The Veil room was cold. With only a handful of torches lined along the walls, the stone room flickered in a muted light. It was well past working hours at the Ministry of Magic and everyone had long since gone home save for one curly haired witch.

Hermione Granger was not supposed to be in the Veil room, or even the Department of Mysteries at all. The female portion of the Golden Trio, a clerk in magical records, did try her best to stay within the rules of society. After living on the fringe in a tent with her two best friends, fighting and winning a war while destroying the worst dark wizard of their time, and having to resort to grey areas of the law during those times did leave the young woman with a certain penchant to rule breaking.

She had spent the last year and a half researching, using her fame to allow herself access to certain libraries that would have been otherwise closed to her. It was an agonizingly slow process that she had kept to herself and she was finally ready to put her theory to the test. It had to be this night as the ritual required the right season, the right moon phase, the most careful timing.

Hermione carefully set her items aside as she marked the ritual circle on the stone floor. She added the ancient runes to the stone that would help ground her to the world of the living as well as to keep her safe as she reached into the world beyond the veil. She added more for healing and life for the man she was going to bring back.

With all the markings complete she reached for her supplies. The potion she had crafted in advance to let her mentally travel the veil without physically enter it tasted horrible and felt gritty as she swallowed. She brought a personal item from his room to help direct her search to him and a metal cuff with runes etched around it that matched the one she wore. She clutched them tightly in one hand while she stood in front of the veil with her wand raised towards the eerily fluttering curtains. She began to chant.

Hermione's eyes glazed over, lips still chanting, as her conscious slipped out of her physical body and drifted towards the stone archway. With a rush of noise like walking under a waterfall, the mental specter of Hermione Granger entered the veil.

The world beyond the veil was dark, anything she could see was washed out in grey and a fine mist swirled around her feet as she continued deeper. Whispers breezed through the air and there was a constant feeling of being watched.

Step after step, Hermione let her feet carry her forward. The spell and his personal item were directing her travel and she just had to trust it to bring her to her objective. Her time was limited in this world before her safety would be in jeopardy and she herself would be stuck and she could feel the pressure to return to her physical body. Still, she carried on.

She came upon him almost unexpectedly. After so long of seeing nothing but vague grey shapes shrouded in mist it came as a surprise to see him standing there, perfectly clear. Hermione let her lips pull at the corners into a small smile.

"Sirius."

He stood in front of her, appraising her as if to say, "what took you so long?" as though he knew she was coming for him.

Hermione moved towards him, reaching out to take his arm. Carefully she attached the cuff to his wrist and a thin chain magically formed to attach to the matching cuff she was wearing. She stood back once more to take a longer look at him.

His grey eyes drifted down to the chain linking them together. They were colder than she remembered, but the time spent behind the veil could account for that. Hermione couldn't tell if it was just her, but he looked younger than she remembered him. His features were softer too but again, it could just be an effect of the veil showing the Sirius that would have been if his 12 years of Azkaban didn't age him prematurely.

He smiled indulgently.

With the cuffs linking them together, Hermione focused on her physical body and the pull to return to it. Taking his hand and locking her fingers with his, she turned around and lead them back towards the living world.

The walk back through the land beyond the veil was draining. Hermione had been able to ignore the drain to her magic as she searched for Sirius but now that she found him and were attempting to return the effects were catching up. A sharp headache was spreading across her forehead and an ache was settling in her chest.

Up ahead in the misty distance she could see the shape of the stone archway.

One foot in front of the other. She just had to make it through the arch way and she would return to her physical body in the living world, the magical cuff ensuring that Sirius returned with her.

A buzzing in her ears grew louder as her vision began to waver. The ache in her chest feeling like a vice squeezing her heart.

She stood in front of the stone arch absolutely exhausted. She felt the light pressure as Sirius squeezed her hand. Hermione let her body fall forward.

The lights were dim when Hermione came to. Her piercing headache had eased into a dull ache but even the low lights caused her to squeeze her eyes shut. She was alive. Tired, depleted, but alive.

And not in the Veil room.

Cracking one eye back open, she noted the white walls and a railing on the side of the thin bed she was laying on. A bed, not stone floors. Someone must have found her and taken her to safety. She was in a private hospital room, most likely at St. Mungo's.

Glancing around the room Hermione noted that she was alone and that there wasn't any sign of another person having stayed in the same room. A niggle of worry blossomed into her mind. Did Sirius make it back safely? If everything went to plan she was excited to have Harry and Sirius reunited, her motivation behind the entire idea in the first place. Hermione went back over the ritual in her mind, searching for any flaws that could have ruined everything.

Deep in thought, Hermione startled when the door opened slammed open with such force it bounced back off the wall. Still in his auror robes, Harry Potter strode into the room. He looked part furious and part exhausted. A small glimmer of relief that she was up could be seen in his pinched features but mostly just anger.

"What in the bloody hell did you think you were doing, Hermione?"

Taken back by his tone, Hermione decided to go with placating.

"I can tell you are upset with me, but I did it all for you. I know how much you missed him and how much you two missed out on, so I decided that if I could bring him back I would."

Instead of calming his anger her words had an opposite effect.

"You did this for me? Hermione, you have created the biggest headache the auror department has seen in years! Not to mention that you nearly killed yourself without telling anyone your plans. No body knows what to do with him either. We don't know if we should call him a hero or throw him in Azkaban."

Hermione furrowed her brows. Harry made no sense.

"What do you mean 'what do we do with him?' He's your godfather. He was cleared of all charges two years ago."

There was a quiet knock on the door and Ron Weasley poked his head into the room wearing a closed off expression. With a nod to Harry he led a bound man into the room. Hermione's confusion grew as she recognized the messy black hair of the man with his head bowed forward. He lifted his gaze and locked his grey eyes to hers.

"Hermione, I'd like you to meet Regulus Black."