Previously on Defiance...
Two doors behind her, the knob rotated, and Harry looked out. "What happened, Mrs. Weasley? Is something wrong?" Molly spun around to see Harry standing outside of the room she was searching for all this while. How she had not noticed the room so far was beyond her.
"Oh nothing my dear, are you done doing whatever you were doing?" She asked, though Harry could ascertain the forced sweetness in her voice.
"Yes, I am done, Mrs. Weasley. I just needed to clear up some things. That is all." he put his hand on his stomach, which let out a tiny grumble. "Do you have something to eat, Mrs. Weasley? I am really hungry."
His last statement seemed to erase all the thoughts from Molly's mind. A genuine smile forming on her face, she turned back. "Of course, dear. Come down and I will whip something up for you."
"You are the best, Mrs. Weasley."
Molly smiled sweetly at him as she descended the stairs. Such a sweet little boy he was!
Harry saw her walk down the stairs and let out the breath he was unconsciously holding until now. Seeing her depart, he let out a sigh and closed the door.
"Is she gone?"
Harry turned towards Sirius who was still at the window, "The road is safe. She didn't suspect."
"Of course she didn't." Sirius exclaimed pompously, "It was my prank." Harry rolled his eyes but said nothing. "I suppose you want me keep the 'Lord Black' thing a secret, right?"
"Why on earth would I want that, godson?" Sirius asked with a mock-surprised voice. "After all that we did to get it, I wouldn't be surprised if you parade naked in Diagon Alley wearing only your Lord rings."
Harry let out a long-suffering sigh. "What now?"
Sirius' demeanor sharpened. "Now, we execute the next level of our plan." The feral excitement in his eyes made Harry second-guess his sanity. He swallowed. "What are you planning, Sirius?"
"All sorts of interesting things, Harry. All sorts of interesting things."
The Minister's office, Ministry of Magic.
"Minister Fudge?"
Cornelius looked up from the newspaper as he regarded the person standing in front of him. It was Samantha, his niece and the secretary to the DMLE chief Amelia Bones. "Ah, what brings you here, Samantha?" he asked with a cheerful smile.
"Madam Bones is arriving shortly. She asked me to inform you in advance so that you do not keep her waiting."
"Right." Cornelius adjusted his robes. "Inform her I'm free at the moment." Samantha nodded briskly and darted off. Cornelius wiped off the items on his table, and sat up straight. For some reason, the DMLE chief made him quite uncomfortable, though it was clear that it was he was her Boss. Something about her being a self-confident, intimidating woman, he supposed.
Amelia entered into his office, knocking on his door. Fudge looked at her and gave an uneasy smile. "What can I do for you, Amelia?"
"You can start by telling me," she strode up and banged a piece of parchment on his table, "about how two dementors in Ministry control went all rogue and killed Harry Potter's relatives."
Fuck.
"What do you-what do you mean dementors attacked?"
Amelia fixed him with a cold, intimidating stare. "Two dementors, hundreds of miles away from Azkaban, in Privet Drive, Surrey, attacked Harry Potter's relatives. Clearly, the attack was meant to be on Harry Potter, who for some reason was not present there at the moment. It is just luck on our part that the beasts did not get to suck his soul apart."
What the hell had Dolores tried to achieve by that? The boy's death would simply shift the verdict towards Dumbledore's side.
Fudge felt the trickling sweat drop down the back of his neck. This was not supposed to happen. Harry Potter was supposed to be vilified by his campaign. The attack by dementors on him would only show him to be the victim, getting him even more media attention than he already had.
I cannot let that happen. The boy will continue to spread more lies to bring me down.
"Amelia that cannot be right. Dementors are under ministry control. There is no way that-" he stammered.
"Then please explain how two dementors went all out rogue and attacked Harry Potter. Cornelius, this is getting out of hand. First the revelation that Crouch Junior is in fact alive, then the death of Crouch Senior, and then Potter's testimony about You-know-who-"
"YOU-KNOW-WHO IS NOT ALIVE!" Fudge screeched loudly, covering his ears with his palms. Amelia raised an eyebrow at his behavior. "You know Minister, in case Potter is indeed telling the truth, covering your ears might just be what sends our country to Hell."
"ENOUGH, AMELIA!" Fudge thundered, before taking deep breaths as he calmed himself down. "The dark lord is not alive. He was dead when Potter destroyed him in 1981. There is no way he is still alive. It is all a grand plan drafted by Dumbledore and him to dethrone me from my position."
Amelia gave him a blank stare.
"This news should not go public." Fudge stressed. "It is a simple matter of no necessary concern." He took a deep breath.
