Chapter 45: Interlude- Sirius

Sirius stood around the desk in the study of the safe house that he and Lucius had purchased for the family. They were joined by Dumbledore. All of them were gazing at the three objects sitting on the desk. He knew it weighed on all of them that two of the pieces were priceless artifacts which had been tainted beyond imagination.

The whole situation was horrific. Sirius had already known that for a long time, but it continued to surprise him when, at every step, things seemed to get worse.

"Well, this is indeed a horcrux," Dumbledore said, giving the diadem a final poke. "Well done."

Lucius rolled his eyes in Sirius' direction. They'd already informed the elder wizard that they had a third horcrux, but he'd wanted to examine it personally. In fact, he'd wanted to examine all of them together. They'd acquiesced, the man was older than the two of them combined, it was only right that they do their due diligence and make sure they hadn't missed anything. But he was talking to them like they were his students again.

Sirius shuddered and took another step back. "Does anybody else find it super creepy that there's more of Voldemort's soul in this room than there is walking around in that body of his?"

"Yes," responded Lucius mockingly, "super creepy," he drawled. He paused and then sighed. "But if you'd seen him lately you would not have any problem at all believing that to be true."

"I think I'll pass on that particular privilege, thanks," he snorted. Sirius had encountered Voldemort on a couple of occasions during the first war, but he was really not looking forward to meeting this particular iteration of the wizard- if he could even truly be called a wizard any longer.

Suddenly Lucius stood up a little straighter. "I maintain that they all need to remain intact until we can gather the rest of them."

Dumbledore sighed. "And I maintain that we need to destroy them as soon as you receive the basilisk venom you requested from the rendering. I don't believe Voldemort will be able to feel their destruction and it's too dangerous to leave them intact."

"You do not believe he will be able to feel their destruction, but you don't know. You are not the one who has to go stand before him!" Lucius swore with a rap of his walking stick against the side of his desk- something Sirius had noticed he rarely had with him at home but always carried in Dumbledore's presence.

"It's a chance we will have to take."

"It's a chance you're asking me to take and I will not do it! Without me you would have none of the horcruxes, nor the means to destroy them! You wouldn't even know for certain he'd made horcruxes, you admitted that it was one of many theories you had!"

"Lucius-"

"No, do not attempt to placate me, my mind is made up. Black and I will divide them up and keep them safe until such time as they can all be destroyed at once then we will be free to go after his body, with any luck their destruction will weaken the magic holding that construct together. This is not the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore, you do not give orders. You are only even in this house as a courtesy." Lucius looked at Sirius for backup.

He sighed. On one hand he really wanted to go ahead and get rid of these nasty buggers. He especially didn't want to keep storing one of them, even if he didn't reside in the property where he was keeping it.

On the other, if Dumbledore was wrong and Voldemort figured out what they were doing it put the entire mission at risk. They could lose every advantage they had and possibly get their spy killed.

Deep down Sirius knew he was being petty in even hesitating to agree with was just that the man was being an even more insufferable bastard than usual lately over his part in killing the basilisk and discovering another horcrux.

But really, all he'd done was get the pertinent information from Voldemort (and okay, admittedly that probably hadn't been much fun). They had taken that information to Dumbledore who agreed that it was a near certainty he would be suspended from Hogwarts if not outright fired if a basilisk was discovered in the castle on his watch. He believed it was worth it to ingratiate Lucius further with Voldemort as there were other teachers who could protect the students.

Then all Lucius had to do was whisper in Fudge's ear, spend a small fortune hiring a team of creature experts (but he had a large fortune) and then take the opportunity to wander around the evacuated castle with the Marauder's map and the horcrux locating map. So, he'd happened to find one, so what? That was just luck.

And yes, he'd been the one to design the means to locate the horcruxes in the first place- but that was because Sirius had been at the beach with their kids at the time! Plus, Sirius had been the one to get them the locket, even though all he'd done was order Kreacher to retrieve it...Okay, he was being very petty. And probably more than a little jealous that he hadn't really seen any action which, considering his responsibilities to Harry, was something he needed to nip in the bud right now.

He owed his godson too much to go looking for trouble trying to one-up Malfoy. He sighed.

"Malfoy's right, Albus, it's not worth the risk. We'll keep them safe," he said grabbing the locket without waiting for further argument and apparating to the cottage he'd inherited from his Uncle Alphard. He put it in the box where he had been storing it and warded said box to the teeth as quickly as possible. Then he apparated back to the safe house- Harry, Hermione and Draco were due at any moment.

Malfoy arrived back just minutes after Sirius did. They had all agreed that the horcruxes would never be in the same building as the teenagers unless they absolutely couldn't help it. Even Narcissa had stayed away from tonight's meeting, it was something of a surprise to Sirius but he knew that his cousin was especially sensitive to magic, so perhaps she hadn't put up much of a fight.

