Warnings
Harry, Ron, and Hermione hadn’t been seen in days. Not since the wedding, at the very least.
Sirius wasn’t sure how he felt about it. Lord knows he’d be a hypocrite criticising the choice, but he had to admit it didn’t feel good to be the one left. He’d seen every sign. He knew what was coming. So why did it hurt?
He was suddenly glad he and Remus agreed to no kids.
It felt like he should be searching for some hidden parallel to his own parents. Did they feel like this when Sirius left? He doubted it. And thinking about that felt dangerous. There was no motive for his parents, beyond the obvious. They didn’t care about Sirius, and he needed to stop searching subconsciously for signs they had.
Had. Because his parents, and Regulus, were long dead.
They died, just as he might die, and just as Harry might die.
Merlin, how awful. His life was so fucking depressing.
And yet, anything was better than Azkaban.
—-------
It wasn’t long after that Remus found him, pacing in their shared room. He noticed his husband’s nerves, but didn’t comment.
“There’s been word.”
“From who?” Sirius asked, already exhausted.
“Snape, we think.” Remus replied.
Sirius’ mouth twitched, trying not to snap, “Think?”
Remus sighed, already turning out of the doorway, “Yes, think, it’s not like they can sign them.”
“So,” Sirius drawled, catching up with his husband, “It could also be from Draco.”
“It could,” Remus replied, eying Sirius critically, “but we have no reason to disregard his word yet, we haven’t seen him since the fall.”
Sirius stopped cold, unsure of what to make of the situation. On one hand, he didn’t have a very good track record of guessing who was a traitor and who wasn’t, but his chest still hurt at the idea of trusting his cousin.
Sirius, for the life of him, couldn’t make up his mind about Draco.
Whether that was actual intuition or his own biases, was yet to be determined.
“Alright.” He said finally, following Remus to the meeting room.
Dumbledore was already there, along with Tonks and the older Weasleys, Sirius tipped his head to Tonks, but otherwise didn't speak.
The old headmaster held in his hands a nondescript, small, and unopened envelope.
His eyes were serious, uncharacteristic for the old bastard, but then Sirius supposed there wasn’t much to be jolly about nowadays.
“Ah, Remus, Sirius, now we can begin.” He waved his wand over the envelope, and it glowed green for a moment, showing no danger. Tucking his wand back into his sleeve, Dumbledore ran a thin finger under the lip, opening the envelope cleanly.
Pulling out the paper, there were no words on the back, so it must have been rather simple. Even if the letter arrived under suspicious circumstances, they hadn’t been able to do anything for so long. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had left almost as soon as The Burrow had been attacked, and none of them had heard any word since. They had no way of making any progress, every option being more risk than reward, shot down directly by Dumbledore himself.
At least when Harry had been here they could feel useful, Sirius thought, how much more useful could you get than protecting the chosen one?
Dumbledore’s eyes scanned the paper, flicking rapidly over the words before he finally put the letter down. Sirius grabbed it quickly, too anxious to wait for the recap.
The headmaster eyed him, but otherwise didn’t comment, “Truthfully, I have no idea of what we should do.”
You could have heard a pin drop the way silence fell across the room. Dumbledore? Admitting any kind of vulnerability? Perish the thought.
Sirius quickly looked down at the letter, seeing only a handful of words. Reading aloud for the rest of the members present, he began.
O.O.T.P - Potter is close to H. Den will be empty in 3 days.
That was it. An opportunity they might never get again.
“And we don’t know for sure who sent it?” Remus asked, mouth set into a line.
“I have strong reason to believe it was Severus.” Dumbledore replied evenly.
Sirius’ nose curled, and Molly looked less than pleased, but Tonks only looked contemplative.
“We don’t have much of a choice, do we?” She said, “The longer we wait, the more useless we become. Harry’s already out there, and he’s proven he can protect himself. It’s risky, but taking back The Manor? That would give us a serious boost.”
Molly seemed to be almost blowing smoke at the words, “We should be protecting Harry! Finding out where he is and helping him!”
Dumbledore sighed, “I too wish to help Harry, but it’s not so easy to know where he is without also alerting the Death Eaters.”
“What’s H?” Remus asked, silencing everyone else.
Dumbledore folded his hands, looking at Remus steadily, “I believe it means Harry is close to a horcrux.”
Remus paled, “You can’t be serious.”
Sirius thought he had heard or seen the word before, but couldn't remember exactly what it was. He could tell it was some kind of dark magic however, as the word itself seemed to have weight, like just the act of saying it was enough to curse.
