A/N: Does anyone know of a site that lists British slang that would be appropriate for the story. Severus will be a bit unpleasant but I don't intend him to be a total bad guy. Instead, just a man forced into teaching when it doesn't fit his personality.
One Appointment We All Must Keep
Chapter Six
Reactions to their Actions
Albus was not happy as he returned to Hogwarts. He had arrived in Belgium for the emergency ICW meetings only to be told that no such meetings were called.
Entering his office, he checked his letter and found that the magical signature said that it came from a wand belonging to a death eater that he knew was dead. Tossing the letter down, he went to lunch and arrived in time to see the students leaving the great hall.
"Albus, thank goodness you returned," Minerva said as she smiled at her employer. She had questions regarding his conduct but had been warned by Amelia Bones not to speak to him about her suspicions. She was to act as naturally as possible.
Amelia did ask that she let the DMLE look at her memory of his reaction to being told about Black's release so she knew that they were not happy with her boss. "How was your trip?"
"It was nothing," Albus replied keeping to himself the mistake that had led to his trip to the International Courts until he had determined why he had been sent there but almost sure that it had been Quirrell behind it.
"We had some excitement while you were gone. Do you have time to meet with me this evening? I have a meeting with Mr. Potter in a few minutes." Minerva replied. "In fact, if you have some free time, feel free to join us."
Albus wanted to avoid facing Potter for now, at least until he got a handle on what was going on with the boy. So heading to his office, he decided to wait until the next day to find out what Minerva considered excitement, after all, how important could it be. There were only six students in the school and he had checked his trap on the way in and knew no one had gone near it to his disappointment.
Minerva had expected Albus to join them and when she had contacted the Headmaster had been told that he was dealing with something for the minister so she quickly greeted Harry when he arrived in her office wearing a large grin.
"I am guessing that it went well?" She asked. "Mr. Malfoy said that it was your business and that I had to wait until you returned. I almost assigned him detention. What happened, is Sirius free?"
"Yes, with an apology from the Minister and they are now looking for Peter Pettigrew," Harry said. "Professor, once my godfather is done with St. Mungos, would it be possible to invite him to visit me here? I know that it is probably against Hogwarts rules but I would like to get to know my godfather and not wait six months until school is out."
Watching Sirius get a clean bill of health, Narcissa hesitated and then approaching her cousin and the healer bowed and said: "I am pleased to see you are free, cousin."
Looking at his cousin, Sirius gave a rusty laugh and said "Lucius must be fit to be tied that you helped me. I was told by Amelia that you came forward to help me."
"It's not been good but since I exposed Dumbledore's manipulations he was even happy," Narcissa admitted. "Other than my petit dragon, I have regretted every single minute of my marriage. Lucius would disown Draco if he could."
"I wish that I could do something to help you, Cissa." He answered as he walked with her to the exit. "My mother kicked me out of the family. I am guessing from what that pompous prat Fudge stated that somehow in spite of the rules, Bella is the new head of the Black family."
"Yes, Lucius has taken great pleasure in that fact in spite of her being in prison means he can't get access to the accounts. I do believe he is hoping she dies there because then Draco would inherit." Narcissa said as they arrived at the exit. Looking at Sirius, she said, "I have to head home before the house-elf reports to Lucius that I talked to you."
Shaking his head, Sirius said, "I am sorry, Cissa."
"Your mom couldn't stop you from receiving your trust accounts though, Sirius," Narcissa said. "What will you do now?"
"First up is, of course, a visit to Gringotts, then a visit to Harry. I need to see my godson and then find a way to figure out what Albus is up to. I also need to track down an old friend." He said looking at his wand. It had been confiscated by the Ministry and now holding it in his hands felt strange after ten years.
"Sirius, do me a favor first." She said with a slight sniff of the air. "Find someplace to take a shower first."
With that, she apparated away to the shock of her cousin who sniffed his own armpits then while laughing said: "Well that was rather rude of you, Mrs. Malfoy."
Walking the streets, laughing his head off, he soon arrived at the Leaky Cauldron and was greeted by the owner Tom who insisted he stay the night. After a shower and transfiguring his clothes clean and into something decent, Sirius crashed on the bed, getting his first healthy night's sleep in years.
