UnExpected

Chapter 67

"SIRIUS!" Harry yelled. "SIRIUS!"

Sirius must be just behind the curtain; Harry would pull him back out.

But before he could reach the archway, Lupin grabbed Harry around the chest, holding him back.

"There's nothing you can do, Harry –"

"Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!"

"– it's too late, Harry."

"We can still reach him –" Harry struggled hard and viciously, but Lupin would not let go...

"There's nothing you can do, Harry...nothing...he's gone."

"He hasn't gone!" Harry yelled.

He did not believe it; he would not believe it; still he fought Lupin with every bit of strength he had. Lupin did not understand; people hid behind that curtain; Harry had heard them whispering the first time he had entered the room. Sirius was hiding, simply lurking out of sight.

"SIRIUS!" he bellowed. "SIRIUS!"

"He can't come back, Harry," said Lupin, his voice breaking as he struggled to contain Harry. "He can't come back, because he's d –"

"HE - IS - NOT - DEAD!" roared Harry. "SIRIUS!"

There was movement going on around them, pointless bustling, the flashes of more spells. To Harry, it was meaningless noise, the deflected curses flying past them did not matter, nothing mattered except that Lupin should stop pretending that Sirius – who was standing feet from them behind that old curtain – was not going to emerge at any moment, shaking back his dark hair and eager to re-enter the battle.

But some part of Harry realized, even as he fought to break free from Lupin, that Sirius had never kept him waiting before. Sirius had risked everything, always, to see Harry, to help him...if Sirius was not reappearing out of that archway when Harry was yelling for him as though his life depended on it, the only possible explanation was that he could not come back...that he really was...

"Harry – no!" cried Lupin, but Harry had already ripped himself away from Lupin's slackened grip and chased after Bellatrix Lestrange, who ran off, trying to escape.

"SHE KILLED SIRIUS!" bellowed Harry. "SHE KILLED HIM! I'LL KILL HER!"

And he was gone before Remus could grab him.

Buffy couldn't move. One second he was...and now...No. No, no, no, no, no! He can't be...He still had so much to...What about her mom? What about Harry? Sirius can't be gone! It was only a veil. A veil in a stupid archway!

"There's, um, there's something called the Veil of Death. It's a gateway between this life and the next, the afterlife, I guess you could say..."

Suddenly, Giles's words came flooding into her mind, and she recalled what he had said while they were talking about resurrections during Christmas.

"...although there have been instances of people going through the Veil, there's been no record of them coming back."

"So, it's a one-way deal."

"I'm not sure. Like I said, there hasn't been a case where a person coming back, has been known to happen."

The Veil of Death was a gateway. A gateway was like a door. Doors were entrances and exits. People went through them all the time. All they needed was the right key to turn the lock. It was risky, but it was worth a shot.