Chapter 3
Harry was looking eagerly towards the Great Hall doors as was everyone else after his dad shouted, and then a figure appeared in the entryway and everyone leaned back as this was the man they had been told to fear but Harry got a good look at him, his black shoulder length hair, clean shaven beard, high cheek bones, greyish blue eyes just like his and he realised this was his other father and Harry couldn’t help but smile, James looked to his husband and how everyone leaned back slightly ‘Sirius, come here’ James said gently holding out his hand, Sirius strode forward but not before he stopped and glanced towards Harry and smiled, and James looked to see Harry smile back, then Sirius continued past the group of Ministry Officials and took a hold of James’s hand ‘continue the story’ Sirius nodded and turned to look at everyone ‘I went to check on Peter but when I got to his hideout he wasn’t there and there was no sign of a struggle, I knew something was wrong, so I quickly hopped back on to my motorcycle and rode back home but when I got there, the house was destroyed, I shouted out James, Harry and ran in but I stopped short when I saw…’ Sirius stopped and looked around with tears in his eyes, this was difficult to say ‘I saw James lying there I held him, begging him to wake up not knowing he was in a coma, I gently put him down and ran upstairs, I saw Lily lying in front of Harry’s crib and also held her trying to wake her up, when I looked around I saw Harry wasn’t there and started looking for him and then I heard a noise, I went down and saw Hagrid holding Harry in his arms, I tried to get Hagrid to give him to me, but he said that Albus was putting him with his relatives and I wondered what relatives he meant, I know I should of stayed with Harry but I knew Peter was out there and I was an auror and I planned on capturing him and handing him over so I tracked him down but just as I was about to stun him, he shouted for the whole street to hear of how I betrayed James and Lily, then blasted the street; killing the 12 Muggles before cutting off his finger and turning in to a rat and escaping down to the sewers then the Aurors came, arrested me and I was thrown in to Azkaban without a trial’.
Everyone was silent as Sirius’ story came to a halt and everyone was looking around in silence, Amelia was shocked to know that an innocent man had been imprisoned for 12 years ‘Mr. Black’ Sirius turned to Amelia ‘yes?’ she cleared her throat ‘how did you escape?’ Sirius knew this question was coming ‘I’m an animagus’ everyone gasped in shock ‘there is no record..’ Sirius interrupted her ‘during the war, I thought it best to keep that talent a secret so it could help me out in the field’ a lot of people nodded and waited for him to continue ‘as you all know Dementors suck all the happiness out of you and only leave you with your worst memories, the fact that I knew I was innocent wasn’t a happy thought so the Dementors couldn’t take that away and when it got too much I turned in to my animagus form, since animals emotions are more complex than a human’s and Dementors can’t sense them, then one day when Fudge came for an inspection I asked to do the crossword on the newspaper and there on the front of the Daily Prophet was Peter’ Amelia and the other Aurors looked at Sirius ‘what do you mean?’ Sirius grinned ‘well I told you he was a rat’ James also grinned held out his wand ‘Accio Ron Weasley’s rat’ and everyone watched as a rat flew out of Ron’s pocket and landed in James hand ‘Sirius shall I do the honor?’ Sirius grinned at his husband ‘I think that would be most appropriate James’ and James did the animagus reversal spell and everybody watched in shock as the rat slowly grew in to a balding man who was quivering at the sight of James and Sirius ‘J-J-J-James, S-S-S-Sirius what a sur…’ ‘shut your mouth’ Sirius growled at Peter while James put a gentle hand on Sirius’ shoulder ‘easy Padfoot’ Sirius relaxed under James’ touch and turned to look at his son who was staring at Peter in surprise which then turned to disgust and anger.
James looked to the man they once considered their brother ‘Peter, we’re just clearing up a few things for everyone to understand’ Peter looked around, fear in his eyes before turning to the group of people gathered ‘you, have to believe me, I only stayed in hiding for fear that the Deatheaters would kill me for putting the Dark Lord’s right hand man and best spy in prison’ a few officials looked at their superiors, while the students looked at the quivering man wondering if what he was saying was the truth, Harry just shook his head glaring at the quivering man, Amelia looked around confused with the two stories she was hearing ,when an animalistic growl resounded out, everyone turned to see Sirius shaking in anger, looking at Peter in cold fury ‘you lying, murderous, traitorous rat’ he growled and turned in to Padfoot on the spot growling, a lot of people screamed, one girl shouting out ‘the Grim’, Harry looked in surprise at the massive black dog but then smiled recognizing the black dog as the one that barked at him from the bushes before the Knight Bus came along, his father was a very powerful wizard.
Padfoot glared at Peter, growling, baring his teeth, and made to lunge forward while everyone else looked around as the ceiling thundered and a flash of lightening sounded throughout the hall, just as Padfoot was about to lunge everyone watched in shock yet again as James Potter turned in to a brilliant brown Stag and leaped in front of Padfoot lifting its head to make eye contact with him, everyone watched in anticipation as some sort of communication was happening between the two animaguses (Remus stared in fondness at the two animals who used to run around with him on full moons) before Padfoot bowed his head and turned back in to Sirius, as Prongs turned his eyes on Peter, prodded his foot against the ground angrily before turning in to James, ‘Like I said Sirius is innocent and if you believe this traitorous rat, then you’re going to have serious problems at the Ministry’ Amelia took one look at James’ determined face before nodding towards Mad Eye who nodded towards Kingsley and Tonks who walked towards Peter with magical restraining handcuffs, before Amelia turned towards Sirius, ‘I hereby declare Sirius Black clear of all charges’ Sirius stared in shock for a second before he grinned widely, the hall rose in applause, James turned towards Sirius and embraced him, then captured his mouth in a kiss (stunning nearly everyone in the Great Hall), Harry grinned, took one look around the hall before he stood up and ran towards his parents, throwing his arms around them both, making the embracing couple jump before they pulled Harry in to the middle hugging him tightly, all three of them making a silent promise that their family would never be broken apart ever again.
