Going Home
The train was leaving to go home at nine. It was only seven o’clock though, but Beth hadn’t slept a wink.
Sirius’ trial had been going on all week, Remus and Snape had been at the Ministry all week as they were the key witnesses. But late last night, the verdict was supposed to come in.
“Beth!” Susan whispered.
Beth turned over slightly in her bed. Susan was holding her close; she had known that Bet was worried about her Uncle Sirius so had stayed in Beth’s bed that night.
“Did you sleep at all?”
“No,” muttered Beth shaking her head.
“Maybe we should go get some breakfast?” suggested Susan hopefully. If she couldn’t get Beth to sleep the least thing, she could do was get some food down her.
“Maybe,” muttered Beth pulling herself out of bed.
Beth and Susan were already packed, it was a warm June day so they Beth got dressed in a pair of jeans and a light pink t-shirt.
They left their trunks and pets in the room; they would be loaded onto the train later.
The Common Room was nearly empty, the only people that were there were gathering last minute possessions to pack.
“Hi Beth!” beamed Emily.
Emily and Simon were carefully taking down the list of rules for the club so they could put them back up next year.
“Hi Emily, hi Simon.”
“You ok Beth?” asked Simon, “you look shattered.”
“Long night,” she mumbled, “I’m fine.”
Simon shrugged and went to finish packing.
When they got down to the Great Hall it was practically empty too, most people didn’t bother with breakfast on the last day, they were too busy packing. Cedric was one of the only people at the Hufflepuff table.
“Morning Ced,” said Susan.
“Hey Sus, hi Beth.”
“The paper come yet?” Beth asked nervously.
“Not yet no,” sighed Cedric, “should be here soon though.”
Beth sat down and picked at a piece of toast, but it seemed to turn to ash in her mouth, she just wanted some news, they had to see that he was innocent!
“You need to eat Beth,” Susan pointed out, “you haven’t eaten enough to keep a bird alive all week.”
“Not hungry.”
Susan seemed to give it up as a bad job.
“What do you think they want?” asked Cedric.
Beth looked up and saw a very excitable Percy and Penelope heading over to their table.
Percy was practically jumping for joy, which was a miracle in itself.
Percy came rushing over to their table and gave Beth a huge hug.
“Thank you thank you thank you!!” exclaimed Percy.
Percy was hugging her so tightly that she thought he might squeeze her to death.
“What in the world is going on Perc?” asked Cedric, “or have you finally gone mad?”
“He’s got it!” beamed Penelope, “and it’s all because of you Beth.”
“Percy, can you please stop strangling my girlfriend and tell me what the matter is?”
“Sorry Beth,” chuckled Percy letting go off her still beaming like a mad man.
Percy and Penelope sat down opposite them all and looked at each other.
“I’ve got the job,” said Percy grinning.
“What job?” asked Beth.
“The teaching job,” explained Penelope, “History of Magic.”
“I wouldn’t have applied in the first place if it hadn’t been for you Beth,” said Percy shaking his head.
“You’re joking!” said Cedric, “they just gave it to you?”
“That’s amazing Percy well done!” said Susan.
“Well, I sent in my application yesterday, I gave it to Professor McGonagall,” Percy explained trying to calm down.
“Professor Dumbledore offered him the job just now,” said Penelope, “apparently Binns has been trying to retire for years, but there haven’t been any applicants.”
“So when I gave in my application they accepted it without a second thought.”
“That’s wonderful Percy,” beamed Beth, “you’ll do great.”
“I would never have even considered teaching History if it weren’t for you.”
“It’s nothing Perc,” blushed Beth.
“They not even waiting for your exam results?” asked Cedric.
Percy shook his head.
“Come on Ced,” giggled Penelope, “you know Perc will have got twelve Outstanding NEWTs and so does Professor Dumbledore.”
“I doubt I will have got twelve outstanding Pen,” said Percy blushing almost as red as his hair.
Fred and George came over to the Gryffindor table, and Percy and Penelope rushed off to tell them.
“Percy a teacher,” said Cedric shaking his head, “anything’s got to be better than Binns though!”
“We’re going to have to call him Professor Weasley!” giggled Susan.
Beth went back to staring down at her breakfast, she was just so worried, she still didn’t have any news.
“Look!” exclaimed Cedric pointing up, “the post!”
