Life Behind

August 12, 1995

The Ministry of Magic was the same as Hermione remembered, though the fountain had been rebuilt and changed in her time - it had become a large sculpture of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Seeing their likeness had been too much for her, so she had stopped coming to the Ministry soon after the fountain was unveiled. Hermione fidgeted as they waited in line to hand off their wands for identification. Hermione’s wand, which she had made Dumbledore file new information about, would identify her as Hestia Jones. Stares and gasps had followed her and Sirius from the moment they entered the hall. Some had even shouted at him. 

“Your trial is being held in Courtroom 10,” the young wizard told Sirius. “I will have to keep your wand, and you can take this,” he handed Sirius the slip of paper that described his identity and wand. He handed Hermione her wand back. Both of them pinned badges to the front of their shirts. Sirius’ had Sirius Black, Criminal Trial, while Hermione’s had Hestia Jones, Representative to Sirius Black, Criminal Trial inscribed on it. 

They made their way to the lifts and went down to the Department of Mysteries level. Hermione didn’t let her face show the waring feelings she was experiencing being down here. Her Sirius had died here. No, she told herself, the Sirius from her timeline had died here, but her Sirius was gripping her hand tightly as they walked down the steps to the old courtrooms. Her eyes lingered on the door at the end of the long hallway before they turned the corner to the courtrooms.

“We still have a few moments before they’ll open the doors,” Hermione said, said softly. Sirius was bouncing on the toes of his feet, eyes flitting around nervously. “Sirius, it will be okay. Dumbledore is still Chief Warlock thanks to him keeping quiet about Voldemort’s return. Almost all of them still respect him. Fudge wouldn’t dare intervene, even though he doesn't feel the same way. Plus everyone will be coming to testify for you.” Sirius nodded curtly, “Love,” Hermione put her hand on the side of his face, “You’ll be okay.” She bit her lip and impulsively pulled his face down to hers and placed a soft, gentle kiss on his lips. Before he could react, she moved away. He had stopped shaking and stared down at her, eyes dark. He reached out to her, one hand on the side of her face and the other snaking around the small of her back. The doors to the courtroom opened. They tore apart from one another and entered the large room. 

Immediately, Sirius started shaking again, though he gripped his fists tightly so the 50 or so Wizengamot members wouldn’t see. He’d only ever been in a courtroom sitting up in the benches looking down as an Auror. He’d never been given a trial. He was cold and clammy, his throat clenching. It was then that the dread spread over him and he stopped moving, eyes wide and terrified as he looked at the Dementors gliding across the room. 

“No no no no,” he whispered. He spun around towards Hermione as they grabbed his arms and pulled him to the chair with chains, that wrapped around his arms and legs. His grey, horrified eyes met Hermione’s and she ran forward. 

“No!” She looked up at Dumbledore and Fudge sitting side by side, “He is not a criminal! This is just his trial! He cannot continue if they are here. Get the Dementors out of here!” She looked around at Sirius and his head was bowed close to his chest, his whole body shaking, “You can leave the chains, just make them leave, please,” Hermione pleaded, trying to be calm as Sirius whimpered softly behind her. Dumbledore spoke briskly with Fudge, who grumbled to the Dementors to leave the courtroom. Hermione pulled a small piece of chocolate out of her pocket and walked over to Sirius. She had expected Dementors to be in the courtroom, but not that they would touch him. He had tears streaking his white face. Hermione wiped them hastily with the sleeve of her robe and fed him the chocolate. 

“They’re gone, love,” She whispered, “We have to leave the chains on, but they’re gone.” He nodded shakily, and she turned, stonefaced, to look at full Wizengamot before her. She glared at Dumbledore, she couldn’t believe he had let Dementors around Sirius after his prolonged exposure to them. 

