Draco Malfoy was having a bad day. It has been bad ever since Sirius Black became a free man again - all his fathers plans to take Black family fortune were swept under the rug… 'I should have been heir Black, not Potter!'
He knew it was not his fault - it was all Potter! He must have helped Sirius escape back when he was caught in school! Dementors would have kissed him otherwise!
And yet, his fathers disappointing gaze was directed towards him. Though he did not verbally mention such, Draco could feel it… He has failed him again…
Still, now he was back once again in school. Perhaps if he tries hard enough and wins the cup for his house this time around, his father would be proud of him. Of course, he heard that there was no quidditch cup this year - so he could give his all to studying - he in fact already had a head start, as he knew about triwizard cup beforehand - so he could invest the time he usually practiced quidditch while at home into studying and learning.
He had a smirk on his face - the head of house Slytherin, Severus Snape, was known for favoring his house a lot. Just last lesson he had the pleasure of earning ten whole points for his house.
And the favoritism did not end here - he could also, with pleasure, witness the poor Hufflepuffs who shared lessons with him this time around, lose points left and right for trivial reasons.
He slightly regretted not having all potions classes together with Potter. As it was such a pleasure to see professor Snape go so hard on him and his friends, to make them lose points.
He smiled, remembering the summer, taking those classes in Greengrass tutoring centre was well worth it! - and then his mood plummeted - he remembered an article he read… Greengrasses finally choosing a side… And a wrong one too…
And for Potter to get together with Daphne! He was jealous! His father once mentioned a possibility of him marrying Daphne or Astoria… But now with them going light, would that ever happen?
He glanced to the side - just to see that his 'minions' did not get lost along the way. They truly were kind of dumb - like how could they still get lost in the castle, having walked there for three whole years before?
Thankfully they were dutifully following him, so he put on his 'superior' look as he was approaching the classroom. His fathers knowledge would help him this time too - he did read the report that it was none other than Alastor Moody who would be teaching this year, and the feast confirmed it - one could never be sure about this particular job position - everyone knew it was cursed.
Frankly he was a bit afraid - the man was scary. Even his father seemed to fear him… And from what he read, it looks like theory alone would not be enough to pass, but he was actually happy to get some practice.
Stepping into the room he looked around, and felt his face and body stiffen. Sirius Black was in the room, casually sitting on the chair, his legs on the table, the man, without a care in the world, was reading witch weekly as he seemingly waited for the class to fill in.
Unknowingly, or perhaps due to shock, Draco blurted out what he meant to think in his head - "What is he doing here?"
The man glanced up and his eyes locked with the blonde boy, as a recognition flashed in his eyes and a grin spread on his face.
"Now, now. That was impolite of you, Mr. Malfoy. That would be… minus ten points from you"
Draco swallowed. All the points he yearned so far… Gone just like that.
"But. But it's not fair!"
Sirius narrowed his eyes before starting his rant - "Arguing against a teacher? Another ten points. Blocking the door for your classmates? Another ten points. Looking at your teacher impolitely? That's ten more points. And why don't we add ten more due to making me speak for so long during the break?"
Draco paled - Slytherins did not really take the loss of points lightly… if word got out how much he lost he could become an outcast from within his house!
He quickly walked out of the doorframe and found a seat in the corner, his followers following him in. Gryfindors already inside the class were giggling, but Sirius did not seem to mind, in fact, was that a smirk on his face? Still, Draco mused, he must endure, then he would tell his head of house about this. Professor Snape would know the school rules best of what to do in this situation… He couldn't really tell his father he lost forty points on the first lesson of defense against dark arts, could he?
Soon, one by one, other students filled in. And Draco could only watch in horror as Slytherins and only Slytherins lost points. For trivial reasons too! Being late for a minute, forgetting the textbook, blocking the door, speaking too loud…. The list went on and on!
And even more infuriating - Gryffindors got points for random things too! Like who gives points due to telling a joke the professor finds funny? Being the first to raise the hand? What the hell!
As the lesson started, he could focus on it and realised while heavily favoring Gryfindors, Sirius Black actually thought well - Draco felt he was learning a lot.
Still a stray thought entered his mind… How come Potter did not receive any points yet, with Sirius favoring Gryffindor so heavily? Come to think of it… He looked around.
