Beyond the Veil, Part 1 & 2

There was…nothingness…for lack of a better word, surrounding Raven. “This bloody well sucks.” The words seemed to echo throughout the, well, nothingness. ~Think Raven think.~ The girl frowned, “and what exactly am I suppose to think about, I’m dead!” Saying the words out loud sent a chill running along her spine. Sighing, Raven headed off in no particular direction, as it was hard to estabilish one from another. ~Let’s think about this logically.~ The thought itself made her roll her eyes. ~There’s nothing logical about this, I was killed by a bloody drape. And now I can’t find the bloody thing to figure out how to get the bloody hell out of here.~

Going over the last events she remebered, from the moment trouble arrived at Black Manor, Raven tried to sort it out, to find where she had gone wrong, what she could have done diffrently. All and all though, nothing could be changed, other than, perhaps, taking her wand with her to begin with. But even still, Bella had grabbed her from behind, and Cole had grabbed Raya in the same instance. When she had made it to her wand, instead of taking a defensive measure, she had sent for help. ~But I couldn’t do anything else.~ She had weighed her options in those brief moments. Had she attacked either Cole or Bella, the other one would of countered her attack. ~And then there would be no hope what-so-ever.~ She had instead sent a message to Peter, alerting him to what was happening, and to above all else, save the children.

“Orion,” tears flooded her eyes once more, “Mummy’s so sorry. My little boy, it’s not fair that you have to grow up without me there to hold you and kiss away your boo-boos. Daddy will take care of you. For all his flaws, he really is a good man, deep down inside under all that childish prattness.” ~Sirius~ He body shuddered with a sigh. ~Please take care of our son. Don’t do anything foolish.~ Though she feared he might, as the man tended to act first, and most often foolishly, before thinking things through.

From thoughts of son and his father, Raven’s mind turned to the rest of her family. So many bad things had happened to all of them. They had lost so many people. She hated that she had become one more loss. Uncle Remus had lost all this friends, though they had brought Sirius back to him. A sudden thought occured to her. “What if…” Raven bit her lip, not daring to give voice to the thought, still it caused her heart to fill with hope. ~What if Peter got there in time. What if not only did he save the children…Is there a chance…could he have gotten there in time to save Raya too?~ If Raya was indeed still alive, she knew the magic involved in crossing over and returning. But as quickly as the hope rose, it faded as well. Raya had been able to retrieve Sirius, but she had used her blood, as it was linked with his, as they were blood relatives. “We are sisters, but of the heart, not blood.” A deep sigh shook her, ~it won’t work.~ Looking around at the great expanse that surrounded her Raven frowned. ~I’m dead, and I don’t think I’ll be getting undead anytime soon.~ At least there was half a comfort to such a thought, there was no chance of her body being used to make Inferi. A weak laugh escaped the girl with the thought.

~There has to be more to death than this great nothingness.~ Raven now wondered why she hadn’t asked Sirius about his time on this side of the veil. Intent on the thought that she was determined to find something, anything, she set out walking through the void once more. There had been voices after all, and reason dictated that those voices had to of come from somewhere. ~Though reason also dictates one does not fall through a veiled archway and not come out the other side.~

Not being able to determine time in a place such as this, she was quite unsure of how long she’d already been there. It could of actually only been a few minutes, or for all she knew, it could of been hours. Time didn’t seem to really exsist, there was no ebb and flow, just an odd sort of standing still. “Raven?” The sound of her own name nearly caused her to have a heartattack. ~Not that it would matter, as I’m already dead.~ Still, someone had just said her name. Swallowing hard, filled with trepadiiton, she slowly turned around. Standing before her was a young boy, of perhaps eleven or twelve, his dark coloured hair looking quite disheveled, his ice blue eyes quite piercing. Her mouth opened but no words came out. She knew those eyes, knew that hair, knew that face. “You’re not suppose to be here.”

“Tell that to Bellatrix Lestrange. She felt it necessairy to push me through the veil.”

The boy before her smiled. “I see some things never change. Still hiding behind fast wit and sarcasm.”

“Dominic!” Raven flung her arms around the boy before her. “I’ve missed you so much. I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you. Please forgive me…”

“Forgive you?” Dominic inquired. “For what?” Pulling back Raven just looked down at him, unable to form the words she wanted. “What happened to me wasn’t your fault Raven. You must never blame yourself. It was, apparently, my time.”

Her brow furrowed slightly. “But…”

“No buts.” Dominic cut in. Raven nodded, though she was feeling quite confused by the whole thing at this point.

“Where are we?” Raven finaly ventured to ask.

