Silver Trinkets

Early Monday evening, Draco, Harry, and Hermione found themselves outside, near the Black Lake. They were sat in a circle, sharing 2 boxes of treats between them. Draco’s mother had sent him a care package with a lovely letter and a few things that he’d forgotten. Aside from that, it was full of sweets that were meant to last him through the week until his next one. According to Hermione, if that was only meant to last him a single week, then he’d have cavities before Halloween even came around. By New year’s she promised he’d be out of teeth.

Surprisingly, Harry received a similar package from Aunt Wally. The note had been far less loving, but the gesture was shockingly kind of the woman. Although, she did mention that she was proud of him for making Slytherin like a proper Pureblood and that she expected only the best from him in the following year. She insisted that he would not like it very much if he disappointed her.

Draco and Hermione couldn’t decide if that was a thinly veiled threat or not. Harry didn’t care. He’d planned on doing his best regardless, and he’d gotten as much free candy as Draco had. That was all that mattered to him, so he and Draco combined their hauls and decided to split it between the 3 of them.

“Do you think we’ll ever catch a glimpse of the Giant Squid?” Draco asked, peering out over the water. It looked rather beautiful reflecting the late afternoon sky against the backdrop of the Forbidden Forest. It was warm enough that they didn’t need their cloaks, but they could definitely feel autumn coming around the corner.

“It’s likely,” Hermione replied. “The Black Lake is rather large, but I hear that the Giant Squid does like to come up and air his tentacles.”

“It’s too bad we haven’t seen him through our window yet. That’d be incredible.”

“Yeah, it would. I wonder what species of cephalopod it is. ‘Hogwarts: A History’ doesn’t say, and there aren’t any known species that can survive in fresh water. I think I might like to study it, but there’s not much I can do without at least seeing it first.”

“Do you think Professor Snape would know how to lure it to the window?”

While Hermione and Draco chatted about the squid in the Black Lake, Harry’s mind was caught on a different kind of Black. He couldn’t help but wonder about his Godfather, locked away in Azkaban. Aunt Wally was absolutely certain that he was innocent of the crimes he was convicted of. She clearly didn’t even like her son much, so Harry couldn’t figure out what difference it would make for her to be so confident if she was actually lying.

Moreover, though the woman was unpleasant—among other things—she certainly didn’t seem like a liar. She was so brutally honest that it was outright rude and often blatantly uncivil. So, why was she so sure of her son’s innocence despite the obvious evidence? And how could they have convicted him without a trial?

“I wish there was a way to figure it all out…” he mumbled to himself.

“What’s that, Harry?” Draco asked, still grinning off the tail of Hermione’s joke.

“Oh,” he shook his head, not having meant to speak aloud. “I was just thinking about Sirius Black…”

Hermione nodded her head in understanding. “Thinking about what Aunt Wally said?” she asked.

“I just don’t know how she can be so sure he’s innocent, despite all the proof.” Harry frowned at the grass pensively. “There has to be something that she knows or sees that we don’t get. Or, that no one else does.”

“In all of the reading that I’ve done,” Hermione explained, “I’ve never come across anything naming him, or his role in what happened. There are plenty of other notorious Death Eaters, and even people on the Light side that are mentioned by name. Dead, in Azkaban, or alive. But not a single thing on Sirius Black.”

“It’s almost as if history wants us to forget all about him,” Draco suggested.

“But why?” Harry didn’t understand. “I wish there was some way to figure it all out,” he repeated.

Hermione pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Actually, there might be.”

“How?” both Draco and Harry asked eagerly.

“We should be able to just ask the ministry. His trial should be a matter of public record. All we would need to do is send the Department of Magical Law Enforcement an Official Inquiry, and legally they can’t refuse. That should be all we need.”

“But remember what Aunt Wally said?” Draco added. “He never got a trial, thanks to Dumbledore.” Harry found himself having to hold back a sneer at the man.

