The connection

A/N: Hello there! Thank you for those AMAZING reviews! I'm so happy that I can hardly believe you guys like this so much. I hope you like this chapter... Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own them. Just the plot.

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After that statement, you could've heard a cricket sneeze. Ron was gazing at his sister sadly, as though she had finally cracked; Fred, George and Molly silently stared at them. Ginny had stopped shaking Harry, whose gaze turned hard. He grabbed Ginny's hands and pried them off his robes, in the process pushing her backwards.

"Sirius is dead." He finally spoke in a low voice; Ginny shook her head.

"He's not, he's not- He's alive!" She exclaimed, trying to step closer to Harry, but he kept a firm hold on her wrists, stopping her from doing so.

"He fell through the Veil. He can't come back!" Harry retorted loudly. What was this nonsense? This time, Ginny really began crying.

"But he did, Harry, he did!" She wailed. Harry let go of her wrists as if burnt by them, stepping backwards. Angriness was itched in every line of his face.

"Is this your idea of a joke, Ginny?" He wanted to know. "Because it's not funny." His fists were clenched, the knuckles were white; his lips were tense, and he was using all of his self control to stop his body from shaking in outrage and disbelief. Next they would be telling him that Hermione was alive, too!

"I wouldn't joke about this! Please, believe me!" Ginny retorted. For the first time since she and Harry started arguing, Ron spoke.

"Calm down, both of you. Sis, I love you and all, but either you're indeed pulling a very morbid joke, or you're gone mental." At this Ginny got red in the face, and she turned around to glare at him.

"I knew you'd take his side!" She shouted, pointing at him.

"You're telling us that a man who has been dead for four years is suddenly alive again! What kind of reaction were you expecting?!" Ron spat back, his ears as red as his hair.

"Just come with me," Ginny begged them both. "Come with me to Grimmauld Place." Ron gazed at Harry, who glanced back at him and then at her.

"Merlin help me if you're lying, Ginny," Harry growled, but she smiled in triumph.

"Quick! Let's go to the apparation point, then!" She exclaimed, whipping around and running to the house; she halted at the sight of her mother and twin brothers. "I'd invite you to come, but Harry needs to see this alone," she told them barely above a whisper.

"Honey- Nothing can't revive the dead-"

"Yeah, I've been told before." Ginny cut her mother off; again directing her attention to Harry and his brother; they were still talking and had not moved from their spot. "Are you two coming or not?!" She called, putting her hands on her hips. Back in the yard, Ron sighed.

"I don't know what has gotten into her," he said. "She has been acting funny since... Well- You know. Hermione..." Ron bit his lower lip when he saw his friend's stiffness; his face could've been made of stone.

"I mean what I said," Harry finally broke the silence, ignoring the comment about Hermione's death. "If she's lying, Ron..."

"I know. If that is the case, she'll deserve it."

--

Snow had started to fall; by the time they had apparated near Grimmauld Place Ginny was growing restless again; Ron was beginning to get impatient too, and Harry was torn between believing what Ginny was saying or simply cursing her to oblivion. What if he grew hopeful and then it was all a lie? A delusion? What to do with his feelings, then? He remembered how he had felt in his fifth year and he involuntarily shivered.

They didn't talk as they hurried through the street towards Harry's home, unless we count Ginny's frantic muttering and glares for them to hurry up. The wind pushed them backwards, mutely imploring them to turn back, but they didn't. When Grimmauld Place came into sight, Harry had the sudden urge to turn around and leave...

"Hurry up!" Ginny barked, already standing on the doorsteps of the house. As Ron and Harry came to stand behind her, out of breath, Ginny knocked on the door loudly. As they waited vapour came out of their mouths, staring at the door apprehensively. What should they expect? What would they find behind those doors? At last they heard footsteps inside, and the doorknob turned to reveal a Luna not even Ron had seen before: she was actually looking scared and unsure; her eyes seemingly bigger.

