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Piercing the Veil	By : trudyw000 Category: Harry Potter Crossovers > Slash - Male/Male Views: 8942 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 4
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Stargate Atlantis, I make no money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Authors Note : A longer chapter this time, hope you enjoy. Tesgura, thank you for your review, the first I've received for this story. I couldn't see how to respond to individual reviews and so I'm doing it here.

Chapter two.

Innocent or Guilty, the question rang in Sirius's head. Innocent or Guilty.

His first instinct was to scream INNOCENT! But he caught himself and gave further consideration to the question. In truth even before his time in the void he had had little else to do but think and he had spent a lot of time ruminating upon the events of his life. As much as it shamed him to admit it, looking back through his memories Sirius saw little to be proud of in his behaviour.

True he had rejected the dark leanings of his family, but had he really been any better than his parents, or his brother. He, James and Remus had hit it off from the first day they had all met at Hogwarts, and they had quickly drawn Peter into their inner circle. The small, mousy child had been painfully shy from the outset, Merlin alone knew how he had ever managed to be sorted into Gryffindor, even the Hufflepuffs picked on him. Still, in the ebullient spirit of new beginnings inspired by the start of their Hogwarts school days, the three friends had taken pity on Peter and taken him under their collective wing. Sirius thought that it was probably the last kind act he had ever committed.

He thought back over all the pranks that the marauders had perpetrated against their school mates. Although they had started off as harmless fun, over the years they had developed an edge of cruelty that Sirius hated to think back on now. Cringing Sirius remembered the pranks that Harry had called him on only recently, the incident with werewolf Remus in the Shrieking Shack and the incident with Snape by the edge of the lake. Even when Harry had questioned him on those events Sirius had still been unable to see why it was such a big deal, now he saw the vicious cruelty of the acts and wondered how he could ever have thought them funny.

But the acts of the marauders weren't the only things occupying Sirius's thoughts. He remembered his pride in his master plan to keep James and Lily safe. He remembered how hard he had to fight to persuade them to change their secret keeper. He relived his smug confidence that he could fool the dark lord, that he could keep the Death Eaters running all over creation searching for him whilst the real secret keeper hid in plain sight suspected by no-one. He remembered how his pride had caused the deaths of his best friends and had destroyed Harry's life.

He had had a chance to begin to get to know his god-son over the two years since his escape from Azkaban and he had heard of the life Harry had led with his relatives. The innocent child of his best friend James, and James' beautiful bride Lily had been raised in a cupboard, used as a house elf and as a whipping boy for his elephantine cousin, Dudley. Sirius should have been there, should have put Harry's needs above his own need for vengeance, should have lived up to his responsibilities.

Then Sirius considered the other side of the coin. He thought about twelve years in Azkaban, locked away without trial for a crime he hadn't committed. Years spent locked in a tiny cell in a comfortless prison on a storm swept rock with only the screams of his fellow prisoners and daily visits from Dementors for company. Yes he had sinned, but had he not also atoned for his sins. He thought back on Harry's life, on how his actions had shaped that life, could he ever atone for the wrongs he had done.

Hating himself for the anguish he had caused in the course of his life Sirius whispered the only reply he could find within himself. “Guilty.”

As quiet as the words were, volume wasn't needed in this limbo in which Sirius floated. No sooner had the word formed within his mind than huge, black, emotional storm clouds began to gather as the anger of the assembled presences ripped into Sirius. After floating free in a sensation less void, now Sirius felt pain, pain like he had never experienced before in his lifetime. It was pain beyond his worst imagining, as if every cell in his body was being individually Crucio'd. As if sharp hooks had been bound to every nerve ending in his entire body and now he was being disassembled, torn apart one atom at a time.

Sirius screamed, his entire consciousness overtaken by paroxysms of agony ripping through his body. He felt his very being torn asunder, ripped apart on a cellular level as his body began to fragment, dissipating into the void and still he burned with indescribable torment, suffering without end.

“STOP!”

