Less than a minute later and before she could return from going upstairs, there was the rapid falling of feet coming down the stairs. Sirius stood and was braced, ready, as he already knew and expected Hermione's reaction.
Hermione came barrelling in the door, hesitated only a jot to locate her 'target' and ran across the few feet from the doorway to him before throwing herself into his arms. She was already sobbing piteously.
"They told me he's dead, Sirius!" she wailed. "They told me he fell through the Veil of Death!" As Sirius, now with his arms wrapped around her back as she had her arms wrapped around his shoulder and neck, held her, he quietly made consoling and 'there there' noises for her.
"Please tell me he's not!" she sob-begged.
"I'm sorry, Hermione," he sighed. "I can't do that."
As Hermione wailed even more in his arms, Sirius felt like a real heel. However, he knew he could not tell her what the Lovegood girl had told him.
For a start, he had promised Luna he would not disclose he knew her to be a Seer. That information would be restricted to only three people, not including Luna, and Hermione was not one of them. Secondly, he knew Hermione would very likely go straight to Dumbledore with the information. And thirdly, even if she did promise and was willing to keep the secret, she had no Occlumency to protect her mind from the likes of Dumbledore if the old bastard decided to use Legilimency on her.
For the time being, Hermione would not be made aware Harry was still alive and only so far away no one was able to get to him yet.
However, Sirius was not there to lie to the girl about Harry's 'supposed' fate. He was there to get answers to questions he had and knew the girl was the only one – with the Weasley boy proving himself to be a thief and liar - who could answer them. Secondly, because of her loyalty to Harry - even if tempered with her loyalty to Dumbledore - together with her willingness to go to the Department of Mysteries to 'rescue' him even though she knew it to very likely be a trap by Riddle, he was going to go out of his way to help the girl. He'd promised Luna.
After a minute of the girl sobbing in his arms (and possibly ruining his brand new expensive muggle suit in the process) he firmly, but gently, pushed her away from him and nearly to arms length away. "Sweetie, I need to talk to you about Harry. I need that talk to be open and in-depth," he firmly said. "As such, I need you to set aside your grief... just as I have needed to... and talk with me. Can you do that?"
Wiping her eyes with a sleeve of her long-sleeved blouse and while accepting a small handful of tissues her mother compassionately handed to her from the side, Hermione nodded.
"Thank you," said Sirius. He then looked to a still standing nearby Sandra and used his chin to indicate the couch opposite.
Sandra wasn't daft; she immediately latched onto Hermione and carefully guided her back to sit on the couch while Sirius sat back in the armchair opposite. Sandra sat alongside her daughter, while also holding her hand. As everyone sat again, Sirius said, "I've been talking with others of your little group who accompanied Harry to the Ministry that night. I've already heard a lot about what happened. However, many of them said the best person to speak to about it was you.
"While Ron Weasley has been telling everyone he was Harry's 'best mate', it was very apparent that his best friend was, in fact, you. I have had that information confirmed by two others."
"No," stuttered Hermione. "But... Ron..."
"No, Hermione," he gently said. "What you seem to be unaware of is that, while you were recovering in hospital, Ron... after being released from hospital... returned to the school for the last two days before the Express returned to Kings Cross.
"The first thing he apparently did on returning to the castle was to rifle through Harry's trunk and claim for himself whatever he wanted. Apparently, that was Harry's coin pouch and his Firebolt.
"When the boys in his dorm tried to stop him, he told them that Harry had told him that, if anything was to happen to him, Ron was to take from his effects whatever he wanted... especially his Firebolt."
"No... but... you bought that for him!" she decried.
"Indeed," he nodded. "The only other thing Ron took was, as I said, his coin pouch."
"When I had the goblins of Gringotts employ their magics to recover everything that had been stolen from the House of Potter, I found out Ron had stolen the broom and coin pouch."
A small lie, it was Dobby who made him aware of that.
"I then wrote to Arthur and demanded them back. Ron lied to his father and told him that Harry had told him he could have them. The other boys in his dorm told me that, to the best of their knowledge, Harry did no such thing.
"When Arthur confronted the boy about it and after some effort on Arthur's part, he finally admitted Harry didn't do that and that Ron believed Harry would have if he'd thought of it.
"That's theft!" declared Marc.
Sirius looked to him and nodded. "It is, yes. I've also since recovered both. However, I also believe young Mister Weasley also didn't return all that was in the coin pouch, either. However, I know Harry didn't keep that much―"
"Approximately thirty galleons, ten sickles and five knuts," Hermione promptly stated.
Sirius smiled and said, "That you knew that does not surprise me. I'll also tell you that the boy did not return anywhere near that much. However, I'm not going to chase after him for it. Obviously the boy thought that little of Harry's friendship and legacy he was quite willing to steal a little gold from him, plus the broom, after he died.
"Just so you know, Hermione, as a result of that... treachery... I've formally announced the House of Weasley to be enemies of the Houses of Potter and Black. The theft of the broom, valued at over one thousand galleons, was more than enough for me to do so."
"But... you've got it back," she whined.
Her father cut in. "That is neither here nor there, Hermione," he firmly said. "Lord Black only got it back because the Weasley boy was caught with it. It was still theft."
Sirius added, "I could have easily had young Ronald charged with that theft, Hermione. And, because he's over fourteen and knows right from wrong, the charge would have stuck. "I did not do that because I have respect for Arthur. The shame of having a son publicly labelled as being a thief would have gutted the man. I'll also tell you that, according to the twins, only the begging and pleading of their mother stayed their father's hand from formally disowning the boy. That's how big an issue this is."
Hermione looked down and away and sadly nodded, understanding.
Relaxing, happy in that she was finally understanding, Sirius sat back and said, "Now. I need you to tell your side of the story about Harry and what has happened at the school. And... please... start at the beginning."