Chapter 27: Meetings

"Why did the headmaster call for me, professor?" Kaiser asked, but he had a very bad feeling for this. Dumbledore paying attention to him isn't good news.

"He wishes to... Inquire about your wellbeing. He wants to speak to you himself." Professor Flitwick answered. The headmaster, under normal circumstances, did not need to do the asking himself, as one of the professors could do it in his stead.

'Great... Exactly what I needed...' Kaiser sighed. He needed to think of how to deal with the old man. The last thing he needed was an enemy as powerful as him. 'Let's try logic and see how it goes...'

"Ah. Filius, Mr. Lunar. Please, take a seat." He gestured to the empty seats.

"I owe you an apology, Mr. Lunar. because of my incompetence, you had to go through ... Such an ordeal. You are far too young to see that cruel side of the world." Dumbledore said with a sad expression.

"Please, don't blame yourself, headmaster. We were foolish to venture to the forbidden forest. If someone is to blame, it should be us for betraying your trust in us." Kaiser said passionately. He never met the headmaster's eye. And since Kaiser rarely showed emotions in his presence, he had no way to be sure if he was faking it, which he was.

"Professor Snape told me what happened. While I am very proud of your magical prowess, I am worried at the effects it might have, especially on a soul as young as yourself." Dumbledore said wisely. "Most people who experience... Death first hand show numerous psychological effects. Guilt, insomnia among others. Have you rested well since the incident?"

Kaiser sighed and had a weary look on his face. He looked distantly at the sky through the window and said: "it is as you said, headmaster. I do feel some... Changes."

"That's quite normal, my boy. Anyone who had to go through what you did would." Dumbledore nodded in a grandfatherly manner.

"I tell myself, no matter how cruel a man is, he never deserves to die. Everyone can change, and should therefore be given a second chance. Am I right, headmaster?" Kaiser asked. Right now, he was merely a student taking wisdom from the old headmaster, who has years of experience in his belt.

"That is correct, my boy. It is never right to kill people. We are not gods, but merely humans. We all have our flaws." Dumbledore nodded wisely; he liked where this is going.

"I... Heard stories, headmaster." Kaiser took a deep breath. "About the reign of terror during Valdy's time. How they would deal with those who opposed them. One of those I could never forget." There was a red gleam in Kaiser's eyes, and dumbledore frowned; he heard his fair share, and whatever kaiser would say couldn't be good.

/! Warning: Mention of torture and rape. /!

"There was this Auror, active during his time. He caught several Death Eaters, and led the earliest resistances against him in the Auror corps. The Aurors at the time were joining him in numbers, until the Death Eaters caught him, waiting for him at his home. What followed was a week of torture. Not through the Cruciatus curse alone, that would have been merciful. They tortured his son in front of him, until he went insane.

They then killed him slowly in front of both his parents. Then they took turns raping his daughter. When they got tired of it, they used the Cruciatus on her, until she died. She was no more than sixteen. His wife, who already broke down followed through the same process. They never laid a finger on the man whom they wished to hurt. They didn't have to... They released him afterwards in the middle of Diagon Alley, along with his family's lifeless bodies. He killed himself a week later in the hospital."

/! - End - /!

Kaiser looked at the headmaster's frowning face with glowing crimson eyes, and continued: "you're asking me how I can sleep at night, knowing there is four less monsters in the world?"

A smirk slowly formed at the edge of Kaiser's lips. "Like a baby."

Dumbledore stared at him for a while, studying him closely. His argument does make sense, but once we start deciding who to kill and who to keep alive, we'll start a vicious cycle that would never end. He prides himself in being an intellectual being, capable of rational thought. Kaiser could understand this line of thought too, could he not?

"You are one of the smartest students we have at Hogwarts. It pains me to see you treading such dangerous path." He said, but there were no emotions visible on his face.

"What path are you speaking of, headmaster? You don't seriously believe I'd start looking for people to kill, do you? I am a very busy person. You're not comparing me to Tom Riddle, are you?"

"I can't divine the future, Mr. Lunar. But I can see the signs. Tom Riddle was a brilliant young boy, and I failed to see the signs when they were in front of my eyes. I won't repeat the same mistake again." the headmaster said. There was a hint of warning in his voice.

"I'm sure you won't. Can I excuse myself?" at the headmaster's nod, Kaiser got up. He took a look at the headmaster's wand, that was silently sitting on his desk, before leaving. He had a very interesting idea. He certainly made a mistake here, but he couldn't stand the headmaster's hypocrisy anymore.

It's been a long time since Sirius was able to relax. He was first thrown unjustly to Azkaban, though he believed he deserved it at the time. He failed to protect the man he considered to be his brother, when he had barely started a family. Had he been their Secret Keeper, he would've taken their secrets to the grave. They were afraid he might be targeted, since he is the obvious choice for them. If only he argued a bit better back then perhaps they would've made him the Secret Keeper?

He took a long relaxing bath, cut his hair and shaved his dreadfully untidy beard with the temporary wand that was arranged for him. One has to know that owning an unregistered wand was very difficult since it was a criminal offense, and no wand maker would risk it, which shows the amount of power the Neutral Faction has.

