Disclaimer: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…

Placing: After the war - could be canon…

Beta'ed by DebaterMax! Thank you very much!

DebaterMax: I'm so excited to grant you this; I really hope you enjoy it!

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PLACEMENT TESTS

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Eridanus hated the placement tests they were required to do for Hogwarts.

"What if we're too good?" he asked Perseus in concern the night before they went to the Ministry for testing.

Perseus frowned.

"We were tutored the last few months," he pointed out, clearly not getting where Eridanus was going.

"Sure," the other boy agreed. "But that doesn't change the fact that we know more than we should already. What if we're asked questions that our parents and uncle didn't teach us and we know them? What if we know too much for OWL level or–"

"We can't know too much for OWL level," Perseus said. "It's physically not possible. The OWL exams have to be taken by every wizard or witch. No matter how much we end up answering, we will still only be able to get into OWL year."

"But–"

"While the exams are in the Ministry, they're Hogwarts admittance exams – not Ministry-based ones," Perseus explained patiently. "Theoretically the people examining us could advise us to go to the Ministry and ask for early admittance to the OWL exams. But the fact is, the OWLs are only once a year and the next exam is next year – which means that the recommendation would be redundant for me."

Eridanus scowled.

"Well, theoretically, you should end up in fourth year and not in fifth," he countered and glared at his brother. "Since you're officially fourteen turning fifteen on the 1st of September!"

Perseus threw him an annoyed look.

"You're aware that you're fifteen during your fifth year and not in the fourth?" he countered with an eye roll.

Eridanus just raised an eyebrow at his brother.

"And you are aware that I was one of the youngest in my year with being born at the end of July. If I had been born just a day later, I would have come to Hogwarts a full year later and would have been the oldest in my class."

Perseus opened his mouth to object just to close it in horrified realization.

"You're right!" he exclaimed.

For a moment, he stood there, clearly thrown, but then he shook his head.

"I guess it's good that I'm doing the entrance exam to Hogwarts. I could have ended up stuck in fourth year!" he sounded as if his world had come down all around him.

Eridanus just scowled.

"Well, I could have ended up in third year! So really, you have no reason to complain! I have to hope that our examiners won't fight the results, otherwise, I might get stuck in either third or fourth year anyway!" He told his brother mercilessly. "So, don't whine!"

"You're right," Perseus said suddenly perking up. "That makes me feel better."

Eridanus rolled his eyes.

"Of course, it would," he said. "However, I'm surprised that you don't insist on following the normal rule and start in fourth year nonetheless. I mean, that's the thing I thought you'd do."

"I'm not a masochist," Perseus countered. "It's bad enough that we have to go to Hogwarts. I don't have to spend even more years there than absolutely needed. As for you… even I can agree that you outgrew Hogwarts' curriculum years ago. There's no reason to stick you back into the lower years."

"Well, I might need them with Arithmancy and Ancient Runes," Eridanus said unhappily.

In the last few months, he had suffered through lessons given by their uncle and father on both subjects as well as on the Dark Arts. Not to mention that Susanna had decided to add her two cents and taught them non-magical subjects. She had reasoned that no son of her would eschew basic mathematics and sciences or proper English lessons.

The only thing that made it bearable was the fact that Perseus suffered alongside him.

Perseus snorted.

"I can't speak for Ancient Runes, but Arithmancy will be easy compared to what we've been learning from Uncle Pollux and Father," he said. "I took Arithmancy until NEWTs and we're way beyond what I learned there, too!"

Eridanus looked at Perseus surprised.

"Why would Uncle and Father go that far when they know that we're already way beyond the basics that we need for our classes in Hogwarts?" he asked with a frown.

His brother rolled his eyes.

"Because we're obviously not just studying for Hogwarts and they seem to think that we need that knowledge as proper Blacks."

Eridanus thought that over.

"I wonder," he finally said slowly before he paused and only continued with an encouraging look of his brother. "Sirius… I wonder if he knew that much about Arithmancy and Ancient Runes…"

Perseus shrugged.

"I never met him, so I really can't say," he said softly.

Over the last few months, they had grown closer by necessity. They were the only ones left from their future, after all.

"I know," Eridanus answered and sighed. "Nevertheless, I wonder."

Then he shook his head to get rid of that thought.

For a moment, Perseus hesitated, before he carefully pointed out: "You might have the chance to find out."

