Return

Prologue:

On the floor of the smallest bedroom of number 4 Privet Drive sat a 16-year-old boy. His jet hair was, if possible, even messier than usual, and his bright green eyes were dull and rimmed with red.

In his hands he clutched an old photograph. Three people grinned up at him and waved, as people in wizarding pictures often do; one man with messy black hair like himself, and another with a handsome grin who winked. In between was a pretty redheaded woman with the same bright green eyes.

Harry Potter stared blankly at the photograph of his parents and their best man at their wedding. Fifteen years ago his parents had been left him, and only a month ago his godfather, Sirius Black, had been taken from him as well. Harry had barely slept since he realized that Sirius would not be coming back. Whenever he closed his eyes he could see Sirius' body fall back through the veil. He could still hear Bellatrix Lestrange's triumphant scream as the closest person to a father he'd ever had, died.

Harry rubbed furiously at his eyes, and focused himself on the task at hand. Drawn on the floor around him was a white pentacle, with lit candles all around. In the center with him, there was the photograph, a small and dirty mirror, and a clay urn with ancient writing inscribed upon it.

Ever since he had returned to his aunt and uncle's home, Harry had been preparing for this night. Countless hours had been spent sneaking onto Dudley's computer, gathering the information he needed off of the Muggle Internet. The urn had been the hardest to get. He'd finally had to owl-mail-order it through a small dark-magic shop he'd been in once down Knockturn Alley, 'Borgin and Burkes'.

"Osiris!" Harry began his spell, invoking the god and waving incense in the air around him. With the Dursley's out for the night, and the curtains closed tightly, no one would know what he was doing. No one would be able to stop him.

"Hear me! I invoke thy power in the name of my ancestors. Osiris! Surrender his soul, return him to flesh!" Harry dipped his fingers into the urn and anointed himself with the blood in contained. Unicorn blood.

He spoke the incantation that was on the clay urn, while copying the same sigils onto the small, square mirror.

"I demand that he be returned! Osiris!" Winds began to howl outside, and Harry felt the temperature of the room drop around him.

"May his blood flow, his heart beat; may he be returned to life! Osiris! Give him back! Return Sirius Black to life! Osiris! Give him back! Give him BACK! GIVE HIM BACK!" Harry was now sobbing freely. The mirror in front of him began to glow, and in the picture the younger Sirius shimmered.

"Osiris!"

The candles flickerd, and a voice could be heard chanting. It came from everywhere around him.

"OSIRIS! GIVE HIM BACK! I DEMAND THAT SIRIUS BLACK BE RETURNED TO LIFE!" The glow from the mirror filled the room, and Harry's tears overtook him.

"SIRIUS!"

And all was dark.

***

End Prologue...