They waited in the parlor along with Dumbledore. It had been easy to convince the Ministry to allow all three teenagers to leave the school on Saturdays for private tuition, the same thing Dumbledore had previously agreed to allow. They were tripping all over themselves to do anything Lucius asked, and Fudge seemed almost as anxious to do a favor for Lord Black. Of course the Ministry didn't know that the three students were all traveling to the same place.

Dumbledore offering his assistance as tutor after he'd been suspended had been a big surprise. Sirius had been tempted to refuse, and he was certain Lucius had too, but as Narcissa pointed out, "when a wizard of Dumbledore's calibre offers your children private lessons, that's simply not something you refuse, no matter how you feel about him personally." (Damn that woman for being the voice of reason).

He heard the sound of a portkey arrival and then Hermione literally stomped into the room, hair flying behind her. Harry trailed in her wake looking rather miserable.

"That horrible woman! What is wrong with the Ministry? How could they think that- that TOAD is a better choice for headmistress than Professor McGonagall? Those corrupt bastards!"

"How long has she been like this?" Sirius whispered to his godson who had come to stand beside him. Sirius now had a very strong suspect as to the source of his misery.

Harry sighed. "All week," he nearly whined, "I mean she's right, that Umbridge woman is awful, but there's only so much I can stand to hear about it. And the Malfoys have taught her to be all...straight faced and Slytherin in public so she takes it all out on me!" His gaze shifted to Dumbledore. "What is he doing here?" Harry hissed.

"Wait until Draco gets here, we'll explain."

Hermione continued to pace and rant, spitting mad just like she had been the first time he'd met her. Dumbledore's- to whom she seemed oblivious- eyes were sparkling with amusement and even Lucius' mouth was twitching.

"Sitting in on our classes! Auditing our teachers! Fawning all over the purebloods! Waddling around like she owns the place! It's disgusting, I'm going to, I'm going to-"

"You're going to do what, Kitten?" Sirius could no longer contain himself.

She turned on her heel and pointed an accusing finger in his direction. "Don't mess with me, Black! Or I'll come after you too!" She spat, sounding so much like Lucius that Sirius actually burst out laughing.

He was still getting control of himself when they heard the sound of another portkey arrival. Harry breathed an actual sigh of relief and then Draco strolled into the room, but the expression on his face was determined. He walked right up to Hermione and pulled her into his arms, she immediately melted against him.

Sirius watched in fascination. He'd spent the summer watching them alternatively frolick along the beach like the fifteen year olds they were, and then buckle down in their lessons- even those in muggle subjects they'd taken on voluntarily- with a maturity most adults probably couldn't muster. And he'd rarely seen anything like their relationship, their understanding of each other was something to behold, he couldn't even fault Lucius and Narcissa for allowing them to tie themselves into such a serious betrothal.

Sirius smiled to himself. They'd only been back at school for a week but he'd missed them terribly. This summer with them had been a balm to his soul he hadn't known he'd needed. Or perhaps, hadn't wanted to admit he needed. His first summer with Harry had been wonderful, but there had been a degree of awkwardness between them that had finally dissolved over the last school year. And Hermione and Draco had been great additions.

"I know you're mad," Draco continued. "I've been able to practically feel your temper about to explode from across the Great Hall for days. But losing it won't do any good, you'll just wear yourself out before our lesson and Father won't so much as let you pick up your wand if you lose control of your magic."

She huffed and turned her face into his neck. "That woman keeps looking at you like she wants to pet you or something, it's disgusting."

"Eww, Mia," he wrinkled his nose, "I don't think it's like that."

"No, I didn't mean to imply it was sexual, just that she's deluded enough to think that if she gives you enough of her attention she'll gain your family's favor."

"I- okay." Draco ran a hand down his face. "I see what you mean, but losing your temper is still not the right answer because eventually you'll slip up in front of her and that won't do you, or any other muggleborn any favors," he finished pointedly.

"Nice guilt trip Draco," she groused, but there was no heat in it. "Do you have a better suggestion?"

"Yes, I was thinking we could handle her the way we handled Lockhart."

"Who's Lockhart and what happened to him?" Sirius leaned in and whispered to Harry.

"I'll tell you later, this I have to hear," he whispered back.

Hermione pulled back to look at Draco, a slow, almost frightening smile, creeping up her face. "Have I told you lately how much I love you?"

"Always nice to hear it."

"It'll be more complicated, since we don't actually have her in class," she answered, toying with his collar but she was now grinning at him.

He shrugged. "I'm up for the challenge, and I like to think we've gotten more sophisticated since second year."

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "That was you two? I must say I'm impressed. I thought it was an older student who had instigated Professor Lockhart's, shall we say, flight from the castle."

Hermione let out a little shriek and they flew apart so quickly that the normally almost preternaturally graceful Draco tripped over his own feet and his father- who was now openly chuckling- stepped forward to catch him.

"Sir," Hermione squeaked. "What are you doing here?"

"I apologize, Miss Granger, I didn't mean to startle you." He actually bowed slightly in her direction. "Now that I am unemployed I've offered my services as one of your tutors. I find that I've missed teaching and I've rarely had the opportunity to give such personalized attention to my students."

