"Mr. Black." Hydrus looked up to see Snape had crept up on him and his fellow fourth years. "Come with me to the headmaster's office."
"Of course." He closed his book and slid it into his bag which he left behind, knowing that Draco would bring it back to the dorms for him if this took awhile. "Lead the way."
Once they were out of the common room, he spoke up again. "What's this about?"
"I believe the headmaster wishes to speak with you about your study group," Snape said. "He's quite impressed."
"Ah."
Bellatrix had mentioned that Dumbledore was considering turning it into a 'proper' club, and he guessed that was what this meeting was for. He did take some pride in knowing how well his Slytherins had been doing, but he tried to keep his expression neutral as they made their way. Even Crabbe and Goyle were improving. Well, on the practical side of things. With regards to quizzes and essays, they still had to thank their fathers for being rich enough for their grades not to matter all that much in the long term.
"Licorice wands," Snape said with a pinched face at the gargoyle. "Come along."
Hydrus was pleased to see Bellatrix waiting for them in addition to Dumbledore. She gave him a warm smile as he took the seat in front of his former mentor, and Snape moved to stand beside her.
"Ah, young Hydrus. It seems your wish for our next encounter to be more fortuitous has come true." The old wizard smiled at him with twinkling eyes. "I've spoken with Professor Snape as well as several others, and they've all seen marked improvements in your housemates' abilities thanks to the study sessions you conduct."
Hydrus smiled back. "I simply hoped to help them where I could. It started with just my friends and I doing homework together, but others quickly took to following our example, and it's grown from there."
"Indeed it has," Dumbledore agreed. "From what I understand, you've even begun to tutor fifth years?"
"Just with their practical spell work," Hydrus said. "And in return they've helped ease the burden of answering the lower years' questions."
The headmaster chuckled. "I'm glad to hear things are more unified down in the dungeons since our last meeting."
The seventh years had almost all of their privileges, including Hogsmeade visits, revoked since the attack. After dinner each night they were only allowed to do their homework in Snape's classroom, and just before curfew they were escorted by him to their dorm rooms to ensure they didn't cause any further issues. Hydrus didn't doubt that the potions master was furious at having to 'babysit' every night, but from what Bellatrix had told him, it was even worse outside of the school. Arcturus had personally visited each and every one of the students' family heads, his first 'social' appearances in years, and either proverbially tore the reparations from their hides or made it clear that their downfall had just begun.
Hydrus would've felt bad for them were the notion of such a thing not so preposterous.
"To cut to the heart of the matter, I was hoping that you would be willing to open your little group to the other houses. Form it into an officially recognized 'club' here at Hogwarts." The headmaster reached over and snagged one of his candies before continuing. "Seeing as how you've done a fine job thus far, I don't see any reason not to have you be its official leader, with Professor Black being the staff adviser."
"That sounds wonderful to me," Hydrus replied smoothly. "I'll need some time to organise a proper charter, but it shouldn't be too difficult." He hummed, an idea forming in his mind. "Perhaps we could even nominate 'head' tutors for each subject, with the staff's assistance in helping me choose appropriate students."
"That sounds like a fine suggestion," Dumbledore agreed. "Did you already have anyone in mind?"
Hydrus hummed again. "I hope that with the 'official' nature this group will be taking on, we can lure in some sixth years. Given that they're between their major exams, they would probably be the best resource available to us, though I obviously wouldn't turn my nose up at talented seventh years such as, say, Cedric Diggory helping out as well."
"I didn't realise you were familiar with Mr. Diggory."
"We're not personally acquainted," Hydrus admitted. "But I'd say he's the second most likely contender for the position of our school's champion."
Dumbledore cocked a bemused eyebrow at him. "Do I even need to guess as to who you believe is the first most likely?"
"Only if you like to hear the obvious," Hydrus said with a smile. "I don't suppose it would be too much to ask for our own personal room to hold meetings in? I've had the fifth years practising the shield charms necessary for them not to cause a ruckus with their practicals, but I'd feel a great deal more comfortable if I could have proper wards and designated areas installed instead."
"I certainly believe we could do that." The headmaster turned to Bellatrix. "Professor Black has already promised the Black family's financial backing for this club."
"Oh good." Hydrus smiled at the woman. "Saves me the trouble of having to bug her to do that."
"Grandfather was more than happy to support the betterment of our country's future," Bellatrix said, and Hydrus didn't doubt that everyone in the room knew exactly what, or rather who, 'their country's future' referred to. "As the staff advisor for the club, I'll be helping out however I can."
"Brilliant." Hydrus returned his focus to the headmaster. "I'll try and have everything ready on my end before the week is over.
"Brilliant indeed." Dumbledore stood and Hydrus joined him before reaching out his hand to shake the headmaster's. "I'll look forward to hearing from you."
Hydrus nodded in agreement, then made his way out of the room with Snape and Bellatrix in tow. Once the headmaster's door was shut behind them, Bellatrix spoke up.
"Go on ahead, Severus," she said. "I'd like a moment with Hydrus."
The potions master bowed his head and left, ever dutiful to his 'betters' like the future Lady of House Black. Hydrus watched him leave and tried not to take too much amusement at the thought of a man who'd once hated him like a roach in his soup having to treat him with such deference. 'Begrudging respect' was as much as he'd ever managed to steal from him in the future.
Once the bat was out of sight, Bellatrix wrapped him in a hug.
"Are you pleased?" she purred. "I told you I'd make this happen."
