Sirius Black and the Heir to Slytherin

Chapter 9—Grindelwald

Sirius spent his day in the library. He'd hoped that with Madame Pince, the librarian gone on vacation, that he might be able to slip unnoticed into the restricted section to try and learn about Patrono Sangre. What Sirius hadn't counted on was her locking that section up for the summer. He was forced to resign himself to hunting some more through the regular sections of the library, but it was quickly becoming evident that this was futile. He'd searched for an entire year. Something would have come up by now. He was just torturing himself at this point. But he searched anyway. It beat sitting in the Slytherin wing watching the rain fall from the window.

Sirius didn't know how much time had passed. He sat in the midst of several rather large, wobbly piles of old books, when he began to have the eerie feeling that someone was watching him. Setting Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts aside, he turned slowly and was surprised to see Dumbledore standing behind Sirius, next to an overfull bookshelf in the "Divination" section.

Sirius, in his surprise, leapt to his feet, which wasn't the best of ideas. He hit one of his larger piles in his haste, and it fell with a crash, nearly toppling the rest of the books and raising a cloud of dust.

Sirius' eyes were as wide as saucers. Coughing and choking on the dust, he scrambled to pick the fallen books up, fully expecting Dumbledore to yell at him for wrecking them.

But he didn't.

"Sorry," Sirius mumbled, setting the last book on the shelf, and turning back to the headmaster.

Dumbledore was smiling faintly. Ignoring the fallen books, he commented, "Hard at work, I see."

Sirius simply nodded.

Dumbledore motioned for Sirius to come toward him. "It's nearly suppertime. Why don't you put your studies aside and come eat? I trust there's nothing here so pressing that can't wait until tomorrow?"

"No, sir," Sirius said.

"Good!" Dumbledore beamed, his blue eyes twinkling. "As they're only cooking for six this summer, I'm sure the house elves would have been disappointed to lose one mouth to feed."

"Six?"

"Professors Meadows and McGonagall, Argus Filch, Hagrid, myself, and you."

Sirius brightened a bit. "Nocturna never mentioned Hagrid or Filch." He could have done without Filch, but with Hagrid, the summer could be a bit friendlier.

Dumbledore nodded. "It probably slipped her mind. Would you care to join me? I was about to go to supper, myself. We could walk together."

Sirius glanced back at the messy stacks of books.

The old man seemed to read his mind. "You can put those books away later." He leaned toward Sirius and added in a secretive voice, "Just don't tell Madame Pince. She'd have my head if she knew we'd left a mess in her library!"

Sirius smiled as they left the library.

They walked in silence for a few moments, until Dumbledore cleared his throat and said softly, "Sirius, before Professor Nocturna left for her vacation, she mentioned to me that you'd told her you'd been having nightmares about Voldemort. Is this true?"

Sirius suddenly felt uncomfortable again. His pale blue eyes flicked toward the headmaster. "Yes, sir… well, no, sir. I told her that, but I don't have many nightmares anymore. At least not many that I can't tell from reality."

"I see… Then why did you draw your wand against her this morning?"

The question was simple and casual, yet Sirius felt that there was some importance behind it. He supposed he could simply lie, but something about the old man gave Sirius the impression that very little got by him. With a small sigh, Sirius resigned himself to the truth. "I knew the common room should have been empty. When I saw someone in there, I thought Voldemort had found me…" His voice was very quiet, but it was steady.

A sad, tired look came over Dumbledore's face. "A boy your age should not have to worry about such things. But, that worry is understandable in your case. That is precisely why you've spent one year isolated at Hogwarts. You're safe here. As long as you're here, Voldemort can't touch you."

They were the same words Dumbledore had been saying to him all year, yet this time, something finally seemed to snap inside. All the fear, anger, and frustration broke through the floodgate and threatened to drown him. "You can't know that!" he snapped. "No one believes how powerful he is. No one! Not even you! You think he can't get through stone? You think he's too afraid to try? He's going to find me someday!" Sirius stopped for a moment to catch his breath and steady his voice. He turned from Dumbledore, so the headmaster wouldn't see the tears of frustration welling, but remaining unshed in his eyes. In a quieter voice, Sirius finished. "He's going to come here one day and find me. And he'll kill me when he does. I've defied him twice now. He won't let me do it a third time."

