Disclaimer: All of Harry Potter's characters and such are owned by JK
Rowling and Co. I own none of them- of course. And the perception on
death is the story is mine I suppose since its really a different sort than
I know of.
Authors Note: Anyone who doesn't like my little spin on death, please don't lynch me or anything. I'm just writing it for the sake of writing's sake and letting my imagination run free. If you don't like it, just read a different fan fiction, I just felt like giving the face of death a nice change of pace *nod*
((Now that that's done with))
* * *
Sirius' replica took another step towards him when it began to change into someone else. He looked normal- his short black hair and pale skin was nothing as extraordinary as the man's eyes. They were the most violent shades of amber gold that Sirius had ever seen. Not that he had seen many people with yellowish eyes before but that wasn't the point. And although he looked human, Sirius got the feeling that something was not right and that caused him to be wary of this being.
His robes were also noteworthy. They were the blackest black his eyes could ever comprehend. They seemed to be the nothingness of space more than black. And was Sirius only imagining that light was being pulled into the darkness of the robes? There were no shadows in the robes for the darkest color doesn't have a shadow does it? And there was no light cast upon it from the firelight of the torches on the walls.
"Who are you?" Sirius asked, his voice breaking the silence that had been standing there for a couple moments.
The man smiled, amused for some reason. "I am your guide, Sirius Black. I'm the one who was chosen to help you go from living to dead. Without guides, most souls who come through here go just plain nuts with confusion. Much fun at first to watch them stare blankly around, not even understanding what was going on- but that got old. And thus I was put to work." He said looking thoughtful but at the same time disgusted at the thought that he must work. "Apparently the never-living, such as myself, must work too."
Sirius looked at him oddly not expecting the sudden history lesson. He was about to ask him another question when he started talking again. It was like he could happily talk for hours.
"I volunteered for you, yes. I should be grateful for you. We had a bet going about when you'd kick the bucket. No offence of course but, it gets boring here. And seeing that although we guides don't know when one would die- we like betting about times of death. As I said, it gets rather boring here."
"You won?"
He smirked in a way that reminded Sirius of Snape, "Naturally. You got me seventy years of vacation. Vacation from having to do this whole guide work I mean. It gets tiring after a while." He paused and Sirius thought he caught a note of a slight sad tone in his last statement. But if there really was it soon disappeared as he went on. "I used a mortal saying, I did. 'The star that burns brightest dies in half the time'. So- I used the fact that your parents named you Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, to name your death date. But we can never tell the way one's going to die though. The way you died caused such a stir here. Such a stir."
"Why?"
He looked at Sirius as if he should already have known. "Because it is a most unheard of way to die! Yes, there were a few others to go through it. But still. There have been trillions and trillions of souls to die and thus go through here. And for only a select few to die going through the veil. Well, Sirius Black, that is quite something indeed."
Sirius looked away to the archway again. It was too soon in his sudden death for him to really understand it yet. "What exactly is this place? Hell or something?"
"You mortals and your Hell. No- not in the least. It is not in our interest to judge you. Who are we to judge you? For evil is only perception as is about everything. The cat that kills the mouse-" He stopped his eyes glimmering in amusement. "-Or indeed the dog that kills the rat, is considered getting rid of a pest. But in the rat's eyes, it's been murdered. And who is to say which point of view has more value? No, we do not punish or praise souls here. And this place, is the afterlife. Well, not exactly, but you'll see."
It took a moment for Sirius to grasp what he had meant and his guide allowed it.
"But come now, Sirius Black. Before we can get to all of that-which I promise will be answered in time-we must go see Her. Which I don't understand why She would wish to see one such as yourself but its not quite my place to question Her ways-"
"Who is 'her'?"
"Foolish mortal, its Her with a capital 'h'. She is the ruler of this place. Of course, She could be a He you know. She appears as to the mortal She sees' likings. To most women She appears as male and to most men She appears as female. But, this is a politically correct afterlife so, I guess She could appear as a man for a man or a woman for a woman. She appears as a female to me though, just because I've never lived doesn't mean I haven't a preference." He allowed himself a laugh.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "How do we get there?" he said rather impatiently. He'd rather like to look around than listen to his guide's mindless talking.
"Oh yes, come with me, mortal. But I warn you. Answer Her questions with whatever you wish. But remember She knows all, sees all and remembers all."
"Then what is the point of answering Her questions?" he asked quite logically. If She knew all that there was, why should She waste her time asking me questions?
His eyes flashed slightly, an obvious sign that he was annoyed. But to Sirius it did not seem he was annoyed at him but at something else. "Just as it is not MY place to question Her, it is certainly not YOURS. She has Her reasons, I assume. Who knows, She may be bored and wants some freshly dead to talk to."
The silence that had vanished because of their conversation grew again for a couple moments before Sirius' guide spoke again.
"Come- we've wasted enough time. Let's go," he said walking through the archway that led to the exit. He had disappeared through the veil when his head appeared through it again. "And- my name is Tanek. Please remember it."
And so he disappeared once more, and Sirius followed Tanek through the veil and entered the Afterlife.
* * *
A/N- Yes, this chapter was quite painful to write but I hope it wasn't that horrible. I'm not too fond of writing extensive dialogue. And I hope Tanek wasn't that awful of a made up character (Seeing he's going to be quite the important character later on). Whoo! I got reviews! *glee*
Oh and to anyone worrying 'She' is not a Mary Sue ((Mary Sues are the spawn of Satan in my opinion)) and no- there is no romance in this story. I am horrible at writing romance. And I don't think there would be much romance after death...
