Hermione sat silently in the salon, listening to the muggle music playing overhead. There was a woman behind her, diligently working on her hair, another at her feet painting her toes, and two more working on each of her hands. She sighed and once again mentally counted down the days until she returned to Grimmauld Place. "1 week. 7 days. 168 hours. 10,080 minutes."

Her mother sat beside her, grinning from ear to ear. Finally, Hermione had let her take her to a salon.

After the war ended, and the funerals were over, Hermione had left for Australia to find her parents. It hadn't taken her long and after restoring their memories she had agreed to stay in Australia for the summer. They'd spent the months traveling, visiting the ocean and various muggle and wizarding attractions. She'd had trouble re-connecting with her mother and finally gave in to letting her mother give her a complete make over. They'd been shopping, buying new dresses, pants, shirts, skirts... even some of the frilly underwear she had sworn she'd never own.

Now she sat in a muggle salon, having had everything possible done to her, including a few uncomfortable waxing sessions. She stared at the clock and groaned.

"Mother, are we almost done? I was supposed to meet Charlie 5 minutes ago!" Hermione said, pulling her feet away from the woman before her. The previous week they had been visiting the dragon pens, where they had ran into Ron's older brother, Charlie Weasley. Normally Charlie would be in Romania, but a small pen was being developed in Australia, and when one of the younger dragons not yet able to fly escaped, they had called in one of Romania's finest.

Both Charlie and Hermione were surprised at first to see each other, but Charlie quickly expressed how lucky he was that she was there. Apparently while searching for the missing dragon, the trainers had found a cave covered in ancient runes. They'd tried to bring in a runes expert, but most were too busy to take time off to visit them. Charlie knew of Hermione's vast knowledge, and asked her to take a look at the cave.

Now here she was, late and surrounded by muggles. Hermione gave an exasperated sigh and finally her mother consented, waving away the women. Hermione jumped from her seat and hobbled forward, slipping on the dainty sandals her mother had bought her. There was no time to change as she dashed out the door and into the nearest alley, apparating to where she was supposed to meet with Charlie.

Hermione stumbled as her feet hit the ground, her heeled sandals slipping on the rocks. She took a moment to gather herself, smoothing down her sun dress and brushing her chestnut curls over her shoulders. There was movement behind her and she heard Charlie's smooth voice.

"Excuse me ma'am, can I help you?" he asked as she turned, his charming smile quickly turning to a look of shock.

"Hermione? Merlin girl do you look different from last week!" Hermione felt a blush creep into her cheeks and she cleared her throat.

"Yes well, my mother has been begging me for years to do something about this mess on my head, and I just couldn't tell her no any longer. So, how far away is this cave?"

"It's a bit of a distance, so I figured I could apparate us there. Will that be alright?" Charlie asked, holding out his hand to her.

"It will be a nice change to have someone else doing all the work for once." she said with a smile. Charlie chuckled as he pulled her into him, apparating them to the cave. He smirked as she stumbled again, and down right laughed as she took out her wand and transfigured the offending sandals into a more appropriate flat-soled ballerina slipper.

Now that her shoes were a bit more comfortable, she took a moment to assess her surroundings. They stood at the mouth of a cave, which was mostly hidden by moss, brush, and trees. Charlie led the way in, holding out branches to allow room for Hermione to move.

"Lumos." the two said in unison, lighting the area around them. Charlie led them to the back of the cave, where the walls were riddled with runes. Hermione gasped, immediately reaching into her charmed bag and pulling out one of her books. She ran her fingers over the runes on the wall silently, looking back and forth between the wall and her book. As her finger ran over one she didn't know, the rune began to glow.

Charlie yanked her back from the wall, his wand aimed at the area. Hermione laughed and shrugged him away while levitating her book next to her so she could better study the now glowing rune.

