The Contract

Chapter 99

"Uh-oh, I know that look," Arthur said, watching Sirius and Rodolphus wander into the building. The maniacal look in Sirius' eyes said everything, he had to admit he was glad Rodolphus was there to look after Sirius. He would insist he didn't need looking after…but he did. When he got ideas, he forgot everything, to eat, to drink, to go to the toilet, to sleep. He didn't look very good as it was, he kept telling Sirius to take a break, a day off. "New idea?" he asked, but it was more of a statement, he knew he was correct.

Rodolphus just smirked wryly and nodded, "Indeed, he'll probably be in his office for hours, but luckily he'll have to order in shipments so no actual attempts to create anything will be made today."

Arthur nodded; it had been distinctively odd being near the two Lestrange's. well, mostly Rodolphus, Rabastan didn't come around as often as his brother did. They had been well known Death Eaters, he'd cautioned all his family away from them, firmly but not burdening them with details on just why they were so fearsome.

Of course, none of that was actually true. They had been the worst of the victims during the war with You-Know-Who. Not only suffering for years under the Imperius curse but suffering from Azkaban no doubt believing they deserved it, while knowing they were ultimately innocent of the crimes they'd been charged with. To think Crouch had been so swift in imprisoning them for fear of the parts he played coming out.

It had come out in the end, and Crouch Senior had taken the cowardly way out. He wasn't around to pay for the crimes he'd foisted upon his son – his son! Sickening! – and dozens of others. It still blew his mind that the Death Eaters were innocent in all this, but they should have expected it. It was You-Know-Who's Motive Operandi so to speak. He put people under the Imperius curse and forced them to do unspeakable things.

He had been awkward around Rodolphus for a time, not because of his 'past' so to speak. No, it had been the fact that well, even before the war truly broke out, they had different belief's and well, they – The Weasley's – were seen as blood traitors. Because they accepted Muggles, and that they didn't believe in blood superiority.

Yet despite all that, Rodolphus had been unfailingly polite, he made no attempts to avoid him or avoid conversing with him. It was…nice, Arthur would admit. Having friends, going out, enjoying his life and genuinely loving his job – and the pay was out of this world – he hadn't been this happy since his children were born. Regardless of his situation, he'd never once regretted his children.

"Yes, he's rather stubborn, isn't he?" Arthur said shaking his head, even he couldn't get through to him. "He needs sleep before he gets sick again." He didn't want to see Sirius' progress decline. Before this past week or so, Sirius had been revitalised. Healthy, the hospital or hotel as he often called it, had been good for him. He reckoned he knew what was bothering Sirius, the sexual tension between Rodolphus and Sirius was visible even from the front of the shop where they observed the two in the office.

"Yes," Rodolphus agreed fully, lips in a thin line, even if it meant pouring a damn vial of Dreamless Sleep Draught down his throat and forcing him to sleep.

"What has he thought of this time?" Arthur couldn't help but ask despite himself. In his eagerness to hear the answer he leaned forward, inquisitively, not at all scared of the Lestrange reputation as one ought to have been.

Rodolphus' head leant back as he laughed, Arthur was acting like a kid in a candy store. He was a very excitable man, especially when anything new came around, including a lot of muggle items. "Just a Mirror Call case, my brother gave him the idea." His tone droll, eyes sparkling with mirth.

Arthur's eyes lit up, groaning softly, as he glanced at the office door before sighing as he stared at the front door. Where a crowd was already forming, the only ones able to Apparate into the shop were the Lestrange's, Arthur and of course Sirius.

Sirius had secured the shop very well, using his father – Orion's – and Corvus' contacts. Where were both the same, they ran in the same circle and demanded nothing but perfection. Sirius despite his lack of care for Pureblood politics knew his father and Corvus knew what they were doing and thus, conceded to their superior knowledge. He had Orion's address book, filled with all his contacts, their Floo address, actual house addresses and appointments he'd had with them. It was one of the few things he'd kept, in it he had found a picture of himself, Regulus and his father on one of the very rare good days he remembered. It settled something in his heart knowing that his father remembered that day fondly too. Something to look back on, the picture had been put in a frame and sat on his bedside table along with a recent picture of Harry as well as an old photo of James him and Lily.