"Oh," she responded and Sirius noticed she glanced ever so fleetingly at Lucius and Draco. Draco didn't respond but Lucius gave her a slight nod. "Well thank you, sir, it's an honor."

"Of course Miss Granger."

"May I ask what you'll be teaching us?" Sirius could tell Hermione was having a hard time standing still. She'd gone from furious to delighted at a speed that would have given the average person whiplash. The witch couldn't be more Narcissa's daughter if she'd actually been born to her. He knew Hermione was not particularly pleased with Dumbledore as of late, but like Narcissa, rather than dwell on that she'd jumped on the opportunity she was being given.

Dumbledore shrugged. "This and that. I have special expertise in using transfiguration as an offensive tactic that I'm told you haven't had much instruction in and it's a technique most opponents won't expect."

Hermione inhaled sharply, and Sirius knew she was trying to contain her excitement.

"Shall we get started?" Asked Lucius.

"Wait," Harry interrupted. "I want to know what they did to Lockhart."

Draco crossed his arms over his chest and Hermione glanced nervously at Dumbledore who looked positively delighted.

"I am no longer your headmaster, I assure you, I will not attempt to assign you detention. In fact, I am most curious myself."

"We tag teamed him," Draco provided. "Nobody knew or even suspected we were friends so we basically took turns asking him questions he couldn't answer or to explain something that didn't make sense, or to demonstrate something we knew he probably wasn't capable of. We built on each other's points, but nobody realized what we were doing was intentional because they didn't think we could possibly be working together."

Harry's mouth dropped open. "I- wow." He ran a hand through his hair. "How did I not see that?"

"People rarely see past their preconceptions," Hermione said quietly.

"Luna does," Harry responded.

"Well Luna is special."

"Yeah," Draco snorted, with an accusatory glare in each of their directions.

"Who's Luna?" Sirius asked.

"Apparently, she's their new friend," Draco continued to glare, "who they like to share all of our secrets with. No matter how I feel about it."

"Like I told you, it wasn't like that. But if you insist we can talk about later," Hermione glared right back. "But I'd prefer if Narcissa was around for that. I have some questions for her I didn't feel comfortable putting in a letter, is she coming?"

"She'll be by later," Lucius provided, he glanced at Sirius and he knew they were both wondering if this new development was something they should be worried about. Draco was the most naturally cautious of the three and it was very unlike he and Hermione to disagree, especially so openly.

"Okay good," answered Hermione, looking away from her betrothed.

"Whatever Mia," Draco snorted.

Sirius glanced at his godson who just gave a slight shake of his head.

"So, that's it, Lockhart was so intimidated by two second years that he quit?" Harry asked in an obvious effort to change the subject.

"No, actually," Hermione answered. "Draco found a boggart in the dungeons. He asked the elves to capture it in an old suitcase which we transfigured to look like a present and left it on his desk as an end-of-term gift."

She looked up again and smiled at Draco, shyly. His eyes went soft and they simultaneously bit their lips. It was exactly the kind of look you would normally expect to see couples their age exchange, but it was odd from the two of them who were normally so comfortable together.

"Mia and I have a bet about the form that the boggart took," Draco took up the story and sighed dramatically. "Too bad we'll probably never know unless he's stupid enough to write a book about his time at Hogwarts or something." A pause. "So I guess there's hope."

"Ah," Dumbledore interrupted, "I believe I can help you there. When Gilderoy tendered his resignation he mentioned that he'd had a vision from the future and that if he stayed at Hogwarts he would lose his hair."

Harry made a choking sound. Hermione and Draco just stared at each other before he slowly started to raise his arms above his head in a sign of victory. "I knew it. I knew it. I knew it!" He pointed at Hermione, and then began to jump up and down, "you thought he was most vain about his smile but I knew it was the hair!"

"That's only because you're so vain about your own hair, you prat!"

He shook his head vigorously and began to stalk towards her. "You're not going to distract me, admit it."

She huffed.

"Come on Mia, don't be a bad sport. Admit it."

"You were right."

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"You were right, and I was wrong," she said more loudly, but she was suppressing a smile as he closed the distance and threw an arm around her shoulders.

"Merlin, they're exhausting," Harry muttered but Sirius noted that he eagerly trotted after his friends when Lucius announced that it was time to get on with the reason they were there.

Lucius and Sirius both lingered at the back of the group.

"Should we be worried about this Umbridge woman?" Sirius murmured to him, out of the corner of his eye he saw the other wizard shrug.

"She is not a physical or magical threat to any of them," he answered. "Moreover 'she makes my daughter angry enough to throw a temper tantrum' isn't really reason enough for me to get her fired."

That startled a laugh out of Sirius.

"And even if it was, they'd just put another lackey in her place. At least I'm familiar with this one."

Sirius sighed, but couldn't disagree.

"Do you know anything about this Luna person?" Lucius asked after a pause.

"First I'm hearing of her."

Lucius sighed. "Well it's always something, isn't it?"

Sirius couldn't disagree.