Chapter Ten

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James waited outside Dumbledore's office for a little bit. He hadn't been told the password, but he was Lord Gryffindor, he could get in if he wanted. He didn't want to, but he didn't have much of a choice here. The other item he had to get was up there. He was also giving Regulus time to get the diadem and cause the distraction.

*******

Sirius jumped as the floo roared to life, and something he will never forget came through. It was a ruffled Minerva McGonagall. "Minnie?" Sirius spoke up.

"That white-haired fake grandpa fucking bastard!" Minerva's full blown Scottish accent was out and Sirius was scared. "He's been slipping potions into my drinks since I graduated here!" she continued. "Did he do it to you to?!"

Sirius hesitantly nodded and Minerva hissed in frustration again, reminiscent of a cat with its hackles up while Sirius looked like the big dog that was terrified of the smaller cat. Minerva continued her ranting while Sirius sat there quietly. When she stopped, she said, "What are you two planning?"

"We found out that Voldemort, who was previously your classmate Tom Riddle," her eyes widened at the name of her ex classmate, "had been controlled by Dumbledore to make horcruxes which is a really evil thing to do that I'm not going to go into detail. Tom wanted everything to be balanced, for the Dark and Light magical sides to get along. Dumbledore is trying to prevent that. He's bringing in muggleborns without any information, thinking there the shit, and taking our traditions and changing it suit there's. He's risking us getting caught," he explained.

"I was taught the traditions purebloods use, but now those are gone," Minerva remembered. Since she was mostly muggle raised, her first year in Hogwarts she had to take a Wizarding studies class where she learned about the rituals, but she never got to try them at school, only with her mother. After that year, the rituals were banned. Dumbledore convinced the Ministry to ban them. "Why are you trying to bring him back?" she asked. Even though Death tended to surprise him when he randomly showed up out of nowhere, the being was teaching Sirius about his senses and how to use his animagus senses as a human. He could sense him, he looked behind Minerva to see Death in the shadows shake his head no and motion to the necklace Sirius had in his pocket. "I can't go into detail about why. Take no offense but we need to get you extra mental protection from Dumbledore before we explain farther," Sirius calmly told her. He reached in and grabbed the necklace, "We made this for you, it will put up a fake memory in your head so if he or Snivellus looks, they will see something different," he said, handing her the necklace. It had a gold cat pendant with red eyes, representing her animagus and her Hogwarts House; she looked touched about receiving the necklace and the mental protection it would give here, "Thank you," she said with gratitude and put the necklace on, already seeing the fake memory. Then there was a bang from below them, "Don't worry about it," Sirius told her.

*******

Five minutes before, James had finally gone into the Headmaster's office. "My boy, sit, sit," Dumbledore said. James gritted his teeth as he sat down, he could already feel the compulsions trying to work on him. "I see you and Sirius have started voting Dark, what are you thinking, that won't do," the old man said. They've actually still been voting for neutral, but maybe Dumbledore is so old that his memory is becoming shit. "I've been voting for neutral, not dark. Believe it or not, Sirius and I don't always listen to authority figures," James sassed. He could tell Dumbledore was getting angry that he wasn't listening; the compulsions were trying to push harder. Then the loud noise went off, Dumbledore jumping as it startled him, "You should go check on that," James suggested. Then a patronus from Snivellus appeared, "The dungeons are on fire!" he shouted making Dumbledore run out, then the portraits froze except for Phineas Black, who looked at the other portraits and trying to figure out why they are frozen and not him, "You won't blab to Dumbledore what I'm about to do," James answered his best friend's ancestor's silent question taking a moment as he felt the relief of the compulsions not pushing on him.

"Are you here for the sword?" the Sorting Hat asked.

"Yes," James replied and the Sorting Hat fell over, a clink sounding through the room as it hit the floor. "Oh, sneaky," James complimented as he figured out the sword was hidden there. He found the handle sticking out and pulled it out. "Are you descended from Gryffindor?" Phineas asked as he observed how easily James wielded the sword.

"Yep," he replied. If someone were to look into the history of the Founder's items, they would know that Godric Gryffindor had charmed his sword that only those of his bloodline could wield the sword and charm it to keep it hidden, just like James did a that moment. He transfigured it to a gold ring. He walked out of the room, passing Dumbledore, "I apologize, I need to get back to my daughter," he said, not stopping as he passed.

*******

Twenty minutes before, Regulus had quietly walked with Morgana up to the seventh floor. She still couldn't walk without stumbling a little even as a physically two year old. She pointed out the tapestry that held the hidden room and Regulus paced like he was told to, 'I want to find Ravenclaw's diadem,' he thought. Then he opened the door and saw the cluttered room.

"Do you know where it is?" he asked the child that poked her head into the room. "Mmhmm, we hurry before Grey Lady show up," she told him. She hurried in, quickly finding the diadem and putting into the bag Regulus had, the same bag Sirius used to grab the cup and they hurried and left.

"Why won't you talk to me?" Regulus asked. She just shrugged. "What can I do to get you to like me?" why did he want his crush's daughter to like him?

"No hurt Daddy, Paddy, or Tommy," she said.

"Paddy?" he questioned. He knew the first and last names were James and Tom.

"Siri," she clarified. "He try, he look sad when you leave. You like Daddy, like-like, not like," she adds. "No more hurting Tommy's soul."

"Aren't you supposed to be only a few weeks old?" he asked in suspicion but she just gave him a toothy smile. One reason she didn't like being a baby was here teeth disappeared and she regrows them when she becomes a two year old. She's gonna be a bitch when her actual age starts teething.

"Give Daddy and Paddy chances," she says. She knows he's been starting to, but he could do it a little more. "Okay, I can try," he says and she smiles genuinely.

They reached the far side of the basement when Morgana whispered, "Stop," and pointed around the corner where Severus Snape was brooding around, looking like he resembled his nickname of Snivellus. His face kept in a scrunched up position as he dramatically walked down the hallway. This had been his first year as a teacher and he apparently didn't like it. Regulus racked his brain trying to figure out what he could do and then he remembered one thing Sirius had done to their mother and that he had taught him how to do it. He set Morgana down and handed her the blanket she was wrapped up in when she's a baby and the bag with the diadem, "Sirius did this to our mother one time," he told her. He grabbed a rock and transfigured it into an egg, he wasn't as talented in transfiguration as the Potters or Sirius so he was glad he remembered the spell. He thankfully remembered the charm he did on the smaller rocks that were stuffed in there. "What it do?" Morgana whispered, her big green eyes staring at the egg with curiousity.

"This egg will explode making the rocks fly everywhere, and these rocks will also explode as soon as they hit something and make fireworks that spread around and make an illusion that something is on fire. It'll last five minutes," he explained. Sirius, when explaining it to Regulus had said he made it an illusion because there were important House of Black stuff there since Lord Black lived there. Sirius had surprisingly been talented in illusions (which he'll find out later was because Loki had blessed him too), and taught him the spell and they practiced to see if he could get it right. He wanted his brother to be able to cause a distraction that will allow him to escape a difficult situation. Then he set off the egg.


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