Breaking the News

A/N: Hello! Thank you for all those amazing reviews, first of all! Sorry if this chapter took a bit to be posted, but I'm also working on my new fic, The Reason, and I'm trying not to get them mixed up. Anyway, here's the chapter we've all wanted/waited to read... Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: No, I don't own the characters. And from my plot, I don't think that they'd be happy with me owning them.

"I have seen pain,
Resting on the shoulders of your name.
Do you see the truth through all their lies?
Do you see the world through troubled eyes?

I have seen death.
Lived to see a lover's final breath.
Do you see my guilt? Should I feel a fright?
Is the fire of hesitation burning bright?"

"Cry"- James Blunt.

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Sirius continued to stare at Harry, transfixed, absorbing his feelings through his eyes. So that was why Harry had so enthusiastically avoided anything related to relationships and love... So it was safe to say that Harry had also fallen in love with Hermione? That was not good, no, not at all...

No one spoke; the eyes were all downcast and horrified at what they had just discovered. Nobody moved, nobody breathed for a couple of seconds, waiting for the explosion that had yet to come. The silence was eerie; it fell over them like some sort of black cloud; could someone just-

"Harry-" Ron croaked at last, making the lingering pressure ebb away. Before he could add anything more, Harry lifted a hand to silence him and shook his head, closing his eyes for a couple of seconds. Ron closed his mouth and anxiously waited for his best friend to speak, but he didn't. Harry lowered his arm and, without looking at them, simply turned around and made for the stairs. Ginny and Luna bit their lips as they stared at him go, while Tonks frowned sadly and Lupin stared right at Sirius with sad eyes. Sirius broke the eye contact hastily, wondering if they would blame him for what Hermione had done. He couldn't have known she would do something like that. It wasn't his fault, right...? Guilt shot through him like an arrow, and his eyes glanced down at the book on his lap.

That awkward impression of being inside a pressing machine returned with full strength when Harry's steps couldn't be heard anymore; not one of them knew what to do now.

"Maybe... Someone could go and check on him?" Luna squeaked.

"Let's leave him alone for a while," Ron replied, glancing at the stairs warily, as though he expected Harry to throw himself down the set. Silence encompassed them once more... They could all tell from the looks on the faces that they wanted to continue reading the book, but no one dared to say so.

"How- How could she? How could she?" Ginny finally asked with a cracked voice, anger flashing in her eyes. "How could she be so- so selfish?" As the words escaped her lips, Sirius wanted to frown and tell her that she ought to speak better of Hermione in his presence, but the fact still remained that Hermione had, with no doubt, used his godson. And even if Sirius was in love with her, he also loved Harry.

"Well," Draco started, after cleaning his throat, "I don't blame her."

A look of disgust plagued Ginny's eyes as she glared at him; Ron's was no different. The rest remained, or at least tried to remain, unmoving and expressionless.

"I want a divorce," Ginny stated fiercely as Ron said, "Okay; I'm going to kill him." Draco rolled his eyes, mildly bored at the reactions.

"Think," he drawled. "Think. Hermione was not called the brightest witch of our year for nothing. I'll admit that she wasn't one of my favourite people around, but I see no point in denying that she had a... good heart," he spoke the last words with a trace of sarcasm, but quickly composed himself before continuing. "She knew Pott- Harry loved her; she knew what she was doing, and knew what were the consequences of it-"

"She could have drunk the first potion!" Ron exclaimed. Draco merely looked at him at this.

"As I was saying before I was interrupted-" He started, sneering at Ron, who got red in the ears, but didn't speak again, "Would you have wanted to come back to someone you had used so cruelly? Hermione probably thought that he' never find out what she had done... Perhaps she felt safer... However, I have no doubt that Hermione knew how Harry would feel if he ever discovered what she had done, and thus felt ashamed, guilty, heartless, selfish; everything you were about to accuse her of." Draco continued, drawing breath. "I believe that Hermione found solace in the fact that Sirius would return, and that she'd make it up to Harry. Like I said, I wouldn't have come back either." He concluded, gazing at the people around him. Yet another silence greeted that explanation, for they were all gaping at him, including Sirius.

"Since when you became so interested in Hermione?" Luna finally asked. Draco shrugged.