“I don’t think that’s true. They can’t convict and sentence a person without giving them a trial,” Hermione argued.

“But why would Aunt Wally lie?” Harry asked. “I’ve been going over it in my head, and it just doesn’t seem likely that she’d lie at all. On top of that, I can’t figure out what she would get out of it. Why would she lie if it didn’t change anything? Especially for the reputation for her son, that she doesn’t even like?”

Hermione pondered it for a moment, brow furrowed. “Yeah, I guess you have a point. But if he didn’t have a trial, sending an inquiry would make them aware of that. That would give them a reason to launch an investigation, then they’d have no choice but to give him one now.”

“Then we have to do that!” Harry insisted. “He’s my godfather! I owe it to him, at least!”

“But Harry…” Draco looked up at Harry with cautious hesitation in his eyes. “Even if he didn’t have a trial, he could still be guilty. Then what?”

Harry was blank for a moment. He hadn’t thought of that. He’d only been considering it from the standpoint of Sirius actually being innocent. But what if he wasn’t? “Then,” Harry began, “he’ll just have to go back to Azkaban. But at least it will all have been fair. Guilty or not, he at least deserves a trial. Everyone does.”

Draco looked unsure, but Harry was confident.

“I must say, I agree Harry.” Despite her words, Hermione still looked skeptical. “However, it’s not going to be as easy as writing the ministry and asking. There’s a whole process we have to go through, and it takes time. I’m not even certain of all the steps myself. We’d need to do a bit of research before we even sent the inquiry.”

Harry stood. “Then, we need to get started right now.” He looked over to the sun setting over the lake, realizing it was going to be dinner time soon enough. “Well,” he corrected, “How about this weekend, once we’ve finished our schoolwork?”

Harry regarded Hermione and Draco with earnest eyes and the slightest hint of desperation. Hermione exchanged looks with Draco, then they both nodded at Harry.

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Let’s do it, then.”

They set to work as soon as they could, holing themselves up in the legal section of the library whenever they had free time. They didn’t make any immediate progress. Initially, they didn’t really even know where to look.

After a week of not much of anything, Hermione finally found what appeared to be the only book in the non-restricted section of the library that talked at length about the Ministry of Magic Public Information Services.

The not oft used process of getting—so called—public information from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was far more complicated than the trio felt it needed to be. Draco was insistent that they set it up that way to prevent people from bothering. Harry was willing to believe it, but that wouldn’t deter him.

In order to read any information they had on Sirius Black, they first had to petition the DMLE to release it to the Public Information Services. Once it was there, that was where they had to send the Official Inquiry. Although if they sent them at the same time, the PIS should be able to continue on with no delay.

That was all simple enough, however, the DMLE had the option of refusing to release the information. One way to circumvent that, was to fill out a specific form called the DMLE-IR(HS)-429. The Problem arose from the fact that none of the places the trio had looked actually had a copy of the form to use. They couldn’t even find where to look for it, or even what department they should contact for it, should they need to.

In addition to that, if the information was sealed, all the DMLE would send to the PIS was a fancy scroll that stated it was sealed. The PIS would then send the trio an unnecessarily long letter stating essentially the same thing. The trio couldn’t be sure if it was actually sealed or not, but if it was and they moved forward as if it wasn’t, then they would need to start the process all over again after they somehow managed to get it unsealed.

If what Aunt Wally said about there never being a trial was true, and the ministry was trying to cover it up, then Harry was certain that they were going to pass it off as being a sealed file in the hopes of warding off anyone looking for answers.

If they made sure the files were unsealed, found the proper form, petitioned the DMLE, and sent the inquiry to the PIS, then things would unfold the way they wanted. If there was a trial, Harry could read the files and put all his worries about justice to rest. If not, the DMLE would be forced to tell the PIS that no such information existed, which would be reported directly to the head of the department with orders that would launch them into an immediate investigation. There was no way for the investigation to end other than with a real trial for Sirius Black. Then, justice will finally be served officially, albeit rather late.

