A/N: After 3 years... (yes I'm aware how lame that is) rosie's back! Small note: I've changed my penname from signoritarosa to rosieee, so you might remember the old name.

Disclaimer: JKR owns all... I, sad peasant, own nothing.

Beyond the Veil: Chapter 3

What?

"Would you mind, er, repeating that for me? I'd like to make sure I'm not dreaming," Sirius asked the Fat Lady.

"Lily and James Potter are living in Gryffindor Tower. Only for a little while longer, however. You see, there's quite a great amount of demand," replied the colossal female sentry of sorts.

"Demand? Demand for what?" Sirius blurted. Are there really that many more people here who want to see Prongs and Lily?

"Oh, plenty of Gryffindors past walk these halls and they'd like to see their old dormitories again. If you're also interested in residence, you'll have to put your name on this list," the large pinkly-clad woman replied conversationally. A scroll and quill decided to appear at that moment, and the scroll unfurled itself so that the bottom of the incredibly long list was visible. Sirius blinked, and after a moment realization dawned on his extremely handsome face.

"No, no, you're terribly mistaken, my lovely Lady. It's not the Tower I want… it's the two people inside!" The Fat Lady flushed even at his small, "lovely," compliment and lifted one hand up to her silken chestnut hair, which was piled intricately and confusingly atop her large head; it had been quite a while since someone, especially someone as good-looking and confident as Sirius, had flattered her. Many, many, years. Many.

"Now, darling," she was still primping her hair, "I've already told you— the Potters don't want to see anyone. 'Don't let anyone in,' James told me. 'Not a soul,' said Lily. And I haven't gone against their wishes ye—" Sirius got down on one knee, hand to his heart. The Fat Lady's face now matched her garishly pink dress.

"Please, dear, dear Lady, couldn't you just pop in for a mo' and mention that their dearly departed paragon of friendship Sirius is here? The godfather of their son? Could you do me just that single favor, dear Lady?"

"Sirius? That's your name?"

The man scoffed.

"Of course!"

"Are you sure? They've never mentioned you before."

And I'm sure they've spent loads of their time chatting with the Fat Lady… all about what the elves made for lunch, their favorite knitting patterns, and their friends in the past life.

He looked down at his black shoes (Huh, when did they get polished between the Ministry and here?) and sighed for effect. "That smarts. I'm hurt. Siriusly hurt. Deeply. Down to the core."

Nothing happened. Sirius kept his eyes on his shoelaces and his mouth shut, until—

"Well… perhaps… I mean, it's not like we talk very much, is it?" Sirius looked up hopefully. "They just stay inside the Tower, mostly. I could go into the common room for just a second and ask them if they know a Sirius… a Sirius… what was your surname again?"

"Black."

"A Sirius Black! If you could just mind my doorway for a bit, I'll be back before you know it." The Fat Lady turned and waddled into Gryffindor Tower searching for its two occupants, leaving Sirius behind in her post. He leaned against the doorframe and began to whistle something by the Weird Sisters.

I can't tell if this is a dream or a nightmare… in the beginning this veil place seemed kind of creepy and hellish, but now it's perfect. Too perfect. I'm sitting here wondering what the catch is to all this lot. There's no bloody way I'm in heaven and can stay here, eternally peaceful… is there? Then again, reuniting with James would count as a divine moment. Merlin, I can't believe I'm about to see him and Lily again! We can reminisce on all our past glories, I can tell them all about everything that's happened, about their amazing son…

Harry. I left him back there at the Ministry. What if the Death Eaters… what if the Order didn't make it out of the Department of Mysteries? Would Lily and James know?

How could they?

Well… who knows what's possible in this dreadful place.

Will they be mad at me? Can I take that after all this time? What coul--…

Sirius temporarily stopped his train of thought and his whistling.

Where is that ridiculous woman?

He turned around and hopped up into the portrait hole. When he emerged in the Gryffindor common room, he couldn't see a thing— not even the stately nose on his attractive face. The entire room was white.

Have I gone blind? Sirius brought his left hand up to his face and was able to see it… but it was covered in white feathers. Luckily, a quick shake and his hand was visible again.

Is this down? It looks like someone's had a gigantic pillow fight in here!

"Hello? Is anyone there? Fat Lady? James, Lily?" Sirius projected to the room as he slowly moved across the room, testing each step with his weight.

Suddenly he could hear a voice above him, perhaps coming from the stairs.

"Fair shot, fair shot!" And the side of Sirius's face was then pelted with a large pillow. His black hair was peppered with snow-white feathers, and he puffed to get the rest out of his mouth. He turned to the right and caught a glimpse of something red.

Lily's hair? Let's see, shall we?

He gave chase and caught the redhead from behind, lifting her off the ground and into his arms as he ran up the stairs into one of the bedrooms, where there were only a few pieces of fluff littering the scarlet rug. She brought a hand up to clear her face of down, and when she set her bright emerald eyes on Sirius, she yelped and jumped out of his arms.

Then she screamed, hit him on the shoulder, and embraced him once more. "Sirius Black, you scared the life out of me! I thought you were James!"

"Speaking of him—where the devil is he in that featherstorm down there?" asked Sirius congenially. Lily scoffed.

"Oh, I don't know… he's probably found some clever hiding spot underneath a table piled over with pillows or something. He always wins the pillow wars."

"It sounds like these pillow wars are a regular occurrence," Sirius observed.

"Well, I suppose they are. I mean, when you've got as much time as we have…" She trailed off into the silence. "Are you… have you passed? Well I mean, obviously you must have done, you're here aren't you? But I'd have thought we would have been notified of your arrival! They tend to be very good about things like that, very punctual here."

"I'm not surprised you didn't know. My death, would you call it that? Anyway, it was very sudden and unexpected—"

"How did you get in here, by the way? We've got the Fat Lady, the actual Fat Lady, can you believe that? She's supposed to keep everyone out." Lily had a curious expression.

"See, I convinced her with my manly wiles, I said, 'couldn't you just pop in and ask 'em if they wouldn't like to see their best mate Sirius, fresh from the land of the living?' and she couldn't resist me with my handsome features," related a comfortably smug Sirius from his seat on one of the four-poster beds in the dormitory. "She was in here for ages, so I couldn't resist coming in for myself and seeing what was keeping her."

Lily burst out in warm laughter. "She must have lost herself in the clouds of feathers!"

"Who's lost? Are you giving up the fight already, Lils?" A messy black-topped head peeked around the corner of the door, and the man known as James Potter dropped his jaw as well as the two large pillows in his current possession. They plopped to the floor and spurted feathers all over him, but he didn't notice, as he eagerly ran over to the bed on which Sirius was sitting.

A/N: I know, it's not much, but I'm already working on ch. 4, so hopefully my next update will be MUCH more prompt. Many apologies to anyone who's been waiting! You get an award for most patient readers in the history of ffnet! I love you dearly :]

Please review! It takes but a moment, and makes me feel much more motivated to write the next chapter. -- rosie