Chapter 10
"Thank you all for being here." Amelia Bones told the Wizengamot. "As most of you know, we're here for the long-awaited trial of Sirius Orion Black. Multiple wixen have come to me to express their worry for the fact that Lord Black never received a trial, and after further research into his case, I, as head of the DMLE, have decided it's only fair to grant him one. Having said that, it should be wise to know that in the past two years we have gathered certain evidence, which is vital to this case." She paused for a moment to look around the room, then continued. "Now, this trial obviously can't begin without the man himself, so, Auror Shacklebolt, get Lord Black in here."
Shacklebolt nodded curtly, then left the courtroom, entering a few seconds later with Sirius in tow. The Auror led Sirius over to his chair and tied the shackles to the chair with a wave of his wand. He checked that the chains couldn't be removed manually, then stepped back after confirming they were secure.
"Thank you, Auror Shacklebolt." Amelia thanked. She then turned to an Unspeakable standing next to her. "Please administer the Veritaserum and put it on file. Lord Black consented previous to this trial to use the serum, so put the file in the same folder. Thank you." The Unspeakable nodded and walked over to Sirius, who held his mouth open as the Unspeakable grabbed his jaw and placed a few drops on Sirius' tongue.
The Unspeakable then stepped back and walked over to a chair, immediately starting a file on the use of the Veritaserum.
Amelia walked over to Sirius and stopped about a meter in front of him, crossing her arms as she scanned his face with her usual scrutinizing eyes. "State your full name and your date of birth." she ordered.
"Lord Sirius Orion Black, I was born on the 3rd of November in 1959, although I told some of my friends I was born on Christmas to receive more presents." Sirius said, and some people in the room had to hide their snickers.
Amelia cracked a small smile. "The serum is in full effect. Now, I'd like to call Lord Lucius Malfoy down as our first interrogator." She ordered, and the blonde immediately stood up from his chair and descended the stairs. He thanked Amelia quietly with a small bow and turned to face Sirius.
"Lord Black, to start off, I would like to know whether you were the actual Secret Keeper of the Potters as I have heard from multiple sources that there was a switch at the last moment?" Lucius inquired.
Sirius looked solemn as he answered. "There was a switch, indeed. Lily told James and I that me being the Secret Keeper would be too obvious, seeing as I am his best friend. Because of this, we decided to appoint Pettigrew instead." Amelia couldn't help but notice the malice behind Sirius' voice as he uttered the name, and she frowned.
"So, if I've heard you correctly, you weren't the Secret Keeper the night He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named attacked the Potter home?"
"Correct"
Multiple people in the room gasped. This was very unexpected information.
"Moving on. Why were you laughing when we found you at the scene of the crime, with multiple muggled and your friend dead?"
Multiple people leaned forward in their seats, including Harry, who was seated in the family area of the room. He was lucky to be able to witness this trial. It wouldn't have been possible with Theo, though, who had convinced his father to bring them along. Theo was sitting next to Harry with a comforting hand on his arm. They both knee that if something went wrong, Harry wouldn't ever see his Godfather again.
"Should I start from the beginning?" Sirius asked as he looked at Lucius, who nodded.
"Well, after I found James and Lily dead and Harry crying in his crib, I found myself clouded with rage. I took Harry and went out of the house. I then found Hagrid, to whom I handed Harry. I told Hagrid to watch Harry while I dealt with a certain pest, and went after Pettigrew. As I ran after that traitor, I was suddenly thrown off my feet and I heard him fire a spell at one of the houses, which was quickly engulfed in flames. The words he told me have stuck with me ever since then. He told me 'No one will believe you, Sirius. Everyone will know what kind of person you are, even if you're going down for what I did. You see, I'm not the same person that I was at school. I finally found where I belong'. He then conjured a dagger and cut off a finger. I was still lying on the ground from when he blasted me back, so I never saw the spell coming. Before I knew it, I was laughing like a maniac and Pettigrew transformed into his rat Animagus. That's why the Aurors found me the way they did." Once Sirius was done explaining, only silence could be heard. Harry was holding a hand to his mouth, silent tears rolling down his cheeks as he looked at the man he considered another father figure. He knew that the betrayal had an affected Sirius, but he never knew exactly what Pettigrew had told him that night. Now the conversation in the Shrieking Shack made sense. Why Sirius wanted to murder Pettigrew, why Remus said what he said. It all made sense.
