Harry followed Dumbledore into the infirmary. The headmaster had promised him a surpise, but lately, Harry thought, he had had enough suprises to last him a lifetime. He didn't know who Dumbledore was kidding.

As he entered the wing, he immediatly saw it was full of people. Many of them were holding Quick Quotes Quills, some balancing on a piece of parchment while others were flying across the parchment. They were all craning their necks to look at the bed in the far left corner.

They parted respectively as Harry and Dumbledore walked toward the bed. Lying on the goose feather mattress was --

"Sirius!" Harry gasped. It was him, apparently stunned. Harry had reached toward him. The door banged open. He jumped.

Standing in the doorframe was Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic. Behind him stood Professors Snape and Flitwick. Flitwick had some parchment and a quill--apparently acting as a scribe. Snape strode up to Sirius, opened his mouth carefully, and trickled three drops of clear liquid into Sirius's mouth. Harry recognized the Veritaserum, the strongest Truth Potion to exist.

The room went deadly silent. Fudge pushed Snape out of the way. He pointed his wand at sirius and muttered "Ennervate."

Sirius sat up and looked around. Fudge clared his throat. Sirius looked groggily up at him. "We want you to tell us," said Fudge in ringing tones, "What has happened since Dumbledore made you Secret-Keeper."

Sirius's eyes flickered and in a dull, monotonus tone, told the truth. "After Dumbledore made me Secret-Keeper, I was still unsure about my role. I was afraid Voldemort would come after me. So I went to Lily and James. Persuaded them to make Peter Pettigrew Secret-Keeper for them. It took a while, but they finally agreed. I never dreamed that Voldemort would come after him. However, he was the one who had been passing information to Voldemort. He came to their house, on Halloween, and murdererd them. However, he couldn't kill Harry. I volunteered, when a huge giant showed up on a motor bike, to take him. I told Hagrid I was his godfather, that I would take care of him...Yet he didn't listen: he had had his orders from Dumbledore. So, I cornered Peter the next day. He blew up the street...."

Flitwick's quill started scratching as all the Quick Quotes Quills started skating across the papers. Everyone except Harry and Dumbledore were watching Sirius intently. They had already heard this several times before.

As soon as Sirius finished, Dumbledore said quietly, "Go now, leave Sirius and Harry alone. Professor Flitwick, you can stop writing now." Flitwick's quill stopped scratching while the reporters' Quick Quotes stopped in mid-sentence. Everyone left.

Harry moved to Sirius's bedside. "How did you get out of there?" he whispered. Sirius took a deep breath.

"Bellatrix didn't hit me with a killing curse," he began. "All I did was fall through the Veil of Death." He shuddered. "It's the worst place I've ever been, including Azkaban. You'd be scared if you all you could see was dark swirling mists and thinking about how you would probably never see anyone you knew again. Somehow I managed to cling onto my life force. As soon as I had gotten control of it, a figure had started to form in the infinite cold. She was beautiful, with black hair and blue eyes and a sense of calm that rang in the air around her. 'Come,' she said in a deep soothing voice. She grabbed my hand and suddenly the dark dissolved around us, leaving what looked to be like a golden courtroom.

"A man sat n a throne at the head of the room. 'Ah, Serela, bring him here, won't you?' he said to the young woman. There was a pause as we walked up to him.

"As soon as he saw I was living, he looked surprised. 'How did you come to be here?' he asked. I told him the whole story, concluding with 'I fell through the veil, trying to protect my godson, Harry Potter.'

"Just then I knew that I had captured everyone's attention. Just before I had mentioned you, most of the people had been twiddling their thumbs or staring off into space. Serela asked, 'Then we must comprimise. Instead of sending you straight to the world of the dead, we will give you a chance to go and explain too him. Go now, proclaim your innocence, and tell Harry Potter what happened and say good-bye to him properly. You shall die in the better way after a half-hour of telling this story to Harry.' 'And tell him that we will be there when he needs us most,' the man added. He sent me back throught the veil to you."

Harry and Sirius stared at each other for a couple of minutes. Then Sirius said "Harry, if you would get your mirror...."

Harry ran to his dormitory so fast he bumped into several people and didn't even stop to say sorry. He didin't want to miss any time within the time he and Sirius had left.

Several minutes later, Harry handed him the mirror, panting. Sirius muttered something, and the mirror turned a bright white. He took his own mirror from his pocket and did the same thing. Then he put both of them together: they rose up high into the air and arched back into their owner's hand, leaving a trace of a rainbow behind.

"My time is almost up, Harry." Harry looked at him, unsure of what he was going to say before he slipped bck under the veil.

"We'll never be parted. I'll be there when you need me most." Serela had said the same thing.

Sirius hugged him. Harry held on tight, as though it would stop Sirius from going beneath the veil again. However, Sirius was fading beneath his fingers. A voice echoed through Harry's mind... "We'll be there when you need us most..." Harry looked at the mirror and thought he had seen Serela's face fading into it.

Harry couldn't help it. He cried. Fifteen minutes went by. "He's not really gone, you know," said Dumbledore from the corner.

Harry had forgotten he was still there.

He led Harry outside and pointed to a bright star, one that Harry had never mapped in Astronomy before. "That," said Dumbledore, "Is the new star Black, which completes the Constelation VEil." Harry's eyes followed Dumbledore's long, crooked finger as it moved form star to star. "Veil lines up with Prophecy."

Harry looked absentmindedly at the star Dumbledore had called Black, and realized it was HIM, it was SIRIUS.


So that's what happens to the people who decide to go on and do not become ghosts, he thought. They have the great honor of becoming stars.

 

By Cho~Cho, winner of the fan fic. contest in the forums