"Son of a bitch," Hydrus muttered.

He threw the ruined diary aside and fished around in his bag once more. This time he knew what he was looking for, and quickly grabbed the translation amulet Stefanos Stellavigil had provided for him. He draped it around his neck as he manoeuvred down to the ground level from near the top of the auditorium. Draco followed in his wake, but Hydrus could dismiss him easily enough if he continued too far. Everyone in the classroom was staring at him, though it was little more than a background thought by the time he reached the bottom.

"Sorry, Professor Potter." He moved towards Flitwick's office door. "I need to borrow your floo."

"What?" His mother took a second to realise what he was about to do. "Hey, wait!"

Hydrus ignored her and with a flick of his wrist disintegrated the door. Maybe there was some benefit to his magic being uncharacteristically caustic as of late. Flitwick had apparently been taking a nap, and the short man leapt out of a comfy looking chair with a dribble of spit hanging down his lip. The part-goblin sleepily bleated, "What?"

"Emergency," Hydrus said. He took a handful of powder from the mantle and stepped into the floo. "Stellavigil Villa!"

At first there was the usual whoosh of travel, but he nearly bounced back out when he hit whatever ward the Stellavigil's had setup. Without thinking, he slammed his magic into the barrier, thus allowing him through with an explosive entrance. After a quick glance about to make sure none of the Greek family or their servants had been caught in the blast, he called, "Dobby!"

With a pop the elf appeared, and immediately had to sprint to keep up with the time traveller who was already striding away. "Yes, Master Hydrus?"

"Inform the Stellavigils that the Black family shall compensate them for the damages, and that we're extremely grateful for their allowing us to use their floo." Again not bothering with any knobs or handles, he disintegrated the villa manor's front door. "Make sure they know that our gratitude will be even greater if they offer their support in any matters that arise during my business here."

"Yes, Master Hydrus!" Dobby called as he continued to storm off.

With a deep breath to try and steady his mind, Hydrus began to tap into the Trace. He ran his fingers across the proverbial threads that tied him to the rest of his world, and tried to find the line that would lead him to Giannis. There were a few other magical people in the area, no big surprise considering the Stellavigils lived here and would need staff residing nearby. Even as he marched towards the nearby muggle city, trying and sometimes failing not to stumble over anything in his way, he began to eliminate possible mismatches.

There were three threads lumped together, almost twisted upon themselves, so he knew that wasn't it. There was one all on its own, but it wound its way closer to the nearby beach than the city, so he decided that couldn't be it either. He mentally followed another solitary string to its end, but found a well-aged source of magic when he finally was able to observe it. After a while he found a young one on its own, and decided to see where it went.

He dropped his robe just outside of the city with a hanging command to Dobby to collect it when he could. A few people cast looks at him, but that was probably out of curiosity over where he was off to in such a hurry. Hogwarts' uniform really wasn't all that different from a muggle school's without the robe, just so long as you weren't wearing the ridiculous hat.

Eventually the trail led him to a church. He knew it wasn't a Catholic church, not a proper one anyways, but beyond that he'd never paid too much attention to the various Christian denominations. The only reason he'd ever learned much about the Catholic church was because of the valiant, if worthless, attempt the Vatican had made to stop Leorex during his demolition of Europe.

'Poor bastards,' Hydrus thought as stepped into the church, still following the thread. 'I still have no idea where the hell they got so many inferi from.'

The undead army had put up about as much of a fight against Leorex's golems as wet tissue paper trying to stop an avalanche. Still, they'd done more than any other nation or organisation had, unless you counted the Death Eaters and Voldemort eventually killing the other dark lord.

The church was empty, with plenty of wooden pews and old, wrought-iron candelabras. The floor was weathered from what may very well have been centuries worth of footsteps, and the light pouring in from the tall, thin windows along the walls gave it a rather comforting aura. All in all, he'd been in creepier churches, but the thread led him further on so he followed it to a door that must've led down to the basement.

Hydrus opened it, and immediately heard sniffling sobs. He made sure his footsteps were heard as he moved downstairs, not wanting to startle anyone. When he got to the bottom, he took in the scene.

The basement was about as mundane as he would've imagined a church's cellar would be. There were a few cardboard boxes stacked up in the corner, some holiday decorations and folding chairs, as well as a furnace with its door open. Inside he could see a rectangular shape that he assumed had once been the diary he'd given Giannis.

The boy himself was sitting in the corner, balled up with his face tucked into his knees and his arms over his head.

Opposite of him was a body.

It appeared to be a priest, wearing robes that wouldn't have looked entirely out of place in Diagon Alley. He was slumped against the wall and there was a crack in the stone from where his head had been split against it. Blood dripped down from the spot and was pooled beneath the dead man. Hydrus contemplated what to do next, how much time he had, and how to make sure everything would still turn out how he'd planned despite how much earlier this had happened than expected. He tried imagining what each of his advisors would've told him, and eventually came to a decision.

"Giannis." He knelt down in front of the boy, careful to make sure he was blocking his line of sight from the body. "It's me, Hydrus."

Giannis's head snapped up and Hydrus had to shift slightly to make sure the boy didn't see anything before he buried his face into his chest.

"I didn't mean to!" the boy wailed, almost reminiscent of Bella's sobbing after the Black Christmas ball. "He, I, it, it hurt!" The boy was shaking so bad it broke Hydrus's heart. "I didn't mean to kill him."

"You didn't," Hydrus lied. "He's hurt, but you didn't kill him."

"What?" The boy pulled away slightly, but the time traveller wouldn't allow him to see. "He's alive?"

'Now.'

Hydrus didn't even need to work a spell. He just pushed his magic backwards, practically tore at the Trace to announce to the entire world that he'd performed underaged magic, and just like what kept happening with his arm the body burst. Blood and gore went flying across the room, splattering across his back and forcing the furnace to pop and hiss as liquid splashed against it. Giannis's face paled even further and his mouth dropped as he looked around at the gore that had blown past him.

