Disclaimer: All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.
Warnings: Mild to moderate violence, character death, some mild to moderate character bashing where unavoidable (mostly Dumbledore & Danzou with some Sakura & potentially lots of Sasuke), alternate universe (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), OCC behaviors and personalities, a number of original characters and obscure canon characters to flesh out family trees, random chosen last names to give a number of characters surnames, and who knows what else.
AN1: Partial credit for the Story Prompt/Challenge used to create this story goes to the Guru of Challenges; Challenge King. For details, see the first author's note at the top of the first chapter.
AN2: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.
Chapter Twenty-One: Interview with a Marauder (Take One)
April 28, 1990, 3:12 PM
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni
Elemental Nations
Inoichi settled into a seat across from the gaunt man that Kuma had introduced as Black Sirius. He knew, from the briefing that Karasu had given him when he'd shown up to report their return from the Outer Countries, that the man had spent close to nine years in prison. He also knew the man was a Trueborn Sage like Haruo (only fully trained) and that he had the ability to transform himself into a large dog; something he recalled the toads mentioning as possible back when they'd first identified Haruo as a young Trueborn.
That was something that he wanted to see with his own eyes because he was curious to know whether the technique was merely some type of advanced henge or if the man truly turned into an actual dog. Now wasn't the time for his curiosity to get the better of him though; he had two potential citizens to interview. Pushing his interest in the man's abilities to the back of his mind, Inoichi focused on the wizard as he sat down in the seat across from the man.
"Black-san, I'm going to start this interview by asking you a few questions to confirm that the information we were given on your application is accurate," Inoichi informed the man as he pulled out a blank scroll and a pencil so that he could take notes. "For the record, could you please state your full name, age, and date of birth?"
"Er, is it going to be a problem if I give you my answers in English?"
"No, it won't be an issue; I'm fluent in English."
"Wonderful," Black replied as a relieved smile flitted across his face.
"Is there any particular reason why you do not wish to answer in Japanese?"
"I know how to speak eight different languages but Japanese is not one of them. Moony had cast a translation spell on me after we left England so I can at least understand it though."
"Ah, thank you for satisfying my curiosity," Inoichi murmured as he noted the number of languages that the man claimed to speak. "If you could go ahead and give me your name, age, and birthdate now…?"
"My full name is Sirius Alphard Black, I'm thirty (almost thirty-one) years old, and I was born on November twenty-eighth of nineteen-fifty-nine."
"Can you provide me with the city and/or country in which you were born?"
"London, England; I was delivered by a midwife in my parent's private home though, so you won't be able to find any muggle records of my birth."
"That won't be an issue," Inoichi assured the man before he jumped right to his next question. "Out of all the villages that you could have chosen to move to; what made you chose to move to Konoha?"
"I didn't actually pick the city, Moony did," Black replied with an uncomfortable shrug of his shoulders. "I didn't learn where we would be ending up until a few hours after Moony collected me from Azkaban."
"What is Azkaban?"
"Azkaban is Great Britain's wizarding prison but it is better known to the prisoners as hell on earth."
"Why were you in prison?"
"The damn traitor framed me for the murder of twelve muggles while he faked his death and I was hauled off to prison without a trial because the Black Family was a stain upon my soul and the one man I trusted to do right by me because I fought in his name failed me."
"I'm afraid you lost me," Inoichi slowly stated as he tried to pick apart the facts from the man's angry rant. "Could you start by telling me who this 'traitor' is?"
"Peter Pettigrew. He was our friend. We trusted him. I trusted him. He was the weakest of us all though and he folded without even a token fight. It was my grand idea, you see. I was closest to James. He was more than just a friend, James was my brother in all but blood; though we shared a bit of that too as his mother was a Black. When James and Lily went into hiding after little Harry was born, they asked me to be their Secret Keeper. My plan was for us to tell everyone that I was their Secret Keeper while the real Secret Keeper would be Peter. It was supposed to be the perfect prank."
