A/N: Prompts listed at the bottom to avoid giving away anything. I hope you enjoy the fic.
Word Count: 1,867
It's going to take a little time (I'll be the fighter)
Sirius had never been a fan of the dark.
As a child, punishment came in the form of shadows: a locked door and the pang of his empty stomach. In Azkaban, the night sky was loathed by all who were imprisoned there, with nightmares making the inmates scream louder.
When he felt himself falling backwards with his vision going black, the panic he had felt at knowing Harry had been manipulated into a Death Eater trap came back in full force. Sirius gripped his wand, glad that he could at least feel it in his hand even if he couldn't see it, and silently cast Protego. Whatever spell Bellatrix had cast at him, it seemed to be some sort of illusion. Not only could he not see, he couldn't hear anything either. Gone were the sounds of battle that had made him feel alive for the first time in months.
"This simply won't do."
Sirius spun and shot a Bone-Breaking Curse in the direction the voice had come from.
"There was a time when humans respected me."
Abruptly, everything changed. Sirius hadn't moved and yet he was suddenly sat in the Potter's kitchen. He blinked hard, the hairs on the back of his neck rising. Of course, he remembered it on sight; it had been the first place, the only place, that had ever felt like home to him. Hogwarts had felt safety but it also had come with notoriety, with ostracisation, stress and politics. The Potter's had been safety and warmth, their love selfless.
"This is extremely unusual, for you to come here. It is not a path most take."
"Where is here?" Sirius snarled. "Bella, is this your way of fighting dirty? You can't win against me in a straight fight, so you have come up with some ridiculous charade?" He forced himself to laugh as he stalked around the kitchen. He wanted to find some flaw in the illusion, but as he knocked on the wooden counters and opened cupboards filled with patterned china and gleaming utensils, all Sirius could think was that it felt too real.
"This is the first place your life changed. Was that not in the books or scrolls you read to find this place? I presume you are another adventurer, they are the only ones who walk through the doorways. I must admit, humans do continue to surprise me." The figure took a step closer, seemingly unimpressed when Sirius shot another curse. Instead of causing an explosion, it passed right through the figure and dissipated into nothing.
"I'm not a patient person, so I am going to ask only once before I make my own mind up. What are you doing here?" The figure continued, clearly frustrated.
Confused, Sirius opened his mouth and the figure snapped its fingers. They were suddenly sat at the kitchen table, and Sirius found he couldn't move.
"I don't know where here is," he said finally. "If this isn't some illusion, then let me go. I have somewhere I need to be."
Unable to see any sort of face, he couldn't tell if the figure was smiling or not, but Sirius snarled as they laughed.
"You are in a space between life and death. Normally, I collect souls when they die. Rarely do they come to me. Given your demeanour, I presume you did not come here of your own volition?"
"Who are you?" Sirius asked hoarsely.
"I have many names. Recently, I've been trying out Melvin. The feedback is that it's less intimidating than some of my other titles." The figure — Melvin — lowered its hood and Sirius blinked, expecting a skull or something vaguely horrific. Instead, Sirius swallowed and gave Melvin an appreciative glance up and down. He couldn't discern any sort of gender, only that they looked tired, perhaps a little overworked, and with lips that looked all too inviting.
"So I'm… I'm dead?" Sirius cleared his throat, forcing himself to focus, to remember what had happened.
"Not quite. You have passed through a doorway into this world. As I said before, this is a place between life and death. You have a decision to make, young man."
Momentarily distracted as Melvin stretched, Sirius forced himself to think. Surely it was no question if the choice was between dying and living? He had thought of taking his own life repeatedly in recent years, and going out fighting had always been one of the better ways that Sirius had imagined dying. If there was a Death, then there was something after which they curated… he would be able to see James and Lily again.
The thought made Sirius' heart ache with longing. He had fought for so long to protect people, fought and failed. Peace was a concept long forgotten.
Then he thought of Harry.
He had sworn to his best friends, to his true family, that he would protect their son. He had failed Harry repeatedly, unable to protect him from Azkaban, or from the Dark Lord over the past two years. He might be tired of fighting, but that didn't matter. He would fight for Harry. Raising his head, he fixed his eyes on Melvin.
"I need to go back. I have someone I need to protect, to look after."
Melvin steepled their fingers and frowned. "Do you truly think it will be that easy? I have a reputation to maintain. It's already irregular that you came to this place; wizards once again tampering with magic they don't understand."
Sirius didn't know when the spells keeping him still had been lifted, but suddenly he was back on his feet, jabbing his finger at Melvin furiously.