"I promise, Giannis," Hydrus said, cold and calm. "I will never allow anyone to hurt you. Or at least I'll never forgive them."

The boy stared up at him in horror and awe. There was a touch of guilt pulling at Hydrus as he pressed the boy's head back into his chest and used the stub of his other arm to prop him up enough to carry him. Even he hadn't been that young the first time he'd seen such violence. But now there would be no doubt in the could-be dark lord's mind that Hydrus cared for him, and no more traumatising a way to show him just who, or what, he'd be crossing if he ever betrayed him.

"Come on," he said. "There'll be some people coming to question us. Just let me do the talking, okay?"

Giannis didn't respond, but Hydrus didn't want to push him any further than he already had. His lame arm was the one aching for once thanks to the boy offering no support at all for being carried. As Hydrus crested the stairs, he resolved to begin working out again once he returned to Hogwarts. Actually working out, not just burning through his magic. The half arm, or two-third arm more accurately, might not've been worth much these days but somehow he'd found a situation where it being weaker was killing him.

Still, he couldn't risk carrying the boy with the other. He might need it for his wand.

He managed to shut the door to the basement by closing it with his foot. He could've gone and sat down on the pulpit, but decided he didn't want to look like too much of a drama queen when the Greek authorities showed up. Instead he just leaned against the door and waited.

In Giannis's original life, something similar had happened. Just like any child, his magical prowess and accidental outbursts increased as he grew, and his parents had gotten worse and worse with their punishments for it. When he was nearly eleven, however, he'd somehow gotten the attention of an abandoned sphynx cub. The little creature had been his very first friend.

When his parents found out, they killed it.

And he killed them in turn.

And then he killed the priest who'd always called him a devil.

And then he massacred the entire town who'd, admittedly correctly, blamed him for the trio's deaths.

Hydrus vaguely remembered Charlie telling him that the boy had snuck into Stellavigil Villa and lived in their library. The family rarely ever used it, and the future dark lord used that to his advantage in order to gain a better understanding of the power he'd use for his revenge. By the time the pureblood family had discovered him, he'd built enough golems to wipe them out, and he continued to build his forces even as the ones he already had were out destroying the town.

It was one of the reasons Harry had never feared him, at least not once he got Charlie in on the inside. His spy reported that the teen rarely ate or slept, and instead spent all his time either learning or building. He never left the library that had given him the power he needed to stand shoulder to shoulder with Voldemort and The Boy Who Lived, he just worked until he either passed out or broke down. The only people he invited to the villa were those like Charlie, who shared his passion for magical creatures and could teach him more about their biology, or those who could be bullied into giving him supplies.

He was, for all intents and purposes, weak. His creations were strong, but considering he only kept a handful around and sent the rest to wreak havoc around the continent, Leorex himself was just a sitting duck. One that Harry didn't mind allowing to live so long as he kept Voldemort distracted.

Charlie hadn't been there when the teen died, but he managed to capture one of Leorex's followers who had been. They hadn't even needed to torture the woman to get her to tell them everything. She explained that Voldemort's soldiers held off the golems, and the dark lord killed his 'peer' with a single spell. The immature teen hadn't even bothered using his runes to set up a defensive ward for himself.

And now Har-, Hydrus, was stroking Leorex's hair as the boy continued to shake.

'Everyone deserves a second chance,' he thought. Then he remembered the infantile skeleton of Tom Riddle. 'Well, almost everyone.'

Giannis jumped when the door to the church slammed open, but Hydrus wasn't surprised until he saw who walked through it.

"How the hell did you get here before the Greeks did?" he asked. "You're as bad as Bella."

Sirius had stepped inside, and in his wake were James Potter and a man Hydrus didn't recognize. If he had to take a guess, he thought the man might've been a Longbottom. The trio approached him, and Hydrus had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at how serious they all looked.

"What happened?" His 'father' demanded. "What's going on?"

"Here, take the boy." He pulled away from his charge slightly, forcing Giannis to look up at him as he switched back to Greek. "There's someone I'd like to introduce you to, his name is Sirius Black." The auror tensed as he heard his name being said. "He's my father. I trust him with my life, just as you should."

Giannis finally turned to look. Sirius somehow got even stiffer as the boy gave him a once over. "Your dad?"

"He's a good man," Hydrus said. "Go on now."

Finally the child unwound his arms from around Hydrus, and reached out for Sirius who's eyes widened. The time traveller didn't give the man a chance to protest and stepped forward to more or less force the weight onto him. Sirius awkwardly clutched Giannis until he and the boy were both settled, as Hydrus slumped against the wall, groaning in relief.

"I'm too damn…" He nearly said 'old' out of habit. "Out of shape to be carrying around kids with half an arm."

"You still haven't said what's happened," James said hurriedly. "We've probably only got a few seconds before the local authorities arrive."

"I got word that Giannis was in danger, I came, saw him being attacked by the priest, so I killed the muggle." There was no need to sugar coat things. "Regardless of what country we're in, the law is on my side."

"That's…"

It didn't particularly matter what they said now, Hydrus knew he was in the right. Back during the first war against Voldemort, underground muggle hunting had grown to a disgusting level and went mostly unpunished when discovered thanks to legal loopholes that weren't closed until the dark lord accidentally killed himself. Those same loopholes were still wide open in this timeline. Technically he could've gotten away with it in the past as well, it just would've taken a lot more legwork to prove and justify.

"What the hell is going on!?" a voice called from the doorway. Hydrus looked over to see a pack of poorly-disguised aurors in muggle outfits had arrived. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Greetings." Hydrus straightened up. "My name is Hydrus Black, scion of House Black, heir to House Slytherin. A muggleborn wizard that I've been sponsoring was under attack, and I protected him."

The lead auror, wearing khaki shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, and an oversized top hat, made to speak but one of his men grabbed his arm and whispered something in his ear. Hydrus thought he might've recognized the second man from the party that the Stellavigils had thrown for him, but it was hard to tell with the mismatched tracksuit he was wearing. Eventually the leader's eyes widened.

