Sirius was in his study, going over the mass of paperwork that the House of Black generated. He could fully admit that this was one aspect of being in charge of his House that he hated. Paperwork could go to the devil for all he cared. He had just finished signing off on a Gringotts vault transfer request when a St. Mungo's notification Patronus landed right on his desk. His heart immediately dropped into his stomach.

"Lord Sirius Black, as Pater to the Black family, it is our duty to inform you that your daughter, Hermione Lupin-Black, has been admitted to St. Mungo's with life-threatening injuries. Please –"

A loud screech sounded throughout the room as Sirius pushed himself back from his desk and stood. He was out of his study and in front of St. Mungo's before the Patronus was even finished talking. He stormed the front waiting room, looking every inch the crazy person that the majority of the Wizarding still thought he was. The receptionist jumped as he slammed his hands down on the counter.

"Hermione Lupin-Black. Where is she?"

"R–room 394. But sir, you can't just –"

He ignored her as he rushed past the counter towards the elevators. Unwilling to wait for one, he changed into Padfoot and ran up the stairs as fast as he could. He skidded to a stop right in front of room 394 and quickly changed back to his human self. Wasting no time, he threw open the door, only to see Hermione laying on a bed. Her eyes were closed and her skin was as pale as a vampire's. He sucked in a deep breath when he noticed her slightly blue lips.

No. Good gods, no.

He hesitated, before walking over to her bed and dropping down to his knees. Taking her hand in his, trying to ignore how cold it was, he stayed there with his heart breaking. An inhuman wail echoed throughout the room as he stood up, the hand that had been holding Hermione's forming into a fist that met the wall. This wasn't supposed to happen; his kids were supposed to be happy and live full lives after all the horrors they had already seen.

"Lord Black?"

He whirled around to face the interloper to his grief.

"What?"

"I'm Healer Smith, the healer in charge of Miss Lupin-Black's case."

"Good. Maybe you can tell me why my daughter is dead."

"Dead? Oh no, sir. She's not dead."

"Do you not have eyes? That is not the appearance of someone who is alive."

"I realize that, Lord Black. To be honest, we are all quite stumped. Other than the fact that her magical core is quite low and her current state of unconsciousness, she is perfectly healthy."

"Then why is she not awake?"

"We…um… we don't know. We have a whole team working to figure this out, as well as some Unspeakables."

"That is not good enough. I want more… wait. Unspeakables? Why are they involved?"

"She was found in the Department of Mysteries, bleeding out in front of the veil. Luckily, one of the Unspeakables was doing a closing round and found her. Or she most certainly would have died. I promise you, we are doing all we can."

He thanked the healer, returning to Hermione's bedside, but not before he sent off a Patronus to Remus.


Brightness.

It was all that encompassed her, and she could not see two inches in front of her face. She felt like she was floating with no concept of direction. But neither the extreme brightness nor the floating were her main concerns.

It was the coldness.

It was cold here, wherever 'here' was. It felt as if the place was over-run with Dementors that had sucked all possible warmth away. She didn't know why she was there, or what she was supposed to be doing. Suddenly she heard a very faint sound in the otherwise completely silent space.

"Come find me. I've been waiting."

Just what was going on here?

She willed her body to move in the direction she heard the voice. There seemed to be no sense of time in this space so she had no idea how long it took before she noticed something was beginning to change. The brightness that was so prevalent before seemed to be dimming somewhat. Before long (she thought), it cleared enough that she was able to see about ten feet in front of her.

That was when she noticed him.

He was standing there, looking at her curiously, almost as if he had never seen another person before. Or maybe as if he hadn't seen another person in a very long time. His slightly wavy, deep black hair and grey eyes gave his identity away.

Regulus Black.

She approached him slowly. When she stood right in front of him, he lifted a hand and reached out to her. His movements were hesitant, like he was expecting her to disappear.

She wasn't so sure she wouldn't.

"Who are you?" he asked, his voice low and raspy from disuse.

"My name is Hermione. Will you come with me?"

He wavered slightly, as if he might refuse. Finally, he nodded and he took her outstretched hand as she led them back into the brightness.


Sirius hadn't moved from Hermione's side since Healer Smith left the room. In that time, a few healers had been in and out of the room, occasionally running diagnostic spells over her.

There was no change in her condition.

He jumped when the door to her room flew open, hitting the opposite wall with a loud bang. Turning to yell at whoever was inconsiderate enough to make such a racket, his voice died when he saw Remus standing there.

"Sirius? What… she… oh gods, is she…?"

"She's alive, Remus. The healers have no idea what is wrong with her. Apparently, there is nothing wrong with her besides a low magical core. And the fact that she looks dead."

