The Exoneration of Sirius Black
Almost overnight Sirius became a complete sensation across the wizarding community of Britain as whispers of his innocence suddenly became outright public knowledge. Rather than it being reassuring for all of them to learn their assumptions about an alleged mass murderer had been wrong, it was somewhat of a disappointing consensus to accept that there was not one less criminal on the streets in regards to his discovery. Voldemort and his Death Eaters were at large, and the authorities had wasted so much time chasing the wrong man. It turned Sirius into a martyr and it strained the already broken trust that most people had in their Ministry, which Rufus Scrimgeour seemed to understand.
“Minister, the place is packed,” an assistant said breathlessly, as she ran down the corridor to the group assembled outside the courtroom.
“Rumors have spread and they want a statement -” she glanced over at Sirius who was standing tall between Lupin and Harry, wearing black jeans and a leather jacket with his long brown hair in soft waves around his face. “Perhaps they should leave by different means?”
“Not necessary,” Fudge’s successor for Minister of Magic growled, his long mane of hair and overall demeanor reminding Harry of a mangled lion.
“We’ve got to give them something - a joint appearance from Sirius Black and myself, and then I want the place cleared out.” His thick eyebrows crawled together like caterpillars as he glared pointedly at Sirius. “Are you in agreement? I’ll do the talking.”
“Will it drive up the demand for my upcoming memoir?” Sirius asked in mock seriousness, winking at Harry. “Then of course.”
There were tears of happiness burning in Harry’s eyes as he grinned up at his godfather - now his legally recognized parent. They both had woken up extremely early that morning and had been too anxious to fall back asleep, though everything had gone smoothly and extremely quickly once they’d entered the court chamber. Dumbledore had taken care of everything beforehand and Lupin had shown up for the proceedings as well to congratulate them. Scrimgeour, and the rest of the seated Wizengamont, including newly reinstated Chief Warlock Albus Dumbledore, had been present to officially give the verdict on the unanimous vote to clear Sirius of all charges. His innocence was now officially recognized and Sirius was finally a free man again.
“But before you address the crowd, Rufus, I want your word,” Dumbledore spoke, suddenly looking grave as he rested a light hand on Harry’s shoulder. The assistant was rushing back the way she had come to prepare the press, and the Minister, who had been about to follow, paused with his shoulders squared in rigidness to look back.
“Oh?” Scrimgeour said coldly. “What word might that be, Albus?”
“Your word that nothing will be shared with the press about Harry’s adoption,” Dumbledore said sternly. “Undoubtedly the cat will be let out of the bag in due course, but it’s unnecessary for us to make a private family matter a public fixation.”
“On the contrary, Dumbledore,” Scrimgeour leveled off, “have you not considered that such cheerful news concerning the Chosen One would boost morale and help us succeed in appearing as the united front it is imperative we be?”
Harry felt his face grow warm at the name the Daily Prophet had christened him with following the acceptance of Lord Voldemort’s return. While it was true that the prophecy had singled him out as the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord, it’s contents weren’t supposed to be widely known. All of a sudden it seemed like everyone had guessed what he’d wanted to be kept secret, and Voldemort had heard the whole thing for himself. No longer was Harry a lying show-off. Suddenly the media was painting him as the chosen saviour of the world.
“I understand your intentions, Rufus, but I’m afraid that this is a matter on which I simply will not budge,” Dumbledore said politely, but firmly. “Harry will not be addressing the public. He is under age and has already suffered a cruel smear campaign orchestrated by your predecessors. There is absolutely no need for anyone to know he has accompanied us to the Ministry at all today.”
“And is that your decision to make, Dumbledore?” Scrimgeour challenged. “Some would say that it is the boy’s duty to -”
“It’s actually my decision to make, Minister,” Sirius said loudly. “Harry is my son, as the certificate you signed mere minutes ago clearly states, and I do not appreciate you discussing this as though I’m not here.'
'As it stands, I agree with Dumbledore on this matter - Harry is not going to participate. However, I am still willing to accompany you out to address the crowd myself -if you’ll hurry up about it. I think you can agree that you and your affiliates have already wasted quite enough of my life.”
Harry glowed from within at being claimed by Sirius in the highest of ways. Not only as a godson, or his best friend’s son, but as his very own. There was absolutely no interference on their relationship now. In black and white documentation, he was Sirius’s child. Never again to just be the unwanted ward of the Dursleys because Sirius was free, and his first order of business after getting his name cleared was to give Harry the absolute recognition that he had always craved.
“I think that says it all, Minister,” Dumbledore said, looking as though he were trying hard not to smile.