“Criminal Trial of the twelfth of August,” said Fudge, “Sirius Orion Black, you stand accused of divulging information to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named that lead to the murders of James and Lily Potter and the attempted murder of Harry Potter,” Sirius flinched, “You are further accused of the murder of twelve Muggles and the murder of Peter Ernest Pettigrew in broad daylight.

“Interrogators: Minister for Magic, Cornelius Oswald Fudge; Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Amelia Susan Bones; Cheif Warlock, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. The court scribe is Percy Ignatius Weasley. Represtivitve to Sirius Orion Black, Hestia Noel Jones.” Fudge nodded at Hermione to start her defence. 

“Witnesses for the defence include Harry James Potter, Hermione Jean Granger, Ronald Billius Weasley, and Remus John Lupin,” Hermione forced herself to smile. “We requested a Pensieve be present, one that will show the memories to the whole court, is that available for our use?”

“Yes, Miss Jones,” Dumbledore beckoned for someone to bring the Pensieve forward. 

“Wonderful. The first witness for the defence is called forward, Harry James Potter,” The door on the left side of the chamber opened and Harry walked in. He was wearing a new tailored suit and robes that Sirius had insisted he get. Someone had clearly tried to tame his wild hair. 

“Mr Potter,” Amelia Bones said, smiling. She had moved from the benches and would be the one removing the memories from Harry’s head. “I am going to tap your head lightly. While I have my wand on your head, think of that night. We will be able to see if you have tried to alter or tamper with the memory. I can extract the whole memory easily, so don’t worry about specifics. Your subconscious has those,” She smiled at him again and Harry relaxed slightly, nodding. 

The Wizengamont then watched the night of June 6th, 1994. The memories started with Harry turning and seeing Sirius in the Shrieking Shack. After they had watched the memories and they were copied and put into evidence, they did the same with young Hermione and Ron. There had been no need for questioning, as the memory expert from the Department of Mysteries had declared the memories untampered. Thankfully, Hermione had decided to teach the trio some basic Occlumency over the last week so that the memories ended with all of them in the hospital wing, so that young Hermione was not convicted of using a Time-Turner illegally. 

“Next witness to the defence, Remus John Lupin,” Hermione said loudly. There was some muttering as the werewolf came into the champer. He also gave his memories from that night, but the court kept him for questions. 

“Mr Lupin, you are a registered werewolf, yes?” Fudge asked, his lip curled. 

“I am not sure how that is relevant here, Minister,” Hermione said, stiffly, trying not to snarl, “There is no legislation preventing werewolves from testifying.”

“Yet!” Said a high pitched, toad faced fucking cow. Hermione couldn’t stop her glare at Dolores Umbridge

Hermione growled through gritted teeth, “But not yet, so let us proceed.” 

“Mr Lupin, what made you travel to the Shrieking Shack that night?” Amelia asked, a kind smile on her face. 

Remus smiled tightly, “When I was at school James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and I created a map of Hogwarts. The map showed the name and place of every person on the campus,” Remus ignored the shocked looks of the Wizengamot witches and wizards, “I could see on the map that Peter Pettigrew lived and walked in the halls. It was then that I knew Sirius had been framed. I saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione leaving the grounds and I made an educated guess about where they would be. When I was a student at Hogwarts I spent every full moon in the Shrieking Shack.”

Fudge cleared his throat, “But you did not take your Wolfsbane Potion that night and put students in danger.” Hermione let out a sound of protest as pain crossed Remus’ face. 

“Remus Lupin is not on trial here! Let’s stay on track,” Hermione saw Fudge consider and then nod. 

“How did you know what Peter Pettigrew was?”

It was what they had expected, for the secrets of their Animagus selves to become known. But they were all going to try to keep Padfoot a secret from the court.

Remus frowned, “Peter Pettigrew is an Animagus. He became one while we were at school so he could keep me company during my transformations safely as a rat. And the name of Peter Pettigrew was seen on the map with Ronald Weasley, whose rat he was posing as.” 

