"So you're a tough guy
Like it really rough guy
Just can't get enough guy
Chest always so puffed guy
I'm that bad type
Make your mama sad type
Make your girlfriend mad tight
Might seduce your dad type
I'm the bad guy."
Billie Eilish- bad guy
He woke up with a headache and bitterly thought about the previous evening; he escorted the twins to Hogwarts through the Headmasters office. Dumbledore of course didn't sleep and sat behind his desk with that calm look of his. He only lifted a brow seeing Sirius scramble through the fire place with his hands clasped patronizingly on the two teenagers' arms.
It's fucking creepy. Sirius thought when he realised, he couldn't recall a single time he caught Dumbledore sleeping or just...tired at least.
McGonagall took the boys back to the Gryffindor Tower with blazing eyes, clearly furious. Of course, Molly would find out about the whole incident; Sirius simply did not want to be the one who will tell her about it.
Sirius concluded that he would take a chance and ask Dumbledore about the Wizengamot sitting and why he resigned from his position. The old wizard only smiled as if Sirius asked him what the weather would be the next day. But when he was about to enter the fireplace to go back to his London house when Dumbledore spoke:
"Sirius?" when the younger man looked at him, he continued. "You will find out soon. Till then...watch out for Miss Potter."
"I know. Dorea asked me already to do that..." Black said confused but Dumbledore shook his head lightly.
"No. Watch out for her. Be careful."
...Be careful!...
The sense of déjà vu was almost overwhelming, but he felt that something wasn't right. Dumbledore never ever said anything like that about anyone. Sirius never heard him judge or tried to forestall someone to anyone. But suddenly he just stops him and just like that warns him about that girl.
Then it dawned on him.
"She blackmailed you." he almost laughed. "Merlin, that girl just has something on you, right? She found something?" he laughed this time and shook his head. "I almost feel for you, Albus!"
He then walked into the fireplace and the last thing before he shouted his address and disappeared in emerald flames, was the mad and a little ashamed face of Albus Dumbledore.
He was back in home around two in the morning. Too late.
He collapsed exhausted in his daily clothes on the bed and fell asleep instantly.
Five hours later Kiki woke him up tugging on his sleeve and nagging him about going to bed in his daily clothes. He was slightly hungover and definitely didn't want to get up from bed.
He sat sleepily poking his breakfast with fork without appetite; he tried to avoid alcohol for so long that his capabilities got a lot worse. Everything more than two drinks made him suffer in the morning. And that thing with the twins later...
"Merlin..." he groaned burying his face in hands.
"Master, Kiki brought the newspaper and a letter from Master Lupin." he peeked through his fingers and saw the top of elf's head. He put down his hands and took the papers from her.
"Thank you, Kiki."
"Master won't be happy with the Daily Prophet."
"What? Why?" he asked and quickly unfold the Prophet only to groan again at the title on the front page.
Daily Prophet, issue #34,618, October 12th 1994.
LORD BLACK'S SECRET TYRST! IS LADY POTTER THE NEXT LADY BLACK?
Only in Daily Prophet! Exclusive photos!
Our exclusive sources at Daily Prophet came into possession of these heart-melting photos of Lord Black and the newly minted Lady Potter.
Sirius Black (34), currently one of the most desirable bachelors in Great Britain, clearly took liking in young Mia Potter (27) since it hasn't been even a week since her arrival in London and they already had what seemed to be a date!
Beautiful and young Mia Potter, former politician at Magical Congress of the United States of America, came to Great Britain to take the position of position of an Independent Consultant for relations between the MACUSA and M.o.M.
Yesterday however must have been a very exciting day for Miss Potter since during the Wizengamot's Higher Chamber sitting, she took the title after her mother and reclaimed the Potter Wizengamot seat. The evening meeting with Lord Black seems to be peculiar given that Lady Potter took the seat that Harry Potter (14); Black's adoptive son was until now the only candidate to the position.
