{Rigel's Room, Slytherin Dorm, Hogwarts}

{11th Sep 1991}

{3rd Person POV}

"Hello, Uncle Sirius!" Rigel spoke as he finished his examination. He was hesitant to approach Sirius, but he didn't mean to offend the older man. His minute actions might be too much for the older man's psyche. Still, Rigel's words did the work for him as Sirius's instinct to rush and be close to his son was suppressed by his greeting.

"Uncle?" Sirius whispered as he took a couple of steps down the pier and slowly approached Rigel. His walk was now a little awkward, but his gaze was still intense. 

"Yeah, the Daily Prophet was paid by the Malfoy to spread rumors. According to the Gringotts and their little test, my Father was Regulus Black, your brother." Rigel spoke. He made sure that his voice was level and that he didn't rush through the explanation. At the same time, he monitored the changes in Sirius's expressions. 

At first, the Azkaban escapee was stunned and then enraged, but then a serene, unnatural calmness appeared on his face. Rigel paused at the last change. Even if he had not practiced Occlumency yet, this was his only clue toward this unexpected change.

'Did Sirius know about Occlumency in the original novel or movie?' Rigel thought.

"Regulus..." Sirius whispered as his eyes glossed over. Even through his Occlumency, some emotions leaked through. The tightening of his hands, the unconscious shoulder flexes, and finally, his whole body slumped slightly. Rigel was only able to tell these rollercoasters of emotions that Sirius went through because he was hyper-aware and focused on Sirius right now.

Part of it was an instinct for self-preservation. Seeing the light return to Sirius's eyes, Rigel pulled a sandwich out of his inventory and presented it to him. Sirius's eyes widened, whether it was at the seemingly impossible magic that Rigel did in front of him, or because this was the first proper sight of food he had seen in 17 years. 

Rigel wouldn't say that Sirius snatched the sandwich from him, but his speed was a little faster than he would have liked. Thankfully the twitch of his hand toward his wand went unnoticed as Sirius dived into his likely first meal in decades. Seeing the sizeable piece of bread disappear down the man's gullet, Rigel swiftly pulled another one and extended it toward Sirius. 

He was ready for the snatch this time, but after finishing his first meal, Sirius calmed down. Still, the temptation was there in his eyes, but this time, he reached for it more gingerly. Grabbing the sandwich, he inhaled the aroma, and as he took another bite, his eyes finally locked on Rigel's.

"Sorry about that, haven't had anything good to eat in a while." Sirius grinned. Rigel nodded. He tried not to look at the man's yellow teeth. The Sirius that Rigel had been in mind drew a sharp contrast to the broken man in front of him. 

"It's alright. I have two more for you... Did you sleep here? I'm surprised that no ghost found you. Apparently, they had been searching the castle all night." Rigel remarked. His statement hid the question that Sirius got as he nodded.

"Yeah... I have a magic that lets me change my form..." Sirius winched as he tried to move. He took another bite from the sandwich.

'So he slept in his animagus form.' Rigel nodded. They both stayed silent as Sirius's eyes lingered on Rigel's face.

"Do I look like him?" Rigel asked. It was easy to guess what Sirius was thinking.

"Yeah..." Sirius nodded; after finishing his second meal of the day, he sat down on the steps of the pier. In his desire to find Sirius, Rigel forgot that he had nothing to talk about with Sirius. He wasn't a kid looking for some form of comfort or parental figure. The main reason he had rushed to find Sirius was to warn him to stay away and not mess with his plans and the timeline anymore. 

His arrival and escape had complicated the already diverging timeline. 

"Why didn't you go to the Grimmauld Place? You could have hid there and eaten some food." Rigel questioned and hinted at the same time.

"Mother blasted me from the portrait. I don't know if I'm still in the ward scheme, but challenging the ward of the house is just madness," Sirius replied. He looked a little relieved. The conversation might be the best way for him to relax right now.

"Right, the wards..." Rigel thought back to the overwhelming sensations he had felt the first day when he had also been subjected to the scan. Still, there was an easy way to check if Sirius was part of the wards, which he should have been since he was able to access the house in the original timeline.

"Kreacher!" Rigel commanded, in addition to the name of his house elf, the command for the elf to appear was hidden in his intent.

*Pop*

Sirius's eyes widened as, with a loud pop, the lanky house elf wearing nothing more than a rag appeared. Rigel expected the first visit to be violent, but the slurs flew before he could order him to shut up.

"What is master doing with the blood-traitor hellspawn-" The elf began before his voice vanished as Rigel spoke.

"You are not allowed to talk or move Kreacher." Rigel's words had an immediate effect. The wrinkled house elf froze mid-slur. Rigel stared at him. He felt a little bad at the self-imposed prison that he had forced on the elf, but for now, his priorities were to get Sirius out of there as soon as possible.

"Now, you are allowed to move your head, but you can only answer in 'Yes' or 'No,'" Rigel said. Kreacher's mouth snapped shut with a finality as his eyes glared at Sirius's figure.

"Is Sirius allowed to enter the wards of ‎12 Grimmauld Place?" Rigel asked if he had to make sure that he didn't add extra variables to the question.

"Yes," The elf growled. All his hatred was pushed into pushing as much venom as he could in the word.

"Did Ararctus change the ward list to place his name before he died?" Rigel asked, from what he could tell, with his last actions his great-grandfather had tried as hard as possible to ensure that the line of the Black family continued. Sirius might have been his best possible bet.

"Yes," The elf replied. He looked a little defeated as his eyes turned to Rigel. 

"Remember, I promised to deal with the locket, right? For that, I need Sirius's help. Can you be civil?" Rigel asked. It was quite easy to manipulate the old elf as his priorities of the last order given by Regulus would force him to cooperate.

"...Yes," The elf replied as his eyes dropped.

"Good, you are free to move or talk, but be civil." Rigel said to the elf before he turned to Sirius, "You should go and rest for a bit. You could send Kreacher to me with a message, and we could talk later."

Sirius nodded after a bit of a pause. Rigel half expected him to deny his request and chase after Pettigrew, but it seemed, for now, Sirius was content with this status quo. Rigel turned to give Kreacher a pointed look, and the elf shuffled toward Sirius with great reluctance and grabbed Sirius's leg. The last thing Rigel saw was Srius's eyes widening slightly before both of them were dragged into themselves.

*Pop*

As the two vanished, Rigel breathed a sigh of relief. For now, he had managed to stop the situation from escalating, but quite a bit of damage had been done.

'I need to talk to Rita!'

...

AN - Meeting with Rita and Pettigrew capture plan is on the agenda! 

P.S- 43+ Chapters on Patreon!