“I think that is all from us,” Amelia said after talking in low voices with Fudge. Hermione nodded. 

“You may now question the defence,” Hermione told them, “We have worked out that Sirius would be willing to be interrogated willingly under Veritiserum. We can also take his memories while he is under the influence of the potion in order to prove their authenticity.”

“We have the Veritiserum,” Dumbledore said as the same person who brought in the Pensieve handed Amelia the potion. She poured the whole vial into Sirius’ open mouth. 

“Mr Black, let’s start with the night of the murders of Lily and James Potter,” Amelia said softly, pressing her wand at Sirius’ temple. “Just remember and we will do the rest.” 

The memories were extracted and projected onto the screen. Sirius didn’t have to watch to remember each excruciating detail of that night.

Sirius touched down his bike in front of the wrecked cottage. The small, delicate flowerbeds that Lily had planted just a few months ago were wilted and black. Sirius pulled the unhinged door from its frame and laid it softly on the ground. When he glanced up, the body of James Potter faced him. 

“No,” He moaned, “No, no, no, James, no,” Sirius fell to his knees and crawled to James’ body. His glasses were askew, his normally twinkling brown eyes, vacant and dull. His wand was feet from him, laying on the sofa. “Oh, no,” tears streaked down Sirius’ face, “Why didn’t you have your wand, you idiot?” He murmured as he straightened James’ glasses and pushed his hair away from his face. A piercing cry filled the house. Sirius jumped to his feet, sprinting up the stairs. When he reached the small nursery he couldn’t help the yell from leaving his throat as he took in Lily’s body lying crumpled in front of the crib. 

Sirius reached in and held the small child to his chest. Harry was screaming. From the pain of his new scar or from the terror of his parents dying, Sirius didn’t know. Sirius’ grey eyes were anguished and tears still streamed freely down his face. He was staring at Harry, mostly to stop himself from looking at Lily on the floor next to him. Her eyes, he knew, were open, but they were not the bright, blazing green that Harry’s were anymore. They were empty and cold. Lifeless. She was dead too.

“Sirius? You shouldn’t be ‘ere!” Hagrid’s booming voice filled the small room and Sirius jumped, somehow not noticing the giant entering the room. 

“My fault, my fault, my fault,” Sirius was murmuring to himself as he rocked Harry. His fault. It was all his fault. Where was Remus? Moony would know what to do, would know how to fix this. He couldn’t let Harry go. He had to protect the small, crying boy in his arms. His boy. 

“You’re okay, Harry. I’m right here,” He murmured to the child. 

“Er, I’m ‘ere to take ‘im,” Hagrid said gruffly, sniffing loudly, “Dumbledore’s orders” He added when Sirius looked alarmed. Trust Dumbledore. James and he had always said that was the only mantra they espoused. Trust Dumbledore. Sirius nodded, folding the small boy in the pristine blanket Lily had sewn for him. It was yellow, covered in tiny golden snitches. 

“Where are you taking him?” Sirius whispered, running a shaking hand over Harry, checking again that he was safe and unharmed, besides the warm scar on his head.

“I don’t know if I should be-”

“I’m his godfather, Hagrid. Please. Please tell me where he will be, that he will be safe.”

“To Lily’s Muggle sister. In Surrey,” Hagrid told him reluctantly. Sirius made to protest and Hagrid cut him off, “We ‘ave to trust Dumbledore on this one, Black,” Hagrid nodded gravely. “We ‘ave to. ‘E’ll be safe.”

“Take my bike. It will get you there faster,” Sirius told him, as he pulled out his wand, vanishing the embroidered snitches from the blanket. If Petunia was anything like he remembered she would rather die than see any sign of magic. Trust Dumbledore, he told himself. He pulled Harry into his arms once more. 