While next to him, in his shabby brown suit, Lupin did not bother with such restraint. He clapped Sirius on the back as Scrimgeour led the way down the corridor towards the atrium that had hosted the battle between Dumbledore and Voldemort last month. Harry had seen pictures in the paper about how the whole infrastructure had crumbled, but you couldn’t tell that now. All was exactly as it had been before.
“Put your invisibility cloak on, Harry,” Dumbledore instructed quietly, as Scrimgeour walked reluctantly towards the podium that had been prepared for him. Forced to contend with the absolute mess that the previous administration had left him, Scrimgeour grimaced as shouts of outrage and pointed questions were fired at him immediately from reporters and spectators alike, who were standing in a space cordoned off by rope. He wasn’t popular, the Ministry wasn’t trusted, and it didn’t help matters that Sirius had emerged from the shadows to wave at the crowd and then glare at Scrimgeour with his arms folded antagonistically.
“Sirius looks like he’s preparing to fight,” Lupin murmured, and Harry couldn’t help but agree as he slipped the invisibility cloak over his head and stepped out to have a better look. The crowd had transitioned from hostile jeering to cheers and calls of support at Sirius’s appearance. It was several minutes before the noise died down enough for Scrimgeour to speak.
“As Minister for Magic, it is my solemn duty to issue a full apology to Mr. Black here today,” Scrimgeour said formally, with his wand pointed at his throat to magnify his voice throughout the hall. Sirius continued to look noticeably displeased ,which Harry thought might be for the crowd’s benefit because he hadn’t behaved that way in the corridor. He thought Scimgeour might already be regretting agreeing to this statement, recognizing that Sirius was not going to cooperate with the image he was desperate to project.
“A grave injustice was done to Sirius Black at the Ministry’s hands. He was sentenced to Azkaban for crimes he did not commit because the authorities failed to recognize that things are not always what they appear. After reexamining Mr. Black’s case over the past few weeks, the Wizengamont has come to the conclusion that he was wrongfully imprisoned. Today, we issue him a full pardon with our apologies. As your Minister, I vow to do better from now on so that something like this will never happen again. Let us move forward in unity and strength, to concentrate on the real enemy, which is You Know Who and his followers.”
All eyes were on Sirius as everyone waited to see if he would concede with what the Minister was saying. He and Scrimgeour stared at one another silently for about a minute, and then Sirius took out his wand and pointed it at his own throat. Boldly he walked forward to place himself behind the podium, and the Minister had no choice but to step aside.
“That was very touching….” Sirius began sarcastically. “That apology almost makes those twelve years of solitary confinement, surrounded by dementors hungry to feed on my soul, just slip away - “ Sirius snapped his fingers expressively.
Underneath his invisibility cloak, Harry’s eyes were nervously darting from side to side. They landed upon Lupin’s sad gaze, Scrimgeour’s shaking fury, and Dumbledore’s entirely unreadable expression.
“The truth is that if I hadn’t managed the impossible by escaping, I would have rotted in Azkaban for the rest of my life,” Sirius told his audience. Flashes from cameras were going off in his face and journalists were falling over themselves in their desperation to write down everything he was saying. Harry spotted Rita Skeeter in the front with her acid green Quick Quotes Quill scribbling madly.
“I am grateful that the Ministry of Magic decided to do something right for a change today. I am thankful that they have stopped attacking Harry Potter just because they wanted to put off doing anything useful for as long as they could,” Sirius lowered his head for a moment. You could have heard a pin drop in that atrium. It seemed as though the entire congregation was holding their breath as they waited for him to continue, and when he was ready, Sirius looked up again.
“Now that I have my life back, I choose to spend it trying to find an end to Voldemort,” he ignored the shiver that wove through the crowd at the name. “Fighting against Voldemort, fighting against his Death Eaters, and fighting against our corrupt Ministry of Magic. I hope nobody ever has to suffer unjustly like I did at the hands of our incompetent government. I hope we can all stand in unity for that. Thank you.”
People cheered and applauded at his words. Reporters shouted follow up questions and some of the women were trying to get past the barrier to reach him. Sirius waved to them enthusiastically and gave Scrimgeour, whose mouth was hanging open in aghast, a satisfied smile as he walked back towards the exit where Dumbledore, Lupin, and the invisible Harry were waiting.
“Maybe we should get going before Scrimgeour tries to arrest you for inciting a riot,” Harry said incredulously. He wasn’t exactly sure what he had expected Sirius to do, but Scrimgeour had clearly been mistaken to believe that Sirius would simply nod his head and agree with everything he said.
