Work Text:
What Mischief Managed
-Fred (or is it George?)-
"Um…I do hereby swear to prank all the Slytherins." He whispered, wand pressed to the parchment that he and his much less handsome twin had nicked from Filch's office a few weeks prior.
'Mr. Prongs believes you need to try again and try harder.' The parchment taunted the attempt as he sighed, scratched that idea off the list, and passed the parchment over to his brother to try the next one they'd thought of. The four 'intelligences' of the map, for lack of a better word, had only given them a clue that a prankster's vow was needed to activate whatever the parchment was, but they'd had no luck so far.
"I promise to always be sneaky, clever, and a little shit." His twin tried, sulking as the words 'Mr. Padfoot things that attempt was weaker than the last one.' Appeared.
"Hah!" He laughed as he took the map back, "Um…I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." At those words, ink flowed from the tip of his wand, the parchment turning into a map of Hogwarts, the names of everyone in the castle appearing where they were.
"Hooooly shiiiiiit." They whispered in awe together as they studied what the map was showing.
'Mr. Prongs wishes to congratulate you on discovering how to open our map.'
'Mr. Padfoot says it took you long enough.'
'Mr. Wormtail says Mr. Padfoot can suck an egg.'
'Mr. Moony insists that Mr. Padfoot and Mr. Wormtail should stop acting like five-year-olds, and wishes to further state that when you are finished with our map, to declare 'Mischief Managed', otherwise anyone could read it.'
With that, the two were free to fully study the titled 'Marauder's Map', seeing who was wandering, where they were, and…and what the FUCK?!
-McGonagall-
Jolting upright at the pounding on her door, Minerva grabbed her wand, shaking off sleep as she looked out the window to see the moon was still high in the sky.
"Professor McGonagall!" she recognized the voices of the first year Weasley twins, but the sheer panic in them was new. Hurrying over to her door, she threw it open, showing the two not having an ounce of mischief on their faces, only showing serious panic and a surprising degree of rage.
"What is it?" she demanded. She liked to think she knew the two well enough by now to know they wouldn't wake her up personally at this time of night for a silly joke and with their expressions it had to be something serious.
"There's an intruder in the castle." They stated together, the bombshell having her eyebrows raised as she hurried over to her fireplace, throwing a handful of floo powder "Headmaster, come to my office, it's an emergency." The sound thankfully woke up the headmaster who was in her office in under a minute, the twins laying out an old piece of parchment on her desk.
"What is this about an intruder?" Albus demanded, his expression serious.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good." One of the twins, she was mostly sure they were Fred, declared as the parchment turned into a map of the school, each person's moving name showing where they were.
"Where did you find something like this?" Minerva breathed in awe at the workmanship, "We nicked it from Filch's office a few weeks ago." The other twin (George?) admitted, "But that's not important right now. We know everyone in Gryffindor by now and HE," they got to the section for the Gryffindor boy's dorms "isn't! I don't even think that's a student's name so why are they in our brother's bed?!" the rage was explained at that. The Weasley boys may be pranksters, but that family as a whole had always been very serious about family.
Leaning in to see what name had the two of them so worked up, Minerva paled at the name standing out boldly next to Percy Weasley, a name that shouldn't be there.
Peter Pettigrew.
-Sirius Black-
Huddled in the corner of his cell, Sirius grit his teeth, feeling the cold aura of the Dementors seeping into his bones, the joints screaming in protest. He was snapped out of his wandering thoughts and misery by the sound of actual footsteps on the stone. Few outside the Dementors were stationed on the island and even fewer ever came to this wing of the prison. Trying to tune out what he figured was just another doomed bastard being drug to a cell, he curled up in on himself even tighter, trying to block out the sounds of shoes on the rock.
"Sirius!" a voice he hadn't heard in so long, not outside his own dreams, made him jolt upright. No, no it couldn't be, why would Remus be here? He had to be imagining things, losing what last little sliver of sanity he had left.
"Sirius!" but…there it was again, louder, the footsteps slamming down faster until he saw a panting Remus standing outside his cell.
"Moony?" he whispered, daring against all to hope that it might be real.
