The Games They Play
Chapter 47
"Holy fucking shit," Blake blurted out, the moment they returned to Severus' quarters. His temporarily speechlessness fading as reality hit him like a tonne of bricks. He could scarcely believe what had just happened moments prior. "What the ever loving fuck…" what…why…how…it was utterly unbelievable. There was no way Lucius had guessed, no, nobody would guess such an unbelievable thing.
Severus passed over a glass of alcohol, already sipping from his, lips pursed worry lingering in his black eyes. "First things first…that is not an older Lucius," he informed Blake seriously, "Why is it you returned older but he did not? Unless, the older Lucius merely informed the younger one before leaving?"
"You're right, it's not," Blake confessed, "But remember he said it was a two pronged spell? I've read about it, but I dismissed the possibility. It was only I who had returned, or I had assumed as much. For the life of me I cannot remember which book from the Black library it was." it had to have been from the Black library, he remembered reading it while at Hogwarts."
"Then you have your way of getting an answer," Severus replied, with deceptive mildness, it's something that had constantly worried Blake, not knowing how he'd returned. "Get the books, we can look through them and find out for definite." He didn't mind wasting an entire afternoon looking through books if it gave Blake closure on another part of his life.
"Kreacher? Dobby?" Blake called out to them, once they both appeared in front of him, "I need you to gather up all the Black books – that have been de-cursed – and bring them to me, you can put them in boxes if it helps."
"We be doing that right away, Master!" Dobby agreed with a chirpy voice, ignoring the look of disgust on Kreacher's face at his tone of voice.
"Go on then," Blake urged them, slumping down on his chair, closing his eyes, he drank the remainder of his drink. He probably should have savoured it, he shouldn't be drinking at all. After the shock he'd just received, nobody could blame him.
"What do you intend to do with Lucius?" Severus asked cautiously, no doubt the wizard would be ready for any and all assaults. Lucius would know Blake…better than him, and all his moves. It would make the fight all the more worrisome than even the Dark Lord's.
"If he was responsible for bringing us back here…then he has as much to lose as myself…if he wanted me dead…he would have done so already. He wouldn't have shown his hand, I can't say I'm surprised he'd risk it all for family…he's always ultimately been a family man, doing what he has to in order for them to survive." Blake confessed, sighing softly, as he rubbed his face tiredly.
"So no retaliation planned?" Severus queried, slightly grateful for that.
"As of yet, no, but if he tries anything…then yes," Blake stated firmly, eyes gleaming darkly, he was not about to let anyone ruin his new life here. Especially not someone like Lucius Malfoy.
Boxes of books then began popping into the room, as Dobby and Kreacher began to offload them here. They probably would have been better going to Blake's quarters to find the book, but neither liked the idea overly much. It meant moving, and Blake had already done as much moving as his body could handle today. Especially using the Floo network to return home, which had jarred him. He really should have used Dobby to get there and back, but he hadn't.
Severus and Blake immediately grabbed a box each, leaving the others for the moment as they began to browse through the thick tombs.
"Wait, the book I was dark blue, I think," Blake commented, his mind continuing to mull over what he remembered about the book to try and ease the burden of looking through the entire Black library. He just couldn't remember even a bit of the title, which would have enabled him to summon it.
"Accio blue books," Severus intoned, and a dozen or so books zoomed on out of the books, Severus deftly divided them into two. Placing Blake's on the sofa next to him, so that he didn't need to bend over to reach them like he did.
For the next half hour, Severus repeated the process five minutes, as more boxes arrived through the House-elves diligent work. All the while working there way through the books, and still not finding what they were looking for.
An hour into their process, Severus finally found the spell that had enabled Blake's miraculous return to the past. "I have it," he told Blake, who then promptly banished all the books back into the boxes, and gestured for Severus to sit next to him so they could read it together.
Severus stood and moved over, sitting swiftly, but not too closely, aware of the pain Blake was in. The book was already open at the page necessary for them to read it. The chapter was five pages only, which enabled them to read it in ten minutes, both being diligent.
"Well," Severus cleared his throat, "That explains why you remained the same here," and didn't have his consciousness merging with that of his younger self. Something he was beyond grateful for, he wasn't the slightest bit interested in adolescent children, even if they had a remarkable and aged mind. He knew without a doubt that he wouldn't have been able to see 'Blake' as anything other than a teenager regardless of what he'd been through.
