Chapter One: Mistake

"Long lost words whisper slowly to me.

Still can't find what keeps me here."

~ "Haunted", Evanescence

She stood there by the veil, tapping her small right foot impatiently. Her strawberry blonde hair was cut short and choppy but accented her many freckles nicely. Though short and quite thin, she had a powerful energy that made her feared by the enemy. That was why she had been one of his main targets. She'd put up a hard fight against the Death Eaters; enough that Voldemort himself had come to kill her. Staring around at the white room, her sharp green eyes narrowed. The black veil quivered violently and Dorcas Meadowes prepared herself for the new arrival. She'd been waiting for this person ever since her death she'd get to be with her love again after nearly sixteen years.

A tall black haired man with scared blue eyes tumbled through the veil. He coughed and pushed himself up, standing unsteadily as he surveyed the room.

"What happened? Where the hell is this? Where's Harry?" he spluttered looking around the room. His eyes fell on Dorcas and widened.

Sirius stared at the woman he hadn't seen since he was twenty. Her hands were on her hips and her piercing jade eyes bore into his. His hands shook slightly and he blinked a few times before she finally spoke.

"SIRUS ORION BLACK, WHAT IN THE NAME OF HOGWARTS ARE YOU DOING HERE?" she shouted angrily.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Hello Dorcas," he greeted flatly, his eyes filled with surprise and a hint of amusement. She was just as he remembered her. Short and full of attitude.

"Don't you hello me. Where's Remus?" she spat.

Sirius' other eyebrow rose up next to the already raised one.

Dorcas threw her hands in the air and cursed loudly.

"You are not supposed to be here, Sirius! Where's Remus?"

"I don't know. I need to get back to Harry." Sirius stated sadly.

"HARRY? Oh Gods! How is he going to get through his sixth year without you? You're supposed to protect him from Voldemort at--" Dorcas covered her mouth quickly and smacked her forehead with the other hand.

"I am dead, aren't I? But I'm not supposed to be?" Sirius asked slowly and quietly. "Does that mean I can go back?"

Dorcas' face softened and she looked at Sirius sadly. "You can't go back. I'm sorry, Sirius. I'm so sorry."

"What about Harry?" Sirius asked in a small voice.

Dorcas' heart sank, she had no idea. She walked up to him slowly and hugged him. They stood together for a while, but in Heaven time passed differently and Dorcas was never able to tell how much time had really passed. When she watched Harry and his friends discuss the date, Dorcas had figured out how much time had passed since her death and how many years until she could be reunited with her love again. And now everything had been screwed up by the man in her arms.

"Come with me, Lily and James will want to talk with you." Dorcas said walking up to a wall and waving her hand across the surface. A large black door appeared on the wall. Sirius looked at her questionably but Dorcas only nodded and pushed open the door.

The room they entered was beautiful. The walls sparkled vibrantly and golden columns held up a beautifully painted ceiling full of angels, wizards, muggles, animals, plants; everything that Sirius could think of was on the vast ceiling.

Dorcas heard Sirius take in a sharp breath and shuffle nervously.

"C'mon now, this is Heaven." Dorcas patted Sirius' shoulder but Sirius remained motionless.

"This is it, isn't it?" Sirius asked in a hushed voice. "I—I can't believe it."

"Most don't at first, Padfoot. I've greeted many people as they've come into Heaven. My sister, Lily and James, Order members, professors, dorm mates at Hogwarts, even a few Muggles I knew from when I was only a baby and hadn't shown signs of magic yet. Out of all of those people, only two were not surprised to be here. I'm sure you can guess who."

Sirius nodded sadly. "They hate me, don't they?"

Dorcas felt a tinge of guilt for wishing Remus was dead with her. It had been selfish, this man before her, Sirius Black, had been to Hell and back, but then again so had Remus, every month.

"I'm sorry I'm not Remus, Dorcas." Sirius mumbled.

Damn him for reading faces!

"One, the Potters don't hate you. None of them. Two, Harry needs someone to look after him. If you're not there to watch Harry, why not Remus?"

Dorcas laughed nervously and led Sirius down a long hallway. She explained the way you could watch the living from certain areas and how Sirius could still visit Harry through dreams but that when Harry woke the next morning he would most likely not remember seeing Sirius.

They reached the end of the hallway and Sirius stared at the empty wall.

"I guess I should explain this." Dorcas stated, looking at the blank faced Sirius and equally blank wall. "Heaven is anything you want it to be. You can create doors to anywhere you want to go. Like this."

Dorcas paused and raised her hand as high as she could and slowly brought it to the white marble floor. A shimmering blue door appeared and Dorcas pulled it open. They were surrounded in a small room with empty walls, a chair rested against the fourth wall while the other three remained vacant.

"Past," Dorcas motioned towards the nearest wall, "present," she motioned toward the wall parallel to the chair, "and future." She finished up, the walls still bare.

