Harry had been thrilled when Sirius told him about just how successful his trip to Gringotts was. He had apparently found, inside the Black vault, copies of all betrothal contracts that the family had signed for the last several hundred years. However, what was most important was that he now had access to Bellatrix's, which happened to make mention of a Black family artifact that apparently would be on loan to House Lestrange until the arrival of their second heir or the death of the daughter of House Black being betrothed in said contract. The artifact in question was an ancient, ornate basin that was supposedly some sort of cross between one of wizarding's first attempts to create the pensieve and a potion cauldron. Apparently, when wizards first began to seek to share their memories it was thought it would need to be done through a potion. This led to the creation of an artifact that was able to create incredibly potent memory based potions, which was eventually abandoned when the much simpler method used today was discovered. Sirius had begun to explain that it was almost certainly no longer with the Lestrange estate and even if it is he doubts it will be in functioning condition. Before Sirius could go on with his conjectures Harry had cut him off asking just why the basin was important.
Not dimming his enthusiasm any, Sirius held up what Harry assumed to be Bellatrix's betrothal contract and cited a paragraph in what Harry took to be his most pompous tone.
"Upon the joining of their two families, the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black shall provide the Noble House of Lestrange the use of the family's Memormixtura" -Sirius handed Harry a rough diagram of what he assumed to be the referenced artifact,- "until reverting upon the daughter of House Black providing both primary and reserve heirs to House Lestrange or upon her death. In the event of loss of possession or functionality of the Memormixtura while under the care of House Lestrange Lord Black shall be granted entrance to the Lestrange properties and vaults to remove monies or artifacts judged by a representative of Gringotts to be of equal value in recompense…"
With his explanation done, Sirius simply stood there, allowing his pompous stance to relax, waiting for Harry's thoughts.
Harry had been surprised when he'd seen the diagram, for he knew exactly where the artifact was, and knew for a fact that it was no longer in the possession of the Lestranges. Putting together just what that meant led Harry to become rather excited.
"Sirius… are you saying that all I need to do is Kill Bellatrix Lestrange and you'll be able to get into their vault?" Harry asked, hoping he fully understood what his godfather was leading him to.
Blanching somewhat at Harry's casual talk of killing someone, even his insane bitch of a cousin, in cold blood Sirius answered with less enthusiasm than before.
"Well, I hadn't necessarily thought that you needed to kill her. Rather, I'd hoped we could facilitate her capture by the Ministry and then petition to have her kissed. Also, the" -he looked at the contract again, clearly forgetting what the artifact was called,- "Memormixtura can't be in their vault and still functional. Otherwise the Goblins would insist I take that and I still wouldn't be able to get my hands on the cup."
Brushing away Sirius' concerns, Harry began to think of just what this meant to his mission to destroy the Horcruxes while absently answering Sirius and looking somewhere in the distance.
"Oh, I'm positive the Lestranges no longer have it… and the one they gifted it to certainly isn't one who would give it back. That won't be an issue. As for Bellatrix… no. I already wanted her dead as soon as possible, this simply gives me a more material reason than before. No, all this means is that I won't be waiting for her to come to me."
Harry's gaze fell and he locked eyes with Sirius, who felt a chill run up his spine. He was once again reminded that this Harry had not been raised by James and Lily. This Harry had apparently lost a war. This Harry had seen war, this Harry was a killer.
"I'll be going hunting."
After his discussion with Sirius, Harry made his way through the shrieking shack's tunnel and to the castle. Not feeling that he'd be able to fall asleep with all the thoughts he had running through his mind, Harry decided to go to the room of requirement to train for a while. He began making his way to the seventh floor. It was as he made his way from the second floor staircase towards one of the tapestries that he knew had a hidden passage that would get him to the sixth floor that he realized that he had someone following him while trying, and failing, to be discreet.
Not being unfamiliar with being followed, and also aware that there was rarely a time that someone would do so with good intentions, Harry made his way around the next corner rather than ducking behind the tapestry and simply waited to confront the person, whoever they may be.
Not for the first time since whatever had happened, Harry wished that he had managed to bring back more than he had. His invisibility cloak would have been incredibly useful. Though he couldn't fault himself too much for not having anything but his clothes and wand, since he hadn't thought he would need supplies after enacting his plan, thus hadn't thought to prepare anything. However, Harry had long since learned to be resourceful, and while being followed wasn't a good thing he also knew that within the school he wouldn't be dealing with the likes of those that he'd had to evade during his time.
Suddenly, from around the corner emerged who he clearly recognized as his pseudo-sister, Rose Potter, and Luna Lovegood.
Clearly surprised to see him standing so close but not willing to let herself be caught flat-footed, Rose quickly greeted him.
"Algol! Hello! How are you liking the castle?"
Raising an eyebrow, undecided whether he was impressed or amused at the casual opening.
"Ms. Potter. Ms. Lovegood. Good evening to you both as well. I was on my way to a room I have adopted for the purpose of training. May I ask what brings you to this part of the castle this evening?"
Obviously not having planned for what to say if they were caught, Rose tried to think of a plausible story.