Harry Potter's mind was too young for the mind meld to work. His magic too young to cope with the influx that would have seen Blake and Harry becoming utterly insane. Lucius' age hadn't been quite as significant as Blake/Harry's so he'd easily melded with his other self. It confirmed that there was no other Lucius running around out there. Lucius had known while doing the spell that there would be two Harry Potter's running around back in time.
"He could have killed us both," Blake sighed, shaking his head at the enormity of what Lucius had been desperate enough to attempt. "My core isn't exactly light anymore," Lucius probably didn't have a speck of light in his core, thus he needed someone like him to anchor to the spell.
Severus shook his head, "No, your core will always have a little light in it, Lucius will have known that. Anyone with a speck of knowledge about you would know as much. Your ability to produce a fully-fledged Patronus at thirteen will have made it so. Especially the amount of times you cast it that year." And he knew how many times, Lupin had been extremely proud of the teen. He could perform all the dark arts he wished, but casting the Patronus so many times so young will have permanent marked his magic.
Blake arched a brow, "Even after all this time?"
"Always," Severus confirmed.
"Huh," Blake muttered, he might know a great deal about magic…but he didn't know everything and didn't claim to. "Good to know I'm not suddenly going to fade out of existence." Apparently, this was for good, at least until he died anyway.
"The pathetic idiot, meddling with time to make money," Severus sneered, "He could have destroyed the timeline, faded out of existence…instead he thought going back in time was the answer to everything!" of all the reasons, the selfish, selfish wizard. Admittedly he did one good deed, the person he chose to go back with, had lost his wife and unborn child, he hadn't been in the country when it happened apparently…and going back he'd simply induced his wife's labour and made sure she and his son survived.
Orion Black's father, Arcturus Black, he'd saved his wife Melania Black and Orion, preventing Lucretia from losing her mother and brother in a single day. "Does it irk you that if things hadn't been changed there would have been no Sirius Black?" he asked him wryly. The book wasn't a published book, it was personally bound together by Arcturus Black when time changed. It made sense how the Black and Lestrange's were so immensely wealthy. Not that it had helped them in the long run, the Lestrange name was all but destroyed…and as for Sirius…well, he wasn't going to like his latest news let's put it that way. Corvus Lestrange and Arcturus Black had gone back in time, created that spell, that inevitably enabled Lucius Malfoy to do the same with him. Corvus' and Lucius' both selfish in their desire and greed to go back, but Arcturus had at least known, him not so much. "I wonder if my not knowing should have screwed up the spell…"
"I wouldn't be surprised," Severus stated, "Magic must have sensed your desire to change things, and acted appropriately, a lot of people often forget that magic is sentient to a degree, and is capable of wonderous things." like Hogwarts herself.
"I agree, it's the only way I could see it working," Blake agreed, who hadn't been wishing they could go back and change things before they got worse? Merlin, every Witch and Wizard would have been thinking the same thing, during that battle it was a damn miracle Lucius had managed to hit him with the spell. Relief that he finally knew what was happening…was immense.
A glance at Severus told him that he wasn't the only one relieved to finally have the mystery solved and the knowledge that Blake was safe in this timeline and nothing would happen to him.
"The question is…what do we do with this?" Blake asked, it couldn't be published…do they hide it away or do they burn it? "It's a beautiful piece of magic, I must admit…" destroying it was awful and wrong on so many levels.
"Lucius must have gotten his hands on this in future…either that or there is more than one copy." Severus admitted, which was a concern.
Blake nodded, "Exactly," Corvus Lestrange may well have had a copy of it too, which Rabastan and Rodolphus could potentially get their hands on.
"If that were true…the first thing Lucius would have done was collect the copies, he wouldn't have risked anything interfering with his plans. There's no guarantee he even knew about this one's existence, but if he did, he may have assumed it was safe behind the wards and out of everyone's reach. Orion was extremely paranoid and warded the townhouse to capacity. If Bellatrix and Rodolphus had passed away in your time…then the entire estate will have gone to Narcissa and Lucius." If she had even been alive, and quite frankly he didn't want to think on it, for the only way Lucius would have been this desperate…was if something had happened to Narcissa or Draco, or both.