Dorcas closed her eyes and the walls began to ripple as if they were made out of water. The figure of a cloaked man apparating appeared on the center wall, while on the wall Dorcas explained as past he was seen teaching and transforming into a wolf. On the future wall, the screen was garbled and blurred.

"Remus…" Sirius whispered in awe.

"Yup." Dorcas whispered taking in the sound of his voice, the smell of his fur as a wolf and the feeling of calm in a frantic environment.

"What about that wall?" Sirius pointed to the flickering wall.

"His future needs to be rewritten. I expect it'll work itself out soon." Dorcas explained.

"Can I see Harry?" Sirius asked, not taking his eyes off the walls.

"Later, now you need to see Lily and James."

Reluctantly Sirius followed Dorcas out of the room.

"They should be waiting for us in the main entrance room." Dorcas stated as they walked back down the hallway. "They're expecting Remus though, so if they're surprised—"

But a small man in golden robes stopped the two before Dorcas could finish her sentence.

"Dorcas Meadowes?" he inquired.

Dorcas nodded, confused.

"Come with me." He stated authoritatively.

"Ok…Sirius, just follow the hallway until it empties out into the large circular room we were in earlier." Dorcas stated in an unsure voice.

Sirius nodded and watched Dorcas walk away with the man.

** ** **

Harry Potter sat on the foot of his bed writing another fake letter to the Order.

Remus—No need to worry about me, life at the Dursley's is much better. ("Not," he mumbled to himself.)Dudley has let me use his computer a few times. It's a Muggle machine. (Just kidding) Aunt Petunia gave me some new shoes. (That used to belong to Dudley until he couldn't fit his fat feet into them.) I'm truly having a great summer. (For a boy who has just learned that he is the only chance for an entire race to survive.) Well I just thought I'd tell you everything was great. ~HP

Harry sighed as he put the letter into an envelope and walked over to Hedwig who hooted disapprovingly over the letter she was going to have to deliver.

"Oh, c'mon!" Harry said to the elegant bird as he tied the letter to her foot. "All I need is someone from the Order coming to rescue me. I don't want to see them anyway."

"OY! POTTER!" Dudley called from the stairs.

"Bye Hedwig," Harry said as he watched the bird fly off into the evening sky. "WHAT?" Harry shouted back at Dudley who had continued to scream Harry's name the entire time Harry had been sending off his letter.

"MUM SAYS TO GET YOUR ARSE DOWN FOR DINNER NOW OR YOU DON'T GET ANY!"

Harry didn't move. He hadn't been hungry ever since the death of his godfather. He hadn't smiled, nor had he written his friends. It just didn't feel right. This summer he watched the news sadly, sighing to himself when a strange murder or missing person was reported. Voldemort had begun his attacks, starting with his godfather. Harry refused to believe that the "Thirteen dead in an Edinburgh home with no signs of torture or poison" had been Voldemort's doing. Yet in the back of his mind that little voice called common sense pointed out all of the factors proving it was indeed Voldemort.

"Oddly shaped smoke clouds, wide, shocked eyes…" the reporter had explained, walking in front of the house and along the sidewalk as she gave inferences on what had happened; her magenta business suit oddly cheerful as she talked about the deaths of thirteen people as if they would come back the next day.

"And now over to Jack with sports." She had smiled brightly at the camera, her artificially whitened teeth gleaming horribly in the camera light as she stood in front of the remains of the house.

"POTTER!"

Harry snapped back from his memory and looked at the door, wishing they would just leave him alone.

"I'M NOT HUNGRY!" Harry bellowed from behind his door loudly, sighing slightly. Thunder rolled loudly from outside and Harry pitied whomever was watching Privet Drive in an invisibility cloak.

Serves them right though…Harry thought bitterly. I deserve my bloody privacy or at least some stupid answers.

Little did Harry know that outside, standing in the rain was his favorite ex-professor, Remus Lupin who could have cared less about the rain as he looked up at Harry's room and watched the light go out, glad the boy had made it through another day but depressed that he himself had made it too. All his friends were gone and as the cold rain soaked through the cloak Remus felt the strong undertow that was depression pull him deeper into the murky ocean of misery.

** ** **

"I have to pay for the stupid bloke's mistake?" Dorcas shouted; her eyes wide with fury.

"We cannot send your friend back that quickly and it is best to keep this hush-hush." The man explained in a warning manner.

"But why do I have to get involved?" She protested, furious.

"The council has decided that, not I. Nor was I told their reasons." He pulled out an opalescent folder with official gold writing on the front. "Take this." He shoved the folder into Dorcas' hands and before she could protest, an odd tugging at her navel began.

The next thing Dorcas could remember was a pair of steal cold eyes looking over at her whispering the words, "Livi de Tomel? Ms. de Tomel?"

** ** **

Liz: So, what did you think?

*Marauders*

Peter: *blinks*

Sirius: I'm dead?!

James: Join the club.

Remus: I hope I get to see Dorcas soon.

Sirius: Who's Livi?

Liz: You'll see.

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