Having finally composed himself, he turned back to look at the headmaster who had also stopped walking. "I'm just delaying death by hiding."

Dumbledore listened quietly through Sirius' entire outburst, and remained thoughtfully silent for a few moments afterward as well. There was no sound in the empty hall except for the sound of their breathing. But Sirius fancied that Dumbledore could hear his heart beating as well.

Finally Dumbledore broke the silence, speaking in his usual quiet, calm voice. "Sirius you are quite understandably worried about this situation, but I need you to realize that as long as you are in Hogwarts, you are safe." He held up a silencing hand to stop Sirius from protesting. Dumbledore smiled faintly, but there was no humor in his smile, and his eyes were sad. "These walls are protected by more than mere stone. There are layers of wards placed upon this school that you couldn't even begin to imagine. The school's founders placed a number of them, and each headmaster in the thousand years since has added to that protection. Voldemort cannot breech this school. Furthermore, he would not."

"What's to stop him from trying if he finds out I'm alive? Even if he can't get through the wards, he'll try to find another way." The boy looked up at the silver-haired headmaster. He couldn't quite keep the bitterness or suspicion from his voice and face. It was too hard an expression for a twelve-year-old boy. Too hard and too old.

"Voldemort will not wish to face me," Dumbledore replied softly. "Tom Riddle was many things, but he was never stupid. Right now, he has the upper hand in this matter. The Ministry will not listen to my arguments, and my leaving the school to find him would pose too great a risk, as a source of mine has told me he is no longer at 13 Ebony Lane. I would have to take time to find him, and that would leave Hogwarts open to attack."

"Why would he move?" Sirius asked, surprised.

"I suspect he has noticed the pressure I am putting on the Ministry. It has him worried."

"Malfoy," Sirius whispered, suddenly understanding.

"I'm afraid so. Brutus Malfoy has been one of the more influential ministry members for several years. I don't doubt that he is Voldemort's inside source. What you must understand, Sirius, is that Voldemort has a lot of people where he wants them right now. He has spent a lot of time setting things up. He will not be foolish enough to let it fall apart by coming for you if he discovers you are alive… especially not while I'm here."

Sirius had backed up and now leaned against the cold stone of the wall, facing Dumbledore. A lock of black hair had slipped from his ponytail, and he roughly brushed it away. The cold stone on his back was uncomfortable, but in its own way, it was reassuring. A reminder that he was still alive, against all odds, to be leaning there, feeling it.

Dumbledore quietly stood across the corridor from him, letting his words sink in. His sliver hair glinted in the torchlight, while his light blue eyes were cast into shadow, making it impossible for Sirius to read his expression.

Sirius cleared his throat, finally noting, "You've said that twice, you know. That Voldemort won't come because of you. Why is he so afraid of you?"

"He remembers Grindelwald," the headmaster replied simply.

Sirius scowled. "That doesn't explain anything. I know that old story, too. Grindelwald sought to take over the world. To do that, he needed to become immortal to get the upper hand. Before he could reach his goal, he was crushed by the Ministry. He lost his power and died. I don't see how that story relates to Voldemort having the Ministry eating out of his hand."

"I am surprised," Dumbledore said, not appearing at all surprised. "I would have thought Voldemort would have used that story to gloat. Instead, it seems he told you the version that the Ministry fed the public to stem the panic."

Sirius grew interested despite himself. "He never told me the story. My mother always did. You mean it isn't true?"

"It's a half truth," Dumbledore replied. "And like all half truths, its seed is the truth, but the bloom that we all see exists only for creating more stories."

"What really happened, then?"

Dumbledore sighed. "It's a long story."

Sirius shook his head. "I don't care. I want to know." When the headmaster didn't immediately reply, Sirius added, "Please."

The old man closed his eyes. "Alright. It started over thirty years ago, in 1938. At that time, Grindelwald was a powerful wizard, well known in the wizarding community, if not particularly well-liked. He had connections everywhere: the Ministry, Hogwarts, even in the muggle community. But it wasn't enough for him. Connections can get you far, but he wanted power. He wanted to control everything. I suppose the blame for this could be partially placed on the Ministry as well, although they will never admit to it. Grindelwald was always a man after power, but he would never have gone over the edge if they hadn't forced his hand. The Ministry didn't have much tolerance for anything at the time, and Grindelwald had a situation in his family that required more acceptance than we even have today. Grindelwald's son was a werewolf. We found that out later. Too late, unfortunately. Grindelwald was infuriated by the hate laws that had been created. He was infuriated that muggles were given more respect than werewolves, who were at least still wizards and witches. He tried to work from within, but it was fruitless. And as much as he wanted change, he didn't push it. Then something happened that changed everything."