Albus wasn't happy when Minerva insisted on speaking to him before he had even had his morning fast. When Sprout, Flitwick and a newly returned Severus Snape join them, he looked at his deputy a bit surprised at her practically visible excitement. "What is going on, Minerva?"
"The most extraordinary thing. Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Potter were speaking about magical bonds and Harry mentioned knowing that he had a godfather." Minerva saw him reaching for his lemon drops and hid her need to smile.
Albus felt a headache coming on as she filled him in on what had happened at the school. Wincing and needing to prevent this from becoming public, he said: "I will contact the Ministry immediately."
"I am not finished," Minerva said reproofing her boss. "From what I was given to understand Mr. Malfoy contact his mother and Mr. Potter had me contact the Ministry regarding the records so that when you returned we could find out the truth."
"Good job, I will do that immediately." He said starting to stand.
"I am not finished, sir," Minerva said her tone getting a bit tart at his constant interruptions. "When I did so, Amelia Bones took the case on herself."
That wasn't good news, Albus thought to himself as he stared at his staff and wondered why on earth she hadn't waited for him. This was not going to be good, he had to prevent them from speaking to Black or else his plan would be completely lost. This was even worse news than the way Harry had ignored all hints regarding the third-floor corridor.
"I must get to the ministry," Albus replied.
Before they finish, Albus left and Minerva couldn't help thinking how rude the Headmaster had been. "Well if he had given me a chance, I would have told him that Sirius was given veritaserum and found innocent. He was released yesterday."
Severus nodded and left, the three remaining soon walked out of the headmaster's office. Snape was in his office, wanting to break something because he hated Black almost as much as Potter Sr. but at the same time, there was something going on regarding the headmaster that was making the man nervous and he found he disliked a nervous Albus.
Flitwick and Sprout were discussing the information about their former students with Pomfrey as she joined them for breakfast and heard her own ideas. "I still think that someone needs to speak to him regarding my fears about spell damage."
"Pomfrey, this happened ten years ago." Flitwick pointed out. "Are you saying that this had gone on that long."
Pomfrey sat there and then admitted, "Maybe not spell damage but it could be from potions."
"Are you suggesting Severus did something?" Sprout asked almost hoping the answer was yes, wanting to get rid of that pompous git.
Frowning, Pomfrey looked at them and said "No."
That evening just before dinner the castle was once again filled with Hogwarts students as Hermione and Neville found Harry waiting for them wearing a huge grin.
After he had hugged Hermione and greeted Neville, he heard his name being called by Fred Weasley while his brother was handing a package to their youngest brother who was speaking a mile a minute with his friend Ernie. "So, dad said that it is all over the WWN about your godfather."
"Yes, he is free." Harry said and hearing Hermione squeal then hug him, he held her close and told them all "I got an owl from him today. He had to do a lot of errands, hopefully including taking a bath but he's free."
"A bath, Harry?" Neville asked.
"The house elves were refusing to wash the robe I was wearing when he hugged me," Harry admitted with a grin. "The one who retrieved it used magic to take it to the laundries and then yet another one washed it. I was told by Professor Sprout when we flooed back that I needed an immediate shower or she was going to have Hagrid use the same method they use to water the plants on me."
There was general laughter as they walked towards their tower as a group.
"Yo, Potter." Harry looked at Susan Bones who came his way and held out a note. "From my auntie. She also sent a letter to Malfoy. She was impressed with the way the two of you put the facts together."
"That was mainly Draco, I only had the book. He put it together." Harry admitted. "I guess he was put in Ravenclaw for a reason."
Susan smiled then said she had to get to her common room then rushed off. In their own common room, Neville and Hermione took to drop off their bags into their dorms and rushed back to see Harry reading a note then crumple it up in anger.
"Harry?"
"They opened my parents will since Sirius was released. Neville, did you know your mom was my godmother?" He asked the other boy.
"Yes, my Grandmother told me." He admitted. "She tried to get the Headmaster to bring you to live with us so that we could grow up together. She was furious when she heard what came out under the Inquest yesterday. I know she is demanding action against the Headmaster."
