"How long is this going to take?" James said impatiently as he and his wife waited for his best mate to arrive. After the initial shock of the matter had worn off, James began growing rather restless waiting for his friend whom he hadn't seen in over fourteen years. Well, he had seen Sirius, but with him being dead and all, that was the extent of it. He didn't quite realize just how much he missed Padfoot until the man had died and he was stuck waiting for him to show up.
"Congratulations, Mister Black," someone, who was also dressed in blue robes, said to Sirius after he went through the doors the woman had directed him to.
"Why?" he asked, still not fully understanding what was happening around him. "What's going on… what is this?"
The employee ignored Sirius' questions. "Continue down the path, your destination in mind," was all that was said to him.
Pointed down an empty pathway, Sirius walked on, only comprehending the basic instruction; but he thought of seeing James and Lily again all the same. Once or twice, he turned his head back the way he came, thoughts of returning to his godson filling his mind, but something prevented him from moving anyplace but forward.
After a while, Sirius found himself looking upon a once-familiar sight; it was the Potter house in Godric's Hollow, looking just like he remembered it before… that day. "Oh, no way," he muttered to himself, not believing his own eyes.
"Padfoot!" a voice shouted from within the house.
Sirius' grey eyes widened in shock; he knew that voice. "Prongs?"
Sure enough, the front door flew open, and James Potter came out onto his front lawn. Lily stayed inside; she wanted to give the two friends some time alone together, after all, death had kept the two – who were closer as brothers than Lily was to her sister – apart for over a decade, and she could wait a while longer to greet Sirius.
Watching as the two shared a long, brotherly hug, Lily mused to herself, "Well now all they need is for Peaches and Herb to show up and they'll be all set."
"Hey, Black," Lily said as the two came into the house. She hugged him in return as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek.
"Hey, Evans."
Lily still wasn't sure if they used surnames because the habit had never been dropped or because of how it annoyed James to no end that people would still associate his wife with her maiden name after he had spent so much time just trying to get her to date him. Lily had to admit that, although she felt her reason was the former and Sirius' the latter, it was highly amusing to watch James jump up and exclaim, "She's 'Potter'! Alright? 'Potter'! Not 'Evans', 'Potter'!" after sitting around all night with the Marauders, who would make a clear point of calling her 'Evans' at every moment that presented itself, trying to provoke such a reaction out of James.
James and Sirius sat down in the living room while Lily strayed into the kitchen; the two had years to catch up on (well, sort of, considering nothing too much happens at Azkaban, where Sirius had been the majority of the time, and nothing much happens to the dead either, but there was still the principle behind it), and Lily could wait before she joined in with them.
Sirius was smiling wider than he could remember smiling in years. Here he was, back at Godric's Hollow, sitting right across from James, seeing him, talking with him. He didn't know if he had started crying or laughing.
"What?" James asked upon seeing his friend's unexpected outburst.
"It's just... I can't believe I'm actually here; I'm with you two again, I--" Sirius paused, looking around the house, at those who lived there. It was something out of the nearly forgotten past. "Oh, god," he cried, his head dropping into his hands, "oh my god."
"Padfoot, what?"
"I have to get back." He stood up, looking about as if to find some hidden escape. "I need to go back."
"Sirius, mate, you can't go back. You're--"
"I know what I am!" Sirius yelled, hysteria beginning to get the better of him. "That doesn't mean I can't get back! Harry--"
"Harry is safe, Sirius! Mate, you need to calm down!"
Sirius ran a shaky hand through his hair. Breathing heavily, he tried to comprehend what Prongs had just told him. He couldn't find it within himself to calm down much though; last he knew, his godson had been fighting for his life against half a dozen Death Eaters. What if Voldemort had shown up since then? What if Harry really needed him? He couldn't help Harry much if he were stuck here, talking to his godson's dead father. Oh, had the situation not been more serious, it would be almost laughable. He had to get back! But James said Harry was safe…
"How the hell do you know he's okay?" Sirius asked, trying desperately to keep his voice level.
"Sirius, it's all right," Lily said, coming in from the kitchen and attempting to coax him into sitting back down. "We saw that Harry is safe; we watched him get to Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore is there with him. He'll keep Harry safe."
"You watched?" the recently departed asked incredulously. "You just sat there and watched?"
"Sirius--"
"No! How can you expect me to just stay here and watch! I--"
"Well shit, Sirius!" James jumped up, an old temper rising quickly within him. "And what kind of fucking picnic do you think this has been for us?! Just 'sitting here and watching' all these years as our son deals with things he shouldn't have to even as an adult! You think we like it?!"
"James, stop!" Lily cried out. "You both need to calm down! We can't go back, none of us can! Arguing like this isn't going to change that. It isn't going to change anything." When neither of the two wizards responded, she continued. "Harry is safe now, and that's all that matters for the moment."
James nodded, finding it better to listen to and agree with his wife, and sat himself back down, staring intently at the floor. Sirius, however, remained standing.
"Look, Prongs… I'm sorry. I just…" Sirius sighed. Dying really wasn't as peaceful as many living persons made it out to be. Not that he was exactly looking for perpetual tranquility, but that wasn't really the point anyways. "It just all of sudden… everything hit me at once. I can't believe I'll never see him again," he finished quietly sitting back down.
"Hey, you'll see him again; we all will, only not like it was before we… you know, died."
"I shouldn't have that to you though. I mean, you guys have been here for years, and I've--"
"Forget it," James said. "After all," he continued, a well-known glint lighting behind his eyes, "someone here has got to act the part of resident prat, might as well be you."
Sirius gave a weak chuckle. "Thanks, mate."
Lily left the two boys alone to have their 'manly make-up moment' when she heard a knock at the door that seemed to go unnoticed by those two. It was odd, she thought, that someone would be knocking. Whenever the EoD needed to speak with them or scheduled visitors came over, they always rang the doorbell. But she figured there couldn't be much danger in opening the door; they inside were already dead.
Once she did get the door open, she was face to face with a man who looked somewhat familiar, but Lily had no way of placing him within her memory.
"Can I speak will Sirius?" the man asked.
"Um, who are you?"
"I need to see Sirius," he said, as though he were on a time limit; which was kind of weird considering they were dead and time meant nothing to them. "He is here, isn't he?" Without waiting for an answer, the man made his way into the house.
"'Would you like to come in?' 'Oh, yes please, thank you,'" Lily said to herself in a semi-mocking manner. This man was a bit unnerving after all.
"Sirius!" the uninvited stranger said with obvious relief when he saw Sirius on the living room couch.
Sirius stood up, an almost disbelieving look in his eyes. "R-Regulus?" he managed to choke out in a surprise that was well beyond mild.