And then he frowned… The boy was not in the classroom!... The girl best at studying in Slytherin… the traitor Daphne Greengrass… was not in the classroom? That mudblood bookworm, Hermione Granger - missing as well? What was happening?
He raised his hand and waited for Professor Black to call him out, before replying - "Professor, there seems to be three students missing, would they lose points for skipping out?"
Sirius just chuckled in response - "They are under headmasters supervision, taking their exams early, together with ministry personnel" - he took the pleasure of seeing the shock - not only on Draco's face - nearly the whole class was stupefied - only a few others - like Tracey, Ron and Neville seemed to be aware of it, not showing signs of surprise.
Sirius enjoyed the expression on Draco's face as he continued - "In fact they finished grading their OWLS while you were at potions" - all of the subjects. All Outstanding. Now it seems they are still doing NEWTS…" - Now he had the pleasure of seeing even those who knew this mouth gaping, Sirius enjoyed the moment, before turning back towards Draco, mischievous glint in his eyes.
"Isn't that praiseworthy? Let it be 100 points for each of them! No for each Outstanding grade! And 200 each for each Outstanding they get in NEWTS!" - he enjoyed the horror on Draco's face for a moment before adding - "Feel free to take exams early as well! This holds for all early exam takers!"
It took a few minutes of chatter before the class calmed down and resumed their work.
Some time later young Malfoy lost another ten points - he was unfortunately the last one to regain composure, being lost in thought… Points seemed… kind of meaningless now. Daphne offset Hermione's gains… But there was always a damned Potter in the way… And it was not like winning the cup thanks to 'traitor' Greengrass contributing the most to it would bring any joy for him or other darker families.
Draco could only resign - he would not make his father proud by studying this year… But knowledge was useful anyway - he should aim to actually learn the usual subjects, while skipping homework of tedious ones - like how writing pages upon pages about goblin wars helped make better wizards? If points did not matter he could focus on things that did…
His motivation resurfaced like a small fire that lit up in his eyes, and he focused on the textbook, now more than ever. Even if he wished for revenge - it's not like he could do much…. His father especially forbade him from approaching Potter this year…
After all, he was no longer merely Potter…
He was Potter-Black now…
In Hogwarts, there was actually a tiny classroom on the sixth floor, dedicated to those who wished to try taking exams early… But mainly for those who were rich and wanted to retake the exams they took before, due to… unsatisfactory results. After all, only the first grading was free - yes, even for the early exam takers. And it cost quite a sum to retake the exams.
Suddenly the classroom's doors opened and Harry, Daphne and Hermione strolled out. Not an ounce of stress on their faces. They finished everything together, and that was… just because it was all so easy.
OWLS, NEWTS - how did students struggle with these exams so much? You could just read a few hundred books in the library and pass easily… And they had read tens of thousands…
Harry did not doubt they could even try for masteries and they would get quite a few, especially in subjects they enjoyed and unknowingly read and learned more about. But for now… They had other plans for the day.
Dumbledore was the one who offered them to take the exams early - in fact the trio never considered this before, but it was kind of nice to be able to do that. No more sitting in lessons they already listened to would be nice. Dumbledore said he would even allow them to have private lessons under various professors, himself included, to further improve their skills, perhaps even aim for masteries later in the year or next year.
And now the same headmaster was already waiting for them in his office.
So the trio just finished their exams and they were already on their way to a small adventure. The headmasters office doors parted as they told the password of the day - 'chocolate frogs' - and headed inside, where they came upon a bit of a heated discussion.
"Really Snivellus? For years you have been only giving points heavily skewed to the house you're head of and subtracting for trivial reasons from others, and now you dare come here to complain of me doing the same? Ever heard of "the pot calling the kettle black?"
The potions professor's hand twitched as he withheld his urge to curse his childhood nemesis into oblivion… But still, even he had to admit, he had a point, so he hissed back a remark in response- "At least be subtle about it! What's the meaning of points when you give hundreds away on the very first week of teaching?"
Sirius'es eyes twinkled as he noticed the trio that just came in, then he turned to Dumbledore who was mostly just listening in so far - he had enough headaches to deal with, so he did not bother to join either side of this.
"Headmaster… Didn't the headmaster himself give an unreasonable amount of points to Harry and his friends just from breaking some school rules in the last few years?"
