A/n: Sorry for the long wait, folks. Had to read OotP again, just to get my bearings straight, and after that, I was tempted wails I had to read HBP as well XD;; Sorry. Oh well, Back to writing again:D
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Behind the Veil
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It was like falling through a dream, feather soft clouds floating all around Remus Lupin.
But it lasted for only a breath.
The pink, fluffy cloud filled vision pressed on his eyes until the pressure made them bleed. The pink quickly turned to red, as a tingling agony gnawed at his toes, finger tips, and, strangely, the inside of his head. Realizing that this must be his mind being torn away, his blood shot eyes widened, had he forgotten the spell! "Mirror!" He yelled out, but that didn't sound right. No... what was it!
If he didn't remember this spell, he'd fall through, and his chance to get Sirius back would be lost. The gnawing continued until it was up to the middle of his foot, hand, and head. Somewhere deep in his chest, something snapped, sparking out with pain. A strangled scream ripped through his throat as he doubled over in pain, forgetting that he was falling. Horror filled his every being as he forgot completely why he was here. The pain was just too intense for him.
Then, a hunched over, shivering image entered what little mind he possessed. Remus's blood filled soul gripped this image until his life depended on it. Then, the huddled, whimpering figure uttered a word he couldn't understand, but he could wrap his mind around it, his throat around it. To get this figure to safety, this word was very important. It didn't matter anymore, the pain. That word was the one that mattered most of all.
"Moror!" He screamed, the muscles in his arms clenching to make his hand into a fist, if his hand still remained. All that was at the end of his arm was a bloodied stump growing ever shorter. (A/n: Too gruesome? ;-; )
"Moror! Moror! MOROR!" He screamed until his throat went raw and the word was ripped out, over and over again into eternity.
And then, the man closed his eyes, but the pain went on, until even his soul burned away.
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Remus Lupin opened his eyes, staring at the blank, grey room. It took a few seconds before he remembered what had happened. His body was stiff and bruised, and it took several tries for him to gain his feet. Finally, he threw dignity out of the door and sat up on his knees, hand braced on the wall next to him. The room was small, if he stood up in the middle, he'd surely be able to touch either side. Yet when he looked around, he couldn't see Sirius.
A deep breath got him up on his feet, and as he took a step towards the opposite wall, it seemed to move away. Several steps more proved that it wasn't just his imagination or his pain ravenged mind, but indeed the wall was moving away.
He fell to his knees again, pounding the ground with his fists. How would he ever reach Sirius if he couldn't find him? Couldn't even reach the far wall? He wracked his memory, and the words came back to him. Midge's words. '...in the grey room. There, Sirius will be waiting for you, you merely have to call out his name.' "Sirius..." The man whispered, tears filling his eyes. "Sirius!" He called out, louder this time, not daring to look up just in case it didn't work.
The werewolf closed his eyes, a single tear falling to the grey floor beneath him, smooth, cold, and uncaring. Labored breathing sounded in his ears... Wait, in his ears? He held his breath, waiting, listened. He could still hear the breathing... Taking a deep breath of confidence, he leaned back again, so that he was sitting on his heels. Staring into his face was the tired, but strangely elated eyes of Sirius Black.
"S-Sirius?" Remus asked, afraid that, once again, his friend would be taken away.
The other nodded, and even managed a weak grin. "Moony..." He whispered, bringing up a hand and brushing it along Remus's stubble covered face. The werewolf choked back a sob and grabbed the other's hand, trying to ignore the quick beat of his heart, not just caused by fear of what he was about to do.
'Ready or not, here we go,' Lupin thought, dredging up the word he needed to speak to let them leave. "Dimitto!" He spoke, his hand clenching so tight to Sirius's that his knuckles turned white.
And, for the second time in ten minutes, he experienced his mind, body, and soul being ripped to shreds. (A/n: I'll spare you the details of the second time XD)
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Seeing with a limited use of colors was nothing new to Sirius Black, but after weeks of nothing but greys, the sight of the old hag in the dark room that greeted him was the most beautiful picture he'd ever seen. Well, besides Moony's face, of course. Moony's face had always captivated him, 'specially the eyes. But he was digressing. No, he couldn't see his friend from where he lay, very close to the floor. So close in fact, that it was improbable... Impossible, even. His head was surely higher than this... He tried to get up, but his muscles were weak and watery. All he could manage was a weak whine, rather more infantile than he would have thought.
And since when was the world so big? Something wasn't right here...
