Severus watched Sirius and noticed how he tensed slightly before he spoke. "Hopefully time will tell," Severus said. He desperately wanted to know what was going on.
Sirius nodded and drained the last of his whiskey.
"I think I should be getting back, Remus will probably be wearing a hole in the carpet from all his pacing."
Lucius did the same and stood. "Thank you for the hospitality," he said to Flitwick.
"Yes, thank you," Sirius said. "It's no problem. I enjoyed the conversation," Filius said. He had truly enjoyed the conversation as well as finding out all the information from Harry.
"Severus, I will be in touch soon. It's been an age since we last got together. I know Narcissa has missed your company," Lucius said to his old friend.
"Yes, well, escaping the castle is hard now that the juveniles are back."
"You must come over to the manor this weekend," Lucius said.
"I shall see if I am free," Severus agreed, nodding his head to Filius as he exited the room with the two Lords. "Really, I insist. Both Sirius and Remus will be visiting for lunch on Sunday. You will join us."
Severus bit back his snarl at his friend's high handed request. "Very well then, but I refuse to sit through a formal meal."
Lucius chuckled. "No formality - just a meal between friends. I will even ask the elves to find a bottle of that wine you liked."
Severus grumbled but nodded reluctantly, knowing better than to argue. And, if he was being honest, Lucius always did have great wine.
Sirius
watched
them
with
a
fond expression. He had never seen Severus or Lucius act like this, not even at school. He knew Severus and Lucius had gotten on when they were at Hogwarts, but he had wrongly had assumed the older man had taken Severus under his wing out of pity rather than anything else. However, he saw now that he had been wrong and that they genuinely had friendship between them.
~
Meanwhile
Dumbledore's office, Hogwarts
"Albus! How could you let this happen?" Molly screeched, her face red with anger. She was furious - not only because she had been threatened by Amelia Bones, but by the fact that her darling girl would be punished.
Albus glared. "If you had come to me and told me you planned on using a love potion, I would have told you to use caution."
"But—"
"No, the boy is cautious and he is wearing an Heir ring. Now, I don't know what his ring defends against, if it is potions or mind arts or a combination of both, but I do know that we need to tread carefully."
"You promised me that he would be weak! Malleable!" "He should have been!" Albus exploded, shocking the two students who had been sitting in silence.
After a moment of shocked silence, Ron broke the awkward air. "You heard him, he's a freak," he grumbled. He couldn't believe he had tried so hard to befriend such a person.
"Yeah," Ginny agreed, still angry over the fact she may not be able to become Lady Potter.
"Now children, don't worry. I'm sure Harry is just confused and needs a guiding hand to see reason," Albus said. He had worked too long and too hard to let the boy destroy all of his plans. "He will soon see the error of his ways."
The two youngest Weasleys shared a nod. Ron began gleefully daydreaming about all the things he would one day be able to buy once he had access to the Potter fortune while Ginny imagined all of the attention she would get - every other girl in the wizarding world would envy her, every boy would want her.
"Do you have a plan, Albus?" Molly asked.
"We need to tread carefully. First, we need to get him away from Sirius, we need to destroy their relationship and cut him off from his support. When he's alone, I can appear and be his saviour. He will be indebted to me and easily follow my instructions. We also need to find out just how strong his ring's protections are and how to get around them. Hopefully they just offer mild support from legilimency."
"It's just a stupid ring, why's it so important?" Ron grumbled jealously.
"That 'stupid ring' shows he is the Heir to the Potter and Black families. I thought I had taught you that, Ronald," Molly said.
Ron grumbled under his breath, "It's just a stupid ring, he doesn't deserve them."
"That may well be but until we know what his rings defend against, we need to tread lightly," Dumbledore said. Throughout their discussion none of them noted how all of the previous headmaster portraits all looked shocked, disgusted, and angry. Well, all bar one Phineas Nigellus Black who looked almost gleeful. He couldn't wait to tell his Heir this news and see what revenge they take.
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