He returned her embrace to show that he did. "This will become a useful tool. Not only will it allow me to keep a better eye out for potential talents, but I believe we'll be able to leverage those 'head tutor' positions I mentioned into a sort of status symbol."
"Oh?" Bellatrix asked, slowly pulling away so as to look down at him. "What did you have in mind?"
"Well, although the Creatures club doesn't hold much prestige, I have it on good and beautiful authority that being the captain of the Dueling Club can open some doors for students." Bellatrix giggled at the compliment. "I'm sure being the leader of this new Study Club will do the same, but with some helpful nudges from our friends and family, we could ensure that, say, being the Head of Potions Tutoring could lead to a fine apprenticeship under a potions master."
"And since you'd be handing out those badges," Bellatrix continued. "The others would be certain not to cross you."
"I would simply wish for this club to be as successful as possible," he said innocently. "Besides, final say on all positions would fall to our staff advisor, not me."
She giggled again. "Is that right? I sure hope no handsome little water snakes try to bribe me into getting what they want."
"Perish the thought." Now that she was buttered up, it was time to push forward his other, much less agreeable suggestion. "I already have an idea on what to do about getting the clubroom set up."
"Oh?"
"We'll have the Weasley twins handle it." Her nose wrinkled. "Hear me out."
"What in Morgana's name is it with you and those two?" she asked. "They're poor and filthy blood-traitors."
"They're only poor for now," he argued. "Despite your misgivings, I've already received my first stake-holder's payment."
She scoffed. "And how many knuts was that?"
"Seventy-seven galleons, actually." Her eyes widened. "Hardly what I'd call a full recoupment yet, but for a mail-order business run by a pair of sixteen year olds? I'm quite pleased with their progress."
"Still, what's this got to do with the Study Club?"
"They're as inventive as they come, and their runesmanship puts mine to shame." Not that that was hard to do, but still. "And since we own thirty-percent of their business, the one we'd contract this work through…"
"As pleased as I am with your business acumen," she started. "I still don't believe they're capable enough to achieve what you're looking for."
"They are," he tried to assure her. "You and I will be helping out along the way given our own positions, and if at any point you believe they're truly out of their depths, I'll let you pull the plug on it."
"Don't remind me of baths," she snapped, and Hydrus had to bite his tongue at her misinterpretation of the expression. "Just talking about those filthy Weasleys has me feeling dirty."
"How dirty are we talking?" he asked, stepping closer to her and once more trying to butter her up. "Does Aunty Bella need help taking care of it?"
Hydrus flinched when she suddenly flicked him on the forehead. "I know what you're doing."
"Is it working?"
"A little."
"Just give them a shot," he said. "Think of how much sooner you'll be able to say 'you were wrong about them' if this goes the way you think it will."
She gave a long, drawn out sigh. "Fine."
"Fred, George." Hydrus shook the twins' hands in the order he hoped was appropriate. "Glad you could meet with me."
They were in the Defense classroom with Bellatrix grading papers at her desk behind them. The room was in its 'lecture hall' state and there was still enough sunlight pouring in that the wall sconces were unlit. He'd asked Bellatrix to let the twins know he wanted to speak with them after their class with her that day, and lined it up with her usual 'detention' time so that way he knew she'd be available too.
"Of course we could," Fred said.
George nodded. "Couldn't leave our business partner hanging now could we?"
"Especially not when he's the Slayer of Seventh Years."
"We'll be those next year, so we got to be careful."
Hydrus laughed. "If that's what it takes to reel you in, I won't complain about the 'title'."
Multiple sources had confirmed that his exploits that night hadn't gone without notice for even one day. Even the foreign students had taken on a new demeanor around him. Truthfully the rumours skewed to paint him in a more threatening light than he would've liked, but he believed that this new club would help curb that particular problem.
"So what can we do for you?"
"I was hoping the two of you might be interested in making some money." Hydrus started with the carrot. "In exchange for some contract work that's outside of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes' usual business."
"If you're looking to outsource your seventh-year hunting, we'll have to decline," George said.
Fred winked. "Unless it's your own, anyways, since you softened them up."
"Not quite." Hydrus handed them copies of a service agreement. "Feel free to get the rumour mill kicked up over it, but I've been given permission to start a new club, and I wanted to see if I could keep the business of setting up the new club house, in house."
The twins immediately began to peruse them, their eyes gliding back and forth across the parchments. Somehow the boys even synced up their reading speeds as they turned their pages over at the same time.
"I know the idea of excelling in school runs contrary to your usual style," he continued. "But the professors I've spoken with thus far all agree that being able to do something on this scale would blow the NEWT proctors' minds."
He allowed them to finish reading the documents in peace. It was almost more amusing to see them so serious than it was when they were bantering back and forth. The agreement itself was just a list of things he wanted for the room, some parameters for certain requests, and a brief bit of proper legalese more or less saying 'we agree to pay you this many galleons, unless you fail to do it, in which case we want our money back'. Finally they pulled themselves away from the documents, still perfectly in time with one another.
"We have some suggestions."
Hydrus grinned.
"I'd be disappointed if you didn't."
"For Beauxbatons!" Dumbledore's voice bellowed. "Fleur Delacour!"
A polite round of applause began before people realised who that was, at which point most of the male portion of the crowd redoubled their celebration. Draco leaned over to Hydrus.
"One for three," he said. "So far."