"Well, you see, uhm-"
While Rose sought to come up with a plausible excuse that they would have run into Algol, Luna seemed to be examining him quite closely. With her head tilted to the side quizzically, Luna suddenly cut Rose off, completely ignoring Algol's question and asking one of her own.
"What do you have in your eyes?"
"...excuse me?"
"Your eyes, I can see that you have something in them, however it doesn't seem to bother you like it does when I find myself with something in my eye."
Fondly recalling Luna and her eccentricities, Harry smiled before explaining to the pure-blood.
"They are called contact lenses. They are a muggle invention that serves the same purpose as glasses, but are much harder to have fall off."
"Fascinating" was her simple response.
"Returning to my question though, was there something that brought you two here tonight?"
After standing and watching the exchange, Rose had been able to think of an excuse and quickly explained "Yes! We actually, uhm, had seen you come in from outside and followed you. My mum wanted to know if you would like to have dinner with us this week and I wanted to invite you?"
While this was not entirely true, as they had discussed no such thing, Rose was certain that she could convince her mother and sister if the boy were interested.
"Ah, while I appreciate the invitation I find I must decline. I find myself still settling in here and do not wish to miss a dinner with my housemates who are just beginning to open up to me."
Thinking of all the meals that she had seen him eating at the Slytherin table, alone, Rose found this excuse entirely unlikely. However, as her offer hadn't really been genuine she was willing to let it pass.
"Oh alright then. Well, have a good night!" Rose said very quickly before grabbing Luna's hand and directing them towards the Ravenclaw common room on the other side of the castle.
After gaining enough distance that she was sure they wouldn't be overheard, Rose released a sigh, and said "Well, that was a waste. We didn't learn anything about him."
"That's not true." Luna replied. "We found out that Algol spends time on the grounds, for what we do not know, engages in some sort of training, is familiar enough with the castle and grounds that he has no trouble navigating them even outside of normal class times, and wears contact lenses, a muggle invention, rather than glasses. Have you heard of these things before?"
Thinking about what Luna said, Rose answered distractedly.
"Yeah, they're actually pretty common in the muggle world. My mum tried to get dad to wear them once, thinking that they'd be useful for an auror. But he couldn't get the hang of putting them in and taking them out, he gave up on them pretty quickly though."
"Hmm, interesting. I wonder why he prefers them over glasses?" Luna asked, more of herself than anyone else.
Rose had opened her mouth to begin to explain how they were actually very often preferred in the muggle world so it wasn't really noteworthy before realizing that because the concept was so foreign to Luna it was best to just let it lie. With a shake of her head in her amusement at her friend and some of the pureblood shortsightedness Rose just motioned for them to continue their upward trek.
After turning away from the hallway where Rose and Luna had just disappeared down, Harry found himself walking towards the Weasley twins. He hadn't really given the two troublemakers any thought since arriving at Hogwarts. To him they had died years ago and perhaps more tragically was that their senses of humor had died several years before they had.
However, Harry now knew that he had made a serious mistake by not thinking about them when he came back as he could see them looking down at a familiar piece of parchment, up at him and then back to the piece of parchment. The Marauder's map. Bloody fucking hell, this was a problem.
Quickly glancing around without moving his head, so as to not make obvious that he was looking for ways out, Harry realized that they were nearly right outside moaning Myrtle's bathroom. A couple quick stunners, a hop down to the chamber of secrets so as to not be discovered, a few memory charms that would hopefully go better than Lockhart's had and the problem should be taken care of.
Just as the three boys drew level with one another, the Weasley twins stopped and greeted him slyly, exchanging glances between the two of them.
"Hey! Mate, its Algol right?" one asked.
"We haven't had a chance to properly introduce ourselves, we're-"
"The Weasley twins, Fred and George. Or George and Fred-"
"Whatever you prefer!"
Having forgotten about the twinspeak they were known for in their younger days, Harry found himself struggling for a moment to keep up. Before answering, Harry glanced up and down the corridor to make sure there wasn't anyone that would see what he was about to do. Apparently, they noticed him looking around for people and misinterpreted his intentions.
"Ah, don't worry Mate-"
"There's no one else even on this floor since you-"
"Split from Luna and Rose. Speaking of Ro-"
Having had enough and the two being kind enough to verify they had even checked the map for possible witnesses and found none, Harry snapped his wand into his hand and fired off two quick and silent stunners. The first twin was caught completely unaware and the second had just enough time for a horrified recognition of what was happening to bloom across his face before he too slumped to the floor.
Sighing, as he really didn't want to do this but knowing that for his secret to stay safe he had to, Harry levitated the two stunned Weasleys towards Myrtle's bathroom and in the door. Luckily, Myrtle seemed to be out for the night and Harry thanked Merlin for small mercies. Hissing quickly to the tap he knew housed the entrance to the chamber of secrets, Harry watched the whole tap slide to the side and revealed the massive pipe he, Ron and Lockhart had blindly dove into during second year.
He glanced down and listened for any movement that he could hear. Not hearing anything he conjured a rock about the size of his head and dropped the stone to see if that caused any reaction. When there was still no indication of life from below Harry felt fairly certain that they must have dealt with the Basilisk or it was still in the statue. He hit both twins with cushioning charms and sent them tumbling down the pipe before jumping in right after them.
