96 One Bad Day

(Yo! I'm back!)

"It might just work."

Famous words that often preceded a game bugged to the nine hells, but Magnus knew it was a solid idea. He could feel it in his guts, and his innards have never failed so far.

He peeked one last time at the diadem, ignoring that ugly feeling of greed that grew inside him at the mere sight of the legendary treasure.

'There's no saving that one.' He thought with finality, at that was it. He shoved the diadem and all it represented into a removed corner of his psyche and focused on what he could actually salvage from Voldemort's corruption, 'But the rest of the room doesn't have to burn with it.'

Now, with how much time he'd spent trying and failing to touch, move or affect Rowena's heirloom with anything but the most bland of scrying spells, one would think there was no way out but through overwhelming destruction; Fiendfyre, the only way to destroy a Horcrux without a supply of basilisk venom or some Deus Ex Machina that made casting the killing curse as something so arcane and mysterious a perfectly harmless endeavor, barely an inconvenience really.

But Magnus was certainly not going to trust something as fickle as fate with his safety, and with good reasons too! That thing actually favored someone as pitiful as Trlawney whose sole redeeming feature was her advanced alcohol tolerance.

Fate was a demented bitch, and Magnus was ready to die on that hill.

He left the room, striding like a man with a purpose and a damn fragmented soul shard to purge from this world. But as soon as he exited the dusty, full chamber which might just hold more secrets than Salazar Slytherin's, he turned around and started striding three times once more under the puzzled eyes of Ser Barnabas the Barmy and a handful of very well dressed trolls.

"Not this time!" The portrait jumped, evading yet another strike from the troll on his left, the creature scratching its head in frustration, "And for the last time, that's not how you execute a pirouette!"

Magnus did not dare wish him luck before entering the ROR, who knew the kind of changes it would do to his intent? He didn't, at least, and was very much not ready to risk getting skewered by raven shaped troll clubs made of solid silver.

Yes, it was an actual possibility, magic gets weird like that.

He opened the door as soon as it appeared, and exhaled a long breath of relief; partly because he did not get smashed by a club, but mostly because his plan had worked quite splendidly.

Rowena's Room had taken the form of a large, empty stone room mirroring the rest of the castle. It had the same rustic kind of charm, as if each block had a story behind it. But there was one big difference with the rest of the school, it was dreadfully empty save for one thing.

A white marble pedestal had pride of place in the room, standing in the very center and illuminated by a particularly bright mage light on the ceiling.

Resting upon it was the very diadem Magnus sought to destroy, lying atop a pale blue cushion, as if the display it's worth one last time.

That was a rather scary thought, Magnus had once considered the possibility of the room having a mind of its own, but found himself unwilling to delve deeper.

He raised his wand, calming his breath and mustering his magic for the great effort to come. No amount of training could ever make casting Fiendfyre an easy task, that was something he had to accept.

"For what it's worth, I'm really sorry it has come down to this," Magnus said, twirling his wand that now shone with an angry red glow. "Fiendfyre."

And the cursed flames surged, devouring the diadem like a hungry beast.

Magnus felt the shriek before he heard it, tendrils of black miasma tried to escape Ravenclaw's enchanted headpiece only for the demonic fire to attack it with glee.

For a moment, he could swear he heard whimpers and a raspy voice begging for mercy, trying to cling on to life.

Then there was silence, save for the cackling of the brazier that battled him for control. But he did not care for it, there was too much on his mind, too many possibilities he had never imagined much less actually considered.

He did not feel the surge of pride and achievement that accompanied the wave of weakness that marked the subduing of the dark flames, without them he nearly crumbled from the backlash, falling to his knees and taking deep breaths.

A thought had been planted in his mind, something so outrageous, so damning, so utterly game changing he could not help but vocalize it. To give it meaning, if nothing else.

"Could the soul shard actually be conscious?"

That was too much to accept, even for him.

. . .

"Never gonna give you up."

Magnus groaned, turning around in his awfully uncomfortable bed.

