For a brief moment, Hydrus was panicking. The room he'd suddenly found himself in was dank, dark, and the first thing he recognized as his eyes struggled to adjust were the bars in front of him. Before they finished adjusting, his first conclusion was that somehow someway he was back in Castle LeStrange, waiting for his next round of torture and interogation at the hands of either the castle's owners or their master. When he saw the matching cell across from him, realised that he'd been dropped onto a cot and wasn't restrained, he began to calm.

'What the hell happened?' he wondered. 'Where is this?'

Obviously it was some sort of prison or jail. The smell alone could've told him that, he'd had a wealth of experience both being held in such places as well as presiding over them. They all typically held the ubiquitous smell of metal, some from just the restraints and bars, others from the addition of blood. Not to mention the odor of human waste and sweat. This place wasn't as bad as the LeStrange dungeons or some of the less hospitable chambers he'd set up to hold death eaters, but those scents, no matter how hidden beneath cleaning chemicals they might be, were still there.

One second he was flooing back to school with Hermione, the next he was here. Immediately his thoughts drifted towards an assassination attempt, redirecting the floo somehow in order to capture and kill him, but there was no way someone would've known he was going to use his father's floo. Hell, most people didn't know he was in the office at all. The only one who did and who'd stand to gain from his death, Orion Black, couldn't possibly have beaten him to the magical fireplace.

He was relieved to hear footsteps clapping towards him, and the auror who stepped in front of the cell looked as surprised as Hydrus felt. The man's uniform looked the same as they did in Hydrus's timeline, though much like seemingly everything else in this world, there were subtle differences. This version of the Ministry hadn't made the costly change to leather linings which would hold runes far better, the robes had far more fabric than was needed, and the man had a plain grey 'crest' on his breast; signifying that he was a muggle born.

"Uh…" The man started, looking Hydrus up and down. "Who're you?"

"Scion Hydrus Black," he said. "And I would very much like an explanation as to why I was dumped here after attempting to floo back to Hogwarts."

"I have no idea." The man scratched the back of his head. "Tell you what, I'll go grab my captain and we'll get this sorted out."

"Wait," Hydrus snapped as the man started to walk away. "Where are you going? Let me out of here!"

"Er, my apologies, Scion Black," the man said, wincing. "But I actually can't do that. Technically I can't confirm your identity so… I'll just…"

The man trailed off as Hydrus glared at him before slinking away. The 'teen' was no stranger to torture, both giving and receiving, and with an environment like this to inspire him? Creative ideas began to fill his imagination as his patience was tested.

A knock at the door jerked Sirius from his fiancee's lips. It took him half a second to figure out which directions he'd gone to get his hand inside her bra, and a full second more to disentangle himself from the situation. Of course, Amelia took a second longer to remove her grip on him, but that was more intentional than anything if her smirk was to be believed.

They were in her office and Sirius quickly resituated himself into his own seat as Amelia fixed her shirt. Once they were both settled, she called for the knocker to come in.

It was Frank Longbottom. "Figured I'd find you here, Black."

"See?" Amelia chided. "Even the other captains are noticing the drop in your arrests."

"Whatever," Sirius grumbled back. "What's up, Captain Longbottom?"

He loved getting to throw the man's promotion in his face whenever the opportunity arose. The pair, with James in tow more often than not, still went out for beers frequently despite Frank's rise in rank, but that was no excuse not to mock the man.

"One of my boys found your boy in a low-level holding cell." Sirius blinked. His 'boy'? "One 'Scion Hydrus Black', to be exact."

He started. "What the hell is he doing in a cell?"

Frank shrugged. "No clue, technically haven't even confirmed its really him yet. That's why I came to find you."

Sirius wasn't sure what would be worse; someone attempting to pretend to be his son for some nefarious purpose, or if it really was Hydrus down there somehow. He and the boy hadn't exactly had a pleasant interaction the last time they saw each other.

"I'll go see for myself." Sirius stood and nodded at his fiancee. "Captain."

Technically it was no longer a secret that the two were engaged. In theory that meant they weren't supposed to be in the same direct chain of command, but they were both well-off purebloods, so as long as they didn't make any scenes no one would say anything. It was just Frank so Sirius probably could've gotten away with a little bit more flirting, but for once such things were far from the top of his priorities.

He quickly made his way down to the underground level where minor offenders were kept. Azkaban might've been the last-stop for proper criminals, but there were processes and procedures that perps had to go through first. The most fruitful of them was 'marinating', as James liked to put it, in the holding cells for days if not weeks on end and slowly realising just how much worse the prison would be in comparison. More often than not it led to them being much more cooperative.

When he arrived, Sirius found that it was indeed his son.