"Yeah, it's me." Moony gave a weak watery smile, an auror running up from behind while panting, having had to hurry to keep up with Remus "Come on you dumb old mutt, let's get you out of here."
"What?" his bones popped and screamed in protest as he shot up to his feet, but he didn't care, the door to his cell swinging open having him tremble with the weight of hope, "I…am I finally getting a trial?"
"You'll have a questioning," the auror admitted, offering him a much warmer cloak than the thin prison rags he currently had on, "But Peter Pettigrew was discovered at Hogwarts. He already confessed all his crimes under Veritaserum."
"Amelia Bones told me she'd personally make sure the damned Rat gets your old cell." Remus' smirk was downright feral, but Sirius couldn't blame him. The poetic justice made him feel right as rain.
"Let's…let's go." He coughed, smiling for the first time in years, "I need to see little Harry again." He had his freedom, so now he had to man up and do his duty to his godson.
-Harry-
Grimacing at his throbbing head, Harry swayed in the dark of his cupboard, doing his best not to get blood on the one blanket he was allowed. Dudley had startled him while cooking causing all the Bacon to fall on the floor, so Aunt Petunia had hit him with one of her frying pans, breaking his glasses for the umpteenth time. A sharp rapping on the front door made him wince, the noise causing the aching in his skull to swell again.
"Who in the blazes in knocking at our door at this time of the morning." Uncle Vernon snarled, stomping to do it himself for once, even if just so nobody would see Harry with blood caking the side of his head.
He heard the door open as Uncle Vernon demanded to know what those there wanted.
He heard a voice that was painfully familiar in a way he couldn't identify state something, but the only words he caught were 'smell' and 'blood'.
Then there was a sharp bang, his Uncle demanding the 'freaks get out of his home' before the door to his cupboard was ripped from its hinges as light filled the small space.
"Oh Harry." The man who knelt down in front of it looked at him with such tender pain that Harry was sure that they must have mistaken him for some other Harry, "What did these bastards do to you?"
"Move aside Sirius." A pretty but stern looking red haired woman wearing a monocle had the black-haired man stand aside as she looked at Harry intently, "Mr. Potter, we'll get you healed up shortly. I just need to take a photo of that injury first. Can you tell me how it happened?"
A-aunt Petunia hit me with a frying pan." He stuttered, shaken by these people knowing his full name and by the sight of an unnaturally thin man somehow holding Uncle Vernon in the air with one hand, a wolf like growl coming from the thin one's throat, "Dudley startled me, so I dropped the bacon on the floor." The growling from the thin man in the hall grew louder. The red-haired woman took a couple quick photos before waving a stick as his head suddenly stopped hurting.
"W-what?" he shook himself, startled by the sudden lack of pain. Even the blood from the side of his head was gone.
"Don't worry Harry." The gaunt man who the redhead had called 'Sirius' knelt down, eyes showing so much tenderness and compassion that Harry wasn't sure how to process any of it, "You're safe now. You'll never have to see these…these…monsters again." The last part was said with a harsh glare at Uncle Vernon who was being taken away from the thin man by more people whose red robes were quickly turning into police uniforms. The same people going deeper into the house as he saw them dragging off Aunt Petunia and escorting Dudley away.
"Who…who are you?" Harry asked, scared but hopeful. Was his wish of some long lost relative finally coming for him about to come true?
"I…I'm your godfather." The man, Sirius, admitted "Your father and I were best friends growing up and his parents cared for me more than my own did."
"Where…where were you?!" Harry felt a sudden spike of confused anger, bitterness, and confusion. When he'd pictured a long lost relative it had been someone from another country, who hadn't known his parents all too personally so they wouldn't have known what had happened to him at first. That way it would make sense why it had taken time to come for him. But someone who was his father's best friend? His godfather? What excuse did they have?
"Up until-" he paused to check his watch "an hour ago, I was in prison for a crime I didn't do."
"…Oh." Harry gulped, that was a fair reason.
"And this is Remus." Sirius waved the thin man over, "He was another friend of ours but wasn't allowed to visit you because of some really stupid laws. But since you're coming with me those laws can shove it!"
