A/N : Chapter reposted. My thanks to Haphne24 for the help correcting it.

CHAPTER 7 – SIRIUS' TRIAL

The group stayed the next few days gathered at the Greengrass mansion as there were a lot to do. Accounts of life and intimate confessions alternated with esoteric surveys of advanced magic and planning meetings to strategize against all sorts of scenarios that Voldemort might cause.

On Susan's recommendation, Harry hired a renowned lawyer to defend Sirius at the trial. Malcolm Boot, Terry's father, one of Ravenclaw's boys the same year as Harry, came to the mansion after giving Susan a standard oath of confidentiality. Harry presented his most important memoirs to the case in his Pensieve, convincing Malcolm of his godfather's innocence.

-o0o-

The Carrow sisters were impressed by Harry's Island and had been guiding Dobby and several Hogwarts elves to execute the repairs needed to make the place habitable quickly.

The analysis of Lily's findings and ideas was also advancing rapidly, and they already had several useful results. One of them was the method to bewitch two mirrors so that each one served as transmitter and receiver of image and sound to the other, allowing totally safe instantaneous communication. Another fantastic discovery was a way to protect electronic equipment from the influence of magic by means of a thin layer of crystal over the circuitry, enough to prevent the magic from reaching the delicate components. But not all of Lily's ideas were so forthright and specific. She had also invented new concepts capable of creating entirely new areas of magic.

One of these great ideas was compound spells. The vast majority of spells were as simple as possible, performed by a single person in a single spell. Some practitioners, such as duellists and enchanters, had created some sets of spells to run in a sequence aimed at creating a complex single outcome. Professor McGonagall had shown them one of these sets the year before, when she had conjured up a block of marble, then transfigured that block into a statue of a rabbit, and at last had encouraged the statue to move like a real rabbit all in one continuous sequence of movements and incantations. Finally, a third way to use spells was to combine the efforts of various wizards and witches using the same spell simultaneously, to get results that one of them alone could not. This was commonly seen in magical construction, for example, when it was necessary to levitate a large block of stone that would quickly exhaust a single person because of its enormous weight.

Lily had gone far beyond these three forms creating, through intense use of Arithmancy, some really powerful and complex spells to be executed by several people at the same time, each of which may be aiding another in the same spell or accomplishing something completely different, but equally important for the final result. It was a relatively simple idea, but one that had escaped the magical society until then, and which created the potential to extrapolate much of what magic could do.

While most of the wizard folk chose a unique area of specialization and then devoted their entire lives to this unique area, Lily had apparently been brilliant in every area, and many of her best ideas combined results from different areas for new and unexpected results. One example that excited everyone was the way Lily had developed, using runes, crystals, potions and spells, a whole new and much faster and more efficient method of developing Occlumency, negating the need for years of hard and tedious training to achieve results that are not always satisfactory.

Another interesting result of Lily was an expansion on binary potions. They were known in the magical world only regarding poisons. In this case the poison is formed only when two different potions react with each other inside de victim's body, each one ingested through a different food or beverage, so that the examination of each one individually would not trigger any detections means.

Lily applied this basic idea in other contexts and obtained some new applications. The one that caught their attention due to the possibility of immediate use was an explosive potion. Most explosives potions were high unstable and any sudden change in pressure, temperature or motion can trigger the explosion. Lily discovered a binary potion as explosive as dynamite and as incendiary as napalm. Separated, each part was harmless, but if you put one of them inside a fragile glass dipped in a container filled with the other part, as soon as the glass inside broke, as would happen if you threw the set against the enemy like a grenade, the effect would be devastating. Katie suggested testing this combination inside a Quaffle so she could fire the Death Eaters in the Quidditch Cup. With the girl's efficiency as a chaser in Quidditch, it was an idea to consider.

-o0o-

"Are you going to stay there giggling or are you going to help your poor godchild get off the ground?" Harry asked irritably to his godfather after another failed floo landing. Sirius preferred to laugh; Harry stood up by himself and introduced Malcolm Boot, who had followed him through the floo.

"Hey, who did you buy this mausoleum from? The Addams family?" asked Harry, looking at the dismal state of that room. The lighting was minimal, everything smelled of mould and seemed to be centuries old, and the decorations were somewhat gothic, not to say funereal. Unfortunately the two adults had no idea what the Addams family would be.

