Into the Spirit World

Moony

JK Rowling's characters that you recognize, all others are MINE! (unless otherwise pointed out).

YAY! I'm happy to be getting feedback on this fic. Thanks all you kind reviewers!!!!! –Moony

Chapter 3

Lily blinked, as if the statement did not register. James held his eyebrows funnily.

"You want to go to the Council?" Lily asked.

"Yes, are you deaf?"

"No, but… Sirius, why do you need to see the council?"

"You know, there has to be a way that we can see Harry. If I can get into the Spirit World and die through a veil in the Alive World, then there has to be a way to get into the Alive World and live through some kinda archway."

"That's the most insane idea I've heard, but then again, we've done insaner things before," James chuckled.

"Yes, like when you tried to fight the Giant Squid," Lily said disapprovingly.

"Hey! We were hyper!"

"Uh-huh, and I suppose you were hyper when you put garlic in Professor McGonagall's food on Christmas?"

"It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" Sirius protested.

Lily rolled her eyes. Sirius and James laughed.

"Now, about the Council," Lily said.

"Right, who's on the Council?" Sirius asked.

"People who annoy me to death…"

"The Council is very powerful James! Though they may be quite… er… weird."

"So they're not nice people?"

"They're nice… but it's really spooky for some odd reason when you walk into that place."

"Well who's on it?" Sirius asked impatiently.

"Let's see now… there's a woman named Marianna Aike, a man named Charles Ima, another woman named Roxanne Diake, another man named Drake Maspen, and a woman named Maria Poroir."

"Is she related to Aisling Poroir in any way?" Sirius asked, the image of the chestnut, wild-haired girl floated in his head.

"Oh, you met Aisling?" Lily asked, throwing a smirk at James, who stuck out his tongue.

"Yeah…"

"Maria's like her aunt or something. Aisling always hangs out around the Council House."

"Which is why I hate seeing the Council," James said.

"James, Aisling is a really cute girl."

"A really cute pain-in-the-butt."

"She's only 13…"

"I wasn't that blah-blah-blah when I was thirteen."

"Yeah, but you were incredibly stupid too."

"Aisling isn't stupid. She's too smart for her own good."

"James, that isn't good of you to make fun of a thirteen-year-old who looks up to you."

"She doesn't look up to me, she has a huge, obvious crush on me."

"Can we get going?" Sirius asked.

"Oh right, let's go."

James vanished.

"We can apparate here?" Sirius said in disbelief.

"Um… duh?" Lily asked, then vanished.

Sirius couldn't believe it. He closed his eyes and thought of wherever Lily and James were, then with a loud crack, he was standing beside them, in front of a tall building surrounded by trees and flowers. But even in the flowery place, there was a feeling of creepiness and eeriness. Sirius was nervous for no apparent reason.

All of a sudden, a figure popped up again. A figure with chestnut, wild hair, bright eyes and freckles. Two words popped up in Sirius's head. Aisling Poroir.

"Hiya Sirius! Lily! James! What're you doing here? Aunty Maria hasn't had a client for a loooooooong time! Do us a favor and don't go visit Ms. Roxanne. She's had thirty clients already, and Aunty Maria has had none, and they're in a sort of war thing for clients."

"Fine, will do," Lily said.

"What're you here for anyway?"

"Secret business Aisling," James said.

"OH, but I'm your friend, and I'll be on the Council after ninety years!!!"

"Ninety years is a looong time. This problem might be forgotten."

"Exactly why I wanna know now! I'm helping Aunty Maria you know, so you can tell me."

"NO Aisling!"

"Why can't I?"

"You're thirteen, I'm thirty-two, do you see the age difference?"

"Yup, 19 years, that's not too big."

"That's a huge difference Aisling! I'm in a whole different generation than you. Just let us go through!"

"Not until you tell me what the secret is."

"AISLING!"

"Uh-uh."

"Aisling, if you don't let us get into this house, we're not going to see Ms. Maria. We will go see Ms. Roxanne," Sirus said.

"Fi-ine. But only 'cuz you said so, and you're going to see Aunty Maria."

