The Doorway

Chapter 2: Memories

Summary: Eighteen years to the day after Sirius fell through the Veil in the Department of Mysteries, Harry steps in after him. This story was inspired by the beginning of 'A Black Comedy' by nonjon and 'Making Faces' by Thanatos. Complete Cannon excluding the epilogue, AU and OOC … obviously.

Disclaimer: I own nothing; I just wanna play with 'em. I make no monetary gain from this romp through Rowling's World.

*~ {PoE} ~*

"My name is Sirius Black. I am a wizard, and a dog. When I'm a dog, I'm called … Padfoot … or Snuffles. I'm a dog because I'm a … an Ani … Animagus."

"I have friends! James and Lily, James is an Animagus, too! He's a … Stag. He's called … Prongs! James and Lily died …"

"Moony! He was there when I fell in here, stupid Bella using a stupid Tripping Jinx in a duel. Moony! Moony is a … a Werewolf … named … named … Remus Lupin! He's my friend! Good man, he's why James and I are Animagi."

"James and Lily have a son, he's my Godson … Harry … Harry Potter! I call him pup 'cause I'm a dog, Remus calls him … cub 'cause he's a Werewolf."

"Harry has green eyes like his mum, but he looks like his dad."

"He has friends, too! A redhead with lots of family … Weasley … Don …RON! Ron Weasley! And a really smart girl with lots of hair … big name … Her … Hermione! Hermione … Granger!"

"Ron Weasley has a big family. Molly is his mum; she likes to yell at me. … Arthur's his dad; he likes … muggle … stuff."

"Bill … is his oldest brother. Bill works with dragons. … NO! No, Bill works in the bank! Bill in the Bank, Bill in the Bank, Bill in the Bank. Charlie! HE works with dragons, he's after Bill. P … Percy next … he works … in the Ministry! With … chocolate? No, Fudge! He works with Fudge! Cor … Cornelius Fudge, Arse of a man."

"Then there's … Fred and George, they're twins! Those guys are great! They gave Harry the Map! … The Marauders Map, I'm a Marauder. James and Remus and … and … James and Remus are Marauders, too."

"Ron comes after Fred and George. Ron is really good at chess, and loves Quidditch, and gets jealous … a lot."

"Last is a girl, the only girl. She has long, straight hair … like a sheet of fire. Lily's hair was more like … Gryffindor red … and had waves and curls."

"Ginny! She likes Harry. She's a good kid. … That's all the Weasleys."

"Gryffindor red, Ravenclaw blue, Hufflepuff yellow … Slytherin green."

"Hogwarts is a school, and a castle … big castle, with lots of ghosts and … armor, suits of armor. … Albus … Bumblebee … Dumbledore is the … leader … Headmaster! Good man. Likes lemons? No, he likes sherbert lemons, and weird colours, lots and lots of colours."

"The teachers … professors at Hogwarts … are …"

On and on into the endless grey void Sirius whispered. Trying to maintain who he was, trying not to loose himself to the emptiness. He had no idea how long he'd been floating there, doing nothing, when he realized he was forgetting things. It scared him badly, he didn't want to forget. So he started listing everything he could remember, over and over again. Then one memory would trigger another and another and he would remember everything again. So he kept at it remembering the good times, the bad times, the boring times, the annoying times. All of his life that he could recall he would whisper into the void.

*~ {PoE} ~*

He was whispering again, going over all the spells he knew before listing the fun memories, when a bunch of potted plants floated by. Ferns, he remembered rather proudly. He'd seen plenty of other objects float by before, right before the plants had been some pink flowers, before them had been purple stones, and before them were some weirdly coloured balls that triggered his memories of Albus Dumbledore again. A long time before, other things had floated through too. So he wasn't going to give them another thought, and was just turning his gaze from the potted vegetation when all seven of them flashed and vanished. Sirius was astonished, that had never happened before … Wait. Yes, it had.

Once, there had been more people in here. They each had their own areas, so as not to interfere with each other. When Sirius had first arrived, he'd gone to each of the people, trying to find out where this place was, what it was, and who they were. But each and every one of them, seven women and five men, were mindless. They floated there mumbling nonsense into the void and nothing he did would rouse them. They had no memories, as he discovered when he'd finally, reluctantly, used Legillimency on them. They were what scared Sirius so badly about forgetting things. That he'd end up just like them, shells of their former selves mumbling gibberish for eternity. Blanks, was what St. Mungo's called people who'd suffered permanent total obliviations (unlike Lockhart, who was slowly regaining his memory) and these twelve pour souls were just the same. Worse, now he thought of it. Normal Blanks forgot everything at once. How long had these people floated here, realizing they were forgetting things, and slowly discovering that they couldn't manage to remember anything. Knowing they were, slowly but surely, loosing their minds, loosing themselves.