“Perhaps you’re right,” Sirius said, reaching a hand out to clasp onto the fabric of Harry’s invisibility cloak so he’d know where he was. “Sorry, Professor,” he looked at Dumbledore, “some things needed to be said.”
“I think you said more than enough,” Dumbledore replied neutrally. “Nobody will have any doubt where you stand now. And perhaps Harry is right that it is time to go. We don’t need more conflict after all. Come, everyone. I’ll send you all out by portkey and then I’ll try to placate our very displeased Minister.”
“You need to at least try to work with these people,” Lupin advised softly, as they began following Dumbledore back down the corridor. The enthused noise from the crowd persisted with every step, Scrimgeour not having any success at settling or removing them from the property yet.
“Why would I ever do that?” Sirius retorted. “That bloke is out of his mind if he thinks I’d cooperate with the Ministry after everything they’ve done. I got what I needed from them today and that’s as far as it's going to go.”
Dumbledore turned the corner and Sirius pulled the invisibility cloak entirely off of Harry, pocketing it inside his leather jacket. They smiled at one another. “I agreed with everything you said,” Harry reassured him.
“It’s exactly what James would have done too,” Lupin admitted begrudgingly, as they all halted outside a closed door that Dumbledore had pointed his wand at.
“This room will do fine,” Dumbledore told them, as he opened it to reveal a small conference room that was completely overtaken by a large oval table. “There’s a few things I need to discuss with you all before we go our separate ways.”
“Sirius!” They all turned to see Tonks rushing bouncily down the corridor towards them. She had a huge smile on her face, lavender coloured hair, and was dressed in the uniform of an Auror, her red robes billowing behind her like a cape .
“Hello, Professor!” she paused to greet Dumbledore, who smiled and gave her a light bow before proceeding ahead into the room. Harry could see him walking its perimeter with his wand outstretched, presumably ensuring it was a safe spot for them to talk.
Tonks turned back to her mother’s first cousin and said breathlessly, “I’m working, but I slipped out to hear your talk just now and blimey --”
“I take nothing back,” Sirius said proudly.
“You shouldn’t, it needed to be said and must have taken a lot of guts,” Tonks replied, wrapping him in a hug and smiling at Harry from over Sirius’s shoulder. “I wanted to congratulate you too.”
“Thanks,” Harry said happily, as Tonks released Sirius and glanced quickly over at Lupin, who hadn’t addressed her at all yet, but was backing slowly into the conference room after Dumbledore. Tonks bit down on her bottom lip and then she looked at each one of them quickly in turn, as though trying to make her mind up about something. There was a pause of awkward silence broken only by the muffled noise still echoing from down the hall.
“Anyway, I gotta run if I want time to shove a sandwich into my mouth before I’m missed…..” She hesitated, and Sirius didn’t seem to be able to stand idly by for another moment.
“Dear God, Remus, go have lunch with the girl,” Sirius rolled his eyes, grabbing hold of his friend’s arm and actually yanking him back out into the corridor.
“Dumbledore said he needed to discuss --” Lupin started to object.
“I’ll fill you in later,” Sirius cut in impatiently. “Come on, Harry.”
Harry obediently slipped into the room and took a seat at the oval table beside Dumbledore, who was now leaning back in his chair and watching the encounter out in the corridor with a curious look on his face. Until Sirius stepped into the room and shut the door firmly in Lupin and Tonks’ faces.
“I’m having flashbacks to how Remus would skip out on Hogsmeade weekends to hide in the library anytime James and I tried to set him up with a date,” he exclaimed, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms again.
“Sometimes a good push in the right direction from a friend is exactly what we all need,” Dumbledore said with a smile, pressing his fingertips together as he glanced between them. “I will not keep you very long. I mostly just want to impress upon you the necessary precautions we’ve agreed on for Harry’s safety this summer.”
“Don’t go out after dark, keep my invisibility cloak on me at all times, take my potion as always, and no visits to Diagon Alley or other crowded places without additional security,” Harry rhymed off, counting on his fingers. “Professor Snape already told me.”
“And I trust you to listen,” Dumbledore said gently. “The other thing I wished to tell you was that I will be travelling extensively over the holiday for reasons I don’t want to share just yet - though when school resumes, I think it will be time for me to take a more active approach in your education.”
“What exactly does that mean, Dumbledore?” Sirius asked.
“It means that there are things that I think are important for Harry to learn,” Dumbledore answered quietly, peering at him over his half-moon spectacles. “For lack of a better word, I intend to give Harry private lessons with myself this coming year.”
