"I don't understand," Sirius said, staring at Gideon. "You can return? Return where?"

"To the wizarding world," Gideon replied. "To life. We'll be able to get out of here and return to the lives we left behind. Minus Voldemort, of course."

Sirius let this sink in for a second. If what Gideon was telling him was true, then Lily and James weren't really dead. All of the friends he'd thought were gone forever were simply here, biding their time, waiting until Voldemort was destroyed. It was all so simple. And yet, it wasn't.

"How are you sure you'll be able to return?" Sirius asked. "How do you know this place isn't some sort of afterlife? What makes you think Voldemort's death will mean your survival?"

Gideon didn't say anything for a moment. He stroked his chin, looking thoughtful. Finally, he took a deep breath and looked at Sirius.

"I suppose we're not absolutely certain." he said. "Few things can ever be certain. But nevertheless, we all firmly believe this. You see, Sirius, everyone here was killed by Voldemort, with the exception of those who, like you, fell through the veil. Every single member of The Order who met their death by him, are here. Even those killed by a Death Eater, which we feel means--Well, that can be discussed later. The thing is, Voldemort knows we're here. He has means of communication with us. And upon first discovering this, I'm told, Voldemort was furious. Seems as though this wasn't what he intended. I suppose we were all supposed to go on to wherever it is people go when they die. But instead, we found ourselves here. Something prevented us from dying, something that torments Voldemort almost as much as young Harry's survival. Now, however, as he's once again gained power, Voldemort acts as though this was all part of some brilliant plan of his. According to him, we're stuck here for eternity, in our own secluded hell. Without magic, without our friends and family--unless of course, he kills them too--without anything we'd grown used to having."

"Without magic?" Sirius interrupted, realizing suddenly that his wand was missing.

"I'm afraid so," Gideon replied. "You'll adjust. As I was saying, Voldemort believes us to be prisoners of the Dark Side. He strongly believes that 'life' here is worse then death. This place isn't attractive, I must tell you. Look around. Does this look like a nice place to you?"

For the first time, Sirius took notice of his surroundings. Except... there wasn't anything to take notice of. He wasn't even sure if he was indoors or outdoors. Everything was simply empty. It was just one big space of nothing. In fact, the whole place felt like nothing.

"Right, but you still haven't explained why you think everything will be fine when he's gone," Sirius said.

"I was getting to that," Gideon said. "At first, no one was quite sure why it was; why they weren't dead, why they were all here together. But they did know one thing--All of us still have sadness. One who is dead shouldn't hold onto sadness. One who has passed on completely shouldn't long for what was left behind. We should be fully content, reveling in a new adventure, the one that comes after life. So why did they still posses these emotions? Because they weren't dead. Once they came to this conclusion, they were overjoyed. They also started to see the relevance of one other thing. Do you have an idea of what that was?"

"No," Sirius said flatly, wishing Gideon would hurry and get to the point.

"The only people who make it here are members of the Order of the Phoenix, killed by means of Voldemort. We haven't had any glimpse of Death Eaters who rubbed him the wrong way. We've never caught a glimpse of a Muggle who had the misfortune of crossing paths with him. Those who are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time don't arrive here. No, Sirius, it's only those who fought and who were willing to give up everything if it meant the demise of Voldemort, who come here. Namely, The Order. So you see? Something prevented him from killing us the way he intended to. All we know for sure is that those who oppose him strongly enough, cannot be killed by Voldemort."

Sirius thought about this. He still didn't fully understand everything. Nearly everyone, with the exception of Death Eaters, opposed Voldemort. That didn't explain why only Order members made it here. He voiced these thoughts to Gideon.

"Ahh, you make a good point, Sirius," Gideon said. "By ways unknown to most of us, those who have been here the longest managed to obtain sufficient information about the infamous veil that we so cleverly hide behind. According to them, it was most likely made by those who first formed a group similar to the Order of the Phoenix, hundreds of years back when Lord Rigaldo was first gaining his power. It seems as though they constructed this place so that those heroic enough to face the powerful sorcerer, wouldn't die at his hands. It's all a bit fuzzy to us, really, which may be one reason it stays hidden in the Department of Mysteries. But the magic of it was powerful enough to save those fighting today against a different, but frightfully similar, wizard."

"All right," Sirius said slowly, allowing all of this to sink in. "But you still haven't told me why we will all be free once he dies."

"That's just the way it is," Gideon said simply. "That's just the way it is..."

"There you are!" someone exclaimed. Both men turned. It was the red-haired woman.

"Oh, Sirius, I still can't believe you're here," she said, her eyes slightly red. "I know it must be just as big of a shock for you, but I never imagined..."

"Lily," he breathed. He pulled her into a tight embrace as her shoulders started to shake with silent sobs. Sirius wasn't sure if these were tears of joy or sadness, or even a mixture of both. All he knew was that he never wanted to let go.

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Thank you to everyone who reviewed my first chapter, you guys are too nice! I don't expect you to be as nice for this one, as it's a bit shaky. You have no idea how many different ideas I toyed with before settling on this one. I'm still not entirely positive I like it, but if I hadn't chosen something I never would have gotten a second chapter up. So feel free to let me know what you like and don't like about it, and if you have any suggestions, please let me know! I wouldn't be surprised if parts of this chapter end up changing....