Author's Note: First, I thank all of you for your support. Several people have told me this story is good, and that helps a lot, so thank you. Secondly, to the anonymous reviewer who said Thanatos is a Mary Sue archetype (The phrase used was "Gary Stu"), please look up the definition of a Mary Sue-esque character, because Thanatos isn't one.
On another note, I recognize these first few chapters might feel a bit Thanatos-centric, but I need to establish him as a character before I can use him to change the future of the story. Even so, he's already made many ripples that'll have drastic effects in the future.
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The next morning, the Great Hall was alight with gossip and rumor. Word had gotten out about Susan's experience and Thanatos' and Remus' actions, which almost completely overshadowed Harry's passing out at the dementors.
Harry entered with Ron and Hermione and saw several Slytherins whispering between themselves, with Draco in their midst.
"What d'ya think they're talking about?" Ron whispered.
Hermione shrugged. "No clue, can't be anything good though."
They sat down at the Gryffindor table, and Harry glanced up at the Head Table.
Remus noticed him and gave him a small smile, which Harry returned. Though, Harry was disappointed to not see Thanatos there; he'd wanted to ask more about Sirius.
"Hary, HARRY!" Ron hissed, and Harry jumped.
"Wha- I- huh?" Harry blinked, turning to him.
Ron passed him his schedule. "New classes; we've got the same ones!"
"We're starting new ones today!" Hermione smiled, looking delighted.
Ron looked over at her schedule and frowned. "Hey, Hermione? I think they messed your schedule up."
He pointed to it. "Look, they've got you down for ten classes a day. There's not enough time in a day for that."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I've got it figured out, Ron."
Ron's brows furrowed. "But look, you've got... three classes at nine o'clock? Divination, Muggle Studies, and Arithmancy. How are you going to be at three classes at once? Even you aren't that good."
"Don't be silly, it's not three classes at once," Hermione replied, before outstretching her hand. "Pass the marmalade."
"But-"
"Oh, Ron, what's it to you if my schedule's a bit full?" Hermione snapped, her head whipping over. "I told you, I've got it figured out with Professor McGonagall."
Harry leaned over after checking his schedule. "He's right, Hermione. There's no way you can do that... unless you plan to make three of you."
Hermione huffed. "I've. Got it. Figured. OUT," She ground out, cutting into her food a bit harsher than she meant to.
Bird song interrupted them, and everyone in the Great Hall looked up, seeing a white dove carrying a note in its talons.
Whispers broke out in the Great Hall. Nobody got mail on the first day unless they'd forgotten something, and who would forget notes?
The dove flew a circle over the tables, searching them before it folded its wings, divebombing towards Remus.
Remus jumped as the bird soared down, landing gently and sticking out its leg.
He took it curiously, and the bird picked at his fingers before flying off with another bout of song.
Ron and Hermione continued their argument, but Harry stared at the bird intently, his head tilted.
"Guys," Harry said, only to be ignored. "Guys... GUYS!"
Ron and Hermione jumped and turned to him, blinking wildly.
Harry noticed people staring and lowered his voice.
"That bird," He whispered, leaning in. "I know it. It's the same bird that delivered that note."
He paused. "And... I saw it in Flourish and Blotts... but I didn't remember until now."
Hermione's brows furrowed. "How do you know, Harry?"
"The eyes," Harry told her. "It has these bright golden eyes that are super creepy. The thing's huge too, almost as big as Hedwig."
"You think Professor Lupin knows these Marauder guys?" Ron whispered. "He got a note too."
Harry blinked. "Wait, Ron, what did you say the Marauders' names were?"
Ron did a double take, clearly not used to being the one to remember stuff, but answered anyway.
"Er- Padfoot, Wormtail... Prongs... and- Moony, I think? Why?"
"What if Professor Lupin is Moony?" Harry asked, glancing between them.
Hermione's nose scrunched up. "Because of his name?"