"Ah, of course, Scion Black." He bowed, and Hydrus returned the gesture. "We had no idea you were involved with any of the locals."

"I try not to make my charity a dog and pony show." He ran his hand through his hair and looked away as if he was embarrassed. "Either way. Things got messy with the muggle priest downstairs. He was hurting my family's ward, and I reacted rather… Violently. Whatever the cost is to cover this incident up from the muggles, I'll happily pay."

"Nonsense!" The Greek aurors parted, looking even more startled than Hydrus as Stefanos Stellavigil appeared. "House Stellavigil will be more than happy to take care of it, my lord."

The man gave him a wide, almost-glittering smile that once again reminded the time traveller of Lockhart.

'Maybe he's the one who was buried with Tom and Merope,' Hydrus thought bemusedly as the Greek lord swept into the room. 'It would certainly explain why they took the teeth.'

"It would be much appreciated," Hydrus said. "But I hesitate to impose further on your family after all you've done for me."

"Bah, you made your interest in the boy known when you last stayed with us. I should've done a better job of monitoring him." Stefanos reached out and Hydrus shook his hand without missing the way the Greek aurors watched the greeting carefully. "Besides, Lady Bellatrix has already made it clear how important the child is to you."

It suddenly occurred to Hydrus just where Draco had gone instead of trying to follow him through the floo.

"Still, I should do my part to make sure things go as smoothly as possible." He glanced at his father. "Lord Potter, if you wouldn't mind, could you go and retrieve some veritaserum?" He turned back to the Greeks. "Auror…?"

The man blinked. "Uh, Lychanios."

"Auror Lychanios. Could you or one of your men go and get some veritaserum as well?" He smiled. "I'll take a drop from each party, re-tell my tale, and then be on my way. This should hopefully speed up all legal proceedings, no?"

"Ah, I mean, of course it would," Lychanios stuttered. "But it's really not necessary…"

"I insist." Hydrus conjured up a chair and let out a groan of relief to get off his feet. "The last thing I, or anyone else here I'm sure, wants is for this to spiral out into some international political nonsense." He smiled as all the aurors, British and Greek alike, paled at the thought of such a mess. "Let's get everything squared away now before the grey beards get involved."

Lychanios started barking orders at his men, and Hydrus returned his attention to his own countrymen.

"I told them to get some veritaserum of their own so we can all be on the same page." He tried not to take too much bemusement at the sight of Sirius awkwardly holding on to Giannis. "We'll get this all cleared up now so we can skimp on the paperwork." He cocked his head at his father. "Unless you're not willing to cooperate?"

"OH, uh, no I'll go." James leaned over and whispered something, something no doubt sarcastic, in Sirius's ear. "Be right back."

He apparated away, and Hydrus jerked his chin at the third auror. "I'm familiar with Lord Potter and Auror Black, but I've not yet had the pleasure…?"

"Earl, Earl Longbottom." The man shook Hydrus's hand. "My nephew's in the same year as you."

Hydrus smiled. "Neville, right?" The man nodded. "He's a good kid. If we ever manage to wrench his spine out of your mother's hands, we might just make a good man out of him."

The Longbottom scion stiffened and Sirius glared at him. "Hydrus!"

"What?" he snapped back. "It's true. That woman has given the boy a serious comple-, no, shut up." He cut his godfather off from the joke he was about to make. "Honestly, you're nearly forty, get some new material."

Sirius's face flushed. "I'm not nearly forty, I'm only—"

James popped back, a small vial in hand. "Got it."

"That was quick," Hydrus remarked as he took the bottle and sat it on his unused armrest. "I'm surprised how handy you keep it."

The Potter lord grinned. "Oh, we don't. But I happen to know my wife's best friend does."

"You're a menace," Hydrus said flatly, assuming the man had stolen it from Snape somehow. "Giannis, how are you holding up?"

The boy looked back at him, and Sirius grimaced as he shifted. "I'm okay."

"C'mere." He decided to take some pity on his godfather and patted his lap. The boy immediately scrambled down and Sirius let out an oof as the boy accidentally kneed him in the gut. "The people around us, except for Lord Stellavigil whom I'm sure you remember, are aurors." The boy settled down in his lap, staring up at him with wide and curious eyes. "They're like police officers, but for magical people like you and myself."

Giannis stiffened. "Are you in trouble?"

"Of course not," Hydrus assured him. "They're going to give me this elixir, and it will force me to tell them the truth; that I only came here to defend you."

"But…" Hydrus managed to stop himself from wincing when he realised the boy didn't understand the implication of him still being willing to take the potion. "It was me!" The boy turned back around to shout of the aurors. "It's all my fault, not Mr. Hydrus's!"

Hydrus sighed and ruffled the boy's hair, then gave a smile and a head shake towards Lychanios. "He's a good kid. I'm sure you can see why I felt like I had to look out for him."

"Boy," the auror said coldly, and Hydrus's eye twitched at his tone. "You should know better than to lie. We can feel Scion Black's magic from here, we know it was him."

As Giannis tensed, Hydrus began to flood the room with more of his magic, forcing the rest of the room to match his ward's posture. "Mind yourself, Lychanios. I believe I've already made it clear that I don't care for those who bother my people."

He allowed his threat to hang as he dropped his projection. Internally he chastised himself for failing to keep up the friendly facade, but Lord Stellavigil came to his rescue.

"Ha, you're going to be a fine father someday, my lord." The massive man clapped him on the shoulder. "Once we get this all cleared up, what are you going to do with the child?"

"Obviously he can't stay here." As soon as Hydrus said that Giannis's head snapped towards him. "I'll make the arrangements."

"House Stellavigil would be more than happy to board him, if you'd like," Stefanos said. "If he's going to grow into as wonderful a wizard as you believe, it would do us no harm to ingratiate ourselves early."

Hydrus smiled. At least the man was being blatant with his manoeuvring. "The offer is appreciated, but I'd rather keep him closer to home." He'd originally been planning to dump the boy on Hagrid, given that the half-giant loved animals as much as he did, but a new idea had come to him. "I'd been planning on filing the paperwork to have him adopted by a family member soon anyways."

