Between Wands & Sigils - Chapter 112 : Strength Reminder & Clandestine Park meetings...

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Hogwarts

–Damian Hawthorne–

Sirius gasped as he hit the man with a wave of freezing air on his face, his face doing a terrible impression of a fish flopping around outside the war until he realised that he was not in whatever terrible nightmare his mind had conjured for him, and in a vastly more comfortable prison. 

Sirius took in deep breaths, clearly trying to calm his raging mind, and it seemed to be working, only for the man to freeze, his entire body pausing, even his breathing, before he mechanically turned towards him, and seeing his cloaked form sitting on the side of the sofa, facing him, waiting for him to come to terms with the fact that–

“I’ll kill him!” Sirius roared, lunging forward towards him, eyes red and his face twisted in a snarl. Of course, the man got nowhere on account of his magic freezing him in place. Quite literally, as he was now airborne, his hands extended towards him, as if that was going to do anything. 

With a flex of his magic, Sirius was deposited back on his side of the sofa, and this time, thankfully, he remained calm, not acting on any thoughts of lunging at the man who quite literally controlled his life and death. Sans Dumbledore and Bones probably, the rest of the world quite literally thought Sirius to be dead and wouldn't even come looking if he did, but apparently, the fact never dawned on Sirius’ rage-addled mind when he—

He sighed, not having the patience to do this. He was not Sirius’ therapist. He was going to have to hire one once he had access to his ancestral wealth. Sure, having Lord Black in your pocket was nice and all, but it was looking less and less worth it to him, beyond getting Sirius his well deserved justice and also removing one of the bigger pawns of Tommy boy in one fell swoop.

“Look, Sirius, you can do whatever you want with him after I am done with him. You need him alive for your trial.”

“I don’t care abo—mmmm,” Sirius’ mouth clicked shut as he realised the futility of his actions. The man in front of him would not be listening to his reasoning anytime soon. Shaking his head, he let his magic loose around him, noticing as the man froze stiff, his eyes darting all around in terror. A second later, it was gone as Sirius slumped in his seat, scooting away from him, looking at him in a new light.

Sigh. So much work for so little return.

“I suppose you understand now. Do not mistake my kindness for weakness. I am doing you a favour. Remember me. Without me, you would still be in Azkaban, waiting for death. Now, listen closely because I will not be repeating it again….”

___xx__

He sent the letter to Dumbleore, in which he had agreed to a meeting in London, on a weekend, so he could sneak out of school and do the business. Once he was sure that both of his prisoners would be fine for a few more days, he popped to the Portal Room and through that, outside, and then flew back to Hogwarts.

The original deadline for the trial was only in 4 days, and Dumbledore was going to meet him in 2. Until now, there has been no public announcement regarding it, but he supposed that Dumbledore was just making preparations for a spot trial, because there was no way in hell that Lucius Malfoy would allow the trial to occur, not publicly in any way.

He could think of any number of reasons Lucios could invent and feed to the Minister, who would love nothing more than any reason to make sure that the Ministry as a whole was not tarnished and its reputation in the mud while he was the sitting Minister. It would look horrible on his resume.

Lucios could frame this as a trick from the Giant Killer, or ask for a classified trial, or just ask the Minister to have Sirius legally declared dead before the trial could go through, so the entire thing could be tossed out on a technicality.

Anything to make sure that, come time, Draco Malfoy will be the one who gets all that money, despite the Malfoys themselves being so rich that they wouldn’t need to work for generations to come, despite the luxury lifestyle they all led.

Then again, there were many people who loved to hoard even more wealth, despite having so much, they couldn’t possibly spend it in their lifetime or the next generation’s lifetime.

Shaking his head, he went in through the severs before entering his dorm and seeing Terry still asleep, went back to sleep in his bed, or tried to anyway.

____xx___

Two days later, he was back inside his Lair, looking at the time on the clock. There was an hour left until the designated meeting time. He expected no fights or ambushes in the meeting, but he was not foolish enough to take everything at face value.