Harry nodded. "Lupin means moon, right? You said that once. What if he's Moony?"
"That's silly, Harry," Hermione waved it off. "Lupin means wolf, from Lupus Canis, the Latin name for wolves. Besides, we have no evidence of Professor Lupin being Moony."
"Wolves howl at the moon," Ron pointed out. "Maybe there's a connection there?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "That would mean Professor Lupin is either a wolf animagus or a werewolf; becoming the first is difficult, and the second is classified as a XXXX Dark Creature by the Ministry and are highly monitored."
"But why else would the Marauders send him a note?" Ron asked. "Maybe he knows them?"
Hermione frowned. "Good point. But we don't know anything. We haven't even figured out what that note means!"
Harry did a double take. "Really? I would've thought you figured it out by now."
Hermione huffed. "I can't figure out everything, Harry. It takes time."
"You sure about that?" Ron asked, brows furrowed. "You're the one who figured out the basilisk last year."
Harry flinched at the memory, and Ron's ears turned red.
"Sorry, mate," He muttered, bowing his head.
"It took a while, Ron," Hermione pointed out, glancing at Harry from the corner of her eye. "And we had more info than just one note. And it's not like we weren't wrong at times, remember the Polyjuice?"
All three cringed as they remembered the vile-tasting potion they'd taken, just to discover essentially nothing.
Harry sighed. "Sorry, Hermione, it's just bugging me. That note has to mean something."
"What about Thanatos?" Hermione asked suddenly, and both boys blinked.
"What about him?" Ron asked.
Hermione turned to Harry excitedly. "You said he spoke to you about your parents on the Knight Bus, right? What if he knew the Marauders too?"
Harry's eyes went wide. "Hermione, you're a genius!"
"We should probably go," Ron said as he checked his schedule and showed it to them. "Look, Divination is at the top of North Tower; it'll take us ten minutes to get there."
The trio quickly finished their breakfast and left the Great Hall, ignoring the still-whispering group of Slytherins.
As Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way up the North Tower, a large crow was flying outside, scouting the area.
The crow flew down and in a circle around Hagrid, who was standing next to a few Hippogriffs.
Hagrid looked over as the crow landed on a tree next to him.
"Oh! Hello, Thanatos!" He greeted the crow with a wave.
The crow squawked before jumping off the tree, and in the next moment, Thanatos stood next to the half-giant.
"I can never get one past you," Thanatos mumbled goodnaturedly.
Hagrid laughed bouyously and patted Thanatos' back, nearly knocking him over.
"Ah, well, when you've been around as many animals as I've been, you're bound to learn some things!" Hagrid boomed with a grin. "You're always too stiff!"
Thanatos mumbled and rolled his eyes, but smiled, feeling Hagrid's loud joy spread to him.
He turned to the Hippogriffs. "Hippogriffs, huh?"
"Aren't they beautiful?" Hagrid asked lovingly as he stared at them.
Thanatos chose not to say anything; he might have passed CoMC in Hogwarts but that didn't mean he necessarily liked animals any more than he had to.
"C'mon, give them a try," Hagrid patted his back and gestured with his head to the Hippogriffs. "I think they're bound to like you."
"Yeah… no," Thanatos shook his head and stepped back. "I'm not much of an animal guy, Hagrid. You know this."
The Hippogriffs huffed and stamped the ground, pulling at their leads in Hagrid's hand towards Thanatos.
"Woah! Easy!" Hagrid yelled, pulling them back firmly but not unkindly.
"Yeah, they definitely don't like me," Thanatos told the half-giant, much to Hagrid's dismay. "Sorry, Hagrid."
In truth, the only animals that could even stand Thanatos's presence for any extended period were thestrals, who were actually drawn to him.
Unicorns, Phoenixes, and other such magical animals though, would try to gore or kill him on sight.
Not that it ever worked, obviously, as Thanatos was still alive, but he would rather not push his luck.