"Really?" Giannis was looking at Hydrus like he was some sort of superhero. "I'm coming with you?"

"Mhmm." He once again ruffled the boy's hair. "I should've done it sooner; as soon as you told me about how your parents locked you up and starved you for your accidental magic." The Greek aurors' faces went hard at the news of a magical child, muggleborn or not, being abused by the more mundane people, though even his own anger was riled when Giannis looked down in what seemed to be shame. "Like I told you before. You're not a freak. You're a wizard. From now on, you'll see just how wonderful and amazing that is."


Sirius could hardly call himself an expert in reading his son, but he didn't need to be one to see the boy was still riled up after whatever he'd seen down in the basement. Sure, Hydrus put up a good front, mostly smiling and laughing with the Greeks outside of the outburst that the Stellavigil lord had settled. But three times now while chatting with Giannis his sleeve had dampened and cleaned itself. It hadn't been until the second time that Sirius recognized it as the teen's magic hurting him.

"Everything alright?" he asked as the boy's hidden wound vanished and the blood on his sleeve was cleaned yet again. "What's going on?"

"Everything's fine," Hydrus said shortly. "Just reassuring the boy that I'll take care of him."

"Again, I'll ask you to forgive me," the barrel-chested Stellavigil muttered in heavily-accented English. "I should've done a better job of looking into his situation."

"And again I say it's fine." Hydrus smiled at him. "There's no way you could've known how those muggles were treating him."

It was simple enough for Sirius to put the pieces together. Giannis looked like a stiff breeze could keel him over, not unlike Hydrus himself had looked when he first saw him. The kid had a bruise on his cheek and was clearly favouring his right side. He'd heard horror stories about how some religious muggles treated magical children, and he supposed he'd now seen for himself how things turned out. He thought back to the short tale Hydrus had shared, about the muggles who'd raised him and hated anything abnormal, and everything made sense.

"What are you going to do with him?" Sirius asked. "You aren't going to let him stay here."

Hydrus cocked an eyebrow at him. "I did say that. I didn't realise you spoke Greek."

"I don't," Sirius said. "But I'm not blind."

"Hmm," Hydrus hummed. "I was thinking of having Lucius look after him. I figure he—"

"What?" Sirius reared up, nose scrunched. "You can't let Malfoy sink his claws into him."

"Please, I declawed that lion already," his son said, completely unphased. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Absolutely not," Sirius argued. "I'll take him myself."

Hydrus's bored expression broke and the smile he gave immediately told Sirius he'd fucked up. "Wonderful."

"Hey, wait."

But Hydrus had already begun chattering to Giannis in Greek. The younger boy's head turned back and forth between the teen and Sirius himself. His jaw clenched as he realised that his own son had just tricked him into agreeing to take in the other kid.

"This is why I'm the one who usually does the talking," James muttered, mockingly. "I didn't expect you to actually try and catch up with me on the kid front."

"I'm not!" Sirius hissed back. "I didn't mean-, this is just… I'll figure out something else for him."

He could barely handle having one son, let alone two. Not to mention Amelia had no idea he was even here or what he was here for. It wasn't like he could just bring the kid back to her place like some kind of surprise pet. The arrival of the Greek auror who'd left to get veritaserum along with a pair of men that Sirius didn't recognize broke him from his musings.

"Good afternoon, gentleman," the younger of the two strangers said. "May I introduce to you, Minister Gonatas."

Sirius and his comrades immediately straightened up. 'Son of a bitch. So much for avoiding paperwork.'

"A pleasure," James said, taking the front and centre. "We apologise for the intrusion into your country, but when the Trace picked up a scion of House Black using magic here, we were worried for his safety."

The younger man turned to the minister and started talking to him in Greek, and eventually the man nodded and spoke back, looking James in the eye as he did so. When he was finished, the translator said, "Minister Gonatas completely understands. He agreed with Lord Hydrus's sentiments of not wanting this to become a larger issue than it is. Once he's witnessed the administration of the veritaserum, he will consider the matter settled, from a legal perspective."

Before James could respond, Hydrus did. He said something in Greek with a bow of his head, then patted Giannis on the shoulder. The boy hopped off his lap and made his way over towards Sirius, and before the auror even realised what he was doing he'd scooped the boy back up into his arms. His eye twitched as he watched James's lips turn inwards as he bit them to keep from making a mocking smile.

"Let's get this done then," Hydrus said as he removed a necklace that Sirius hadn't noticed him wearing. "The questions will be asked in English since I'm not sure I can handle sticking to one language or the other under the elixir's effects."

"If you'll allow me, my lord." The translator approached and withdrew a glass vial from his pocket, then nodded at its match on Hydrus's armrest. "And is that the English procurement?"

"It is." Hydrus handed the necklace to Stellavigil. "Feel free to do that one as well so we can speed things up."

The translator nodded and before too long had dripped two drops onto Hydrus's outstretched tongue. Sirius watched as the boy's eyes closed, then slowly reopened, half-lidded and gazing downwards. Then they closed again, and he yawned.

"Sometimes veritaserum can have that effect," Sirius said. "If you're already exhausted when you take it, you lose your ability to 'stave off' sleepiness."

"I'm almost fine," Hydrus mumbled. "Let's get this over with."

"Right then." The translator folded his arms behind his back. "What is your name, age, and date of birth?"

"Hydrus… Sirius Black," the boy started. "Age… Fourteen or fifteen. I don't know when I was born."

The translator turned to Sirius with a cocked brow, and the auror felt his face flush. "His mother died in childbirth or right after. He only discovered I'm his dad recently, I didn't even know about him."

He knew he'd talked too fast, like he was lying, but he was just embarrassed. Luckily he was saved from further inspection by the Greek minister speaking up. When he finished, the translator turned back to Hydrus.

"Please tell us how you met young…"

He turned to the boy in Sirius's arms, and the auror spoke up. "Giannis." The boy looked up at him, and he blanched. "Oh, uh, no I was just telling them your name."