The chamber was just as gross as he remembered. Small animal skeletons covering the ground and a film of muck and grime that had built up inches thick. Harry cast a banishing charm over the floor to clear most of the small bones to one corner and then several overpowered scourgifys just to get rid of enough grime as to not be slippery before conjuring himself a chair and sitting to think about his best course of action.
Now that he took a moment, Harry realized that he may have acted rashly, but he honestly wasn't sure that there had been a better course of action. He needed to ensure the twin's silence and he probably needed to take the damn map since it was one of the few things that could give him away so easily. Now that he thought about it, would the badges at the guest entrance to the ministry have a similar problem? He would have to think about that later, and just avoid the ministry until then. Not that he was particularly keen to be visiting the ministry anyways.
After considering just how much the twins could know, Harry came to the conclusion that he would have to enervate them and see just how bad things were. He was really hoping they had only noticed his name that night and came to confront him immediately, then the memory charm wouldn't be too difficult to replace without notice. Barring that then he may find things significantly more difficult.
Propping them up against one of the large beams and two wordless expelliarmus' later and he had the two boys' wands. There was no way he was going to wake them both at the same time so he decided to start with the one on the left.
An enervate had the first Gryffindor groggily waking up.
"Ugggrh… Geor, wha's goin on?"
"I'm afraid George is stunned for the time being. I believe we need to have a chat, Mr. Weasley." Harry said from his chair. Causing the redhead's eyes to snap up and look around before settling on Harry.
"Algol, what's the big idea?!" Then looking around, realizing he'd never seen this part of the castle "and where are we?" he added, a little less hostile in his curiosity.
"Well, Fred, I'm afraid that you and George knew too much and I can't have that just now. As far as where we are, don't worry about it, it isn't important just now."
Now far more alert, and the seriousness of the situation dawning on him, Fred looked at Harry warily and asked "what are you on about? What do me and George supposedly know that would warrant… this?" using his chin to gesture at their surroundings and the two redhead's bound hands and feet.
"Just how long have you two known my name was Harry Potter?" Harry asked bluntly.
Without missing a beat, Fred replied as though this was the first he was hearing of it.
"You're Harry Potter? Everyone knows he's dead so I can't say we had a bleedin clue!"
Pausing for a moment and evaluating Fred's performance Harry had to admit that if he didn't already know the truth he would've believed him. As Fred watched, Harry leaned down and picked up the Marauder's map from where he had set it next to his chair. Holding it in front of him Harry looked back to Fred to see whether he would speak up.
"You know, George was kind enough to tell me a little something about this piece of parchment. I must admit, a remarkable piece of magic."
When he maintained his silence Harry brought his wand to the parchment and clearly spoke.
"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."
Smirking at the stunned expression on Fred's face, he let his eyes drift over the map while absently continuing.
"Would you like to try that again?"
"H- wha- But, how? Who are you?" was the conscious redhead's response.
"I'm sure you already know that, due in large part to this map here. A fact that I will admit, I should have thought of before arriving. So, I'll ask again. How long have you two known my name is Harry Potter, and furthermore have you discussed such with anyone else?" When he saw that Fred was about to speak, Harry quickly cut him off to warn "and be aware, that I have already gone through this line of questioning with your brother, and your answers had better match what he has told me."
Gulping, "and if they don't?" Fred asked.
"Then I will assume George lied to me, and as I warned him, I will kill him if that is the case." Harry said simply, shifting his wand in a lazy wave towards the other redhead but not firing anything just yet.
Fred's mouth snapped shut, with the realization that he and George had found themselves in a rare situation where they would be unable to lie their way out of.
"We tell you everything you want, you let us go, yeah?" he asked.
With a nonchalant air Harry reassured him, "believe it or not Fred, I honestly don't want to hurt either of you two." Then leaning forward and his eyes becoming hard to make clear his meaning, "but there are certain things I need to know and will not risk. So, if you two are not completely honest with me then I will need to assume the worst. Please… Do not make me do that."
For some reason Fred found himself believing the Slytherin when he said that he truly didn't want to hurt them, so for once he decided that candid honesty was his best bet.
"We first noticed the name the night of the sorting. We had been planning a welcome back prank of sorts and took a detour on the way back to our common room when we saw it. We didn't… know… it was you until tonight though. We don't use the map where too many others can see it so we couldn't check during meal times and we haven't been able to run across you until tonight."
Harry had continued to keep his gaze on Fred as the boy spoke, but had really stopped listening since he'd admitted to them knowing since the night of the sorting. His mind racing to think of just how he was going to keep this under wraps. That was too long of a period to obliviate with any sort of finesse and hope to go unnoticed and though he had threatened him, Harry had no intention of harming any Weasley. When Harry continued to sit in silence after he'd finished, Fred thought that he was waiting for him to elaborate and continued.
"That said, we were pretty much sure it was you since that night as well. First off, we've all heard the stories of 'Harry Potter'. Raised on them we were. So we knew that he wasn't no firsty, we also knew he wasn't here last year so that really only left you. Or someone under an invisibility cloak. But to be honest mate, you're about as shifty as they come so…" Fred let himself trail off with a shrug.
Finally shaking himself out out of his daze, Harry realized there was nothing for it. He'd have to extract unbreakable vows from the two. With a wave of his wand George began to wake up much the same as Fred had minutes ago.