Aisling left.

"Finally!" James sighed.

"She's actually kind of cute," Lily said, chuckling.

"You wouldn't think that if she was so annoying to you."

The trio walked into the building. The inside was just as pretty as the outside. The walls were whitewashed clean, although dull. In one corner there were squishy green sofas around a coffee table and a TV. On the other side were mahogany, polished tables.

At the end, there was a lady sitting at a tall desk. It was rather like being testified below a tall podium by a judge. The lady had glasses, and her eyes were narrowed. She was scowling, as if she had just swallowed a lemon, and when she spoke her voice was sharp.

"Well? What is it this time? You have come bothering me at least 23 times already! What do you want now?!" she asked pointing at Lily.

"This is the Council of Aid of the Spirit Peoples, Bria, you can't be annoyed if a client comes for aid from the council. I suggest you eat some sugar. You look like you ate a lemon," a voice said. Aisling popped up again.

The lady, whose name was apparently Bria, scowled deeper.

"Fine, go in!" she snapped, then pressed a button. A doorway to the side opened.

"Have a nice day!" Sirius teased. Aisling followed behind them.

"She's scared of me," Aisling said proudly.

"I wonder why…" James muttered.

"It's because I'm Maria Poroir's niece, only dead relative living in the Spirit World. And Aunty Maria is very powerful. In fact, she is the second to the top position in the Council. Bria's just angry all the time because she didn't get to be on the Council. It's the job she always wanted, and now she gets angry at everyone. And since she's so angry and snappy, she doesn't get the honor of being called Mrs. Bria anymore. Can you believe that she actually has a husband? It must be someone worst than her. I hate Bria. But Bria's gone at night. Ms. Annie does the night shift, and Ms. Annie's really really nice, and I like her. Too bad we don't get sick in the Spirit World. I would hope Bria got sick every day so she couldn't come, and then Ms. Annie would get to come."

The chatter continued on and on until they got to a door with a gold nameplate that read, Roxanne Diake.

"Oh don't go in there! We have to beat Ms. Roxanne! Not that I don't like her, but we're in a sort of war."

"Right…"

Maria Poroir's office was at the very end of the hall. They pushed the door open, where a nice looking woman was sitting at a desk. She was apparently typing on the computer and did not notice. She had same wild chestnut hair as Aisling and freckles.

"Oh, clients! That's nice! Roxanne has had so many and it's starting to be irritating. How can I help you?"

"Well, I came here, but I didn't die for any reason," Sirius said, as he, James, and Lily took a seat.

Ms. Maria looked a bit bewildered.

"Can you explain?" she asked.

"Well, you see, I was in the Department of Mysteries, and there was this archway, and a moth-eaten veil hanging from it. I fell behind that, and now I'm here, which obviously means I'm dead, but I'm not supposed to be."

"A veil? I have no record of the Ministry keeping a…"

She tapped some words into her computer.

"They are studying Death?? What a horrid… oh, this is bad! It could completely…"

"What? What Aunty Maria?" Aisling asked.

"We need to see the rest of the Council," Ms. Maria said, then pushed a button.

Soon, the other four members were at the door.

"What's wrong Maria? That button hasn't been used for ages! It's supposed to be used only for emergency info."

"This is emergency info."

"What is it? Does it have something to do with the clients?" Mr. Charles asked, looking at Sirius, James, and Lily.

"Yes, this man, er…" Maria began.

"Sirius Black."

"Yes, Mr. Black informed me that he got here because he fell through a veil in the Department of Mysteries, and he got here and simply died. This is very dangerous, I have information that the Ministry of Magic is studying death, which, is why this man fell through. This could increase the population of Spirits immensely, and you know the danger of so many Spirits coming here by accident before their registered deaths." she said.

"This must stop immediately," Roxanne said.

"But how?" Charles asked.

"We must find another archway into the Alive World," Drake said.

"No one has found any way to reach the Alive World yet!" Marianna said, "It's impossible!"

"Then we must find it. If anyone else falls in, it would be a disaster. There is a time to die for everyone, and Mr. Black has come too early, and if too many people come into the Spirit World too early, it will be a big disaster," Drake replied.