"Will we have a new Headmaster?" Hermione asked.
"Unfortunately no, not until Hogwarts itself or the Board of Governors fires him," Harry said. "Remember, it's in..."
"Hogwarts a History." Neville and a few other students nearby who had been eavesdropping said in a groaning tone. "I swear that between Hermione and you, you know what I did?"
Nodding no, Harry was surprised when Neville rather rudely walked away and went over to their Seventh-year prefect and asked a question. The older student grinned then looking at the students around the room held up his wand to get their attention.
"The Students of Gryffindor House were sent a present from the Head of House for Longbottom." With that, he conjured a small table with a raised podium then took the very small package that had been in Neville's pockets and hit it with a resizing charm. "Hogwarts a History."
There was some general laughter from the students as he kept speaking. "For when we have questions and our resident Hogwarts a History experts aren't present."
Hermione and Harry had laughed along with the rest of the students before blushing when Neville came back and with a mischievous grin said "Do you like it? My Grandmother was amazed because I split my time between reading our copy that I found in the library and working on where I want to put a greenhouse."
"Head to dinners, Lions." The prefects began calling out as the groups started working their way from the tower to the Great Hall.
Albus Dumbledore sat across from Cornelius Fudge and looked at the man who seemed very pleased with himself. "You do know that you have no legal right to release a prisoner without the agreement of the Wizengamot."
"Sirius Black was never found guilty of a crime, in fact, his file lists him as someone who needed to be questioned for possible guilt in a crime. We just made sure that Mr. Black was questioned, Albus. Surely you can't fault us for doing what hadn't been done in ten years."
Fudge saw he had Albus and that the old goat looked fit to be tied in spite of the twinkle in his eyes and the smile on his face. Deciding he needed to add another layer of misery, he continued speaking "Unfortunately it seems that Bertie Crouch was less than thorough while dealing with Death Eaters. The Head of the DMLE went through the files and found that all other prisoners were found guilty before their incarceration and we were pleased to be able to tell the public that this grave miscarriage of justice was a simple mistake rather than a proof of a larger issue."
Gritting his teeth, Albus said, "Surely you understand that we must follow the process set out by your predecessors and that we can't be releasing prisoners without the approval of the Wizengamot."
"Albus, you are more than welcome to watch the recordings of the Inquest. I am quite certain that when Amelia has returned she would be glad to watch them with you." Fudge was very sure of that, he had always respected Amelia Bones but in their meeting after the Inquest, he had been scared straight so to speak when she spoke of no one, but no one being above the law.
"Or if you would like, I could have one of the Unspeakables make a copy for you to look at on your own." Fudge said as he inwardly took pleasure in watching the Headmaster squirm. He couldn't wait until the man saw the Prophet since it was clear he hadn't seen it today.
Standing, Albus said "I will ask them myself. Now if you will excuse me, I will go visit Mr. Black in St. Mungos. I was informed by one of the witnesses yesterday that he was sent to the healers to have his mind checked over."
"Yes, I do believe he was." Fudge said well aware that Black was released. He and others had been sent a report of the mind healer's findings and it was even now being recorded into the records but Fudge was fine with Dumbledore wasting his time.
Albus left the Minister's office, thinking all was not lost. He knew the Head Mind Healer and was quite sure that Healer Mala would understand that letting a man whose brain had been damaged as terribly as Sirius Black's was free was not wise.
Arriving at the outgoing floo after getting a recording of the Black Inquest, Albus was feeling a little better as he popped through the fire and into St. Mungos. Bypassing the front desk, he slipped one of his lemon drops into his mouth to suck on as he went to visit his former student.
Twenty minutes later, a rather angry Albus Dumbledore went back to his office and sat there eating lemon drops, desperate to revive his mood. Black had not only been released but with a report stating he had a clean bill of mental health and had to take some nourishment potions to revive his physical health.
His only hope was that he could somehow convince Harry that being around Sirius was dangerous. Deciding to speak to the boy the next day, Albus finished the lemon drops then went to his lab to make more. The ones he had been using that day had to be defective because he was getting no joy from them.
