Opening notes: I've been in the Harry Potter fandom for many years, but it's only recently that I wondered: what happened to Sirius? If anyone wants to expand on this, make it a proper story, go ahead! I was thinking some kind of "Silent Hill" theme.
Title is from Linkin Park's Roads Untraveled.
weep not for paths left alone
Sirius slipped, fell – the curtain brushed his skin and the whispers surrounded him, excited – he stumbled, and fell onto his behind, on the opposite side of the veil.
It was quiet. He was alone, the chamber empty. Sirius looked around, confused.
The rest of the ministry was empty, as well. He turned on his heel once he reached the atrium, and reappeared outside, on the edge of the alley opposite the ministry building.
The street was deserted. There was no one in sight. No cars, either. The sun was high in the sky, and Big Ben, off in the distance, showed that it was quarter after twelve. There should be people about.
No matter where he went, Sirius found no other living being. No humans – muggle of magical – and no animal either. There was no one. The world was quiet.
Sirius hated it. He was scared. Where was everyone? Where was Harry, and Remus, and all his other allies? Where were the Death Eaters, even? Where were the stray cats and dogs, the rats?
How could he be all alone?
Days passed. Weeks, months. Sirius only knew the passing of the time because of the sun, and whatever church tower he was closest to. Months were documented by the changing season, because he never could find a calendar set to the right date. Every one he found was still on June.
Years passed. Sirius didn't know how he survived. He wasn't hungry, so he didn't eat, and he wouldn't have anyway; all the food he found was too old, stuck from that day in June, 1996.
He didn't age. Nothing changed.
This was Hell, Sirius decided. It had to be. Hell, or Limbo, but death nonetheless. He'd died, and this was where the Veil lead, to a world stuck in status, trapped in his final day yet with time forever moving forward. The only change came from the world around him deteriorating. Buildings fell to ruin with no humans to maintain them. Vegetation grew to swallow metal and concrete, and there were some days when Sirius appreciated the beauty of nature taking back its own.
Most days, he watched civilization crumble around him and wondered what he'd done to deserve this.
Sirius thought: this is madness.
He thought: just let me die.
Every night, he laid down to sleep and prayed that, this time, he wouldn't wake.