The three of them popped out of the fireplace in Grimmauld Place. Darius had just finished telling them the story of how he had gone after the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets alone the last year and they were stunned. They didn’t seem sure if it wasn’t some elaborate tall-tale or just another example of reality being stranger than fiction.

The next step was to fortify the house against any threats. The Black family were known for their paranoia and the house was fitted with the best wards of the time, which was unfortunately several decades ago. Warding and Ward-breaking had advanced since then and there was a lot of patching up to be done. Most of the job could be handed over to the Goblins, and that was one of the topics of discussion between Sirius and the goblins. But core permissions required a Lord Black. Unfortunately, Darius was not knowledgeable or powerful enough to put up the Fidelius Charm, it would have saved a lot of troubles. It was a tricky charm and successfully applying it was still a few years away. There was also the fact that a particular soul could only have so many secrets, it’s not like a wizard could go around putting endless Fidelius, generally the number was around 7, though it could be higher depending on the aggregate magic power.

Sirius took them to the underground room even further underneath the cellar. It was a gloomy tunnel and they finally came out in a huge ritualistic room at the bottom. It was about a fourth of the size of the room in Gringotts but impressive nonetheless.

“Welcome, one and all, to the Black family’s ward room. My dear departed mother would be rolling in her grave right now if she knew I had brought outsiders in here. In fact, I don’t think she even knew that I knew about this room. Darius, once you are able to cast the Fidelius, you’ll have to do it from here. That’s the only way it will take hold on the entire house and not conflict with the existing wards.”

The room had four huge cubes of rune-engraved stones in the corners and an absolutely massive cube of what seemed to be obsidian in the centre. It was full of blood red runes and had a magical aura that made it almost impossible to even approach it, it was so heavy and oppressive. Sirius went forward and slit his palm with a knife, letting his blood pool in a receptacle shaped like a stone basin in front of the cube. It took nearly a minute before the runes started flashing and Sirius backed up a little to heal his wound and take a blood replenishing potion. We knew something like this might be involved and were prepared. It was a necessity for actually taking over the wards instead of letting them act in their dormant mode. The rest could simple be completed in the study.

They trooped to the study to get it over with. The study was dusty but they took their places in front of the desk anyways. Sirius started fumbling along in the drawers behind the desk.

“Every magical family, at least the ones which are well off and have decent wards have a ward book within their homes. It is almost impossible to key any visitor through the multitude of wards on a house, so a work-around in the form of a ward book was created. The Lord of the family can enter the names of those whom he wishes to let enter the house and they are automatically keyed in.

Knowing my family, there may be some unsavoury people keyed into the wards and I want a clean slate. The Lestranges, my cousins Narcissa and Bellatrix and many others.”

Sirius than proceeded to remove every name on the book with a swipe of his wand and then proceeded to enter the names of those we trusted. He was already in it as the Lord, Harry and Darius obviously, Andromeda and her family, Remus and Amelia. That was it. He could bring more people in but he had to enter their names in the book to give them permanent access. Darius thought it was a swell idea. Sirius must have allowed everyone in the Order of the Phoenix in last time because there wasn’t much he could have done otherwise. He’ll need to be convinced otherwise now. It was a safe place of refuge and there was no point bringing others in here. They could easily find another place to have their clandestine meetings.

“Sirius, this is great! You should be very careful with the names you put on that book. This will be safe place of refuge for you and Harry. Harry has not exactly had a pleasant childhood and your last twelve years in Azkaban weren’t a cakewalk either. It would do the two of you a lot of good to spend some time together and I don’t think allowing others in here would be a great idea, at least for the time being. You can obviously do so when you are back to full health and want to get friends over. And DO NOT let Dumbledore in here. That man has more plots than he has lived years and keeping this place secure from him would be a very good idea.”

“Yeah, I get what you are saying Darius. In fact, the old man is lucky I’m not coming after him with my wand. But I promised myself that I’d stick by Harry if I ever got out of Azkaban and I’m keeping my promise.”

Harry broke the silence after that.

“Hey Sirius, as far as I know the entire family of Black was known to tend more towards the dark arts more than anything else. How come you are so different from the rest?”

“Ah, Harry! That’s because I am this epic man who was sent by god to cleanse the earth of the filth in my family. I am-”

“C'mon, be serious!”

“I am Sirius! Alright, alright. The truth of the matter is I don’t know. I guess I never believed in that pureblood dogma since childhood and meeting the rest of the marauders and Lily just made me even more aware of the bigotry in our world. I just didn’t want to be associated with all that. But you were right about my family. Right little bunch of evil bunch they are. In fact, let me tell you one of our secret stories that I read in the library when I was young.”

“In the mid-1300's there was an illness that swept through Europe. While the numbers are rather different depending who you talk to, it is believed that somewhere between 75 and 200 million people died because of it. That would account for 30-60 percent of the European population back then.

At the time it was believed that the entire world's population was only a mere 450 million people so you can see what a huge impact this illness had in the world. Entire towns and cities were wiped out as the disease spread. It is estimated that the world population didn't return to their pre-illness levels till sometime in the late 1700's."