"You don't understand. My life has been wasted, I have lost everything except him and I will do anything to keep him safe. I need to be there for him."
"Anything?" There was the slightest hint of a smile and Sirius cleared his throat, unsure how to react.
"Anything," he said finally.
"Take my hand. Let me see the life that you are so desperate to return to."
Sirius only hesitated for a split second, and then in a show of good faith, pocketed his wand and extended his hand out to Melvin.
It was one of the old legends, so old it had permeated through to Muggle culture. Death would use magic long forgotten, take your hand and judge your life. It was said that if Death judged your years lived over before your time, your purpose unfulfilled, you would get a second chance. Sirius watched his life pass before his eyes and clung to that idea. He'd had everything taken from him, time and time again, by war, Azkaban, and then imprisonment of a different sort. Trapped within his mind, within Grimmauld Place, Sirius had felt as though he were going mad all over again. Melvin lingered on his last memory, of him fighting side by side with Harry.
"He's who I have to get back to. Whatever it takes, an Unbreakable Vow, or…"
"Sexual favours?" Melvin asked dryly as Sirius trailed off. "You seemed quite content to do that in your youth."
"I have been told I can charm the pants off anyone," Sirius agreed with his patented roguish grin — but his heart wasn't in it. Flirting with anyone (and anything, in this case) was familiar territory. As he kept reminding himself, he couldn't lose himself in the escapism of lighthearted remarks or false confidence. This was truly a matter of life or death. Melvin had to send him back. Sirius refused to fail again.
"Why do you think you deserve anything different to what others who die receive?"
"Firstly, I wouldn't have died if that doorway or Veil hadn't been there. But even so, I have someone I owe. I swore to protect Harry, to be there for him no matter what and I failed him. I thought I was protecting him, by trying to stop people who might hurt him and instead I ended up hurting him as well," Sirius tried to compose himself, his voice shaking with emotion. "I need to be there for him, to protect him. So many people want to hurt him and I should be there. I'm a fighter, and I need to protect him."
Melvin kept staring at him and Sirius kept talking until he was rambling about the times he'd babysat for Harry, rocking him until he stopped crying, holding him tighter when he laughed because it was one of the most beautiful sounds that Sirius had ever heard.
"Your silence scares me," Sirius said finally. Melvin rolled their eyes.
"I am Death and yet it is the silence that scares you? You are a ridiculous human." Melvin exhaled and then stood, gesturing for Sirius to stand as well. "Fairness does not govern life and death, Sirius Black. And yet, your life had such wasted potential. I look at you and see a man who truly wants to live."
"I do," Sirius breathed fervently.
"I have one condition if I grant you this. Adventure is not outside the man, it is within. I have heard that said before and I want you to remember it. Whether by your design or others, much of your previous life was wasted. That cannot happen again."
Sirius couldn't think of a word to say, as it sunk in that Melvin might be giving him a second chance.
"If you chose to return to the Living then you must live every day to the fullest. I can take this gift away just as quickly as I give it and you will die on the spot. There will be no third chance. Spend your time wisely, live with adventure and happiness in your heart."
"Thank you, thank you, Melvin… I… thank you." Sirius found himself lost for words and Melvin's lips twitched with the hint of a smile.
"When do you wish to return? What pivotal moment do you think will have the largest ripple effect and give you what you want — safety for your godson?"
Sirius didn't even have to think.
"Peter should never be the Potter's Secret Keeper. Maybe I can talk to him, arrest him… but that was the moment that Harry's life changed forever."
"I thought you would want to rescue him after his parents died. Then you could truly protect him yourself."
Sirius shook his head immediately. "His parents will protect him, better than I ever could but I'll still be there, looking out for all of my family. By being their Secret Keeper I'll be able to do just that. There have been times that I want to die, and going back to the war isn't something I relish. But I will fight for them."
Melvin gave Sirius a long, appraising look and then raised a hand slowly and pointed a finger at the larder door.
"I hope not to see you for many years, Sirius Black."
"I'll still be looking forward to it," Sirius said, flashing a quick grin before he took a breath and pulled open the door. On the other side was his apartment. Without hesitation, he walked into the past, determined to create a better future.
A/N: Written for Round One of the QLFC's Sixth Season.
I am Chaser 2 for the Montrose Magpies. Our prompt was: 'Write a setting you've never written before'. - Beyond the Veil/Death's domain is definitely a setting I haven't explored before.
Additional prompts: 1. (dialogue) "Your silence scares me", 3. (quote) 'Adventure is not outside man; it is within' - George Eliot, 6. (song) The Fighter - Keith Urban ft. Carrie Underwood