"It would have worked too. If Peter hadn't betrayed them less than a week after Lily had cast the Fidelius Charm that would hide them from Voldemort and his little lap dogs. The minute I learned Peter had betrayed them, I tried to warn James but I was too late; Voldemort had already killed him and Lily. I tried to take Harry that night but Dumbledore had ordered Hagrid to take him to Hogwarts and I was left at loose ends. So, I went hunting for Peter. That was my second mistake. My first mistake had been to trust the rat in the first place. "
"I found him two days later and that's when everything blew up in my face. Literally. Peter screamed out accusations in an attempt to place the guilt on me and then he blew up the street with a spell. The little rat should not have had that much magic to throw around but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that he'd been given a huge power boost through dark magic after he joined Voldemort. I shielded myself from the explosion but the muggles around us hadn't been as lucky and there were countless people injured and another twelve dead."
"Peter took advantage of the confusion to cut off his finger and transform into a rat before he disappeared into the sewers with the rest of the vermin. I completely lost it at that point. I remember telling everyone who would listen that it was my fault. And I remember laughing through my tears as James's death hit me hard. I was stunned from behind not long after Peter ran and the next time I woke up, I was locked up in a cell in Azkaban. I thought it was no less than I deserved for what I had allowed to happen. I was there until Moony broke in and snuck me out earlier this month."
Inoichi had not made any attempts to stop the man as he poured out his tragic tale. He'd also taken care to adopt a sympathetic expression in order to encourage the man to continue talking; since the more the man said, the better able Inoichi would be able to gauge both his intentions and his mental stability. Black's grief and rage were palpable and the blond could already tell that the man was going to need some serious counseling. Once the Trueborn had fallen silent, Inoichi took a moment to order his thoughts before he continued questioning the man.
"What kind of technique is this… Fidelius Charm that you mentioned?"
"It's a spell that, once cast, hides a secret in the soul of a person and the only way to learn the secret once the spell has been cast is to hear it straight from the mouth of the Secret Keeper or read it on a note written by them. Lily had cast that spell to hide the house where she and James were hiding with little Harry. If Peter had not betrayed them, then James and Lily could have danced naked in front of an open window as Voldemort walked by and Voldemort would have never even known they were even there."
"Is that a common technique that Trueborns use to hide their secrets?"
"No, it's a really old and obscure spell and very few people have the power or control to cast the spell and there are few people out there that are willing to trust others with their secrets since the person casting the spell can't be the Secret Keeper. I only knew three… maybe four people back home that could have cast the spell. Lily, of course, was one. Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, was another. Filius Flitwick, our old Charms professor could too as he was the one that taught Lily how to cast the spell. My grandfather could have cast it when he was in his prime but I doubt he could now."
"I noticed that you did not list yourself or your companion amongst those capable of casting the spell," Inoichi stated in a blatant attempt to get an idea of just how powerful the man was when it came to his 'magic'.
"That's because we're not capable of casting it. I never had enough control and thanks to the dementors of Azkaban, I no longer have the power. Moony, on the other hand, had the control but lacked the power."
"What exactly is a dementor?"
"They are monstrous creatures that feed on your darkest emotions. They are also capable of sucking your soul out of your body and devouring it. Just being in the same room with one of them will make you feel as if you will never be happy again. Being in the presence of three or more is pure torture as they strip you of your memories and magic."
"And these creatures were kept in the prison to protect the population?"
"Hell no! The dementors are the damn bloody guards of the prison. They wandered freely through that hell-hole and feasted upon the souls and emotions of those who had the misfortune to be sentenced to Azkaban."
Inoichi took a moment to let the knowledge that the Trueborn society tortured their prisoners when everything he'd learned about Trueborns from the various summoning clans allied with the village said that Trueborns embodied nature and therefore respected all life. He was beginning to think that the histories and legends that the summoning clans knew were not entirely accurate. Or at least, they were far less accurate than he'd originally been led to believe. He supposed that they could have changed slowly over time or maybe the summoning clans hadn't met any nasty ones.
He didn't know why he was all that surprised though, since intentional cruelty was just as much a part of human nature as compassion and Trueborns were human too. And it's not as if Trueborns could all be the saints that the toads had painted them as.