One thing Hermione was stuck on, was that the DMLE could take as long as they wanted to release the information. They’d have to unseal it right away once given the order, but they could delay the actual release for months.

Hermione wanted to put the name of someone influential on their inquiry to prevent that from happening. The only person they could think of who might have enough sway was the headmaster. Considering he’s likely the one to be first in line to prevent them from launching the subsequent investigation, that didn’t seem likely to happen. They weren’t sure who else to ask.

Draco seemed to think that having The Boy Who Lived’s name on it would be good enough. Harry was far more influential than he thought. Still, he was only an 11-year-old boy. Hermione and Harry himself doubted that his name would mean much to the Ministry.

Regardless, none of that mattered if they didn’t find the DMLE-IR(HS)-429, and they couldn’t get the order to have the file unsealed. If the DMLE wanted to get the papers caught up in the system, the trio could always ask someone for help moving it along later. So they continued searching in every spare moment they could find.

One morning in late September, Draco was shuffling through 2 separate Daily Prophets. One of them was from that day. The other, he’d found crumpled in the bottom of his book bag from a few weeks before. The battered headline stated that someone had attempted to break into a vault at Gringott’s in July.

“What’d they steal?” Hermione asked, curiously, having not seen that one when it was new.

“Hm?” Draco looked up from the comic section, then glanced at the cover. “Oh, they didn’t get anything.”

“They got caught?”

“No. The vault they broke into was empty. They came too late.”

“Well, that’s good at least. I wonder what it was-”

Hermione was cut off by Harry slamming a book onto the table between the 2 of them. “Look!” he pointed to a paragraph just about halfway through the page. The section was titled “Statute of Limitations.”

Draco dropped his paper and leant over the book, skimming through it and finishing it about 15 seconds after Hermione. Her eyes lit up, and when Draco’s mouth fell open, she caught his eye and they both broke into a smile.

“This is definitely getting put into the petition!” Hermione promised. “This is the exact loophole we needed!”

“Yes!” Harry agreed. “The Statute of Limitations marks seven years as the length of time a high security case can stay sealed. The only exception is top security cases that are matters of national security. Sirius Black’s case was most definitely not a matter of national security. And it’s been ten years.”

“So they can’t even pretend that the file is sealed, then claim ignorance. They’ll have to fork it over no matter what!” Draco was beginning to feel like this was going to work in their favor.

“We’ve still got to find the form to make the DMLE release their files to the Public Information Services, though,” Hermione warned. “Otherwise, this means nothing. And I still think we’d have a better chance with an influential name on the inquiry.”

“Then we’d better hurry up and find that form,” Harry stated. With that, the trio grabbed their things to head to the library, and all thoughts of the Daily Prophet were behind them.

Their next breakthrough came about a week later, in the beginning of October. They’d hit a wall in their research and were contemplating sending a letter to each department in the ministry to ask for a copy of the DMLE-IR(HS)-429. One would think it would be easy to find in the DMLE, but every source they found (few as they were) indicated that the form had been gotten from somewhere outside of the Ministry.

If Harry hadn’t been so determined to get justice, he would have just given up already. Draco reminded him of his original theory that it was the whole purpose behind making the process so much more difficult than it needed to be. Determined not to lose, they hunkered down double time to find it.

It had been pretty late in the evening in the Slytherin common room. Most of the students in their year had gone to bed already because they had class in the morning. However, the trio was still poring over the same legal books they had been for a while. Pansy and Millicent were studying for transfiguration as well. They were having a quiz soon and they’d both been beginning to slip on their studies. So they joined together to cram.

There were a few of the upper years still spread out around the room, and it must have been one of them who gasped loudly. It was loud enough for everyone else to jerk their head in their direction and see what was wrong.

