A/N: Hello! This story is the response to the Veil challenge of The Modern Sorcerer. This is the first time I do a challenge, so I hope it's not bad. I have written some stories before, so I feel it necessary to warn that I might take some time between each update. I try to make two-weeks or monthly updates, but I do not always have the time or I my muse has just decided to leave. I do try to finish my stories, I know the frustration of a good story unfinished because someone abandoned it. It's not something I'm willing to do. My hope is that doing a challenge will help me keep track of what the story is going to be about and make it easier in the end. Also, English is not my native language, so I apologize for any mistakes I might do. I will gladly correct any mistakes that are pointed to me.

The description of the challenge is as it follows:

The Veil Challenge

The Veil of Death, a mysterious archway said to lead the user into the realms of Death, if only they knew how true that was. Sirius Black was gone, had fallen through the archway during the Battle of the Ministry, but when Harry Potter dove through the Veil after him he found himself somewhere else – standing face to face with Death itself.

Requirements

When Harry falls through the Veil, Death is waiting for him.

Death takes the Horcrux from Harry's scar and tasks him with finding the rest.

Harry is given a power/tool/weapon/army to use upon returning to the 'real world'.

While Harry can side with either Dumbledore or Voldemort, he is his own man (who is going to kill Voldemort no matter what his morality).

Morality

Any. Dark

Pairing

Any. Slash. That's all I'm willing to say.

For more information on the challenge, go to The Modern Sorcerer forum: The Book of Shadows Forum.

Disclaimer I don't own Harry Potter as my name is not J.K. Rowling.

Enjoy your reading!

Only one couple were still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: He was laughing at her. "Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.

The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest.

The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.

It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall. His body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backward through the ragged veil hanging from the arch. . . .

And Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind and then fell back into place.

Harry heard Bellatrix Lestrange's triumphant scream, but knew it meant nothing — Sirius had only just fallen through the archway, he would reappear from the other side any second. . . .

But Sirius did not reappear. "SIRIUS!" Harry yelled, "SIRIUS!" He had reached the floor, his breath coming in searing gasps. Sirius must be just behind the curtain, he, Harry, would pull him back out again. . . .

Harry saw out of the corner of his eyes Lupin reaching to him, obviously trying to stop him. But Harry was faster, all those years running from his cousin and his adventures at Hogwarts had kept him in shape. The last thing he saw as he went through the arch was the despair on Lupin's face.

The veil in the arch seemed to wrap around him, surrounding him in such a way he felt it gooey texture all over his body. And then it was gone and he stumbled into a world of darkness. He squinted, turning his head around. The veil was the only source of light he could see at the moment, and its shimmering surface was not very reassuring to him. Standing up slowly, he waited for his eyes to adapt as he took conscience of the rocky floor he was standing in.

There seemed to be a thick mist everywhere, making it difficult to see beyond it. There were shadows and eerie voices that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. The greyness of all of it was disturbing to Harry, and he could swear the mist twisted and reached for him as if it wanted to touch him.

Gulping, Harry took a few steps away from the questionable safety of the veil. A shiver went through him went some mist wrapped around his feet and another trendil seemed to caress his check.

"Lumos."

His whisper was lost among all the unintelligible voices and the soft light coming from his wand didn't reach far in the mist. But it seemed to keep the mist at bay, and he would take as much as he got at this moment.

"Sirius?" His voice cracked, and he gulped some more "Sirius!"

This time his voice stayed strong and he kept calling for him, getting farther away from the veil. He swore that he saw shadows within the mist and sometimes the mist seemed to carry answers to him. But no matter how much he tried to call for him no one seemed to come. Harry looked back, the soft light of the veil almost gone through the mist.

He didn't know what to do. He refused to go back without Sirius, but if he went too far he wouldn't be able to find the way back to the archway and then both him and Sirius would be trapped here forever. Biting his lip he looked around, trying to make sense of the mist.

A dark shadow was forming somewhere in his right. He felt goosebumps and his whole body was screaming for him to run and forget about everything. But he was determined to find Sirius, and was not going to lose his chance that the figure might be him.

As he came closer to the figure, the feeling of danger increased and so did his fear. His mind was screaming at him to get away, that they were not powerful enough to face this entity. Harry hesitated, the oppressing aura making him feel defenseless in a way he hadn't felt in years.