If they had all been saints, then the Konoha Prankster's Association would not exist.
And yes, Inoichi blamed the KPA on Haruo.
He knew full well the entire thing had originally Haruo's idea and Naruto had eagerly taken that idea and run with it.
He still hadn't been able to get all of the pink paint off of the ceiling in his office. He also hadn't sanded his desk to remove the cutesy little smiley face that Haruo had carved on the surface (using his Mokuton) because it amused him every time he saw it. Not that he ever let the two snots know that. He also told his wife that he hadn't removed it because it would be too much damn work to resurface the entire desk just to smooth out one corner of it. His wife had rolled her eyes at him and accused him of hanging around Shikaku too much.
Pushing his amusement at the two pranksters' antics out of his mind so he could focus on the broken man in front of him, Inoichi coughed once to clear his throat before he asked, "Is there a way to defend yourself from the dementor creatures? Or a way to potentially prevent them from entering the village?"
"Yeah, you can usually hold them off with a patronus or, if your patronus is strong enough, chase them off. And there are wards that can be placed to keep them out of an area but it would take years to charge a ward large enough to cover this entire village."
"Could the ward just be placed over the gates?"
"No, the dementors can fly or float or whatever it is they do."
That's not good, Inoichi thought to himself as a frown pulled the corners of his lips down before he asked, "Do you know if the dementors could pass through the barrier that separates the Outer Countries from the Hidden Countries?"
"I'm not sure but I doubt it. There really aren't that many dementors worldwide and most of them are controlled by the different magical governments in order to prevent them from breeding unchecked or feeding on large populations of muggles since muggles can't see dementors."
"You've used the word 'muggle' several times now; can you tell me what it means?" Inoichi inquired as he tried not to think about invisible, soul-sucking demons descending on the village.
"It's what we wizards call those born without magic."
"Ah, thank you for clarifying that for me. Now, going back to the dementors; you said that a person could drive them off with a… patronus, I think you said. What is a patronus?"
"The Patronus Charm is a spell that draws on the caster's positive emotions to create a tangible shield that repels the dementors because positive emotions are a bit of an anathema to them. Powerful witches and wizards can actually create what we call a corporeal patronus that is capable of driving the dementors off rather than just holding them off. The spell usually takes the shape of an animal that represents the castor's concept of security and/or happiness. My patronus used to take the form of a lion. Not sure if I could still cast a corporeal patronus, let alone a patronus shield now. Moony can though."
Inoichi nodded in response to his answer before he brought the interview back to the original topic as he asked, "Earlier, you mentioned that the man who betrayed you and your friends had faked his death when he framed you for the murder of a dozen individuals. You also said that he did so by turning into a rat and disappearing into the sewer. Did he actually turn into a real rat or did he just cast an illusion to make him look like a rat?"
"He turned into a real rat; he's an animagus – just like I am."
"You can turn into a rat as well?"
"No, I can transform into a dog."
"Would you be willing to demonstrate that ability for me?" Inoichi requested with barely concealed excitement.
"Sure," Black replied as he leaned forward in his chair as his body blurred and shifted until a large, black dog was standing on the floor in front of the man's chair. The dog barked happily and wagged its tail before it jumped up onto the chair and spun around in the seat; the dog's form appearing to melt as the transformation reversed itself until Black was once again human.
"Fascinating. Is that a technique that all Trueborns are taught?"
"No, it's a very advanced branch of human transfiguration and very few magicals can do it since it requires wandless magic to master the transformation. I'm lucky I can still do it myself after how long I was in Azkaban but transforming into Padfoot was what saved me from going stark raving mad while I was there."
"Does Lupin-san also know how to transform?"
"No."
"Could you teach another how to transform?"
"Maybe… it depends on whether or not the person I'd be teaching has an animagus form; since not all wizards are born with an inner animal spirit. It would also depend on what kind of animal the person's inner animal spirit took the form of since there are some species of animals that pose a greater risk of death or permanent disfigurement. One example would be sea creatures; since most of them need water to survive and transforming into a fish out of water could see you suffocating to death before you have the presence of mind to transform back into a human."
