"What should I do?" Harry asked.

"You don't have to do this, Harry," Sirius said firmly as soon as he saw his fear. "What happened was not your fault and you don't owe me anything."

A laugh threatened to escape his throat then, but he realised his godfather was serious and he swallowed it.

"Yes, I do," he said, and his decision made, the fear dissolved.

[Concentrate on waking up, Harry,] Ignulus said calmly, [and when you feel your body around you, do not resist when I push you out again.]

Harry nodded again, and on impulse, threw his arms around Sirius.

"I love you," he said urgently, "and I will see you soon."

His godfather did not seem to know how to reply, but there was no time to talk. As Harry thought of waking this time he felt a sort of tug, almost like a portkey, and suddenly Sirius was no longer there. He felt his whole body convulse and pain shoot through all his nerves as he literally slammed back into his physical shell, but that was not the worst. Just as he realigned with his body, he felt an agonising push. His instincts screamed at him to resist. It took all his will power to let it happen as for a second time he was separated from his body, and suddenly he was floating, looking down at himself.

The first thing he realised was that this was not the Dursleys. With a quick glance around he realised that he was in the hospital wing at Hogwarts. It had felt like he had been asleep only a few minutes, but it must have been a lot longer. He could see his body lying in a bed in Madame Pomfrey's regulation issue pyjamas.

Professor Dumbledore was standing at the end of the bed with Remus and Madame Pomfrey; all three appeared very grave.

"There has been no change, Albus," Poppy said quietly and cast a sad glance at Harry's body. "It is as if he is barely there."

"I should have taken him from that house sooner," Remus berated himself, and Harry wanted so much to reach out and tell his friend that it was all right.

"It is not your fault, Remus," Dumbledore said, for once the twinkle gone from his eyes, "I knew Harry was depressed and I should have seen something like this coming. However, all we can do now is attempt to bring him back to us by any methods available to us. Ron and Hermione will be arriving this afternoon; hopefully their presence will assist in encouraging Harry to wake."

Harry's attention was drawn back to his body as his eyes flew open. For a moment he almost panicked as black pools filled with iridescent flame stared at him.

[Do not worry, Harry,] Ignulus' calm voice drew his reaction back to manageable levels, [it will not be long.]

All sound in the room ceased as Harry watched his body sit up. He did not think he looked like Sirius had looked beyond the Veil, in fact his body seemed to be moving more like an automaton than a human being, as if Ignulus had trouble controlling it here. Staring straight ahead for a while, his body simply sat there and blinked.

"Harry?" Dumbledore was the first to speak.

[The finer points of control take time,] Ignulus explained in Harry's mind, [I do not believe I am able to speak. This may be somewhat traumatic for your friends, but it cannot be helped.]

[They may try to stop you,] Harry pointed out, finding the whole method of communicating by thought very strange in this state.

A mental laugh was what came back.

[They may,] Ignulus said lightly, [and I promise I will not damage them in return.]

Fascinated, Harry watched his body push back the bed clothes and climb to the floor before turning to look around the room. Ignulus was obviously seeking something, but Harry had no idea what it was. It must have found it because Harry's body took an unsteady step forward, followed by another, which was much smoother.

"Harry?" it was Remus who tried this time, and Harry could see wands being drawn from their hiding places.

Ignulus seemed to be ignoring the fact that he was not alone as he walked slowly, but steadily towards the other side of the room, and what to Harry appeared to be a stretch of empty stone wall.

"We must get him back to bed," Madame Pomfrey said and stepped towards Harry.

It was more than obvious she intended to stop him reaching his destination.

Now Ignulus took notice and turned to look directly at the school nurse. They must not have been able to see his eyes properly when he first sat up, or at least that is what Harry concluded as he watched Madame Pomfrey raise her wand, to be quickly followed by both Remus and Dumbledore.

"Mr Potter," Madame Pomfrey said firmly, "back to bed."

No one made a move to actually do anything and Ignulus turned back the way it had been facing, Harry could only assume that he had deemed the others to not be a threat. It was as Harry's body began to walk again that Dumbledore finally seemed to come to a decision and raised his wand. The full body bind fell off the headmaster's tongue with ease, but Ignulus did not stop and the spell never reached Harry's form. Ignulus raised one of Harry's hands and a wall of iridescent fire sparked into existence for a single moment, in time to absorb the oncoming enchantment.

"That is not Harry," Remus said with just a touch of fear in his voice.

It pained Harry to see his friends so worried and anxious, but there was nothing he could do. Right then Sirius was more important. He concentrated back on his body, waiting to see what Ignulus would do next.

"That is not yet clear," Dumbledore said after Remus' pronouncement. "Something has clearly occurred to change our perception of Harry, however, without drastic measures it appears we have little choice but to see where current circumstances lead us."

Ignulus was almost at its destination.

"Harry," the headmaster said firmly, "I cannot allow you to simply continue. Unless you wish to face me directly you must communicate."

