I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters

He was on the floor of the hall in the House of Black. He could see another version of himself talking to his younger brother, Regulus, trying to persuade him that he would be safe if he stayed here withSirius.

"You don't understand Sirius!" Regulus was whispering. "You never understand!"

"What don't I understand?"the other Sirius asked.

"Anything! He'll kill us all if we don'tshow loyalty to him!"

"He won't kill us if we stay low and stick together!" Sirius shook his brothers shoulders.

"I can't hide from him though Sirius..." Regulus was sobbing. "He'll find me... he'll kill me!"

"Why?" Sirius hissed. "Why would he want to kill you?He thinks you're on his side!"

Regulus hesitated, then looked into his brothers eyes. "I destroyed it... his horcrux! The locket!" Regulus' hand went into the neck of his shirt to pull out a serpentine locket suspended on a chain. "I didn't want to be one of his people Sirius! I tried to do something right, do something you would have done!" He sobbed. "I destroyed a part of his soul. I left a fake locket behind, with a note for him... He didn't even need it to find out, he felt it! I know he did! And now he knows... he's going to kill me Sirius!"

Sirius shook his head. "No! He won't. We're not going to let him." he hesitated, then spoke. "We'll go to Dumbledore, Remus, and James and Lily. You won't be killed alright! You just need to be careful."

"Dumbledore won't be able to stop him killing me, James and Lily and Remus hate me... I'm dead Sirius. I'm a dead man." Regulus shuddered. "Don't do what I did!" he told his older brother. "Don't try and be the good guy... he'll kill you. Sirius, you have to trust me. You have to go to him and do whatever he says! Or he'll kill you! I've already screwed up, don't you do it too!"

Sirius watched as he grabbed his brothers face. "No! You didn't screw up! You did the right thing! If you're so sure that you're going to die, then be proud." He looked into his brothers eyes. "You're dying for the good of wizards everywhere." He hesitated. "But you won't die!" He promised. His voice betrayed his feelings, his gut instinct. His brother was as good as dead now. Sirius saw himself trying to shove the thought away, trying to reassure himself that he wasn't losing his brother, but it was obvious that he had known the truth. The room spun, and Sirius was thrown backwards...

Sirius shot up in his bed, sweating. He tried to recall what had made him so feverish. He couldn't. He peeled the sheets away from his body and got up, walking over to the desk in the corner of the room. Only when he saw the locket that he had extracted from the box earlier that day could Sirius recall anything. Suddenly he felt sick, as the memory -it wasn't a dream, it had been a memory- he staggered over to his bed and sat down on it hard. It had been a few days before he'd found Regulus' body. He'd been noticing his brothers odd behaviour for weeks, he'd known something was wrong. Then he'd found Regulus in the hall of the house, and everything had come out. His involvement with Voldemort, the Death Eaters, and the confession of destroying one of Voldemorts horcruxes. In that hour where everything had come out, it had been the first time Sirius had ever felt close to his youger brother. They had always disagreed. Regulus had always been their parents favourite, after all he had been put in Slytherin, unlike Sirius, who had been instantly placed in Gryffindor. Ever since his parents had heard that Sirius was in Gryffindor he had become less and less important to them, and when Regulus had entered Hogwarts to be placed just as instantly in Slytherin, what little bond that there might have been had disintegrated, and over the years, Sirius had spent more and more time away from home, with James, Remus and Peter, not coming home for Christmas or Easter, and spending the majority of the summer in the company of James' family, who treated him almost like a second son. The thought of James and Regulus made Sirius' head spin with sickness. Both of them had been killed by Voldemort, both of them had been persuaded to change their minds by Sirius mere days before their deaths. First he had persuaded Regulus not to beg for mercy from Voldemort, then he had persuaded James and Lily to make Peter their secret keeper. Both times he had felt guilty for the deaths that occurred. Perhaps if he hadn't stopped Regulus begging, Voldemort would only have perfomed the Cruciatus curse, it was still a horrible punishment, but Regulus might still have survived it. And James and Lily... they hadn't wanted to change their secret keeper, but Sirius had persuaded them, Peter had become their new secret keeper and only days later he had betrayed them to Voldemort... to their deaths. Suddenly a thousand black memories came flooding into Sirius' mind, and then the memory of a black well, a well that he had fallen down for what seemed like eternity...until today... today he'd woken up in his room, after being tortured by his worst memories, until he had run out of things to watch. Now he didn't understand anything... he had fallen through a veil, seen and remembered things that made every fibre of his being ache... his head was pounding... he needed fresh air... he stood up and pulled on a pair of jeans and a shirt, before walking down the stairs and stumbling out of the door into the garden.

It was just like he remembered. The trees were dead, hanging their drooping branches onto the yellowing grass. The black, wooden veranda was covered in overgrown ivy, the steps that led down to the dead lawn were half-snapped and creaked as he walked down them. He walked over to the small pond, or what was left of it. Once it had been crystal blue, and if Sirius looked in it, he could wash away all of his terrible memories and problems. Now it was a small shallow pool, covered in thick layers of frogspawn that would never be anything else. Nothing could live in that water. Sirius walked back up onto the veranda, and sat in the white metal chair, with legs covered in rust. It groaned slightly as he sat on it, then it was silent. He sat looking into the darkness of the garden until he heard a voice behind him.