"This house always belonged to the Blacks, Harry. Do you realize now why I never liked my origins? It was for a reason that I fled here when I was fifteen to live with your grandparents," answered Sirius a little embarrassed.

"Malcolm is sure that tomorrow you will be a free man again, Sirius, and you can leave this house forever, if you like. I'll leave you to prepare the strategy, I just ask you to keep my request in mind," Harry said.

"Do not worry, Harry. Getting your custody will be the only compensation I will ask for the years I spent in Azkaban without trial. Are you not going to be there tomorrow?" Sirius replied.

"If all goes well, Dumbledore will not know of this judgment until after it is finished, but he must still have spread the news of my disappearance among his friends, and there may be someone there who would want to catch me at his command. This is something I want to avoid at all costs. But do not worry, I'll be following everything as if I'm there through this," commented Harry, removing an enchanted mirror from his robe.

"Did you find Lily's notes on the Marauders' mirrors?" Sirius asked, recognizing what that artefact should be.

"I found notes from my mother about so many things! I never thought she was so clever!" said Harry proudly.

"I'm not aware of everything she did, but what I came to see was really fantastic. Too bad that most of the time she tried to explain something I was lost after the first minute of theory," said Sirius, a distant look reminiscent of those good times.

-o0o-

Harry left his godfather and lawyer planning the strategy for the next day and went to Gringotts to hire some special services. The first of these was the creation of an unprotected copy of the Potters' library. Harry decided he would keep the original stored in Gringotts for safety, but he would create a copy to be transported to the island when ready.

The second item on Harry's list was thin sheets of crystal to cover the electronic circuitry of equipment he wanted to use in magical environments. No one better than Gringotts goblins for this kind of work. The next item was an extensive list of potion ingredients, both for the medicinal potions they wanted to stock and for studying and testing his mother's ideas. Because it was a big buy, and some items have their sales restricted, Harry offered the goblins half the rebate they could get from the vendors as commission, as he knew the goblins would still get a better deal than if he tried to bargain directly with suppliers. After all, the goblins were business experts, while he had no experience at all.

After negotiating the duplication of the Carrows' library (the sisters would be in charge of bringing the books to the bank in batches), Harry decided to test his luck trying to find out what else the goblins could get for him.

"Ironclaw, would you happen to have any contact with the Muggle world? Could you get me some ... special items? "

"Yes, we have our contacts. We can get just about any type of item, for the right price and the right reason, if the item is of restricted use" replied the goblin, an appraising look at the boy, curious about the direction the conversation was taking.

"Do you have something similar to a Pensieve?" asked Harry, thinking it would be better to give some information before moving on in that direction.

Ironclaw picked up the communicator from his desk and passed some orders on his tongue to the person on the other side of the instrument. Soon a helper would bring and put on the table of his account manager a pensive very similar to the one used by the humans.

Harry wasted no time and deposited his memory of his confrontation with Quirrelmort at the end of his first year at Hogwarts, explaining their relationship to the attempted theft at Gringotts on his eleventh birthday.

"Hmm, curious. I am grateful that you have shared this memory with me. Too bad you have waited so long to do it," commented the goblin, making it clear that he was hurt by something so important just being revealed now. Harry thought it best to appease the goblin a bit before continuing.

"I'm sorry, Ironclaw. Understand that until I started studying at Hogwarts, I was trapped in the Muggle world, unaware of the existence of the magical world. And until recently, many things I should have learned about the magical world were denied me, I still do not know to what extent purposely or by mere carelessness."

"Yes, yes, indeed a pity," agreed Ironclaw, to Harry's relief. "It seems like you've finally made up your mind to fix this deficiency, for how active you've been this month, have you not?"

"Fortunately I made some genuine friendships recently that have helped me a lot, yours included," said Harry, getting a rare smile from the goblin for referring to him as a friend. "From what you can see in this memory, my fame is undeserved. Voldemort is still out there, though without a physical body at the moment. But that means he will eventually return and restart the war. For a long time I will not be able to face him or his followers magically. I have a small, well-hidden island that can give me some security, but I was thinking of getting some Muggle weapons to complete my defences ..."

