Sirius Black was feeling better than he had in decades. Of course, being reunited with your oldest friend, meeting your godson and being saved from a fate worse than death by said godson riding to your rescue on the back of a fugitive hippogriff would do that to you. It certainly beat 'lovely' Azkaban island. The chill of the dementors, the horrible food and the voices in his head telling him it was his fault Lilly and James died.
It would not do to think on this now, and with a jolt his mind snapped back to his current position: on the back of a hippogriff at 4,500 feet over the English Chanel. "Hold on Buckbeak!" he yelled over the wind, "Just four more miles and we'll be in French airspace. They can't catch us there!" His only answer was an indignant shriek, almost as if to say: "Of course I'll make it, you silly human. Did you think I would give up now?"
Sirius was painfully aware that the allies he had left were few and far between, especially on the Isles. Hence his decision to turn to the few friends he had on the continent, friends he had made during his travels around the world after graduating Hogwarts, during those carefree years so long ago. Traveling around with James, going wherever they felt like and getting spectacularly drunk all over the world. Just thinking back brought a smile to his face.
In the distance he could see the lights of the holiday resorts on the Belgian seaboard and the harbor of Dunkirk. As buckbeak began his decent towards some secluded bushes in the dunes he thought: "Belgium ha, I wonder how Felix is doing?"
Felix Miller was, as it turned out, happy to see Sirius again. When asked for his opinion on Sirius's guilt all he had to say was: "You couldn't have done it. You and James were close as brothers, I saw that much when the both of you had to be dragged out of the many pubs you visited here. There's no way you would have willingly betrayed him." He led Sirius to the bathroom, telling him to clean himself up and handing him a fresh set of clothes. After Sirius had showered, shaved and dressed, the two men sat down for dinner. "I'm sorry it's nothing fancy" Felix said "I hadn't planned on visitors and the wife is still at work, she's got the night shift" "Never mind, it's better than anything they fed us in Azkaban", Sirius answered.
After dinner both men retreated to Felix's study, a small room filled with a desk with computer and bookshelves lining almost all the available wall space. The bookshelves were filled with books on military history, with a few magical books set slightly apart. To Sirius it was obvious that Felix was not exactly flaunting his wizzarding heritage. "From the lack of magical works and the pressence com-put-thingie, I take that you haven't been able to find anyone interested in your ideas of revolutionizing the way wizards fight wars?" Felix shook his head sadly, sat down and produced a bottle of whiskey, pouring two glasses and handing one to Sirius. "God knows I've tried, but after graduating from the Academia Magica Lovaniensis, I didn't have access to any funding, and couldn't find a financial partner with a sense of ethics. I got a degree in history at the muggle part of the Accademia, and went to teach history at a secondary school, working on my magical projects in my spare time, but only the theory. But honestly? I've turned my back to the wizarding world, haven't touched my wand in the past five years or so."
Sirius looked sadly at the younger man. They had met in a pub in Leuven, where he and James had been sampling the rich palette of Belgian beers. Felix had been working in that pub as assistant-barkeeper, in order to earn a little money to help pay the rent. In hindsight, that had been a good thing, as he and James ended up terribly intoxicated and had started preforming magic in front of a pub full of muggles. Only Felix's swift Oblviate and two stunners had preserved the statute of secrecy. He had dragged them of to his place where they could sleep it of, and the three had become friends over breakfast. Felix spoke English well, being the son of a English muggleborn and an Indonesian/Dutch witch, who had fled the ex-colony in the 50's, and he was very passionate about his favorite subject: storage and flow of magical energy through runes, especially how they could be used for high-powered magical devices, and how they would revolutionize wizzarding fights. After a couple of days the two traveled on, but not before taking note of each other's addresses, and promising to stay in touch. The last time Sirius had seen Felix was at James wedding. He had been having a passionate discussion with both Lilly and her uncle, who, Sirius recalled, was also a historian. What was his name again? Richard, or something like that. Oh well, it didn't matter.
Suddenly, Sirius had a brainwave. "You know Felix, when my godson saved me a few days ago he mentioned that he expected the Dark Lord to rise again. I believe we are in for a world of trouble, because the wizzarding world has been sleeping on the issue of fighting for way to long, and is in for a rude awakening." Felix looked pensive for a moment. "I take you have a plan of some sort?" Sirius let out a barking laugh. "Of course I have a plan, and it is a bold and cunning one. Since my father died I am the only heir to the Black family fortune, and I think I'm going to play businessman with it. You know, found a company. How would you feel to be head of R&D at Black Armories, Ltd. ?" Felix face split in a huge grin. "I'd be honored. You know I'm not going to turn down my dream job." he said. "Well, mr. CEO, what 'Weapon of Dark-Lord-Destruction' do you want me to get working first?" "Well Felix" Sirius answered, "I think …."
It was near midnight when both men finally wrapped up their discussion. "So it's settled then" Felix said. "You will handle the financial side, take care of finding us a building, as well as costumer interaction, sales and the like after your name has been cleared. I will be responsible for R&D and production. When we grow, we'll have to add more people to manage subdivisions, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Sirius stood up and began walking to the guest room. "Indeed. Now let's get some sleep, an tomorrow you can see if you can get in touch with some old colleagues. Get started on building a team. When I find a location, give me a list on what materials we'll need, I'll foot the bill." The grin he gave was almost feral. "Let's go give the wizzarding world a wake-up call they'll never forget."
AN: So begins my first-ever fanfic. I hope you'll like it.
The one who manages to spot the history-in-joke wins a cookie.