The Wall

'Sirius! SIRIUS! COME BACK! PLEASE COME BACK. NO, HE CAN'T BE DEAD...!'

Sirius could hear Harry screaming for him on the other side of the veil, but his cries sounded muted and distant. He tried to reach out, but the grey smoke turned to dark glass the moment his hand reached the surface, causing him to see nothing but his own dishevelled reflection in the half-light.

'You are supposed to be dead,' said a cold, low voice from behind him.

In a flash, Sirius turned around and raised his wand. 'Snivellus!' he spat. 'What just happened? Why are you here? How—' He cut himself off mid-sentence the moment he looked into Snape's eyes. For perhaps the first time, Snape's dark eyes did not look hollow and dead; instead, a genuine expression of fear was etched into the sallow face.

'You are supposed to be dead,' he repeated, a quiver in his voice betraying his emotional state. 'Lily! LILY! WHERE ARE YOU? I FOUND SOMEONE!'

'Lily?' mumbled Sirius, and subconsciously found himself lowering his wand. 'Lily? Lily Pot—'

'What it is, Sev?' asked Lily as she ran into the room, still panting from sprinting her way up to Snape. 'What's—' She clapped her hands in front of her mouth in shock the moment she laid her eyes on Sirius, then quickly lowered them again, reaching out for her wand. Her expression of shock changed to one of suspicion. 'Who are you? You can't be Sirius!'

'I thought you were dead,' said Sirius, his voice thickening with emotion. The battle he had entered only moments before lay entirely forgotten at the mere sight of the redhead before him. 'You can't be here. You can't—'

...o0o...

'I think he's waking up,' a voice whispered. Gentle claps against his cheeks started to irritate Sirius out of his dreamless state. 'Quickly, get Dumbledore — or James, if possible — they have to see this.'

Slowly, Sirius opened his eyes, but he thought he must still be dreaming when he saw red hair bouncing around his face.

'You truly believe it's him?' said another voice. A voice he believed he had heard screaming for him only moments ago.

'I've tried everything in my knowledge to test whether it's truly him or not,' said Snape. 'There's nothing telling me that he's pretending to be someone else. That's Sirius Black. The same man I saw die many years ago.'

'Harry?' said Sirius, his voice hoarse and dry. 'Harry, is that you?'

'Who's Harry?' asked the familiar voice. 'It's me, James. Your old pal. Thought you were dead, mate!'

The red hair disappeared from sight, and James, looking so much like his son, looked straight at Sirius. 'I can't believe it's really you,' he said as tears started to roll down his cheeks. 'I can't believe it. But why'd you think I was someone named Harry?'

'Harry's your son,' said Sirius, only just noticing that he was lying on a bed in an unfamiliar place. 'And Lily's. He's your son. You're both married. You both died. You—'

'You did not come from this world,' said Dumbledore as he marched into the room. 'For many years, we wondered what that mysterious veil was, and now we have finally found the answer. And the answer is you.'

A splitting headache had started to form on the sides of Sirius's temples. 'A different world, you say? How is that — How is that even possible?'

'There are many questions still left unanswered in this magical world,' said Dumbledore as he took a seat beside Sirius. 'Do you remember the moment before you came through the veil?'

'There was a battle at the Ministry of Magic,' said Sirius as he looked up into Dumbledore's cold blue eyes. 'Death Eaters came after Harry and his friends. It was you,' he said, pointing his finger at Snape, 'who warned the Order after Harry gave you hints that something was happening at the Ministry. He believed I had been captured; he... The Killing Curse was shot at me. I was hit, and then I fell through the veil.'

'You've lost your life like that before,' said Snape. 'Mister Dumbledore, is Mister Grindelwald around?'

'He'll be here shortly,' said Dumbledore. 'I'm sure he wants to know all about this other world that Mister Black here is speaking of.'

'Grindelwald?' asked Sirius with a raised eyebrow. 'The Grindelwald? The Grindelwald whom you defeated back in nineteen forty-five?'

'Defeated?' said Dumbledore with a laugh that sounded very unlike the one Sirius was familiar with. 'Defeated? No. Gellert has been my husband for many, many years. Together, we made sure that the wizarding world has been separated entirely from the Muggle world.'

'Separated?' asked Sirius with an inquiring look on his face. 'Separated how?'

'You should go back to sleep,' said Dumbledore as he stood up without pardon. 'Gellert and I have a lot to discuss regarding your situation. I shall return shortly.'

Sirius waited for Dumbledore to leave the room before turning to Snape, Lily and James. 'He was never this cold where I came from,' he said darkly. 'Where am I?'