"Sirius?"

Turning, he saw Hermione, dressed, -much to Sirius' embarrassment- in a night dress, which revealed the majority of her legs. "Hermione... can't you sleep?"

Hermione shook her head. "I was just going to get some water and I saw you out here..." she trailed off.

Sirius smiled. "So you came out to check on me did you?" he grinned. "You're going to freeze if we stay out here." He stood up and followed her inside, where she led him to the kitchen.

"You know I was going to have water..." Hermione said thoughtfully, "but how about some tea?"

Sirius smiled. "How about some coffee?"

Hermione rummaged through several cupboards. "No. No coffee beans..."

Sirius raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you a witch or not?" he asked jokingly.

"Oh!" Hermione said, looking flustered. "Right... yes, well... where's my wand?" She looked around for a few seconds, before Sirius stood up and pulled her wand out from the cupboard she had just been rummaging in.

"Never thought I'd see you so flustered Hermione!" he flicked the wand and the cup on the side began to fill with coffee. He winked at her, then handed her the wand before taking the coffee through to the living room and sitting on the creaking sofa. Hermione took several minutes to join him, by which time she had wrapped herself in a long, blue dressing gown, which, for some reason he would not admit to, made Sirius frustrated.

"So why were you sat outside?" Hermione asked, planting herself next to him on the sofa, and curling her legs underneath her.

Sirius shrugged. "Couldn't sleep."

"So you went and sat on a dirty chair on an even dirtier veranda?" Hermione said. Sirius could hear the smirk in her voice and shook his head.

"I won't be getting back to sleep tonight Hermione." He said quietly, taking a sip of coffee.

"Why not?" Hermione asked quietly. "And if not… you shouldn't be drinking coffee."

Sirius grinned, then it faded from his face. Instead of answering, he merely looked into the contents of his cup, swirling it round in his hands.

Hermione hesitated, then spoke quietly. "Did you remember anything about the veil?"

Sirius' stomach lurched. She'd guessed… now what did he do. He wanted to tell somebody… he didn't think he could manage to keep everything locked away, but his godsons best friend… he could hardly talk to her about it. He was twenty years older than her, whether he had regained his younger body or not. "No…" he said, but his throat was dry and hardly any noise came out.

"You sure?" Hermione asked.

Sirius couldn't speak, so he nodded.

Hermione sighed. "Alright. Well in that case, I'm off to bed. Goodnight Sirius." She stood up and went to walk out of the room.

"Hermione wait!" Sirius had said it before he knew what he was doing. She turned and looked at him. He took in a deep breath. "I need to tell someone…" he said quietly. Hermione sat down slowly on the sofa.

"What is it?" she asked.

And he told her everything. All of the memories that he had watched when he was beyond the veil, all of the guilt that he had kept locked away regarding James and Regulus' deaths. She didn't stop him. She just sat and listened. He was glad she didn't interrupt. It was easier to keep going, so that he didn't have to dwell on any one memory for too long. When he had told her the final memory, the worst one, of Regulus' in the hallway of the house he now sat in, he broke off. It was horrible, reliving the moment he had lied to his brother, promising that he wouldn't be killed. Thinking of the first and last time he had felt any kind of bond with him… he could hardly do it, and was grateful that Hermione didn't push him. Instead she covered the trembling hands that gripped the now empty coffee cup with her own hand, whilst prising the cup out of his hands.

"I'm sorry..." she whispered when he had finished. "I can't imagine what it felt like… and reliving it…" she used her free hand to wipe her leaking eyes. "Oh, Sirius!" He was shocked when she threw herself against his chest and hugged him tight around the back. For a second he sat uncomfortably, crushed between the sofa and Hermione, then he hugged her back, instantly feeling the relief that telling her had brought. It wouldn't take the memories away, but it would help, to be able to talk about them… or at least he hoped so.

"Hermione?" he said quietly.

"Uhuh?" Hermione asked, lifting her head from his shoulder for a second.

"You won't tell Harry and everyone will you? I don't want everyone knowing… especially not Harry."

Hermione frowned slightly, trying to see what possible reason there was for not wanting to tell Harry, then nodded. "Ok. I won't tell."

Sirius smiled weakly at her. "Thanks." He said, then released his hold on her. "I think I'm going to try and get some sleep."

Hermione nodded and stood up. Together they walked up the stairs. When they reached the landing outside Hermione's room, she turned and hugged Sirius briefly. "Night Sirius." She whispered. She kissed his cheek before entering her room, shutting the door behind her. Sirius stared at the shut door, absently rubbing his cheek which still felt warm where her lips had touched his skin.

"Whoa." He said, before walking slowly up the stairs.

Ok people, hope you liked it. Please review!