A meeting with lords – They had had a couple of meetings with Dumbledore through their middle man but still had not got their hands on the horcruxes under his care but they no longer felt concerned over this. Now it was clear he at least had more than just the greater good in mind they were happy to leave the horcruxes he had with him. It was a little awkward because Remus refused to let him use the mirror like they had requested but there were a few things that they and Dumbledore knew that there was no reason for Remus to be let in on. For example he was still confused why the brothers were going crazy over the message 'I know the truth about Harry's scar'. Reg took it particularly hard, muttering again and again, 'I thought I had one up on him'.
Harry was fine. His scar was not causing him much trouble at all although the boy soon found he could make his uncle and his father flutter around like someone who has just found out his girlfriend is pregnant (not that he, being his age would use that analogy) by saying it ached. Kreacher, the one who discovered it was false also agreed it was quite funny, but gave him a firm talk about how he should not tease his uncle and 'daddy' like that and read him the story of the boy who cried wolf. Of course not a week later his scar actually hurt for real and the two men fluttered about like nervous wrecks again until it turned out he had a temperature and his whole head hurt. Sirius reckoned this was the only time a parent had the right to be relieved their kid was sick.
Rita was becoming used to opening her bedroom door to find someone sitting on the foot of it already so her heart did not leap out of her mouth when she saw the figure there upon opening the door like it had the first time it happened. He was however wearing a large, long grey cloak which covered his whole body and face which was strange seeming as they knew each other, there was only one of two people it could be. He also did not acknowledge her when she came in although he looked at her. Well she presumed it was her he was pointing the hood part of the cloak at; she could not actually see his face. She wondered whether he had hurt himself and did not want to be seen. She surprised herself by feeling a tint of worry for the man should that be the case.
"Sirius?" She moved a couple of steps closer and took her customary place on her chair by the desk; she was unnerved by his unnatural behaviour. She gave him a couple of seconds to answer the question for acknowledgement in her voice, he usually did not need more but he remained silent so she tried again. "Are you ok? You're awfully quiet."
Eventually he answered, "so you are on first name basis now," the voice said, the deep voice that was definitely not Sirius'.
Rita froze, he was sitting in the same place in the same way Sirius sat, but he was disguising his image and did not sound like Sirius, "who are you?" She asked. "Take off your hood so I can see you," she demanded, needless to say it was not obeyed.
"I can't see why it would matter, or why someone like you should know," he drawled in a very lazy voice. The snide comment to her sounded so common in his voice it seemed to her as if he did not know any other way to talk to other people – the pompous, arrogant bastard.
"Well I should, seeming as you are a stranger in my house, it is common courtesy."
She could swear he smiled under that cloak, "of course, I was forgetting myself; I'm used to the doors of the houses I wish to enter being open to me, though windows are a perfectly adequate substitute, and for that I apologise. You can simply call me Lord Black."
"Lord Black? I thought that was Sirius, he is the last Black left."
"There are plenty of Blacks left. Only a few in this country, but many. I was out of the country for a while, enjoying the sea air and the bliss of little responsibility. Yet when my family is in turmoil I do believe I have to stand in. One of my family escaping Azkaban prison is a matter that is going to catch my attention so I came. Of course a member of my family breaking the Black's most highly held rules: loyalty to friends and family struck me hard too. Still, I was horrified by the 'kiss on sight' order so I resolved to find him first. I never found him; I still have not even now, though I have looked solidly all this time, that interests me too."
"How can one man keep from me with all my resources, and the ministry and this 'order' I keep hearing about, for so long, I ask myself. Then I keep hearing these rumours, and I follow the aftermath of his footsteps as attentively as a father. I learnt about the boy-who-lived and how he has custody of the boy and it is clear he is being treated well, and the disgust and how he was treated in his old home. The stories of his power and his ability and wand-less magic make me beam with pride and ever so eager to meet him. I learnt from your papers that he recently defeated Dumbledore, yes I have been reading your work too."
