Chapter VII – The Trial

Holly was sure she'd never laughed this much. She couldn't help having fun. Yes, she still had the thoughts of Cedric and Voldemort on her mind, but everything felt lighter… happier. She'd spent the last week at Grimmauld Place pushing thoughts of evil wizards and war to the back of her head.

Now she sat in the living room in front of the brick fire place awaiting everyone else. Today was Friday. The day of the trial. Sirius had been surprisingly calm the past few days, but Holly could not say the same for herself. She couldn't help but be nervous. Of course, she knew Sirius was innocent, but she just couldn't stop worrying something might go wrong. Dumbledore had told them that the Ministry employee, who will be doing the interrogating, will give her, Hermione and Ron each a few drops of Veritaserum. Then they will be asked to recount the happenings of June 6th, 1994 – the day Sirius Black was sentenced to the Dementors Kiss, only to miraculously escape.

'All set?' came a voice from the doorway. She looked up and smiled at George. She'd become rather close with the twins lately. She figured it was simply because she needed the laughter.

'Yep,' she responded as George walked over and plunked down into the chair across from her.

'Relax, Holly, it'll be fine,' he looked at her in all seriousness. 'Sirius will get off, and then we'll be off to Potter Manor for the rest of the summer.'

Holly sighed, and smiled at him.

'I know – I know. It's just that Sirius is the closes thing to family right now, so I can't help but worry, you know?'

'Don't worry, sugar, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon,' Holly looked up to see her godfather leaning against the frame of the door. She grinned up at him.

'I know,' she stated.

'You're just like Lily. Always worrying,' he teased.

'I have reason to be worried.'

Sirius rolled his eyes.

'If you worry anymore, you'll give Molly a run for her money,' he chuckled and sank down beside Holly on the couch.

Holly shrugged as Ron, Fred, Hermione and Ginny came into the room, Mrs Weasley close behind.

'Okay you've got to go now, you don't have all day,' Mrs Weasley said while waving her hands to hurry everyone up. 'Arthur said he'll meet you all in the atrium. Hurry now.'

Everyone stood in line before the fireplace awaiting their turn to grab Floo Powder. Molly was to stay with Fred, George and Ginny to wait for the rest to return. Hermione went first, grabbing a hand full of powder. She stepped into the fireplace and threw the powder down while yelling "Ministry of Magic". Then Ron did the same. Then Sirius. Then finally Holly stepped up and dipped her hand into the porcelain bowl. She stared at the thick black dust and stepped into the brick fireplace. She took a deep breath, threw the powder down and shouted her destination.

Holly clamped her eyes shut against the spinning until she felt herself tumble onto cold tile. She felt someone tug on her waist, pulling her up.

She smiled up at Sirius as she dusted off her robes and the four of them made their way over to where Arthur stood beside Remus Lupin, who was also to be questioned. They stood side by side before a group of sparkling gold statues. Holly smiled as she saw the figures of a witch, a wizard, a centaur, a goblin and a house-elf. Inter-race unison. It's what they needed at times like these. The war was only beginning and if they wanted to make it out alive they must work together – race aside.

As they reached the duo she offered her hand to Mr Weasley while Sirius hugged his long time friend.

'Remus,' she nodded in greeting.

'Hey!' Sirius yelled from her side. 'You call me uncle but call him Remus? What's the deal? He looks way older than I do!'

'Sure he does,' she replied with an eye roll knowing all too well that he'd never drop the subject if she helped him along. Remus chuckled behind his hand and nodded back to Holly.

'Well,' the werewolf started. 'We best be off to the Department.'

The group followed to the lifts and clambered in. The small space was crowded with people, mostly workers Holly assumed, and smelt oddly like Mrs Figg's cat infested living room. Holly scanned the crowd and recognized a couple people who'd been around Headquarters the last week, though she could not recall their names. She glanced to her left and watched as Hermione scolded Ron for pointing. She laughed inwardly, wondering when the two would finally admit – or in Ron's case discover – their feelings for the other. She turned her gaze to the left to see an agitated Sirius Black fidgeting with the hem of his robes. She reached out her hand and gave him a comforting squeeze on his shoulder. Once he looked down at her she gave him a small smile which he returned half-heartedly.

Suddenly, the lift stopped and a female voice rang out, 'Level two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement.'

Holly gulped as she stepped out of the lift with her group. She glanced at her godfather nervously to see him looking around, fear evident in his eyes.