"Come on." The red-haired woman shook her head with a smile, "Let's get Mr. Potter to St. Mungos for a full checkup. You can catch up with him more there and explain more of our world to him."
-Arthur-
"Alright, is everyone together?" Arthur looked at his wife and children. Dumbledore had let his kids come over from Hogwarts for this and even Bill had was in town, letting the entire Weasley clan be together for the first time in a while.
"Ready Arthur." Molly nervously brushed out a few imagined wrinkles on her dress. They'd been invited to dinner by Sirius Black who wanted to thank their family for his freedom.
Nodding, he took a pinch of Flood Powder "Marauders Den." He declared firmly, going through first to the new home that Sirius Black had purchased after his release. Granted, the compensation money from the Ministry had been exceedingly generous to avoid further backlash. Minister Bagnold and Crouch were already losing their positions and potentially going to be put on trial over this.
Feeling the journey coming to an end, he carefully stepped out of the fireplace. The entry room he arrived in was far from what one would expect from picturing the 'Black Family'. It was warm, inviting, and full of bright colors. Sirius Black was waiting for him, along with Remus Lupin and young Harry Potter. All three were far thinner than he was remotely comfortable with.
His kids started arriving a moment later, the twins first given they were technically the guests of honor, with Molly bringing up the rear.
He smiled as he saw the twins, Ron, and Ginny take well to young Harry Potter. From what he'd heard, the boy had been suffering before this, so it was good to see him having some proper friends. Plus, he hoped it would help Ginny break out of her shell to meet her 'hero' and see that he was a normal boy. And Ron could hopefully do well to start making his own friends and learning a bit of work ethic.
The meal was fantastic as their hosts worked to get to know him and his family. Bill and Charlie were being polite, but he saw they were the ones 'getting the least' out of all this. Percy had gotten a blatant demonstration on the corruption that filled part of the Ministry and while his middle son still wanted to work there, it was to clean out the corruption to be the ideal he'd once though it as. The twins had gotten to meet someone who was apparently one of their pranking heroes that encouraged their passions and would be a good guide on how to make that a livelihood. Ron and Ginny meanwhile were getting to meet someone close to their own age who needed a friend just as badly. Then, when they were all on their second, and for some third, slices of cake there was a series of tapping at the window.
"I got it." Sirius walked over, opening the window as two owls flew in, dropping letters for him and eating some treats before flying back out. That meant notices, not letters that required an immediate response.
"Something wrong Sirius?" Remus Lupin asked, trying to read the letters over his shoulder.
"Well, given that 'dear cousin Bella' was convicted at trial along with the two remaining blood Lestranges, then they can't access their vaults. Given she was born a Black and there's nobody else with Lestrange blood I was able to claim the vaults." Sirius sounded extremely smug about that, not that he could blame the man for getting one over on the Death Eaters "I asked the Goblins to go through and set aside anything with dangerous curses or magic that would have to be dealt with. This letter says they found something that needs to be addressed in person. Weird."
"And the other one?" Harry asked curious.
"Oh, Lucius Malfoy has challenged me to a duel." Sirius waved a hand dismissively.
"What?!" Molly shot to her feet stunned, "Why?"
"Probably because, once I had the Lestrange Vaults confiscated, I disowned Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Draco." Sirius looked exceptionally smug "That means that Lucius loses any potential money from the Black vaults and Draco can't claim to be the heir anymore."
"…I'm going to be your second." Remus states after a moment before going back to cake.
"You're…remarkably unconcerned about this." Arthur looked between the two warily.
"We spent years trying to bait Lucy into a duel." Sirius gave a vicious prankster's grin "I've had a plan in mind for a long time. Who knows, maybe the twins will pick up some ideas and go into the dueling circuit. Their creativity would do wonders there." Arthur tried not to face palm as Molly looked cross eyed while trying to figure out if such a career would be more or less respectable to owning a prank shop.