Albus sighed as he saw there's no running away from this, but at least the boy was finally here… Perhaps this tiresome discussion would soon end.
His glasses twinkled - "Now, now, Sirius, Severus, stop your bickerings. We all know those points… Do not really represent how much some houses are 'better' than others. But I suppose… you're both right. So let's say… from now on, the two of you will be responsible for reviewing the point assignments to check if they are fair? My own included!"
Both professors averted their gaze… Who wanted extra responsibilities like that? And besides… The points truly did not matter. Severus swallowed his arguments - if Black could get away with such unreasonable point assignments… he can just do the same.
Still, points discussion was over… for now - and they all turned to welcome the newcomers to the room.
Dumbledore quickly set up the table with some tea and snacks and of course, a few bowls of lemon drops - they had a quick tea break before Albus popped the seemingly thirteenth lemon drop into his mouth, patted his full belly and regarded others in the room -"All ready for adventure?"
They all just nodded back, though frowns on SIrius and Severus' faces flashed briefly as they exchanged glances - clearly they did not want to be with each other in the same room… Heck even the same city - but they both reluctantly agreed that this was important… So they put their grudges aside.
Albus beckoned them over and as they all touched his robes, Fawkes flew out and gave a screech, and with a twist of flames they were out of the school.
The flames dispersed as the group appeared in the woods, near Little Hangleton. The place seemed familiar to the trio - they had all seen it from a memory. A memory Dumbledore showed Harry, after losing an arm here during one of the previous loops.
Dumbledore was already striding forwards, while speaking - "In fact, I already saw something hidden in the remains of Gaunt's shack. Yet your future knowledge of me losing an arm to it made me hesitate to approach closer alone… "
His eyes got a bit teary - "After hearing about the ring, and reviewing my own memories of back when Tom Riddle was a student… I do in fact remember him once wearing it while still in school… It somehow slipped my mind, but when I saw the symbol on top of it… I just lost composure, to think it was here all along, all those years of fruitless searching… "
He motioned towards his wand - "It's another Deathly Hallow. That fool Tom actually made one of those a horcrux… But I suspect it might be just the ring itself, not the stone on top of it, the Resurrection stone" - His eyes glinted towards the black haired boy - "You know what those are, don't you, Harry? I feel as if my wand and you have a connection…" - his eyes twinkled - "Did anything happen after collecting all three?"
Harry's eyes widened - he never mentioned this directly, but he did mention the fact that the headmaster lended his wand to him - that was the only way he could explain the connection he had with it…
"I do not know, apart from this 'connection'... I don't really feel any different. But yes, I held all three of them at once"
Dumbledore nodded - "I think I know what it might be… If I am right, this connection is the magical bond… From what you describe, it is different from the wand simply recognising its master. Given the right training you should be able to summon them to yourself, perhaps even use them in a more special way - at least that is how the bonds between magical artefacts usually work… They are quite rare, you see… But let's test it out later - now we have a horcrux to find"
Albus stopped before the broken shack, already a mess overgrown with vines and leaves, then tapped his wand on the floor.
The rubble slowly levitated and moved away - only leaving a lonely ring behind. While the ring itself was charmed against such simple retrieval methods - the surrounding rubble was not, which led to this easy finding of the horcrux as Voldemort did not really put much protection in this place aside from the curse on the ring.
"Of course, a dark artefact as this would be resistant to such simple magic… So one could simply move things away…" - Severus seemed to understand what was happening, being well versed in dark arts himself.
Dumbledore stumbled and almost ran towards the ring, mad fascination in his eyes, but Sirius held him off, simultaneously tossing the sword of gryffindor towards his godson.
Harry calmly caught the sword and stepped forwards. He too felt a strong compulsion to wear the ring - but he already tried the so-called 'resurrection' stone, it did not really resurrect anything, so it did not hold much sway over his heart.
The boy's face was still grimaced from occlumency required to protect himself from compulsion, but he stepped forward and sliced the ring cleanly in half.
A black cloud escaped the ring, shrieked and dissipated into the air. Then Dumbledore regained his senses.
"So that's how I would have lost an arm…. I can see it. I spent decades looking for this stone, so the compulsion affected me more strongly…"
In the background, Hermione was passionately explaining the tale of deathly hallows to Sirius and Severus - somewhat astonished that neither wizard was told that fairy tale, she even began retelling it.