"He continues to impress me and with every death eater he captures I breathe one sigh of relief, and one of fear and agitation. On one hand I am glad that he did not break the Black rule, yet I am worried about the ministry. He has proven himself over and over to be innocent and yet he is still hunted, the minister should have relinquished that after the first time his innocence was proven. Inventing his own penseive, his desire to be a free man is obviously great, stylish captures and trials he is executing too. I thought to myself, why is Fudge still chasing him? Until I realize of course, covering up for his mistake, but any smart man will know he is just making things worse and he must have a couple of brain cells if he is the minister."
"He is evidently not a good one though and I thought to myself, what if there is something else? If fudge got this much wrong then maybe there is something else he is hiding that he needs Black to remain quiet for. He has already done enough to get him sacked, his reputation is ruined, his support lost, and I am sure Sirius will find Peter Pettigrew soon to finish things up nicely. Yet what if Fudge has done something to land him in jail or to bring on the wrath of Sirius. It was too exciting to let lie so I did some digging around." He dug out a file from his cloak and threw it at her, "read it, it is only two pages and the first one is a character profile, page two, paragraph 3."
She skimmed over it, it was all very procedure, listing the crimes he was supposed to have committed and the sentence he was given. Then she gasped as she read the part that must have been the reason behind why the anger had crept into his voice. He was arrested without a trial; the sorrow for another struck her again. "The poor man, that's awful," she muttered without realising she had vocalized something.
"I'm sure your pity is appreciated," Lord Black sniffed in a voice that suggested anything but, "you can understand my feelings. Grab your quill."
"What?" She was startled by the sudden request.
"Grab your quill, I want you to write, that is what you do yes, ms Skeeter? Write about Sirius?"
"Mr Black," she started but was cut off right away.
"Lord Black."
"Lord Black," she may have stressed the Lord part slightly melodramatically. "I am a reporter, Sirius did recruit me so I have been writing on him lately but I did have a successful job before he came into it, I write stories."
"Indeed," his voice was minimally cooler. "While I am inclined to believe the stories you have written on Sirius are true to a certain extent, some of your previous work holds that fairytale quality that suggests that the 'news' you are reporting are indeed stories, and just that."
Well she could not deny that really, but she did have her reasons. People did not want to know what happened, well they did, but they also wanted to read something enjoyable. Usually their want for something enjoyable outweighed their desire to read something that was entirely truthful. People knew what she wrote was heavily glamorized to put it lightly but as long as they did not care, neither did she. Writing the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth was not what sold your story and was not what paid the bills. If a few people got hurt on the way, and she knew she hurt more than reputation and pride sometimes then so be it, that was life, lawyers did it all the time. She did not consider herself a bad person.
It was not her fault that everything she wrote was believed so explicitly or that people could be so hateful. Oh she knew that people loved to pick on others, but she had no idea that some of her stories she had written would lead the bullying she had read about herself later, yet she continued in the same ruthless manner. She never felt guilt, she never felt empathy, she never felt anything for the people whose story she was writing and it was usually a sob story of some sort too, never until she met Sirius Black. She was horrified a young man, still traumatised over the death of his friends was locked in such a hell for a year for a crime he did not commit. She felt sorry for him even though it was pity he almost assuredly did not even want.
She did not have to lie or write fiction since she met Sirius and for some reason she wanted Lord Black to understand her, she wanted to justify herself to him. Her own reasons were unclear, she just wanted to accepted, maybe it was because he was powerful, maybe it was because he could potentially stop her stories with Sirius, though so far all he seemed he wanted her to do was write yet more. She loved writing about Sirius because it gave the public what they wanted, he was everything. He was sexy, dangerous, new, exciting, a vigilante, mysterious a hero, powerful, rich, ruthless and fair, capable of love and had the famous boy who lived under his dubious, but it was slowly turning out to be, good care. He kept readers gossiping until the next issue came out, he was perfect for her career.
