Late in the evening the day before Hogwarts was to re-open for another year, Sirius Black was in Albus Dumbledore's office pacing back and forth as the other man sat calmly and quietly at his desk, waiting for Sirius to speak up.
The Headmaster's office at Hogwarts had to be the most extravagant room in the entire castle, with the centre-piece, where Dumbleodre's desk was, as tall as any skyscraper the Muggles could come up with in London — lined with portraits of all the previous Headmasters; most notably for Sirius, his great-great-grandfather: Phineas Nigellus Black…
"Are you done wearing a hole in my office," asked Phineas, his haughty voice sounding like a cat's cries to Sirius' ears. Sirius could be standing still, and the man would still find an erroneous detail about it.
"I'll let Harry burn you, Black , if you so much as speak again!" Sirius growled, turning to face Dumbledore. "Are the Unspeakables certain?"
"Indeed, they are — the Veil continues to act strange…" said Dumbledore. "It seems like the whispers coming from it, that is to say the voices of the dead, have been growing restless."
"That can mean anything — we don't even know what the voices are saying, Albus."
"And yet the Unspeakables herald it as some foul omen — a sign."
"So they come ask us, of all people, to investigate? Sounds fishy."
"You're too untrusting of anything you don't understand," said Dumbledore. "You are my Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, Sirius. By now you must know what that means…"
"And you are you… But that doesn't mean we'll know anything of a doorway to another world — least of all one they hardly let us interact with! Merlin they're frustrating to work with."
"I have requested that they let us see the Veil more often…"
"Let me guess, they said ' no '." Sirius shook his head. "I'd rather not help people that won't help us. My focus whilst holding this position is to keep Harry safe and happy — not have to deal with pillocks that speak in riddles."
"You deal with me just fine."
"You keep me in the loop, Albus — they don't."
Dumbledore bowed his head. "How has Harry been?" he asked.
"Good… too fucking good, Albus… By the end of the year, he'll have surpassed my own abilities with a wand… If he wants to learn anything new he'll have to pursue that alone if he doesn't decide to turn to you… the only thing I can say that he needs to improve on is his arrogance; but… well he has the right to be." Sirius went to sit opposite Dumbledore, who was listening intently. "I think he needs a kick up the arse — to show he isn't that great. Yet … not that I want him to be put down, but it did help James…"
"You want me to do this?" asked Dumbledore.
"Who else could?"
"The Tournament may have your desired effect… It will test him in ways that we cannot —"
"— Only if he's chosen." The truth was that there was no other student as qualified for the Triwizard Tournament than Harry. It was practically designed for someone like him to come in and win it with such ease as to make the other competitors look like amateurs.
"Still. We cannot rule out he won't be. And if he is not chosen, that may get him to reflect, too. As, why wouldn't someone of his calibre not be chosen, unless there was something else stopping the Goblet?"
"You're right." Sirius shook his head. "Of course you're right! But I still would like a more direct way of showing him that there's still a way to go before he gets to the calibre of you. Even if we both know that's where he's heading."
"I can, if we organise it properly, have some more direct contact with Harry... But you know I don't want to play favourites. Harry less so — having any contact with him to show him he's not better may yet give him that impression, as he will have been the only student I've ever taken under my wing." Dumbledore sounded very much like a teacher talking to a student as he spoke to Sirius. "I can, however, make sure — should Harry be chosen as Hogwarts' Champion — have the tasks designed in such a way that he will be faced with his most critical flaws."
"That might work… but what of the other Champions?"
"It will not be hard to alter tasks so that their difficulty is undisrupted, yet the psychological aspects of the task can be targeted at Harry's flaws. It shall make the Tournament a better watch, too, come to think of it: as Harry will have too easy of a time should it be purely a talk of magical prowess alone…
"A task for each of his major weaknesses, to show how they can hamper him; to show that, though he can perform magic to the nth degree, he can still impede himself by other means."
Sirius shook himself, milling through the idea. "I don't want to put Harry in any extra danger… James and Lily would smite me from beyond the grave…"
"He won't be. Not unless you over exaggerate his abilities —"
"— I don't!"
"Then there's nothing to worry about. He'll breeze through the tasks as they have been set, but I know we can force decisions and challenges through the tasks that make him choose between what he may want to do and what is right to do."
"Merlin…" said Sirius. "It's a good thing you don't seek to do this often… we're all like puppets; and you, the puppeteer."
Dumbledore remained quiet.
Sirius knew, of course, how much power Dumbledore held. Beyond his unrivalled prowess with a wand, the man had too many positions that cascaded each other. Strings could be pulled from almost all directions, he had people in every Ministry in the world — all who held firm allegiances to Dumbledore from a lifetime ago. Many had been in Dumbledore's grasp since before Sirius had been born. And he too, to an extent, was one of these. Though, he did little in the way of helping Dumbledore other than keeping the students educated. Sirius' main contribution lies in his ability to keep Hogwarts as the top-rated DADA school in the world.
It was why Harry was so far ahead, that along with Dumbledore-esque talent, meant Harry had such a headstart over the other students that it wasn't a surprise he could duel his classmates blindfolded and win.
"It feels wrong to do this to him," said Sirius. "I don't want to torture him…"
"We don't have to do it. It is merely an option we have."
"You're certain it won't put him in any extra danger?"
"Positive."
"... Fine…" said Sirius. He still wasn't entirely convinced, but it was this or let Harry go through life and get smacked round the back of the head when he wasn't ready. It was far better to do it in a controlled environment than out in the open world where things could go too far wrong.
