Sirius blinked several times as if there were something in his eyes.
Something that didn't stab like needles, but like a film, blurring the sight.
Something that went as far as to make him hallucinate, combining with the odd, fuzzy feeling in his mind.
Then, slowly, he began recalling.
From getting trapped to approaching the strange veil after hearing Lupin's and James's voices, Sirius recalled all the moments that had led to him being here.
But where?
Where was he?
It did look like the Hogwarts Great Hall, where he had had three meals a day for seven years.
Contrastingly, it was vaster, its walls on either side seemingly standing at infinity.
Was he… dead?
That would make sense.
What didn't make sense was seeing Harry, who was hopefully alive and well, after dying.
What was absolutely a mockery of all he had stood for in life was seeing Voldemort standing shoulder to shoulder with his Harry.
No.
No…
Not his Harry.
As the blurriness caused by the weird sensation in his eyes ended, Sirius looked at Harry and began noticing the changes.
This Harry, though similar in appearance, was much older.
This Harry still had green eyes, but also some grayness in his hair, especially over the ears.
Sirius's heart pounded.
Then there was Voldemort, almost looking like the one from that night, but lacking the bloody protrusion in the middle of his chest.
Yet, here, too, Sirius noticed a change.
Voldemort still looked like a snaky, wretched being, lacking a nose and having snake-like, slitted eyes, his pale white skin contrasting the dark robe he wore.
The change Sirius noticed was this dark robe, which Harry was wearing as well.
No, it wasn't just a robe.
It was a… uniform.
On the left side, over the chest, Sirius noticed an insignia.
Two crossed black wands, letting out golden magical sparks. On the left side of those wands was a winged, skeletal horse — a Thestral. On the right side, a unicorn spanned its mighty wings, shining almost silver. And both creatures seemed to chase each other while running around those two wands.
There was something about that insignia that pulled Sirius out of his blurry stupor instantly.
With that, he noticed the other people who surrounded Voldemort and Harry.
Yes.
He had been right about this Harry, who looked much older.
Because standing right behind him were a woman and a man who closely resembled Hermione and Ron.
Slowly, Sirius began recognizing even more, some looking older, some outright ancient.
McGonagall. Horace Slughorn. Hagrid. Students and Professors of Hogwarts.
Not only Hogwarts.
Sirius couldn't see very far, but, from a vague understanding, as if this place were speaking to him, he could feel more. Tens of thousands. Wizards and Witches of an entire world. All wearing the same dark robes. The same uniform.
An army!
Sirius, puzzled beyond his capacity, looked at the one person he thought mattered the most.
"Harry?" he asked, standing up. "Where… are we? Why are you with Voldemort? What is…"
Sirius paused.
Not because Harry had shown any intention to answer him.
But because this Harry… the older Harry… possessed a coldness in his eyes, as if he weren't even looking at a person.
Voldemort put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Sirius sacrificed himself for this," he said, making Sirius even more puzzled. "Do not let the sweet taste of vengeance waste the opportunity that sacrifice has bestowed upon us."
"Tch!" Harry snapped his shoulder away as he continued to look at Sirius. "Do not touch me with your filthy fingers, Voldemort. Once this is done, I will hunt you down personally."
Voldemort displayed a sly, amused grin and looked away from Harry.
"Poor Sirius Black…" he hissed, taking a step forward. "No matter where you go, which timeline you choose, you always end up… dying at the steps of the Veil of Death, don't you?"
And, in that instant, right as Voldemort said that word, Sirius realized who these people were, the earth slipping from under his feet.
There was such a terror in that realization that it distorted his face and made him stumble back, his insides becoming void.
"Pillars…" Sirius gasped. "You are… Pillars!"
The Supreme General of the Magical Alliance had convened a meeting of his closest associates — the ones he sometimes labeled as Generals and Commanders — some time ago and had used the word to describe an enemy as fierce and deadly as the Dark Alliance itself.
Without explaining much, Dumbledore had said that these Pillars were from a different world, similar to theirs, before ending the conversation.
Sirius, as much as he hated it now, regretted not pressing Dumbledore like the others to know more about it.
All Dumbledore had said was that before these Pillars became an issue, they would have either won the war against the Dark Alliance or perished.
And that was all Sirius had needed to throw that word away to the back of his mind.
Now, looking at these people, he knew that not only had he erred, but even Dumbledore had grossly underestimated the threat of the Pillars.
The question was…
How did these Pillars, if they were indeed the enemy Dumbledore had spoken of, intend to act against his world?
Just exactly where was he?!
"A place that exists between life and death," Voldemort hissed, maintaining the grin on his face. "Limbo. An induced one — the likes of which can only be created at the moment of death. One real. One false."
Sirius saw the older Harry clench his fist and grind his teeth toward him.
So… the Pillar Sirius had sacrificed himself to allow these people to invade Limbo?
And, if they knew how to invade such a place, then they must know how to leave this place, going to the other side… his side.
As Sirius put two and two together, he finally got the entire picture of the terrible scheme that he had fallen into.
Not only was he going to be used as a mere channel between worlds, but he wouldn't even get to retaliate, it seemed.
Against this, death would have been better.
Far better.
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