Into the Spirit World
Moony
Yaaaaaaaay! The chapter made me excited to write a new one! I know my last chapter had a lotta dialogue, and I tried to cut some out here. –Moony
Chapter 5
"My – my mum?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah."
"Oh great. And when we find my mum, do you really think she's going to agree to this whole thing about sending me back to the living?" Sirius said, "Let's just… let's just stick with the plan of walking around and looking for it. Anything's better than asking my dear old mother for help."
"Sirius, no. Right now, luck has just fallen into our hands. This is a way! We have to try and follow it," Lily said.
"I'm telling you, it's gonna be hard to convince my mother."
"But, what if we make it seem like you don't want to go to the living?" James asked.
"How's that gonna help?"
"Well, whatever you don't like, your mother's gonna try and make you do, right?"
"You're right!" Sirius said.
"And we can tell her that if she never wants to see Sirius again, she has to help send him back to the Living!" Aisling said excitedly.
"Right, but what are we supposed to do when we get my mum?" Sirius said.
Aisling looked at the paper.
"La mère est celle qui trouvera l'entrée à la vie. That means, it'll be your Mum, who finds the archway…"
"But it says something else after that!" James pointed out.
Aisling looked again.
"avec un ange… with an angel."
Sirius saw a huge glow erupt for one split second, and it was gone. He was bewildered. Where had the glow come from? Had an angel arrived at those words?
But there was no new person in sight.
"What happens after all that?" Lily asked again.
"Après que vous ayez fait tout ce qui est exigé, vous devez suivre la carte. That means after we've done all that, we have to follow the map."
"But there is no map," James said.
"There's some text there, maybe that explains it," Sirius said, pointing.
"La carte apparaîtra seulement quand vous avez fait tout ce qui est exigé. Oh, it'll only appear when we did all the steps that are required," Aisling said.
"Then we have to find my mother," Sirius said with a moan.
"We'll have to go back tomorrow," Lily said, "I hope you don't get into a row with Regulus again."
"No, I don't think Sirius should go. I think Aisling should go, and tell her that there's only one way to get rid of Sirius. Like Aisling wants to betray us, then she'd do it," James said.
"Wow, Potter's smart!" Lily said, affectionately.
"Oh that's great! I get to take part in a role to finding the end of our quest!!!!!!!" Aisling said excitedly, "I'm a crucial character!"
James rolled his eyes. So did Sirius. It was settled then. The four headed for the beds. In less than five minutes, James, Lily, and Aisling were peacefully asleep. But Sirius was still awake. He laid, staring at the ceiling. He was wondering. Why had Harry smashed the mirror? Did he think he was keeping Sirius safe that way? Or maybe Harry hadn't opened the mirror until after he passed through the veil… maybe that was why he hadn't used the mirror to contact him. He had somehow kept using the fire, Sirius had thought it odd before, but he had just thought Harry wanted to talk face to face, so he hadn't said anything.
But then, Sirius's mind raced off again to wonder about Aisling. How had she changed? Why was there some kind of golden glow around her? Sirius peered down, and saw her cheeks were still rosy, though it wasn't extremely hot, nor cold. And where had Aisling really gotten that parchment? A parchment for the entrance to life wasn't supposed to be just lying around. Why had she even left in the first place? Sirius realized that, Aisling had used the excuse that she had to 'get something'. But she had come back with only that parchment in her hands. She could not have went to especially get the parchment, since she had claimed to have 'found it'. What was up with Aisling? Was she hiding something? Did she know something about the entrance to life?
Also, what was that huge glow that had erupted after Aisling spoke the words angel? Had an angel come down? Was that angel going to help them find the archway to life? Or was whatever it was just going to watch them and do nothing?
Sirius rolled over and tried to think. Nothing made much sense. The Spirit World was so… confusing.. Or maybe it only was because he wasn't supposed to be here yet.
Sirius began to wonder what was happening back in the Living. What was Voldemort up to now? Had he already recruited the Dementors and Giants? What was going on with the Ministry? Was the Order ok? What were the kids like? Had Percy made up with the Weasleys? Who was taking care of Buckbeak? How was Remus?
Sirius felt a bit guilty. He felt he had somehow left Remus, as the only true Marauder left. Wormtail was a Death Eater, so he didn't count, and James and he were up in the Spirit World, while he was isolated down in the Living. He had no Marauders. No Padfoot or Prongs.
It was really the first time since he had just arrived that he was thinking and wondering about the Living. He hadn't thought about it for a while. Most of the time, he was exhausted and just fell asleep. But tonight, it was that glow, that glow Aisling gave off. The glow that had erupted so suddenly after the words 'angel' were spoken. And that piece of parchment.
