I've made a couple of changes from what my original idea for this chapter was-if there are any inconsistencies because of this, please let me know so I can fix them!!!!!!!!!

Chapter 2

Sirius found himself lying in the middle of the archway, as he would have fallen if the archway were not a portal. Scrambling quickly to his feet, he barely registered the looks of shock and amzement on the faces of those around him. Bellatrix Lestrange had stopped, mid-cackle, looking quite scared. There was Harry, halfway down the steps to the dais, bellowing 'Sirius!' in panicked tones. There was Professor Dumbledore; even he looked shocked.

Nobody moved for several seconds. Then Bellatrix raised her wand.

'Not so fast, cousin', Sirius snarled. He charged forwards, and knocked her off her feet, trying to wrestle her wand from her grip. She fired jinxes and curses in every direction, missing Sirius by a hair's breadth.

'I killed you', she gasped, 'you went through the arch!'

'Unfortuantely for you', Sirius hissed, 'I'm back from the dead!'

'Stupefy!' Bellatrix screamed. The spell caught Sirius on the shoulder, and he was blasted backwards. He saw Remus holding Harry back, shouting 'No, Harry, she's dangerous!'

Sirius saw Dumbledore aim a curse at Bellatrix, but she blocked it deftly, and sprinted up the steps and out of the chamber.

'Get her!' Roared Sirius, recovering from the curse, 'don't let her escape!'

But everybody seemed a lot more concerned with Sirius. Kingsley looked up at Dumbledore, who nodded. The wizard hurried from the chamber, in pursuit of the Death Eater.

'Kingsley can deal with Miss Lestrange', he said confidently. Oh, how wrong he was.

************

'Sirius!' Harry cried, 'I thought you'd...what happened? You disappeared for a few seconds!'

Sirius swallowed hard. 'Damn veil over the arch, must've got tangled up in it. That's some pretty good Defence Against the Dark Arts you were doin' there, Harry.'

Remus was standing next to Sirius, and he knew he would have a lot of questions to answer. Sirius glanced up pleadingly at Dumbledore. He couldn't let Harry hear what he had been through.

'Where's your wand, Sirius?' Harry asked. It was obvious to everyone that Harry was dying to hug his godfather, but wasn't sure whether Sirius would like it.

'C'mere.' Sirius grunted, pulling Harry into a bear hug, ignoring his godson's question. 'Don't you ever do something like this again! I don't want you dying trying to save me.' Then, he bent down low, and whispered so only Harry could hear; 'but thanks, Harry.'

'Harry, Neville. I think you had better come with me, and see to your other friends.' Dumbledore intervened, smiling benevolently at Harry over his half-moon spectacles.

'What?' Harry tore his eyes away from Sirius and glanced up at his headmaster. 'Oh yeah, Ron and the others...are you sure you're okay, Sirius?'

'I'm fine', Sirius lied, 'go on and check if Ron's all right.'

Harry nodded, grinned, and sprinted up the steps to Dumbledore. The headmaster put one arm around Harry and the other around Neville, and ushered them out of the chamber, with one last meaningful glance at Sirius. He raised his wand, and forced the captured Death Eaters to follow him. As soon as the trio were out of sight, Sirius heard Harry let out a whoop of delight and joy. And he knew now that it would have been worth sacrificing anything, to give Harry happiness.

Sirius flopped down onto the edge of the dais, feeling very queasy all of a sudden. The image of Lily Potter, trapped beyond the veil, flashed into his mind. He leaned forward and retched.

'Sirius.'

Remus was standing in front of him, calm and quiet as ever. He knew something was wrong. Sirius looked up at him, and tried to speak, but no words came.

'He's lost it', growled Alastor Moody, as hobbled across to the dais, one hand touching a wound on the side of his head.

'Lost what?' Remus asked sharply, looking from Sirius to Moody.

'You wanna tell him, son?' Moody queried, in a tone more gentle than the one in which he usually spoke, 'or shall I?'

Sirius felt a large lump growing in his throat, and fought to hold back the tears. He closed his eyes, and felt that awful sense of weakness rushing through him all over again. He met Remus' eyes.

'I lost my magic', he announced hollowly.

'What?' Remus was laughing nervously. 'How...? How could you have lost...I don't understand.'

'They took my magic. They wouldn't let me come back without sacrificing something.'