As it turned out, nothing was wrong. The Giant Squid had decided to make his first underwater appearance of the year just then, and he bumped a few of his tentacles on the window. In seconds, all the habitants of the common room rushed to crowd the window. Hermione took a piece of parchment with her and began scribbling notes on the back of it as quickly as she could.

An older girl with very long black ringlet curls and dark skin cooed at it, saying how cute it was. Draco reminded her that it could eat people, but the crazy girl only squealed, suggesting that made it even cuter.

The squid hung out at the window for about 10 minutes, occasionally tapping the glass and moving back and forth, up and down, around it. A few of the other boys tapped back, making a beat on the glass with it. One of them even began to sing to it, though not very well.

“Do you think,” the crazy 4^th year girl asked, “that he thinks we’re the ones in the aquarium?”

“What?” Harry scoffed at her.

“No, I mean think about it. He’s just spending his days out in the lake living his life, right? What if he comes over here every now and then to come and get a look at the weird looking fish trapped in a box on the other side of the glass? Like we’re the ones in an aquarium. It’s just like we do, only from his point of view instead of ours.”

“You’re absolutely mad…” Draco blinked at her, curiously.

“That is a legitimate question!” she argued, pressing her oversized glasses up the bridge of her nose.

Hermione took as many notes as she possibly could, absolutely relishing in the opportunity to examine the squid so close. By the time the squid left, she’d run out of parchment and began writing on the backs of papers that had notes about Sirius Black’s case on them.

She was rereading one closely as she walked past the couch where Pansy and Millicent were sitting on her way back to the circle on the floor she and the boys made.

“DMLE dash IR High Security dash four two nine?” Pansy asked, brows drawn in confusion.

“What?” Hermione was snapped out of her musings about the squid and stopped in her tracks. “What do you know about that?”

“Why do you need one of those?” Pansy questioned.

“Do you know what it is?”

“Of course I do. It’s to make the DMLE give up information they’re holding on to for no reason. Any self-respecting journalist knows that. How do you know what it is?”

“We’re trying to figure out where to get one from!” Hermione nearly shouted in her excitement.

“Well,” Pansy smirked. “Look no further. I’ve got a small stack of them buried in my trunk somewhere.”

“Are you serious?” Draco’s mouth had just about hit the floor. “We’ve spent weeks trying to find this form,” he complained “and you’ve just casually got a stack of them in your trunk?”

“Yeah?” Pansy quirked a confused eyebrow, not seeing what all the hubbub was about.

“Why on earth have you just got a stack of them lying around?” Harry probed.

“I’ve seen my mum fill them out dozens of times. I figured if I ever found something I’d want to get the real scoop on, it’d be nice to have. So I stole a few of them to last me the school year. If nothing else, it’ll provide me with some good blackmail material if anybody wants to get too frisky.”

Draco nodded as if that made perfect sense. Well, Harry supposed it did, devious as it was.

“So you’re going to give us one?” Hermione cut to the chase.

Pansy chuckled at her desperation. “That depends, how bad do you want it?”

“Come on Pans! Don’t be like that!” Draco croaked.

“Fine, fine!” she laughed. “I’ll go grab one.” She headed upstairs, Hermione close on her heels.

Thanks to Pansy’s help, the trio had managed to put together a small packet of documents to be used in the formal inquiry into the case of Sirius Black in just a few more days. The relief of being ready to send it in was so strong, Harry couldn’t imagine how he’d feel if the whole thing turned out being true and they managed to help free an innocent man.

Hermione still had little hope that it would be taken seriously, let alone get a timely response without the addition of an influential name to push it through the system. Harry wasn’t much more optimistic, but he had to do something. He couldn’t just sit by with the knowledge that Sirius Black could have been falsely imprisoned and was rotting away in Azkaban. He had to know the truth about him and what happened that night.

When the owls flew in that morning, Hedwig was suspiciously empty handed. Unlike most Sundays or the occasional Monday, she wasn't carrying Aunt Wally's care package for Harry. The first one he’d received was a surprise, but he’d quickly gotten used to being spoiled by the old woman.

