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McGonagall was waiting at the entrance of the castle: "Mr. Black, the Headmaster wants to see you after dinner."

Hmm? Who ratted me out?

38 Life at Hogwarts.

I nodded: "Only if you are there with me, Professor."

Her expression froze: "If you insist, I will Mr. Black."

I looked her in the eyes and told her: "It is the responsibility of the head of the House to be there with every student of their House when they are called to the Headmaster's office, Professor. We are not supposed to insist at all, it is your duty as Head of Gryffindor to be there for us."

"Ten points from Gryffindor for your disrespect, Mr. Black." she bit back.

I shrugged: "Fair enough, although I just quoted the rule book, ah, it was disrespectful to think you forgot the rules. I am sorry, Professor. Those points were well deserved."

I passed her and went to the Great Hall, Lilly softly asked: "What do you think he wants?"

"I can only think of two reasons, my knowledge of Riddle, or the Magic that we showed at Yule. I wonder who tattled on me." I answered.

James nudged me and said: "Minnie doesn't like you very much, Siri. What have you done to her?"

I grinned: "I just pointed out what her duties are. She has to be present if we are called to the Headmaster, every time."

Alice chuckled: "That means she will be spending most of her time there, we Gryffs tend to get in trouble more than the other Houses combined."

Xxxxx

Jelly Beans was the new password, we entered the office, and… oh right, Snape isn't old enough to be here. It gets confusing sometimes. Dumbledore donned his benevolent Grandfather mask and gestured to a chair.

"Sit down, Mr. Black, can I call you Sirius?" he asked with a friendly face.

I shrugged, "Mr. Black or Heir Black will do, Sir, unless I am allowed to call you Albus."

The friendly face soured up a bit, "Well, then Mr. Black, I will get to the point then. I was informed that you performed Magic out of Hogwarts, a fact that is against the law, and has to be punished."

"Who reported it if I may ask, Sir?" I asked with an innocent face, "I did not get a warning from the Ministry that I did underage Magic, so I doubt they were talking about me."

"Several witnesses saw you perform high-level Magic, my boy, Magic that was above NEWT level," he said with a frown.

"I am not your boy, Sir." I said, "And as long as the Ministry did not detect that I did Magic, reports from some people that carry a grudge must be taken with a grain of salt, Sir."

"Mr. Black! Show some respect for the Headmaster!" Chided McGonagall.

I turned to her and said: "Sorry Professor, but the Headmaster is out of line. Whether I did or not do Magic out of school is not for the headmaster to be judged, that is the task of the Ministry Department of Education. The headmaster has no jurisdiction out of Hogwarts."

Dumbledore had a hard time keeping his mask up, "So, you deny that you did Magic out of school, Mr. Black? Despite the numerous witnesses who reported it to me? I am the Chief Warlock, so I have jurisdiction here."

Does this idiot really think I am going to tell you that I did Magic? Ah, a small kid, a Firstie, is easily intimidated by that wise man on his throne behind that big desk. Meh, fuck him.

I sighed: "Yes, sir, you are the Chief Warlock, but tell me, is this the Chief Warlock's office? Did the Chief Warlock get a note from the Ministry of Education that I performed underage Magic? That would be my first warning. So, Sir, what is all the fuss about? Even when Merlin and Morgana tell you I did Magic, do you need to believe it? The Ministry is monitoring under-age Magic, if they didn't detect it, on what do you base your accusations?"

"Several witnesses reported that you did Magic out of Hogwarts, Mr. Black! There must be a punishment for that violation the law strictly forbids students to do Magic outside of school," he said with a frown. "There is no exception to that rule."

That comment deserves a smackdown! I shrugged: "Several people claim that you collect Professor Binns's paycheck to buy those hideous robes you always wear, sir. Does that mean it is also the truth? Or that people say that you are sodomizing students under your care, do we need to penalize you for that? Or the rumor that you killed your sister, do you need to be punished because someone said so? After all, there mustn't be an exception to the rules."

That shook him to the bones, even McGonagall was slack-jawed by my daring comments, I capitalized on that to make my escape.

I stood up, pretending I was mad, and walked to the door, "I will defend myself if there is a hearing in the Ministry, sir. If you want to play Chief Warlock, do that in the Ministry. Here you are a Headmaster, if you can not keep those jobs apart, maybe it is time to drop one or two of them. The next meeting will be in the presence of Lord Black, Sir."