Beth dropped her piece of toast as an owl dropped a newspaper in front of Cedric.
“Go on Beth,” said Cedric passing her the paper.
Beth shook her head and Susan unfolded it. Susan and Cedric held the paper between them and scanned the front page frantically
Having finished reading they both started to beam wildly.
“Go on Beth,” said Cedric, “its good news!”
“I cant bring myself to read it,” muttered Beth pulling at the end of her plait.
“I’ll read it to you then,” said Cedric.
Cedric cleared his throat loudly and started to read the paper to Beth, Susan and anyone else who happened to be listening.
Susan clung onto Beth as Cedric read.
“Black Freed at Last!
It has been a very long week at the Ministry, but Sirius Orion Black has finally got the trial he has deserved for the last twelve years.
For twelve years, the wizarding community has believed that Mr Black was guilty of betraying the Potters to You Know Who, working for You Know Who and also for the murder of Peter Pettigrew as well as twelve muggles.
There has been chaos for the last year as the Aurors have tried to recapture Black who escaped from Azkaban last July.
But last week, in the early hours of the 10th of June, Black turned himself in. But what nobody was expecting was that the reason Black had escaped Azkaban in the first place was to track down Peter Pettigrew, who was not only still alive but the real culprit behind all the crimes that we have placed on Black for the past twelve years.
With this new evidence that Pettigrew is not dead as we have believed, the Ministry has organised a week-long trial which concluded last night. The key witnesses were Mr Severus Tobias Snape, and Mr Remus John Lupin Black’s partner.
When speaking to Mr Lupin, who is Miss Elizabeth Potter’s guardian, before the beginning of the trial we asked him about his feelings towards Black over the last twelve years.
‘When I found out that Sirius had betrayed James and Lily to You Know Who I couldn’t believe it. James was Sirius’ best friend, but after the news came through about Peter’s death, the evidence seemed completely against him.
I was a wreck, three of my best friends were dead, and Sirius the man I had trusted most in all the world, was a traitor!
I hated Sirius; he had ruined our lives. But even though I knew that James, Peter and Lily were all dead because of Sirius, there was still a small part of me that still couldn’t believe it to be true.
Sirius and I had been together for three years, even though I hated him, I still loved him. When Sirius escaped last year, I was terrified, not for me but for little Beth. I thought that Sirius was going to kill her.’
The first piece of news uncovered during the trail was that Mr Black was not the Potters secret keeper, but Mr Pettigrew.
‘It was a rouse,’ said Mr Black, ‘we were trying to fool You Know Who, so the secret keeper was changed to Peter on the 30th of October, two nights later Lily and James were dead.’
This means, that Pettigrew betrayed the Potters to You Know Who, not Black.
The court then asked Black and Pettigrew about the events of the morning of the 2nd of November.
‘I knew Sirius and Remus would be after me,’ said Pettigrew, ‘so I ran for it. I couldn’t run for long though, Sirius found me two days after Lily and James died.
I shouted out to Sirius that he had betrayed Lily and James, before transforming into a rat and then causing an explosion which killed the twelve muggles.’
It transpires that both Black and Pettigrew are unregistered Animagus’ Black can turn into a dog, and Pettigrew a rat. This is how Black escaped Azkaban last year, and this is also how Pettigrew was managed to hide for the last twelve years.
Pettigrew has been hiding in his Animagus form since the events of the 2nd of November 1981, as a pet under the alias ‘Scabbers’ with a wizarding family, the Weasley’s.
With all of this new evidence, the court had no choice but to clear Black of the charges of working for You Know Who and the murder of Pettigrew and twelve muggles.
Minister Fudge noted though, that Black was still an unregistered Animagus.
At the mention of this Black pointed out that he had, ‘just spent twelve years in Azkaban for a crime he never even committed!’
Fudge agreed to this and left the charge of being an unregistered Animagus aside.
Pettigrew has been sentenced to twelve years in Azkaban, for betraying the Potters, working for You Know Who and killing twelve muggles.
After these twelve years Pettigrew has been sentenced to the dementors kiss, for framing Black.
Pettigrew was dragged away to Azkaban screaming for his old friends Lupin and Black to help him.
Mr Black on the other hand has been cleared of all charges and is now a free man for the first time in twelve and a half years.