"But Corn-"
"It is AN ORDER! I classify it under the Official Secrets Act. Law forbids you from doing any kind of query into this matter henceforth. Now leave." Amelia looked sharply at him for a moment. "You know Fudge, now I have even more faith that Harry Potter was indeed telling the truth," she smirked at the frightened face of the esteemed Minister of Magic, "and I think it is you who is being blind and leading us to Hell. Should he dark lord rise, you will be forever remembered as the person that led to his rise."
Fudge stuttered and stammered, while Amelia nodded briskly as she walked away, leaving him alone to his musings. She walked out of the office, striding towards the DMLE offices. The moment she entered her office, she rang the bell in her room as she relaxed into her chair. Samantha walked in.
"You called, Madam Bones?"
"Yes, Samantha. Did you send the letter as I said?"
"Yes, Maam."
"Good."
Samantha stopped, and hesitated, "who was the letter to, Maam?"
"Oh, it was for an old friend." Amelia replied casually, as she started to read the newspaper. Samantha shrugged to herself as she left the room. She never spotted the ghost of a smirk on the DMLE chief's lips. Her little plan, the one she had formulated an hour earlier had worked perfectly.
"Director, Potter's relatives were kissed by two dementors. Nothing except their soulless husks now remain." Shacklebolt exclaimed.
"What about Potter? Is he also-"
"No, he wasn't there at the moment. He was somewhere else, and has been collected by Dumbledore."
"By his vigilante group, you mean?" Amelia pressed. Kingsley looked mortified. "I am not sure what you mean, Director."
"Stop playing coy, Kingsley. I know very well that you and Auror Tonks are part of Dumbledore's 'Order of the Phoenix'." She emphasized on the last words using air quotes. Kingsley stiffened.
Amelia gave him a cold glance. "I did not become the Director by playing cards, Kingsley. I just want to know what the hell you morons are doing in that group of retired old farts. I have yet to see one positive outcome from it, since all I find is the Order playing home guard to Harry Potter and at the entrance of the Department of Mysteries. Frankly, Croaker has been finding your antics as particularly funny."
"Director, I-We-" Kingsley stammered.
Amelia huffed and continued, "You people do not have one positive outcome from your big posturing and all of that 'order' things that you claim you do. Potter's family was attacked in open daylight and no one could do anything. You are only successful at one thing, and that is being a naïve and stupid nuisance. Stop your antics and do something productive."
"Does it mean that you also believe that you-know-who is back?"
Amelia rolled her eyes.
"You may go, Kinglsey. I have some work to do. As soon as I bring this news to Fudge's attention, he will try to keep it sunk down under Ministry files. I need to figure out something workable. Now out." She commanded as Kingsley darted off.
"How did these morons become Aurors?" She muttered to herself, as she drafted a letter for herself. Addressing it to her old friend Barnabus Cuffe, editor of the Daily Prophet, she attached a copy of the report before putting it all in an envelope.
"Samantha?"
The young girl, who had gotten her position because of her relation to the Minister, walked into the room. "Yes, Director?"
"Please send this letter for me, will you?"
"Sure, Maam."
Now all I need to do is to provoke Fudge enough that he declares it a Ministry secret.
She smirked.
Amelia relaxed on her seat. Her plan had worked wonderfully so far. The letter was sent, and all that was left was for Barnabus to read it and act accordingly. The Minister had sealed the news as a Ministry secret, which completely diverted the blame off her head.
Nothing like a little misdirection, after all.
Meanwhile at Black Townhouse...
"Sirius, what exactly are we doing?" Harry asked for the third time, as Sirius was being extremely tight-lipped about all this. Sirius had entered the Lord's study alongside him and was now trying to track out a hidden chamber inside the room that housed the wardstones. He was waving his wand here and there, muttering obscure words as his wand glowed purple now and then.
"I am trying to locate the hidden chamber inside this room that will give us access to the wardstone."
"You told that already," Harry countered with irritation, "What I want to know is why?"
"So that you can take over it. It will remove Dumbledore's power over the wards, and reduce his power to monitor over us."
"WHAT?" Harry yelled, "The old man has been monitoring us?"
"Most of the time, yes. Why do you think I bought you the magic-masking trinket?"
"But what about you?"
Sirius stopped as he stared at him. He walked up and gripped Harry's shoulders, and looked into his eyes. "Because I am older, experienced but infinitely less valuable than you." He raised his palm to stop Harry from refuting. "Accept it, Harry. I, Remus, we are the entities of the past. We belong to your parent's times. No matter how much I wish it, no matter how much I would like to deny, the fact is that this is indeed your war. Voldemort came after you in 1981, and he has been coming after you ever since. I will be damned if I deny the truth and try to pretend that you are some sort of child that should stay in hiding till Dumbledore decides that it is time for you to come out of your cage and fight the bad guy, killing yourself in the process because there is no way that-"
Sirius left his words unsaid as a shocking thought shot through his brain. It was something that Harry had raised in their discussion the previous day and though they had hit a dead end, the present thought kick started it all over again.
