Into the Spirit World

All characters you recognize are JKR's, all others are mine unless otherwise said so.

Well, here it is! And yeah, Paddy, I just realized Sirius does live in London. So EH. –Moony

Chapter 2

The door opened and creaked. Sirius groaned.

"Not now Kreacher!" he muttered.

He pulled the covers over his head, to block out the sounds of the stupid elf. But then again, if Kreacher was putting a Permanent Sticking Charm on something…

Sirius jumped out of bed, ready to catch the revolting house elf.

To his surprise, he was not in the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. He was in a room painted a pale yellow, and his bed was white instead of gray. There was actually a window in his room, and there was no Kreacher. It was James sitting there.

For a moment, Sirius was confused. How the hell did he get here? And what was James doing, sitting across from him? James was dead.

Then the memories flooded back from before. If he had waken up in a 'dream' and everything was still as it was, it was not a dream. Sirius only realized this and sighed softly. There was no going back. He was dead, and he had better get used to it.

"Breakfast Siri? You slept like a log – just the way I remembered you."

"Remembered me? I'm your best friend git, of course you remember me!" Sirius said playfully.

Lily was at the foot of the stairs when they came down.

"Haven't changed any, Black. Still sleeping like a bear in hibernation."

Sirius grinned sheepishly.

"Well, I talked to the Council yesterday. They said they could do nothing about the veil. They would have to figure out a way to send someone into the Alive World, and so far, no archway into the Alive World has been discovered, so they can't."

It seemed no one knew about the archway.

"Cheer up Sirius, they'll find a way. The Council always finds a way. Wanna play Quidditch?"

Sirius turned around.

"Quidditch? There's Quidditch here?"

James grinned widely.

"Miss it, don't ya, Paddy?"

"Let's go!!!"

Lily stood there, looking very aggravated.

"Hello? Am I just gone?"

"No Lily honey. I'm just getting to know Padfoot again. C'mon dear, fifteen years, I just wanna have some fun like old times?"

Lily stood there, her lips pursed.

"James Potter! You know it can never be old times again! We're not in Hogwarts! You're not Marauders again! You're thirty-two! There's a second war going on in there, and our son…" she paused to take a breath, then rampaged on, "OUR SON is out there, insane, and lost because Sirius just died and now he has no one! The world is suffering, and here you are, playing Quidditch and just forgetting about the world?!"

James whirled around, his face was filled with irritation.

"Now Lily Evans! You know that I care! You know that! Why can't you just let me enjoy this life for a little bit? I KNOW OUR SON IS OUT THERE! Give me a rest! All you ever do is nag, nag, nag. Come on. I know the world is suffering! But I'm with my best friend in the world again, c'mon Evans, don't you understand? Wouldn't you want to be walking into the Three Broomsticks again and chatting away if Amanda came back here again? Wouldn't you?"

"You keep Amanda out of this! But the point is, even if your best friend is up here – you have to try and do something. The fact that Sirius is up here makes Harry insane! The world can't have an insane Harry! He needs to be guided by someone!"

Sirius heard the name Amanda.

"Wait a second – Amanda… Amanda Murray?"

Lily looked at Sirius.

"Yes Amanda Murray…" her face softened a bit.

"What – what happened to her?" Sirius asked, dreading the answer.

"Oh Sirius – you never knew?"

Sirius shook his head, his mouth sagged.

"She… she… Sirius… you know how much she loved you… well, when you… when you went to Azkaban, she couldn't take it. And ah… she didn't think suicide would be enough and ah… well…"

"She got a Dementor's Kiss, Sirius…" James said sadly.

Sirius's brain went numb. It was bad enough that he was here in the Spirit World when Harry needed him most, but now to find out Amanda was… well… a nothing?

Amanda had been Lily's best friend, and Sirius and her had gone out in their sixth year. They were still dating when that horrible Halloween came. Sirius remembered the ringing laugh and her pretty silvery blonde hair. Amanda surely knew he was innocent…

"Lily I – I need to think."

Lily breathed heavily.

"Fine, go think. Come on James. We're going home."

As the couple left – James throwing glares at Lily – Sirius dashed into the room he had rented. How the hell had all this happened?

Think back… think back… what happened?

Sirius thought. Well, he supposed when Snivellus came back talking about how Harry had went into the Forbidden Forest and had not come back. Then Dumbledore had said that Harry had saw a vision of him being tortured by Voldemort. It was sort of Harry's fault, not that Sirius blamed him. It was a heroic act, and Sirius had been flattered – a bit. He was sure James would have done the same. Snivellus had wanted him to stay. And he might have been right too, but he had been cooped up there for so long! Now, there was a chance for adventure, danger, excitement… just what Sirius needed. He remembered when he had told Harry that he would have welcomed a Dementor attack, and right now, here was another excitement that he could do! It was great opportunity, and he had an easy plan. Go in, save Harry, duel a bit, actually being in the fray and in danger… he loved it. Except for he fell. Judging by the way Lily talked so surprisingly when she saw him, he wasn't supposed to fall. He wasn't supposed to fall yet. But he had. And so he was stuck here. In the Spirit World, while Harry was out there insane. The thought circled back. The world couldn't risk having an insane Harry. An insane Harry would be vulnerable, and if Harry was vulnerable to Voldemort, then the world would might as well explode and be destroyed into bits.

Well, what to do now? He had made a mistake. A stupid mistake that had cost him his life, and a mistake that had put the whole world in jeopardy. It was all his fault.

Well not really… if Dumbledore had not…

Sirius shook it out of his head. He knew it was not Dumbledore's fault, and he shouldn't blame him. But he felt a sort of resentment toward him. Why? Why had he kept him in the stupid house of Black? That house where all the memories of everything were, the house where Kreacher still walked around – a living reminder to the hell his life at the mansion had been. Had Dumbledore thought he was not careful enough to go out and just see the sun?

He only meant well, Sirius knew, but why not even let him run down the streets a bit as a stray?

There has to be some way to fix it!

How? Who would help him? James would. And so would Lily. But the three alone could not do it. Who was powerful enough? Who could? Lily had talked about some council…

Sirius knew what he needed to do. He sprang up from his bed and ran out. He didn't know the way to their home, but he found them still on their way back.

"Lily!" he said breathlessly, "James! Take me to the Council!"