Another World

JKR owns all characters you recognize. Aisling is mine.

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to update this! I've been lazy. Lol, trying to manage a new guild on Neopets and stuff.

Chapter 7

All right, so Remus shouldn't have been so surprised. After all, he knew that James was dead, and he knew people who died went to this Spirit World place. But you would still be shocked, when you hadn't seen your good friend for about sixteen years. And right now, his brain was still numb and in shock. When he was living, he had imagined that he would hug James do death when he saw him again, but now that he did - it was so weird. Remus didn't know what to do. He was like a stranger now... after sixteen yeras.

James must have been thinking among the same lines.

"Moony?" James repeated.

Remus had no idea what to say, as an awkward silence filled up.

Of course, Aisling hated awkward silences, so…

"Do you know each other?"

"Ye-es…" Remus said slowly.

"Oh. Who are you?" Aisling asked finally.

"I'm Remus Lupin."

"OH! You're that guy!"

"Uh… Remus – what are you doing here of all places, in this world?" James asked, looking worried.

"I'm dead, obviously," Remus said. "For now, at least."

"But I don't think you were registered to die for another forty-five years!" he said, looking more alarmed.

"Is that so? Because I came here deliberately."

"What? You killed yourself? How could you do that?"

"No. Well, you see, there's this veil in the Department of Mysteries…"

"Sit!" Aisling said, pushing him down into the seat across from James. She herself went to sit next to him.

"Ok, so, like I said, there's this veil in the Department of Mysteries. Apparently, it's like some passageway to this place. So I had to go through that."

"But why? You had a great life, besides the transformations!"

"Well, you see, the Order gave me this mission. So, Dumbledore said that Sirius had to be retrieved from the dead, or the world was going to suffer some fate that he still won't tell anyone about. So – have you even seen Sirius around here? I mean, you have to meet everyone who's dead every now and then right?"

"Remus… Sirius is alive…" James said, giving him a blank look.

"That isn't possible, James. We saw him go behind the very veil!"

"But angel records have it that he's still alive and kicking."

"So he's not here?"

"And he never was. All spirits are registered that come here."

"But that's impossible. He can't just disappear. We all saw him go!"

"He's alive," James said firmly.

"It is possible he went to hell?"

James shook his head. "Even those spirits are registered. The angels have no record of Sirius."

"Then… what is that veil? Is there another room for that?"

"I don't know… wait – you say the veil leads to death?"

"Yes, I think the Ministry is studying it."

"But that's insane! There's so much danger to that! Thousands of spirits could be here before their registered deaths!"

Remus was suddenly feeling sick. Everything was going hopelessly wrong.

Aisling appeared to be thinking again.

"I'm pretty sure I've heard that name before, but I can't remember where," Aisling said.

"I told you about him. My best friend, that's where," James said.

"Ohhh. Yes!"

Remus's heart sank. So where was Sirius? He wasn't here, hell, or the Living. Were there such things as dead people floating between life and death, neither living nor dead? That wasn't possible… How could he just disappear?

"That's ok, maybe James didn't see him yet. You see everyone eventually, I'm sure he's somewhere," Aisling said. "But now I have to take you to your registered home, let's go," she said, pulling him from the chair.

"Hey!" Remus said, pushing Aisling's hand off his collar.

"Sorry, it's a habit," she said.

"I'll stop by!" James called as Aisling marched him out.

"Sure!"

They walked down long roads with shops of all kinds. There were Muggle shops, and wizard shops, and many of the things you could find in Diagon Alley.

"Aisling, I have a question, how long does it take a spirit to come here?"

"Well, it depends, you want Living Time or Spirit Time?"

"There's different time zones?"

"Sure!"

"Tell me both."

"Well, Living Time would be a year, and Spirit Time only five minutes."

"WHAT? So it's already been a year back in the Living!"

"Yup," Aisling said.

So Harry would be graduating this year… He must be worrying them to death. Poor Harry.

"So how long would it take to get back?"

"Same. Spirit Time, five minutes. Living Time, a year."

"So after ten minutes it'll already be two years?"

"Yup."

"That's insane! How come time goes so fast here?"

"Dunno. Just does. Or maybe time's slow in the Living."

At last they stopped in front of a cozy looking apartment.

"Ok, you're registered for room number thirty-four here, which is on the fifth floor. I'm going to stay with you for about a week, to help you get around this place, and then I'll leave you alone. Everything's all stocked in the apartment, you don't have to pay for anything. Ok? I'll contact you by phone."

