Written for QLFC- Falmouth Falcons
Chaser 3 - main prompt- Lara Croft - The Cradle of Life
Optional prompts:
(dialogue) "Well, that did not go according to plan."
(word) watch
(location) Godric's Hollow
Hogwarts- Ravenclaw
Curse-Breaking: Curse Breaking
Task 2: Write about an artifact recovered by a Curse Breaker
Writing Club
Showtime- #13 - (color) Gold
Ambers Attic - #S3. Blackwork - a member of the Black family
Lyric Alley - #2 - Hide away, they say
Ami's Audio - #4 - The C-List — Write about something rare. (Rare pairs, rare creatures, open to interpretation.)
Part One:
Sirius Black, Head Curse-Breaker for Gringotts, was walking around with a motley crew of goblins, Aurors, and other Curse-Breakers to clear out vaults that had been abandoned or lost to their families. This, however, wasn't just a recovery of some long forgotten house—Sirius was working with the goblins to open one of the oldest vaults in the original catacombs of Gringotts. Normally these tasks were delegated to some of the more junior members of the team. He was required on this recovery because of the particular way this particular vault was accessed.
Usually, when the ancient vaults were finally opened the recovery unit would find a few mouldy Sickles, and a pair of bronzed baby shoes. Occasionally they'd find a broken wand or some old spell books, but nothing of real value. Most of the artifacts are claimed by the families long before the contents get to the recovery unit. Except, this was protected by a blood ward, with records indicating it had only been accessed one time.
When they stopped in front of a stone archway emblazoned with 'The Ancient and Most Noble House of Black,' Sirius couldn't help but chuckle to himself. In the center of the door, instead of a lock, there was a small phial inscribed: "de sanguine" or: blood in. Some things never change, do they?
After pricking his finger and squeezing a few drops into the phial, the heavy double doors pushed open easily. The group was surprised to see that instead of the piles of gold normally protected by a blood ward, the small cave held only one item: an old trunk.
"Well, that did not go according to plan," Sirius smirked. The trunk looked to be made of a dark metal aged over the years to a matte black with patina gold clasps. A battered looking journal was attached to the top with a brittle leather strap. The entire surface of the trunk seemed to have been inscribed with runes, most of which Sirius did not even recognize.
"What plan was that, Black?" a young apprentice asked, walking in after it seemed Sirius wasn't going to burst into flames, or worse.
"Well, Billy Boy, I was planning on retiring from this job once I cashed in all the gold that was supposed to be here." Winking over at the wizard with a bright orange mohawk, he kept walking around the trunk, making room for the other Curse-Breakers in the cramped vault.
"Like you need any more gold. Don't forget, Sugar Daddy, I've been in your vault." Bill Weasley looked up to Sirius, with slate blue irises daring him to contradict the well known fact.
Sirius leaned his dark head towards Bill's ear, speaking in low tones that sent shivers up his spine, "I should be offended, but I know it isn't my vault that you can't keep your hands off of."
"Alright, you two. Break it up already. Don't forget, Black, the only reason we needed you here was to get us in, and you have. If you want to stick around to see what this relic has in store for us, I suggest you keep your commentary to yourself." Mad Eye Moody was glaring at Sirius with his human eye, the other one rolling around checking out the room.
"Can you see what the hell is locked in there?" Sirius looked over at the self-proclaimed leader. The goblins had called a group of Aurors in and Mad Eye had assumed the role of head honcho, it was easier to let him run with it than to argue otherwise.
"No, I can't seem to penetrate it. Not sure if it's the wards, the runes, or whatever that thing is made from." Mad Eye circled the trunk, working out the best way to go about making this artifact safe to move from the catacombs that had been deemed unsuitable for occupation to another location.
"Bill, I need you to watch for any signs of latent curses released as we pull down the wards protecting this weird box. The Noble House of Black is not known for their ethics." Mad Eye looked over at the youngest member of the team.
"The goblins will ward from the outside, but while we have this thing surrounded, you'll need to be our eyes in here. Keep watch for any cracks in the protections, and shout if you need help keeping anything contained." Bill had been itching for a reason to start putting the extra training Sirius was giving him to use.
