"Woah," Giannis half-whispered with a slack jaw. "Look at all this…"
Hydrus had brought him to what he called the 'Black Summer Home', where the teen's great-grandpa used to live. Apparently the old man had just died yesterday, and now all this was Sirius's. The room they'd gone through the fireplace to was filled with all sorts of weird things, like fancy looking pots and sculptures. The couches looked a bit… unique, with the way the wood parts seemed more like stone than wood, and the cushions were an odd light-beige colour he hadn't seen in leather before.
What caught his eyes and didn't let go, however, was the large and intricate painting thingy up on the wall across from them.
"What's that?" he asked.
"That would be the Black family tree," Hydrus answered. "It lists all of the house's family members, living or otherwise, and traces them and their connections all the way back to the era of Roman imperialism over Britain, or Britania as it was called back then."
"Look!" Giannis said, running over to point. "There's Sirius! And you!" His eyes roamed across the tapestry. "And there's Bella!"
Hydrus laughed and Giannis did the same when he suddenly found himself being levitated into the air. "Come on, let's go see Sirius."
They went down a hall and entered into an office where they found the man with his face buried in his hands. The room made Giannis's nose wrinkle at the smell of smoke, and there were books and even more strange pieces of decor all over. Sirius himself was sat behind a desk with a whole lot of papers in front of him, and he still hadn't pulled himself out from behind his fingers.
"Think fast."
Giannis shrieked in surprise and delight when Hydrus suddenly 'flung' him at Sirius, and the man only just managed to look up in time and put his arms out to catch him.
"Oof!" They fell backwards onto the floor as Giannis continued laughing. "You little…"
Sirius sat him down on the ground and slowly got to his feet while the Greek boy popped right back up. "Do it again!"
"Not right now, kiddo," Sirius said as he ruffled his hair. "Hydrus over there has me buried in work."
"First of all, I'm the one who wrote those damn letters, you just have to sign them," the older boy said. "Second of all, saying you're too busy to play catch with your supposed son?" He gave a loud sigh. "You're just like your father."
"Right, supposed son." Sirius rolled his eyes. "It's good to have you back, Giannis. How you holding up?"
"Fine?" He cocked his head at the man. "Mrs. Molly was really nice, and she's a really good cook too. Way better than you." His eyes widened. "Oh, um, not that you're bad!"
He was relieved when Sirius just laughed. "Don't worry, I know I ain't got nothing on Molly."
"So am I going to live here now?" Giannis asked. "Since you and Miss Bones broke up?"
Sirius's face dropped, and the Greek boy felt a wave of guilt hit him. He knew he was awful at talking to people, Hydrus seemed to be just about the only person who never got mad at how 'blunt' the grownups said he was. He didn't mean to make Sirius sad though, he just wanted to know if he got to live here.
"You are," Hydrus answered, as unbothered as usual. "Though, probably be best if I had someone to keep an eye on you… Dobby?"
"Oh yeah!" Giannis exclaimed as the house elf appeared. "I remember him!"
Dobby beamed back at him. "Dobby remembers yous as well, Master Giannis."
"Dobby, could you do me a favour?" Hydrus asked. "Could you bring Apophis here, please."
"Of course, Master Hydrus!"
With a pop the strange little creature vanished away, and Giannis wondered how he could do that. He wondered how half the things he'd seen in 'The Burrough' worked too. It seemed like everyday he spent in this world he wound up with more and more questions and never enough answers to satisfy them all.
When the elf reappeared, Giannis's jaw dropped. Encircled around the small creature was a bright green snake as thick as one of his legs, with a bright red tuft of plumage sticking out of the top of its head.
"Woah!" he said. "That's a basilisk!"
"Mhmm," Hydrus hummed, as he undraped the snake from around Dobby's shoulders. "He is my familiar. I hatched his egg… Almost a year ago now? I needed to use the toxins within his body to try and decurse an important artefact; and when he got older I just couldn't bring myself to part with the little bugger."
The basilisk flared its feathers and hissed at Hydrus, but the teen just laughed.
"Don't mind him, he acts tough, but deep down he's a big old sweety." Giannis felt like he was about to explode with excitement when Hydrus began to wrap the snake around him. "Apophis, this is Giannis. He's the heir to 'Lord Grandfather Salazar's family, my family, so look after him, alright?"
Once more the nearly seven foot long, python-like snake hissed something, then turned and hissed at Giannis who smiled back.
"He said he'll look after you." The snake hissed again at Hydrus. "And he's mad I'm not using his exact words; he knows how to understand English, too."
"That's so cool," Giannis said, stroking the basilisk's scales. The reptile lifted his head up and stuck out his chin. "Can you really kill someone just by looking at them?" Apophis nodded his head. "So cool."
"Alright you three," Hydrus said. "Dobby, please show Giannis to his room. Apophis, keep an eye on your little brother." Just like at the Burrough, Hydrus began to radiate heat strong enough that it distorted the air above him. "I'm going over to Amelia's to pick up your stuff."