"I don't suppose you want to mind the shop?" Arthur said hopefully. It wouldn't be the first time, during the very busy times where Arthur and Sirius were rushed off their feet, Rodolphus did roll up his sleeves and help them.

Their customers were absolutely terrified of approaching him to begin with. Now though? They were beginning to relax themselves around the wizard, who was without a doubt very charming and down-to-earth. Probably a by-product of what they had been through. Arthur didn't like to think about it, the horror of it could make his stomach churn.

"Absolutely not," Rodolphus chuffed out. He and Arthur had more in common than Rodolphus cared for. Both of them had a completely insane wives, both prone to violence, not that he no way thought of himself as a battered husband. He'd gained his freedom from Bellatrix thanks to his Lord and Harry dealing with the threat she was to their well organised freedom. Arthur wasn't quite so lucky, but at least they were divorced and Molly No-Last-Name disowned and imprisoned as she deserved.

"Excuse me," Rodolphus said politely, as he left the main area, and made his way to the office standing in the doorway observing Sirius putter about, catalogues open and strewn around the centre circle desk.

"Fabric, Dragon-hide…plastic…what else do you think we could use?" Sirius was clearly hyped up and raring to go. Each of the catalogues already had their owl order ripped out and beside it.

On the table in the middle was the dimensions for the mirrors, with rough calculations on each one's size and the material that would need to cover it.

"Wood," Rodolphus said, cocking his head to the side, he was definitely going to be swimming in money in the next few years. Especially if he continued on in this way. He was quite an inventor, might make more than the Black's had for decades on his own.

"Oh, yes, wood! Good idea!" Sirius said muttering and scribbling away, seconds from jumping up and down in jubilation. "Like a compact mirror when you're not using it, it would certainly look better hung from the wall in a frame!"

"I can't wait to share it with Harry…Although, I shouldn't, should I?" genuinely disappointed by that.

Rodolphus felt a fond smile spread across his face, try as he might, he couldn't bring himself to get rid of it. He never thought he'd see the day where he was attracted to Sirius Black, or desire a life with him. Not after all he'd been through with Bellatrix, it just meant he had a type.

"I mean Rabastan wants to create one for him, as a betrothal gift," Sirius muttered as he filled out the forms with glee. "Directly afterwards though, not a second later!" he declared determinedly, giving a firm nod.

Rodolphus wandered over to the desk he used while dealing with the books. Sitting down, he began to go over them, adding prices as he did so. "Do you wish to put an advertisement in the Daily Prophet looking for someone to help configure the mirrors?"

"Probably a good idea," Sirius agreed, despite his mutterings he was listening which he clearly proved by answering Rodolphus' question. "With at least an 'O' in Charms I think…anything less won't do, I don't care if they've got a Mastery but they do need to know Charms well…without it, they'll be useless." He might not have had a job after leaving Hogwarts and before Azkaban, but his grades had all been high. He may have joked around, and well, bullied would be a good term to put it – he wasn't going to lie to himself – but he had applied himself to all his subjects. Magic came so easily to him, why shouldn't it? He'd grown up with a large family, all of whom could use magic, and he listened, observed and copied, without a wand, which made him more advanced than a lot of other people that came to Hogwarts. Half-bloods and Muggle-borns mostly.

"I agree," Rodolphus replied, "With experience perhaps, outside of casting spells at Hogwarts?"

Sirius made a noise of contemplation, "I don't know, I mean my godson could do it without any trouble whatsoever." He said smugly, "Others might be able to do the same…but you're right though, I really don't want to reverse whatever damage could be done…if it can be reversed…"

"Experience preferred then," Rodolphus agreed, "You don't have the time to spend trying to teach someone how to configure mirrors more than once." It was the whole purpose of employing someone with moderate experience to take the helm. Once they have been at it for a bit, someone else could be trained if it proved to be a worthwhile endeavour.

"Yeah, maybe another time…during the summer holidays? Might be a good thing since I'll be rather busy, Harry's most important." Sirius said, eyes alight with all the ideas for the summer that he had planned. Spending time with Harry of course, was a must and the most important thing all around. "Even if it means attending parties." He'd done it as a child, he was sure he could do it again.