She realised he had not left, perhaps he was waiting for her to finish, he wanted to proof read her work perhaps, make sure it was truthful enough of this meeting. She allowed herself a small smile, for he frightened her more than Sirius did, and he terrified her often. This Lord just seemed more aloof, more mysterious, more powerful, and his unknown face added to that feel, it was probably what he was going for; he was a lot like Sirius. He sat lying on her bed as if it was his; reading one of her books, he had mentioned how he was used to people bending over backwards for him. Without looking up from the material he stated in the same quiet, deep, dark, almost monotone voice, "as flattered as I am by the attention, staring at me will not write that paper."
Red faced she turned back to writing. "You can ask questions if you like." She reminded herself this was not an angry, crazy Sirius who had just broken out of jail and was bitter and ruthless in the world. This was... well she was not entirely sure and it could be argued that was worse, but she was not going to miss the chance for an interview. "But you cannot interview me," he continued as he had seen the cognitions. "They are not the same thing, I know about that quill of yours, these are to be the exact events and the right quotes or you will regret it."
"What are you going to do exactly?" She challenged, "kill me?"
"I might," the lord agreed, reminding her again of Sirius, "but I am more inclined to make sure you lose your job, underhand things like that."
"That's a bit of a devious way of dealing with your problems don't you think?"
"Better than ending up dead I'd say."
"I guess you are right. So do you value life a lot?"
"I am not here for an unlimited amount of time and I am not going to answer an unlimited number of questions, I thought you might reserve at least a couple for the actually paper," the lord suggested lightly, making her blush a deep crimson again, she had completely forgotten. Meeting this man was so much more interesting though.
"Umm... yes... well... have you had contact with Sirius Black or Harry Potter?"
"I've seen them, but I have not made contact."
"Did you ever believe he was guilty?"
"Yes, when I heard he was arrested."
"What drew you to look into him?"
"This is sounding a lot like an interview," he warned, "and I have already told you that," the Lord said, sounding slightly displeased.
Rita backpedalled. "I'm sorry," she said, "I did not mean to be intrusive."
"That is ok miss Skeeter," she could hear the smile in his voice, "you do not know any other way to deal with things like this, I understand. All you need to write up though is this meeting. Sirius Black is an innocent man and in finding Peter and getting rid of Fudge and proving that innocence is now my priority. I shall stand behind him with all of my power, all of my prestige, all of my money and all of my influence and soon Sirius Black will rule Britain. Fudge had better start sleeping with one eye open. And you can quote me on that."
Rita smiled as he scribbled it down, "he certainly has a lot to answer for." They waited in quiet for a few moments. The only sounds that could be heard were the scratching of a quill on parchment and the sound Lord Black turning the pages of the book he was reading. "Here," she said, finishing up the main points and handing it to him. it was not a finished draft but it was the truth and while he did not seem to be in a hurry Rita was not about to keep the man waiting. "I shall write it up of course, but all the content is there."
The Lord read in without a sound before giving a nod of approval and handing it back to her. "Good," was his only reply. "Send it to whatever publishers you will, I do not really care which, I want the news out by this time next week."
"Wait," Rita called as he walked towards the window, what was it with these Blacks and their aversion to doors? She did not know why she felt a connection to him but she wanted him to stay a while longer, "will I see you again?"
"For your sake I sincerely hope not."
Rita frowned and tried to clamp down the fear bubbling inside of her, brought on by that quiet, mysterious voice. "I am afraid I do not understand my Lord."
"You know that thing that rests on top of your neck? Use it. I only do things for a reason; therefore if I come back here in the near future it will be because the minor modifications you are going to make to the article end up changing the entire encounter. The only reason I'll return is if I am displeased and I am known to be very unreasonable when I am displeased. I came to you because I know Sirius comes to you and there is only one reason why Sirius would come to you. He is a Black after all; he comes to you because you are the best. Your stories may not be as well written or as truthful as they might be but you are famous and you are published and you are read, that makes you the best, so I expect nothing but the best from you."