Daphne came closer to Harry and gave him a hug - the frown on his face from fighting the compulsion on the ring eased as he smiled and hugged her back.
Albus was still breathing hard and somewhat haphazardly looking after the encounter - not wanting to waste more time, Harry came over and hissed at him.
Suddenly he felt Snape aiming his wand at him, followed by Sirius, Daphne and Hermione aiming theirs at Snape.
"What are you doing, Potter?"
Harry sighed. Of course hissing randomly would not be perceived well… "I healed him, you know, parseltongue magic"
Severus did a double take - and Dumbledore's facial complexion did seem more at ease, then the old man himself confirmed so - "Lower your wand, Severus, he truly did… I thought Parseltongue healing magic was lost? My boy, how did you learn it?"
Harry fished out an old book from his enchanted pocket - "I found this in Egypt, I am still learning as its very time consuming to read"
Dumbledore looked at the title, then slowly nodded - "Give me a bit more time to rest and then we can move on to the next location"
They waited for fifteen more minutes, but after Dumbledore's repeated insistence that he was completely fine, he called Fawkes over and flamed them all to the coast.
And then he once again took the lead.
"Thank you for those locations, Hermione. It made the search for this place much easier" - he tapped the seemingly innocent looking cliff with his wand, then reached out with his hand as if looking for something - "This was quite well hidden, I admit, I almost missed it"
As he did something with his hand it disappeared in the cliffside, only for the hidden entrance to reveal itself moments later.
They all instinctively kept casting various spells to check for any hidden dangers as they continued forwards.
Harry frowned as he surveyed his surroundings… There seemed to be an artificial lake ahead, which had an unpleasant feeling as if something magical was lurking beneath.
"Aha! I found it" - Dumbledore seemingly pulled from the side of the wall and a tiny boat appeared on the shore - so small, it could hardly take one of them across… Perhaps two.
"We're going to swim in that? Can't we just make our own boats?" - Sirius frowned as he experimentally transfigured a nearby pebble into a small boat, having Gryfindor decoration on its side.
Still, as the boat dropped into the eerie water… it slowly started sinking until it eventually disappeared from sight… Not even a bubble rose from the depths of the lake.
Sirius awkwardly chuckled as he looked back at what the others were doing.
Severus was drying his shoes… He tried a weird spell, as if to fly over himself, but it seemed this place was protected against it too - luckily he managed to avoid diving completely and did not disturb anything inside the lake - the potions teacher well versed in the dark arts also had a gut feeling telling him that something was inside the lake.
Hermione was frowning - she believed she had enough knowledge to disable all those magical wards in this place… She actually was aware of what Dumbledore was doing when he uncovered the entrance and that boat - she read about it in one of the books from his vault… Now it was eye-opening to see it used in practice… After some time calculating she arrived at the conclusion that the ward was set up on a small island in the middle of that weird 'water' - hence she was powerless too. She did focus most of her time learning ward breaking - it was a fun activity as it required logic and extensive magical knowledge - both of the things she was good at, and thought it would help with horcruxes protection as well.
Daphne was thinking since the boat was here… even the dark lord himself would have to use it too - otherwise, why leave a boat in the first place? But still, if it was a horcrux, why would you need to revisit it anyway? Perhaps just ward and protection maintenance? Why not just toss it into depths of the sea, in some location no wizard would ever visit?
Dumbledore seemed troubled too - "it's only made for two people… The wards seemingly measure the 'magic' inside… So only one adult wizard and one underage at most… Perhaps I can go over with Harry?"
Harry casually arched his eyebrow at the headmaster - "Can't Fawkes just flame us over?"
Dumbledore sighed - "As you might know, Fawkes and I share a special bond… And he's telling me there's something preventing this ability of his from working across the lake."
Harry shrugged - "I do not get the same feeling… I feel like… - I can just flame us all over"
Dumbledore's glasses twinkled as all others overheard and gathered around, then Harry slowly transformed to his animagus form, then quickly touched them all and flamed them over to the tiny island barely visible from the shore.