The boy was looking so much better these days compared to when Sirius first met him. No longer was his hair greasily clinging to his skull, instead it fell in waves down to just above his shoulders. His Hogwarts robes were slightly ruffled, a clear sign of disarray for the boy from what Sirius had seen, but definitely better than the rags he'd been wearing originally. His face no longer looked like that of a cadaver's; though the expression he was making said he was thinking about turning Sirius into one.

"Didn't realise you'd been promoted to captain," Hydrus said. "I can only assume that's what's going on since that last idiot just left me in here to go get one."

"Er, no," Sirius started. "I'm here to verify that it's really you." He swallowed. "What are you doing here?"

"I don't know." Hydrus stood up from the cot he'd been sitting in, and spoke through clenched teeth. "But I do know that if you don't let me out of here, I'm going to break myself out."

'Do it, Padfoot.' Sirius took a breath. "No."

"Excuse me?"

This had been coming for a long time. Remus had told him to do this. Lily had told him to do this. Amelia had told him to do this. Now he just needed to find the courage to actually go through with forcing his son to talk to him.

"You and I need to chat, Hydrus." Sirius folded his arms over his chest. "And I don't think I'm going to get a better opportunity than this. Or at least not an easier one."

Hydrus grit his teeth, and Sirius had to squash down the self-disgust that filled him. Just a decade or two ago that had been him gritting his teeth. It had been him clenching his fists like his son clenched his only one. It had been him who felt as trapped by his parents as Hydrus now literally was by him.

He squashed it down because they needed this. Or at least, that's what everyone kept telling him.

"I believe I made myself quite clear the last time we saw each other," Hydrus said. "I don't want to be around you. Leave. Me. Alone."

"Tell me why." Hydrus rolled his eyes. "Help me understand."

The boy barked out a laugh.

"You'll get in my way," Hydrus said matter-of-factly. "Arcturus has always had a soft spot in that raisin he calls a heart for you. Now that you're back, you've severely lowered my odds of inheriting his throne."

Sirius nodded. "That's why you don't want me back in 'House Black'," he said. "But something tells me you wouldn't exactly be coming over for family dinners even if I left again."

The boy's eye twitched. "What do you want? Some sob story about growing up without a father, we cry, we hug, we all live happily ever after?"

"I just want to understand."

"Well you never will!" Hydrus snapped. "You won't, because you can't." He began to pace back and forth like, well, a caged animal. "And you know what else? I don't want you to understand. I want you to leave me the fuck alone."

"But why don't you-"

"Enough!" Hydrus stormed forward, and placed his palm against the bars of his cell. "Move. Or don't. Quite frankly I don't care at this point."

Sirius nearly scoffed at his son. The Ministry holding cells might not've been on the same level as Azkaban's, but they could certainly take a beating. Plus, they shut down and absorbed all magic inside their walls. His dismissal of the boy's attempt was cut short when he felt his own magic being pulled away.

"Oi!"

Their family magic was beginning to conjoin. Sirius didn't know enough about wards to understand how the cells managed to keep prisoners from casting magic, but apparently it wasn't enough to stop Hydrus from doing whatever he was doing now. What Sirius did understand was that when things didn't do the things they were supposed to, they tended to wind up broken. Hydrus ignored his father's cry, so Sirius attempted the only thing he could think of.

He tried pulling the magic back from him.

Somehow it worked.

Hydrus gasped and stumbled back, and Sirius was amazed as more than just his own magic came flooding into him. It was strange, the excess power didn't hurt per se, but it did radiate out of him, as if it was burning away without being used. In a brief moment of panic Sirius feared he'd hurt his son with the way the boy was still doubled over, but that worry became a certainty when the cell screeched, and as the iron bars along its front exploded.

For the first time in Sirius's career, he froze up. His mind was torn between the instinct to throw up a shield, and the paternal drive to protect his son instead.

That microsecond slip was all it took for it to be too late to protect either of them.

The explosion left his ears ringing and limbs shaking. Or maybe it was the ground he'd been thrown down onto that was shaking. It was hard to tell with everything spinning. He reached for his wand but something went wrong in his brain and he just puked to the side instead. He groaned in confusion. The strangest part of it all was how nothing hurt. The oddity was compounded when he finally managed to regain enough coordination to look down at his torso, and saw several large, jagged shards of metal jutting out from his torso.

"No, no, no, no, nononononoNO!"

He slowly looked back up just in time to see Hydrus drop to the ground in front of him. Unlike Sirius, the boy was mostly unharmed. He had a cut as thick as one of Sirius's fingers running along the left side of his face, but that could be healed easily enough.

Somehow Sirius doubted the same could be said for his own injuries.

"Not again," Hydrus whispered. "I'm not going to let you die again."

Again?

His son practically shoved his fingers into the wound on his own face, and did it without so much as flinching. What he did next Sirius couldn't see, not without moving his head again which he couldn't be bothered to do. If he had to guess the teen was drawing something. Why would he be drawing something? Was he trying to do some… Some… What was the word? Residual? Visual?

