(10)Just Like Old Times

He felt a gentle rocking back & forth. His ribs ached from being held so tightly. He nuzzled into long black hair, not wanting to let go. Never wanting to lose sight of him again. This was Padfoot! His friend since he was a small scared pup on a giant red train heading for school. One he had considered his worst enemy for nearly 13 years & the same one who had been a loyal pack memeber for eternity.

But he had fallen through a veil. The veil of death! What was Padfoot doing here? With him? Unless? Remus tore away & glared almost ferally around. "Prongs? Lily? Padfoot, where....where...how....?!"

"They're not here!" Sirius still held onto Remus but loosly enough for him to stand back.

"B-But the veil....you....you died," Remus stamered. "Isn't this the after life? They've got to be here! PRONGS?!" he screamed out the stag's name desperatly. It was to good to be true! His pack was returning to him!

"Hush Moony!" Sirius yanked him back into his arms. "We're not dead!"

"But Pad.....Padfoot, you fell through!" Remus growled softly. "It took forever for you to die! You just hung there & then you were gone! We were screaming for you!" By now, Remus was sobbing uncontrollably again. "Bellatrix......she laughed. She laughed! I can beleive how cruel she was! She just laughed &----& you were gone!"

"Shh Moony! It's OK! I'm fine!" Sirius led him to the sofa & sat down. "There is a veil of death there, but right across it is an invisible barrier, a portal still active from who knows what! I felt it & I felt death just a hairline away but I forced all my heart, soul & mind into the portal & ended up here!"

"Perhaps that's why you took so long to fall," Remus sniffled a bit.

"What are you talking about?" asked Sirius. "It was in an instant! One second, Bella was striking at me, the next instant I was in what I later find out to be the Fire Planes! Weird place to say the least! I'll show it to you later!"

"Padfoot, you hung there forever," Remus tried describing it. "Your whole body just.....arched into it & then just froze in time before you were gone!"

"Froze in time?" said Sirius. "I never noticed! You look a little worn out, Moony!"

"Padfoot, you're not going to believe this but," Remus actually laughed a bit. "Within 24 hours, I suffered two Full Moons!"

"Oh, you went through just after a Full Moon from our realm?" Sirius asked. "This realm is off by about 24 hours! Maybe that's why it seemed to you I was taking my sweet time with the veil!"

Remus stared at Sirius. Was he actually joking about it? Well, that's Sirius for you! He never did live up to his name! "24 hours off? No wonder Landau looked at me as if I were crazy!"

"Oh you met him? I've been studying his pack for a long time," said Sirius.

"About seven years or so," Remus sighed a bit.

"I got Harry's message through the mirror, but it was 24 hours late," said Sirius, not noticing Remus stiffen a bit. "Then with out warning, my mirror exploded!"

"I think Harry broke his when you didn't answer," said Remus, wondering how he could get the subject off Harry. "Why didn't you come back to us?"

"I don't know how to fly, Moony!" said Sirius. "The other end of the portal is in the sky!"

"What if I told you I know someone here that can make a portal wherever he wants?"

"I'd say you finally succumbed to the insanity of Lycanthropy!" Sirius laughed.

"Mmmm too late!" Remus bickered back. "I already did that! Twice!"

"Oh you did, did you? Well, you'll have to tell me about it sometime!" Sirius got up & headed for the kitchen. "Would you like a drink? Some Vodka perhaps?" Sirius smiled a moment then scowled. "Or.....hot chocolate?"

"You know what I want!" Remus muttered, hiding a smirk.

"You're SOOOOOOO perdictable!" Sirius grumbled. Then he muttered under breath, "Chocolate freak!"

"I heard that!" Remus snapped then under his own breath, "Sex addict!"

"OHHH!" Sirius groaned. "Glad to see you haven't changed much!"

"CHOCOLATE! NOW!" Remus ordered, impatiently.

"Alright! Alright!" Sirius put his hands in the air. "Hold on to your wolf! Gees! You're worse then a PMSing woman around your Full Moons!"

"Oh, MUST you relate EVERYTHING to sex?!" Remus retorted. "But I'm glad to see you haven't changed either! Well, your attutide hasn't changed! But you look much better!"

It was true. This was not the Azkaban Sirius of 7 years ago. This was the Sirius of before Azkaban. Before the traitor ruined everything. This was Sirus Black, the one girls would kill for! His hair was back to normal, shiny again & reaching to his waist. His cloud of testosterone could be scented a mile away! He was back to normal. His self-concious strutting, his womanizing, his dress style. Back in "Black", complete with silver-colored trim, but it was actually shiny steel so it wouldn't affect Lycans.

"I feel much better too," Sirius handed over the hot chocolate. "& guess what? Dementors don't exist here! Sooooooo----uh who's the lucky gal?"

Merlindamnit all to hell & high water, Sirius Padfoot Black!!!!!!!! "Oh, you!!" Remus rolled his eyes. "You are such a man-ho it's not funny!"

"Oh come on, Moony!" Sirius pleaded with those puppy-dog eyes!

Well you know what?! A curse on those damnable eyes! "No!" Remus shook his head & grinned into his---------ROCK?!

"I'm not changing it back until you tell me?" Sirius made his puppy-dog look more desperate.

