you know how when harry sees james, lily, remus and sirius w/ the resurrection stone? and remus & sirius look “younger than he’s ever seen them,” but lily & james are described to be wearing the clothes that they died in?
is JKR trying to imply that enough of remus & sirius died the day james & lily died that when they came “back” they were their 21 year old selves?
like, although remus & sirius lived, it could be argued that what made them them died on october 31st, 1981.
i mean, sirius lost james and lily, who were betrayed by peter and was sentenced to life in azkaban for a crime he didn’t commit with the knowledge that: a) peter had gone free and b) remus, his only remaining living friend, thought he was the reason james and lily (and “peter”) were dead
and he has to live with that for TWELVE YEARS. by the end of that, he’s not really sirius anymore.
and remus, poor sweet remus, he thinks that james, lily and peter have been killed, murdered, because of sirius who is supposed to be their best friend and who he loved so much and he went from having an amazing group of friends who loved him and supported him when he thought that no one ever would to nothing in one night, and he lived for twelve years alone. twelve years of full moons alone, always remembering what used to be and believing sirius was the one who ruined it.
so, i think it could be argued that, by the end of the twelve years, remus wasn’t really remus anymore either
so essentially, remus, sirius, james and lily “died” in 1981
“naturally. never saw one without the other, did you? the number of times i had them in here ooh, they used to make me laugh. quite the double act, sirius black and james potter!”
“Shh, it’s alright,” the villain said. “You’re doing beautifully and I’m so proud of you. But that’s enough now. It was cruel of them to make you fight me – you could never have won. It’s not your fault.”
The ancient and powerful villain may have had a calm and gentle face as he spoke, but he was furious, not at the hero, but the gods for continually sending kids and teenagers to fight their battles.