Chapter 16

Sirius blearily opened his eyes, the sunlight falling into the room having woken him up. He was in his bed, feeling comfortable and well-rested. The house-elves probably came to check up on him, only to find him passed out on the floor. They must have then cleaned him up and changed him into his pajamas, before dumping him in bed.

Sirius took his time, carefully getting up and looking for any ailments or aftereffects, but feeling just fine he set upon doing some light stretches. After that came his first attempt at casting. He ran a few diagnostic spells on himself, and they all turned out fine. He couldn't immediately spot any difference in his capabilities, that would apparently require more vigorous testing, as casting a few simple charms was hardly testing his limits in this regard.

Stepping out onto the balcony, Sirius let himself fall back onto a plush armchair. It was one of his favorite places, as it provided a great view of the ground. He often settled out here, either late at night or early in the morning, for a few minutes of quiet contemplation.

He took a moment to reflect on the last night's fiasco. Saying that the fight did not go according to expectations would be a gross understatement. Sirius felt certain that with the odds stacked against it, the barghest would be severely weakened, or at least somewhat enfeebled. But things did not turn out the way he envisioned.

With the wards in place, that were designed specifically to counter it in every way possible, and his research suggesting barghest's near-total dependence on its abilities, Sirius had been certain the fight would be smooth sailing.

Instead, after its initial surprise and subsequent half-hearted escape attempt, when Sirius felt completely reassured that he was on the right track to victory, the barghest suddenly became enraged. From that point on it came at him with seemingly boundless energy, undeterred by anything thrown its way. Even without full access to its aura, it was deceptively fast for its size and strong enough to rip any barriers or obstacles apart.

Sirius shuddered to think how the encounter would unfold if the beast broke the magical constraints completely, seeing how much of a boost even the measly portion of power it accessed granted the barghest. Thankfully that did not happen and it was somewhat inept when it came to combat to boot, hardly making proper use of its physical advantages. Had it done so, Sirius was not sure he would have made it. He was in deep waters for a while anyway, barely apparating out of the way fast enough to avoid being torn apart.

Despite the miscalculation when it came to barghest's full capabilities, Sirius came out on top eventually. There wasn't that much data to go on, but Sirius was pretty sure it was not supposed to be this powerful. The creature was much stronger magically and physically than previous accounts would indicate and its damage resistance was through the roof. It had to be a really old specimen, that grew much more powerful than most ever did in their entire lifetimes.

All things considered, it was probably a good thing overall, as the creature's power directly corresponded to the ritual effectiveness. The fact that the barghest nearly killed him a dozen times, shrugging off all his spells like it was nothing, was a bit of a reality check. It was not like he went in blind, flinging random spells around and expecting the thing to drop dead on its own. But despite doing his research and stacking the deck in his favor in every manner possible, he still found himself outclassed.

He was forced to go all in, betting everything on being able to finish it off, as he knew he would be all out of gas after that. Setting up a trap to hold the barghest long enough to cast more powerful magic was not an easy feat, but proved doable. The gamble paid off though, as his last spell for once did just as much damage as Sirius hoped. He channeled it for as long as he could without fainting, and once he stopped the beast was dead.

The lighting spell came from a personal journal he found in the Lord's study at Potter Manor. At the time he even felt bad for going through it. It was a bit of a breach of trust since there were probably some notes on family spells, only meant for Potter descendants. Whoever wrote those down, had not thought things through. They hadn't taken the appropriate safety measures, where such information was involved, but it was ultimately their loss and Sirius's gain. It was a clear circumvention of the Grimoire's magic and logically he should not have risked the repercussions it could bring, but curiosity got the better of him.

Now, he felt less guilty about it, despite it being just as morally wrong now as it was back then. Nonetheless, he felt somewhat justified, as it turned out the spell was crucial to his survival.

Still, he noticed he was becoming increasingly ruthless and selfish when it came to pursuing power, ignoring his morals more and more often. There was a time when he would not have even considered doing such a thing, holding onto notions of honor.

He supposed it was only natural, after all ever since he adopted a more 'Slytherin' mindset he enjoyed far more success in his endeavors than ever before. Thinking everything through from a logical and rational standpoint, rather than a moral or idealistic one, proved to have much better results for everyone involved. After everything he went through, Sirius had completely forsaken his faith in people and society overall and embraced the fact that if he wanted something to go right he would need the power and influence to make it so. He started to amass them in every facet of his life, be it magical, political, social, or economic. He no longer thought himself above manipulation or trading favors, numbing to what he had to do in the process if the desired outcome was achieved. After adopting this mindset, everything seemed to be going his way, much more so than it ever had in the past.

And so, in his pursuit of magical knowledge, Sirius suppressed any compunctions he might have otherwise felt about breaking the Potters' faith in him. He would use it to work towards their mutual benefit anyhow, and he might need it yet to protect their last progeny. It seemed inevitable that he would find himself standing between Harry and Voldemort in the future, already having faced some of his followers. And he was not ready to face the dark lord on equal ground. Not yet.

But he would be. Sirius took one last look at the well-maintained gardens laying beneath the balcony, shrouded in the morning fog. Taking a deep breath of the morning air, he stood up and jumped over the railing, casting an 'arresto momentum' on himself just before he hit the ground, absorbing just enough of the force to prevent any injury. Landing at a crouch, he still found the superhero landing cool after having done it a dozen times. He then made his way through the front door, towards where he knew the entrance to his practice area was.