What do you know, Malfoy, Nott, and Lestrange are tattling on me? How childish. Dumbledore trying to pin it on me is childish too. That is the way he normally works, wait until you misbehave and sweep it under the rug, but always remind you of that for leverage. Well, it will be a while before he recuperates from the Sister comment, or from the fact that I find his robes hideous. They are though, most of the gays have good taste in fashion, Dumbledore went for the Merlin Look and failed miserably at it.

Xxxxx

Slytherins need to practice more on their ambushes, sticking their heads out to see if I am coming is not very smart, especially if you have white hair. Another stupid mistake is the speeches they do before attacking, they jump in front of you with their wands out and start their monologue.

"It is payback time you bra…" That was as far as Malfoy got. I trained my paralyzing spell to perfection, I spent more than a year killing hordes of Zombies in that Dungeon, six fools with a superiority complex are not a challenge. I wandless froze them just by looking at them, and pretended that I saw someone behind them. That made them into six statues, I love that spell.

I said: "Thanks for the help, mate." and walked past them as if nothing had happened.

Now, who will believe I could stun seniors by just looking at them? He must have help from someone! Meh, McGonagall will dispel them in a few minutes.

Lilly and her posse waited for me in our common room, I told them: "Can you believe Malfoy tattled on me to the old goat? I did above-NEWT-level Magic outside Hogwarts and had to be punished. I told him that the Ministry didn't send me a note. They behave like a bunch of kids. On top of that, Malfoy and five others thought they could ambush me when I came back here."

Marlene McKinnon asked: "And? Did you do high-level Magic, Siri?"

I grinned and answered: "As long as the Ministry doesn't send an owl with the notification that I did Magic, no, Marlene, then I did not do Magic, it must have been someone else. Perhaps a mistaken identity, or a lookalike."

Lilly commented, "That old man just wants to pin a crime onto him so he can control Siri."

"This hooligan is going to bed, what do you say, Lilly? Is it time for a good night snog?" I licked my lips expectantly.

Lilly chuckled: "Not yet, Black, maybe it is time for a spanking if you keep this up. I told you my first kiss will happen in my third or fourth year."

I shrugged: "I tried and failed, but, my beloved, it will be in your third year, or if I am lucky, in your second year. Night girls." the "in your dreams" were doused by the giggles of the other girls.

Xxxxx

At the breakfast table, McGonagall asked me: "Mr. Black, who attacked Mr. Malfoy and his friends yesterday?"

I shrugged: "How would I know? Didn't the paintings report to the headmaster? They should know. Besides, why would I care? It is not that they are my best friends or even normal friends."

McGonagall said: "They claim you saw who attacked them, Mr. Black, you even thanked him they said. Who was it, Mr. Black"

I sighed and looked up at McGonagall: "And do tell, me why would I thank him, Professor? Maybe to thank him for preventing the ambush Malfoy and his friends planned to spring on me? Nah, that wasn't it, Malfoy is an angel, Pure bloods don't ambush people, they are too Noble for that."

McGonagall fumed: "I want to know who did those spells, Mr. Black, those victims could not be dispelled, those spells wore off after three hours. We need to know what that spell was and who cast it."

"Frankly, Professor, I don't care, I suggest you ask those victims what they were doing there in the first place, Slytherins on the route from the Headmaster's office to the Gryffindor tower, is that a coincidence?"

James came to the rescue: "Professor, did you ever put as much effort into investigating the assaults from our side? Every time we complain we are brushed off, or are you after Sirius?"

With a huff she turned and left, that bitch actually doesn't like me! Why? I am almost perfect! I am a 12.9 on a scale of 10! I admit that I need some aging, there is not much pubic hair yet, but it is coming. Besides, once there is hair, social standards demand I trim it off. I blame the razor industry. We used to only shave our beards, but now we have to do the whole body. See? They are scamming us! I used to count my chest hairs, it took years before I got something respectable, then I had to shave it off. Where was I? Who cares.

It kicked off a cold war between Malfoy and me, every time I froze him and his butt boys I said "Thank you" It started a rumor that I have an invisible bodyguard, they never saw me with a wand in my hand, it went so far that Malfoy lost his friends, they got tired to stay frozen for hours in the hallways and be the laughing stock of the school.