"Yes, I can see how that would be dangerous. Tell me, how deep does the transformation go? Do you actually assume the physiology of a dog or do you just look like a dog on the outside?"
"It's a complete transformation. An animagus's magic will break down their human body and reform it into a physical representation of their inner animal spirit. If an animagus was to die while in their animagus form, then their body would remain in animal form. And neither magic nor muggle methods would be able to tell the difference between the dead animagus or a normal animal of the same species."
"And your former friend could turn himself it a rat?"
"Yes."
"How would you distinguish your former friend's animal form from a normal rat?"
"An animagus form incorporates one or more traits that is unique to the wizard. For example, my form has wild fur that is similar to my hair when it is cut short. It also has a long, white slash of fur on the belly that matches a scar I received when I was eight. Peter's identifying marks include the color of his fur (it's the exact same shade as his hair), his watery-blue eyes, and a faint pattern of stars over his fur that were an imprint of the shirt he was wearing the first time he transformed. After he cut off his finger when he faked his death, his front paw will also be missing a toe now."
"Do you know where he is now?"
"No, if I did, then I would have killed the bastard before we left England."
"Do you intend to return to England to chase him down a second time?" Inoichi inquired as he made a note on the scroll in front of him that the man might be a flight risk.
"No. As much as I would love to see the traitor pay for his crimes, I can never go back. I'm dead to that world now and I've wasted far too many years languishing in prison. I also promised Prongs that I'd watch over little Harry for him if anything happened to him and Lily and it's past time for me to make good on that promise."
Inoichi asked the man a few more questions about his motives before he coaxed Black into giving him an overview of his childhood, the training a Trueborn receives once they are old enough to be trained, and detailed descriptions of those individuals that had once followed the dead dark lord. He was able to glean a considerable amount of information from the man without needing to use any underhanded tricks or threats. Once he believed he had a good enough grasp on Black's background (including why his family was considered a black mark on his name), Inoichi shifted the interview to Black's skills.
"Earlier, you had mentioned that you could speak eight different languages. Aside from English; what other seven languages do you speak?"
"I am fluent in Gaelic, French, Spanish, Italian, and German and I have a decent grasp of Latin and Greek."
"Does your fluency in any of those languages include reading and writing the languages?"
"Yes, though it's been ages since I've written or read anything in a language other than English or Latin."
"May I inquire as to why you learned so many different languages?"
"Politics. As the former heir to the family's headship, I was expected to enter a political career upon reaching my majority at seventeen where speaking multiple languages would have allowed me to potentially spread the family's influence outside of Britain."
"Aside from your fluency in multiple languages and your ability to transform yourself into a dog, what other skills do you have?"
"Ah, well, I used to be a top notch dueler but I'm more than a little rusty and the higher level spells I used to know are out of my reach due to how much damage the dementors did to my core. I was taught how to fence when I was growing up bit I'm more than a little rusty at that too since I've not fenced since I was disowned the summer after my fifth year at Hogwarts. I was training to be a curse breaker because I knew it would give my mother a heart attack if I went to work for the goblins but I never completed my training. I suppose that's pretty much it… unless you count pranking as a skill."
Inoichi froze for a split second and barely suppressed the shiver of fear that raced up his spine at the thought of an adult prankster joining the KPA and giving those two monsters more ideas. He could practically feel himself going gray and pulling his hair out while the village went up in flames around his ears at there mere thought of Haruo and Naruto gaining an adult mentor in the deadly art of pranking. And yes, pranking was a deadly art. Because if you managed to prank a high level shinobi, then chances were you were skilled enough to assassinate a high level shinobi.
"What about practical skills?" Inoichi asked Black instead of commenting on or asking about his pranking skills.
"Well, I can cook; 'bout near gave my mother an aneurysm when she heard that I'd learned the job of a house elf. I'm also a fair hand at potions. And while most of the stuff I used to brew were prank potions, I did learn how to make a number of healing potions. Antidotes and poisons were my specialty though. I can grow, harvest, and prepare most of my own ingredients too; well, unless it involved collecting them from the more dangerous animals, like dragons. I'm not stupid enough to tangle with something large enough to consider me an appetizer."