"Interesting. I believe this is a rune for door, or passageway." She said, while placing the tip of her wand on the rune. "Dissendium." There was a shudder and the cave began to shake as the wall before her began to separate. Once again she found herself in Charlie's arms until the shaking stopped and the passageway fully opened. Charlie led the way in and as Hermione took in the new room, she felt her heart skip a beat.

The room was perfectly circular, and completely empty except one large item. There, on a raised dias in the center of the room, was a carved stone archway, a shimmering green curtain hanging from it. Hermione knew she'd seen it somewhere. She searched her brain and within moments found it. Her 5th year at Hogwarts, in the Department of Mysteries, where Sirius had died. "The Veil."

Hermione could hear it whispering, unknown words spilling from the curtain fluttering lightly. She knew the voices of the dead spoke from within the Veil and knew of it's dangers, but something was different. She stepped up to the dias, aware of Charlie behind her, calling to her to move away.

"It's alright Charlie. I know better than to walk through the Veil. There is just something odd about it. It doesn't look like the one at the Ministry. The one at the Ministry was black, cold...dangerous." At that moment Hermione noticed the runes decorating the dias and knelt before them. She found herself studying them for hours, conjuring a quill and paper to write them down. Charlie was snoring slightly against a wall when she finally finished translating them.

"Charlie, come here. I think I know what these runes are, but what they mean is an entirely different story. This here is the rune for the number 'one', this is 'chaos', this is the traveler's rune, and the final is the rune for 'transformation'. I don't know if it is a warning, or a guide." Hermione stood and brushed the dirt from her sore knees, leaning on the dias for support. The moment her hands touched the stone in began to glow as the first rune she had seen had done. She stepped back slowly as the dias began to pulse with a rhythm similar to that of a heartbeat.

The whispering returned and the Veil began to flutter again, although there was no breeze in the room. Charlie stood beside her, his wand once again ready, as if Voldemort himself would pop out of the Veil at any moment.

Hermione found herself entranced, her eyes glued to the pulsating stone floor. The whispers filled her ears, but one of the voices sounded above the others. As if her body was being controlled, she placed her hands on the dias, feeling the warmth radiating from that hypnotic glow. The whispers grew louder in her mind, and as she tried to grab onto the one familiar voice, another took it's place.

It was dark and mysterious, and while she couldn't hear it's words, she knew what it was saying. It warned her of the dangers of this place. It told her that the doorway between the living and the dead needed to be closed. The dead could not rest while it remained open. It asked to make a deal. It would give her the voice she was seeking, but only if she would close the doorway. Still entranced by the heartbeat beneath her hands she agreed, and with one final pulse the dias was engulfed in a burning white light, sending both Hermione and Charlie to the ground.

When the light finally subsided Hermione reached for her wand, but instead her fingers touched those of another. She knew Charlie was beside her, so when her eyes traveled up the person before her, she truly believed she might have died. Standing before her, holding her wand, was Sirius Black. Dizziness overcame her and she slumped back, only to be caught by Charlie.

And then Sirius was beside her, holding her hand and brushing the curls from her face.

"Hermione? What happened? How did I get here? Where is Harry?" he asked, his eyes pleading with her for answers. She shook her head and stood, taking her wand from him.

"I'll tell you everything in just a moment. First, I have a promise to keep." she said, raising her wand and pointing it at the Veil. Charlie stood beside her, one arm at her waist to ensure she remained standing.

"A promise to who?" Charlie asked, actually frightened by the look on her face.

"A promise to Death. Bombarda Maxima!" The archway containing the Veil exploded, sending stone flying. When the air cleared, the archway that once stood on the dias was gone, and the cave began to shake.

"We have to go, NOW!" shouted Charlie, pulling on an immobile Hermione. When she didn't budge he scooped her up and sped from the cave, Sirius tight on his heels. He sat her back down once they were out and the three watched as the cave crumbled, all evidence of it being there, gone. Hermione took in a deep breath and turned to a stunned and decidedly confused Sirius.

"We have a lot to talk about."