It went a bit out of control when some of the students who suffered from his bullying took revenge when he stood frozen in a hallway, they put a bag over his head and gave him a good beating.

Xxxxx

Lilly and I worked a good defense system out, a detection ward stone that searches for anomalies, and disables them, once added to the main wards, it will take hours to get through. That ward stone will even send an alert to the DMLE if it detects an attack.

Based on the DA coins, Lilly made coins, when activated, made the other coins automatically into a portkey to that location. The following weekend, Gramps came to Hogwarts for a meeting.

I presented Lilly to him: "Grandfather, this is my better half, Lilly Evans, she is as smart, if not smarter than me. Lilly, this is my Grandfather Arcturus Black. Grandfather, Lilly, and I made a workable solution for home protection."

I presented him with the wardstone and explained: "Add this to your main ward stone, its main purpose is detecting foreign intrusions and drains on the main ward stone, it sends an alert to the one that controls the wards and to the DMLE, it also will fight off the drains and breakers. Best of all, it dispels Imperio'd people"

Gramps asked, "Are you sure it dispels Imperio's? How did you manage to do that?"

I shrugged: You really don't want to know that, plausible deniability and stuff."

Lilly explained the coins: "Sir, give friends you trust a coin, each. If one of your friends activates his coin, it will mean he is under attack. Your coin will turn into a portkey with the coordinates of the one under attack. With enough friends, you can eliminate your enemies. A simple touch of your wand will reset them."

We presented the schematics and arithmancy of the stones and coins, Lilly said: "This is our gift to you, Lord Black, with this those Death Eaters won't stand a chance."

Gramps looked at her and asked: "You are the same as Sirius aren't you? Is our future that much in danger?"

Lilly nodded: "Approximately half of the pure bloods will perish, dozens of Houses will die out. The son of Narcissa, a Malfoy, and a son of James Potter will be the last males with Black blood. Andromeda's daughter will be the first Metamorphmagus in centuries, but Andi is cast out because she eloped with a muggle-born to escape Theodore the Raper Nott."

I added: "The war will escalate fast, once the veteran fighters are eliminated, they pick us off one by one. Dumbledore does some token effort with his club but is mostly useless. Their main weapon is terror, Imperio the father and let him torture his children for example. Infiltrate the Ministry and control the Floo, a few rats in the DMLE warn them of raids, a supporter of their course at the registration department gives them the location of Muggle-born homes, you understand the danger, Grandfather? Tom Riddle knows how to sow fear and mistrust, in the end, you won't even trust your family."

Gramps left with our care package and a lot of worries.

Xxxxx

Malfoy ceased his attacks after a series of beatings, each one gave him a few days in the hospital wing, revenge is a bitch sometimes.

My main problem is Bellatrix, I am beginning to think she is a lost cause, the urge to attack and torture someone is too big, hating Muggle-born is just an excuse to get targets.

It got out of hand when she attacked Lilly, not that Lilly needed help from me, but I lost my patience with her, I invaded her mind to find out where that hate came from.

Lilly pulled me back and said: "Do diagnostic spells, Siri. She is messed up with potions, alchemy-based potions. Call your Grandfather, this is probably Dumbledore's work. She needs Gringotts healers."

After I sent my messenger Patronus out, I grabbed Bellatrix by the hair and slapped her face: "Snap out of it bitch, you are dozed to the gills with hate potions, fight it! If you are somewhat capable you will get over it."

Bellatrix fumed: "Lies! I check for potions every meal! You can not fool me!"

Lilly commented: "Potions on Alchemy base can not be detected with normal spells, Miss Black. Take a good look at yourself, is this you? A mad maniac that lashes out to everyone and anything? Is this rage normal for you? Sirius told me you were his favorite cousin because you were fun and nice, somewhere you changed into a raging lunatic."

I tied her up and took her to the hospital wing, "Madam Pomfrey, my Grandfather will come to take her to Gringotts or St. Mungo's, Bellatrix has potions in her system on Alchemy base, I suspect the Headmaster, if you warn the Headmaster I will file a complaint against you for aiding in poisoning a student."

Pomfrey protested: "The headmaster has to be informed of all matters that concern the students, Mr. Black!"

