Chapter 6: Communication

(August 12, 1991)

  (Savrin POV)

  Being disguised as arguably the most powerful man in the world, Savledore looked over the documents he had just received from an owl. Apparently it seemed as though the news of Gellert's death was a top priority, as everyone felt the need to inform him because they thought something big was happening.

Not wanting to pretend to have to deal with the headache that would no doubt come from his own actions, Savrin had replied back to the letters saying that Gellert was most definitely dead, and with Nurmengard castle now gone, there was no point in guarding it. He wasn't sure what the hell else he was supposed to do about it, so he left it at that and hoped nothing too bad would come of his inaction.

  Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge had also sent him an owl, asking for advice on a political matter, which wasn't a good thing. To say Savrin wasn't exactly good at politics was like saying the ocean was wet.

In all of the countless millennia he had lived on Genesis, he had never had to do anything he didn't want to do because he was so powerful the mages would bow to his whim for fear of complete annihilation, so when asked for advice on how to deal with a certain matter, he had opted to just kill it and be done with it. However, knowing that would cause way more problems than it would solve, he decided to ask someone more experienced in this matter than he.

  "Where is Salazar?" He asked the second he appeared inside the Treehouse directly behind Helga, who had been busy working on a potion that was now spilled across the floor. "You-! I can't believe you just did that!" Helga cried as she looked at the wasted potion.

Savrin's sudden entrance had nearly scared the life out of her, causing her to knock it off the table in fright. Ignoring her cries of outrage, Savrin looked down at the potion on the floor, then at the potions book and the recipe she had been following.

He could see that she had been crossing out steps of the potions and replacing them with her own steps, and based on his own calculations, she had improved the potion's quality by at least 60%, which was no small thing. For her anyway.

The whole book of potions looked as though it was written by people who had no idea what they were doing, and had simply thrown ingredients together and called it a potion. Deciding it would be a good idea to go over the course books to make sure people weren't wasting valuable resources on these things that couldn't even be called potions, Savrin made a mental note to do just that when he had the time. 

  "Helga, dear. If you don't calm down and tell me where Salazar is, I'm going to fulfil my promise from the night I gave you all your bodies and turn YOU into a potion." Savrin said.

That seemed to do the trick of cowing the little girl, as she took a step back and placed a chair between them for a shield. They both knew it would do no good against Savrin, for even now that the mini-founders were all armed with wands, they were like insignificant bugs to him.

"He and Godric went to London." She answered nervously. Letting out a sigh of annoyance, Savrin looked down at the book on the table before he grumbled something that sounded like "I guess I now have the time." then walked around to the other side of the table before he sat down and grabbed Helga's potions book. Another book seemed to appear right beside him, though from looking at it over his shoulder, Helga realized the new book was completely blank.

  Savrin made a bottle of ink appear beside him as well, but rather than use a quill, pen, or pencil to write with, he dipped his index finger into the bottle before touching the top of the page. As if it was perfectly stamped upon the page, symbols and words began to appear, making the page appear as though it was a work of art.

Next, Savrin flipped through Helga's potion's book for a few minutes as he looked over its contents, then went back to his own book. For the first few pages, Savrin described the items one worked with in making potions and how best to clean and store them away.

Next he copied every ingredient from Helga's book into his own book, with each ingredient having its own page with a perfect colored picture of the ingredient in the top right corner of the page.

Helga, being far more intrigued than any person had any right to be, watched in amazement as Savrin listed where to find each thing from the book, how to harvest said item, and how to prepare it for certain uses. She had never even heard of most of the ways he listed to prepare the ingredients, but she didn't think for a second he was wrong.

  After listing off each and every ingredient from her own book, Savrin moved onto the potions. Again, each potion was given its own page with a list of every item one would need before the start of the potion, then beneath the list there were step by step instructions on how to make said potion. He even described how to store the potion after it was made, and how long it would keep before it began to lose its effects.

  It felt like it had only been a few minutes since he started, though it was actually more than an hour before he slid her book back over to her, though Helga didn't so much as look at it. She was too busy looking at the book Savrin had written, and based on her opinion as a potions mistress, she would say it was brilliant.