The blond interrogator snorted in amusement over that last comment even as he filed away the information that the man in front of him could potentially be integrated into the shinobi force or the hospital staff as a poison specialist. He added a side note on the scroll he was using to keep track of the information he was gathering to have Black's skills tested once he'd been cleared by a medic. Inoichi was just mentally going over the list of questions he needed to ask the man in front of him when he was distracted by Black asking a question of his own.
"How much longer is this interrogation going to take?"
"We're almost finished."
"Good, I've waited long enough to see my godson."
"I'm afraid that you're going to have to be patient for a little while longer, Black-san; you'll need to be cleared by the medics at the hospital first," Inoichi declared and immediately braced himself for an attack when a dark look crept onto the other man's face.
"So, you intend to keep me from my godson?"
"Not at all. It's standard procedure for all prospective citizens to be given a full medical assessment to ensure that they are not carrying any contagious diseases that could potentially start an epidemic in the village. On top of that, it's quite obvious that the time you spent in prison was unkind to you."
Black huffed as the dark look on his face morphed into a grimace before he petulantly muttered, "Fine."
"Now that we've cleared that up; could you tell me how you plan to support yourself as a member of this village?"
"My family was amongst the four richest magical families in England and while most of the property, heirlooms, and a large percent of the liquid assets were entailed, the rest of it was soluble. I left what couldn't be liquidated to my godson, as he'd been named my heir the same day I was named his godfather and the rest of the fortune was converted to muggle money and gold so we could bring it with us since I'd left it to Moony in my will knowing that it would piss my mother off to learn that I'd halved the family fortune if I died before her. Too bad she died first."
"Since I faked my death, my will was activated; allowing Remus to remove the cash from the bank and because he hates charity, he refused to keep most of it. So, I guess technically, you could say that I already have the cash to support myself and Remus. I don't plan to sit around all day and do nothing though, so I'll probably try to find a job doing something. I just don't know what since there's not really much I can do. I know Remus has plans to look for work as well. We also plan to teach Harry how to use his magic once he turns eleven."
"Will your godson be required to attend the will reading?" Inoichi inquired as he fought against the urge he felt to frown at the risk such a requirement might pose to Haruo.
"No, the will would have already been read and Harry wouldn't be eligible to claim his inheritance until after he reaches his fifteenth birthday and only once my grandfather passes away. Since he's not even living in England, there's not much he'd get out of the inheritance in any case; since most of it is entailed. However, he does not need to live in England to claim the headship once my grandfather dies and doing so will prevent the rest of the family from getting their hands on the family's wealth. That was the whole point of naming my godson my heir anyway; to keep that fortune out of the hands of Voldemort's followers that married into the family like Malfoy and Lestrange."
"What will happen to your godson's inheritance if he does not claim it after he turns fifteen?"
"Nothing. It just sits there. So long as Harry lives, there's nothing anyone can do to take that away from him. If he dies without leaving a will and without siring an heir, then everything will go to the oldest male Black still living."
Inoichi nodded in acknowledgement of that information before he asked, "Does the same hold true of anything he stands to inherit from his mother and step-father?"
"Yes; though there isn't really much left of the Potter fortune. Two wars put a huge dent in it because the Potters were always right in the thick of things. It's why the family has been reduced to a single member; little Harry. The Potter properties that weren't sold off to raise funds were burnt to the ground in raids. Most of the Potter heirlooms went the same way since the items that were cleared out of the properties that were sold would have been moved to the properties that weren't. A few things might have made it into the Potter vaults but I couldn't say how much any of it is worth."
"Is your godson still eligible to receive that inheritance even though he is not a Potter by birth?"
"Yeah, James adopted Harry the day he was born and he was raising him as his son with the full knowledge that Harry was not of his blood. If he had a half brother of Potter blood or if James had had any other direct relatives, then he would have only received a small fraction of the fortune but because Harry is the only Potter left (adopted though he is), he stands to inherit everything."
