Chapter 9

Apparently, Lucius had been subjected to one of the random searches, regardless of his position in the Wizengamot. He and his grandfather were known sympathizers of the dark lord, with multiple accounts of them acting on his behalf, mostly trying to recruit or threaten people. There was one main thing that protected them from any serious scrutiny thus far - the Black family influence.

At this point in time, the Malfoys were still a relatively new family in Britain, only having migrated from France barely a century earlier. And it showed when it came to political influence and connections. The only real thing going for them was their overwhelming wealth, putting them on par with the oldest and most prominent families in England in that regard.

That was the main reason why they sought to bind themselves to the Black family as urgently as they had. Sirius' grandfather made sure it cost them quite a bit, but ultimately the deal was too good to reject, considering the other prospects of the three Black sisters. Despite the fact that usually, it was the bride's side of the family that paid a dowry, the Malfoys were willing to put a small fortune on the line, expecting it to be well worth it in the end. After that fell through completely, with Sirius having nullified the marriage contract and claimed reparations, they lost quite a bit of money and respect.

This silent permission led the DMLE to immediately take the first steps toward arresting Lucius. After being searched, Lucius, being as conceited as he was and undoubtedly still furious about the marriage annulment, had the worst possible reaction. He resisted and actually succeeded in cursing one of the aurors, cutting his already feeble chances of getting out of this down even further.

The trial seemed to be just a formality at this point. With the overwhelming amount of evidence against him, Lucius could do little to assert his innocence. He was given a chance to testify under veritaserum, but seeing as he was actually guilty, that was not an option for him.

The new laws Sirius passed, unfortunately, did not apply to him as the law offering lords protection against any violation of privacy superseded it. Still, either way, Malfoy was unable to truly refute any of the accusations as all his pleas of innocence were just considered empty words. The mark on his arm was proof enough for most, and there was no prior regulation explicitly protecting nobility against having their arm bared.

When the vote was called there was no anticipation. The end result had never been in question since the beginning of the trial. Sirius was actually kind of disappointed that he had no chance to rip into Malfoy. It made it feel like an empty victory.

Nonetheless, he considered it a big win. Sirius was confident he could make sure that Narcissa gets full guardianship rights to Draco as his mother, and subsequently, stewardship of Malfoy fortune, diminished as it was.

After the inevitable conviction to life in Azkaban, something that became the default sentence for any confirmed death eaters, Sirius got away quickly. He started making his way towards the apparition point as swiftly as he could. His legs carried them on their own, with a force of habit. After all, he marched down the same exact path, twice, every other day. He apparated directly to the front porch of the manor.

There was one thing plaguing his mind lately. Some things were not quite going the way they had in the previous timeline. While for some, like Malfoy's incarceration, he was quite grateful, he could not help but worry about the disappearance of a serious number of the more dangerous death eaters. The Lestranges, Bellatrix, Dolohov, Barty Crouch Junior. And fucking Wormtail, the rat. And not to forget, the one and only Snivelly Snape. He was probably playing both sides, feeding Dumbledore some irrelevant information to have another option available as a fallback. Snape truly was a snake, only looking out for himself and his interests, without any morals or ideals to speak of.

The fact that all those cunts were probably congregating somewhere for who knows what purpose did not fill Sirius with confidence. Some part of him wanted to test for a hit wizard license and pursue them himself, but somehow he was mature enough to reign in his emotions and think things through logically. It was way too dangerous, with this many of them, and he really did not have enough to gain to rationalize that. He held every advantage, with all the resources and influence, while they skulked about, probably looking for a spirit of a dead man. Sirius would just keep an eye out for Voldemort, raise the already hefty bounties on their heads, and try not to do anything stupid enough to fuck things up.

Sirius sighed, took out a cigar and decided to put those matters out of his mind for now. When he looked over the gardens at the Potter estate the nostalgic feeling hit him as always. It was time for a change of pace and there was an event coming up that Sirius knew would serve as an excellent distraction.

