I'm giving you a last warning. This is an emotional chapter.
You might recognize the chapter title, so I think you know what is about to happen. I'm so sorry.
Sit down, take your time and take it all in.

Chapter thirty-four: Beyond the Veil

After their little adventure things returned to normal between the three friends. The light-hearted conversations and gleeful mood caused by their drunken night was starting to slip away into the past. Every day letters arrived from people in the Order, saying things were getting worse. The new recruits that were supposed to follow the families of Death Eaters had to stop for their own safety or lost them all together. It was getting quiet in the wizarding world…the kind of quiet that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand upright.

Remus was often asked to take over tasks from other members that couldn't handle things. He was away on most days to take care of these things. Alicia had offered to help, but he had kindly declined. Apart from being able to handle it, Alicia was still not on good terms with Dumbledore, Remus said wisely. Alicia didn't disagree with him. So it came down to the same as before; she and Sirius were stuck in the depressing house.

There was a little moment of happiness in the darkness, as one morning they were eating breakfast and Sirius, who was reading the newspaper announced: 'There is a storm coming this week. Lots of thunder and lightning.' Remus had not understood why they were excited about this, but Alicia had beamed at Sirius. She couldn't wait to complete her trials and finally turn into an animal at will.

However their happiness was short-lived. The next morning Alicia had woken up to find Charles laying on the floor, wheezing as he breathed.

Charles had come down with something. Alicia tried desperately to figure out what was wrong with him. Was it in the food, was he injured? She didn't know. Even when she transformed him back into a dragon somewhere in an open field could she not find what was wrong with him. He was only lying around all day long and hardly had the energy to follow her anymore.

This worried Alicia greatly, but there were only so many people one could ask to help with a sick dragon. Hagrid had long since returned to Hogwarts – and having a really hard time dealing with Umbridge – but even he had taken the time to respond to her letter. However his suggestions did not hold the solution to the problem.

She had even gotten so far as to write a letter to Newt Scamander, writer of the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The man was almost a hundred years old and might not even be able to read anymore, but she had tried it nonetheless.

Her options were growing thin. Charles seemed worse every day. She had walked around in Knockturn Alley for an entire day and evening in the hopes that someone had an obscure way of dealing with sickness. But the problem remained that she didn't know the cause. No one could help her.

Charles whined. He looked tired from simply walking down the street. Alicia stopped once they had reached Diagon Alley and crouched down beside him. She hugged him closely, putting her face in his fur.

'Charles,' she whispered, nearly in tears, 'what is wrong with you? How do I help you?'

'Alicia!'

She looked and squinted to see someone sprinting down the street in the darkness to meet her. It was Charlie, and he looked excited about something.

'Alicia I found a healer that has experience with magical creatures. She thinks she can cure him, or at least tell you what is wrong. But we have to hurry. She starts her nightshift in an hour and she only has time now,' he said breathlessly. He looked down at the dragon-dog next to Alicia with great sympathy.

'That's great! Let's go,' Alicia said quickly as she picked Charles up so they could apparate.

Moments later they were standing on the porch of someone's house in the middle of a wizarding village. Charlie knocked loudly on the door.

A young woman with brown hair and hazel eyes opened the door. She took off her reading glasses and peered from Charlie to Alicia to Charles. Then she sighed. 'I told you I do magical creatures, Weasley. I'm not a vet.'

'No, no, no! This is a transfigured dragon! But like this he fits easier in a house, you know?' Charlie responded with a hasty smile.

'Please,' Alicia said, effectively catching the woman's gaze, 'I'm desperate. Can you try to diagnose the problem?'

Her look softened as she could see how emotional Alicia was. She looked down at Charles and held her hands out. 'Alright. I'll take him in. But you can't stay here while I work. Return in an hour. If I haven't found it by then, I cannot find it at all.'

Alicia nodded as she handed over her companion. She moved delicately as she placed her furry friend in the arms of this stranger. The woman took Charles with the same carefulness. Alicia looked down at Charles, who seemed uneasy about the idea of leaving her side. But at the same time he didn't have the energy to struggle. His eyes were endless as usual, but she could have sworn she saw him look remorseful.

It was too much to bear. Alicia turned around and walked out of the garden into the street. Charlie said a quick goodbye and joined her. His hand rested firmly on her shoulder. Alicia held a hand up to her mouth in an attempt to refrain from crying.