Thanatos headed back to the castle after a quick chat with Hagrid and a dodged promise for tea; Hagrid may be kind, but cooking was NOT his specialty.
He quickly found an abandoned classroom that didn't have a couple and locked the door with a strong locking charm.
Thanatos groaned and rubbed his temples, feeling a pounding headache come in.
"Ugh, why can't you be easy to find, Black?" He muttered to the air, leaning against an old desk he'd reinforced with magic.
He'd been looking for Sirius non stop since his conversation with Amelia, it was the least he could do for her.
Every night, he'd gone out in his Animagus form, flying through Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and its surrounding area, looking for Sirius, but had no luck in finding the convict.
Thanatos sighed and closed his eyes, lying down completely on the desk.
"Black, I swear that apology better come fucking gift wrapped," He mumbled.
Sirius may likely be innocent, but he was still going to pay for worrying them all like that. Going off to Azkaban without a trial was the stupidest thing—
Thanatos shot up, his mind collecting dots.
"No," he whispered, beginning to pace across the classroom.
"If Sirius went to Azkaban without a trial, that means both the Head of DMLE and the Chief Warlock agreed to not give him a trial," Thanatos spoke to himself, knuckles against his lips. "But Dumbledore was the Chief Warlock back then."
"Still is," He continued. "He could've pushed for a trial even afterward, but didn't, so he must have thought Sirius deserved to be in prison."
Thanatos frowned. "But that makes no sense, the evidence doesn't line up with Black's guilt, surely Dumbledore would've known that. So why?"
Thanatos flicked his wrist and his wand shot from its holster on his forearm.
He flicked once more, and several golden strands of light floated out of them.
Thanatos gave some quick waves and flicks, and soon, an information board was fully formed in front of him, with all the information he knew about Black's case, all written down from his mind.
"Thank you, Amelia," Thanatos muttered as he stared at the board. "Guess organization spells are more useful than I thought."
Hundreds of miles away, Amelia sneezed in her office, feeling an intense sensation of smugness that she didn't know the source of.
Thanatos put all of his thoughts on the board, every possible detail, ensuring nothing was left out, in case it was useful.
"Dumbledore was certain of Black's guilt," Thanatos muttered after a few minutes. "Given he agreed not to give him a trial and never tried to afterwards."
"But the evidence for Black's guilt, at least the murder of Pettigrew part, is twisted at best and downright nonexistent at worst."
Thanatos hummed, his wand against his lips as his mind ran.
"That means that, while likely that Sirius didn't murder Pettigrew given the data, Dumbledore had enough evidence or knowledge to know that Sirius, at the very least, caused the Potter's death."
Thanatos moved some things on his board and frowned.
"The Potters went into hiding though," He told himself as he looked at the note he'd written.
No one had been able to find the Potters for months, even owls sent to them would just spin in circles, visibly distressed, until their owners stopped them.
No one could find their address either, even their friends wouldn't say it, not even with the promise of an Unbreakable Vow to not divulge it; Amelia had tried that.
"There had to have been strong privacy and repelling wards," Thanatos realized. "But, somehow, they were also usable as evidence for Black's guilt?"
Thanatos' frown deepened. "So a strong privacy or protection ward, utterly unlocatable even via owl, the inability of their friends to say the address, and the utter conviction of Black's guilt once it went down…"
His eyes widened. "FIDELIUS CHARM!"
He winced a moment later, happy he'd put silencing charms on the door beforehand.
Thanatos shook his head, getting back to work.
"A Fidelius with Sirius as the Secret Keeper," Thanatos muttered. "Irrefutable evidence of guilt if the Potters died, because Sirius would have to give out the location."
Thanatos paused. To get the secret from the Keeper simply required the Keeper to divulge the secret without mind control; torture or persuasion was still very much a viable option to getting it.
"So either Sirius is a Death Eater or he was tortured until he gave up the Secret," Thanatos muttered.