She had never tried most of what he had written down, but she could imagine it in her head, and could see the effects it would have on the potions and its ingredients. If her changes would result in a 60% increase in the potion's quality, then Savrin's changes would probably increase the quality by more than 300%, which was astounding to say the least.

  Finally looking down at the book she had been trying to correct, Magical Drafts and Potions- by: Arsenious Jigger, she couldn't help but think it was written by someone who had never made a potion in their life.

Savrin had basically scrapped it and wrote a new book with the same potions and ingredients, just with more accurate information and instructions, not to mention there were a number of additional simple potions that Savrin had added to his book.

Based on the names of the potions, Helga believed every person learning potions should know how to make those potions, and she guessed Savrin did too, which is why he had put them in the book in the first place.

  Looking between her book and Savrin's book, Helga couldn't help but notice how her book was almost double in thickness compared to Savrin's.

'Even by adding more potions to the book, it is smaller because it is all simply explained and doesn't contain the useless information wizards add into books to make themselves look as though they know everything.' She thought, hitting the nail right on the head with her guess.

In the few potions she had attempted from the book, she had crossed out pages upon pages of information in the book that had no relevance to anything about the potions themselves. Lots of it was about references to certain people, and dates in which people discovered the potions, and who discovered them, nothing of which someone learning potions actually needed to know.

  "Can I look at that book?!" She asked quickly when it looked like Savrin was getting up from the table. Looking between her and the book, Savrin hummed for a moment before shrugging his shoulders, then handed her the book.

"Just don't spill or write anything on it. I want to make a few copies of it for the Potions class at Hogwarts. Based on this book" Savrin paused as he picked up her own potions book. "Most of the magical plants are being wasted because the people of this day and age are too lazy to try and improve upon the potions they already have."

It was true, advancements in potions had slowed considerably in the last century or so, and had Savrin not come into the world, Helga believed no advancement would have taken place in the time the world had left.

  Taking the book almost reverently from him, she ran quickly to her room so as not to be disturbed. Savrin, having nothing pressing to do at the moment, decided to look at the other course books for the First-year Hogwarts students.

"A Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)- by: Miranda Goshawk", and "A History of Magic- by: Bathilda Bagshot" remained untouched, as Savrin didn't care about them, but the Magical Theory- by: Adalbert Waffling was completely reworked to something that actually made sense.

The way these people described magic was almost insulting, and Savrin wondered if the man who wrote the book had been high on potions when he wrote it. It was either that or he was completely guessing, because nothing written in the book was accurate.

  Savrin was halfway through correcting "One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi- by: Phyllida Spore" when Godric and Salazar finally walked through the door of the Treehouse with a number of parcels in their arms.

"Ah, it's about time you arrived. Salazar, I need you to come up with a response for the incompetent Minister of Magic." Savrin said as he handed Salazar the letter Fudge had sent him a few hours ago.

"If you don't know how to respond to the man, does that mean you're incompetent too?" Godric asked humorously with a wide smile. Said smile vanished immediately when a sudden force pinned him to the floor and it felt like he was turning into paste.

"I could fix the problem, yes, but as we've all come to learn, you all don't like the way I do things. However, if you want me to handle it, and you yourselves no longer wish to try and fix the world, I can have all of Britain's problems fixed in a day." Savrin said, reminding Godric just who exactly he was speaking to.

  "Right! Good point! Well made!" Godric gasped quickly, the force pinning him down subsiding at the same time. "Idiot." Salazar mumbled towards Godric as he moved to write a response to Fudge.

While he waited for Salazar to write the letter, Savrin finished correcting "One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi- by: Phyllida Spore", at which point Salazar handed him the letter.

"You might need to rewrite it in Dumbledore's handwriting, but that should fix the problem for now." Salazar said.

Not bothering to fix the writing, Savrin sealed the letter in an envelope without reading it, then went back to Hogwarts to send it off. For the last few hours of the day he went over the courses that would be taught, as well as the teachers who were going to teach.

  He had no idea if the staff was up to par, because even when he had ripped through Dumbledore's mind there had been very little information about the teachers, and even less about how well they taught their subjects. Of all the teachers, one did come to Savrin's mind, for he had briefly been on Dumbledore's mind the night he killed him.

"What's so important about you, Quirinius Quirrell?" Savrin mumbled to himself.