"Got it, sir." He looked over at Sirius, "What do you think is in there anyways?" Both wizards looked at the trunk imagining everything from a cursed wedding dress, to dragon eggs.
"I'm almost afraid to find out." Once the five points were established, the recovery team began the arduous task of removing any lingering hexes and protections that were in place.
Part Two:
The party spent four hours surrounding the metal trunk until everyone agreed it would be safe to remove it and the accompanying spell book from the vault. Bill and Sirius used a specially designed Portkey that landed them, along with their cargo, to the basement workshop at their house in Godric's Hollow.
"So, what do we do first?" Bill asked, anxious to begin breaking into the mysterious box.
"After the day we've had? I say two fingers of Ogden's Finest and call it a night. We can head down in the morning to start figuring out what this thing says." Sirius had a horrible feeling whenever he stood too close to the trunk. Not entirely sure it was still safe, he wanted to get as far away from it as possible.
"That sounds like a plan. Mind if I take this up with me? Some of these runes look familiar." Bill fingered the brittle cover of the leather bound journal with 'Vega' in gold lettering on the bottom.
"You want to take that thing in our bed? No. Nothing that comes out of a blood warded Black vault will ever be in bed with us." Sirius turned and began walking up the steps, not waiting for Bill.
"Fine, once you've had your drink I'll stay in the library and look for anything that will help us decode this damn trunk. You better not be sprawled across the entire bed when I get up there." Bill warned, knowing how to ruffle the older wizard's feathers.
A mischievous light shone in the depths of stormy grey eyes when Sirius shot a look over his shoulder from the top of the stairs. "No promises, Red. If you want room, you better make this fact finding mission a quick one." Bill gingerly pulled the journal free from the decayed straps, and carried it up, planning to spend some time in the corner of the library dedicated to dark magic. The extensive collection consisted almost entirely of items moved from the Black library.
Remembering back to the day they moved into the townhouse on High Street, the library had been one of their biggest points of contention. Sirius had wanted to start from scratch, building a library he could be proud of.
Bill, however, couldn't let the angry wizard discard generations of books just because of who collected them. In the end Bill got his books, but they were locked away in a dark corner of the library so Sirius didn't have to look at them. Most nights ended with them curled up together in front of the fire; Sirius didn't want a reminder of his past while reading, or otherwise engaged with his love, Bill.
Once they were both upstairs, the protective wards enclosed the workshop, ensuring nothing would be able to escape in the night and enter the house proper. They shared a couple tumblers of cool firewhiskey, and after quiet promises were made by both wizards, Bill retired to what Sirius dubbed the Restrictive Section of their library, and Sirius went up to bed, vowing to leave room for the red head.
Part Three:
When Sirius woke up in the morning he noticed the pillows on the right side of the bed hadn't even been rumpled. An instantaneous feeling of foreboding washed over him and he didn't even stop to throw a robe on before searching the house for Bill.
Finally making his way to the basement after scouring every room he found Bill. The quill behind his ear, added to the spiky mohawk, made the wizard look more bird than man. Bill looked up from the pile of books in the middle of the basement floor when Sirius came rushing down the stairs.
"There you are, man. Next time you don't come up to bed, please tell me where you are. I thought that thing possessed you, or ate you. Wait, look at me. You aren't possessed are you? Who am I?" Sirius stared at Bill, looking for any hint he was not the same wizard that he left in the library the night before.
"You are my annoying arse of a boyfriend who works for some incredibly lovely and adorable goblins. Does that about sum it up?" Bill asked, sarcasm dripping from every word.
"You are the arse. Sorry for worrying, but no one really knows anything about this Vega Black, and why he needed a vault at Gringotts to store a trunk. We have no idea what this thing is, or what it can do." Sirius was nearly yelling at the younger wizard.
"Well, funny you should mention that. I wasn't able to find anything on Vega; this vault had to go back fifteen generations at least, but I was able to translate most of the runes inscribed on the trunk."
"Most of them?"
"Well, all the ones I can make out all say the same thing, so I can only assume the others do as well. This trunk is covered with 'DO NOT OPEN' in at least thirteen known languages. There are a few that I don't know at all."
"What about the book? What is that all about?"