'She is really good. She will find it,' Charlie said quietly.

'Yeah.'

They stood there for a moment, watching people walk by on a regular evening. Everything seemed so normal. It had been a cloudy day with a bit of rain and a bit of sunshine. Maybe tonight or tomorrow there would be an electrical storm, which was Alicia's chance to complete her trials to become an Animagus.

Everything was normal, except that it wasn't. The most extraordinary things happen on the most ordinary days. And Fridays were the most dangerous ones of all.

'Let's go home,' Charlie suggested.

Alicia shook her head. 'I-I want to be alone for a moment. S-sorry Charlie I don't - don't mean to-,'

Before she could finish that sentence he was already hugging her. 'I understand. Come to me if you need me. And be here in an hour. I'll see you here, alright?'

She could only nod, or else she would start crying. Charlie left with a last sympathetic look.

For the first half hour she decided to stroll around random streets of London. She wanted to be more busy than to just sit around in Sirius' house. Her mind was racing over all her knowledge on dragons. What could have gone so wrong, in such a short amount of time? Dragons rarely got sick. They were so strong they could withstand almost everything. Most dragons could live on to become three hundred years old. So Charles wasn't dying of old age. He was still a child, compared to the life he should have.

A nasty voice in the back of her mind kept saying: you must be the cause. Dragons aren't supposed to live as dogs for a long amount of time. You are keeping him domesticated for your own entertainment. He should be free. He should be back at the Sanctuary. And maybe that was the reason. More and more she started to believe that it must be her that did this to him. What good could she do anyway, if she couldn't even stop a friend from dying?

Finally her legs had carried her back to Grimmauld Place. She sighed deeply as she stepped inside. It was quiet in the house, but that wasn't unusual. Sirius spend a lot of time up in the attic and Remus…well Remus was always quiet.

She dragged her feet into the dining room only to find it empty. She figured that she was glad about this; at least she could drown in her sorrows for a moment longer before having to talk about it. Because she already knew one thing: if this woman could not fix Charles, there was nothing left to try. All she could do was release him into the wild and hope he would magically heal that way. But since Charles had been a pet since he came out of the egg, the chances were slim.

She took a long time to make herself some tea. Everything seemed like a really big struggle. The smallest of tasks were asking a lot from her. But it was better to have something to do than just to sit and stare at a clock.

Eventually she did sit down at the long table. The place was eery whenever she was alone in it, but the room felt even more eery today. She couldn't put her finger on why.

Then she heard soft mumbling. At first it wasn't very audible, but it grew louder. She watched how the door opened and Kreacher walked in slowly. He was dragging an oversized hand-mirror behind him. He didn't seem to notice Alicia as he walked in the direction of the fireplace.

'What you've got there, Kreacher?' she asked.

Kreacher seemed startled. He nearly smashed the mirror on the floor in his shock. He turned his big elf-eyes on her. When the initial shock was gone, he looked angry.

'Still Kreacher gets no rest. Still there is always the filthy girl, who isn't leaving Kreacher alone. You half-blood shouldn't be sitting in the noble house of Black,' he snarled.

Alicia was used to this. 'Sorry to disappoint. But…hold on. Did you think you were alone? Sirius must be here.'

Kreacher cackled. 'Master is gone! Master left the house! Finally Kreacher could talk to his real Mistress.'

Alicia stood up. 'Gone? How do you mean, gone? What about Remus?' Panic was starting to rise.

'Master Black has gone to the Department of Mysteries and Master Black will not return!'

The teacup was swept up in her haste and crashed to the floor. Alicia almost jumped on Kreacher who was just in time to step out of the way. She dashed towards the fireplace, grabbed a handful of floo powder, stepped into the flames and yelled:

'Ministry of Magic!'

It was too late for people to still be working. The massive network of fireplaces within the Ministry was entirely deserted when Alicia arrived. She was careful as she stepped into the hall, her wand raised and ready to attack. It was completely silent.

She decided to move forward. Alicia had only been to the Ministry once. It was after her fifth year, when her mother had signed her up for a career day. She had followed some over-excited wizard who had led a group around to show them all the wonderful departments of the Ministry. That group had not been allowed to enter the Department of Mysteries, but Alicia remembered the door at which she had marvelled. Back then she had hoped to find something wonderful behind that door. Today, she only hoped not to find something awful behind it.