Even Lucius was speechless after Sirius retold Pettigrew's impromptu speech. Lucius hadn't even known Pettigrew was a Death Eater, so hearing that Pettigrew felt so connected to them shocked him greatly.
"Lord Malfoy, any other questions?" Amelia asked after another moment of silence.
"No, Madame Bones. That was all, thank you." Lucius nodded at the woman and went back to his seat.
"Now, we have a witness from the events that took place at Hogwarts last year. Harry Potter, please come down here." Amelia announced, and Harry breathed in deeply as he stood up slowly from his chair. He looked at Theo, who smiled at him encouragingly, and finally went down the stairs to sit in the witness' chair.
"Mr. Potter. Because we'd like to ensure that this case is handled the way it should be, we'd like to use Veritaserum. As there's no magical guardian listed on your file, we need your personal consent." Amelia asked him softly. Amelia had grown a soft spot for the boy after finding out about all the Triwizard Tournament drama from her niece, so she didn't even notice that her voice changed.
Harry looked at her in confusion for a while. He was sure he had a magical guardian- Hagrid had told him before his first year that Dumbledore was. Why did Amelia say otherwise? However, Harry decided that Dumbledore not being his magical guardian was for the best. He didn't want someone like him to be in charge of matters like this.
"I consent." Harry told her, and the same Unspeakable as before administered the serum. Harry felt a pressure forming in his mind, and it was slightly familiar. He'd have to talk to someone about that later.
"State your name and your date of birth." Amelia, once again, ordered, but less forceful than before.
"Harry James Potter, I was born on the 31st of July in 1980." Harry immediately answered, not even having to think about it.
"It's working. I now call Lord Atticus Nott forward." Amelia said, and Harry's breath hitched. He stole a quick glance at Theo, who was just as clueless as him. The two obviously hadn't expected Theo's father to be Harry's interrogator.
"Mr. Potter," Atticus started. "I heard that you are convinced that Lord Black is innocent, but why?"
"Well, Lord Nott, at first I believed Sirius to be a murderer and a traitor. I heard really bad things about him, such as betraying my parents and killing a dozen muggled along with his friend. But, one night I was looking at the Marauders Map, a map that shows everyone at Hogwarts and all the passageways, and I suddenly saw the name appear of a person who's supposed to be dead. I later told my Proffesor, Professor Lupin to be exact, about it, and he said he would look into it. I hadn't heard from him for a while, so I figured it was an error in the Map, but then Ronald Weasley's rat, Scabbers, was being chased out of the school by Hermione Grangers cat, Crookshanks. When we arrived outside and Ron had found Scabbers, he was suddenly being dragged towards the Whomping Willow by a shaggy black dog. Hermione and I, of course, followed.
"When we fell through the same hole that Ron had been dragged into moments before, we found out that there was a secret passageway under the Willow, which led to the Shrieking Shack. Once there, we saw Ron sitting on a seat with an obviously broken leg and Scabbers in his hands. We ran over to check whether Ron was okay, but he quickly warned us that the dog who had dragged him there was, in fact, Sirius Black in animagus form.
"When we turned around, Sirius tried to explain himself, but I kept interrupting him. Some time after, Professor Lupin entered, saying he saw us on the Map and immediately ran over here. He was pointing his wand at Sirius and taunting him, but Remus seemed to realise something during this conversation, and suddenly they were hugging. We felt betrayed for a moment, but Sirius and Remus rushed to explain. After some time, another Professor of ours, Professor Snape, barged in and pointed his wand at Sirius. He blamed Remus for the break-ins and was threatening both of them, but when he tried to use a spell I blasted him away, which I sometimes still regret. If we had explained everything to him, maybe this trial would have taken place earlier.
