Chapter 27

"Fuck!" Dumbledore swore aloud in the confines of his safehouse as he threw the crumbled newspaper to the ground. Everything seemed to be falling apart. All that he had built up over the years, crumbling because of Harry-Bloody-Potter. 'No wait, it wasn't Potter.' He corrected in his mind. It was Sirius Black that had started the whole fiasco. His pawn would still be alive and following along if Sirius hadn't lost it and killed the boy.

'And Black even dared blackmail him!' Albus was still seething about that. He'd let the man have too much freedom and now he was deviating from Dumbledore's carefully crafted master plan.

His to-do list had grown exponentially since Harry's passing and he mentally tallied the things in his mind. Getting Sirius under control once more and having him claim his Lordship so he can have access to Bellatrix's vault, finding Snape and Potter, reeling Lupin back into the fold, finding a new wand...

More and more things kept being added to the list and the Headmaster, loath that he was to admit it, was getting overwhelmed. Now he had to deal with Poppy, Tonks, and Kingsley's ongoing investigation, which he only learned about secondhand as Aastor hadn't informed him of it, and with the recent article by Skeeter, his standing was taking a hit with people now questioning where Potter was. What's more the Hogwarts Board of Directors had sent him a letter after the article came out to inform him that they would be doing a full audit of Hogwarts going back 50 years to ensure no foul play has occurred. Albus had expected this to be Malfoy's doing but was surprised when he saw Augusta Longbottom's signature on the document.

Albus had some suspicion that Harry might be behind these recent events but then he shook his head. It was impossible. The goblins had stated bluntly that the Potter accounts were frozen as of now so there was no way the boy could have gotten access to any funds. Severus, Albus wrote off quickly. The Potion master lived paycheck to paycheck. Albus was assured of that fact as he was making Snape pay for many of the potion ingredients out of his own pocket. He had carefully funneled galleons out of the Hogwarts Potion fund fairly equal to the amount of ingredients Snape purchased at times. Tiffy had been a great help spying on the man. For once it was a blessing that Snape wouldn't be around when any auditors came knocking.

But that still begged the question, of who was messing with him. Skeeter knew of very specific classes he had targeted, classes that had boasted low student numbers over the years, so he reasoned that she would have a source on the inside. But then his office wards and the portraits would have alerted him to any intruders. Or could it have been someone on the Board that had been poking their nose in old records? Not only was his Order falling apart but now he had to do damage control as well. It simply wouldn't do to be linked to Fudge's idiotic actions let alone the insinuation that he had the hots... a shudder ran through him... for Dolores Umbridge of all people. He'd rather kiss a cactus.

"Master Dumbleydoor, Sir!" Tiffy popped in looking quite frantic. "Mister Black is about to kill his house elf!"

Albus apparated through the wards of the Black family townhouse with ease as Sirius had given him special permission. The scene that he found shocked him. The living room was a mess. It looked like someone had thrown a tantrum and smashed the furniture. Spell scorch marks could still be seen on the walls and Walburga's picture frame. Speaking of, the woman was yelling up a storm, cursing her son out for making a mess, and trying to lay a hand on the only house-elf still loyally serving House Black. Albus knew Walburga to be a rather cold Pureblood supremacist. Not as insane as her niece Bellatrix but close enough. So for the painting of the woman, who was always cursing out Order members for their blood status, to defend a house-elf was a surprise.

Sirius for his part leaned against the upturned-half-destroyed-settee clutching his head in agony. Kreacher's body lay slumped against the staircase with blood dripping down the mahogany steps.

"What the..." Albus uttered, still absolutely shocked.

"They're gone..."

"Gone..." Sirius mumbled.

"What happened here Sirius?!" Albus asked with a harsh tone in his voice.

"They're gone," Sirius repeated. "Poppy's gone, the twins and the others are gone as well..."

"Poppy's gone?!" Albus's voice now strained at the implications. He crouched down to be at eye level with Sirius and uttered a cold 'Legitimens'.

Albus frowned as he entered Sirius's mindscape. It seemed utterly chaotic. Memories flew past as he began to sift through them to find the one he wanted.

'Come on James,' Sirius uttered as he and a young James Potter rigged water balloons to pelt other students on the stairs.

'Siri have you been drinking?' Harry asked upon finding the man dazing on the leather wingback chair in the study. 'Five more minutes James,' Sirius mumbled.

"What did you do?!" Sirius was slammed into the wall as Severus grabbed him by the collar hissing angrily. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"He should have listened!" Sirius tried to defend before a fist connected with his face. Dumbledore watched his past self apparate into Grimmauld place after the alarms monitoring Harry had gone off like crazy. He watched the scene of himself finding Harry dead at the bottom of the stairs and Snape kicking Sirius's arse. "Petrificus Totalus," Dumbledore casted, immobilizing Snape. "Obliviate,"

Albus turned his back on the scene, digging deeper through the chaos of the mindscape. Finally he found what he was looking for.

The wards were going off like crazy in the townhouse and Albus watched Sirius race down the stairs and towards the basement. He followed behind to see what had happened. There standing in front of an open cell he found Ron, Hermoine, and Ginny.

"Where is she?!" Sirius yelled with a crazed glint in his eye.

"Away from you, you sicko!" Ron shouted back as the trio drew their wands.

"Shit, the twins ripped straight through the wards," Hermoine realized what had set the alarms off as she watched Sirius take out his own wand.

"Enough of this! THIS IS FOR HARRY!" Ginny suddenly said before casting a Bombarda, sending Sirius flying straight back through the door he had come out of along with the shattered door and frame.

"Bloody Hell Gin," Ron whispered in awe as the twins popped back in to grab the trio.

When Sirius came to and saw that the teens had vanished as well he rounded on Kreacher who had started sweeping up the mess in the kitchen.

"What did you do?!" Sirius snarled at the old elf.

"I sweep," Kreacher answered.

"What did you do with Poppy?!" Sirius rephrased his question.

"I did as nasty Master ordered." the old elf answered.

"Well, she escaped!" Sirius shot back.

"Nasty Master never ordered me to stop her from escaping," Kreacher shot back. This infuriated Sirius so much that he shot a Crucio at the old elf.

The look on Albus's face was indescribable as he resurfaced from Sirius's mind. Not only had the man acted on his own to kidnap Madam Pomfrey, but he got outsmarted by an elf. Now Poppy and the teens were in the wind and they knew the truth. He wondered if it was still worth keeping the man around. Then he shook his head. He needed the Horcrux in Bellatrix's vault. Something only she or her family's Lord could access. He had contemplated doing away with the man and having Draco inherit the Lordship as the closest male relative, however, that would bring complications as Lucius would be acting as a proxy for his brat. If he somehow managed to do away with the Malfoy parents then Draco's guardianship would go to Severus, who would equally not let the Headmaster near the boy's fortunes. So his best bet had been Sirus Black. He would have proven the man's innocence when the time was appropriate and then would have requested access to the vault, which Sirius would have granted out of gratitude. Now everything was getting bolloxed up.