A Magical Adventure (HP/GOT/MCU)

7th Sept 1992

Chief Warlock's Office, MoM

"It's because I'm a werewolf, isn't it?" Remus demanded.

"No, not at all!" Sirius protested, aghast.

Remus had been relieved to see Sirius again after all those years under the changed circumstances. He and Sirius had embraced each other like long lost brothers, happy in the knowledge that not everything had been destroyed that fateful night. The reunion had lasted for a whole five minutes after they got to Dumbledore's office, before the 'Why didn't I know about the switch?' argument had started.

"Really?" Remus didn't look at all convinced.

"Look, we just didn't want anybody to know that didn't absolutely have to," Sirius defended himself. "Literally, the only people who knew were the ones who had to. James and Lily were under the Fidelius, Pet- Wormtail was the Secret Keeper, and I was the decoy. We didn't even tell Dumbledore!"

"And in hindsight, that was not the best idea," Remus said seriously.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Well, of course it wasn't the best idea! Wormtail was a Death Eater!"

"I actually meant the 'not telling Dumbledore' part," Remus corrected. "You know, it's one thing not to tell the rest of the world, but I was a Marauder, and I was the only one of us not in the know," Remus remarked at length.

Sirius groaned. Was he ever going to let that go? He could easily see this being one of those things that Remus brought up from time to time for the rest of their lives. "Because it would have been too much of a risk!"

"Telling Wormtail was too much of a risk," Remus countered.

"Well, we know that now," Sirius conceded. "It's really not fair of you to use hindsight against me."

Remus crossed his arms unrepentantly. "And it wasn't fair of you to not tell me. If you really didn't not trust me, then why did you have Wormtail as the Secret Keeper instead of me? Merlin knows he would have been more comfortable with that."

Okay, so maybe Sirius and James did have a little bit of paranoia about Remus. It wasn't something they were proud of, it may have contributed to James and Lily's deaths, and there was absolutely no way Sirius was admitting to it now. Wormtail had just been far too spineless – Gryffindor or not – for them to really think he could be a spy…which probably had something to do with his success.

"Obviously, everyone was supposed to think that the Secret Keeper was me," Sirius said slowly. "But in the event that someone suspected otherwise, the very last person that they would have looked to was Wormtail, because he looked like he'd crack at the mere mention of torture. So, no one would've thought that we would've gone with him. You were a much more likely candidate."

"Even though I'm a werewolf?" Remus pressed.

Sirius started banging his head against a wall.

"Oh, that will convince them that you didn't get any brain damage from prolonged Dementor exposure," Remus said sarcastically.

Sirius let out an explosive sigh. "Where's Harry? I saw him with you in the courtroom," he asked, trying to change the topic.

"Outside. I told him and his friend to give us five minutes," said Remus.

"Well, you had your five minutes! Now, bring him in. I need to see my godson," said Sirius annoyedly.

Remus went out for a moment and returned with the two boys. But Sirius only had eyes for one person.

"Harry," Sirius said with a voice tight with emotions. "It's so good to see you."

Harry tentatively smiled, but seemed to be at a loss for words. He waited for Sirius to say something, but the older man just kept looking at him, as if trying to etch every feature of his face into memory.

"Forgive me," Sirius said after a while. "I must've dreamt of this moment a thousand times. I had a whole speech prepared, you know," he chuckled, "all the things I wanted to say to you. Yet, here you are...and I'm lost. I know you must hear this a lot, but you look remarkably like your father, except your eyes..."

"They're my mum's...yeah, I know," Harry smiled.

Sirius smiled. "I'm glad you were here today. Your father was my best friend. I wanted you to know that I would've rather died than betray him," he said earnestly.

Harry nodded. Sirius then turned to me.

"And you must be the young man I have to thank for my freedom," he said, extending his hand.

"Benjamin Carter, Mr Black," I said, shaking his hand. "But, everyone calls me Ben."

"Please, call me Sirius," he said with a grin, "Mr Black was my father...Benjamin Carter? Any relation to Andrew Carter?"

"He's my dad," I said.

"Ah, that clinches it. Lucky fellow, your dad... managed to land one of the prettiest birds in school," he said with a nostalgic smile.

The office door opened and Dumbledore came in. "Sirius, it is time," he said.

Sirius sighed. "To be released from Azkaban, only to be imprisoned at St Mungo's...haah, what terrible luck!"

"How long will you be in there?" Harry asked, concerned.