"I need you." What hogwash. If anything, Sirius was the one who needed Hydrus. "Magic, if you don't appear, I swear I will—"

'I'm concussed,' Sirius thought as a woman appeared. It explained a great deal of things, and was the only thing that could explain the naked, glowing, ethereal smokeshow that had just shown up. 'Very, very concussed.'

"I know what you will ask for, Harry." Harry? "You know I cannot interfere in matters of death."

"Bullshit!" His son roared back. "What do you call what you did by sending me back here?"

Sirius began to tune them out. He was tired. Instead his head lolled to the side and he watched the other figure that had appeared.

This one was far more clothed, sadly. Or perhaps happily, Sirius couldn't quite make out their face or features beneath the obsidian-black robes they wore. They were certainly tall, certainly thin, and certainly terrifying as they approached and knelt beside him. If Hydrus saw it too he didn't seem to care, and Sirius's preternatural fear of whatever this thing was redoubled when it whispered to him.

"Your son is about to make a grave mistake." The voice was… Old. Old and powerful; like the sort of whiskey his grandfather only broke out at funerals. "He does so to save you."

Sirius's eyes slowly drifted back to Hydrus. The boy was practically bumping elbows with this new figure, but still shouting at the lady. Or at least Sirius thought he was. The boy was moving rather slowly. Everything was, including the swirling, black tornado of magic that had risen up around them.

"I could save you instead." Sirius didn't know who or what this thing was, but he somehow doubted that. "You shouldn't doubt me."

Sirius blinked. Was it inside his mind?

"Yes, and no," it said. "In exchange for your life, all you must do is pledge yourself to me."

His first instinct was to reject the offer out of hand. Most people who'd met Sirius had called him a fool at some point or another, but even he wasn't that dumb. When dark, terrifying entities of unknown origin came knocking, the best thing to do was shut the curtains and pretend you weren't home.

When he glanced back towards Hydrus, he saw the boy was worse off than he'd thought. The wound on his face was oozing blood, his arm was badly burnt and… And getting worse? If he'd had the energy to do so, he would've winced as a bit of son's skin 'popped' open and let out a burning, boiling splash of blood that sizzled against his flesh.

"He's going to kill himself," the being said. "The magic within him is… unstable… unnatural. It is corroding his body from the inside."

'Then save him instead,' Sirius thought. 'He's-'

"He is not pledged to me." The being leaned forward. "The only way to save him is to save yourself."

It didn't take more than that to sell Sirius. 'Fine.'

The being cupped Sirius's face in its hand and turned his head to face it. Now mere inches away from the figure, Sirius saw that the reason he couldn't make their face out before was that there was nothing beneath its hood at all. It brought up another hand; long-fingered and boney, it looked more like an amateur artist's attempt to draw such anatomy. Sirius didn't have the strength to so much as flinch when it pressed the tip of its middle finger against his forehead.

It was… Surprisingly warm.

Sirius blinked, and the being was gone. He glanced down to see the chunks of iron were laying in a tidy pile on his lap. His robes were torn to bloody shreds, but the bits of skin he saw through the gaps looked as unblemished as the day he was born. He looked up and saw both Hydrus and the woman staring at him in shock. Hydrus practically collapsed, slumping down in relief. The woman, on the other hand, went from shocked, to confused, to so furious it almost made Sirius regret taking the deal.

Hydrus turned to face her as she spun on her heel as if to storm off, but instead she vanished into thin air. The boy just shook his head and turned back before standing. The magic swirling around them was fading away as he did so, and Sirius winced as he saw the veritable army of aurors that were waiting to swarm them.

Scrimgeour was in the lead, Amelia, Frank, and the other captains following in his wake. His boss's boss stopped just short of where he was sitting. "Black! What is going on here?"

Hydrus beat him to the response. "Your auror managed to shatter the rune network on your holding cell while it was already being over taxed with my unwarranted presence." Sirius blinked. "In doing so, he much more literally shattered the bars it was carved into."

"Why the hell are you even here?" Scrimgeour demanded from his son.

"I have no fucking idea," Hydrus shot back. "Your people wouldn't release me, including Auror Black."

Wait. Was Hydrus seriously trying to throw him under the bus right now? Suddenly a thought occurred to him.

"Hydrus." He pushed his back against the wall and tried to stand, but it was only thanks to the helping hand Frank offered that he managed it. His body felt objectively fine, but his sense of balance felt as though someone had shaken him out like a beach towel. "Did you try and use my floo?"

"I-, Yes?" Hydrus was looking at him with furrowed brows. "Why?"

Shit. It was his fault.

"I had it set to send anyone who wasn't me, but had my blood, to the cells," Sirius admitted. "Just in case one of my relatives decided to, you know…"

Hydrus groaned. "God damn it."