"What?" Sirius had nearly spat out whatever he was drinking. "Why you?"
"Because I have it on good authority she's not there at the moment, and your brother and I are probably the only two people who could get in and out without her knowing we were there," he said. "And if she did walk in on me being there, its far less likely she'll kill me than him."
Hydrus pushed open the door to Giannis's old room and got to work. He may not have been the Shadow, but he could certainly strip a place clean in a few minutes. Back during the war half the battle was just finding enough food and other supplies to keep an army happy, or, failing that, at least lively enough to keep marching. He started from the top, removing the various bits of paper Giannis had stuck to the walls including the recreation of Hydrus's own skeleton.
Once those along with all the other papers were stacked up neatly on Giannis's desk, he charmed up a piece of twine that bound them all together, and he tucked the bundle into the over-stuffable bag he planned to leave in Giannis's care when it was all said and done. Next he moved on to the boy's wardrobe, quickly stuffing various garments into the bag. When he got back to the desk, he sighed at the sight of his ward's handiwork.
"Ugh." Hydrus daintily lifted up a drool-stained, bite-covered piece of wood. "Why the hell didn't they just buy him some knives and chisels?"
The door behind him opened and he turned to see Amelia enter. "Because children aren't supposed to play with 'toys' like that."
"Bones," Hydrus said, annoyed he'd been caught. "You're almost as good as Bella at sneaking up on me; figure out how to silently open a door and you'll be neck and neck."
"I don't 'sneak' in my own home, Hydrus." Amelia rubbed at her forehead. "You're lucky I basically tore Sirius's head off, so I don't blame you for sneaking in."
"Blame me all you want," Hydrus said as he tucked another half-finished project in the bag. "No skin off my back. By the way, Regulus will be turning himself in soon, to you personally."
"No doubt having been coached to hell and back by your grandfather."
"Of course." Hydrus frowned and stared at a strange ball of… Something, something grey and pliable. "What on earth is this?"
"It's a rubber," Amelia said. "A fancy one since Sirius wouldn't let Giannis have anything less."
"Ah." He tossed the eraser into the bag and kept going. "Anyways, yes, Regulus will have the best defence money can buy, including an almost-full sweep of reparatory payments to his victims made in advance, and a very sympathetic chorus of ears to plead his case to." Hydrus gave her another look, staring deep into the woman's eyes. "But you'll still be the one who caught him."
"Ha, let me guess, Sirius's atte—"
"Sirius is practically catatonic right now," Hydrus interrupted. "Between the two of you breaking up, losing his job, Arcturus dying—"
"He died?" Hydrus turned back around to hide his grin. "What happened?"
"Stress finally did his putrid ticker in." He rolled the remainder of Giannis's markers and pencils into the bag. "Bastard tried putting the head ring on my finger, so I shoved Sirius into the line of fire. He can deal with it till I graduate."
Amelia was letting the silence hang, but Hydrus could almost feel the guilt setting into her; digging into her soul at the news that the man she had loved was literally having the worst time of his entire life. He didn't particularly care one way or another what happened between the two. Sirius could woo just about any woman he wanted and if Amelia couldn't handle the baggage he brought to the table, that was her problem. Still, what was good for the Black Sheep was good for the Black Gander. Black Flock?
"Even though he…"
"Hates this family? Of course." Hydrus pointed at the bed. "Any of that his?"
"All of it," Amelia answered. "We bought him a whole new bed frame and mattress because the original was too big. Did Sirius—"
"Keep 'em, I'll just take the pillows and blankets and what not," Hydrus interrupted. "Anyways, since you and your department don't want him, I'm gonna put him to work. Told him it's the least he could do after he ruined the chance of friendship between our houses.
"Stupid bastard doesn't understand that actions have consequences. I warned him not to get involved with the family, that I didn't want to see him getting caught up in all our nonsense." He finished folding the comforter and just barely managed to get it past the lip of the bag. "Now look at him. Or don't, rather, the last thing I need is to babysit the drunk again if he looks back at you."
"Hydrus—"
He cut her off with a particularly loud flap of the fitted sheet, which sent crumbs and little chips of wood flying every which way. "Don't worry, I'm not saying any of this to guilt you or any such nonsense. You made the right choice to dump him for being stupid enough to let my uncle go like that. He deserved it.
"That man spent half his life harbouring a burden of guilt over his brother, and a well-deserved sense of superiority over him. He let it ruin his relationship with the man, then failed to learn the lesson, and let it ruin his relationship with you." Hydrus finally managed to finish shoving the pillows into the backpack sized bag. "Shoulda seen him yesterday though, telling Regulus to quit being a bitch and that it was time to face the music. My words, not his."
Now she was being silent on purpose; he could tell. It'd probably annoyed the ever living shit out of her the way he kept cutting her off. If there was one, just one, special skill he rarely got to use these days, it was purposefully irritating the daylights out of people in authority.