A slight laugh escaped the boy before he answered. “We are kind of in a waiting station. Souls pass in and out through here all the time. Some hang out, some don’t.”

“Okay…” Confusion was evident on the girl’s features.

“I thought it was always you that had to explain things to me.” Raven frowned slighly. “Let me explain.”

“Please do.”

Dominic indicated for her to sit down, and though the ground pretty much looked like everything else, she did as she was asked. “When a person dies, their soul has choices to make. Part of those have to do with what they believed before they passed on of course.”

“Of course.” Raven replied dryly, as if all should made perfect sense.

A wry smile played on the boys lips, and he shook his head slightly. ‘Some things never change.’

“I heard that.” Raven replied, a bit of a smirk appearing.

“Guess you learned a few new tricks.” Dominic smiled. Raven nodded, her heart aching, remebering the one new trick she had learned since his death they were suppose to learn together. Pushing that aside she indicated from him to go on. “Anyway, in general, souls are reborn many time before they learn everything it is they need to learn. But before the reincarnate, they have other options.”

A slight laugh escaped Raven. “Death has options, who knew.”

“That’s my Raven.” The boy continued to smile, and just being in his presence put the girl at ease. “Those who can’t deal with the whole death thing, tend to freak out a bit, and hang on to the physical world.” Raven had her knees drawn up to her chest, her arms wrapped around them. “They become ghosts. Though those hanging out here,” he indicated the space around them, “have been known on occasion to show up as ghost as well.”

“Like Sirius did, when Raya kept seeing him.” Raven muttered absenltly.

Dominic nodded, and continued. “Others chose to spend some time on the ‘heavenly path’. They work to earn their wings,

become angels. It’s a big choice to make, as they are less likely to reincarnate that way, and may never reach complete knowledge. But hey, if it makes them happy.”

“What about the others?”

“Well,” he began once more. “Those who chose to reincarnate again have more choices to make. They can either head back right away, though it’s frowned on, as they don’t usually take time to deal with that they learned their last life. The more sensible ones, they sit around a bit and reflect on what they’ve done in prior lives. Which is the smarter choice. That way what they learned really has time to sink in.”

Raven looked up at her childhood friend. “What about you? What are you doing here?”

“I’m waiting.” A sigh escaped him. “I have a friend I want to make sure I meet back up with. Though I almost left about a year ago when a new life came into being. Actually it was about one year, one month, and two weeks ago.”

Raven sat thinking, figuring out the timeline Dominic had just given her. “That would of been about the middle of September last year…” Tears sprung back to her eyes once more, as she bit her trembling lip. “You almost…But why didn’t you?”

“Someone else had been waiting long to see you.” Dominic returned simply. “Someone who never had the first hand oppertunity to know how great a girl you were growing up to be. Quite fitting you gave Orion Ambrose as his middle name.”

The girl’s hands covered her mouth, as realization set it. Her father…Dominic had meant that her father’s soul had chosen to reincarnate as her son. “And he still doesn’t get to know me.”

Dominic embraced the girl once more. “No worries Raven. Things will get sorted out.”

“I feel tired.” Raven muttered, an overwhelming weariness setting in apon her.

“That happens.” Dominic whispered. “It’s a lot for the body to take, and despite everything else, it does need rest.” A small smile played on his lips as he laid the girl down, she was fast falling victim to the need for sleep. “Besides, even though you are here, you still breath, your heart still beats, your blood still flows. You’re dead to everyone in the outside world, but you’re still alive.”

Her eyes closed, as she couldn’t keep them open another second. Dominic’s words echoed in her mind, lost to the fuzziness of the desire, the need, to sleep. ‘you’re still alive.’ ~Still alive. Like Sirius, he hadn’t died, he was just stuck. Raya came and got him…because he was still alive…and I’m…still alive…~

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Having awoked from her ‘nap’ Raven began to wander around a bit more again. For all she knew she could be wandering in circles though, as the expanse looked the same in all directions. Though through the blankness around her she caught the sounds of what sounded like a disagreement. Shrugging slightly, she decided to see if she could help, or cause trouble, whichever served a better purpose for her at this point. “You let the boy see her.” A feminie voice echoed. “I have just as much right, if not more so.”

“I didn’t let him.” A masculine voice returned, “he slipped past those that were suppose to be watching him.”

Passing through a bit of nothingness, Raven came across the two figures who had been having the dispute. A rather scholarly looking man, who seemed to have an heir of importance about him, and a young woman, redish-brown hair hanging around her shoulders. The woman turned, revealing blue eyes that twinkled with a certain kind of light. ~I know those eyes~ Those were the same blue orbs that looked over Hogwarts students through half-moon spectacles. “Is there a problem here?”

