Arcturus Black III was upset. His grandson had escaped from prison, and while he was proud of the fact that the boy had done something no one else ever had, did it have to be that? Why couldn't it be for clearing his name?
Arcturus knew Sirius was innocent. He would never have betrayed the Potters. The boy would no more cut off his manhood then betray the Potters. Let alone his godson. He'd be dead.
As it was, the poor boy had been in that prison for five years now. His mind might not be right. The dementors were not known for playing nice. He only hoped Sirius was smart enough to stay in his dog form. Yes, he knew about that too.
He lamented about all the lost time spent on trying to get those clowns in charge to give the boy a trial, but they had their heads so far stuck up each other's arses, that they wouldn't do it. Malfoy. That popinjay was the bane of his existence. He was the man keeping his godson in prison, under the false belief that his son would inherit the Black title. No matter what Arcturus said about the matter. The man still believed that if Sirius died in Azkaban, Draco Malfoy would inherit the Black title. Fool.
At this point in time, Arcturus was unwilling to give money to get Sirius out. He didn't think it would work, for one. And he didn't want to deprive his heirs of their inheritance, for another. He was pragmatic like that.
He was sitting at his desk trying to figure out how to find his wayward grandson when suddenly there was a warning from the wards. Someone had breached the perimeter. He got up and palmed his wand. He moved to go and see who it was, on the map. It showed who was on the property at all times.
It was the same concept that Sirius had based his Marauder's Map off of. The boy didn't think that Arcturus knew about it, but he did. He learned about that particular piece of magic in Sirius' last year of school when the boys lost it. Pettigrew had a big mouth and was complaining about it quite loudly in Diagon Alley. He had been shopping that day and overheard them talking about it. He had been so proud that Sirius had stolen the spell work from him. It was quite cunning of him.
The map showed that Sirius was coming up the pathway in the back of the property. He was coming at a fast pace, so he must be in his dog form. The elderly man went to greet his grandson via the back door. Moving through the house at a slower speed than the younger man, Arcturus made it to the kitchen about the same time as Sirius did. He opened the door to greet the man and stood there until Sirius turned into a human.
"What are you doing here?" the old man asked, pointing his wand at the younger man. He wasn't sure how much of Sirius' mind was there. He didn't want to take the chance that he was deranged.
"I need your help, Grandfather," Sirius said, desperation in his tone. He looked good for someone who had been in Azkaban for five years. Arcturus expected him to be sicklier. Sure, he was skinny, but he looked like he was healthy. "I need to find Harry, but I don't know how. He's with Petunia," he added as if that explained everything.
"Who is Petunia?" Arcturus asked, not knowing that name. He thought Harry Potter was being raised by someone Dumbledore picked out.
"Lily's sister," was the answer.
"He's with the muggles?" came the response to that.
"Yes," Sirius said, spitting on the ground as if he despised the thought.
"Get in here," the old man demanded, opening the door wider to let his grandson in the house. "I don't know how, but we'll find the boy. There is no way I am leaving my heir in the hands of muggles." It wasn't that he hated muggles, per se, but he felt that wizarding children were better served being raised by wizarding parents. Or at the very least having a wizarding primary school. However, no one would hear of it. 'Eleven is early enough,' they all said. Arseholes.
"I thought I was your heir," Sirius said as he followed his grandfather to the study. He was when he went to prison. Maybe that had changed.
"You were, until you did something stupid, like get caught and thrown in prison for a crime you didn't commit. Leaving me to deal with that arsehole Malfoy," Arcturus stated, going to his desk, and pulling out a book from his spell locked drawer. Only his magical signature would open it. When he died, only the Head of the House would be able to open it. They would bear the ring.
"Oh," was all Sirius could say to that. His grandfather was correct. Damn Pettigrew. He was going to kill that bastard.
"Yes, I know you're innocent," the old man said as he thumbed through the book. He was looking for a locator spell that didn't need anything from the recipient. It would be tricky, but there had to be something. It would probably border on dark, but he was a Black, so he cared little about that.
"How?" Sirius asked, tilting his head a bit. He thought everyone thought he was guilty. "Why didn't you try to get me out?" he asked, wondering why if the man thought he was innocent did he leave him there?
"Don't be a fool. Anyone with an ounce of sense knows you would never reveal the Potters. You were like family to them. Besides, you are the boy's godfather. I am sure you took the vows," Arcturus said, looking at him for confirmation. When Sirius nodded, he continued, "Which means you wouldn't be alive if you did betray them," he finished.
"And you didn't get me out because?" Sirius asked again.
"I tried, but that bastard Malfoy kept paying the government off. I didn't want to outbid him until there was nothing left in the vault," the old man explained. He sat up triumphantly. He finally came across the spell he was looking for. It was borderline dark, but it didn't require a human sacrifice, so there was that. "I'll need some of your blood," he said, looking at the other man.
"What? What for?" Sirius said, not wanting to willingly give up his blood for any reason. There were just too many things that ones' blood could be used for. And many of them are mind controlling. He had enough things trying to take over his mind these last five years, thank you very much.