"It might take years!" Maria said.

"Then we must start as soon as possible," Charles said.

"But we can't search, then the Council will be deserted!" Roxanne said.

"I will," Sirius said.

"Me and Lily will too!" James replied.

"If you are, then I'm going to find it too!" Aisling said, "I love adventures! I've read so many books about people who go through daring adventures, and now there is a daring adventure! I'm so excited!"

Maria, Sirius, James, and Lily rolled their eyes. There was no danger in the Spirit World, you were already dead.

"Yes, this is good, you are the one who came through the archway, and you must go back. The world needs you right now, and it is important that you go back. However, you three…" Charles said, pointing at Lily, James, and Aisling, "You cannot go through. This will also mess up the world drastically. Life and death is a complicated thing. It is horrible to go back and forth from being alive to dead, it can make you insane and destroy you. You may be tempted, but, Mr. Black, you must stop them. It will destroy them. And Mr. Black, you cannot come back either through the archway, until it is time for you to truly die. It will destroy you also. You will be back someday, remember that."

Sirius nodded. He knew he would be tempted, and he knew that Harry would too, if Harry knew about it. Sirius made up his mind not to tell Harry about it – if they ever found the archway.

"Mr. Black," Marianne said, "When you reach the Alive World, you must tell the Ministry, you must tell them, that the Council of Aid of the Spirit Peoples wishes them to remove this archway into our world."

Sirius snorted, "Ms. Marianne, I don't believe the Ministry will believe me… they think I am a mass murderer and they have no faith in these things."

"Then you must give them this," Roxanne replied, pushing into Sirius's hand, a golden ring, "This will make him believe. I assure you. Do not lose it. It is very valuable."

With that, the Council split and vanished.

"Aunty Maria…" Aisling said.

"Yes dear?"

"I want to go back to the Alive World. I just want to see it, one more time… I only got to live it 12 years, and that's not enough… I want to live more. I want to see my friends! I want to… I want to see Mummy and Daddy. I miss them Aunty! Please, please let me just go through? I'll come back, I promise…" Aisling wailed.

Sirius looked stunned, as did James.

"Believe me, this is the first time she wants something. She's usually happy with what's happening to her…" James muttered.

Maria looked at Aisling firmly.

"Aisling Anita Poroir! Under no circumstances are you to cross the line between life and death. Don't you understand? It's very, very dangerous. Didn't you hear what Mr. Charles said?"

"I did, but… but I want… I want…"

"I want too Aisling, I want to see my mum and my dad. But we can't. It will destroy you completely. Now you are still a Spirit, and you can remain a Spirit forever, unless something destroys you entirely. And the only that can destroy a Spirit is that line between life and death. Going back and forth will destroy you, is that what you want?"

"I'd be content, if I could just… one time…"

"No. I cannot take that risk."

Aisling sniffled, then suddenly smiled.

"You care a lot, Aunty Maria. Ok, I won't go! Yippee! An adventure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

With that, she dove away, happy again.

Sirius stared… "That girl is weird… you would've never guessed she just cried and whined."

"That's Aisling Poroir, she's sad for three minutes and then she's all bubbly again."

James turned around, "When do we start?"

"I think that you should go the day after tomorrow, or tomorrow, if it is possible. The sooner you can find it, the better," Maria Poroir said.

"Thanks, we'll try tomorrow," Sirius replied.

The three tramped out. Neither of them spoke, they already knew the messages that were being given off. Sirius knew how badly Lily and James ached to go through the veil too, though they hadn't shown it by wailing. It was a wonderful thing, to go from alive to dead to see all your old friends, and then back alive… but it was a horrible thing too. Like what Charles and Maria said, it would destroy them. But how Sirius yearned… he wanted to take Harry and Remus through the veil and live in the Spirit World as Spirits forever.

But he couldn't, he couldn't. It was a terrible thing, the knowledge of the archway, the border between life and death. Sirius wished he had never fallen through, because now that he knew, he wanted so bad to go back and forth.