Fred watched his brother slowly reawaken, shooting occasional glances at Harry.
"So, what do we call you?" Fred asked.
"Algol. And here is what's going to happen. You two are going to give me unbreakable vows that you will not share my identity, anything you have learned about me or any suspicions you may have thought of in regard to me."
Having just woken up after being stunned, George found himself thoroughly confused.
"Wait, what the hell's goin on?" he asked looking to Fred, clearly not liking the situation he had woken up to.
Somewhat confused by his brother's confusion, Fred explained.
"Algol here, stunned us. Then questioned us about what we knew and when we knew it about him? Ringing any bells?"
At George's confused look Fred's head whipped back to look at Harry, who shrugged.
"Yeah, I lied. You were the first one I questioned. Answers were about as bad as they could get so I didn't need to verify."
"But… but… you knew how to open the map! How?"
Harry just shrugged "My dad and his friends were the Marauders."
Now both redheads gaped at him, clearly stunned at learning that he knew who the Marauders were.
"Well, should we get started?" Harry asked, knowing they'd only be stunned silent for moments and he needed to keep them on task rather than asking all kinds of questions.
Harry waved his wand again to free them from the restraints and began to explain just what the vows would contain but had only made it about halfway through his explanation when a loud clatter came from much deeper into the chamber. The three spun to look to where the noise had come from but heard nothing else for several seconds. Just when the twins had decided that it was nothing and began to turn back to Harry and begin asking about the vow he shushed them, all of a sudden clearly worried and still straining to hear farther into the chamber. The three continued to stand there in silence and just when Harry had begun to believe that his worries were for nothing and that they should just continue with the vow he heard it.
"Blood! Fresh meat comes to master's chamber. Must rip. Must Tear Must KILL!"
Sirius left his meeting with Harry in the Shrieking Shack with mixed feelings. From the way it sounded, they were making significant progress towards defeating the bastard. But the more time he spent with Harry the more he realized that, while he wasn't the boy they had all lost over a decade ago, he was every bit the Harry that Sirius had wanted the boy to grow up to be, if a bit damaged. They still hadn't really discussed just what had sent him here. Sirius had asked once and while it seemed that Harry had known, or at least had a guess, he clearly didn't want to share it. But Sirius knew he wanted to get Harry to open up, and more importantly he wanted to give James and Lily the chance to meet the man that was their son.
After making it far enough away from the shrieking shack as to not draw any unwanted attention with his apparition Sirius disappeared with a crack just to reappear in the Potter's living room in Godric's Hollow.
"Prongs? Mate? Where you at?" Sirius called out. He watched as his oldest friend entered from the kitchen, strangely calm in comparison to the tone of his patronus message.
"Sirius! There you are mate, we've got to talk." James said, his tone distracted.
As Sirius began to respond he heard someone step behind him, and before he could even turn his world went dark.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord is here… The Warlock, at first unmistaken, has allowed faith to waver… Seeking to alter what cannot be altered, will become the dark's unwitting ally… Beware the false heir to the most ancient and noble of houses, for he shall strike against those who will stand with the vanquisher. For only once the heir of the light joins his house with those both dark and gray shall he be able to vanquish the Dark Lord… The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord is here…"
Albus Dumbledore found himself, as he often did, with his mind too restless for sleep. As such, the aged headmaster now sat in his office, going over the newest prophecy as given by Sybil Trelawney.
It was obviously a continuation of sorts of the first she had given all those years ago, hinting towards the one who can defeat the Dark Lord. Yet, for all the ambiguity of the first prophecy Albus felt that this new prophecy made at least one thing clear. Algol Black could not be trusted.
A new, strange and unheard of heir appears, seemingly out of nowhere, and is made heir to the House of Black? Algol was clearly this false heir the prophecy warned would stand against the vanquisher's allies. If that wasn't clear enough, he felt he wasn't too modest to think he was the warlock the prophecy referenced, and his faith is Neville Longbottom as the chosen one had wavered. He had even been trying to make the mysterious, but clearly powerful, Algol fit the role instead.
Albus Dumbledore was a man of many things. But an ally of the dark, unwitting or no, he was not. The introduction of the talented young man had sent ripples across the surface of the known and unknown. Albus felt his resolve harden and having come to a sort of decision decided to return to his bed for the night.
Tomorrow, he would begin to make sure that appropriate checks were in place for the young heir Black.
The Basilisk wasn't dead. The Basilisk was very much alive and worse, apparently loose.
"Bugger" Harry cursed, before grabbing both Weasley twins by the elbow and showing them towards a pipe that led away from where the voice was coming.
"Run, we need to move. Don't speak, be as quiet as you can and whatever happens do not look back." Harry said in a rushed whisper.
To their credit, while they were clearly confused by the order both twins still immediately followed it and began running down the pipe as fast as they could with the enigma of a Slytherin following them.
After running about 50 yards they passed what was clearly at one point a branch of the pipe system that had since collapsed. Leaving what was a dead end about as long as the knight bus. Thinking quickly, Harry called both twins.
"Stop! Quick, in here, now!"
