Disclaimer: not mine.

It had taken her a week to work up the courage to actually stand up in front of the Veil with her translated phrase. A whole seven days after the two that it took her younger sister to translate the symbols.

She felt so silly.

Of course, though, she had already built up excuses. She had to figure out exactly what the phrase meant. She would hate to step through the Veil and become stuck in the afterlife like others perhaps had been.

That would just suck.

At least Julia had a secure place she was going to in the next couple of weeks.

"December 7th," Christiana muttered to her quick notes quill (she had given the year in previous months). "Today is the day. Attempt number one. Today, I, Christiana Anderson, Head of the research of Death, will either figure out the mysteries of the Veil or . . . or disappear for all eternity. If, if, the latter happens, who ever finds these notes, please take them and figure out what might have went wrong. Also, tell Julia I love her and she should be well taken care of just in case. . . . Here goes nothing."

She unfolded the paper with her sister's neat writing. Uua' Tel' mori ar' uua' Tel' me'a, Tel' iaur im coia ar' gurtha. Kaimelar, gorga kai ar' maa iluve. Maa tel' val ar' sinta en' coia.

"Into the dark and into the light," Christiana began, "the bridge between life and death. Dreamers, fear nothing and seek everything. Seek the power and knowledge of life."

She stared at the Veil for a moment, frowning. "I don't suppose --"

Christiana gasped as the Veil seemed to darken, becoming nothing but a black hole into the middle of the room.

'Into the dark . . .'

She shoved the piece of paper into her lab coat. "Here goes nothing," she said, softly.

Taking a deep breath, she settled her resolve.

She stepped into the dark. . . .

And was immediately surrounded by light.

'Into the light. . . .''

She was floating. . . .

Or at least that's what it seemed like.

There didn't seem to be any sort of floor or ceiling or walls, just . . . nothingness. It was almost as if she were in suspended animation.

She twisted around, really floating now as her body moved into a horizontal position. Christiana tried to move more, but it was almost as if she were in water.

"Hello!" she called out into the light, into the nothingness surrounding her. . . .

The voices started then, loud and clear . . . but there was no one there. Hands begin to grab at her hair, her arms, her lab coat and she screamed. "Get off! Get away from me!"

'Dreamers, fear nothing. . . .'

Christiana tried to calm down, tried not to struggle against the voices and the hands on her were crowding her.

'Take us back,' they said.

'Take me with you,' some cried.

'I want to go home.'

'Please! Please take me with you!'

'Help me! Help me!'

'. . . and seek everything.'

What was she seeking? She hadn't come in here to find anything, not at first, just to explore. In a way that was seeking wasn't it? She swam through the thicket of hands, kicking her feet, swinging her arms. Was she moving away from the entrance or was the entrance just a figment or was it everywhere. Was the Department's entrance the only entrance? Could she find other entrances?

Still moving was becoming tiresome and she would hate to get tired here. If she got tired, she might not be able to make it back. So what should she be seeking now?

Sirius Black.

His name popped into her mind, unbidden just there. She felt then, someone grab her hand, painfully, with no intent of letting go.

Okay, she had definitely had enough of this.

But how to get back?

Her breathing quickened and she forced herself to calm back down, trying to remember the rest of the message.

'Seek the power and knowledge of life.'

Well what was that?

By the Department of Mysteries standards, that was love.

"I love Julia!" she shouted against the voices. "I have to get back to my baby sister! I need to be able to take care of her!"

The voices seemed to be dying down along with the hands that grabbed out her . . . except for the one holding relentlessly to her hand.

"I need to be with my sister!" Christiana shouted out again. "Please!"

Before she could say another word she was flying through the air. She screamed out, self consciously squeezing tighter onto the hand in hers. She opened her eyes to see her self flying towards one of the stone steps. Crying out again, she was finally able to let go of that other hand, flinging both arms up to cover her face.

CRUNCH!

Her wrist snapped underneath her weight and she rolled off the step. The pain was almost hardly noticeable though.

"Note to self," she said, through gritted teeth. "Figure out a way to exit the Veil safely."

Exit.

She had come back!

"I did it," she muttered to herself. "I did it! I'm back! I –"

A moan interrupted her excitement and she froze, looking slowly over her shoulder.

She wasn't the only one to come back. . . .

The hand that had been in hers . . . .

Who? Who had it been?

Lying on the floor, unconscious maybe ten or fifteen feet from the Veil, was none other than Sirius Black.

A/N: Cue ominous music! Oh wow that was almost intense lol. I hope you guys liked it. Next chapter will up ASAP. Thanks everyone!