Going to his quarters after finishing the potion to cover his drops, he picked up the Prophet, expecting to read all about Black gaining his freedom and instead found articles questioning his judgment. The part that hurt the worst was the hint that maybe he was suffering from a muggle disease that Rita Skeeter who had written the article had heard about that attacks the mind when they were older called dementia.
He had had no idea that the muggles had any connection to the Dementors, clearly, he would have to do some research.
Sirius Black staggered suffering from exhaustion into the Leaky Cauldron having just finished his meetings with the Goblins. Asking Tom to send him up some dinner, the man sat on his bed and felt sick as he realized that the bollocking he had just been given was well deserved.
Accepting the food from Tom, he sat back on the bed and looked at the stew and freshly baked bread and began to eat it mainly because he knew he needed to than out of an enjoyment.
Thinking on all of the shocks he had had that day, Sirius couldn't help it, he began to laugh and cry at the same time.
His mother had died completely insane, constantly changing her will and attempting to kick people out of the Black family. His brother had died mere days before the Potters but had left a letter for Sirius with the Goblins. What was in that letter had been the first blow to Sirius as he realized EXACTLY what it was that Voldemort had done.
Then had come the knowledge that while his father had ordered him out of the family, he had never made it legal. So he, Sirius Black was the Head of the Black family, not his cousin Bellatrix. Upon hearing that, he had asked the Goblins to look into a way to legally break the marital union between Narcissa and that git Lucius.
He had been given copies of deeds and keys to various vaults along with the list of muggle funds that his family had in muggle banks, something called the stock market and bonds. He had been horrified to find out that his family had been in the muggle drug business and that he had a huge fortune as a result of that.
Add all of that to the fact that the accounts had set in bank compounding interest for ten years and he was astonishingly filthy rich. Chuckling as that brought to mind Narcissa's comment from the day before, Sirius looked at the bag of clothes that Tom said had been delivered from the clothes shop.
He hadn't ordered them but had found a note attached telling him that they from Cissa. Apparently, she felt that he needed to burn his old ones and she feared what he would do without any clothes because even their ancestors could smell the stink.
No longer smiling as he recalled the next part of his visit. The wills of his late friends that apparently had never been executed. Yet another black mark against Dumbledore.
He had been informed what Harry had done to retrieve the missing items and felt that his godson had done the right thing but when he had been informed of who Harry was living with, it had taken everything in him not to go looking for first that miserable bitch that was Lily's sister, then Albus Dumbledore and finally Remus Lupin.
While Wormtail had betrayed the Potters and his friends, Remus had betrayed his promise to Harry and Sirius was ready to make him pay for that one. Then had come the letter from James that the Goblins had been holding for him.
Reading it had shamed Sirius as he realized his own part in the mess that he had left Harry in. He had let his anger cloud his judgment and his godson had more than likely paid the price if his memories of Petunia Evans were correct.
Harry was seated in the Great Hall the next morning, grateful for the fact he still could protect his memories from the old man when he stopped by his seat and said: "Mr. Potter, please join me in my office after breakfast, we have much to speak about."
Albus went to the front table, sat down and began to eat, his anger growing as he saw the way the students were whispering and pointing his way.
Looking at the Gryffindor table and seeing Harry talking to Longbottom and that Muggle girl clearly in a happy mood and he was determined to find out his magical level and he wasn't going to take no for an answer even if he had to get Quirrell to take the muggle girl some way.
Albus heard the sound of chuckling and looked over to see Flitwick and Minerva were laughing at Severus. Wait, what, they were laughing at Severus and he seemed to be wearing a smile himself. What on earth was going on? Why did it feel like he was losing control of his school?
Seeing the Malfoy boy, Albus did let a small smile come to his face as he thought about the wonderful note he had sent to Lucius thanking his son for going so far to help Harry have his godfather returned to him. That should put an end to that little boy's interference in his plans.
In Wiltshire, after he had destroyed his office the previous day when the news about Sirius Black had come to him, Lucius had been feeling very dark and angry. Then he had seen the other side of the coin thanks to a note owled to him by the headmaster.
Lucius had read the note sent by Dumbledore and found himself very curious as to what the old man was up to. Calling for his wife, he tossed her the note and asked: "Explain?"