"I am not asking him," Blake grimaced at the thought, he was an impossible wizard to deal with, so smug and satisfied, sure that he knew best. The worst was knowing he actually in a weird way owed the wizard. Thankfully not officially, since Lucius had actually needed him not the other way around. Thus he didn't owe him a life debt. "I'd be more likely to end up killing him." which was nothing but the truth.
Severus himself grimaced, he tolerated Lucius, as much as he tolerated anyone really. He was an introvert, he wanted friends but couldn't really tolerate many people and preferred being on his own for the most part. He would say that Lucius had been as close to a friend as he'd allowed himself in life. An internal ping brought him out of his thoughts about Lucius, "Someone's in my office, I'll need to go see who it is and deal with it." Severus stated grudgingly, he was the Headmaster now, it was his duty.
"Go ahead, I'm just going to have a rest, Black's coming by in a few hours," Blake murmured, already moving to lie down and rest, Severus stood to allow Blake the room.
Severus arched a brow wondering why Blake was interacting with Black at all, shrugging his shoulders he used the Floo quietly to get to his office, his Headmaster's office. Blake would be out of it now for a good few hours, he needed the rest, it was the best way for his body to heal from the injuries he'd sustained in the fight.
When he got there, nobody was around, frowning probing at Hogwarts herself, to find out what happened.
An image of the table flashed before his mind eye then Minerva.
Ambling over, Severus sat down and right enough, there was a letter, plucking it off the table, wondering at Minerva's cowardice. He knew she wasn't exactly happy that he was the Headmaster, but it wasn't as if he had been actively seeking the position in any way.
His jaw dropped when the contents written within were revealed.
She was stepping down, entirely. Both as Deputy Headmistress, Head of House and the Transfiguration teacher. This was his notice, she was remaining until the end of the year but that was it, she was going to retire. Inhaling sharply, well, he most certainly hadn't expected this. He had a shrewd idea what had brought it on though. Hemione Granger's actions.
Damn it, now he had to find three different positions to fill, Gryffindor Head of House, a Deputy and a Transfiguration professor. Thankfully two of those three positions could be filled internally, within the faculty he already had. That wasn't all really, he was already making plans to remove Binn's and have a proper history professor. He also wanted to give Filch a severance package, his position had been one of pity, he was not needed, there was nothing the House-elves couldn't do for the school.
Sighing softly, well, nothing to be done about that. Truthfully, he did feel better that he wouldn't inevitably have to fire her. Her actions and reactions since the whole thing came to light indicated that she would have continued to be a problem. This way she got to leave with her head held high and without the students thinking he was forcing her out and rebelling.
Seeing the massive stack of opened and unopened mail, he shrugged and began to plough through it. anything redundant or personally for Dumbledore was put in the bin, anything that would require an answer set on the table and anything such as complaints were set into a folder until the 'complaints' were dealt with or investigated.
As he continued to go through it all he begun to realize he was also going to have to have Hagrid removed as a professor as well. Too many complaints about the creatures he was showing the students, too many injuries, more than even he'd been aware of, he had assumed wrongfully that Draco had been the only one injured by Hagrid's beasts. Instead he had dozens upon dozens of complaints from the Head boy and girl, prefects, parents and some students as well. inhaling sharply, just what else had Dumbledore just swept under the rug? His own incident primarily in mind, with Lupin. How much damage it had done, he didn't want that for the students here, and admittedly it wouldn't be as terrifying as a damn werewolf, but trauma was still trauma at the end of the day.
Yes, he had a feeling he wasn't going to be many people's favourite headmaster. Fortunately, for his own sake, he didn't care about being liked. He always put the safety and wellbeing of the students under his care first, whether they knew this or not. Which of course, they didn't, they just believed he was a hateful old bat. That was one of the nicer words used with him in mind.
The hours passed before he knew it, and he wasn't even a fraction of the way through the mail that had piled up. What on earth had Minerva been doing? certainly not her duty or her job! Merlin's sake, correspondence was made to be read not just left there to rot. It was going to take him weeks to get through the mail, never mind how long it would take to reply to them all and this was only a small part of his job. He had a feeling this went right back to before Dumbledore lost his magic.
