Siri
Sirius Black held up his hands, focused on the wards, and asked nicely to be received.
He was…ignored.
“This is my one. Fucking. Thing.” He yelled, opening his eyes. He turned swiftly into Padfoot, for the third time, and threw himself at the barrier. To no effect. He turned back into Sirius and paced beside the magical barrier keeping him from Hogwarts, from his son. Hagrid was patting his shoulder, but the poor huge man looked just as confused as Sirius felt and somewhat hurt too. As for many of them, Hogwarts was Hagrid’s home.
Remus’ hand pressed gently into the middle of his back, and Merlin, he should just run away with Remus. Crack open these wards with a fucking ax, if necessary, grab the kid, and just sprint with Remus. Fuck Dumbledore. Fuck the Dark Lordship bullshit he had somehow fallen into. Fuck…
A strange gust of air blew their hair from above. Sirius looked up to see…nothing. And then ran for cover with the rest of them, because a screeching veela seemed to be following the random gust of air.
It occurred to Sirius about a half second before it happened, and he gave an involuntary wince.
The poor veela bounced off the invisible ward like a rubber ball off the windshield of a speeding car. And the thing had no sense of self-preservation, because it staggered, shook off a cloud of feathers. And did it again. And again.
They all ran over to it, trying to stun or contain the veela, but nothing worked until another veela flew down and tackled the poor thing.
That was about the time that the wards rattled a response. Sirius lifted his hand and played gently with the magic, asking for an explanation.
Send Tom Riddle. The wards of Lady Hogwarts said, in a harsh flat way completely alien to their usual melodic tones. He may step through. No other. So says the Headmaster. Lady Hogwarts’ voice cut off sharply.
Sirius froze and then charged forward like a crazed veela. And just like the veela, he was thrown back. Unlike the poor veela, he had Remus Lupin to catch him. He turned and hugged the man, cursing into Remus’ chest.
“Talk to me, Sirius,” Remus said, holding him tight. “What am I missing?”
“They’ve locked me out.” Sirius said, “I…Grandfather?” He called out one last time, reaching for the wards.
Sirius’ heart twisted as Grandfather’s voice came through weakly.
He Has Attempted To Isolate Our Blood. Our Voice. I Will Regain Control. But I Need Your Help. And Time.
“Whatever you need,” Sirius said, sitting on the grass facing the enormous barrier. “Just tell me what you fucking need.”
“Sirius,” Remus' hand was in his hair, he spoke in the calm, clear tone that told him he was acting like one of the kids on a bad day. “Tell me what is happening.”
“I…I think Tom has to go,” Sirius said, eyes closed, hands moving as he caught hold of bits and pieces of frayed, unraveled magic, and began to weave them back together more on instinct than anything else, as he followed a sense of Grandfather through the endless tapestries of wards. “I hate it. I hate it so bad. But Dumbledore wants him. I think he’s the only one who can get through.”
“Fuck that,” Hagrid said and charged the ward like the brave soul he was. And bounced back with equal velocity. Tom’s cushioning charm was lightning fast, or Hagrid would have flattened some trees. Regulus, ghostly pale, cast a half dozen spells as he charged the thing and bounced back into Tom.
Remus kissed the top of Sirius’ head and tried. And was caught by Hagrid.
“We’ve already tried all the normal things.” Sirius said. Tom wound up like a baseball pitcher and threw a bolt of lightning at the ward. And yeah, that was new. But still did nothing.
“Alright, boys, guess that’s my turn, huh?”
“Be fuckin’ careful, Tom,” Sirius muttered. “I don’t fuckin’ blame you if…”
Tom Riddle must come. Said the cold voice of the Hogwarts Wards. Or Harry Potter will die.
Tom froze.
Sirius looked at him, hands still frantically at work. “Did you hear that?”
Tom nodded. “I’m out.” He ran through the wards as though popping a bubble. Hagrid and Regulus both tried to follow but were thrown back yet again, being caught by Remus. Regulus came and sat beside him. Working with his brother, Sirius closed his eyes and breathed life and love and protection and fury into the wards.
He wanted his fucking kid.