Black doesn't seem to mind since he expressed his support to this decision publicly during the sitting.
We can clearly see the chemistry working between the two in these photos!
Article and photos thanks to the courtesy of Erik Sarette.
The article was paired with two photos of them from the previous evening. The first one was taken in Leaky Cauldron when they sat at their table, leaned towards each other, laughing at something. The second was taken in the exact moment Mia stood on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek. The photography perfectly captured the moment his mind went blank at the gesture. His face relaxed and eyes soften when he looked at her surprised.
If that article wasn't about him, he could believe that the photos were of a soon-to-be lovey-dovey couple.
"Who the fuck is Erik Sarette?" he mumbled to himself still looking at the photos. He...wasn't as mad as he should be. Out of all gossip pieces that that shitty tabloid produced on him this one was...the nicest?
It slightly irritated him more than anything. He was more concerned what Mia would think about it.
And that Sarette guy...whoever he was they didn't see him following them.
He sighed and decided to drop by the Ministry later to see if she was there. He didn't want to go to her hotel since this could create even more gossip. He had to know what she was thinking about it.
Sirius picked up the rolled piece of preachment from Remus and tapped it twice with tip of his wand; they always protected their letters with a charm that prevented anyone but them from opening them.
The note was short. Remus's familiar handwriting looked even more messy than usually and betrayed his fatigue and impatience.
I'm home. Come tonight. I asked Fabian to come too.
There is a lot for us to discuss. -R.
He felt a sudden wave of excitement; he was really curious what Remus managed to find out. Mia still felt like a riddle to him. Admittedly after talking with her he felt that the answer was at the reach of his hand. But still every time he felt that he's close to it just flew from his grasp.
In slightly better mood he finished breakfast and started to get ready for the day.
•••
Every other Wednesday's Sirius had to visit Gringot's to deal with the Goblins and do the vault checks. He had to check the Black's vault, Lastrange's vault, Potter's vault and Malfoy's vault since he was the closest living male relative to all these families.
Sirius helped Narcissa recoup the vault she got after her husband despite her going back to her maiden name. She wanted that for Draco and Sirius happily obliged and pulled the necessary strings since the Potters vault had the same purpose.
Of course, that meant that he had to go through lists of four biggest vaults in Gringotts which proved to be an exceptional pain in the ass. Thanks to the Gringotts policy he was the only person that could do this.
So like every other Wednesday Sirius spent almost nine hours at the very bottom of the underground tunnel system of the bank accompanied by one grumpy, old goblin named Gnorky.
And after those nine hours like every other Wednesday he left the bank with a headache and slight disgust towards the goblins. Every time he looked at the blind, terrified dragon trapped there, trembling before one of the goblins clanking the bells with a vengeful face, he got angry. He knew that there was very little he could do with that dragon, but he felt dirty after leaving the vaults; like he was accomplice to all of this.
The traffic on Diagon Alley seemed to die out when he left the bank. The sun has already set, and the buildings cast long shadows at the alley. Employees were leaving shops and offices, and the first participants of the night life were beginning to fill restaurants and pubs. Few threw glances at Sirius as he walked along the street deep in thought. Lord Black had his own reputation, quite different from the one his father owned, but still the fear of the name stayed. So, no matter how much Sirius worked and how many things he's done since taking the title there always was this underlying uncertainty from the people that didn't know him personally. It looked like people thought that dark magic was something hereditary, that coursed through one's veins like the pure-blood his family always took so much pride in.
He still struggled with defining what being good meant. When he was younger the line was simple; world divided between those who followed Voldemort and those who didn't. Year after year, time after time, he was painfully convinced that it was not true.
The longer he lived the more complicated the world seemed to be. He met bad wizards that fought on the good side, and good wizards that fought on the bad side. He met those who practiced magic that was deemed bad and immoral, but they did it for a good purpose. He met bad wizards and good muggles, and bad muggles and good wizards. He met people he couldn't classify neither good nor bad. They just were perfectly grey in their morality and he often felt closest to them; in his nature there was just that thing that demanded for him to be as cruel and ruthless as he could to people who were a threat to his loved ones.