But it was already too late, as the dark shadow was coming towards him at such speed that Harry knew he wouldn't be able to escape, no matter how fast he was. The darkness emanating from it was so strong that he had to fight the instinct to cower, and it was cloaked in such a way that you wouldn't be able to guess what was beyond it hood.

"Harry Potter." It was a whisper but with such strength that it might have well just shouted. "I've been waiting for you."

Somehow, that didn't reassure Harry at all.

Remus didn't have time to stop at the sight of Harry disappearing into the arch, leaving him reaching for the air. People were still fighting and Bellatrix Lestrange was quick in engaging him in a duel. Remus reflected her curses easily enough, letting his anger and grief show in his fighting.

He should have been faster, should have stopped Harry, should have stopped Sirius. But now it didn't matter, all that mattered was to destroy the woman that had dared to take both of them away from him. The wolf inside him was screaming for blood.

He followed Lestrange through the Ministry, feeling Dumbledore not too far behind. Lestrange fired another curse and he dodged, but another one was already there slicing through his arm. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he growled and sent a series of spells.

Her scream of rage told him that at least one of them has hit her, but the wound in his arm was making it numb and he had to stop to look over it. It was a deep cut and blood was leaking from it, along with some kind of fluid he had no doubt was poison. Cursing, he spelled som bandages around the wound and hoped that it wasn't a dangerous poison.

Lestrange was fighting against the magical ropes that he had fired at her, and not wanting to risk her getting out he aimed his wand to stun her. However before he could do anything, he was flung back by an unexpected attacker.

Groaning as his head crashed against the wall, Remus blinked furiously trying to clear his vision and see who had attacked him. And then Dumbledore raced past him and his heart stopped for a moment as he watched him and Voldemort fight.

"Who are you?" Harry cringed inwardly at the hostility in his voice, making powerful entities angry was not a good idea. At all.

It laughed and Harry flinched at the raspy and cold sound, with its high pitches and dangerous tones. The figure stepped closer and Harry had to restrain himself as he felt the darkness surround him.

"I believe you mortals call me Death."

He wanted to deny it. He wanted to deny it so bad that he almost shouted it out loud. But deep in his mind he knew it was the truth. He watched numbly as his wand fell to the ground, the light flickering once, twice before dying completely.

"You are a very interesting human, Harry Potter. Very interesting indeed." Death raised its cloaked hand and this time Harry didn't fight as he flinched back. It didn't stop Death as a cold bony... hand grabbed his chin. He was shaking, he knew that. "And you have something even more interesting with you."

He had no warning as the hand moved suddenly to his forehead wrapping like a claw around his scar. Pain erupted in his head and he could hear someone screaming in the background. It felt as if someone was trying to rip his mind out and he could feel something pulling and fighting. Another wave of pain took over him as something snapped inside his head and then it was gone.

He was laying in the floor, sobbing and shivering. He felt wetness in his forehead and when he touched his scar he drew back blood. Painfully he sit up and waited a few seconds as the world stopped moving around. The pain was receding now and he could feel lighter somehow.

He blinked away the remaining tears, and pushed the dull pain aside as he remembered on whose presence he was with. Death wasn't paying him attention though, instead examining a ball of dark energy in his hand. The anger emanating from Death was so strong that he was relieved that it was not directed at him.

"It seems somebody hasn't been good, daring to defy him." It hissed, "I had wondered how this particular soul had escaped my grasp for so long."

It closed his hand around the soul, and Harry now noticed it was screeching. He didn't want to know what that soul was feeling. However he did want to know how that thing had ended up in his scar. If only he could remember how to talk again.

"Wha-what's that?"

"Harry Potter." It seemed to consider him for a second. "This is a horcrux, a piece of the soul of the creature that calls itself Voldemort. It was embedded in your scar, and hold back by spell of Lily Potter powered by your magic. You may find your magic comes easier to you."

Harry didn't know what to feel. He hadn't even know he had a piece of Voldemort's soul inside him. He shivered, at least it wasn't there anymore. Death was observing the horcrux once more, seemingly forgetting he was there.

"Interesting. This is not the only soul shard. Why, it seems that he did seven. No wonder he fell to insanity. Such a shame, he was so promising. Wait."

Harry jumped back at the sudden exclamation and held his breath, waiting for It to do something, say something. Instead, Death went still and his presence seemed to stretch past them. Harry considered running now, when It was not focused on him. The arch was still visible on the distance and he might be able to run fast enough to get through it.

"Harry Potter." Or maybe not "I have a task for you."