The word crashed into his consciousness with the force of an interplanetary collision. Suddenly his disintegrated body, which had been dissolving back into the ether from whence all life came, slammed back together. His body reintegrated in an instant, the pain was gone but the memory of it remained infused from the very core of his being to the outermost tips of his extremities. The shock was too much for anyone to bear and Sirius retreated once more, walling himself up inside his mind too terrified to face those who stood in judgement upon him.

~~~~~~PTV~~~~~~

A tendril of thought carefully sought out the gaps in the walls built up by Sirius to protect himself. Slowly the tendril wormed its way through the cracks until finally it penetrated through to the cramped space where the dark-haired wizard cowered. Unnoticed it threaded itself through the dishevelled locks and began to pulse with warm, comforting feelings to soothe and heal the damage Sirius had sustained. As the tendril did it's work Sirius started to pay attention to the void around him. He remained walled up away from anything that might cause him further pain, but his senses were extended, trying to understand what was going on around him.

Sensing his renewed interest the voice that had ended the attack spoke again inside all their minds. “Watch!” The voice was softer now but still carried more than enough authority to have all attention focussed on the images that began to scroll through Sirius's head and whatever passed for heads for the other presences.

The images flickered past too quickly for Sirius to assimilate them all, however after some time he began to get the hang of watching the continuous stream and recognised scenes from his own life being laid out for anyone to view. He saw himself as a five year old being punished by his angry mother because he had smiled at a half-blood child encountered during a visit to Diagon Alley. Image after image followed, Sirius being punished for failing to show sufficient pureblood pride, Sirius being praised for exhibiting correct pureblood arrogance. Over time the punishments became harsher and more frequent, while praise became scantier and eventually disappeared entirely as Sirius refused to be brow-beaten and brainwashed by his family into behaviour he knew was wrong.

Sirius watched as his younger self was dispatched to his first year at Hogwarts with threats ringing in his ears of exactly what would happen should he not be sorted into Slytherin and make appropriate friends amongst the pureblood witches and wizards of that house. He saw himself returning to Grimmauld Place at the Christmas break when his parents refused to even speak to him. He watched as House Elves locked him in his room from which all his personal belongings had been removed except for basic clothes and the books and equipment needed for him to complete his holiday homework.

~~~~~~PTV~~~~~~

All future school breaks followed the same pattern with Sirius only allowed out of his room when his parents required his presence to perpetuate the image of a united pureblood family or to try to convince him of the error of his ways. He saw his school years and the pranks pulled by the marauders, he saw as the pranks became increasingly cruel and how their focus narrowed until Snape became their most frequent target. He saw how his life improved at sixteen when he ran away from home and was taken in by the Potters, he saw himself standing tall and proud as best-man at James and Lily's wedding. He saw his fear at finding Peter missing and his anguish at discovering the corpses of his best friends and at being prevented by Hagrid at Dumbledore's orders from taking custody of his orphaned God-son. He saw how his anger, misery and self-hatred were channelled into the misguided attempt to locate Peter Pettigrew, and how his emotions overwhelmed his good sense allowing the rat-like ex-marauder to frame him for Peter's own crimes.

As Sirius saw himself being dragged off to Azkaban he tried to look away, allowing those years to pass by as a blur before his eyes. Living through it once had been enough, he needed no reminder of the depths of despair he had sunk to during that time. After he felt sufficient time had passed he returned his attention to the images, just in time to see his Grim form struggling through the peaks and troughs of that miserable night as he swam the icy waters of the North Sea. Following the progress of his escape he concentrated all his attention on the time he had spent with Harry, wanting to remember every moment with his beloved God-son. Too soon the re-play of his life came to an end as he watched once again the anguished expression on Harry's face as Sirius fell through the stone archway behind the veil and into death's embrace.

Thinking back over all that he had seen Sirius realised that in viewing the events from the outside he had seen things which he had been unaware of the first time around. The most glaring anomalies all seemed to involve Peter Pettigrew, whilst Peter had been his friend, Sirius had always viewed the other man as shy and innocuous, drawn into the marauders pranks but never the instigator. However now he saw that while it may have been that way in the beginning, over time Peter's role had changed. He saw how the younger boy had influenced and manipulated James, Remus and himself encouraging more reckless, dangerous and outright cruel pranks. Whipping up the other boys dislike of Snape into senseless hatred, using them to make himself feel more important by making the Slytherin half-blood's life even harder than it must have been already. Reviewing the scene's before James and Lily went into hiding he began to feel that he had been manipulated there as well. The rat-like Peter planting ideas that Sirius absorbed and developed until he found himself a target for the Death Eaters whilst Peter betrayed his best-friends.

Sunk in misery Sirius could only wallow in despair as he finally understood just how badly he had screwed up his life. Letting his walls drop Sirius laid himself open to any punishment that the surrounding presences felt fit to inflict upon him. He saw now what a disaster his life had been and he had no more will left to fight against their judgement.

“Verdict?”

The voice invaded his mind one more time and Sirius fought the sudden tension in his body as he awaited the return of the all encompassing pain he had endured earlier. However this time the pain did not come, instead the presences around him projected an air of thoughtfulness as they considered all that had been revealed of Sirius' life story. One by one they reached their own conclusions and began to call out their verdicts.