"Do you know how much of the Potter inheritance is entailed?"
"None of it. In the wizarding world, entailment is only used when there are at least three potential inheritors in existence because it is designed to prevent the bulk of the family fortune from being scattered to the four winds."
"Last question, Black-san; would you be willing to allow me to view your memories of the last ten years?"
"Why?"
"I wish to see some of the events that you spoke about with my own eyes so that I can better understand them. Doing so will also allow me to properly gauge your intentions towards your godson and this village."
"And you want to see if I've been lying to you," Black shrewdly guessed.
"No, I would have known if you were lying to me the moment you told your first lie."
"Really…?"
"Yes."
"Huh, that's a neat trick. Wish we'd had someone like you back when James was still alive; probably could have saved a lot of lives if we'd known how to spot the lies that Peter had been spewing for who knew how long."
"So, will you allow me to view your memories?"
"It's not going to hurt, is it?"
"No, the most you will feel is a touch of disorientation while I'm viewing the memories."
"In that case, yeah, sure; go ahead."
"Thank you, Black-san. If you wish, while I'm in your mind, I could also implant a basic template of the Japanese language to help speed up the learning process. Doing so will leave you with a mild headache for a day or two simply because adding knowledge to the brain through such a method easily overwhelms the brain as it incorporates the new information."
"That would probably be for the best; it'd probably take me too long to learn the language otherwise thanks to the dementors scrambling my brains for so long."
"Consider it done. One last question before I initialize the technique; do you have a barrier protecting your mind?"
"No, I used to but the dementors stripped my natural defenses from my mind and I haven't yet had time to rebuild them."
Inoichi felt nothing but relief over Black's answer; he had not been looking forward to the possibility that the man's magic might lash out at him or thrown him from the man's mind like Haruo's magic had the first couple of times he'd tried to read the child's mind. That had not been a pleasant experience. He climbed to his feet a moment later and walked around the table as he mentally prepared himself for the inevitable headache that viewing a large number of memories would bring. And a decade's worth of memories would hold a considerable amount of information.
"Please try to relax and remain calm throughout the process," Inoichi instructed as he placed his right hand on Black's head before he brought his left hand up to form half a ram seal to help him focus.
Slipping into Black's mind was not much different than slipping into anyone else's mind but, like Haruo's mind, the older Trueborn's mind looked nothing like the minds of anyone else. However, where Haruo's mind was filled with light and greenery, Black's mind looked more like the burnt out ruins of an old castle on a dreary landscape. The only similarity between the man's mind and the boy's mind was the fact that their memories could be found in a body of water.
The pool of memories in Black's mind was more along the lines of a large lake rather than a small pond (a representation of the man's longer life) though. It also looked rather tainted; the memories the color of wet ashes instead of quicksilver like Haruo's. He suspected the discoloration had to do with the suffering the man had endured during his tenure as a prisoner in the wizarding prison he had spoken of. The other potential reason for the discoloration could have been the man's obvious anger and grief.
Inoichi was still standing beside the lake weighing the risks of viewing the memories it contained despite its tainted appearance when a tired voice addressed him from down by his feet, "Quite a depressing view, no?"
Glancing downward, Inoichi wasn't really surprised to find a bedraggled black dog looking identical to Black's alternate form laying beside his feet. He had half expected Black to have an inner avatar like Haruo did. He was just surprised that he had not seen said avatar the moment he entered the man's mind and that the man chose to stay in his animal form unlike Haruo's avatar; which changed into a boy every time he entered the boy's mind to view his memories.
"It is," Inoichi agreed as he pulled his gaze from the dog and returned it to the lake in front of him. "How dangerous will it be for me to view the memories in there?"
"You won't be harmed, if that's what you're worried about. The memories can't harm you. The memories only look the way they do because most of them are rather unpleasant."
"Ah, that's good to know."
"Are you going to dive in now?"
"Not exactly," Inoichi corrected as he crouched down to dip his hand into the tainted lake and caused the entire contents to surge up to form a murky ash-gray brain. "If you'll excuse me now, it's going to take me a while to sort through the decade's worth of memories I wish to view."