"I hope you and I are able to have a more courteous relationship moving forward, Captain Bones." Now it was time to reel her back in. "I'm aware that I haven't been the most pleasant to deal with, but now that you aren't entwined with Sirius, I'd like another chance." He sat the feather-light bag down on the ground, turned around to face her, and bowed his head. "I'm sorry for being rude and disrespectful towards you until now."
She would say no, of course. Maybe throw in some colour language like 'Fuck off', or something along those lines, to try and break down the formality he'd brought to the conversation all of a sudden. Still, this would help reforge his ties with the Bones family. Next year he'd work towards befriending her niece Susan and—
"I forgive you." He blinked and straightened his head. "And yes, I'd… I'd like it if we could be on better terms as well." Amelia frowned at him. "What?"
"Oh, uh, nothing." He rubbed at the back of his head. "To be honest I expected you to tell me to fuck off."
The Bones scion snorted. "I'm not sure anyone can afford to tell the 'Black Saint' to fuck off these days."
Hydrus blinked. "The Black what?"
"The Black Saint." Bellatrix waved her hand dismissively. "The stupid veela came up with it, 'La Sainte Noire', is what they called you."
Hydrus sighed and demolished the next training dummy. He was still getting a grasp on his rediscovered overpowering of magic, and he wasn't going to disappoint Dumbledore, the painted one, by not putting in the best effort he could. Thus far the only spells he could cast perfectly were those like the Patronus Charm, ones that didn't have an upper-limit to the amount of magic you could pour into them. Yet another dummy was shredded with an old Potter spell that nearly worked as well as it used to when he still was a Potter.
"What's that one?" Bellatrix asked, holding her quill to a notebook she'd been writing in ever since he started practising. "It was a bit like that first one you used, except the target was more… shredded than exploded."
Hydrus grunted, then carved an X through the air with his wand rather than just pointing it. "Tornado."
Instead of an invisible swirl of power, this time the spell summoned up an entire tornado that eviscerated the floor and ceiling tiles as it charged towards the target dummy. Hydrus's hair was swept to the side and half-blinded him, reminding him of why he kept it shorn short during the war. Once he managed to put it back behind his ears, the tornado had died against the wall, leaving a lean, triangle-shaped dent in the wall behind it.
"That's what that spell was," he said. "Now why the hell are they calling me that?"
"You know why," Bella said as she readjusted her robes and hair. "And just 'tornado'? Really? Where's the Latin?"
"I leave the Latin to the…" Words failed him, as they often did. "Language lovers. If I make a spell I'm just gonna call it as I see it." Bellatrix scoffed, but he kept going. "Seriously though, Black Saint? Sounds like some awful Swedish metal band's name for their third album. The shit one."
"You called yourself Hydrus," Bellatrix snarked back. "Hardly one to judge names, as we've just explored."
The man formerly known as Harry grunted. "Fair enough. You ready to meet with Dumbledore later?"
"I guess," she said with a pout. "I still can't believe you told him before you told m-, shit."
He'd apparently caught her off guard with his next spell, one he'd come up with after seeing the old Black magic Regulus had worked after the third trial. Rather than spreading out the darkness, using it as a cover to hide everything and anything from inside its wake, he concentrated it. Turned it inwards and put pressure on it hard enough to turn coal to diamonds. Crushed the nonexistent element of nothingness into something that drew in all that surrounded it, forcing matter to do all that junk Tonks had talked about.
"Black hole," he said. "Haven't figured out any wand movements that help it along, but Dumbledore can get me there. Him or Remus."
"I can help," Bella said defensively. "You're speaking to the utmost expert in Black family magic now that Arcturus has passed."
Hydrus grinned, knowing exactly how to tease his future bride. "I don't know, I was thinking about asking Tonks. She was the one who introduced me to the concept of the spell, so I figured—"
Bella cut him off by grabbing his collar and forcing a kiss onto his lips. He tried to pull away but she wrapped her other arm around him and pulled him tighter. Finally he gave up and just wrapped his arms around her to return the affection. When they finally broke apart, a small line of spit dangling between their mouths which he quickly disintegrated as she huffed at him.
"Don't try and make me jealous, Hydrus," she said, voice sultry as sin. "I'll burn whoever you put in front of me."
"Lesson learned," he said. "But you tempt me to do it again."
She practically threw herself off of him as the doors to the Study Hall swung open, and a group of students walked in. There was a slight din at first, casual conversations between them, but it quickly turned to an ill-synchronised shouting of his name when they realised he was here. The first to arrive, and without the wherewithal to know better than not to hug him, was Luna Lovegood.
"Oh my gosh you're here!" she said. "We've been worried sick about you. Draco said you were fine, but I knew you got kidnapped by dragons."
"Don't be ridiculous, Lovegood," he said. "The dragons know better than to accost me. It was one of the damn kobold cults that got too big for their britches."
"You're a menace," Draco said as he extended his hand, a free ticket out of the grasp of the overly affectionate Ravenclaw. "Welcome back yet again. You here to stay for good this time?"