"A few weeks, probably a month or two," Dumbledore answered in Sirius' stead.

"Don't worry about me, Harry. I'll be fine. Besides, I've got Moony with me," he said, gesturing to Remus, before looking a bit uncertain. "I hope it's okay if I write to you sometime?" He asked hesitantly. "I'm not sure if you know, but, Lily and James asked me to be your Godfather. I know I've been a lousy one so far, but, I'd love to get the chance to know you better."

Harry smiled. "I'd like that," he said.

Sirius' face broke into a dog-like grin, before he came forward and embraced his godson.

"Well then, I guess I'll see you when Moony and the healers are done fussing over me," said Sirius, as they separated. "I can't make any promises now, but I'll try to make it to your first quidditch match of the season. I'm excited to see how well you fly. If you're anything like your dad, you'd be a natural," he said excitedly.

"And when we meet, I want you to tell me everything about your time in Hogwarts, including the best prank you've ever pulled. And there had better be one! Your father, me and Remus were well-known as THE best pranksters when we went to Hogwarts!" He proudly declared.

"Ahem," Dumbledore cleared his throat and fixed Sirius with a level gaze.

"I mean...stay out of trouble! And don't do anything I wouldn't!" he quickly backpedaled in front of the Headmaster, before considering his words. "Wait, that's not very sound advice...I mean, don't do anything reckless, but remember to have lots of fun," he finally decided.

"I will," Harry smilingly promised.

Later, as we were leaving the Ministry, I threw 10 galleons in the fountain pool, while Harry emptied his entire money pouch.

///////////////////////////

19th Sept 1992

Hogwarts castle

"Good morning, Ben," Hermione beamed, as she came down the stairs to the common room.

"Good morning," I said, closing the Daily Prophet I was going through. Even though it's been almost two weeks, the Trial of the Century story was still going strong. The paper was clearly trying to milk the issue for all of its sensational value. "Well, you seem mighty chipper this morning. What's the occasion?" I enquired.

"Nothing," she said lightly.

"Really?" I said, looking at her closely. "Are you sure? I'm not forgetting anything, am I?"

"If you forgot, then it's probably nothing important," she said, not looking at me.

"Probably," I agreed. "Let's go. I'm famished," I said, standing up and walking towards the door.

Hermione made a disappointed face and started to follow. I paused after a few steps and looked behind.

"Oh, do me a favour. Grab that paper, will you? Thanks," I said, pointing to the Daily Prophet on the coffee table.

She went and picked it up. As she turned around, something heavy inside the newspaper fell out. Bending down, she saw that it was a small blue-velvet jewellery box wrapped in a bow. Surprised, she looked up at me.

"Happy birthday!" I smiled at her.

A huge smile blossomed on her face. Picking up the box, she came close and gave me one of her patented crushing hugs.

"You remembered?" she laughingly said.

"Of course! What? Did you think I'd forget?" I smiled. "Go on, then. Open it."

She let go of me and took a closer look at her present. A soft gasp escaped her as she gently opened the box to reveal a delicately inscribed silver necklace with a blue diamond embedded in the centre.

"It's beautiful," she whispered in awe.

"It's more than just beautiful," I said, as she looked at me. "That incident with Malfoy made me realise that you could use some protection...in case one of those bigoted idiots decided that it would be fun to curse you in the back. So, I made you this," I said, gesturing to her present.

"It's enchanted to produce a magical shield around you anytime it perceives a source of foreign magical energy (spell) approaching you above a certain speed," I explained.

"Wow," she said softly, looking at the artifact with new eyes. "Thank you," she said to me. I smiled.

"Go ahead. Try it on," I said.

"It's your gift... you do it," she said with a slight blush.

"Alright," I said, taking the necklace. Walking behind her, I gently shifted her brown locks and securely tied the clasp of the chain around her neck.

"There you go," I said, coming back to the front. "It looks great on you."

"Thanks," she said with a soft smile.

"Shall we head down to breakfast, my lady?" I said, offering her my arm like a gentleman. We shared a chuckle as she intertwined her arm with mine and we made our way out of the common room.

The Great Hall was still only lightly populated when we arrived, with us two being the first among our friends to show up. But as soon as we were seated, an influx of people materialised, all of them heading straight for us.

"Happy birthday, Hermione!" Harry and Neville exclaimed, dropping into the spots opposite us at the Ravenclaw table. Next came Rachel, Luna, Ginny and Astoria. Each girl gave Hermione a brief hug before finding places to sit around us. Last to arrive were Daphne and Tracey, both of whom politely shook her hand and settled on our table.