When Eridanus looked at him with a frown on his face, he elaborated further.

"Chances are high that we will meet them in Hogwarts," Perseus said. "They will be our classmates."

"They're taking their OWLs this year," Eridanus countered.

"Schoolmates, then," Perseus corrected himself.

Eridanus sighed.

"Couldn't we have stayed older?" he complained. "I mean, when we came here, I was at least seventeen years old! And now I'm thirteen!"

Perseus pinched his nose.

"We inhaled some time sand," he said exasperatedly. "We're lucky our de-aging stopped at about thirteen, nearly fourteen and fourteen, nearly fifteen! Did you really think that just because we left the room the time sand would stop working on us? With our luck, we could have ended up toddlers without anybody even noticing that we were de-aging!"

"And I wondered why Father and Mother didn't say anything," Eridanus grumbled.

"Side effect of the time sand," Perseus said with a sigh. "I just hope that and the de-aging process are the only ones we will be experiencing."

Eridanus looked at his brother warily.

"There are more?" he asked.

"Possibly," Perseus agreed. "I've only ever studied the basics so I can't list them all but I know there is a list."

"Wonderful!" Eridanus exclaimed.

"But don't worry, if we don't have experienced them until now, they're most likely not going to kill us, at least."

"Not helping at all."

Perseus shrugged.

"But it's the truth," he told Eridanus. "Would you prefer I lied?"

Eridanus sighed but shook his head.

"No."

"There you go," Perseus said and then rubbed his face. "And now leave me so that I can review History of Magic a bit more. I feel like I have forgotten everything in that subject!"

Eridanus grimaced.

"You're not the only one," he said unhappily.

They had gotten books on theory from their uncle to study in their free time.

"Most of this, you've already learned, I think," Pollux had said. "I know that Erich Grey wouldn't be careless with your education, but if you feel the need to study a bit more for the exams, those books should do well."

That expectation of course led to Perseus studying like crazy and – since he was a terrible brother – he ensured that Eridanus didn't escape studying as well.

Eridanus was sure that he knew more about theory in every class of Hogwarts than he ever did before.

He disdainfully glanced at the Divination book he had studied from a few hours before.

"I'm certainly not taking Divination," he said with a grumble.

Perseus just threw him a pitying look.

"From the way Father and Uncle talked, I'm pretty sure we will have to take our OWLs in all subjects. I heard that Uncle will arrange an international portkey to the Netherlands just so that we can take the one for Dark Arts!" his face darkened. "I didn't even know that there existed one on the Dark Arts!"

"Well," Eridanus said slowly. "It's not as if the Dark Arts are what we expected."

Perseus rolled his eyes.

"Blood magic, rituals, potions and alchemy," Perseus listed. "Wandlore and the darkest spells and magic known to mankind and their counters – oh, no, I think they encompass exactly what I expected."

Eridanus looked at his brother in surprise.

"Well," he said slowly. "I didn't expect a lot of it. Especially not wandlore and alchemy. I mean, doesn't Hogwarts sometimes teach alchemy?"

"It does," Perseus said. "But most of what they teach is simple processes of combination or separation. I mean, even muggles do alchemy like that! Mother has been teaching us the basics there as well!"

Eridanus looked at his brother in amusement.

"You are aware that she's teaching us chemistry and physics, not alchemy?" he inquired.

"Same difference," Perseus replied dismissively. "No matter what it's called with muggles, it's still alchemy. Transmutation in alchemy, on the other hand… well, that's Dark Arts – and therefore definitely not taught at Hogwarts."

Eridanus blinked in surprise.

"So… Nicholas Flamel practiced… I mean, practices the Dark Arts?" he asked.

"Yes," Perseus said. "Even if it's not openly announced here in Britain." He shrugged. "As far as I know, France is a lot more open for those things than Britain."

"Oh," Eridanus said.

He guessed he shouldn't be too surprised since he had studied quite a bit of the Dark Arts in the last few months, but to hear the difference somehow made it more real than before.

Then he mentally shrugged.

It wasn't as if he had a lot of room to feel bothered by that – not after he had gained the memories of his ancestors.

Something must have shown on his face because his brother frowned.

"Are you alright, Eridanus?" he asked with a concern that Eridanus had needed time to get used to.

For a moment, Eridanus hesitated.

"I… what kind of people were the Greys?" he asked, his eyes not meeting his brothers.

Perseus frowned.