"I'll be in and out for the rest of the year, unfortunately," Hydrus said. "I'll make all our finals though."
"What's got you so caught up?" Tamina asked. "The Black Saint too busy for us?"
Hydrus's nose wrinkled. "Don't call me that. It's bad enough trying to remember that Sirius is the Black Sheep. Honestly, you'd think they'd come up with something more creative."
On and on it went, and it didn't stop with the initial crowd either. Students from all houses joined the swarm as they came in for study club, and he wasn't going to stop until he traded a line of dialogue with each of them. You couldn't buy that sort of good press. Before too, too, too long, the crowd had dwindled down, and it was just Dahlia Potter who stared up at him.
"Welcome back," she said. "Um, I'm sorry to ask, but… Could you get your dad to talk to my dad? He's really worried about him."
"Absolutely not." Her face dropped. "Tell your father to floo over to the Black summer home though, and he'll be there. Whether or not they talk is their problem, not mine."
She grinned. "Deal."
Once she was gone, Hydrus began to narrow in on those who hadn't come to greet him, see which ones he cared about. Cedric hadn't, but Cedric was a 'cool' kid, and more relevantly probably saw how he was being swarmed and decided not to bother. Good lad. Daphne hadn't, but she'd been nearby waiting with Pansy and Hellena when Tamina went up, so it wasn't like she ignored him either. Michael hadn't, but he was a shy one. Nev hadn't… He should go talk to Neville.
He swam through the crowd of the Study Hall, already deciding he needed more space in here so it would quit feeling like a nightclub. The amount that would cost him, and how little he'd get back running it through WWW, detracted from his mood but by the time he managed to find Neville it was mostly back to sunny skies.
"Longbottom," he said, apparently catching the teen off guard with the way he nearly spilled his ink pot. "How you been? How's your Spanish?"
"M-, Muy bien," Neville said, grinning. "Gracias. What's up?"
"Just wanted to see how you were doing," Hydrus answered. "I'm putting my plan for you into motion once school break starts up."
"You, uh, still haven't told me what your plan is…" Neville started. "Maybe you could—"
"Nope." Hydrus shook his head. "If I told you, I'd scare you off. You still wanna be someone who makes your parents proud? Someone that your nan and the rest of them can't slag off? Then just trust me, and I'll take care of you."
Neville looked off into the distance for a moment. It was like he wanted to disagree with Hydrus, but some awful hand had wrapped around his mouth. The pseudo-teens heart began to ache as he watched his former second-in-command practically collapse in on himself.
"I still want that," he said. "I can do this."
"You can do this." Hydrus slapped Nev on the back. "You won't believe me, but I mean it. You might be almost… Or near… No, you're definitely the weakest fourth year in this entire school." The Longbottom boy's shoulders sagged. "But you, and you alone, have the potential to be the greatest. Even better than Malfoy or Potter."
Neville blushed and looked away. "You don't mean that."
"I do." Hydrus slapped him on the shoulder once more as he prepared to leave. "I really do."
It was back, sometime between the quiet year and… And sometime shortly before the supposed child he had died. Everyone was drawn thin. Hermione just stared at papers, Ron was plotting with Luna to figure out how to grow tobacco on the go, Remus was a dead man walking, and Neville was sick of it all. When Hydrus tried giving the command that they move south into Africa, the other man had torn into him.
Literally.
It started out as verbal, with Harry giving the idea, Neville shutting it down, Harry getting mad, Neville getting even more mad. The two had done the usual huffing and puffing that he'd gone through with any number of his troops. Harry stood his ground, Neville pressed against him. Unlike everyone else though, the Longbottom man broke through his stalwart defences.
What had started as a typical hot-headed, short-sighted scuffle quickly spilled out into a true duel. He and Neville had destroyed their camp as they went back and forth, the two alpha males of the rebellion finally duking it out. The weaker of their followers had quickly fallen to the sides, praying for it to end. Those made of stronger stock watched on with curiosity. Everyone just wanted it to end, with either a new order in place or the old ways being renewed.
And Neville… Neville beat him.
No one knew it, of course. Nev had blown such a massive cloud of dust and debris with his final attack that no one could see what was going on, he just grabbed Harry by the throat and shook him once or twice as he reiterated his point. They would give up no ground, no quarter. They gave up enough by moving continental, off of the British Isles, and he would be pushed no further. He didn't care if that made this ground their graves, they wouldn't lose enough another inch.
And Harry, too scared of losing either his life or his best man, gave in. Things moved on, as they always did in the rebellion, and before too long people stopped asking who won the fight between the two of them. There were more important things to care about, like where the hell they were going to find clean water.
"Uh, Hydrus?"
"Hm?"
"You, um, you alright, mate?" Neville asked. "Been staring at me all… All focused and what not."
Hydrus laughed. "I'm good, mate. Sorry, I got distracted thinking of something. Keep up the good work."
'Right, who's next?' He glanced about the hall till he spotted Michael. 'There's my future cousin-in-law. Really gotta get him out of his shell.'