"Never gonna let you down"

He wondered what kind of imbecile was talking so loud when he was clearly sleeping, that retard should be reminded that he had a wand and meant business.

"Never gonna run around and desert you."

Wait, is this music playing? That made it so much worse. Talking while he slept was rather inconsiderate, borderline rude, it warranted little more than a couple threats and some harmless jinxes.

But playing Music? Now that's some serious disrespect.

"Never gonna make you cry"

The music somewhat got louder, and he could hear some stomping and feel vibration on the ground. There was a lot of movement around him too, just outside his room.

He slowly but surely reached for his wand, not daring to make a sound despite the rather loud song playing in the background.

If it's Sirius trying to turn all my underwear into knickers again, he better be ready to spend the whole school break as a green mutt. 

"Never gonna say goodbye!"

He opened his eyes, ready to teach anyone foolish enough to mess with him why House Black was so feared before they started getting boners over power-hungry fools with the most random of political agendas.

'This isn't my room.' Was the first he thought, but this time it wasn't accompanied by panic and a very much welcomed adrenaline rush.

No, only shame and annoyance.

"I fucking slept in." He groaned again, rubbing his eyes before quickly getting ready to leave his compartment.

He could still hear people chatting and walking in the train, that meant he wasn't in any kind of trouble.

"Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you!"

"Shut the fuck up Rick!" He growled, blasting the small red headed figurine he had charmed to sing when the train stopped moving; he had yet to learn an alarm spell keyed to a specific time.

He found some solace in the fact that even dead tired, and plagued by the ramification of his latest discovery, he did have the sense to take some precautions.

'Not a discovery,' He corrected himself, biting the insides of his, 'Until I'm absolutely certain, it's nothing but a theory. An outlandish, absolutely insane theory that would change just about every single one of my plans that doesn't involve fucking off to somewhere warm and Immortal-Dark-Wizard free in the next few months.'

That particular course of action was looking more and more attractive with each passing day. He could pull it off too, whisk away Fleur once the tournament is over, kidnap McGonagall and the Tonks then flee for a land where people actually use spices instead of colonizing half the known world in search of the tasty stuff only to renounce everything but salt and pepper.

Yes, even four years as a Brit albeit one of a more magical variety, and he isn't over the utter nightmare of English cuisine.

'It would make a solid argument to abandon the ship and let them fend for themselves, a couple of blueberry chocolate chip pancakes and Sirius would be ready to move out.' Magnus smiled, passing by the students who had to leave for the holidays.

He ignored them, and they gave him the same courtesy. Including his fellow ravenclaws, his earlier social mishaps and perpetual aloofness did make their relationship perpetually strained.

Except for his friends…and Michael Corner.

Magnus shivered remembering the blissful smile on the boy's face each time he ignored him, snubbed him or tried to make him leave his general vicinity when he lazed around the tower.

Let's say that the young man had some very disturbing fetishes, and leave it at that.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when a towering Hufflepuff bumped into him, almost sending him tumbling down the train's exit along with a few unfortunate fellows.

Magnus glared at him, mind racing to come up with a reason for the boy's aggression.

He didn't remember ever having a conflict with him, nor one of his housemates. His view of their house was rather…opinionated, and he had to admit, a bit skewered by his own messed up standards.

But he made sure not to talk about it in public, or with anyone he didn't at least somewhat trust to keep their damned mouths shut!

That was a particularly worrying prospect, he couldn't afford anymore leaks.

'Could it be because I've been cozy with Fleur, puffs aren't the most jealous sort but they're all in for some vicious loyalty. And I did favor an outsider instead of Hogwarts' prized champion and the only chance for them to attain some degree of glory.' He thought, gliding through his memories in search of the boy's face.

Magnus hoped it was the case, that would be hundreds of times easier to deal with than an intel leak.

