Heaven...

Sirius

I ran. I laughed. I fell. I saw the look on Harry's face. I was being stupid, so very, very stupid. But in that instant, old Sirius was back. The seventeen-year-old Sirius that was blindingly handsome, the prankster, the Sirius with every disregard for the rules. I reached out to that part of me. My mad cousin Bellatrix cast a spell.

And all I could think was, 'Shit.' Because I was leaving Harry alone again. Then there was dark, a velvety black, followed by a bright, incandescent light. Through the ethereal glow, there was the last person I had expected to see. I had expected James, or Charlus and Dorea, or Lily, or Marlene,or even Dorcas. But he was there. My snarky, sensitive, indifferent, distant, sarcastic younger brother.

Regulus.

"So. Finally arrived, have you?" he said. He nudged himself up from the doorway he was leaning on, and walked towards me.

"What are YOU doing here?" I asked rudely.

"Well, I am here at request. Your stupid friend Potter and I had a row about it. But I won, seeing as we are biologically related and all," he replied. He had that stupid, cocky smirk on his face, the one that was so commonplace on my own when we were in school. I noticed that he was dripping wet.

"Why are you soaked, Reg?" It was a reflex, nothing more, that caused me to call him by his old nickname. His smirk grew wider at the usage of his name, but dropped at the question.

"This is a state of limbo," he said, "In this place we look how we looked at death. By the way, you look horrible." I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks a lot Reg. So you drowned? I thought you got cold feet and were murdered by Death Eaters." He shivered.

"Not drowned. Was drowned." I looked at him, confused. "What about you? You look like you spent at least ten years in Azkaban," he pointed out. This time, I was the one to shiver.

"Thirteen years mate," I said hoarsely. My biological brother chuckled without humour.

"Ironic, isn't it? That you died by Dementors, which was your worst fear, and I died by Inferi, which was my worst fear?"

"Ah but Reg, it wasn't the Dementors that killed me. It was our lovely cousin Trixie. And wait. Waaaaaiiit. You said. You died by- What? How did you die by Inferi?" I pictured the soulless, rotting mobile corpses and shuddered. Regulus gave a warped grin.

"Long story short, the Dark Lord was creating Horcruxes. I discovered where one was and set out to destroy it. It was protected fairly well..." I looked at him in horror. I remembered very clearly the dark arts lessons our mother had given us before starting school, and 'Secrets of the Darkest Art' was one of the worst books you could get.

"Well then you died in vain! You didnt get the Horcrux, because you died trying! And what about that mark on your arm?" I protested.

"Ah, but you forgot a crucial element in my tale. Kreacher."

"Kreacher? As in the mangy house elf?"

"Yes, him. I know how horrible he was to you, but he was very helpful. Say, did you find a locket in the spare cupboard?"

"Yes," I said bitterly, "Molly was forcing us to do the cleaning in time for order meetings." Regulus looked astonished.

"I thought you'd never set foot in that house again! Wait, weren't you in Azkaban?" This time I did smirk.

"I," I said with a slight swagger, "Was the first person to ever successfully break out of Azkaban prison. Well, it's not like I belonged there in the first place, stupid Pettigrew framed me."

"Pettigrew? As in that stupid midget who used to hang with you guys? Who always showed up at Death Eater meetings? Yeah, thought he was a bit of an idiot," Regulus said thoughtfully, "But framing YOU! You're two points short of a bloody genius, and the stupid idiot framed YOU! Ha!" I punched him lightly in the side.

"Glad to see that you think thirteen years in Azkaban without going mad is a light feat, you sick bastard." He was still laughing, so he didn't notice me particularly.

"Where do we go once we're out of this hell-hole, anyway?" I asked.

"Oh, you just walk through that door, then you become the figure that you were happiest as in life," my brother answered, sobering up a little. I laughed and pulled him up by the elbow and pulled him up.

"Well come on then! I'm not staying in this sick place forever!" I exclaimed excitedly. I was in anxious wait to see my best friend again. Regulus grinned again, shaking his head.

"You never were very patient in life." I elbowed him in the ribs.

"Neither were you," I replied.

"That is true."

Laughing, we approached the door of my room searching the increasingly bright light, brothers once more.