"Not when I tell you I suspect him to be the criminal, Madam Pomfrey, then you need to call an independent specialist to investigate my accusations, read your bloody rule book or you are bound to break your oaths and lose your Magic." is it true? Meh, it is a wild guess, it scared her enough to back off.

Twenty minutes later Gramps barged in, Lilly showed the spell and cast it on Bellatrix, she explained: "Three different potions, see? These green lines indicate a negative feeling against certain coloring or markers, for example, the ID code for our uniforms, I guess everything not Slytherin. That brown amplifies negative emotions, and the black lowers your mental borders. These three combined… if it is not cured I fear it will be permanent."

I said: "Grandfather, I know you don't like them, but get her to Gringotts. St. Mungo's has too many politics in the way. The Goblins hate us all equally, they will get to the bottom of this. Potions on Alchemy base, who has the skills?"

Gramps said to Pomfrey, "Open the floo, Poppy, I am taking my grandchild with me."

When Grandfather left, I turned to Pomfrey: "Learn that spell, Madam Pomfrey, there are others like Bella, I don't know what Dumbledore's game is but it is something sinister. Now that you know of the problem, you are oath-bound to act on it, aren't you? Start with forbidding the elves to add potions to our food."

Lilly commented: "This really is a cesspit, although I bet the Green lines come from here, the brown and the black are in conflict with each other, that indicates two sources. Could it be that the Death Eaters getting one of those potions too? To make them more ruthless and cruel?"

I sighed: "Slytherin maniacs, Gryffindors reckless, those are tailor-made for us."

Xxxxx

The following days, the wizarding world shook awake, Pomfrey, scared to lose her Magic started to examine the problem students and discovered ten others with multiple potions in their system. It so happened that those were junior Death Eaters, conflicting potions from Dumbledore with those from Tom made for messed up kids. Pomfrey took no risks and shipped them off to Gringotts.

That could not be kept a secret, not after Grandpa kicked up a firestorm, he presented Bellatrix' medical report from the Goblins to the Daily Trash and filed a lawsuit against Dumbledore and Voldemort.

Tom lost a lot of his support when the parents found out that their leader was spiking their kid's drinks with Berserker potions, Nott, and Malfoy were especially mad at Tom, knowing the after-effects of those potions, more so, with the mix-up with Dumbledore's potions it endangered the future of their House.

At the Wizengamot, Dumbledore could not choose which job he wanted to keep, he got sacked from all three jobs at once. Getting caught red-handed for potioning Heirs from leading Houses is a sure way to get fired. He had just enough support to keep his ass out of Azkaban.

Tom had to go underground, he lost his power base and financial backers, once the kids knew what effect those potions had on their behavior, they turned their back to Tom. This was a major setback for him, I bet he and Dumbledore will have a meeting… crap, that is entirely possible!

Xxxxx

House Black has 30% shares of the Daily Manure and I made use of it by publishing an article.

Manipulations and Machinations on the Highest Level!

Recent events brought to light what caused our community to be divided. It all starts at Hogwarts, from the time Armando Dippet became Headmaster until the present day. Dippet tried to integrate the Muggle-born faster in our society by celebrating their Christian holidays at the turn of this century.

The fool however neglected to teach those Muggle-born our customs. Dumbledore raised the conflicting customs a few nudges by canceling our celebrations in favor of the Christian customs. I ask you, why did he do that? No Samhain but Halloween, no Yule but Christmas, what was he thinking?

When we look at his pedigree, he is a son of a lesser house, and his mother is a Muggle-born, his father died in Azkaban for punishing the kids that made his sister an obscuros, and he is raised by his Christian Mother. In other words, Dumbledore doesn't have a clue about our ways and was pushing the Christian doctrine on us.

He accomplished that by alienating Slytherin House from the other three Houses. Slytherin House is home for the more traditional families. With those potions and pushing the Christian way on us, he caused a rift in our society.

Being a War Hero, he made use of his fame to push some questionable reforms through. He banned all the Rituals, and cut in many courses the so-called Dark spells out the syllabus.

What is the result? Half of our people forgot our ways or it was never taught to them, and compared with other nations, we are WEAK! We became sheep that mindlessly followed Dumbledore around.