Again without question both twins ran in and then turned to watch as Harry turned to the pipe they had come from and shot a huge swath of flames that was so hot that they had to look away, but not before thinking they saw something form within the flames. He then turned towards the direction they had been running and did the same before backing towards the twins and waving his wand quickly back and forth around the opening and conjuring a bowed wall to close off their alcove from the rest of the pipe.
He stood there, wand at the ready, as the sound of something immensely heavy came rushing closer. When whatever it was drew near it seemed to slow considerably but continued past their makeshift hidey-hole.
Once he could no longer hear the Basilisk right outside Harry let out a sigh of release before turning to the twins, conjuring three chairs and falling down into one and shutting his eyes in relief.
The twins shared a glance before taking a seat of their own.
"Alright mate, we're gonna need you to start talking"
"Starting with just what the bloody hell that was just now?"
"Basilisk" was all Harry said, emotionlessly, before opening his eyes and seeing two of the palest Weasleys he had ever seen.
"What?!" they both whisper yelled together.
"Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk to be more precise I suppose."
When neither redhead seemed to know what to say next, Harry decided it was time to do what they came here for.
"Alright, here's what we're going to do." He said, handing them both their wands back. "You two are going to make an unbreakable vow to not share, hint or in any way communicate anything you learned pertaining to Harry Potter or anything in, or dealing with, the Chamber of Secrets or the monster within."
"Like Bloody hell we are!" one exclaimed as they both turned their wands towards Harry.
"Probably shouldn't have given our wands back just yet" the other said, clearly thinking that they wouldn't be taken by surprise again.
Sighing, Harry simply laid his own wand on his lap before leaning back, closing his eyes again without a care to the wands now pointed towards him and explaining the situation more clearly to them.
"Fred. George. You're trapped, in a small offshoot of one of many pipes contained within the legendary Chamber of Secrets, which will only open for a parseltongue, with a Basilisk running around outside here somewhere. I'm afraid that you are completely at my mercy so wands or no, you are going to make that vow."
As the full scope of their predicament began to present itself the two shared one of their looks before slowly lowering their wands as well. Not that Harry could tell with his eyes shut.
"Alright, say we make these vows-"
"Then what happens?" they asked.
Staying quiet for a moment while he thought, Harry came up with the rough outline of a plan and began to share it.
"First, you two will make those vows. Then, when I think the Basilisk isn't right around a corner waiting, we'll make our way back from where we came from. We will then be going through the pipe that was behind me when you two woke up. If anything were to go wrong, you two will make your way to that pipe, get yourselves to the top, conjure the biggest boulder below you that you can and call for help." Harry opened his eyes to convey his seriousness. "You won't be able to get out without me, but you'll be close enough to the surface that people will be able to hear you. Though, admittedly, it is a quite unpopular bathroom so you may have to wait for Myrtle to fetch someone for you."
"That sounds like-"
"An absolutely shite plan" they answered, clearly unimpressed.
"Well that's what I've got, do you know anything better?" Harry asked.
"Mate, we're not gonna just leave you down here if that thing comes back!" the twin that Harry thought was George said, clearly offended at the thought of leaving someone to, presumably, their death.
"I dragged you two down here, it's my job to see you out. Fight me on this and we'll make it part of the vow."
"No, that plan is fine." the other twin agreed to cut off the disagreement, understanding Harry wouldn't budge.
With that, two made their vows while Harry accepted them and then they all settled down to wait a while longer just to give the snake more time to hopefully return to its nest or whatever they do.
"What was with the fire?" Fred asked, trying to pass the time.
"Snakes, like a Basilisk, can see heat. I needed it to not know where we went, trying to hide our heat would've been too hard, so I just heated everything else so that it wouldn't know where we'd gone."
"No, we knew that. We meant that when you conjured it, it looked like it formed something. Some sort of animal or something." continued, just as curious as his brother.
"Oh. Basilisks can sense magic the same as heat. So I had to use magic fire."
"Magic fire? The only magic fire we've heard of that takes a form-"
"Is fiendfyre."
Smiling Harry answered the unasked question, "I know a couple types, though fiendfyre is far and away the most effective, and when dealing with Basilisks I don't go for half measures."
"Right" was all the other two said.
Having decided enough time had passed and he hadn't heard the snake in a while Harry stood and motioned for them to do the same, it was time to get out of the damn chamber.
As Sirius woke he could only think that waking up tied to chairs was beginning to get old. After getting his bearings he began to look around and recognized that he seemed to be in the Potter's spare bedroom. By the time he had come to this realization the door to the room opened and he watched as his two friends walked in with grave looks on their faces, clearly they'd had a charm to tell them when he awoke.
"Alright gents? Fancy seeing you here, what can I do you for?" Sirius asked in his typical nonchalant attitude.
The two others conjured themselves chairs in front of Sirius and sat before James began.
"Mate, we need to talk about all that's been going on."
"Well all you had to do is ask Prongs, the greeting was a bit much."
"I've tried! I've asked about what's been going on. I've asked about your sudden adoption of this new heir. You've hinted at things and sidestepped questions at every turn. What else could we do?" James demanded, clearly exasperated that his best friend was acting like everything was normal.