-Sirius-
Grinning and waving at Harry who sat in the bleachers with a 'Go Uncle Padfoot!' sign, Sirius glanced over at his scowling opponents. Lucius, as the challenger, was required to accept the time and location of Sirius' choosing. So, he'd set up the location and sold tickets for those who wanted to come see Lucius Malfoy and his second, Severus Snape, get their asses kicked. They sold out within the hour.
"Black." Snape sneered, "I'll enjoy seeing what Lucius will do to you. My only regret is that I won't get to deal with you and Lupin personally."
"Oh, don't worry Snivelus." Sirius grinned, "I'll save plenty of ass whooping for you once I'm done with goldilocks over there." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Weasley twins having somehow snuck out to come watch, holding up signs along with Harry.
"Are you both ready?" Dawlish, an auror known for following everything to the letter of the law, called out as the dueling platform was raised up.
"I am." Sirius nodded, Lucius sneering as he drew his wand out of a cane. Dramatic little twink.
"Then begin!" Dawlish shot sparks into the air as Sirius' wand was moving faster than Lucius could react, a silent unseen curse shooting out as cast the Anaticula spell.
"Confringo!" Lucius's wand moved.
"Quack." The conjured duck that came from Lucius wand called out as Sirius just stood there with a grin.
"Confringo! Stupefy! Expelliarmus! Bombarda! Difindo!" Lucius kept trying spell after spell, only succeeding in conjuring a duck each time. Those spectating, once they got over their shock at the simple prank spell being so utterly dominating in the rules Duels were held to, started laughing uproariously.
"Beware Lucius Malfoy the Duck Lord!" the twins cackled as Sirius grinned widely, he'd have to remember that one.
"Don't mock me Black!" Lucius snarled, continually trying to cast a spell in the hopes of powering through the Anaticula curse.
"Depulso." Sirius gave a lazy flick of his wand, sending Lucius flying off his feet, "Accio." He called him back before the bastard could fall out of the ring, keeping up the two-spell pattern to yank Lucius around like a yoyo.
He wanted Lucius angry. He knew the bastard always had no self-control and only got away with how much he did due to money and greedy government officials. Humiliate him hard enough and he was liable to show off his true colors in front of all these witnesses.
Estimating that he'd gotten Lucius worked up enough, he cast one final Depulso and didn't call him back as Lucius was sent flying away from the dueling platform, rolling hard when he hit the ground.
"Well, that was easy." Sirius rolled his eyes "You want to try your luck Snivelus?" Sirius smirked, subtly ending the duck curse on Lucius' wand.
"Avada Kedavera!" Lucius' eyes were mad with rage as he launched a green curse at Sirius, those in the stands screaming as Sirius threw himself out of the way, a dozen stunners from a dozen different wands slamming into Lucius before the bastard could try a second spell.
Turning a cold glare on the wide eyes Snivelus, Sirius had his wand ready, silently asking if the bastard wanted to try his luck.
Snivelus backed down.
-Dumbledore-
Sighing, Albus ran a tired hand through his beard. Things had been hectic ever since Sirius' duel with Lucius Malfoy. The man's attempted murder, in front of so many witnesses, hadn't been something he could simply write off as 'I was under the Imperius curse', not with how the Ministry was currently desperate to curry favor with Sirius after what had happened to him. The fact that Severus had been so happy to help Lucius Malfoy in the duel had been even further disappointing.
Now he was meeting with Sirius who had an appointment. Something discovered in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault that had the Goblins concerned enough to warrant an in-person meeting. Sirius had asked him to come for the simple fact that he was the most likely person to recognize what the more esoteric curses were with his experience.
"Ah, good. You're both here." The fact that a Goblin accountant was waiting for their arrival personally wasn't a good sign, "This way please." Sharing a confused but wary glance with Sirius, the two followed after the Goblin who led them deep into the bank.
When they reached a secure room, one Albus recognized as having a litany of wards around the door, a panel was slid back, letting them look into the room which contained a single golden goblet. One engraved with a distinct badger iconography.
"Helga Hufflepuffs cup." Albus breathed out in awe at the lost relic.
"One infested with a soul shard." The goblin leading them sneered in disgust, "Our checks have shown that the soul shard belongs to one 'Tom Marvolo Riddle'."