"Phone!" Remus said incredulously

"Sure! Everyone uses phones here! They're so convenient! Muggles are so brilliant, aren't they? If you don't know how to use it, there's instructions next to it. Ok, you know what, never mind, I'll give you a tour and explain how to use ALL the Muggle appliances!"

"But – "

"They're so much fun! Even if you don't need them! There's wizard and Muggle appliances, and sometimes if you're bored, you can try doing everything the Muggle way! I'll show you!"

"I don't – "

Aisling pulled him into the building and they stepped into the elevator.

"There's so many things! There's refrigerators, televisions, stoves, lamps, and all that stuff! And there's weird machinery, like copying machines, computers, and tape recorders! Plus – "

"Aisling, I don't really think I need to know – "

"- stereos, and all sorts of things that are SO interesting and fun! You couldn't possibly learn all these cool gadgets in Muggle Studies at Hogwarts! Oh, you can send mail thourhg computers! It's called e-mail! It's that so darling?"

"No really – "

"And the television shows funny little pictures, and you can watch it, and it gives all sorts of storylines! And MOVIES! They're LONG television shows! The stereos play music! You put in CD's, and the music you like comes out of it! And oh, computers! You can do so much things on those! Games! Did I mention game consoles with controllers to play video games?"

Remus gave up trying to argue, and he listened to Aisling babble on and on as they finally got to their room.

"Thanks Aisling, but I don't really need a tour," he managed to say in between her talking.

"Oh don't be silly! Of course you do! Come on!"

She marched into the room. It was quite a cozy room, soft carpet and squishy looking sofas. They were around a television. Plus there was a table made of mahogany, surrounded by chairs.

"Ok, that's a television! See, I'll show you the moving pictures!" she pushed the power button and out came a picture of a man talking.

"And, different channels show you different things! Plus, if you're too lazy to go to the television, you can use the remote control!" she said, holding up the remote control.

Remus followed her as she led him into the kitchen, and pointed to an oven.

"That's an oven! They bake things, like cakes and cookies! And that's a refrigerator! Muggles keep things cool so they don't spoil, and that's what they use!"

Then she pushed him along to another table and pointed at the telephone. "That's a telephone. I'll show you how to use it. See look, you pick up the receiver, which is this thing, put it to your ear, and then plug in the number house you want to dial. Then it will call and then the person might pick up and then you can talk!"

She paused for a moment, and Remus heard someone say, "Hello?"

"Hi Auntie! It's Aisling. I was just showing my new assignment person how to use a telephone. Huh? Oh, now? But I want to – Oh really! Super! Ok, I'll be there in a few seconds!"

She hung up, and turned to Remus, "Sorry I couldn't show you everything else, Auntie Maria says she invited all the Council over to dinner and I can't be late. But I'll come back soon! What say ten o'clock?"

Remus was about to nod, but he caught the word Council. Was is possible the Council existed here too? Could they help him?

"Wait – did you say Council?" he asked.

"Yup, the Spirit World Council. They're like the people who manage everything in the Spirit World, the shops, the new spirits, angels, and all that. Very important people. When you have a problem, you bring it to them. Auntie Maria's on it. And I might be too, someday."

Councils, councils… could they possibly have information about spirits, how to get back and such? Did they have contact with the Angel Council back in the Living? He had to find out, and here was his chance.

"Aisling… is it possible to speak to the Council? Just randomly?"

"Sure. Say – you wanna meet them? I don't think Auntie would mind."

Remus considered this. He was tired, and he wanted to just roll off into bed. But he might not see this Council again, and today was his chance. Besides, he had to use the time he had. It had probably been like fourteen years back in the Living now, since Aisling had told him five minutes here were equivalent to a year there. They must all thought he could not come back.

"All right."

Bleh. Too much dialogue.

SHOUTOUTS:

Sirius-Black-SFan: Yup, the stories are connected. This is the sequel to that one.

Lily-James14: Oh yes, I love writing about Aisling. She's one of my favorite connections. I couldn't bear to not write about her with a sequel and all! And, since you just read this chapter, I see no point in answering the question about James :)

Kyo's Babe: Yay!

IamSiriusgrl: I LOVE Aisling! It is almost the same, isn't it? Ha, I think Aisling was more annoying with Sirius, but I dunno.

ShOrTnSwEeT9013: runs and hides I updated! Don't kill me! Lol

GMUXMenSoaps: Yes. Spirits can get destroyed when they leave.Hoorah for James!

Erin: Yes! Prongs! Everyone's cheering for Prongs huh?

The Egyptian Sand Quills: Cliffhangers are fun to write. Yay for Aisling!