"But there was no mark on his arm when the prison guards checked him," Thanatos muttered, remembering what little there was in Black's file.
He crossed out Death Eater as an option and stepped back.
"So torture or persuasion," Thanatos tsked.
Sirius was a member of house Black, who were all trained in the best of persuasion, so that wouldn't work on him.
"Torture is a no go," Thanatos muttered. "Walberga fucking abused those kids so much Sirius still had scars well into adulthood, even with magic. There's no way he would fold."
Thanatos clicked his tongue in annoyance. There was no option for Sirius divulging the secret— not any that lined up anyway.
Maybe it was all a long ruse by Sirius? To get the Potter's trust and then betray them?
"No…" Thanatos shook his head; that thought was crazy, even for him.
'Or he wasn't the Keeper at all,' a thought came to him.
Thanatos' eyes went wide at that.
They'd known that a traitor was part of the Order for months before then, and most suspected Remus or Sirius; the first due to being a werewolf and disappearing for long periods, and the second because of his family.
Thanatos frowned. Was it Remus?
"No, can't be," he said aloud, immediately dismissing the notion.
Remus was far too used to being a werewolf to break under torture, and far too loyal to be a secret Death Eater.
"So, who?" He asked himself. "Sirius is unlikely; he would've died for James and nearly did a few times. No way he would've done that if he was just pretending to be friends."
He began pacing again. "That leaves Peter, but, cmon, really? Pettigrew?"
Thanatos shook his head before pausing mid stride.
Animagus forms were fully realized via the person's personality, usually their strongest trait.
Peter was a rat, reputed for backstabbing, betrayal, and selling out.
"Could it be?" Thanatos wondered. "But Peter?"
Peter wasn't that magically talented in comparison to James, Remus, Sirius, or even Lily and himself, but the one thing he could do better than anyone was information gathering.
His Animagus form allowed him to spy like no other, letting him into places he shouldn't be.
His enhanced hearing also helped, letting him hear conversations he had no business hearing.
Thanatos began pacing yet again. Could it be that Peter, oh so innocent Peter, had pulled a fast one on them?
"Is that…" Thanatos trailed off. "Is that why he disappeared? Because Sirius found out?"
The pieces began falling together. Peter had been the traitor the whole time, been made the Secret Keeper, and then divulged that secret to Voldemort willingly, but had fled and hidden ever since Voldie's demise.
But why Peter? If it was true, why not Sirius? Or Remus?
The answer came to him almost immediately: it was too obvious.
Thanatos thought back to the war, specifically the later end.
Every Death Eater in Britain was after James and Sirius, along with Frank Longbottom and himself.
Everyone knew Sirius was James' best friend; if the Potters truly went into hiding with the Fidelius, who better to keep the secret than Sirius Black, best man at James' wedding and godfather to Harry Potter?
James and Sirius knew that too, and knowing Sirius, it was most likely his idea to switch out the Secret Keepers, while keeping the attention on himself to hide Peter.
Thanatos scowled, and his magic began to swirl around the room.
The windows crumbled to dust, the chairs and tables were crushed into the ground, and even the desk Thanatos had reinforced began to creak and groan, splinters shooting into the ceiling from the strain.
Thanatos closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and forcefully reigned in his anger and magic. He was a trained Auror dammit— he was better than this.
It took several seconds for Thanatos to calm, but once he did, he opened his eyes, which glowed lightly with restrained magic.
"So Peter's the traitor, betrayed James and Lily after being swapped with Sirius," He snarled, biting his tongue to keep himself in check.
He might not have officially been part of the Marauders, but James and Lily were still his friends, so were Remus, Sirius, and Peter.
To have all of their lives destroyed, utterly ruined because of one man's cowardice…
Thanatos took another deep breath, this time feeling tears sting at his eyes.
Even if he hadn't been in the country at the time or in the years since, the Potters' deaths had cut Thanatos deeply, and it was only because of Aahna that he didn't spiral into a depression like Remus did.
