It was a grand moment for Sirius. He was finally free after 12 years. Now the next two aims were to meet his dearest Godson and his old friend. He spotted Darius, or rather, Nova Arcanum in this disguise, coming his way.

“How about that Sirius? You are free now and all those awful allegations have also been disproved. I’m guessing your next aim is to re-unite with your Godson?”

“Hell yeah! Though, I promised Andi I will continue my medical treatment, so I will have to head to St. Mungo’s soon.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem. And Harry is nearer than you would think. In fact, he is in the viewing gallery, waiting in disguise. I have already told him about you and he is most eager to meet you.”

“That’ awesome! Let’s go meet him right now. But I can see you have something more to say. What is it?”

“I didn’t want to agitate you during your treatment and didn’t have much time to fill you in, what with all the preparations for the trial but Harry has not exactly had a very pleasant life. He was placed with his aunt and un-”

“WHAT!? He was placed with those despicable people? How could this happen? Somebody should have-”

“CALM DOWN! Now listen to me. He hasn’t had a pleasant childhood, true. But that is in the past and can’t be changed. And if you go after the muggles, you’ll be making the same mistake you made 12 years ago. You need to forget about revenge and take care of Harry first and foremost.”

“Ouch! That was below the belt, kid! But thanks. I needed that. So, what do you suggest?”

Meet him, show how much you care for him and just be together. Both of you need it. BUt I have a few warmings for you and you need to heed them well.”

“Oh?”

“First, do not under any circumstances, trust Albus Dumbledore. I know the entire wizarding world seems to think the sun shines out of his arse but he is a cunning, manipulative old man who has his own agenda and I’m sorry to say, which involves Harry. I’ll tell you more later but keep that in mind for now.

Second, Voldemort is not dead. He is in a sort of wraith-like form but very much alive. Again, more details later. We will need to have these talks in a more secure location.

Third, I know being a member of the Black family, famous for their mind arts, you must have been well-trained since a young age. I need you to remember those skills and keep them active at all times. Dumbledore has a nasty habit has the nasty walk of taking a peek in other people’s minds whenever he wishes. That twinkling eyes thing he has going on, it is a simple cantrip that he uses to draw attention to his eyes, thus enabling him to use passive Legilimency to read your thoughts. In fact, I want you to teach Harry as best as you can, as well.

There are a few more but we can wait till we get to your house.”

“My word, that is a lot to take in. But I have full confidence in you and your requests don’t harm me in any way.”

“Very well, let’s go meet Harry. I want to leave before Dumbledore corners us. Oh, Speak of the devil!”

Dumbledore was walking towards us with steady steps, no doubt having already planned how to manipulate us next.

“Good morning, Mr Arcanum! And it’s great to see you Sirius, my boy!”

“If it was so great, I wouldn’t have minded if you had done so a few years earlier. Azkaban really offers less than stellar accommodations, you know?”

“Well, my boy-”

“And stop it with this ‘my boy’ nonsense. My name is Lord Sirius Black and you will address me as such until I give you leave to do so otherwise. I have already been told about your meddling in my godson’s life and you are walking on very thin ice with me. I am this close to hexing you at sight.”

“I can see that you have a lot of repressed emotions and I will give you the time to get over them. But I simply must insist on continuing to help in Harry’s future, my boy!”

Darius chose this moment to cut in. He knew Sirius was inches away from hexing Dumbledore and that wouldn’t go over very well with the crowd. Maybe even that was Dumbledore’s intent. No one knew with that crafty old man.

“If you will excuse me, Chief Warlock! I am currently Lord Black’s legal counsellor and this happens to fall under my purview.

First of all, let me disabuse you of the notion that you have any part to play in young Mr Potter’s life other than being his school headmaster. His godfather is Sirius Black and as such, is his legal and magical guardian. You may have taken advantage of your position in the Wizengamot 12 years ago to appoint yourself as such but immediately upon clearing Lord Black’s name said responsibilities have been shifted to him.

And do not try to go around the Lord Black on this. I have evidence of your negligent guardianship which would automatically invalidate you from ever taking up guardianship for anyone ever again. The placement of a future Lord in a muggle residence, doing so with full knowledge of their attitude towards magic make you complicit in every act of emotional and physical trauma inflicted upon the Lord Potter. You have also failed in your duties by not checking up on him once over the period of ten years, not getting him his inoculations against magical diseases at St. Mungo’s, not teaching him his rights and duties as a future Lord in the Wizengamot etc. I am sure I could come up with a dozen more charges easily.”

