Chapter 3: A different perspective
James.
Being dead sucks. Yeah sure I've got Lily here with me, who is the undoubtable love of my life, but without Harry here I feel… Incomplete. Obviously I'm not saying I wanted him to die on Halloween that night, because the fact that he survived makes me the proudest Dad in the world, and anyone who tries to argue will get smacked. But I don't feel whole.
"What's up Babe?" Lily asks, staring at me with that cute half concentrated/half confused face that I fell in love with. She's so cute.
"I don't know; I don't feel right. Something's wrong." I replied. I'm nervous, why am I nervous? As if sensing my unease, He appeared in front of us, no expression on the void of the face.
"Mr and Mrs. Potter, I regret to inform you that your best friend, Sirius Black has officially left the Land of the Living." Death said, the deep voice that expresses no emotion as promised, gave us nothing.
"Well done mate! Have you been under a fucking rock these past 2 days?" I said, playfully teasing Death, one of my favourite past times in the Land of the Dead. Cliché name I know, but the most effective for this place.
BANG! I fly backwards. Lily sighs as I do so.
"Really guys? We're gonna do this again?" She says, sounding annoyed at the frequency of said past time.
"Fuck off James, you shit bag." Death says, a hint of emotion in his voice. Contrary to popular belief, Death is actually a nice guy. However, Similar to popular belief, He has powers beyond anything any Wizard or Witch have ever obtained, although one in particular has tried for the past 30 years to achieve this power, and has actually came close. If it wasn't for Dumbledore…
"Could it be?! You're… FEELING?!" I'm doing the best Grinch impression I could here. Yes, I've heard of the Grinch, what else do you think I'm gonna do for 15 years? Watch DVDs of course!
In an attempt to stop the both of us before we start "fighting" (if you can call it that, it's more like Death takes my limbs and leaves me to hobble around for a few hours), she asks Death;
"So Sirius is dead? Or is he not? We saw him go through the Veil, so what happens now?" She sounds worried. Fuck.
"Well, this is where it gets confusing. As he is no longer in the Land of the Living, but is not dead, so he can't get to the Land of the Dead, he is in a place only few have ventured, none of them willingly."
"You're right, this is confusing! So what is that place then?"
"If both of you will come over here, while James still has limbs that is, I will show you."
We shuffled over there, until we saw Death wave his hand (bone?) and a sort of projector appeared. On this projector, there was a completely white cube. Death said something in which he informed us was "Lingua Antiquorum", and it zoomed in. There, on this projector, was my best friend Sirius Black. He was walking as if without purpose, and as we watched him, my breath caught. He looked so… Unprepared. We watched as he learned of the battle at the Ministry (led by Harry, I was so proud), that he had to rush to get there, but here he looked sloppy. Maybe it was the projector.
"This is De Neutrali Genere Quid Factum est terra, and it is here that Sirius Black will remain until he learns of his fate, and makes the hardest choice of his life. Be warned, watching this will be painful, as until this spectacular feat is achieved, the person you know as Sirius Black will vanish before your very eyes, as his mind plays cruel tricks on him due to the essence of the room, and if he doesn't sort out everything, then he will spiral into insanity until his body wastes away to nothing."
Well, that didn't really leave much to the imagination.
"Don't worry, Sirius is one of the strongest people I know, both mentally and physically, he's got this one in the bag!" I assured Lily, even I could hear the confidence in my voice.
"Actually James, I wouldn't be so sure. Because, and I generally am sorry to tell you this, but the last person to enter the Veil was someone you may have heard of, as she was considered to be one of the brightest Witches in history." Death sounded sincere, and I wished he would have told us who it was, instead of wondering until one of us asked the question that both of us wanted the answer to.
"Who was it, Death?" Lily asked.
That was quick.
"The last person to enter the Veil was Rowena Ravenclaw, and I'm afraid to say she wasted away in a frenzy of lunacy."
I stayed silent. I was not expecting that fucking answer. Wow. How do I respond. I can't hear anything, am I in shock? Death muttered something in that language again, and the camera repositioned itself in order to get a better view of Sirius.
I broke out of whatever hold shock had on me, and turned my head to see him, just as a solitary tear rolled down his hairy cheek.
"I'm really sorry guys, and just know it never normally happens this fast, but the madness has already begun to creep itself into his mind." Death informed us.