"Well, this is just great! Just amazingly, annoyingly peachy!" Aurora groaned, kicking the stone archway again.
From this side, the archway looked far newer and less sinister than from the other side. The archway was made of white marble and there were blooming branches of multi-coloured flowers spiralling all along the smooth, white stone.
Aurora sighed. It seemed as though the way in, was far, far easier than getting out again.
But that wasn't much of a surprise if she was right about where exactly she was at the moment.
She had been dead before. She knew what it felt like. She recognised the atmosphere on this side of the archway. The air was light and fresh, not hot, or cold...just pleasant air to breathe in.
There was no sun to cast its hot rays down on Aurora's head, no icy winds or thick rain.
There was nothing. The air was still, like the dark sky overhead.
It was night, or at least, that's what Aurora thought. She couldn't be sure because there were no stars, nor a moon anywhere to be seen. She just assumed that it worked the same way as with the living.
But despite the darkness of the sky and the missing sun, Aurora had no trouble seeing.
If anything, this world was lighter on the ground than the other one was.
Aurora hadn't even noticed the darkness at first. She had looked through the bright, white archway, to the blackness behind it and had assumed it was the veil...it wasn't until she put her hand through, that she noticed that there was, in fact, no veil at all, and that the archway was completely see-through.
She was also glad to find that the voices she had heard from the other side, hadn't approached her...
She wasn't afraid of Death, or the dead...ghosts at Hogwarts weren't scary at all...
But being among them, with no idea if she was supposed to be there or not, and without any knowledge of how the dead behaved...she'd rather they just stay away.
Aurora realised that she wasn't going to be able to go through the archway back to her own world anytime soon, and she refused to walk down the hill on which the archway stood to see what else there was. She was determined to keep a close watch on her only way out of here.
So with a sigh she sank down to sit with her back against the arch, and rested her arms on her knees while she moved her head back to rest agsinst the cold stone of the arch.
And she waited...
~~~~
Aurora had no idea how much time had passed. The sky hadn't gone any lighter, nor had there been any movement on or around the hill. Everything was as silent, still and as eerily dark as it had been when she had stumbled through the veil.
Aurora wondered if time even passed here at all. There was no need for it, after all, the things that lived here weren't going to go anywhere, so why would the whole time - space thing remain in the afterlife?
But time must've passed somewhere. If it wasn't here, than it had to be over there...because she heard a sound like the swishing of a cloak. Aurora jumped up, wand in hand and looked around in search for possible threats to her...life?
But she saw nothing. That is until she looked at the patch of grass right in front of the archway. A man was lying there wearing a light grey shirt and dark trousers. His hair was a little messy and he was still clutching a wand in his hand.
He had landed on his back so his face was clearly visible as it looked up at the dark sky with unseeing silver eyes.
"Papa?" Aurora gasped. She immediately fell down on her knees and started shaking him. "Come on, Sirius, don't be dead in the afterlife. That's such a sad waste of eternity."
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-"
"Don't say it!" Aurora warned. "I've never given up before and I'm not giving up now! I'm going to get out of here and you can either decide to help me, come with me, or just leave me alone!"
Sirius sighed. It was clear that it pained him very much to have his daughter here too. Death wouldn't have been that bad for Sirius, he might even have been waiting for it...but Aurora, she was still so full of life. She wasn't supposed to die. And however much Sirius doubted there was a way out, he was sure that if there was one, he wouldn't stop until he had found it and returned her safely to where she belonged.
"Well, if we want to get out of here, we should probably start exploring. Trying to go back through the archway seems a lost cause." Sirius said.
Aurora beamed. She moved torwards him and linked their hands. "Don't let go, papa!" She whispered. "I'm afraid I'll give up if you do."
~~~~
They had been walking for what seemed like hours....but it could also have been minutes or days...
The sky didn't light up at all, and there was still no change in the scenery except for the fact they had left the archway behind them a long time ago.
It was hard to guess how long they'd been walking because they didn't feel tired at all. Their legs weren't hurting and they didn't seem to be out of breath.
It wasn't until Aurora almost tripped that they paused. "This is hopeless!" Aurora cried out. "There's nothing here! What kind of afterlife is it, when there's nothing here!"
"There must be something, Aurie." Sirius said fatherly. "Souls don't just disappear, they go somewhere...I'm sure of it."
"Yeah, but we're never going to find another person's soul, are we? This world seems deserted. It's like we're the only one's here!"
"I'm sure we're not, Aurie. There's something out there, I can feel it. We might be stuck here but death isn't supposed to be lonely, I know it!"
"I hope you're right." Aurora sighed. "I've never hoped for anything more in my entire life."
"What are you planning on doing if we manage to go back?" Sirius asked her as Aurora sat down in the grass, too upset to continue walking.
"Finding Harry, obviously." Aurora said, rolling her eyes. "And kicking Caspian in the guts for letting this happen right under his nose."
"Well, I'm sure it was an accident," said Sirius soothingly.
"He was showing off...battling six Death Eaters at once. Not noticing that meanwhile Bellatrix had snuck up on us and..." Aurora sighed. "The last thing I saw was Caspian turning... A look of terror in his eyes."
"Well," said a new voice, "he swore to protect you."
Sirius and Aurora both jumped. A new soul had appeared, one that was very familiar to the both of them.
"Addie...?"
"Mama?"
They gasped at the same time as the vision in white smiled at them.
She was exactly the same as Aurora remembered her from last time. Dressed in white, bare-foot and with her long curly golden hair moving in a non-existent breeze. She looked barely older than Aurora, more like a big sister than her mother. She hadn't aged a day since her death. Forever stuck in time once again.