Other than candy and sweets, she’d been sending him presents. Most of it was books on Pureblood and Wizarding tradition, or various robes. She’d seen some of his muggle clothing over the summer and was far less than impressed. Piece by piece, she appeared to be trying to replace his entire wardrobe with what she considered proper attire for a pureblood. There was also the occasional random object that she thought might prove interesting, if not useful. She often sent something for Hermione as well.

Their weekly correspondence was causing Harry to like Aunt Wally a lot more. The majority of her nastiness disappeared when he realized how lonely she was and how bitter that left her. Harry could certainly relate to that. He’d even been keeping her up to date with his endeavors to free her eldest son, though she expressed no particular interest.

Over time, the letters became less stiff and more familiar, warmer. He even noticed that she was quite funny when she wasn’t being racist.

All throughout this, she showed a genuine interest in how he was doing, and showered him in praise when she heard that he was doing well. She still had high expectations of him, but instead of feeling pressured, he felt eager not to disappoint her. He liked having someone to feel impressed when he accomplished something, and having someone to work hard for. He imagined that is was what it felt like to have a real grandmother.

"Wow," Draco exclaimed, perking up as he read the letter he’d received. Strangely enough, he hadn’t received a care package from his mother either.

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

"Aunt Wally and Mother are here," he replied. "They'll be downstairs in Professor Snape's office, endowing students with Trinkets all day.” He read a few more lines ahead in the letter. “Mother says they’ll meet the three of us there after breakfast and that’s where she’ll give us our packages. Oh!” he gasped, putting the letter on the table excitedly. “She says she and Aunt Wally have an idea of how to get our inquiry through to the right people.”

“That’s perfect!” Hermione quickly finished her tea then gathered her things, rushing the boys to hurry up as well.

Harry crammed a whole sausage in his mouth, giving the other to Hedwig. She took it and left with Draco’s owl not too far behind, leaving the trio as they scrambled to get down to the dungeons.

Just before they made it inside, they paused outside the door to check and make sure that they were presentable enough to avoid Aunt Wally’s wrath. Harry took a nanosecond to thank Merlin that on a whim he’d decided to wear a set of green robes from Aunt Wally that Draco had been particularly impressed with. His hair was a lost cause, but everybody knew that by now.

Professor Snape was standing in his office with a grumpy frown. The trio greeted him politely and he offered them a curt nod in return. Behind his desk, Aunt Wally was sitting comfortably. She had a smile on her face that suggested she rather liked making Severus unhappy. Narcissa was sitting on the other side and immediately stood to give all 3 children a hug.

“I’m so proud of you all,” she cooed. “The top three students in your year.”

“The semester has barely begun,” Severus scoffed at her pride.

“Don’t belittle it,” she scolded. “They’ve all done a great job. Besides, you should be proud of them too. They are your little snakes after all.”

He arched an eyebrow at the trio, eye lingering for just a second on Harry. “Indeed…”

Draco and Hermione gave their greetings to Aunt Wally, but Harry approached her. He had instinctually wanted to give her a hug, but hesitated, not sure if that was appropriate.

“Harry, my dear,” she called, smiling and reaching out to him. “How are you?”

He grinned back, settling into the hug. “I’m alright. How are you Aunt Wally?”

“I’m well,” she replied, pulling back. “I’d be better if I weren’t here, about to deal with all of these mudbloods and blood traitors. But I made an agreement when I helped make these Trinkets. If nothing else, I am a woman of my word.” She rolled her eyes as if the very idea was bothersome to her.

Well, at least Harry could always count on her to be consistent.

“Speaking of blood traitors,” Aunt Wally continued, “I think I’ve found a way to help you in your efforts with my son.”

Harry wasn’t sure if he imagined it, but it sounded to him as if Professor Snape gagged a little when she said that. He glanced over to him and he was definitely scowling more than he had been a second ago.

