The clocked ticked loudly against the deafening silence. The whirling of the wind could hardly be heard through the thick walls. But the sudden noisiness of a gust of wind and a clanging of a door made the receptionist jump in her seat. She looked up from her paper to see three wizards, or possibly not even wizards yet; they appeared to be awfully young.
Shifting in her seat, the secretary said in a shaky voice "May I help you?"
The three spun to face the nervous women, now looking very little behind her large desk. They had not intended on meeting anyone in the ministry, it was nearly half past one in the morning. "Er, we just wanted to er-" Harry could not come up with an excuse on why they were there. "-Use the bathroom." Hermione finished for him. "It's so late and everywhere else is closed."
The receptionist did not look satisfied with this poor attempt but said, "Alright, it's just around the corner here," while pointing to the hall to the right of her desk.
The three of them hurried around the corner, but stopped once they knew they were out of sight. Harry pulled his invisibility cloak out of his traveling cloak and threw it over himself. "Stay here until I come back."
"But Harry-" began Hermione.
"No, I'm sorry but I've got to do this on my own." Harry looked down at himself as to make sure that he was fully invisible. He walked back down the hall they had just come, hearing only a whispered "Good luck, mate" from Ron and "Be careful!" from Hermione.
Harry knew exactly where he was going, He strode down the hall he had once gone with Dumbledore, and once again with some members of the D.A. Had that really been so long ago? It seemed as though Harry had just been here with Sirius coming to his rescue. Sirius. Harry's heart gave an ache. He was not sure what would be accomplished from this trip but he knew it was necessary before he began his hunt for the remaining horcruxes. He had been to Dumbldore's funeral of coarse, and visited his parents' graves at Godric's Hollow. It only seemed fair to visit Sirius as well even though there was no grave to throw flowers on or a grand tombstone to remind the world of the loss of this magnificent person. Harry's heart gave another lurch. The world did not know what an amazing wizard Sirius was, most were still quite certain he had murdered poor Peter Pettigrew. Harry's face turned hot with anger towards the thought of Peter Pettigrew. If it was not for him, his parents would have lived, Sirius would have never gone to Azkaban, and the Dark Lord would not have risen once again.
Harry was so caught in his thoughts that he had not realized where he now stood. A great Oak door stood ahead of him. Pulling it open with possibly a bit too much force, Harry crossed the threshold and solemnly walked to the center of the circular room. He stood, waited, and then watched the doors spin. At the moment they stopped he moved forward. There was no doubt in his mind that this was the correct door. Pulling it opened, he saw precisely what he wanted to see. He was standing on the outermost step of a room filled with stone steps that proceeded down to the center of the room, where stood the mysterious veil.
Harry proceeded down the steps stopping on the third from the veil. He had almost forgotten he had his invisibility cloak on; took it off and laid it on the steps next to him. He then took his wand from his pocket and laid it atop his cloak. He was about to sit when he realized there was something else in his pocket. He removed a shining black piece of cloth that seemed to be containing something, and placed that as well atop his cloak. Now he sat himself beside his precious belongings and stared at the veil.
Harry had no way of knowing, but he was sure the room had been completely still before he entered, and he, by entering had somehow disturbed it. There was no breeze of any sort but the tattered veil seemed to be fluttering lazily. It wasn't just the veil that seemed to have to come to life, but there were voices too. Only whispers that could not be made out, but it seemed to Harry as if there was a whole group of invisible people on the other side of the room, out the door, or possibly behind the veil trying to contact him but they failed to find the strength to raise their voices to a volume loud enough the allow Harry to decipher their words.
Harry bent down and propped his elbows on his knees, allowing his face to fall into his hands. He thought 'Maybe if I wait long enough something will happen, maybe I'll understand.' So he waited. He waited and watched, anticipating something that seemed to not be coming. As he closed his eyes only just for a moment, he heard something. The words were still not decipherable, but it seemed as though the whispers had faded, but not all of them; one of the voices had become loader and more clear. He heard the same sound a few more times, each time it became clearer. Then finally he distinctly heard "Harry." The sound of his name startled him at first, not because the mysterious speaker seemed to know his name, but because the voice sounded so weak, so frail. But Harry recognized the voice. No matter how weak or frail, Harry would always recognize his voice.
"S-Sirius?" he said in a trembling voice. He had hoped something like this would happen but had highly doubted it would be possible.
"Yes Harry. I thought I'd be seeing you hear some time soon." The voice was becoming more prominent but still extremely feeble.
Harry was not sure what to say in response. "I'm sorry." He said what he had been feeling since Sirius's death. He could not help but feel that everyone's death seemed to always be his fault. "My mum and dad died protecting me, and then you did the same. And now Dumbledore." Harry half expected to hear a cry of shock as he had heard from Lupin.
"Well sometimes, someone must sacrifice themselves for the ones they love. And you have no need to be sorry. It's not your fault everyone keeps trying to do you in." At this Harry laughed, remembering similar words coming out of his own mouth when Hermione had jokingly suggest that him and Ron join up as death eaters.
"But Harry, you must stop dwelling on the past and move forward. The fate of the wizarding world lies in your hands. You must hold on to only the memories of those you have lost, Harry, and you must realize that there will never be anything more. Use these memories to your advantage. You have something Voldemort has not."
At this Harry cut Sirius' voice off. "Yeah, I have love. But what good is it if everyone that I once loved is now gone?"
"Harry, it is true you have suffered a great deal, but don't you see that it was necessary for this to happen for you to defeat Voldemort? With loss after loss you have experience more love than any normal boy. This will give you a greater strength when it comes down to defeating him. If Dumbledore had not died, you would be relying on him to help you every step of the way. Use this experience to strengthen your magic; you have greater potential than anyone to become powerful enough to defeat Voldemort. Now, this does not mean you cannot ask for help, by all mean, let Ron and Hermione help you, because the times will become tough Harry, so tough that you will wish you were not The Chosen One, as I believe you are being called. Many more will die and suffer from loss. You of all people know the feeling of loss, so do do your best to prevent as many people as you can from feeling that pain. Now go. You must find the holder of the locket and destroy all remaining horcruxes. It is up to you to bring down the Dark forces and restore the wizarding world to the peace it once knew. Good luck, Harry, and do remember to use not only your knowledge but your love, it will help you a great deal."
No more words could be heard. The voice had faded back in with the rest of the whispers. Harry was about to say something but knew he would not hear a response from Sirius. Standing up, he bent over to pick up his belonging. But instead of leaving towards the door, he descended the rest of the steps and stopped in front of the veil. He placed his wand in his pocket and his invisibility cloak lay draped over his arm. His hand carefully ran over the smooth black cloth and unfolded it to reveal a shattered mirror. It was in fact, the mirror Sirius had given to Harry, the mirror that Harry had broken in anger that it had not worked in his attempt to contact Sirius after his death. He knelt down and let the pieces slide on to the stone base of the veil. He stuffed the cloth in his pocket and threw his invisibility cloak over him. Before he knew it, he was at the door looking back at the pieces of glass glittering in the light. How much it had filled his heart to hear Sirius' voice once more.