Krum nodded in agreement, though it was obvious he was just waiting to see if Hydrus would be two for three next. Fleur stood and made her way to the same room she'd once called him a 'leetle boy' in. Hydrus probably wouldn't impress her too much this go around either, but at least he was bigger than he was at the start of the year. A few moments passed before the Goblet's fires sprang up once more, and another piece of paper made its way into Dumbledore's hand.
"For Durmstrang: Viktor Krum!"
This time the raucous cheers were much more immediate, and to Hydrus's surprise the famous seeker clapped him on the back before he made his way after Fleur. It seemed a show of either divination or early support was all it took to earn the Bulgarian's appreciation. Once the man was out of sight though, all of Slytherin seemed to be holding their breath as they waited for the final competitor to be announced. For his own part, Hydrus sincerely hoped he'd have to settle for being one-off with his prediction.
"For Hogwarts: Hydrus Black!"
Alas. He stood to the loudest roar of cheers any of three champions had received. He accepted the handshakes the friends on his side of the table offered and, despite his best efforts, couldn't stop from laughing at the sight of very familiar fireworks going off above everyone's heads. The twins had made sure their handiwork hadn't launched straight from their own pockets, but Hydrus doubted there was a single member of staff who didn't know exactly who had managed to sneak them in.
As he stepped into the room, Viktor nodded. "Three for three."
"Three for three," Hydrus agreed. "Shame I didn't get you to put money on it."
"I do not gamble," the man said. "Especially since I was one of the three you picked."
"Pardon?" Fleur chimed in.
"He pick champions before cup did," Viktor said, his accent growing thicker in the veela's presence. "Knew we'd be chosen."
She cocked an eyebrow at Hydrus. "I didn't realise you knew me."
"I don't." He gave her a shrug. "Not directly anyways. Your family's wines, on the other hand, I am very familiar with. I had planned on, pardon the pun when I ask you to pardon my French, kissing your ass to see if I couldn't get you to arrange a meeting with your father for me to try and work out some business."
She let out a laugh that even brought a blush to Krum's cheeks. "I could, but you'll find it is my mother who runs the business side of things."
"My apologies," he said with sincerity. "I promise my assumption was because of the official records I researched, not any sort of… bias."
Fleur hadn't talked about her family much in the previous timeline. Her parents along with her younger sister had died early in the war in one of Harry's camps, and no matter how close he got with her it was a subject that she could never quite speak about. He'd only tasted their wines once before coming back, a bottle they'd found in some house they were hiding in, and the girl had simply sobbed when he gave it to her. It had been the first time he'd seen her cry throughout all their time together despite the countless deaths they witnessed, including her husband's, and the only one he could still remember.
"Good," Fleur said simply. "I'm sure you can imagine why we let him handle the documents."
Hydrus nodded, and allowed the conversation to fall away as the door opened and their school heads along with Bagman and Crouch Sr joined them.
"Hello, everyone!" Bagman said, beaming. "Allow me to be the first to congratulate the three of you on being selected as representatives of your schools."
"Thank you," Hydrus said as he took the man's offered hand. "Pleasure to meet you."
Bagman beamed at him before moving on to Krum, and Hydrus repeated his introduction with Crouch. Once everyone was settled, the head of the DMGS spoke.
"Now, on to the Tournament itself," he started. "It will be divided into three parts, the first of which will be held on the last Saturday of November. Would anyone care to guess what the first task will be?"
"Dragons?" Hydrus suggested, bemused.
"Ha!" the department head laughed. "I like the way you think!"
Hydrus blinked. Seemed like he really would be going in blind this go around.
"I'm afraid that for the first challenge, it will be…" he trailed off as if for a drumroll. "A surprise! The first portion of our Tournament shall test each of your resolves in the face of the unknown. Who knows though." He winked at Hydrus. "Maybe our youngest competitor is spot on."
Hydrus doubted that considering neither he nor Crouch Sr reacted to his 'guess' at all. He also doubted Hagrid would be pulling him aside this time, even if he was the top student in fourth year Creatures, so at least it'd be a genuine surprise. Then again, knowing Bellatrix, he would probably find out one way or another.
'I should probably take this more seriously,' he thought as Crouch Sr went on about international relations and the dangers they'd be facing. 'But honestly, if it's not dragons then I can't imagine something much worse.'
Hydrus nearly missed Bagman's second handshake as the ministry officials prepared to leave. Dumbledore escorted him out as the other school heads did for their champions, and all eight of them were greeted in the Great Hall by another round of cheers and applause. He took a brief moment to take it all in before bowing and returning to his table to collect his friends and followers.
'At least there won't be any Potter Stinks badges this go around.' He glanced over to see his past self pouting, no doubt at having not been chosen. 'Well, not because of me, anyways.'
"Congrats, Black Sheep!" a passing auror said.
Sirius gave a confused smile back as he continued along his way. The Briarham bust wasn't that big of a deal, at least not by his standards, but maybe rumours were finally beginning to spread about he and Bones' half-baked 'courtship'. That continued to be his best guess as he tried to make it to the breakroom; people kept stopping him to shake his hand or clap him on the shoulder, but he began to fear there were rumours he was up for promotion.
Last thing he needed was more responsibility, and worse, paperwork.
He spotted James in their usual spot in the breakroom, and the man looked up at him with a bashful half-smile as he stood. "There you are. I heard the news, not sure if I should congratulate you or…"
"If you heard it, would you care to share?" Sirius asked, now worried his second guess had been correct. "The hell's going on?"