Prior preparations were made to make sure that in the case of a fight, only he would get out of there instantly, but so would his two prisoners, whose lives were very important right now, plus they did not have his durability. Even discounting his enchanted armour, his body was far more durable than a regular human’s. Not bulletproof, not yet anyway, but small firearms will only puncture his skin and not go through like they would with everyone else.

Bombs. Ward breaking charges. Auto teleportation sequences and more had been installed in the small park clearing that was very much closed during the night. So he did not have to worry about collateral damage, save for some figurines that were installed there to act as decorations and the loss of some of the lawn grass there, if some of the more explosive material was used.

He was fine with that. Lawns were a pathetic use for arable land anyway.

Now, he didn’t want Dumbledore to know anything about his Lair. Not even the fact that Sirius was kept in a very comfortable prison. No, if he could help it, Sirius would have his memories erased before getting out, but since he currently had no feasible way of doing that safely and without it creating problems in the trial about Sirius’ mental acuity, he was fine with Sirius keeping his memories.

But Peter? Nope. Which is why the man was being transported in as is condition, i.e, knocked out and terrified.

After some time going through the reports he had lying around about some of the future tasks he had in mind, after he was in Kamar Taj, he set the papers down and teleported to Sirius’ cabin, who was, once again, reading through a magazine. This time, it was a dirty magazine, which was being sent to the Lair through his usual channels, after Sirius had begged him for that.

Shaking his head, he snapped his fingers, creating a large boom in the room, stopping Sirius’ giggling and making him scramble to stand up and hide the magazine behind him, as if a teenager caught by their parents. Sirius, evidently having realised that no, he was not a teenager and an adult, a sad one at that, calmly placed the magazine on the table and adjusted his clothing, acting as if nothing had happened, “I assume we are meeting him now?”

He nodded, “Yes. We’re leaving. Anything you might need?”

“Aside from watching Peter’s life being snuffed out? No.” He rolled his eyes at the man’s snarky comments before teleporting them both out of the room into the Portal Room. Apparently, if he covered someone else in his magic, he could side apparate them without any physical touch.

Yet another thing that was only possible to learn because he had live subjects to experiment on.

Peter was already floating in an energy casing, knocked out, and for a moment there, he thought he would have to restrain Sirius or let him try to break the force field keeping Peter safe, but apparently, the man had some modicum of restraint, which he used to look away from Peter.

Looking at Peter and his containment housing, it was a far cry from the jury-rigged ones he had built for the vampires.

They were heavy and, more importantly, multi parts, and were very inefficient. His newest design? A small coaster-shaped thing that, when placed on the chest of a person, expanded and created a force field that was very durable and could be manipulated to show the person inside or keep them hidden or camouflage the whole thing to become a park bench.

“Shall we?” He extended his hand towards Sirius, while keeping the other on Peter's prone form. He might be willing to use the touch less Apparitionmethod for short distances, but for longer ones? 

Yeah, no need to tempt Murphy there.

___xx___

–Albus Dumbledore—

He was walking back and forth, in a park that was dimly lit and also closed off for everyone else. He’d received the letter and had arrived at the designated place half an hour early. He was just that stressed about the whole thing.

Looking at the Elder Wand he had brought today, he shook his head and tried not to think of the last time he had to use the terrible weapon that it was to put down the Troll construct that Tom had set loose on a school full of children.

Shaking his head, he was just about contemplating sitting down on the wonderful bench that looked just a tad bit uncomfortable, only to pause and turn around, just in time for three people to appear in front of him, without making a single sound.

He froze, seeing Sirius. He ignored Peter, whom he assumed was in a magical conspiracy of some sort, to keep him securely contained. His main focus was on Sirisu who was looking at him with resentment, that he felt something heavy settle in his chest.

In a way, it would have been much easier on him had Sirius been looking at him with apocalyptic rage. But this? Disappointment and resentment? 

That was….uncomfortable.

Just another addition to the many failures of his life.