Sirius's Demise

It was difficult to believe. Even as gravity cruelly pulled his stiff body, he failed to accept what his fate was now to be. The blow had come from nowhere, there was little foreshadow of it. Though, he should have known it was to soon happen.

What a feeling it was, for one moment to be so confident that victory was at hand, and the next to feel the cold bit of death. Perhaps his own arrogance had been his murderer, for it blinded him. But now no more could be known, what had happened did indeed happen, there was nothing more to do.

This was almost accepted, he was nearly able to recognize his own demise, until he found those emerald eyes strike fear as they gazed upon him.

His blood ran cold, and he refused his fall. But all was too late, nothing more could be done.

The moment refused to relieve itself. And so he remained floating in the air, watching the fear and sorrow engross all those whom were about him.

Every object moved to a standstill, as the moment continued to linger. The emerald eyes remained flooding with fear.

He wished to calm those eyes, with a word, something, but his mouth would not move from its state.

His body continued to hover, held by the cruel air that now was refusing itself from his mouth and lungs.

A sudden darkness began to set in, and slight whispering became audible to his petrified ears.

The moment ceased to be, and gravity took hold of his floating limbs.

He found that the emerald was moving closer, as the long legs bellow them dashed towards his falling body. A faint ring of black began to enclose his eyes. The whispering grew louder.

His toes felt the sudden horrible pain of numbness, which maliciously snaked its way up to his feet, and then ankles. All the while, the black ring stole more of his vision. The whispering transformed into an undistinguishable voice.

The numbness had confiscated his entire legs, and continued to travel towards his pelvis. He wanted to terminate the numbness, he wanted to stop death, to fight what was happening, as he had fought his way out of every situation his entire life. But all attempts were useless, he had no control. He despised to be without control, it was something he had acquired throughout his lifetime, there was always a way out. Though there is no way out of death.

His vision became less, and all he could see now was his godson, desperately trying to save him from his fate. The whispering became distinct words, it was calling his name.

Everything became a flash, he could no longer tell different shapes apart. The numbness inched closer towards his heart. The black overtook more of his vision by the second. He searched desperately to find those emerald eyes through the ambiguity. The numbness drew closer to his slowly pumping heart. The voice continued to whisper from a distance, "Sirius".

He found them, hidden within the blurry colors, protruding by their magnificent color. They remained fixed upon him, situated atop a panicky expression and bellow a protruding scar. The face of his godson was all that was clear to him now. He didn't want to ever leave that face, but he knew he had little choice. He loved that boy as he would his own son, and he knew the feeling was mutual, to think of Harry to face the world alone, without him as a mentor was a cold thought.

"Sirius."

The numbness reached his heart in a piercing second. He saw his godson's face gazing upon him, and then all went black. There was nothing more to be seen, every color every shape was confiscated from his vision. Everything was infested with nothing.

"Sirius," he heard the voice whisper through the black.

Suddenly the blackness became a gray mist, as if he were trapped in a cloud that was on the verge of downpour. There were endless gray clouds that surrounded his intact body. "Sirius," he recognized the voice.

Emerald eyes identical to those of his godson, appeared from the mist, situated above a wide smile, and surrounded by auburn hair.

"Lily?"

"Hello, Sirius."

He gazed at her in utter shock, she looked as she had last he saw her. "Wh-where am I?"

She continued to smile, with her head tilted to the side, her eyes twinkling. "I believe you know where you are."

"I-I'm dead, aren't I?"

Her hair moved gracefully, as she dipped her head into a single nod.

He felt a tear trickle down his cheek. He raised his finger carefully and touched the solitary tear, gazing upon it with deep confusion. "How..." he began.

"How is it possible to cry when you're dead? Simple, although you no longer are within you're earthly body, you take on the identical form, inheriting all the traits that you possess on earth."

He let out a long breath, collecting his thoughts. "Lily, I can't be here," he said slowly, he stared deeply into her eyes. "Harry, he needs me."

"Yes, I understand how you feel, but you must accept you cannot return to him."

Sirius's face drained itself of color. Suddenly, however, his expression brightened. "I can go back as a ghost! There are many of them, I'll go back and-and..."

"What will you do for him as a ghost?" she said, in a sort of omniscient voice.

"I will watch over him! He needs me!"

"You do not want to be a ghost, Sirius," she tenderly said in a low voice.

"Yes, I do! Harry needs me," he desperately begged.

"Sirius, do you know the circumstances you must under go to become a ghost?"

He gazed at her for a moment, and then shook his head solemnly, as he realized he had already been defeated.

"Once you become a ghost you will no longer take this form, but be transparent..."

"I don't mind that!" he cut in, attempting to rationalize.

"Sirius," she sympathetically grinned. "Once you are a ghost you can not return here."

"That's fine..."

"Sirius!" her expression became a bit graver. "Do you know what that means? You will be stuck on earth for eternity! When Harry dies, you will never see him again."

Sirius's eyes began to tear. His neck bent, as his head drooped, his long black hair shielded his handsome face as he wept.

