Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, and my beta reader Anne, who has been a tremendous source of help on this fic so far. If anyone's interested, can you please read and review my original story on fictionpress.net, entitled, "Warriors of Rowan"?

I've revised my ideas for this plot a little bit, so I hope you like the changes!

Chapter Four: A Messenger from Beyond

The overall mood of The Burrow hadn't changed the following morning. When Ginny came down for breakfast, for once, her mother wasn't in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on breakfast. Indeed, it took quite some time for her to arrive, and when she finally did come down, she was wiping her eyes.

"Now, Molly dear, why don't I fix breakfast?" Mr. Weasley suggested hastily. Usually, he would have left for work at this time, but he didn't seem willing to leave his wife in such distress.

"No, no, I can handle it myself," Mrs. Weasley said in a hoarse voice. But she was sniffling as she got out the pots and pans.

Ginny felt a surge of anger towards Percy. Her mother had always been supportive of Percy. She was always proud of his high marks and his achievements. And this was how he treated her in return?

Harry, Hermione, and her brothers came downstairs shortly afterward. "Oh, let me help you with that, Mrs. Weasley?" Hermione said, looking concerned.

"No, it's no trouble at all, dear," Mrs. Weasley replied, stifling a small sob.

"Come on, Mum," Fred said consolingly. "He isn't not worth being upset over. You don't see him crying over us, do you?"

"Yeah," George agreed. "He's being a selfish git. We don't need him!"

"Boys!" Mrs. Weasley cried. "Don't talk about him like that; he's your brother!"

"Well he doesn't care about us!" Fred retorted. "Why should we care about him?"

"How can you even say that!" Mrs. Weasley shouted angrily. "Of course he cares about us --- we're his family! Now I don't want to hear another word against him from any of you!"

"Mum, face facts!" Fred snapped. "If Percy really cared about us, he never would have left in the first place!"

"And what about us?" George asked out. "We're still here… doesn't that matter to you?"

Mrs. Weasley burst into tears and ran out of the room. Mr. Weasley glared at Fred.

Ginny and the others thought it would be wise if they just skipped breakfast in order to avoid the row between Mr. Weasley and the twins. They retreated to Ron's room, where Ron and Hermione started another game of wizarding chess. However, neither side had his heart in it. Ron was so angry that he couldn't concentrate on his moves, and even Hermione seemed too upset to play.

Through her fury, Ginny couldn't help but notice that Harry had been acting very subdued during breakfast. That wasn't anything new; up until the other day, he hadn't spoken to any of them all summer. Still, she had started to think that Harry was beginning to open up after her conversation with him. Clearly, she had been wrong.

Even more, she saw a strange, unfocused look in his eyes, as though he was deep in thought about something.

"Harry, are you all right?" Ginny asked him, concerned. "You look a little pale."

"I'm fine," Harry said in an odd, flat voice. "Just still thinking about yesterday, that's all…"

Moments later, Fred and George stormed in, looking extremely harassed.

"Why did Dad tell us off?" George asked indignantly. "We only said the truth! We're still here, but it doesn't matter to Mum! All she can think about is Percy!"

"Well, I think you were being horrible to your mother!" Hermione replied hotly. "She's going through enough at the moment without you making things harder!"

"Hermione, put yourself in our place, won't you?" Ron snapped. "Wouldn't be angry if he was your brother? I hate seeing Mum broken up like this… she's always thought the world of Percy. She always told us, 'Why can't you be more like Percy?' 'Percy's always been well behaved!' 'Percy never would have done that!' Well, Percy's just proved that he isn't the perfect little angel Mum always thought him to be, and no matter how much trouble we've been in, we never would have left Mum and Dad like that!"

"That's no excuse for them to yell at her like that!" Hermione said fiercely. "She loves all of you, not just Percy --- even if you act like prats!"

"Whose side are you on anyway?" Ron snarled.

"Will you two SHUT UP?" Harry yelled. The room fell silent. Everyone stared at him. Ron and Hermione both looked highly offended.

"Isn't there enough going on without you two going at it?" he went on irritably. "I don't know how anyone else puts up with it!" Looking as though he couldn't stand to be there another second, he stood up and stormed out of the room.

Ron stared after him and let out a sigh. "Great, now he's blowing up at us again."

"Well, he's right!" Ginny snapped. "We shouldn't start turning on each other, especially now."

Fred nodded. "Don't be too hard on him," he said softly. "He's going through a rough time."

"I know he is, but he's making it even harder than he should be!" Hermione pointed out. "We all miss Sirius. He could make an effort to at least talk to us about it!"

"And besides, we're going through a rough time too," Ron said irritably. "He's not the only one with problems, you know."

"I tried to tell him that the other day," Ginny said, suddenly remembering.

