Fate

There was darkness everywhere...everywhere...The only thing that could be seen was the occasional blink from one of the many pairs of eyes that peered through the darkness. All was still and nothing was heard except for the silent and unknown whisperings that came out of the nothingness of the veil...

The eyes all turned to a loud and sudden bang that resounded through their domicile...The single solitary entrance...and exit, flew open.

A figure fell through, stumbling and wincing as his head his the ground hard. The wand he had been holding flew out of his grasp, clattering hard on the dark, black floor. He must have been stronger than he seemed, for with almost no recovery time at all, he jumped back up, apparently hearing some of the whispers that were coming through the veil. Not even bothering to feel for his wand, the man ran towards the veil, but was stopped short as he discovered that it was solid and he could not get through.

"No...NO! Harry!! HARRY!!" The man cried with all his might, pounding on the wall that wasn't there, but would not go away.

The eyes that were around the room blinked at each other, trying to decide what to make of the being in front of them.

The man started to get desperate. His hands blindly fumbled in the dark as he searched for a way out of the darkness and back into the light. As he moved along the wall, his foot found his fallen wand and he slipped, falling hard on his back and hitting his head once more.

"Bloody..." The man cursed loudly and gingerly reached up to rub his bruised head.

One of the eyes finally spoke.

"Human."

The man jumped, startled to find other people in the room with him. He squinted his eyes tight, trying to make out the forms of the beings that were in the darkness with him.

"What? Who's there?"

He fumbled for his wand and backed up against the wall, holding it in front of him for protection.

"You need not fear us, Wizard. No more harm can come to you..."

The beings weren't quite sure how or why the wizard was there, but it seemed that he was even more clueless that they were.

"What are you? Who are you?" They could see the fear in his eyes easily, but with it, they saw remarkable courage and determination. This man was not afraid of them. He was afraid of not getting back to where he used to be.

"Don't you know where you are?"

The being's voice was raspy and hollow, sending chills through the man's body. "I am in the Department of Mysteries..." he hesitated. "Aren't I?"

The beings blinked to each other, finally understanding what had happened. A few of them chuckled.

"You are no longer in the world of the living, human. You're time is up."

They watched closely as the truth dawned on his face.

"No!" he cried, rushing back over the billowing veil. It was to no avail. All his pounding and screaming and even the tears that escaped his eyes did not good.

He suddenly stopped as he heard the whispers and he pressed his ear on the wall, listening to the voices.

"It's Remus...and Harry...Harry's calling for me..."

The beings rustled around a bit, unsure of what the human was talking about. They did not have long to think before the man turned around, facing them with wild eyes.

"There's some mistake. I'm not supposed to be here..." he pointed his wand out into the darkness where he thought the beings were residing. "Let me out of here..."

They blinked stupidly and seemed to converse with each other. "Foolish mortal..."

A booming voice resounded and shook the room, sending the man to the ground again. A bolt of light came out of nowhere, striking the man's wand and flinging it far out of his reach.

"You are in no position to give orders."

The man looked up with wide eyes, his bottom lip trembling. For a moment, the saw the weakness and vulnerability in him, but it passed very quickly.

"Where am I?" He snarled, clearly not excited to be stuck in the dark.

"You are behind the veil in the Department of Mysteries..."

This didn't seem to surprise him.

"So I'm dead?"

"No."

"Then I'm alive?"

"No."

The man breathed out a large sigh and leaned back against the wall in a relaxed position. "So I'm just kinda here?"

"You are stuck in limbo."

He chuckled. "I hardly believe in Hell and Heaven."

"Which is the exact reason you were stuck here, with us..."

Obviously the man hadn't noticed how many blinking eyes had been staring at him for he suddenly started looking around and surveying his surroundings.

"Who are you?"

"We are the Gitres. Mortals know us as the Fates."

The man's eyes widened. It was clearly not the answer he had been expecting. His mask of coolness was back up almost instantly.

"So where do we go from here?"

"You must choose where you wish to go."

"I have a choice?"

"We have never had a mortal fall through the veil before. Even we cannot see all ends. Choose where you wish to go."

The man seemed to be weighing his options and gathering his courage. He slowly walked forward, towards the Fates' voices. Stopping in front of the largest pair of eyes, they saw his fear vanish.

