Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are owned by JK Rowling.

A/N: Thanks to everybody who reviewed and I'm really pleased with all the positive things people had to say. I think I'm finally getting to grips with this story so hang in there!

One's Loss, Another's Gain

Harry stalked up the street, livid. He didn't care if Dumbledore turned up and locked him in Grimmauld Place for the rest of the summer, there was no way he would go back and live in that house, pretending that nothing had happened. He might have let it go in the past but he was old enough to think for himself, and he wasn't going to stand by while the Dursleys sneer at Sirius. They would never understand what his godfather had done for him.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he did not realise he was taking his usual route to the play area until the creaking of the swings made him start. Leaving his trunk on the grass, he sat on one and drifted back and forth while he figured out what to do next. Harry supposed he could get the Knight Bus again and wait for Dumbledore or a member of the Order to pick him up from the Leaky Cauldron. He knew he wouldn't hear the end of it, how he was putting his life in danger by running off again, how Voldemort would do anything to get hold of him. Snape especially wouldn't allow an opportunity to pass without reminding him again how ungrateful, selfish and as arrogant as his father before him he was.

Harry savoured the silence, shivering slightly in the cool breeze. He wished he knew what had happened with the Weasleys. Tipping his head back, he scanned the night sky, looking for Sirius, the Dog Star. There it was, not bright, but still there, twinkling faintly in the heavens. Harry sighed and hung his head. With the rage over he felt as empty as before, was he destined to lose everybody he wondered?

After sitting and thinking about Sirius for a while, a thought came to him: What about Mrs Figg? Her house wasn't far and he couldn't stay sat in the park all night. Plus, since he now knew that she knew about the wizarding world, perhaps they could talk about something other than cats for a change. She might also tell him about what was happening concerning Voldemort. She would understand why he'd left the Dursleys, having met Petunia and Vernon before.

He tucked his wand into his jeans, hoping Mrs Figg wasn't already in bed. A rustle behind him made him stop and look round. Bushes were shadowy shapes in the half-dusk, but he couldn't see anything.

"Probably a cat," Harry muttered, casting another glance into the undergrowth before turning to his trunk.

The last thing he heard before toppling into darkness was a voice behind him hissing, "Stupefy!"

Sirius gazed out across a lush green field of swaying grass towards a small cottage, the chimney smoking gently in the breeze. Set beneath an impossibly blue sky, set with fluffy clouds, the picture was perfect.

The scene was gone is a shrouding of mist, enclosing Sirius and James back in obscurity. Sirius turned to his companion:

"What was that?"

James looked unconcerned, "Somebody else's world, where they lived in life and now reside in death."

Sirius considered this, watching as the mist parted again to reveal a shadowy forest, heavy with malice. Muted howls echoed from the hills, sending chills down his spine.

"It's not just humans that die," James said quietly, "So it's best if we don't stray too close. Once we enter another world, we may not be able to return again."

"What happens if a person never finds a place where they're content?"

James smiled faintly, "I don't know. Do they find happiness in death that they never had in life or are they destined to continue their search? Perhaps they walk these pathways until the end of time, never finding rest."

This was a chilling thought, what if they were trapped forever in the veil between worlds? Sirius didn't know if it was his own imagination, triggered by James' theories, but he thought he could hear faint whispers in the mist, distorted so he couldn't tell where they were coming from. Scenes were also flashing past more frequently, a castle silhouetted by the moon, a walled city with white spires, a squalled mountain-framed lake, slate grey in the rain. Sirius could also feel a subtle change in the atmosphere, as the mist became darker and more oppressive. An otherworldly wind picked up, ruffling James and Sirius' hair.

"What's happening?" Asked Sirius, alarmed.

"I don't know," James answered shakily, "I really don't know."

Harry opened his eyes slowly, his head swimming nauseously. His mouth was parched and Harry's whole body felt lethargic. He shut his eyes again, breathing deeply of the musty air and willing himself not to be sick. Barely perceptively, he concentrated on various areas of his body looking for broken bones, cuts and restraints. Nothing. He opened his eyes again, slowly, and stared at a cobweb hanging from the mouldy ceiling, trying to recollect what he had been doing and where he was. After a while it came to him, the park. 'Bugger,' Harry mentally cursed, 'that's just great. Five years of being in dangerous situations and vowing to go down fighting, and I am eventually caught sitting on a swing, gawping up at the stars.'

He wanted to sigh at the injustice of it, but he kept his breathing even, unwilling to alert anybody who might be in the room that he was awake. Instead, he slowly moved his eyes to the side, glancing around the bed. There was nobody he could see, and no sound apart from his own breathing and beating heart. Harry twitched his hand, tensed ready for something to happen but the silence remained, making Harry more confused than ever. If he had been captured, why wasn't he tied up in a cell somewhere, and why, as he soon found out, did he still have his wand?

