"When a living person approaches the veil, the souls of the dead, recognizing a loved one nearby, attempt to communicate." -real HP fact.

i own nothing, all rights to Jo Rowling.

review after? please : )?

It was chaos, a nightmare. Sirius' heart dropped when Snape informed the Order that Harry and his fellow classmates were headed to the Ministry of Magic-straight into Voldemort's trap.

The only other time his heart felt that that was when James died.

Spells were flying everywhere, the prophecy was destroyed, and the kids-Harry, were fighting against skilled wizards. With one curse it could be all over for any of them. Sirius was trying his hardest to keep an eye on Harry, and Nymphadora was gathering all of the students. Remus was alongside him, it was nice to have him there like all those years ago.

"Sirius, Harry!" Remus called to him over the loud noise of the battle. Sirius turned to see Lucius Malfoy and his godson dueling.

Sirius had joined him, and he had felt it was James fighting beside him all over again.

"Sirius, Sirius its me." A voice called lightly. Was that James? No I must be going crazy. But then there was another whisper.

"Padfoot, where are you? Where's Harry?"

James was definitely talking to him. But where? How?

Sirius forced himself to focus and with one last stunning spell Lucius went flying. Harry smiled at him with so much admiration for his godfather. That was all it took. Just one distracted moment, and Sirius had not seen his cousin Bellatrix shoot the killing curse at him. One minute he was looking at Harry, and then there was a sharp pain in his chest, and he fell.

It was dark, very dark. Sirius couldn't see, move or open his eyes, but he could think. How could I have let this happen? Am I dead? What happened to Harry?

A sharp pain stabbed his chest, and all of a sudden he could move. He felt the blood rush through his veins-to his fingers and all the way down to his toes. There was a light, too. But Sirius' thoughts hadn't left Harry.

What am I going to do about Harry? Did they kill him?

And then Sirius' eyes snapped open, and he sat upright. It was an odd scene before him. There was furniture, white furniture, that looked like the old Gryffindor common room. Sirius rubbed his eyes and when he reopened them, everything was the same. Except where the old fireplace used to be, there was a veil. The same veil like the one in the Department of Mysteries.

Sirius stood slowly, wondering if he could even walk, and balanced himself before beginning to search around the room. He could touch the objects, he could feel them, he could smell the fresh scent of the houselves cleaning...

"I was wondering when you'd show up here." A masculine voice said behind him. Sirius reached into his pockets and found no wand. He turned swiftly and his jaw dropped.

Standing in front of him, not too far away was James Potter. He looked the same as he did when he died. He was wearing a buttoned up shirt that had some dirt marks on it, pants, socks, and his unruly hair was sticking up in all places. He glasses were slightly crooked on his face, and there was a crack in one of the lenses. He had some wrinkles on his face from the stress-it had started when he had to go into hiding. He still looked much too old to be the energetic James Potter from their years at Hogwarts.

"It's about time, Pads. I thought you'd lost your sense of adventure and risk." James smirked, and there was that twinkle in his hazel eyes whenever he was up to no good.

Sirius' mouth was still wide open. It had been such a long time they've been apart, and here James was already teasing him.

"Never." Sirius finally choked out.

"You seemed to have grown old. Are those grey hairs, Pads?" James joked once more and Sirius let out a low chuckle.

"You're not looking to great yourself, Prongs." Sirius replied. He had missed his best friend so much.

In a few strides, Sirius caught up to where James was standing and wrapped his arms around his friend. James responded by doing the same, and the two men just stood there hugging in the most innocent of ways. Suddenly, Sirius felt his hair being removed from his shoulders, his teeth growing back in the places they had rotted off in Azkaban, and his body changing.

The two men let go of each other and both grinned widely. Now standing in front of him was a 17 year old James Potter, with the tan skin and muscles, wide smile and wearing his favorite Quidditch shirt.

"Finally." James said with a younger, more happy tone. "Lookin' good Pads." Sirius laughed and really wanted a mirror to see if he had changed, too. All of a sudden, a mirror popped up in his hands. "It's like the Room of Requirement almost, but we're dead." Although the thought of being dead wasn't humorous, Sirius began to laugh. He looked in the mirror and saw his younger self. The pearl white teeth, mysterious grey eyes and a full head of black curly hair.

"How are you?" James asked. Sirius shrugged his shoulders.