Giannis cocked his head to the side, not understanding, and Sirius realised how bad an idea it was for him to even consider adopting the boy.

"My lord?" Stefanos said. "You should try wearing this amulet." Without waiting for confirmation he put it on the Black Sheep. "My family procured it for Lord Hydrus in order to allow him to speak Greek."

Shit, why didn't he think of that?

"There, can you understand me?" he asked Giannis. The boy nodded. "Good. I was just telling them your name."

He turned back to see Hydrus had already finished telling the story about how he first met the child. 'Shit I should've been paying attention.'

"And how did you know the boy was in danger?" the minister asked and the younger man repeated.

"I had given Giannis a diary so he could communicate with me," Hydrus droned. "When the matching diary it was connected to caught fire in Charms class, I knew something was wrong."

The minister nodded along to the repeating. "And what did you do when you arrived?"

"I tracked the diary's last known location to get here," Hydrus said. "When I arrived I found the two of them in the basement. I killed the priest. I brought Giannis up here. I waited for the aurors to arrive."

"And how did you kill the priest?"

Sirius tensed. What if Hydrus had used the killing curse again? The Black family might've had some international pull, but it was much less so than some families given they liked to focus their attentions on Britain. If Hydrus had—

"I flooded his body with my magic." Sirius wasn't sure if he should be relieved or horrified. "His form couldn't handle it, and he exploded."

"That would require a lot of power," the minister muttered. "You're certain that the boy was in danger?"

"He was."

"Very well." He gave a nod to his translator and the man moved over and offered Hydrus another vial. "Everything seems to be as you said."

Once Hydrus finished drinking the solution he shook out his head. "God, that stuff's worse than I imagined." The teen licked his lips. "I don't think I'll be so quick to suggest this in the future, even if only because of the taste."

Sirius snorted. Every pureblood he'd met, and ninety-percent of muggleborns he'd arrested, would throw fits if they were even offered veritaserum. It infringed on their rights or something. "At least this should speed things up."

Hydrus cocked an eyebrow at him, and Sirius realised he must've been speaking Greek. He pulled off the necklace and tossed it at Hydrus without thinking.

'Shit he only has one arm.'

But just like months ago with the scion ring he now wore, the teen caught it effortlessly. He put it on and Sirius repeated what he said.

"Yeah, we should be good to go." He turned and said something to the Greek minister with a bow, and the man returned the gesture and said something back. "Not exactly how I wanted my first meeting with him to go, but I suppose it could've been worse. Stefanos, is Bellatrix at your villa?"

"She is," the man said. "She said that she'll wait for you."

"Wonderful."

Hydrus switched to Greek and began speaking to the other aurors. They had a conversation that went back and forth for a bit, but eventually it seemed like Hydrus 'won' and the group began to spread out. Then the minister spoke to him again, and Hydrus smiled proudly back and laughed out a response. Sirius watched it all in subdued amazement.

'He's never like that around me,' he thought. 'Moony said he seemed nice when he wasn't crazy, but I didn't realise…'

He could see now how Hydrus had, according to Lily, 'wrapped half the school around his finger'. The boy wasn't even speaking the same language as Sirius and the auror could still sense the charisma and authority he spoke with. It reminded him of James. The minister guffawed at some joke Hydrus made, and the teen turned towards the rest of them.

"We should get out of here before the place blows," he said. "We're going to burn it down and blame the priest's death on that. We'll say Giannis died in the fire too."

"And the bodies?" James asked.

"They'll be taking care of that." Hydrus stepped towards Stefanos. "Would you mind side-apparating Giannis and I back to your place?"

"It'd be my pleasure!" the boisterous man said. "Though, you'll have to forgive the mess."

The man said it with a wink and Hydrus laughed before returning his attention to Sirius. "I'll swing by the Ministry later to answer the questions, for now I need find a place for Giannis to stay."

"I thought he was coming with me?" Sirius asked, too defensive. "Er, I mean…"

"Unless you're the sort of weirdo who's made up a room for a son that doesn't want anything to do with him, I doubt that you have a space for him in that ramshackle apartment of yours."

"Amelia has space!" Sirius argued. "She's got, like, six guest bedrooms!"

"I'm not taking him in just for you to pawn him off on—"

"I wouldn't pawn him off," Sirius snapped back, face flushed. "I basically already live there!"

Hydrus smiled as he switched back to Greek, and the Black Sheep finally realised how nervous the boy in his arms was. It was hardly any wonder why with the way he'd been shouting. He felt a bit of shame until the boy looked up at him, eyes wide in awe.

'The hell did Hydrus say to him?'

"Lord Potter, Scion Longbottom," his son said. "Would the two of you mind going on ahead and filing your report? I'll be available as much as is needed, but I think we should take care of Giannis first."

"Of course!" James said, far too excited and with far too recognizable a grin on his face. "We wouldn't dare stand between Auror Black and the gaggle of children he's building."

"Unlike you, he has a child who actually chose to be with him," Hydrus snarked back. "Yours didn't have a say in the matter."

James puffed up a bit. "At least all of mine actually like me."

"Even I have spoken to Sirius more recently than you have Dahlia."

"I didn't want to embarrass her in front of her friends!"

"Well, at least you know what it would be like to have you as a father."

Sirius was saved from having to break up the heated banter between his best friend and estranged son when Earl cleared his throat. "I think they're waiting for us to leave, gentlemen."

"Right, we should get going," Sirius added. "Er, Lord Stellavigil—"

"Just call me Stefanos," the Greek man said with another large grin. "Come, it would be an honour to have you in my home as well, my lord."

"Uh, I'm not—"

"It's a Greek thing," Hydrus interrupted. "They call anyone of high status that, not just house heads. C'mon."

Stefanos clamped a hand down on Sirius's shoulder, and the auror had to restrain himself from feeling emasculated by the giant man as they prepared to apparate. 'Why the hell does he have to be so damn big?'

