After the Veil

Chapter 1:

Through the Veil

...Only one pair was still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: he was laughing at her.

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

The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest.

The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.

Harry released Neville, though he was unaware of doing so. He was jumping down the steps again, pulling out his wand, as Dumbledore, too, turned towards the dais.

It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall: his body curved in a graceful arc s he sank through the ragged veil hanging from the arch.

Harry saw the look of mingled fear an surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind, then fell back into place.

Harry heard Bellatrix Lestrange's triumphant scream, but knew it meant nothing- Sirius had only just fallen through the archway, he would reappear from the other side any second...

But Sirius did not reappear.

"Sirius!" Harry yelled. "Sirius!" He had reached the floor, his breath coming in searing gasps. Sirius must be just behind the curtain, he, Harry, would pull him back out...

But as he reached the ground and sprinted towards the dais, Lupin grabbed Harry around the chest, holding him back.

"There's nothing you can do, Harry-"

"Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!"

"- its too late, Harry."

"We can still reach him -" Harry struggled hard and viciously, but Lupin would not let go...

"There's nothing you can do, Harry...nothing...he's gone."

***

Confusion hit him as pain enveloped his entire being after passing through the veil. This surprised Sirius; he had passed through an icy sheet of silk just beforehand. After the shock of the pain, he let himself drift half asleep in the black surrounding him.

When he was awake instead of half asleep, extensions of a silver cloud was holding him up, where the extensions touched were considerable amounts of pain. He was slowly falling for what felt like an eternity, with what he discovered at a closer look was not a cloud, but a group of wispy figures bunched together. Sirius moved to get a better look at the figures below, then to reach fro the doorway that he could still see, and the arms let him fall into the crowd below.

As soon as he felt himself landing in the crowd, he was within the void of pain again. Wanting to get away, he reached for his wand. As if a trigger, seeing the wand caused the figures to fight back more ferociously, the arms now whips. Spell after spell Sirius threw at them, but for all it mattered it seemed like it wasn't even there.

It was his yells and screams that spooked the creatures, if they could be called that. When he could no longer withstand the pain of their whips, the effortless pain of their touch, did he scream of pain, yelling out curses that weren't normal to hear from his lips. The figures then dissipated and wanted to flee as far as they could go. And he fell, and continued to fall.

He was in a dark, black emptiness with only himself for company, and the occasional floating figure gliding by. Sirius was still falling, and when he tried to speak to the figures that looked as if they had faces, they wouldn't talk back.

This wasn't right. He wasn't supposed to be here, he should be back out there, still dueling Bellatrix. It was too quiet here. Yet he remembered all too well that when he tried to exit through the archway, those forms had pulled him back, and he was still dealing with the reprimands of the attempt. Even using his wand couldn't help with that situation. So he decided to do something almost entirely against his character: do nothing and float around for the time being.

Sirius couldn't believe how he found himself in here. He had become overconfident in his duel, and he let Lestrange hit him. Had he been more careful...

Harry! What would he think? The poor boy is probably overcome with grief by this time. The others would probably feel the same. He had let them down, all because he yearned for a bit of excitement after being cooped up in that forsaken house of his. All because he had been too cocky. But after falling through the veil, would the others think him dead?

That was the past, now, not to mention the least of his problems. He had to get out of this place. Focus on the problem, and not the solution, he reminded himself. First of all he had to stop falling. Sirius wondered what these forms were, and how they just suspended themselves like that. The silver forms didn't seem exactly sturdy, but could they drag him around? They didn't appear to have any real faces, either. But Sirius had a strange feeling that he was being watched. That feeling had been there ever since he fell through the veil.

Wandering in his thoughts, Sirius noticed that the forms were all floating upwards, and where he fell through before was a large group gathered together to form what appeared like a cloud of wispy smoke. Probably trying to pass through the arch, or check for weaknesses after he fell through.

After noticing this, he took notes of his surroundings as well, which wasn't much. There seemed a sense of mourning in this place, as if these things were alive. The blackness was everywhere, like an eternal universe of nothingness. Like an isolation cell in hell, with nothing but figures that couldn't even talk back for company. How exciting. But now that he thought of it, was he in hell? Was he even dead, for that matter?

Subconsciously realizing it, Sirius had stopped falling, and the silhouettes were even scarcer at this level, if you could call it a level. He looked where he thought was up, and could distantly see a speck of existence that was the slowly growing group of figures. Not bothering to measure his distance from himself to the crowd, he mentally celebrated his accomplishment. At least I'm not falling anymore. Now how do I get around this place?

