Standing in the middle of the clearing, Sirius had both of his hands raised with his wand hand moving in circles and curves, and his mouth was constantly chanting in an unfamiliar tongue while constant pulses of magic went out of his wand toward a thin semicircular ward around him.
His forehead was wet with sweat and his eyes were bulging from concentration as he completely focused on finishing the ward this time, but just when he was feeling hopeful about his situation, his attentiveness slipped for just a moment, but that was enough and the magic thoroughly unraveled in front of him.
"Ah... Not again...Ugh!"
Sirius fell on his back with an exhausted sigh, he had failed to recreate the ward for the 5th time. And it seemed that no matter how hard he tried it was almost impossible for him to complete this ward in just a couple of tries.
It took Sirius about 6 hours of half-grim form enhanced occlumency to read and comprehend all the stuff inside the books Beth gave. Of course, he took breaks in between every hour but still the second he recovered he went right back to reading, and after all that he had been very happy about being able to completely understand the content inside.
So he happily utilized the knowledge gained to try all the spells mentioned in the books, from how to detect a ward to how to create your first basic ward to how to combine them, he tried every single spell, and while it took quite a few tries for him to successfully execute them he was able to do it.
Then he tried the spell that would actually be helping him achieve his objective given by Beth. It was a duplication spell that helped a wizard copy a preexisting ward and create a similar one in a matter of hours depending on his proficiency.
He thought that it would be very easy for him to do it as he had been very successful so far with the use of his enhanced occlumency but his complacency was shattered after the very first try.
The first component of the magic was a detection spell that created an imaginary structure of the original ward inside the user's head. After that step is completed the user needed to actually create the ward while constantly checking with the original design inside his mind.
While he was able to do the first step easily when it came to the second one a big flaw of his enhanced occlumency presented itself. A normal expert would have to spend at least about 5 hours to copy the ward around Sirius. And even if he used his enhanced state Sirius estimated that he would still have to spend about 1 hour 30 minutes of his full concentration for him to complete it.
But the thing is Sirius could only maintain that state for about an hour before he completely exhausted his mental strength and had to take a break to recover it. No matter what Sirius tried he wasn't able to complete recreating the ward in under an hour and the moment he came out of his EO (Enhanced Occlumency) state, his work unraveled in front of him.
And while with each try his proficiency increased and he was able to do just a bit more under the hour, but it was too slow as even after 5 tries worth about 6 hours he was only able to improve from 70% completion to 75%, which meant he would have to spend about 24 more hours if he went at this rate, which was too much as the ward around him had already shrunk by quite a bit and he didn't think it would last till then.
The thing is, the book actually mentioned that you are supposed to use a ward stone while using the copy spell, which would make the process a lot easier as you could etch the ward in parts while taking ample breaks in between. But sadly he didn't have any ward stone conveniently lying around so he had to use the method that required him to complete it all at once without a single leeway for mistakes, making it many times harder.
And he didn't think he wanted to be here 24 hours later, as more than 12 hours had already passed since he opened his eyes in this clearing, and he was already hungry enough that his concentration had already started to decline, he didn't want to find out how it would feel if he stayed for that long without eating.
Of course, he could call Kreacher and have him deliver some food or escape using his animagus form but that would feel too much like he had admitted defeat and was giving up so he kept those as the very last resort. Besides he had a nagging suspicion that Beth had taken his ability, to call a house-elf, into account while creating the ward so it may not even work in the end.
"WHoo..." Bored out of his mind while waiting for his mental strength to recover, Sirius started whistling music from his previous life to pass time.
It was while he was doing that, that he accidentally touched a bump in his pocket which was the mirror he always kept with himself. Trying to find something to take his mind off, he took it out of his pocket.
The first person he called was his Roommate Remus, he told Remus that he may not arrive at the manor for a few days as he was busy doing something. While Remus didn't know exactly what he was doing, as Dumbledore insisted that the fewer people knew about the Horcrux the better, he knew that he was on a mission that Dumbledore knew about, so he didn't ask too many questions.
The signal was a bit spotty as Remus's image inside the mirror kept on flickering and since Remus was busy with his job at the Artifact shop, they didn't talk for very long, and Sirius ended the call after a few minutes.
He still had no idea where the forest he was in actually was, hell he didn't even know if he was still in Britain or not, but considering the mirror wasn't working very well, one thing he knew was that he was very far from his manor.
The mirrors the marauders had initially created during their school years were made using cheap materials so their range was very limited, they were mostly useful for talking between different detentions or at most could be used around Hogwarts.
