Chapter 7

Sirius sighed contentedly, stepping out from under the shower, steam billowing. He moved his wand minutely, simultaneously drying himself off and applying a switching spell on his clothes, instantly putting them on.

Magic really was like a muscle, though it took even longer to grow or atrophy. Thanks to his self-imposed training regimen, he felt better with each passing day.

Occlumency really was a cheat. With his body and mind fully recharged after less than three hours of sleep, he saw no issue with spending an average of six hours a day on self-improvement.

In the last three weeks he fell into a comfortable routine. After getting up he usually spent some time reading and sipping coffee outside, while waiting for the others to join him. After breakfast he would play with Harry and Nymphie for a while, before locking himself in a dueling room until dinner, if he had nothing scheduled for the day. After leaving the kids with Andi he would go deal with businness related matters, sometimes visiting Amelia or the Longbottoms instead.

One of the memorable events lately was undoubtedly his visit to Grimmauld Place. Its only resident was unsurprisingly Kreatcher - Walburga was nowhere to be found and the elf swore to be unaware of her whereabouts. At least he treated Sirius with a lot more respect than before, since he was Lord Black now and actually acted the part. Though it was only after Sirius channelled his best 'noble scion' behaviour and called him out on it that it really begun sink in. After that it did not take long for Kreatcher to get his act together, but Sirius still placed a number of commands on him. He would not place his trust in the hands of an unstable and demented old house elf.

Besides that nothing really exciting happened outside of Wizengamot. That was not to say he was able to relax completely in his free time. He had a number of things on his mind and he wasn't entirely sure how to approach them.

He still had no contact with Moony, but he wondered if he would eventually have to make the first step and contact him. Oddly enough, he did not look forward to seeing one of his oldest friends. There was one main reason for that.

Even back at Hogwarts he felt Remus had an unhealthy amount of reverence towards the Headmaster. He understood his gratitude for the opportunity to attend in the first place, as well as his respect for the man's accomplishments, but, even still, he did not believe it warranted that kind of behaviour. Sirius suspected it had to do with Remus's werewolf nature, maybe he viewed Dumbledore as the alfa, due to his magical strength, and responded with exaggerated submissiveness. Regardless, he was almost certain Remus would relay anything and everything he learned to the old goat. Hell, he did not seem to see anything wrong with using their friendship and making various not-so-subtle inquiries on Dumbledore's behalf. If he did not realize that relaying private conversations to a third party, after manipulating someone to find out specific information, was a breach of trust, then maybe Sirius was better off without contacting him. For now he would put it off for as long as he could get away with.

Another thing on his mind was his cousins. Narcissa had still not contacted him and he had no idea what happened to her. Eventually, he concluded that it was most likely that she decided to stay with Malfoy, since she would be loath to abandon her one-year-old child. It was not an optimal situation for her, but he definitely had to get the Black family's money and influence away from Lucius' greedy hands. With any luck he would be unable to escape conviction this time, thus rendering him unable to influence the boy's upbringing and giving Narcissa more freedom in turn.

He did not know what had befallen his other cousin either. Neither she nor the other Lestranges were caught yet, unlike in the original timeline. He would have to look over his shoulder for a while. After pulling the stunt with the marriage contracts Sirius had little doubt that Bella, the vengeful bitch that she was, would come after him at the first opportunity.

On a happier note, Sirius and Andi were closer than ever. She was always one of his favourite family members, alongside great aunts Dorea and Cassiopeia. However, they rarely got the chance to spend time together before, whilst now they talked every day.

Sirius moved swiftly through the corridors, heading for the front door. He had been a bit hesitant to leave the kids with just house elves the first time something came up, but after drilling them on a fairly foolproof emergency plan, he was confident nothing would happen.

There was bound to be a lot on the agenda today, mainly due to a scheduled Wizengamot meeting. Things were slowly coming to a climax lately, with multiple Death Eaters getting caught every other day. Without a clear leader their operations quickly grew chaotic and reckless.

Dumbledore was still keeping quiet. It seemed that after Sirius flexed his considerable influence a couple of times the old man realized there was little he could do. By going to a few prominent members of Dumbledore's usual support base, the so called 'light' faction, he totally ruined the old man's game plan. In actuality Sirius already had more influence in the Wizengamot than him.

Sirius threw what political power he had and filled the bill authorizing the forced use of veritaserum on marked death eaters. It passed by just a few votes, mainly because it infringed on some noble rights. But the facts that it would only influence those visibly marked and that only agreed-upon questions would be asked gave it the final push it needed. Other noteworthy bills he proposed were the authorization for the aurors to respond with lethal force, if the offender was the first to do so, and one which allowed them to demand inspection of the left arm of the individual, upon suspicion. Both passed, though once again in close contention.

Sirius' confident and decisive demeanor, coupled with succesful ideas he presented and reputation, both his own and his family's, won him a lot of points with everyone who wanted the war to end. With each bill passed and deal made he garnered more respect and furthered his connections. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he went from literally nobody to the single most influential person in the Wizengamot - in a matter of weeks. Sirius would be the first to admit that he owed the lion's share of his success to playing the middle ground between the traditionalists and the 'light' faction. By being reasonable and practical about any reforms, while respecting both sides, made him a de-facto lider of their temporary coalition.

Sirius still smiled at Dumbledore every time he looked him in the eyes. Considering their 'conversation' on Halloween and the following political machinations on both sides, it was easy to guess it was not because he was happy to see the old man. In fact, at that times he practically projected the fake images of meetings with various order members, while discussing Dumbledore, onto his mental shields. He was certain that the Chief Warlock's passive legilimency picked at least some of it up and hopefully fueled his paranoia. Sirius was not expecting anything from it, but if it unnerved or even just irritated the old goat it would be worth it in his mind.

"Order! Lucius Abraxus Malfoy, you stand accused of being a member of a criminal organization known as death eaters and resisting arrest. Further charges to be determined."

Sirius grinned so wide his eyes squinted.

END