Then comes another manipulator that picked up on the frustrations of the Pure-Bloods and used it to make a grasp for power. His name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, a Muggle-born who pretends to be a Pure-blood using the name Voldemort and claims to be the Heir of Slytherin.

He rallies the malcontents and lets them vent their frustrations on Muggles and Muggle-born. To better control his followers, he started potioning them with Berserker potions.

Here we are, readers, between two Megalomaniacs who stop at nothing in their pursuit of power, and the students are suffering for it. How do we solve this mess? By teaching the Muggle-born our customs, not the Binns' History; and learning about the Muggle world, not that poor excuse that they teach at Hogwarts.

Me? I am just a student who took its first steps in our world and could not stand being manipulated by two powerful criminals.

I am Sirius Orion Black and make a stand, we won't bow anymore, we will question everything, and make up our own minds for the future, our Future!

Xxxxx

Lilly slapped the back of my head: "Two years too soon, Siri! Can you make it work? You are only eleven years old, and you make a speech that some grown-ups can not even understand."

I protested: "The Crabbes and Goyles hardly count as humans Lilly! I used enough small words to get my point through."

James commented: "I bet Dumbledore and Riddle are not happy with you. Even Bagshot will get worried that you are running for office soon. You are stirring a Doxy's nest up, mate."

Mary, after reading the article said: "Poor Lilly, a widow so soon. Black? Did you write a Will? If not, you better hurry."

That got the four girls giggling, they make quite the sight, a full-color pallet. Marlene is a tall blond girl, Lilly a redhead, Alice a mousy brunette, and Mary with long black hair, even at eleven years they turn heads. Then there is James Potter, he looks like Harry Potter with brown eyes, Wolf-wolf is a dull brown/blondish boy, Side characters A-B-C- and D… Meh.

And there is Me! In my case, the Pedigree works! Handsome, long dark hair, gray… no, Silvery eyes, height above average, impeccable wardrobe, scary smart, I mean, very scary smart, did I say handsome? That too. Also humble.

I said: "At least they are after those two now, they will be too busy to think about me."

And it gives us time to prepare, McGonagall and Hagrid are not happy with me, I kicked their Hero out of the castle, that is was because his crimes were a minor detail. Anyway, the dust settled and classes resumed like normal.

Lilly set alarms at all the secret passages with an age spell, anyone passing through older than twenty will set it off. The poor bloke that triggers it will experience firsthand the effects of a Flashbang spell, loud enough to pop some eardrums and blind for a half hour, you got to love that girl.

Xxxxx

We let the grown-ups deal with Tom, during the Spring Equinox, Lilly and I, paid a visit to Snape's Dad, after a stern talking too, okay, after a good beating, we forced a potion down his throat. That potion isolates alcohol and forces it back out.

Lilly said to him, "If I hear or even think you are beating your wife and kid again, the beating from today will seem like a gentle massage. And believe me, Mr. Snape, we can read your memories like an open book."

I said to Mrs. Snape: "If you want to ditch this asshole, I can offer you sanctuary, my parent's house need a housekeeper to maintain the building. Room and board are included and you can use our Potion lab to earn some extras. Believe me, Mrs. Snape, you are better off without him."

On the train ride back, our compartment became too small, Lilly and her posse, James and I, Wolf-wolf and Snape, made it a tight fitting. As firsties it was manageable, I whispered in James' ear, "We better learn extension charms by September, or ditch Snape and Lupin."

James whispered back: "Why those two? Why not two of the girls?"

I looked strangely at him and shook my head: "Mate if you ever want a satisfying love life, you better learn to hang out with the girls. Even if you do not date one of them, they will help you snatch one for you. And be honest, Snape and Lupin are not the best wingmen if it comes to females."

Before he could comment on that, the door slammed open, and the awesome three, the Black Menaces, the Dark Princesses came in. Bellatrix grabbed me and pulled me up from my seat, then she kissed me full on the lips, she turned me and pushed me to Andi, who did the same, a demi turn to Narcissa got me my third kiss. Bellatrix then pushed me back in my seat.

She said: "If anyone asks, this never happened. We got rid of those contracts and can date who we want. Lord Black made it so."

Lilly spoke up: "You must know, Siri is of the market, I let this slide once, but you better prepare for a fight if you go after him. I don't share."