"Shit, you haven't heard?" James winced. "Hydrus got picked as the champion."
"Fuck."
Sirius collapsed into his usual chair and his friend gave him a pitying look as he sat back down himself. It shouldn't have come as a surprise, but he'd really been hoping that the stupid goblet or whatever it was would pick someone besides his fourteen-year-old son. He shot a glare at yet another passing coworker who patted him on the back as they passed.
"Come on, Padfoot," James said. "Weren't you telling us how amazing he is with a wand?"
"He's still just a kid." And his kid to boot. "What if he gets hurt?"
James sighed. "Lils said they made sure the tournament would be way safer this year, I'm sure he'll be fine."
"Black. Potter." Both men turned to see Amelia had joined them. "Need to see you two in my office, got a job for you."
"Anything to get away from people congratulating me on my son being in impending danger."
The woman's usual stoic mask of professional indifference broke for just a moment as she gave him a worried smile, but the trio quickly made their way to her office. The room was around twice the size of his own and had quite a few more awards on the walls. A few sheets of newspapers were also framed on the wall with various headlines discussing her exploits and occasionally showing off black-and-white photos of the auror captain in action. It would've all seemed masturbatory to Sirius if he didn't know the woman so well and understood that she was just playing the game. Amelia locked the door behind them and waved her wand to activate the privacy wards.
"Take a seat," she said. "We're going for some big game this time."
Sirius's own problems quickly got filed away as he took his seat. The ability to do that was one of dozens of techniques that Captain Moody liked to call 'The Unteachables', things that every Auror needed to know how to do, but no amount of time in the academy would ever be able to drill into their heads. Technically Sirius had mastered the ability to stuff his feelings away long before he was an auror, but that didn't mean he'd gotten any rustier with it.
"I'm sure the two of you remember Operation Niffler, and that it was a resounding failure," Amelia started. "We're giving it another shot."
Sirius stopped himself from groaning before he confirmed what he feared. "Will Captain Goyle be in charge again?"
Damien Goyle was the younger brother of Lord Archer Goyle, and for what he lacked in intelligence compared to his troll-brained sibling, he made up for with incompetence in spades. The department had tried to put Sirius and James under the man when Captain Moody retired, and it was only after the pair had made it halfway to the door with their badges on the floor that Scrimgeour had relented.
"No, I will." Thank Merlin. "And we're going a lot smaller-scale this time."
Sirius exchanged looks with James. "Like, say, three-people doing the work that took half the department last time levels of small?"
"Spot on," Amelia said, smirking. "And don't get cute with me, Black, you know as well as I do that there were too many elves in the kitchen on that one."
"It's on you if you think me complaining is cute."
She snorted, and he tried to squish down the little butterflies that gave him. Merlin, he really was falling for the hard-ass captain.
"To put some of those complaints to rest, we're going a lot smaller-scale for a reason." She handed them each thick rolls of parchments. "Just three separate days. A lot of repeat visitors, almost all of them in-house. The best wards Britain has to offer."
"The Tournament." Sirius hadn't even opened his briefing, though James had. "You think that'll lure her out this time?"
"I'm sure the World Cup would have too if it weren't for… Well, no need to disparage others." Sirius barked out a laugh, and Amelia smiled back at him. "I'll be on the ground with you boys, and just like last time it'll be a lot of stakeouts and long nights. Potter?" The man grunted, still reading his briefing. "Can we count on 'Lord Potter' letting us make use of his family's cloaks?"
That earned another, more affirmative grunt. Sirius furrowed his brows at his friend's concentration, until the real meaning behind it struck him. Then he had to bite his tongue hard enough it nearly bled to stop a mischievous leer from springing to his face.
'He's going to use this as a chance to prank Lily,' he thought. 'That crazy son of a bitch.'
"There'll be the expected Ministry presence at the event," Amelia continued on, blissfully unaware. "Only the three of us, Scrimgeour, and our old headmaster will know that we're going to be shadowing the Goblet and the thousand-galleon prize that will be so 'prominently and foolishly' displayed. Officially, Hogwarts and especially the caretaker Argus Filch will be responsible for transporting the goods back and forth from the school's interior."
"Ha," James finally spoke up, looking away from the parchment and setting it aside. "Remember him, Siri?"
'Jeez, he really is back in Marauder mode,' Sirius thought, hearing his old, old nickname come out of his fellow Marauder's mouth. "Remember him? I've still probably got the scars on my arse."
James grew a shit-eating grin. "Didn't your mom sign a special permission slip so he could spank you?"
"Spiteful hag," he grumbled, before turning to Amelia and winking at her. "Don't worry, you won't have to get any slips."
"Not at work, Siri," she half-snapped. Technically no one in the department was supposed to know about their courtship, but the woman wasn't stupid, and she would have had to have been to think James wouldn't be exempt from that. "Be professional."
He cocked an eyebrow at her. "You know, I've said far baudier to you in front of way more people."
"Shut up." He snickered. "Remember you two, we're keeping this one entirely below board. No one else can know we're doing it. Any information we get from official channels will be second-hand copies from Scrimgeour himself, since officially it shouldn't matter to me who's coming in to watch the tournament.
"Officially, Frank's running security for the event. I know the three of you are friends, but keep it shut, got it?" Sirius and James chorused their 'yes ma'am's. "I don't even want you two hitting up any personal street sources you have. I'm not going to have this op fail for a second time."
"Any new persons of interest?" James asked. "Or just the same ones, or at least, British, East-European, and French ones?"