After a loud clap and a moment to travel, the four of them appeared in a rather devastated looking den. There was some rubble laying around, dirt and dust coating everything, and the mess was accentuated by the particularly clean and straightened out couch that his cousin Bellatrix sat on. The woman wrinkled her nose for just half a second at the sight of him, but it passed quickly as she moved her attention to his son.

"Hydrus," she said. "How did it go?"

"Fine." The teen plopped into the couch beside her and began rubbing at his neck. "We knew something like this would happen eventually, so it's not like it took me completely by surprise. I think I left a good impression on their minister as well."

"Ha!" Stefanos bellowed. "The only thing that bastard has a good impression of is young women and 'mature' boys."

"Then I'll use that to my advantage," Hydrus replied without missing a beat, to Sirius's disgust. "Bella, is Arcturus…?"

"I made him aware of what could've happened," she said. "Uncle Orion will handle everything."

"See that he does." He jerked his head at Sirius. "Giannis will be going with Sirius." Bellatrix's eye twitched. "I was originally going to have Professor Hagrid look after him, but he's already taking care of Apophis and I don't feel comfortable imposing on him further."

Sirius's brows furrowed. "Who's Apophis?"

"My familiar," Hydrus answered without looking at him. "We'll—"

"I thought you were planning on having Lucius take him?" Sirius interrupted.

"I only said that so you'd take him in." Hydrus smirked victoriously. "I'd never leave Giannis with that idiot."

Sirius could only work his mouth open and shut in response.

"As I was saying, we'll need to make sure Sirius has access to the family vaults again," Hydrus continued. "I won't accept any excuses regarding the boy's education or upbringing."

Sirius blinked. He hadn't even considered how much having a kid would cost him. "I can—"

"I'll speak to my father about it," Bellatrix said. "He's the one who directly handles our investments."

Hydrus frowned. "I thought Arcturus did that?"

"At the highest level," Bellatrix said. "But the minutia is done by my father."

"Got it."

"My lord, if I may," Stefanos said. "I would be more than happy to introduce you to a tutor for Giannis regarding his English. The same man who helped my daughters would be more than happy to assist."

"I'd appreciate it," Hydrus said. "If you could send his information, assuming he's willing to help, to Amelia Bones, she'll take care of it"

"Wait, what?" Sirius said. "I can take care of it."

"You can but you won't," Hydrus said. "I've spent all of two minutes around Bones, and even I know she's more reliable than you."

It stung, but it wasn't like Sirius could argue that specific measurement. Still, he could definitely handle that. "But…"

"I'll see it done, my lord," Stefanos said. "And regarding the damages—"

Hydrus waved his hand, and within seconds the room had repaired itself. Sirius had never seen the room before, but as he glanced about it was hard to imagine there was anything out of place. Even the rest of the furniture had shifted back to what seemed like its normal positioning.

"I'm sure you heard who to send the floo-connection repair bill to earlier," Hydrus said. "That knowledge should in and of itself self settle any other balance between us."

Stefanos opened his mouth to respond, then his eyes widened, and his smile gleaned even wider than before. "Of course! If anything, I would like to see if you would stay for dinner."

"I would like to, but even Hogwarts' champion can't just go tearing down her doors and vanishing off school grounds without an explanation to the headmaster." He sighed. "At least not when the headmaster is Albus Dumbledore."


"Hydrus."

"Professor."

"This is very serious."

"I'm aware." Hydrus didn't seem to be taking it seriously, the way his face was buried in his hands. "And as I said, I don't have an opinion."

Albus sighed in frustration and sat the two bow ties down. Lianna Turkleton, a former student and one of his absolute favourites, had invited him to her wedding and the headmaster wasn't sure which tie to wear. It was going to be a muggle affair, she was marrying one of those marvellous men who piloted their aircraft, and he wanted to look his absolute best. He'd already picked out a lovely auburn tuxedo, but wasn't sure if he should match his tie with that or go with the brown one. The former offered a certain flair to it that the ancient warlock enjoyed portraying, but the latter implied a hidden decorum to the flamboyance, something that was equally enjoyable.

"Very well," Albus said. "What can I do for you?"

"I just figured you would want to hear what happened," Hydrus replied. "I'm sure my mother stopped by to complain."

"She did." Once more he held up the ties to his neck and compared them in his conjured mirror. "But given that you rarely act out of turn without some sort of dire or world-ending consequences at stake, I didn't think too much of it."

He saw the boy's eye twitch in the reflection of the mirror. "Just go with the orange one, it matches the suit."

Albus stared a moment longer, then nodded. "I agree. Far more adventurous."

"Either way, I just went to pick up the child version of Leorex." Albus paused. That was the name of the other dark lord, wasn't it? "Sirius is going to be looking after him until I can do it myself. The last thing we need is for him to go on another rampage if we leave him be."

The headmaster vaguely recalled the memories he'd seen in reference to Leorex, but he hadn't delved too deeply into them. He'd focused more on Hydrus and the much more deadly dark lord. From what he remembered, Leorex was a golemancer who'd bought the 'rebellion' a year in order to stave off Voldemort's attacks.

"He'll be coming to Hogwarts shortly after I graduate," Hydrus continued. "He'll be able to keep an eye on things here once I'm away, and give me time to look for more future students to sponsor."

"I didn't realise my school required an eye be kept on it," Albus said as he settled into his chair. "Do you really think so lowly of it?"

"Yes." The certainty with which Hydrus said that actually stung the usually insensitive wizard. "You are by far and away the greatest teacher I've ever had, but your oversights are overwhelming."

"I see."

Albus allowed the silence to hang for a while. He supposed he deserved that; if there was anyone in the entire world that deserved to complain about the way he ran things it was Hydrus. Still, any sort of pride he'd been feeling in the wake of getting an invitation to a real muggle wedding was gone at the notion of just how badly he'd messed up another student's own education.

"Oh would you quit pouting," Hydrus huffed. "I'm not saying you're bad at your job, I just don't think you should get offended at me trying to support it."

"I suppose," Albus acknowledged while definitely not pouting. "What else can you tell me about the child?"

