The moment of blackness faded away as quickly as it appeared. For a moment, Harry seemed to be falling, and he saw a stone floor below him.

Then he smacked into the stone floor with a heavy thump. He groaned, squirming slightly to make sure nothing was broken. His head was pounding roughly, throbbing heavily with each of his heartbeats.

Harry opened his eyes at the sound of more groans. Slowly opening his eyes, he saw the last thing he expected.

Lying inches away from his face was Sirius. He flinched back, shocked at how close he was to him. Sirius looked like he had when he had seen him – Merlin, had that only been a few minutes ago? – using the Resurrection Stone.

Except that there was one difference.

He was breathing.

It seemed so simple to say it like that. He was breathing.

He was-

-It meant so much-

breathing.

It meant-

-Could it be?-

he was alive.

But it couldn't be. There's nothing that could bring back the dead. He'd heard it over and over. How many times had Dumbledore said that? Or anyone else for that matter? Harry had been annoyed with how many times he had heard that. Now, it seemed that it wasn't true. Sirius was lying before him…

No. It couldn't be.

Yet, Sirius was lying next to him, and he was breathing.

Harry turned his head, wincing when the movement sent a burst of deep pain reverberating through his head.

He could see his dad and his mum lying not too far away. Lupin was there, too.

And they were all breathing. He could see their chests moving in and out with each breath. Each breath brought air into their lungs.

That air meant that they were alive, that their bodies needed to air to… to survive.

As Harry, stunned into silence, stared at the people he had missed so many years, they began to wake up. Sirius was the first to blink open his eyes.

Harry saw him clench his eyes shut again, hard. It was clear that he had a headache. Harry sympathized. His head was pounding, too.

He groaned and slowly sat up.

"Damn," he muttered. "I haven't hurt this much since I was alive."

Harry stared at him. He had known Sirius was alive, but he hadn't expected those to be his first words after his… resurrection.

If it could be called that. For the first time since landing, Harry looked around. They were in Hogwarts.

Wait? What? Hogwarts was a battlefield. How could they be in the spotless castle…

Wait… What if… What if the others weren't alive? Maybe he was… dead. Maybe, where souls ended up after death was more like real life than Harry had ever thought.

Maybe all dead people breathed in that – this – place.

Sirius looked down. For a moment, he didn't seem to notice anything was wrong. Then he saw his chest slowly expanding in and out. Sirius's mouth dropped open, and he choked slightly.

"Shit! I'm alive!"

Harry couldn't help it; he smiled. He wasn't dead! For a second – only a second, he was ready to scream 'I'm still alive!' Another second later, that seemed like the dumbest thing he could possible do at that moment.

"S-sirius?" Harry breathed. Sirius turned quickly, jerking his head and winced when the movement obviously worsened his headache.

"Harry?" Sirius exclaimed. "Are you okay?" Sirius's words seemed to echo in the large room. Harry felt a flash of unfounded irritation at the question. Of course he wasn't okay! None of them were okay when they were lost, randomly, apparently in Hogwarts.

"Yeah," Harry snapped, even though he tried to say it calmly, brushing off Sirius's concern (and his own pain.) "How are you alive?" Harry winced at the question. That sounded a bit… sudden.

"No clue. Where are we? What happened?" Harry held up his hands as if in surrender.

"No idea. I still have my invisibility cloak and my wand, though." He did have them; in fact, he was lying on top of them. However, he really hadn't noticed until he had said that.

"Good," Sirius said. He reached into his own pocket. "I've got mine, but I doubt the others will have theirs."

"Why not?" Harry asked, failing to understand Sirius's logic.

"I fell through the veil holding my wand, so I kind of… brought it with me. The others didn't bring their wands with them when they died."

"Oh," Harry said, unsure of how to reply. He felt suddenly, inexplicably, shy around Sirius. Sirius had been dead.

Harry hadn't seen him for a few years, and he really didn't know what to say. It was stupid really but so much had changed.

Sirius had lived with all those he lost. Harry, on the other hand, had continued to lose more friends and family.

Things had changed, and that definitely impacted both of them.

Harry nearly groaned aloud. He didn't know what exactly to say to Sirius, and he'd only been gone for two years.

What would he do with his parents?

"Harry," Sirius said. "We need to wake the others."

Immediately, he walked over to James. Sirius calmly shook his shoulder, completely used to his presence. Harry shook his head, walking over to Remus.

He hesitated a second before placing a hand on his shoulder and shaking him gently. Remus blinked his eyes open slowly.

"Ouch," he groaned. "Harry? What happened? Where are we?"

"I have no idea," Harry said. "But, uh, you're all breathing." Remus looked up at him, shock and disbelief in his gaze.

"What?"

"Remus, you're breathing. So are Sirius and my mum and dad."

"How… how is that possible?"

"I don't know, and I don't know where we are." Remus sat up, slowly and looked around.

"It looks like…"

"Hogwarts," Harry interrupted. "But it can't be." Harry looked around himself, around what seemed to be the Great Hall.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw James and Lily slowly start to stand. It was obvious that they were in pain.

Suddenly, the doors to the Great Hall were flung open. For a moment, Harry was shocked that the heavy doors could even be moved that fast, but as soon as the figure stepped into the hall, the thought faded.

The figure froze, seeming as shocked as they were.

The man looked almost like Sirius. His hair was the same colour. The man's eyes were grey as well, but they were a few shades darker.

His build was slighter than Sirius's was. It reminded Harry of how thin Sirius had been while he was on the run.

But it was easy to tell that starvation wasn't the cause in this case. Instead, the man just seemed to be smaller.

"Regulus?" Harry heard Sirius breath. Immediately, his breath caught in his throat.

The man before them… was dead.

Of course, everyone around Harry was dead, so that shouldn't have been shocking.

The figure only stared for a few moments. Then, with rage clear in his silver eyes, he pulled out his wand and aimed it at Sirius.

"How dare you come here!" he spat. Sirius fumbled with his wand and pulled it out.

Harry bit his lip at Sirius's awkward motions. He was out of practice.

Harry whipped his wand out, too, but he didn't curse the man. He needed to know what was going on first.

"No reply, brother?" the man – Regulus, apparently – said with a cold laugh. "That's rare. You never have been able to hold your tongue."

"R –regulus?" Sirius asked quietly. "What's going on? Where's the battle?" That made Regulus pause, worry clear in his gaze.

"Are there others coming? Are more of your Death Eaters coming!" he demanded.

"My Death Eaters?" Sirius asked, incredulously.

"You can't be playing that game, brother," Regulus said, laughing again. "Occillo!" Suddenly, there was a white colored beam darting at Sirius.

"Protego!" Sirius cried. The powerful spell slammed against Sirius's shield, dissolving both the spell and shield.

"Stupefy!" Harry cried. The man looked shocked that someone other than Sirius had attacked, but he still blocked the spell easily. As he turned, he saw Harry's face and froze.

"James? James Potter? What the hell are you playing at, brother?"

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Hey, guys! Sorry that it's been so long! I've had so much stuff on my plate this summer.

Please review! What do you guys think?

Thanks to all my old reviewers!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter!