{Filch's office, Hogwarts}
{10th Sep 1991}
{3rd Person POV}
It was a small, simple room with a single oil lamp hanging from the ceiling. The weak light flickered, barely enough to illuminate the whole room. It was dusty, far from something he imagined someone who was titled as a caretaker to live in. A weak waft of fried fish filled the room, and Sirius was quite glad that he hadn't tried to walk into the room as Padfoot.
With hurried footsteps, he walked over to a set of drawers marked as 'Confiscated and Highly Dangerous.' He knew where the map was because Filch had stuffed it in there himself after confiscating it. Even though he hadn't done it in front of them, James had gone back to make sure that Filch hadn't torn the map or done anything stupid.
The Mauraders had decided to let him keep the map hidden, and their legacies would be tasked with freeing the map as their first challenge in Hogwarts.
"Alohomora~"
*Click*
The click signifying that the drawer was unlocked was the last restraint Sirius showed before he grabbed onto the drawer's circular handle and pulled it. His senses were a little dulled, and that would be the only reason it took a second for Sirius to realize that his left hand had been burned.
'What the fuck was that?' Sirius thought as he stared at his left hand. His hand was not having a good day, and he could see the word 'THIEF' burned into the center of his palm. The pain was bearable, so while avoiding touching the drawer handle, Sirius peered into the various trinkets that were sprawled around in the drawer.
After quickly going through the various magical artifacts, he realized that the map wasn't there. He looked through the drawer carefully once again before moving on to other drawers and continuing to search. This time, though, he was cautious as he used the Revealing charm to avoid any traps.
"Revelio~" "Revelio~" "Revelio~"
After going through the whole storage compartment, he gave up and stared at the 'Confiscated and Highly Dangerous' compartment once again. After another search of the drawer, he was sure that the map wasn't there, and possible reasons emerged in his mind.
'Did someone take it, but how? The map was carefully enchanted, so to anyone else, it would look like an old parchment. Why would someone take that?' Sirius thought. The only people who knew where the map was were the marauders. With him and James out of the picture, only Remus and the rat would have been able to take it.
'Why, though, Remus would never be allowed back into Hogwarts after he finished his schooling for a casual stroll? Plus, he won't care for the map, and if the rat took the map, there would be just one reason for it to do so,' Sirius thought. His expression darkened as his emotions bundled over once again.
Even with the forced calmness that he was enforcing, some amount of insanity leaked through as he clutched his wand hard. His knuckles were pale white, displaying the malnourishment and insanity that he had gone through, and as his mental state deteriorated slowly, the sound of the door opening broke him out of his daze.
"-Are you sure you heard someone, Mrs Norris?" Sirius turned around toward the familiar voice. He saw how Filch's face slacked as he stared into his eyes.
"Stupefy~" Sirius slashed as soon as he realized that it was not good. It was not the time to face Dumbledore and try to clear his name. The old man had not even tried to contact him, so he couldn't be trusted.
"Miiaaaoooooow~" Mrs. Norris howled as she jumped from Filch's hands to avoid being buried under him when he collapsed. Another red beam collided with the cat as it, too, stumbled over. Even after all these years, targeting a squib and cat wasn't too hard for Sirius, but as he took a couple of steps toward the door to quickly secure the two, his point of vision suddenly fell.
"Fuck-" Sirius cursed as he used his hands to stop his fall. Pain erupted from his knees as they banged against the hard floor.
"Fuck!" Sirius cursed again as he took a couple of deep breaths. His vision was a little woozy as he realized that his mana core was almost empty. He had exhausted himself with the last two spells because he had to overpower the wand's resistance, wasting a lot of mana.
His eyes felt a little heavy, and only his conviction not to pass away in this room managed to push him forward. Thoughts about where the map could have been were pushed aside as he focused on pulling more of his magic once again. He transformed into Padfoot and stumbled, his vision going dark for several seconds as the Animagus magic further tightened his already tight reserves.
The magic of the Animagus transformation took its toll on him, as even in his animagus form, he could feel a dull ache traveling through his body. He knew he didn't have much time, so he quickly ran away. Only his familiarity with the castle made it so he was able to retrace his steps, but since he wasn't confident in dodging the barks of an angry Whomping Willow, he had to take a detour.
Sirius had walked on autopilot through the Hogwarts ground, and it was the whistling sound of the ancient tree's arms that woke him up. After careful consideration, he turned away from the tree.
'Dumbledore would surely check the Shrieking Shack anyway, so it would be better if I find somewhere else to stay the night,' Sirius thought. He didn't have to think for long, as the perfect place to spend the night emerged in his mind.
...
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{Dumbledore's Room, Hogwarts}
{10th Sep 1991}
{3rd Person POV}
Albus woke up as he sensed one of his magical artifacts expelling a large amount of mana. He was quite used to his warning system's blaring in the middle of the night. He turned over and grabbed his glasses from the desk, grabbed his wand, and transformed his nightgown into wizard robes.
He walked out of the room that was attached to his office and looked at the blank magical signature that the artifact was projecting. It was quite faint, but Albus remembered Filch's muted signature because he was the only squib in Hogwarts.
Suppressing a frown Albus flicked his wand at the door, after waiting for a few moments Flich rushed through the doors, his face set in panic as he screamed, "Sirius Black! Sirius Black has infiltrated the Castle!"
