I eyed the older man passively, my body shifting into the seat opposite his desk comfortably.
Huh, that kind of rhymed.
I figured I hadn't said it out loud because of the lack of reaction. Pity. Moments of poetry were hard to come by.
The only poetry I knew involved killing, murdering, and vaporizing. Most of the time in that order.
When the old man opened his mouth to start his latest attempt at abusing his power as headmaster, I calmly interrupted him.
"Who will love you now..."
Exasperation quickly turned into a frown on Dumbledore's face.
"He must've really loved you, huh." I continued, causing the frown to deepen. "Shit, he was willing to ignore you enough to let you be a spectator while he manhandled the world..." I shook my head. "Someone of your skill? Ignore you and your 'good' intentions? If I was in his position I wouldn't have considered it." I started tapping on the desk. "And yet, he did... And even after you decided to betray that... I wouldn't call it trust but..." I shook my head again. "Even after that... He was just worried about you ending up alone." I snorted. "Gellert Grindelwald... What a stand-up guy eh?"
"Your role model is he?" Dumbledore questioned with a sigh.
"Please." I scoffed. "I don't have a role model. No one's worth it."
For some odd reason, that answer seemed to worry him more than expected.
"Sirius," The old man seemed to mull his words over, probably trying to figure out a way to say his piece that I hadn't already seen coming.
"Yes?" I questioned amiably.
The frown loosened up as the man let out another sigh.
"I don't know what to do with you, truthfully speaking."
It was odd how... Relaxed those words seemed to make him, almost as if he'd been holding them in for some reason.
"I don't really know what to do with me either?" I deadpanned. "I am not sure what you want me to say to that."
"I mean to say is..." The headmaster waited for a beat, his gaze locked onto me as he considered his next words carefully. He was probably wondering how to call me out for being a budding dark lord without being obvious about it.
Something flashed through the man's eyes as he seemingly found his words-
"I don't think you're a dark lord, or intend on becoming one in the future."
I nodded easily.
"Course not, if I was a dark lord I wouldn't be training up an army capable of killin' em now would I?"
And the worry just came back in full force.
"I've seen the reports of your lessons... They're... Very instructional about the dangers of certain magics... Not to mention your rather astute knowledge surrounding spell creation-"
"What, the history of the killing curse didn't worry you?" I questioned, genuinely curious.
"Not at all, I found that rather enlightening- It takes a great deal of courage to be willing to try and paint a spell like it so... Tragically. To blame the times instead of itself and in essence try to redeem it-" The man shook his head as soon as he said the last word. "Not many would look into the why and how is what I mean... Your knowledge is rather telling of what your once future self found interesting. It's somewhat reassuring even." The man finished with a small smile. "Not many people are interested in the origins of certain spells, and even less are willing to challenge the status quo of them, but you did both and used it to try and steer the students here away from accidentally creating something they may regret."
I hummed along to the words idly, my mind fixated on a specific one he'd used.
"Once-future self?" I questioned easily. "What, you think I know all this because the future me studied it? That I figured it out early because I am a seer?"
Dumbledore blinked once at the words, his smile receding the slightest bit.
"Funnily enough, it's why I asked you here," The man remarked easily. "I was wondering whether you had sought the knowledge before or after you faced los-"
I couldn't help the snort.
"You believe I am a seer then?"
Wariness rapidly filled up the man's face.
"Your knowledge is rather hard to dis-"
"Seers don't look into the past Albus.They ignore it. "They don't care for the present either- They only get a glimpse of the future that either rapidly becomes irrelevant, or sets in stone no matter what happens." I paused for a single beat. "There is no middle ground."
"..." The old man just stared at me bemusedly, his wariness rapidly taking over before it settled into a rather unreadable expression.
"How do you know so much then?" The man shook his head. "Your... Remarkable reading of the present... Your rather extensive knowledge of my and many more's past-" The man shook his head. "Your knowledge regarding magic- You can't have gained all of that without decades of work, of research of-"
I put my hand up.
"I am not saying I don't know the future- I am just saying the future I knew off died the moment I said my first word."
The frown on his face deepened.
"I am just saying that even if my actions change things- People always remain the same because... Well, for the most part, they were written that way, to begin with." I snorted.
Dumbledore took my words with an appraising look, his gaze searching my own for something.
"...It's remarkable that you were able to retain such an extensive amount of knowledge since-"
I couldn't help but start laughing.
"Dumbledore, I am not a seer by your definition- Hell not even by my definition," I remarked standing up. "Seers don't see the entire timeline of their life when they're born-" I quickly shook my head. "Look, that's not even the bloody point." I slapped my hands on the desk. "My original future for the most part had nothing to do with my knowledge- I mean for Merlin's sake I was a skirt chaser into my twenties before I was thrown into Azkaban for thirteen years because of corruption, deluded old men, and a betrayal by what would've been one of the closest friends I had turning Death Eater!"
Fifty galleons on him thinking I meant James Potter.
Widened eyes were the old man's reaction. He opened and closed his mouth for a few seconds before clasping them shut into a thin line as he stared at me.
"...You died in Azkaban..? But... Then..." He blinked again, his magic humming around him almost uncontrollably as he stared at me. "How do you..."
"Woof, way to skip past the mental torture in favor of mystery-" I snorted. "Not that I have any leg to stand on." I waved my hand non-commitally.
Something seemed to snap into the old man's expression at my words as shame filled it, the apology I knew was coming was soundly interrupted as I opened my mouth once again.
"No, I don't need your pity- And though I would love for you twist and turn around the how I seemed to know so much about the world, I'll give you a little hint."
It wasn't gonna be a little hint.
The shame in his face seemed to war with the curiosity screaming out loud for a few moments before shame to my surprise won over.
"Was it my fault?"
I let out a sigh.
"...That you ended up-"
"As much as I'd love to blame you for it, my future self quite frankly laughedhimself into Azkaban, so no, it wasn't really your fault."
Bemusement took over.
"Back to the hint," I snorted with ease. "See, while I'd an unearthly amount of time in that sordid place- Enough to figuratively go mad... It wasn't where I'd die..." I remarked with glee. "I die when a... Let's say rather a familial bit of magic, in a rather underground duel between the good, the bad, and the stupid-"
The bemusement on his face was practically coming to life-
"-sent me rocketing through the Veil."
His expressions immediately closed off, turning unreadable as he stared at me. The only sign my words had any effect was the slightly widened eyes, and very slight opening in his mouth.
"And I saw it happen at the ripe ole' age of one." I paused for a single second, my grin growing. "But see the funny thing is, the veil didn't immediately kill my future self, and I happened to see what lay beyond. Saw where time and space and death intertwined with magic at its root cause. Saw history and time twist around each other. Saw knowledge that died down thousands of years ago. And knowledge yet to even be born."
I paused again, watching as the shock filtered through visibly on the old man's face, Dumbledore not bothering to hide it anymore.
"Literally saw reality so twisted around itself it looked like pages of a freakin' children's book." A single beat passed. "A seven book one at that. Or perhaps even eight movies?" I couldn't help it. I literally just couldn't help it.
I promptly pushed my hands off the table.
"And then following the trip down every epileptic's nightmare was when I heard the screams." I let out a shrug. "But hey, at least you were right about one thing, I don't want to become a dark lord- I have no interest in taking over a world run by sheep..."
No, truth be told, I wanted the entire universe.