There was a flash of a maniacal smirk. A brief glimpse of matted, black hair, streaked with white. The sound of crazy laughter. A scream.
Silence. Darkness. It was a fuzzy sort of feeling, floating there, without knowing anything at all. He did not know how long he laid there, a minuet, an hour, a year? Two? He did not know. It was suffocating, being half aware, but having nothing to compare this endless floating to. Did he have a body? he wondered vaguely.
The nothingness was endless and instantaneous. He was and was not, forever knowing and forever forgetting. He felt that it was vitally important for him to be able to remember who he was, where he was, and where he was supposed to be, but he found that he couldn't be bothered to care, much less try.
Perhaps I have a name. What was it? The letters S, B, and P seemed likely to start it, but which one was truly his? Did it matter? He decided it didn't and went back to mindlessly floating on.
Weeks later, or perhaps seconds, he found that there was light brightening wherever it was that he was existing. Which led to the discovery that he had eyes.
He found that he was able to move these eyes of his and looked down to discover a body. He could only assume it belonged to him.
The truly curious thing was that he could not move his body. this time he actually tried to, but no matter how he yearned he was unable to even twitch a finger or a toe.
He found that he was exhausted and relaxed, feeling content. It only disturbed him a little that it was so easy to lay back and let go of all worries…
He noticed the hands when he was able to clearly make out his fingernails. The hands weren't his, he was sure he had only two, and these hands where quite different from his own.
One was obviously a woman's hand, small and smooth, though its grip was strong when it grabbed at his own. The hand brought on another glimpse of memories. A hand reaching up to slap a young man with thick, unruly, black hair, a hand rubbing a baby's back to calm it's crying, writing notes during class…..but they were gone even as they were noticed, leaving him with a sense of loss. He knew that hand, and he knew it was part of the answer to who he was.
The other hand was roughly the same size as his own, though it was thinner and had longer fingers. It too brought on a wave of memories, memories he knew would be dear to him if he could only remember…..a hand ruffling black hair, catching a large red ball he knew was called a quaffle, a miniature version of it reaching out in a polite handshake, shading mischievous hazel eyes from the glaring sun as he grinned back at him….
The light was definitely getting brighter and brighter he decided. At first it had been a faint glow, but now he could see other things besides himself. Not that they were at all pleasant. He was slightly sickened to see their were bodies floating on in this existence along with him, bodies with pallid skin, eyes closed, or wide open, but unknowing. He looked away from them to an empty space above him that was brighter than normal. For an instant he had seen bright green eyes, eyes that smiled when they connected with his own, instinctively he knew that they belonged to the woman's hand that he had seen….it seemed long ago and just yesterday. He still didn't know how long he had bee here, but he was no longer completely apathetic.
The second time the hands came for him he was ready, but when they grabbed at his wrists he was only able to twitch his fingers, and the heartbreakingly familiar hands disappeared.
He found that he could hear voices speaking to him, comforting voices speaking warm encouragements every time he tried to move just a bit more. One, a rich tenor laughed at each attempt, but he somehow was not offended, but rather reassured. The other, a sultry mezzo soprano murmured unintelligibly, but it was warm sound none-the-less.
Every second he floated there (he assumed the seconds, he still couldn't measure time) he found that it was brighter, allowing for him to see all of the other bodies surrounding him. The odd thing was that they weren't gruesome at all, just the opposite. They were somehow serene in their endless existence.
It was then that he noticed that he could turn his head around. He had been trying to see one of the bodies; it had been shockingly familiar, but just out of sight. He was startled when the want to see motivated his paralyzed body to arch, allowing him some movement. The face was of a young man, boyishly handsome, but marred with a long gash running down the side. His dark hair hung down into his face, partially hiding his open eyes, eyes that were filled with confusion and fear. Caesar? Cedric? Carl? He couldn't quite recall, but the boy was soon too far away and he knew he should be working on moving. The dead were dead, like it or not. He refused to think of himself as dead yet though. After all he was conscious wasn't he?
He slowly practiced wiggling his toes and fingers until he could curl and uncurl them with ease. He worked diligently at flexing his arms and legs. After he was able to roll his shoulders backwards and forwards he was satisfied. Even as he was basking in other sense of victory the hands appeared. When they grabbed his wrists he locked his hold and clung on for dear life.
The world turned slowly black…
He opened his eyes. He was lying on a large couch in the middle of a bright room. At least he supposed the room was bright for there was no color, save the other up people in the room. The others in the…there were other people here! He thought excitedly. His movement must have made a noise because the other occupants of the room turned around and set their gazes upon him. One of them, a woman, approached his bed. As he tried to focus his vision he heard an achingly familiar voice say "it's alright now, you don't have to fight us. We'll keep you safe here." "Who are you?" he managed to rasp out. Another figure moved closer and said in a deep voice, "Aw, we're hurt you've forgotten us! How do you forget your best friends?" His vision finally cleared and he could see the figures in front of him. "Hello Sirius" Lily said pleasantly. "We're so glad you could join us today" James added grinning like a madman.