Harry and Alice

by mongodatroll

The mirror of Erised was keeping more trapped in it than a red rock, but Lilly's protection cut a deal with it during the battle with Quirrelmort. Now Alice is out, has vowed to assist Harry until he no longer needs her, and has spent nearly a hundred years in the magical world, looking out from her prison and finding ways to make all of her tricks work for real.

10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Inappropriate Question.

Exiting the office quietly the two make their way to the floo as quickly as they can, and minutes later they are once again in Bones Manor. Harry sits on the loveseat that the two have more or less claimed for their own and Alice crawls out of her snuff box sanctuary to climb up his shoulder and rest against his neck, her legs crossed on his shoulder.

Harry's mind is a flurry of questions waiting to be voiced, and so he does so. "What was that frost thing you did? I thought that you didn't know any magic."

Alice's pixie giggle trickles into his ear like a balm for the soul. "I never said that, Harry. I said I didn't know if I could wield a wand. The item I used has very little in common with a wand, for all that I called it an 'Ice Wand' in my delirious ignorance when I was younger. Essentially, it is a rune staff with two functions, albeit that it is quite short for a staff. The first sends out the powerful freezing effect that I used on that animal's eyes to get you away from him. When I am normal sized it would have frozen him solid. The second will summon up a wall of ice that I used to protect myself temporarily from attacks. In this case I used it to trip him up a little. In effect, the man murdered himself through his own stupidity and single minded brutality. My sympathy for him is negligible."

Harry sighs. "What are we going to tell Bones?"

Alice can't help but laugh. "Nothing, of course."

Harry instinctively goes to turn his head and then stops when he hears Alice's "Eeep!"

"But we have to tell her, otherwise she won't know what a bastard Thornwood is. The man is dangerous, and she has to work with him!"

Alice nuzzles his neck, once again riding the joy of his overwhelming connection to her when she is this size. His being pouring into her every nook and cranny, filling it with contentment. Something about the steel in the snuff box cut off this euphoria. Now it infuses her so powerfully that it actually scares her a little, yet she is powerless to resist it. "Bones is more than capable of handling herself, Harry. I would wager that becoming the head of the DMLE isn't the kind of title that one receives as a carnival prize. But more importantly, she has already told us that if we were forced to defend ourselves from these people that she didn't want to know about it."

Harry's voice takes on an exasperated tone. "No she didn't, she said that any magical becoming hurt needed to be reported to the DMLE. She was very specific, and really, he attacked us! When people attack you, reporting it to the authorities is what you are supposed to do!"

Harry can hear the sigh from Alice as she again snuggles into the curve of he neck just under his robe. "In a perfect world, Harry, that would be true. Lamentably, we don't live on that world. Where we live she has already told me that admitting to damaging any of their precious little pure blooded fools would land us in Azkaban for the rest of our lives. I know that it means a lot to you to get your godfather out, but how badly do you wish to spend time in his old accommodations? If it would soothe your conscience any, I've no doubt that Amelia will quickly work out what happened. As long as she does not ask us any questions, however, I think silence is likely to be our best course."

"And if she does ask?"

Alice considers for a moment. "Well, it is true what they say, you cannot protect a man from himself. Don't forget Harry, when all is said and done it was your actions that put him to death as much or more than mine. When we have adjoining cells, I shall have plenty of time to explain exactly how things went wrong."

Harry's voice becomes irritated. "That wasn't what I meant, and you know it. I value your freedom more than my own I think. You have already done your time."

Alice, now feeling sleepy as the adrenaline starts to wear off and the stress of the day begins to fade to the overwhelming pressure of Harry's bond, finds herself yawning before she can respond. "I know, Harry. But you should know that I feel the same about you. Can we rest for a while? I... Feel."

Harry nods, half asleep himself at this point, and blessed oblivion overtakes them both.

HaA

When Harry awakens it is to a loud voice, though he doesn't quite get what is said the first time. Rubbing his eyes with his hands for a moment he can feel Alice moving out from under his collar to lounge on his shoulder again. Upon opening his eyes he sees Madam Bones standing over him, looking concerned and exasperated.

"I am sorry, Amelia. Could you repeat that? I was dozing."

"I asked if you two had anything to do with Macnair killing himself with his own ax. He was found in the heads office for the Control of Magical Creatures, and Thornwood has stated under truth serum that the last he saw Alice was in the office with him."

Harry can feel Alice wince slightly at that, then he hears a pixie giggle erupt from his shoulder.

Bones is looking more and more upset as the seconds tick by and Alice continues to giggle.