"That was a very backhanded compliment," Rita stated, not sure whether or not to be angry and completely unaware of exactly where she was getting this boldness.
"It was not a compliment," the lord returned immediately, "simply a stating of facts."
"When one calls another the best in what they do it is generally considered a compliment by the receiver of such a comment, in case you did not know."
"If I wanted to flatter you, you would not be standing her right now but melted at my feet," he said cockily, making her scowl. He let his voice drop a few octaves and his chin lowered, Rita could hear the smirk in his voice. "I can be flattering if I please, I would start by telling you that I find your hair shines in the light and your sun kissed skin shimmers before me. I would say you eyes are like moonbeams staring straight into my soul and capturing my heart. I would say that your clothes compliment your deliciously slender body; hugging each curve and that any man would be excited by your luscious frame. When I have decided you feel sufficiently admired and my words have depth in your mind I shall move onto admiring and complimenting your work."
"And what will you say about it?"
"I would say that it makes me feel emotions I did not know still resided within me. I would say that reading your words is the highlight of my day. I would say how glad and proud and happy I am that you are doing what you are for Sirius. I would say your work is insightful and resourceful and full of knowledge I just drink up. I would say that when I am feeling down or out of ideas I always turn to you and I want you to continue writing." He lifted one hand and gently stroked one cheek, letting his long fingers comb through her hair. "A little bit of physical contact in a place that is not too private is always good to finish off," he whispered.
Rita forced herself to take a step back and half glare at him before a troubling emotion her and she was unable to hide it from the Lord's eyes. "I do hope I have not upset you Miss Skeeter," he said, not sounding very troubled at all.
"It is nothing," she mumbled.
"You are a woman and you expect me to believe that," he snorted.
"When a woman says it is nothing it is not that they expect you to believe them, for only a fool would, it means, stop prying, get your nose out of business that is not yours."
"It is my business, I want to know if it is my words that have caused you distress."
"Why?" She snapped, voice getting a little louder in warning, it did not seem to have any effect on the man, "so you can gloat? You listen to me you conceited pig! My feelings and what caused them are my business alone! Just leave me be!" She was cut short as two long fingers pressed against her ruby lips, silencing her. His hooded face was so close to hers at this point that she could see the outline of his pale lips and his chin. She did have to question why he felt the compulsion to hide himself; surely he was not wanted for anything. If he had been abroad for a long time she would not recognise him anyway, unless she was not the only person he was visiting today and he wished to look intimidating for the part.
"So I have upset you," he muttered, moving his fingers from her lips to brush away the tears that had pooled in her eyes.
"It is just how do I know when someone is being serious? If you had taken away the 'I would' you put in front of every sentence I would have believed what you were telling me."
"I am really not the person to ask on relationship advice, that is what you have girl friends for, right? But everything I said was all very textbook, all very normal, all dull and not that romantic. The person you have lots of fun with and can look you in the eyes and solidly say 'I love you' followed by showing you how much he does, is the one."
He stepped away to jump out of the window, she never would understand that, though it did look quite cool. Driven by an impulse she did not understand and would not have had the boldness to do before had he not pacified her, she reached out, hooked her thumbs under his hood and yanked it down. It fell away to reveal one of the most beautiful faces she had ever seen in her life, she audibly gasped. He had soft, pale skin with the slightest flush of his cheeks, baby blue eyes shone out and if she looked closely enough she noticed that they changed, from baby blue, to emerald green, to a deep violet. His face was framed by wavy golden hair, not blond or white like Malfoy, golden, it really did shine in the light.
"What were you expecting?" He cocked a brow, not seeming annoyed that she had done what she did. "An Infection akin to something out of phantom of the opera?"
"What?"
"A muggle play I am fond of."
"Can I touch?"
"My face?"