“And as Harry’s legal father, you will of course be sharing all that same information with me,” Sirius said sternly. “Don’t think for a moment, Dumbledore, that you’re going to ask Harry to keep things from me.”
Dumbledore stared at him unblinkingly. “As I was about to say, before you interrupted me, you will, of course, be welcome to come up to Hogwarts and be present every time.”
“I’ll do that then,” Sirius nodded.
“However, nobody besides the three of us needs to be aware of this - I suppose with the exception of Miss. Granger and Mr. Weasley, who have both proven themselves trustworthy,” he turned to look at Harry. “Do you have any questions for me?”
Harry had leaned forward in his excitement for news and wasn’t at all concerned about the slight tension that he could detect between Sirius and Dumbledore, both convinced that they knew what was best for him. But all Harry was curious about at that moment was to know exactly where Dumbledore was travelling, knowing for certain that it had something to do with Voldemort, and also knowing that he would not get an answer. Apparently not until September, so he settled for asking something a little less intense.
“What about Professor Snape?” Harry asked, feeling slightly confused. “I can tell him, can’t I?”
“Ah, well this is where things begin to get complicated,” Dumbledore replied, surveying Harry carefully for a moment before continuing. “Severus knows that I plan to meet with you, but he knows that he can’t be told what exactly it’s about. For you see, I don’t wish to put all my eggs into one basket. Particularly not a basket that spends so much time dangling on the arm of Lord Voldemort. Does that make sense?”
“I think so,” Harry said skeptically, who wasn’t sure he was okay with that at all. He had gotten used to confiding in Snape about almost everything. He didn’t like the idea of there being things he wasn’t allowed to go to him with for advice and support.
Dumbledore smiled understandingly. “From here on out, there are things that I can only discuss with Severus and there are things I will only discuss with you,” he explained. “You’re both important to me, but you have different jobs. Just like you have both Sirius and Severus to take care of you, but in different ways. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” Harry agreed quietly.
“Excellent,” Dumbledore said, immediately rising sprightly from his chair. “Then we will leave it at that for now,” he said, procuring a tennis ball from the pocket of his robes. He tapped it with his wand and it glowed.
“This portkey will take you two home,” he explained, passing it to Harry who had reached out his hand. The ball was warming as it prepared to activate and Sirius came over to envelop Harry’s hand in his own.
Dumbledore smiled. “I really am happy for you both,” he told them. “I wish you a marvelous summer and if you need me for any reason, Severus will be able to contact me for you. Until then….”
He waved them off as Harry felt something tug at his navel. Suddenly Dumbledore and the room at the Ministry became blurs and he was pulled away with Sirius. Twisting unbearably through a funnel until his feet hit firm ground and he toppled - not onto the cobblestone sidewalk outside of Grimmauld Place - but into a soft bed of grass.
“Where -” he staggered up to his feet and readjusted his glasses that had gone askew on the journey.
Blinking around at his new surroundings he saw that he and Sirius were standing in the middle of a beautiful meadow that stretched out on all sides around them. The greenery was so bright and luscious. The rolling backdrop of hills and forest in the distance made it look exactly like a painting. Sirius was looking at something straight ahead that Harry couldn’t see.
“What are we -”
“Welcome home,” Sirius said simply, waving his hand in front of him. “Concentrate on what that word means.”
“Home,” Harry repeated, but things had already begun to change around him. Right before his eyes, nail by nail, and board by board, a house was building itself from nothingness. It expanded and grew, encasing itself in grey brick. While behind it, the wonderful sight of goal posts for a Quidditch pitch were erupting from the ground like large lollipops. Traced through the grass was now a winding driveway and Harry could see in the distance that there was a dirt road that cars might drive on.
“Home,” Sirius said proudly. “It’s under the Fidelius Charm and I’m the secret keeper. Dumbledore also added his own protection so we’d be hard to find a safer place for you to live.” He bounced excitedly on the balls of his feet and pointed at the hills in the distance. “The Burrow is just over there. A little birdie told me to find a place close to the Weasleys with enough land for you to fly around without being seen.”
“You talked to Ron?” Harry asked wondrously.
“I might have asked him and Hermione to fish around for ideas,” Sirius said modestly. “I wanted it to be a surprise, but I wanted it to be everything you’d like.”
“I’d have been happy anywhere with you,” Harry told him, staring up at the impressive manor. It seemed far too big for just the two of them, but incredible and immaculate. He could hardly wait to go check out the inside. The Dursleys would shrivel up with jealousy if they saw where he was going to live now. Even if it was way more than anyone could ever need.