"Anyone who was at both the Cup and is coming in for the Tournament will be priority-two," she said. "We're clearing the priority-one list, and will repopulate it with whomever we deem suspicious during our own investigations."
"And what are James and I 'officially' going to be doing for the next several months?" Sirius asked. "It'll be obvious we're up to something if our arrest rates suddenly plummet."
"Just because you're going to have some busy nights doesn't mean I don't expect the two of you to be doing your day jobs." Sirius and James both groaned. "It's not like you're going to get any official reprimands for a drop in arrests. People will just write it off as a dry spell, and no one will be surprised that you two idiots managed to even do that in sync with each other."
Sirius snorted. He couldn't exactly argue that point, but it still would've been nice to get some sort of break for the work ahead. Last time around, Operation Niffler had left half the department running around like headless chickens, and the other half burned-out from trying to make up for the sudden slack they were stuck with in terms of regular business. Now it would be just him, James, and Amelia trying to keep track of everyone who purchased a ticket for one of the Tournament events, as well as most everyone who even made a sudden visit to the country. Add on suspects who already lived here, vendors who'd be setting up shop, and every one of the dozens of people Gringotts flagged for suspicious financial activity each month, and they'd be up to their ears in the shit.
"This is the kind of bust that could make or break careers, gentlemen," Amelia said. "That might not mean much to you, but it does to me."
"Yeah, yeah." Sirius sighed. "You're lucky I want to marry you."
"The thought did cross my mind when trying to select personnel for this op, yes."
Sirius smiled, but James coughed. "What about me?"
"You," Sirius started, thinking about James's own plans. "Are lucky that your best friend never tells on you to your wife."
"Except when you want to hear about your son, you mean."
Oh right. He'd forgotten he'd done that.
"Both of you are lucky that as your boss, I'm pretending that we all don't know that I can just order you to do what I want," Amelia said. "Take the rest of the day off. It'll be the last one you're getting for a while."
"Yes, ma'am." Sirius and James said together. They stood, but Sirius added. "Are we still on for that opera or whatever you're taking me to?"
"We are if you quit acting like it's torture."
"It's not that," Sirius said defensively. "I just already know I'll be paying attention to you all night, not whatever's on the stage."
"Come on, lover boy," James said, grabbing him by the shoulder to force him out of the office. "I'm not spending our day off listening to you flirt with Bones."
"That's Captain Bones to you, Potter!" Amelia called after them as they left.
He and James quickly made their way to James's office, a twin to Sirius's own aside from the countless photos of his family and friends. The Black Sheep preferred to keep his office as bare and 'minimalist' as possible. Not out of any sort of stylistic choice, of course, he just tried to avoid spending as much time there as possible. They took turns flooing back to Potter Manor, and were quickly greeted by Poppums.
"Master James!" the house elf cried excitedly. "Is you playing hooker again?"
Sirius snickered. James had tried explaining to the elf dozens of times that it was 'hooky', but Sirius had spent countless times more secretly explaining that the elf's master was just confused. Luckily it seemed his friend had long since given up the ghost on that one.
"No," he said. "We got the day off. Would you mind fixing us some brunch?"
"Poppums will make waffles!"
The elf scampered away as the two friends made their way into the den. There they immediately plopped into recliners, but James pulled them together with his wand so that they could conspire without being overheard by Poppums.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" James asked.
"No, but I think I can think of what you're thinking up."
"You think?" Both grown, adult men snickered. "Come on, Padfoot, this is the perfect opportunity."
"Amelia might actually kill you if you mess things up," Sirius said. "She's right, this is the sort of thing that'll cement her spot as the next department head."
"I'm not going to mess up your girlfriend's big day," James said, rolling his eyes. "But once we do catch The Shadow, we've got to do this."
"Fine," Sirius agreed. "What's the plan?"
They spent the rest of their day planning and plotting, only pausing to eat the brunch Poppums had fixed for them to tide their appetite over until Lily returned home from work. So far they'd agreed that it couldn't be anything that the assistant charms professor would get in trouble with Hogwarts for, nor could it be anything bad enough for James to have to spend more than a few nights at Sirius's place, aka the Dog House. They'd been in the middle of debating whether or not they could work out a way to place her under a sonorous charm for when she cheered on Hydrus when the woman herself stepped into the room.
"What are you two doing?" she asked, immediately suspicious of their intimate spacing. "And why are you home from work so early?"
"Can't go into details," Sirius answered, cool and calm. "Technically we're supposed to be taking today off, but it's just because of what we've got coming."
"And that would be?"
"Sorry, Lils," James said, an apologetic smile on his face that looked so sincere that Sirius himself almost believed it. "This isn't I'll-get-fired-for-telling level secrecy, it's I'll-go-to-Azkaban level."
That seemed to give her pause for concern, but eventually she nodded. "Alright. Sirius, you heard the news?"
'News?' Oh, right. "Yeah."
Lily gave him a pitying look and he tried not to hold it against her. "I'm sure he'll be fine," she said. "I don't know if I'd go as far as Filius did, calling him the next Dumbledore, but he's definitely even better with charms than I was at his age."
"He's my son," Sirius said. "Of course he's charming."
James laughed, but Lily just shook her head. "If you want another update, he'll also be starting his own club."
"Really?"
"Mhmm," she said. "Apparently he's single-handedly brought the average Slytherin pre-OWL scores up by a whole letter grade. Albus wants him to make his study group into a proper club for all the houses."
