Sirius appears slowly, particle by particle. I have been waiting for this.
"Hello, Sirius," I greet him. He looks confused. He blinks at the brightness, and the foggy way things to float here. He'll get used to it eventually.
"Where I am I?" he asks, shocked at seeing me, "I fell, Bellatrix she..."
"If you're here, then you're dead." I say simply.
"Dead? Hey, you..." he squints at me carefully, "If I'm dead, then... are you me?"
I laugh. It's a sort of a foamy kind of laugh, muffled and bubbly. "No."
"How do you know who I am? Who are you? How did I get here? Where am I?" his voice is different from how I remembered it.
"You're here because you died. I told you that. You're either in heaven, hell, or purgatory. I know you, because you are my brother."
His eyes widen. "Regulus!" he spits, "I must be in hell." He finally looks past me to see my parents, sitting at the table, grinning over a joke my mother told. "I'm in hell!" He is panicked.
I am not insulted. I do not chose to be. "It might be purgatory." I offer, "Would you like to sit down, Sirius? It's been awhile."
"No." He says, but suddenly the table is there, as if it had zoomed to us by magic.
"Sirius, my boy. Welcome home." Our stoic father gives another rare smile. Sirius is speechless.
"I wasn't sure you'd come," Our mother stares at her napkin politely, "I am very glad. Please, do sit. We- I've missed you terribly." Mother's own sort of apology, no one could have thought it possible. Maybe Sirius could swallow his pride as well. He doesn't of course, not now, but there's still time.
I take a seat at the table, and motion for Sirius to do the same. He does so thoughtlessly, in shock. "This can't be real," he mutters under his breath.
But it is. Sirius doesn't to have seemed to notice that I am much smaller, than I was when I died; my feet don't even touch the floor. Everyone is younger looking. My parents don't have any gray hairs, Sirius himself isn't yet a preteen.
My father's warm voice rambles on about on about the silverware. It's goblin wrought silver, after all, embossed with the Black family crest. Sirius sulks a little, and kicks me gently beneath the table. Mother fixes my brother's hair, rolling her eyes playfully at father's repeated lecture.
I am holding back a laugh of utmost joy. I've waited a long time for this moment. It's perfect.
My heaven.
