Chapter 8- The Truth

Once Remus left, Harry and Hermione set about trying to ask Sirius how it was that he was again among the living. However, this proved to be more difficult than previously thought. First off, it seemed that Sirius was a master at steering away unwelcome conversation topics. And secondly, it was discovered that Sirius could be very stubborn at times (though how, Hermione though, this had escaped them was beyond her). So, with a slight air of tension in the room, everyone set about perusing normal activities. Hermione's father left to go back to the office, and her mother retired to the kitchen where she proceeded to begin making dinner, much to Sirius' apparent delight.

Harry and Sirius pulled out a deck of cards and began to play, while Hermione hurried off to get a book from her room. It was one she had been eyeing for some time, and had finally ordered it form Flourish and Blotts around the beginning of the summer. She had been anxious to read it before, but now she felt that she was truly calm enough to enjoy the subject of the book. The book was called "Animagi Basics", and Hermione had always had a certain curiosity about the subject. She also figured it would be a good thing to read up on, and considering with their hectic lifestyle it might be a useful skill to look into. She trekked downstairs to read in the living room, since she had a bad feeling about leaving Sirius alone in any sort of muggle dwelling just yet, even if Harry was still there also. 'Heavens know the trouble Harry causes enough on his own!', she thought with an unladylike snort.

When she got downstairs, she situated herself next to Harry, who was across from Sirius. They both looked up and smiled when she entered, Sirius rolled his eyes when he saw the book in her hand. As a last minute thought, Hermione grabbed a pen and a pad of paper off a side table for note taking, rolling her eyes back at Sirius. He chuckled and resumed the game. It seemed that he and Harry had started a game of 'go fish' since neither of them had a suitable deck of cards to play exploding snap with. Hermione settled herself in and began to take careful notes. The room settled into a comfortable silence, interrupted only by the sound of Harry and Sirius playing their game. When they were done with their game, which Sirius had won, both men leaned back into their respective seats. By unspoken agreement, neither Harry nor Hermione had mentioned their newfound relationship. Harry leaned over, resting his head against her shoulder to look at her book. While she usually did not like people reading over her shoulder she figured that this concerned him anyway, so she might as well let him.

He raised his head to look her in the eye when he realized the subject of her book, she met his stare with a grin which he returned. Silently she handed over her notes, which he began to pour over with interest. Sirius was setting up a game of solitaire and had yet to notice their slightly odd behavior. It seemed that very few words were needed between she and Harry lately, Hermione thought with an inner grin. Then again, it had always been that way to some degree she mused. Harry slowly looked up with a thoughtful look on his face. "Hey Sirius, do you think you could fill us in on exactly what happened with you and that veil?," he said softly. It worked.

Sirius looked up at him with a pained look in his eyes, then there was a flash in his eyes and he said, " I will if you tell me what happened between you and Dumbledore. He seemed...different last time I talked to him. He seemed more his age I guess. I know something happened." Hermione dimly heard Harry's sharp intake of breath, but it didn't quite register. She too had noticed the heavy weight that seemed to rest on the old professor and the sad way in which Dumbledore would look at Harry, who refused to look back at him.

She looked over at Harry, who did not quite meet her eyes when he said "nothing happened, there's nothing to tell."

"Well then," said Sirius, "nothing happened to me either."

Harry glared at Sirius, " I have a feeling you know exactly what happened."

"Maybe," Sirius said defiantly, then his look softened. "I'm sorry you had to find out that way. You must know I tried everything I could think of to get him to let me tell you myself, but it just didn't work out the way I planned. Nothing has turned out the way I planned," he added. Harry's glare had softened into a scowl somewhere during the course of this speech. Hermione was begininng to feel a slight sense of foreboding. What was so important, and why could Sirius not tell him? Come to think of it, why had harry not told her himself? She slowly turned towards him, putting her book on the coffee table as she did so.

"Harry?," she asked, silently pleading for him to tell her what was so important and to trust her.

Since she had not expected him to say anything, she was surprised when he said "I'll tell you. But I want to know what happened to Sirius first."

Sirius hesitated, then nodded. "It's really not that bad, it's just hard to talk about, to remember. When I fell through at first all I could think about was how to get out. On the other side it's just...there. I don't quite know how to describe it. There's nothing, just empty space. Eventually I realized that there was no way out. So I gave up. I looked around some more and then I...stared to see things. Horrible things. Like one great big boggart, over and over again. then I started to hear voices, and I passed out. When I woke up, I was laying outside the veil. I'll tell you, it was quite difficult to get out of the ministry. But I did it. It took quite a while to convince everyone that it really was me, but finally I did. And instead of making me stay back at Grimmauld, they let me come here. Which is a good thing. I missed you so much, really Harry I was miserable knowing I might never see you again.

Harry nodded, tears showing slightly in his emerald eyes. He looked over at Hermione, and glanced back at Sirius, who nodded encouragingly. Then Harry spoke. he told them of his outburst at the headmaster, all he had said, and all that Dumbledore had said in return. Finally, he told them haltingly of the prophecy. Hermione listened, horrified as she thought over the implications of what Harry was telling her. She wanted desperately to run upstairs into her room, where she would be free to grieve in private. But she knew that she needed to hear Harry out, to let him know he had her support. When Harry was finished, Sirius laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. Hermione gave him a hug, which he gladly returned. for a moment nothing was said. Hermione suspected that they each felt enough had been said already.