"Nothing that's urgent." Hydrus stood. "I just didn't want to leave you in the dark about why I did what I did. We can talk about it more later but in the meantime I'm exhausted."

"Very well," Albus said. "Perhaps you could stop by this weekend?"

"Sure."


"Really, Sirius?"

"I'm sorry."

Amelia sighed as her husband-to-be apologised for what felt like the thousandth time in their relationship. Honestly it made her feel a bit guilty considering how rarely she was actually annoyed with the man, but this was definitely one of those times. Sleeping on her couch, with one of her throw blankets tossed over him, was 'Giannis'.

The boy was far too skinny, and far too balled up to be comfortable. He had neatly shorn hair, a massive purple welt on his face, and his clothes had been absolutely filthy before Amelia cleaned them with a spell. The child's pitiful state was the only thing saving her fiance from her being actually angry, instead of just annoyed. She sighed.

"You do realise we're in the middle of the most important job of my career, right?" she asked. "We hardly have time for this…"

"I know," Sirius said placatingly. "But I promise, Lily's friend Molly would be more than happy to help babysit him. The Potters leave their twins with her all the time, and she usually has half a dozen of her own running around so it won't be a bother." He took a breath. "And my bitch of a cou—"

"Language," she hissed quietly. It was better to start breaking the man of his speaking habits sooner rather than later if they were going to have a child staying with them.

"Sorry," he repeated. "My… Cow of a cousin said he'll stay with them during summer. That's only, like, four months away."

"Please," Amelia said. "By then we won't be so busy and we won't need them to take him."

Sirius blinked at her. "I… Can't tell if you're mad at me or not."

"Of course I'm not mad at you, you idiot." She reached down and stroked Giannis's hair. "This is just annoying, and since it's your fault, you have to put up with me being annoyed."

A stupid grin split his face. "I can do that."


Stefanos spun his wife around as they danced in their banquet hall. He'd first met the beauty at a ball, and every chance they got they would come back here to 'relive the moment'. The first dance they'd shared had been a firework display of romantic sparks, and any longing he'd been left with when it ended had been replaced with joyous celebration when his father told him that it had been his future bride he was dancing with.

His wife didn't even know the cause of his celebration today, though. She'd been off with her friends at some salon throughout the ruckus, and hadn't bothered to ask questions when he swept her off her feet to bring her to the hall to dance. Her smile continued to fuel his own as the day's events repeated in his mind.

"Too fast!" she laughed as he continued to twirl her. "Stop!"

"Bah, how can a man help himself with someone like you?" He finally slowed her to a stop and pulled her in close as the record player came to its song's crescendo. "How in the world did I get so lucky?"

"Hush!"

'Now I have a line to the money-man behind House Black,' he thought as he lifted her up into the air. 'As well as an inside man thanks to that fool Claudius.'

Claudius was a fine enough English tutor, but in all else he was a bit of an idiot.

'All those fools at the Ministry saw me bumping elbows with House Black,' he continued internally as he brought his wife back down into an embrace. 'And I'm married to the most beautiful woman in the world.'

That last thought came unbidden as he kissed her with as much passion as he could muster.

'I will wring everything those English bastards have to offer out of them.' He smiled down at his wife. 'Until I can stand beside them.'


Hydrus's footsteps clapped against the cobblestones of Castle Black's dungeon, echoing as he went. Bella followed behind him while humming a tune he wasn't familiar with. The air around them was cold and dank, and the smell of human waste filled the air. By the time they reached the cell he was aiming for, he was already wanting to leave.

"The day has come, wolf." Fenrir looked up at him, eyes wide. "Are you ready?"

"Yes." The werewolf's chains began to rattle as he shook. "Whatever you need."

He'd broken him. Every slight twitch and motion Hydrus made drew a flinch from his prisoner, and the time traveller couldn't blame him. He'd already beaten Fenrir's human self in a fight, but he'd tortured his wolf self for hours on end. Had the murderer not been so 'in tune' with his more bestial side, he might've been able to overcome the trauma, but that certainly wasn't the case.

"Wonderful." Hydrus waved open the door, and disintegrated the chains binding his new 'pet'. "Take the next two weeks to regain yourself. Make sure your pack still follows you. Be free." He reached down and grabbed Fenrir's hair, and pulled up his head so that he was forced to look into his jailor's eyes. "Once those two weeks are up, not a day before or a second after, you will go to the address I've written here."

Bellatrix knelt down and tucked the paper into the werewolf's hand.

"You'll take the two muggles who live there, bring them to the beach, and you will vent any pent up frustrations you have out on them," Hydrus said. "I want you to make them suffer, and when you're done with them, you will toss anything that remains into the ocean. Am I clear?"

"Yes, master."

"Good." Hydrus released the werewolf. "Bella, give him back his wand, then take him outside the wards."

"Of course, dear." She nodded. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Hydrus grunted in acknowledgement, then sat down on the cot that Fenrir's chains hadn't been long enough for him to reach. He leaned back against the wall as old memories came to him. He thought of his own time in this cell, the various tortures and abuses the Lestranges and Voldemort had put him through, and was almost surprised at how little it affected him.

He could still imagine the way Rodolphus and Rabastan would use him as a literal punching bag. Beating him until his bones were broken and his organs were punctured. His skin crawled at the thought of Bellatrix arriving to work Black magics on him, some of which he still hadn't discovered despite having full access to the family's grimoires. Voldemort's endless hours of the Cruciatus Curse still haunted his nightmares, and he didn't doubt he'd have to go back to sipping elixirs to avoid them for the next few weeks.

"I hate this place," he muttered. "Every last brick."

"Should we tear it down then?" He glanced over to see Bella had returned at some point during his musing. "We can build a new one if you'd like."

He almost told her then, even if only out of a lingering bitterness. The thought of her surprise, horror, and attempted assault when she found out he wasn't really a Black nearly tempted him into revealing the truth of the matter. Last time he'd killed her outside of the castle, and although it hadn't been as relieving as he thought it would be, maybe it would be if they were on the inside.