Of course when the war started Lily improved the design a lot by using better and more expensive materials along with her genius skills. The mirror Sirius had lying around Number 12 Grimmauld Place was actually the one created by lily, and he was sure that it was also the one Sirius had given to Harry before his death in canon.
Remus had used that one as a prototype to create the new ones, so he had given the original ones to Harry, knowing that he would cherish them a lot.
But no matter how improved the mirror was from the first prototype there was still a range beyond which its magic started weakening and the images began going a bit wonky.
Sirius still hadn't recovered his mental strength completely yet so he called the next person in his imaginary phone book. Considering that it was about 5 PM in the evening he knew that the classes would have been over by now and he would be free to pick up his call.
"Hey, Sirius," Harry's cheerful voice sounded the second his face appeared in the mirror. He had changed a lot from the skinny boy he had seen on the back of Buckbeak.
"Harry, How are you—," Sirius started but stopped when he noticed something and immediately asked seriously "Are you inside a broom closet?"
"Umm... Yeah," Harry said looking around himself, "I went into the closest one when I noticed your call,"
"Is that really so?" Sirius suspiciously said while rubbing his finger under his chin, "Or did I disturb you during your rendevous with your girlfriend, Were you going to do naughty things people usually do in these Broom Cupboards... Huh,"
"W-What are you talking about?" Harry stuttered before he looked away and said blushing, "I never went into a cupboard with Hermione,"
"Oh! But you must want to," Sirius said in a whisper, "Do you need your GodFather to give you some advice? You may not know this but I spent a lot of my time in those closets during my school years,"
"Ugh... Stop it," Harry groaned before he suddenly looked up, "But I do need your advice about something,"
"I am sure you're trying to change the subject, but I'll allow it," Sirius nodded magnanimously, "What seems to be the problem,"
Harry explained to him using many words but the gist of the situation was this, The Triwizard Tournament had been announced, and while discussing that during the class with their friend circle which had expanded to include Lavender and her roommate Parvati, they had bought up the Yule Ball.
That was when Ron and Harry found out what the robes Mrs. Weasley had packed with their things were for, and almost immediately Ron had gone into a depression since the robes he had wouldn't look out of place in the Death Day party they had gone in their Second year.
And because of that, his self-confidence had taken a sudden hit, causing him to lose all the progress he had made with Lavender over the past few weeks with Harry's aid.
"... And I am sure that if I even suggest buying him some new ones, he would respond negatively. He doesn't really handle all the money stuff very well... So I don't know what to do," Harry finished with a sigh. This year his friendship with his two best friends had improved more than ever and he didn't want to leave his friend in a situation if he could help it.
"You know Harry, you're looking at it the wrong way," Sirius said after he contemplated for a while, "You are looking at it like a problem, instead you should look at it as an opportunity,"
"Opportunity? How?" Harry asked tilting his head.
"Say, from the way you described this chick—Lavender. I would say she is one of those who keeps up with all the latest style and always has a fashion magazine or two in her hands," Harry thought and immediately nodded as the image of Lavender was quite accurate, "So I would say that you should convince Ron to ask for help from Lavender,"
Harry nodded and Sirius continued, "They should take the project of improving the dress robes using magic together. Taking advice from her would make her very happy and as the amount of time, they spend together increases. I am sure eventually sparks will start to fly..."
"That's brilliant, Sirius," Harry said in awe.
"Of course, it is," Sirius said basking in his godson's praise for a while before he waved his hand and asked, "But enough about Ron, Tell me, have you reached second base yet?"
"NO!" He shook his head rapidly.
"Don't tell me you went all the way already," Sirius asked shocked before he said in wonder, "My! My! I never knew you were so quick Harry," he changed his voice to a solemn one, "As Padfoot, one of the founding Marauders, I can say with absolute certainty that you have made us proud..."
"Ugh... Stop it," Harry said his face steaming like a tomato, "Oh...Looks like someone is calling me, I got to go. Bye Sirius," Harry hastily said and the image vanished.
"Ah... That was fun," Sirius mumbled with a sigh of satisfaction, it felt great to tease someone who gave such amusing reactions.
"Using problem as an opportunity... Huh," Sirius unconsciously mumbled to himself the advice he just gave to Harry. The phrase kept on revolving inside his mind and he didn't know how much time had passed when he immediately sat up, "Why didn't I think of this earlier," Sirius asked himself excitedly at the wonderful idea that occurred to him.
He immediately stood up and went to where the books were placed, picking up the second one, he flipped the pages until he reached the section with the topic, "How to Drain a Ward,". It was a topic about some elementary techniques that could be used to dismantle some simple wards.