"Did he listen?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know," Ginny said thoughtfully. "Before Percy came, he looked like he might have started talking about it…" She fell silent, remembering what Harry had told her: "You wouldn't understand…"

But despite growing out of her crush on him, she still cared about Harry as much as the others did. She wanted to help him. And maybe if she tried, she could help him somehow.

"I think you should keep trying," Hermione suggested. "He can't shut himself away from us forever."

"What about you and Ron?" Ginny inquired. "You're his best friends."

"I think after what happened, we're all friends here," Hermione replied calmly.

"That's right," George agreed. "You remember what Dumbledore told us when You-Know-Who came back: we're stronger when we're united."

***

With George's words fresh in mind, Ginny walked out of the room caught and caught sight of Harry, who was sitting on the stairs. "Mind if I sit with you?" she asked him.

"No, but if you're going to start on me for losing my temper…" Harry started to say.

"Save your breath," Ginny interrupted coolly. "Yes, you shouldn't have yelled at them, but I agree with you."

Harry looked taken aback. "You do?"

"Of course," she replied shortly, sitting down next to him. "They do fight all the time, and it drives me mad too."

Harry looked relieved. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so." He rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Didn't sleep well last night?" Ginny asked.

"Not really," he said, sighing.

There was a brief pause. "Do you have nightmares about it?" she asked quietly. "Sirius, I mean?"

He stared at her, seemingly unsure of what to say.

"It's all right if you do," she reassured him. "I had loads of nightmares about You-Know-Who after my first year. I still do sometimes, now that he's back," she added.

He stared at her for a moment. "I do have dreams about it," he admitted slowly. "Only --- they aren't nightmares… because somehow, he always gets out of the veil. And there's always some explanation of what was behind there. They're really odd ones, actually. Like a couple of nights ago, I dreamt that pink elephants came floating out of the veil. And last night, there was a shopping mall behind it."

Ginny giggled. Harry glared. "It isn't funny!" he snapped. "Every time I see Sirius… I think that he's really alive…"

"No, no, that isn't funny," Ginny said quickly, shaking with mirth. "But really --- a shopping mall? Pink elephants?"

The corners of Harry's mouth twitched. "Well, yeah, it is kind of funny," he said awkwardly. A grin spread across his face --- the first real smile Ginny had seen from him all summer.

They stared at each other for a split second. Then they both burst into laughter. "I don't really know where that stuff comes from," Harry chuckled. "I don't even like shopping, and I don't think Sirius did…"

Suddenly, his smile vanished. There was a clouded look in his eyes. "What?" Ginny asked, alarmed. "What is it?"

"Did," Harry said faintly. "Now I'm going to have to say that whenever I talk about Sirius." He looked down at the ground.

Ginny put a hand on his shoulder. "Harry, you might not believe this right now, but it does get better," she said gently.

Harry snorted. "Yeah, right."

"It does," Ginny insisted.

"Have you ever lost someone you cared about?" he asked sharply.

"No, not really," she confessed. "I mean, my grandparents died… but that was before I was even born."

"Then how do you know it gets better? You don't even know what it's like."

Ginny sighed. "I guess I don't. Only people say that over time, the people you care about ---…" She struggled to put it into words. "Well, they become a part of you. And when you think about them, you'll remember the good times you had with them."

"I didn't have too many good times with Sirius," Harry said bitterly. "He was always on the run…"

"What about Christmas last year, when we were all at Grimmauld Place?" Ginny asked. "Didn't we have a good time?"

"Oh… yeah," Harry said, remembering. "That was the first time I ever saw him really happy... singing Christmas carols at the top of his lungs… decorating the house…"

"He must have really loved Christmas," Ginny said fondly.

"Maybe… I don't think he enjoyed Christmases with his family when he was young."

The two of them fell silent. "I'm going to go outside for a while," Harry said heavily, getting to his feet. "Erm --- thanks for listening."

"It's no problem," Ginny replied simply. "If you need someone to talk to, I'm always around…"

Harry managed to smile again. "Thanks," he muttered, and he descended the staircase.

Ginny sighed. At least he's starting to talk, she thought to herself. And I made him smile. That's certainly a start.

***

The day just seemed to drag on for Harry. His talk with Ginny had lifted his spirits slightly, but his mind still lingered on Sirius and the dream he'd had…

He sat in the Weasleys' garden, deep in thought. Suppose it wasn't another trick from Voldemort... suppose Wormtail really was spying on a member of the Order at this very second. He wondered if he should tell anyone about it.

But whom should he tell?

The first and most obvious choice would be Dumbledore. However, after the events of the previous year, Harry wasn't sure if he could tell him anything ever again. How could he trust someone who had been keeping so much from him his whole life?

Then he thought of Ron and Hermione. He knew exactly what would happen if he told them. Not only would Hermione think that it was another trap, she would also start berating him for not closing his mind…

His insides gave a squirm of guilt. If he had closed his mind better, he wouldn't have fallen for Voldemort's trap, and Sirius wouldn't have gone after him.