"Thank Merlin," Remus said, letting out a long breath as if he had been holding it in. Sirius flung himself at Remus, burying his nose into Remus' neck. The two men took their comfort in the other before both going to sit by Hermione's bedside.

"What happened, Sirius?"

"I don't know. The healer told me she was found bleeding out in front of the veil. The only reason she's still alive is that some Unspeakable found her."

"The veil? What in Godric's name was she doing there? The veil was never one of her favorite things to talk about, especially after how you almost went through it. She knows that messing about with it is usually a surefire to die!"

Remus' words triggered something in Sirius' mind. He thought back to that day when he had forced Hermione to go to Diagon Alley with him, and they had run into Malfoy.

"Granger. Still in the land of the living, I see."

Suddenly, Malfoy's words to Hermione on that day were all he could think about, and they repeated over and over again in his mind.

That fucking bastard.

He knew something. He knew that Hermione was planning something, something dangerous, and had kept it to himself. Standing up quickly, he made the decision to make a little visit to his cousin.

"Sirius, where are you going? Have you even told Harry yet?"

"I'm going to pay my cousin a visit. He knows something, I'm sure of it. Don't tell Harry just yet; I want some more information before we do that. Stay with Hermione; I'll be back shortly."

Before Remus could attempt to talk him out of leaving, he was already out the door. Thankfully, he had reconciled with Narcissa after the war, and her husband had been sent to Azkaban. Because of this, he had Floo access to Malfoy Manor. Quickly making his way to the public Floo in the main waiting area of St. Mungo's, he called out his destination and was spit out in the front foyer of the Manor. Impatient enough to not want to look through the entire Manor looking for Malfoy, he called for the family elf.

"Where is your master?"

"Master be in his study."

Thanking the elf (Hermione would not be happy otherwise), he turned left and walked to where he knew Lucius' old study was. He figured the boy would have taken it over. Once he reached it, he gave a short knock and, not waiting for any response, walked in. As soon as Malfoy saw him, he began sputtering. Sirius held up a hand to stop him and said, "Hermione is in St. Mungo's. She almost died today, and I know you know why. You will tell me. Right now."

"I… I… "

"Spit it out, boy. Tell me what is going on, right now! Or I will make you sorry you were ever born."

"How do you know I'm not already?"

That was the first coherent sentence Malfoy had ever spoken in his presence. If he wasn't so worried about Hermione, he might be impressed.

"What do you know about Hermione?"

"I… I can't tell you, I'm sorry."

Sirius narrowed his eyes at the boy and wondered how many years he would get in Azkaban for killing him.

"You can't tell me, or you won't tell me?"

"I can't. I swear… I would tell you if I could."

Sirius narrowed his eyes at the boy, trying to judge his sincerity. Determining that Malfoy was too afraid of him to risk lying, especially about Hermione, he figured he was telling the truth. It was just like Hermione to require a Vow about information she did not want others to know.

"Is she… is she going to be okay?"

Sirius sighed, suddenly fighting an overwhelming tiredness that washed over him.

"I don't know. But if she dies and I find out you had anything to do with it…"

He let his threat remain unspoken; it was more effective that way. He stormed out then, upset that he didn't get the answers he wanted, and went back to sit by Hermione's side.


They walked together, the brightness seemingly everlasting. If it wasn't for the fact that she could feel the solidness of his hand in hers, she would have no idea that he was walking besides her. She didn't know how long they walked before she heard the same words as before.

"Come find me. I've been waiting."

The brightness started to lift again (but not the coldness, Merlin, she was so cold). And then there he was, standing there as if he had been waiting his whole life for her to find him.

James Potter.

Knowing what she knew about the two men, she discretely glanced at both to gauge their reactions, but neither seemed to notice the other.

Odd.

"Will you come with me?" she asked.

There was no hesitation with him as he immediately took her unclaimed hand, not even asking her who she was.

Hand and hand with both her soulmates, they walked back into the brightness.


Two days later, Sirius was still camped out on one side of Hermione's bed with Remus sitting across from him. They had forced Daphne to take Harry home a few hours ago so he could get some sleep. All four of them were completely exhausted and spent from worry. Hermione's condition had not changed at all, even though the barrage of Healers working her case insisted she was perfectly fine. The latest scan showed that her magical core was nearly back to the full level. They were all hopeful that as soon as her core recovered that she would wake up.

Sirius squirmed in the uncomfortable chair that the hospital provided, not even magic helping to make it more comfortable. He was jealous that Remus was snoring softly. He swore that man could sleep anywhere. Time seemed to slow to a stop, but finally Sirius was able to nod off himself. At that exact moment, two things happened at once.

Hermione finally awoke.

And deep in the bowels of the Ministry, two pairs of eyes snapped open in the Veil room.


Thanks to Raybe for the beta duties.

Thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favorites! Let me know in the reviews if there's anything you want to see in the story. :)