"The War made me rearrange my priorities, so to speak... Then I started seeing Ginny... Such a pity that she wants to divorce me, though," he retorted, allowing a small smile to show. Ginny shook her head and took hold of his hand again, squeezing it mutely.

"Well, if Draco is right-" Lupin spoke for the first time, "should we attempt to bring her back?"

"Of course," Ron stated immediately with a surprised face, as if he was wondering how anyone would dare to think otherwise.

"We have to think of Harry," Tonks said, aggravated. "In any case, we'll need his blood... What if he hates her now? And, obviously, we can't forget Hermione-"

"Are you implying that we don't do anything?" Ginny flared up. "What, so we just ignore what we have just read, we bypass Harry's feelings, as well as ours; and live with the fact that Hermione could have returned and we didn't even try to revive her?"

"But, Ginny, if Draco's theory is right-"

"I love my husband dearly, but he can make mistakes!" Ginny exclaimed; Draco smirked but didn't say anything at the comment. Lupin was opening his mouth to speak when Ron turned to Sirius, who had been strangely silent.

"How come Hermione cared about you so much, Sirius?" Ron questioned. Tonks gasped silently, and Lupin bored his eyes into Sirius's. Everyone was staring at him.

"I... Don't know," Sirius responded lamely, slowly, carefully avoiding looking at Lupin.

"She didn't even know you!" Ron continued. Sirius ran his fingers through his hair and sighed, wondering what he should do, what he should say to appease them.

"I don't know, Ron," he repeated a little bit more forcefully. "Maybe she just wanted to do Harry a favour or something..."

"But the book says you must love the person you're trying to save," Luna commented. Sirius glared at the floor and had to rearrange his features before looking up at them again.

"Look, I just don't know, okay? Don't try to blame me for what she did!" He told them loudly. He didn't need to feel guilty about this too; if they continued to add more weight on his shoulders, he might as well throw himself beyond the Veil again...

"No one's blaming you," Draco said tersely, with a suspicious spark in his eyes. "We are just... Wondering." Sirius rubbed his eyes at this, attempting to calm down. If he continued to lose his patience like this, something secret was bound to spill out.

"I think we should try to bring her back," he said calmly, gazing at them from the corner of his eye. "My godson will, maybe, end up forgiving her. He forgave me, afterall. Harry will come around, you'll see..."

But Harry was apparently having a hard time with 'coming around'.

He remerged from his room four days after that awful day, when he had found out why Hermione's confession had been so sudden and urgent... The day he found out that Hermione didn't truly love him- that she had just used him to get Sirius back. It was hard to describe what he was feeling; 'sad' wasn't sad enough, 'angry' wasn't angry enough. Yes, he was angry. He was angry with Hermione, and he was angry with Sirius. Harry had tried not to, but he couldn't help but wonder why Hermione had come to care about his godfather so much. How could she love Sirius, if she had barely known him? Merlin... They fought about Kreacher! Hermione thought Sirius confused Harry with James!

Maybe, Hermione had not loved Sirius so deeply. Maybe, Harry's blood had helped with the process... Harry stopped walking, at the top of the stairs, at this thought. He had been hungry, but now that ache had faded- he didn't want to deal with facing Sirius, or Lupin, or whoever. He whipped around and went into his bedroom again, kicking the door behind him to close it. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Lupin, Sirius, Ron and Ginny glanced at each other worriedly.

"He's- He's acting like Hermione did before... before the overdose," Ginny struggled to say, not wanting to recall that awful morning.

"You don't think...?" Ron asked in fear. Hermione's suicide had left various issues among the emotionally involved, and paranoia was one of the predominant ones.

"Harry would never-" Sirius started to protest when Ron cut him off.

"Yeah, we thought the same about Hermione," he snarled.

"Calm down," Lupin said. "As much as I understand your fear, Harry won't try to do anything."

"And how do you know that?" Ginny asked.

"Sirius is here," Lupin simply replied. "You two are also here, too. Let's not forget that Harry has that streak of... nobility, shall we say? Besides, he has suffered the deaths of many people- I don't believe, even if he feels suicidal (which I strongly doubt), that he would like impose on you the sorrow of his own death." He explained.

