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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.
Sirius sat up in his bed. He'd had a long night last night and was still trying to process everything. After all, it's not everyday that you wake up to the smiling faces of two of your best friends who had been dead for years. They'd explained that when he'd fallen through the veil it hadn't been his time to die, so he'd been thrown into the Waters of Regret, the place where those who had died sudden deaths were placed. Because of the war Sirius had been floating in the Waters for almost a year instead of a month or two. How they'd tried to plead with the Watchers – the guardians of the Waters of Regret – but were unable to get to him. How they'd decided to look for him themselves.
They then had said that unlike all the others who were left drifting in the Waters of Regret he wasn't truly dead because he's fallen through the Veil of Chance and Dreams. His body had disappeared, and his soul had been transferred into the Waters. The Waters had odd effects on their inhabitants. They stayed in coma-like states barely feeling any need to do much except exist until the Watchers were ready to decide where to send them. The Waters absorbed your memories and thoughts so you could be judged. He shivered at the thought. He'd lived too long with his memories forcibly taken away from him to not feel anything but loathing and disgust towards the whole idea of it. His memory was still kind of foggy at times and he had trouble paying attention when tired. Which reminded him of the boy he had seen….he was sure it had been Cedric Diggory, the other contestant in the Triwizard Tournament from Hogwarts. He then realized he was off on a tangent again. He shuddered a bit at the thought.
Later they'd told him all of that; they broke the biggest news to him.
After catching him and dragging him into their house he'd completely lost consciousness. The Watchers had then come to James and Lily and told them that because he wasn't supposed to die he would have been reincarnated, but because they'd forcibly removed him from the Waters his soul would not be able to be reincarnated as of yet. The only plausible solution would be to throw him back into the realm of the living. It would be very painful, but it was his only option. His soul would be destroyed if he stayed in the realm of the dead for too long.
His train of thought was broken as the door opened with a slight creak. Lily froze when she took in his tensed pose on the bed, how even as he was laid out on the bed he was still defensive. "Hey Sirius, It's just me. You can relax." She said calmly, raising her hands in the air and shrugging her shoulders. "Sorry Lily Flower" he said, ignoring her snort at the old nickname "I have spent the last few years either in Azkaban or on the run, and before that we were in the middle of a war. I'm just a bit jumpy." Lily's face softened at the words. "I know, and I'm sorry about all you've gone through. James and I, we never thought that Peter would betray us all like that. I'm so sorry you had to suffer as well." When he looked away from her she moved closer, sitting on the edge of his bed. "Sirius, what's wrong?"
"Why don't you hate me?" he mumbled, wincing as his voice broke. "Sirius Black!" Lily reprimanded, "None of what happened was your fault, none of it! Peter decided to turn traitor, James and I decided to change secret keepers, Trelawney decided to have her job interview at the Hogs Head, Voldemort decided Harry was the child of prophesy, and my sister chose to hate magic, myself included in it! James and I were heartbroken at what happened. We were angry and vengeful, but not at you, never you."
He turned and looked into her smiling face and couldn't help but smile back.
"Sirius!" James bellowed as he arrived back at the house. Lily, Sirius, and the elder Evens and Potters looked up at him as he stomped in. They we seated on the veranda that faced out into their garden. In between the circle of chairs was a smooth light blue stone. Its arched surface was set into a raised platform that jutted out from the stone a good foot all around. Inside it the small figure of Harry was sitting at the Gryffindor table chatting with Ron and Hermione. "Ah, Harry Watching again I see" said James fondly. "Lily was just explaining to me the differences in time flow here and in the realm of the living." James grinned and ran his hand through his hair "Ah, well hello Padfoot, who let you out of bed?"
"Charming Prongs, real charming. Did my dear Lily Flower let you out of the straight jacket for the day?" James ignored him, and strolled over to the circle and looked at his son wistfully. Catching Lily's glare as he started to apologize he instead said, "He's a real good kid Prongs. I'm sure you've been watching him but you couldn't be prouder of him. He's truly you and Lily's child."
A few minuets later the after the Golden Trio left breakfast for their first class Sirius said "Hey, I know you guys watch him, but would you like me to tell you about him, ya know, first hand information and all that?" at their eager expressions he went on to tell them all he knew of the boy named Harry Potter.