"I told you that I gave Draco permission to attend. Dumbledore is furious because our eleven-year-old son helped show him for the manipulating bastard he has always been. I can't believe you are upset with this." Cissa said hiding her true emotions regarding the anger she felt at what Dumbledore had done to her son.
"Oddly enough, I find myself proud of the boy," Lucius admitted out loud for the first time. It was the first real proof he had seen that maybe, just maybe he could live with the mistakes, but it didn't change a thing, Draco was still not who he should have been. "I have been trying to find a way to remove Albus Dumbledore as leader of the Wizengamot for years and your son might have managed it in merely four months."
"I know you are angry about his ending up in Ravenclaw, my dear but when you think about it, you will see that he already has the cunning of a Slytherin, so that hat made a good choice putting him someplace where he was able to learn how to use his intelligence."
Lucius stood up and walked away, finding that his pretty empty-headed but duplicitous wife just might for once have a point. He had been secretly considering sending Draco to Dumstrang. Cissa had overridden him and he had given in because of his fear that Draco wasn't a competent wizard.
Standing at the window in his study, Lucius found himself regretting past choices but touching his arm, reminded himself that his father had given him a choice and he had taken the mark of his own free will days before his wedding.
Now he was stuck there and it was clear that his wife no longer loved him. His son despised him and all he had was his estate and his own plans to take control of his destiny. Thank god the Dark Lord was dead.
Harry received mail just before he was to meet the Headmaster. Recognizing Sirius' handwriting, he quickly read the note and then tucked it into his pocket before heading to see the headmaster.
Recalling the password given to him by a prefect, Harry took the stairs and was soon seated across from the only man he hated as much as Voldemort. "Sir, you requested to see me."
"Hello Harry, please let me take the time to apologize for not speaking to you sooner. I have been rather busy this year and unfortunately haven't had the chance to greet you as I should have."
"Oh." Harry said then after a moment looked up and said "I wasn't aware that the Headmaster met with all of the students, no one mentioned it to me. Should I let Hermione and the others know that you will be wanting to speak to them too?"
"No, I should explain. I knew your parents, Harry." He said intending on telling him about them to bond with the boy.
"I know. I saw your photo in the album from my baby book. Sir, may I ask you a question?" He said innocently.
Albus wasn't sure what a baby book was but nodded at him in a grandfatherly tone. "Certainly young man, that is why I asked you up here to answer any possible questions you might have about your parents."
"Sir, weren't you the person presiding over my godparent ceremony? I read a copy of it while in court and I sort of thought you were the greatest wizard of our time
but shouldn't you have known that a godfather couldn't harm his godchild."
"Yes, I was aware of that Harry." He answered as he reached over to take a lemon drop from the pile and then offering one to Harry.
"No thank you, sir. I don't like lemon drops." He said politely.
"Unfortunately Harry, when Mr. Crouch arrested your godfather it wasn't for your parents' deaths, no, he was arrested for the death of one of their friends and twelve innocent people." Harry wasn't surprised that that was the tact the old man took but he was willing to let that go for now. After all, he had no intention of letting Wormtail run free.
"Okay," Harry said playing the pliable student he wanted the old man to think he was. "Sir, what about my parent's other friend, Uncle Moony?"
Albus looked sad then said "Unfortunately Remus Lupin is part werewolf due to a tragic accident before he attended Hogwarts and has had problems finding a job here in Great Britain. I helped him get a job in Australia years ago and then never heard a word from him."
Harry hid his anger, he had finally asked Remus shortly before his death in his last life why he hadn't come to see him and had been told about the great job he had been offered in Australia with plans to bring Harry over once settled.
The man had been working wizard security and had been injured. He had attempted to contact to Albus and had had his owls turned away and the man had been lied to by the Headmaster who had offered him the job at Hogwarts supposedly as an apology.
Harry with hindsight would be willing to bet that the long trip Lupin had taken to get home had been hindered by the man sitting across from him. He was hoping that with Sirius out of prison he could track down Moony and bring him home.