"How the hell did your son become a nerd?" James asked with over-the-top shock.
"Shut up," Sirius grumbled. "You're just mad my son is the champion and yours isn't."
"Oh no he isn't," Lily snapped, before James could respond. "He knows better than to be upset about that."
It was a rare thing for Lily and Sirius to be on the same page without James on anything, but it seemed they'd both agreed the Tournament was bad news. The former and future Black scion wondered if there was any way he could use Bellatrix or his grandfather to help Hydrus out. Then again, he doubted there was anything they weren't already planning to do, and asking them to do it in the first place would only leave him indebted to them for no reason.
'God,' he thought. 'Not even back in the family yet and they've already got my head back in the game.'
Hydrus tried not to let the smugness show on his face as he and Bellatrix watched the Weasley twins carefully grooving runes into the spare classroom's walls. It was the first step of his plan for the space, and despite the fact that there were already hundreds and hundreds of the markings to review, the Black woman had yet to find anything to nitpick about their work. It had been several days since he'd first handed off the proposal to them, and Hydrus knew for a fact that she'd spent several hours here on her own trying to find something, anything, to criticise.
"Once this is done," he said. "The real work can begin."
"Yes," she agreed stiffly. "We'll see if they're capable of more than just some expansion runes."
Hydrus snorted. 'Just some expansion runes' might've been a fair description for what he'd done back on the Hogwarts Express, but for this room and the size he was planning to expand it to, it was like calling the Great Lake 'just some puddle'.
Professors Babbling, Vector, Flitwick, Dumbledore and even Sinistra had all reviewed the planned rune-ward scheme the twins had cooked up, and each had signed off on it with aplomb. Babbling and Dumbledore came to review the physical work twice more as well, and they'd both been quite pleased with the results. Luckily Flitwick and his mother had only stopped by once, and that was just because the Charms professor wanted his assistant to see for herself the unique scheme the Weasley boys had managed to think of.
Originally Hydrus had meant for the space to stay as just a 'room', but between the twins' suggestions and his own shifting ideas, he was realising that by the time they were done it would probably be most appropriate to call it a 'hall'.
It had honestly surprised him just how much the twins had thrown themselves into the work. They'd even gone so far as to temporarily suspend all future orders for their pranking products, and once they were finished with the existing backlog, they'd spent nearly every minute of their free time here. At first Hydrus thought it was just that 'Weasley Pride' regarding money and the fact that they didn't want to even come close to the charity-line the whole family had drawn in iron. As time had gone on however, and with the way the boys were always smiling at the end of each day when Bellatrix told them to get out (so she could enjoy her alone time with Hydrus), he'd decided they simply enjoyed solving the puzzle he'd set before them.
"Hydrus!" one of them called. "What do you think?"
Bellatrix in tow, he moved closer to see what they wanted. When he approached and saw that they'd been working on 'capstone' runes, the sort meant to bind and close a rune array, he realised they were finished.
"What I think probably doesn't matter all that much," Hydrus said as he looked everything over. "Even Bellatrix will know better than me, but we'll need to get Dumbledore down here to give the final okay." He grinned at them. "As amusing a prank as it would be, I think it'd be a little too far to blow up Hogwarts if we mess up the existing rune-network."
They both groaned.
"Come on," Fred said.
"Don't make us wait," George agreed.
They began to chant. "Big room now! Big room now! Big room now!"
Hydrus drew his wand before Bellatrix could snap at them, and after a moment to confirm the message, cast, "Expecto Patronum!"
He hadn't cast the spell since shortly after his return to the past, and seeing the creature that sprung forth from his wand caught him off guard. Rather than a grimm, a near-perfect twin to Sirius's animagus state, another canine came out.
It was far larger than his old patronus, nearly twice as tall with thick, corded muscle. Its front half looked like a menacing, shaggy wolf, but the fur thinned as it reached its hindquarters until it reached the tail, at which point it was entirely bald with jagged, shark-like scales exposed. The tail itself was nearly twice the length of the rest of the body, and swam through the air like a serpent's. The beast waited for only a moment to fully corporealize, then took off to deliver his message to the headmaster.
"What the bloody hell was that?" George asked.
Fred shrugged. "Never seen anything like that."
"That was a jornrir," Bellatrix said, half-whispering with wide eyes and a slack jaw. "They were hunted to extinction nearly a thousand years ago in Scandinavia."
"A yorn-reer?" Hydrus asked, trying to say it with the same lilt his 'fiancee' had used. "I've never even heard of them, it used to be something else."
"They're named after two of the children of Loki," she continued on as if she hadn't heard him. "Fenrir, the chained wolf, destined to slay their greatest god, Odin. And Jormungandr, the world serpent, destined to herald the end of the world."
Fred whistled. "How appropriately special for our little Hydrus."
"Nothing but the best for our boy," George added with a snooty tone.
Hydrus ignored them both, annoyed that he'd apparently changed enough in his time here that his patronus had moved away from representing his bond with Sirius. He supposed he should be grateful, in theory the less he involved himself with the man the better-off his godfather would be, but there was something depressing about it still.
Bellatrix turned to him. "When did you learn to cast that charm? Let alone a corporeal one?"
"I practised against a boggart."
"How the hell is your boggart a dementor?!"
He was saved from further interrogation by Dumbledore appearing in a plume of phoenix fire. The headmaster seemed to be nearly as excited as the twins, the way his eyes sparkled and how quickly he turned to look over their work without even a greeting.
