QLFC submission
Season 6: Caerphilly Catapults
Round 1, Chaser 2: write a setting you've never written before.
Prompts: (dialogue) "your silence scares me.", (word) Knife, (setting) Department of Mysteries
The red light heading his way hadn't concerned him. A stunner was hardly a lethal shot, after all. Coming from Bellatrix, she was probably playing with him, toying with him until he got angry enough to make a mistake. So he would dodge and retaliate like he had countless times that night and help protect his godson.
Hearing Harry was on his way to the Ministry of Magic had made him panic. He'd ignored Dumbledore when he told him to stay put. His safety was nothing compared to Harry's. He raced to defend his last remaining link to James and Lily, and some days, the last link to his sanity. Finding him in the Department of Mysteries, fighting for his life, had put him in a rage.
Which was why he was shocked when the stunner hit him. He'd been so sure that he could deflect it, but a split second of his focus had gone to Moony and James- no, Moony and Harry- and suddenly he's thrown backwards, bracing for an impact that never happens. He's suspended, moving in slow motion as his Godson's screams hit the air and his cousin cackles. The chorus of sound is loud, too loud compared to the rest of the battle going on. Moony is shouting for Harry. Where was he? Trying to twist, turn, even plant his feet so he was steady was impossible. Why couldn't he touch the ground?
Sound fades away. Soon every time he blinks all he can see is a misty grey color, nothing like the black marble of the Department of Mysteries. What happened? He couldn't be dead, could he?
An eternity later, he blinks again and he's standing, weight being put on his legs so suddenly he topples over and his knees clash against the ground painfully. Groaning, he makes no move to get up from his position on the floor. What was the point? Even the ground was the shifting grey color all around him. Where was he anyway? Did he get trapped somewhere in the Department? Surely someone would have noticed him missing by now. How long had he been stunned? It takes a few hours to wear off naturally, but he could move now if he wanted to.
"Get up Sirius."
The sudden voice has him startling, and when his head snaps up, his mouth goes dry and he can't give a reply.
This was James. Seeing him now, the difference between him and Harry was evident. James had his hair swept to the side instead of everywhere, his jawline was squared off, while Harry had the small curved line like Lily had. His shoulders were broader than Harry's ever would be and his eyes-
They were hazel, sharp and cutting. James only ever looked like that pissed off. But even as he watched, James' eyes seemed to warm and a small smile quirked his mouth- something else Harry must have got from his mother because Harry's lips were not as thin as James'.
"Your silence scares me, Padfoot. It never meant anything good," he says, a teasing tone to his voice even as he crosses his arms and tilts his head down towards Sirius.
"Prongs?" The word leaves his throat at a rasp, barely a whisper. James seems to have heard him though because he smirks fully and offers a hand that Sirius takes gratefully before being pulled into a bone-crushing hug.
"You left Harry, Padfoot. First the night Lily and I died, and again in the Department of Mysteries." James accuses as he lets Sirius go.
"I didn't - Wormtail had to pay James, I couldn't just- " Sirius sputters, surprised at the venom in the words. James doesn't seem to care, cutting into his babbling.
"You took off after your own selfish desire and left my son with muggles. There isn't an excuse for that." James snaps impatiently before taking a deep breath. When he lets it go he deflates in his stiff posture.
"But that's not what I'm here for. This time you've truly messed up. Harry needs you more than ever and you run off?"
"He was in the Department of Mysteries with a bunch of Death Eaters! I wasn't going to leave him!" Sirius exclaims. Why didn't James seeing that? Their Harry had been in trouble, so he'd gone to save him!
"Weren't you told to stay put?"
"By Dumbledore? Why would I let him tell me what to do when it comes to Harry?"
"Because now you're stuck here and Harry is without his parents and his godfather. Again." James says impatiently, motioning around himself.
"What?"
"You're stuck in the veil. One way in, no way out. There's a reason its home is in the Department of Mysteries. They've been trying to crack it without getting stuck since the department was created. If you stayed home, you would have seen Harry again. Now, you won't see anyone."
Sirius feels lightheaded as he listens to his best friend. That's what he had been stunned into? Is that why it took ages before he could touch the ground? he'd been passing through the veil? That must have been what he had heard. Harry, his cousin, Moony, all watching as he disappeared behind the grey curtain that separated the living world from...this place, wherever that was. Merlin, what had he gotten into this time?
"Am I dead then?" Sirius murmurs, moving to sit on the ground again. James sighs sympathetically, crouching near his friend and putting a hand on his shoulder for comfort.
"No."
Relief floods through Sirius, but before he can get too excited over this information, James is speaking again.
"You're stuck. Not dead, not alive. Suspended in the area the veil created for you. You can't see anything going on in the Department of Mysteries, where this… pocket room is created, and they can't detect you." James elaborates, rocking back onto his heels slightly. He's tilting his head in that way he does when he is thinking deeply.
"But… you're here, that means I have to be dead!" It didn't come out as convinced as he would have wanted, but he was desperate to believe he was going with his friend, that they wouldn't be separated anymore. Leaving Harry wouldn't be so bad if he could just go with James.
"I was allowed to talk to you because you fell in here protecting my son, but you can't go with me. And I can't stay here much longer, either." James tone goes gentler at the end and he squeezes his hold on Sirius tighter for a moment.
"For what it's worth, I'm proud of you. And impressed that you broke out of Azkaban for my son. I'm sorry about this, Padfoot."
And with another blink, James was gone.
Scrambling from his position on the ground, Sirius calls out for James again. Panic races through him when his voice bounces back, the sudden echo in the grey area around him sending a knife of pure terror through his system.
Stuck. Alone. Not dead, not alive.
When the realization hits, he starts to scream.