Passing halfway through the corridor, Sirius froze, feeling like he was being watched. Turning around, he blinked as he took in the scene before him. In the living room, he saw Amelia, Isabelle, and Andromeda all sitting on the couches near the fireplace, while Nymphadora played with Harry and Susan, down on the ground. She was making use of her metamorphmagus abilities, taking on the features of various animals, making the younger kids alternatively giggle or squeal, depending on whether the transformation looked more freakish or funny.

Amelia raised an eyebrow at him and he sighed, waiting as she stood up and made her way toward him. It looked like he would have to postpone testing his post-ritual capabilities, though if he was being honest he wasn't really disappointed. He was never reluctant to spend time with his loved ones, especially since he was usually busy with other stuff. The prospect of seeing how much he improved admittedly came close to changing that though, as he was beyond eager at this point.

Brining Amelia into a hug he kissed her briefly. "Hey."

"Hey." She replied. "Well?"

"Well what?" Sirius was genuinely confused.

"Where have you been yesterday?" She questioned, visibly annoyed. "We were waiting for you all night yesterday, but you never showed up."

"Was I supposed to be here?" Sirius started sweating, wracking his memory for any signs of agreeing to anything. "Sorry, I must have forgotten. I really can't remember us talking about anything of the sort."

"No." She sighed, relaxing a bit. "I was actually kind of hoping to surprise you with this. I thought we could all meet up here during the weekend, spend some time together, and relax. I checked your schedule and asked Mopsy, but she said you had no prior arrangements." She said, making the last part sound like a question.

"Yes well um..." Sirius searched for an excuse. "I honestly just went out to train, you know the tournament coming up. I'm trying to prepare as best I can."

He decided to give her a half-truth. As much as he wanted to be honest with her, he did not think she was ready to hear about blood-magic rituals and fighting dangerous magical creatures to the death if she ever would be. Yeah, she would give her best to stoping his exploits and he shuddered internally at the thought of her ire. One of her less desirable qualities was that she could be very uncompromising at times, forcing her own convictions or ideas onto others.

"By the time I got back, I was honestly dead on my feet. I just put up the wards in my bedroom and stumbled into the bed. I just woke up now." Sirius finished sheepishly.

Amelia sighed, frustrated. "Honestly, one day I thought you would be able to afford some time off, you just disappear for a whole night." Looking him in the eyes she grabbed his hand and stroked it gently. "You need to take it easy every once in a while. You are already working all the time, there is no need to stress so much about the tournament. I thought it would be good for you, help you take your mind off things. I wasn't expecting you to work yourself even harder because of it."

Bringing her close again, Sirius murmured. "I know babe. And for what it's worth I'm sorry about yesterday." Running circles on her hips with his thumbs, he kissed her head. "I guess I should tell you when I have something planned from now on. It won't do for my girl to worry about where I'm gone." He grinned roguishly at her.

"That would be rather nice, yes." Amelia rolled her eyes but then her lips quirked up. "Now come, we've kept the others waiting long enough."

Being led by the hand, Sirius made eye contact with Isabelle. She had been surreptitiously watching them throughout the whole exchange. He grinned and winked at her, making her look away with a blush. He couldn't help himself but act like that with her.

After exchanging greetings, Sirius settled down between Amelia and Isabelle.

"So." Sirius started after a few minutes of inane conversation, gaining the attention of everyone. "I don't want to be rude, but how are you here Isabelle? Did I miss something?"

While Amelia slapped his arm for being rude, Isabelle just rolled her eyes at him, knowing him well enough to realize he was just being purposefully difficult and didn't mean anything by it.

"Well, after I heard about the incident in Diagon Alley I was naturally quite worried about you. Since no one would or could tell me where you were, beyond the fact that you seemed unharmed, I decided to contact Amelia." Sirius immediately felt bad for how he handled things. He did not consider how it would look from Isabelle's perspective, but it must have been quite disconcerting for her to hear that he'd been attacked just moments after they talked.

"Yes, we ended up talking quite a bit." Amelia stated, still glaring at him. "Mostly about you." She said maliciously. Or at least it seemed that way to Sirius, who did not like the look in her eyes at all.

"Ah... Well... That's good." He looked between the two of them, now thoroughly unnerved. "Yeah... That's good." Unsure of what to say, Sirius frantically searched his mind for a new topic.

He would have liked to say that it was all in the past, to allay Amelia's worries, but that was not really the case. His last meeting has proven to him that he still had some lingering romantic attachment to Isabelle. The fact that he had trouble stopping himself from getting emotional while meeting her after all those years was proof enough that his emotional investment in her situation. However unwittingly he was attracted to her and could not stop himself from acting overly familiar with her. He had no intentions of cheating on Amelia, but neither could he wholeheartedly deny his feelings.

The awkward situation was thankfully interrupted when Sirius was saved by an unexpected hero. "Siri!" Harry came crawling towards him, suddenly appearing from beneath the table. He wore an adorable, wide-eyed expression and had his little arms raised, making what he wanted quite clear. Sirius wasted no time scooping him up.

Nuzzling the giggling toddler, he focused all his attention on Harry, pointedly not looking at either witch anymore.

He had an idea of what this was about. He never told Amelia anything about his previous relationship with Isabelle. And apparently, she was not as understanding of that, as he would have hoped. He doubted she was truly angry, she would have confronted him right away if that were the case, but he still felt somewhat apprehensive at the look she was giving him. Considering the circumstances of how she found out, it was understandable she was a little peeved.

After spending some time playing with the kids, the conversation turned to other topics once again. While Sirius was grateful for that, he had a feeling he was not totally off the hook yet. The conversation could not be avoided indefinitely, but he would delay it for as long as he could anyway. Out of sight, out of mind.

He decided to just enjoy the moment, rare as it was. Worries about the future arguments could wait till the next morning.

END