It was much later that James sat up from where he was lounging with his head in Lily's lap and said "Oh wow! I completely forgot! Padfoot, you know how the Watchers told us that you had to go back? Well there is only one date when you can go, according to them. For some reason if you go any other time it would mess up the realm of the living. The Transition Time, yes it IS called the Transition Time is when the moon is full in both realms. That is going to happen in about three weeks. The only thing is, we're not quite sure about where in time you will be dropped into, so…" he trailed off uncertainly.
"James, I can stand a little pain!" Sirius cried a smirk adorning his face. James smiled half heartedly. Everyone in the room knew that the transition back to the realm of the living would be extremely painful. "Besides, what choice do I have?" Sirius said "If I stay my soul will be torn to bits! That won't be much fun. Hey, and anyway, I'd get to hang out with Prongslet and Moony some more!" They all smiled at the thought.
It was the night of the full moon and Sirius, Lily and James were gathered around a small crackling fire they'd made behind the house. It wasn't cold out; the fire was needed for the ceremony. Lily was hunched over it chanting spelling softly on the fire. Her crimson hair was pulled into a loose braid standing in sharp contrast against her silvery white robes that declared her to be a sorceress of the fourth class, a very prestigious group. She had stepped up to perform the rite, as the ceremony would need a generous amount of magic, a plethora of knowledge concerning charms, and the ability to do them silently. Sirius stood back a bit chatting softly with James. Lily soon rose and glided over to the two men, a half smile on her lips.
"Sirius, please tell my Harry that I love him –" "And that he should try and not give Minnie too many gray hairs" James interjected with a smirk. "James!" Lily cried as she slapped him lightly on his arm. "If I didn't already know you wouldn't be able to carry anything back with you I would give you a letter to him, but I can't! Oh, this isn't fair!" James rubbed Lily's back and whispered into her ear until she cooled down. They then started telling him all that they wanted him to tell Harry if he was thrown into the right time period. That was how they stayed as they waited for the moon rise.
As the moon crested the sky they all rose, as if by a silent command. James hugged his brother in all but blood and choked out "thank you for watching over my son. Please be there for him, no matter what. And take care of yourself, alright Padfoot?" Lily was wise enough not to mention the tears in the eyes of her husband and one of the few people she was able to call family. When Sirius turned to her she smile up at him then hugged him hard. She then leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. She looked into his eyes one more time and smiled back at him. There were no more words to be said.
They walked up to the bonfire, each standing opposite of the other, staring into the flames. Lily raised her wand so it was inches above the curling flames and started the incantation. Her eyes glazed over and began to almost glow with the power that was radiating from her petite body. The flames suddenly roared up, engulfing her entire lower arm, but not burning her or her wand. The flames rapidly went through a metamorphosis of colors, green, blue, violet, yellow, silver, crimson, gold, then finally to a deep blue that was almost purple.
Lily lifted her wand out of the flames and stepped around the inferno to stand next to Sirius. She gently pulled him head down so she could trace the runes for power, transition, harmony, and the moon onto his forehead, cheeks and at the base of his throat, respectively.
She then stepped back to her original place across the fire from him. They had gone over the ritual again and again since they had found the date of the coinciding full moons, and Sirius knew that it was truly time for him to leave. He took one last fleeting glance at his best (dead) friends for what would hopefully be a long time and stepped into the flames. He could feel the magic all around him, travelling through his body, lighting fireworks behind his eyelids, consuming his body. The pain was astounding. He had expected it, but it was one thing to know of it and another to truly feel it. He wanted to scream, but couldn't figure out how to do it in this place filled with raw magic.
He felt the magic pull out his own and the world went black for the second time that month.
"Do you think he'll be okay?" Lily asked James as she leaned against him after coming out of her magic-induced daze. "Lily, it's Sirius, he was the first person to ever escape Azkaban! He's the boy who in second year ate all the pudding at the Gryffindor AND Hufflepuff tables then ran outside to play Quidditch for three hours and woke up fine the next day! He'll be fine!" Lily rolled her eyes, but then said, "Well just to be sure, can we watch for him? I'd also like to check up on Harry." With that they turned and ambled back up the path, hoping that they had done right by sending their dear friend into an unknown time.