"Take your time; I'm not going anywhere."
Inoichi nodded as he placed a hand on the artificial brain and pulled a single memory scroll out so he could begin the process of viewing Black's memories. It would take him roughly five minutes per year of memories that he viewed and that was even with him skimming over the more repetitive memories. He had garnered a wealth of information though and confirmed that everything that Black had told him was the truth as far as Black knew. He'd already known the man hadn't lied to him but there had been a small possibility that the man had lied by omission; he hadn't.
Once he'd viewed the memories he'd come to see, Inoichi pulled his hand from murky memories and allowed the faux-brain to break down and return to the lake. He then took a moment to adjust to the large amount of information he'd just collected before he glanced down at Black's avatar.
"I still need to imprint the basic template of Japanese; will you show me where I can access the language center of your brain? Normally, I know where to look for that but your mind is quite different from most of the other minds that I've encountered through the years."
"This way," the dog instructed as the avatar heaved itself up onto its feet and began limping in the direction of the ruined castle.
Inoichi fell into step beside the creature and kept one eye on the dog while he carefully studied the mindscape he was passing through for any sign of tampering. It wasn't long before the two of them were entering the crumbling castle and Inoichi felt more than a little unsettled because of how close the ruins looked to collapsing due to the extent of the damage. He began to take even more care in searching his surroundings due to the slight risk that he was being led into a trap.
The dog eventually led him up to a door with eight alphabets carved into the wood somewhere on the fourth floor of the crumbling castle and as they stopped beside the door, the dog announced, "The place you are looking for is through that door."
"Thank you," Inoichi murmured as he carefully pushed the door open.
Inside of the room, he found two dozen dusty student desks spaced out into four rows of six and a large instructor's desk situated beside a large blackboard at the front of the room. On top of each desk, there was a single book, a feather quill, a jar of ink, and a rolled piece of parchment. Most of the items on the desks were covered with dust and a brief inspection of a few parchments and books revealed that they were completely blank.
It wasn't until he reached the front of the classroom that he found one desk that was dust free. The title on the book's cover proclaimed it to be an English dictionary and quick peek inside confirmed that it held thousands of words and their definitions. The parchment on that desk contained a detailed list of rules that applied to the English language. He wasn't quite certain what the quill and jar of ink could have represented; though he supposed that they could just be mental reflections of Black's ability to read and write the language.
A check of the closest desks that, while also covered with a light layer of dust, were not entirely untouched like the rest of the desks, turned up another seven dictionaries and notes on language rules; one for each of the other languages that Black had stated he could speak. There was also a ninth desk that held what looked like the start of a Japanese dictionary (the lettering was faded and there were only a small handful of entries in the book). The desk also glowed a faint white color and Inoichi wondered if that was due to the spell that Black mentioned had been cast on him.
Shrugging his shoulders, Inoichi ran through a series of hand signs before he placed his fingers in the center of his forehead and pulled out a copy of the Japanese language template that he would be implanting in Black's mind. The template was, in essence, a complex seal that contained a small dictionary of the most commonly used words of the Japanese language, the basic rules of the language, and a copy of the four alphabets that were used (basic kanji, hiragana, katakana, and romaji).
The seal was transferred onto the desk a heartbeat later and Inoichi watched as the dust vanished from the desk while the dictionary and parchment both were updated with the information contained in the seal. Inoichi nodded with satisfaction as he saw the template being readily accepted by Black's brain. Once all activity had stopped, Inoichi skimmed through both the parchment and dictionary to ensure that the information had not been jumbled during the transference before he prepared the leave Black's mind.
He hesitated at the last moment and glanced at the dog waiting for him at the door as he asked, "Would you be upset if I were to make a template of the Greek and Latin languages so that I might study them?"
"Nah, I don't care if you copy any of the languages in there; just don't touch the rune dictionaries on the professor's desk; those require magic to use and you might fry your brain if you tried to mess with them."
