Chapter 12

After appeasing Isabelle and completing the transaction, Sirius made his way towards Gringotts. He was fortunately able to appease her before she committed any actual violence against him. Before she let him go he had to promise to keep in touch.

He was somewhat shocked at first that she consented to work as a clerk with her inheritance and prospects in mind, but she explained her reasoning to him. Apparently, she came to an agreement with the shop owner, wherein she would help out around the store in exchange for some guidance in potion-making. An unofficial apprenticeship as it were. As a certified master, with his recommendation, she would be able to present her work before the council of masters. If it was impressive or innovative enough, she would be granted the title of master potioneer.

It was a lengthy process in comparison to a regular apprenticeship but showcased that she cared less about the title and more about the skill that came with it. Her experience working in the field would also be helpful in that regard.

Lost in his thoughts Sirius barely dodged out of the way, owing his life exclusively to his battle instincts at that moment, developed and honed through countless hours of dueling practice. A blood-red curse flew a hair's breadth away from him. Mid-roll Sirius swiped his wand in a semi-circle causing a mini tremor to run through the earth in a vague direction of the attack. He was hoping it would disturb his attacker's balance long enough to buy him the time to get his bearings. He quickly got to his feet.

Sighting his attacker, Sirius felt rage bubble up inside him. 'Fucking Bellatrix.' Stalking toward her he cleanly sidestepped all of her curses and began casting himself. 'You know what, I'm done playing nice with this bitch. This time I'm going for the kill, family or not.'

Steeling his resolve he focused on the casting. Flicking his wand upwards, he ripped the cobblestones away from the pavement and flung them towards his target, transfiguring them mid-flight into a bunch of smaller stone spikes and propelling them forwards. Then he flung a powerful reducto right behind them. Bellatrix was forced to block some of them and before she could do anything else she was blasted off her feet and peppered with stone fragments. Pressing his advantage, Sirius transfigured the debris near her into a stone serpent, weaving a protective ward around it, the appropriate runes etched deeply into it at the moment of creation.

While Bellatrix, now with shallow, bleeding cuts all over, was forced to dodge around he started to transfigure smaller animal constructs all around. Sirius was suddenly forced to go on the defensive as two figures started casting at him out of nowhere. He should have probably been paying more attention to his surroundings, but he focused exclusively on finishing off Bellatrix, trying to stop the fight before it even properly began. At least all of the people around cleared out so he didn't have to worry about anyone getting caught in the crossfire.

"Oh, you sneaky little cunts." The Lestrange brothers were casting in tandem, putting pressure on him in a way the lone Bellatrix could not. Sirius got back to transfiguring little creatures whenever he could get a spell in edgewise hoping they would eventually take some heat off of him. Sending them towards the brothers all at once, he used the distraction to fling a bunch of debris towards them, this time with explode-on-impact runic arrays on them. Immediately after he cast a dark-fire curse, a family spell, causing a bunch of flaming snakes to appear before the brothers. As they were ineffectively trying to dispel them he applied a modified bubble-head charm on the area causing the flames to burn hotter and expand from the high levels of oxygen.

Grinning savagely Sirius cast an air-propelling charm, abruptly dissolving the snakes and pushing a mass of flames towards the unsuspecting brothers. He briefly lost sight of them as the flames rolled over their position. When the air became clear again he saw that only one of them was left standing. Rabastan somehow managed to put up a semi-circle of reinforced concrete around himself in the split second he had to react. Rudolphus however was left moaning on the ground, most of his skin covered in severe burns.

"That will leave a mark. Whatever." He flicked a random lethal curse from his arsenal, expecting it to be the end of it, as Rudolphus was in no shape to block it.

But Rabastan actually managed to strike his curse mid-air, changing its direction just enough to miss his downed brother. "That was actually not half-bad." Sirius praised, casually sidestepping the incoming curses. "For your bitch-ass standards at least. You just prolonged his suffering." He added, relief coursing through him. After a highly dangerous moment, he loved the feeling of being in control of the situation.

