After Harry's night of tossing and turning, he dressed and marched down stairs. Harry sat down in front of the fire. There was a gloom in the air, it hung awkwardly, everybody seemed to be avoiding Harry. They all shied away when he asked about Sirius. After a painfully silent breakfast, Harry went up to Dumbledore.

"Professor Dumbledore? Why won't Sirius change back?"

He sighed, "Sit down Harry,"
and so he did. He looked intently at the old man. He seemed to grow older before his very eyes. Dumbledore made a show of taking off his half moon spectacles and rubbing his weary, watery, blue eyes. He put them back on and faced Harry.

Harry had never seen Professor Dumbledore like this. He was trying desperately to avoid answering the question. He took a long time shuffling in his seat to find the perfect position. And finally, when he could ignore Harry's intense stare, he faced him.

"Harry..." there was a long pause as Dumbledore tried to find his words.

"Yes, professor?"

"I know you were excited to see Sirius, and I know Sirius is just as happy to see you...Harry..." there was a long pause, " ehm..." Dumbledore looked away from Harry.

"Please Professor! Just tell me why he can't change back!"

Dumbledore sighed again, Harry shifted impatiently.
Harry stared intently at the dog Sirius.

"Harry," he started in a tired voice, " What you must understand first of all, is that we had never, beyond our wildest dreams, expected Sirius to come out from behind the black curtain. A feat, never before accomplished, and yet, Sirius here has proved there is a way to escape it. Harry, that black curtain, was used as a form of… execution, you might say. It's very high magic.
What goes in, must never come out." Harry shivered at these words and a feeling of foreboding came upon him. He shook it off as Dumbledore continued, "The reason Sirius was able to escape as a dog, we think, was because he went in as a human."

Harry stayed silent for a long time, digesting and taking every word in.

"Will he ever be able to change back, now that he's out?"

"I'm afraid, I don't have the answer to that Harry. What I think, is that if Sirius wanted to become a human again, he would have to go back behind the curtain. But that leads to a dead end, because he could never come out as a human."

"But if he goes behind the curtain again, how can we be sure he'll even come out alive?"

"We don't know, Harry, we don't know."