Inoichi nodded as he dusted off the desk holding the Greek language first so that he could make a clear template from the information there (his actions unintentionally refreshing Black's knowledge of that language). The completed template was then tucked into a mental 'pocket' so that it could be studied for errors and potential traps before he integrated it into his brain. He then turned his attention to the Latin desk and repeated the process on that language. There was no need for him to take templates of the other languages that Black knew since he was already familiar with them.
He was tempted to look at the books he hadn't previously noticed on the instructor's desk but refrained from doing so in light of the avatar's warning. He did make a mental note to ask Black about the runes another time though. After a final glance about the room, Inoichi withdrew and closed the door behind him. When he glanced at the alphabets that were carved into the door, he was rather pleased to notice the faint etchings of the romaji alphabet appearing on the door and determined that the alphabets represented the spoken languages that Black knew.
"I'm finished here now," Inoichi declared as he pulled his eyes form the door and glanced down at the dog as the two of them began retracing their path through the castle. "I only have a couple of quick questions before I leave. First, why are you still a dog? Shouldn't your mental avatar be human?"
"I'm not a mental avatar; I represent Black's inner animal and this is my only form."
"What would it mean if a person's 'inner animal' was a human?"
"That they have no animal form because they cling too tightly to their human nature."
"And an inner animal that changes forms with every step they take?"
"That would be an indication that their inner nature is still evolving and maturing and a clear indication that the mind you are in is the mind of a child or a pre-pubescent teen."
"I see," Inoichi replied as the two of them finally reached the blackened entrance of the ruins. "The other question I wished to ask you is; why does your mindscape appear as a ruined castle?"
"A wizard's mindscape will always reflect the one place that a wizard considers his home. Hogwarts Castle was my home because that was where I was happiest. The reason that the castle is in ruins is because my mind was ravaged by the constant exposure to the dementors. It will take time to restore the castle to its former glory or in this case, heal the damage done to my mind."
"I believe I understand," Inoichi stated as he glanced around at the destruction with new eyes. "If you will excuse me now; I believe it is time for me to leave."
The dog nodded before it limped off in the direction of the forest where Inoichi could make out the vague shadows of a familiar wolf and stag hiding amongst the trees. The Yamanaka vanished from the mindscape a heartbeat later when he ended the jutsu in order to return to his own mind. He winced slightly when the full force of the technique induced headache surged through his brain before he beat the pain down to more manageable levels.
"I believe that we are finished now, Black-san," Inoichi rasped the moment he dropped his hand away from Black's forehead. "Do you have any questions for me?" Black slowly shook his head no; the pinched expression on the man's face a clear indication that he too had a headache. "In that case, if you'll wait here for a moment, I'll send someone to escort you to the hospital for your medical assessment."
Inoichi took a couple of minutes to gather his scroll of notes before he left the room. He paused just outside the door to inform the Chuunin on guard outside of the room to inform her that he was finished with the man inside and that she would need to watch over him until Kuma turned up to escort him to the hospital. Inoichi knew Kuma well enough that he would not want to let the man out of his sight due to his connection to Haruo.
The blond Jounin then squared his shoulders and headed for the room across the hall where Lupin was currently waiting his turn to be interviewed. Inoichi grimaced at the thought of rummaging through yet another mind and dug out a couple of aspirins to dull the headache he had so he could concentrate on the up coming conversation. At least he'd have a chance to rest his mind before he viewed Lupin's memories.
Notes:
Sirius's Birthday – Sirius's birthday was randomly chosen as JKR has not given us one for him to date as far as I could tell (and yes, I checked recently to make certain).
Sirius's Middle Name – I'd also like to point out that in canon, Sirius DOES NOT have a middle name; using Orion as Sirius's middle name is FANON. So, knowing that, I chose to veer away from canon (& fanon) when I picked Alphard as Sirius's middle name since Sirius was close enough to the man for him to leave him money in his will and in order for that to have happened, then his parents had to have allowed that contact at some point. (i.e.; Walburga and Orion got along enough with their relative prior to him offending them by leaving gold to their disowned son).
04-15-17: More minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes.