When he came down to breakfast, Regulus said, "Sirius, what's wrong? You look awful. It's like you've hardly slept at all". Mercuria interjected, "He hasn't. I tried the Love Potion yesterday. I tell you, that stuff is incredible. No wonder Sirius was all confused. I was so horny, I could have gone on all night. But Sirius finally got tired. Honey, you really must brew one of those Love Potions for us. It'll give our love life an extra kick". She patted his shoulder. Sirius rolled his eyes while the others burst out laughing. Andromeda asked, "Sirius, can you perhaps explain to me now what this is all about?". Sirius told her what had happened and added, "The Flints then said to him that there were several events in my life that led them to suspect that I had a profound knowledge of the Dark Arts. At the very least, they knew I was an Animagus. He persuaded me to teach him everything I knew. Fortunately, I began to see clearly again before it got that far". He smiled apologetically. Mercuria asked, "There is something in this whole story that I just don't understand. Why didn't he just try to get the information he wanted in a friendly way? When he showed up here, things were fine. You guys became very close quickly. So why not wait until you told him everything voluntarily?". Sirius looked at her guiltily. "I guess that was my fault. I suppose I gushed too much about you when he wanted to know why we were together. And I told him about your concerns". Regulus asked, astonished, "You had misgivings? About what?". She shook her head. "I can't pin it down exactly. There were small things in his behaviour. I found it unusual, for example, that he spent so much time in Phineas' library. But I also found the way he dealt with his brother and Sirius and Regulus kind of strange. When he felt unobserved, I could see the contempt on his face. For Sirius, because he had married me. And for Regulus who was living with you, Gavin. And for Marius, for being raised by a Muggle". She beamed at him and he blushed.
Sirius continued, "This probably led him to the conclusion that he had to drive you out of the house as quickly as possible in order to have a free hand here. Unfortunately, he succeeded in doing so. I'm sorry". Andromeda asked, "But why did he want to be a Black so badly? After all, the Flints are an old pure-blond family too". Malfoy interjected, "Yes, they are. But as you very well know, sister, among the pure-blood families, the Blacks belong to the - how shall I put it? - noble houses. They are worthier than most others. Besides, if Sirius, Regulus and Marius had died prematurely, he would have been the only Black and thus would inherit the substantial family fortune. But to be a true Black, and I suppose he wants to be one, his parents had to be married". When he called Andromeda 'sister', everybody starred at him in complete disbelief. Marius leaned forward. "That's all nasty stuff, after all. But do any of you actually believe that he did all this just to be a Black? Today he committed murder. Lizzy and the elves are dead. He used an Unforgivable Spell several times. There is no turning back for him. But even for someone who is completely obsessed, the desire to belong to a particular family cannot explain this behaviour. This simply cannot be his ultimate goal".
Regulus said, "No, you're right. It cannot be just this. Probably it is part of his plan, but certainly not the most important one. One thing is for sure, he is on a quest for knowledge or to be more precise he's on a quest for forbidden knowledge. He wants to learn the Dark Arts. And he assumes that Sirius is an important source of such knowledge. Partly because of all the strange events Sirius was involved in, and partly because of his library". Sirius smiled wryly. "Now that you mention it, I remember that Drusia tried to extract information from me about Phineas' hiding place of the forbidden scriptures. And about the time-turner. I would really like to know how he knew about it". Gavin was about to start talking, but Sirius raised his hand to silence him and turned to Lucius, "Tell me Malfoy, whom did you tell about the piece?". Regulus and Gavin exchanged a surprised look but remained silent. Mercuria added, "you're asking the wrong question, Sirius. Cygnus believes that you are the owner, doesn't he? So, he had heard that a time-turner was involved in your rescue from the Department of Mysteries. Where did that information come from? Sooner or later he will realise that someone else must have had a hand in your rescue, and that this person prevented your death. After all, it would have been impossible to fall through the veil and then "save" yourself with the time-turner".