So there were things he, as the capable one, had to do.
Unbothered by anyone he turned into Knocturn Alley.
The scenery changed; the neat and tidy nooks and streets beside the Diagon Alley turned into muddle of dirty, dark alleyways that made the Knocturn District.
Finally, after a few turns he saw the signboard of The White Wyvern.
The interior smelled like old beer and dirty bodies. Few heads turned at the sound of the door opening but as soon as they saw Sirius enter, they turned back to their glasses and cards. He looked around but there was no sight of the person he was looking for right now.
Barman- whose name was Hector as far as Sirius knew- nodded to him in a greeting.
"Long time- no see. Same as usual?"
"Not today. I'm looking for Dung."
The barman cackled hearing that.
"Someone's in trouble. I've heard that he's at Shyverwretch's. Trying to sell some stuff as usual."
Sirius nodded and took out a single galeon from the pocket but when he wanted to put in on the counter, the barman shook his head.
"That's gratis. The stinky git owes me money."
Sirius nodded again and turned to leave.
Shyverwretch's Venoms and Potions was a bit further into the Knockturn's depths. Sirius knew these areas quite well so he walked confidently through the dark, dimly lit alleys; there were only handful of people who would dare to attack him there. He was cautious but not fearful.
He saw Shyverwretch's signboard in the exact same moment when Mundgus Fletcher was thrown out on the shop by angry, older witch. The dishevelled wizard tripped over his legs trying to escape the hexes throw in his direction by the shopkeeper, and landed face-first in a puddle.
"I'm an honest businessman!"
"Sell this shit to some schoolkids! Don't come back!" she shouted and slammed the door behind her.
Mundgus stood up spitting water and trying to wipe mud from his baggy eyes and unkempt beard.
"Dung, what a surprise!" Sirius called jovially making the petty dealer jump and look around in panic. But before he could do anything Sirius already had his arm around him and the tip of his wand discreetly pressed somewhere around his liver. He stiffened and let Sirius led him into one of the dead-end alleys.
Sirius cringed feeling the odour of old alcohol and tobacco that reeked from Dung, but as soon as they were hid from the view, he pushed the other wizard and punched making him collapse on the pavement with blood gushing from his nose. He pointed his wand at him with bored expression and Dung started crawling back trying to get as far as he can.
"S-Sirius! Listen! Whatever happened we can talk it out!"
Sirius smiled in an easy way with made a horrible contrast to the wielded wand and cold expression of his eyes.
"We had a deal Dung. I turn a blind eye at your dirty little business, I even let you make some money." Sirius made a step closer making Mundgus scramble back in panic. "The one and only condition I've made...can you remind me what I've asked you NOT to do?"
The other man gulped loudly before responding.
"You banned me from making deals with people from your en...eun...emt..." he broke off trying to say the unfamiliar word, which made Sirius roll his eyes and finish for him:
"Entourage, you moron. Family. Pack. Surroundings. It was the only condition, for you not to crawl from your hole. And you just threw it all away to make a laughable profit out of two stupid kids." he made another step and Dung squealed panickly.
"Those Weasley boys? They've reached to me Sirius! I swear that they wanted to make a deal with me!" Sirius took another few steps forcing his back to hit the wall at the end of the alley. Mundgus pushed himself into the brick wall like he wished to just vanish inside it. His face was still wet, but his eyes were red and watery like he was crying. Blood trickled down his quivering lips and chin and stained the front of his clothes.
"I'm sorry Sirius!" he wept. "I'm stupid! I've should've just sent them home!"
"Yes. You should have. Our deal is broken. The evidence against you in that trafficking case is already in the Auror Headquarters. So, finish your deals my disgusting friend...you're going away for a long time." Sirius smiled again when he saw a shiver of fear run through Dung.