“I’ll be there, Harry, every step of the way. I love you, my boy. I love you,” He was sobbing openly now as he handed the small, squirming boy to Hagrid. Young Harry was not happy to be away from his godfather and started screeching, reaching his arms out towards Sirius’ long black hair. “You’ll be okay,” He choked out as Hagrid descended the stairs. He knew the Muggle police would be here soon, and the Ministry not long after. Sirius followed Hagrid, and laid eyes on his best friend again. Sirius dropped to his knees next to James and pulled his body to him. Where was Remus? He needed Remus. He couldn’t do this alone. Bear this alone. He couldn’t stop the wail of pain and rage and horror from leaving his body as he held James. 

He cursed his best friend for being unarmed. Cursed the now dead Voldemort for leaving baby Harry an orphan. Cursed the world. 

Not the world. 

“Peter,” Sirius growled, “I have to find Peter.” 

Sirius carefully laid James back down and ruffled his hair. “Goodbye, Prongsy. I will fix it. I promise.” He stumbled out to find Hagrid crying on the stone steps leading up to the cottage. 

“I’ve got to go, Hagrid. I have to… I have to go,” Sirius said, his voice cracking. Hagrid turned to him, his black eyes deep with compassion and pain. Sirius just turned away and left. 

The memory dissolved and Hermione took deep, shaking breaths, her eyes stinging. Remus was wiping his face. Sirius was staring straight ahead, his face showing nothing of what he must have been feeling, having to relive that night. Harry was as white as a sheet, trembling and hanging onto young Hermione’s hand for dear life. Tears streaked silently down his face, dripping onto their clasped hands. His lip had a spot of blood from where he had bit it. 

“Mr Black,” Dumbledore murmured, “Were you not the Secret Keeper for the Potters?”

“No,” Sirius answered immediately, the truth potion forcing the words from him, “We told everyone it was me, but that would have been too obvious. At the last minute, we decided to make it Peter Pettigrew. No one would have expected it to be him.”

“Did you know of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’s plan to attack the Potters that night?”

Sirius took in a sharp breath, “No!” Sirius cried, tears shining in his grey eyes, “I had gone to see Peter at his safe house, but he was gone. I knew something was wrong and I went to Godric’s Hollow and,” he stopped, “Well, you saw.”

“I would like to see your memories of the next day when you say you confronted Peter Pettigrew,” Fudge announced. Sirius nodded and Amelia stepped closer to remove the memories. 

Sirius was sprinting through St. James Park. “Stupify!” He screamed, aiming his wand at the smaller man running from him. The park opened up to Marlborough Road and Sirius swore, stuffing his wand in his pocket to hide it from the Muggles turning and looking at the chase. Pettigrew froze and turned. 

“I can’t believe you killed them!” Peter screamed, “You killed James and Lily!” 

“NO!” Sirius roared, throwing himself towards Peter, screaming. 

Peter murmured, “Diffendo” and off came his small finger. Peter smiled, “Bombarda Maxima!” The moment the street exploded, Peter transformed into Wormtail. 

Sirius was pushing through the running Muggles, trying to reach the place where Peter had disappeared. A laugh bubbled up before he could stop it. Peter had beaten him. Meek, silly, idiotic Peter had beaten them all. Sirius sat down on the street as the Muggles ran from the explosion, the laughter ripping out of him. He noticed ideally that tears were also running down his laughing face. Ministry officials were suddenly next to him, holding his arms. He continued to cackle. James was dead. Lily was dead. Peter had betrayed them all. It was too ridiculous to do anything but laugh.

“What was your goal when seeking out Peter Pettigrew?” Amelia asked calmly when the memory dissipated. 

Sirius growled, “I wanted to hurt him. But I never wanted to kill him. I wanted him in Azkaban for the rest of his miserable fucking life.” Sirius didn’t acknowledge the wince from Hermione as he swore.

“And when did you plan your escape from Azkaban?” Dumbledore asked.

“When the Minister tossed a paper into my cell. It had a picture of the Weasley family on it and I saw their rat was missing a toe,” Sirius bit out. 