Deliberately misinterpreting what his friend was worried about, Sirius tried to brush all concerns aside. "This is all about Algol? Come on, James. I that you were joking about being worried that I'd replaced you with a younger model. I'm sorry mate, I swear it's not like that. You're still my best mate! So what do you say, can we get these off?" Sirius finished, shaking his hands to indicate the ropes that bound him.
Remus sighed, recognizing that Sirius was in one of his 'rile James up' moods, quickly jumped in, realizing that it fell to him again to get things on track.
"Sirius, this is about more than just the strange appearance of Algol and your reluctance to discuss where he's come from. Earlier tonight, James and I visited Grimmauld place to invite you out to the pub, you obviously weren't home. But we found something that has worried us and we are going to need answers."
Now realizing just what they might have found and how difficult this discussion could be Sirius was much more hesitant when asking "What is it you think you found?"
"A treasure trove of what is the darkest magic I've ever felt clearly being stashed in the old Grimmauld dungeons!" James yelled, letting his anger get the best of him.
"Ah, yeah. I suppose that would do it." he admitted.
"Sirius, I am not exaggerating when I say that whatever you have in your home is a magic so foul that even the wolf shied away." Remus explained, hoping that he could make his friend see how dangerous whatever those things were.
"I know." he admitted. Letting his head droop, knowing that if he were in their position he would be doing the exact same and would likely be even angrier than James was.
"Then just what the hell is going on?" James now pleaded, looking for any answers.
With a sigh Sirius tried to think of just what he could actually tell them. Maybe he could lead them to an explanation that would make sense.
"You've both seen what's been going on. James, you've been part of the same department meetings as me, unrest is increasing. You've both heard Moody say that it started the same way last time. There have been some unexplained disappearances, obviously the rat and Bellatrix's escape and a whole lot of other things. Dumbledore has always said that he didn't think Voldemort was gone for good."
Sirius looked up to his friends, hoping to convey the truth to his words in his eyes.
"Well, we lost enough last time around that I'm not going to standby and let things get as bad as they did. Which is exactly what Dumbledore is going to do, so I've decided to be more… proactive."
Stunned, James and Remus clearly hadn't expected any of this.
"You… think he's back?" James hesitantly asked before looking towards the window, clearly afraid and thinking of what that could mean for his family.
"No. Not yet. But I do think he's closer than any of us would like."
"You don't trust Dumbledore anymore." Remus said, it wasn't a question.
"No. Not when the lives of my friends, my family, are involved."
This proclamation had James' head snapping back to look at the tied up man. He had missed the slight undertone of scorn that Sirius had when he said that Dumbledore wasn't going to do enough, but Remus hadn't.
"Sirius, he's the leader of the light. We owe hi-" Remus began.
"WE OWE HIM NOTHING!" Sirius yelled, cutting the werewolf off. His breath coming fast and ragged as he thought of Harry, Regulus, Dorcas, the Longbottoms and so many others who had left behind broken loved ones and families with their deaths.
"What did he lose last time? Who did he bury? Do you both truly believe that his leadership did so much to help last time? Because we all know that we lost. If it wasn't for Ha-" Sirius closed his eyes, the memory clearly paining him.
There was silence for several minutes while the two unbound men digested what their friend had just said and the bound one calmed himself again.
Now much calmer, Sirius continued. "Listen, Prongs, Moony. I don't hate Dumbledore, I don't think he is incompetent. I don't think that he consciously let anyone be killed. I recognize that he is an incredibly valuable ally. But we have to recognize that while he may be a great teacher and wizard he was a poor general."
"Sirius, where are these thoughts coming from?" Remus asked.
"I've thought a lot about those days, they've been a long time coming, Moony." Sirius said, trying to dodge the question.
"Really, because I can't help but notice that you seem to have begun this apparent shadow war the same time that Algol showed up." James refocused onto the other mystery that they had no answers for, not wanting to think about all the things Sirius had drug up from the past just yet.
Knowing that it might hurt his friend but also knowing that he wouldn't be able to answer any of their concerns about Harry, Sirius decided to redirect.
Looking directly at James and holding his gaze he asked, "Why did Dumbledore tell you and Lily to go into hiding? Did he ever tell you?"
Even though he was surprised by the sudden shift of focus, James still answered. "Yeah, we told you. He'd gotten intel that Voldemort was after us."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why was he after you?"
"What do you mean? We were part of the order, I'm an auror, there are plenty of reasons!"
Having sat back and simply watched the exchange between the two, Remus saw that Sirius was talking James towards a conclusion he was reluctant, or maybe even unable, to voice.
"What are you trying to say, Sirius?" Remus asked, hoping to cut to the heart of the matter.
Looking back and forth between the two, Sirius began making observations that, in hindsight, and with Harry's knowledge became awfully suspicious.
"The Headmaster had two families go into hiding at the same time. Only two. Both on 'intelligence that the Dark Lord was targeting them'. Sure, neither the Potters or Longbottoms would be welcome to the wanker's dinner parties but what made you two so special?"
"Well… we both had newborns, he probab-"
Sirius cut James off with "Weasleys, Bones, Abbots and Browns. All were order families with newborns in some way."
"Me, Frank and Alice were auro-"
"So was Edgar, and illustrates my point of him being a poor leader. Benching three of the only trained fighters we had when we were already losing. Badly."