'No direct interaction with him beside a couple niceties, gave him some pointers in transfiguration once, he did drool at Fleur a few times but was too meek to attempt any direct interaction…I should look for his entourage, it appears he enjoy the company of James Kindler and Samantha—' He pushed his Occlumency to the limits of it's abilities, all the while scrying the boy for any clue, 'Wait, he's looking nervous, too nervous!'

A nervous man, especially an enemy could be easily manipulated, but he could just as well do something incredibly reckless if you don't keep him at bay. Magnus knew that, and he also knew he couldn't go ahead and make a preventive attack without severe repercussions.

For all the world knew, he would have assaulted a student for bumping into him, not exactly a good look on him unless he was eager to rekindle his family's past connections.

All in all, it sucked ass. Heavily.

Magnus's eyes were glued on him, taking note of every gesture and microexpression, looking for an advantage. Meanwhile, he did his best to quickly muster his magic for a counterattack, his wand was nearly brimming with excitement.

He saw everything, and he'd be damned if he'd let some sixth year have a jump on him just because he wasn't ready for battle.

A shoulder twitching, biceps contracting, minor movement of the hips; he saw it all.

'He's going to try and grapple me,' His mind supplied, it was a strange choice but the boy was reaching out for his shoulders…something was off. 'I have to let him make the first move, then I can crush him without getting in trouble.'

Magnus braced himself for impact, adjusting his posture, a fire spell on the edge of his tongue. He was even ready to activate the Tanuki Contingency, just in case the fuck went full Crused Child and tried to hit him with the green beam of instant death.

If the bastard wanted to mess with Magnus freaking Black then sure as hell was going to get what he deserved; a royal ass kicking followed by a lifetime of regret.

A short lifetime, but he'd still regret it.

Hardly five seconds passed since their initial altercation, but to him it felt like an eternity, the adrenaline working along with his magic to prepare him for battle; psyching him up, making his blood boil, making him want to fight the way a man was supposed to.

That was it, he was about to grab him, then Magnus would unleash all seven hells on him before getting answers even if he has to go medieval on his arse.

"Sorry mate, you're alright?" The large boy said his voice tinged with worry, a big meaty hand patting him in the bag. "I didn't see ya, I mean, I did see ya but I just couldn't stop myself—"

"What?" Was his most eloquent answer.

"I didn't mean it that way!" The boy quickly retracted, flushing like an overpowered emo kid favorite food. "It was the momentum, I was too excited to see my mum and…sorry again, no hard feeling, right?"

He didn't wait for an answer, running off while being much more mindful of his surroundings this time.

"What the actual fuck?" He asked no one in particular, though some random Ravenclaw shrugged before going on his way.

Magnus made his way out of the station, quickly finding Sirius, who came to pick him up alone for the first time since their reunion.

"Hey pup! Why didn't you pick up my calls this week, I was going to tell you about that one spell—" The man was about to go one one of his very serious monologues, which would involve a minimum of three dad jokes and two horrendous puns before stopping abruptly, " —What's the matter? You're alright?"

Magnus let out a long suffering sigh.

He made Fleur sad because he had to go snake hunting, which in itself was unforgivable.

Exhausted himself because he couldn't break a damned protection spell without burning it all to the ground.

Ended up sleeping, alone, in a public area. Sure he transfigured the door into a wall and cooked some makeshift alarm charm to rick roll himself up, but it was a needless risk he took.

Then he almost went full Rambo on a kid because he bumped into him, wasn't he supposed to have learned to relax and be a bit more easy-going?

'Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in,' Magnus thought, shaking his head, 'Darn paranoia.'

It was a shitty day, a really shitty day.

"Yeah." He said, trying to put this moment behind him, but Sirius didn't look all that confused.

"I f*cking hate Hufflepuffs."

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Author Note:

Hey guys! It's Uncle Sheo!

We got a new updates schedule going, one chapter a week here every Tuesday, two chaps on sheo.bio every Friday and Tuesday + the bonus chapters (don't complain, it's free.)

We're currently at chapter 104 over there.

Anyway, have a nice day.

Peace and Cheese!