“You’ve had us fighting him and didn’t mention he has HORCRUXES?” Remus nearly growled.
Sirius stepped forward, putting a hand on his husband's shoulder, even if he didn’t know exactly what was being discussed, anything that could make Remus that angry deserved a close eye.
“Explanation please.” Sirius asked, eying Dumbledore with contempt.
“A horcrux,” Remus began, “Is a piece of a wizard’s soul. It means He cannot be killed unless the horcrux is destroyed first.”
Sirius remembered now, it was old magic, only spoken of in the hushed tones of a taboo.
Unless, of course, you were the cousin of Bellatrix Black, who’s love for power was only second to her love of taboo.
He remembered her, close to when he left, toying with the idea casually as she picked at the underside of her nails. He’d been disgusted then, just as he’s disgusted now.
“You’ve had us fighting, knowing he couldn’t be killed at all unless it was found? Why have you not had us searching?” Remus demanded. Normally Sirius’ husband was not so outspoken with Dumbledore, but since taking Harry in, they had both gotten much shorter tempers.
“I had my reasons-” Dumbledore began.
“No.” Sirius interrupted, “I’m sorry, Headmaster, but no. You should have told us.”
Dumbledore was clearly unhappy with this turn of events, but seemed to consider his words before speaking, “You're right, of course. But things are rarely so black and while in the moment.”
Sirius snorted, how like Dumbledore it was to admit wrong in the most ‘I was right’ way possible. He was more than familiar with the tactic.
Remus seemed more accepting of it, but he and Sirius rarely agreed on these things, which, as far as Sirius was concerned, made them a better pair. Sameness made him itch.
Molly seemed confused at best, but also annoyed. Though she’d never admit to agreeing with Sirius.
“Dark magic?” She shuddered, “None of us would be much help with that, would we?” There was a subtle dig at Sirius there, but he chose to ignore it for the time being.
“It’s He Who Must Not Be Named, everything he does is dark magic. The point is, we’ve been doing nothing.” Sirius looked around the table seriously, “We’ve had no shot at taking him down, because he can’t die. And our lovely headmaster didn’t see fit to tell us that.”
Dumbledore remained unflapped, “We couldn’t risk this information getting out. You should have known, but one must consider the morale of wartime.”
Obviously, this conversation wasn’t going to be resolved anytime soon. They needed to decide what to do, and quickly, before the opportunity soured.
“Well,” Sirius smiled, “All those in favor of kicking the filthy fuckers out say ‘Aye.’”
—-------
Blaise was having a stressful day.
He was supremely glad all of the Slytherins had been slowly phasing out of Hogwarts life, or his continuous absence might’ve raised alarms. Fortunately, Snape, and maybe Flitwick were the only ones who'd even care.
All of the youngers milled about in the common room, buzzing with nerves as they gathered their bags. Thankfully, Pansy had kept a tight leash while he was on his trips away dealing with the Order and Potter’s gang.
“They look like rats,” She scowled, looking around the common room.
“Give them a break,” Theo laughed, "this is probably their first go of it.”
Blaise sighed, “At least we were prepared at all. Imagine we had no warning.”
Pansy rolled her eyes, though she smiled at the same time, “Yes, yes, all hail Draco, mother of all Slytherins.”
“Ha-ha.” Blaise replied flatly.
As Pansy, Theo, Greg, and Vince helped the others pack and load into the illegal floo in his and Draco’s room, Blaise heard a knock.
“Visitors!” he shouted, causing the students who hadn’t gone through yet to pause, before they quickly stuffed themselves back into their rooms, leaving only the older years in the common spaces. Vince and Greg set up a chess board, as Pansy kicked her feet up onto the couch, and Theo sat by the fire with a random book. Some of the seventh years positioned themselves around the room, talking in smaller circles as they watched carefully.
It was like nothing had happened at all. Every piece of evidence erased in seconds.
Blaise strode up to the door. It was technically a secret, though it wasn’t hard at all to find it, most just pretended not to know out of respect for the tradition of it. So whoever was knocking either disregarded that tradition, or was one of the few outsiders allowed in.
All of the relevant gryffindors were away, so this was someone new.
Warily making his way to the door, he reached for the handle only visible from the inside, turning it once.
The handle melted back into the wall, a snake carving slithering up from the floor, forming the shape of a door before the stone slowly melted away.
In the hallway, stood Luna Lovegood.