A smile spread over the other woman’s lips. “Can’t anyone follow the rules around here.” The sage grumbled before disappearing off somewhere else.

For a few moments Raven just looked at the other young woman. More than the eyes seemed familiar as she continued to look at her. It wasn’t like looking in a mirror or anything, just hints here and there that seemed like something she saw everyday. “Raven,” the woman finaly spoke, holding out a hand twords her. Being a bit nervous about the whole situation, the younger girl took a slight step back. “Do forgive me my child, I do not mean to be so bold.”

~My child~ The words rang throughout Raven’s head, though she knew it had merely been a statement of regaurd, there seemed to be an underlying truth to the words. “Who are you?”

“Diedre, Diedre Coytol…”

“Pegasus.” Raven finished breathlessly, tears threatening in the corners of her eyes. “You are my…”

Diedre nodded, “your mother.” She stepped twords Raven once again, this time the girl stood there, allowing the woman’s approach. “It’s not that I don’t treasure a chance to see you, and to speak with you,” she began, “but you must know, you don’t belong here.”

“You’re the second person to tell me that…er…” Raven bit her lip in thought, “…today? Oh bloody hell, I don’t even know how long I’ve been here.”

“Time is irrelevant here,” Deidre began once again. “It passes much diffrently than in the living world. A day there is but a fraction of that time here.” Raven nodded, it was something they had figured out when Raya and she had brought Sirius back from this side of the veil. “It’s good to see you, though I’d prefer other circumstances, I assure you.”

Raven offered up a small smile. “Well since no one seems to think I belong here, I’ll be happy to leave.” She let out a small sigh. ~That is if Raya is still alive, and capable…~ She knew what Coleridge had planned for her sister, at least to some degree. It was likely that he would kill her afterwards. ~Please Peter, please have made it to my sister. Please have saved her at least.~ There was also the other little matter…Raya had used her blood to bring Sirius back, as they were of the same bloodline. ~But we are not…~

“Something troubles you, what is it?”

A slight smirk appeared on Raven’s lips, “aside from the whole being dead thing? Or rather not quite dead thing…or however it works with that bloody veil.” The girl shook her head slightly. “I have family who are going to be quite distraut over my departure.” Tears threatened in her eyes once more. “I have…” a sad sigh shook her body. “…a son.”

“I have a grandchild?” Deidre’s eyes shined brightly.

Raven nodded. “From what Dominic said, Ambrose, er…my father…his soul resides within him.”

“I knew he had been called.” A glint of sadness shown in the woman’s eyes. Raven thought about asking about what had happened, as she did not know herself, but before she was given the chance, Deidre spoke once more. “So my grandson, what is he like?”

Saddness threatened to overtake the younger witch. “He’s only four months old.” Closing her eyes, Raven thought about holding her boy. “He’s got black hair, and the most amazing grey eyes, like his fathers. His name is Orion. Orion Ambrose Black.”

“Black?” Diedre recognized the name from her time at Hogwarts.

A wry smile crossed Raven’s lips. “Don’t worry, the Black’s aren’t all followers of Voldemort. Though it was Bellatrix who caused me to be here now.” She began to chew on her lip nervously once more. “Actually, um…you probably kn

ow Orion’s father.” Raven lifted her blue eyes up to look into her mother’s. “You went to school the same time. Orion’s father is Sirius Black.”

After her mother’s initial shock and surprise, Raven told her about how her life had been, and the events of the past few years. Of falling in love, and being heartbroken, of trying again, and there still being trouble. “And now?”

“Now…” Raven shook her head slightly. “I don’t know. I love them both dearly, with all my heart. If that’s possible.” A heavy sigh escaped her. “I don’t even know if Severus knows I’m ‘dead’. Though I’m sure Peter will tell him. Gods…poor Peter, he can’t be taking this well at all either.”

“And what of Sirius?”

Raven shrugged. “I’ve never really been sure, even after all that’s happened, where our relationship stands.” A frown came to her lips. “Though I suppose now, it doesn’t matter much. I just hope he doesn’t do anything foolish.” ~Which I know he excells at.~ The two were granted only a bit more time before the scholarly man returned, telling Diedre it was time for her to make her leave. Raven inquired as to what she was to do, she was rewarded with a ‘We don’t know yet’ as she had not been a planned arrival.

[From here: Raven wandered around behind the veil for a week or so. Raya recovered from her injuries, determined to find a way to bring Raven back from the veil. Finaly realizing Orion could provide the much needed blood for the magick to create the portal mirrors like she had done with Sirius. So family was reunited once more.

I’m guessing it would be too much to think there could ever be a happy ending though.]