Then, the gift giving started, and Hermione found herself deluged with wrapped packages. With a broad smile, she began unwrapping them. There were bottles of colour-changing ink, books, perfumes and some of the finest Honeydukes chocolate and sweets.

As she was opening the last one - a snow globe with a miniature Hogwarts in it from Neville, I held out another wrapped package in front of her.

"You already gave me one," she said, confused.

"It's not from me," I said with a smirk.

Noting the familiar neat handwriting in front of it, her eyebrows rose. "It's from my parents!"

"I collected it from them last night. I knew they wouldn't be able to send it to you otherwise," I winked at her.

She gave me another quick hug. "Thanks, Ben."

"Well, if that's all the presents," I said when she released me, "I suggest we all get some breakfast. I have one last thing for you, Hermione... although it's also for everyone else here."

Hermione narrowed her eyes, thinking furiously, before she seemed to arrive at a conjecture.

"Are you going to tea...?" She started.

"Uh, uh, uh...," I put my finger on her lips to make her stop talking. "Don't spoil the surprise! Eat something...all of you," I said, turning to my friends. "Trust me, you'll need your strength."

They exchanged glances but ultimately did as they were told. Attempts to pry information out of me were met with smirks and "you'll see". Soon, we were standing inside the club's reading room, where instead of the usual comfortable armchairs and couches, there were a dozen large red plush cushions innocuously placed on the marble floor.

"Okay, we're here. Do you finally feel like talking now?" Daphne asked me in a testy voice.

I smiled at her usual impatience. "Because last year you were busy pretending that you didn't know me, Daphne, there are some things about me that you, unlike them," I pointed to Harry, Neville and Hermione, "didn't come to know of," I said, raising my right hand.

With a thought, a blue ball of fire manifested in the palm of my hand. Everyone's breath hitched, as even from a distance, they could feel the searing heat and the power of the gently flickering flames. With a flex of magic, fire turned into a sphere of rapidly swirling water...which then transformed into a beautiful ice dagger. I ended the show by dispersing the ice and summoning sparks of barely contained white lightning for a few seconds, before silence returned.

"You can cast magic wandlessly?" Luna asked, looking interested.

"Yes, Luna. I can," I said with a soft smile.

"Where did you learn how to do that?" said Daphne, still looking at my hand.

"Oh, I picked up some tricks...here and there," I said lightly. "The point is, I am fairly certain I can teach you all a few things now, without there being any harmful side-effects. If you are interested, that is."

"Obviously!" Hermione said at once, with a 'duh' expression.

"We would be fools not to," supplied Daphne.

"All in favour?" I asked, noting the excited looks all round. "Very well. Take off your shoes, and sit down cross-legged on those cushions."

"Before we begin, you should know this," I said, once they had made themselves comfortable. "Learning wandless magic has several benefits - first and foremost, you will no longer be useless without your wands. Instead of just learning how to cast spells, you will come to understand how spells are formed...how they are actualised. This will allow you to safely create your own spells, in time.

But the most important benefit is that the 'Trace' will no longer be effective in monitoring you. As long as you don't use your wands, the Ministry has no way of knowing that you performed magic...which leaves you free to cast any spells during the holidays." Hermione looked delighted at this piece of information.

"But be warned...this will not be easy," I said, looking them in the eye to get my meaning across. "If you thought casting spells with a wand was difficult, then you'll find wandless magic ten times harder. There is a good reason why wands are used by almost everyone in the Wizarding World. Without wands, you'll need 80-90% more energy to power the same spells. Your wands help you in directing the flow of magic needed to form spells. Without them, you will have to do that by yourself."

"It will take time...more than that, it will take patience," I said, sitting down in front of them. "However, if you are ready to commit yourselves...to practice diligently...then I can promise you this: By the time you graduate, no more than a handful of people in entire Wizarding Britain will be able to match you...and those will be the ones with decades of magical experience under their belt."

"I have said my piece. If you wish to leave, now is the time." I concluded serenely.

They shared glances among themselves. My oldest friends smiled, as did Rachel and Luna. Our newer friends seemed less sure. But when they turned towards me, I could see the same determined expression mirrored in all their faces.

"Alright, then. Let's get started," I smiled. "The very first thing you need to learn is how to draw magic from your aetherial core..."