Midge stood up out of the rocking chair by the veil, that hated veil, and hobbled over to the two, cackling the whole way. "Good job, Moony. Now, Dumbledore should be in town right about now, most likey over at Rosemerta's... Come along boys." She said, hobbling away from them. An angry yap sounded next to Sirius, and he was able to pick his head up and look to what made that noise. A suprised squeak issued from former prisoner. He was sure that Remus had been right beside him... But... this wasn't Remus. Or was it?
A young brown puppy tried and failed to gain his feet, his features angled and pointed to that of a wolf's. Slowly, his exhaustion raveneged wheels in his mind began to turn. He only saw with a vastly limited color when he was Padfoot... Then, that must mean... Sunrise filled his veins, strength, or maybe just adrenalin, making him jump up and look down. Yep, paws. Turning around, a short black tail greeted his vision. He was, just as Remus next to him was, rather canine, indeed.
Just as he was making these discoveries, Midge turned around, scowling down at them, then raised her eyebrows in realization. Cackling, she hobbled back over to them. "Still a bit weak on your pins, are you?" Cackling, she pointed her cane at the two puppies, and mumbled something that sounded a bit like 'wingaurdium leviosa'. Then, yapping in surprise, he and Remus began to levitate. Growling at the woman, Sirius the puppy spun his legs, trying to propel himself towards the old hag, and most likely give her a nice bite on her prominent nose.
"Oh, stop growling at me. You'll be able to talk in a few days time. Locomotor puppies!" And, floating four feet in the air, the puppies began to trail after the retreating hag. Sirius turned to look at Remus, who managed a weak canine grin and a low wag of his tail.
Wondering why he was a puppy, but knowing that he was out of that hated room, everything was looking up.
Midge lumbered out of her house, creatures of both the rodent type and the human type scattering from her front porch. She didn't stop to give them a passing glance, but walked right on out to the mouth of the alley way, where the sun had already set. The human vermin that littered the darkened, enclosed space glared at her, their eyes glinting with hunger as they watched the two puppies trailing along helplessly after the hag. But, before they could snatch the canines from the air, the hag had trundled off into the relatively brighter and much safer open area.
Hogsmead's more respectable denizens squeaked and fled at the sight of the hag, as she headed straight for the Three Broomsticks. Remus behind her whined with apprehension as the noises from the rowdy common room reached his ears even from this distance.
Midge was rounding the corner onto the main street as she saw Dumbledore leaving the Three Broomsticks, waving merrily to Rosemerta, who was delightedly waving in the doorway. The hag wondered wether he was going to Apperate to the castle gates, and sighed, picking up the pace. Her voice wasn't what it used to be, and she doubted he'd be able to hear her at this distance.
But, alas, the Hogwarts headmaster seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He turned around and peered over his half-moon glasses, then smiled, walking the short distance down the street towards Midge, who stopped gratefully, leaning heavily on her cane.
"Ahh, and to what do I owe this pleasure, Midge?" He asked, peering down at her. It didn't escape the hag's attention that he noticed the puppies floating behind her, wagging their tails excitedly at their former headmaster.
"I believe that you remember an incident at my house a few years ago, Albus? The one where the Ministry butted in and took a few of my possessions?" Midge asked, her voice slightly less creaky out in the open air.
"Clearly, clearly." Dumbledore said, nodding his head with his eyes serenely closed.
"And, of course, you remember that you stepped in and graciously saved several of these." She stopped, watching as he nodded, but said nothing. Giving him a curt nod in return, she continued. "Well, if you didn't already know, I've got the back door to that veil in the Department of Mysteries." Without waiting to see if he did in fact know, the hag turned to the two floating puppies behind her and flicked her wand.
Sirius and Remus soared end over end towards the headmaster, who stretched out his arms and grabbed them before they could fall. Midge gave another one of her curt nods and turned to leave, looking over her shoulder with a smirk. "I believe you know who they are. They might do well to go somewhere inconspicuous for about a week. I believe it'll take that long before the room decides to give them their bodies back or not." She said, and with that, she was gone, deciding instead to apperate back to her house.
Dumbledore surveyed the sleepy puppies with raised eyebrows, and chuckled. "I believe Harry will be happy to see you, Sirius, no matter what form you're in." The squirming black puppy gave a happy yap that echoed through the main street of Hogsmead long after Dumbledore had apperated to Privet Drive.
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Harry could hear the Dursley's downstairs having dinner. He, of course, wouldn't even go down if they'd welcomed him with open arms. It had only been a couple weeks since Sirius's death, and Harry couldn't even bring himself to get out of bed anymore. The reaction's from Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had been expected. They'd left him, gratefully, alone. Dudley pretended he didn't exist. All of that was expected.
What he hadn't expected, was to hear a knock at the front door. He could hear Uncle Vernon cursing downstairs, about door to door salesmen and how they always came around dinner time. Aunt Petunia most likely had her bony face pressed up against the window, trying to see who it was.
