The next day, Sirius couldn't focus in his classes. He had too many thoughts running through his head. He was planning on seeing his grandparents immediately after classes that day. He wondered if he could get Lucretia to come as well.
"Mr. Black!" Melania called out. Sirius sighed. He guessed Melania had called on him to answer a question.
"Sorry Professor, can you repeat that?" he asked.
Melania was concerned. She had noticed throughout class that Sirius had that far away look in his eyes. She wondered what was wrong. She decided to keep him after class.
At the end of class, Sirius was asked to stay behind. He knew she had noticed that something was off.
"Sirius, what's wrong?" Melania asked when the door had closed.
"It's a long story," Sirius admitted. "So I'll have to talk to you, Grandfather, and perhaps Aunt Lucretia later."
"Sirius, it's clear that whatever's bothering you is affecting your classes," Melania said, concerned written all over her face. "Tell me what's going on."
Sirius knew she wouldn't let him leave until she had something to go with.
"Don't you have another class to teach?" Sirius asked.
"I do not, and while you may have Charms, you clearly are too distracted, so I think we need…"
"Please, let me go to class, and I'll come see you and Grandfather immediately after," Sirius pleaded. "My friends will worry if I don't show up."
Melania sighed. "Very well, but I will expect you in our quarters immediately after the final bell signaling the end of class. Understood?"
"Yes, Grandmother," Sirius said, standing. "Could you also please get Aunt Lucretia?"
"I will," Melania promised, wondering what was going on.
When Sirius entered the headmaster's quarters after his final class, he saw his grandparents and Aunt Lucretia waiting for him.
"Sirius, what's going on?" Lucretia asked, concerned.
"I need to show you all something," Sirius said, using his wand to retrieve the memory. Arcturus immediately stood to get the Pensieve. "This memory is from last night, when, er, I was sleeping, I suppose." They all gave him a confused look before diving into the Pensieve.
When the three adults came out of the Pensieve, no one spoke for a full minute. They were looking thoughtful.
Finally, Lucretia broke the silence. "Father, we need to get that cup out of that vault!"
Arcturus nodded. "I will have the goblins do an audit of all of the vaults, and I will tell them that if they find anything suspicious then they need to send it to me."
"Good," Lucretia said with approval. "But I want to be here when you get anything that they send you. Just in case. We don't know what else our family might have in their vaults."
"Of course," Arcturus said in agreement. "As for the ring, we will all need to go, because who knows what kind of danger we'll be facing."
"Can I come too?" Sirius asked.
"Yes, but no reckless Gryffindor behavior," Arcturus said sternly. "And we will not be going for a while, because we first need to explore this location and see if we can even get in there safely."
"What about the one that's here?" Melania asked worriedly. "It could be anywhere!"
"Yes, and that will clearly be the hardest one to find, because we don't know what it is or where it is," Arcturus said thoughtfully. "The cup can be dealt with quickly, but the other two will have to be approached with caution."
"What about Dumbledore?" Lucretia asked, anger in her eyes. "What are you going to do to get him removed?"
"Yes, we cannot let him be the reason the House of Black falls again," Melania stated, eyes blazing.
"Well, once he starts bending the rules of the Wizengamot again, then we can try to remove him, but we cannot remove him until he tries something else," Arcturus pointed out. "And I think that it should be someone from the light faction that brings up the resolution. That way, he can't say that a dark family was out to get him."
"True," Melania said with a sigh. "Let's just hope he doesn't try changing the Black family position before then."
"I will start having conversations with allies on perhaps trying to repeal that rule, that way, if Dumbledore tries it before we're ready to remove him, we can try fighting back," Arcturus decided. He then turned to Sirius. "Do you realize Dumbledore WANTED you to stay in Azkaban?"
Sirius blinked. "Huh?" he asked.
"Perhaps you weren't paying too much attention to this line from the memory," Arcturus said, using his wand to have the particular part of the memory come to the surface of the Pensieve.
"So when you were thrown into Azkaban without a trial, I tried telling the Wizengamot to give you a trial, but Dumbledore and the light faction blocked any attempts."
Sirius widened his eyes. "Oh," he breathed. "I was stuck on the first part of that sentence."
"Obviously," Arcturus responded. "It is clear to me that Dumbledore must have known that you were not guilty, yet, he wanted you in Azkaban."
"Probably because he thinks that all Blacks are bad," Sirius said. "No wonder he and the light faction were blocking any attempts. He must have known what the outcome would have been. But then why did he tell me when I escaped that he would try to get me a trial?"
"Sirius, I don't think he was being honest with you," Lucretia said sadly. "He was most likely saying that just to get on your good side and so he could use you for the war. I mean, if he was really going to get you a trial, then you would have been in that courtroom that next day. Am I right, Father?"
"You are correct," Arcturus agreed. "Dumbledore had all that power, so he could have gotten you in there the next day. The fact that he didn't means he was lying to you when he said that he'd try to get you a trial."
"I cannot believe I once followed Dumbledore," Sirius growled.
"A lot of people have fallen for his tricks, Sirius, not just you," Arcturus reassured him.
"True," Sirius said, then grinned. "You know, on my second day in this time, you were really upset that apparently your other self didn't get me a trial. It seems that we were wrong!"
"Yes, which is a relief that at least you had someone trying to help you," Arcturus said. "Now, I think we have a lot to think about after all the new information we received today. Let's break for the day. Thank you Sirius, for bringing this information to us quickly."
Sirius grinned. "Now you see why I was distracted in classes today!"
"Yes, that makes a lot of sense now," Melania said, giving him a hug. Sirius was about to leave the room when Arcturus pulled him into a rare hug.
"I agree with my other self," he said. "I am proud of you." Sirius returned the hug.
Lucretia then gave Sirius a hug. "Your grandparents aren't the only ones who can hug you," she teased. "Behave yourself." Sirius mock-glared at her.
"I ALWAYS behave!" he exclaimed. Lucretia laughed, which caused everyone else to start laughing. Sirius finally went back to Gryffindor Tower.
Arcturus watched Sirius leave, and wondered if he could help at least start the process of uniting the houses. Perhaps it was time to start encouraging students to sit with other houses at meals. While he could understand Regulus wanting Sirius to unite the houses, not just one person could do it alone. It would take a team effort. The first step was to scrap the rule where students had to sit with their own house at meals.
He went back into his office to write a letter to Minerva with his ideas.