He spent the last few hours drawing up folders for each member of the teaching staff, and their courses. He realized he would need to watch them all closely this year to accurately gauge if they could teach, and come the following year, he would make changes where needed.

  Once he got back to the Treehouse, Savrin found the four mini-founders eating dinner around the table as they discussed the day's events. Speaking of the day's events, Savrin had something important to bring up, so there weren't any problems in the future like the one earlier today.

"You've all seen the muggle telephones, correct?" He asked once he had gotten their attention. The question was rhetorical because he knew for certain they had. He had personally taken them all to the muggle world to see a few things on more than one occasion, and phones were one of them.

  "The wizards and witches of this world rely on speaking to each other by sending letters by owl. Because I am not going to send you a letter and wait for your response, I had to wait a few hours for you to return today to fix a political problem. If this happens again, I'm not sure I won't be forced to solve it myself, and you all wouldn't want that." Savrin said, causing each of them to share a grim look.

"Like I was saying, the muggles have their telephones. In the time it would take to send a message between two wizards, the muggles could have already relayed orders to every country in the world for an assault. The wizards and witches are not advancing because they believe they don't need to with the help of magic. I will not allow this." Savrin stated firmly.

Based on how serious he was, one wouldn't have guessed he came up with this reason simply because he had to wait for Salazar to get back.

  Going along with his words, all of them nodded in agreement. With that, Savrin pulled out a thin oval crystal that looked like a mirror on one side with a diamond embedded at the top of it, while the other side looked like it had been sculpted from a smooth green gemstone.

"This is an Arcane Communication Device, or A/C Device as I call them." Savrin said as he held up the item for all of them to see. It was 4 inches long, 2.5 inches wide, and half an inch thick with smooth round edges.

  "Based on the name alone you can understand the purpose of this device. It allows one to communicate over long distances with someone else with a similar device. Each of said devices are enchanted with a seven digit identification number, with a three to five digit code in front of it depending on which part of the world it was created from. As long as you know the number for the device you wish to reach, you can communicate with anyone, anywhere in the world." Savrin explained.

  The four children were stunned speechless as they looked at the device before them, all of them thinking about the advantages such a thing would offer. They could relay orders with one another and attack in perfect coordination, call for help if they were under attack, or call for medical aid if they were injured. It didn't take a genius to understand how beneficial such a thing could be.

"Simply by tapping anywhere on the screen here activates the device, showing a keypad with the numbers from 0-9. For ease of use, they are created to be able to store and remember numbers the owner puts into it." Savrin paused as he demonstrated how to go to a page that had four names, their names, they noticed.

Tapping on the name, Godric, a number appeared with a three digit code in front of it. Below the number there were two symbols. One was an image of a human head, while the other looked like an ear.

Savrin explained the two functions, how by tapping on the human head it would allow the two devices to literally be able to see one another as if they were there. The diamond at the top of the screen was the focus, so wherever it was pointed the person would be able to see.

By tapping the ear, people wouldn't be able to see one another, but they could hear and speak to each other. This function was also much quieter, allowing the conversations to be much more private. Again the sound came from the diamond, meaning you held that end up to your ear. Finally one could shut-off the device by simply tapping the top of the screen twice.

  The device itself was the AC-32 model from back on Genesis, which wasn't even close to as spectacular as the latest AC-73 had been, however Savrin believed this world wasn't ready for a device like that. Still, with the 32 model, hopefully it would help speed along the technology for the mages of Earth.

  "This is incredible!" Rowena stated in awe.

"It's wonderful!" Helga agreed.

"Where's mine?!" Godric asked, figuring they all got one due to the names and numbers on the one Savrin had shown them.

There was a pause from everyone as they digested that bit of information, and after a minute they all were staring at Savrin expectantly. With a wave of his hand, four more devices appeared on the table next to his own, and after pointing out which device belonged to which person, they all began to test out their devices.

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  (Arcturus Black POV)

  In the West Country of south-western England of Somerset near the friendly, vibrant harbor town of Watchet, a large mansion stood overlooking the Bristol Channel. The mansion was empty, save for one old man with long shoulder length grey hair and grey eyes.

The man was tall, well built, and darkly handsome, or at least he was once upon a time. That was his description just a few short years ago, but in recent years, illness, age, and sorrow had turned the once vibrant old man into a husk of his former self.