'Who wouldn't?' Tonks was dragging herself painfully to her feet, having been revived by Moody. Moody now helped her, while Sirius tried to think of the least painful way of explaining his situation.

'Lily, and some old man.'

Everybody froze. 'Lily?' Moody let go of Tonks, who very nearly collapsed in a heap on the floor. 'Lily...who?'

'Lily Potter', Sirius replied miserably.

'Sirius mate, I think you must've hit your head when you fell through the arch', Remus was looking terrified now.

'Nah. He's not hallucinating', Moody interrupted. 'I can smell a liar a mile away. I can smell a wizard too, and he ain't one no more.'

Sirius made a strange, choking noise and buried his face in his hands.

'Sirius, tell me the story properly. This is serious.' Remus sat down next to his friend, and stared at him in disbelief.

Sirius took a deep breath and related his unbelievable tale:

'I fell through the arch into this weird, cloudy place. Somebody kept talking to me, but I couldn't see them. They were threatening me...I was scared. Then, the place turned into a room and Lily and this man, who's in charge of murder victims or something, were standing there. Lily...she spoke to me. Made me feel better. Then the man said I could either stay there, and have my magic, or come back to you lot, without magic. And here I am. I have no wand, I have no magic. Lily gave me a knife. Please don't tell Harry!' He begged, feeling a mixture of shame and loneliness.

'You gave up your magic for Harry', Remus said softly, 'you're a good man Sirius. And I swear I'll do whatever I can to help you. You took a tough decision. I don't think I could've done it.'

Moody held out a hand for the knife, and Sirius handed it to him. He turned it over and over in his hands, his magical eye travelling the length of the weapon several times. 'My gut tells me this knife'll serve you almost as well as your wand would.' He remarked, passing the knife back to its new owner. 'Read the inscription.'

Sirius turned the knife over in his hands, and read the inscription on the handle:

James Potter, Order of the Phoenix.

The knife was stained with Bellatrix' blood. Moody took it from Sirius, spat on the sleeve of his robes, and wiped the blood away.

'This knife's done some good work already', he muttered. He fixed both his eyes on Sirius and surveyed him carefully. 'You'll get by without your magic, Black. You're young, healthy and strong.'

Sirius laughed mirthlessly. 'Young? Not really. Healthy?' He pushed his long black hair out of his eyes and smiled thinly. 'I'm like a bloody stick insect. Strong? Maybe, but what's that compared to magical powers, Mad-Eye? Eh?'

Tonks responded before Mad-Eye could. 'You of all people should remember the ancient magic. It's what's kept Harry alive and safe all these years. You gave up a huge part of your life today for the boy. Love and emotions like that will not go unrecognised. While you may have lost the power to cast a spell on somebody with a piece of wood, you've given Harry a double protection against Voldemort. Your sacrifice is similar to Lily's was, the night she died. She gave up her life for her son. You gave up your magic.'

While Tonks' words were of little comfort to Sirius in his present mood, in the months to come, he would find them helpful and cheering.

'But please', he whispered, gazing round at his friends, 'please, don't tell Harry.'

'Why not?' Moody growled, his magical eye darting in every direction.

'If he knows that I gave up my magic to come back and help him, he'll blame himself, I know he will.'

'He might not', Remus reasoned, 'he's a sensible lad...most of the time.'

Sirius shook his head doubtfully. 'He's like me in some ways. And if it was the other way around, I'd blame myself completely, I know I would. God, can you imagine how he would've felt if I'd actually died? Knowing he came here to save my life, and I ended up losing it because of his actions? I couldn't leave him thinking he'd played any part in something that happened to me.'

Moody sighed. 'You've grown up, Black', he remarked, grinning, 'didn't know you had it in you.'

Sirius looked away. 'We should leave', he said at last, 'go upstairs, see how Kingsley got on.'

The four members of the Order of the Phoenix hurried up to the Atrium, wanting to speak to Dumbledore about everything that had happened. They stepped out of the lift, and stopped dead.

'Oh my giddy aunt...' Tonks breathed.

'No', Remus whispered.

Sirius said nothing, but stared around in disbelief at the carnage in the Atrium.

The Fountain of Magical Brethren was in ruins. The pieces of the statues were scattered all around the room. Some were stained with blood.

Three Ministry officials lay in crumpled heaps on the floor. Dead.