Dumbledore was seemingly fascinated by his animagus form more than anyone - though others besides him and Severus have already seen it…
"Fascinating! It's so similar to flaming over, yet it's not phoenix in origin, never heard of such a creature before! I wonder if Newt knows what it is… "
Still, no one else was listening, Hermione was already digging some corner of the island, seemingly wanting to uncover the ward stone. Dumbledore thought he should warn her that wards like this would likely warn its creator of any breaching… But after some pondering he realised Voldemort's current state was not truly 'alive' - if no one, including most death eaters, were not able to find him for years since his fall… Then a ward like this would also fail to do the same.
And the others just walked towards the only thing on this island, really - the pedestal with some sort of green liquid in it. With Severus' eyes practically sparkling as he examined the unknown potion in it with his custom made spells. Daphne was also doing the same, her eyebrows frowning.
"This is quite viscous, we can't get rid of it, one of us must drink it…. And it would weaken the one who drinks, make them thirsty and other side effects… And I doubt drinking from the lake would do us any good too"
Snape opened his mouth to retort, but after a moment of thinking, he was astonished to realise that… He in fact discerned the same! He could not add anything else!
Wait, he just thought of how to diminish some of the negative effects to make them only temporary for at most an hour or two! He looked back at the girl who just passed NEWTS earlier today - she was already working on the potion herself!
Grudgingly, he looked at it, and was surprised she was doing well, it was the same recipe he just came up with!
But still, it did not look like she had that much experience in brewing advanced potions… Likely she learned mostly theory? He shook his head… What was he thinking, she was still just a child! How could he have decades of practice needed for some intuition and efficiency in this field…
"Ms Greengras… You can lower the heat by three degrees and stir counterclockwise eleven times, that should speed up the merging of ingredients"
Daphne seemingly pondered if that would work, and her eyes lit up as she realised that it should speed up her potion without ruining it, she nodded towards her professor and then they continued working on it together, with Severus just giving tips and seeing her execute them perfectly… It was kind of nice to have a real student for once - not those imbeciles that only knew how to blow up cauldrons… If its students are of such quality… Perhaps he should accept that offer from Albus to teach some students some extra skills for masteries?
Meanwhile Harry, Sirius and Dumbledore were fighting inferi who kept coming towards the isle. They did not know why they started coming here out of the lake.
Perhaps it was due to too many wizards being on top of the island?
Or… more likely due to that Ooops Hermione quietly murmured as she was trying to break the ward - no doubt the girl read all about it, but never practiced doing such a thing…
Still, the island was sufficiently small for the trio of wizards to hold them off with ease. Dumbledore even had time to shout tips for Hermione of what to do while Harry just observed the process - he read all about it too, but he mostly focused on quick wards you could use in battles, both to set them up and bypass them.
And just ten minutes later, Daphne came over to them, two halves of medallion in her hands… Severus was wobbling back behind her - he was confident the mixture would prevent any long-term side effects, and in fact he did not feel thirsty already, but it seems to have resulted in some new ones on its own… So he sat down on the ground and massaged his head to ease the headache… As the head of a house he couldn't just allow his student to drink that potion, could he?... All for the glory of Slytherin…
"It's fake" - Daphne's quiet words resounded, quickly followed by Hermione - "I think I broke it"
And then the whole cave started rumbling.
The inferi started coming all at once from the depths of the lake - as the wards no longer regulated their movements, and there were a lot of them…
Dumbledore exchanged a glance with Harry and Sirius as they somehow understood what had to be done, they both rushed towards the others to apparate them to safety - the wards blocking it were down as well.
Dumbledore meanwhile concentrated, then waved his wand as he shouted "fiendfyre!"
A black phoenix made of flames left his wand and started burning everything around. Even the water.
While they have achieved their objective of finding out what Voldemort has hidden here - even if it was supposedly fake, they simply could not just go away, leaving all those inferi behind.
What if they wandered out of the cave and killed innocent people? What if the real horcrux was in fact here just better hidden and the fake locket was just a decoy?
Dumbledore took no chances, so he recast the spell around the cave, making sure to block all escape routes, nodding thankfully to Harry, Sirius and Daphne who joined him. Hermione opted to look after Severus, who still looked half-dead, though his complexion was improving.
Eventually they all were outside the cave, and just waiting for the fire to go out. Fiendfyre could burn nearly everything, but rock walls of the cave were quite thick and thankfully non-flammable - so it would eventually extinguish.
Now the medalion's parts were in Sirius's hands, and more importantly, the note inside of it.