"Well thought out, Harry. You have realized your shortcomings and are looking for ways to minimize them. I like that! By tradition, goblins have a distinct preference for blades and shields, but here among us, I am partial to this toy," commented Ironclaw, removing from the inside of his jacket the largest revolver Harry had ever seen.

"Wow! This looks more like a hand-cannon than a revolver! "He said, stunned.

"That's what the Muggles call a .44 Magnum, Harry. So powerful that it takes one of our double armours to stop the bullet, a simple one would not hold. And our breastplates are the best, I can guarantee that for sure, they support a reducto curse at point-blank range! The most powerful of the mages with the toughest magic shield will be able to avoid a single bullet before seeing their shield vanishing."

"I don't think I or my friends would be able to use a weapon like this, but I know there's a great variety of Muggle weapons, and maybe some of them are useful to us."

Ironclaw pondered for a few moments, and finally asked, "Harry, would there be more information you have and that we are not informed, whether about Voldemort or some other matter that might affect us in some way?"

Harry then used the Pensieve to show Ironclaw his fight against the basilisk and the destruction of the diary. This had a double purpose, to begin trading the basilisk's carcass and to introduce the Horcruxes as a reason for Voldemort's survival.

"Horcruxes are the most evil creation of humans. We do not even know if they would work with us, for I believe a goblin would never attempt such villainy. Anyone who dared to try would be punished in the most radical way possible, beginning with the expulsion of the offender from his clan and our nation with the complete extinction of all records about his existence, something that for one of us would be much worse than death" said Ironclaw upon learning of Voldemort's horcruxes.

"Would you happen to know how to eliminate the soul fragment without destroying the vessel?" asked Harry hopefully to find with the goblins the answer the Unspeakables were having trouble attaining.

"Unfortunately not. Many valuable Egyptian pieces had to be destroyed for this reason. Really a pity!"

"Yes, a pity," Harry commented, trying to hide his disappointment. "What about Muggle weapons?" He asked, returning the conversation to a more productive subject. "Do you think you could get us some really powerful ones?"

"We can get anything that's available on the black market, Harry," said Ironclaw. "A state-of-the-art nuclear bomb or a supersonic jetfighter is out of the question, but most personal weapons and some cannons and missile systems of lesser range and power are possible. You commented that your group has some limitations, right? Girls your age, without the strength or experience you need to use certain equipment? Perhaps the ideal is for you to make a list of what you want. I will then check if I can serve you with the requested items or some similar."

-o0o-

When Harry returned to the Greengrass mansion he actually tried to get out of the floo on his feet, not his ass. Unfortunately he never found out if his efforts would have been successful. As soon as he tried to steady himself a foot out of the fireplace, he was attacked by a blond missile speaking faster than his poor brain was able to keep up with.

"Harry! Bikes are the greatest invention of mankind since the puddings! I loved it! You're going to buy one for me too, aren't you? Please..."

That 'please' was said in a tearful, slowly way, seeming to be about 12 syllables long. And the blue eyes that were focused on his, only two inches away, shone with such happiness that he would be able to lay down his own life so they would continue this happy. Gradually he became aware of his situation. He was lying on the floor, just out of the fireplace. Lying over him and eagerly awaiting his answer was Luna. Surrounding them, a growing swarm of girls stared expectantly at the scene. He could bet that, responding affirmatively to Luna, he would receive a queue of other requests. Defeated before he even started to fight, he surrendered as dignifiedly as he could.

"Daphne and Tori got catalogues from the store where I bought them. Those of you who want one, select the model of your choice and any accessories that you want and I will order."

-o0o-

After a series of eager thanks, Harry found that most of the girls had spent most of the day concentrating on understanding Dumbledore's position. With all the other characters in the wizarding world, it was clear and easy to see what they wanted, but with the old headmaster of Hogwarts, his actions did not seem to match his fame or his speech adequately.