"If you're invited," Rodolphus pointed out, "If I recall you were banned from most societal parties."

Sirius sniffed, "Stuffy old bats, wouldn't get a joke if it bit them on the arse," grinning widely as he recalled the mischief he used to get up to.

"You set fire to the Parkinson's stables," Rodolphus pointed out, "That's not exactly joke material, you could have killed those animals." It wasn't just horses in there either, they had Thestral's and a Hippogriff's. Society had spoken of nothing for days after that. He'd been what? Twelve or thirteen at the time, he couldn't quite recall but he was definitely at Hogwarts.

Sirius winced, "I was seven, I didn't expect Zonko's joke products to be miserably off centre… I was aiming for the fireworks to blast outside the pavilion. It was like five foot off centre, my parents were furious over that."

"I see," Rodolphus mused thoughtfully, how many other pranks that Sirius pulled had been entirely accidental or thoughtless? "What did your parents do after that stunt?"

Sirius finally sat down, and began to calmly write out the last of the owl orders he wanted. Wood, fabric, dragon hide, which by the way was the most expensive. Including the purple dragon hide that Rabastan wanted for Harry he'd let the wizard pay for it. It was a betrothal gift after all, and it was important to Rabastan he would pay. It was an important part of their traditions that while he might scoff, actually really liked the sound of.

Not that he'd admit it to anyone.

"Locked me in my room for three days," Sirius told him pensively, "My mother was absolutely furious, I honestly thought she was going to curse me into next month. After that I got nothing but disappointed rages of how I was besmirching the Black name. Threats to disown me, how I was an embarrassment, how nobody in society wanted anything to do with me. Father tried to curtail her when he was there, but he worked in the Wizengamot a lot so he was often gone." it had hurt, then made him angry, even more rebellious. If they didn't want him, then he hadn't wanted them. He could survive without any of them. That mantra continued into his teenage years, until eventually he'd left. They hadn't all been bad, the memories but the damage done to his fragile mind had been permanent. Telling a child, they'd always be a disappointment? How he'd never be enough? Yeah, difficult times all around.

Rodolphus remained silent, mulling over what he'd learned.

"I don't think Mother even wanted children, for the first few years Kreacher our house-elf raised us. The only human interaction we really had was our father, and of course, my grandparents and the rest of the Black's when they visited or during the holidays…Merlin I grew to hate that House-elf, constantly telling me what to do." That anger he felt as his mother transferred onto the House-elf, easier target. It's not like he could take it out on his mother, who was scary on the best of days.

"The Black madness seems to have caught a lot in that generation," Rodolphus said quietly, and there was no denying that Sirius had some semblance of it too. Orion had been paranoid to the extreme, Walburga's was less obvious but no less evident when you hear about her.

"It's why I'm glad the main Black blood is going to die out," Sirius admitted just as quietly, "The Black madness…needs to stay gone." shuddering at the thought of another Bellatrix who was the worst of a bad lot. Narcissa and Andromeda had been so, so lucky to be normal and luckily with the infusion of new blood the new generation Nymphadora and Draco seem to be well grounded.

This had been brought up before, "Black madness aside, do you seriously not want a child?" he saw how Sirius was with Harry, he could imagine how protective he had been when Harry was a baby. It just went against everything Sirius just said.

"Harry…Harry is enough," Sirius admitted, but the lie could have been unnoticed if Rodolphus hadn't known Sirius so well.

"That's a lie if I've ever heard one," Rodolphus pointed out. "I don't need to know you to know it's a lie."

"I…would have loved to raise Harry, to raise him right," Sirius declared, loathing the Dursley's to the very depth of his soul. He wanted to cause them unimaginable terror, to cause them the same hurt they'd bestowed upon his precious godson. "I missed out on so much…so many moments, memories that I wont ever get back. So, yeah, it was a lie, but not a complete one." For a time, he wasn't sure Harry would have a relationship with him at all. Given Harry's trust issues it was hardly a surprise.