She grabbed his elbow and tugged him along behind the rest of the group. Ron and Hermione both walked behind Remus and Arthur who led the group. Her two friends gazed curiously around the office. The room was separated with cubicles, each of which wall's were covered in Quidditch posters, family photos and mug shots of wanted criminals. At the end of the room were three doors. The one farthest left held a gold plaque with "Rufus Scrimgeour, Head Auror" engraved. The next door held no plaque, but the last door had the same gold plate as the first only with the words "Interrogation room" instead. Holly took another large gulp as Mr Weasley knocked on the door to the left. From this room walked out a tall man with an almost leonine feel about him.

'Well,' he began in a gravelly voice. 'If you're all ready, we'd like to begin.' He gestured for them all to follow into the second room.

Holly scanned the small sitting room to find three armchairs lined up side by side on each of the three walls. Scrimgeour swept his hand across the room in invitation. They all took this as welcome to sit and each picked a chair. Before Holly could sit though, the Head Auror stuck his arm out in front of her.

'Miss Potter, I presume?' she nodded. 'Well, you come with me. You'll be interrogated first.'

Holly gulped. She had to do this. For Sirius. Yeah, for Sirius. Just thirty minutes and it would be over. Completely over. She could do this.

She took a deep breath and followed the man out the room to – in her mind – her doom.

***

George Weasley was no ordinary teenage boy. He'd love to be carefree and hit on every girl he saw. But no. He just had to be falling hard. Not literally. He was falling hard for a girl. Yep, you heard right. He fancied a girl. But he didn't just fancy her – like want a good snog or something. Nope. He fancied her rotten. With whom you ask? With none other than the famous Holly Potter of course!

Yeah, shocker, huh? George Weasley was head over heels for his little brother's best mate.

He couldn't help it. Everything she did drove him nuts. Her smile, her laugh, her smell, her long black hair… and her eyes. Mmmm, her eyes. Those deep green eyes which felt like a portal to her heart. He felt like he could see all her horrors, all her fears by just looking into those eyes. Those eyes gave him great pain, but in their one right, also great joy.

He remembered the first time he'd looked into those eyes. The first time he'd met Holly Potter…

He and Fred were walking down the corridor of the Hogwarts express when Fred stopped and entered a compartment. George, not feeling inclined to follow, continued his trek down the hall. He was just passing a compartment containing a few Hufflepuffs when he heard banging down the hall. He walked quickly down until he came across the problem.

A young girl, most likely first year, was attempting to pull her trunk onto the train.

'Want a hand?' he asked the girl.

She whipped up her head in surprise. He was about to say sorry, but his words caught in his throat. He looked down into wide emerald eyes, glistening from the light. It felt like hours had passed just looking into those green depths, but in reality it'd been mere seconds. He snapped out of his reverie as her loosened grip failed and her trunk threatened to fall. His Quidditch reflexes kicked in as he quickly stabled it.

'Er -' he began nervously. 'Sorry didn't mean to startle you. I'm George. Here let me help you with that. Fred! Get over here and help me out!' He took one last look of the girl and turned towards his brother who was running down the hall…

George smiled to himself as he looked back on that day. Of course it wasn't the first time his thoughts had steered in that direction. No, his dreams were always focused on that green eyed girl. Those weren't the only memories of her that span through his mind though. His favorite had to be the Yule Ball. Of course, he didn't have the pleasure of being her date, but he'd gotten to see her in that long green dress. Given, he wasn't the one to hold her close, but just seeing her smile and laugh with Dean was good enough. It also helped that she'd only gone with Dean as a friend.

His smile faded as his memories rounded to the end of that year. The look in Holly's eyes as she screamed that Cedric was dead while clutching his body was heart breaking. He remembered looking at her and the only thing running through his mind had been to run forward and wrap his arms around her while whispering words of comfort. Before he could get over his initial shock she'd already been dragged away by Professor Moody. And everyone knew how that went.

He sighed as he massaged his temples. He now sat beside his twin brother on the couch before the fire place waiting for the others to get back from the Ministry. Ginny sat across from the two of them sitting with her knees pulled close to her chest as she stared unseeingly at the fire. His mother was fruitlessly trying to keep occupied to level her worry. She scrubbed every surface and dusted every shelf. George sighed once more for he knew all he could do was wait. Wait and wait and wait…

***

Holly breathed a sigh of relief as Ron came into the sitting room. She'd been rather surprised when she had walked into the interrogation room to see Percy Weasley sitting there with a clipboard at hand. Her surprise had quickly turned to fear of Ron's reaction. The retelling of her tale had been simple on her part for she'd been forced to tell the truth by the potion. Once she'd exited the room Remus entered, then Hermione, then Ron.