"What took you so long?" Luna demanded in a booming voice that made Ron's jaw to fall slightly open; Harry raised his eyebrows. Could this really be true? Could he believe that his godfather was indeed... alive in there? Luna turned to gaze at him and only then did she notice how pale she looked. "Come in," she added in a much softer tone, stepping aside so they could enter. When they did, they saw some smashed Christmas bulbs at the foot of the stairs. Some garlands had been hung in the living room. A silence fell above them, as if they wanted to wallow in the uncertainty and shock of the situation.

"Well, come on," Ginny's voice brought Harry out of his reverie. He blinked as he looked at her, frowning.

"Where to?" He asked, momentarily lost. For a couple of seconds he wondered what they were doing here.

"I'll imagine you want to see him," Luna replied gently. Harry felt how his stomach was made a knot, and his throat was suddenly quite dry. Did he? Did he want to see Sirius? Yes, of course. But... He was dead... He couldn't be alive... Harry saw Luna's hand stretched before him and he gulped, taking it. His hand was shaking... Luna smiled reassuringly at him at started guiding him towards the stairs, pass the broken bulbs, and up the steps they went; Ron and Ginny behind them. One by one, their footsteps echoed in the silent house; Harry had the strange sensation that when they reached the second floor, he was years and years older.

"We moved him to his room," someone's voice –it sounded like Ginny's- reached his ears; he felt his head going up and down, but didn't say anything. The last door of the hallway was ajar... He felt slightly nauseated; he had felt the same in his first year, when he was about to play his first Quidditch match. Harry halted in front of the door, for he simply didn't want to go in there. His body refused to move- Sirius had slept in there, Hermione always entered... No, no, no. Luna tugged on his hand, but he didn't bulge.

"C'mon, Harry," Ginny told him, but he didn't pay attention. No, he didn't want to go in there. Never. It brought too many memories of two people he had loved and had left him. But one has returned, a small voice inside told him. Should he believe that voice? Did he dare to think that Sirius was now breathing again?

"I won't." He finally replied, fixedly staring at the door. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see Ron there, silent, and nodding. Harry understood the message; Ron knew how he was feeling, and they wouldn't abandon him. Harry closed his eyes tightly and moved to open the door softly, afraid of what he was –or was not- going to see in that room.

There he was... Fast asleep on his bed... He was there. Harry could see him, yes, he could. No one was saying anything, waiting for the reaction, whatever that would be. He could almost feel all trace of colour leaving his face when he saw his godfather in the bed. Was he real? Was it not a ghost? His breathing was irregular but slow as he approached the bed cautiously, as though afraid that any sudden move would make Sirius fade into the air. With every muscle painfully tense and his eyes wide as saucers he stood on the side of the bed, staring down at the face Harry had thought he'd never see again.

He looked almost exactly the same than when he had fallen into the Veil... And still, Sirius looked younger... Harry's frightened gaze landed on Ginny, who was tear eyed, and on Ron and Luna; his read headed friend's arm was around Luna's shoulders, smiling at him with pent up emotion. Harry's eyes again fell on his godfather, and he raised his shaking hand in hopes of touching him, wanting to see if he was meat and bones, and not just a dream. His green eyes became misty as he saw his own hand about to touch the figure on the bed... The quivering fingers carefully rested on Sirius's temple.

He was real.

Harry retrieved his hand as if the skin had burnt it and hid his face from his friends, too shocked and flabbergasted to think of anything decent to say. The situation was hard to swallow. How had Sirius returned? Why now, and not before? But he was alive. His godfather was alive again... Alive, alive, alive; the word repeated itself so many times inside his head that it lost sense and meaning... He needed to breathe.

Harry turned around and, pushing everyone aside, left the room to sit on the hallway, against the wall. His hands went to his hair and his knees momentarily concealed his face as tears began to fall. It was something both embarrassing and amazing that he had spent most of his days crying for the past three months. After a few minutes which felt like a lifetime, he heard someone sitting next and in front of him. He couldn't look up; he didn't want to.