"Typically on the full moon, Grindelwald's son would be kept safe in his room, but one Halloween night, his son got out. It wasn't until the next morning that Grindelwald discovered the boy's body. Grindelwald looked into it and discovered that his son had been killed by a member of the Ministry. The Ministry claimed it was self defense and dropped charges. Grindelwald was devastated, and looked closer into the autopsy. The time of death was five in the morning on November first. Grindelwald's son would have already returned to his human state by that time, and because of his condition, would have been too weak from the transformation to have attacked anyone. He had been murdered by a member of the Ministry, the very people who are supposed to create laws that protect others. He was killed because of hatred for what he was."

"Grindelwald went mad with rage. He began working logically at first, trying to push for some justice, but the Ministry refused to listen, and he broke with them."

Dumbledore paused there and sighed, remembering the past, most likely. Sirius could relate to that, but he still wanted to know more.

"So that git killed Grindelwald's son, and the Ministry didn't do anything?" He snorted. "Idiots."

Dumbledore smiled sadly and continued. "Perhaps, but I suppose they never realized anyone would dare to stand against them. Especially not someone with as much influence as Grindelwald. He decided that there needed to be a change in the government, and began drawing people to him, pointing out the many times that those in the Ministry had worked for themselves rather than for the people whom they were supposed to serve. He had a strong following by 1942."

"But he was too extreme. He wanted to do away with the Ministry entirely, and have one strong ruler over the whole community. A dictator. Perhaps he was getting his ideas from the muggles. At that time, they had a large war of their own."

"Grindelwald's extreme plans lost him many followers, but he did still have a fair sized group. It was one of them who gave him the idea to strive for immortality. A dictator can be bad enough, but an immortal one is nearly unstoppable."

"He became obsessed with the idea. The philosopher's stone wasn't good enough, because the user became dependant on it, and life-lengthening spells only worked for a short time. He began researching, and testing, and delving into some of the most ancient dark magics to find immortality."

"The ministry was concerned, of course. Grindelwald's tests were killing people, and he was threatening many wizards and witches to join him, giving the ultimatum of either helping him to live forever, or dying along with their families. He was very persuasive. Especially since many of the dark spells he'd picked up in his research were torture spells. Unfortunately, concern didn't stop this. Aurors were sent out against him, many never returned. The wizarding world was on the brink of chaos."

"Then one day, one auror did return with the worst possible news. Grindelwald and his followers had finally succeeded in becoming immortal. They had turned themselves into vampires. Voluntarily giving up their souls for an immortal half-life, they used dark magic in conjunction with feeding on the blood of unicorns."

"If a mortal Grindelwald was fearsome, an immortal one was a nightmare. The Ministry finally took action when it was almost too late. A council was formed to destroy Grindelwald once and for all. I was part of this council. It took a lot of hard work, but we finally came up with a solution late in 1945. We captured a number of lethifolds and in our next battle, we set the lethifolds loose on them. The idea was that since lethifolds are known wizard killers that destroy the bodies of their victims when they feed, they should be able to destroy even self-made vampires. We were right . . . and wrong. The lethifolds, we found, became a part of the vampire, destroying their minds, but leaving their bodies, and turning them into a foul race of creatures that feed on positive emotions, breeding sadness and dispair. Only two escaped this fate. Grindelwald was one. After seeing the fates of his followers, he finally turned himself in, and was slain."

"The other was Tom Riddle."

Sirius' eyes widened. He'd almost forgotten that Voldemort had played a part in this somewhere.

"Tom had begun following Grindelwald as soon as he'd graduated from Hogwarts, but broke with him when they turned to vampirism, and instead came to the Ministry. He was our source of information, claiming that Grindelwald had put him under the Imperius curse. Tom was lying, merely trying to get his mentor out of the way. He turned on us in the end, and I injured him in a duel . . . badly. The Ministry then, against my judgement, left him with the dementors… the creatures of his mentor's own making. They had hoped they would end Tom, but it seems he must have known how to destroy them. The public was, of course, given the story you knew, to stem the fear."

