A/N: Well, this was later than I planned. Really sorry for such a long wait, everyone! I have 2-3 chapters left, and I was really hoping to get this finished by the beginning of January, but that's looking slimmer and slimmer. Damn. Anyway, hope you all enjoy this.

Hogwarts was bathed in the pale orange glow of the setting sun, casting long overgrown shadows over its expansive grounds. At this time of the year it was silent with the students gone for the holidays and most of the professors having left the premises. Damage from the war had mostly been patched up by this point and from a distance, silhouetted against the fading sky, the castle looked quite majestic.

Harry, however, was oblivious to the beauty of their old school as he quickly trudged up the pathway towards the Headmistresses' office, the lone light in the castle by miles.

Behind him, two figures attempted to catch up, one wheezing and the other panting slightly.

The silence made Ron's steady stream of muttering fairly clear.

"Why can't they lift the Apparition ban during the school hols?" He said out of the corner of his mouth to Hermione, who was puffing next to him. He nodded towards the rapidly receding figure in front of them. "And when did Harry develop super human walking abilities? He must have charmed his legs."

Hermione gave Ron a sharp nudge. "He's worried," she whispered. "So am I. Let him go ahead. He can explain it to Minerva first."

Ron cast a sideways glance at her. "You know what she's going to say, right?"

She chewed on her bottom lip, not meeting his gaze. "She might reconsider."

He snorted. "Yeah, right. Harry will be screaming bloody murder by the time we get up there."

Hermione sighed. She did, of course, know what Minerva McGonagall would tell them to do – there was really only one option at this point. She reckoned that the chances of Harry willingly agreeing to the matter would equate to the chances of her ever playing for a professional Quidditch team.

"Hey! Hermione! Ron!"

They both turned in surprise to see Remus coming up the path towards them in long strides, pushing brown locks out of his eyes impatiently as he came level with them.

All three of them started speaking at once.

"Have you seen—"

"We thought you'd—"

"Remus, where did you—"

They all stopped, blinking at each other. Hermione studied her old professor's face. The toll of the last full moon was still evident, he looked bone tired and haggard in addition to highly worried. This combination made him look extremely tense.

Finally, Remus spoke. "Sirius is missing."

Both Ron and Hermione nodded. "We're here to see Professor McGonagall and ask her what we should do. Harry's here—" Hermione said, pointing in front of her where Harry had been seconds ago only to find empty space. "—er, was here," she finished weakly. "He must've gone in already."

"Minerva knows?"

"Yes. Well, we had some concerns about Sirius's return. He didn't really tell us much of anything. We thought there might be Death Eaters behind it." She looked anxiously at Remus. "Did he say anything to you?"

Remus only shook his head and began hurrying up the path after Harry.

Ron stared after him. "There must be some sort of speed-walking charm—"

"Oh honestly Ronald, and you want to be a professional athlete."

"Professional Quidditch player," Ron said automatically, then threw up both his hands. "I'm not getting into this now, 'Mione. Let's just get to McGonagall's office before Harry explodes too much."

By the time he and Hermione burst their way into the Headmistresses' office, huffing and puffing, Harry's face was red, his glasses askew, and his fists clenched. Looking like a pillar of determination, Minerva stood behind the safety of her desk in resolution and attempted the tried-and-true teaching tactic of patience. Remus was standing in the corner of the room, looking near frozen with shock.

Minerva was clearly near the end of her rope. She managed to hold out for five more minutes of Harry's jumbled ranting before she finally cracked.

"Oh for love of Merlin, Potter," Hogwarts' Headmistress snapped, "you have to consider the fact that you're putting the whole of the Wizarding world back in danger. Think about how—"

"—Professor, this is my godfather. You're asking me to watch him die. For the second time," Harry's eyes glinted wildly from behind his glasses, "without even giving him a chance!"

Looming large over her desk, Minerva's robes quivered around her. "I gave you a chance, Potter, when I told you to do further research into it." She fixed him with a firm stare. "Have you come up with another method of ensuring safety?"

Looking like even saying the word itself was painful, Harry gritted out, "No."

"Have you gotten your godfather to tell you exactly how he managed to return from the Veil?"

"No."

"Well, then." Minerva regarded Harry's sullen expression and her own face softened. She sighed as she resettled herself back into her chair. "Harry," she began, "I know this is a sacrifice for you." She paused and looked over at Remus, standing in the corner of the room, and her expression softened further. "Both of you. Believe me. I wouldn't suggest it if I could think of another way…"

At that moment, she caught sight of Ron and Hermione hovering near the door. Waving them in, she continued, "I was just explaining to Harry and Remus that we cannot wait any longer to carry out the counter-spell." She pinned them both with a death stare. "You two haven't told anybody else about this, have you?"

They both shook their heads quickly.

"Look, Potter, I understand. But it is my responsibility now as the new head of the Order to ensure that the safety of the Wizarding world comes first—"

"But—" Harry began.

Minerva pushed on, her voice rising easily over Harry's spluttered protests. "—Of course, what would be most useful is an explanation of what has actually occurred from Sirius himself, Harry, but since at the moment, as you have just told me, you have lost Mr. Black and as we do not know where he is…"

"There has to be another spell," Harry said, a desperate edge creeping into his tone. "Besides the one you're suggesting. There has to be a more selective one, one that could let us throw the Death Eaters back but keep Sirius…"

"There is the timing at stake, Potter, I would prefer to have us act before they do. Please try to be a little less selfish…"

"I saved the Wizarding World the first time. I think that gives me some right to be selfish."