Rodolphus' gaze darkened just recalling the diagnosis that had come across the table in Azkaban. Whether he considered the boy an enemy or not, nobody deserved that kind of treatment, least of all from Muggles. Yes, it was a bit of a hypocritical statement from him, considering he had tortured in the past. They were adults, that chose to take part in a war, and yes, they were tortured for a few moments before they were dealt with. A swift killing curse, a quick end, they did what they had to, to leave a mark, to create a better world for them.

Now thought, now they were attempting a new way, and he was surprisingly fine with that. He feared greatly in the beginning, thinking there would be no place for him in this new approach. It had been a stupid thought to have, he'd barely had any chance to be worried with everything that had been happening.

With the new plans at hand, which he had seen, which would span the next decade. Taking it slowly as not to spook the masses, they would change the world. No more bloodshed, no violence, no raids, they would do everything in the political arena, and without Dumbledore…and Harry onside, they were guaranteed success.

He couldn't wait to see it.

"Do you want me to take the Owl Orders to the post office?" Rodolphus asked, standing up, feeling a little overwhelmed. "I'm going to take this to the prophet station and get it set up for tomorrow." He would be the one doing the interviews.

"Please," Sirius said, picking up the Owl Orders he had created, he stood up and handed them to him. "Are you okay?" noticing Rodolphus' pensive state.

"I'm fine," came his swift reply.

"Hits you at the worst of times, doesn't it?" Sirius said quietly, "How quickly everything changed…" sometimes he felt like this was just a wonderful dream that he was going to wake from. To be still in Azkaban and surrounded by the Dementors. He knew he wasn't of course, but it didn't kill the sense of disbelief that continued to hang around him like a persistent cloud.

"Yeah," Rodolphus replied gruffly, but probably thinking similarly different things. Without another word, he left the shop to get his two tasks done. It was good, to have a purpose, of his own. He rather enjoyed working with Sirius, and not wholly to look after him.

"Are you free to have lunch today?" Amelia asked Arthur, as she entered the shop, despite the closed sign. She understood trying to build or rather re-build a career was important. Not to forgot just how exhausting it was, she had seen for herself just how busy the shop was and how much work they put into their items.

"Of course, he is!" Sirius said cheerfully, from the back office, causing Arthur to fluster a little. At least he wasn't saying anything embarrassing…at the moment. Honestly, it was like having a brother again, who likes to tease and taunt you. "Go have fun! Don't do anything I wouldn't do! Take the rest of the day off so don't come back!"

Amelia just rolled her eyes, lips twitching in amusement. She and Arthur had gotten close while they negotiated the contract for the mirrors. It wasn't until afterwards, that Arthur had asked her on a date. Which she had agreed to go on, because Arthur deserved to know that he was worthy, that he wasn't going to be turned down every time. She hadn't expected it to go anywhere, that they would just remain good friends, having a good time. Each date they went on, and got to know each other better, the more her fondness grew into something new. Something wonderful she had not expected. Even better was that Arthur didn't expect her to side-line her career for him. He was happy just to spend time when they were both available.

"Right, take your own advice," Arthur muttered to Sirius after going into the office, giving Rodolphus a pointed look for added benefit. Sirius flustered, and almost floundered at Arthur's comment. Luckily Rodolphus didn't notice the interaction, too busy with what he was doing.

"Shut up," Sirius muttered mulishly, it was bad enough that his godson even picked up on it and brought it up nearly every time they spoke. It would never go anywhere, and he didn't want to endure the pain and disappointment when Rodolphus told him as much.

Arthur collected his cloak before leaving without another word. His mind on his older brothers, who were no longer in this world. He missed them so much these days, especially as his and Sirius' relationship grew and expanded. They went from tentative friends to boss but now? The teasing made him vividly recall his brothers. Was that the sort of relationship they had now? Despite the teasing…he wouldn't have it any other way.

Sirius grumbled, before sighing dramatically and laying himself on the sofa groaning tiredly. Maybe, maybe just having a nap with Rodolphus here would help. Although, he didn't want Rodolphus to know how bad his nightmares were…but if anyone understood…it would be him right? He seemed relatively put together compared to him though.

His body despite his reservations, needed rest, and barely three minutes after putting his head on the cushion he was asleep.

Rodolphus stopped working and flung a cover over him, before returning to his work until the lunch hour was over. Then shook his head ruefully, he was going to have to look after the shop. Sending Arthur away for the rest of the day wasn't a smart move. Sirius was too impulsive and did not think things through.