Hydrus ran his thumb over the back of Bella's silk-gloved as they sat beneath the oversized umbrella they held. Cygnus had suggested postponing the funeral due to the rainy weather, but the Black heir had shut that down, saying it was appropriate for the mood. In reality, it gave him an excuse to keep the coffin closed. He hated open casket funerals.
Sirius sat to his left, elbows resting on his knees with his hands balled together as he hunched forward to use them to hide most of his face. To a casual observer it would look like he was either praying or trying to hide a 'weak', mournful expression. In reality it was probably the opposite, he was trying to hide his boredom. Hydrus's godfather was a man of two extremes, the type to either have an alcohol induced breakdown in the wake of a funeral, or the type to forget the person had even died, depending on how close he was with them.
Or at least, he had been.
The rest of the Black family were there in the front row as well, including Narcissa with her husband and son. Ted Tonks was sat on the opposite side of Bellatrix, followed by his daughter and wife to keep the two Black women apart. The only one not sat in line with them was Orion, who was up in front of everyone giving a rather rambling and boring 'speech' that was more or less a biography about the ancient patriarch.
Behind the family were important guests like Dumbledore or Minister Shacklebolt. Further back were the few people who could actually call themselves friends of Arcturus, mostly just soldiers as elderly as he had been and a few, very few, old schoolmates. Last were the less-important, but not so unimportant as to go uninvited, guests.
Hydrus took a long breath and released it quietly enough that it couldn't be called a sigh. Honestly, the only thing going for this was the fact that he was certain Sirius would keep things short. He leaned over to the man.
"Do you know what you're going to say?"
"Not really," Sirius mumbled back. "Nothing really to say that would be appropriate for a funeral."
"Just keep it simple then." Hydrus gave a subtle jab of his chin at Orion. "Start with something like 'I think my father's done enough talking for all of us', get a laugh, then, 'He was my grandfather, for better or for worse, and I wish he was still here with us.'" Sirius let out a small snort. "Finish it up by asking if there's anyone else who would like to say something, and stand behind them to call up the next person when they're done. I'll close things out when there's no one left."
"Right." Sirius shook his head. "You really have been to a lot of these."
"Mm."
Luckily for them, Orion wrapped things up not too long after that, and Sirius took the space behind the podium in front of the coffin afterwards. He gave almost the exact lines Hydrus had provided him, then waited for someone to volunteer.
No one did.
Hydrus glanced back at the crowd and no one met his eyes. Even Bella was just glaring at the wet grass and mud in front of her. After nearly a full minute had passed, he stood and made his way over. Sirius wrapped him up in a hug, no doubt entirely to embarrass him, but Hydrus paid it no mind for once as he figured out what the hell he was going to say.
"Arcturus Black," he started. "What a bastard."
His opening line drew a few surprised and indignant coughs, a small round of chuckles from the old veterans near the back, and a wolven grin from Sirius.
"Tougher than leather, saltier than piss, and old enough to have earned the pine box he now calls home." Again the crowd's reaction was stilted and polarised. "I know many of you don't have many nice things to say about him, so I appreciate you holding your tongues. He was a hard man, a man who cared more about the family than the family, and it will always be a reflection in his legacy.
"But still, if I can't ask you to mourn for him, allow me to ask for this instead," He said. "Mourn not for Arcturus Black, the patriarch of the most noble and ancient House of Black. Instead, mourn for the man who stepped onto a battlefield in France some seventy years ago, and never came home. Mourn for the child who was forced to become more than a man, less than a man, and as human as anyone else.
"Mourn for what could have been, for the softness shed in need of steel to stand strong against the forces of evil. Mourn for the innocence lost in order to survive in a world where fear and hesitation could cost your brothers and sisters their lives." He took a breath, thinking back on how many such soldiers he himself knew of like that, soldiers like Neville. "Mourn for the family who never got to know the gentle touch of their father, their grandfather, their great grandfather. Mourn for the time lost between them, the love lost between them.
"And once you've done that, and you've finished your mourning, rejoice. Rejoice in the peace we now revel in thanks to men like him, thanks to the sacrifices they made. Rejoice in the life and love you have with your own family and friends." He swallowed and licked his lips. "Again, you need not mourn the man finally resting behind me. But we should all, each and everyone of us, mourn what he sacrificed so that we could have the chance to even put up with all of his shit."
Now the section-contained chuckle from before spread out to the whole crowd, and Hydrus gave a smile of his own in response before turning to the coffin.
"Rejoin with Magic, Grandpa Arcturus," he said. "And enjoy the greatest journey of all."
He half expected the coffin to burst into flames like with the veela, but no such incident happened, so he just bowed his head and returned to his seat. It felt nice to get out of the rain and back beside his very-warm fiancee, and Bella seemed to be just as happy to have him back the way she practically shoved the umbrella into his hand so she could put her arm around him and lean up against his side.
"Just go up and thank everyone for coming," Hydrus said to Sirius quietly. "You'll have to stick around for a little while to say goodbye to everyone, and then you're free."
