Disclaimer- Harry Potter isn't mine. Neither is Sirius. But he is alive! Just read my fic!

A/N- Whoa, I can't believe I finished this so quickly. But I am finally finding the inspiration to write this story. But I do go back to school soon, so… I'm also beginning to wish I had written a more popular ship for my first story. Its not that I don't love this story, but big ships get more reviews, and I really do need constructive criticism! I also realized that I didn't put a disclaimer in the last chapter. Damn. This chapter is dedicated to my darling friend Allison a.k.a 1649. She's great. Lastly, I had to up the rating on these, because apparently attempted suicided is an 'M' topic. Thats alright though, I may have upped it anyway later... tehehe


And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
And high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

-Fix You by Coldplay


Sirius Black was awakened by a faint rustling by his feet. He looked up; blinking and running his hands through his newly cut hair, curtsey of Tonks. He was also wearing Remus' clothes. Brown, brown, brown- gods- my best friend needs to learn about all the other colors out there! He saw Hermione staring at him and smiled broadly. Thank Merlin she's awake. It's my fault she was exposed the veil to begin with. It's entirely fault. If she hadn't woken up… That wasn't something he wanted to think about. But he had a new outlook on life, and intended to be happy when he could. And right now, that happiness came from Hermione being awake.

"Hermione! You're awake! Are you trying to kill an old man like me?" He was so damned happy she was awake; it was impossible to hide his enthusiasm. He was, after all, a very enthusiastic person.

"Um… Who are you? And why are you calling yourself an old man? If I'm not mistaken, you're not a day over 25." Hermione seemed tired and confused and he suddenly felt horrible. Damn it all. I have to explain this whole crazy situation. Hell, I forgot about it myself! She looks so… Sad. I don't want her to be sad!

"Oh god, I'm sorry Hermione. I keep forgetting about this." He gestured at his body. He'd lost most of his ego in Azkaban but he had to admit- he looked great. "I know you're going to think one of us is crazy but, I'm Sirius Black" He smiled weakly and watched her face intently. It turned from confusion to fury. Black, what have you done this time?

"Who the hell are you? Don't you dare tell me you're Sirius! He's dead, and has been for a long time! Did you just think you could barge in here and pretend to be someone I cared about? Did you think it would be funny?"

She truly was furious. Who the hell would do this to me? I'm bedridden for god's sake!

This was not what Sirius had been expecting. She cares about me? Sirius realized that now was not the time to be thinking about that. He was supposed to be worrying about Hermione. How had he expected Her to recognize him? He definitely did not look like this when she last saw him.

"'Mione, calm down, please. Just give me a chance to explain. I swear to you I am Sirius."

"Prove it then!"

Sirius thought for a moment. Then, without speaking, he pushed his chair back slightly and stood. Instantly, the man disappeared only to be replaced by a large black dog.

It was black and shiny, limping slightly on its right front paw. It smiled and then walked cautiously towards Hermione, putting its head by hers. Though it had changed since the last time Hermione had seen it, the dog was definitely Sirius.

"Oh my god" Hermione muttered softly. Her eyes filled with tears. He was back. But how? She kept crying. I've gone crazy. I'm seeing things. That's the only way this is possible! It's not Sirius; I just wanted to see him, so here he is! It's just a hallucination.

Damn. Please don't cry. I'm not good with crying girls! Never was. Sirius changed quickly back to his human form looked down at her.

He was so confused. Was she crying because she was happy? Or because she never wanted to see me again?

"Hermione. Please don't cry. It's just me, just Sirius."

"Sirius died a long time ago. I must be crazy, I must be." She said almost to herself, as if he wasn't really there. She refused to look him in the eyes.

He picked up her hand and held it, forcing her to look at him. "No Hermione, your not crazy. Please just let me explain!

When she didn't say anything, he decided to continue.

"Alright. Remus told you that anything that happens in the veil is real, yeah?"

"Yes"

"Well, apparently, you were well, you, when you were in the veil. As in 22-year-old Hermione Granger, because that was the worst thing it could do to you. I wasn't me"

"Huh?" She was more curious now. Hermione seemed to have forgotten that she thought he was a hallucination.

"Well, the veil does whatever it can to cause you pain, physical or mental. That's why were both banged up"

"Huh?" she said again dumbly.

"When it became to overwhelmed to handle us, it still wanted to cause as much pain as possible, so it hurt us as much as it could to still let us recover, before throwing us back into the chamber."

"Okay, but you still haven't explained why you say you're 'Sirius'"

"Well, for me, the worst thing it could do to me was not physical. It forced me to actually relive the worst moments of my life, over and over again."