"Voldemort." Albus cursed, "Damn him." He'd always had his suspicions, but never had any sort of concrete proof before this.
"We can remove the soul shard of course, for a price." The goblin smirked, buffing their nails cockily. Although if their statement was true then he supposed it was earned.
"What sort of price?" Sirius kept things focused, snapping Albus out of his shock at the potential of removing a Horcrux soul shard without utterly destroying the item it was in…or person.
"A thousand gold per item we do this to." The goblin dropped a sum that would be exorbitant to many but was perfectly reasonable in the context of what was being done. He supposed they gave a discount for the 'pleasure of ruining a wizard's plans' or some such.
"Done." Sirius nodded "Take the payment out of my account."
"I have two questions." Albus coughed to get attention, "First, do you have any sort of spell or device to detect more of these?"
"You believe that the self-stylized Lord Voldemort created more than one?" the goblin raised an intrigued eyebrow.
"I've always been positive that he was still around, but I haven't found any proof of that or what method before this." Albus admitted, "And someone like him wouldn't stop at just one."
"Then yes, they're standard issue for our curse breakers." The goblin shrugged as he pulled out a small charm that was glowing "You wouldn't believe how many are left in old tombs."
"Two hundred more galleons each for three more?" Albus offered.
"Deal." The greedy creature nodded, shaking hands as he arranged for the detection tools to be brought and the purging of the goblet to take place.
"Well, if you gents will excuse me, I have another appointment to get to." Sirius smirked as he pocketed his new soul shard detector "Since Lucy boy lost that little duel and got arrested, I get to claim reparations from the family home and vault. Gonna go do some window shopping!"
Sitting down after a long day of trying to plan out how to move forward with Voldemort's soul containers, Albus was just pouring himself a cup of hot tea when the fireplace roared to life in an emerald blaze.
"Albus!" Sirius' panicked voice startled him enough to drop his teapot, shattering the ceramic and, sadly, ruining the drink inside. Given Sirius' tone though, he had far more pressing concerns.
"What is it Sirius?" Albus demanded of the now reinstated Lord Black, a bad feeling in his gut.
"I found three more." Sirius' panicked statement had Albus choking on his own spit.
"What?! Where? No, wait, I'm coming through." Albus strode into the emerald flames, using the open connection to go to where Sirius was so they could talk in person. To his surprise, he noted signs of this being the old Black Estate, the house elf heads on the wall being a bit of a give-away. On the table he saw a locket bearing the distinct 'S' shaped snake symbol of house Slytherin as well as a journal with the name 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' on the cover.
"Salazar Slytherin's locket." Albus breathed in shock, "And Voldemort's Journal. Where did you find these? And what of the third?
"The Journal was in Malfoy's manor." Sirius scoffed, sending a dirty look at the book in question "After securing it I went home but the detector went off again…by Harry's scar." Albus staggered in place, having been praying that the possibility hadn't been true, "I came straight here, hoping to find something in the Black Library to get it out of him safely. That's when I found the Locket in one of the cases. According to Kreacher, my brother betrayed Voldemort and died trying to get that thing destroyed."
"We will certainly fulfill your brother's final goal and destroy that soul piece." Albus promised the shaken man, "For now we need a new appointment with the Goblins. If they have ways to purge the soul from objects, then there's a good chance they can do the same with a person."
-Sirius-
"No, not at this point." Ragnok, the same Goblin they'd spoken to before, frowned as Sirius and Dumbledore put the two item Horcruxes on the table and explained what happened to Harry, "We do have a ritual that can exorcise a soul shard fused to a living person, but it required being done within a year and a day of the soul shard being placed there. After this many years none of the rituals we have would be of any use." the goblin, as Greedy and wizard hating as his kind were, at least showed genuine remorse at the thought of a child being subjected to this.
"Damnit!" Sirius snarled, slamming a fist on the armrest of his chair, looking around the room, anything to not see the grief filled pitiful face of Albus Dumbledore. As his eyes roamed, he spotted a stack of coins against the wall. Golden Galleons, Bronze Knuts, and Silver Sickels "…Silver." He whispered, an idea starting to form.
