A.N. - Okay, so it's been ages, I know. A really longggg time ago. But I've had most of this written for ahwhile. I got a nice review that prompted me to finish it up and post it, so here you go. I started a new school and the workload is... a lot. It's an IB school, for those of you feel like going and looking it up. Well, I have a huge Bio test I need to finish studying for, and some Algebra... Leave me nice reviews. Make me want to update. :-D I'm looking forward to the Hermione Sirius romance coming up. My all time favorite pairing. Ever. Now go enjoy.

A dark headed boy sat in a chair in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts. It was the summertime, and the sun shone in brightly from one window. He stretched lazily, and leaned his chair back on two of the legs.

It fell over.

Quickly recovering, he stood up, a bashful look on his face. He swiftly looked around to make sure no one had seen his mishap with the chair. Several portraits were snickering, and the boy sent a glare in their direction.

The door to the office swung open suddenly, and the boy looked up, startled, flashing bright green eyes.

Minerva McGonagall stood in the doorway with her face lit up. Her hair looked windblown, which was unusual, and her normally perfectly pressed robes were wrinkled. The grin on her face was infectious, and she looked at the boy with a kind expression.

"Mr. Potter. Thank you for answering my owl quickly. I wanted to talk to you about Ms. Granger." A somber look replaced the exuberant one she had worn moments before. Her eyes lowered, and frown lines appeared around her mouth.

"I went to visit her earlier, at your request. You did not do her state of depression justice, she has withered away to nothing. She showed no emotion the whole time I was with her. Absolutely none! When I mentioned helping Madame Pince in the library, she just stared at me with those blank eyes of hers. I didn't know what else to do! And then out of the blue this morning, Irma mentioned getting an owl from Ms. Granger about coming to help her later this week, and I was speechless! Has she told you anything about this?" she finished with a flourish.

Harry's eyes widened. "She did what?" He looked more than a little shocked. Hermione hadn't even said anything to him at all. She had been in her room except for when she had come downstairs to get herself something from the kitchen...

All of a sudden, the door to the headmistress's office was flung open.

"Dumbledore, what the hell is going on?" said a very agitated Sirius Black. His tattered black robes fluttered, and his dark brown hair fell elegantly in his face. He looked thin, with his cheekbones prominent. He stood panting, as if he had been running a marathon.

Bright green eyes met his tired blue-gray ones.

"Sirius?"

Harry looked as if he had seen a ghost. His face turned an interesting shade of gray, and his mouth hung open.

Sirius stared at the boy, who looked quite different from the last time he had seen him. He was no longer a boy anymore. But what was going on? He couldn't remember anything...

Harry ran towards his godfather, and engulfed him in a hug. His eyes were misty and he had a slightly disbelieving expression on his face. Sirius pulled back after a moment, and looked at Harry with a curious gaze.

"What are you doing here? Where's Dumbledore?" Sirius asked, panic rising in his voice. McGonagall and Harry were still staring at him, unbelieving.

"You don't remember what happened? How did you get back from the veil?"

Sirius looked like a wounded puppy dog. "What are you on about? Where's Dumbledore? What the hell is going on? Tell me, dammit!"

"Mr. Black, you fell through the veil in the Department of Mysteries five years ago. Dumbledore was killed by Severus in Harry's sixth year. I am now the headmistress." said McGonagall without any emotion.

Sirius sank to his knees in both anger and grief. Angry that he had lost another five years of his life he could never get back. Angry that Dumbledore had been killed by that bastard. Grief for the years of his godson's life he had not been there to witness. His breathing was heavy and ragged, all the things he had just heard sinking in. Some of his last few moments coming back to him, his heat shot up.

"If I fell through the veil, how am I back?"

Harry's voice was choked. "I don't know."

Hermione paced back and forth in her room. She had quit her job at the ministry months ago. She didn't hang out with any of her adult friends.

Why the hell had she even considered going back to Hogwarts?

She flung herself down on the bed, frustrated. Her mind raced, and her head was spinning. There were moments when she almost felt like things were going to get better. But there were those times when she thought nothing could ever get better. She would never be able to move on. It had been a good moment when she thought she could handle reentering the world.

She changed her mind.

She couldn't do it.

Not without him. She needed him.

Her head shot up in the air. When the hell had she ever needed a man to be able to do something? She was always independent. Always. Why had things changed?

She was going to Hogwarts.

Harry and Sirius walked slowly towards the door of Grimmauld Place. Harry had insisted they take the muggle subway once they had flooed to the Ministry. Something about not wearing out Sirius's powers since he had just returned into the magical world.

Needless to say, Sirius was not happy with this situation. His hands itched for his wand, anxious to be in control of his own magic. Soon enough, however, they arrived, and Sirius had never beheld such a wonderful, yet haunting sight. All of his troubled past lay right before his eyes, but he could not hold it in contempt anymore. Those years were long passed, and it was time to move forward. Maybe a small cabin in the Swiss Alps?

Harry walked towards the doorway, anxious to let everyone see for themselves the miracle that was his godfather. He didn't have a clue how he was back, and to be honest, it didn't matter. Sirius was here, and he could live his life once again. Kingsley had ordered him a free man. He could get a job now, could walk outside without the fear of being caught. Things were looking up.

Not one thought of Hermione had entered his brain since he had seen Sirius.

They calmly walked up the front steps, opening the door, careful to be under the cover of night and making sure no muggles were about. Harry had not filled Sirius in, so he was a little hesitant of what to think, who would be living there. He did not even know of the outcome of the war. Making assumptions, however, Harry seemed changed. He did not have such a weight on his shoulders. But there were lines in his face that had not been there before. Sirius wondered what had gone on during his time in the veil.

Harry had no sooner than walked in the kitchen with Sirius when he was met by a very disgruntled looking Hermione. Her hair was loose and wild, a tangled lion's mane, limp and dull. She had on a pair of tattered robes and looked like she was trying to make coffee. As usual. Harry opened his mouth to get her attention when her raspy voice startled him.

"I have decided to spend a week at Hogwarts," she said, as if conversationally. Harry stared at her, bewildered. She had not even turned around or let out a sign that she knew he was in the room. And he rarely even saw her out of her room, much less in robes, or even where she would speak.

The coffee pot beeped at her, and she grabbed the pot and poured it into her mug. As she turned around, her brown eyes collided with gray, and she took a step back towards the counter.

"Sirius?"

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