"I, Tracy and Maebh went to the Ministry to get some data, which we will now summarize for you. Albus Wulfric Dumbledore, and yes, initially his name was just so, was hired as an Alchemy teacher, then an elective subject for students of the last three years in Hogwarts, in 1926. In 1935, with the death of Paul Parkinson, then professor of Transfiguration and deputy headmaster, Albus got the then Headmaster, Armando Dippett, to put him in the functions of the deceased, extinguishing the course of Alchemy, along with other optional courses on Warding, Enchantments, and Politics in the Wizarding World," Lilith began. "We find it strange that Dumbledore had not only accepted but also been the proposer for the withdrawal of the Alchemy classes, a field where he became so famous, from the Hogwarts curriculum. So, just out of curiosity, we checked the curriculum of 1926 against the current one. The changes are drastic, and worse, incomprehensible. OWLs were applied in the fourth year, rather than the fifth year as now. Herbology and Astronomy were optional, while Rituals, Runes, and Arithmancy were obligatory, as well as Muggle Society for those born in magical society, and Magical Society for those born in Muggle society. Maebh, the numbers, please."

Maebh took a parchment from a pocket of her robe and began to explain: "For OWLs, we had nine compulsory subjects and eight electives, against the seven mandatory and five current electives. For NEWTs, the situation is even worse: before students were required to choose a minimum of seven out of twenty-two options; today they can settle for only three out of a total of twelve available. You see, it's not just a reduction in the number of disciplines provided, but what is required of the students as well. The material covered in our OWLs remains the same as in 1926, except now divided into five rather than four years, and with another setting of compulsory subjects, favouring easier and less useful disciplines than previously. With NEWTs the situation becomes ridiculous: what we are taught today in two years is half of what was taught in each discipline in 1926 in three years, and with much fewer options and fewer subjects required."

Taking a break, Bridget took the opportunity to comment: "Curious that Hogwarts taught Rituals in my grandparents' day and today I would be arrested if I read a book on the subject in public!"

"And you know who was the main motivator of this ban?" Tracey asked with a wicked grin.

"Dumbledore?!" asked Bridget confused and, receiving an affirmative nod from her colleague, added: "This is getting weirder! Where does this old gaga want to take our society?"

"Oh, let me and Lisa have our share, please!" Hannah asked. Lisa and Hannah lived in Godric's Hollow, the place where Harry and his family lived when attacked by Voldemort. Coincidentally, Dumbledore had also lived there in his childhood, and there lived the famous historian Bathilda Bagshot, Lisa's maternal grandmother, and the great influence that made the girl so fond of the history of magic. And Lisa already knew exactly what questions to use with her grandmother for a fruitful interview about Dumbledore's past and his little compromising secrets.

After a two-and-a-half-hour visit with the old historian, Lisa and Hannah returned with enough material to destroy the reputation of the old wizard who had so much power in their world. The group was astonished to learn of the extent of the relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, but the photos the girls copied and brought to the group, with the two of them cuddling on a sofa or walking hand in hand, left no doubt.

"While this is good material for gossip, it's not the most important thing we've discovered. Dumbledore and Grindelwald shared more than a bed; they also shared ideas and goals. They were shocked at the amount of things they thought to be wrong in the world, and with the ingenuity and idealism of young people they wanted to join efforts to heal the world," said Hannah.

"What they accepted was based on the idea of the philosopher Jeremy Bentham that 'the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people is the measure of right and wrong'. This is the origin of the 'Greater Good' that Dumbledore is always quoting," explained Lisa. "The problem that separated the two conspirators is that they failed to agree on who were the 'people' whose greatest happiness should be sought. For Grindelwald they would be just magical people, while Dumbledore wanted to include the whole human species."

"But this principle is so contestable!" complained Su Li "In China we had a philosopher named Xun Kuang about three centuries before Christ whose main thought was 'Human nature is evil and the Good can only be obtained by intentional activity. ' The problem with his philosophy, as well as to Bentham, is that all things in this world are connected to each other in so unpredictable and unusual ways that you can only evaluate all the consequences of an action long after it is executed, and not before, as their systems need so to guide our decisions. An ancestor of mine even created a little story to exemplify it."

"Well, tell us this story then," said Morag, receiving support from the majority.