Sirius raised his voice, "Lucius, what do you know about the Flint family? I barged into your meeting that day, didn't I? I foolishly assumed that you were up to something against me. But instead, you shared what you knew about the Flints, didn't you? What was it?". Lucius remained silent for a long while. "As for his knowledge of the time-turner, I suspect this: When you resurfaced after the war, Narcissa asked me if I knew how you survived. I told her I suspected you must have used a time-turner. Of course, I didn't tell her I was involved. She must have mentioned this to Ursula Flint. The Flints then accepted it at face value without giving it a second thought. As for the old Flints, they had sought and found each other. Both were mean, vicious and conniving. They were avid students of the Dark Arts and were not afraid to put their knowledge to practical use. They were constantly at odds with their neighbours. Both got into trouble several times for harassing Muggles. They retreated into seclusion and had little contact with the outside world when the authorities threatened to send them to Azkaban for the next incident. After the twins were born, they never saw Hallie again. But there was another son. He was a few years older than Hallie. You may remember him. Colin Flint." Lucius looked at Sirius. "Yes, I remember. He was a seventh year when I started at Hogwarts. Slytherin of course". Malfoy continued, "Right. Colin died in early 1978, a terrible accident. The exact circumstances have never been established. The Flints had developed and tried a spell that backfired. Who had cast the spell could not be determined definitely. After the wands had been examined, it seemed that it had been Colin himself. But it was suspected that old Marius had a hand in it and switched the wands. It couldn't be proven, though. To make a long story short, they took one of the babies with them to console themselves for their loss. Narcissa visited them when they had just picked up the baby. When she saw the boy, she said, "That's exactly what Sirius and Regulus looked like when they were babies". It was then that the old Flints guessed who the father was. They called him Cygnus, a name often used by the Blacks. When he was two years old, the boy who lived with Hallie disappeared, never to be seen again. There was not much of a search for him, those were the times. Besides, neither Hallie nor anyone else ever missed him. The Flints immediately suspected that Sirius had had a hand in the matter and had taken the boy to himself. They did everything they could to prevent anyone from finding out about the twin. The boy was completely isolated. You can imagine the effect that had on the child. He got his first wand when he was six and by the time he was eight he had already tried the three Unforgivable Spells on animals. I must admit we found it amusing at the time. When he was old enough, he was sent to Durmstrang. You know what kind of philosophy is taught there".
Lucius turned to Sirius. "They followed your fate very closely. When the war ended and you suddenly reappeared on the scene, seemingly unharmed, the Flint were beside themselves. They had no explanation for your survival, and in their eyes, you were a source of incomprehensible knowledge of the Dark Arts. Someone returning from the dead. On top of that, after Phineas' death, you also became the owner of the second largest library in the Wizarding World. I suspect that from then on, they did everything they could to find out as much as possible about you. Eventually, of course, Cygnus was supposed to contact you. Simultaneously, they built up a network of former Death Eaters who would continue to fight underground for the greater cause. I know this because they approached me". "What did you say to them?". Lucius snorted in annoyance. "What do you think? For goodness' sake, Black. Yes, I think wizards are superior to Muggles". With a side glance at Mercuria, he added, "To most of them, at least. But looking at my own personal situation, I ask you, 'what do I care about Muggles?' Honestly, nothing at all. I am rich, respected in my world, I live a comfortable life in times of peace. Believe me, the years following Voldemort's return were no joy ride for us Death Eaters either. The man was paranoid. He stopped at nothing. For him, the line between friend and foe was completely obliterated. He was even more suspicious than you, Black. When I became a Death Eater, I was young, stupid and arrogant. Meanwhile, I had a wonderful family, and he was a danger to them. You know that he insisted that Draco should become a Death Eater. When Voldemort was finally dead, my relief was boundless. Does any of you honestly believe that I would run after a false prophet again? Someone who spreads the same crap as Grindelwald or Riddle or all the others before them?". He looked at them in turn. They shook their heads. "Last year, the two old Flints died. I suspect they filled Cygnus in on everything they knew before that. And most certainly told him to adopt the role they thought he deserved. The one at the head of the movement".
When he had finished, there was a long silence. Then Mercuria said, " Come on, Lucius. There is something else you should share with us, isn't it?". Lucius looked up and turned to Sirius. "Tell me Black, why can this woman read minds without using Legilimency?". Sirius made a helpless gesture. "I really don't know. I've been asking this myself for decades". Lucius took a deep breath before recounting, "Cygnus visited me last autumn. That must have been shortly before he came to see you. As I said, I had heard of him. He told me that his grandparents had died unexpectedly and that he had come to see me to find out about his past. I found him very affable and well-mannered, and I understood his wish. So, I told him what I knew. And confirmed that Sirius was probably his father. The resemblance was simply unmistakable. We talked all evening. I had a few drinks and was pretty drunk by the end. Seems to be his favourite method of getting his conversation partners drunk and then sounding them out". "What did you tell him?", asked Regulus. "I'm not going to apologise for it". Annoyed, Sirius hissed, " Leave it out Lucius. No one is blaming you. We both look pretty stupid in this whole story. Carry on, what did you feed him? You do know that we need to be told". Lucius blinked uncertainly. "I told him about the objects we found in my house after Riddle died. The Slytherin scarf with the vision of Merope's grave, the key, and the textbook. I told him that you have taken those things. At that point, I had no idea of his true intentions. I only pieced a lot of things together when I thought about it more thoroughly after his visit".
