Disclaimer- Yeah, yeah, not mine.

Author's note- I swear I'm not dead! It's still here! All these Star Wars stories with Laubo keep distracting me! For anybody still out there, here's chapter six. I'll dedicate this chapter to Lauren because she's had our story for so damn long that I finally decided to write on mine. I know, I'm knaggy, but I need something to write Laubo!

The Next Great Adventure

Chapter 6

The first thing Sirius felt was cold. Heart-stopping, mind-numbing, wonderful and inexplicable cold. He picked himself up from the ground where he had fallen into Remus in a heap. The invisibility cloak had slipped off of him and he hoisted it up quickly to cover his new form. Alive … he was alive. It was as if he was waking from a dream, like death had never happened. He was just here, exactly where he had disappeared a year ago, where he had vanished off of the face of the Earth.

Fighting the sudden urge to skip, Sirius began the ascent of the rows of stone benches to the great, circular hall beyond. His limbs felt heavy, he registered dimly, more solid in a way. It seemed to take much more effort to get around here than in Heaven. Taking care to move as quietly as possible, he closed the plain black door behind him and squinted as the walls spun, leaving blue streaks imprinted on his vision from the black tapers placed throughout the room. They came to a halt a moment later and, thinking that at least getting out would not be nearly as difficult as it was for Remus to enter, Sirius quietly requested the exit. A door flew open to his right and he slid through it with ease, his heart now racing with excitement.

Where should he go now? What should he do? It was as if the whole world was open to Sirius Black, alive, exhilarated, and full of purpose. He had forgotten what it felt like to be able to make a difference, to actually do something. He by-passed a guard on the way to the lifts, racing soundlessly to throw himself into the nearest empty one.

The Atrium was bustling with people, a sight that Sirius would have associated with something like last minute Christmas shopping in Hogsmeade had it not been for the agitated, tense expressions on each person's face. He moved slowly and deliberately, trying desperately not to bump anyone as he turned determinedly toward the Visitor's Entrance. Perhaps he'd go to Headquarters first? The sight of a young, pink-haired Auror, frantically searching for something – or someone rather – in the crowd, stopped him in his tracks. He couldn't just leave Tonks, he wouldn't do that to her … he wouldn't do that to Remus.

In a single, deft movement, he had snaked his way over to the panicked woman, grasped her wrist tightly in his hand, and led her into what appeared to be an empty office that stood nearby. Tonks gasped slightly, but did not jerk away as he closed the door behind them and pulled off the invisibility cloak.

"Remus!" Tonks squealed. "I've been looking for you everywhere! You can't just go wandering off, not now, you know that!" Sirius didn't say anything. The way she was chastising him made him feel almost like a child and he was oddly ashamed for some reason. "You must have some idea how suspicious this looks, right?" she continued. "I mean, I don't know whether you've been Imperioused or…." He could see her fingering her wand somewhere in the pocket of her robes.

"Listen Tonks -" he began hurriedly, but was cut off before he could contemplate an excuse.

"Tonks? It's not often that you call me 'Tonks,' Remus, not often at all."

Sirius cursed himself silently. He had forgotten that Remus, ever the proper, respectful one, had commonly taken to calling Tonks by her first name, Nymphadora.

"So who are you then?" asked Tonks suspiciously, slowly drawing out her wand.

"I'm not a Death Eater!" Sirius insisted, eying the wand warily.

"Oh, now I'm convinced."

Sirius sighed. This was not going to be easy, but the truth was the only way he'd ever get out of here. "It's me," he began lamely, "it's Sirius."

Tonks had clearly not been anticipating this particular response, for after gaping openly at him for a moment, she approached him swiftly and pressed the tip of her wand hard into his chest.

"I know it sounds insane," Sirius rectified carefully as he backed into a wall, "but I'm sure I can prove it!" Tonks glared at him skeptically. "Erm," he managed to utter, "well I-I know that Andromeda Black was your mother."

"Oh, how clever of you," Tonks snapped, digging the tip of her wand harder into his chest, "though any of the stupidest Death Eaters could have reached that conclusion you git."

"Right," Sirius recovered awkwardly, "but odds are none of them knows why she named you Nymphadora." Tonks paused for a moment, taken aback by these words. "I'm betting none of them, erm, stumbled shall we say, upon Andromeda's diary when they were fifteen. I'm guessing they didn't know she'd always had dreams of having a daughter, of naming her after her first and forever love's great-grandmother. Whoever said Ted Tonks' family had normal names?"

Tonks simply stared, lowering her wand ever so slightly as she searched Sirius' eyes. Apparently unable to discern a lie anywhere within their depths, she threw her arms around his neck and embraced him with all the strength she could muster. "But – how? How can you just … and where's Remus?"