"What was that?" Ragnok turned towards him.
"I have an idea, but I don't know how viable it is." Sirius let his chaotic mind go wild, anything to find a way to save his godson, "I need to ask you some questions to see how viable it is."
"Ask wizard." Ragnok nodded, clearly curious. Although given the end result if successful would mean a child getting to live, money being made to do the idea, and a new addition to the Goblin's repertoire he wasn't surprised.
"So, goblin silver blades are supposed to repel anything that wouldn't make them stronger, yeah?" Sirius' leg began bouncing rapidly, his manic energy needing some form of outlet.
"A crude but not altogether inaccurate summarization." Ragnok admitted, "Why?"
"Because Dumbledore's familiar is a phoenix." Sirius grinned, pointing a finger at the old wizard, "Their tears are supposed to be the strongest light aligned magical reagents in the world outside of some freely given unicorn materials. So, what if we had a scalpel made of Goblin silver, soaked in those tears. We could use the scalpel to essentially cut the soul shard out of the scar. If we have some healers on hand and maybe that exorcism ritual in case the first steps loosen it…"
"That's…that's not an impossible idea." Ragnok mused aloud.
"We can make it better." Albus' eyes were sparkling with excitement "My old friend Nicholas Flamell owes me several favors. His Philosopher's stone makes its elixir by pouring specific potions over the stone which absorbs and them before producing the Elixir of life. If we pour the tears over the stone we'll likely get a stronger version. Helga Hufflepuff's cup also maximizes the potency of any potion or liquid inside it."
"Agree to let the Goblin Nation keep hold of this scalpel after its use and we will wave the cost of its creation, the use on the Potter heir, and the purification of these two items." Ragnok offers, eyes wide at the possibilities.
"Agree to let it be used by Wizards too in case of emergencies and we have a deal." Sirius grinned, offering a hand as the two shook on it.
"I will have my best craftsman begin creating the instrument." Ragnok nodded, "Bring the Potter heir here three days from now. That should be enough time to finish purifying the goblet and allow Dumbledore to contact Alchemist Flamell." Nodding, he got up, using the offered fireplace to floo over to Amelia's along with Dumbledore, the DMLE head having agreed to look after Harry while he was out. The fact that Susan was quite taken with her new best friend likely having a great deal to do with it. Stepping out of the fireplace, Sirius approached Amelia where she was standing by the window, smiling as he looked outside to see Harry and Susan laughing as they played tag on toy brooms. It was good to see Harry smiling and happy after where he'd found the kid.
"So, mind telling me what had you two so panicked?" Amelia asked as Albus stepped up beside them, her tone making it clear that it was more a demand than a question.
"Yes, I was planning on informing you of the situation regardless. The current matters have merely…accelerated matters." Albus shuddered as the three of them went to Amelia's warded office, a house elf staying behind to watch the kids as they informed Amelia of the situation with Voldemort's soul shards and how one was in Harry.
"You. Letter. Now." The look Amelia gave Albus had the ancient wizard moving faster than any glare Voldemort had ever levied, the old man rushing off to write to the French Alchemist.
"Here's the third detector." Sirius handed the item over to Amelia, "I figured you should be the one with this given your position."
"Thanks Sirius." Amelia gave him a tired smile, "I'm just glad you're being on the ball about this. Still, we can't risk announcing the discovery of the artifacts until this whole situation is resolved, otherwise Voldemort might get wind of it and cause even more problems."
"At least it means we'll have a good news treasure trove waiting for once we kick his pale ass to the curb for good."
"Damn right you old hound." Amelia smirked, meeting his gaze easily.
-Harry-
Grinning from ear to ear, Harry pushed his trolley through the barrier to platform Nine and Three Quarters, his new owl Hedwig hooting eagerly at the speed they were going.
"Hey Harry, I saved us a compartment!" his best friend, Susan, shouted as she stuck her head out of a window of the train, her Aunt standing nearby.
"Be right there Susan!" Harry shouted back, Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus following behind him, grinning just as much as he was.