Dumbledore's Floo roared to life! "Dumbledore," came a voice from it. "May I come through?"
Dumbledore gave a look to Sirius, who nodded. "Of course, Rookwood."
In came the man, dressed head to toe in pure black robes. Each of his steps were thick and pronounced as he wandered over to Dumbledore's desk. Rookwood was a Pure-blood, like so many of the Ministry personnel, and was once suspected to be a Death Eater, though there had been no concrete evidence on the matter… Still, Sirius didn't trust him.
"To what do we owe the pleasure, Rookwood?" asked Dumbledore politely.
"I have managed to convince my coworkers to let you and Black look at the Veil more freely, should that be of interest to you."
"That would be nice," said Sirius, "we might be able to help you now that we can see the bloody thing!"
Dumbledore put his hand up to stop Sirius from talking. "Would Saturdays work? I can't have my Professors skipping lectures now; and I rather have other duties to attend during the week…"
"Saturdays are fine, Dumbledore. I will get that signed off as soon as I can."
"And why are you here, Rookwood?" asked Sirius. "This could've been done over two letters."
"Time, Black, is of the essence — an owl would've taken too long. But , I do have to speak with Dumbledore over the Tournament, as the Ministry seems too keen on my Department's involvement in some whacky Tournament for me not to know what is going on behind the scenes," said Rookwood.
Rookwood wanted to hear what Dumbledore thought of it, Sirius deduced. That being said, Sirius was rather interested in how the Department of Mysteries could be involved in a school tournament — it wasn't like they busied themselves with Quidditch…
"I shall assume your involvement is to do with the final task…" said Dumbledore. "You see, they have insisted on using the cavern beneath Hogwarts…"
"Are they insane!? That… what lies down there is not for school children to face! You , Dumbledore, would have a hard fought battle with It ." Rookwood was distraught, and Sirius wondered what had provocated such a reaction.
"Indeed, I have told them the same — they are adamant on using it, however…"
Rookwood sniffed. "I shall be having words with Fudge… good day." He left with a billowing of his cloak.
Before Sirius could speak up about whatever was below the castle, Dumbledore spoke: "Harry is the only student equipped to deal with what lies below… Do not let him know it outright, but his affinity for fire is what will keep him, and the other Champions, safe."
Dumbledore and his secrets … "I want to see it," said Sirius, leaving no room for debate.
"Before you do, I shall say — unless there is infighting between the Champions — there is a very small chance It'll even show It's face… It'll remain out of view until disturbed from It's resting place…" Dumbledore waved his hand at his closet, and out came his Pensieve. "I can show you my memory of it, but that is all… We cannot disturb where it lies, otherwise we risk inflicting the wrath earlier than we want." Dumbledore put his wand up to his temple, and out came a silvery wisp — the memory. He put it into the Pensieve and swirled it around, looking at Sirius with hard eyes.
"I have seen It but once," said Dumbledore. "Upon my ascendancy to Headmaster… that is all."
Sirius nodded, then went into the Pensieve without a moment of hesitation.
He stood in a great chamber… beside Dumbledore and another man — Armando Dippet. There they stood, on a cliff's edge looking over a lake somehow larger than the Black Lake. There was an empty island in the middle, and Sirius had a feeling there would be where the Triwizard Cup would lay… How wonderful a spectacle that would be; at least, that would be how the Ministry felt…
Dumbledore crouched down… oh, how he looked young! His beard was auburn, not grey, and his wrinkles were minimal. Still, he wore his outrageous robes and there were his half-moon spectacles… fifty years, and Dumbledore had hardly changed… He picked up a small stone, and tossed it into the water —
A rush of tentacles came from the water, flailing and thrashing and everything in between. Merlin they were large.
"What is that, Armando?" asked Dumbledore. He was far too calm for what he had just seen. Sirius could feel the power emanate from the tentacles from the memory alone, yet Dumbledore stood as if it were Saturday afternoon tea.
Dippet was pale, and looked frightened. His voice shook as he spoke: "That, Albus, is something even the Founders couldn't tame… A beast whose name has been lost to time… The Headmaster of Hogwarts has a right to know of it, and there are charms — linked to devices in the office — that will tell you if a student, or anyone, has breached the chamber. And another to alert you if they died…"
"And have students died?"
"Yes," said Dippet, solemnly. "Before your time as a student, during old Phineas' tenure… That is why I came to replace him."
Sirius snorted. Of course his ancestor was so incompetent!
The memory ended, and Sirius was thrown back into Dumbledore's office.
"What?" said Sirius. "Is that it? An octopus?"
"To bring It out of the water would be a death sentence, Sirius. But, imagine this, It's the size of that lake — and will, at the slightest provocation, attempt to murder anything… It is no octopus, either, rather lovecraftian in nature the Muggles would say... The destructive capabilities of it are hither to unseen, it would drag a dragon down to the depths with little effort."
"We will not be testing Harry during the final task," said Sirius. "If you haven't seen this thing for what it truly is I don't want Harry to have to do anything extra when his life's on the line!"
"Of course," said Dumbledore. "The other tasks will be far more suited for meddling as it is…"
"Don't," said Sirius. "Don't call it that…"
"That is what it is, though, Sirius. We're meddling with the Tournament to get a desired effect. If you can't accept that we might as well not go through with it."
"Yeah… right. And about the other tasks…"