Around the table, Sirius could see their faces with looks of shock at the appalling loss of life the illness had caused. At the other end of the table, Harry’s face had drained of all colour.

"This pandemic or Black Plague as it was called -"

"The Black Death"

Darius breathed out softly, his hand shaking and eyes wide in disbelief.

"You mean the Black Death was because of the Black family. It was your ancestors?”

“Unfortunately, it seems so. So, I will tell the story as I remember it.

In the first part of the 1300's, one Romulus Black, the current head of the Black family, was traveling through northern France near Valenciennes where he happened upon a young woman. She was Philippa of Hainault, the only daughter of William I, the then Count of Hainault.

The two fell in love almost at first sight. Romulus, traveling as a young, wealthy merchant at the time, asked the Count for her hand and was denied. Romulus was furious and was certain that Philippa's father had only turned him down due to his being an Englishman."

"The English and French have a long history of hating each other."

Darius had read about the French when he was studying about the Flamel’s early life. They were instrumental in setting up Beauxbatons and he read up a bit on France other than that as well.

Sirius acknowledged Darius’ comment with a slight nod of his head before continuing.

"My forbear would not take no for an answer and made several more requests, offering larger and grander bride prices each time only to be denied. Eventually, Romulus, along with all the English nobility, was called home to Court. Edward III, the King of England, was in the process of rebuilding England's forces after the disastrous rule of his father.

Romulus was a close advisor to Edward and beseeched the King to intercede on his behalf. I'm sure he felt that no mere Count would say no to a King, be he English or otherwise. Things, however, did not go as planned. There was war with Scotland, and the French were raiding along the English coastal towns. While on the continent to defend English territory, Edward had the opportunity to meet Philippa whom he had heard so much about from Romulus."

Edward was said to be smitten and married Philippa shortly after that. Hearing of the marriage, Romulus hurried to the cathedral with the intent to stop the wedding, only to be barred entry by order of the King.

Only after the ceremony had been concluded, and the marriage had been consummated properly, did Edward allow Romulus to see Philippa. There, before a small gathering of lords and ladies, the Queen of England rebuffed his affections. There wasn't much else she could do I would think. She was the Queen of England by that point, and it would bring dishonour to the entire country were she to admit to her love for Romulus.

For several years Romulus remained a broken man, until one day he just up and disappeared. The rest of the Black family searched for him to no avail. They knew he was alive as the Head of House did not transfer to the next in line, and large quantities of gold periodically were withdrawn from the Black family vaults. It was several years before he returned home.

"Romulus had been in the far east researching with potions and the magic of that region. The man, driven nearly mad from betrayal and a broken heart had done the unthinkable. It was rumoured that Edward himself was a wizard. There had long been magicals in the royal lines. Romulus had crafted a potion that he believed would kill Edward and Philippa. A liquid form of a curse.

Returning home so that he could be there when the royal couple perished, Romulus bragged to family members about how he had commissioned a beautiful silk dress for the Queen of England. Dousing the dress in the potion he created, he had sent it over the silk road, across Europe, to England. The fool didn't realize what he had done at the time.

The potion did not stay just on the dress but rather seeped from it and infected any magical that came into contact with it. Magicals, even back then were prone to travel abroad a great deal, all of which only aided in the spreading of this foulest of curses. Fully three-quarters of the world's magical population perished in less than a year's time. It was only a few years later that there were reports of what was later called the Black Plague coming out of the far east and Asia areas of the world."

"But it wasn't intended for muggles." Harry said.

"No, it wasn't," Sirius confirmed.

"It was targeted at magicals. It attacked their magic and then ate them from the outside in leaving a black discoloration of their skin. People took to calling it the Black Death due to that, with only our family knowing just how apt the name truly was."

"Regular people died in a similar manner." Harry offered.

"But how could a magical curse designed for people with magical energy effect non-magicals who have none?"

"If I had to hazard a guess, squibs."Darius speculated.

"While they are magical they are also as close to muggle as one can get."

"It mutated!" exclaimed Harry.

"Pathogens and viruses often mutate, becoming something different than they originally were. Romulus' curse must have altered and adapted to the squibs, and from there it was only a matter of time before it would infect the non-magicals!"

"My thoughts as well." Sirius replied, impressed with the young man's reasoning.

"In the end, neither Edward nor Philippa contracted the illness, so it was all for naught."

"What did Romulus do then?"

Harry asked almost fearfully. It was stunning to think that one man's jealousy and desire for revenge could account for such an incredible loss of life.

"Nothing!"

Sirius said with a finality that told them that the man's future did not bode well for him.

"Learning of what Romulus had done, his cousin Radolff Black murdered him and became the next Head of House for the Black family. The damage had already been done though by that time, and all they could do was to ensure that no one ever discovered what had happened. Only the family and only the main line at that, knew the whole truth of the matter.”

That was a story for the campfire. To think one man caused so much loss of life over one woman.

But Darius was also rather curious about the Eastern poisons and magic that was spoken off. It just firmed his decision to go around the world when he was done with his business here. There was so much more to see.

They only had to wait another five minutes, as they pondered over the story before Andromeda appeared in the fireplace among roaring green flames. It was time for Sirius and Harry to go to St Mungo’s.