"You excited for Hogwarts Prongslett?" Sirius grinned, ruffling Harry's hair as he tried, and failed, to escape.
"Yeah!" Harry grinned, "I've been waiting for this ever since you told me about Hogwarts." And with the operation to remove the bit of soul from his scar done so many years ago he'd been feeling amazing ever since.
"Just remember to keep your Occlumency shields up." Remus reminded him, "Snape is a teacher there still due to the terms of his contract and I know he doesn't care about mental privacy." Harry grimaced at the mention of the greasy bat like man who only wishes he was batman.
"I will." Harry promised, loading his trunk up into the compartment next to Susans, room still available for Ron, Neville, and Hannah to join them.
The rest of his friends eventually arrived as they all said goodbye to the adults in their lives, waving out the window as the Hogwarts express rocketed out across the countryside.
-Sirius-
"Those kids are going to flip when they realize you two have started teaching there." Amelia snorted the second the train was out of sight.
"Yep!" Sirius grinned as Remus snickered, "It's gonna be great!"
-Albus-
Humming to himself, Albus poured a cup of tea as he waited for Sirius, his new 'Combat and Defensive Magic' teacher as well as Remus, the new History of Magic teacher, to join him. The new course Sirius was teaching was a replacement for Defense against the Dark Arts, an idea the remaining Marauders had to circumvent the curse specifically placed on the Defense against the Dark Arts position.
"Hey Albus." Speak of the Grimm, the two walked through the door, both of them inordinately smug with themselves after the reaction of their young ward and his friends upon learning the two of them would be teaching at Hogwarts going forward. It was almost as dramatic as Severus' had been.
"Hello boys." He nodded, passing them both a pair of cups "I know I asked you to come see me after the feast but when I told you that I'd been hoping to have more news admittedly."
"Still no sign of the last two?" Sirius frowned, sipping his tea. After the Goblins had purified young Harry's scar, they'd estimated that given the amount of soul within it, there would have been two other Horcruxes made before that. Sadly, while the first few had been found at a blistering pace, the last two were proving far more stubborn to locate.
"Sadly not." Albus shook his head, "Moving on to other matters, are the traps all in place?" getting Nicholas to agree to not let anyone see the stone for a year was a simple task to make it look like the relic was within the school. After that all he had to do was set up an age line so none of the students could enter that corridor and let Remus and Sirius have fun setting up all the traps they wanted. If they were lucky, they could even capture Voldemort when he inevitably came for the stone.
-Sirius-
"…I'm pretty sure legs aren't supposed to bend that way." Sirius commented, head tilted like a dogs while Remus face palmed beside him.
"No, Sirius, they aren't." Amelia sighed, face palming as they observed what remained of Quirrell, the man having been caught in the traps trying to steal the stone and the face of Voldemort sticking out of the back of the corpse's head. The detection spells had shown a wraith fleeing the host right as Quirrell died so they didn't have Voldemort himself trapped but this was still better than nothing.
"At least with this you'll have proof of his potential return, Minister." Sirius gave a teasing grin to the redhead, bumping her playfully as the once head of the DMLE rolled her eyes in amused exasperation at his antics.
"I'm sure the DMLE will be thrilled. More importantly, how are Harry and Susan doing."
"I'll be shocked if the two aren't snogging by the end of third year."
-Barty Crouch JR.-
Tearing into the wild rabbit he'd cooked, Barty considered what he'd managed to learn from the rumor mill he'd listened in on. Ever since his father had been arrested, he'd managed to break the Imperius and slip away with Winky, using the Invisibility cloak whenever he needed to enter Wizarding society for anything. Earlier today, on yet another unseen trip into Diagon Alley, he'd heard some Ministry workers talking. His lord had been seen at Hogwarts, possessing a teacher. The weak fool had failed Voldemort and been left to die while his master escaped to plot for a future victory, but this did give him a starting point.
"I swear my lord, I will find you."
-Albus-
Scoffing at the application from that idiot Lockheart to teach at his school, Albus tossed it in the trash. On his desk were a variety of notes and papers, research into Voldemort's movements after he'd assumed his pseudonym and begun his reign of terror. He'd hoped to find clues about where the remaining Horcruxes were from that.