The International Dueling Tournament.

There has only been one winner younger than 25 in over a century. Gellert Grindelwald. It was truly a competition on a global level, with some of the best and most experienced duelists around the world taking part every year. That really got Sirius' competitive spirit up.

It would be the ultimate test of his current combat prowess and a way to objectively measure how far he's come in his training. He might have been slightly more mature mentally than his pears, thanks to his memories of the future, but his magical growth was heavily stunted by the incarceration. He had every intention of reaching his full potential this time around, practicing like his life depended on it. It very well might someday. With all this Sirius honestly felt like he was just starting his adult life, despite all the hardships and the war he went through.

March 1982. It had been a little under four months since Sirius came back to this point in time, even if it did not feel like it. Compared to how the time dragged on when he was sitting on his ass in Grimmauld Place doing fuck all, now that he had his hands full weeks flew by. With how busy he was with business and politics, despite only averaging 3 hours of sleep a night, he did not have much time for anything but training and family. For all the other responsibilities he self-imposed on himself, Sirius felt quite accomplished in how far he progressed with his training. He was in phenomenal shape and his progress with magic - mainly elemental magics and transfiguration - was astounding, though he might be a bit biased. He genuinely felt that the speed and detail of his transfigurations were approaching that of a master, though he still could not yet pull anything close to the sheer scale of some of Dumbledore's creations he witnessed. But, while his knowledge of the subject probably could not compare, he felt that he was somewhere close to professor McGonagall skill-wise. Despite being a teacher in the field for almost three decades she stagnated in her growth from what he'd seen of her. Too much time spent grading school-level homework and too little actually practicing intricacies of the art.

Sirius felt that his success in the field was in large part due to his proficiency occlumency. He had not had as much talent in the subject as James had, not by a longshot. Back at Hogwarts, he had unsuccessfully struggled to keep up with James, who later decided to pursue a mastery in transfiguration. But despite that, now, after a year or two of practice, and as familiar as he was with James' capabilities with transfiguration, he was entirely certain he already surpassed him in skill.

Sirius' hypothesis was that his newfound magical talents stemmed from his prodigious skill with mind arts. Magic was all about power, control, and intent, not necessarily in that order of importance. He felt that it would not be at all far-fetched that occlumency - already proven to help other mental capabilities - helped sharpen one's intent or improve their control. Having to spend literal years meditating and straining his mind against the effect of dementors, must have tempered his mental strength quite a bit.

Regardless, with his rapid advancement in many different fields, he was beyond competent in all aspects of magic pertinent to dueling, maybe even nearing the official mastery level in some. But he was not a true master in any yet. He simply lacked experience and practice, but Sirius was confident that it was only a matter of time if he continued to hone his skills, even at half his current pace. He may have to look into becoming a certified master in a few years if he found time to go through the lengthy process. He did not foresee it helping him in any professional capacity, but it would be nice to have solid proof of his efforts and would only add to his prestige. If he wanted to take the test in the near future though, it would require serious effort and almost singular focus on his part so he decided to just wait until he was confident enough to just breeze through it on the spot.

'First things first.' Sirius brought his thoughts back on track.

This year the tournament would take place in France, the eliminations starting in early June and the final rounds taking place at the very end of August. It would give Sirius a lengthy vacation from Britain and a chance to establish some international connections, maybe even make some new friends. Despite being quite sociable he unwittingly stuck to a close group of friends. Now that those friendships were either gone or waning, he would make use of the opportunity presenting itself. Lately, he did not feel any need to associate himself with anyone beyond Amelia and his family, aside from keeping in touch, but it was probably time to go out and meet some people.

Vanishing the bud of the cigar, Sirius decided to share his plans with Amelia. It was late but she would have just finished her shift a short while ago. He cast breath and air freshening charms on himself, knowing smelling of smoke was not something that would endear him to her, before apparating to the fireplace and going through.

END