“How did you escape?” Fudge asked. Sirius made a choking noise as the potion forced his answer from him. 

“I was in a Sky Cell. I jumped.”

“How did you get out of the shackles?”

“I,” Sirius spoke slowly, trying to be as calm as possible, “I was able to slip my leg through.” Sirius was gripping his fists tightly. He wasn’t lying, so the potion did not force him to reveal more.

The ministry investigators had nothing more to ask so Hermione moved forward. 

“Sirius, do you mind telling the members of the Wizengamot about your relationship with the Potter family?” Hermione asked, “And remember that he is still under the influence of Veritaserum.” She reminded the court. 

“James Potter was my best friend. Lily and James named me Harry’s godfather. If I had been able to do anything in the world to save them… I would have. I want to be cleared so that I can make up for it. I want to raise Harry in the way I was supposed to 13 years ago. I want to be better and start living my life. James and Lily and Harry were my everything. I want to do what is right, and what they wanted, and that can only happen if I am a free man and I am free to raise Harry as they asked me to do when they named me his godfather.” He took a deep gasping breath when he finished and looked over at Hermione. She nodded, face tight, trying to hide her worry.

Dumbledore cleared his throat, “Are we ready to vote?” he asked the room. No one objected. “Those in favour of clearing the accused of all charges?” Hands flew up all over the room, far more than half. Umbridge was one of three that didn’t raise her hand. “Cleared! Of all charges!” Dumbledore smiled as Remus let out a yell. The chains freed Sirius and he threw himself at Hermione and Remus, wrapping his arms around them. Harry, Ron, and young Hermione ran and threw themselves into the hug. 

They lingered in the courtroom, holding one another and celebrating. When they finally filed out they were met with the Minister for Magic speaking with Umbridge and Lucius Malfoy. Hermione flinched, flashing back to watching his glinting white hair standing over her as she was tortured. 

“Cousin,” Sirius greeted him with a scowl. 

“Ah, Black. I can’t say it’s a pleasure,” Lucius drawled, “The minister was telling me the results of your trial. The nack for escape seems to be a Gryffindor skill, doesn’t it?”

Harry stepped out from behind Remus and Sirius, “Yes, we are quite good at escaping snakes, aren’t we, Mr Malfoy?” Sirius barked a laugh but placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder. 

“Come on, Harry,” Sirius started to steer the group away, “Enjoy your talk, Malfoy, I’m sure the gold you’re using to bribe the Minister is just as shiny as the Death Eater mask of yours,” Sirius didn’t stop grinning though everyone else in the group gasped. Fudge puffed up, face turning red. 

“Sirius!” Remus chided as they walked quickly away from the Minister and Malfoy. 

“Come on Moony, cheer up! I’m free. We can deal with the dark wizards infiltrating the Ministry with ease. At least, our Her-Hestia can!” He smiled through the almost slip up and wrapped his arm around Hermione. He was free. She had actually succeeded in freeing Sirius Black. They could go to Harry’s quidditch games and visit with Harry on Hogsmeade weekends. They could even help with the DA this year. Hermione couldn’t stop her smile as they all filed into the main Atrium. Flashing bulbs and hundreds of people surrounded them immediately. 

“Mr Black, is it true that Peter Pettigrew is alive?”

“Mr Black, what kind of Animagus are you?”

“Mr Black, who is the young woman who helped you during your trial?”

Remus and Hermione stood between the reporters and Sirius, stopping by the desk to get Sirius’ wand. They were going to head home, Molly was sure to have made a large spread for lunch. While they waited for the Muggle media to announce Sirius a free man, he would have to stay in the Wizarding World, though he was finally allowed to roam. The group headed for the floos and after the rest of them travelled home, Hermione grabbed Sirius’ wrist and pulled him into a tight hug, whispering in his ear, “You’re free, you’re free, you’re free.”