Good to see y'all again, it's a blast to post this as always. This schedule that I put on myself has been a nightmare, but I've kept up with it so far somehow. You guys should know that there will be ten chapters total, so after this there will be three more and then we are done with Sirius's story. This may have been my first Harry Potter story, and that means a lot to me, but it won't be my last so if you enjoyed this keep an eye out for when I return to HP after this. But if you don't want to wait, I do have a few other stories you might be interested to try, so please check them out. For now, Enjoy!

Chapter 7

A hand roughly grabbed Sirius Black's arm, waking him up in more ways than one. He was dragged to his feet and thrown out of the door of his cell by an unfamiliar wizard.

"C'mon, Black." The wizard said gruffly. "You have an appointment with justice."

Sirius allowed himself be carried down the hall by the wizard. He didn't really have the strength to resist, and if they were going to take him away from this place then he was absolutely fine with that. Most of the prisoners didn't care to watch him leave. Most were just lost in their own little worlds. But the Dementors….they were paying close attention. They wouldn't like that one of their prey was being stolen away from them.

Sirius noticed that he felt a little bit stronger than he had since he had gotten in here. Why was that? He weakly turned his head and noticed a Patronus. Probably this man's Patronus. It was a large dog, a German Shephard maybe. It was very comforting. It was strange to feel again, when he hadn't really felt anything in a long time. Azkaban does that to a man.

But he was still weak, and the nearby Dementors were still having an effect on him. He kept losing his strength and falling, and this Ministry wizard kept having to help him up. Eventually they managed to make it outside, at which the wizard, who Sirius suspected was a highly regarded Auror, firmly grasped Sirius's wrist.

"And here we go, Black." The wizard said to him. Suddenly everything disappeared, as though the world had fallen away, yet somehow it was all spinning. He couldn't breathe, and he was feeling extremely nauseous and dizzy.

Then suddenly it was back.

He vomited onto the floor, a very detailed and intricate one, he noted. He was shaking, something he had become used to since entering Azkaban, and taking deep breaths. He quickly noticed that it was a lot brighter here. Where was he?

"Alright, men." Someone said. "The situation is secure. You may put your wands down. But keep them ready. Black is very dangerous, and we don't want him to have even the slightest chance of escape."

The wizard who had brought Sirius here grabbed him by the arm again then lugged him along to wherever he was taking him. Sirius turned his head weakly and saw several other wizards surrounding them, all giving him uneasy glances. These were all likely Aurors as well. But what did they want him for?

He suddenly realized where they were. He hadn't been here often, and never to this part, but he knew that they were somewhere in the Ministry of Magic.

They lead him to a large set of double doors. One of the wizards pushed it open, allowing Sirius and his Auror guards to enter. Inside was something that reminded him of the old Roman colosseums. He was in a large pit, looking up to many rings of seats that formed a giant circle looking overhead on them.

Sirius knew where he was now, why he had been brought here. It was time for his trial.

He realized that he felt a little stronger, almost human again. The absence of Dementors was a huge relief to him, it had felt like a huge weight on his psyche. There was truly nothing like them in existence, and for that Sirius was glad. It was bad enough to have one creature that fed off of emotions, two would be overkill.

There weren't many people above, but maybe it just seemed like that because they were sparsely spread out among the many seats. Sirius recognized many of the ones who were there, including Cornelius Fudge, Barty Crouch, Mad-Eye Moody, Mafalda Hopkirk, and several others. Sirius even recognized Lucius Malfoy among them. How in the bloody hell did he manage to get here? Sirius and many others knew that he was a Death Eater, yet he was roaming free. Perhaps they had found no proof, or maybe he had bought his freedom. If anyone could buy his way out, it was Lucius.

Sirius was lead to a chair that sat in the middle of the chamber, which directly faced Crouch. Sirius felt a sinking feeling. Crouch presiding over this was not a good thing. He was known as a no nonsense man who craved justice, and wasn't going to let bureaucracy get in the way of serving it. Sirius had little to no chance of being found innocent in this court.

Sirius was thrown into the chair roughly by his guards, and two wrist clamps magically moved around his wrists, restraining him there. He wouldn't have had the strength to attempt an escape anyway. He could barely move his head on his own.