"What is so damn funny, Alice? If we can't come up with some kind of evidence that you are innocent you will probably be sent to Azkaban over this. Macnair has friends on the Wizengamot, he wasn't the only one to claim he was cursed to follow you-know-who in the last war, and all those idiots stick together. They will crucify you. This is no laughing matter."

The pixie voice of Alice answers. "Amelia, the reason it is funny is because the fool actually did something that will make it worth taking the risk I am about to."

Amelia crosses her arms. "What might that be?"

"He placed himself at the scene of the crime. I am guessing he did so because there is some kind of restriction on veritaserum that would stop me from using it?"

Amelia nods. "Yes, long ago in an effort to stop house secrets from getting out due to the children of nobles being dosed with the stuff, it was made illegal to use on minors under any circumstances. It can only be used on legal adults..." Then Amelia smiles. "You realize the risk you are taking? Even with serum testimony they may decide to lock you up anyway, particularly after what happened to Umbridge. This will also make your soul bond to Harry public knowledge, there is no coming back from that."

Alice giggles again. "That is the beauty of this, Madam Bones. I never touched the ax or Macnair and can say so under Veritaserum. If they force a response, they will find that everything I did was non-lethal, the man tripped and killed himself on an ax held by Harry Potter. Who, by the way, has a neck covered in bruises from when that brute tried to murder him. On Thornwood's orders, though Thornwood did believe that it was me at the time that he was expecting to die. By chance does the ministry have a way to view memories? Our two witness testimonies to his one should sew this up nicely, particularly if we can reliably show what the swine did and said."

After thinking about it, Amelia shakes her head. "I don't think so. The ministry does have a court pensieve, which would do exactly that. But unfortunately by law it can only be used by request, and only by members of the Wizengamot, lords, or in cases of treason against the realm. None of these conditions apply here, even the loophole of being a future member of the Wizengamot was taken by those damn laws Malfoy forced through. The Potters were always rich, but they can hardly be called powerful at this point. While I suppose that technically Harry could be a lord, as the Potters have had such rank in the past, trying to push it now and under these circumstances would be a good way to have the name stripped of its title. The lordship would undoubtedly be contested, and we would lose."

At this, Alice giggles again. Amelia doesn't look amused. "What, damn it, what am I missing now!?"

Alice stops, and looks as contrite as a two inch pixie that is rubbing her cheek against an earlobe possibly can. "I apologize, Madam Bones. I keep forgetting that you don't know quite all of Harry's secrets yet."

Harry cracks a smile of his own when he sees where she is going with this. "Yeah, we were going to save that one for a rainy day, but I guess we can pull it out now. Amelia, when Gringotts did their blood test to verify my standing I didn't just come up as a Potter. Apparently I am also the heir of Gryffindor by blood and Slytherin by conquest through my mother taking the previous one down. Even if they can somehow strip the lordship from the Potter name, do you think they can do that with Gryffindor and Slytherin as well?"

Madam Bones, the hard ass director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, reflects briefly that using a sticking charm on her monocle was a brilliant idea and decides then and there to reward herself with an extra brownie come dinner time. "Harry, no bull. Is this true? Because if it is, we can nail this bastard. Even if these idiots were willing to strike the lordship of Gryffindor there is no chance they would do so to Slytherin."

"No bull, Amelia. All true."

Amelia gets a huge smile. "Okay then. This solves all kinds of problems. I am going to get a hold of... Probably Shacklebolt and Lepenski, they should be done getting Black squared away by now and just getting back from lunch. I am putting you two into witness protection. If anybody approaches either of you, they'll get one warning before the Aurors have clearance to do as the situation demands. I need you to go with them to Gringotts and get this paperwork. See to it that it has been notarized by a wizard lawyer, Gringotts will have some on retainer. Might cost a few Galleons and you will likely need to retake the test with him in the room. But this is it. Thornwood is going to go down on this one and anybody that tries to back him before we drop this on their necks is going to have so much mud on their face they will be laying low for months. To top it off, the idiot gave us all the justification we need to see to it that nobody from the Wizengamot or the ministry will be allowed to approach you until this hearing takes place. Which I think I am going to schedule for right after the trial of Sirius Black. I need to get back to the office and start the paperwork. A hearing won't be as complicated as a trial, but it still requires a fair few wheels getting greased to see it happen. You two wait here for your escort."