"You're right," Ron said, and his sister smiled. "Keep an eye on him, just in case..." Ginny nodded and checked her wristwatch, gasping.

"I have to meet Draco!" She breathed. "I have to go; please keep me informed on Harry, okay?" She added as she stood up, kissing Ron goodbye.

"Of course," Sirius told her with a smile. Ginny waved at the two older men and disapparated, leaving an uncomfortable silence among the three remaining in the kitchen.

"Well, I think I'll go home, too," Ron said, scratching his head. "Luna's going berserk lately, with the preparations for the wedding and all..." he trailed off. "So see you tomorrow?" He said.

"See you tomorrow," Lupin retorted; Ron shook hands with them before also dissaparating with a sharp 'crack'. "Now that we're alone, Padfoot..." Lupin began, staring at Sirius, who grunted.

"What?" He tiredly asked.

"Harry has to know. You have to tell him." Sirius cradled his head with his hands and looked down at the table, letting out a long sigh; a strange display of weakness that Lupin had rarely seen coming from his old friend.

"I know," Sirius muttered. "He'll kill me, Remus; and Hermione's sacrifice will have been in vain..."

"But we need him, and he needs you too as well. He'll have his suspicions by now, Sirius... He's not stupid. The more you postpone it, the more resentful he'll become," Lupin said. Sirius closed his eyes, as though struggling with himself.

"Okay," he finally said, looking up defiantly. "I'll tell him. Now." Yes, he better tell Harry now, before he lost his nerve. He was scared to death about revealing this to his godson, but he had no other possible exit route.

"Would you like me to be there, or you'd rather be alone with him?" Lupin wanted to know with an encouraging smile. Sirius seemed thoughtful for a couple of seconds, seemingly weighting his options (if he had any).

"Come with me. If he hexes me, then you can either run for your life or return my face, and or body, to normal," Sirius replied. "And if he AK's me, well... Hide the body." Lupin grinned at him and stood up, beckoning Sirius to do the same.

The journey to Harry's room was excruciating, to say the least. Every step was a struggle, as if Sirius had lead in his shoes, and the door that lead into his godson's room kept getting father and father away, at the same time growing menacingly close to him. When at last they reached the door, Sirius finally lost all the guts he may have possessed. He couldn't do this. He couldn't say this to Harry... Lupin placed a hand over his shoulder and nodded, with a serious face, so Sirius knew that he didn't have any chance to escape this bitter end; this end of the alley. Breathing in shakily, Sirius knocked on Harry's door.

"Who is it?" Harry's muffled but clearly tired voice was heard. At the incapacity of Sirius to find his voice, Lupin took the lead.

"Lupin and Sirius. We wish to talk to you." A minute passed in complete silence, minute in which Sirius's gaunt features turned slightly green. And then, they heard Harry muttering the Finite Incantatem. Lupin, firmly grabbing Sirius's shoulder, grabbed the doorknob and turned it, opening the door and dragging Sirius inside. Harry stared at them from his bed; his room was messy and unkempt.

"What is it?" Harry asked them. Sirius was staring at him with an oddly scared look. Lupin shook Sirius by the shoulder and Harry raised his eyebrows when his godfather jerked at the touch, as though he had been asleep and had been rudely awakened. "Well?" he said, raising his eyebrows.

"I- I need to... To tell you something," Sirius muttered, staring straight into Harry's eyes. "About... About Hermione," he added in a higher tone of voice, almost squeamish. Harry frowned, and he stood up from the bed.

"Go ahead then," he retorted. Sirius drew in a shaky breath at this, glancing furtively at Harry's door. Lupin crossed his arms behind Sirius like a body guard, patiently waiting for him to speak.

"I don't... This isn't easy for me," Sirius told Harry. "I can't think of a better way to tell you this, besides going straight to the point..." Harry crossed his arms at this, but his expression softened when he heard Sirius's voice. He truly sounded troubled.

"It's easier that way, I believe," he retorted. Sirius nodded and, breathing in deeply once more, opened his mouth.

"I... I had an... an affair with Hermione, Harry..."

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A/N: Ahhh! I loved writing this last part! There's no much left to say now... Hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please leave a review to let me know! Until next chapter... Bye!