“Innocent!”

“Innocent!”

“Innocent!”

“Innocent!”

“Innocent!”

The calls were intermittent at first but the pace quickly picked up as the rapid-fire voices overlayed one another. Calls of innocent from every direction finally tapered off and Sirius waited in vain for the punishment that never came. The realisation finally broke through and Sirius was stunned by the feelings of warmth and support that the fickle presences now showered upon him.

Eventually however edges of anger began to impinge upon the warm feelings and Sirius tensed anticipating danger. The comforting feelings intensified cocooning Sirius in a warm, safe place from which he could observe the deliberations of the surrounding presences as they debated their next steps.

The debate wasn't carried out in words but in a mixture of thoughts, feelings and images and it took Sirius some time to understand what was going on. However after a while he was able to discern that the anger he had felt was directed not at himself but at those who had sent an innocent man through the veil. Others were arguing that no-one had sent him through, it had been an accident. That apparently did not appease the first group who appeared to consider that that only proved that those tasked with the responsibility for the veil were negligent in their duties. This confused Sirius, he had heard vague stories of the veil hidden deep within the Department of Mysteries but knew nothing of any covenant regarding its use.

It seemed that the comforting presence now protecting Sirius had heard his confusion and information began to form in his mind. Images showing Merlin himself giving control over the portal now known as the veil to the wizarding people which strict instructions regarding its use. It was to be used as an execution device, but only in the most heinous of cases in which proof of guilt was absolute. Veritaserum and various truth spells already existed in that time and so the constraints upon its use were not considered particularly difficult. However over time, as the wizarding world developed and the Ministry of Magic grew laws became more complicated and the use of the veil fell out of favour.

Tuning back into the discussion Sirius found that most considered it a personal insult that an innocent man had been imprisoned for twelve years in a world where so many simple ways of ascertaining guilt or innocence without a shadow of a doubt existed. Eventually a committee was formed to decide upon appropriate measures to ensure such a miscarriage of justice would not be repeated. Sirius got the impression that the race of ethereal beings amongst whom he found himself preferred not to interfere in the lives of more primitive races. However it seemed that witches and wizards were more closely related than most other races and so these beings saw them more as poor relations and considered it their responsibility to guide them in their development.

Once that had been decided Sirius saw that the conversation had turned to himself and what should be done with him. One faction wanted to return him from whence he came, others wanted to keep him safe with them whilst more wanted to find a new place to send him. Sirius was inwardly glad to find the faction in favour of keeping him in this place was quickly shouted down. Although he was in no doubt of their good will he was unsure of his ability to adapt to a bodyless existence such as he was currently experiencing.

After a longer discussion it was decided that returning him was not a feasible option either. The argument that Sirius' life would still be in danger if returned to the same situation he had left carried the day. Sirius tried to argue against that decision but was quickly silenced and the old adage 'Children should be seen and not heard' flashed through his mind. He got the distinct impression that he'd just been instructed to 'keep quiet, mummy and daddy are talking'. Sirius decided against causing a fuss, wherever on earth he was returned to he would still be able to find his way back to Harry, it might just take a little longer.

So it was decided, they would find a new home for Sirius. It seemed that everyone had an idea of where he should be sent and images of incredible places began to flash through the ether. Desert islands, tropical paradises, rustic villages, all kinds of locations were considered. Sirius even thought he saw a village with two suns hanging in the sky above the quaint circular houses, but that was surely impossible. Suddenly a familiar feeling presence flashed an image of a beautiful city, the place appeared to be deserted, dust lay thickly upon every surface. The scene was lit with a softly fluctuating blue-green light, large expanses of stained glass were visible and Sirius felt a definite pull to this place.

All the other images faded away and the beautiful, blue-green city dominated everything. A questioning thought crystalised from one of the watchers, ' The city has been deserted for ten thousand years, he would be alone'.

Slowly the image was populated as people began to appear with the feeling of 'soon'. More images appeared, images of Sirius being healed, being taught all that they could teach him, the idea was clear that by the time Sirius was ready to go the city would no longer be deserted. “What! Wait,” Sirius started to object, “why do I need healing, I'm fine, and I finished school. What's going on here?” His protests faded away as the comforting feeling around him rose up and seemed almost to smother him, dragging him down into deep unconsciousness as his body disintegrated once more only for the ethereal beings to begin putting him back together, back the way he should have been if Azkaban had never happened.

Authors Note 2 : There it is, if you have any feedback I'd love to hear it. Otherwise chapter 3 will be up when I finish writing it. That chapter will confirm the crossover, although I'm sure you've all figured it out already.
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Piercing the Veil