Once the doors were opened Rodolphus didn't get a break, as a steady income of customers browsed and bought things that caught their attention. He hoped to get a break when another witch entered the shop and before too long asked a question after picking up a specific item.

The Owl Order receipts the shop received piling up beside the owl chute. Those he'd leave up to Sirius when he woke up. Perhaps he should do that soon, otherwise he might not sleep at all tonight.

"Excuse me? Do these really work?" a sleep deprived witch asked, as she placed the Patronus globe on the counter. "What does it actually do?"

Rodolphus gave her a quick once over, general clothes from Madam Malkin's, not from one of the Noble purebloods he could recognized. It might be on the pricy side for her if she didn't think it would work. He presumed that being why she'd asked the question. "When placed at the side of the bed, and activate, the Patronus exudes calmness and drives off nightmares and negative emotions. It was originally created for those suffering after Azkaban, but came on general sale for those who had a need of them." His voice calm and almost soothing.

"And it works? It stops nightmares?" she asked, "Would it be dangerous to leave around a seven-year-old?"

"No, there's no side effects to being around the Patronus Charm, it's one of the lightest magicks known to Wizardkind." Rodolphus told her, having to refrain from rolling his eyes and sneering. Not everyone could perform the Patronus charm, it was exceedingly difficult magic to perform so many didn't even bother learning about it. It wasn't taught at Hogwarts and not everyone bothered to continue to educate themselves. They just continued using the magic they knew and had been taught at Hogwarts.

"How is it configured?" she asked, relaxing a little, it sounded as if it would be perfect.

"The runes only need your magic pressed into it for them to activate," Rodolphus told her, bringing out a model, showing her where they were so she knew what to do. He slid his thumb along activating it, and she gasped as the room was saturated in the calm comforting feeling of the Patronus charm. The globe was no longer swirling in white, but the shape of a fully-fledged Patronus was visible.

Sighing softly, this looked absolutely perfect, it was worth it if they could get a full night's sleep. For the past few weeks, she hadn't had a single uninterrupted sleep. "I'll take it," she agreed, passing over the boxed globe which had a stand with it thankfully. This was going to entirely drain her savings.

Before too long, the globe was wrapped up and handed over once Rodolphus received the payment. Right, he'd had enough of helping for the day, it wouldn't hurt to close up a little early.

He was literally just about to close up, when the door bell chimed indicating yet another customer. Rodolphus refrained from groaning like a dramatic prick that he was. At least until he turned to face the door and he stiffened imperceptibly.

It was someone he recalled all too well from his years at Hogwarts.

Remus Lupin.

Someone who had once been very close to Sirius back in the day. Jealousy and spite surged through him. His face remained impassive as he stared at Lupin, who couldn't meet Rodolphus steady gaze. "Can I help you?" he asked coolly, he very much doubted Lupin had any desire to buy anything in the shop. Even if he could afford it due to the generous amount of money Sirius had given Lupin many months ago.

For once he wasn't dressed in rags, he had new clothes from Madam Malkins range. Genetic and cheap as far as wizarding clothes went, but still brand new. He had seen the investigators file on Lupin from when Sirius sent the PI after him. Not that Sirius knew this of course. Lupin looked a little less haggard, no doubt he was putting that poison into his body, the Wolfsbane. Idiot. He'd be lucky to live passed his forties if he kept that up, but then again, the money he got would only stretch so far. His lips curled as he stared, the werewolf could never look after himself.

Potter had kept him going on wolfsbane potion, and everything he'd need, clothes, food and everything while he was alive. The direct deposits to the Lupin vault were a dead giveaway. He'd received quite a substantial amount of money from the Potter estate upon the Potter's death. Instead of buying a place to stay, he'd kept it for the Wolfsbane potion presumably. He'd certainly not had a galleon to his name until a few months ago. working dead end jobs to get by, he would have respected that struggle if he wasn't systematically killing himself. Now, that, that just made him pathetic.

"Either speak or get out, I'd like to lock up," Rodolphus ceased any attempts at politeness. He wasn't going to pander to the pathetic image that the half-blood werewolf made.