"I… don't know," he finally admitted. "I mean… they were extinguished long before I was old enough to know my name… so…"

He shook his head and said "I never looked into them."

He finished his declaration with a sigh, before he asked. "Why do you want to know?"

Eridanus shrugged a bit helplessly.

"I know what being an Ekrizdis entails," he pointed out. His brother winced. "I just wanted to know if there's something special about the Greys as well."

Perseus hummed.

"Not as far as I know," he finally said slowly and his eyes searched Eridanus' face. "Ekrizdis… you haven't actually talked about what it entails at all."

The younger brother looked away.

"A lot of things," he finally said when his brother didn't stop looking at him.

Perseus frowned.

"Including the goblins somehow?" he wanted to know. "I mean, they never looked at you… and you acted as if you expected it?"

Eridanus pressed his lips together at that.

"They are citizens of Azkaban," he finally said. "They would be disrespectful if they looked at me. Showing me their back means they respect me. It's a sign of showing trust… they are in essence telling me they trust me to not stab them in their back."

"Oh."

"Ekrizdis…" Eridanus shook his head and his eyes wandered to his hands. "I'm not yet that old… but… I will end up wanting to judge people."

He looked up into his brother's eyes.

"I fear I won't be able to stay out of the war," he admitted. "One day, I will judge my first person and the moment I do, I will be bound by my oaths as an Ekrizdis. The Death Eaters… I felt them, in Gringotts, in Diagon Alley… I won't be able to resist the temptation to judge them forever. One day, I will do it."

When he met Perseus' eyes, his brother startled. Eridanus' eyes were blood red instead the more familiar green.

"Let's hope it will be the only thing I will ever do," Eridanus said.

Perseus frowned.

"I'm not following."

"Good," Eridanus said and then turned away. "And now let me study. Maybe I'll actually manage to finally remember the whole debacle with Morgan le Fay, Merlin, and Arthur and not mix up the timeline tomorrow if I'm asked."

Perseus snorted.

"One would think they'd be lenient with History considering the way it's taught in Hogwarts," he said.

"One would think," Eridanus agreed. "But I'm not going to bet on it, so… hush!"

And like that, they spent their last afternoon before the exams.

The exams themselves were a child's play for Eridanus.

Sadly enough, the exams weren't the only thing they ended up doing in the Ministry.

"How did we end up here?" Eridanus asked with a frown.

"Worse yet," Perseus said darkly. "We're not able to leave."

Eridanus frowned and then stepped up next to his brother to try the door they had walked through just a minute ago, as well. It didn't budge.

Eridanus stared at it before turning and looking back into the room.

"I don't understand this at all," he said and sighed. "I mean, they sent us from the room after our exam… the only thing we did was walking through the door we used to enter the exam room, so how did we end up here?"

Perseus' eyes flickered around.

The room they were in was dark and looked as if it hadn't been used for a long time. There was dust on the shelves… and on one of the far shelves, something had a golden gleam.

He pointed at it.

"Do you see that?" he asked.

Eridanus nodded and then turned to walk towards it.

"Wait!" Perseus grabbed him, but Eridanus just rolled his eyes.

"I bet this is the reason why we're here, so waiting won't help us," he countered before he freed himself from his brother's grip.

Perseus looked at him unhappily, but in the end, he followed Eridanus to the shelf with the gold on it.

When they walked past the shelves, Eridanus noticed that there were tags on them.

When he read the first few, a queasy feeling filled him.

The Builder.

The Destroyer.

The Alchemist.

With a shudder, Eridanus counted the shelves with tags on them.

Twenty-six… twenty-seven…

They reached the gold.

The gleam came from two tags that were highly polished and looked new.

Twenty-eight.

Twenty-nine.

Thirty.

Eridanus didn't even need to read what the tags said, he knew it before he laid his eyes on the letters.

The Executioner.

The Investigator.

Perseus reached for the tag that read 'The Investigator'. His hand brushed the tag.

The next moment, the Unspeakable identification on his arm lit up.

There was a flash and then the shelf filled with the typical gear of an Unspeakable – including cloak and time turner.

The brothers exchanged a dark look.

"So… this is Ghost Unit," Perseus concluded and looked around.

Eridanus shuddered.

"And here I hoped that we could be normal Hogwarts' students," he said with resignation and sarcasm.

Perseus snorted and reached for a simple-looking, black wristband on his shelf.

