I'm back! I've had a really fun vacation (Which, of course, involved getting lost in the mountains with a messed up map and sleeping in the forest, and changing my plans so much I might as well not have had any in the first place. And now I've been back home for three days and I'm already begining to get bored. I guess I've got something in common with Procyon, heheh, well, it's easier to write about a character you understand :P ).

Ahem... Anyway: here's Chpter7 !

II(:

Chapter seven

The mysterious prisoner was sitting on the narrow bed in his cell, thinking. His situation at the moment seemed rather hopeless. he had come here on an important mission, which he had to complete as fast as possible. And now he was stuck here and didn't know if it would ever be possible at all. He considered all his options and couldn't see any way out of here. Well, except maybe to st. Mungo's mental ward if he tried to tell anyone who he was, where he had come from and why. He considered that. Running away from the hospital might be easier than running away from here. Then again it might not be and then he would have to put up with all the annoying healers in addition to being stuck. And what if they thought he was lying? Or didn't listen to anything else he said as soon as they'd heard his name? There were so many things that could go wrong. Sure, there a few ways out of here, but all of them led to places that made this look comfortable in comparison. Still, he was determined to keep trying to think of something better. He stared absent-mindedly at the wall in front of him, lost in thought until suddenly he heard a voice calling his name.

XXX

In the beginning Tonks and Sirius had refused to let Procyon come along. It could turn out to be dangerous, and therefore not the right place for a fourteen-year-old boy who thought getting into trouble was fun. Finally, however, he persuaded them to take him with them.

'It's about me too,' he had said 'You can't say it's none of my business or anything!'

He was told to stay calm, not touch anything, let the grown-ups deal with everything, behave himself and try not to get into any more trouble than was absolutely necessary. He was still allowed more than he should have been allowed, especially since it was obvious that he was going to break some of the rules. After all the last time he had been told not to touch anything, he had followed Sirius through that veil and caused a lot of trouble. And right now, as the three of them were reaching their destination, the boy was becoming dangerously excited.

'We're nearly there,' the young auror said. She could already see the strange man sitting on the bed in his cell at the far end of the corridor. She was actually quite relieved: they were almost there and nothing had happened. If only they could talk to him without Procyon saying or doing something stupid…

But all of a sudden the boy started running down the corridor. Before anyone could react he threw himself at the bars of the mysterious prisoner's cell, shouting something. Sirius rushed after him quickly and Tonks followed him half a second later.

'Reg?' Sirius was saying, staring at the other man in disbelief 'It's really you?'

Tonks was even more shocked than her cousin. Not only was Regulus Black supposed to be dead, but the two brothers had never really been that close… or at least she couldn't remember it… Then again there was the whole thing with the message in the fake Horcrux… Never mind. It still made no sense.

'What are you doing here?' Procyon asked the man excitedly.

'Not much at the moment,' he replied 'I meant to - '

'Hang on,' Tonks interrupted, slowly beginning to understand what might be going on here 'Are you from the other world?' she asked, but the others seemed too busy to notice.

' – find you and make sure everyone is in the world they belong in. And then I ended up getting stuck here.'

'Well, it's good to see you again,' Sirius said 'Even though you look horrible.'

The other man – Regulus, she was probably going have to get used to that – did look rather as if he hadn't slept or eaten much in the last few days.

'That's a little better than I feel,' he said.

Sirius looked into the cell.

'Believe me,' he said 'There are worse places than this.' Everyone knew what he was referring to.

'You might have relieved the worst moments of your life over and over again,' Regulus told him 'But you've never had to live through your own death. Nobody does… normaly. I've just discovered another reason why that thing should never be used. Ever,' he declared.

'So I was right!' Procyon exclaimed 'I knew it! So what happened - ?' he began to ask.

'What? How did I die? The Death Eaters' favorite spell,' he informed him.

'No, I mean… after…'

That kid is way too curious! And Regulus looked rather annoyed.

'Look, I don't feel like talking about it at the moment,' he said 'I have enough other problems without it.'

'We'll get you out of here,' Sirius assured him 'I don't know how, but we will.'

'You know,' Tonks said thoughtfully 'Telling the truth just might work.'

This time she was not ignored.

'I've had enough time to think about it,' Reg replied 'And I don't think so.'

'Oh, I don't know,' Sirius said 'They've heard some unbelievable stories recently. And they believed them. Even if it did take a lot of paperwork.'

'They know about our world,' Procyon reminded them 'They might as well believe you came from there.'

'Well, I suppose if you confirm it they might,' Regulus finally agreed 'Now, there is one more thing we need to talk about immediately,' he said.

He looked around nervously and then turned to Tonks.

'Do you think someone might be listening?' he asked.

'No, not really,' the girl replied.. Since the people in charge only allowed people to come here in the presence of an auror, she had already made sure she was supposed to be the one 'listening'. And she didn't have to repeat everything she heard.

'So, what is it you wanted to tell us?' Procyon asked.

'I'm not sure you should be allowed to hear it, but - '

'Oh, come on, Uncle Reg, I can keep a secret!'

'Oh, all right then,' the man sighed. Then he looked around again and began to explain, in a whisper just in case someone was listening after all 'You know that when you go through the Veil, you see bits of your counterparts life.'

Sirius nodded. Procyon muttered something about not having a counterpart.

'And I saw mine,' Reg continued 'And I saw my death. And I saw the reason why I died…'

And he began to tell his story. The others listened, staring at him, careful not to breathe or blink too much as though they could miss something if they did.