"I feel great physically, but dying doesn't really make a person feel bloody well." He answered, his voice no longer raspy with age. "And you?"

"I'm good." James said, "It's taken some time getting used to this place, but now it feels like home." Sirius and James smiled at each other, yet Sirius couldn't help but notice the lack of red hair in the room.

"Is Lily here?" Sirius. James grinned and nodded.

"She's somewhere with Dorcas and Marlene, I think." James answered. "She changed back when we first discovered this place, since the other girls were already here. It seems you're revived when you're reunited with someone who, as Benjy Fenwick puts it, 'makes you feel alive again'."

"Only Benjy." Sirius joked as James clapped him on the shoulder. Sirius turned and looked at the veil not too far from him. "What is that? It was down in the Department of Mysteries just before."

"Its the veil." James explained and walked closer to it.

"Were you... talking to me through it?" Sirius asked hesitantly. He didn't want James to think he had gone mad. James smiled and nodded.

"When a living person is near it, our souls can recognize when its a loved one, and we can try to communicate." James explained.

"What do you mean our souls?" Sirius asked.

"That's what we are-souls." He replied as if it were the most obvious answer. "Thats why we can change back into the young versions of ourselves, because our souls are still young at heart."

"When did you become so smart, Prongs?" Sirius joked and punched him lightly in the arm.

"Pads, what are you talking about? I've always been smart." James answered, "Thats why Lily loves me so much." Sirius couldn't help but roll his eyes.

Even in the afterlife, James still could not stop talking about Lily.

There was a silence that passed over the two friends, but it was comfortable. There was so much that had been left unsaid between them, yet here they were, and Sirius didn't know what to say to him.

"You did a good job with Harry, Sirius." James said with a smile. Sirius felt a pang of guilt in his chest. Did James not know that Sirius had been in Azkaban? Not protecting Harry? Sirius flashed a fake smile.

"How would you know?"

"He's my son. I can just feel it." James answered. Sirius grinned with happiness from the look of pride on his best friends' face, but James noticed the sadness in his eyes.

"What's the matter?"

"James, I don't-"

"Woah, you called me James? This must be serious!" James teased, making a double pun in one sentence. Sirius chuckled; James always knew how to make him feel better.

"I didn't raise Harry." Sirius admitted before James could interrupt again.

"But-what?" James asked.

"After you and Lily... passed... I went after Pettigrew." Sirius replied, "They thought it was me. How could they ever think I'd betray you and Lily? And I wanted revenge. He got away, Pettigrew, and I-" Sirius paused, so ashamed of himself even though he did nothing wrong, "I went to Azkaban."

James didn't speak. Sirius always used to joke about being in Azkaban, but he never thought it'd actually happen.

"So how'd you escape?" James finally asked with a smile on his face.

"You're not mad?" Sirius shouted.

"Why would I be mad?" James questioned, looking thoroughly confused. "They would've accused you anyway, and Harry is fine. He knows who you are, right?"

Sirius smiled. "Yeah. It took some convincing, but he understood. He's a great kid, James. You and Lily would've made great parents." James smiled sadly. Sirius knew how badly James had wanted to raise Harry, to teach him Quidditch and how to flirt with girls. The silence grew again, and James ran a hand through his dark hair. Old habits die hard I guess, Sirius thought with a smile.

"Don't worry, Prongs. He's just like you." Sirius broke the silence and James grimaced with a smile.

"I'm sure Lily would be pleased to hear that." Both men began to laugh, and Sirius hadn't laughed like this since seventh year.

"Yeah, well Lily is going to rip my head off when I tell her Harry lived with her sister." Sirius added when they had stopped laughing.

James' eyes grew wide with fear, before he began another round of hysterical laughter. Sirius had no idea what was so funny about it. From what Harry told him, it was bloody hell living with the Dursley's. "Whats-?"

"I can't wait to see Lily's face when we tell her all of this!" James exclaimed and grabbed Sirius' arm. "We have to go find her!" Sirius laughed along with his best friend as James began to drag him across the room.

James finally calmed down as they exited the portrait hole into the hallways of Hogwarts; they were also white.

"So how did you get out of Azkaban anyway?" James asked.

"I became Padfoot. Bloody dementors couldn't find me as a dog." Sirius beamed with pride. And so did James.

"Genius, Pads. Genius."