He took it and then inspected it with a sigh.

"Well," he said dryly after he had pulled out his wand and shot a few spells at it. "At least we get the high-quality stuff. It's literally brand new."

Eridanus groaned.

"I hope that means it's changeable," he said and then reached out towards the tag that read 'The Executioner' to activate it as well.

After his shelf had filled with his gear, he took his wristband and inspected it as well.

In his hands, it changed into a cufflink.

He looked at it as if it had betrayed him.

Perseus snickered.

"Not a fan of a cufflink?" he asked, amused.

"I went with a simple pin in the future," Eridanus grumbled upset that the cufflink refused to change into a pin.

"Maybe an anklet?" Perseus suggested and watched the wristband in his hand change into a simple, black one.

"Isn't that a bit girly?" Eridanus asked unhappily.

Perseus shrugged.

"At least you could hide it beneath your socks and trousers," he pointed out unbothered while the anklet in his hand changed into a cufflink.

Eridanus stared at him.

"You're not actually going with the cufflink, are you?" he asked appalled. "That's… that's something for grandpas!"

Perseus rolled his eyes.

"It's elegant," he countered and then removed one of his current ones from his shirt to fit it there. He pressed the one he removed against it and the Unspeakable cufflink modified itself to look the same like his old one had.

Then he pocketed the old one and reached for the rest of his gear.

He dressed himself with practiced movements - just like he did in the future.

Eridanus stared at him.

"Really?" he asked. "You are honest to Merlin going with a cufflink?"

Perseus rolled his eyes.

"Decide and change," he countered. "Before people will wonder where we are."

Eridanus groaned and the cufflink in his own hands changed back into a wristband.

"I'm going to look at the possibilities later," he decided before he started to dress as well.

It didn't take them long.

Perseus was the first who was done.

The last thing he did was fastening the time-turner into place, then with a sigh, he snapped his fingers.

The entire get-up vanished without a trace. It just left the Unspeakable cufflink in place.

"Huh," he said. "This is the really good stuff. It's an instant reaction time version."

With those words, he snapped his fingers again which changed his clothes back into his Unspeakable garb.

"Handy."

Eridanus rolled his eyes and fastened his time-turner before snapping his fingers as well.

Instantly, he looked just like he had before he put the Unspeakable robes and gear on top of his normal stuff.

"Change back, Perse," he said. "We have enough time to play with the gear later."

Perseus grumbled.

"You were the one who pointed out that we will be missed," Eridanus countered.

With a sigh, Perseus snapped his fingers again and then glanced down to ensure that he looked just like he had when they entered.

For a moment, they looked around the room. The shelves with their Unspeakable identification were back to looking as dusty and untouched as they had before.

"So… back to the door?" Eridanus suggested.

Perseus nodded in agreement.

Neither one was surprised when the door opened without trouble and they found themselves back into the hallway in front of the exam room.

"Perseus! Eridanus!" Pollux greeted them. "How was the exam?"

The brothers looked at each other for a moment, before Perseus answered.

"Are you sure we have to go to Hogwarts, Uncle?" he asked. "They weren't complicated at all…"

Pollux grinned.

"Good boys," he said instead of answering. "And don't worry, your Father, Mother, and I will ensure that you won't be bored in Hogwarts. Your Father and I are already looking into a way to tutor you while you are at Hogwarts and your Mother said something about homeschooling and… A-levels?"

He shrugged while Perseus and Eridanus looked at each other in dread.

"Anyway," Pollux said. "I'm pretty sure you will have plenty to do even if the classes might turn out not too challenging."

Neither Eridanus nor Perseus was sure if that was a good thing… but then, what could they do?

"At least we're not going to be bored?" Eridanus said.

Perseus snorted.

"You're going to hate it," he pointed out. "You always hated studying."

"I'm pretty sure I'll hate shopping in Diagon Alley more," Eridanus countered. "It's going to be bad when we go there for school supplies."

Perseus raised an eyebrow and Eridanus sighed.

"Just… try and keep me from judging anybody?" he asked.

His Uncle heard that.

"We're going to try and go at a time where there are fewer people in the Alley," he promised. "And we're going to do our best to keep you from judging."

Sadly enough, Eridanus knew his luck… which also meant he wasn't sure if that would end up being enough…

A bit more about the brothers and the day they took their placement tests.

I hope you liked it.

Ebenbild