At last, sleep and Sirius met. Sirius fell asleep until morning, still wondering.
The smell of pancakes wafted through the room. Sirius yawned and woke up, not wanting to miss out. He had learned his lesson the day Lily had made chocolate chip pancakes and he had woken up late and he had only three of them on his plate.
James woke around the same time too, and the two headed for the kitchen. Aisling was already there, of course, and she was dumping loads of chocolate chips into the fresh batter that Lily was making.
"Hi James! Sirius," she said, waving, "I was talking to Lily. I'm gonna go talk to your mother in a few minutes, after I eat breakfast."
"Sure, good luck to you," Sirius grumbled.
He was still studying her. Sure enough, she was still glowing. Her cheeks were still rosy. And this time, her eyes were more shiny.
'What is going on with Aisling?' Sirius wondered. Sirius saw the shiny eyes catch his gaze, and he looked away quickly. It was so odd. Sirius shook his head and took a seat.
The stack of pancakes Lily set in front of him were still warm, and Sirius poured syrup all over the stack. He took up his knife and fork and began to eat.
Aisling sat on the other side of the table facing him and ate too, while James was searching the pantry for Butterbeers.
"Did we run out of Butterbeers Lily?" he asked.
"No, I think there's like, twenty more in the back of the pantry somewhere. Look for it."
James stuck his head even more into the pantry.
"Aha!"
He pulled out four dusty bottles of Butterbeer and sent them to the table.
Sirius took one and drank deeply. It felt good, but it didn't soothe his thoughts. His mind was racing more than ever. He felt that Aisling knew something. Something that would help them get to the Living. But why was she hiding it from them? Perhaps Aisling wanted to return to the Living herself and leave them?
But Sirius knew that Aisling would never do such a thing. Aisling may have been wild and careless and annoying, but she really cared about other people. Ditching someone in the Spirit World who was supposed to be in the Living was not something that Aisling would do. Then what was Aisling hiding about the Living? Did she have something to do with them finding the Entrance?
"I'm leaving!" she said, and leapt from her seat. As she turned to leave, Lily stopped her.
"I think it'd be safer if James came with you, you know, just in case Mrs. Black uses magic… You're only thirteen after all."
James gave Lily a look, then said, "Yeah sure, why not?"
He stood up too.
"See you later, Lils. Siri."
They headed out the door. The minute this happened, Lily spoke.
"What's the matter with you Black? You seem to be… I dunno. You're not like yourself. Not the fun, prankster you were when we were at Hogwarts. And I kinda miss that. I was expecting… I dunno what I was expecting… I was expecting that you and James would be like… the same as you were. I was kind of looking forward to that. But you're not like that. What's been going on?"
Sirius heaved a sigh.
"A lot of things have been going on Lily. It's really hard being that person again. I mean, I was in Azkaban for thirteen years, I was hiding in a cave and living off rats, I was back in Grimmauld Place with no one but that dratted Kreacher there as company, Dumbledore wouldn't let me go anywhere, Voldemort's coming back, Wormtail betrayed us, and I fell through that veil leaving Harry all alone. It's like a big barbell constantly on your back, Lily. It's hard to pull pranks and stuff when you've got a barbell on your back. I don't think I'll ever be that person again."
Lily looked at Sirius. Her eyes were bright.
"Oh…" she said softly, "I just… I just didn't think that person would ever change."
Lily turned into the kitchen. Sirius sat at the table. He stood up and headed to the living room. As he went through, he saw a picture that was stood up on a shelf. The tent was supposed to be just exactly like the home Lily and James had back somewhere else in this world.
The picture made his heart stop. He stared at it and swallowed. Five young teenagers in Gryffindor robes. Sirius's heart throbbed. There was Sirius, standing next to James, who was standing next to Lily. Peter was beside Lily, and Remus was beside Sirius. They were smiling and standing beside the lake. You could just make out the tentacles behind the group. As Sirius watched, his photo hands reached out to give James a poke, who poked back. Lily and Remus were waving, and Peter was smiling, just smiling.
But a cheery voice called out,
"We're baaaack!"
Sirius turned and quickly walked to the entrance, and Lily walked out from the kitchen.
"So soon?"
"Yeah. It wasn't exactly enjoyable. I say your Mum yelled the entire time," James said gloomily.
"But she agreed to do it!"
"Greeeat. Just what I need, my dear old Mother following me around the whole time and screaming at my back."