This was really not his day.

Luna hummed lightly, binding one of the last Death Eaters and limping back to Neville. Hermione and Ginny were helping Ron, and didn't pay attention as she passed past them. Neville had a cut in his forehead, and was holding his side grimacing, Death Eaters stunned around him.

"Harry?" He asked as soon as he saw her.

"He went through the archway."

Neville looked at her sharply, a little pale but seemed to accept it. If she was not worried, there was nothing to be worried about. He sighed and looked around, noticing Dumbledore had disappeared and so had Professor Lupin. He wasn't the only one to notice it, some wizards were leaving the room. Neville exchanged a look with Luna and they went after them.

Harry didn't know whether to laugh, cry or just scream in frustration. Instead he looked dumbfounded at Death, trying to make sense of what he had been ordered to do. Because he had no doubt it was an order, no matter how It had phrased the request.

Harry pinched his nose, taking a deep breath and reminding at himself he was dealing with Death.

"So let me get this straight. You want me to go back, find all the other horcruxes, keep them together and give them back to you, without knowing where are they at and having virtually no way to obtain them. Oh and let's not forget that Voldemort is out for my blood and so will block anything I do to kill him."

"Yes. And I will even give you a gift, so you are better prepared to do this task."

"Really?" Now, this might be interesting.

"Yes. It's an ability that only powerful wizards can obtain, and it's already dormant in your blood so it won't be a problem. It's called Mage Sight. You might need some time to grow used to it at the beginning."

Harry had to keep his excitement in check. Even if he was irritated at having to Death's work, it would help him in the end. He would find the horcruxes and destroy Voldemort while at the same time gaining some power that could help him defeat him.

However, he still hadn't found Sirius, and he knew that Death was his best chance at finding him. If was cunning enough, he might be able to get his godfather back. With this idea in mind, he spoke again.

"Fine I'll do it. But I would like to ask a favor." He had to be very careful here, he knew. "My godfather, Sirius Black, crossed the Veil, and I would like to find him and bring him back with me."

Death was silent for so long, Harry worried he might have made a big mistake and offended It. But there was no sign of aggression coming of It, if anything it seemed to be amused.

"I really like you, Harry Potter." He wasn't sure if that was actually good. "Sirius Black is now in my Realm and belongs to me." Harry bristled at that and opened his mouth "However," it said before Harry could say anything "I might be interested in making a deal with you. Tell me Harry Potter, what are you willing to do in order to get your godfather back?"

Harry was ready to give an answer, but something made him stop. He knew he was playing a dangerous game, and Death, no matter what attitude of indifference It had expressed so far was certainly ruthless and powerful, and not someone to mess around with. Was it really worth giving it all away just to get his godfather back? He knew the answer.

"Everything."

Dumbledore was frowning deeply as he deflected yet another spell and enchanted some of the statues to attack Voldemort. Everything had gone wrong this evening. Harry was supposed to have fight with Voldemort, and he would be there to save him. Sirius would be gone and Harry would despair and turn to him for advice. The ministry would finally accept the return of Voldemort and as they had not prepared would turn to him to guide them.

Everything had gone well, until the stupid kid had raced after his godfather. Unless he found a way to get the boy back, all his plans would fall apart. He sensed some of his students coming into the Atrium, but Lupin was already there to keep them away. Longbottom had shown some promise today, so if the worst came true he could mold him into his savior. And then he would not have to worry about Harry's horcrux.

And then another figure came running into the Atrium, and the surprised shouts told him who was it. How had he survived? No matter now, he would figure it out later. He conjured water around Voldemort and threw him back, just as the fireplaces came to life and the Minister came out. Maybe everything would still work out in the end.

Harry had to calm his beating heart as he watched the Headmaster and Voldemort stop the fight and then Voldemort disappearing taking Lestrange with him. The Minister was stuttering while the Headmaster tried to control the situation.

Luna touched his arm and smiled slightly and Neville nodded to him. Remus was looking at him worried but it was also obvious he was dying to know what had happened.

Harry suppressed a shiver, remembering his deal with Death. Maybe it was a mistake, but Sirius was back with him and he would do what Death had asked of him. Sirius was going to be furious, he knew, but he had been honest when he said that he would do anything for him.

Even if he might have sold his soul, even if what he had agreed to was his damnation and might destroy everything he was, it was all worth it in the end. He would not regret it.

A/N: Good? I will post next chapter in a few weeks.