"That was pretty straight forward, and, although it doesn't tell us exactly what is in the trunk, I have a pretty good idea of what it could be."
"What? This thing isn't much bigger than the trunk I took to Hogwarts, so what could even be in it? Am I right? Is it goblin-forged steel?"
"Yes, with help from the potions bench back there I was able to whip something up and did a couple tests. This is definitely goblin-forged steel. Also, you see the gold latches and hinges? That isn't gold; it is dragon stone sealed with the flames of at least two dragons."
"Okay, so what do you think is in it?" There was no messing around with either goblin-forged steel, or dragon stone. Those were two of the hardest and strongest substances known to Muggle or wizard alike.
"Dementors."
"You mean to tell me, we have a trunk in our basement containing some sort of Dementor?" Sirius began pacing, pulling hands through his long dark hair. He couldn't help wondering how he came from such a long line of complete trolls. "Who, in their right mind, would put a Dementor in a trunk? Wait, never mind, some idiot Black I, unfortunately, am related to."
"Have you noticed how much cooler it is in the basement? I've needed to keep moving away from it; each time I would get close enough to decode one of the runes this feeling washes over me and I have to shake myself to remember that everything is okay." Bill stood up, walked over to where Sirius was standing over the trunk. Taking his hand, he began rubbing circles over the back of it with his thumbs. When Sirius squeezes Bill's hand, the younger wizard tugged him away from the offending artifact.
"Well, let's get some breakfast. Then we can come back down and you can show me all the interesting things you learned as I was sprawled over the entire bed. Man, that must be why I woke up so refreshed, I didn't have your hair poking me in the eye, and no one was there to steal all the covers." Shaking his head, glad Sirius was back to his old self.
"Watch it Sirius, unless you want to sleep alone every night."
"Ugh, okay, you know I don't want that. But it was nice."
Part Four:
"Check this out, Sirius. This one here says if executed correctly, this spell will reverse the maturation of a Dementor back to its pupa stage. 'The wizard will then be able to push the resulting mist into a goblin-forged vessel where it will remain indefinitely, virtually harmless.' I bet that is what is in the trunk."
"Too bad there isn't anything in there about how to kill one. That would be useful." Sirius looked across the small workbench they were sharing in the basement.
"No, everything Vega referenced confirms that they are immortal. Nothing can kill them, there are just protection spells." Bill brushed his fingers along his bottom lip as he continued translating Vega's journal. It was something he did whenever he was nervous about something.
"I wonder if he was able to actually catch a Dementor." Bill had been focused on the chest for nearly an hour.
"We cannot open that trunk, Bill." Sirius was looking at his boyfriend. He hadn't gotten any sleep the night before, and it appeared to be taking its toll on the red head.
"But, how do we know what is in it? Do you know how much this trunk is worth? We could go retire and live on a tiny island together and have enough for two lifetimes!"
Sirius had been talking Bill out of opening the trunk all afternoon, and the pleas just kept getting more desperate.
"Why don't you go up to bed for a bit and take a nap. I'll be up in a second, I just want to tidy these papers up so Kreacher doesn't just bin them." Leaning over and placing a quick kiss behind Bill's ear, Sirius began picking up the papers tossed about the basement.
After Bill made it up the stairs, Sirius called for Kreacher, another relic from Grimmauld Place that Sirius would have much rather left behind. But, much like the books, Bill had a way of sweetalking Sirius into giving into his every wish. He didn't want the thing living there all alone, although Kreacher would have been happier that way.
"I need you to take this trunk and put it somewhere that no one will ever find it."
Bowing low, the House-elf made disparaging comments about disgracing the Most Noble House of Black by removing it's treasured artifacts. With a pop, though, the trunk and grouchy House-elf disappeared.
The books Sirius took to the library, and put back in their proper positions. All except the journal of one Vega Black. He made a spot for that one with the other Black family journals. It was something worth pursuing later, once the smoke cleared. He planned to explain to Bill why they could never open that trunk, and Bill would find a way into sweetalking Sirius into doing it.
That was what Bill did, he found a way to get Sirius to move past his past. But this Black mystery, needed to stay a mystery. Nothing good would ever come from opening the goblin-forged steel trunk.