"Black!" Scrimgeour snapped, and Sirius jumped. "I will see you in my office—"

"No." Sirius looked over to see Hydrus had stepped forward. "I didn't go through all the trouble of saving his life just for you to take it back by not letting him go to St. Mungo's."

Hydrus had saved him? That certainly wasn't what Sirius remembered. Then again, he had been rather concussed. But even after he was better there was still that woman, the one who'd terrified him before disappearing. The Black Sheep hadn't been sorted into Gryffindor for no reason, so it was hard to imagine him being scared just because of a little brain damage.

"Oh, so the Black prodigy knows healing magic, does he?" Scrimgeour sneered. "If you expect me to believe—"

Hydrus cut the man off by holding out his arm. Sirius watched in amazement as the boy, his boy, held out his arm and the burns and pustules began to fade away.

Sirius had been an auror long enough to know just how difficult healing magic was. Mediwizards and mediwitches were respected enough, but many people considered them to be glorified potion sellers given how rarely healing spells were actually needed. As he watched his son's wounded arm slop off damaged skin and replace the spots with perfectly plain substitutions, he quickly realised why the profession had managed to hold on to its air of superiority for so long despite how rarely it was used.

"Don't forget your face," Sirius murmured. "You're cut."

"Fuck off." He winced. "You wanna interrogate Auror Black be my guest, but not until he gets proper medical treatment. He needs something for tetanus, a blood replenisher, disinfectants, and I don't even know what else."

Scrimgeour's eyes bounced back and forth between the Black Sheep and… the Black Lamb? Sirius wasn't sure what they'd eventually call his son, but the boy was definitely on his way to some sort of sobriquet. Eventually the department head's eyes drifted down to Sirius's mangled robes, and he nodded.

"Fine," he said. "Looks like you didn't get it all though."

The man jerked his chin up at Sirius's head, and the auror frowned. Hydrus mirrored his expression and looked over. For the briefest of moments his son's composure broke, and Sirius was almost surprised at how quickly that made him feel uncomfortable. What the hell was wrong with his head?

"A regrettable scar," Hydrus muttered. "Nothing to be done about it."

A scar? Sirius had never had one before. He reached up and felt his forehead, just below the edge of his hairline, and touched the strange ridged pattern that had formed there. He hadn't the faintest idea what it could be, but unless it was shaped like what James used to draw on his forehead while he was napping, he couldn't imagine caring all that much about it.

Hydrus cleared his throat. "It's the pattern on my ring. Probably flared up and cursed his flesh from me pouring my magic into him. I'll make sure the doctors check it out."

The boy seemed embarrassed, but it was in the same way that Sirius pantomimed when he only wanted people to think he was ashamed of what he'd done. More and more he was returning to his initial, brain-rattle-induced belief that Hydrus hadn't been the one to heal him. It had been whatever that thing was that touched his forehead. Hydrus waved his hand as he continued to 'explain' what had happened, and Sirius finally paid attention to the rings that adorned his fingers.

One was his old Black scion ring, he'd recognize that one anywhere. The other must have been the one that he'd overheard Hydrus and Dumbledore talking about. The Gaunt family ring. The one that had belonged to Salazar Slytherin. The one that had been passed down by the Peverells. The one whose inlaid stone had supposedly been enchanted by Death himself.

Death.

It sure as fuck wasn't a masterpiece to glue and frame yet, but at least one piece of the puzzle had fallen into place regarding what had happened.

"He got stabbed with shards of metal," Hydrus told the orderly. "I healed the wounds themselves, but he needs proper treatment."

He and his godfather were in St. Mungo's, and it felt like his skin, new or otherwise, was about to crawl right off him. Nobody really paid the pair much mind. Sure they were a touch scuffed up and looked like they needed a good night's sleep, but that was to be expected in a hospital. Add on the fact that there was some child with a plant growing out of his nostrils in the lobby, and people were quick to dismiss the familial duo as uninteresting.

The orderly glanced down at Sirius's gut, the robes still exposed some of his stomach with their gaps, and nodded. "Right. Take a seat, and someone will see you soon."

Hydrus moved over to a corner where no one had thought to hide yet and sat down. Sirius took the seat beside him. With a wave of his wand, Hydrus cast a privacy charm, and tried not to regret it too much when the spell left his still recuperating arm sore. He took a breath.

"What the hell was that?" Hydrus muttered. "What did you do?"

"Nothing." It sounded like Sirius was speaking out of habit rather than honesty. "I was going to ask you the same thing."

Hydrus growled. He loved Sirius, really he did, but the man was about as annoying as they came when it came to anything that wasn't life or death. People were mulling about the lobby so he couldn't chew him out properly, so instead he took another breath to prepare himself.

"How did you heal?" he demanded. "What did you sacrifice? Who did you sacrifice to?"