Tears filled his eyes as he muttered - "Regulus, my brother… You never took the wrong side, did you?"
Others gave him a moment of silence, pondering the meaning of his words.
After calming down Sirius shared the details about his younger brother, who was one of Voldemort's devout followers… Little did he know the man was doing so to bring him down. And doing all that alone - Dumbledore never knew he was on the side against Tom Riddle.
When asked for where he could have hidden the real locket, Sirius' eyes lit up as he called the house elf that was very friendly with his younger brother - Kreacher.
It only took one glance for him to understand what was happening - the locket that he tried destroying countless times… And this was the replica he himself made to leave as a decoy…
"Master Regulus asked me to destroy it!" - After a quick admission, his usually arrogant tone took a sad turn - "But I have tried for years… and never succeeded! I have failed master Regulus…"
With shaking hands, the house elf retrieved the real locket from his pocket. It looked shiny, as if brand new - no signs of damage on it.
The group saw the fiendfyre was still burning in the cave so they chose to let the elf finish the task he was given, as it seemed important to him.
Sirius motioned towards the flame - "Have you tried a magical flame, such as this? Fiendfyre?"
Kreacher shook his head, and without much expectation, went near and dropped the locket into the flames - he tried dozens of other fires! There was no reason why some fiendfyre would work!
Still… It was one flame he was banned from casting, for no other reason than Lord Black of hundreds years ago banning him when he burned an intruder…. Along with half the library of the Black's house before they put it out… This flame was dangerous - which is why Kreacher did have a tiny glimmer of hope inside his eyes.
And to his astonishment, the locket started melting in flames, as a black shade rushed out and shrieked before dissipating in the air.
Kreacher just stood there in daze, tears welling up in his eyes… Regulus… His final order… Was finally complete…
He could not hold it any longer as tears started falling out of his eyes uncontrollably. He felt as if he got a hug from his master, but wiping the tears away he saw it was Sirius… He initially hated him… But if his and Regulus goals aligned… Perhaps he could serve him well from now on…
The journey back was uneventful, same for the school year that followed - having already passed the OWLS, even NEWTS too, getting all O's they were pardoned from the classes - instead they basically just selectively attended the subjects they liked or wanted to learn more in - the teachers dedicated some time teaching them further than the school curriculum, usually their personal spells or the things they learned outside the school as they trio did know nearly all the books in Hogwarts.
It was truly a blessing to skip some useless subjects where the teacher could hardly teach anything other than what was in the textbooks like Divination… Never mind Magical History where the ghost teacher - Professor Binns even repeated exact same lessons every time - there were even a few books jokingly released by Hogwarts graduates which had concise summary of the lessons, all assignments and tips on how to actually prepare for the exams. While goblin uprisings might have been the main focus during the time teacher Binns was alive… that was no longer the case nowadays.
And, most interestingly of all, they had lessons with Dumbledore himself - the old man found some time in his busy schedule to accommodate them for some training. Even Harry found that immensely useful - even if he added all the years he had been alive, time loops or not, he was still not even half as old as the headmaster - so the famous archwizard had much wisdom and experience to share. Like alchemy. More advanced techniques and spells he learned himself - which were not recorded in the books from his vault.
And that was the new schedule for the trio - enjoying socializing with their friends, combined with some quality studying time.
And after a few more weeks passed just like that, the other school arrived again - so they had the pleasure of befriending Krum and Fleur one more time - and getting them together too.
Fleur was especially happy to see that Hermione and Daphne had strong enough occlumency shields to resist her allure - she was happy to have some real friends.
And the goblet of fire was finally placed in the great hall, the age ward drawn and teachers were supposed to guard it from time to time - though this was under the responsibilities of the Defense against the dark arts teacher - Sirius Black.
Little did they know that it would have been better to guard the goblet against Sirius instead.
The students were asleep or perhaps out and about, no doubt having enough for the day - those who wanted to join and could already tossed their names in or were still on edge, undecided. Those who couldn't have already tried - and couldn't pass the age ward… No doubt they would try various tricks like polyjuice, aging potions and what not to try to pass…
But now the great hall was empty, only Sirius Black was casually standing at the entrance. He was looking at his own copy of Marauder's map - and yes, he still had it.