"Back to the story. Once Snape had been knocked out, Sirius pointed out that Pettigrew had lost a finger that night in Godric's Hollow, and said he recognized the rat in the photo from the paper, from the one of the Weasley family on vacation in Egypt. He told us that he suspected Pettigrew was Scabbers, and decided he had to go after him and therefore had to break out kf Azkaban. Ron was quick to deny the claim, but after he realised that Scabbers had been in the family for 12 years- the same amount of time since Pettigrew's supposed death- so he hesitated. Sirius reached to grab Scabbers, but in the struggle he managed to get away. Sirius and Remus fired spell after spell at him until one of them hit, and suddenly there was Pettigrew, lying on the ground, and, most importantly, alive.
"Sirius and Remus still had their wands pointed at Pettigrew, so it was hard to get away. He begged us for mercy, but no one really listened. We went back to the grounds and to the school to turn Pettigrew in, but we had forgotten that it was the full moon, and Remus hadn't taken his potion in time. He transformed, and in all the chaos, Pettigrew managed to slip away.
"Eventually, Sirius was captured and locked up in one of the towers, waiting for the Aurors to take him back to Azkaban. However, Hermione was in the possession of a Time Turner, approved by our Headmaster so she could follow all the offered classes. We used this Time Turner to go back a few hours, and prevent Sirius and I from being killed by Dementors, which had almost happened before, if it weren't for the Patronus that my future self conjured, saving us. We then freed Buckbeak, who had been sentenced to death earlier that day, who we used to get Sirius away. That's why Sirius is still sitting here, and not rotting away in Azkaban."
Once Harry had finished his story, the whole room was quiet for at least five minutes. Most people were staring at him in shock or disbelief, some in confusion or just plain staring. Then the outrage started. People couldn't believe what they were hearing.
"What do you mean Pettigrew is alive?"
"You knocked out a Professor?"
"Black is an animagus?"
"How could Dumbledore authorize a thirteen-year-old to use a Time Turner?"
"A patronus at thirteen?"
"Silence!" Amelia shouted, her wand pressed to her throat to enhance her voice. Everyone quieted immediately and sat down. "I will not condone this shouting! This is a courtroom, not a Quidditch match!"
She then removed her wand from her throat and looked at Harry. "Thanks, dear. You can go back to your seat now." Harry nodded and stood up. He was handed the anti-serum and threw it back quickly, not even looking behind him as he ran back to his seat.
"Now, since I believe Mr. Potter's story was thorough enough, I'd like to call a vote now. Everyone who wants to declare Lord Black innocent, light your wand in green, who wants to declare him guilty, light your wand red, and who wants to continue with the trial, light your wand white." As she said this, all the members of the Wizengamot raised their wands, and Harry cheered internally as he could see at least half of the wands emitting a green glow. Some were red, such as Lord Yaxley, Lord Crabbe and Lord Goyle's. Only two or three were white.
Amelia looked around the room, counting every color, before coming to a decision. She looked at Sirius, a small smile forming on her lips. "With the power vested in me as the Head of the DMLE, I officially declare Lord Sirius Orion Black innocent on all accounts, and compensate for his time in Azkaban with a thousand galleons for each year he was wrongfully imprisoned and an official article stating his innocence. Lord Black, you are officially a free man."
Harry and Theo cheered loudly from where they were sitting and Sirius was handed the anti-serum, before cheering just as loudly as the two boys. The three left the courtroom, and as soon as Harry was close, he jumped at Sirius.
"You did it, Siri!" Harry shouted in glee as he hugged the life out of his godfather.
"I'm so happy. I can't believe it!" Sirius shouted back as he held Harry just as tightly.
"Congratulations, Sirius." Theo told the man as he stood behind Harry.
Sirius smiled at the boy. "Thank you, Theo." He said sincerely as he let go of Harry. He then grabbed the two boys by their shoulders and leas them to the floo's. "I think it's time to celebrate. Anyone want icecream? I told Remus to wait for us at Fortescue's until the trial was over and I think Harry needs it after talking so much."
"Oh, Merlin, yes! My throat feels like the Sahara desert right now." Harry complained and the two laughed as they found the floo. The boys went first, then Sirius. Sirius took a moment to take a deep breath, but he then smiled and left too.
He was finally free.