Author's Note: Here's Chapter 7 - enjoy, and please tell me what you thought of the developments made thus far in a review! Happy August!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, storylines, etc. associated with the Harry Potter series.


Harry grimaced as he thought about his circumstances – here he was, going to the Wizengamot courtroom twice in the same summer. He held onto Dora's hand as Andromeda and Ted led the way into the courtroom. They were seated in a special section for family and friends during Sirius's trial. Mr Weasley, who Harry had invited to join him, was also seated in that section.

Tiberius Ogden, who had since replaced Albus Dumbledore as the permanent Chief Warlock, stood up and pointed his wand to the ceiling. The courtroom instantly silenced. "Please take a seat, everyone, so we could begin this trial promptly at 9 o'clock."

In the back of the courtroom, cameras flashed away. A horde of reporters and media members eagerly awaited what could become the most famous trial of the century.

Tiberius stood up and began speaking to the Wizengamot. "Today, we are here to oversee the trial of Sirius Black for a crime he was accused of conducting in the year 1981. For some reason, there was never a trial held after the Black-Pettigrew case, so we shall hold a retrial today. Do note that this retrial does not mean the defendant is guaranteed to be innocent – the purpose of the trial is to follow our court system and ensure justice."

"The defendant is charged with the use of magic in front of Muggles, the murder of Peter Pettigrew, and the deaths of 12 Muggles. Prosecution counsel, you may begin." Tiberius gestured to the Ministry's top prosecutor, Madame Ruth Beris.

"The prosecution calls Sirius Black to the stand," Madame Beris commanded.

Sirius, donning old, black robes and long, shaggy hair, trudged towards the witness stand. "Before my testimony begins, I would like to make a request of the court," he stated.

"And what request may that be?" Tiberius inquired.

"I would like to invoke my right to testify under the use of Veritaserum."

Immediately, Wizengamot members sputtered and protested against this. Madame Beris shouted over the mild noise. "Objection, Chief Warlock Ogden! A defendant is not allowed to utilize Veritaserum during a criminal trial."

Sirius's attorney stood up. "Objection, sir. By Article 3, Act 51 of the Wizengamot Constitution, Veritaserum can be used in a criminal trial should a special circumstance should arise. Whether the circumstance is 'special' is decided by the Chief Warlock."

"But because this trial is occurring ten years later than it should have, I fully believe that this case qualifies as a 'special circumstance'." He finished and glanced at Tiberius.

Tiberius tapped his chin and pondered the situation for a minute, before finally nodding. "Permission for the defendant to use Veritaserum in testifying is granted. Madame Bones, please go fetch enough Veritaserum for the defendant to use."


Harry lightly poked Andromeda. "What is the Verathingy- whatever they said?"

Andromeda frowned but answered nonetheless. "Veritaserum is a truth potion. It forces the drinker to tell the truth for a limited amount of time. Now be quiet."

Madame Bones quickly scurried back into the courtroom holding a small vial and walked next to where Sirius sat. "Mister Black, please tip your head back and open your mouth. I will pour three drops in."

Sirius obeyed her commands and Amelia carefully poured three drops out of the vial into his mouth. "What is your name?" Amelia asked as a means of testing the effectiveness of the serum.

"Sirius Orion Black."

"What month and day were you born on?"

"I was born on the third of November."

Amelia nodded. "Let the record be known that the defendant is now under the influence of Veritaserum."

"Thank you Amelia," Tiberius's voice rang loud and clear around the Wizengamot. "Madame Beris, proceed with your questioning."

Madame Beris looked a little unsettled by the latest happenings. She had neither expected nor prepared for a circumstance where the defendant would be forced to tell only the truth. In her decades of experience as a Ministry prosecutor, she has never participated in a case that involved Veritaserum.

"Mister Black, did you or did you not admit that you were guilty when you were found by the Aurors?"

"Yes, I did."

"So you were guilty of the crimes you were charged of?"

"No, I am not guilty for the deaths of the twelve Muggles. I did use magic in front of Muggles, I suppose. But I admitted I was guilty to the Aurors in the sense that I had indirectly led to the deaths of the Potters."

Murmurs scattered around the Wizengamot in response to Sirius's oddly convoluted response. "Silence!" Tiberius shouted.

Meanwhile, Madame Beris was panicking inside. By that answer, she knew that Sirius was innocent of the murders – and with him using a truth serum, there was simply no method of painting him in a negative light. "The prosecution has no further questions, Chief Warlock Ogden."

Sirius's attorney stood up and addressed Chief Warlock Ogden. "Defense would like to add to the examination of our defendant while he is still under the influence of Veritaserum."