When Harry had left the Headmaster's office, Albus felt as if he had begun the necessary bond to make sure that Harry saw that he was kind and that he cared for him. Albus, after all, did care about the boy. Without Harry the world as they knew it would be long gone so of course, he cared.
Spending the rest of Sunday outside, Harry and his friends watched as a few students rushed inside to get homework done. Walking with Hermione, Harry looked at her and asked: "So how was your holiday?"
"It was great seeing Mom and Dad. Since I couldn't tell them about magic, I brewed that pepper-up potion." She said as they walked down the corridor. "We went to the mall and mom wanted to get my haircut."
Looking at the long brown out of control curls that were the same as before she left, Harry was smacked on the arm and told: "Harry if it is cut it gets even curlier."
Hugging Hermione, Harry and she were greeted by the Fat Lady who winked at Harry and said: "Your blond friend came to see you and was last seen with the twins."
"Oh dear," Harry said and explaining to Hermione walked back towards Ravenclaw were, sure enough, he saw the twins with Malfoy who was being floated towards his entrance. "Guys, leave him alone."
"No can do, he is being secretive and won't share whatever he wanted to hand to you," Fred said as he winked at Harry and held his wand on Draco.
"So we decided that..."
Harry used a simple summoning charm and when their wands were in his hands looked at Draco who was now back on his feet and said: "I need to talk to these two for a moment."
Hermione and Draco looking awkwardly at one another moved a bit further down the hall as Harry looked at the third years. "Guys, I know in the magical world that what you are doing to Draco is okay but I grew up in the muggle world and to me that looks like bullying."
"What's that?" Fred and George both asked.
"It's someone using their strength against someone weaker than them for their own enjoyment," Harry said quietly. "I grew up being bullied by my cousin and I don't like seeing it done to anyone. From what I read about the war with that man who killed me; his followers were just violent bullies nothing more."
Fred looked at Harry then at his brother and then back at Harry. "Is that how you really see us?"
"Honestly?" Harry asked and seeing the serious expression on their faces admitted: "In this instance, yes."
Fred looked back at Malfoy then at Harry and said: "We didn't hurt him."
"Not physically but you did mentally," Harry replied, he could see the flushed face on Draco and remembering the past realized his own friends had been equally guilty of bullying others at Hogwarts, especially the two in front of him.
Looking at the oddly mature firstie and then thinking about what Percy had talked about with their dad during the break and the twins lowered their heads as they faced that they were wrong regarding what they had done to Malfoy. "Harry what about students in our own year?"
"Are they your magical equals and is it two on two? Because if it isn't, it's bullying." Harry answered quietly. "What you do to your brothers is your parents' responsibility but I think that a lot of Ron's issues start with how you two have treated him."
With that, Harry walked back and after a few minutes tossed the twins their wands and went to the library with Draco and Hermione who were still discussing books.
Fred looked at his wand and realized he had George's. Exchanging them, they walked silently back to the common room and sat there staring at one another having a silent conversation.
"So, let me get this straight. Your parents use mechanical drills to fix teeth?" Draco asked Hermione doubting she was telling him the truth.
"Yes," Hermione said glad he finally understood. They had been talking quietly about this for almost an hour. "Anything else?"
"Yes, when we were in Diagon Alley this fall some man was holding something up to his face and speaking to it," Draco replied.
Hermione groaned and covered her face with her hands before peeking between her fingers at a laughing Harry. "Well, why don't you explain this one?"
Harry winked at Hermione then said, "Okay, Draco do you know how the magical world uses owls and floos to speak to each other?"
"Yes." He said cautiously.
"What that man was holding is how muggles do it. It's called a cell phone and you can call anywhere in the world with it." Harry replied.
"You really expect me to believe that muggles can do that?" Draco asked. "That can't be right."
"It's right, Draco. Most muggles have phones in their houses and some have the portable ones as well like you saw. All you do is dial a number and it does this ringing thing and someone answers it at the other end." Harry responded.
Draco didn't know what to make of this and thankfully it was close to dinner time. Walking towards the Great Hall, he looked at Hermione and asked: "Is he putting me on?"
