Severus said nothing as they all herded into his living room. Hermione hadn't forgotten how the walls were lined with books; it was small and cramped, but she felt at ease for the first time all night.
"Hermione." It was Sirius who spoke, he and Severus standing awkwardly far away from each other. They were like two wild animals in the same cage, the air was tense, and they seemed to be sizing each other up.
"I know-"She didn't, "I can explain everything-" She couldn't.
Both of them saw right through her; she was just as lost if not more than the two of them.
"What have you done, Granger." Severus seethed, his anger filling the room just like it had in the dungeons at Hogwarts.
"I really, really messed up." Her voice was thick because she was on the verge of tears, and for some reason, she was even more ashamed to have to tell Severus than anything else. She needed his help because she'd be alone without it, and she wasn't sure she could handle all of this on her own.
No one said anything, though Severus looked at her with a tinge of pity. His anger was still filling the room, and the blank look in Sirius' eyes left her trying to look at anything but the corner he occupied. They all slowly began to move, as if trying not to spook each other. Hermione found a place on the floor near the fire so she could warm up, Sirius sat stiffly on the small couch facing her, and Severus settled in a worn black armchair close to her side. It made her feel better that at least she had someone else to help her deal with Sirius if that blank look turned into something much darker.
"How did you do it?" Severus asked quietly, the sound of the crackling fire dominating the silence of the room.
Hermione sat and thought for a moment, rubbing her fingers into the soot that had built up on the hearth. It wasn't easy to explain, and parts of the process she didn't quite understand herself.
"I- Well- A combination of things." It was a terrible explanation, and the sneer from Severus made her feel even more stupid than she already did tonight.
"The veil, the archway," Sirius seemed to perk up, but Hermione refused to tear her eyes away from the hearth where she was making little mountains of the old soot coating it.
"It's alive; it's a being. Not a portal you fall through but something you fall into."
Severus' brain instantly kicked into gear; he seemed very interested in what she'd done now. Hermione should've guessed; he loved good mental stimulation. He was a lot like her, and it made so much sense that he'd be intrigued by what she'd accomplished.
"So, you what? You pulled me out of it?" Sirius' voice was flat; he was monotone and dazed like his eyes.
It was Severus' turn to appraise the man in front of them; Hermione could sense him really taking Sirius in now. He wasn't the same as when he fell in; she could remember how the two of them used to bicker at the Order Headquarters in her fifth year. There was still so much animosity between them when Sirius died, Hermione couldn't help but wonder how long it would be until the house devolved into violence.
"Yes." Hermione balked, "I mean, really simply that's what I did."
"Give me the more complicated version," Severus commanded from beside her, and she started to layout her research to him.
"Well, when I started my research, I had an encounter with the veil that led me to believe that it was more animal in nature than an object." She continued, "Tonight, I cast a charm meant to neutralize its powers for a few moments."
"You made up your own spell and put your life at risk to test it?"
"I also used grounding and protective runes, old magic, to help create a magical tether outside of the archway." Hermione shot back, just because what she tried was risky didn't give him any reason to berate her. He wasn't her bully of a teacher anymore; they were equals now.
"What else did you do?" It was Sirius that spoke, and it made Hermione jump.
He almost sounded like he had in her fifth year as he comforted Harry over Christmas break. But she knew it wasn't real, Sirius may be in there buried beneath the haze, but he'd definitely brought something back with him.
"I cast another spell, of my own creation" She saw Severus' jaw tighten, but he kept his mouth firmly shut this time, "I had crafted it to call to you. Specifically to Sirius."
"And then what? You just reached in and fished him out?" Severus' patience had worn out, and his barb was met with a heated glare from Hermione.
"Actually, yes." She sat up a little straighter on the floor, "That's exactly what I did."
Their argument was cut short as Sirius began to sway in his spot on the couch. Both of their eyes locked on him in a minute, and he crashed forward to the floor in front of them. Hermione responded first, her instincts kicking in as she quickly crawled across the floor to his side. She should've known that the stress of the evening would catch up with him, but she'd been too busy with Severus' inquisition to think about taking care of Sirius.
"Bloody hell," Severus muttered, as he finally pushed himself up from his chair with a sigh.
"Can I put him somewhere to rest?" All she got was a harsh glare and a raised eyebrow in response, "Please, just until I can figure out what to do next."
"Fine, upstairs. The door on the right is a guest room." The words were sharp and hard as he stalked into the back of the house where Hermione assumed the kitchen was.
"Levicorpus" With a flick of her wand, she was levitating Sirius and making her way through the cramped house with his floating body. She felt bad as he banged into furniture and corners, but she really had no other choice.
When she finally settled him into the small twin bed in the guest room, she lit a small candle on his nightstand. Hermione wasn't sure if it was dark when he was inside the veil, but she thought he'd appreciate not waking up to darkness again if that was the case. She closed his door and set up some wards for good measure. As much as she cared about Sirius, she was still wary about the emptiness that had taken root behind his eyes.
Hermione found Severus in the kitchen; he was leaning against his counter with a mug of tea. They just looked at each other for a moment, the silence a nice reprieve from the chaos Hermione brought here with her.
"Why?" It was a simple question that Hermione was so unsure of how to answer.
"I- I don't know." She admitted, "I didn't start out wanting to bring him back, but as time went on, and my research got so intense, at some point, things shifted."
"They'll arrest you."
"But, I didn't technically bring him back to life!" Hermione protested; if her theories were correct, what she'd done was much different. "It was like he fell in a hole, a hole where time was suspended, and I just fished him out."
"Hermione, you know that the Ministry won't see it like that; it's so much more complicated than that."
"But-"
"We both know that since the end of the war, they've been much more hardline on dark magic, or anything they consider dark." Hermione opened her mouth to interrupt, but he didn't let her.
"I do recall that even you supported some of their hardline sentencing changes for dark magic."
He wasn't wrong; after the war, everyone was an open wound. The policies they enacted in those first few years were just as reactive as the people who made them; they were very harsh consequences now for previous grey areas of magic. And Hermione had supported some of these measures, so had Harry and Ron. They thought they were doing something good, now she finally understood the consequences of those choices.
"What do I do?"
"I don't know."
The silence which followed was deafening. If even he couldn't help her, then they were truly lost. Severus was the last person she thought she could trust, the only one who wouldn't judge her for toeing the line between dark and light. No one else would understand her year's long foray into such a grey zone, and no one else would be cunning enough to help her find a way out of it. She was well and truly fucked.
"You can stay here for a few days," He said, "I assume no one knows you're here."
"What about-"
"He can stay if you keep him away from me."
With that, he left her alone in the kitchen. It was the first time she'd been alone since she pulled Sirius out of the veil. It felt so lonely and yet so free at the same time; she could finally breathe without worrying about whether Sirius would snap or Severus would turn them away. The air in the kitchen was cold, the fire in the other room only embers now. Hermione moved to the sink and splashed some cold water on her face; it felt amazing. But only served to remind her how tired she was.
She slowly moved back to the couch Sirius has occupied earlier, laying down and trying to beat the old pillow into a comfortable shape. As she fell into a fitful sleep, she could only wonder if she'd wake up with an Aurors wand in her face. A sense of dread settled in her stomach as she remembered all of her experiences with Dementors; she needed to find a way to fix this and fast.