'You're in our home,' said Snape as he took Lily by the hand. 'But that's not relevant — for now. You'd better get some rest and prepare yourself for a conversation with Mister Grindelwald.' His black eyes found the grey. There was a strange tingling sensation in the back of Sirius' mind, and then Snape's voice grew from a whisper to a clear tone. Choose your words carefully, for he decides who lives...and who dies.

...o0o...

You-Know-Who could not compare to the physical presence of Gellert Grindelwald. He stood tall — even taller than Dumbledore. His grey hair danced around his face in a wild and impressive fashion. His beardless face looked strong and wizened, yet a dark shadow lingered over him. The same kind of shadow Sirius had seen in Dumbledore the day before.

Sirius had been invited by Grindelwald to roam the streets of Cokeworth. The wind howled in the abandoned neighbourhood. Not a single word was uttered until they reached the gates of a playground, at whereupon Grindelwald turned to Sirius. 'This place knows many new beginnings,' he said in a thick German accent as he opened the gate with a wave of his wand. 'Perhaps it can be yours as well.'

'What new beginnings, sir?' asked Sirius carefully as they entered the playground. 'What significance does this place hold?'

Grindelwald gestured at the swings, his hands ordering Sirius to sit down. 'Many years ago, there was a boy here, who met a girl. Two people whom you know very well.'

'Snape and Lily,' Sirius mumbled, his hands clasped tightly around the metal chains. 'I know that they are both from Cokeworth. It's strange, seeing them as lovers here.'

'Or perhaps it isn't strange at all,' said Grindelwald. 'Their meeting on that very day changed the course of everything. In both my world and yours, I am sure.'

Sirius wasn't quite sure what Grindelwald was speaking of, and with Snape's voice still echoing through his mind, he decided to change the subject. 'Would you like to know what happened to you in the world I came from?' he asked.

'My power had been taken from me, I'm sure,' said Grindelwald with a grin on his face.

'I suppose, in a way, that's true,' Sirius confirmed. 'You were defeated by Dumbledore and imprisoned in the prison that you had built yourself.'

Grindelwald laughed. 'Nurmengard still stands. It is the gate between our side of the Wall and theirs.'

'Wall?' asked Sirius. 'What wall?'

'The Wall we built after we separated the wizarding world from the Muggle world,' said Grindelwald, sounding proud. 'They get to live their lives on their end, govern in their own way, and so do we.'

'Are you not mad?' asked Sirius with a tilted eye. 'That, in another lifetime, Dumbledore locked you up and left you to die?'

The grin did not leave Grindelwald's face as he responded. 'The mind is endless. You could put me in a dark solitary cell, and to you that may sound like the end. But to me, that is the beginning. It's a universe in there. It's a whole world in there, and my confinements set me free.'

Unsure how to respond, Sirius lowered his head and remained silent. He had ended up in a world that was in many ways similar to the one he had left, and yet, all was different. The open spaces felt more like a trap than Azkaban had ever been. And with that thought in mind, he understood what Grindelwald was speaking of. After a moment of silence, he scraped up the courage to ask the one question that he had wanted to ask from the moment they had met. 'Sir, what purpose do I serve to you?'

...o0o...

Sirius returned to the house where Snape and Lily lived. He found them — along with James — sitting at the kitchen table, avidly discussing a matter he had no knowledge of. In his mind, he felt as if he ought to be happy that his old friends were alive and well within this universe, but his heart told him that he had been thrown into a world that he was never meant to be in.

Once they had taken notice of his presence, James and Lily stood and left the house without uttering a word.

'Come with me,' said Snape as he waved him into the living room. Snape shoved a heavy bookshelf aside, revealing a staircase leading up to an upstairs area.

Following Snape's lead, they ended up in a bedroom that was so heavily covered in dust, it seemed to Sirius that it must have gone untouched for several decades. 'How did it go?' asked Snape, sounding demanding.

'I can't quite determine whether I find him a genius or mentally insane,' said Sirius in response.

'If you look down on him you'll find a fool. If you look up at him you'll find a god, and if you look straight at him you'll find your equal,' quoted Snape. 'Too many look up at him. Dumbledore perhaps most of all. We may have found someone who is capable of taking them both out and tearing down the Wall for good.'

'So there is an Order?' asked Sirius, feeling his spirits rise for the first time since his arrival.

Snape shook his head. 'There is no Order. They are the Order. We, on the other hand, are the Resistance. There is someone else on the rise who is willing to lead it.'

'And what is his name?' asked Sirius, wondering if it was someone he may have known in his other lifetime.

'Tom Riddle,' said Snape. 'He's the best bet we've got to win this civil war. Are you in, or not?'

'My life isn't relevant here,' said Sirius. He let out a barking laugh at how ridiculous his own words sounded. 'I'm already imprisoned. What have I got to lose?'

Snape nodded in approval and grinned. 'Glad to see you're not in Wonderland anymore, Sirius.'