"Hello, Headmaster," Hydrus said. "Thank you for stopping by so late."
"Of course, Hydrus m'boy, of course." His tone was absent-minded, and Hydrus was surprised when he even continued on. "I've been looking forward to seeing this since you first presented it to me."
"Fred and George have truly gone above and beyond," Hydrus agreed, partly because it was true, partly because he wanted to rub it in Bellatrix's face. "It'd be fair to call the scheme unorthodox for now, but if it works half as well as we think it shall?"
"Quite, quite…"
Hydrus allowed the man to continue in peace once he'd trailed off. He tried not to be too impressed with the way he, seemingly without any effort or notice, transfigured the stone floor into a fluid series of stairs that allowed him to step back and forth at a higher level to see the runes the twins had needed ladders to carve. It took another ten minutes for the headmaster to be satisfied.
"Well," he said as the stairs 'carried' him to the floor by descending back into the ground. "Gentlemen, lady, I think this just might work. There are a thousand and twenty-nine runes in total, correct?"
"Three sets."
"Of seven sets."
"Of seven sets."
"Of seven."
Dumbledore beamed at the twins. "Wonderful. Tomorrow morning, I shall gather the staff together and we shall activate it."
"Why wait?" Hydrus asked, not wanting another chant to spring up from the Weasleys. "You and I alone should be able to do it, let alone if these three helped out."
"I suppose we can try, if you'd like," Dumbledore said. "But do keep in mind, today is Sunday, and you will still be expected in classes tomorrow."
"I plan to be there," Hydrus agreed. "Though, to be fair, as your champion there's not much you could do to punish me."
The headmaster simply laughed. "Too true. Why don't you and I begin on our own, and if it becomes too much of a drain, we shall rotate Professor Black in."
"Of course."
It wouldn't be his first time conjoining his power with the old warlock, but it would certainly be the first time they'd done it on a rune-scheme of this scale. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility that they were about to bite off far more than they could chew. The twins' array was something that Hydrus couldn't have even dreamed of, and he doubted anyone besides an older and more experienced Hermione could've come up with something even more ingenious. In theory, the actual space they were expanding the room to was nothing unheard of, but the simplicity of the scheme and minimal amount of runes they were using, as well as the permanence it was designed to have, meant that it would push this experiment beyond the realm of the norm. Add on the fact that they were going to need to 'drill into' Hogwarts' magic bank and connect it to the existing arrays?
Hydrus took a deep breath as he stepped up beside the headmaster, and they placed their hands on the runes designed to draw in magic.
"Here we go."
He and Dumbledore's magics almost fought for a second, but the ancient wizard's quickly welcomed the far darker power, and Hydrus had to try and figure out how they would best mesh together. In his original life, his original body, the Potter magic he wielded had been a fine 'bellows' to Dumbledore's 'fire'. He would simply imagine his magic fanning the flames, and their strengths would double. Now? Now he had to make use of the cold, dark Black power. After a few moments of the two wizards' magics working 'beside' each other, he came up with a visualisation that finally allowed them to move in tandem.
Coal. If he couldn't fan the flames, he would fuel them.
As though the idea had been his own, or at least as natural to him as anything else, Dumbledore's magic greedily began to swallow up Hydrus's. The younger wizard closed his eyes to better focus on his imagining. He could see his magic being compressed by his willpower, then being tossed into the kiln where the headmaster's flames grew higher and brighter with each sacrificial offering. Although Hydrus normally pictured his mentor's fire as bright and red as Fawkes', now it was a greenish-blue and putting off thick, black smoke.
"Nearly there." Dumbledore's voice was hardly audible. "Almost."
Hydrus just kept up with his coal-making and flame-fueling. He'd nearly 'tossed' the last bit he had into the kiln when the flames suddenly vanished.
"Incredible," Dumbledore said. He opened his eyes. "A perfect channelling."
The golden light pouring from the runes was slowly beginning to fade as they 'settled', but Hydrus didn't have long to observe them before his vision started to blur. He stumbled back, and to his surprise it was one of the twins who caught him rather than Bellatrix.
"Alright there, mate?"
"Lookin' a bit peaky."
"Fine." He took a steadying breath. "I'm fine." He looked around and found Bellatrix standing on her own, her eyes closed, her chest heaving up and down with deep breaths. "Bella?"
Finally she 'came back' to them. "What? I… Hydrus, are you alright?"
He snorted as she finally noticed his weakened state. She nearly shoved… George? He thought it was George, aside so that she could look him over.
"Like I just said, I'm fine." He rolled his eyes as she drew her wand and began testing to see if he had been lying. "My magic feels a bit… different, though."
Dumbledore chuckled. "I probably should've warned you."
"Warned him about what?" Bellatrix snapped. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing at all," the headmaster said, clearly bemused at the normally cold woman's worrying. "Should your own tenure continue to extend here, I have no doubt you'll go through a similar experience. Young Hydrus has simply formed a bonding between his own magic, and Hogwarts'."
"What's that mean?" he asked, genuinely curious. "What are the effects?"
"Very few that are particularly noticeable," Dumbledore said. "You probably won't even be able to notice the change you're feeling by the time you wake up. In theory you'd probably notice if the school was under attack, but given that we've never faced such a catastrophe, I certainly hope you never have to make use of it." The headmaster stroked his beard. "Beyond that? Truthfully, the only benefits I've ever experienced are the time a lavatory appeared when I most desperately needed one, and the fact that the stairways are a touch more accommodating."
