"Thank you for agreeing to see me Headmaster"
"Not at all Miss Black. I'm always glad to help one of my former students. I just wish you had asked for my help much, much earlier."
Bellatrix fumed. This was exactly why she hadn't approached Dumbledore earlier, his habit of insistently pointing out the mistakes of others and then making a big show of forgiving them for it. She wouldn't have approached him now, but Mr Graves assured her that at this point, as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Albus Dumbledore was the best hope getting Sirius a trial.
"Be as that may be, Headmaster, I am not here today about myself."
"Ah, yes. Your sons will be starting Hogwarts next year, is it not so?"
Nobody was supposed to know of her sons except Andromeda. So of course Albus Dumbledore knew all about it.
Well, not all it seemed "Actually headmaster, they start this year." Bellatrix replied with a smirk.
"My, how time flies. It seemed just yesterday... but never mind all that. How are the boys? Do they take after you or their father?"
Bellatrix paused at the question and realized Dumbledore was trying to get her to tell who the father of the boys was. She knew what he suspected; a young passionate woman, beautiful, favourite of the Dark Lord as she was back in the day, it would be quite the logical thing to suspect - that the Dark Lord was the father of the twins.
Let him keep suspecting. She was damned if she would tell Dumbledore of all people who the father was, before she told the twins themselves.
"They are very clever and quite ambitious - so probably Slytherin or Ravenclaw" she said, purposefully misinterpreting the intent of his question.
She didn't mention that Pollux seemed to be on a crusade to convince Castor to go into Hufflepuff after Nymphadora. No boy of hers was going into Hufflepuff, and that was for sure!
Dumbledore hmm'ed and aah'ed appropriately.
"But I'm not here to talk about all that, Headmaster. I'm here to ask for your help to get my cousing Sirius out of Azkaban."
"Surely you don't expect me to release a convicted criminal out in the public Miss Black."
"No, of course not. But Sirius has not had a trial. I just want him to get the justice he deserves."
"Miss Black-" began Dumbledore but was swiftly interrupted by Bellatrix.
"Headmaster, look... you know about my life, what I have done. I could have done what others have done and claimed that I was under an Imperius to whatever I have done. But I didn't do that; I went before a court of law and faced justice for what I have done. If I and free now, it is because I have earned it. That is what I want for Sirius."
"As I seem to recall", countered Dumbledore, "over four-fifths of the charges against you had to be dropped due to lack of witnesses."
"Well that's the prosecutor's fault, isn't it? I faced justice, but I was hardly going to do that without a full knowledge of how the system of justice works. If you think what the courts punished me with was insufficient, then that's a problem between you and the courts. There is nothing more that I could have done!"
Bellatrix had become visibly upset by this point, but she seemed to have realized this and calmed herself.
"Headmaster... I am not asking that Sirius go free. I just want him to have the trial he should have had years ago. I won't complain if the court sentences him to a hundred years after the trial; I will be there outside Azkaban, waiting for Sirius, a hundred years from now. I just want him to face justice, whatever it may entail. Surely even you have to admit that it's nothing more or less than he deserves!"
Dumbledore looked pensive. "What you say does make sense, Miss Black. But what I'm wondering about is what you would get from all this? What do you really want?"
Bellatrix was exasperated at the old man. "Is it not enough that he is my family? Why do I have to have an ulterior motive?"
Dumbledore looked at her shrewdly "I seem to remember you, in your years at Hogwarts, were the ultimate Slytherin. I think my skepticism is rather called for."
Bellatrix sighed. "I have always placed an importance on family. I married a man I did not love because my family wanted me to. When I joined the Dark Lord it was because he promised glory and power to my family. When I left the Dark Lord it was because he was the cause of over half of my family ending up dead.
"I don't have a lot of family left, Dumbledore. I am trying to do right by what little I have left, and if you can't see that, then the hell with you!"
"Such a wonderful sentiment, Miss Black. It always warms my heart to see such passionate affection. Very well, I give you my word that I shall do everything in my power to get Mr Black a trial. But alas, I must ask something of you; for we are not in a position where I can give this to you for nought...
"What will you give me in return, Bellatrix?"
"Slytherin!" cried the hat as soon as it was placed on Castor's head. Pollux groaned to himself.
He'd known Castor was not a Hufflepuff by any means no matter how much Pollux had tried to brainwash him with Nymphadora's name but he'd still hoped that Castor could go to Ravenclaw at least.
He'd even been hopeful when another set of twins, the Weasleys, had shared their compartment and Castor seemed to have liked them immediately. Within the half an hour they had been there, somehow Castor had managed to pick up an alliance, a feud, and declared a prank war with them. But when it came to houses, Castor insisted his family had always been in Slytherin, right as the Weasleys insisted their family had always been in Gryffindor. Gryffindor wouldn't have been too bad.