"Y-, yeah." Sirius stood and Hydrus was shocked to see him subtly wipe his eyes as he did so. "Thanks, kiddo."
People came and went, everyone making sure to shake Sirius's hand offer their condolences, and most doing the same to Hydrus. The rain was making sure no one lingered for long. Eventually most everyone had left, and Dumbeldore made his way over, eyes red.
"That was a lovely speech, Hydrus," the man said with a smile. "I'll have to make sure you give one at my own funeral."
The 'teen' shot daggers from his eyes at the old man, both of them knowing that he'd already done that once before. "I'll see if I can make the time for it."
"Yes, yes," Dumbledore said with a chuckle. "And Bella, I just wanted to assure you that I'm more than happy to cover any classes you need me to while you grieve."
The woman just nodded at the old man. He nodded back, then left to give a few words to Sirius. Once the two were done and had shaken hands, Albus left and Sirius turned his face up to the grey sky. He let the rain beat down on his face for a moment longer, then shook his head like a dog and approached.
"Right, let's get going," he said. "I need a drink."
Hydrus stood with Bella, and handed the umbrella back to her. "You two can go. I need to hold the vigil."
"What?" they asked almost in synch, with Sirius continuing, "The vigil?"
"It's an old tradition," Bella answered. "To watch over the body until sunrise."
"It's stupid is what it is," Hydrus said with a sneer. "The Blacks used to have a problem with vampirism back in the day, so this is what they did to make sure no one embarrassed them by not actually being dead." He sighed. "Still, better to waste a night doing things 'properly' in case anyone checks."
"I can do that," Sirius said, though he looked like that was the last thing he wanted to do. "You saved my ass back there with the speech, it's—"
Hydrus cut him off with a wave of his hand. "Just go. I don't trust you not to fall asleep standing on your feet."
"I'm sure Lord Arcturus would've loved this." Bella leaned in to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you."
"Yeah, yeah." He took the umbrella she offered him. "See you two tomorrow."
After they were gone, and once he was certain he was alone, he allowed Apophis to appear. The basilisk had been all but strangling him to keep warm in the rainy weather, and he wasn't at all pleased that his feathers had gotten wet.
"I don't get it," the snake hissed. "Who cares if he's dead now?"
"Those who liked him will miss being able to talk to him, regret not doing that more often," Hydrus said. "We can't all speak to those who've passed the veil."
"I suppose…"
Hydrus continued to run his fingers over his familiar's scales, and given he didn't have much better to do contemplated their bond. It was just a suspicion for now given he hadn't had time to study such things, but he was coming to believe that the caustic response of his magic hadn't entirely been the fault of his out-of-balance magical energies. Dumbledore's power had lost almost every one of its aspects besides the fiery strength he was famous for after solidifying his bond with Fawkes.
So what had Apophis been doing to him?
His patronus was still dangerous to touch for anyone beside himself, which was an equally fair thing to say about the basilisk's venom. The fact that he'd managed to kill a dementor with it was also rather alarming, but perfectly aligned with the feeling Apophis's magic gave him. The beast was naturally a force of death, and unlike others of his species, he'd been practically nursed on the power since his birth.
Hydrus definitely wasn't mad about being able to slaughter the creatures he feared most in the world, but that didn't mean he wasn't worried about what other side effects there may be. Just the thought of accidentally injuring someone when he was trying to heal them made him cringe.
His thoughts were interrupted by the shlicking and creaking of wheels, and he turned to see Mrs. Herschel and her husband Gregory approaching. He blinked.
"Hello, you two," he said. "This is a pleasant surprise."
"Hello, dear," Mrs. Herschel responded in kind. "And what do you mean a surprise? I told you, everyone knows my Greggy."
'Greggy' grunted as she wheeled him all the way up to Arcturus's casket, and he reached out a trembling hand to place on its edge. The old woman fastened her own umbrella to the wheelchair then quickly shuffled over to Hydrus who welcomed her company before suddenly realising something.
"Oh, um, this, uh…" Apophis cocked his head at the old woman who chortled at the sight of him. "This is Apophis."
"Hello, little one," she said as Hydrus began to wonder if there was just something about old people that prevented them from being scared of his supposedly terrifying familiar. "Tell me, love, how are you holding up? It can't be easy to lose a relative you only just recently gained."
He shrugged. "It is what it is. Did your husband serve with Arcturus or something?"
"Or something," the woman said, shaking her head. "Those two used to butt heads all the time, what with Arcturus being a Major General and my Greggy being, well, my Greggy."
Hydrus gave a bemused grin at that. Mrs. Herschel would go on and on about her husband and how great the diminutive man was. Just the thought of the trembling old raisin and the Black patriarch 'butting heads' made him want to laugh. Unless Gregory had been the victim of some awful curse that crippled his magic, there was no way he could've held a candle to the other man.