“What was your idea?” Draco asked eagerly.

“Miss Hermione said an influential name on your petition might speed the process along,” Aunt Wally explained. She reached into her bag and withdrew a piece of parchment, handing it to the girl in question. “He’s not as influential as certain idiot headmasters, but I think Arcturus Black, Head of the only remaining Noble House, and Order of Merlin First Class might be a little helpful.”

“Yes!” Hermione bounced up and down on her toes in excitement as she skimmed the letter. “This is brilliant! Thank you so much Aunt Wally!” She pulled the folder she kept all of the documents for their inquiry out of her bag and placed the letter inside.

“Narcissa has an idea that ought to be even more beneficial for you.” Aunt Wally gestured to her niece.

“Actually, this was Lucius’ idea,” Narcissa clarified. “He also seemed quite eager to do it, though I can’t fathom why. He and my cousin were far from close to—or even tolerant of —each other.”

“What was his idea, Mum?” Draco asked. His tone was polite, but Harry could see the impatient twinkle in his eye.

“He wants to deliver your petition to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, personally,” she replied. “He’s refused to tell me why, but he’s certain that he’s got a piece of information that will keep them from putting this on a shelf. He’s also got a bit of influence at the ministry himself. He has a certain way about him that makes it hard for others to tell him no.”

“She means threats and bribery,” Aunt Wally simplified for the children, smirking at them as if divulging a great secret. Narcissa threw her aunt a dirty look, but the old woman shrugged at her with nonchalance.

Hermione didn’t look so sure about that method, but Harry figured if it worked then why not?

“He won’t be able to influence the results, will he?” Harry asked. That was his main concern. He wanted the truth about what happened 10 years ago. He didn’t mind so much if a bit of subterfuge was used to make sure they got it.

“Of course not,” Narcissa soothed. “He won’t have access to any of the files or what they say. He’ll just be able to put enough pressure on the right people to hurry the process along.”

Hermione sighed in defeat. “I can’t say I’m too keen on the idea of threats and bribery,” she said. “But if he can get the DMLE to put a rush on their end, then that’s exactly what we need. If they get everything in order quickly, then the Public Information Services should be able to take care of the rest in no time at all.”

“Are you finished with all the paperwork?” Narcissa asked the trio. “If you are, I can take it to him when I return home tonight.” With no hesitation, Hermione handed the folder off.

Harry almost couldn’t believe that things were finally about to happen. It almost didn’t feel real. In the back of his mind, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong. It always did for him, didn’t it? He allowed the detached feeling to continue for a while. If he didn’t let himself get to excited about it, he wouldn’t be so disappointed when things finally did go wrong.

“Good,” Narcissa smiled at the children. She passed the folder off to Aunt Wally, who put it in her own bag. “Now that business is done, time for pleasure.”

After digging around for a comfortable place to put the folder, Aunt Wally reached her arm deep into the bag, much farther than she should have been able to. When she withdrew it, she was holding a package that definitely should not have been able to fit inside. Clearly, the bag was magic. She checked the name, then passed it over to Draco. “From your mother, dear,” she told him. She reached inside for another package, then handed that one off to Harry. “From myself,” she offered him a warm smile. Next, she pulled out 2 small boxes and handed them both to Hermione. “Just a little something for you. One from Narcissa, and one from myself,” she told her. Hermione was pleasantly surprised.

They all expressed their gratitude, but before they had a chance to open any of them, Professor Snape cut in.

“Might I remind you all,” he started, “that you ladies have appointments to keep? Perhaps the common room would be the best place to open such gifts…”

The trio took that as the dismissal that it was and bid their goodbyes. When leaving Snape’s office, they walked past a line of students that wrapped around the wall, continuing into the corridor and nearly all the way to the staircase leading to the ground floor.

Harry imagined he’d be seeing a lot more Trinkets around after today.