"No," he said as she sat beside him. "Apophis likes it. I appreciate the offer though."

"Hmmm." She leaned against him, pressing her head against his. "I love you."

Hydrus took her hand, and stared at the 'bracelet' that sat on her wrist. It'd be so easy to kill her. Just a whisper to his servant and the snake would latch itself around her neck and strangle the life from her. He'd seen Voldemort do the same to others. His nose wrinkled at the thought of following in that bastard's footsteps.

"Bella," he said. "I will never love you."

"What?"

He could feel her tense. She was awful at controlling her magic as well, and the dark power flooded the cell and no doubt most of the rest of the dungeon. Her left eye was twitching as she slowly turned to face him, the nails on the hand holding his began to dig into his skin, and her nostrils were flared so wide it left him wondering how they hadn't split.

"You heard about my bargains with Magic," he said, trying to feel unconcerned by her snapping. "One of the accords we reached was that I would have complete and total control over the Trace. In exchange, I gave away my ability to love.

"I needed a way to hide my powers, and to be aware of my surroundings," he continued. "And so Magic provided. I know it's not what you want, but I swear no one will receive more objective affection from me than you. You alone shall—"

He tensed and prepared to kill his fiancee when she released his hand and grabbed either side of his head. Her eyes were like a shark's; the pupils had almost entirely devoured her irises and the lids were pulled so far back he could almost see the flesh of her brow line. She cocked her head to the side and licked her lips.

"No."

"Excuse m—"

"That's not enough," she muttered. "I will have all of you, Hydrus."

"Bella…"

"Your love, your children, your everything will be mine." She manoeuvred herself until she was sitting on top of his lap, and forced his head back against the wall. "I don't care what 'bargains' you've made or walls that bitch has put up, who or what you are, or what the entire rest of the world says." She leaned in close enough that her next words brought her lips brushing against his. "You… are mine."

As she began to kiss him, Hydrus's murderous contemplations turned to ones of self-defence.


BBaRtS


That's chapter eíkosi októ, if Google Translate is to be believed. The longest chapter I've written yet, clocking in at over 9.5k words before any AN fluffing. The Giannis subplot has taken a big step forward, we got to see Dumbledore once again struggling with life's hard decisions, and a peek into various couples love lives with little plot points nestled in between them. We'll get one more glimpse at what's going on with Giannis next chapter, and then he'll be on the back-burner again.

I enjoyed getting to have Hydrus and Jame properly interact for once. I've done a few subtle moments to show that Hydrus and James are similar, they'll say things that almost mirror each other and are both constantly described as charismatic, and here we got to see that more blatantly than before with the way they launched into competitive banter, even if it '''forced''' Hydrus to defend Sirius.

This chapter was me really trying, in the first 4-5k words, to focus on just one 'scene'/series events rather than just having half a dozen POVs and 1-2k word scenes. As I've said before, the number one reason I'm writing this story is to try and improve my writing, so we'll see how it works. I will say that one thing I can definitely tell I've improved on, even though its not something y'all can see, is my 'discipline' regarding actually sitting down and writing. I used to be real bad about like, writing 40k words over a week then not writing anything for a month, so this story and its deadlines have helped me a lot with making sure to write every day. Some days it's 10,000 words, others its just 100, but I'm pretty good about making sure to do it every day now.

On to reviews!

I never want to come off negative in these responses, I try my best to make it clear that I appreciate criticism no matter what, but like... I swear I could write "There was a knot in the wood" and at least one person would tell me how stupid I am for thinking two planks can get tied together. I'm not going to specify the review/comment/DM this is responding to, because it might be that I AM THE FOOL and misinterpreting THEM, but yeah. There's definitely times where I could've spelled a detail/point out more, but other times I just gotta take a breath and blame it on the person's reading comprehension. (And if you're worried it was you for some reason, trust me, it probably wasn't lol)

"I'm glad Draco is still having troubles opening his mind." - This is one of those things that I wanted to be cautious of when writing this 'redemption' arc for Draco. Some fics make it as simple as the MC telling a death eater 'racism bad' and they go 'ooooh, why didn't anyone tell me sooner?!' and they're fixed. (Or worse, 'racism bad', 'no, it's the one's we're being racist to that are bad!' 'Ooooh.') Hydrus isn't being as subtle with his thoughts on certain matters as he was when he first met Draco, Draco isn't as blinded by his own heritage/upbringing, and he's shifting to being 'kinder' even if only out of the value-proposition logic that Hydrus is purposefully using with him. If things go to Hydrus's plan, hopefully it'll change to a genuine kindness someday.

"Damn, Giannis has it bad." - I wanted to try and make sure there were strong parallels with Harry/Hydrus's own childhood, except going slightly further, without incidentally going TOO hard on any sort of 'religion bad' trope. (Which is why I also tossed out those lines regarding the Catholics trying ((albeit failing)) to fight back in the future lol.) If the current timeline's Harry serves to show what Hydrus could've had in the first timeline with peace, then Giannis will show what he could've had in this one had he not burdened himself with his own expectations for war.

"Good to see that Bella is getting little bits of information to help her and ultimately Hydrus out." - I'm enjoying now getting to have the pendulum sort of shift back to what it was like at the beginning of the story. We saw Harry being nervous around her and not wanting to rock the boat, then Bellatrix becoming overwhelmed with his power and control and being more submissive, but now she's been given a target to attack and Hydrus doesn't know how to handle it. Who knows where it'll go next.

"Giannis will be more powerful than ever in the future" - I feel like at the very least he could definitely grow up healthier than he did the first go around. Even when Hydrus first reminisced about Leorex, he said the wizard himself wasn't all that dangerous in a direct fight, and in this chapter we found out why specifically that is. That being said, in terms of raw 'power', I don't think he'll be popping bodies and freezing lobbies like Hydrus can. Who knows though~

And that's that! There was a ton of really kind words this week. Even just reviews saying "Awaiting more" or "Can't wait for more" always make me grin. Thank you all so much, lessthanthree, see you next week!