"Of course... I am not that bold." He did not laugh, looked at her strangely before nodding. She lifted her hands and stroked his cheeks, his skin was as soft as a newborns, she wondered how he kept it so moisturised. She moved onto his hair and combed her fingers down it, it was quite fine, but felt wonderful sifting through her fingers. She traced his lips and moved lower to the outline of his chin and the faint stubble she felt there for he was more of less clean shaven and then his neck. She moved lower to feel the contours of his chest, wondering why he was letting her do this for it was not as if they were going to engage in anything – right? Sure enough almost as soon as she reached his chest a hand shot out and grabbed her wrist to cease her ministrations.
"Why do you keep such a beautiful face hidden?" She asked to distract him and it seemed to work as he released her wrist to ponder it.
"I hide my face for the mysteriousness disguising and hiding your image offers," he answered her. "I hide so my enemies, and a Lord always has enemies, do not see me coming, or know I am there at all until it is too late. There are many reasons why I find hiding my image is beneficial to me, my 'beauty' as you term it, has nothing to do with it."
"Who are your enemies in this country?"
"Well the ministry will be soon. As the Lord of my house, my problems are the problems of the members of my house."
"And that means Sirius Black."
"Right."
"Why did you not vouch for him when he was arrested?"
"I believed he was guilty, besides he was always the disappointment of the family. But things are different now; he had become so powerful and is looking after the boy who lived. He was imprisoned wrongly so I want justice to be brought to him."
"I do not think he will be happy to see you as you are only paying attention to him now because he is powerful and is looking after an important child."
"I am the Lord of house Black," he proclaimed with self-important, "he does not have a choice but to accept me and rejoice in my presence."
"Well you sure have a high opinion of yourself."
"Of course, it is required. Now, if you are done molesting me, I have to get going, there are other meetings I need to attend." She watched him go with a sigh of loss. She realised he had taken the file back with him, she bet the next meeting he had was with a ministry official, maybe Fudge, maybe miss Bones. She sat down at the table, grabbed her quill and started to write up the encounter, she would not change or be selective about the truth or take anything out of context because she quite liked her head where it was, safely nestled between her shoulders, but she was not going to be done out of her fun because of a pretty face and dangerous persona.
He was very frightening, beautiful and dangerous; he gave Sirius a run for his money. She could not stop thinking about him, he was so strange, so alluring allowed her to touch him simply because, she assumed by the shrug, it was no skin off his back. She was acting like such a young girl, magical folk lived for a long time, but she was almost thirty, she should be in a relationship by now, the nerdy Arthur Wesley and Molly Prewitt had gotten together and had seven kids already and they had never been all that popular, maybe that was why they fell in love and got married instead of had a fling like you were meant to with your school day sweethearts. She shook her head to forget it but she was still comparing Sirius and the Lord in her mind as she wrote.
It was a dream any girl would want and loved to read about, a thrilling love triangle between two unbelievably hot, fit, rich and powerful guys fighting over an innocent young woman. Except she was not exactly innocent and not exactly young, and the guys did not exactly like her either. Sure the Lord thought she was good at what she did and Sirius had come to her specifically for media attention but they had both threatened her life and laughed at her pain but Sirius had given her a necklace worth more than she was from his mother's collection and the Lord had brushed away her tears and seemed half sincere in his apology.
No, if a story like that was ever going to play out it was not going to be her. The girl would be someone deserving of such love. Coming to think about it she would be happy with a rather bland love story like Molly and Arthur have. She had known them at school, she was in the same house as Molly not really paid much attention to them and they did not pay much attention to each other until Arthur, stuttering and blushing asked for her to go to a dance with him. Sirius had been hiding badly behind a pillar with a grin; she was in no doubt that he was behind Arthur's sudden surge of 'confidence'. Molly turned the colour of her hair, accepted, and as soon as they finished school they got married, simple.
