Sirius does not go to Azkaban, instead he keeps his head and instead decides to hunt down death eaters and Dumbledore acts like he does not know what is going on. At least the headmaster's hands get to be clean this time even if others who help Sirius do not. Rated for torture, violence.

The Hunter:

Sirius Black kept his head and went directly to the Aurors and turned himself in. He demanded Vertaserum and was granted it and when it was found out he was not the Potter's secret keeper nor a death eater he was let go. In more ways than one, now no longer allowed to be an Auror, told to behave or else he had gone home to think. The hunt for Pettigrew was underway and Sirius was going to get revenge. He knew where his godson was and he was going to give the Dursleys and offer they could not refuse, which was why he cleaned up, headed to their home and was sitting in a chair facing them. Deals were made, Sirius would buy him everything he needed but for food and he would visit and the Dursleys would give Harry a room and board and access to a good education where he could do as well as he liked.

With that settled Sirius headed out and kidnapped a certain greasy haired potions master. Oh how Severus Snape snarled, swore and threatened but in the end he agreed to make the potions requested for a fee as this was going to lead to revenge on a massive scale. Sirius then threatened him that if he did not teach well and make sure that Hogwarts had the best potions classes he was going to kill him very slowly over several months. Then he swore the other wizard to secrecy and went on his way to saving the Longbottoms and killing the Lestranges and Crouch while saving his "dear cousin" for himself. She woke up clad in a linen smock and chained up, she knew that whoever had her followed the old ways. She was shocked to see Sirius walk up a dark expression on his face, something she never had seen on him and it scared her.

"You have been very, very bad." Sirius said, "I don't have a lot of time."

"What are you going to do?" Bellatrix taunted.

"See I don't believe in hitting women or witches, and I will not start now." Sirius said walking up and grabbing her by the hair and shoving far more Vertaserum down her throat than was needed, "I will get the truth from you however."

Two hours later he wanted to recant that promise and throw up. He now had names and knew exactly what the evil dark lord had done. He would have to talk to the goblins, they might be willing to help. With a slash of his wand he slit Bellatrix's throat and watched her die. Then he headed out and had an idea just what his brother had died for. He ended up at his mother's house and entered casting several spells and taking her out before he headed up to fine Kreacher, if he knew anything he was going to tell him, Vertaserum worked on house elves too. He did not need it, Kreacher told him everything, he was commanded not to talk to anyone who lived in the house, but Sirius did not. Sirius went to the bank with a sobbing house elf and an object of evil.

A few hours after this, there were two cleansed items and a sphere filled with blackness the goblins kept. Sirius headed out to his next target and this one was going to pay dearly. Lucius might have the best wards out there but they did not protect from an Animagmus such as himself. He entered the house and found three adults at dinner, he stunned them all and looked at Lucius with hatred. Arbaxas got free as master of the wards but he did not kill Sirius, not yet. Something held him back, the man was not after him yet but he could be. Still the boy had attacked him and so he would pay. He stunned Sirius, drug him to the dungeons and had him stripped to his shorts and bound to a table. He took in the potions and such and wondered why he needed so much Vertaserum and who had brewed it.

"I could kill you." Arbaxas said sending a painful hex at Sirius that only got the other man to grunt, "so the rumors are true, your mother, is she alive?"

"Yes, but not for long when my grandfather finds out what she was hiding." Sirius said, "do you worst, you have no idea what tortures I have endured."

"Why did you come here, you are after my son, why?" Arbaxas asked.

"You know what he has done as a death eater?" Sirius replied.

"Are you sure he was truly a death eater?" Arbaxas said sending another curse.

"Yes, I have proof, Bellatrix gave me such information." Sirius replied, "Horcruxes."

"What do you say?" Arbaxas asked.

"Horcruxes." Sirius said again.

It took a long time for Arbaxas to calm down, but once he did he stopped the torture of Sirius. Sirius lay there covered in sweat and trembling but he had not screamed, not once. Arbaxas knew what the dark lord had done, and knew he had to trust this boy before him. Still he left him bound and holding a bottle of the Vertaserum got a barking laugh from Sirius. Sirius told him the truth, of the Horcruxes that were known and Arbaxas left, that night both Lucius and Narcissa died of what looked like natural causes and another Horcrux was taken care of in the hands of the goblins. Arbaxas did need to teach Sirius a lesson and so came back to the dungeons and drug his prisoner up with magic, one did not break into another's home and expect not to be punished. It was for this reason he Crucioed Sirius until he blacked out. Then he woke him up and drug him upstairs to face his grandfather.

"So you decided to break in." Arcturus Black said coldly, "tell me why I should not kill you now."

"I despise you!" Sirius snarled.