Now that she watched Ron he did not look upset, just a bit shaken. Her attention, however, was quickly reverted to her shaking godfather. Two guards stood at the opening of the door waiting for him to proceed. She knew the guards were part of protocol but it still made her shake in anger that they'd actually believe Sirius would harm anyone.

Sirius slowly rose to his feet and shot Holly a look of concern. She smiled back in encouragement and mouthed, 'You'll do fine.' He smiled gratefully and followed the two guards out the door. Once the door closed behind the three men, Holly's strong demeanor crumbled.

Now that her godfather was safely out of the room she didn't need to stand strong. Now she could worry. She buried her face in her hands and tried to contain her shaking. She felt someone squeezing her shoulder and looked over at Remus who stared at her in concern. She smiled in response, trying to quell his worries. She slumped back in her seat, laid her head back and looked up at the ceiling.

She knew he was innocent, but the Ministry had let her down before. She now realized the full extent of Mrs Weasley's worry. She sighed as she started counting the cracks in the ceiling, trying to keep occupied.

It felt like hours until the door opened once more. All the occupants of the room jumped up and stared at Rufus Scrimgeour at the door. He smiled at all of them before speaking.

'If you'll all follow me, the Minister will give her verdict,' they all quickly followed the Auror out the room and down the hallway until they came across another door. This door had the same plaque but instead said, "Minister Amelia Bones."

Scrimgeour knocked twice then opened the door swiftly, hurrying the rest of them to come inside. The office was rather large with a grand window on the far wall, which Holly was sure was enchanted given the fact that they were currently underground and had no view of Muggle London. In front of the window was a large mahogany desk which an inviting woman sat behind. Sitting in the chair opposite her was a very nervous looking Sirius Black flanked by two guards. The woman smiled in greeting and opened the file before her.

'Well, I must say I was rather surprised to hear all of your tellings of what happened that night,' the woman began still looking down through her thin glasses at the folder. 'Also I'm very disappointed in my predecessor to be frank. He was quite mistaken I'm afraid,' her expression turned hard at the mention of the old Minister. 'But, all is well. Mr Black here is quite obviously innocent of all crimes. We also had Professor Snape here earlier and his story matches to all of yours as well.

'So, this means we will clear you of all charges,' she spoke looking straight at Sirius who failed to contain his smile. 'And we will also be submitting a public apology to yourself and to any others involved in the happenings of June 6th 1994. We will give the full story to the press and will stay in touch about any paperwork or such things we'll need from you. Understood?' her eyes scanned the people in front of her and when no one spoke up she continued with, 'Very well then. I as Minister of Magic, give my apologies, Mr Black. I do hope you will be able to fulfill your life's desires. Good day.'

With that, the group was escorted out of the room, each with identical smiles. However, none dared celebrate until they were safely back at Headquarters.

They finally made it back to the Atrium and quickly sped walked to the Floo. Sirius pushed Holly forward, silently telling her to go first. She smiled widely, grabbed the Floo powder and stepped into the fire after dropping the dust and shouting her destination. She felt the usual spinning sensation and shut her eyes tight to prevent dizziness.

As she reached Grimmauld Place she tumbled into the room nearly falling flat on her face before strong arms steadied her. She smiled up at George in gratitude. Her smile only widened at the anxious expressions of the people around her, but no explanation was required when Sirius stumbled out of the fire with a whoop of celebration.

'Get out the Fire whisky Molly! We're going to celebrate!' her godfather cried as she rushed forward and enveloped him in a hug. He swung her around both of them laughing as George, Fred and Ginny chanted, "He got off!" over and over again.

Soon everyone was back and they all congratulated Sirius of his victory. They laughed and drank loads of Fire whisky that night, all forgetting the true essence of the raging war outside their very doors. The worries of tomorrow, were in sense, for tomorrow.

Dear readers,

Hehe. Cool chapter, huh? My favorite part is definitely George's POV if I do say so myself. Here's a fun fact. Check it out you know how they are called HP/GW fics for harry and ginny ships, well holly and george and HP/GW too. Cool, right? I didn't even realize it until I was done posting the last chapter. Anyways, I hope you liked it and PLEASE review! I will take bad reviews too! Just anything so I at least know that someone's reading this story! Oh, and still looking for a beta here, so anyone who's interested just speak up. R&R!

Keep each other safe. Keep faith.

Katie