Beyond the Veil

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me that you recognise.

Sirius ducked Bellatrix's jet of red light: he laughed at her.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.

The second jet of light hit him squarely in the chest. The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock. It seemed to take an age to fall: his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards through the ragged veil hanging from the arch. He heard Bellatrix's triumphant scream and Harry's terrified yell. But he could do nothing. He kept falling backwards until he hit a stone floor with a loud thump. He just had time to register the place was dark before he blacked out completely. Sirius Black as he was known was never to open his eyes again.

XXXXXXXX

"Sirius!" He felt a hand slapping his cheek. "Sirius Black, wake up this instant!"

"Go 'way Molly," he muttered.

He heard sniggers. "Padfoot, I'm not Molly Weasley!"

"Huh?" Sirius groaned, cracking open his eyes a bit. It seemed incredibly bright to Sirius and it took a while for his eyes to adjust. "Where am I?"

"You need to open your eyes first," said a feminine voice, "Then we can tell you everything!"

"Yeah, there's so much to explain," said the first voice, a masculine voice, with an anxious but happy note to it, "Come on, mate. Open your eyes!"

Sirius' heart clenched. He knew those voices! But it couldn't be…they were dead. Well, there was only one way to find out… He opened his eyes fully.

"James? Lily?" he said, astounded,

"Yeah, Sirius. It's us," James said and Lily nodded, her eyes bright.

Sirius sat up quickly. "You can't be them! What are you? Who are you? Are you a slimy pair of death-eaters using Polyjuice Potion?"

"No Sirius," Lily said in a quiet voice, "It really is us. It's so great to see you!"

"No!" cried out Sirius, "You can't be! You're dead!"

"We know," whispered James, "Ask us anything you want…something that nobody else would know."

Sirius hesitated. It was worth a try.

"Erm, ok. Who was your secret keeper?" Sirius asked, staring straight at Lily and James.

"Peter Pettigrew," snarled James, "Sneaky little traitor!"

Sirius wasn't convinced. He decided to try another question.

"James, how did I get the scar on my stomach?" Sirius knew that only James would be able to answer this correctly, as James was the only person present when the event occurred.

James grinned. "That would be during our Seventh Year on the Full Moon in March. Pettigrew was with Moony and we decided to go and spy on Hagrid. You cut yourself on some broken glass outside Hagrid's hut when you were rolling over pretending to be a puppy. You told everybody else that we had a mock duel and I got you with the cutting curse!"

Sirius blushed and grinned. "It's really you James!" he gasped, "I missed you so much!" He pulled James into a hug and sniffed away the tears that were spilling from his eyes.

"I really missed you, Padfoot," James said, tears falling down his cheeks, "I'm so sorry!"

"Me too," Lily said, watching the men, with a small smile on her face. Sirius turned to her, his eyes unsure. "Ask me a question too," Lily said, seeing the doubt.

"What was the first thing you said to me when you started going into labour?" Sirius asked. He had been the only person present.

Lily smiled in amusement. "I said 'Sirius! Remind me to kick James in the balls next time I see him!'"

James gasped. "You wouldn't!" he said, turning to his wife, who was being squeezed to death by Sirius. Lily just smiled and patted Sirius on the back.

After about ten minutes of holding Lily and James close to him, Sirius finally sat down on a chair that instantly appeared. The Potter's followed suit.

"Sirius, mate," James began, "We'd like to thank you for taking care of Harry these past few years,"

"Harry!" gasped Sirius, "I left him in the Department of Mysteries with Death Eaters!"

"Its ok!" said Lily quickly, "He's ok. He's with Dumbledore now!"

"What happened?" asked Sirius, chewing on his lip, "I remember fighting with Bellatrix and Harry screaming. Was he hit with a Crucio?"

"No. He screamed because he saw you got cursed by Bellatrix and you fall backwards into the…into the Veil of Death," James said quietly.

Sirius' shoulders slumped. "I'm dead, aren't I?" he asked, tiredly.

"Yes," said James, "I'm sorry."

Sirius just stared at his feet for a few minutes. He was dead. He'd failed Harry. He'd failed Moony. He'd failed Lily and James.

"You haven't failed anybody," Lily said, softly, "It was an accident. We don't blame you in the slightest,"

"I should have been there for him!" sobbed Sirius, "I know he'd been having a lousy year at Hogwarts but Dumbledore wouldn't let me out of the noble house of black!"

"We know," said James, "We watch everything. There wasn't anything you could do. You tried as hard as you could! It was just too dangerous!"

Sirius sighed. "I just had to get out of there. It was driving me insane stuck inside; not allowed to go out. The only company I ever got was Order members occasionally and mainly that stupid House Elf! When Snape floo-called through with the news, Moony tried to stop me from going but I was so bloody determined! And now look where it's got me. I'm dead; Moony is the only Marauder left and Harry doesn't have his God-father anymore!" Sirius paled dramatically. "Oh God, he's going to blame himself for my death isn't he?"

Lily and James shrugged with looks of pure sadness on their faces. Lily got up and knelt in front of Sirius. She took his hands.

"Sirius, you did what any normal person would do when trapped in a house and their godson gets into danger!"

"Yeah, Padfoot. I think we'd be angry if you didn't go after Harry!" James said, "When you and the rest of the Order came in, Harry was nearly spent. Things could have turned out very differently!"

Sirius looked up with a sad smile on his face. "It's going to take me time to get over this but thanks for understanding,"

"You're welcome," Lily replied, "We'll help you through it,"

"Of course we will. That's what friends are for!" James said, "I was so sorry when you were sent to Azkaban. That wasn't fair,"

"Tell me about it," Sirius said, "I swear the only reason I stayed sane was because I could transform into Padfoot. I couldn't believe it when it happened. I'm really sorry that I couldn't bring Harry up for you!"

"It's alright. I wish Dumbledore hadn't sent poor Harry to my darling sister and her warthog of a husband but at least he survived!" Lily said, fiercely.

James chuckled. "You should have seen the temper tantrums Lily threw when she saw how they were treating Harry! She broke nearly everything!"

Sirius laughed slightly. "That's my girl!"

"No, she's my girl!" insisted James. Lily shook her head and looked over at the screen that tracked Harry's movements.

"I think Harry inherited my temper," she said, in a small voice. The three adults watched as Harry single handily wrecked Dumbledore's office.

"He's blaming himself!" Sirius said, sadly, "I wish I could tell him that it's not his fault. It's purely my own stupidity!"

James laid a hand on his shoulder. "We've watched him grow up and his time at Hogwarts. His friends will help him through his grief and the Prophecy. He'll come to realise that it's them who he needs to lean on when times get bad."

Lily came over and hugged Sirius. "I'm just glad you were there for him during the few years you knew one another, so thanks."

"Yeah," James agreed, "Harry will make it and fulfil the prophecy and all three of us will be watching him as he becomes a young man and makes us extremely proud!"

"Amen to that," agreed Sirius and Lily.

I'm so happy to find them again Sirius thought Life, or rather death, will be very interesting from now on. I only wish that none of this had ever happened and we were all together on Earth raising our children. Still, we'll all be reunited one day and Pettigrew will get his just-desserts. I can't wait until that day.

OK, it's very short and I'm not sure it's even very good. It was just an idea I had from reading another fan fiction. Tell me what you think. Constructive criticism is very welcome.

Random thought of the day: The meaning of 'Harry' is 'Army Ruler' and Ron means 'Advisor to the King'. Ironic?