"Please, do not even consider that option!" Lily appeared worried of decision.

"Why," Sirius said through his raining face. "I just want to know why I had to leave him."

Lily's expression broadened into a smile, once more. "It is for the best, I promise you."

"The best?!" his face was wrinkled into a hateful expression. "How can it be for the best?"

Another pair of familiar amber eyes appeared from the mist. A boy, no older than seventeen, with sandy-blonde, and a small grin came into focus.

"Remus!" Sirius's eyes widened, he ran over to the young man, throwing his arms about his neck, and planting a kiss upon his forehead, forgetting all of his sorrow and despair. "You look so young, as you did when we were at school together!" he said through laughter caused by his giddiness.

Suddenly, Sirius realized whom he was embracing, and he pushed Remus away. "What are you doing here? You-you're not dead..." his voice trailed off, as he had a suspicious look in his eyes.

"Well, yes and no."

Sirius backed away as though he had just touched a repulsive object, "What do you mean 'yes and no'?"

"Yes, Remus Lupin is dead, but no, the Remus Lupin you knew for the past two years, is not," Remus attempted to explain.

"Wh-what?"

"I'm not the man you just saw while you were fighting back on earth," he grinned with the identical omniscient look of Lily's.

"You see Remus actually died the same night as I did," she gently stated.

"But- then-how?" Sirius stammered with shock.

"Switching Spell," Lily fluttered her eyelids.

Sirius looked at her in shock, his mouth dropped as far as it could possibly extend, eyes nearly poking out from his head. "With who?!" he screeched, as he darted his head about staring at both of them.

"James," Lily said softly.

The single word struck Sirius like a stack of bricks, nearly knocking him from his feet. He completely froze, his face became a pasty-white. "No," was the only word that could escape from his dry mouth.

"Yes, I'm afraid it is so. You see James and I had switched bodies the night of Lily's and my death."

"But why?" Sirius gasped.

"James had heard that there was a spell of some sort, which he refused to speak of to anyone else. But this spell he said could possibly save us from Voldemort. He insisted upon leaving the house and researching it himself, not allowing anyone to do it for him. As he couldn't leave the house in his regular form, he asked Remus to switch bodies with him for the night," Lily explained.

"But, why didn't he use me?"

"Sirius, you were his supposed Secret-Keeper, we knew you were being watched and as well, had the risk of being killed, and of course you were under house-arrest, you couldn't leave."

"Yes, of course," he muttered.

"So they asked me," Remus spoke. "And that night I died, in James's body. Though when I did indeed die, I returned to my desired form, being myself and as well the form I was in when we attended Hogwarts. He, however, has been stuck within my body, incorporated my being a werewolf, and all that which comes with being me."

"So is that the reasoning behind my death? That's why fate has killed me?"

"Yes, Sirius, you died so that Harry could grow closer to Remus, or should I say James," Lily quietly said.

His face brightened a bit. "So, Harry has James?"

Lily nodded, with a wide smile.

Sirius stood for several moments taking in all of the information that he had recently been told. There was no reason for him to be worried of Harry's well being any longer, he had James to take care of him. However, it was difficult for Sirius to accept the fact that he would not see Harry for some time. But worry was no longer a feeling he had for Harry, he knew James would take care of him, and time with his father was what Harry truly needed.

He turned to Remus, with a faint smile across his face. "So Remus, you returned to this form because you desired it?" He asked such a petty question to relieve his mind of his many thoughts.

"Correct."

"So does that mean..." He felt a sudden sensation erupt from within the skin upon his face. He caressed his once tear-stained face with his fingertips, feeling soft, smooth, young skin. There no longer were corrosions implanted deep within his course skin. His long black hair, which had small white hairs sparingly tossed about, shortened and grew darker. He became the attractive young school boy he had once been.

Remus grinned at him. "Ah, just as I remember you."

Sirius looked at the two of them with his mischievous eyes, grinning, finding himself oddly satisfied.

"Sirius, you must realize, that your death will inevitably help Harry, although now I'm sure it is hard to believe," said Lily in her serious omniscient tone once more.

"So I have a decision now, I suppose."

"Yes, you can go back to Harry, and become a ghost, haunting the earth for eternity," Lily let out a sigh.

"Or," said Remus in an equally serious, yet a bit happier, tone, "you can enter the afterlife with Lily and me. It's your decision, choose wisely." The young Remus winked at Sirius, turned and walked back into the mist.

"Please, Sirius, do not be foolish." Lily smiled at him once more, and she too did turn and disappeared into the gray.

Two doorways appeared before Sirius's eyes. One he knew led to earth, to haunt for forever; the other led to the afterlife, where he would join Lily and Remus. He closed his eyes, collecting his thoughts. He knew which to go through; the decision was obvious, now he just had to actually perform the act. He walked quickly to one of the doors, took in a large breath, and gently pushed it open. Immediately a white light erupted from behind the door, and absorbed the young man, and he too disappeared.