Tiberius nodded. "Permission granted. Please proceed."

Walking towards where Sirius sat, the defense attorney questioned, "Mister Black, please answer with simple a Yes or No – did you kill Peter Pettigrew?"

"No."

The jaws of many Wizengamot members dropped. Cameras suddenly flashed away and reporters furiously scrambled to take notes of this unexpected response.

"Another Yes or No please – did you kill the twelve Muggles?"

"No."

"Mister Black, in your own words, please describe what happened on the evening of October 31st, 1980."

"That Halloween night, I…"


When the final judgment was made, Harry and the Tonks family hurried out of the courtroom, eager to avoid the throng of reporters. Dora grabbed his hand and whisked him into the nearest floo before shouting "39 Miramonte Villa!" The two elder Tonkses followed suit.

Harry and Dora landed in a heap in front of the fireplace while Ted and Andromeda tried not to trip over them upon landing. Harry was the first to get up, with a broad smile on his face. "I can't believe he's innocent – and now, free!"


After the Wizengamot voted on the final decision, wizards and witches crowded the hallway to leave the courtroom. Arthur Weasley was swept along with the wave of individuals, but he stopped at the sight of Madame Bones.

"Amelia!" he called out, "Could I talk to you in your office for a minute?"

Amelia, hearing Arthur's shouts, nodded and gestured him to walk towards her office. Once the two individuals reached Amelia's office, she closed and locked her office door.

"So what's the urgent issue, Arthur? I assume you wanted to talk to me in my office due to my office's strong privacy," Amelia inquired.

Arthur nodded. "Good observation – I did want to make this conversation completely private. I wanted to talk to you about two issues, actually."

"You know that Harry Potter was residing in my house since he and my son Ronald are best friends?" Arthur continued, "Well, a few weeks ago, my wife Molly overheard a conversation between Harry and Ron that was quite concerning."

"Oh?" Amelia was quite interested in how a conversation between two children could be concerning. "How so?"

"I decided to talk to Harry personally about that conversation. To summarize, Harry claimed that a house elf had stolen his mail and performed magic in their Muggle household, which caused him to get an underage magic notice. He also mentioned that the house elf was shrieking about there being danger if Harry attended Hogwarts this year."

Amelia scribbled Arthur's words down. "That is very concerning. House elves usually never go to other households unless their masters ordered them too, but this doesn't seem to be the case. And preventing Harry's mail – that's an invasion of privacy!"

"That's what I thought," Arthur concurred, "which is why I thought it would be good to give you notice of this peculiar incident. Would this be enough to retract Harry's underage magic violation?"

"Yes, yes, most definitely. I shall talk to Mafalda Hopkirk about this, and it should be erased from Harry's record," Amelia responded, "Did Harry mention the name of the house elf? House elves usually talk in the third person, so it should be easy to glean the house elf's name from a conversation."

Arthur tapped his chin in deep thought. "Yes, I think Harry said the house elf's name was Dobby!"

Amelia raised her eyebrow. "Dobby? Isn't that Lucius Malfoy's house elf that follows him everywhere? Hmm, this certainly is interesting. I shall do a deeper investigation on this."

"Now what was your second issue, Arthur?"

At her mention of the second issue, Arthur's expression immediately became more somber. "In the trial today, I heard of one detail that was quite … surprising."

"Does this detail relate to you directly?" Amelia asked.

Arthur gulped. "Yes, it actually does. You see, Sirius Black mentioned that Peter Pettigrew was a rat Animagus, and that he cut off one of his toes when he escaped."

Amelia nodded and gestured for Arthur to continue.

"Ah, well, my son has a rat that is missing one of its toes. And the timeline rather fits - this rat has been with our family for ten, eleven years or so."

Amelia's eyes widened. "Normal rats don't live that long, I believe. This most definitely needs further investigation – immediately. Even if your son's rat is just a normal rat, it would be better to take precautions."

"Arthur, I need you to go home right now and make sure to lock that rat in a secure setting and put up anti-Animagus charms in the house," Amelia commanded. "An Auror will follow you shortly after you leave. Do not speak of the trial or its results to anyone in the house until you do that – we need to capture Pettigrew."


Author's Note: Back in the courtroom for another whirlwind - how'd it go? Forgive me for not including Sirius's testimony, but I thought it would be tiresome for fanfiction readers to read what is already so familiar to the HP world.

What do you think will happen next? Let me know in the reviews!

Next chapter: Amelia acts on Arthur's concerns - both of them. Hmm...