"Harry," Hermione said at once, tone reprimanding, "Minerva has a valid point. Ron, back me up—"

None of them noticed when Remus slipped silently past them and out the door.

###

Sirius was locked behind what he could only describe as a miniature jail cell. It was typical as jail cells go, gray and dull, three blank walls and a line of rusty metal bars that ran across the fourth side. The bars had been charmed to be resistant of any magic.

As nondescript as the cell was, Sirius knew exactly where he'd been whisked away to. It was the same place from which he'd emerged from the Veil, heart beating at breakneck speed, just a few months ago.

At the far end of the corridor, a door swung open and a young man walked in. His eyes were blank and his movements listless as he headed straight for Sirius's cell, peeked in, nodded, and began walking back the way he came. Sirius didn't even bother attempting to talk to him. Clearly the man was under an Imperius curse.

Sirius edged himself closer to the bars and examined the width between them, wondering if Padfoot would be able to slip through. Unfortunately, the Death Eaters had seemed to have preempted this thought. The bars were three inches apart at most so that neither dog nor human could have squeezed through them.

Death Eaters.

For the hundredth time that night, Sirius berated himself for not telling Harry the full story about his return from the Veil. Once a Marauder, always a Marauder, and he had a very finely tuned sense of what was the right and wrong thing to do, even if most of the time he'd opted for the wrong option.

He really should have said something.

Returning from the Veil required Dark magic that only few people knew or had the power to perform, and the spell must be instigated by someone who was still alive. Sirius wasn't quite sure who the person was that had helped bring the Death Eaters back from the dead, but he could give probably give a pretty good guess. The spell essentially created an opening in the fabric that separated death and life. It re-opened the door to the Veil for a few seconds, allowing the dead to pass through again into life. Because playing with life and death defied nature, fate, and humankind in essence, the spell could only work for a few seconds – any longer and the magical energy required to perform the spell may end up killing the spell-caster.

Sirius could remember the moment very clearly.

It was done well. Incredibly discreet. Nobody would have noticed at all, but Sirius had watched the Death Eaters since they'd started appearing, and so he noticed when they started vanishing. He had watched as Greyback's bulky frame seemed to disappear into thin air. If he squinted, he could almost see a rough patch of air disturbance where Greyback had been, like an opening.

And made a snap decision.

Somehow, the dead could always move faster than the living. He threw himself at the spot where Greyback had been and it took him a few moments to realize he was lying on something solid. Solid ground beneath his feet and beneath his fingers. Just as his mind wrapped around this unbelievable fact, he'd looked up to see the Death Eaters turn towards him. The flabbergasted shock on their expressions would have been hilarious under any other circumstance.

He heard his name slip, shocked, from someone's lips. Marauder instincts kicked in and he transformed into Padfoot with an ease that surprised himself as he took to his tail running. The house he had emerged into, however, was so large and consisted of so many corridors and doorways that it took him a few minutes to find his way out. But he'd caught a glimpse of the exterior as he ran, and recognized it immediately: Malfoy Manor.

He had been here when he was still a little boy, dragged unwillingly by his parents. You didn't forget a place like the Manor easily. Trust this place to have actual dungeons.

His thoughts reverted back to the situation he was in.

Why didn't he say anything?

And, on top of that:

What would Remus say?

He slid down the wall and groaned. He wished he had his wand.

The sound of the door opening at the end of the corridor echoed through to his cell once more. Sirius briefly wondered if he should feel complimented that the Death Eaters thought his chance of escape was high enough to warrant a continuous guard. Poor kid, he thought, watching the young man stroll down the corridor towards him again. They'll probably kill him once they're done with… whatever they have planned.

This time when he reached his cell, the man paused, squinting through the bars at him. Sirius glowered back for a moment and then looked away, uninterested.

He turned back in surprise when the other man cleared his throat.

This time, when Sirius met his eyes, he realized something was different. The blank gaze was gone. There was nothing cursed or controlled about this man's demeanor, his eyes were sharp and focused.

What…? He thought, before he realized with a jolt that really, the question he should be asking was, who…?

The other man gave a brief nod when he saw Sirius understood, then turned and walked briskly back to the exit. As he walked, his hand slid into his pocket and wrapped around a gold galleon.

###

Miles away, Harry paused in the middle of the four-way argument boiling in the Headmistress's office when he felt the pocket of his jeans grow warm. He reached in and pulled out the familiar galleon that Malfoy had given him just a few days ago.

On it, four words materialized: Black at Manor.

He looked up and met Hermione's eyes. Something in his expression must have sent a message, because she stopped talking abruptly in the middle of a sentence.

Into the silence, Harry held up the galleon. "I know where Sirius is."

So we find out just how Sirius returned from the Veil… and can I just say, it was a lot more difficult coming up with an explanation than I expected. I seriously debated whether or not I should just leave it vaguely unexplained, but I'm trying to make this story as plausible as possible, and that means details. Hopefully that was at least partly believable. I'll do my best to post the next chapter before Christmas!