The Land Beyond

Sirius Black tumbled through the open doorway and landed, quite hard, onto the damp, grass-covered ground. Groaning, he stood up and brushed the dirt and water off his cloak. So. It had taken awhile, but it had happened, just like all the people had said it would. He had finally gotten the supreme and final sentence- he had been forced into the horrible and pitiless Land Beyond.

Surprisingly, it didn't seem as bad as people had made it out to be. The cobble-stoned street in front of his grassy patch was fairly clean, and the sky overhead was dotted with white, fluffy clouds. Wizards and witches, dressed in different clothes of different eras walked casually through the streets laughing and talking as if they didn't have a care in the world. Bright, bustling stores lined the street, and food carts encumbered in chocolate frogs, every-flavor beans, and other candies floated around aimlessly, waiting for someone to pick up one of their wares. A little boy on a miniature example of a Firebolt zoomed a few feet over the grass behind Sirius.

"Didn't expect it to be like this, did you?" a bright, cheerful voice announced. Sirius turned around and looked into the face of a teenage boy with a mass of dark hair and a warm smile.

"James?" Sirius asked, bewildered. "You... you look so young... and Lily, too..." he said, finally noticing the young girl beside him that had shockingly green eyes. They both laughed.

"Sirius... it isn't just us! You're young, too- everyone is!" James exclaimed.

"But what about the door..." Sirius turned around, but nothing was behind him except for a grassy knoll and a large pond in the distance. The door, and the haunting room, was gone.

"The door? What door?" Lily asked.

"The Door of the Condemned," remarked James with a deadpan expression. "You know- the one that the Ministry was supposed to shut down after the incident with Nicholas Gremmins. The one that is supposed to be in corrupted basement of the Ministry of Magic."

"Oh." Lily's face turned white. "I'm sorry, Sirius. It must have been a terrible way to come through- James and I had watched the fight with Voldemort and the Death Eaters on the LiveWire, but... I thought you'd been wounded. Never that... all the stories from when we were children..."

"Actually, it wasn't bad at all." Sirius smiled. His hair was cut, not the usual mop-headed tangle that it usually was. And he was clean... luxuriously clean. "What about Harry? And all the others? Did they make it in time?"

"We didn't see... as soon as we saw that you... We can head over to the LiveWire, but I think that they're all right. Otherwise, they would have stepped through some portal or another already. Follow us." James started walking toward a squat metal station that had little screens and speakers on every side. Other wizards were there, as well, but not as many as there were compared to all the wizards and witches flying and walking around the square.

"This is James Potter. I would like to see where my son, Harry Potter, is right now." Sirius noticed a hint of pride crept into James' voice at the mention of Harry's name.

"This is screen number 6897, cubicle 15. Very good, Mr. Potter," a computer-like voice said from the screen's speakers. You will have access to the screens for fifteen minutes. Enjoy your viewing time."

Immediately popped up a picture of a boy, tears streaming down his face. Lily stepped forward, and James frowned. "We can't have sound on the monitors- The Maintainers here think that if we hear their voices, then we'll want to leave, or cause havoc. And they can't get rid of us while we're here, even if we did try to harm others." James remarked. "There's no way for them to. We learn to be happy here, though, eventually. It's just hard when you have someone back there in the Wizarding world."

They were racing through the corridors of the basement, now. And then Dumbledore was battling the Dark Lord... and then-

"Oh, God." Lily grabbed the screen, and her hand went through. James tried to pull her back. Sirius looked to the ground. The screen flickered off... Voldemort had somehow gotten into Harry, like the other people that he had inhabited. But he had left- they had seen him leave. Voldemort had been in terrible pain...

"No one is allowed to touch the screens. The penalty for reaching through into the human world without permission is an ended transmission and probation from contact. You will have no more time on the screens this week. Have a nice afternoon, Mr. Potter." The voice ended.

"Well. That was that," remarked James. "At least we know that he's all right. And that the others are all right... We'd better go and get you registered, Sirius. Then we can show you around."

"It's- it's okay, Sirius," Lily said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "We can still see him... and after you get your minutes you can check in on any one that you want."

"Fine." Sirius smiled a little. "Let's go..."