Protection: The Sword and the Shield

Oh, Those Summer Nights

......Office of the Headmaster, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office looking around hoping to find some answers in the empty spaces. His eyes traveled over the location that used to hold the objects that tracked Harry Potter. They had all stopped working or self-destructed. Not that he needed them as the boy was a fixture in the newspaper now.

His latest feat of wonder was to successfully breed his guardian "Drakes" and gift them to the young women in his life. He was sure that he had lost a bit of Hagrid's absolute loyalty when the boy mentioned in the resulting interview that it was the kind-hearted Hogwarts gamekeeper who gave him the idea. The large man had not stopped praising the boy for sharing credit. It was not something people in the Wizarding world typically did unless forced.

His eyes continued to search his office and it landed on the latest edition of the Prophet. It seemed that someone had acquired the newspaper. Most would not notice the subtle shift in the articles but it would be clear to everyone soon enough. Whoever owned the paper now was not owned or influenced by the ministry or any of the traditionalists.

That was a major concern for Albus. Not only had the traditionalist, of which he himself was one, lost an important tool to guide the masses, but he had not been able to find out who the new owners where. The old owner had taken a magical oath not to divulge it. The man had been a staunch traditionalist himself so Albus could not imagine what offer was made to hand over the paper to a progressive and take an oath to keep it secret.

The headline today was about the grand opening of the "Grimmauld Commons". Albus sighed and thought "At least I can count on Sirius Black to attempt the most salacious and offensive project possible".

Gambling and prostitution was not things that should exist in the light. It should stay in the backrooms of Knockturn Alley was Albus' opinion. Sirius' "adult playground", as he was calling it, was attempting to bring legitimacy to the illegitimate. But the man was rich and powerful and had the backing of all the major players of the day.

Albus sighed again as he realized he was not in that circle. Albus started to wonder if Sirius was not a chess master himself as he had been responsible for cutting the legs out of the only two people who might have been able to stop him.

The Malfoy's were the laughing stock of the pureblood elite after being devastated by Sirius' vengeance. Rumors ran rampant as to why his revenge had been so harsh. The current rumor was that Narcissa had known of his innocence and left him to rot in hopes of getting the Black headship for her son. If true it would justify kicking both her and her son out of the family.

The other person who could scuttle Sirius' plans had been Alvin Nott. But somehow Sirius had gutted half the man's fortune and gotten it turned over to Remus. That was the move that had made Albus pause. It should have taken years to execute such a plan and Sirius had done it in less than a year after being in prison, with Dementors, for a decade.

The deal was so devastating that Albus, with all his connections had only been able to get the figures but not how it had happened. He knew that in the end Nott had acquired an Acromantula colony. But how had that led to Alvin Nott taking such a huge financial hit. Albus first thought that Sirius had stolen Lucius' for Nott, but quickly discovered that Lucius' farm was still intact. It was the only thing the man really still had. He had then recalled Hagrid griping about his missing pet.

He nodded as his sharp intellect solved yet another puzzle. Sirius had stolen Hagrid's pet, given it to Nott to start a colony to complete with Malfoy and somehow got half of Nott's fortune to Remus. Albus smiled as a new puzzle materialized to replace the old. How could so much be done with one, likely large, Acromantula? Albus loved puzzles. It was doubtful this new mystery would be solved as Albus did not know that Hagrid had found a mate for his pet and the forbidden forest had been overrun with them.