Cornelius Fudge stood by one of the fireplaces, trembling and whimpering, surrounded by other officials.

In the middle of the room stood Albus Dumbledore, as calm and collected as ever, his wand by his side. He was bending over Kingsley Shacklebot, who was gravely injured, but still alive.

'Voldemort', he said loudly, watching Sirius. 'Voldemort was here. Kingsley and I held him long enough for the Minister to see him, so that he might at last begin some decisive action against him. He came looking for the Prophecy, when his Death Eaters did not return. He disapparated with Bellatrix.'

'Where's Harry?' Sirius asked quickly.

Dumbledore smiled. 'Downstairs, looking after his friends. I suspected Tom himself would come. Keeping Harry out of the way seemed like an excellent idea.'

'Y...You Know Who!' Shrieked Fudge, 'V..He Who Must Not Be Named??? H..HARRY POTTER??? And YOU, Dumbledore. And...Oh my...Sirius Black! Seize him! Take him to Azkaban! Quickly!'

'Dawlish, Williamson, I would advise you to take the Minister away for a cup of tea, and perhaps a sherbert lemon or two. He is obviously very distressed', Dumbledore said kindly, to the men on either side of Fudge. 'I presume', he continued, 'that in light of what you have all seen today, you believe that Voldemort has, indeed, returned? Very well then, if somebody could notify the Daily Prophet? Yes, Simpson, off you go. And as for Sirius Black...well, he came here today to save a young boy's life, and killed Bellatrix Lestrange. I presume all charges will be dropped? If somebody could go and notify the neccessary persons, then perhaps Sirius may go free? That will be all. Go and get some rest, you all look like you need it. Sirius, may I speak to you for a moment? Alone?'

The ministry officials hurried off, shooting nervous glances at Dumbledore and Sirius over their shoulders. Sirius sighed, squared his shoulders, and walked across the Atrium to his old headmaster.

'Have you done what I believe you did?' Dumbledore asked gently.

Sirius nodded, and scraped the floor with the toe of his shoe. 'I had no choice', he replied huskily.

Dumbledore nodded. 'It was brave of you', he commented, 'such a decision cannot have been easy.'

'But it was', Sirius responded dully, 'Harry still needs me. I still...need Harry.'

'With whom did you speak on the Other Side?' Dumbledore enquired.

Sirius felt that lump rising in his throat again. 'Lily', he said abruptly, biting his lip so hard he made it bleed.

'Ah', Dumbledore sighed, 'have you made your peace with the past now?'

Sirius thought for a moment. Lily's words had certainly made him feel calmer and happier. 'I think I have', he answered, meeting Dumbledore's gaze.

'I have a task for you, Sirius', Dumbledore said, inspecting his fingernails, 'one which you will enjoy immensely. You and Remus, that is. Go back to Grimmauld Place, both of you, and await my message. Alastor!'

Moody looked over, and saluted Dumbledore, who nodded graciously. 'After you've seen to that nasty cut on your head, would you make sure Nymphadora gets to St Mungo's? And tell them to send someone to take Kingsley and these others to hospital as well?'

'I'm fine, Dumbledore', Tonks protested, ' but I'll go with Moody, make sure he's not concussed.'

'I'd watch it if I were you, young Tonks.' Moody said gruffly, 'c'mon, there's a free fireplace over there.'

Moody grabbed Tonks by the arm as if she were a naughty child, and frogmarched her to the nearest fireplace.

'I think I'll go and see how the Minister is feeling, and then see to Harry', Dumbledore announced, chuckling, 'you two, hurry back to headquarters, I'll be there as soon as I can.'

'Can't I go and find Harry?' Sirius begged, 'Please, I'd like to speak to him.'

Dumbledore shook his head. 'There will be plenty of time for that later. He is exhausted and feeling very guilty, I'm sure. Let him rest before you go getting him excited. He thought you were dead, you know.'

'I know', Sirius murmured, turning away, 'I know.'

Remus smiled at his comrade and clapped him on the back. 'It's been a long day, Padfoot. Let's get out of this place. I'm glad we missed Voldemort, aren't you?'

'Yeah', Sirius said quietly, heading for a fireplace. He took a handful of Floo Powder from the pot by the fire, and tossed it onto the flames. 'C'mon, Moony', he called.

And the two Marauders stepped into the flames, shouting 'Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place!'