Magic, or rather, the deific personification of the power, wasn't the only god. Hydrus had never had proof of that fact, but he'd never really suspected there to be any alternative once the being revealed herself. It was like when you stared out into the night sky and figured there had to be some sort of alien life out there. Sure you might not've seen any little green men running around, but with all that space there just had to be something, right?

But now he had a much more concrete 'proof' that there were other gods out there, proof beyond just 'she can't be the only one'. His first guess was that it was the mythological figure of Death whose symbol he'd stolen to be his sign of faith, but he needed Sirius to confirm it. Just about anywhere on earth sounded like a less stressful place to be than beside his godfather, but he had to know.

"No clue," Sirius started. "But I think it was Death."

Despite that matching his suspicions, Hydrus still groaned at the 'news'. "How do you know?"

"I just said I don't," Sirius said. "But I got your ring's mark on my head. Whoever it was scared the shit out of me and felt really, I don't know, 'deathly' when he spoke with me." The man leaned forward and ran his hands through his hair. "What the fuck is going to happen to me?"

"What did you sacrifice?" Hydrus repeated. "What did you give up?"

"Nothing!" Sirius exclaimed. A few people looked over and he at least had the grace to look embarrassed as he doubled over to try and hide his face. The other patrons might not have been able to hear them, but his godfather liked to talk with his hands. Hydrus watched as the man took a breath and waited for the others to look back away. "He… They… I don't know what it was, but it said that if I 'pledged myself' to them it would heal me. Stop you from flipping out and killing yourself."

"I would've been fine," Hydrus snapped, despite the fact that he wasn't sure if that was true. "What does 'pledging yourself' to him mean?"

"I. Don't. Know." Sirius still wasn't looking at him, glaring down at the floor instead. "He just said I had to pledge myself to him and he'd heal me, so you would stop going fucking crazy with your fucked up magic."

"My fucked up magic?" Hydrus hissed back at his godfather. "Where the fuck do you think I got it from?"

"Mine doesn't do that!"

"Well mine does!"

They were both yelling at each other, so Hydrus stopped. They hadn't needed to glance about the room to realise people were staring at the silent shouting match, but they had both done so before settling back down with a modicum of deserved embarrassment. It took a few minutes for everyone else to get back to minding their own business. During that time, Hydrus's mind was reeling.

'One step at a time, Harry,' Dumbledore's voice whispered in his mind. 'Piece by piece.'

With nothing else to do but wait, Hydrus set about unraveling the ball of yarn his problems seemed to be tangled up into.

The first was the fact that Sirius had managed to take his magic back, and then some of Hydrus's on top of that. Bellatrix hadn't been able to do that when the pair explored his power. On one hand this meant he'd finally found out where the ability had come from in the first place, on the other it left him wondering how the hell Sirius had never noticed it before. The man had looked as shocked as Hydrus felt when he pulled it off, which meant he hadn't expected it to work.

That was probably the least important of the mysteries he needed to solve.

How much of what he'd said in a panic did his 'father' hear? How much did he remember? How much could Hydrus convince him he hadn't heard, didn't remember? Arcturus had to have a pensieve somewhere he could borrow to review the memory. Everything had been moving far too fast for him to care about privacy and propriety, but now he needed to figure out how to make it right. He needed to make sure Sirius didn't know, or learn of, the truth.

Just the thought of him knowing who Hydrus really was, what he really was, made his heart ache.

Then there was Magic, and this 'new' god. The idea of Death being around wasn't hard to believe, not when he had proof of the being's power adorning his finger and flowing through his familiar. It had just never occurred to Hydrus that Death might be making moves of his own. Magic had told him countless times, in response to countless pleadings, that she couldn't bring back the dead, couldn't 'interfere in matters of Death'. Hydrus just hadn't realised she'd been capitalising the D.

So what did Death want? Why had Magic been so furious when she'd apparently figured out what happened before either he or Sirius had? How many other gods were there out there? Did they fight? Make alliances? There was far too much about the deities that Hydrus didn't know, and hadn't even bothered to question until now. He'd been happy to go along with the deals and prayers since he'd always gotten what he wanted, but now th—

"Hydrus?"

He glanced up to find Dumbledore had arrived, and frowned. Using his crippled arm this time, he dismissed his privacy spell. "Headmaster. What are you doing here?"

"Miss Granger informed me you hadn't returned with her from the Ministry," the old wizard said. "From there I just followed the breadcrumbs."

Hydrus smiled. He hadn't asked 'how' the headmaster had gotten here, but it had been what he'd meant. Leave it to Dumbledore to still be able to pull that little trick off.

"The two of you seem a little worse for wear," Dumbledore continued. "May I ask what happened?"

"Sirius nearly got us killed," Hydrus responded. He ignored the man's squawk of protest. He lowered his voice before continuing. "Turns out I inherited my ability to manipulate Black family magic from him. He managed to blow up the ministry holding cell he'd trapped me in by trying to take my magic away."

