Chapter 3

Sirius awoke with eyelids of lead. His head throbbed painfully and he heard a horrible wail that set his teeth on edge. He hadn't heard a sound like that since Harry was little. Sirius' eyes shot open as he suddenly remembered what had made his world go black. Harry had been duelling Lord Voldemort... Tonks and Remus had been lying in each other's arms, as if asleep.

Sirius sat up, dazed, blinking into the vicious blinding light that was the hospital wing. It was much longer than he remembered, with beds for magical creatures and wizards alike, with at least one healer attending each of them. Various families and friends sat around the victims and war heroes, some laughing, some crying, and others still were holding their loved ones' hands and staring into space, lost. Around Sirius' bed, sat Harry, Ron, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and surprisingly, his cousin Andromeda holding a crying baby with violent tufts of turquoise hair. Sirius looked at their faces, taking in their grim expressions.

"What happened? Tell me everything, now" he said firmly looking to all of them - and so, each of them did. The horcruxes hallows, Remus, Tonks, little Teddy, and yet strangely, out of all these tragedies what worried him most was what had happened to Hermione. She lay in the bed opposite, with her hair damp against her face. Her pale face was shining with sweat, and she moaned softly, grimacing.

"We don't know what's happened. We've tried Prior Incantatum to try and figure out what spell it was and– nothing. It seems to be some spell that Mouldy Ole' Voldy invented," said Ron, clearly trying to raise a few smiles, but to no avail.

"Do you have any idea what we can do? Without Hermione, I don't know what we'd do. There has to some potion we haven't tried, or a spell." said Harry, working his way into a panic.

"Calm down, Harry... I think I have an idea..." said Sirius.

"You do?" Ron sighed, looking relieved.

"I've seen this before, back before your time Harry. Once your father and I were out with a few others, from the Order, keeping watch over the muggle Prime Minister. The Minister at that time was fond of taking walks at night after finishing at the office. He went for a stroll through the park nearby and we split up to cover the area. Things seemed fine for awhile but then they showed up. One Death Eater shot that spell at the muggle, but Fabian threw himself at it. The Death Eaters scattered quickly once we showed resistance, but Fabian was never the same. He needed at few mental stability potions and a lot of recovery time, but he was back on the field shortly. He didn't seem the same though, and he wouldn't talk about it. At night sometimes, he would scream though."

"He was my uncle, right?" Ron asked quietly.

"Yes and he made us all proud. He managed to fight that curse and it took five Death Eaters to finish him off. He was a lot like Hermione; strong, independent and wickedly sharp. If Fabian pulled through, so will Hermione."

"I think she'll also need a bath," said Madame Pomfrey, who had overheard Sirius' story. She went about fetching various bottles and jars, murmuring to herself all the while. Andromeda walked over to a healer, in an attempt to find out why Teddy wouldn't stop crying.

"There's nothing wrong with him apparently, but he's never cried before..." Andromeda said, frowning upon her return.

"Can I see him?" asked Harry, surprising them all.

"Alright, but be careful." warned Andromeda, handing the whimpering baby over to him. Teddy stopped crying at once. Instead, he looked at Harry and then did something very strange. He morphed into the baby version of Harry.

"I think I just went back in time," Sirius joked, as Teddy blew bubbles out of his mouth.

"Sirius, Harry, I realize this is a touching moment for you, but we really must press on," said Kingsley, in his deep, melodic voice.

"Sorry Kingsley," said Sirius, as Harry handed Teddy over to him. Immediately Teddy's hair turned a bright, tufty kind of turquoise, looking again like the picture that Remus had shown Fleur prior to his death.

"Sirius, I need to ask you a few questions." Kingsley said, staring at him fixedly.

"Ask away, Kingsley." said Sirius, light-heartedly.

"How did you come back from the veil?" Kingsley inquired.

"To be honest, I have no idea," said Sirius. "Maybe the arch spewed me out randomly, maybe I'm "meant to be here." Who knows?"

"Do you know what time you got through the portal?"

"Well, it was about after midnight and I went to Grimmauld Place, and then came here and I went to the Great Hall, and- well, you know the rest."

"Well, what did it feel like? Did it hurt?" Kingsley said, on the edge of his seat.

"No, it didn't hurt exactly; it felt like walking through jelly while hearing my dear Bella's cackle. It abruptly stopped, and I was here, at the Ministry. You must have thought I was dead. No wonder Harry's so blooming happy to see me!"

"Yes well, it's going to cause quite a palaver, but I now have the power to clear your name. So, you're a free man again, Sirius." Kingsley beamed. Sirius looked like he like he could kiss him.

"That's the best news I've heard all day, aside from Voldemort dying of course." Sirius chuckled, lying back on his pillows. He sighed deeply as the last few hours caught up with him. He closed his eyes, exhausted but comforted by the presence of everyone around his bed and drifted back into oblivion.

So, here is the 3rd chapter... those of you who may yet want to read this and don't want to kill me, I thank you! My epic beta Jules has made this chapter SO MUCH BETTER OMG! I am in awe of how much I enjoyed myself! But yeah, I love this story, but I am the Procrastinator of the year. So thanks for reading!