Sure James' copy got 'donated' to Filch - when they purposefully got caught with it to leave it for future generations, but it was really just a piece of paper. The real magic was knowing what spells to use in what order. How to connect them to the wards of Hogwarts itself to get it working combined with advanced application of homunculus charm - and no doubt they failed a lot, until they succeeded.
But of course that was not the first try - they had countless 'almost working' maps among themselves. The one Sirius was using was almost perfect - really it was only missing the majority of spellwork to throw insults against Snape.
Sirius actually had forgotten about where he put the damn thing - thankfully Kreacher was able to find it. The elf was way more friendly and useful, likely due to finally fulfilling his former master's final wish.
Sirius spent a few more minutes looking at the map, before putting it away. No one was near the great hall. The troublemakers he came to know from his classes - all accounted for. Though more than half of them were not in their rooms, wandering the castle at night past curfew or being busy in various more abandoned places in the castle, a few adventurous ones were even mingling with the students from other schools - but the important bit was that no one was near the great hall.
Having some peace of mind, Sirius could proceed with his plans.
He waved his wand as he unzipped his pocket - yes, he was wearing a muggle jumper, not some weird robes that other teachers liked. Truly those 'wizarding' robes were already out of fashion when he was young - muggle clothes were just so much better - at least, they had a wider selection of materials, and some very comfortable ones to wear.
Then from his pocket, one after another, small pieces of paper started flying out, unshrinking themselves.
They were followed by a quill, one that started, writing down the names, and other details - copying every single person present on the Marauders map.
Sirius chuckled… If you're doing a magical tournament - why not give everyone a chance to try?
As the pile of parchments grew larger, he calmed his mind and concentrated. He had been mastering this spell since summer, he could even cast it endlessly without effort… But this was an ancient magical artefact, no doubt it was not going to be easy…
After all he was not just adding a single new school. Oh no, he was changing most of the rules as they were.
After a few minutes of silence, one could even see veins throbbing on his forehead, but he finally formulated the intent he wanted, so focusing on that, it could work even without saying the spell - but saying did make it easier, just a little bit.
Confundo!
Waving his wand in seemingly simple patterns, in an effortless way, the spell left his wand.
Then it hit the goblet as his frown deepened - it was similar to a mind attack of sorts, overpowering artefacts… He did try this on any he could find at Black's mansion… But goblet was clearly on another level - good that he had practice!
A minute later his frown eased as he smiled, then he waved his wand… And the pile of papers started flying into the goblet, one by one, being consumed by flames.
He then laughed - it was a success!
Then he watched for an hour as nearly all the papers were consumed. He left the final ones to throw in himself as it felt more fitting.
He grinned as he stepped into the age ward, in his hands were three small papers, on the front side of them were written - Albus Dumbledore, Sirius Black, Severus (*Snivellus) Snape with more details on the other sides.
He dropped them in and watched as the flames consumed them. His grin widened as goblet accepted the nickname he added for Severus.
This was his original idea of a prank after hearing his godson's stories, how could he not plan a revenge against those fellows who read others minds on a whim?
But then he got drunk… Shared it with Cyrus… And the man suggested expanding this to cover the whole school. He even managed to get goblins into the plan as he saw a business opportunity in it!
Then he pondered… According to Harry, not one student he knew managed to bypass the age ward…
But it was so simple! Were wizards of this day and age so uncreative?
He decided it would be more fun to see some of them succeeding and decided to leave a little tip.
He doodled a simple comic panel on the few pieces of paper left. It showed a kid getting stuck by the ward… Then smiling, crumpling the paper, and throwing it through to land inside the cup.
Then he made a few magical copies and whistled as he went for a walk through the school - he would hide some of those in random places.
And then he would just need to wait to watch the fun. No doubt this would trigger more interesting attempts than what he had seen Harry tell him about - as well as more interaction with teachers who would be forced to come up with some means to ban such simple ways to bypass it.
After all, even if everyone's name was already inside the cup - only he knew this information.
Then his smile slightly plummeted… and he remembered he still had to deal with the damn homeworks - he swore it was the last time he gave an essay to write - it was so tedious to check them…
He only did it for nostalgia… After all, back when he was a student at Hogwarts… He too hated essays…
Still, his plan seemingly worked. He should let Cyrus and the goblins know, after all, as it was a success, they should prepare for what was to come.