"You would think that Dumbledore would help me prepare for this eventuality after all the things that have happened year after year, every single year. First with Quirrel, then with the basilisk and then dementors and the Triwizard, the dragons and everything-" Harry let it unfinished, taking a deep breath.
"He never even demonstrated any eagerness to try to train you? Never at all?"
Harry shook his head.
"Do you think that might have been because you had never been more than average? Your results just show an average academic performance."
"I don't know." Harry countered with frustration. "Dumbledore, he confuses me. On the one side, he helps me out with wonderful pieces of advice, he understands me in a way no one ever did, while on the other," he paused, "he never provided me anything to train myself in. Though, in his defense, I never really took much interest in learning from books either. Ron was always there to play chess and talk about Quidditch, and with Hermione and everything that happened all over the years, I-"
"Harry," Sirius stressed. "You are a teenager. Playing Quidditch, talking about stuff, bunking classes, dating girls, that is exactly what you are supposed to do. Dumbledore did a piss-poor job every single time, and you had to be the one to wipe out the shit he left behind in his negligence."
Harry nodded.
"I am ready to train myself now though," he muttered, "I did start learning some battle spells before I came to this house and started off with the Black Grimoire. It wasn't much but I guess it is better than knowing nothing but how to disarm people."
"I will help you, Harry. To be honest, Dumbledore's negligence in training you leaves me completely blank. It just makes no sense, knowing that there is a Prophecy and everything."
Harry nodded.
"Si-Sirius, do you- do you really think that Dumbledore is setting me up to die?" Harry stammered, the revelation shaking his insides. Dumbledore, the benevolent old man, the all-knowing kind headmaster, the owner of Fawkes, the person who everyone looked up to, was actually planning for him to be a martyr. It was unfathomable.
"I do not know, Harry. I do not know, but I do know this, you are not going to be alone, as you are not going to be untrained. With the Black and Potter grimoire, I will help train you. I will make you the best-damned wizard you could be, and teach you the dirtiest tricks in and out of the books. I will not fail you again, Harry, I promise you. I will even the odds for you." Sirius emphasized with tears in his eyes.
Harry nodded, holding himself together as unbridled love flowed in his heart for the godfather with whom he was supposed to grow up. The one he needed, not the one he deserved. His godfather had suffered twelve years in Azkaban, lost his mind repeatedly, and yet broke out of prison only to try to save him from Pettigrew. Despite the fact that he was a fugitive, His godfather left no stone unturned to help him even now. With a desperate cry resonating deep within his soul, he hugged Sirius hard, crying his heart out.
Sirius hugged him back and was about to bow down to his emotions when his wand started sparking. Instantly, he stood up and waved his wand at that particular spot on the floor. On touching it, he found that the wood was slightly different from the one in the rest of the room. With a slight touch, he pressed it, and to his surprise, it did push inwards as the wall opposite to the fireplace suddenly sprang apart, leaving a secret door.
"I don't believe it." Sirius deadpanned. "My grandfather, the Lord of the Blacks, one of the purest of the purebloods, used a muggle technique to create a secret door? Seriously?"
Harry just looked completely blank, still in surprise at the simple yet effective way in which the previous Lord, Arcturus Sirius Black had hidden the wardstone chamber hidden. He followed Sirius into the room, lighting up a Lumos at the tip of his wand.
It was unnecessary. The moment he stepped into the chamber, the torches lighted up on their own and the pair could see the large crystals sinking into the floor in the center of the room.
The wardstone.
They crept towards the stone, filling up their mind with the sight of the room. There was a large painting of the former Lord Black, sitting on the throne in the Lord's study. He had a chiseled face, sharp and intimidating. A short stubble ran down his neck while his steel gray eyes blazed with raw uninhibited power. Harry wondered for a moment how his own grandfather might have looked like.
"Harry!"
"Harry, come here, look at-" Sirius stopped midway, almost as if something had constricted his throat.
"Sirius, what happened why did you-" Harry began as he stepped towards the older man, his eyes capturing the vision that had locked Sirius's eyes. "-Stop-"
There on the right wall, stood a huge portrait, as large as Arcturus's portrait had been. This one however, looked muggle. That however, was not the important thing. Harry and Sirius stared blankly as they looked at the huge portrait of a person wearing regal blue robes, with a very familiar wand in his hand. The man had unruly jet-black hair, a handsome face and a very, very familiar pair of eyes, just that they were gray instead of green. The duo stood shell-shocked as they stared at the portrait of...
Harry Potter.