"You can't! You'll go too If you say anything!"
Sirius busted with laughter throwing his head back.
"You really are stupid if you think I will hand over any evidence against myself. Don't worry about me..." he hid his wand and leaned over to lift Dung by the front of his dirty robe. He pressed him to the brick wall so that his feet waved desperately in the air. The red swollen face from alcohol level up with Lord's Black pale, smiling face and icy gaze. "It'll be all on you Dung. And now even Dumbledore won't be able to pull you out of this..."
•••
He found Mia still in her office in the Ministry hunched over stacks of reports. She had her hair in her typical messy bun, and he could see her heels discarded under the desk.
When she looked at him from above the scroll, she was taking notes from her eyes lighten up.
"Hi." he smiled a little awkwardly.
"Hi." she responded with a happy smile. She didn't look mad.
"Percy is sleeping on his desk." he said pointing with his thumb on the door behind him.
She laughed shaking her head.
"I've told him to go home. That kid really doesn't know how to chill out."
"That's true. But...he was always like that. You don't have to worry about it much..."
"You know him?" Mia cocked her head curiously.
Sirius nodded.
"I know his whole family. The Weasley kids are friends with my son."
"I have a feeling that this world is so small here. Everyone knows everyone." she muttered closing the ink bottle and draining the quill into a piece of crumpled parchment. "I feel watched and alienated at the same time."
"Actually..." Sirius started and waited till she looked at him again. "I wanted to ask if you saw today's Daily Prophet."
She looked at him confused.
"Yeah, I saw. What's with it?"
"I wanted to make sure you don't feel uncomfortable with that trashy article."
"Oooooch!" her eyes became big when she realised what he was asking about. "Oh Circe, you're so sweet." she smiled widely. "I don't care about it, really. I'm sure you'll find out soon that I've had my fair share of trashy articles. But it's so nice that you've...Merlin, Sirius, what happened with your hand?" she stood up from behind the desk and bare-footed padded towards him.
He looked at his hand; he cleared his knuckles from Dungs blood, but they still were swollen and cracked. He planned to take care of them at Remus's place. He knew some healing spells, but they always required a lot of concentration from him.
She took his hand delicately and started to look and touch them lightly.
"There's blood on your coat..." she said slowly. "You're lucky nothing's broken..."
"It's...it's nothing really." he said awkwardly.
"You...Did you beat someone up?"
He took his hand from her carefully and hid in in his pocket answering her question only with a shrug. She looked at him closely but didn't question further. She cocked her head and lifted her brow.
"My mom leaves tomorrow. She asked me to tell you that you and Harry are always welcomed in the Potter Ranch. She also said that she will send you an owl with an invitation for Holidays." she smiled in a way that was very reminiscent of Dorea.
He mustered up a faint smile and nodded.
"I'm not sure we will be able to come, but still...thank you for the invitation."
She snort a laugh:
"Yeah, try telling that to my mother. She started suggesting me names for grandkids when she saw the Prophets article." She shook her head impatiently. "Someone would have thought that a woman her age would learn already that I'm a lost cause."
There was something bitter in her tone, something that made Sirius want to grab her hand and squeeze reassuringly. But he hesitated for a second and before he could decide she was smiling again at him. Except this time there was something fake in that smile, something that didn't quite match the expression of her eyes.
"Wake up Percy on your way out, okay? Send him home."
Sirius nodded slowly wondering where that change came from and turned to leave when she spoke again.
"Say hi to Remus."
He stopped dead in his tracks and turned slowly.
"What?"
She leaned on her desk with arms crossed on her chest and crocked eyebrow. Her lips contorted in a defiant grimace when in a mocking way- as he had before- she answered his question with a shrug.
•••
When he reached Remus, the werewolf was waiting for him with Fabian in the little flat above Sticks and Stones.