"Send me back to earth."

A few of the Fate's chuckled. "Silly mortal. You are dead. Life again is not an option."

"Make it one then!"

The fates murmured amongst themselves and the man was content to wait for their answer.

"Human, you're life is over, there is nothing we can do."

"Why did it take you so long to tell me no?" He clearly wasn't buying it.

"All mortal lives are our responsibilities. We can do what we want with them. You are dead human. Choose a different road."

"Why do I get a choice?"

"Your life has been led in such a way that you are given many paths to choose from. The particular events in your life that were good have outweighed your bad deeds. Two beings above have been asking for you."

The man went stiff as he heard those words. "Two beings?"

"Two mortals who dies many years ago. They were in high favor with us and vouched for your safety."

"And yet you still thought it okay to kill me off so soon!?"

"As we said before, we did not kill you. No mortal had fallen through the veil before. Although we knew it was a possibility, we did not expect it to happen to you."

The man snorted. "Aren't you supposed to know all?"

The eyes hardened. "Even we cannot see all ends. Things are hidden even to us. Make your choice human."

"Earth."

"Not an option."

"I'm not changing my mind."

"You will be stuck here till you do."

"Then I hope you guys like annoying mortals keeping you company."

"We have ways of making you choose."

"Ah, but not if I've already chosen."

There was silence for a few moments. The man's eyes darted around the room as he seemed to survey where he was. The Fates did not notice as they conversed in hushed tones with one another.

"We shall send you up, wizard. The beings up there are waiting for you."

As much as the man's heart ached to see his friends, he knew that was not where he was supposed to go.

"You can't do this. I know that you know this isn't right and I'm not going anywhere! LUMOS!"

A bright light flared in the room and the Fates shrieked in horror. The man didn't spare a glance back as he ran over to his fallen wand and scooped it up, running towards the veil, sending hexes behind him. Just before reaching the veil, he turned his wand towards it and shouted, "Arania Exume!" The dark wall was blown out and amidst the shrill cried of the Fates, the man ran back into the light.

--*--

Sirius Black once again fell through the veil. Only this time, he knew where he was. Ignoring his aching body, Sirius jumped up and ran out of the room into the circular room where the doors spun around and around.

The old memories of his Auror days came back and he quickly stuck his wand down into the small hole at his feet and muttering the complicated spell. Quick as it had started, the spinning stopped and the doors now had labels on them. The words were fading quickly and were gone by the time Sirius had found the right door and rushed out.

Rushing out of the dark corridors of the department of Mysteries and out of the non-apparation line, Sirius immediately apparated to his home street of Grimmauld Place.

It was night outside and Sirius reckoned he hand been gone for only a few hours.

Everyone's probably so worried...he thought to himself as he transformed back into Padfoot and trotted towards his old family door that was slowly appearing in front of them. He passed a trashcan on his way up, stopping short as he saw a newspaper in front of him.

It wouldn't hurt to look...

Jumping up and grabbing a newspaper off the top, Padfoot dropped it in front so he could see the date.

October 31

He startled back as he realized he had been gone for almost four months...four months of his life he had missed and it had passed for him like minutes.

His thoughts immediately landed on Harry and wondering how he was doing.

As if dreams could think, he heard the sound of his front door slamming and people walking out. He slowly crouched back into the shadows, not wanting to startle anyone. He recognized Moody and Dumbledore and McGonagall, all dressed in their muggle best. Trailing along behind them were Harry and Remus. He stopped short at how grow up Harry looked, different some how. Like he had aged many years in just a few days. Sirius cringed inside as he thought of what he apparent death had done to Harry. Remus too was looked worse. Sirius glanced up at the moon and saw that the full moon would have been just a few nights ago. But that couldn't have been the only reason for Remus' downcast mood. Sirius realized bitterly that Remus believed himself to be the last of he marauders left, with no more friends to help him fight in the war.

Sirius's guilt weighed on him as he thought of the pain that he had caused his friends. He lay quietly on the ground, deciding not to go to them yet, for the shock might be too much. But before he could sneak away, he heard Harry's quiet voice.

"Sirius...?"