa.

Lana was unprepared for the sight of her friends seeing her body. 

Her body had become blue and cold in the time it took for them to retrieve her. One could see the cuts and bruises they'd inflicted on her face and arms. Her wrists and ankles sported bruising to reflect the magical bonds she'd been held in for hours. Her fingernails were broken and bloody, two missing and Lana knew they were embedded in Rodolphus Lestrange's skin as he'd pulled her from the flat. They'd torn her hair out in bloody patches. Where her brown hair had been full and wavy, the blood had matted it to her head, leaving the somewhat gaping wounded patches exposed, no longer bleeding, but dark with the blood.

She was still wearing her pajamas she'd had on two nights before, a pair of raggedy sweat pants and an ABBA shirt that she'd bought for Sirius but kept stealing back from him. That speck of normalcy on the body of a war victim was a startling contrast for those who looked at her.

Lana Bowers was truly dead and even Sirius Black could no longer convince himself otherwise.

It was still a shock to see one's own dead body lying there when you were no longer in it. It was certainly an out-of-body experience, she thought wryly. She was somehow disconnected from the sight, but moved at the same time. This was in fact, farther p proof that she was dead and this wasn't some elaborate dream. She would never, in this life, be able to be with the people she loved again. That had been stolen from her. Peter had stolen it from her.

Lily screamed at the sight of her body, and promptly burst into another round of tears. She put her hand over her mouth to muffle her sobs and then turned into James's chest. James Potter was not much better. He sobbed as openly as his wife, taking comfort as she did in their embrace, burying his face in her shoulder as they mourned Lana together. 

But it was the sight of Sirius Black who caused tears to come to the eyes of the seasoned Aurors. Sirius stumbled forward, pushing Dedalus and Elphias out of the way as they lingered around the sofa. They each startled back three feet and looked at him with supreme pity that he didn't bother to notice.

Sirius Black had loved Lana Bowers and hadn't cared one bit who knew it. Even in Order meetings, before they started and after they ended, he'd sweep her up and plant kisses all over her face causing her to giggle and blush at his antics.

"I," he kissed, "love you. I. Love. You."

"Now is not the time, Star," she had laughed often, pushing him away half-heartedly. But still she'd keep her hands on him and pull him back for one sweet, swift kiss. "But I love you too."

The sight of them together frequently warmed the hearts of those who witnessed it. Their obvious love for each other was warmth and light during a time of cold darkness. It was another reminder as to what they were fighting for. Secretly, a few of them had looked upon the couple with envy, wishing that they had found another person who had understood them so completely.