Again Dumbledore fell silent, then said gently, when he noticed Sirius' haunted look, "Perhaps I should not have overwhelmed you with that story just yet, but now you know. A long story to make my point, but as I said, you are safe here. Tom will not want to face me again until he is much stronger. Now, try not to worry. Let's go to supper." He began walking down the hall once again.

Sirius silently followed. They were nearly to the Great Hall before Sirius spoke. "I'd wondered what exactly the dementors were," he said softly. "They feed on people's souls because they gave theirs up, don't they?"

Dumbledore suddenly stopped and turned to look at Sirius. The expression on his face was one of surprise and worry. "Yes," he replied. "But how did you know that?"

"Voldemort has them," Sirius promptly stated. "He doesn't use them much, but they follow him."

"They would," Dumbledore said, more to himself than to Sirius. Worry deepened the lines in his face, making him look more his age. "They lost their identities with their minds and souls, but they'd be drawn to a familiar voice . . . I'd hoped they were gone . . . but if Voldemort has them this could complicate things . . ."

"Sir?" Sirius didn't like the clear look of concern on the headmaster's face. What little ease of mind he'd gained rapidly vanished, and worry began eating at the pit of his stomach once again.

Dumbledore seemed to sense this, and shook out of it, smiling faintly. "No matter. Dementors can be dealt with. Hogwarts is safe." He paused, sniffing the air. Then he motioned toward the Great Hall's huge wooden doors. "Let's go in, shall we? Supper seems to be waiting."

Sirius nodded and followed the headmaster into the room, his head spinning from all of this new information.

Author's Note: Okay… Based on the reviews I've been getting, I think a longish author's note is required. First of all, sorry the plot was so slow this chapter, but sometimes you just need a little background! Secondly, I never expected to get the questions in my reviews!!! laugh And the worst part is, I'm not really sure what I can answer…but here it goes…

1. Are MWPP ever going to meet? Laugh I'd like to direct you to the author's note at the start of the prologue. I pointed out there that this story really wasn't an AU until book 5 came out;) So… that said, I guess you can all figure out if they're ever going to meet… But I'll add another comment. I've read a lot of fanfiction for Harry Potter, and it seems popular to have them buddy up either in the sorting or on the train. I could never find the spot where it said they met in first year at all… So… I think you get the idea…

2. WHERE IS JAMES? Sorry for those of you who miss him. He'll be here. He has to. He's Sirius' best friend, right? Well… eventually he will be… but as of this moment, they've hardly met, and this story is from Sirius' point of view, so we wouldn't see much of James yet, would we? But don't worry;) We will.

3. Where's Peter? Please don't make him a scuzzball /ignore him/ etc.!!! Laugh Again, don't worry… Sirius hasn't officially met him yet. They'll meet. As is the case with James, they have to. And I won't tell you how much of a scuzzball he'll be in school, but if you keep your eyes open, he pops up now and then, so you can have a taste of what he's like! ;)

4. How can Sirius suck at DADA and transfiguration when he becomes and animagus and was a DE? This is so much fun. Good question. I'd like to direct you to the school system. You don't have to be wonderful at something your first time doing it, to be brilliant at it 5 years later. Just because Sirius is bad at it now at age eleven doesn't mean he can't learn and be skilled by age fifteen. And I think that's a lot of what Rowling's stories are about… learning and choosing… not innate powers and fate. So, you're going to see a lot of that. As to DADA, I thought I already mentioned that, but maybe it's in my notes for a later chapter. He has no memory of most if his time as a possible DE under Voldemort. So, memorized things about DA just aren't there for him… just skills that he might have learned (take it from a psych minor… those use different parts of the brain!) That's an important distinction. Secondly, he's used to using dark arts, not defending against them. That's also an important distinction for him.

Anyway, I hope I answered questions. Please keep asking and theorizing. I'll do my best to answer when I can… And don't worry… the plot picks up, but I have a lot of time to cover in these chapters. I hope you have enjoyed the story so far. And please keep your eyes open for Chapter 10: "Black" Magic… So, the chapter title's cheesy. Sorry… but great titles are hard to come up with;) So long! And keep reviewing!