"Perhaps looking at before he came to Hogwarts." He mused, deciding to try a new route, "Possibly even more than one generation before."
-Sirius-
"Stupefy!" Sirius blasted Dumbledore with the stunning spell when it looked like the old wizard was in a trance by the Horcrux ring they'd discovered in an old shack that apparently was once the home of Voldemort's mother.
"I've got the ring sealed away." Remus commented, having the ring, which their detector confirmed was a Horcrux, trapped in a box to block any influence, "You grab him and we'll portkey back to the bank."
"Amelia's going to tear him a new one for letting his guard down that easily." Sirius snorted as he lifted the old wizard up.
"So will Harry." Remus smirked, "Ten galleons says he'll sound just like Lily whenever she was annoyed at us."
"That's a sucker's bet Moony."
"Curses."
"Wanna bet that we'll get back to find Harry and Susan snogging?" Sirius smirked, looking forward to teasing the third years who'd just gotten back for their third year winter break.
"That's a sucker's bet Padfoot."
"Curses."
-Barty Crouch Jr.-
Silently creeping into the castle under his invisibility cloak, Barty observed the lone teacher they'd left to guard the Goblet of Fire. "Stupefy." He whispered, dropping the muggle studies teacher as he rapidly confunded the goblet into thinking there were four schools and adding Potter's name through some stolen homework the boy had signed. That handled, he quickly enervated the teacher and obliviated the less than a minute's period he'd been here, a timeframe so small they'd never notice anything was missing. That done, he slipped back out to await the next part of his master's plan and to care for his master's Homunculus form until his true resurrection.
-Harry-
Hand in hand with Susan, the two of them were desperately looking for any place they could be alone. The normal spots they might slip off to were all currently occupied given the number of foreign guests filling the castle grounds.
"We really need a place to hide away." Harry grumbled as they paced the seventh-floor corridor, trying to think of ideas. A door he'd never seen before appearing was not what he'd expected to happen.
"…Heh?" his girlfriend shared a baffled glance with him before they opened the door to find a massive room filled with stuff piled almost to the ceiling. Sharing a confused glance, Hogwarts' fourth champion and his girlfriend began to explore the room.
"Harry, your charm!" Susan gasped, pointing to the detector he carried to find any potential Horcruxes, Sirius entrusting it to him just in case. The charm was now glowing blue, a glow that grew brighter and brighter until they finally found a distinct diadem adorned with a large sapphire.
-Voldemort-
"Ah, Potter." Voldemort sneered, or as best as his weakened homunculus body could do so, "So glad to have you join me for such an auspicious day." The gagged teenager glared from where he remained restrained against the tombstone of Voldemort's late muggle 'father'. Oh yes, this would be glorious. Through this ritual he'd ascend back into true life! And once he'd done so his magic would be stabilized enough to let him risk making that final Horcrux using Potter's death to fuel it. Perhaps Nagini would make a fitting vessel?
As he let his thoughts wander, Barty Crouch Junior began the ritual. It would be risky for any that were not himself. He had done more to cheat death than anyone else and with his Horcruxes he would survive the ritual and be able to be resurrected!
Cackling and bracing for the, temporary, pain, Voldemort reveled in his victory as Crouch dropped him into the boiling Cauldron.
-Harry-
Hearing the pops off apparition as his girlfriend's Aunt arrived along with Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore, and a battalion of Aurors, Harry called out to them as best he could through his gag.
"Harry, what happened?!" Sirius tugged the gag out.
"Crazy dead guy on the ground apparently turned the Cup into a Portkey." Harry nodded to the corpse on the ground in a puddle of blood, "During the ritual he cut his hand off to try and resurrect Voldemort and was so shocked at the ritual not working he didn't think to use magic to stop the bleeding while Voldemort was either drowned or boiled to death as a weird Homunculus baby thing. It should be in the Cauldron."
An auror, definitely Sirius's metamorph relative judging by the hair, glanced into the cauldron and made a face "Ew."
"Very. Now could somebody let me out of here? I need to pee."