Hydrus snorted. "Well, I guess I won't look a gift horse in the mouth."
"Be sure to tell me if you have any other side effects," Bellatrix demanded. "Understand?"
"I promise," he swore. "Fred, George? Well done, lads."
They saluted him. "Our pleasure, boss!"
"Now."
"Shall we?"
Hydrus waved them forward. "Be my guest. They're your runes, after all."
The twins quickly took up the places he and Dumbledore had been standing in, and with an infinitesimally small amount of magic in comparison, activated the runes. Hydrus slammed his eyes shut as a wave of nausea struck him at the feeling of space being contorted and stretched around them, and Bellatrix wrapped an arm around him. He'd briefly seen the way the completely uniform and empty room expanded, and knew if he kept them open any longer it would feel like the worst bout of car sickness he'd had since the time he'd stolen the Knight Bus. After the magic settled, he glanced around.
Fred and George were a good hundred paces away from he, Bellatrix, and Dumbledore, but running back over. The rest of the space was exactly as it had been, just stretched to nearly double the size of the expanded Great Hall. The twins both arrived with face-splitting grins.
"Perfect."
"Just the way we imagined."
"Never had a doubt."
"Except the one."
"A little one."
"Tiny."
"I'll say it again," Hydrus cut them off. "Well done, lads."
"It's acceptable." Bellatrix seemed far less enthused, still holding him in a tight grip. "As Hydrus said earlier, the real work has yet to come."
"Of course, Professor Black."
"Couldn't agree more, Professor Black."
"Right you are, Professor Black."
"Yes indeed, Professor Black."
Hydrus laughed at their antics, then asked Bellatrix to escort him back to the Slytherin dorms in order to spare his business partners. Their headmaster did the same for the twins, no doubt to further question them on their rune-scheme. It seemed he wasn't going to be spared an interrogation himself, however.
"What was that?" Bellatrix whispered harshly at him. "What did you do?"
"It was a dual-channelling," he answered tiredly. "I meshed my mag-"
"I know what dual-channelling is," she snapped, and Hydrus began to grow annoyed with her. "I meant-"
"Bellatrix." He stopped and she was forced to do the same. "If you're about to lecture me on the fact that I fused my magic with Dumbledore's and start up the old power versus purity argument, I suggest you stop. I'm not in the mood."
"That's not what I meant." She was glaring at him. "I meant, how the fuck did you draw on MY magic?"
Hydrus blinked owlishly at her.
"What?"
BBaRtS
Reviewers: "Hmm, yes, subtle world building."
Me: "They can't call it info-dumping if I make it into fifty, miniature dumps instead..."
Longer AN than usual, and I'll start putting these at the end of chapters so they're easier to skip. Thank you all for the kind reviews, as always. (I also got some kind PMs, which I didn't know were a thing on this site despite having used it for like, a decade and a half now.)
Lots of interesting things said about Hydrus and his handicap. I'm perfectly fine with people taking issue with it in the sense of it being confusing/leaving questions unanswered/potentially just angst drama; I was just like, I hope there aren't people out there saying 'fuck the crips, they don't deserve those parking spots!' lol.
If this weren't 'live writing' where I can't easily go back and change things in the first few chapters, I would take the feedback and try and make it more clear that Hydrus is more annoyed than anything at his lack of arm, but is 100% willing to play it up however he THINKS will work in his favour for a given audience. I've never written anything with this many POVs and playing around so much with perspectives vs realities, so it might be a bit rough at times. I appreciate y'all's appreciation for this story in spite of that.
To answer some (paraphrased) questions:
Could the spell Voldemort used on Peter to give him an 'arm' work on Hydrus? Ye probably, but Hydrus doesn't know it. He's hyper talented, but only in very specific focuses of magic, where as Voldemort was a true prodigy who knew more magic than almost anyone else. In his own time line, Hydrus/Harry was literally the strongest or second strongest wizard in the entire world, but he couldn't, say, cast the bubble head charm. His skill set is entirely focused on what he needed to fight and win a war. (Who knows, he might know how to use that charm if there was ever some gas-related attack, but you catch my drift.)
So Hydrus wasn't able to detect whatever curse took his hand? Correct. He is, if you couldn't tell, arrogant, and has a slightly higher opinion of his skills than perhaps he should.
And he can't just grow it back? Nop, where's the fun in that? I can play off the the fact that in the OG series they thought his scar wasn't able to be healed cus it came from dark magic, and even if it was later revealed to be a horcrux, people still didn't bat an eye at the thought. Within this headcannon, when we first meet Arcturus he's bitching about his own wounds and the fact that since they came from dark curses the injuries couldn't be fully regenerated. Later in chapter... 13? I think it was? I'll go into a bit more detail about it as well.
And in general I'd just like to reiterate there IS a point to the arm being missing narratively, we just haven't gotten there yet nor will we for a long ass time, hence why I don't make it a big deal. The snail's-pace narrative is also why I don't mind people being paranoid about it/disliking it from a reader's perspective. I get it. I've been reading Fanfiction since I was like, 11 or 12 and ran out of chapters in the Naruto manga to read. I know how bad some fics can be. I have and WILL fuck up and make poor writing choices along the way too though, so I definitely don't mind people pointing them out/raising concerns as we go. It's my goal to become a better writer just as much as it is to provide an entertaining read.
Again, thank you all so much for the kind words, and for putting up with my self-aggrandizing ANs!
