[Disclaimer;] I do not own any of the characters, or any places, etc…it is all from JK Rowling, and is owned by her. I do however; own the made-up events that take place.
[Authors Note;] I apologize that these chapters are very much shorter than the usual chapter length I write at, but I've been having a sort of author's rut, I suppose you could say. Anyway, please read my fanfiction and enjoy. Comment when you've read it. I would greatly appreciate it. =)
I decided to can the prologue chapter, as my direction of story has changed, so I re-did the chapters to make them according to the FF.net chapter form.
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Dwellers of the Veil
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By: Lixia
Chapter 2
I woke up, aching. I didn't think I would wake up, to tell the truth. It hurt to breathe, and it hurt to even move. I lay where I had landed thinking about the events that passed before I came to where I was. I didn't open my eyes yet…it hurt to even try and open them.
Around me I could hear talking.
They weren't loud, but there were voices and they were audible. I slowly opened
my eyes. It was dark around me, darker than any night, and blacker than any
black on a paint palette.
It came to me, then. All the images and memories I had before I came to where I was now. The fight. I had been dueling Bellatrix Lestrange when somehow I was hit and fell through…fell through the arch that was covered in a veil. I could hear Harry scream…I could still hear the violence and battling before it became so dark, and so quiet.
So, did that mean I had died? If I died, where was I now, and how did I come to be here? Surely this couldn't be the afterlife…full of darkness and pain. I had not done anything bad to deserve this. My mind panicked for a moment.
"He's awake," a voice said.
"Ah, good…are you all right, young man?" another asked him.
My first instinct was to get my wand out, but I couldn't even move my arm. "Who are you?" I asked. My voice sounded un-used, for some reason. How long had I been unconscious, anyway?
"We are the dwellers of the veil," a male voice answered.
Dwellers of the veil…that sounded very unfamiliar to my ears. Didn't ring a bell. But the veil; that, I knew of. It was where I had passed through, although I figured that passing through the veil meant I would be dead. "Am I dead?" I asked next, hoping to settle my suspicions.
"If dead you are, then you are as dead as any of us, and I feel very much alive," came an answer from a female voice this time.
"Can you get up?"
"No," I answered. "I can barely move."
"Ah, that's not very good, is it?"
I was starting to grow annoyed at the oh-so-obvious answers these people were giving me, and the odd questions they were asking me. If only I could get up and off the ground I could move away from them and try to find a way out. I have to find Harry, I thought, I have to find him and see if he's okay.
My chest hurt. A burning feeling shuddered through me.
"We're healing you," someone said.
I stayed still; what else could I do? I was surprised, and grateful for their wanting to help me. I wanted out. I needed to get out of here, but I could barely see anything.
"Ah, I've found a stick in your robe pocket, what is—"
"A wand!"
"Oh, a wand! Let me see! I haven't seen one of those for years!"
"Hey!" I cried, "That's my wand."
"Yes, of course it is. I only wanted to see it."
"Are you feeling better, young man?"
No one said anything for a moment. I took a breath of air and noticed that I could breathe properly. The pain in my chest was no longer, and the burning wasn't there.
"Yes, I am, thanks. I'm Sirius, by the way."
"Ah, it is nice to meet you, Sirius. I am Horace Deleron, and these are the other dwellers of the veil. Most of the others have forgotten their names, being here for so long. I am one of the more recent ones…by about 1000 years, to be exact."
I grabbed for my wand, whispered "Lumos" and a light shone from the tip of my wand. My eyes took a moment to focus and adjust to the sudden form of light. A middle-aged man stared back at me, his eyes dark but held interest and curiosity.
"Ah, that's better, isn't it? I can see you. And my, my, you look as though you've just been through one great battle."
"I have," I answered restlessly. "Do you know how I can get out of here?"
The man in front of me, Horace, I think, shook his head. "If I did, I wouldn't be here anymore."
"So, this isn't the place for the dead, then?"
"Good heavens, no. It's been believed to be, since no one who went in ever came out. Everyone just assumed that whoever passed through the veil was dead, or good as dead."
I shone my wand around my surroundings to find that without the light, it would be impossible to move around. It was a single chamber, made from stone and very well furnished. There were soft chairs and beds in the room covered in velvet-like covers. Pictures hung on the wall but they were empty of all people. A single fruit bowl and a set of goblets stood empty on the table beneath one of the empty paintings.
"How did you guys manage to live here?" I asked.
Horace shrugged, "See that bowl over there, and the goblets? They fill up every time we empty them. Day and night never come…it is always empty outside. There is one window, but its useless trying to see through it, and trying to break through it is impossible. As soon as the glass shatters, it fixes itself."
I shone my wand at the other dwellers. All of them looked more or less the same age, and wore the same expression: hopelessness. I took a moment to wonder what I would do if I were to stay in this chamber for thousands of years, and the thought scared me. I would rather die. I had to find Harry again; just that thought alone summoned a small hope in me. I would find a way to escape this place, and I would take these stragglers with me.
"I'm escaping," I announced. Horace shook his head, his eyes wide. "You're…what? Please dear boy, if we could have done the same thing, we would have. But there is no bloody way!"
"How did you get here?" I asked Horace. He looked surprised to be asked such a question. For a moment all he did was scratch his head in deep thought. Then he answered. "I…I was down in the Department of Mystery, when I saw this veil…someone was whispering at me, and I just…fell in. It looked like nothing more than a silly piece of cloth, but once I fell through, I looked back to find the veil and the arch and there was nothing there."
As if by instinct, I looked behind me to the wall where I thought I may have fallen through, and to my disappointment, there was nothing but the stone wall to block my freedom. I didn't have a plan just yet. I had to figure out something though, and fast.
