Between Wands & Sigils - Chapter 113 : The Mighty Principles meet Reality!

Disclaimer - I don’t own anything. As the corporations say these days, you will own nothing & be happy. I don't, and have never claimed to, own Marvel or Disney or any of its characters. With that out of the way, let’s goooo!

–Damian Hawthorne–

He watched as Dumbledore looked at Sirius, who was visibly holding himself back from shouting? Fighting? Running? He could not know, but the man was very much disturbed seeing Dumbledore in the flesh. Before things could devolve into mindless bickering and them trying to mend their relationship, he snapped his fingers, straddling both of the emotionally affected parties, as he released the containment field on Peter.

Peter’s eyes shot open, a gasp escaping his lips as he made a remarkable expression of a fish flopping around on land. Peter wriggled on the ground as Sirius took a step towards him, his hands clenched at his sides, visibly restraining himself from strangling Peter with his own two hands.

Yet, he somehow did it, and he counted that as progress in his mind. Resisting the urge to commend the man, he looked at Dumbledore and gestured at the now very silent and very still man on the ground, “If you could do the honors.”

Dumbledore shot him a look but complied, whipping out his wand. A wand that gave him pause, as he realised the old man had come prepared. It made sense. After all, even if he was going to abide by the terms of the meeting, Dumbledore was not foolish enough to come to a meeting with a known criminal without some insurance on his part. 

He had to say, though, the Elder Wand was a hell of an Insurance. Knowing that this was an amalgamation of two universes, there was a pretty good chance that instead of the artifacts being made by the conceptual embodiment of death, they were made by Hela, the Asgardian Goddess of Death, or any number of other Death Gods in the various Pantheons.

That didn’t make it any less dangerous. Hell, even the spell amplification aspect of it alone was a deadly advantage to someone like Dumbledore, but that alone did not make him want to snatch it from him and study it. Maybe there was something that could happen if all three artifacts of Death were united, and he could do it if he wanted to, but he doubted it would amount to anything serious.

After all, even if they drew power from Hela, she herself was sealed right now, by an All-Father no less. He doubted these artifacts could draw power from her right now, and even if they could, certainly not in enough quantities for them to matter.

And if they were just artifacts that were once imbued with her power and had no active connection to the Death Goddess? Then, they were not even worth mentioning.

As soon as Peter realised that Dumbledore was heading towards him with a wand, he made his first mistake, something that gave even Dumbledore pause. He transformed into a rat and began to scurry away, or tried to anyway. Dumbledore recovered immediately and stunned the rat, before he cast the Homoprhus Charm, something that temporarily reverses people back in their unchanged form, provided it was not permanent like vampirism.

Now, there was no spell to change someone from their human form to their Animagus form, so the only other way to gain evidence was to go through his mind or force him to speak the truth, but the man made Dumbledore’s job much easier by doing it himself.

“Peter,” Dumbledore whispered with evident disappointment as he stunned the now wide eyed man, throwing desperate looks at the Headmaster, probably hoping to be saved from the clutches of the man who had Sirius Black by his side. Well, maybe he was afraid of the Black madness finally showing itself in Sirius, in the form of strangling one of his ex best friends with his own hands, with a manic smile on his face.

He could totally see that happening. Unfortunately, for Peter anyway, Dumbledore was neither that stupid nor that soft, to forgive Peter, so a quick little stunner later, Peter’s prone form was on the ground and after a snap of his finger, back in the containment unit.

Dumbledore glanced at the forcefield keeping Peter afloat and by his side, “Fine work. I assume you did it yourself?”

“Indeed.” He replied before continuing, “I assume this satisfies you now?”

Dumbledore sighed and replied, “Yes. I will make sure Sirius and Peter both get their due justice, but the process is time consuming and–”

“No,” He said, stopping Dumbledore in his tirade about the process taking too long and how he just needed a little bit more time to make things right. The man was the freaking Warlock and could do this with ease, but continued to do stuff with one hand tied behind his back. So, he was not going to give the man the reprieve he wanted. This was partially his mistake, and if he was going to correct it, he was going to have to sacrifice some of his pretty little principles and finally use all the power he had at his disposal!

“I am not going to wait for you to do everything perfectly. I am telling you this. I am more than aware of your powers, Chief Warlock. You can call on a trail anytime you want. Madam Bones is more than capable of handling her side without letting anyone know. So, know this,”

Dumbledore straightened up, yet his face remained resigned as he realised that he was left with very few options now, “If Sirius’ trial is not initiated by Tuesday, then I will start targeting the Death Eaters who slipped through the cracks. I will break down their wards, invade their homes, invade their minds, find evidence of their crimes, and depending on the severity of the crime…”

Here, he intentionally flexed a bit of his magic, a heavy pressure descending on the area. Sirius stiffened by his side but did not take a step back. The area around him was shrouded in darkness for a bit as he replied in a low growl, “Let’s just pray that your Aurors either have a strong or an empty stomach that day.”

With the threat delivered, he was gone, with Sirius and Peter. As soon as they appeared in the Portal Room, Sirius’ knees gave out, only held aloft by his magic as Sirius gave him a shaky smile, “Scary…Warden.” Before he passed out.

Cursing, he checked on the man and saw that he was fine. No magic issues. No physical issues. 

Maybe emotional as well as physical exhaustion?

He didn’t know. He hadn’t learned everything about magical healing yet. What little was available in the Library mostly focused on Diagnosis and Stabilisation. His limited knowledge in that field told him Sirius was fine, so he just deposited the man back in his living quarters and Peter back in his Prison Dungeon, before teleporting back to Hogwarts.

Now, the ball was in Dumbledore’s court.

He had two days, and he better make the time count, because he already had his first target picked and honestly, he would rather have the Magical Britain's public turn against him than miss a chance to make sure that Dark Faction was thoroughly cleaned of the filth that escaped its due because of their actions with Tommy boy.

____xx___

–Albus Dumbledore–

He remained in the park, by himself, for a long time after they had left. He knew it was a gamble when he said those words. That it might just backfire on him and reduce the already small time they had, or invite even greater actions from the Giant Killer, but alas, he had to try.

For decades, he’d been steadfast, true to his principles. It went against many things he had believed in the past to call a fast trial and make sure every single one present participated in it because that was the crux of it.

He could call a trial, but the Wizengamot had to participate in it, and without forcing them, he could not see the required 70% members staying for the sentencing. He could force it to be public, but it was all but certain that they would be successful in moulding the public perception of the trial and shift the topic from getting justice for Sirius to Chief Warlock abusing his powers. 

It would draw fear from the public, and in light of the issues at Hogwarts, he could not afford more fear or negative attention to Hogwarts. Even if the trial was successful, it would have resulted in negative actions being taken against him, which included his position at Hogwarts.

He sighed, his shoulders sagging as he apparated from the spot and appeared in the Ministry Atrium.

No one was present, which was fine, as he whipped out his wand and sent a Patronus for Bones. They had only one day to arrange everything, because come Tuesday, if the trial did not go through, he might have to come to blows with the Giant Killer, and with what little he had seen the man do, he did not see himself winning those battles.

Especially not if he went in half hearted, knowing that he was in the wrong.