As the time neared 11.00am Sirius had already been into the Leaky to check the place out for his meeting with Remus, then moved into the Alley proper. His initial idea for a couple of elves to clean Black Manor was shelved when he found out the initial cost and time it would take.
Instead, he contracted with a private company that combined curse breaking and cleaning to go in and do the work. He'd then organise for a house elf or two to be bonded that would then maintain the place.
While he was discussing that with the reps of the company they told him they also had a subdivision of their company that would do interior decorating as the teams worked.
"By us providing a full service, it will cut down on your costs; but, for someone like you that we believe doesn't care so much about the cost, it will also drastically cut down on the time," explained the sales rep. "As I said, though, our analysts will have to go in first to give you both a cost and an estimation of the time involved."
Sirius came away from the meeting happy to have contracted them and a time when he would meet them at the townhouse.
His next stop was in Flourish and Blotts adults only section. He found the book he needed and quickly purchased it.
A quick Tempus and he realised he'd have to hurry to the Leaky to make his meeting with Remus, so hurried back up the Alley. Unknown to both him and Dumbledore, though, he just missed the man heading down the Alley from Malkin's and heading back to Twillfit's carrying his brown paper-wrapped parcel of three black robes.
Once in the Leaky it was to see Remus sitting in a booth at the back, partially in shadow and looking as shabby as ever.
With a sigh at the appearance of his friend, Sirius adopted a light smile and casually walked over. He drew his wand as he walked, ready to erect privacy wards.
As he slid into the seat opposite, he said, "Hi, Moony."
Surprised by the appearance of his friend, Remus's face lit up. But there was still a strong hint of wariness in his expression. "Pads!" he greeted back.
"Give me a minute to put up some wards," said Sirius, bring his wand up.
He did, however, notice the twitch of Remus's hand as he raised his wand. It showed the werewolf was definitely on edge about something.
He threw up the wards - subtle masking ward that blurred their appearance, a muffling ward that turned sound coming from their booth into indistinguishable conversational noise and a very minor notice-me-not ward - before turning back to his friend.
"Going for subtlety, Pads?" asked Remus. "That's unlike you."
"That's unlike what I used to be like," he corrected. "I've changed. Now, why are you so 'twitchy'?"
Remus sighed and seemed to slump a little. "As I was passing through the mountains near western Austria some... mongrel began hunting me. I had to stay moving for three days and I was deep into Southern Germany and across the Danube before, whoever it was, backed off."
Sirius winced. He hated the fact there were still those 'illegal hunters' out there who liked nothing better than to hunt werewolves. It was great when they decided to go after someone like Greyback, but going after his friend was a different matter.
"Then I had to spend a few days working the docks in the Netherlands before I could get passage across to the Isles," his friend continued. "I arrived in Felixstowe early yesterday."
"But, you made it," he nodded.
"I made it," smiled Remus. "So, I didn't get much news in Italy that was more than just 'general'. What happened?"
"Drinks, first," he replied. "Light ales, though. This will take a while."
Once Sirius collected the drinks and brought them back, he took a few sips before sitting back in a way he could watch the room.
"Let me start back to the ninth of June," he began. "That's the night we were all in the Shrieking Shack."
That then began a very long tale of what had happened, really starting with him heading for the unplottable Island of Black in the southern part of the North Atlantic to clear out of wizarding Britain for a while.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
The Team Lead of the Ministry ward masters was doing a final check of the preparation of taking down the Hogwarts wards. Everything had to be perfect as they really only had one cast at this.
Seeing something he thought not quite right he barked, "Johnson!"
A young man perked up and hurried over, "ET?"
Gesturing to what he felt was a mistake, the Team Lead asked, "What, in Merlin's name, do you call that?"
"Ah!" said Johnson. He then went on to explain the slight differences he made and why. It took a little while, too.
"Interesting," said ET, the Team Lead. He stared at it for a few long moments before he said, "Yes. That will work. However, never make such a change without getting authorisation in advance, in future. Someone might have initiated a change somewhere else in the matrix that could have conflicted. Do you know what would have happened if it conflicted?"
"Errr... we... could have died?"
"More important than that, you numbskull," snapped ET. "I could have died. If you died it would have been your own damned fault. However, killing me would have been a true tragedy.
"I do not want to be a tale of a true tragedy. I want to live to a ripe old age. I want to die of old age from exhaustion brought on by having too much sex with a pair of Scandinavian identical twins twenty... even thirty... years younger than me!
"Got me, Johnson?"
"Yes, ET," the young man muttered.
"Good!" snapped ET. "Lesson imparted and learned. Go away."
Once he had checked it for a third time he cast a quick Tempus away from the matrix.
"Right," he declared. "I'm going to see Marchbanks and take control of the wards. When I do, I'll send a red flare out the window. That's the signal to activate.
"Johnson! Since you've been the clever little monkey, you get the privilege of activating the matrix. Don't dawdle!"
"No, ET!"
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After purchasing his... Uurgh!... Professor's robes at Malkin's Dumbledore headed back to Twillfit's to get the robes he really wanted. And that chartreuse yellow sounded divine.
Walking in, this time he had to wait a few seconds after five minutes before Twillfit came out to see him. It was Twillfit's way of showing he was displeased with you.
When he finally arrived, Dumbledore smiled and said, "Terrence, there was no need for you to get 'huffy' I had to go elsewhere to buy those horrid black robes. If I was being forced to buy them, I did not want you having to sell them to me to infringe upon our creative designs."
Twillfit chose to ignore all that and asked, "Do you have your receipt? As long as I sight that I can sell you anything you can afford."
Dumbledore sighed and produced the receipt from Malkin's.
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