Maybe she would be married with a normal young man with three or four kids (not seven) if she had not been such a bitch at school and turned into a vile hag. But she had never really cared enough for other people for that to be the case. She just sat around all day and spread rumours and forced lies down people's throats because it was in a newspaper so it was possible to spout shit about people better off than her. People like Molly and Arthur and her words were read by people also like Molly and Arthur, up until the point Sirius entered her life and stabbed the wall right next to her face in a warning. Yes he was scary, but there was a new kid on the block. She smirked, he was not going to be happy when he found out he was not Lord Black after all.
Sirius read the paper Regulus was reading over his shoulder and collapsed in laughter. They way Rita had written the article was a lot like how she had written their first meeting except it leaned more towards a romantic encounter than an attempted rape. He read a couple more lines about how the Lord of house Black had demonstrated his power and lineage; it seemed he had been shown up in her eyes. Eventually they got to the headline about how he had never received a trial, there we go, it was about time the world knew about that. By this afternoon when everyone had heard the news he could probably go out into the streets, showing his face and not have a single person try to capture him or kill him.
Of course there would always be the few who would try with their minds on nothing but the money the death eater ministry and minister were flaunting but that was not why he was reluctant to set foot in the public without glamours. He just did not want the attention, all the stares and the glares and the pointing and the whispering badly concealed behind hands and he definitely could not take Harry with him, that would just be an overload. He might as well take his supposed dead brother with him, that would just be the icing on the cake, with any luck everyone would faint with shock and leave him in peace. Then again, he had to do it at some point, and after the first public appearance things would get better in time.
"I really do not see what you find so amusing about this passage Siri," Regulus mentioned dryly, putting down the paper and turning to him. "Do you not find anything about what you are reading even slightly disturbing?"
Sirius' face grew serious, "yes, yes, I knew our relationship was going downhill for a while but I never thought she would cheat on me and with my Lord as well. I mean at the beginning it was great, she fired at me, I threatened her life, it was young love at its finest. Things escalated and I gave her one of mother's necklaces, I told her my deepest secrets and she broadcasted them, we did what all celibate couples do. I could tell it was not enough for her and it was only a matter of time before something like this happened, but it is still a blow all the same."
"Ok Siri, I think I've heard enough," Reg wrinkled his nose in distaste at his playacting. It was not his skill that was questionable, it was the context and that was enough to justify him expressing his distaste. Rota was not a repulsive woman, it was more his brother's disregard for the real issue that was troubling to him. he had to wonder whether the matter truly did not trouble him or whether making light of the matter or avoiding the issue altogether was his way of dealing with the issue which seemed quite large to Reg. "Are you not seeing the same things I am? There is another Black out there claiming to be the Lord! Does this not bother you?"
"Reg, you worry too much, you are making a mountain out of a molehill and you should remember that only middle aged parents are allowed to do that. You are a young man of twenty four and only an uncle, you should be fun loving and uncommitted."
"You are not going to be able to distract me from the man issue this time, we need to discuss this so we are ready, it is serious!"
"Look, I appreciate what he has done for me so far but I doubt we will ever hear from him."
"How can you be so sure?"
Sirius held up the hand bearing his ring. "This is the only ring signaling who is the Lord of the house of the most ancient and noble Black. I have had it checked by the dwarves, it is real, the only one, I am Lord Black and soon the world will know it!"
"But what about the other guy?"
"Do you trust me Reg?"
"Always, you know I do."
"Then relax. Whenever you feel threatened or worried by anything just remember that I am in control of everything, nothing is going to go wrong now. Dumbledore gone evil was a close shave but he is our ally now, the horcuxes are going to be hunted, Peter is going to be found, our pack is going to get bigger, the dark Lord will die for certain, everything is going to be ok and I am in complete control of the future."
"You really should not be so confident," Regulus whispered as he buried his face into the shoulder of his brother, the paper forgotten, "karma will come back to bite you."
"I'll be bite back harder," he mumbled back. "Now go to sleep, your wits are tired."
"I could not care less what Tolken thinks." Even so, as if by hypnotism he could feel the drowsiness take hold and the words of his brother becoming the only thing in his mind.