"Harry," Ginny spoke next to him. "It's alright. He's alive; he'll get well," she tried to comfort him. He nodded but still didn't speak, consumed by whatever he was feeling, trying to breathe and sob at the same time... But he only shed tears.

"He apparently passed out at the top of the stairs," Luna spoke in front of him. "We at first thought he was a burglar or something... He was already unconscious," she added barely above a whisper.

"We didn't know what to do," Ginny told him with an oddly strangled voice. "We were so scared... We honestly thought we were crazy... Stop crying... You're breaking my heart," she added, hugging him. Harry didn't return the embrace, still unable to articulate a single word, but finally looked up at them.

"Are you alright?" Ron asked with a serious voice; Harry shook his head.

"I'm happy," he croaked. "But- I don't understand..." His voice died down at this, and he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand quickly. "I'm sorry," he muttered.

"No one's blaming you," Luna told him quietly. "We should tell Lupin..."

"I'll tell him," Ron volunteered, standing up. "Maybe he'll be able to tell us something."

"Use the chimney," Harry said, staring at the floor again. Once he was gone, neither of them spoke anymore... Harry stood up and strode towards Sirius's room again. Yes, he was still there... Neither Ginny nor Luna followed him; maybe they already knew that he wanted some time alone with his godfather. Inside of him a hurricane of emotions began to turn at the sight... Harry didn't speak; he didn't need to speak.

He just wanted Sirius to open his eyes.

-

Lupin's reaction was very close to Harry's, with the exception of the tears. He simply had looked as though he had been close to fainting, but he didn't. At the moment he was sitting next to Tonks in the living room, as Harry, Ron, Ginny and Luna shared the unnerving silence. No one knew what to think or say. They were all happy, of course, but that still didn't mean that everything was okay. Dead people couldn't return to life just like that.

"So... What do you reckon?" Ron was the first to ask, looking around, waiting for the answer to the question they all had in their heads. Lupin shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

"I can't see how he came back," he said. "There must be something... A connection..." He trailed off. Harry looked up from his hands with a frown.

"A connection to what?"

"Hermione." Luna stated clearly, making the air seem thicker than before. Everyone turned to stare at her, puzzled.

"What does she have to do with this?" Ginny asked, raising her eyebrows. Luna was beginning to return to her old self; she looked dreamy again.

"Well, it's a rare coincidence, isn't it?" She started with a trace of cheerfulness. "Sirius fell through the Veil four years ago, and he comes to life three months after Hermione's death..."

"But that's nonsense," Tonks said with her lips pursed. "Many people were thrown through the Veil... No one came back," she told them.

"That's why there must be something," Ron said. As the words left his lips, Harry jumped next to him on the couch. His eyes sported a crazed look, as if he had just seen something die in front of him.

"What is it?" Ron asked, surprised. Harry didn't answer at first.

"Harry," Lupin called, slightly leaning in. Harry's face was pale again, and his hands firmly gripped the fabric of his pants.

"The book," he muttered at last. "The book!"

"What book?" Ginny wanted to know. Harry's hands again went up his hair.

"How could we not see it?" He asked himself. "It's there. It's that black book!" The rest of the people around him shared puzzled looks, wondering what he was talking about... He sounded like Kreacher.

"What book?" Ron asked this time, a little bit more forcefully. Harry hit the coffee table with his fist and suddenly stood up.

"How could we be so stupid? The book Hermione had! The Veiled Mysteries!"

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A/N: Well, there you go. I'll admit that this was a very hard chapter to write, because I wanted to keep it real... If you think that I went overboard, please don't hesitate in telling me! (just be nice) There are so many things that I want you guys to read. I hope you like this, and don't forget to leave a review to let me know what you think! Bye!