After an indeterminate amount of time, before he'd started to forget, Sirius had decided to search the other people. He, himself, had his wand and a few random items in his robe pockets, every once and a wile an interesting or possibly useful item would float by and he would snag it and put it in a pocket (he had one of the luridly coloured balls and one of the purple stones). The thing he held most dear, even above his own wand, was a small piece of parchment with a note scribbled on it.

Sirius,

I don't know if this will reach you, wherever you are. I am trying to figure out the Veil, to get you out. … I don't know what to say, I don't even know if you'll be able to read this, but I will find you or … I WILL find you. You are my family and I've already lost enough family to give you up so easily.

-Harry

His elation on finding this small scrap of parchment was unparalleled. It became his most treasured item and he found himself reading the short missive repeatedly. Whenever he found himself forgetting, he would read the note again and start himself on his muttered remembering. Still, he wanted to see if he could find out just who these other people were or why they were here. He quickly discovered that none of them had any possessions on them and they all were wearing robes that were very out of date, centuries out of date.

Sirius realized that these were the people that had been sent through the Veil when it was used for executions. He'd heard of the Veil being used for 'clean capital punishment' when he was an Auror, before his whole life and everything in it had got to pot. He thought there'd been more than twelve sentenced though. He realized now that this was a far worse punishment than Azkaban. Yes, the dementors made you remember your worst memories, but this place made you forget everything. These people had never aged, never eaten, never anything. They'd been doomed to float here in this monotonous void for eternity, slowly forgetting everything until they were nothing but … Blanks. This wasn't 'clean capitol punishment', this was the ultimate cruelty. At least you could die in Azkaban. This place was never ending, never changing, never anything.

Then one time, and there was no way to keep track of time in here (his pocket watch had stopped, and the others didn't have any timepieces that he could find) something changed, all seven women had vanished. All at once, just like the plants had now done. He and the five remaining men started hollering, but while they were screaming nonsense, he was trying to tell Harry that whatever he'd done had worked, to a degree. After they'd gone he'd seen lots of different objects come floating through again, all sorts of random things. But none of them had ever disappeared, and now those plants did.

It wasn't fair. He wanted to vanish too; he didn't want to spend eternity like these other men. He wasn't a criminal. Twice now he'd been put somewhere with other criminals, and he was guilty of nothing more than trusting the wrong person. Just as he was trying to think, again, of a way to escape, again, six clear balls floated by. He caught the sixth, hoping they would flash too and take him with them. As he looked into the ball, he realized it was a hollow glass orb, filled with water, and it had a little creature in it.

"Fish?" he realized, just as it flashed out of his hands.

He stared at his empty hands for a moment before screaming in impotent rage. He wanted it to stop! He wanted to leave! Why couldn't he get out! He ranted and raved, floating over to random objects, grabbing and hurling them as far as he could, for what seemed like hours or days. If he'd had a watch that worked, he would have been relieved to discover that his tantrum had only lasted twenty-five minutes.

Sirius wasn't a stupid man and he'd correctly deduced that if another male (like Harry) came through the veil, they (Sirius, Harry and the five Blank men) would flash out too, to where ever the women, plants, and fish had gone. But how was he to tell Harry this. He just had to hope that Harry was following a similar train of thought (his seven ferns and seven fish would seem to support this theory) and came to the same conclusion. After all, from his perspective there could have been absolutely no reaction when the women and other objects vanished. Finally, after he'd exhausted that line of reasoning, he floated over to one of the pink flowers and stared at it, as if it could tell him something, anything.

"A lily, Lily is Harry's mother. Harry is my Godson. Harry is James' son. James is my friend. Remus is my friend, too. Harry has friends." He recited despondently, releasing the flower to let it float slowly away.

He had recited all the people he could remember and was just starting (again) on the places, when something else appeared. In an instant he realized it was a person, and just who that person was. He may look alarmingly older, but there was no mistaking that James-like hair, those Lily-like eyes, or that entirely unique lightening bolt shaped scar.

"Harry!"

Then Sirius was blinded by that same flash that had taken the women, plants, and fish away, only this time the light was sustained, not dimming even a fraction. He felt a pull in his chest while being squeezed from all sides, like he was trying to apparate while using a portkey. Sirius realized that he was going where ever they had gone and was nearly sobbing with relief. He felt a pair of hands griping his arms tightly and peered through the glare of white to see that Harry had latched onto him and was sporting the biggest grin he'd ever seen. Sirius returned the grin with equal joy, grabbing his godson in a fierce embrace, clasping his hands together behind Harry and squeezing the strange pack he wore into his back. He didn't know where they were going, but where ever it was, they were going together.

*~ {PoE} ~*

A.N. Well, well, just where will out daring duo end up? Stay tuned to find out! … I need to cut down on the caffeine. Please Review!