"FINE! Idiot!" Remus fumed.

"Ah, gonna be just like old times, eh Moony?"

"Unfortunatly," Remus sighed. "OK, she's Snivellus's daughter!" Remus expected Sirius to gape at him in shock but he didn't.

"Rachelle's girl?" said Sirius. "I'm not surprised at all! But, how did Ol' Sniv handle it?"

"Oh, I killed him!" Remus said.

"You...did?"

"Mhm! First I changed him into a water goblet," Remus explained. "Then I bit him! Then I told him to hump my boggart! Then I killed him!"

"You told him to what your what?" Sirius laughed. "Good thing you killed him! Put him out of his misery!"

"Actually, it was meant to happen," Remus went on to explain the whole Prophecy.

"Who would've known," said Sirius when he was finished. "You & Snivellus in a Prophecy! Well, I'm glad to hear Harry finally did it! The Dark Lord is gone! How is he?"

Oh God! Not now! Please! "Ummm, actually he got married & he's got a son now, named Sirius! Hagrid gave him you bike for a wedding present!"

"Wow, Hornhead's a Grandpa!" Sirius laughed. "But what's he doing now? Is he still a Quidditch player? What's his Order status?"

Stop! STOP! God please make him stop! How can I tell him?! "Oh he went on to play Por Quidditch with Oliver Wood! & he became an Auror! & we went on plenty of Marauding business in between time!"

"Oh, has he become a stag?" Sirius was over-hyper.

"No, not a stag!"

"Then what? A dog? A fox?"

Damn it slut! Shut up! "No, he's not a fox! What are you? Bi?"

"I might be!" Sirius teased.

"Yeah! Riiiiiiiiiight!" Remus groaned.

"Of course NOT MOONY!" Sirius snapped. "I'm not THAT horny!"

Remus scoffed that away! "Look, he just started learning animagic. We don't know what he'll be yet!" & we never will!

"Ah, he'll be a stag!" Sirius stated matter-of-factly.

"Most likely," said Remus. "Um.....Padfoot? About this portal! There was another uprising after the Dark Lord was destroyed. But Donavan Randaf escaped us by creating a portal & coming here. If we can find him, we can go home!"

"Then let's find him!" agreed Sirius.

"That's what I'm here for! What was that?" Remus nodded to the window.

"What?"

"It looked like a large bi----"

"Bats! Oh, Remus? It's dark out now!" Sirius jumped up. "Vampires have a way of finding Lycans. Lycans & Vampires----!"

"I know," said Remus. "Landau told me!"

"Come upstairs! I have something for you!" Sirius led Remus to his room & pulled open a drawer. He lifted out a long gold cross on a gold chain. "Keep this on you at all times! & duoble up with your garlic! A garlic bulb a day keeps the Vampires away!"

"Ha ha very funny!" Remus smiled. "But I'm not part of this war!"

"You are now!" said Sirius. "The moment you came to this world. You're a Lycan! That's all they care about! By the way, the word werwolf here is as bad as halfbeed from where we come from!"

"It is?" asked Remus. "No wonder Landau looked a little upset when I used that word once!"

"Hey you be careful around Landau," Sirius ordered. "He's usually no trouble but you're another Alpha in his territory!"

"I know," sighed Remus.

"He doesn't like me much though," Sirus admitted.

"Probably because his daughter goes into heat whenever you are mentioned!" Remus groaned. "What's the anagram for anyway?"

"Oh, I didn't know I was in a dfferent reality," said Sirius. "By the time I found out, everyone knew me as Sailuck Bris! No one knows Sirius Black or ever heard of Azkaban or Dementors here!" He walked to the windows & lifted a hand to move back the curtains.

"PADFOOT! NO!" Remus yelped.

"What? What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing...it's....it's nothing!" Remus mentally scolded himself. "I just don't like to see you around curtains!"

"It's alright Moony!" Sirius waved his wand & all the curtains were pulled back. Sirius had bay windows on three sides & a skylight in the cieling.

"Padfoot! You're letting in the moonlight!"

"I know!" Sirius threw himself on the bed. "Come sit down! You won't get hurt!"

"What?" Remus sat down nervously, eyeing the windows. The moon rose & shone inside. It was missing a cresent now. Remus was surrounded by moonlight.

"Rember in school, how you were always upset that you couldn't be like other kids & walk in the moonlight?" Sirius lay back & stared up at the moon. "This glass is rare. It reflects the harmful rays back to the sky & it's just ordinary light that gets through. You can sleep here on Full Moons & cut your time in half by changing at midnight instead of moonrise! You can sleep half the night, finally!"

"Why doesn't Landau have this glass in his windows?"

"Vampires won't allow it!" Sirius muttered. "But I'm not a Lycan! So you can stay here when ever you want!"

"Is that what started this war?" Remus asked. "Technology of glass?"

"No, it's just one of many things to fight over!" said Sirius. "You should go to sleep! Tomorrow, I'll show you around!"

Remus nodded in agreeement but he didn't go to sleep as fast as Sirius. He was afraid to wake up & find this to be a dream. Remus watched Sirius sleep throught the night, gaurding him from everything & anything that would dare take his last pack member away again. He didn't fall asleep until the sky was turning pink & it was only pure exhaustion that finally brought his head to a pillow.