His godfather was about to shout at him, but Dumbledore cleared his throat to cut him off. "Perhaps I could offer the two of you the use of Hogwarts' medical facilities, so that you don't have to continue to wait here? It's the least I could do for our champion and his father."

'Perfect,' Hydrus thought. 'I'll get the chance to really dig into Sirius now.'

"Agreed." He stood and turned to his father. "Come. You wanted to talk, now we will."

Albus stared at the father and son duo sitting in his office. Half a year ago when he'd first heard that the son of Sirius Black would be coming to Hogwarts, he'd wondered just how many times he would have to host the pair in his office. With only two such meetings thus far he was quite short of his guess, but not a single time had he considered the meetings would be like the ones he'd had.

Poppy had given the pair a series of potions to drink, and scolded Hydrus for trying to refuse treatment for the wound on his face. His explanation which boiled down to him wanting to spite Sirius did little to change her mind. Now they were back in Albus's office. Fawkes had glided over to settle onto Hydrus's shoulder, the 'teen' had asked Albus to ward away the portraits using the spell he'd made, and Sirius looked as uncomfortable as he ever did when he got called here.

"So." Albus folded his fingers together and rested his chin on their bridge. "What happened?"

"I already told you the first half," Hydrus said. Sirius rolled his eyes but didn't protest this time. "What happened next is that our friend Death, yes the Death from the story, showed up and saved Sirius's life."

The headmaster blinked. He'd expected the boy to say anything ranging from a denial that nothing important at all had happened to some absurdity like this not actually being Sirius Black. The last thing Albus had expected was for Hydrus to try and claim that the myth who'd inspired nearly all of his adolescent adventures had come off the pages.

Sirius winced. "I told you I wasn't sure."

"Well I am." Hydrus folded his arms over his chest. "Sirius was about to die. I couldn't heal him. Magic wouldn't heal him. Next thing I know he's fine. Also." He turned to his father and jerked his chin up at him. "Show him your forehead."

Sirius grumbled, no doubt displeased with the 'child' telling him what to do, but still he pushed his bangs aside. There on his forehead, as though it was a decade old branding, was the symbol of Death. Hydrus waved his hand at it as if to say 'there you have it'.

"Unless you've got a better explanation, Professor, I think Sirius has had a literal brush with Death."

"Incredible."

And it was. If everything that Hydrus described was true, it was certainly hard to come up with an explanation besides the one his protege had. Even after doing his damnedest to temper his expectations, something he knew he had to do when matters surrounding the Deathly Hallows came up, it still made sense.

"You said Magic wouldn't heal me," Sirius said. "But you said it weird. Is 'Magic' that woman who was with you?"

Hydrus stiffened and Albus tilted his head up in curiosity. He hadn't realized that the young man had actually summoned whoever, or whatever, this 'Magic' figure was to try and assist. As the muggles would say, it seemed he'd broken the big guns. Hydrus's eyes shot back and forth between his would-be father and makeshift grandfather before nodding.

"Yes."

"Is she the reason why your magic was tearing your body apart?"

"No."

Albus furrowed his brows. What was wrong with Hydrus's magic? The boy had clearly been lying just now, and he didn't need the sarcastic 'uh-huh' Sirius gave to know the man knew it too.

"Sirius says that Death made him 'pledge himself to it' in exchange for the healing," Hydrus said. "I'm sure you've done more research into the reaper than I have, you ever heard anything about that?"

Albus thought for a moment. His thoughts drifted back to the countless tomes, helpful or otherwise, that he and Gellert had poured over in their youth to try and find traces of the legendary figure's artefacts. He grabbed one of his lemon drops and unwrapped it, smiled a touch as Hydrus took that as a sign that he could do the same, then popped it into his mouth as he continued to try and recall any details he could. Eventually he shook his head.

"I'm afraid not," he said at last. "I could tell you a thousand different stories and myths about the concept of death and various peoples' accounts of the concept, but the eponymous brothers' tale is rather unique." Albus shook his head again. "I'd honestly fallen into the camp of believing 'Death' to just be a particularly powerful wizard who had enchanted the Deathly Hallows, at least until today."

The word 'incredible' once more fluttered through his mind. A year ago he'd mostly reached the point where he'd sworn off his fascination with the old fable of the Peverell family. He'd go entire weeks, months, without so much as giving it a thought. Then Hydrus had 'arrived and returned', and reignited that old flame like a match to a gas leak.

"Then there's not much else for us to discuss." Hydrus stood. "I'll see if I can coax Magic to come and meet with me. See what else she knows, what got her so pissed off." He nodded at Albus. "I'll let you know."

Fawkes flew off the boy's shoulder, 'accidentally' smacking the boy's ear with his wing and earning himself a quiet laugh that Hydrus quickly stifled away. He was still so guarded around Sirius. Hydrus made his way towards the door but his father stopped him.