He was only roused from his tiresome and loathsome job when the wards alerted him to someone entering his school. The image that flashed through him, identified him as Sirius Black. Blake had said that Black would be coming.
He grumbled silently, before flicking his wand, and allowing the Patronus message to send a voice message to Blake, letting him know that Black was indeed on the premises. As curious as he was about the reason for the visit, he decided to continue his work, the quicker he got it done the better.
"How's Harry…how are…er…you?" Sirius asked, sitting down, his reluctance to be in Severus' private quarters obvious…either that or just reluctant to be anywhere near Blake might be possible.
"Harry's doing well, haven't you heard from him?" Blake asked, eyeing Black blankly.
"Not often," Sirius admitted, although between the mirror communication and the letters…he supposed it could be coined frequently enough, Harry was a teenager after all. He had other things on his mind, certainly not going to spend all his time reassuring his godfather.
Blake's lips twitched, "Better get used to it," he said wryly, he was going to find himself particularly…busy with his new relationship. Hell, he would probably be forgotten in the novelty, but it was a good thing. Not just a new relationship but a new business arrangement too.
Sirius frowned, "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked suspiciously.
"I'm sure he'll tell you in his own time," Blake grinned in genuine amusement.
Sirius' eyes widened, surely he wasn't implying what he thought he was…no way, Harry would have told him…but would he have? Why would he need to? Had he even thought to ask? No, was the answer to all those questions, he calmed down, he would ask him later, and if he didn't want to talk about it yet…well that was just fine. Using the techniques his therapist had taught him were helping him a great deal. He felt more in control, less likely to alienate everyone around him.
"Oh, er…the rumours about Dumbledore…is there any truth to them?" Sirius then asked.
"Depends on what rumours you've heard?" Blake asked, amused at Sirius' attempt at small talk.
"That he's retired?" Sirius replied, brow furrowed at Blake's amusement.
"Dumbledore interfered with the duel," Blake informed him wryly, watching Sirius wince, yes, at least he was aware of the consequences. "This hasn't been made official yet, but he used someone who owed him a favour to try and poison me. The punishment was his death and Dumbledore…lost his magic."
Sirius' jaw dropped, before a malicious sneer appeared on his face, "Good," finally Dumbledore was paying for his interference.
"Snape save you?" Sirius asked after a few moments of silence.
"No, attempted, he tried to poison me, in other words he didn't succeed, I wasn't born yesterday, Black, I've been around long enough to realize I do have my enemies." Blake sighed whether he went by Blake Slytherin or Harry Potter the same held true.
"Oh, right," Sirius nodded, he pondered on saying he was glad Blake was alright, but he knew it would sound insincere whether he actually meant it or not. Surprisingly he did mean it, he knew Harry would be devastated if anything happened to Blake. Perhaps if he'd had half the spine Blake did…it would have been the relationship he had with his godson. Instead he'd acted like a 'good dog' and stayed where he was told by the very wizard who held vital information about his innocence from the world.
"Do you know what you intend to do with your life?" Blake asked.
"What?" Sirius blurted out, staring at Blake as if he'd lost his mind. "Why the hell are you asking that?" very uncomfortable with the way that statement was stated. It vividly reminded him of his father, Orion, trying to start dictating his life.
"You are the last of the Black's, Sirius," Blake pointed out, "A long prestigious line, surely you're not going to cut your own nose off to spite your face just because your family wasn't what you wanted it to be?"
"What and yours was perfect?" Sirius snapped going on the defensive.
"No," Blake answered slowly, "Harry and I…we are more alike than you can fathom, had a very, very similar upbringing. With relatives that shouldn't have had a child let alone nieces and nephews." Managing to keep a straight face.
Sirius shifted, well, that defensive hadn't gone the way he desired, at all.
"Do you want a family, Sirius?" Blake asked, sitting forward, what had his godfather wanted out of life other than his freedom? It wasn't something he knew, Sirius had died before he got a chance to know him. "Honestly…do you want a child to raise? Someone to love? More than one someone? I mean you don't even need to get married, blood adopting a child will prevent the extinction of the Black line…"
"Who'd want to marry me?" Sirius asked bitterly, "I'm marred from my time in Azkaban…I don't even know if I could have a kid…" over a decade of starvation could have done who knows what to him, let's not to forget every single illness that had gone untreated.