"To find Harry Potter," Arcturus said, pointing to the spell in the book. "It requires the blood of a relative, you are the closest thing," he said, reading the reference. "You're his godfather, it should work. Magic should hear that call." He read the spell and saw that he had all the necessary ingredients in the ritual room. Which was good because he didn't feel like brewing right now. He would if he had to, but he was getting up in years and old age didn't make for a confident brewer. Sirius would have had to, and he was a lousy brewer.
Sirius slumped in his chair. For Harry he would spill his blood. He trusted his grandfather to a point, and in this he would have to. "Fine," he said, resignation in his tone.
"Don't worry, it's not like I'm going to bleed you dry. I only need a few drops. Seven, to be exact," the old man said, gathering up the book and heading to the ritual room.
It was in the library in a secret room that only the family knew about. Oh, Malfoy thought he knew where all the rooms were in this house, but he didn't know the half of it. It burned him that that pompous man thought his son was the next Lord Black, well he had another think coming. There was no way in Hades that Arcturus was going to let that Death Eater become the Head of his family. Especially after all the grief he had given him over Sirius.
Once he got the boy's name cleared, then he was going to nail that man's coffin to the ground. They just had to figure out how to clear Sirius' name. Or get him out of the country and get him a fair trial, somewhere nonbiased. Australia sounded right. Maybe the States. Each had their faults, but they didn't pander to the purebloods.
"I already agreed," Sirius said, getting up and following. He had been to the ritual room twice now. Once when he became heir, and once when he was thirteen and needed to be cleansed from something his mum had done to him. His grandfather had not been pleased. Walburga had been punished most severely for that. That didn't stop her from being a bitch of a mother though.
They made it to the circular room and to the middle, where stood a dais. It was around four feet tall, and six feet long by four feet wide. It was rectangular in shape and had a curvy edge to it. There was a spike in the middle for blood sacrifices. Around the edge of the top was a groove to catch the blood and drain it in a cup on the left side of the platform. The Blacks were a dark family from long back. They would not be using this part of the dais today.
Arcturus went to the far wall and grabbed some thick parchment, ink, and quill, and then went to the platform and stood on the right side. He spread the parchment out and held it down with some stones that he picked up from the base of the dais. Putting a stone on each corner, he drew a diagram that was depicted in the book. It was intricate and had many geometric shapes that intertwined. There were some constellations as well, and some runes that needed to be placed just right. Once he was done, he blew on the ink to make it dry faster. Then he put the quill and the ink pot back in the cupboard where he had retrieved them.
He then went to the potions cabinet and grabbed a few potions and herbs to do what he needed to enhance the parchment. He went back to the dais, and waved Sirius, who had stood silently watching him, to join him. He poured the potions on the empty part of the platform and then placed the parchment on top of the potion and then sprinkled the herbs on top of that.
Then he chanted a spell to seal the whole thing. It glowed a bright green for a flash of a second and then settled down. He then had Sirius cut his hand and drop seven drops of blood on the parchment's top center. There was a bright yellow flash and then nothing.
The blood spread and a map started forming. The writing was in blue for some reason, and it was in block letters, like it was being typed. Not that the two wizards would know that. The lines were thin and thick, depending on the size of the road they were depicting. It was of London and its surrounding areas.
It took around five minutes to complete and as it grew so did the men's impatience, and then there was a glowing white dot. Right above the dot were the words, 'Harry James Potter'.
"Found him," Arcturus said, pointing to the dot.
"I can see that," Sirius said, ready to run from the room and retrieve his godson.
"Stop," his grandfather said, grabbing his prison shirt. "We need a plan."
"I need to get him now," the dogman said, trying to free himself from the tight grip.
"You can't just go and get him dressed like that, you fool. At least get cleaned up," Arcturus said, moving them to the door.
"Yeah, I can do that. Do you have any of my clothes?" Sirius asked, finally stopping fighting him. He moved on his own violation. He extracted his shirt from his grandfather's grip and walked on his own.
"Yes, let me think of a plan while you shower," he said, going towards his study. "Come and find me when you are clean," he added, patting the younger man on the shoulder. "We'll do this right," he said, not above using dark magic to get the boy free from abusive relatives. Well, he didn't know they were abusive, but there had to be a reason that Sirius was worried.
"I will," Sirius said, going to where he knew his old clothes would be if there were any. He found some there and pulled out some pants, shirt, and trousers. There were socks and shoes to be had as well. The shoes looked kind of tight, but a spell would loosen them up just right. He gathered these all up and prepared to freshen up for the first time in five years.
"I'll think of something," Arcturus said, tapping his finger on his chin in thought. "Go clean up, then you can eat. We'll have your godson out by this evening, I swear it," he added solemnly.
"I'll keep you to your word," Sirius said, closing the door to the bathroom. He was looking forward to not looking like an escaped convict. His grandfather was right, he didn't want to scare his godson. It would be best if he was presentable.
"I promise," the old man said to the door. He went to the study to plan. It was what he did best.