"Presiding over, Mr. Bartemius Crouch." Hopkirk said as an announcement to the rest of the court. "Mr. Crouch has been appointed judge over this trial, Black v The Magic Community. Black is accused of- "

Hopkirk was interrupted by a door opening loudly above, allowing two wizards into the court. "Sorry for the interruption." Dumbledore said with a bright smile. "We are a tad bit late, I'm afraid." He made his way down several rows to claim a seat next to his longtime friend Moody. Remus Lupin followed close behind like a shadow. His sandy haired friend looked even more gaunt than when Sirius had last seen him. He was actually starting to reach Snivellus-levels of pale.

Sirius tried to catch both of their gazes, hoping to find a friend here. Dumbledore met his eyes very briefly, then gave an almost imperceptible nod. Sirius doubted even Moody, with his magical eye, would have seen that. Remus made a point of looking at the wall behind Sirius, not looking at his friend.

Hopkirk cleared her throat, then continued with her announcement. "Mr. Black is accused of theft, multiple accounts of first degree murder, arson, terrorism, aiding a known enemy of the Magical Community, and general lawlessness. Mr. Crouch?"

Crouch leaned forward, his mustachio pulling downwards as he frowned. "How do you plead, Mr. Black?"

Sirius gulped. "I-innocent." He rasped.

"What was that, Mr. Black?" Crouch asked. Behind him, Lucius chuckled slightly.

"Innocent." Sirius said louder. He had to cough. Azkaban was killing his voice. "I plead innocent of-" he coughed again, this time a coughing fit. "all charges."

A few people gave him amused looks, and Lucius flat out laughed. Sirius saw Remus purse his lips, as though he was in great pain. He probably was.

Crouch crossed his arms, obviously not amused whatsoever. "So you plead innocent of, for example, being in league with You-Know-Who?"

Sirius nodded, his whole body shaking.

Crouch shook his head slightly. "Your lies won't work on us, Black. We have several witness testimonies, some from Death Eaters themselves, that you are in fact among them. Multiple witnesses are on record as to saying that not only were you among his followers, but you were in fact a fanatical terrorist wishing to serve your 'Master' the Dark Lord in whatever way you could. Do you have any evidence to counter this?"

Sirius's mind froze. Did he have any way of countering that? He remembered Dumbledore. He pointed weakly at the old wizard. "I- the Order- " coughing— "Ph- Phoenix- "

Crouch turned to Dumbledore. "Is this true?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Mr. Sirius Black was in fact a member of the Order of the Phoenix."

"Bloody spy, most like." Fudge commented loudly. Several other wizards nodded in agreement.

Sirius knew there was no hope then. He had no friends here, not even Remus. Dumbledore perhaps, but only him. But that was only one, and in court numbers win every time and Sirius certainly didn't have them.

"You claim for this to be proof of your innocence, yet you murdered one of your own. You killed Peter Pettigrew, who you claimed is your friend, one day after giving away the home of Lily and James Potter to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself! All three your friends, and you had them murdered, and almost had your very own godson murdered as well."

"I- I didn't- "

"I think we've heard enough." Crouch said. "It is time we called this to a vote." Several other wizards nodded, the ones that were apparently part of the jury.

"All voting innocent?" Hopkirk asked. No one raised a hand. "All voting guilty?" Several hands rose into the air. Hopkirk quickly counted them. "Thirteen, we have all thirteen." She told Crouch.

Crouch leaned forward, his eyes staring deep into Sirius's soul. "Sirius Black, I hereby pronounce you guilty of all charges."

"No…." Sirius gasped.

The Aurors grabbed him again, the chair letting him go, and they dragged him back to the door he had entered here from.

"I- I didn't…" he said before falling into another coughing fit.

"Next, Mr. Igor Karkaroff." Hopkirk announced behind him.

Sirius turned back to see Remus leaving, Lucius not far behind. They must have both come only to see his trial. More wizards were coming for Karkaroff's trial, and they quickly filled into the seats.

As Sirius passed through the door, he saw another man, who must be Karkaroff, waiting by the doorway with his own Auror guards. There were only two for this man, while Sirius himself seemed to be worth a dozen. Karkaroff nodded at him as they walked past. Sirius had neither the strength nor the desire to answer it.

How could they consider him to be one of these people?

I'm innocent….

I'm innocent…..

Innocent….

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