The space was cluttered with books and exhibits of magical animals and their parts immersed in different coloured liquids. His living space was reduced almost by half thanks to this. But Sirius knew that his friend found comfort in these items, so he didn't comment.
"Sorry for being late." he said when Remus let him in, and he hung his coat on a hanger near the door. "I had to do some things before coming here."
"For example, your new girlfriend, ey?" Fabian leaned over the entrance to the small kitchenette grinning and wiggling his brows suggestively. "How was your secret tryst, Lord Black? The girl didn't melt in the air?"
Sirius looked at him with pity.
"Well, Prewett, unlike some, I do not meet with a married woman. So I don't have to keep my trysts secret."
He was pleased to see Fabian deflate a little and stop grinning. He went to the table where Fabian sat down and after removing the pile of parchment from one of the chairs sat down.
"How the fuck, Black?"
"Narcissa talks when she drinks. Like...a lot." Remus said faintly as if remembering some spicy details, he didn't want to remember. He placed a coffee mug in front of Sirius and sat down with his own before him.
Fabian groaned and buried his face in his hands.
"Merlin, I adore that woman, but sometimes she's as sharp as a beach ball." he mumbled making Sirius burst with a barking laughter. Remus chuckled but suddenly grunted and winced.
He was ghastly pale; his face was a little sunken and marked with darkened veins. His eyes were almost completely gold in colour and his pupils were dilated.
"How are you feeling?" Fabian asked frowning with concern, but the werewolf only waved him off.
"I didn't slept it off after the trip. Time difference is a bitch, really." he took a sip from his cup, closing his eyes with content. Remus celebrated his tea like a sacred thing.
"Right, Fabian." Sirius started. "You'll have shit-ton of work tomorrow morning. Some big breakthrough in some old case." He smiled sweetly. "Just so you would know."
"What do you mean?" Auror's eyes went wide before narrowing suspiciously. "What did you do, you prick?"
Sirius sent him a kiss and winked, laughing at the redhead's wry face.
"No need to thank me. You're welcome." he turned to Remus. "You're sure you want to do it tonight? If you're feeling unwell maybe, we should talk after the full moon?"
The werewolf shook his head and smiled kindly.
"I'll manage. It's important Sirius." he took a deep breath. "Especially since she clearly knew I will be there looking for information on her."
"What?!" Fabian and Sirius asked simultaneously. Remus nodded.
"When I've got to the great archives the archivist asked me my name, and when I introduced myself she just smiled and said that Miss Potter asked her to hand me anything I would like to have from the archives regarding her." he shook his head again with a smile dancing on his lips. "Of course, I've took everything I could and copied it. But that's only files, dry facts about her and her work at MACUSA. So, I've looked for people who were available then in D.C." he broke off and took another sip of his tea.
"You've managed to find someone?"
Remus nodded with his eyes still closed before continuing.
"I've talked with her friend from school and her former boss from the Thunderbirds Unit..."
Fabian choked on his coffee with wide eyes.
"W-what?"
"Thunderbirds?" Sirius frowned.
"Black! Thunderbirds! They're like...the elite from elite when it comes to dealing with dark magic! Like Order of the Phoenix on a muscle-gaining potion!" Sirius had not seen Fabian this excited for a long time. "If she was with them it could explain her skills and all!"
"But she joined them when she was eighteen, Fabian. It doesn't add up in our timeline here."
"Okay, slow down." Sirius looked pointedly at the redhead. "Remus, tell us, everything you've found out. Then we can theorize about anything."
The werewolf nodded and put down his cup; he still held it, warming his hands around it. Sirius knew that before the full moon Remus always felt overly cold.
He closed his eyes, as if sorting what he wanted to say in his head. After a moment, he looked at the two men at the table and began in a chatty tone:
"Maybe...maybe it will be the best if I would start at the beginning? Let's build up the story with facts that won't get confusing as it progresses. Because there's not a lot of those in what I found out..."