Harry couldn’t believe he had both his parents, alive with him, James let go of the pair so that Sirius could share his own hug with Harry, Sirius gripped Harry to him before pulling back silently ‘my boy, my baby boy’ Harry looked at Sirius with a smile and tears in his eyes ‘dad’ and hugged him again tighter ‘oh Harry, I made a mistake that night, going after Peter when I should’ve stayed with you, can you ever forgive me?’ Harry looked in to his dad’s eyes ‘I already have’ Sirius smiled and looked to James who was crying at the scene, before Harry turned at stared at his father’s crying face ‘oh father’ James laughed before Sirius let go of Harry ‘so James, what should we start with next, the Founders, Dumbledore, Snivillus, the Malfoys, some of the Weasleys or Fudge?’ everyone looked at each one people who had their names read out before James turned to Amelia ‘what would you like Madame Bones?’ Amelia looked around ‘how about Dumbledore?’ James nodded ‘certainly, Padfoot how would you like to take this one?’ Sirius smiled ‘proud to Prongs’.
Sirius turned to everyone ‘I would just like everyone to know the truth, so let’s start with why so many people who should, but don’t remember that it was me and James together and not him and Lily, the reason for this is because Dumbledore confunded or oblivated anyone who knew the truth’ everyone gasped in shock and Harry turned to look at the headmaster with betrayal in his eyes as he had always looked up to him, Sirius waited for everyone to calm down before be begun again ‘next how about the fact he could’ve of gotten me trial since he knew I wasn’t secret keeper, but got a trial for the likes of Snape who is a marked Deatheater’ a lot of students screamed in horror while Snape glared at Sirius, ‘now let’s talk about what Dumbledore and what some of the Weasleys have been up to’ Molly and Albus looked scared ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’ Molly tried, but Sirius laughed then turned to Harry ‘I’m so sorry son, but Albus here had been paying Molly to mother you but she never really meant it’ Harry looked shocked for a second before looking at Albus and Molly with hurt in his eyes ‘but it gets worse’ Harry turned to his dad ‘what do you mean?’ Sirius sighed sadly ‘I’m sorry for this Harry, but Albus has been paying Ron Weasley to be you’re friend and has been making Ginny Weasley feed you love and loyalty potions which were made by Snape, so that you’ll always feel loyal to Ginny, Molly and Ron and the love potion is so that you fall in love with Ginny’ Harry turned to stare at his best friend hoping that he would say that it was a lie but by the looks on Ron and Ginny’s face everything he said was true, while Arthur, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George looked at their family members in horror and disgust, while tears filled Harry’s eyes before he felt Sirius wipe them away, he turned to his dad who smiled gently down at him and pulled him in to a hug.
James could see that Sirius needed to comfort their son so continued ‘let’s talk about the Malfoys next, Lucius Malfoy convinced everyone that he was under the imperious curse, but that is not true, you cannot take the Dark Mark under the imperious curse, it can only be taken willingly, and let me tell you, just because Sirius was disowned by his family, his father and grandfather still named him heir to the Black Family, so as Lord black he checked you out over the years, and discovered that everything you were doing for Voldemort you did on your own free will, and Cornelius, how about you tell everyone how Lucius paid you enough money to keep him and fellow Deatheaters out of Azkaban’ everyone started shouting at Fudge and Malfoy, before Amelia, Mad Eye, Kingsley and Tonks all got to Lucius and put him in Magical handcuffs along with Snape, Fudge, Molly and Dumbledore, while Arthur grabbed Ron and Ginny and lead them away from the Great Hall, James and Sirius both smiled before James turned to Sirius ‘saving the best til last, huh Padfoot?’ Sirius smiled ‘of course my love’ (some people around gasped at the actual declarations of love) before Sirius cleared his throat ‘when I met up James, we both went to Gringotts to look in to our vaults, where we discovered something shocking’ everyone wondered what could be more shocking then what had just been discovered tonight, ‘we discovered that I was more than just Lord Black and James was more than just Lord Potter, it was discovered that James is in fact Lord of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff’ now everyone stared at James in shock and amazement, while Harry looked at his father in shock and admiration James laughed ‘yes, yes it was a shock for me too, but what shocked me were the titles Sirius owned, he is Lord Ravenclaw and Slytherin’ everyone gasped and Harry turned to his dad in shock while Sirius grinned at everyone’s reactions ‘I know, impressive for someone who is a so called bloodtraitor from the Black family, but now I would like to say that it’s been a long and tiring day, so everyone off to bed, and tomorrow there are no classes as me and James will tell you of the changes that will be happening around Hogwarts, so could the Prefects lead their housemates to the dormitories and we will see you tomorrow and sweet dreams’ and with that everyone started to slowly make their way out of the Great Hall chattering loudly, the guests that James had invited had already left but not before James and Sirius could thank them for everything they had done.
James and Sirius turned to the staff ‘tomorrow you will also hear the changes so I suggest that you get some rest’ the staff looked at the two boys who used to be troublemakers in shock, before they turned and left, James and Sirius turned to Harry ‘do you mind if you spend the night with us?’ Harry grinned and nodded eagerly ‘yes, of course I will’ as they started making their way out the hall Sirius stopped and turned around ‘come along Mooney we have some catching up to do’ Remus stared at Sirius in shock wondering how he could just easily forgive him but followed none the less, eager to spend time with his friends and nephew, wondering if the Marauders were about to become whole again.