It was almost a year ago now since he had been diagnosed with Dragon Pox, a potentially fatal contagious disease that affected wizards and witches. Its symptoms were presumably similar to Muggle illnesses like chicken pox, but no witch or wizard had bothered to check the similarities.

In addition to leaving the victim's skin pockmarked, dragon pox caused a lasting greenish tinge. The symptoms of simpler cases included a green-and-purple rash between the toes and sparks coming out of the nostrils when the patient sneezed. 

  Arcturus was littered with pockmarked skin on his face, and there were patches of green covering his skin. Combined with his frail body from lack of eating, he looked like the epitome of death. He knew he could have called upon the family House Elf, Kreacher, but he had no interest in doing such a thing, mostly because it would prolong his life, something he sadly wanted to end.

Of course there were things he could do to hasten his death, but every time he thought of them, he thought of the last words his wife had said to him before she died, and he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

'I'm sorry I can't be there for you, love, but know I'll always be watching over you. Spend the years you have left to find peace with our family. Set them on the right path, and enjoy the time you have left in the world. I love you more than you could know, and I'll be waiting for you.'

  Melania had died fifteen years ago, before the chaos with the war really got serious. She didn't have to suffer seeing their son and grandson pass away, and for that he was truly thankful. She was such a kind woman, and it would have broke her had she gone through that.

He couldn't bear the thought of reuniting with her after taking his own life. He hadn't been able to do anything she had asked of him in her final moments, which he regretted to this very day. His family had fallen apart and died, and he hadn't even had the chance to set them on the right path, even though he did try once with his grandson, Sirius, but that had failed miserably.

Ever since she had left him alone in the world, he had not had any enjoyment, in fact he had been downright crotchety, which is why he preferred to be alone in what he hoped were his final days in the world.

  Arcturus had foregone potions or medical care in the hopes of leaving this world, but it was taking a lot longer to die than he thought it would. That was the problem of being a wizard. His magic tended to try and fight diseases and illnesses to keep him alive.

  Staring out of the window of his office that overlooked the valley below, Arcturus Black, Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black pondered the same thing that had been going through his mind for the past ten years. 'How will the House of Black survive after my death?' He thought, not seeing an answer in sight. 

  In 1969, Voldemort began to gather support and lead marches in wizarding areas, and the group called themselves the "Knights of Walpurgis" in the early years, and preached ideas about pureblood supremacy.

Despite being a pureblood and Head of a Noble and Ancient family, Arcturus did not agree with the group that could be called nothing but a terrorist organization, so he and his wife, Melania went into seclusion to wait out the war, while their family, unbeknownst to them, had been radicalized by the chaos.

Arcturus's daughter-in-law, Walburga, began to say that the Knights of Walpurgis had the right ideas at the dinner table.

  It was because of the Knights of Walpurgis that led the House of Black to its current state. His eldest child, Lucretia was alive, but her husband had been murdered by Voldemort and his followers. They had had no children, and she had never remarried after his death, meaning she was unsuitable to be the heir of the family.

His son Orion had passed away almost twelve years ago now, only months before his own son, Regulus had passed away. Arcturus was thankful that Orion had passed when he did, as cruel as that thought was. Living long enough to bury your child was something no parent should ever have to experience.

  Sirius, Orion's eldest and only other child besides Regulus was currently alive, but he was in no position to lead the family from his cell in Azkaban prison, not that Arcturus would have wanted to pass the family to him in the first place.

When he had learned of how his grandson had betrayed the Potters to Voldemort, Arcturus was left disappointed and sickened by Sirius's actions, and retreated to his home in Somerset where he stayed for several days, pondering where exactly it had gone wrong.

His last conversation with Sirius had been during the week they learned that Regulus had gone missing and was dead, when Sirius was nineteen, and based on their conversation at the time, Arcturus couldn't believe his grandson could do such a thing to James Potter, especially after hearing how he thought of the whole Potter family. They were more of a family to Sirius than House Black.

Then again, given how psychotic and devoted to Voldemort the boy's mother had been, Arcturus very much could believe it. 'The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.' He had thought at the time. 