"Nope, muggles really do that have that capability. We also have these boxes called computers that let us do the same thing with information. My parents have one that would hold all the information in the school library in a space the size of a desktop. To access what you want in it, you just type the words like say Pepper-up potion and it automatically appeared."
"Now I know you are pulling my leg," Draco said as they separated and went to their respective house tables.
Albus was seated at the head table, smiling at the students when an owl landed in front of him. Looking at the owl and taking the offered parchment, he saw the official seal and placed it to the side before returning to his meal.
Up in his office, he opened the letter and breathed a sigh of relief. From reading it, it was clear that Amelia Bones had no idea what he had done. She had accepted his explanation as to why he hadn't stepped forward and mentioned that Black was Harry's godfather.
Now he just had to deal with Sirius and Dumbledore wasn't worried about a man who had been in prison for ten years, no matter what Healer Mala said about his supposed mental health. Right now he had to concentrate on getting Harry to go to the third-floor corridor. That was the most important thing.
Amelia met with the Goblins and Sirius Black who was laying out what had been going on with the Potter vaults and she was shaking her head. "Would it be possible to see if there are any other vaults that the Headmaster has accessed that don't specifically mention him as a key holder."
"Certain Madam Bones," Montooth said.
"Sirius, your request to void the marriage of Bellatrix Lestrange was agreed upon. Do you intend to reclaim her dowry?" Amelia asked.
"Yes, the Goblins already removed the money and goods that equal that amount from the vault," Sirius stated then looking at Montooth, nodded his head and told her the rest. "The real reason we brought you here, while what Dumbledore did to the Potter vaults was bad enough, we found proof that Voldemort created a Horcrux. Or two or three."
"My Goddess." Amelia fell into the chair behind her, her legs weakened as what he was telling her hit him.
"I gather you know what that is?" Sirius asked.
"Unfortunately we had a fool recently attempt that who is now in Azkaban. We stayed silent because we didn't want anyone else getting that horrifying idea. The unspeakable who destroyed it said that he had gotten closer than anyone had ever done before but I am guessing that isn't true."
"No, here." Handing her his brother's confession, he saw her eyes looking at him then back at the letter. "I am going to Black Manor tomorrow, see what I can find. I seem to recall a book on them in the family library."
"Are you sure it would be there?" Amelia asked. "It's been over ten years, Sirius and Lucius might have accessed it already."
"Oddly enough, I am. See, only an at age wizard or witch may enter this part of the family library and only if they bear the Black name, not just the blood but the name as well. So Narcissa couldn't enter it anymore and none of the other Blacks were still free." Sirius stated.
"I will immediately begin to look into it," Amelia stated as she stood to leave. "Please keep me up to date with what you have found. I have delayed the old fool from getting too close to the investigation but that only bought me weeks at the most. My department leaks like a sieve."
"Well I suggest keeping the case away from Kingsley Shackbolt and Hestia Jones, they were both part of the Order of KFC years ago."
"KFC?" She asked. "I heard it was named after that bird of the Headmasters."
"It is, I just called it KFC after this muggle eating place that Lily used to drag us to," Sirius replied. "Kentucky Fried Chicken."
Looking at Sirius, wondering about his sanity after that statement, Amelia went to question one of her high-ranking aurors, not liking the idea of his loyalty being to someone other than justice.
The Potions master and Head of Slytherin House looked at his fellow house head and admitted "He is slowly getting worse. I think we need to get together and discuss what is being kept on the third floor, Minerva."
"I agree. I didn't like it when the Headmaster told me we would be protecting it and with how strange he has been acting this year and with the latest revelations regarding what happened in court, I think removing it might be a good idea."
"I still don't trust Quirrell, I think he was sending the bludgers towards the Potter boy at that game."
"There is a game next week, would you mind refereeing it, Severus?" Minerva asked. Seeing his distaste and knowing she had pressed things already with the man who hated being civil to anyone, she said "It was only an idea. I will come up with something else."
When Severus had left, Minerva hesitated then sat down and wrote a letter to a former student, sure that Sirius might want to schedule a visit with Harry. If it just happened to fall on a Quidditch weekend, she was sure he would be willing to attend the game with his godson, especially if she filled him in on what had almost happened.
To Be Continued