She stepped into a lift and automatically held the door open for Charles to follow her, but Charles wasn't there. She cursed her luck for missing her most powerful ally in times of crisis. When Kreacher had said that Sirius wouldn't return she didn't know exactly what it meant, she didn't know why Kreacher was so certain about it. However she had felt the same sense of foreboding ever since she entered the house. Both of her boys not being in the house meant trouble.

The lift brought her to the right place. She opened the door and with every step she took forward she felt her heartbeat louder in her chest. There was a humming in her ears and her breathing became erratic. Her walking changed into jogging and into running. There were so many identical hallways and doors around here.

'Urgh who could ever find anything in here?!' she complained at the walls. The walls didn't respond.

After opening doors and finding herself in very odd rooms for a long time, she finally heard muffled shouting. She burst through another door and finally found people in it.

At first Ginny, Luna, Ron and Hermione were screaming as she jumped through the door, but then they recognized her.

'Alicia!' Hermione shrieked. For once, she seemed happy to see her.

'Guys! What are you doing here? Where are Sirius and Remus?' she asked in a blind panic. She had expected to find her Marauders tangled in a fight somewhere, but she hadn't expected to find her students and friends as well.

'They are in there! They just arrived to help us. The-the Death Eaters…they want a prophecy. Harry has it. They are after him,' Hermione said quickly. The bright witch had some weird burn marks over her chest. Ron seemed to have fought with a squid, since his skin was red, bleeding and covered in suction marks. Ginny was cradling her ankle and Luna seemed a bit out of it, but she always kind of looked like that.

'H-harry,' Alicia whispered, finally realising what she had missed in her state. Harry was not with his friends. But Sirius and Remus were there. He is okay.

'I'm going in there. Get yourselves out of here, quickly! I'll send Harry out to follow you,' Alicia said sternly. Once more she braced herself to fight.

'And Neville! He is also in there,' Luna informed her like it was obvious.

Alicia sighed. Then she kicked the door in.

There was no time to adjust to her surroundings.

'Impedimenta!'

There was no time to wonder who the person in the mask was, or who the person without the mask was that was standing right in front of her and was about to get the full blast of the jinx. There was only time to jump in front of that person and scream: 'Protego!'

Her shield was strong enough to reflect the jinx back onto the Death Eater. He or she was thrown back and was now rolling down the stone steps of a large room what looked like an amphitheatre.

Alicia looked around at the person next to her, making her hair fan out in the process. She found herself staring into the shocked, amazing green eyes of her husband, Remus Lupin.

'I've got your back honey,' she said right before breaking into a smile.

Tears welled in his eyes right before he grabbed her tight and crushed her against his body in an embrace. 'Alicia. I've never been more glad and terrified to see you.'

'We both know that isn't true,' Alicia told him as they released each other. 'You must have felt like that when you saw me on Christmas morning back at Hogwarts. The day you had decided to let go of the rules and follow your heart. Oh, and of course the day that I returned to London and saw you again in the Order meeting. I know I was more glad and terrified back then than I am now.'

Remus managed to laugh as they both faced the room. 'You are once more right, my love.'

Alicia looked around. Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Mad Eye Moody were all battling against Death Eaters around the room. Tonks seemed in a bad state but Kingsley stayed close to her. Mad Eye was on the floor the one second and back on his feet the next, throwing curses around quicker than Alicia could see them.

Then she spotted Harry and Neville, who were crouched between benches halfway up the stairs. They were trying to get up through another door at the top, but Neville seemed to be hit with a spell that caused his legs to spasm.

Alicia took aim carefully and said: 'Finite incantatem.' It hit Neville right in the chest and his legs stopped disobeying him. Harry and Neville looked up to see her standing there. Harry looked really happy to see her, and she felt quite the same, knowing he was still alive.

'When we have Harry and the rest out of here we need to break up this fight. Soon the Ministry officials and Aurors will arrive, but I'm afraid they will be too late. However with you here, we stand better chances,' Remus said in her ear.

Alicia's eyes landed back on the Death Eater she had thrown down the stairs. He was slowly getting up and crawling onto a dais that stood at the bottom of the room. Alicia finally spotted the person she hadn't found yet: Sirius Black. He was up there, battling a wild and wicked woman who seemed to greatly enjoy the fight.

