Reaching across time

Chapter 102: Knocking on Heaven's door

Silence. Utter absolute silence. The kind that makes one wonder if they have lost their hearing altogether. Just as Sirius began to confirm his doubts, the quiet was broken by high pitched wails.

Whether it was pure instinct or trained habit he didn't know but he rolled over, deciding to go pick his son up and hush him before Mione's sleep was disturbed.

Three things struck him at once. The familiar sound of his wife's breathing was missing, Hermione was not there by his side; the surface he was lying on wasn't soft, he wasn't in bed or even on the floor of his living room because the warmth of the carpet and the soft touch of worn cashmere was replaced by the cold hard feel of marble and finally the wailing sounded screechy, a tenor that his son's voice never held.

As the haze lifted from his brain, the events of last night rushed back to him in sequence, Rigel babbling in his arms, Regulus's horror, the last kiss he had with Hermione, the gate creaking open, Voldemort blasting the door open, the duel, Hermione joining him, the building collapsing and finally the curse...

With a sharp intake of breath he snapped his eyes open only to tightly screw them shut again. The light was glaring. Tentatively he fluttered his eyelids open again, blinking slowly and trying to adjust his vision to see beyond the sea of brightness.

When it still hurt to look into the light, he instinctively used his hands to shield himself. His jaw dropped in surprise and his eyes widened.

Forgetting entirely to look at what lay beyond the light, Sirius focused on himself. He was transparent...Well translucent really but the point was he could see through himself.

Stupidly he tried to poke his hand, trying to see if e would simply pass through himself. He was relieved when he didn't. He was still solid then, good...

The next step in his self examination was however disturbed when he realized that the wailing hadn't stopped. The thought that followed was as chilling as it was improbable. If he was dead, which he now supposed he was; could the wailing really be Rigel? Had his son somehow died? Was this place making him sound different? Where was Hermione then? She couldn't possibly live after losing both of them, no he would much rather see her here than have her suffer alive...

And Voldemort? The man couldn't have escaped. There was no way he could survive except there was still one horcrux left...had his whole family died in vain then?

The more Sirius thought, the more disconcerting the wailing began to sound. As the screeching began to mess with his head, he became more frustrated and to add to his woes was the still glaringly bright light.

Disoriented and tested for patience he began to walk. The scene didn't change, just uniform whiteness all around and he was no closer to locating the crying infant that he was to figuring out exactly what was happening.

Five minutes of aimlessly walking around later, he began to call out to his wife – opting to yell her name at the top of his voice.

"Shut up" A voice barked and Sirius felt his entire body freeze. It was a voice he would never forget, yet he hadn't heard it in years.

Turning around as slowly as he could, he stood dace to face with a man he was seeing for the first time since he was twelve.

Orion Black stood tall and proud as ever. His slim form was as usual covered in emerald robes, his dark hair fell shorter than Sirius's and if it wasn't for the cold eyes and thinly set lips, the two men could easily be confused for each other.

Seeing his father's imperial form made Sirius stand a little straighter and the satisfaction he felt at being slightly taller than the man made Sirius feel a bit more confident.