"You haven't had a full health test?" Blake asked aghast, wincing a little. He should have made sure his therapist suggested it.
Sirius stared at the floor, gritting his teeth before shaking his head, no.
"My question stands, Siri, would you like a wife? A child?" Blake asked, his voice unusually soft.
Sirius swallowed thickly, flashing back to Harry as a child, he'd wanted it even then, despite the fact he wasn't ready to settle down. "I've always wanted a child…since the first time I held Harry in my arms…"
"Just a baby?" Blake asked, eyes gleaming with soft happiness.
"Yeah, I've never really cared about a relationship," he shrugged helplessly, after watching his mother and father…it was the last thing ever on his mind. Plus, the constant nagging and expectations, it just wasn't for him, he hadn't been Regulus.
"So, a surrogate?" Blake suggested, "It would need to be someone not related to the Black's, someone who doesn't mind giving up a child at the end of it. Money is always a good motivator but you will need to pick someone. I'll write a list, interview them, and give you the altered one at the end…unless you'd rather just adopt? But it sounds like you actually want a baby of your own, and it won't be easy to find a new born to adopt." Not in the wizarding world anyway, they didn't have that sort of thing up and running they were quite backwards still.
"Why?" Sirius asked, baffled, why the hell would Blake care.
"I told you I'm a Black, as is Harry, which you know obviously, but he already has the Potter name to continue without the added stress of the Black name." Blake explained. "And honestly? I think you need someone Sirius, Azkaban may have marred you as you say…but family changes a wizard, and that's exactly what you need." Wasn't that true? He'd taken on Harry and he felt a staggering obligation that he hadn't previously felt…and coming from someone who had the entire weight of the wizarding world on his shoulders, twice over, it spoke volumes.
Sirius grunted in reply.
"But if its not something you want, I get it," Blake added quietly, he certainly didn't want the Black or Potter name to fade into obscurity. One day Harry would probably blood adopt someone into the family, he always wanted kids, they'd always wanted kids…him not so much anymore, he was too old, too jaded, too damaged to raise a kid. The Slytherin, Snape and Prince name might die with him and Severus…who really knew?
Sirius was silent for a few minutes, before slumping, "I want," he confessed, oh, how he wanted a family of his very own. Months ago he wouldn't have been in the right headspace for it, but now? With help from his therapist…he was finally growing up, getting better, becoming the wizard he always had the capacity to be.
"Okay, well, I'll deal with it all so you don't have to," Blake promised, he needed something to do while he recovered. He wasn't spending all his time trying to change all the laws and regulations around the Muggle world, he couldn't. Otherwise it would drive him insane, plus he knew Lucius was also trying to accomplish the same means.
"I'd like to help, and see Harry more…" Sirius told him.
"I'm sure Harry will like that…" Blake told him, just as the door opened, Severus entered.
"Dumbledore's awake and coherent," Severus informed Blake seriously.
"Huh, then I guess we should pay him a visit shouldn't we?" Blake stated, "Prevent him from leaving Hogwarts…we wouldn't want him to miss the Aurors visit now would we?"
"Already done," Severus said with a vindictive smirk.
"I'll be in touch in a few days," Blake promised Sirius.
"I'd rather be there…if you don't mind," Sirius stated standing up, feeling as vindictive as Severus was showing.
"As long as you don't mind a long walk," Blake told him, giving Severus a grateful look when the wizard eased him up off the sofa, so he didn't need to strain himself. Not too proud to deny himself the aid when he needed it, the potions had long since worn off, and he'd soon be able to take another but until then, he was left in quite uncomfortable amounts of pain.
"I don't," Sirius murmured, realizing for the first time that Blake had come off quite badly in the duel with Voldemort. Still, he'd won that had to count for something…many others had tried and failed to best Voldemort after all.
It was why he had been considered the darkest wizard of the age, darker still than Grindelwald.
Not as long as usual I know but it's the perfect place to stop :D next chapter will be entirely dedicated to Dumbledore ;) so will he get away before the Aurors appear and just disappear live out the rest of his days in hiding? Or will Dumbledore be arrested for his part in the crimes against Blake Slytherin? The new hero of the magical world? Will Sirius and Dumbledore find out that Blake is Harry or will they forever be ignorant? R&R please