"Well she's meeting us tomorrow, and you can't change it Sirius," Aisling said defiantly.
"But what about the angel? It says the mum's supposed to find it with an angel. Where do we find an angel?" James said, "It's impossible to find one, since angels never tell you they're angels until they did the deed."
Sirius noticed that the glow grew stronger from Aisling, who blushed.
"Well, we'll find her later I bet, see, the map's appeared. I'm sure the angel will appear, uh… later."
They directed their eyes to the map. It was something like the Marauder's Map, but only the four of them and Sirius's mother appeared as dots. It showed them moving along to some street that read 'Hidden Street'.
"I've never heard of Hidden Street, have you James?" Lily asked.
"No, and I know this whole Spirit World really well," James said.
"Well, I suppose it's called Hidden Street for a reason," Sirius replied.
"Yeah, so how're we going to find it? It's just like wondering all over again, except this time looking for 'Hidden Street'," James said.
"Maybe Sirius's mother plays a part in this?"
"Yeah, that might be," Lily said thoughtfully.
"How come you're getting all these great ideas that always fits the puzzle?" Sirius asked sharply. He was still trying to figure what was going on with Aisling. He watched as Aisling turned red, then said quickly, "Well, I'm just, I'm just thinking is all. You know, using the clues. Auntie Maria said I was quite a smart one, so I guess she was right hm? Hey, let's get camp packed up and get Sirius's Mum and go try to find Hidden Street."
"Of course," Lily said, "Out of the tent everyone!"
Aisling pocketed the parchment, and they headed out as Lily said a spell and the tent folded up into a tube, which fit nicely in Lily's pocket.
"Now, off to Sirius's mother's house," Aisling said cheerfully.
"Oh yippee…" Sirius said sarcastically, "I can't wait to see my mother again!"
They arrived at the ramshackle house, where the screams could be heard from ten miles away.
"Hi Mum," Sirius said with a false cheeriness.
"YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUU! YOU TRAITOR! SHAME ON THE FAMILY!"
"Um, Mrs. Black, would it be ok, if you don't yell at Sirius while we try to get him away?" Aisling said, then muttered loud enough for Sirius to hear, but acting as if it were a secret, "It's the fastest way to get rid of him."
Mrs. Black narrowed her eyes, but was quiet the whole way, though she threw many glares, and hissed towards Sirius a good many times. After a while, Aisling showed her the parchment.
"Mrs. Black, do you think you have an idea where the street called 'Hidden Street' is."
Sirius watched his mother's reaction. She froze and shrieked, "HOW DID YOU FIND IT? HOW DO YOU KNOW?"
Aisling shrunk back, "Know? I – we need to find it… do you know about the 'Hidden – "
"THE HIDDEN STREET WAS CREATED BY ME!!!! THERE IS NOTHING THERE!"
"But maybe we can just try?"
"NO! NOT MY HIDDEN STREET!"
"But Mrs. Black, we'll never get rid of Sirius!" Aisling muttered.
Mrs. Black gave a hard, cold, glare, but simply screamed, "FOLLOW ME!"
They walked through a field of saw grass that cut their ankles, though Mrs. Black seemed quite oblivious to the sharp edges of the grass. Soon they came to a wall. It was just a strange wall, gray and made of stone, covered in green, tangled vines.
"COVER YOUR EARS!!!!!! CLOSE YOUR EYES!!!!!!"
They did so. When they opened their eyes, and uncovered their ears, the wall was gone. Not a trace of it was there, in fact, if they hadn't seen it, they would have thought there had been nothing there. They stepped in. It was a dark alleyway, and deadly quiet. It naturally gave everyone shivers.
Suddenly, Sirius's mother halted.
"WHAT IS THAT???"
"What?" Aisling asked.
"THAT!!!!!! I NEVER PUT IT THERE!!!! WHO BROKE IN????"
Aisling hastily looked at the parchment.
James, Lily, and Sirius peered over too. It showed five of them standing in front of a strange door. As soon as they looked up from the parchment, there, they saw what Sirius's mother was staring at. It was a strange, wooden door, just sitting there. You could not see what was behind it.
Sirius watched as his mother tried to pick it up. But it did not budge.
"I think we have to go through it," Aisling said.
"But what if there's something behind it?" James asked.
"It's what it says on the map," Aisling replied.
"I don't have a good feeling…" James said.
"But it's our last hope," Lily replied.
"Well, the only hope we have, we should – "
"GET IN!!!!!" Sirius's mother shouted.
She opened the door and walked in. Without a choice, they followed her. It wasn't long before Aisling gave a loud yell…