When talking to Mr Black about what he was planning to do now, Black said,
‘I need to recover from Azkaban obviously, twelve years in that place has taken its toll on me physically as well as mentally. Other than that, I’m looking forward to spending some time with my family, Remus and little Beth, I’ve got a lot of time to make up for.’
We here at the Prophet wish Mr Black and his family the greatest of luck in their future endeavours and apologise for the great mistrial of justice.”
As Cedric finished reading there was a round of applause of from the students who had been listening in.
“So Uncle Sirius is free?” stammered Beth.
“Yep,” nodded Cedric.
“And Peter’s gone?”
“He’s in Azkaban Beth,” said Susan, “he can’t get to you.”
Beth burst into tears as Susan pulled her in close.
“I just can’t believe it!” she sobbed.
“Well you’d better Beth,” chuckled Neville.
“I presume Remus won’t be coming back next year now,” sighed Hannah.
“He’ll probably be too busy making up for lost time with his boyfriend,” smirked Zach.
“Don’t be horrible Zach,” said Neville shaking his head.
“Lupin only signed a one-year contract in the first place,” said Ernie, “he was never going to be coming back.”
“It’s a pity,” sighed Cedric, “he was the best Defence teacher I’ve ever had.”
“Come on you lot,” said Artie finishing off her own breakfast, “if we don’t get a move on, we’ll miss the train!”
Beth shared a compartment with Susan, Ernie and Justin on the way home.
Five minutes into the journey there was light knocking on the compartment door.
“Hey Theo,” beamed Ernie, “come in mate.”
“Thanks Ernie,” chuckled Theo sitting down next to Ernie.
“I’m afraid I can’t stay long, if I’m gone for too long then Draco and Blaise will get suspicious.”
“Not still scared of those two fucking gits are you?” asked Ernie raising his eyebrows.
“Really Ernie, your language is worse than Ron’s,” muttered Susan as she plaited Beth’s hair.
“Got to get swear as much as I bloody can now before I get home, Timmy’s only nine, so the less swearing the better.”
“How long till little Timmy’s going to be starting Hogwarts then?” asked Justin.
“Well he’s got an August birthday, so year after next.”
“I’m sorry I can’t stay long Beth,” said Theo, “I just wanted to say congratulations, on Sirius and all that, I’m sure you’ll all be very happy.”
“I hope so,” beamed Beth, “and thanks Theo.”
“Why can’t you stay Theo?” asked Ernie.
“Draco and Blaise will get angry if they know I’m here.”
“Who says they’ll know you’re here?” chuckled Justin.
Justin pulled out his wand and locked the compartment door, nobody would know that Theo was in there.
“Thanks Justin,” said Theo smiling.
“Right!” said Ernie pulling out a box of Bertie Botts, “who wants one last game?”
“I’ve never played,” shrugged Theo who had never played, but had heard Ernie talk about Trick or Treat Every Flavour Beans many times.
“You have never lived Nott,” said Justin passing him the box.
Susan, Ernie, Justin and Theo ate their way merrily through the box of sweets and Beth looked out the window as the landscape flew past.
Guinevere was sleeping comfortably on Beth’s lap as the train worked its way to London.
As they pulled in at the platform, Beth carefully put Guinevere back in her travel basket and pulled her trunk down.
She started to look for Remus on the platform. For some reason the platform seemed to be even more busy than normal today, everyone seemed to be congregating on one end of the platform, clamouring frantically around and everyone seemed to be much more cheerful than usual.
“Beth!” Remus called scrambling his way out of the crowd and rushing towards her.
“I’ve missed you so much little one!” said Remus giving her a hug.
The crowd seemed to be moving towards her and Remus, and now Beth could see why, Sirius was trying to fight off well-wishers and parents who were all trying to shake his hand.
Sirius ran over and lifted her high in the air.
“I still can’t believe how big you are!” he sobbed putting her back down.
“You’re nearly fourteen for Merlin’s sake,” he said shaking his head as he looked at her properly.
Sirius pulled her in for a hug and Beth was soon enveloped in the middle of a group hug between Remus and Sirius.
“My little Lilybeth’s all grown up,” sighed Sirius as they came out of the hug.
“Let’s get you two home then,” chuckled Remus getting the trunk.
Sirius picked up the cat basket and put his arm around Remus and Beth as they left the platform. It was quite possible that that day they were the happiest family in the whole of London.