"Peter…" Thatnaos felt his anger return. "I swear on my magic I'm going to ensure you suffer… I don't care if you've died already, I'll drag you back from whatever circle of hell you were put in and shove your head in it again."
Another dot clicked, and Thanatos' anger nearly exploded.
Dumbledore.
The old man knew who the Keeper was; he had to. There was no one else in Britain knowledgeable enough and strong enough to cast it; not even Flitwick could cast it without risking severe magical exhaustion, even though he held the knowledge.
"I'm going to strangle him with his own fucking beard," Thanatos snarled, rushing towards the door, wand in hand.
Oh, he didn't care if he beat Dumbledore, or even if he lived to tell the tale of fighting him. Right now, all Thanatos had was anger and a wand, and knowledge on how to use both.
Thanatos grabbed the door handle and went to pull when bird song sounded, freezing him in his tracks.
He turned, seeing a familiar white dove with gold eyes staring at him, a letter in its talons.
Thanatos felt his anger ebb away, and he sighed.
"What now, Aahna?" He asked the air tiredly, shuffling over to the window.
The bird cooed and flew up to his hand, dropping the letter in it before perching on his shoulder.
Thanatos sighed and opened the letter, wondering what his wife had to tell him as he read aloud.
Love,
Great news! My project wrapped up earlier than expected! Which means I get to go to you instead of me waiting for you!
Thanatos felt a smile blossom over his face despite himself. Aahna's joy was always infectious to him.
I'll be arriving within the next few days, so I sent Maricule beforehand. I couldn't just LEAVE him here! He'd be so lonely!
The dove on his shoulder chirped and nodded, making Thanatos roll his eyes before reaching up and scratching its head.
"You're a real needy bird, you know that?" He asked, getting another chirp.
Anyway, I'll be arriving to Hogwarts hopefully by the end of the week. I already have a room booked in Hogsmeade, so we can share once I get there and you don't have to sleep in that dreadful tent still.
Don't lie, I know you were too lazy to book a room and the tent was missing when I checked last week.
Thanatos flushed slightly; sometimes, he forgot how well his wife knew him.
On a more Sirius note (get it?), I think I may have found some things pertaining to him that you might find useful. I can't say it over a letter, but the Ghosts managed to dig up some old camera footage, somehow.
Ghosts were what the Greek Unspeakables were called, known for their being able to get in and out of things they really had no business being able to get in and out of.
Anywho, I've made another spell for the dementors. God, I hate those things.
Thanatos smiled; if there was someone who hated dementors more than him, it was Aahna.
Well, two technically. They're both modified Patroni. One is easier to cast than the standard Charm but acts more like a full body shield rather than a guardian. It won't repel dementors, but it WILL stop them in their tracks.
The second is harder; a full Charm based on the variations you and I came up with, mixed with the Tenebres Occidi. It basically injects the Patronus with the Tenebres Occidi Charm, making it like poison for any dementor who tries to consume it, killing it from the inside.
Thanatos whistled low; he knew his wife was beyond genius, but this was another level.
But enough of that, I'll see you in a few days, Love. I love you, and GET. SOME. SLEEP! You need it, and no coffee is not a substitute.
With all my love,
Aahna
Thanatos smiled and folded the letter, putting it in his coat pocket with the rest of her letters.
His anger had essentially disappeared, at least on the surface. Underneath, he was still boiling, but the happiness at getting a letter from his wife swiftly and brutally overpowered the anger.
He sighed but still smiled; things might be complicated and somewhat shit at the moment, but he had Aahna, and that was all that mattered.
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Yeah, kind of a short chapter, I know.
Doesn't seem like much got done, but Harry is one step closer to finding out the truth, and Thanatos is about a step away from strangling Dumbledore.
Next chapter will be Aahna's intro, more shenanigans, and possibly a bit of a confrontation, who knows?
Anyway, thank you all for the support and I'll see you all the next chapter.