Sirius looked at Douglas.
For a long time.
The fire in the fireplace crackled twice.
Then he spoke.
"You never intended to fight a war from the start."
Douglas did not deny it.
"From the very beginning, you steered what Voldemort wanted to do off course."
Sirius kept his voice very low.
"He wanted to rule through fear. So you dug out fear's foundations.
He wanted to draw a line with blood status. So you mixed everyone on both sides together.
He wanted to crush people with Dark Magic.
So you broke Dark Magic down into formulas, printed them in pink-covered textbooks, and handed them out to every child."
His gaze sharpened.
"You never saw Voldemort as the ultimate goal."
Douglas smiled, as though he were talking about something very amusing.
"What Voldemort thinks doesn't matter."
His tone was flat.
"I have another use for him."
Sirius's eyebrows twitched.
"What use?"
Douglas did not answer the question directly.
He stood up and walked to the window.
A corner of the moon emerged through a gap in the clouds.
Pale light fell over Hogwarts's spires.
"What comes next is your job."
He turned and looked at Sirius.
"Don't forget, you're not just the owner of the Marauders Power Company. You're also the director of Hogwarts's Academic Affairs Office."
Sirius drew his legs back and sat up straight.
"Use your standing as a member of the Black family to uphold the existing educational rules."
Douglas spoke.
"But at the same time, get rid of the regimented elements."
"Regimented?"
"Getting up at five thirty. Fifteen minutes for breakfast. Lining up in the corridors to recite. Those formalities."
Douglas tapped the window frame lightly with a finger.
"Umbridge used pressure to drill habits into the students' bones. Now that those habits have formed, there's