InsaneJournal

[Ficlet] Afterlife (Severus, Sirius, G)
Title: Afterlife
Author: Envinyatar (aka envinyatar15)
Characters/Pairing: Severus, Sirius (might be pre-slashy)
Rating: G
Warnings: character death, cracky, DH-compliant (well, kind of anyway)
Word Count: 915
Summary: Well, it could be worse.

Notes: Many thanks to my brain for supplying me with the idea. *eyeroll* Also, thanks JKR, for giving me something new to play with, whatever my thoughts about the actual quality are. Unbeta'd, so beware. Originally posted here, July 25, 2007.

For 50scenes: #24 dust, potterverse100 : #18 death.



Oh well, Severus thought as he took in his surroundings, if this is afterlife, I can certainly deal with it. Being caught in King's Cross station for eternity is without question better than being imprisoned in that castle full of ignorant little kids. Whether they have Lily Evans' eyes or not.

The station was completely empty, as far as he could tell, which didn't strike him as overly odd; he was dead, after all, and neither in life nor in death did he expect anyone to come running to greet him. Besides, the logical part of his brain told him that this couldn't be all; for as many witches and wizards had died over the centuries would hardly fit into the building.

The curiosity from his youth resurfacing, Severus wandered around, his feet taking him wherever they wanted. It was nice, to finally be able to walk where he wanted; not to have to look over his shoulder constantly. Afterlife was quiet, and he felt peaceful for the first time in years.

Of course, that feeling instantly vanished as he walked around a corner and promptly smashed into Sirius Black.

“Wha-?”

“Ah, there you are. You know, you were supposed to stand rooted to the spot where you rematerialised. You were not supposed to wander around.”

Severus gritted his teeth. Great. Afterlife didn't seem so peaceful, after all.

“Black,” he said, his eyes glittering dangerously. “What is this?”

The other man seemed to be slightly embarrassed by the question, breaking eye contact almost guiltily. Severus lifted a brow while secretly enjoying the fact that his Potions Master persona apparently managed to intimidate Black – it had never done so in life. Somehow that struck him as funny, but his expression remained carefully neutral.

“Well?” he prodded.

“You see, those in charge around here – whatever they are, I don't care for theology – have decided that I should be the one to introduce you, show you around, guard you and everything.”

“I see.” Pause. “And why, precisely, should they appoint you to the job?”

“Because... they think that I was the one closest to you in life.”

“WHAT???” Severus roared before he could stop himself, panic and outrage clear in his voice. Way to go with the dignity and intimidation, the cynical corner in the back of his head said, but at the moment he couldn't care less. The possibility of being stuck with Black because they were close to each other...

“Snape, don't be offended. It's not like they think we loved each other. But our mutual hate-driven relationship was pretty intense, even I can see that by now. And since I was the person you felt the strongest about prior to your own death... they chose me.”

Severus was pacing angrily by now. He could see the logic behind that, but he didn't want to be stuck with Black of all people for eternity.

“Fuck that. I won't come with you. Give me another guardian!”

Black finally looked up again. It was a little unnerving, how being dead for two years had apparently changed the other man. Where was the half-mad creature that had come back from Azkaban? Where the vicious temper, almost as bad as his own?

If this was what afterlife did with you... No, he didn't want a part of it. There would be another way. There had to be.

Severus brushed past Black and stalked down the corridor, his robes billowing behind him. He couldn't get away fast enough.

*~*~*

Severus sat on the floor, sulking. There was no way out of King's Cross station, and no other person around. He'd searched the place for hours, even performed magic – which he'd learnt to his delight he could still do. There simply wasn't any way around the situation as Black had explained it.

Goddammit. He'd have to play by other people's roles. Again.

He stood, brushed invisible dust from his robes and trousers, and proceeded to the middle of the hall.

“BLACK!”

“Finally.”

Severus whirled around, shocked. Black had materialised directly behind him. He narrowed his eyes. “Don't do that.”

“What?” Black seemed genuinely surprised, which was puzzling. Didn't the dead react to what they didn't expect anymore?

“Sneak up on me! One day or another I will end up hexing you, and apparently I need you around, so that would be unfavourable.”

“Except you'd really like to do it.”

“Of course I would, you idiot,” Severus snarled, annoyed at the conversation. Couldn't they just get going already? Listening to Black speak wasn't exactly his most favourite thing to do. Besides, there were people he wanted to seek out.

“Good. But you know, you don't have to restrain yourself. Go ahead, hex me. It won't have any effect whatsoever – you can do general magic, but you can't hurt peple. Otherwise afterlife would just be a parallel world to the real world, or that is what Lily keeps telling me. People would still try to get power and everything... We can't have that, can we?”

Severus had zoned out of the conversation at the mention of Lily. Would he get to see her...?

“And before you ask? Yes, you will probably see her sooner or later, as you will Albus, but only if you're a good boy around here.” Black smirked. “And whether you are a good boy or not is solely in my hands to decide.”

Severus closed his eyes, suppressing a groan. Great.

This sounded like so much fun.