"Wait." Hydrus didn't turn around, but he did stop, even if he kept his hand on the door handle. "I've answered your questions as best I can, followed you around. I want an answer to one question. You owe me that."

'He thinks he owes you a great deal more than that,' Albus thought as Hydrus's shoulders tensed. 'Will he lie to him? Or will he finally tell him the truth?'

"What's the question?"

Now it was Sirius's turn to tense. "Why did you say you wouldn't let me die again?"

Albus couldn't stop the small smile that graced his face. He didn't doubt the boy regretted saying it now, but it would be best in the long term. Now even if the boy lied, Sirius would keep questioning. Keep digging. Keep going until he finally broke down the walls that his son had built up to keep loving, well-meaning people like Sirius out.

"I wasn't talking to you." Albus nodded. So he really was going to li- "I used to have a man I loved like a father."

Albus blinked.

"I might've been born there, but I didn't grow up in the alley I told you about. I was raised by muggles, particularly nasty ones, who hated anything abnormal." Hydrus's magic was beginning to rise, and Albus frowned as the plant on one of his cupboards that Pomona had given him wilted, died, then began to crumble away into dust. "It was miserable, and one day I met someone, someone who loved me.

"He was everything I'd ever dreamed my father would be; strong, caring, brave, and more. He looked after me, took care of me." Hydrus drew in a deep breath as his magic continued to spread, and the headmaster's nose wrinkled as the awful, almost corrosive energy washed over him. "And then the stupid bastard went and got himself killed. Got himself killed saving my life."

Finally Hydrus turned back to face them, and Albus was surprised to see how neutral the boy's expression was.

"I wasn't talking to you," he said. "I was talking to him."

With that, he opened, stepped through, and slammed the door. He had run away from the difficult conversations once more.

His words echoed in Albus's mind, and he sighed as he realised that Hydrus technically hadn't lied at all. Every word he'd said had been true, and they left Sirius stunned as he slumped down in his seat. Albus would've pitied the man if he didn't know his former student so well, and knew how offensive he'd find it.

"It's quite the child you have there," Albus offered. "But he's suffered a great deal in his time. Although it can be hard to see sometimes, I promise you he only has the purest of intentions."

'And we all know what the road to Hell is paved with…'

"He trusts you," Sirius muttered. "He let his guard down around you."

'Only because I brainwashed him to do so,' he thought. "He has, on occasion, confided in me."

Albus watched as Sirius rubbed at his forehead, his shoulders still pulled tight and his legs and arms all bunched together. The man might've had a silver tongue and a gift for lying when he was a boy but it seemed, when it came to his son at least, Sirius's body language was an open book. The headmaster just waited for him to be ready to continue.

After all, if Albus was going to save Hydrus, Sirius's help was essential.

"I don't know what to do," Sirius finally admitted. "I don't know what I've already done."

The headmaster's eyes glanced up towards where he knew the mark of Death rested on Sirius's forehead. His son had done everything he could to keep the man away from him, away from this newfound chaos he'd inadvertently started, but it hadn't been enough. He thought over his own feelings towards Hydrus's revelations, the guilt and the pain and the burden they brought with them, and tried to decide what he felt about the situation. Eventually he had an answer he liked.

"Keep going," Albus said. "You might not like where you wind up, the consequences and feelings it'll bring, but if you don't keep trying with him and some day find out what you missed?" He shook his head. "You'll regret it forever."

"You know more than you're telling me." It was an accusation, but not an angry one. "You've got all the pieces, don't you?"

Albus would never reveal Hydrus's secrets, betray his trust… But he could at least acknowledge that he had such things. "Yes."

Sirius's mouth opened, but slowly it closed without saying anything. He nodded. "Fine." He stood and moved towards the floo. "If you'll excuse me, Albus, I have a reaming to get to."

The headmaster didn't have a chance to do more than chuckle before the green flames carried his former student away.

Hydrus stared out over the crowd. He'd expected the crowd to shrink between the first and second trials, thinking the 'newness' of the Triwizard Tournament's return would've worn off, but it seemed that wasn't the case. He'd eat his proverbial hat if there were more than a dozen students missing from the Hogwarts section, and the guests' section was packed to the brim. His eyes glazed over as Bagman began to announce the event.

He'd been tucked away in his dorm for the past few days, ever since his encounter with Sirius and Death. Magic had been ignoring him, Bella had been patient (or at least as patient as such a woman could be), and despite his best efforts Death was ignoring him too. He'd even offered up the stone It had once enchanted to try and entreat the deity, but it seemed Death was even more persnickety than Its more lively peer. His fellow Slytherins had written it off as him preparing for this second trial, but he was about to ruin that alibi with 'his' performance.