After a while longer the two old folks left, but not without Gregory having somehow snuck the galleons they kept trading into the casket. Hydrus repositioned them into the pouch built into the back of his wheelchair and watched them go before returning to his vigil.
He still had a long night ahead of him.
"Right this way, Sir and Madame Black."
Bellatrix had her arm loosely draped into Hydrus's as the two were led deeper into the bowels of Gringotts head quarters. Behind them were their pet werewolf and a retinue of his 'children'. She'd just about had to bite Hydrus's head off to get him to agree to bringing in escorts after what happened last time they were involved with goblins, but eventually he relented and ordered Fenrir to task.
Technically the location of Gringotts' main branch, and thus the Goblin People's capital, was secret, but her future husband had taken one look around the forested landscape they'd been portkey'd to and called it Russia; said it was between Ukraine and Georgia. She loved his geographical genius. After that they'd been led down into what looked like a mine shaft but quickly turned into a hall that could make any pureblood family blush.
Everything was extravagant. The marble walls had to have either been imported, or they stood at odds with everything logic should've said was beneath the surface of a place like this. Braziers forged into various horrific and demoralising shapes were pounded into them like their architect had the worst day of their life beforehand. The air smelled of metal and smoke, and every step they made clicked and clacked and echoed before and after them.
Eventually they made it into a throne room, where one particularly nasty and ugly looking goblin was sitting on a throne behind a desk the length of a dragon. Five more of the little creatures were bound to rickety wooden chairs in front of him. The one in the throne stood at their arrival.
"Welcome!" he said, nodding his head ever so slightly. "And behold, five of the seven sons of Steelgorge the Liar, to do with as you please."
Things were going exactly as Hydrus said they would. He'd told her that his army had briefly worked alongside goblin forces during the war, but that the arrangement hadn't lasted long thanks to the latter's disdain for guerilla tactics. Still, he'd more or less known what to expect coming here.
"I have enough goblin blood on my hands." The king sneered down at them, but Hydrus lifted his hand and snapped his fingers. "Deal with them."
Fenrir and three of the other werewolves stepped up, leaving two to stand on either side of Bellatrix and her love. She watched with a tight smile and thumping heart as the beasts tore into their smaller counterparts. The 'alpha' was especially brutal, using his claws to rip bones and organs alike out of the diminutive monsters. She spared a glance at Hydrus and squeezed her thighs together at the sight of his bored, almost emotionless expression. Even when one of the clumsy beasts sent a spray of blood at them and the droplets splashed across his face, a hair away from his storm-grey eyes, he didn't flinch.
Fenrir was the first to finish with his target, but before he could move on to the last one Hydrus stopped him. "Leave that one alive." The werewolf grunted and began to turn away but her love cleared his throat. "I only said to let him live."
Their pet cocked its head to the side, then grinned and turned back to the last goblin and got to work. Bellatrix giggled and pressed herself tight to Hydrus as she watched the violence. When the dogs were finished they stepped back into place behind and surrounding them, blood drenching their suits and dripping onto the floor in slow and splattering drops.
"Well then," the goblin king said. His wrinkled and gnarly face had lost some of its colour. "I see you're no stranger to violence."
"How many goblins died at the tip of my wand that day?" Hydrus asked. "At my love's? In the fangs of my familiar?" Apophis appeared and Bellatrix cackled at the way the goblin king nearly fell out of his chair. "Or rather, with a glance of his eyes?"
"You, that's—"
Bellatrix leaned over and gave the basilisk a kiss on his cheek. "It's our little baby."
"As I was saying," Hydrus started. "How many died that day thanks to Steelgorge's folly? How many families were broken? Hopefully they'll take some solace in this suffering."
The goblins were a brutal people, it was one of the few things Bellatrix could respect about them. They suffered no fools or weaklings, and if Hydrus hadn't earned their respect with his actions thus far, then they were both. Bellatrix loved seeing him like this, seeing him be so decisive, so commanding.
"I suppose it might," the goblin king said, still warily keeping his eyes fixed on Apophis. "Well, if that's all—"
"It is not." Hydrus pulsed his magic, sending a shiver of pleasure down Bellatrix's spine. "Did you not just hear me? What I just did was a gift to your people, I have yet to receive any recompense myself."
Bellatrix let loose a manic giggle at that, and prepared to enjoy the show her future husband was going to put on.
In an infinite void of darkness, two deities sat on either side of a table. One as old life, the other as majestic. To them the table was as wide as the world and half as deep, given that its spherical shape was 'broken' in half and flattened to see over. More information than any mortal could possibly acknowledge let alone comprehend exploded from its surface, and the two players took it in with passing interest.
"It's quite the nasty little trick you pulled," Death said. "It'll unravel in the end, though."
"Perhaps," Magic agreed. "But not until after he's done what I need him to."
"More frame jobs to come then?" Death asked. "Don't you think he'll catch on?"
Death, the older of the two beings, saw his little sister as pompous and too big for her britches. To him, this game of theirs was just that, a passing amusement and something he could use to teach her a lesson. To Magic, the more majestic of the two, Death was an oppressive elder looking to crush her. To her the game was anything but, it was her lifeline.