"Ok Padfoot, why do you think he only had us go into hiding?" James asked, annoyed at Sirius' flippant attitude.
Pausing for a moment, Sirius made what James thought another non sequitur. But Sirius saw his more weathered friend sit up a bit straighter and knew that Moony was beginning to see it.
"You know, I would always joke to Lils and Alice that they were very considerate for having their boys so close together. Said it saved me the hassle of multiple visits. Can't honestly say pissing off two women who'd just given birth was one of my better ideas."
"What are you on about?"
"Speaking of Alice's boy, didn't Rose say that Dumbledore seems to meet with him regularly? Poor kid, I am sure glad he didn't do that to us. Though, now that I think about it I can't say I've heard of him doing it for any student before, really."
As Sirius thought, Remus was the first to see it.
"You think it was about the boys? Harry and Neville? You think Dumbledore thought that Voldemort was after the boys, not their parents, why? What would Voldemort have wanted with babies and why just those two?"
James, startled at the correct, based on the lack of reaction by Sirius, realization that his friend seemed to have made quickly felt his heart fill with dread.
"What are you talking about? Sirius, this isn't funny!"
"I'm not laughing." was the deadpan response.
Sirius truly hated having to work around the damn vow, only able to reference things they already knew and still feeling that he was skirting the edge of what magic would allow. But he had few options. Magical vows were old magic, yet they still weren't fully understood. However, while you couldn't speak of a vow once given, aurors had long learned that they were one of the only things that could stop someone from answering under truth serum. Not even the Imperius could do the same. With that in mind, Sirius decided it'd be best that the other two at least knew that when he said that he couldn't tell them certain things he really meant that he couldn't.
"Listen, James. Ask him, ask Dumbledore why he had you go into hiding. Look him in the eye and ask him. I get why you two are worried and I truly do understand how foul those things in my house are but I have no where better to keep them, trust me. I truly can't tell you most of what is going on, but it'd honestly be better for you to hear it from Algol. So how about we do this, James goes and gets his veritaserum that I'm sure he has squirreled away somewhere that he thinks Lily doesn't know about" Sirius ignored James' indignant cry, "to use on whatever boy Rose or Daisy brings home, and I answer what I can. Just don't be surprised when I can't answer most of what you want to know. I'll even give you a list that should help some of your worries."
James and Remus exchanged a look and realized that this was likely the best option they would find, and thinking that if Sirius was under undue influence then the offer of willingly taking truth serum would be incredibly bold. So James stood and left the other two alone for a minute before returning with a small vial he'd liberated from an order that Lily had fulfilled for the aurors when their usual potioneer was unavailable and their stores were low.
The three discussed just what questions Sirius knew he could answer and then administered three drops and let them take effect before beginning their questioning.
"What are you planning on doing with the dark artifacts we found in Grimmauld place earlier tonight?"
"Destroy them"
"What are they?"
"..."
At Sirius' lack of response the other two shared a glance, the hints Sirius had dropped now being confirmed. Sirius had taken a magical vow of some sort for some reason. Knowing that they were unlikely to learn as much as they'd like they continued their list of questions.
"You think Voldemort is returning?"
"Yes"
"What makes you so sure?"
"..."
"You think that Voldemort was after Harry and not us that night?"
"Yes"
"Why would he have been after Harry?"
"..."
"You think Dumbledore knows why he would have been after Harry?"
"Yes"
They went back and forth in a similar pattern. James or Remus asking one of the questions that Sirius told them he knew that he could answer and then trying to see if they could find out more only to find out that Sirius wasn't lying when he said that there really wasn't much he could share as far as where his information comes from, though it was pretty clear that Algol was a big part of it. This correlation led to James focusing on the boy for the last of their questioning which happened to both answer some of his questions as well as raise others.
"How long have you known Algol?"
"All his life"
"How well do you know Algol?"
"Better than anyone else alive"
James and Remus were somewhat unsettled, having known that Sirius had claimed to have known Algol as a child but not truly believing it until now.
"Who were Algol's parents?"
"..."
"Why didn't you ever tell us about Algol before this year?"
"..."
"Is Algol his real name?"
"..."
Sighing at the apparent stone wall they'd hit, James sat back in his seat and just looked at his best friend sitting in the drug induced haze when Remus turned to address him rather than Sirius.
"James, I think we've gotten about as much about Algol as we can. I think we're just going to need to trust Sirius and think of our next moves."
James thought for a moment before responding "I think you're right, Moony. There's just one last thing I need to know." with that he turned back towards Sirius to ask.
"How dangerous is Algol?"
For the first time that night, Sirius seemed to struggle against the potion, making both of the other men hold their breath in anticipation. Sirius, though reluctant to give the answer he knew would only make things more difficult, eventually was forced to by the potion.
"...extremely"
"Wormtail! Here, now!" Lord Voldemort called from where his childlike body was sat by the fire and not for the first time thought that even with how pathetic they were he was glad that rats were trainable.
Entering the room with his head bowed in deference, Peter responded.
"Yes, my Lord. How may I serve you?"
"What is the word from my most faithful servants?"