  Despite his wish of not having Sirius be his heir, there was no one else Arcturus could leave The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black to. Upon his death, Sirius would be named heir, for all the good that would do him from Azkaban.

Arcturus had learned it too late that all the money in the world didn't matter when you died, and without someone to leave it to, it would probably go to the Ministry of Magic or the Goblins after a certain amount of time had passed, however he didn't care anymore. Without his family there to pass it on to, he just did not care.

  Thinking of his family he was glad wouldn't get his wealth, he thought of Walburga. She had thankfully died a little over six years ago now, which hadn't been soon enough in Arcturus' opinion. She represented the absolute worst House Black had produced, right alongside his Grandniece, Bellatrix, though she had simply been crazy, whereas Walburga had been psychotic.

The woman had driven Orion to an early grave, and had abused Sirius for most of his childhood. Arcturus had only learned of the abuse when he last spoke to the boy, but the damage had been too far gone to fix at that point.

  Shaking his head to clear the thoughts of dead or lost family members, Orion decided to take a break from his staring out the window and go take a walk along the shore. It always seemed to clear his mind and relax him.

The fresh ocean air also helped with the sparks coming out of his nose when he sneezed, which was a good thing. He didn't want to burn down his house because he didn't cover his nose when he sneezed, which would be depressing.

  Walking along the beach towards the harbor, Arcturus lost himself in his mind for a while, and before he even realized it he was seated back at his desk. Grabbing his copy of The Daily Prophet newspaper which an owl delivered to him each day, Arcturus prepared to look at what unfortunate events were happening around the world, when to his surprise, he saw an envelope beneath the paper.

Curious, he set his paper aside and picked up the envelope before turning it over to see who had sent it, when to his surprise, he found it was from Gringotts. They sent him monthly reports on everything related to his Vault and his holdings, but that was on the 1st of each month, and he could clearly remember getting this month's report already.

  Wondering what they would be writing to him about, he opened up the letter and began to read. The first half of the letter talked about an old debt being paid from House Gaunt, which was actually no more, and somehow replaced by Slytherin.

Arcturus' eyes had widened in surprise when he read about House Slytherin being brought back, but he figured it was a House that just had a distant relation to the actual Slytherins like House Gaunt had been. Still, the fact that they were related to House Gaunt in some way was unnerving because Arcturus could swear that House Gaunt had all died out, or at least everyone hoped they had.

  'Perhaps he's from a different branch of the family… maybe from a squib ancestor?' He mused to himself.

Regardless of who had taken over the Gaunt Vault, Arcturus didn't care about them. He had gotten back the gold he had thought was lost to the family, however given how wealthy House Black was, it didn't actually matter.

The two hundred and fifty thousand galleons was a pittance to him even though it was a veritable fortune to anyone else. Most of the old Houses of Wizarding Britain actually had standing debt with House Black, but because he didn't know who would take over House Black after his death, Arcturus never bothered to try and collect said debt, and after his death, it would probably all be swept under the rug.

'That's probably what most of those who borrowed my gold are hoping for.' He thought darkly, though he knew it to be true. None of those who borrowed money had ever broached the subject of repayment in the last decade, for they hoped he would die and that the debt would disappear.

  Reading further, the last half of the letter gave Arcturus pause, and he sat there frozen for almost twenty minutes as his mind tried to comprehend the words.

  {We at Gringotts have been asked to deliver a message to you, Lord Black. A man by the name of Savrin Kincade wishes to meet with you in regards to your grandson. He says he is innocent, and can prove it. If you wish to discuss it further with him, he will be at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade on Saturday, August 17, at 1:00pm. The Matron will show you to his room.}

  When he finally came back to reality, Arcturus immediately checked the date, finding it to be the 12th of August, which meant there were five days until he could meet with whoever this Savrin Kincade was. He knew he shouldn't get his hopes up about Sirius being innocent, but there was a chance, and by Merlin's beard, he was going to take it. For years he hadn't known the feeling of excitement, and right now he was definitely excited.

  Realizing he couldn't very well meet the man with his current appearance, Arcturus said something he hadn't said in over a decade. "KREACHER!"

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A.N. Just thought I would put this in here. Arcturus Black died in 1991, from Dragon Pox, so I'm not just adding a character that was never there. I will take liberties with the story to be sure, but I will try not to go too over the top.