On a side note, shaving is exceedingly easy in the Wizarding world, and risk free. The shaving spell only targeted hair, and couldn't scratch your skin, which was very convenient. Even more, it did so with a mind-boggling precision. As long as you had a clear image of what you wanted to achieve, you can achieve that exact result with practically no errors. The same goes for cutting your hair, though people rarely do it on their own, and rather pay a barber with more sense of fashion to do it for them, along with other hair treatments.

The next day, he was to meet his host, Karl Greengrass, to discuss with him how they would deal with his special circumstances. Karl was already waiting for him, sitting in a circular sofa around a table.

"Mr. Black. A pleasure to meet you. Please take a seat." Karl greeted with a smile.

"Likewise. Thank you for your assistance in those very hard times, I am indebted to you." Sirius offered a small bow, but Karl waved his thanks off.

"Don't thank me, thank Mr. Lunar. He was the one who arranged everything for you." Karl needed him to be more indebted to Kaiser than himself, as it would help things go smoothly later on.

"Uhm, I don't want to be rude, but who exactly is Mr. Lunar?" Sirius tilted his head puzzled. He never heard of that last name before.

"Ah. He is the kid with the crimson hair and eyes."

"Oh yea, he is quite capable isn't he?" Sirius was very impressed by what he saw that day, even though he didn't see the full fight.

"You don't know the half of it." Karl chuckled, and took out one of the phone-like communication device and handed it to Sirius. "He also arranged this for you."

"What is it?"

"It's a communication device. It will allow you to instantly communicate with your godson. He was given one as well. Think of it as a portable Floo Network, but only sends written messages." Karl then explained to him how to use it.

"This is marvelous! I don't think there was such a device before, was there?" Sirius marveled at its usefulness.

"Actually, it still isn't available in the market. This is only a prototype."

"How did he get his hands on it, then?" Sirius didn't understand.

"Why? Because he's the one who makes them, of course." Karl said matter-of-factly, and waited for Sirius's eyes to widen. He needed to create a positive image of Kaiser as much as possible.

"But enough chitchat. Let's deal with the important matters first. As you know, this facility is heavily warded, and secrecy is its utmost concern." He began, eyeing Sirius' reaction carefully. "I have heard that the Black House Elf does not hold you in the highest regards." Sirius frowned at this, unable to understand how was that relevant. "You see, House Elves, if not loyal, can present a security risk. Therefore, I'd like to begin with dealing with that first." Sirius' eyes lit in understanding.

"How should I deal with him? Do I have to release him?"

"Not at all. Call for him, and forbid him from communicating or taking orders from anyone but yourself. Also, from Apparating people."

"Kreacher!" a pop was heard, and a House Elf with wrinkled face and tattered clothes appeared.

"Did filthy blood traitor master call for Kreacher?" he said in the most derisive way he could muster.

After Sirius gave him his orders, Kreacher bowed, but he was boiling inside: "Yes, blood traitor master." House Elves could never betray their master, because once they did, they would die instantly. Sirius could order him to stop calling him 'blood traitor', but for some reason, he never did.

"Now, we deal with our next problem. Ask him if his previous master, Regulus Black, left him with any peculiar object, with instructions to hide, perhaps?" Kreacher's eyes lit with hope, for some reason.

"Why?" Sirius frowned, he did not understand what Karl meant by that.

"Please." Karl raised a hand. "I will explain everything to you afterwards."

Before Sirius even finished his order, Kreacher jumped and said: "Yes! Yes! Master Regulus left Kreacher an object, and asked him to destroy it. Kreacher could not destroy it no matter what he tried."

Karl looked pensive for a moment and said: "Ask him to bring it here. We know how to destroy it."

As Kreacher did what he was told, Sirius looked at Karl: "Are you going to tell me what's going on?"

Karl sighed. "In your godson's first year, there was a professor who attacked him, to steal a certain object from him."

"What?!" Sirius looked murderous, enraged someone dared to lay a hand on his godson, and a professor no less. "It was Snivelus wasn't it?!"

"The professor in question is dead." Karl said before it got worse. "but that's not the issue. He was possessed by the Spirit of the previous Dark Lord. You can ask your godson about it later. After he died, the spirit left his body and fled. The year afterwards, there was a series of petrifications at school.

Mr. Potter and Mr. Lunar later found out it was a student behind them, but here is the tricky part: said student was controlled by a dark artifact holding the memory of the You-Know-Who when he was still a student. The artifact was also impossible to destroy, and was nourishing itself with the life force of its victim." After a few moments of silence, waiting for Sirius to digest everything that was said so far, he continued:

"The artifact originated from the hands of Lucius Malfoy, one of the high-ranking Death Eaters. We suspected You-Know-Who left several of such Artifacts at the hands of his Death Eaters, and therefore the reason we suspected Regulus Black was also one of them."

After pondering for a moment, Sirius asked: "What are they exactly?"

"We do not know. We only know one way of destroying them. Which brings us to our next problem."