Sirius said, "So that was the reason". Gavin asked, "The reason for what?". "Shortly after Cygnus moved in here, he began an affair with Lizzy, our nanny. A kind girl, but unspectacular. And insecure. I didn't think about it at the time when he told me he'd fallen head over heels in love with her. Only now do I realise that he used her to search for all the objects he suspected to be in the house. He probably tried unsuccessfully to summon them at first. When that didn't work, he seduced Lizzy so she would search for the items in his place. She could move about all the rooms in the house much more inconspicuously than he or Drusia did. If need be, she simply induced one of the boys to hide, and then pretended to be searching for him. That's why Cygnus ended up killing her. It should take as long as possible for us to find out that he ransacked the house to find these objects. And Lizzy would certainly have told us as soon as he disappeared. Poor thing". Mercuria shook her head. "Sometimes I am still surprised how naive you can be. He abused her, he beat her and he took advantage of her. Did you never notice the marks of his blows, the bruises that she had?". Sirius looked at her with wide eyes. "Lizzy was always a bit clumsy. She fell. She said so herself. And he was always very affectionate towards her after all". Mercuria snorted contemptuously. "Yes, when we were around. Sirius, he killed her because she was expecting his child. He had to get rid of her before anyone knew. Even if he hadn't had to flee in a rush, he would have killed her quite soon. She would have just had an accident then. My goodness, you really were completely blind". Marius interrupted "Daddy, where are these items which belonged to the Dark Lord?" asked Marius. Sirius looked at him irritated before replying, "I gave them to Dorkas. He hid them somewhere in the elf village. Besides, they're protected by a spell so they cannot be summoned. Lizzy didn't know that, of course".
Andromeda said, "So we're dealing with the next Dark Wizard who wants to rise up and rule the World. Who would have guessed that? We should consider what to do now". Malfoy said, "If we can find him, we can quickly put an end to the haunting". Regulus shook his head. "What are you going to do then? Turn him in? Please bear in mind that we only have circumstantial evidence against him. We know that we are right. But we can't prove it. Which is why he will not be convicted". Gavin said, "He killed Lizzy. An examination of his wand would prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt". Mercuria laughed, "He uses two different wands". The others stared at her amazed. "Have you not noticed this? I've wondered all along why he does that". Sirius said, "I never noticed. Are you sure?". Mercuria gave him an indignant look, "Of course, I'm sure. They were quite different after all. One was 14.3 inches, dark wood and decorated with a garland of vines running the entire length. The other was 14.1 inches, made of slightly paler wood, the lower part was plain, the upper part elaborately decorated with small and large petals. How could you not have noticed that?". The wizards exchanged resigned looks. Finally, Andromeda said, "It's good to have someone around who notices such details. Using two wands is decidedly clever, don't you think? This means, a complaint against Cygnus is out of the question. What other options do we have?".
Malfoy suggested, "We could track him down and have him disappear". Regulus replied, "The days of people disappearing without a trace are definitely over. At least for the moment. The Ministry will do everything it can to solve the case. Cygnus might have backed up and scattered some evidence against us, so we'd be arrested for conspiracy to murder quicker than we'd like. Honestly, Lucius. After everything I've been through in the past, there's no way I want to risk ending up in Azkaban. Even without Dementors, it's not exactly a place you'd want to spend the rest of your days. Besides, I suspect that from the moment you appeared on the scene, he was preparing to get out of here at a moment's notice. I don't think we will find him that easily". Sirius said, "Between the death of his grandparents and his visit to Malfoy and then to me, he had six months to organise a lot of things. We assume that the Flints prepared him from birth to become a powerful Dark Wizard. What exactly he knows and can do we simply cannot fathom. Certainly, far more than we suspect. Let us consider what we can currently do to be forearmed". They contemplated this. Suddenly Regulus said, "He's a Flint. An ancestor of the Flints was married to Phineas Nigellus. If there was a portrait of Phineas and his wife in the house, it might be possible... " He did not speak further. Sirius interjected, "Right. There was a portrait in the house at Grimmauld Place that has disappeared. And there certainly is another one in the headmaster's office in Hogwarts. I will speak to Harry and Professor McGonagall about them. Immediately". He stood up, nodded to the others, and walked to his motorbike.