"Barty has sent word that he was able to accomplish the task you set him. His father however seems to be resisting more than expected and has required more of his attention than first thought. Bellatrix has only informed me that she is still working on her task but has yet to have discovered that which you seek."
Thinking for several moments the creature that had once been Tom Riddle came to a decision. It was time for his return. Barty had been successful, which would allow him to ensure that the infernal prophecy was no longer a threat to his physical body by eliminating the other candidate it warned of and showing his headmaster that no one, even a boy of prophecy, could hope to stand against him. While he had hoped Bellatrix might have learned what magic it was that led to his fall that night he knew it was unlikely, so her return to his side would be more beneficial and with his imminent return he would need someone more capable than Wormtail to carry out his orders.
"Inform them both that they are to report here at once. Tell Barty to bring his father, I think that the pureblood head of the DMLE will do nicely for what I require. Once you have sent word, begin gathering the supplies for the ritual. In a week's time Lord Voldemort will rise to rule once again!"
Whimpering with the knowledge that he had only a week left before he must make his sacrifice, Peter bowed saying "At once, my Lord," and left the room as quickly as he could without running.
Yes, Voldemort thought. He would make his return and then watch as Dumbledore's last hope was forced to his death right under the old man's nose on the grounds he felt were nearly hallowed. In the unlikely scenario that the boy were to be more competent than expected, contingencies would be made. Though the thought of the boy nearly making it through such dangerous perils to only die so close to the finish would surely dishearten the old goat even more. Perhaps he would have to consider having Barty help the boy, for a time, rather than hinder him? He would need to think on it more, once he had his own body again and could devote more of his planning to bending the populus to his will than his return to his previous power.
The three boys made their way down the pipe they had run down only earlier. The heat still sweltering from Algol's fiendfyre making them soak their robes with sweat as they moved and nearly held their breath with the need for silence. A benefit of the fire had been the vaporization of all the water that they'd had to run through earlier so a silencing charm on their shoes would work to make their steps quieter, but the visibility was nearly nonexistent due to the steam that hung in the air.
Not a sound was heard as they slowly crept back to the initial chamber that Algol had dropped them. Algol motioned for them to wait at the entrance of the pipe before darting across the chamber with his eyes low, hoping to draw the snake to action if it was lying in wait. When nothing happened he was about to signal the two others to come when they came rushing out from where they'd been standing and frantically motioning behind them as Harry heard the sound of rushing scales quickly approaching.
Apparently, the beast was making its way down the pipe they'd been hiding and had spotted them. Knowing that their need for quiet was over Harry yelled to the twins.
"Quick, into the pipe. Both of you!"
The two shared a glance before saying together, "after you!"
Cursing the impetus twins, but realizing they didn't have time to argue and he didn't know that he'd be able to close the entrance quick enough if it were to follow them up Harry quickly grabbed them both again and began to run to where he knew the chamber proper was while giving fast instructions.
"Alright you two idiots, whatever you do don't look at the thing. I guess we'll have to kill it. We're going to the real chamber, there will be a large open area with pillars surrounding the outer perimeter. Any ideas?" Harry asked as they ran and he conjured any obstacles he could over his shoulder to hopefully slow the beast down.
The twins were incredibly inventive so Harry was hoping they could come up with something, but apparently they needed more information than just where they were heading.
"Do we assume the hide is magic resistant?"
"Is it as strong as a troll?"
"Does it prefer to kill with its gaze or bite?"
"Will it -"
Harry cut them off, knowing they hadn't the time and feeling the thing draw nearer.
"Just assume the worst to all questions and you'll be right!" he said just as they came to the large door with the ornate snake lock that led to the actual chamber and saw that it was left open. The three ran through as Harry hissed out a "Close!" to the door. They had just made it and heard the lock click into place before something massive crashed against the door and began to beat against it repeatedly.
Harry had ushered the twins towards some of the pillars to hide if the thing opened the door and continued to pursue them but it seemed as though the thing was unable to actually open the door and was only able to continue beating on it, which was a great mercy as the three bent over and caught their breath.
After taking several minutes to catch their breath the pounding on the door came to an end. Listening closely though Harry didn't hear anything sounding like movement and figured the thing decided that it would just out wait them.
"Can we not come to an accord?" He asked, hoping that the thing could hear him and might be open to negotiation.
He had to wait for nearly a minute and was beginning to think it was unable to hear him through the thick door when he heard the hissed response.
"You are a true speaker?" it asked.
"Yes, I was blessed with the gift."
"What of your companions?"
"No, they are not speakers."
Again another pause, until finally the snake offered what Harry could tell was a reluctant compromise.
"You are not of master's blood and should not be here, but you have master's gift. I shall allow you to leave to never return."
Somewhat surprised that he had been able to reason at all with the beast, he asked the question he was sure he already knew the answer to.
"What of my companions? Will you let them pass as well if they swear to never return?"
Without hesitation came the answer he'd suspected. "They have neither master's blood or blessing. They shall die for entering the master's chamber."
With a sigh, Harry turned to face the two redheads who'd stood watching him hiss back and forth with one of the most dangerous creatures to have ever lived in a sort of fascinated horror.
"Well, I'm afraid I have bad news." he said, seeing the bit of hope that'd worked onto their faces melt away.