No, he hadn't but it was disconcerting to realise the other Ancient and Noble Houses might know of Harry's affinity for family magic; his skin crawled with unease.
"We've drifted from the point." Sirius said evenly.
"Yes, we have." Nott murmured. His dark gaze met Sirius's once again. "Is it so hard to accept that you are not the only father who wants his son safe, Sirius?"
Sirius inwardly sighed and stuffed the remaining Battenberg in his mouth while he considered his answer. He set the plate aside and swallowed the last of his coffee. "As the Regent of the House of Potter, I'll accept the service of the Heir to the House of Nott for one year to actively begin at his graduation from Hogwarts. Until that time he will be considered to be in service to the House and will need to take an oath of loyalty as soon as it is possible for it to be arranged."
Nott allowed a look of relief to cross his features and bowed his head. "Thank you. I'll request a private meeting for our Heirs and ourselves next weekend at Hogwarts? I'm sure Albus will be happy to provide us with a room."
"Accepted." Primarily because it meant he could see Harry twice in a week.
They both stood up and Sirius sent a signal to Penny who immediately turned up at the study door to escort Nott out.
"Good day, Sirius."
"Good day, Benjamin." Sirius returned the formal farewell. He waited until Nott was almost out of the study before he spoke again without looking at the older wizard. "Nott, if your son ever betrays mine, I will not need my wand to kill you both; understood?"
Nott stopped and glanced back at him. "Arcturus would be proud of you, Sirius. He was right; you are a formidable Lord Black."
And with that he was gone.
Sirius wondered if he'd been complimented or insulted or both. He grumbled to himself as he checked the time and settled back at his desk. He continued to work through what was left of the afternoon, shooing Penny on her on her way around five o'clock. He barely touched the meal Kreacher delivered to him, picking at it absently as he went over his lesson plan for that evening. Finally, it was time to leave and Sirius headed for the Ministry to pick up his replacement assistant for the night.
He made it to the office of Amelia Bones without running into too many people and he was shown straight in by her secretary who seemed to have a problem with her eyelashes they were fluttering so much.
"Amelia!" Sirius smiled widely at the witch as he took her hand in the professional shake she preferred in the office.
"Sirius!" Amelia grinned at him. "You look well."
"Don't lie," Sirius remonstrated, "I look awful."
"Awful is relative, Sirius," Amelia said as she started to pack up, "and I assume the bags under your eyes are evidence of a few sleepless nights because of your first experience of empty nest syndrome?"
"I miss Harry madly." Sirius admitted. "And the new house doesn't feel right yet. How goes the tribunal preparation?" He asked, deliberately changing the subject.
Amelia gave a very unladylike snort. "It goes. We have the nominations in for who should sit; Gideon Baron is nominated by a land slide so he's definite. The other person…is surprisingly Daniel Greengrass although Malfoy came close. Travers continues to say nothing while the other three claim Imperius every time a guard speaks to them." She waved a hand to dismiss the topic. "Thank you for asking me along to substitute for Remus tonight, by the way."
Sirius's eyes took on a mischievous glint. "Brian's not upset I'm borrowing you, is he?"
Amelia shot him a warning look but answered anyway. "Brian thinks it's a splendid idea. I'm looking forward to duelling Harry."
He grinned. "He might surprise you."
She laughed heartily and ushered him out of her office, ignoring the jealous look cast her way by her secretary. "I'm looking forward to surprising Susan." There was a hint of evil in her grin as they made their way to the floo discussing the plan for the duelling lesson.
They arrived into Alastor Moody's floo. Moody was already there, wand poised as he cast detection spells on them before grunting and pointing at a piece of parchment.
Amelia rolled her eyes but pricked her thumb and placed her blood on the parchment. It immediately confirmed her identity. Sirius did the same before he turned and held his wand on Alastor.
"Your code word, Alastor?" Sirius demanded.
"Long John Silver." Moody replied gruffly with a nod of approval at Sirius's caution.
Amelia sighed. "I wish this wasn't necessary."
"Until we catch the prat with the improved Polyjuice, everyone's going through it." Moody said firmly. "Constant vigilance!"
"We should get to the Duelling training room." Sirius excused them before Moody could get going or Amelia got wound up by Moody's paranoia.
The Duelling training room was already filled with excited and chattering fourteen year olds. Pausing on the threshold, Sirius grimaced at the number realising all of the fourth year had turned out despite the duelling club not being mandatory.
"I thought you were a Gryffindor, Black." Amelia whispered in his ear and forcefully pushed him through the door.
Harry spotted him immediately and hurried over to give a small bow – Andromeda's etiquette lessons had been well pressed into his head. Sirius reached out to take hold of his shoulder, wrestling back the urge to hug him half to death with the internal promise he'd do it at the end of the lesson when they'd gotten rid of an audience. He drank in the sight of Harry; warm, alive and safe.
"Auntie?!" Susan's shriek cut through the babble and helped to silence the room as she bounded across for a hug from her Aunt.
"Well done, Susan," Sirius said loudly, "for introducing the stand-in for Professor Lupin for tonight's duelling lesson: Director of Magical Law Enforcement, Amelia Bones!"
There was a round of applause as Susan gazed in stunned bewilderment at her aunt who took a bow and grinned at the fourth years.
Sirius whistled and gained everyone's attention. "For those of you who don't know me, I'm Sirius Black. I've been told that you have to call me Professor." He made a face which had a few of them chuckling. "Right. So this is how it's going to work normally: there will be a practice session in the first half where we show you a spell and you practice casting it with speed and accuracy. Then in the second half, we'll invite those best performing to duel in a demonstration with the aim of using the spell they have been practising. For today though we're going to practice some simple duelling spells to see where everyone's level is at. Neville and Harry, you'll both work together because of our previous lessons – everyone else; find a partner." He quickly gave the instructions for the disarming and shielding spell – he and Amelia demonstrating both three times so that the kids got to see the wand actions in full.
He had Amelia check on the rest of the room while he taught Neville and Harry a freezing spell and got them to start practicing it on dummies in a corner of the room.
"Why do they get to do that?" Ernie MacMillan demanded furiously.
Sirius raised his eyebrow and banked his irritation with the memory of Minerva warning him to be patient with the students when he was teaching. "Because I've been teaching them over the Summer and I know they're well beyond disarming. Once I've assessed all your skill levels I can see which of you can move up. Why don't you show me how you're doing with the disarming?"
Ernie flushed but signalled his partner Justin. The pair demonstrated and Sirius corrected them both, telling them to continue practicing. He moved on.
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