"Remus and I just sort of switched places for a while," Sirius said rather evasively, attempting to avoid any major details at the moment – he really needed to be going. "Listen Tonks," he began, pulling away slightly to look her in the eyes, "I need to see Harry. I don't know how long I've got here … I have to help him. The last I checked he was at the Burrow with Molly and Arthur. Is he still there, or – "

"He left early this morning to spend one more night at his relatives' place," Tonks supplied. "He'll be back at the Burrow before noon tomorrow."

Sirius nodded. "Thanks." He turned to leave.

"Sirius," Tonks spoke, causing him to turn back at the door. "It was nice to see you again. There's so much I have to ask, so much I need to know…."

"I know," he sighed. "I have to help him Tonks."

She paused as he reached for the handle. "But, erm, Sirius?"

"Yes?"

"You said you switched places with Remus?"

"Yeah…."

"Did he, well, does he, you know, know what you're doing?"

"Not yet," Sirius replied lightly.

"He's not going to be too happy…."

"And that's why it's a good thing James is already dead." On that note, Sirius grinned and left the room.

Remus Lupin had never pondered the afterlife. Although he had witnessed the deaths of too many friends throughout the years, he'd never really stopped to think about where they went or what happened to their souls. He supposed it came with being a werewolf. He didn't have an established religion, but whatever way he looked at it he could never imagine how something so impure and hated in life would find a place like Heaven in death. And even as a friendly hand gripped his wrist, eliminating the white light surrounding him and revealing an immaculate garden, he couldn't quite process how he could have found such a place, much less before he died. He looked into James Potter's deep hazel eyes, somehow knowing that he wasn't in a dream.

"Er, hey Moony!" James said with the sort of awkward cheerfulness born of guilt and fear. "Welcome to Heaven! Oh, and uh, you're not dead by the way," he added as an afterthought. Remus, surprisingly, had already known this much. "You probably won't be able to talk for a while," James rambled on uncomfortably, "part of the procedure really – "

"What the hell did you do to me?" Remus broke in suddenly.

James looked at him, momentarily shocked. "And apparently I was wrong…."

"Look James," Remus spoke, not tiredly, not shakily, but with a barely concealed layer of slight anger and confusion nonetheless, "not that I'm not delighted to see my dead best friend, but why am I seeing you at the moment?"

"Well," James began, "Sirius had this idea – "

"Sirius, of course," Lupin said, rolling his eyes. "He would be the one to get me into trouble, even in death." Despite himself, and despite the situation, Remus cracked a small smile. "So where is he? What's he done now?"

"Er, he's sort of in your body," James said, offering his own smile as Remus' began to fade at these words.

"He's what? Sirius Black is where?"

"In your body. On Earth. Trying to help Harry."

"Oh no," Remus groaned, moving for the first time and sitting on a bench. "Oh God no."

"Geez Remus," James said in what could only be a mock-serious tone meant to add light to the situation. "I mean, I've never actually seen the guy, but I doubt you're supposed to say God's name in vain when you're in Heaven."

Remus glared at him.

"Look," James sighed, sitting beside his best friend, " I know it's weird, probably even dumb, and we didn't ask you – we couldn't ask you – but we had to try. Everything has gotten so bad, and we can see more up here, we know more. We had to do something."

"You had to do this?" Remus questioned, a pleading note in his voice. "James, have you forgotten the Polyjuice incident in fifth year?" He watched ruefully as James' face lit up in a reminiscent smile.

"Who could forget?"

"I was sick for one day, and Sirius paraded around the castle looking like me. I went back to classes the next day to about fifteen Ravenclaws coming on to me."

"Well that's not so bad," James shrugged.

"Yeah, except they were all guys Prongs." He scowled as James snorted back his laughter.

"Okay, so it was that bad. But it's different now and you know it. Sirius may always be Sirius, but he's also Harry's godfather and your best friend. He's been dwelling over this veil for a year trying to figure out some way of going back and helping. He won't do anything to screw it up and he certainly won't go around trying to convince people you're gay. Well, he won't go to that many people anyway…."

Remus grinned slightly. "He better not." A silence settled around them before he continued softly, "So it's the Marauders then."

"Yeah," James nodded, patting his friend on the back comfortingly, "yeah it is."

They smiled at each other, two friends lost in the same memories. The sound of someone crashing through the dense branches of a lilac bush to their left startled them though, causing them both to turn.

Lily Potter emerged from the brush and, sparing hardly a glance for Remus, spoke to her husband in a voice packed with fury. "James Potter, what did you do?"

Author's note- Right, so I'll try to get off my ass and write more now. Sorry it's taken me so long. Thanks to anyone who has actually stuck around, I appreciate it. I'd love a review if you've got the time! Oh and Lauren, one word about those Lauren Lines (yes, I did know I put them in) and I swear I'll go to your chemistry class and take a picture of Yates hugging you. Have a great day everyone!