Oh, there was nothing wrong with Slytherin, he would be the first one to tell you that. But the trouble with Slytherin is that it made it too easy for a budding dark lord to become, well, an actual dark lord.
Ah well. No use crying over spilt milk. He'd have to go there as well and keep an eye on the little bastard.
"Hmm... very difficult" claimed the Hat in his head. "Oh dear. You seem to have been quite the naughty boy - or should I say, the naughty dark lord, Mr Tom Riddle"
Pollux maintained a calm facade but inside he was panicking. "How did you- of course you know, you can read my bloody head. Will you tell Dumbledore?"
"Much as I would want to, the Founders place an enchantment on me that prevents me from revealing anything I learn of any child of their life prior to Hogwarts. So your secret is safe with me, Tom. Or maybe Pollux is a more appropriate apellation now...
"Now, where to sort you... the ambition is definitely there, but more so there is a thirst for knowledge... Maybe Ravenclaw would suit you best..."
"No, I have to go to Slytherin after my brother!"
"Ah, such loyalty. Maybe Hufflepuff is your house..."
"Dear God, no. Please put me in Slytherin!"
"Slytherin? Are you sure? You've already been there once, how about something different this time? No? Alright, then it must be-
"SLYTHERIN!" cried the hat aloud.
Pollux got up and joined his brother, who was clapping politely for him.
The feast was as delicious as he remembered from his first time. Then Dumbledore got up and said something utterly ridiculous. And here he was thinking Dippet used to be ridiculous. Maybe Dumbledore learnt his headmastering from Dippet.
After they had been, in the words of the Headmaster, watered and fed, they were led down to the dungeons by Severus Snape, who then gave them a lecture on what it means to be Slytherin.
Pollux was impressed with Severus. Where Horace Slughorn used to be all "Alright chaps, let's all have a jolly good time for the next seven years" Severus approached the entire exercise with an attitude of "I'm your worst nightmare." If Dumbledore followed the style of Armando Dippet, Severus it seemed was inspired by the style of Lord Voldemort.
They say that imitation is the most sincerest form of flattery, and at this moment Pollux was quite flattered.
Pollux felt bad about what he'd done to Severus in his past life. This was the man who had remained always loyal to him even with the greatest of temptations to waver. Severus had been nothing but faithful - for god's sakes he'd killed Dumbledore! And how had he, Tom Riddle, rewarded that? 'You are a faithful servant, Severus, but only I can live forever'. And he hadn't even had the decency to grant him a painless death with the killing curse - no, he had to use the snake.
Pollux decided, just then, that no matter what happens, he'll try to keep Severus safe this time around. Even if Severus never abandoned the Dark Lord - after all, if Albus Dumbledore couldn't turn him around, what chance would he, Pollux Black, have - even then he would save Severus.
The object of his thoughts seemed to have finished his speech and Pollux politely applauded. It turned out he was the only one to do so, so he stopped in embarrassment. Severus looked amused, though, and approached him.
"Mr. Black. If you don't mind, would you please accompany me?"
"Yes sir. Where are we going?"
"To the Headmaster's office. He wishes to discuss something with you, soething related to your mother."
Castor insinuated himself into the conversation at this point "What about me? Why are you taking only him?"
"Because at this point, the Headmaster wants to talk to only him."
That seemed to be the end of it and Pollux walked behind Severus to Dumbledore's office. His heart was pounding. Had he been found out already? No, Severus said it had something to do with his mother. What was Bellatrix discussing with Dumbledore? He thought it had something to do with the release of Sirius Black. What could he do about that?
Maybe he could let it slip that Pettigrew was the real traitor, but then he, Pollux Black, would have no realistic way of knowing that.
His musing was interrupted when they reached the office. "Butter biscuits", Severus sneered at the gargoyles and they let him in. Dumbledore asked Pollux to sit down and summarily dismissed Severus.
As soon as Severus left and the door closed, ropes shot out of the chair Pollux was sitting in and tied him to it. He panicked, but could do nothing to free himself from the chair. His wand was in his pocket, but he couldn't reach it. He looked up to see Dumbledore, who had a grave expression, and had his wand pointed straight at Pollux.
"Is there anything you wish to tell me, before I kill you, TOM RIDDLE?"
Author's note: Well that took a lot more time than I expected. Serves me right for trying to promise timelines, huh?
I wrote several sequences for this chapter, like the boys shopping in Diagon Alley, Wand shopping at Ollivander's, Meeting the Weasley twins in the train, etc. and discarded all of them because they were bloody boring. I was bored, and I wrote the bloody thing, so I can hardly expect the readers to be engrossed, right?
This chapter turned out a bit short, but I think I'm getting the hang of writing a well edited chapter by now. As you can make out by the ending, the action is going to break out in the next chapter - so hopefully, no more boring chapters.
Finally, please review, tell me if you like it, tell me if it sucks, tell me if something could be better. Until next chapter, cheerio!