The Princess of Light

Chapter 5.39 (Behind the veil)

Shaking him was clearly not working, so she did the next best thing. She slapped her father hard across the face.

Immediately the life flooded back into his grey eyes and he said, "Ow!" reaching up to rub his cheek. "What was that for?"

"This is not a time for sleeping, papa!"  She said sternly, secretely happy to see him breathing. "We need to get out of here?"

"And where is 'here'?" Sirius questioned as he sat up to look around him. His eyes fell on the white archway and they widened. "Wait a minute....Is that- am I-?" Then his eyes darkened a little. "Oh, I'm going to give Bellatrix some well-deserved payback for defeating me."

"Papa?"

"Yes?"

"You're sort of dead...." Aurora said amusedly, despite the awful reality of their situation. "How were you planning on getting revenge?"

Sirius's face turned to look at Aurora as realisation hit him. "I'm - I'm dead?"

"I'm afraid so..."

"But then you-"

"...are dead too, so it seems."

"But how?"

"I might have - tripped, straight through the archway..."

"Tripped?"

"OK, your dear cousin might have accidently pushed me...."

"Accidently?"

"Yeah...I might have been teasing her a bit...and she just pushed me, daddy."

"You sound like a five-year-old throwing a tantrum." Sirius groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You sound like a five-year-old all the time." Aurora huffed, actually stamping her foot.

Aurora studied Sirius's features. There was something off about them, not like how she remembered them to be.

His hair was smoother and shinier. His face not gaunt anymore but full of life and laughter. His skin was younger, healthier...the way it hadn't yet been since he escaped from Azkaban. His grey eyes weren't as hollow, and somehow brighter.

To be short, he seemed to have regained the look, the youthfulness he must have had before Azkaban.

"You look different." Aurora said, looking at him.

"You do too." Sirius said. "You look happier, like a huge weight has been lifted off your shoulders."

"Well, you just look a lot younger." Aurora said, still slightly in shock.

Sirius swiftly moved onto his feet and looked around. "Where are we anyway?"

"Dunno..." Aurora shrugged. "Haven't looked around yet. I was afraid I would somehow lose sight of the archway and that I would be stuck here forever."

Sirius's bright eyes turned very sad all of a sudden. "I'm afraid to say it, princess, but if we're really dead...then this is it. We're not going to go anywhere."

"I can't just stay here!" Aurora said fiercely. "I'm supposed to help Harry! I'm not letting this war be won without me, papa! I worked hard over the years, I deserve to see the end of it...and you do too! Maybe even more than me. You didn't escape out of Azkaban to die the next time you go out of the house. That doesn't seem fair of life, now, does it?"

"Life isn't fair, sweetheart. And death doesn't care about fairness. D'you think what happened to Lily and James was fair? No, Aurie, I'm afraid-"