"As thrilled as I am for us all being together again..." she said, swallowing as she tried very hard not to look at Sirius. "This was not really the plot I had in mind."
Sirius didn't seem to have understood a word she said, he was still staring at her, mouth agape.
They stood like that for a moment longer before Aurora ran for Adeline and fell into her arms. Adeline lost her footing and fell back into the grass, laughing loudly.
"Nice to see you again, love, you've grown."
"Question," said Aurora, sitting up in Adeline's arms. "Is there a way for me to grow again?"
Adeline pursed her lips, seemingly deep in thought and slightly pessimistic. "How did you get here?"
"We hiked-"
Adeline managed a smile. "No, how did you die?"
"Bellatrix Lestrange pushed ne through the archway in the Department of Mysteries. If that isn't the most unfortunate way to die I don't know what is..."
"Well, it seems you were both in luck," said Adeline thoughtfully as she bit her lip. "This isn't the beyond yet. This is Limbo. It's where the souls of the restless reside."
"So this is technically not the other side of the veil?"
"No," said Adeline, shaking her head. "I suppose you could view it as the veil itself."
"So...is there a time when the veil is lifted so we can pass into a certain direction?"
"Technically only when all of the planets are aligned and magic's power of the two realms is strongest. That's when people like us, Heirs, can pass over at will."
"Aurora can get out of here then?" Sirius finally spoke up, broken from his trance. "She can be saved?"
"Aurie isn't seventeen yet and she doesn't have a child to take her place. There must always be a living Heir. The only one still alive now is Dumbledore but he won't be able to ressurect our line. Only Aurora can do that so one way or another, she will always have to return. Whether it's tomorrow or on the day of my father's death."
"So...I'm going to have to wait?"
"Knowing Caspian," laughed Adeline, "he's not going to make you wait for anything."
"He's a necromancer, isn't he?"
"Necromancer, angel, miracle worker..." shrugged Adeline, "you can call him whatever. But the fact remains that he was given full control over your life, Aurie, body and soul...which means he can bring you back too. With a lot more ease than he did last time."
"And Sirius?" said Aurora, nodding to her father, who seemed a little bit more relaxed now he knew at least Aurora would survive.
"That's a bit more complicated I'm afdaid," said Adeline with a grimace. "Sirius is not an Heir. Not a child of Magic like we are, love."
"But there must be a way, right?" said Aurora desperately, clinging to Sirius.
Adeline pursed her lips. "Well... Magic does like him, I suppose. We might be able to make a deal."
"What kind of deal?" said Sirius.
"My life for yours," said Adeline without a hint of sadness.
"Absolutely not!" said Sirius loudly.
Adeline just sighed. "You are needed, Sirius. Your life is more useful to them than mine."
"What will happen to you?"
"I too will travel away from here," smiled Adeline warmly, "I'll join the realm of Heirs. A place where Magic is at its most powerful and the veil between the past and the future is the thinnest. There, Aurie, once you turn seventeen, I will be able to contact you in a way I never could before. I will finally have served my purpose and given the new Heir everything she needs to succeed in the task she was given. To me...this arrangement would be ideal."
"Not to me." bit Sirius. "I will not let you die again, Addie. Losing you once was hard enough."
Adeline raised a hand and placed it on Sirius's cheek, their foreheads touching and their eyes closed. "Remember the promise you made to me, my love, all those years ago. I was never meant to live long enough to see our daughter grow up. I begged you then and I will beg you now. Please, Sirius..."
Sirius sighed, shaking his head. His face contorted with pain."No, Addie, not again."
Aurora's eyes teared up. The anguish on her parents' face made her realise that she could have grown up in a family who loved each other. That a love like that existed. All-consuming and timeless. Sirius was just as in love with Adeline as he was the day they got married.
"Bring her home, Sirius," whispered Adeline, "show her where she was supposed to grow up."
"Ah, there you are." A new voice had joined them. It was familiar but when Aurora turned to look, all she could see what a bright golden light and...the shadow of what looked like a large pair of wings.
Adeline wiped the tears from her cheeks and squinted at the light. "It's time, Aurie." she said simply. "Caspian has found you...it's time to return."
"What about you?" said Aurora, not moving from her spot.
"I shall stay here and keep your father company until the planets are properly aligned and then I will send him back to you." Smiled Adeline, wrapping her arms around Aurora. "I'm so proud of you, darling, and I love you so much. Never forget that."
Sirius joined in on the group hug and kissed Aurora's temple. "I'll be back before you know it." he whispered.
"Sunshine, take my hand," said the familiar voice of Caspian Beaufort from behind Aurora. Aurora loosened her grip on her parents, wiped her eyes and turned to face the light. A hand had appeared. It was dark, like a shadow. It reminded Aurora of Peter Pan. Of how Peter's shadow lived a life of his own when not attached to Peter's body. It seemed it was the same for Caspian's. His shadow could travel here while his body was somewhere else entirely.
The shadow was also not conpletely black. If it was, Aurora might have taken a moment before reaching out her hand. Instead the shadow was like Caspian's eyes. Like a black mass that hid an entire galaxy in its colours. They were like black holes, consuming and mysterious...slightly terrifying maybe if you didn't know their secrets.
Aurora probably shouldn't put blind faith in the figure. She probably shouldn't reach out and let him guide her back. But she did. Because she trusted her gut and her instinct told her that Caspian would never let anything happen to her, not as long as he was with her.
So with a last glance at her parents, she grabbed the shadow's hand without thinking and she was whisked away. Back to a realm where there was night and day.