Dumbledore was growing steadily paler as Darius rattled of the list and by the end, seemed rather shaken up. He obviously hadn’t expected someone so young and possibly naïve, to know so much about his faults and planning. It was a rather sobering moment and he knew he had to take this young man very seriously, or it would come back to bite him in the arse.

“Now look here, young man! I don’t know who gave you this information but I have only Harry’s best interests at heart. Everything I have done is for his sake and I will not be questioned by a young whelp still wet behind his ears. He needs to go back to his muggle residence as the blood wards there are the only things that can keep him safe till his magical maturity.”

“No, Mr Dumbledore, you want to keep him there to keep him soft and malleable, and therefore vulnerable to your manipulations. I have done my homework and there is a lot about your actions that don’t add up. But not to worry, I am sure Lord Black can take care of Harry from now on.

And you speak of blood wards? Those wards are not even enough to stop a determined second year from entering the residence. Blood-based wards are based on emotion and this was based on the emotion of love and self-sacrifice held by Lily Potter towards her son. Mr Potter’s aunt, uncle and cousin hold none of them and only hate him and Mr Potter reciprocates in kind. Those wards became defunct many years ago and now only serve as a drain on Mr Potter’s magical core and stop him from achieving his full potential. If I didn’t know better, I would say you are purposefully trying to weaken young Mister Potter.”

Darius felt a sense of satisfaction go through him as he saw Dumbledore blanch at that. Sirius was almost ready to pounce on the man before Darius could restrain him.

Dumbledore could feel a cold trickle of sweat run down his back. This man did know a lot more than he was letting on and he wasn’t bluffing at all. This was serious. Who was this guy and why did he seem to be privy to so much? He couldn’t have Harry growing up to be a knowledgeable and headstrong boy. He needed him to be soft and malleable so that he is ready to sacrifice himself when the time is right. Harry living with Sirius is bad enough but this young man’s influence upon him would be even worse. He had to try again.

“Oh, come now! I only have Harry’s best interests at heart. And I am sure the wards are functioning just fine. But Sirius has just come out from a dreadful place after 12 long years and I am sure he will need a lot of medical care. I am sure his relatives would be willing to take him back for the remaining month of vacation.”

Sirius couldn’t bare it anymore.

“Can’t you understand English, you old fart, or are you going senile in your old age? I can take care of Harry just fine without your meddling. And thanks to you massive fuck-ups I am sure Harry needs a long visit to St Mungo’s himself. Now clear off, before I tell Mr Nova here to release every bit of information he has on you to the general public.”

Dumbledore was on the back foot again and he most certainly didn’t like the feeling. It had been a long time since someone contradicted him so vehemently and he was not used to it. He had a lot of planning to do for the future. At least the boy would have to come to the school, where he would have nine months with his to influence him to see things his way. Yes, that would have to do. This was nothing more than a small bump on the road and he could still manage to steer the way as he desired.

Darius could almost see Dumbledore plotting again. Why wouldn’t the meddling old coot just give up. At least he would be there with Harry at school to stop Dumbledore from influencing him while there.

“Very well, it seems neither of you are in a mood to have a rational discussion about young Harry’s future and we will have to put that off until later. But this is certainly not the last of our talks. Good day.”

And he just walked off as if we hadn’t just giving him the talking to of his life. He would have to watch that old man very carefully to stop him from pulling off any more tricks in the future. Even Sirius seemed to let out a sigh of relief.

“Whew! That was intense. I can see what you meant about his manipulations. Now that I am forewarned, it was fairly easy to spot it.”

“I told you that Sirius. In some ways, Dumbledore is an even bigger danger than Voldemort. But worry not! I got your backs. Now let’s go meet Harry!”

Sirius and Darius went up to meet Harry but the sheer number of reporters there was enough to immediately decide against revealing Harry. It would be enough to cause a stampede. As it is just having Sirius there was causing the place to become jam-packed and they had to squeeze their way out. Darius immediately grabbed Harry, who was in a corner and the three of them escaped. They made their way to the Ministry Atrium before taking the floo to 12, Grimmauld Place.

They popped out of the floo one after the other. Sirius first, followed by Harry and Darius bring up the rear. Harry slid forward and knocked Sirius down and the both of them fell in a tangled heap on the floor. Unfortunately, that had the side effect of waking up the screaming banshee known as Walburga Black, also known as Sirius’ mum.

Filth! Mudbloods! Blood-traitors! Get out of the Black house. Out!! No filth like yo-”

Darius ran up to the portrait and managed to close it after an immense effort. Sirius gave a pained grimace on seeing the portrait and Darius bet he was already thinking of ways he could tear it down as soon as possible.

Well, Darius was inside the Black residence and it was time to talk to Sirius and Harry and get started on his objectives here!!