After he perused through the information quickly, Sirius confirmed that the concept he had thought could be possible. So he immediately stood up and went to the place where the ward had shrunk to at the moment, to see if his idea worked.
The first thing he needed to find was the entry point of the ward, so he immediately pointed at the border of the ward and waved his wand in a specific pattern while chanting, and immediately an image of the bluish hemispherical film appeared in his mind.
He slowly circled the area while constantly chanting and waving his wand. It took him quite a few orbits because there were a few fake entrances placed here and there but eventually it paid off and he found the real opening.
"Now for the final part..." Sirius muttered, before taking a deep breath and pointing his wand at the opening, and then instead of draining the power inside the ward like written in the book he did the opposite and fed the opening with his magic.
It was a very delicate process so he used his Enhanced Occlumency mode without hesitation. But even then it took him about 15 minutes of trial and error before he found the correct amount and proper speed to supply without wasting any magic.
"Yes!" About 10 minutes after he started, actual results started to be visible to him, as the ward that was shrinking till now actually started to expand slowly. Sirius didn't lose his concentration for even a moment and kept on steadily supplying the ward with his magic power.
About half an hour later the ward boundary passed the range where it initially was when it was created by Beth, and the second that happened Sirius suddenly heard a pop go behind him, which made him lose his concentration completely.
He turned around with his wand raised defensively and a spell on his lips, but what appeared in front of him made him stop immediately.
"Mistress send misty and said to say, 'Congratulations,' " the house-elf said while fidgeting nervously and continued after Sirius lowered his wand silently, "And she said to give you food and books,"
The house-elf who was a lot younger than Kreacher said while placing two trays filled to the brim with delicious food down on a blanket that had appeared without his notice, and after that, she also placed two new books beside the ones from before.
"Misty go now," the house-elf gave a timid wave of her hand and popped away.
Sirius shook his head and threw the bizarre incident out of his mind, and immediately went to the blanket full of delicious-looking food. "Nothing better than filling your stomach after so much thinking,"
While Sirius had taken a different way than the one he had thought of in the beginning, eventually he had succeeded so that was all that mattered. He looked at the new books with renewed enthusiasm and confidence after he had filled his stomach to his satisfaction, "Let's do it,"
...
Beth was sitting on a moving chair in front of the fireplace in her home while reading a book about different curses over the centuries.
"About 2 days passed Huh," She mumbled while looking at the clock above the mantle. About 15 hours had passed since she had sent her house-elf along with the food and the books that would be useful for the next part for the young man to complete objectives.
And wasn't that a surprise for the old curse breaker, she had honestly never expected the boy to even last a day before giving up, but he had exceeded her expectation completely. The test she had assigned could only be completed by one with an enormous talent in warding and one who actually knew how to use his mind.
The only one who she knew could have passed it more perfectly was her granddaughter. And while she knew that he hadn't used the traditional approach, from her mental connection with the ward, and instead used an unconventional method but that was what made it better because the more out of the box you could think the longer you could last in this business.
She had initially gone into this with the mentality of completing a chore for a friend but the young man's potential had intrigued her and she was finally getting a bit interested in genuinely teaching him.
'How much time would he take to find the hidden ward... Hmm,' Beth wondered, 'Maybe he would be done by tomorrow,'
While she was reminiscing, Beth suddenly felt the runic circle drawn in the middle of the living room suddenly give off a shining light. She looked over and was quite a bit surprised to find the object of her musing appear in a flash of light.
"Oh..." Sirius exclaimed while looking around, "Looks like I passed successfully,"
"You did," Beth nodded without showing any emotion, but inside she was quite a bit surprised as while the first books had been easy enough that a beginner who knew a bit about Wards could comprehend them, the latter books were many times harder and were filled with thrice as much content so she was quite shocked to find that he had still been able to complete them so quickly.
"So What do I do next?" Sirius asked excitedly, ready to take on his next task.
"Go Home and Take a Bath," Beth said while scrunching her nose, but inside her mind, she was quite embarrassed as she hadn't prepared his next assignment yet.
"Umm... I guess I do stink," Sirius said when he took a whiff of himself before leaving for the fireplace, stopped in front of it, and looked toward the lady in the chair.
"Be back here by 9'O clock tomorrow," Beth said sharply, "And this time—Come Sober!"
"Yes!" Sirius said before hurriedly going into the fireplace.
As the flames disappeared along with her new student's figure Beth stood up from her place on the chair with a groan, "Looks like I need to actually do some work," Beth mumbled thinking that half-assing the job wasn't going to cut with this one.