"Oh Merlin!" The shy Chinese girl blushed, but she resigned herself and began, "It's the story of the little farmer Chang Li. One day his son came home with a beautiful wild horse that he had captured while shepherding. Neighbours soon lined up and greeted Chang Li about the beautiful animal, saying that the horse was certainly a source of great happiness. Li simply replied in a neutral way, saying 'Maybe so, but maybe not.' The next day his son tried to tame the wonderful horse, but received a kick that broke his arm, preventing him from working for a while. Neighbours lined up to visit old Li's son, telling the old man, 'What a tragedy!' Li simply replied, 'Maybe so, but maybe not.' Two days later the emperor's officers came to summon the young men to fight in the war against the Mongols, who threatened the northern border. Li's son was the only young man to be excused because of his broken arm..."

"I know!" interrupted young Beatrice. "The neighbours came to say 'How luck' and Li only responded with 'Maybe so, but maybe not'."

"Yes," Su replied, blushing even more. "The story continues for many other ventures and misfortunes, but I think everyone has already understood the essence ..."

"Wait a minute, there seems to be something very important here," Trisha said. "Grindelwald's position was simple. He wanted a stratified society, with the pureblood wizards at the top, followed by the half-bloods, the Muggleborns, and finally the Muggle masses as slaves. But what kind of society Dumbledore wants? If he preached the greater good including Muggles, society would have to be egalitarian, but the domain of magic creates a difference that makes such equality impossible. I don't understand..."

"Unless ..." Katie began, stopping in the middle of the phrase to shout "Oh no! It cannot be!"

"What cannot it be, Katie?" Mandy asked, but Katie was so shaken by the idea she had had that it was Luna who ended up responding.

"Unless he wants the death of the magical society, and see how close we are to this!" said the blonde. "Harry showed his calculations of how many students would fit at Hogwarts, but every decade there are less and less who start their studies."

"Muggles are becoming better at killing and spying on each other. With their artificial satellites, monitoring cameras and other electronic equipment, governments may already know the existence of the magical world, but they are keeping it as a State's secret, not divulging it to the population," commented Harry.

"And Dumbledore, allowing the wars between wizards to perpetuate themselves, and drastically decreasing the level of teaching, is actively collaborating for our extinction by the Muggles," Fay said, disgusted.

"But ... it does not make sense!" Mandy protested, confused. "Dumbledore is a wizard... and would he be cheating on us?"

"If he really stands for the Greater Good, and if he really includes the Muggles there ..." Daphne commented sadly.

"The prophecy! It makes sense applied to Dumbledore!" Astoria said suddenly, getting everyone's attention. "I ... I've been thinking ... No, seriously! Listen and see if it makes sense. The prophecy, this part of the seventh month and such ... it dictates it's of Potter that it talks about ... But as for the enemy, well, it not explicit it's Voldemort for sure, right? For example, it indicates that this enemy marked Potter as an equal. At first we thought of Potter's scar, but it did not mark Harry exactly as an equal, did it? Think about Dumbledore: he is famous all over the magic world for having beaten a Dark Lord, Grindelwald. And he marked Potter as an equal: it's because of his statements that Potter became world-famous for magically overcoming a Dark Lord, Voldemort. Dumbledore could have left everything quiet, or told everyone that Harry had also died, or that it was one of his parents who killed Voldemort, but no, he put all that weight on the shoulders of a little boy a little over a year old, really marking Harry as his equal."

Astoria's comment killed the meeting. In small groups of two or three they retired for the night, and the special day that would follow, with the judgment of Wormtail and Sirius, talking quietly about who really was and what really wants the mystery that was Dumbledore.

-o0o-

Finally came the day of the trial of Wormtail and Sirius Black. For safety, Harry ended up accepting the advice to stay at the Greengrass mansion. Susan would go with Hannah and Maebh carrying a charmed mirror and the others would follow the judgments from the mansion, through the immense mirror of the dance hall, charmed to receive the transmission. If Harry's presence was necessary as a witness, he could quickly get there through the floo net, but the intention was to avoid his participation for fear that Dumbledore or one of his co-religionists would be there and try to stop the boy.

The period of preparation until the trial had been hard for Madame Bones. It had begun with a strange letter from her niece Susan, requesting an appointment with urgency. All it took was a quick spell to tell the stern lady Bones that in fact the mouse presented by her niece's young companion was in fact an unregistered animagus. Reviewing at home the memories of Astoria Greengrass and Harry Potter about the confrontation with Sirius Black and the revelation that Peter Pettigrew was still alive had been a shock.