After a few minutes, Hermione excused herself and headed up to her room. Once there she sat on her bed, trying desperately to both force herself to accept what Harry had said, and to forget it. It was no use. Within seconds, Hermione had begun to sob uncontrollably. She was so wrapped up in her grief that for a moment she failed to hear the light tapping on her door, which was steadily growing more insistent as she did not respond. With a jolt she realized someone was knocking quietly on her door.

"Come in," she said, hurriedly attempting to wipe away the traces of her tears. It was for nothing though, since the second Harry walked in her door, closing it gently behind him, Hermione was up off her bed facing away from him, in tears yet again. Harry was silent for a moment, and Hermione wondered if he had left, when she felt arms encircle her from behind, pulling her close. She was momentarily stunned. Harry had never hugged her before, it was always Hermione who initiated contact between them even when Harry did respond willingly. Hermione shuddered as sobs shook her body, and Harry pulled her even closer, humming and placing an almost shy kiss on her temple. When Hermione responded by leaning her weight on him, he seemed relieved and he too began to cry softly. He tried to hide it from her, but she could feel his tears on the back of her neck where he had pressed his head.

After a moment, when both of them were calm enough, they sat down on the bed, Harry seemed reluctant to let go of her so she did not try to pull away. As they sat there, Harry said, " I'm sorry. I didn't want to worry you...you do too much worrying about me. And I really would rather I had the chance to tell you when we were alone, but maybe this was a good thing. I doubt I would have been able to say all that I did without Sirius pushing me. Please Hermione...it's not that I don't trust you, it's just I didn't want to hurt you." Hermione nodded, burying her head against his shoulder, and told him that it would always be her job to worry. He replied by shaking his head, kissing her tenderly but not arguing with her further. they stayed like that for a while, both drawing comfort from the other. Occasionally Harry would reach over and kiss her, almost as if to assure himself that she was still there. Subconsciously, it occurred to Hermione that Harry had probably been afraid that she would leave him after discovering the truth about his fate. Though how he could think that about her baffled Hermione. Sometimes it scared her to think about just how low Harry's self-esteem really was. But it actually seemed to be getting better. He was repeatedly opening up to her, even if it was just small talk and kisses. It was a step in the right direction though, she mused, and she didn't exactly mind all the kisses.

"So," Harry said, finally breaking the silence and introducing a much-needed subject change, "what do you think about these animagi transformations? Do you think we should try it, because you know, it doesn't seem to require any wand work. So the ministry wouldn't be able to track it. I could help you with the potion, I'm not very good at potions but I can try. I think it would be a really good idea, especially if we could keep it a secret for now and just not register. What do you think?"

Hermione nodded, and said, " yes, I totally agree. In fact, that's one of the reasons I bought the book. I think it could be a very valuable skill for us, and since we don't have anything else to do right now, we could spend most of our time on that."

"One reason why it pays to do your summer homework early," said Harry jokingly. Hermione laughed, and Harry joined in. Their laughter was interrupted by the sound of Sirius knocking on the door. Hermione responded with a polite, "come in," and Sirius entered. He looked highly relieved to see both of them laughing. When they asked him if anything was wrong, he responded by saying that he was bored and just wanted to see how they were doing.

Sirius got a funny look on his face and when Harry asked what was wrong, Sirius said, "who was with you when you went to the Department of Mysteries?"

Harry and Hermione were both slightly confused but decided to humor him, naming everyone that had accompanied them that night, including Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Luna. When they reached Luna, Sirius stopped them and said, " not Chris and Adele's daughter?" Harry and Hermione both nodded their heads, since Hermione knew Luna's father's name from their big story in the Quibbler last year. They were both at a loss, however, as to how Sirius would know them. They also both knew that Luna's mother was dead, as Harry had informed them last year. Despite her earlier unfriendly feelings towards the slightly different girl, Hermione had to admit Luna had grown on her, though she still seriously disagreed with some of the things Luna seemed to accept as fact.

"Why the sudden interest?," Harry asked, voicing Hermione's thoughts.

"Well, I just wanted to see, you know, just to make sure that the Order had everyone watched that should be. But Luna...your mother was good friends with Adele, you know," he said to Harry. "That was one friendship I never did understand. Addie was always a bit...well, spacy, for lack of a better word. Your mother was always so practical, but I know Addie was actually quite smart. Even if she didn't act it. I wonder what happened to her." When Harry and Hermione told him, he nodded. "That's too bad, especially that Luna had to see that. Your mother worked in experimental charms, too."

"Really?," Harry asked.

Sirius nodded and began to tell them stories of Harry's parents, including the fact that James Potter had been an auror, which neither of them had known. He continued until dinner, which was a quiet affair, with very little activity. Harry and Hermione managed to steal a few secret kisses before heading to bed, and Hermione slept soundly.

Okay folks, you have no idea how sorry I am that this chapter took so long to post, but I've been rather sick. In fact, much of this chapter was written from a hospital bed. As a result, I'm not sure how much I like this chapter, but I hope it clears up any lingering questions about how Sirius got to be there. I hope they aren't way out of character, I tried, really I did. I'd appreciate any reviews and feedback. Plus, if any of you would like to maybe do some beta-work for me, I'd really appreciate it. Email me if you're interested, and we can talk it over.