Remus straightened up, some confidence coming to him, "I'd like to speak to Sirius,"

Would you look at that, looked like Lupin had some semblance of a backbone at least. Rodolphus replied, "He's not available at the moment." Not sure why, but he didn't want Sirius to even see the wizard. It's not like they were lovers, or even ex-lovers, they'd been friends at Hogwarts and nothing more. There had been the capacity for more.

One peek into the wizard's thoughts and he realized that Lupin wanted more. Now that had every single possessive bone in his body standing at attention. Like hell would he let Lupin just slide right back into Sirius' life, not with a pathetic coward like this.

Sirius Black was his.

"Why don't you go back to whatever hovel you crawled out of," Rodolphus sneered, "Unless you want the entire world to find out about your…long toothed problem."

Lupin stepped back, fear flashing across his amber eyes. His biggest fear was being found out. It's why he never took any job in the magical world, too terrified of it becoming widespread about his creature status. It was bad enough that the Order knew without the entire magical population figuring it out.

"Don't let the door hit you on the way out," Rodolphus added, tapping his wand on the register before flicking his wand at the door, closing the sign, ignoring the flinch Lupin performed at his actions.

"Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness, Dolphus," Sirius' sleepy voice was heard as the door opened. His sleepiness very quickly disappeared in the face of Remus in his shop. "Remus," his tone guarded and grim, which send smug satisfaction romping through Rodolphus.

Remus glanced at Rodolphus for a brief moment, before he looked back at Sirius, "Can we talk?" Sirius was always very stubborn to the core of him. He'd left home and refused to return, taking the moral high ground. Stubborn enough that it took ages for him to mellow out if he felt wronged. Hopefully enough time had passed that he would understand. "Alone?"

For all they had been friends, Remus failed to understand the most significant things about him. There was nothing, nothing ever more important to Sirius than those he loved. Yes, he'd let rage guide him the night he should have put all his focus on his godson and he would regret it forever…but there was nobody more important to Sirius than Harry.

Remus was no longer anywhere on the list of people Sirius cared about let alone loved. That love had turned to ash the moment he realised that Harry didn't even know who Remus was. Remus had turned his back on his pup, Sirius' pup, and that was inexcusable. The excuses that had left Remus' mouth had left a bad taste in Sirius'.

"Rod?" Sirius said, gesturing towards the office not once taking his eyes off Remus. Not because he'd missed him but because he didn't trust him the slightest.

Rodolphus' eyes blazed with fury, before he impulsively – and that was saying something – grasped the lapels of Sirius' sleep tussled clothes and drew him in for a very, very demanding kiss.

The sounds Sirius made were trapped behind the toe-curling kiss. Letting out a mew of discontent when Rodolphus parted. Pouting a little, why had he stopped? It was just getting good…and had left him with a little problem that would be visible the second he stepped away!

"Five minutes, then you and I need to talk," Rodolphus whispered hotly into Sirius' ear. Glaring at Remus, Sirius was his, his lips curling into a smug smirk, and if Lupin knew what was good for him, he'd keep his hands off what was his.

Then he swaggered out of the room, closing the office door behind him. Aware of the eyes watching him go, grey still pouting the amber a cross between fearful and resentment.

A/n – There we go! Hmm shall we start the next chapter where we left off here? OR shall we have it in a flashback with the ball for Rabastan? As for Bill and Tom don't worry :D their own time will come I can't have everyone getting together at the same time, now can I? :P I hope you enjoyed the chapter despite the lack of Rabastan/Harry in it...I know that these chapters seem more about what's going on with Rod/Sirius and Corvus and Voldemort and not much about Rabastan/Harry BUT they are underage and I do need to have time still moving and not just skipping entire years over and over again 😊 plus, there will only be a couple more chapters before we get to some juicy Rabastan/Harry scenes 😉 oh no, it wouldn't be the Ball unless of course, you don't want to see a full Dumbledore chapter of all his reactions to everything that's happened :D what will it be? Where it left off then Dumbledore or straight to the Ball for Rabastan? I need another word for it it's not exactly a coming out ball, and it's not his birthday and he's most certainly not a debutant lol and there you have it! Good to know I can still update in a single day! R&R please guys!