His father was probably in the crowd somewhere. He'd been at the last event, and despite Hydrus's best efforts, he didn't doubt the auror would probably find an excuse to be here this time too. Get himself assigned to security detail or some such thing. Just the thought made his hackles, and magic, rise though so he quickly dismissed the intrusive thought.

Hydrus sighed as the crowd roared for whatever Bagman had said. He and the other two champions were standing on individual 'docks' along the edge of the Great Lake, waiting for the task to begin. The air was cold and wet, rain was threatening to come down but thus far whomever was managing the weather was keeping it at bay. Krum looked stoic, Fleur looked stiff, and Hydrus hoped he was putting off the air of boredom he was going for. It was time to see if being a pushover would pay off for once.

"Lady! Gentlemen! On my mark!" Hydrus glanced up at the cloudy sky, hoping the weather wizards would keep fighting the good fight. "Ready…" Krum and Fleur, both wearing swimsuits, stepped towards the edge of their peers. "Go!"

Fleur cast a bubble-head charm, Krum transfigured his head into that of a shark's, and both dove with near-synchronicity into the Great Lake. Hydrus just moved towards the edge, and sat down. He'd removed his shoes earlier, and allowed his toes to dip through surface of the water. After one last moment to prepare himself for the vocal pain this would cause, he called:

"Francis! Show yourself! The time is now!"

BBaRtS

20 chapters down B) With this one, as promised, we got some pretty big 'main plot' progression. We've seen a lot of side plots start and progress, such as the Study Hall, Draco's Growth, and even little ones like Luna's woes, but now we're getting to see the bigger picture. Player 2 has entered the game of gods, but what what is Death after? We also finally got some proper communication between Sirius and Hydrus, I know a lot of people were asking for it a little bit ago and I had to internally be like 'I promise, it's coming!' We also are seeing that, as Hydrus noticed, his magic is getting worse, not better.

Next up will be the second trial, a bit of an Arcturus spotlight, and Hydrus finally having that talk with Krum he promised Hermione.

On to reviews!

First off, thanks to those who pointed out some corrections I needed to make with names/titles. I got a bit sloppy thanks to a last minute rewrite and mixed up some things, and although I don't mind letting sleeping typos rest, things like that I always feel like I should fix.

"wonder if there is going to be a big bad for Harry to fight against."

Kinda, sorta, little bit. As I've said before, this is less going to be 'good guy vs bad guy' story that ends in a dramatic duel, and more about achieving a goal/overcoming an obstacle.

"I don't really understand what Hydrus is trying to achieve with Hermione."

In this case, it's kind of just what it says on the tin. He's seen the sort of miracles she can work whilst on the backfoot of a one-sided war, and desperately wants her on his side. That's why he's willing to play up her insecurities and pressure her into joining on. On the other hand, like Cedric said, it really is for her benefit in the long run to be recognized and supported by a pureblood like Hydrus, at least in the world they're living in, so he's also doing it just to help his friend out. The reason its all so cloak and dagger is just because that's how Hydrus has come to view such things.

"You make it sound as if he's stuck this way forever which seems like it will get old after a while with no improvement."

That section of the AN was more just about the romance, and the intent was more 'lets get this guy walking before you try and put him in a marathon' regarding him currently being unable to love Bellatrix, let alone expecting him to emotionally fulfill a whole harem of women lol

"Did I miss something? What happened to the seventh-years who so viciously attacked Hydrus? Some of them deserved Azkaban; they all deserved expulsion."

It was mentioned that outside of Hogwarts, Arcturus basically went through and either 'tore the reparations from their hides' or (socially) ended the families, like what he did to the Macnairs. Inside of Hogwarts I said that the seventh years got all of their privileges revoked, including Hogsmeade trips, and that the entirety of their after class time was spent in Snape's classroom doing homework and nothing else. Both IRL and in the original books, we've seen that schools have a tendency to deal with such things on their own, so I don't think its too much of a stretch to think there wouldn't be harsher penalties.

"I have a feeling the king of an empty throne line is far more important than what Dumbledore believes. after a little research on that line"

After a quick google search since you said you researched when I didn't, the first 90% of results were about One Piece, so just in case I wanna be very clear we ain't about to have Harry Potter become king of the pirates lololol

"Hydrus is officialy the cringiest Name ive ever seen used for Harry."

Boy if you think that's true, you haven't even BEGUN to dredge through the dankest depths of this fandom. I ain't even offended, I just pity or envy you depending on where you go from here, cus man oh man is it rough out there.

As always, thank you all so much for the kind reviews. If you only ever looked at my ANs and not the review/comments lists directly, you'd think it was 90% negative when that's certainly not the case. Just the kind ones usually don't come with questions I can answer, whether that's because there's no questions at all or because the answers would be spoiling. I really do appreciate them so much, especially the ones that mention specific details like lines characters say or individual concepts. See you all next saturday, lessthanthree