Author's Note: Please be advised that I have a disclaimer on my profile concerning this story. I will make an A/N pertaining to it every couple of chapters. Do you have questions, concerns, comments or even criticism? Well let me know and either review or PM me and I will do my best to address each one in a timely manner. Thank you for reading!
Probing the Research
Hermione slowly opened her eyes, immediately closing them again. The sun was streaming through the window of the room and right onto her bed. Hermione groaned, rolled over and muttered "Tempus". Opening her eyes again she saw that it was 10:37 am. She groaned once more, rolled back over and swung her legs off the bed. Standing up, she grabbed her wand and started to head down stairs to the kitchen to fix herself something to eat.
"Good morning dear, did you sleep well?" asked Mrs. Weasley.
"I slept pretty well thank you for asking, I apparently needed the rest since I slept so late."
"Would you like me to fix you something to eat?"
"No thank you, I can fix my own breakfast."
"Okay if you are sure dear, I was getting ready to head out to go to the Ministry to have lunch with Arthur."
"Well I don't want to make you late; you should go and have a good lunch, Mrs. Weasley."
"Oh I have a feeling I will be waiting on Arthur so it's not a big deal, and please dear call me Molly, you are old enough and have known me long enough to call me by my name."
"Okay… Molly, I will try."
"See you later dear, have a good day."
"Bye Mrs. Wea… Molly."
Hermione sat at the kitchen table for several minutes trying to decide what she wanted to eat. Finally deciding she wanted a couple of eggs with some toast and maybe a fruit salad, she got up to start preparing her breakfast, or was it brunch? She mused to herself. She started off by grabbing the fruit she wanted from the pantry, as she walked in the picked up a red and a green apple, some strawberries, a handful of blueberries, and a few raspberries. She then walked back into the kitchen and placed it all on the counter and using her wand she made quick work of the fruit. Next she got three eggs and scrambled them before pouring in a little bit of milk then adding a little salt and pepper and finally adding them to a pan to cook on the stove. Hermione also filled the tea kettle with water and started it heating up. She decided she also wanted a couple of pieces of whole wheat toast. She headed back into the pantry for the bread and placed it under the broiler to toast. She also grabbed some wild flower honey and butter for her toast. A couple of minutes later the toast was done and she put it on her plate, turning back around she grabbed the pan that had her eggs on her plate and set it on the table beside her bowl of fruit. Hermione grabbed utensils and then the kettle began to whistle so she took it off the burner and poured the water over the tea bags in her mug and let them start to steep. Hermione finally sat down and started to eat in the peace and quiet of the currently empty Burrow.
After cleaning and putting away her dishes, Hermione walked into the sitting room to wait on Minerva to floo over with the research from the Order. Hermione was anxious to begin reading what the Order had been able to figure out about the veil, and the possibility of bringing Sirius back. As she sat and pondered the situation she began to wonder if what she hoped to achieve was even possible. Did she really think that she could bring someone back from the dead? She might be brilliant but would there be consequences for tempting fate? What if she was able to bring Sirius back but she died in the process? What if to bring him back to had to sacrifice someone? What if, what if, what if. Hermione shook her head to clear it of her current train of thought. She was aware that bringing someone back from dead would not be easy, it might be dangerous and it might not end well but she was going to make sure that she had all the facts, had read everything to make sure that she was prepared. She wasn't one to just charge in and do something, she researched, planned, made lists and notes, she wasn't going to be doing anything until she was sure that the danger was minimal and the possibility of success was as high as she could get it. If that meant spending ten years researching then so be it!
Hermione was so deep in thought that she didn't hear the floo activate, announcing someone was coming through. Minerva stepped out of the hearth and brushed her deep red robes off to remove the bits of soot from the journey. She then pulled a bundle of parchment from her robes and looked up to see Hermione sitting on the couch looking off into space unaware of her entrance. Minerva cleared her throat to get Hermione's attention.
"Oh sorry Minerva, I guess I was lost in thought."
"That is all right dear, thinking of anything important?"
"Just a bunch of "what if's", I'm a little anxious to start."
"Well I was able to gather all of the research that was done after Sirius went through the veil, it isn't much but maybe it will give you a jumping off point."
"Thank you so much for bringing it to me. Who should I ask if I have any questions? Who did the research to begin with?"
"Well Lupin did a majority of the research along with Tonks." Minerva stated with a sigh.
"Well that isn't going to be very helpful since both of them died at the last battle, I really miss Tonks." Hermione said as she started to tear up thinking about her friends who had died at the hand of Death Eaters.
"Yes that is true but I have looked over the research many times so if you have questions you can ask me."
"Well thank you again for bringing this all to me, if I come across something I have a question about I will be sure to send you an owl."
"Very well dear, I shall be off then; I will speak to you soon." Minerva said as she headed back towards the hearth to floo back to Hogwarts.
"Goodbye Minerva." Hermione said as she settled back down for a long afternoon of reading.
Hermione spent the next four hours reading over the research. First she read through everything just to see what all was there, then she conjured parchment a quill and ink so that she could make notes on her subsequent times reading through. She finally felt like she was doing something productive, she had three feet of notes and was just finishing reading through for the sixth time. Putting her quill down and standing up from the couch, she stretched her back, hearing it pop and crack from being bent over for several hours. She sat back down and decided she would read over her notes and then call it a day.
As Hermione read through her notes she began to underline things that seemed like they might be of importance. The first thing that jumped out at her as she read was "The veil is a one way entrance from life into death" next she underlined "Archives of Magical Works, Bankside District, Southwark" after that she had made a note of something Lupin had added beside the Archives. "Curator Robert Marsh" last thing she underlined was the last thing in the research it's self, it was written in Lupin's handwriting and honestly she didn't know what it meant but it seemed important since he had written it in bold and underlined it several times, "Love, Blood, Family,?". Hermione wondered what this could possibly mean and why did Lupin think it was so important?