[I do not wish there to be conflict,] Ignulus told Harry as he stopped the body walking. [It would have been easier had you been alone.]

[I never get to do anything the easy way,] Harry replied in a resigned tone and watched as his body once more turned towards the other three people in the room.

Speech was obviously still beyond Ignulus since it maintained Harry's body just standing there, staring.

"Are you Harry Potter?" Dumbledore asked directly.

After a moment Harry saw his head shake slowly from side to side.

"Where is Harry?" the headmaster asked his second question quickly.

Ignulus raised an arm again and before Harry had a chance to react, he found himself surrounded in the iridescent fire. For a split second he was looking directly into Dumbledore's eyes and he knew he could be seen, all he had time to do was nod.

"You are inhabiting Harry's body?" was the next question.

The headmaster did not sound anxious, but then Harry had rarely seen Dumbledore anything but in control. Ignulus nodded.

[Time is limited,] it told Harry, [I must continue with my task.]

[Just don't make any sudden moves,] was the only advice he could think of to give.

There was no way to make Dumbledore understand completely or he knew Ignulus would already have done it. As it was, he watched as his body turned back to the wall. For a moment the headmaster appeared undecided. Harry prayed he had been able to communicate in that moment that this was what he wanted. When Dumbledore slowly lowered his wand, Harry gave a sigh of relief, or at least he tried until he remembered he had no body to be doing that. Here he did not even have the illusion of a body either.

Ignulus brought up both of Harry's hands, placing the palms together above his head. For a moment there was complete stillness and then, under Harry's amazed eyes he saw his palms part, both now covered in a much thicker blanket of the fire which had so recently surrounded him. Putting both hands flat on the wall Ignulus began to move them down and apart in a rough arch shape, leaving a trail of fire on the stonework as it went.

To Harry is seemed to take forever, and he could feel the power moving through his body in intense waves even though he was disconnected from it. It was quite incredible to watch and the whole procedure seemed to have the three adults spellbound as well.

The moment Harry's hands met once more along the bottom of the arch shape the stonework inside vanished into complete blackness. Panic threatened in him as he saw it, the memory of the suffocating darkness reaching up to claim him trying to take away his control.

[It cannot hurt you, my friend,] Ignulus said gently in his mind, [it will never touch you again.]

"What is it?" Remus still sounded worried, but also in awe of what he was seeing.

"A gateway," Dumbledore said without hesitation and Harry turned to look at the headmaster.

He saw something in Dumbledore's face then that he had seen in the headmaster's office after the fiasco at the department of mysteries: regret and hope. Without a doubt Harry knew that Dumbledore recognised what he was seeing.

There might have been more conversation, but at that moment a shadowy figure appeared in the darkness. No details were visible, just a vague shape, but Harry could see Sirius' stance in the pale reflection, and every second the tones became clearer. It took long moments for the figure to become properly recognisable as a human being, and by then, there were enough clues to show anyone who had known Sirius the truth. Harry heard Remus choke back a gasp as a pale hand appeared from the flat surface, before he became too involved to really be aware of what anyone else was doing.

His body reached out and took the hand, creating a circuit between this world and that beyond The Veil. Power flooded through his system and his soul. He found himself only millimetres from his body with a desperate need to regain control.

[A moment longer,] Ignulus requested calmly, but holding himself back was almost more than Harry could bear.

As his body stepped back and pulled on the hand, staying separate from his physical shell was agonising. He watched in fascination as Sirius emerged from the gateway, but what was almost stranger was the shadowy form his godfather left behind: iridescent fire in a perfect copy of the man himself. Facis, it seemed, now resembled Sirius in every way.

As his godfather stumbled and fell into his arms, Harry couldn't take it any longer and he obeyed the need to return to his body. It was like being slammed up against a wall as he was dragged back to where he belonged as if on elastic. He had absolutely no control of his movements as his mind tried to realign with his physical shell. For a fraction of a second, he was suspended in place as the fire that was Ignulus surrounded him. Then he was falling to the floor with Sirius in equally dire straits.

Looking up he saw Ignulus come together into an amorphous blob of energy which slowly formed into a very indistinct human head and torso. With a start Harry realised that it was vaguely his shape, but Ignulus did not seem to have been with him long enough to have taken up his form as Facis had with Sirius.

[Know that it has been an honour and a joy to share your being,] Ignulus said in his mind as Harry struggled to keep his mind and body from shutting down. [If you need me, Harry Potter, I will be listening.]

And then a flame from the human form reached out and caressed him down the side of his face and his neck, before Ignulus moved almost faster than his eye could follow, straight at the gateway. Almost the moment the last flame of the incredible being vanished into the darkness the flame and hole in the wall simply ceased to be. If Harry had not been holding a barely conscious Sirius in his arms, he might have thought it was all a dream.

He wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, but his abused body was having none of it. He could do nothing but gracelessly pass out as his vision went silver and the room lurched worryingly.