She rolled her eyes. "As I said, he will when it's time. By then, it'll be too late for you to stop."
"Or perhaps it will be too late for you to correct yourself, to save the small devotion you've garnered for yourself," Death said with a sigh.
"You'll see."
She reached upwards and with a glimmering finger pushed aside a star, sending a signal to her detachment of centaurs nearest her champion that it was almost time. Death drummed his fingers along the table to the rhythm of gallows' doors falling open, and he hoped that the reminder would allow his newest pawn some comfort. Small gestures and grand actions that echoed throughout the world splayed out before them.
"I believe you're going to be the one who sees, Sister." Death subtly ran his knuckle along the table's underside. "Perhaps then you'll even understand."
"There can be no understanding between us." She blew a gentle breath over the table, making no effort to hide it. "Make your move."
"I already have."
Before she could ask what that meant, something caught both their attentions, and it brought a smile to Magic's face and made Death shake his head.
"That puts a nice bow on things," Magic said.
Death drew a small circle on the table. "Quite the opposite."
And so the two gods continued making their moves, snidely argued, and paid no more than a passing and bemused acknowledgement to the one piece on their board they could never move quite right.
BBaRtS
43, prime numbers is back baby. We're getting things moving once more with this chapter. Giannis and Sirius reunited, Amelia's cooled off a bit, Hydrus practicing his overpowered magic, Arcturus's funeral, goblin reparations, and godly shenanigans.
I was trying out something a little different with my writing style for gods' section, since it's supposed to be weird, but Idk if I like it or not. Soon we'll be finding out what Hydrus got out of the goblins and what he did to catch Death and Magic off guard, Neville's summer plans, who Hydrus will be replacing Bellatrix with, what the triple threat of Dobby, Apophis, and Giannis are getting up to, and more. (Note I said 'soon' instead of 'next chapter' this time, since several times now I've had to reschedule events lolol)
Out of everything I still feel like I really need to learn, and that I do feel like I've improved on since I started writing this, it's the balance between dialogue and description/actions. I briefly mentioned it last chapter, but I do feel like I need to improve there a lot. I feel like a big part of the problem comes down to this story being so centralised on character interactions in the first place, rather than having a serious goal to work towards, but still I should be able to do better with that.
Anyways, on to reviews!
"I love that even though Sirius is the Lord Black, it's very obvious that Hydrus is in charge of everything. Their little back and forth as Hydrus attempts to fix Sirius' clusterfuck was a weird bonding moment, but I loved it." - Welcome back, and yeah I enjoyed getting to show their relationship finally taking a step forwards, and think it'll be interesting getting to see Sirius come into his own in a position he's run away from for so long.
"I like that Molly wasn't immediately hostile to Hydrus or attempting to keep Giannis from him. She's a good mother in this work, and that little bit makes it so much nicer." - One thing I get a lot of praise for in this fic, even when the reviewer is shitting on the rest of it, is that they like my version of Dumbledore, and although we definitely won't be exploring Molly as much as we do him, I do stand behind the fact that I dislike bashing and don't really want it in my fic without good reason. If someone wants to 'bash' Voldemort/Snape/Rita be my guest, they're vile, but characters like Molly/Dumbledore/Ron/Ginny get so much weird hate that I just can't get behind lol
"why was Regie a thief, what was he doing when he got caught, why was he afraid enough of getting caught not to go along with the arrest (he was throwing a tantrum but hardly cooperative) and what's changed with the death of Arcturus?" - I tried hinting at it with his internal musings, but the reason he's a thief is because it was a way for him to finally be better than his brother at something. Sirius was an auror, so he became a thief, and up until recently he was untouchable. He wasn't just good, he was the BEST. Add on a healthy amount of typical kleptomania-causing reasons like thrill seeking, and yeah. He severely overestimated his infamy however, he was 'just' a thief and not a murderer/monster, and although logically the rest of his family is like 'wtf is he doing' internally he 100% believes/believed that he'll get the worst punishment imaginable. What changed wasn't so much Arcturus's death as it was Sirius being the one to say 'get your shit together', because in a twisted sort of way it's his brother finally acknowledging him and taking him seriously.
"If Hydrus has practically adopted Giannis, shouldn't Bella want to spend time getting to know her future husband's adopted son especially since she's willing to think of Apophis(an honest-to-God snake) as a son?" - I think she was just 100% shortsighted and didn't want to lose her Hydrus time, she's doing better than she was, but she is still an insane and obsessive woman who wouldn't need a second to think in a trolly problem that involved her romantic love vs familial/parental love.
And that's all! Thank you all so much for the kind comments. Shout outs to the weirdos spamming hate reviews, thanks for padding my stats (seriously, if you really wanna be a pure negative, leave just one extra-long hate review so there's no silver lining). Thanks for all the faves/follows/kudos/subscriptions/bookmarks. Love you all, see you all next Saturday, lessthanthree!