He studied the carved stick of wood in case it was an elaborate trap, but it certainly looked like his wand, complete with fingerprints all over the handle. Harry sat up gingerly, rubbing the back of his head where the spell had hit. He was in a small rectangular room with peeling, faded yellow wallpaper and the only furniture was the flimsy bed he was sitting on and a dust streaked mirror hanging on the wall. Perhaps one of the Order had picked him up, but why stun him?

Harry quickly surmised that nobody had been in the room for years. Sliding his legs off the bed, he slowly stood up, slightly wobbly still, and edged over to the window. Wiping a circle in the condensation with his sleeve, he looked out into the late afternoon sunlight. Overgrown Rhododendron bushes blocked most of the view and Harry gathered he was on the ground floor at either the back or side of whatever place he was in. Harry tried to prise the window open to let some fresh air in, but years of damp had rusted shut the shutters and he just succeeded in scraping his knuckles. Cursing, he crossed the room to the door and tried the handle. It was locked. Unlikely though it was, Harry didn't want to try an 'Alohamora' charm in case it rebounded off a ward spell of triggered something, so for the minute he decided to wait and see if anybody turned up.

Sitting back down on the bed with a loud creak, he wondered how long he'd been asleep, and then remembered the watch. It was Dudley's and Harry had found it lodged behind the books on the shelf in his room. As well as telling the time in seven different time zones, it also told the date. 15th July. Well, he'd only been out for a day and a half then. Harry wondered whether the Weasleys had eventually turned up at Privet Drive or not, that would be a nasty surprise for the Dursleys if they hadn't already left. If he got out of this alive though, Harry groaned, Snape would have a field day.

The wind died down and Sirius picked himself up off the floor where he had been forced to his knees.

"Okay?" asked James.

"Yeah, I think so," said Sirius, "Do you recognise where we are?"

James looked puzzled, "No, I didn't see any of this but I wasn't paying much attention anyway."

The mist had moved and they were now stood at a crossroads, the path they were on leading off ahead and another crossing from left to right in front of them. All three wound out of sight. Sirius wondered how far these paths went. Probably forever, constantly expanding like the universe. Sirius always wondered what was beyond the universe for it to expand into, but placed in a situation like this he really didn't want to know.

"Which way?"

James shrugged, "Choose one at random I suppose. Hang on!" He grabbed Sirius' arm, "Do you have your wand?"

"My what?"

James stared at him, aghast, "You don't even remember that? Nothing at all about magic?"

Sirius shook his head, "Sorry."

James, with a pained expression, explained what a wand was and how it worked.

"Like this you mean?" Sirius pulled out the stick he found lying next to him in the veil chamber.

"Yes! Hold it in your hand, flat, and say, "Point me."

"Why don't you have yours?"

"It doesn't work here, only at Hogwarts." Seeing Sirius open his mouth again to ask 'why?', he elaborated further;

"It's to do with emotions. Magic works stronger if the emotions you are feeling are strong. What's human life? A mixture of emotions. In this place," he indicated the mists, "I'm just a shade, but as you are still effectively alive, you still have the strength of emotion."

Sirius looked amazed, "How do you know all that?"

James grinned, "Lily."

Sirius laughed, an odd sound in the silence surrounding them. Still smiling, he held out his wand as directed and said, "Point me."

The wand quivered in his palm and then began to spin in circles. James was obviously disappointed, but smiled in reassurance. "Well it was worth a try."

Sirius watched James choose the right path at random and walk off down it. He felt the guilt of removing James from his place of rest, and from Lily, and probably getting them hopelessly lost in a labyrinth of inter-dimensional pathways. Feeling even more depressed, he slowly followed James, who had stopped and was waiting for him.

"Come on Padfoot, just think of this as another perilous adventure for the Marauders, who dare to go where no witch or wizard has been before!"

"That's it!"

It was James' turn to be startled, "What?"

Sirius repeated what he had done in the hall of doors, concentration on a point within himself and feeling his body slide into his animagus form. He looked up at James and wagged his tail. James looked amused, but also sad.

"I don't think I can, Padfoot. Emotions remember?"

Sirius barked and danced from one front paw to the other.

"Okay, okay, I'll try." James calmed his mind and attempted the transformation, but no matter how hard he searched, the point within was missing. He crouched and scratched a whining Sirius behind the ears. "Told you," he whispered.

Sirius placed his front paws on James' shoulders and looked deep into his eyes. His best friend's faith, and the memories of all the adventures they had gone on while at Hogwarts in their animal forms, running through the night with a dog, werewolf and rat created a steely resolve within James' soul. He closed his eyes and tried again, grimacing with the effort. Sirius stepped back as James' limbs grew tall and slender. A rich silver coat replaced his robes and a magnificent rack of antlers crowned his head. Sirius was running around in circles, barking at the top of his voice. James stamped his foot and shook his head.

Stag and dog looked at each other, then, together again, they ran off into the mist.