Chapter 8

Besides all that nothing truly 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 yet to hear from Moony, but he wondered if he would eventually have to make the first step and contact him. After their brief interaction at the Potters' funeral, he had not seen him hide nor hair of the werewolf. Oddly enough, he did not feel any real urge to reach out to 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 lifelong 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 reasonably could.

He faced a similar situation with the Weasleys and Mad-Eye, though he was not particularly close to either. Moody had been a mentor to him and Sirius held some respect for the man, but they rarely saw eye to eye. Moody was always suspicious of him, even more than he was of everyone else. Whenever the matter of a spy in the Order came up Moody's magical eye would immediately snap to Sirius. He had some history with the Black and his distaste for the family apparently extended to Sirius. Sirius doubted the man would try to contact him, it was more likely that Moody would waste his time skulking around and trying to find some incriminating information.

When it came to Weasleys on the other hand the situation was a bit more complicated and proved harder to resolve. He liked Arthur well enough, as the man was really easy-going and sociable, without ever being overly intrusive. But to say he disliked Molly would be an understatement. Sirius made a point to ensure they met as rarely and shortly as possible, since she would always get on his nerves within moments. Her bossy and in-your-face attitude was the complete opposite of her husband's. She almost seemed to take pleasure in making others uncomfortable. Coupled with a shrill voice and a habit of screeching and yammering incessantly, easily made her the most aggravating individual Sirius had ever met.

Besides, the Weasleys were way too close to Dumbledore for Sirius to be comfortable with associating with them. Sirius would be more than happy to distance himself from them all together, but they were making it quite difficult, as he already had to dodge a few floo calls. He would have to talk to Arthur and ask him to stop trying to contact him, most likely having to make some excuses like lack of time and wanting to focus on Harry.

Besides cutting ties with people semi-tactfully, there was another thing on his mind. Namely 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 Bella, the vengeful bitch that she was, would come after him at the first opportunity. It might in fact have been the very thing that stopped her from attacking the Longbottoms, instead of focusing on a target that her 'lord' would most likely approve of, she might have chosen to pursue her own grievances instead.

On a happier note, Sirius and Andi were closer than ever. She was always one of his favourite family members, alongside great aunt Dorea and aunt Cassiopeia. The latter had been the person to spark his interest in runes, being a real master in the subject herself. However, they rarely got the chance to spend time together in their childhood, whilst now they spend some time together 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 Flopsy on a fairly foolproof emergency plan, he was confident nothing would happen even if the wards were somehow breached.

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 the operations of the last few active ones quickly grew chaotic and reckless. With more time on their hands the DMLE could actually dedicate some of it to filtering the public officials and civilians.

Besides that Dumbledore was still keeping quiet. It seemed that after Sirius flexed his rapidly growing 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. Thanks to that, in actuality Sirius already had more influence in the Wizengamot than Dumbledore.

Sirius' first real action on the Wizengamot was throwing what political power he had and filling the bill authorizing the forced use of veritaeserum 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 in convincing some on-the-fence people. 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 successful ideas he presented and reputation, both his own - as a fearsome, talented duelist and a confident and straightforward person - and his family name, won him a lot of points with everyone who wanted the war to end. With each bill passed and deal struck 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 really expecting anything from it, but if it unnerved or even just irritated the old goat it would be worth it in his mind. The old man lashing out at some of his underlings would probably be too much to hope for, but Sirius would be happy if just some more distance began to form between Dumbledore and his support base.

"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 immediately perked up and grinned so wide his eyes squinted.

END