Think of it like flying. There is no ground, so how else could you move?

"What the-?"

"Nizi's behind you." Sirius was spinning around, trying to find what might be his only companion in this place for a good five minutes before the small high-pitched voice spoke up again. "Look up!"

Finding the source of the voice, Sirius as met with surprise at the fact that it wasn't one of the silver clouds, but more of a tiny white fairy with wings.

"I guess I'm really not alone in this place, after all." Sirius managed to speak through his surprise.

"Oh no. Alone you are, and alone you will be." Sirius couldn't see its face, but he was almost sure that she was smirking at him.

"And what does that mean?"

"A new age will fall when the man who fell through the veil returns to his on world in order to save it."

"What?"

"The helpless will not be so when the truth of the world will be revealed, and the barrier to this place is broken."

"Which world?"

"Is Nizi going to fast for you?" The fairy looked terribly elated for pulling Sirius into the state of confusion.

Putting all other matters of what the fairy said, Sirius asked, "Nizi, where are we?"

The fairy took a quick turn in her mood. She looked angry, now. "Foolish man does not even realize where he is. Why should Nizi help him?"

Sirius sighed. He was getting more confuse each time the fairy spoke. She wouldn't talk in simple English, either. It had to be in riddles. What did she say her name was? Nizi?

"Because I'm the only guy for leagues that could talk to you." He didn't know why he was doing this, but only that he had to get out of this place somehow. And he knew that Nizi could help somehow. A strange feeling at the back of his mind, an assurance, a power from beyond his soul, was what made him speak before.

"Hmm...Nizi believes this is true...but she does not know the way out of this place, so Nizi cannot lead strange man to the second veil only the silvers know of the whereabouts." The fairy seemed to act more elated and hysterical than ever before. "Don't leave Nizi alone just because she can't help you! Nizi is afraid of the silvers."

"Umm... silvers?"

"You know, the silvers" The fairy made a gesture to point to one of the floating figures. "Nasty things they are, and they scare Nizi half to death."

At least Sirius understood something that the fairy was telling him. His pride felt a pang of guilt after hearing the last bit, though. She had to mention death. He didn't want to leave the small thing alone, and it was better than having no one to help him escape, but she was so hard to understand. Sirius said, "Okay, Nizi, just stick close and we'll both get out of here somehow. Don't wander off or you might not have anyone else to talk to for a long time."

Delighted, Nizi spoke again. "I'm Nizi, though I think you already know that. I'm the prophet of the fairies!"

That helped explain things. "Hello, Nizi. I'm Sirius Black."

Nizi whistled, and took on a dark look. "You be known around here. Not very popular, are you? The light may not find you, in this place. Bur if it's not you, then who will fulfill the prophecies? Nizi thinks you didn't like to talk much before, either. The slayer, the dragon rider, the hero will come, in time to save the worlds, if not destroy it. The world of the wanders through darker times, and they now cannot stop their path without an aid from the world of shadows."

Back to her cheery naïve self, or so she seemed, the little fairy flew by to sit on Sirius' shoulder, making itself comfortable. "Nizi is glad to meet you, Sirius Black of the reality world. Where will you and Nizi go now?"

"Just wait and see."

They floated in the empty blackness doing nothing, but at least it wasn't falling. It was a while before Sirius was remembering a formerly made note, and made to reach for one of the scarce figures floating by, unable to find one within reach. Sure that finding a figure was the only way, without a word to Nizi, He willed himself to move, willedhimself to come within close distance to one of the silvery wisps of a figure. Nizi was right about moving as if like flying. Slowly he and the fairy moved ever closer to the silver figure. It was one of the same ones he scared off the first time. Sirius didn't know how he knew, but he did. I won't let you get away this time.

He was within range and yearned to touch it, only to have searing sparks of pain going up his arm upon contact, along with screeching words of doubt and surprise from Nizi. He refused to pull out his wand. Fool! It didn't work last time. Remember? Remember you bloody idiot! Sirius remembered, but he did not will himself to let go at the same time. Maybe if I didn't use my wand this time...

The figure urged to be away, and Nizi was now hovering over it and Sirius, frantically swaying back and forth, trying to thinking of what to do. He held on a bit longer, and slid deeper into the darkness.

The figure had vanished.