The other members of the Order would probably tell him the exact same thing. So overall, there was no one he felt he could tell.

But part of him --- a large part of him --- thought that he should keep his mouth shut for another reason. If he kept his mind open, maybe he could find out where Wormtail was…

A pleasant, cool breeze was blowing in Harry's face. He yawned. He hadn't got much sleep after the dream he had last night, having spent most of the night thinking about the apparent murder of Bellatrix Lestrange.

One down, he couldn't resist thinking before he closed his eyes…

He was back in the Department of Mysteries, standing in front of the arch again. He could hear voices whispering incoherently behind the veil.

"Is anyone there?" Harry asked aloud. The whisperings were growing louder, though not loud enough for him to understand the words. Suddenly, a figure emerged from the veil.

To Harry's disappointment, it wasn't Sirius this time. The figure was a tall, thin-looking witch. She had lank, blonde hair and eyes that seemed to big for her face. Her face bore such a woebegone expression that made her resemble a banshee.

"I bring you a message from the Other Side," she said in a deep voice.

"Who are you?" Harry demanded. "Are you --- did you come from that veil?"

The witch nodded. "Years ago, I found this veil…I don't remember how or why, however. I only remember tripping and falling into it. I have been there ever since."

"What is it?" Harry asked shakily. "Where does it lead to? Please --- I lost someone there… can you help me bring him back?"

The woman shook her head. "I'm afraid there's nothing I can do to help you. The person you lost is gone to you."

"What do you mean?" Harry demanded angrily. "You're from that place, aren't you? You came out of it! Get him out of there!"

"I did," the woman replied, "but even if he could escape, it wouldn't do any good. The veil is a gateway to a place of neither heaven nor hell. It is merely an empty space between life and death --- a limbo, if you will. Those who enter the realm lose their sense of time and the memories of the life they once had. For them there is only existence. Their fate is one worse than death; they are doomed to linger there until the end of time."

Harry was stunned. If what she said was true… he tried to imagine Sirius wandering around another dimension for eternity, unable to find true peace or happiness, and he was unable to bear.

"Be glad," the woman said softly.

"Glad?" Harry repeated. "GLAD? WHY SHOULD I BE GLAD? THERE'S NOTHING TO BE HAPPY ABOUT!"

"Maybe not," the woman replied, "but at least your friend won't have to endure the memories of pain and suffering. He had many, I assume?"

Shaking with grief and rage, Harry nodded once.

"It is you that has to suffer," she went on. "It will be so powerful that you feel as though you will die of it. It will wear you down, make you want nothing but an end to sorrow." She paused and looked him directly in the eyes. "You want it to end, don't you?"

"Yes," he whispered, his eyes burning.

Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but Harry could have sworn he saw her large eyes gleam. "A powerful rage I sense in you," she said. "I have the feeling this man's demise was no accident." She looked at him closely. "You want revenge for this man."

Harry nodded again. How did this woman know so much? Perhaps she was an expert in Legilimency and could see his memories…

"I can give it to you," she said.

Harry was bewildered. "Give what to me?" he asked.

"An end to the pain, and the power to take revenge," she said quietly. "That is what you want, isn't it?"

Harry stared at her. Indeed, he wanted nothing more than those two things. He would be able to avenge Sirius and no longer have to feel all this anguish… Still, something didn't seem quite right to him.

"What's the catch?" he asked suspiciously.

"There is none," the woman said simply. "I will you give you my power. It will end your suffering and make you strong enough to annihilate his killers."

Harry took a step back from her. "Annihilate? Wait a minute… I don't want to be a killer."

The woman gave him a piercing look. "You don't? You'd only be giving them what they deserve. And what will happen to them if you don't take action? Wait around until justice catches up with them?"

That was true…the Ministry would never be able to catch Wormtail since they refused to believe he was still alive. And Dumbledore wouldn't do anything to punish Kreacher. He felt that the wretched elf had suffered enough…

But was Harry really willing to kill for Sirius's sake? Sirius wouldn't have wanted him to do that, would he?

"I… don't think I'm interested," Harry said slowly, backing away from her.

The woman stared at him for a moment. "Suit yourself," she said in an indifferent tone. "If you think you can just stand the pain of loss and let the murderers get off scot-free, go ahead. But an opportunity such as this only comes along every once in a while."

Harry hesitated, considering her words.

"If you change your mind, my offer still stands," the woman said, turning towards the veil. "Until then, I must return."

"Wait!" Harry shouted. "Say I do change my mind… how will I find you?"

The woman turned to face him. A slight smile crossed her face. "Oh, don't worry," she said softly. "I'll be the one to find you."

She stepped into the veil and vanished without a trace.

To be continued…