A/N - Hello again! Wow, it took me a long time to finally get this chapter up...sorry to everybody who's reading it, but I have about 2 hours of homework a night and so don't have much time to write. Anyways...

Yes, I know this chapter is short. And yes, I'm terribly sorry that it is, but honestly, making it any longer would have kinda killed it. Hopefully it proves that good things come in small packages : ). Anyhow, I hope you like it, and I hope you are feeling properly confused by the time it's done. Probably not, but hey, I'm trying.

Alright - time for the disclaimer. JK Rowling owns everything you recognize. The quotes belong to the people who, er, said them...(Epicurus, and Blaise Pascal, in that order).

Death is Nothing

Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.

- Epicurus

Chapter 2: We Know Truth

We know truth, not only by reason, but also by the heart.

- Blaise Pascal

Harry shivered slightly, pulling his blankets more closely about him. It had been abnormally cold that summer, and even though his window was shut fast he could feel a cool breeze creeping in, chilling him and causing goose bumps to rise on his arms. Closing his eyes wearily, he tried to imagine himself before the large, inviting fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room, though his cousin's snores and the less-than-comfortable temperature did much to banish this illusion.

He at once longed for and dreaded sleep – while he knew that he would be haunted by images of Sirius and the veil if he drifted off, it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep his eyes open. At last, yielding to his weariness, Harry curled tightly beneath his blankets and let himself drift off to sleep.

A blanket of silence enveloped the room, so complete that the only sounds were the voices beyond the veil and the beating of his own heart. He glanced around, and though the room appeared to be empty he had a tingling sensation in the small of his back, as though someone were watching him. Turning back to the veil, he gazed at it a moment longer, then slowly, almost hesitantly, he reached out one trembling hand and touched it.

He screamed, screamed so hard and loud he felt as though his throat was being shred apart. His chest felt like it was being torn from his body, but at the same time as though something, or perhaps someone, was struggling to keep it there. It was as though two forces were struggling for dominion over his body, and he could do nothing more than scream and pray that he would die, that it would all end....

It was over just as suddenly as it had begun. Panting for breath, he sat up and found himself sitting on a rocky strip of land jutting out into the grayest and most storm-tossed lake he had ever seen. White-capped waves beat ruthlessly upon the rocks, while above in a midnight black sky strips of lightning tore across the heavens, turning the clouds as red as blood.

Harry stood, forgetting for a moment his pain as he gazed in awestruck fear at the spectacle before him. He didn't know what he wanted to do more, run as fast as he could away and not look back, or dive into the water and be swallowed by the waves. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder – whirling around, he saw Sirius standing there, a look of panic on his face as he gazed wildly at Harry.

"You shouldn't be here," he whispered, his voice cracked and hoarse. "You, you're not...," Sirius let out a cry and stumbled backwards as one of the waves pounding against the rocks surged across his feet. "Go!" he said, his voice frantic now. "Go, before they find you...."

"Sirius...?" whispered Harry, his heart drumming so powerfully against his chest that he could hardly hear the thunder booming across the sky.

Sirius looked at him, and for a moment Harry saw a look of such immense sadness on his godfather's face that he was amazed Sirius could bear it. But a second later Sirius whispered desperately "Go, and don't come back. If you come back they'll find you...."

Harry wanted to yell "How can I come back if I don't know where you are?" as loud as he could, wanted everything to stop so that, for just one second, he could look up at Sirius and believe that he had his godfather back again, that Sirius had never fallen through the veil, that everything was exactly as it should be. But as he looked up into Sirius' eyes a whip of lightning burned across the sky, and a huge wave larger than any he had seen before surged against the rocks and onto him.

His entire body was consumed with a searing flame – it filled every inch of him, burning him from the inside, and he began to scream, though he was not aware of doing so. Sirius looked more terrified than Harry had ever seen him, and he saw him take a few steps back.

Feeling as though he was about to burst from the pain, Harry looked at Sirius through bloodied eyes, and saw in Sirius' panic-stricken gray ones an ancient stone archway and gently fluttering veil – as though in slow motion he saw it gust forward, as though caught in a high wind, and then fall back into place: Almost involuntarily Harry took a step forward....

Harry awoke screaming, a searing pain on his right shoulder. His breathing heavy and uneven, he put a shaking hand over his eyes, half expecting to feel the sticky wetness of blood, and tried to calm himself down, though his right shoulder was still filled with a burning pain, as though it were on fire. At last he stood up, his legs almost too weak to support him, and walked over to his door. Pulling it open, he stumbled across the hall to the bathroom, turning the light on and closing the door behind him.

Glancing only momentarily up at the mirror, where his haunted, bloodshot green eyes and pale, sweaty face stared wearily and confusedly back at him, he poured himself a glass of water, drinking it hastily as though it would banish the nightmare that was still so vividly fresh on his mind. However, it did nothing more than remind him once more of the fierce pain in his shoulder – looking back up at the mirror , he pulled the neck of his pajamas down, and a second later could fell the glass slip from his fingers and fall crashing to the floor, fragmenting into a thousand pieces.

Where in his dream the wave had hit him, on the lower part of his right shoulder, were small, blood-red letters imprinted onto his skin – HE IS OURS.

Harry dug frantically through the papers he had littered across his desk, trying to find a blank piece of parchment. At last he found one – sweeping everything else off his desk and sending it clattering to the floor, he shoved his quill into an inkbottle, splattering black ink over everything, and, his hand still shaking violently, began to write.

Dear Professor Lupin –

I'm sorry to bother you, but something really strange just

happened and I need your help. If possible would you please

come back to Privet Drive so we can talk – if you can't I'll

tell you next time I see you. Thanks.

- Harry

He knew it sounded rather rude, but at the moment he was too shaken to care. "Take this to Professor Lupin, would you, Hedwig?" he whispered, walking over to her cage and fumbling to open it. "Make sure he gets it soon, alright?" Hedwig fluttered out of her cage and landed on his forearm, nipping his fingers affectionately. "Thanks." murmured Harry, tying it to her leg. She hooted softly and soared off his arm and through the still open window.

His shoulder still throbbing, Harry collapsed backwards onto his bed, his exhausted mind reeling with questions. Who had engraved those words into his shoulder? He knew he hadn't been imagining them; he was in far too much pain and confusion to be dreaming. And what had that dream meant? It was all getting so muddled now. His eyes were dropping lower and lower, though he was afraid to fall asleep, because he was didn't want to know what he'd see when he dreamed....

A/N - ooh, a cliffie! lol - actually its more like a kind of semi-cliffie, since you guys have probably already figured out what'll happen next. Oh well. I tried.

Now, to thank the BRILLIANT people who reviewed chapter 1!

Jenn Black - well, maybe he's not in jk's world, but...lol.

Eagle - You really thought I wrote this angst well? Whew, that's a relief! I'm glad you like it.

Jocelyn - My first reviewer not from TwoWay Mirrors! I'm glad you liked it and hope you like this chapter too : )

Misthea - Thank you so much for being the first to review this! You had no idea how happy that made me feel. And yes, as you've probably already figured out, Remus will be coming in again in the next chapter. He's my favorite character, like I said in TwoWay Mirrors. And no, like I said before, this won't stop me updating TwoWay Mirrors. I love that story too much to just let it go!

That's it for now - keep reviewing and I'll post chapter 3 soon! I promise!

Bye. : )