“I just loved the idea of using the Black family fortune to design an estate that my parents would hate,” Sirius said happily. “But it’s not about them. It’s about us - and the home you should have had your whole life.”
“I can’t even believe it’s real,” Harry replied, swallowing a lump in his throat as Sirius beamed. "You offered me a home that first night we met and it's all I've ever wanted."
A shadow crossed over Sirius's face for a brief second. "Well, you know that it broke me - how quickly you accepted my offer. I'd comforted myself in Azkaban all those years believing that you were far better off with Lily's family than with me. To learn I was wrong..."
"That wasn't your fault," Harry said quickly, giving his newly adoptive father a reassuring smile. "And look at me - I turned out okay."
"You turned out beautifully," Sirius replied.
"I'm so glad that you're officially my Dad," Harry said shyly.
"Me too," said Sirius, reaching out a hand to ruffle Harry's messy hair until it was even more untamed than usual. The flutter in Harry's heart made him think briefly of James but it wasn't necessary to clarify that James would always be his father too. Or even Snape for that matter. This moment was for him and Sirius. Celebrating what they had and the unique bond that was exclusively between the two of them. The way he saw it, this was as close to a dream as he could have ever imagined. Knowing with confidence that his parents were smiling down on the scene, with their son now being given everything they would have wanted for him - aside from their own presence. And Harry was happy.
"C'mon, let's go check out the inside," Sirius winked.
"Okay," Harry agreed.
But when Sirius opened the front door, Harry found himself holding his breath as he stepped inside. There had never been a more beautiful house than this. It was just as bright indoors as it was outside with enormous picture windows stretching up to reach the high ceilings, letting it loads of natural sunlight. The second floor was only half the size of the first, resembling a T as a large straight staircase reached up to the hallway that was enclosed with glass. Harry could count five doors to separate rooms upstairs and the main floor was just a big open space. He could have comfortably flown inside if he felt like it, for which he knew Sirius would never object. There was a giant fireplace big enough to fit at least two grown men on one side of the house and on the other side was the kitchen, with plush comfortable blue couches in the middle.
“Sirius” Harry shook his head incredulously. He couldn’t find words. He was speechless. His emotions rivaled how he remembered feeling when he saw Hogwarts for the first time.
His father laughed, looking infinitely more hopeful and happy than Harry could ever have believed possible. Sirius wrapped him in his arms and gave him a warm squeeze. “There’s a pool in the basement too.”
“Come again?” Harry said, looking at Sirius strangely even as he reached his arms up to return the hug.
“There’s a swimming pool in the basement,” Sirius repeated, looking positively delighted. “Come on.”
He pulled Harry along by the arm. The two of them jogged around the grand staircase and Harry discovered that there was a smaller stair directly behind it. This one circular, and carpeted in a thick grey rug. The distinctive smell of chlorine hit Harry’s nose as they descended. He was stunned and thrilled. Who got to live in a place this grand? Except perhaps Malfoy, but even that wouldn’t be close to as good as what he and Sirius shared. The Malfoys were a deeply distressed family. Snape had made that abundantly clear.
“Think of the parties we can throw,” Sirius told him, as they stood in the basement and Harry stared through the glass doors that closed off the pool. “And I forgot to tell you that the Weasleys and Hagrid are coming over for supper tonight to celebrate - I must remember to make sure Remus invites Tonks back with him, he’s going to be living with us too.”
“That’s great,” Harry exclaimed.
“Isn’t it?” Sirius agreed happily. “And I already gave them the secret, so that means Ron can come over whenever you want.”
“You’ve thought of everything,” Harry said in amazement, unable to contain all this good fortune. His face was warm with elation. Good things like this didn’t happen to him. Lucky had never been a word to describe him before.
“I think so,” Sirius replied. “And come see this.”
He led Harry down the hallway opposite the swimming pool. They passed the laundry and a few closets and then reached a solid door at the end. “I wanted to make sure I gave him the quietest room in the house to work in,” Sirius explained, turning the handle and opening the door to reveal a very large office space and laboratory.
“You….you mean Professor Snape?” Harry asked, for he couldn’t think of anyone else it could be. Who would revel in this space that Sirius had put such careful thought into. The desk. The stations. The cabinets for storage and the shelves for all of Snape’s books and notes. Harry could just imagine him settling in here and feeling at home.
“Yeah,” Sirius nodded, closing the door tightly again. “Well, Severus didn’t exactly say ‘yes’. I just told him that it was high time we both grew up and moved out of our miserable mothers’ houses and he didn’t disagree with me. So he's coming tomorrow.”