Dodging, Sirius noticed a movement in the corner of his eye. Without looking he flung a spell at Bellatrix, who was still struggling against his construct after all this time. She dodged a swirling vortex of air, but in return took a direct hit from the serpent, which was admittedly falling apart at this point. Still, it did its job and then some.

"Hahaha, get fucked bitch." Sirius laughed boisterously. "You're next fucktard. Get ready to be dunked on." He cast spell chain after spell chain as rapidly as he could. Rabastan was desperately backpedaling, as he impressively parried away a lot of the curses and dodged the rest. But anyone could see it was only a matter of time before he got overwhelmed and, soon enough, Sirius got him with an overpowered rotting cutting curse. A deep gash opened on his chest and started festering before his body even hit the ground.

Taking a look around Sirius found Bellatrix and Rudolphus gone. A quick spell confirmed it. "Oh, both of those cunts left. Why am I even surprised." He could not bring himself to care too much. While he was frustrated that he was not able to capitalize on them being incapacitated and finish them off, he was rather happy with how he handled the situation. All in all, he came out on top after a battle with three dangerous duelists, managing to kill the most skilled of them, at least in his opinion.

While Belllatrix was considered the most dangerous and rightfully so, Sirius reasoned it was mostly due to her aggression and use of obscure curses. However, Rabastan was clearly the superior duelist here, his speed and instincts were head and shoulders above the other two, at least in their brief bout. All of them were way over-reliant on curses, not utilizing transfiguration or charms nearly enough, making it easy for a proficient opponent to just dodge around. Moving towards the dying man Sirius finally started to feel the toll the intense fight took on him.

Rabastan was already turning gray choking and struggling to breathe by the time Sirius reached him. Casting a ward around himself Sirius squatted next to him.

"Those cowards left you behind. While you fought and kept me away from them all they cared about was saving their own skin." Sirius mocked. "But what am I saying you would have done the same given the chance." No comprehension was visible on Rabastan's face, Sirius sighed, the man was already too far gone to comprehend what he was saying.

Looking over the way his flesh deteriorated critically, he continued. "Not a very nice way to go mate." Seeing the light leaving Rabastan's eyes Sirius felt a sense of satisfaction. Hearing the calls of the aurors he started turning away from the dying man. "See you never, cunt. Hope this gave you a taste of what you've been dishing out like fucking candy. Better late than never."

Standing up he felt light-headed. "Fuck me I'm totally spent." Sirius shook his head. Despite all the training, he put himself through casting that much magic, with a couple of big spells mixed in to boot, and he was nearing his limit. The whole fight probably lasted a grand total of three minutes but he was almost completely out of steam. He was well aware that just a couple of months ago he would not have been able to take on the three head-on like this, but he still did not feel satisfied. His mock duels usually lasted much longer but did not have the same intensity, something he would have to remedy as soon as possible.

Sighing he trudged towards the nearest auror.


Hours later Sirius finally sank down into his favorite chair in Potter's manor. Looking at the burning woods in the fireplace he was deep in thought.

His skills were still rapidly growing, but what good would it do him if did not have the power to back them up. And even his magic skills would eventually hit a plateau, he was already approaching 'master level' in most aspects of wand magic. At that level of proficiency, even the smallest improvement took time. Sirius was aware that he was well beyond average when it came to power but he did not feel content knowing that. He still had ways to go if he wanted to compare to a real magical elite. He wanted to be among the best. Scratch that, he wanted to be the best. But at the moment it seemed like it would take him decades to even be on a similar level to Voldemort and Dumbledore.

That was when it hit him. He was just thinking about it this morning, talking to Isabelle and thinking about her illness.

Rituals. They had a plethora of uses: religious or spiritual offerings, curses, cures, permanent wards, enchanting, and much more. Most importantly they could boost one's capabilities in any conceivable area. Some rituals offered a permanent enhancement to one's magical or physical prowess.

With a new idea in mind, Sirius felt his enthusiasm return. Downing his whiskey in one go, he dragged himself to bed, wanting to get an early start tomorrow.

END