Disclaimer;This story picks up from the end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and as such the first chapter is based heavily on a chapter in the book. The rest of the story follows its own path. But all credit goes to J. K. Rowling, for the whole series, but especially for this chapter.

Half Lives – Chapter One

"DUMBLEDORE!"

Neville and Harry stared at the usually kindly old man. Today he was standing, wand held aloft, white faced and furious, looking down upon the fight below him. Relief engulfed Harry. He had been wrong, they couldn't sneak in and out of the Department of Mysteries and remain unscathed. They were just a bunch of teenagers.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" One pair hadn't realised that their companions had stopped to stare at the most powerful wizard of their time. Sirius Black and Bellatrix Lestrange were still sending unknown spells at each other. Some nasty, and some nastier.

A red jet of light caught Sirius square in the chest. He hadn't even stopped laughing at his cousin for her incompetence.

Harry released Neville, although he was unaware of doing so. He jumped down the steps, pulling out his wand, as Dumbledore too turned towards the dais.

-0-

It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall: his body curved in a graceful arc.

-0-

Harry watched in horror as his godfather, the most important person in his life, flew off his feet. The Veil behind him began waving, as though a wind ruffled its folds, a wind unfelt by the room. But Sirius' hair was being blown about, caught in the same wind.

He wasn't going to get there in time. Sirius was going to go through that Veil. And the thought of that chilled Harry to the bone.

"ACCIO BOOTS!"

"Oof." Harry had not thought this through. His own spell overrode Bellatrix's- the boots that were very firmly laced onto Sirius' feet came crashing into him, their owner following not long after, throwing them both to the floor in a tangle of limbs. Sirius was the first to recover, sitting up and rubbing the smoking hole in his robes.

"That hurt."

Harry found his glasses and shoved them back on. He could only gape wordlessly at his godfather. As soon as their eyes met, Sirius seemed to remember what was happening all around them, and jumped to his feet.

Too late.

Bellatrix's face was twisted into an ugly, vicious expression. She snarled. Another beam of red light coursed its way through the air, splintering like lightening. A tired expression flooded over Sirius' face, and suddenly it occurred to Harry that Sirius wouldn't mind not having to go back to Number Twelve. Unfortunately, Harry wasn't thinking.

He darted forward and shoved Sirius in the ribs. Hard.

Tensed for spell impact, but not fight, Sirius was unprepared and unsuspecting. He toppled over, catching onto Harry's arm as he did so, in an effort to remain on his feet. He fell back to the floor, jerking Harry forward and into the path of that crackling red spell.

It happened to quickly for Sirius to think. One moment, he was falling back, Harry's arm clasped in his hands; the next, he was on the floor, and Harry had been thrown off his feet and had slammed into the waving material of the Veil.

-0-

Bellatrix screamed. A horrible, twisting, shrieking sound. That wrenched at Sirius' eardrums, throat and heart. It took a moment for him to realise that the wrenching in his throat was because he too was screaming.

"No! Master! What have I done? Master!"

"No! Harry! What have I done? Harry!"

"No! It isn't happening! MASTER, I TRIED, I TRIED – DO NOT PUNISH ME -"

"Don't waste your breath! He can't here you from here!"

"Can't I, Black?" said a high, cold voice.

Sirius opened his eyes.

Tall, thin and black-hooded, his terrible snake like face white and gaunt, his scarlet, slit-pupilled eyes staring…Lord Voldemort had appeared in the middle of the hall, his wand pointing at Sirius who stood frozen, unable to move.

"So, you killed Harry Potter?" Said Voldemort softly, still staring at Sirius with those pitiless red eyes, but speaking to Bellatrix. "No Bella, it is happening. Months of preparation, months of effort…my Death Eater, you have killed Harry Potter. He was mine!" Voldemort snarled and spun round suddenly, his wand snapping to Bellatrix, who fell to the floor, writhing in a soundless scream.

"Master, I am sorry, I knew not. I was fighting the Animagus Black!" Bellatrix sobbed, as the spell was lifted, flinging herself down at Voldemort's feet, as he paced slowly nearer.

-0-

"Ow…My head."

Sirius whipped round, movement finding his limbs once more. He laughed shrilly, slightly hysterically, as Harry sat up on the other side of the Veil, holding his head in one hand and groaning.

"Master, you should know-"

"Be quiet, Bella." Voldemort said dangerously. "I shall deal with you in a moment. Do you think I have entered the Ministry of Magic to hear your snivelling apologies?"

"But Master – he is here – he is below-"

"I have nothing more to say to you. Potter - " he said quietly, "You have irked me too often, for too long. AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Harry had not even opened his mouth to resist; his mind was blank, his wand lay uselessly on the floor.

But the newly headless golden statute of the wizard in the fountain had sprung to life, leaping from its plinth to land with a crash on floor between Harry and Voldemort. The spell merely glanced off its chest as the statue flung its arms out to protect Harry.

"What-?" Cried Voldemort, staring around. And then he breathed; "Dumbledore!"