"Harry's parents" she whispered.

"Yes, the Potters. So I was actually 23 again, like I was then."

"So you really are Sirius?"

"Of course I'm Sirius!" he joked. He was happy that she believed him, happy she was finally awake.

She burst out crying again. She was mad at herself for thinking he was an imposter. He's really back!


So Hermione finally accepted him. He went on to explain that the reason why Remus had not told her about him before. At the time Remus had spoken to her, he hadn't been sure it was Sirius himself. Remus had recognized him, but couldn't believe it was Sirius. Much like Hermione, he believed that the mental stress of the past weeks had made him crazy. He also believed that, if he wasn't crazy, it was impossible for Sirius to still be alive after seven years inside pure evil. But Sirius has woken up several days before, and had been able proved his identity to both Remus and the Ministry. He was now a free man.

"But how did Remus, Tonks and Ginny ever find me?" Hermione queried. She had calmed down now, and was now interested.

He said Ginny had gone to check on her and found her note. All of them knew that the Death Chamber was the place where she would go. Any of them would choose there. Sirius looked truly saddened to talk about Hermione committing suicide.But without it, they could both be dead. Sirius also explained that while they were both injured hers were more severe then his because for the majority of his time in the veil, he was unharmed physically. It was only in their last seconds that they were both severely injured.

"So why are you here?" Hermione asked finally. He should be ashamed of me. I tried to kill myself. I don't have any courage. I am completely useless. I deserve to have been a bloody Slytherin!

Sirius blushed slightly. "I was worried about you! I feel somewhat responsible for you, all things considered."

Hermione cringed. Does he know what I did! "So they told you everything? About the war?" She was panicked now.

At that moment Remus and Tonks walked into the hospital room, both looking ecstatic to see Hermione awake.

"Yeah, we told him most everything," said Tonks, giving Hermione a small wink.

Hermione's heart leapt. She couldn't deal with him knowing, not yet. Her elation was cut short by seeing the pained look on his face. Look at him! He was Harry's godfather. He may be the only one who knows how I feel… She was suddenly overcome by guilt. He only found out about them days ago, and yet here he is, trying to comfort me.

"Oh, Sirius. I'm sorry, I… I…"

Sirius cut her off. "Hermione, don't worry about me. I'm fine, really. We need to take care of you right now. They're going to make us stay in this horrid place for another night. But then we can go."

Hermione began again to speak but Tonks cut in. "Hermione, you need your rest, really. We'll talk about anything else tomorrow."

Remus and Tonks left together, leaving Hermione and Sirius alone again. As he walked back to the bed that was apparently his, he looked back at her and said- "Everything will be okay 'Mione."

Hermione was amazed by the empathy in his voice. Sirius does know about losing people though. He lost everyone to, but he only found out a couple of days ago. How is he so… together? He seemed so happy I was awake. Does he really care? Of course he does, he's nearly my godfather in law. But he doesn't know about Harry leaving me that note does he? So why does he care?

She was overcome by an extreme weariness. Before she fell asleep, she was overcome by the first true happiness she had experienced in a long time. It was happiness that Sirius was back, and that, seemingly, he cared about her.


It took Sirius much longer to fall asleep then Hermione. He listened to her breathing, reveling in the fact that she was alright- alive. After spending seven years in the veil, being alive was a very new concept to him. It would surely take him awhile to see life as anything more then a series of his worst memories. In the veil, he had come to believe that there was nothing in the world but pain and loss. There, everything and everyonewas dead but him. But here he was, lying in a bed next to Hermione, with Remus and Tonks having left only minutes ago. They were people, real, alive, people. There was so much more to the world then loss. He would always grieve for the dead- always. But now he had people to live for. The war was over and no one else was going to die. He could trust people again. Unlike the veil, he could affect peoples lives, change events instead of just watching them helplessly. Sirius could finally make people laugh again. He was in control of his own destiny and he intended to make good use of it.

Sirius was going to help Hermione. He vowed to himself that he would do anything she needed. He recognized the pain in her face; it was the pain that he had worn for many, many years. It had taken pure evil to let him see the good in the world. And part of that good was Hermione. She was a wonderful, caring person underneath her grief, and he was going to help her. She would find happiness again, if it took him his whole life to help her.


A/N- really guys the constructive criticism is good! Please! Also, don't think this is a filler chapter, because it isn't. It's all really about Sirius, and his new outlook on life. I figure, after 7 years in the veil, he would either have to become an optimist, or go absolutely insane. If you disagree or think he is OOC then please tell me!