Confirming that Sirius Black had not in fact been given a trial, or even a simple interrogation, she traced the next steps of action, but the difficulty of keeping everything a secret was enormous. In the end, she eventually resolved to keep Pettigrew trapped in the Bones mansion, away from all ministerial corruption, revealing the fact only to Alastor Moody, the only person she could trust with any certainty in a situation like that. It was a risk for her to adopt this totally non-standard procedure, but she could see that there was a lot at stake in that case. For safety, as long as Pettigrew was in the mansion, she agreed that Susan would stay with the Greengrass sisters. Summoning the Wizengamot to the trial brought another concern: she had to again counter the standard procedures and deny some members of that body their requests for seeing the proceedings before the exposition in plenary. Luckily, none of the petitioners forced the situation, accepting her apologies that the secret was key to ensuring the safety of everyone involved.

The hearing began with the presentation of the still alive Peter Pettigrew, to the astonishment of the audience. Madame Bones took over the prosecution and, three drops of veritaserum and a few questions and answers later, Peter Pettigrew saw his Order of Merlin revoked and his doomed carcass condemned to vanish through the veil of death. Being a half-blood, and responsible for the erroneous incarceration of the head of one of Britain's most renowned magical families, his punishment was as severe as possible in an attempt by the Wizengamot to reconcile with the Lord Black. Given the outcome of the trial and the revelations filed, the order for immediate execution of Sirius Black was revoked.

For a trial, that of Sirius Black passed exceptionally quickly and quietly. After Pettigrew's trial, few doubts remained. However, a seemingly innocuous question from Madame Bones highlighted an obscure point in the 'official history' of that celebrated Halloween: 'Sirius Black, could you tell us why you decided to go hunting for Peter Pettigrew instead of taking care of your godson, which should be your main obligation at the moment?"

"I tried. As soon as I reached the Potters' home, I found the door smashed and James' body in the living room. I immediately went upstairs, where I found the destroyed nursery, Lily also dead on the ground, and Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts, gathering little Harry from his cradle. I explained to Hagrid that I was Harry's godfather, and that I would take him with me to take care of him. Hagrid denied me access to the boy, saying that Dumbledore had given him explicit instructions on where to take little Harry, and had already decided who would take care of him from now on..."

It was at this point that Sirius stopped his narrative, his face assuming an expression of surprise. At last he exclaimed, "Hey! How did Dumbledore know that James and Lily had died but Harry did not?!"

-o0o-

Minutes later Sirius Black was a free and happy man, and told the press his first task was to re-establish a relationship with his godson, Harry Potter, whose guard he requested to be turned over to him. The Wizengamot, in quick deliberation, removed from Dumbledore the Guard of the Boy-Who-Lived turning it over to Sirius on condition that he presented certificates from a healer assuring his ability to perform the function.

The girls attending the trial invited Sirius, Malcolm and Remus to lunch at the Greengrass Mansion with Harry. Pressed by Harry and the girls still present at the mansion, Sirius used Malcolm's help to get, fill and file all the documentation later that day, not without first mocking Harry's situation as the only boy in a house full of girls. Harry, finally tired of so many insinuations, put an end to the happiness of his godfather, promising that if he behaved he would one day teach him to be really appreciated by the opposite sex and that he would then no longer have to be so envious.

-o0o-

The next day was spent putting Sirius and Remus abreast of the events and plans of the group. The two adults did not like the idea of children attacking the Death Eaters in the Quidditch Cup. They found the plan amazing, they only feared the danger they would expose themselves. As for the rest, they promised to cooperate in what they could, but they asked for some time to consider the attack and to propose some modifications in the plan if they could think of something to make it safer.

Meanwhile, The Quibbler published a lengthy article on Pettigrew's and Sirius' hearing, and an exclusive interview with Harry Potter. Both were grateful and praised the government for the swift and decisive action in correcting a serious error of the previous administration. The 'support' to the government was not gratuitous: it had been thought of as a form of protection against the possibility of Dumbledore or Malfoy wanting to challenge Harry's guard, showing how the boy-who-lived and his godfather were happily together and subtly placing the Minister of Magic as benefactor and protector of that situation.

The group could soon verify the correctness of that measure. That same day, they discovered that Dumbledore had already been briefed on the judgments of yesterday, and was not at all happy about the results.