Okay okay- enough talking on my part. Please read and review! Flames will be used for me to go pyro. And now, I go to write next chapter.
Authors Note: Anyone who doesn't like my little spin on death, please don't lynch me or anything. I'm just writing it for the sake of writing's sake and letting my imagination run free. If you don't like it, just read a different fan fiction, I just felt like giving the face of death a nice change of pace *nod*
((Now that that's done with))
* * *
Sirius' replica took another step towards him when it began to change into someone else. He looked normal- his short black hair and pale skin was nothing as extraordinary as the man's eyes. They were the most violent shades of amber gold that Sirius had ever seen. Not that he had seen many people with yellowish eyes before but that wasn't the point. And although he looked human, Sirius got the feeling that something was not right and that caused him to be wary of this being.
His robes were also noteworthy. They were the blackest black his eyes could ever comprehend. They seemed to be the nothingness of space more than black. And was Sirius only imagining that light was being pulled into the darkness of the robes? There were no shadows in the robes for the darkest color doesn't have a shadow does it? And there was no light cast upon it from the firelight of the torches on the walls.
"Who are you?" Sirius asked, his voice breaking the silence that had been standing there for a couple moments.
The man smiled, amused for some reason. "I am your guide, Sirius Black. I'm the one who was chosen to help you go from living to dead. Without guides, most souls who come through here go just plain nuts with confusion. Much fun at first to watch them stare blankly around, not even understanding what was going on- but that got old. And thus I was put to work." He said looking thoughtful but at the same time disgusted at the thought that he must work. "Apparently the never-living, such as myself, must work too."
Sirius looked at him oddly not expecting the sudden history lesson. He was about to ask him another question when he started talking again. It was like he could happily talk for hours.
"I volunteered for you, yes. I should be grateful for you. We had a bet going about when you'd kick the bucket. No offence of course but, it gets boring here. And seeing that although we guides don't know when one would die- we like betting about times of death. As I said, it gets rather boring here."
"You won?"
He smirked in a way that reminded Sirius of Snape, "Naturally. You got me seventy years of vacation. Vacation from having to do this whole guide work I mean. It gets tiring after a while." He paused and Sirius thought he caught a note of a slight sad tone in his last statement. But if there really was it soon disappeared as he went on. "I used a mortal saying, I did. 'The star that burns brightest dies in half the time'. So- I used the fact that your parents named you Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, to name your death date. But we can never tell the way one's going to die though. The way you died caused such a stir here. Such a stir."
"Why?"
He looked at Sirius as if he should already have known. "Because it is a most unheard of way to die! Yes, there were a few others to go through it. But still. There have been trillions and trillions of souls to die and thus go through here. And for only a select few to die going through the veil. Well, Sirius Black, that is quite something indeed."
Sirius looked away to the archway again. It was too soon in his sudden death for him to really understand it yet. "What exactly is this place? Hell or something?"
"You mortals and your Hell. No- not in the least. It is not in our interest to judge you. Who are we to judge you? For evil is only perception as is about everything. The cat that kills the mouse-" He stopped his eyes glimmering in amusement. "-Or indeed the dog that kills the rat, is considered getting rid of a pest. But in the rat's eyes, it's been murdered. And who is to say which point of view has more value? No, we do not punish or praise souls here. And this place, is the afterlife. Well, not exactly, but you'll see."
It took a moment for Sirius to grasp what he had meant and his guide allowed it.
"But come now, Sirius Black. Before we can get to all of that-which I promise will be answered in time-we must go see Her. Which I don't understand why She would wish to see one such as yourself but its not quite my place to question Her ways-"
"Who is 'her'?"
"Foolish mortal, its Her with a capital 'h'. She is the ruler of this place. Of course, She could be a He you know. She appears as to the mortal She sees' likings. To most women She appears as male and to most men She appears as female. But, this is a politically correct afterlife so, I guess She could appear as a man for a man or a woman for a woman. She appears as a female to me though, just because I've never lived doesn't mean I haven't a preference." He allowed himself a laugh.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "How do we get there?" he said rather impatiently. He'd rather like to look around than listen to his guide's mindless talking.
"Oh yes, come with me, mortal. But I warn you. Answer Her questions with whatever you wish. But remember She knows all, sees all and remembers all."
"Then what is the point of answering Her questions?" he asked quite logically. If She knew all that there was, why should She waste her time asking me questions?
His eyes flashed slightly, an obvious sign that he was annoyed. But to Sirius it did not seem he was annoyed at him but at something else. "Just as it is not MY place to question Her, it is certainly not YOURS. She has Her reasons, I assume. Who knows, She may be bored and wants some freshly dead to talk to."
The silence that had vanished because of their conversation grew again for a couple moments before Sirius' guide spoke again.
"Come- we've wasted enough time. Let's go," he said walking through the archway that led to the exit. He had disappeared through the veil when his head appeared through it again. "And- my name is Tanek. Please remember it."
And so he disappeared once more, and Sirius followed Tanek through the veil and entered the Afterlife.
* * *
A/N- Yes, this chapter was quite painful to write but I hope it wasn't that horrible. I'm not too fond of writing extensive dialogue. And I hope Tanek wasn't that awful of a made up character (Seeing he's going to be quite the important character later on). Whoo! I got reviews! *glee*
Oh and to anyone worrying 'She' is not a Mary Sue ((Mary Sues are the spawn of Satan in my opinion)) and no- there is no romance in this story. I am horrible at writing romance. And I don't think there would be much romance after death...
Okay okay- enough talking on my part. Please read and review! Flames will be used for me to go pyro. And now, I go to write next chapter.