'Is that Bellatrix?' Alicia asked. When Remus nodded, she felt a cold sense of dread. Bellatrix Lestrange had quite the reputation. She was a wicked sadist with a long list of crimes to her name. Remus had told her that she was very powerful and one of Voldemort's most dangerous followers.

And Sirius was all alone.

In that moment it felt like all the clouds disappeared and the sun started to shine through. After a long time of wondering who she was and what she was meant to do…she knew.

'Remus,' Alicia said quietly and full of love. Remus turned to face her, rather confused by her sudden chance in posture. Alicia circled her arms around his neck and kissed him. He was confused by her action, but felt so much love and passion in her gesture that he couldn't pull away. He didn't want to. In the middle of a battle of life and death, Remus and Alicia were kissing like there was no tomorrow.

After a long and beautiful kiss they broke apart. Alicia had no more tears to shed. She wasn't even sad. She was determined.

'I love you,' she told him.

'I love you too Alicia. But why are you-,'

She shushed him with her finger. Then she looked down at Sirius who was starting to lose the battle with Bellatrix.

'I'm going to save him.'

With the biggest effort she ever had to endure she released Remus. He just stared at her, not yet comprehending what she was about to do. She looked into his eyes one last time before she turned around and walked down the steps.

Now she could focus. Her heartbeat was no longer quick and loud. Her breathing was no longer erratic. The Death Eater that she had thrown over earlier was about to send a nasty curse towards Tonks, but right before he could Alicia made his wand fly out of his hand. She caught it and cursed the confused man with it so he would stay down on the ground.

Tonks looked at her and smiled. Alicia threw the second wand to her and a moment later Tonks was battling another person again. She passed by Lucius Malfoy, who was the embodiment of everything she despised about people. She sent a severing charm his way to make him bleed. He countered her attack and made a deep gash in her side, but she walked on like it hadn't happened. There was no need to protect herself from Malfoy. She had seen Moody standing right behind him.

Then she reached the dais and stepped on it.

'Oh? Do we have another birdie to play with?' Bellatrix shrieked in her terrible voice. Azkaban had done a number on her similar to Sirius when he had gotten out; she looked like a skeleton with flesh stretched over it.

Sirius turned his head for a moment to see who was walking up to him. At first he seemed relieved but then a look of despair crossed his face. 'Nessie, no. You shouldn't be here.'

Alicia flanked her friend and faced Bellatrix. 'I think I should. Besides, I'm not missing out on all the fun.'

'Let's see what you can do then. Crucio!' Bellatrix yelled.

Alicia was on time to block the Unforgivable Curse, but it was strong enough to knock her back several steps. Sirius caught her arm before she could stumble in what looked like a curtain hung up in a lonesome archway.

'Don't step through it,' Sirius warned her right before he started attacking Bellatrix. 'I'm not allowing you to hurt her, Bella!'

She laughed a high-pitched terrible laugh. 'Oh aren't you little cousin? Well then I should hurt you first.'

Even though Sirius and Alicia were fighting one person together, Bellatrix was still the more powerful one. She cast curses and jinxes quicker than they could and her shields were strong and effective. She jumped all over the place, making sure to move around so they couldn't aim properly. Alicia tried her very best, with everything she had learned in school and later with Dumbledore's Army. She tried every curse and every spell but Bellatrix was too good.

Sirius was fighting hard too. He was panting and sweat was forming on his forehead. But he didn't seem as fazed as Alicia. He was actually smiling as he was fighting. A part of him, maybe even a dominant part, would rather be battling Bellatrix than hanging out in Grimmauld Place for another day.

But Sirius had more to lose than he realised. And Alicia knew that all too well.

'Come on, you can do better than that!' Sirius yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.

A jet of light flew towards him at incredible speed. It was going to hit Sirius square in the chest.

But Alicia jumped in front of him.

Her eyes widened in shock as she focused on Sirius his face. His smile was slowly starting to fade, his eyes bulging like Alicia was sure hers did. Everything around her started to fade. Sounds disappeared, her vision was swimming. She could feel her body taking a step backwards through the curtain.

The moment she had taken that step back, everything was surrounded in white light. Sirius his face was gone now. She could feel two presences right beside her.

'It's okay Alicia, we've got you,' a serene female voice said.

'Thank you for saving my friend Padfoot, Nessie. Now it is time to rest.'

Well...you wanted Sirius to live, right?