After Death

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the Original Characters. Unless specified, everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers.

Synopsis: One drowned in the arms of hundreds of Inferi and the other fell through a veil into the afterlife or so the wizarding world thought. The Black Brothers have survived till after the war, but sometimes they both wish they hadn't. (A/U. Regulus Black, Sirius Black, O.C.)

Well I knew,

What I didn't want to know,

And I saw,

Where I didn't want to go.

So I took the path less traveled on

And I'll let my stories be whispered when I'm gone

As It Seems - Lily Kershaw

Chapter 1

The day started the same as every other day, with the rising sun pushing rudely through the small window and straight onto his closed eyes. He reached out a hand, long fingers grasping at the table next to his side of the bed, grasping for a wand that his sleep ridden brain always forgot wasn't there. His fingers meeting nothing but air bring back the memories. The sleepiness disappears and something else sets in, some other feeling that he'd long forgotten how to describe or even fully understand. His usual morning sigh escapes him whilst he uses his legs and feet to kick the covers off him and down to the bottom of the small bed.

He knew his movement would wake the curled up figure next to him, it always did. A slight turn of his head brought the figure into view. She is young, he knew that much, old enough that Hogwarts was a few years behind her, but he wouldn't guess more than five. Her red hair is long and unkempt; there are smatterings of freckles across her exposed skin. These two factors had always made him suspect her to be a Weasley or at least Weasley related.

He never asked though; names weren't important between them.

Turning away from her, he threw his legs over the side of the bed and slowly stood up. Bending his arms so that his balled fists were pulled tight to his chest and his elbows stuck out either side of him he twisted from his waist to one side and then the other, five times for each side and then onto the other stretches and exercises he had to complete every morning when he woke up.

Some of his long dark hair fell into his eyes as he leant forwards reaching for his toes, his long fingers barely brushing the top of them when he heard her move across the bed, this was swiftly followed by a solid slap on his exposed rear end.

A chirpy sounding 'mourning' followed the slap and he knew that the day had really begun.

Bracing his hands on his knees he let out another sigh before responding with the usual "Not today, we're still alive."

This caused the normal dry laughter in response and his companion to bounce of the bed. She always made an effort to be cheerful, to bounce around and make everything not seem as hopeless as he knew they both felt.

She moved over towards the mirror and started attempting to sort out her hair; it never worked. No matter how many times she pushed it back, to the side or even tucked it behind her ears it just sprung free and resumed its natural placement. She scrunched her nose up in a way that really wasn't all that attractive though it did appear to make her freckles bunch together.

"Is it naming day?" she asked, still looking at herself disapprovingly in the mirror.

"Um..." he counted the days since the last naming day "Yes, yes it is."

"Okay, well, then I think I'll be Felis." She said, turning away from the mirror and making a flourish with her hand that indicated that it was his turn to pick a name.

A crooked smile crossed his lips as he straightened himself "I'll have to be Felix, then."

That decision started their day.

Somewhere else in the world far from where Felix and Felis had woken stood another man. This one was similar in appearance to Felix. His head was bowed, hands clasped in front of him. A young man with a lightning bolt scar stood next to him. Neither spoke, both wore grim expressions as they gazed down at the slightly raised mounds of earth in front of them. The day was cold, gloomy with a fine mist of rain pouring down on their heads, yet, the man who resembled Felix felt hot and shrugged off the black jacket he was wearing.

"I wanted to tell you." He said at last, addressing the young man next to him.

"Not badly enough." Replied the young man, his voice was rough, tattered with emotions "You all lied to me. Whe..." his voice broke off, he removed his glasses and started to clean them, hoping the distraction would stop the pain and rage swirling in the pit of his stomach.

"Harry, you have to understand that if I could have told you, then I would have but Dumbledore-"

"Dumbledore! When did you ever actually do anything he told you to do? I thought you were dead! I begged for you to come back, even as a ghost! I mourned for you!"

"Don't you think I know that? Do you know how hard it was, watching you from afar? Wanting to help but knowing that I had to be gone, that you didn't need me."

"I did need you Sirius! Help, advice, the knowledge that when it was all over I would have a home to go too, a home that had family in it!"

Sirius lurched forwards and gripped Harry by the tops of his arms "You do have a home and a family. I am here now, Harry, Grimmauld Place is yours."

"I don't want that place; I don't want anything that was yours." Harry said coldly shrugging off his godfather "But that is where the Minister would like you to stay for the time being." This sentence was said his manner matter of fact as he stepped back "I have to go."

"Of course," Sirius said sighing as he stepped back from the godson he loved like a son "Death Eaters won't round themselves up."

"No." Harry replied turning away from the defeated figure, his green eyes brushed over the two graves and for a moment his paused as the world felt like it dropped out from underneath him "Is he really dead?" he asked so softly that Sirius almost missed the question.

"Yes."

The bright green eyes of Harry came back and landed on him "I wish it had been you." Where the last words that Sirius heard Harry say before he turned on the spot and apparated away.

"So do I." Sirius replied, a single tear making its way from his eye and down his nose "So do I."

A/N: Okay, so first chapter done. Hope people enjoy it. It should smooth out as the story progresses. I would appreciate a Beta Reader if anyone is interested.