...
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AN - Changing tides! I wanted to do a joke chapter, but it wouldn't be fair to those who waited, so I didn't.
Additionally, I am writing a new novel, which is also 18+, with a Lust system set in a magical academy setting! You can check it out on my profile if you want.
P.S- 42+ Extra chapters on P.atreon!
{Filch's office, Hogwarts}
{10th Sep 1991}
{3rd Person POV}
Albus looked at the small room, his brows furrowed as his eyes swayed around it. A familiar Magical signature was lingering around the room. He had rushed here after Filch's warning, and even still, most of the magical residue had mingled with the ambient mana. It had taken him quite a while to get used to Mage Sight. Ignoring the ambient mana was still quite hard after decades of using it.
'I'm too late. Only the place where Sirius fired the two spells is somewhat distinguishable but even unsuitable for revealing any tracks. Any further markings have long since disappeared.' Albus frowned. He stopped channeling mana to his eyes as he hummed, his thoughts calculating the potency of the effects of Sirius's stunning spell.
'Just as I thought, he's weak right now. The spell should have knocked Filch right out until all of his magical signatures should have disappeared. If I consider the dissociation rate, then he's at 20-25% of his max power...' Albus thought. Still, the whole situation irked him. Sirius's actions hadn't made sense to him for decades now, and his actions today just further proved that something was amiss.
'He used the stunning spell. Why was he afraid of using any unforgivable and revealing himself to me sooner? But it doesn't make sense, even though I try to imply that I would know through the Hogwarts wards about any use of Unforgivable. Anyone who had spent his schooling in Hogwarts would know that it wasn't entirely true.'
'And even then, a stunning spell wouldn't make sense. Sirius should have harbored enough resentment toward Filch, who was responsible for landing the 4 of them in detention multiple times, to warrant something stronger. A stunning spell leaves a trace. Filch was able to tell me that Sirius was able to infiltrate the castle because of the non-lethal spell. A mass murderer making this mistake is rather odd...'
Albus prided himself on being a good judge of character. He had been wrong just once in his life, and that was with Sirius. His mistake had cost the lives of two of his brightest students and the fracture of his own Order after the end of the War. Quite a lot of the members had to hide once it was revealed Sirius was a spy, as he had been part of the main core of the Order.
'Was it a blessing that Tom died attacking the Potters? Otherwise, the Order would have been in too much disarray after Sirius's betrayal. Other than me, no one was in a stable condition to resist Tom after that night,' Albus thought. His musings were interrupted as Minerva ran into the room.
"Is it true, Albus? Sirius was here?" Minerva asked. She tried to remain composed, but it didn't matter. Even without a Legilimency probe, he could tell that the older woman was in disarray. If there was another person who had been hit hard by that night almost two decades ago, then it would be Minerva.
The Mauraders were her pride. Even though she always tried to hide it, she was quite protective of them. Her eyes scanned around the room, and then they returned to Albus. Her question lingered in the air for a moment before Albus sighed.
"...Yes, I'm afraid that I recognize that Magical Signature. Sirius Black was here, in this room, around 50 minutes ago." His voice was calm as he tried to instill some confidence into his deputy.
"Why? Why is he here?" Minerva questioned aloud. She was leaning against the door. Her eyes were a little dazed.
"I could think of two reasons..." Albus spoke.
"According to the Minister, a newspaper page was left behind in Sirius's cell. Some auror had shoved it into his room, the article about his 'son' being the next Dark Lord." Albus continued.
"Rigel..." Minerva exhaled, her eyes seeking Albus's once more.
"He's here for his son? But according to Rigel, his Father is Regulus, not Sirius. Did he try to go to the dungeons? I suspect he knows where the common rooms of all the houses are." Minerva questioned, her words stopping as Severus thundered into the room.
His eyes surveyed the dingy room, the disgust on his face might be from the fact that the room was cramped and dirty, or rather on the fact that one of his teenage tormentors was back in the castle.
"Did you track him, Albus?" Severus asked, his voice determined. Albus decided that when Sirius was captured again, he would do well to keep these two apart. He still remembered the man dressed in death-eater clothes who had pleaded to him to keep Lily safe. They had managed to do it, and if not for Sirius, it would have been impossible to breach the Fidelius charm.
"I'm afraid not, Severus. The magical signature had already faded by the time I arrived here," Albus watched as Severus turned away from him. Even if he didn't look at Albus anymore, the old wizard could tell the accusation in his eyes.
"Now is not the time to dig up old feuds, Severus..." Albus spoke, and then he turned to the last two Head of Houses who had arrived behind the dark-haired professor of potions.
"We don't have much time, even though I'm sure that Sirius Black left the castle after an attempted theft. We need to be cautious in times like these." Albus started, "...I need all of you to lead your houses to the great hall. I'll be initiating a full lockdown of Hogwarts in 20 minutes."
Albus could see the hesitance in all of their eyes, but it only lasted a moment before they turned back and ran toward their respective common rooms. It wasn't necessary to lock down the castle, that much he knew, but he knew the repercussions that would follow what happened today.
As much as he detested it, he knew that the minister had enough cause and power to make it happen now, and the lockdown was necessary to make sure he pushed his point across. He fingered his beaded wand lightly as he got ready for the upcoming battle.
...
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AN - 42+ Chapters on P.atreon!
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