He could hear a heated discussion downstairs, but the voices were too muffled for him to make out what they said. He picked his head up, interested for the first time in what felt like forever. Maybe it was good news. Maybe Aunt Marge was dead...
"HARRY! COME DOWN HERE, NOW!" Again, something unexpected. Uncle Vernon's unmistakable voice made Hedwig's empty cage shake and a few feathers fell to the floor.
With a sigh, Harry stood up, shaking off the lethargy, and slumped down the steps. He kept his eyes on his feet until he reached the bottom step, and looked up, eyes dull. And the third unexpected happening of the night made Harry gasp, leaping back in surprise. There, in his doorway, stood Dumbledore. He seemed to be enjoying himself greatly at the chaos he'd caused.
He only noticed what his headmaster was holding in his arms when one of the furry black bundles struggled out of his not-so-very-tight grip and fell sprawling to the floor. Then waddled happily over to Harry, placing his paws on his leg and yapping up at him, demanding that he be picked up. The boy obliged, looking up as he did so at Aunt Petunia, who was looking back and forth in horror. She seemed torn between not wanting a filthy animal in her house, and fear that if she so much as moved Dumbledore would curse her into oblivion.
As the headmaster turned to speak to the Dursley's, Harry took the opportunity to study the squirming puppy in his arms. Only, when he did so, he dropped the poor thing in surprise, yelling out a loud, "WHAT!". The black puppy fell on his head with a very undignified thud, and rolled onto his side, clearly dizzy.
Dumbledore looked up, eyebrows raised, grinning. "I see you've discovered who that puppy is, have you, Harry?"
Hoping against hope, the boy cleared his throat. "S-Sirius?" He felt his face heat up at the cracked whisper, but stood his ground. He was too surprised to feel very ashamed at his emotional state in front of the Dursley's.
"That's right. This letter here will explain everything that needs to be said." He said, handing Harry a roll of parchment. Then, very briskly, he looked at the others. Dudley, who had amazingly broken away from his dinner to come and investigate, was just peeking around the corner, observing with evident confusion.
"So, its settled then? By letting Harry's godfather and friend stay here for about a week, we will gladly take Harry off your hands a month earlier than expected." He stood there, smiling, but also with an air about him that said he wasn't to be disobeyed.
Uncle Vernon seemed torn between giving Harry what he wanted and getting rid of him sooner. In the end, Dumbledore's determination made the decision for him. He glared at Harry, not daring to glare at the headmaster, and shook his finger at the boy.
"If I catch so much as a whiff of one of your ruddy animals, you're out of here for good!" He threatened, the vein in his head throbbing.
"Well, there you go!" The headmaster said, dropping a squirming Remus into Harry's arms. He was off and walking back down the street again before either Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia could protest.
Harry glanced at his aunt and uncle, eyebrows raised. Uncle Vernon's purple face was rapidly paling as he looked over at Harry with wide eyes. "D... did he say 'god father'? The Godfather who's the convicted murderer?" He asked, starting to tremble slightly.
Harry looked down at the familiar looking puppy, then back up at his uncle with a smirk. "Oh yes. It takes a powerful magic to change one's shape. He's even more powerful, now, you see. And highly unstable." Explained the boy, a very earnest and innocent smile on his face. The black puppy in his arms growled at them for good measure, sending Dudley running back to the kitchen.
Taking the opportunity Dudley's escape provided, Harry hurried back up the stares and into his bedroom, closing the door firmly behind him before placing the puppies down on his bed. Plopping down beside them, Harry unrolled the piece of parchment and began to read, his eyebrows raising with every single word. He read about how Lupin saved Sirius from the room behind the veil, and in doing so, cost both of them their bodies. He read about the hag who made sure they were well inside their little puppy bodies before taking them to see Dumbledore. He also read that the two would get their voices back within a day or so.
"Wow..." Was all he could think of to say.
He looked down at the two puppies sprawled on his bed, fast asleep. With a sigh, he lay back as well, closing his eyes. He'd deal with this mess, tomorrow...
And he was asleep before he could remember to take his glasses off...
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There you go :D The end. Of the entire fic.
XD No, not really. I'm soooo sorry this took so long ;-;
Tattva: Heehee, took your suggestion and got a beta ;
Srj: Continuing as fast as I can :D
Polaris: Thank you ;;
RemusSiriusBlack:O! dance I didn't think you'd read my fic! I love your's! Updating :D
Sexyteluguchica: XD They'll be able to talk. And they ARE going to get their bodies back... eventually.
Next update will come again, as soon as I can get it XD