"Enough! You have no idea who I am or what I have done, this is very clear to me." Arcturus said, "what do you know of my order of Merlin?"

"How much gold did you throw to gain that." Sirius said laughing at the stinging hex sent his way, "is that all you got? Dear old mother loved to throw torture curses at me all the time, you can do better than that!"

"I see, I should have removed you and your brother from that house, no matter, I earned the metal fighting Grindlewald you have gone about this fight clumsy and for that you will be punished severely. The followers of the dark lord Voldemort will be dealt with, but if you want to continue to fight you will follow my lead as my heir."

"I was disowned." Sirius said Arcturus back handed him and brought his cane down on the back of his legs forcing him to his knees, "I might enjoy what you do to me."

"I am the head of the Black family you are not disowned and as I don't intend on having more children you will do so and marry, you are my heir and will accept that!" Arcturus said forcing the heir ring onto Sirius's hand, "now, you will come with me, Arbaxas do you feel need to punish my heir more?"

"No but I would like to oversee your punishment of him, if he is to fight the darkness that has seeped like a sewage into our world then he will have to learn to obey."

"Kiss my arse!" Sirius snarled, "I will not do what you say! I have revenge to see to."

"Oh yes, you nearly went after a rat and got thrown to Azkaban, no you need to learn and you will!" Arcturus said.

He was not being cruel, Arcturus was not, he was a pureblood bigot but he was not evil. He hated the dark arts and did not like that his good friend Arbaxas liked to dabble. He had not been aware as to how far his own family had fallen but now he was going to see to it his heir survived and helped rid the world of evil. He grabbed Sirius and apparated away followed shortly by Arbaxas. Sirius turned to his animal form and tried to escape. Arcturus laughed at this antic and stunned him before he forced him back into his human form. Then he took him straight to the great hall that was empty at the time and bound him fast to a frame he conjured up. This would keep Sirius from trying to escape as he was beaten by his grandfather with a whip and no magic. Once done Sirius swore violently at his grandfather.

"Enough, keep a civil tongue are you will not speak at all!" Arcturus said, "your lack of good manners is down to your parents, I will correct that."

"I doubt you could, he is uncouth." Arbaxas said, "that muggleborn that James Potter married had far better manners."

"You going to beat them into me?" Sirius snarled, "I am used to that."
"No, but we start today." Arcturus said. "You will learn I am a far kinder master."

The next two months were torture for Sirius, he was put in training every day from the moment he rose until he went to bed. By the end of it he was if not a perfect heir, far better behaved. Arcturus found out about his feud with one Severus Snape and went off on him in loosing such an asset and ally. He then went and found out where his wayward granddaughter was living, brought her back into the family with the understanding that house Tonks was a vassal house to house Black. Then he let Sirius loose to take care of the other death eaters. In short order every last death eater Bellatrix named was dead and the magical world was in an uproar. Too bad, he was not asking the magical world to leave the darkness behind he was telling them. The diary had been given to the goblins and now all that was left, was there any left?

"My lord who was Voldemort?" Sirius asked his grandfather one day.

"There was a boy when I was going to Hogwarts, claimed he was the heir of Slytherin, no it could not be him, Tom Riddle had ideas but they never amounted to anything." Arcturus said, "he was half muggle as it was, grew up in a hovel called an orphanage."

"Any records?" Sirius asked.

"Might be, it was during the muggle world war two." Arcturus replied.

Sirius got a break when he found MacNair, or rather his family turned him over to the Black heir, sort of. They gave a location where the evil vile member of their family was and Sirius caught him trying to, well he never would again and Sirius made sure he could not fight back. One needed hands and feet for that. He was not cruel, he was not going to leave MacNair like that, once he got what he wanted he was going to kill him. He bound what was left of MacNair down and forced Vertaserum down his throat. Interesting, he was more loyal than even Bellatrix, ah well that explained things then. He knew of the hovel that Voldemort's family came from and gave that up easily. He had been there to commit unspeakable acts with the dark lord, vile and evil the darkest of dark arts and Sirius did not feel bad when he killed MacNair.

He told Arcturus who came with him and in a few short hours they had breeched the wards and took the ring to the goblins. Yet there still felt like something was not right, as if there was still some of this dark lord out there. Sirius looked at the calendar and was surprised that not even a year had passed since he had gone on his revenge. He went to Hogwarts one day to see Dumbledore and explored the school on a lark. It was then he found the room of requirement as he was thinking on places one could hide things. That lead to him finding the diadem and he felt the same evil and sent that to the goblins. He saw his cousin Andromeda coming for a job interview and had a feeling that the defense post would be hers for a long time.

The dark lord was defeated, he was not coming back and Sirius felt he had finally lived up to his family name.