HaA

Astonishingly that is just how it happened. Harry and Alice were met at the house, and after the amazement both Shacklebolt and Lepenski displayed at the miniscule size of Alice, the trip to Gringotts took less time than it would to tell it. Once they were actually there though, things slowed down a bit. Grimknott was so busy laughing once all the circumstances were explained to him, from the Death Eater killing himself with his own ax, to the way they were going to unveil Harry's titles to nail the man that ordered the hit, that Harry was concerned both about the goblin's health and getting out of the bank before it closed. But they did, then made a short pit stop by the ministry to give Amelia the paperwork. At Grimknott's suggestion, they included the last ten years of transactions from Harry's trust vault as part of the paperwork, also notarized. While technically not against the law, a magical guardian so shamelessly taking advantage of a young lord would likely be looked down upon by the members of the Wizengamot. When Dumbledore spotted them on the approach to Amelia's office and cruised in like a hungry vulture, Shacklebolt stopped him and the look on the old man's face when he was told that the boy he had been searching for was in witness protection, and they wouldn't tell him why, made Harry laugh out loud. Once back to Bones Manor, and after letting Susan in on the latest when she returned from a visit to the Abbot home, the three had a light dinner as Amelia had told them that she would be late tonight. Alice having chosen to remain small until that needed to change just to save on unneeded potion usage meant explaining all that to Susan, and both Harry and Susan found themselves unbelievably tickled watching Alice whip out a tiny knife and spoon, eating a pea as though it were a grapefruit the size of a bowling ball. When ten came and went, the two begged off to bed, leaving Susan in the library to finish reading. When the dreams came the two couldn't help but smile, as they featured each other.

HaA

Harry entered the courtroom flanked by Shacklebolt and Moody. Albus made an attempt at approaching him yet again, but was left looking like he had just crushed a lemon in his mouth when Mad-Eye merely looked at him grimly and shook his head. Looking around the room, it is obvious that Bones was right. There is an entire section on the far side of the hall that has twenty seats with only three filled. The section that Albus keeps looking at frantically is doing better, with the twenty seats there being about half full when the gong sounds off and the doors to the rest of the ministry are sealed. The short plump man in the green bowler hat standing up must mean something, as the rest of the murmuring stops when he does so. "Albus, if you would go ahead and start the proceedings."

The old man stands, his long white beard unruffled and his eyes gently creased in humor as though he was about to tell a funny joke. The normal twinkle in his eye that he somehow knew more than you was utterly absent, and to those that knew him well it was a sign of just how angry the man really was.

"I would love to do so Cornelius, but sadly I have been completely kept out of the loop on exactly why we are here. Perhaps you could explain this before the whole of the Wizengamot begins to fear that you are merely here to say hi to friends?" The message was clear. 'Stop wasting my time.' And it was echoed in the demeanor of nearly the entire room. With the exception of course of a few members of the DMLE, Harry, and the sixteen reporters who were going to get their story no matter what happened at this point. Dumbledore left out in the cold? Could his star finally be falling?

Fudge smiles and tips his hat to the assembly. "We are here to right a great wrong. A man has spent ten years in hell on earth. A potentially innocent man. We are here to finally hear the true story of Sirius Black, told under the effects of truth serum for the first time as we have come to find out that in spite of some falsified paperwork the poor man never had a trial! Guilty or innocent, that is what we are here to determine. To put it in a way that I am sure everyone in the room can understand, we are here both to find out the story of this man and to find out how a lord of our land could be thrown into the blackest pit without trial, evidence, or a chance to defend himself? Because if we do not, who will be next? Aurors, please bring in Lord Black."

Amelia silently nods. The blasted fool is generally a bane of her existence, but if he has one redeeming feature he is excellent at grandstanding and making other people afraid for their positions when he does it.

Dumbledore now understanding what is going on and being unbelievably annoyed at having to deal with this now on top of everything else, still has to do his job as the master of ceremonies. Besides, while Black didn't betray the Potters there can be no denying that he killed Peter. That no one had seen the man for ten years was proof enough of that. By itself this could perhaps be forgiven, as Peter had certainly earned such treatment. But to do so in such a way as to kill twelve poor muggles with him? People who were merely in the wrong place at the wrong time and could not defend themselves from the fury of whatever Black did to cause all that carnage? Unforgivable, and not likely to be prosecuted in this room by these pure blood politicians. That is why Albus had needed to push things through like he did. That he managed to also profit from the arrangement was immaterial. The cause was just. Much like the money that he had taken from the Potter vaults and bankrolled into a war chest for when Voldemort returned as well as scholarships for some of the more promising muggle born and half blood children. Sure, he dipped into the war chest from time to time and naturally would claim what was left when he was sure that Riddle was gone for good and Harry had shuffled the mortal coil. But frankly, was that too much reward for a man that will have by than saved the wizarding world twice? No, Albus doesn't think so. Oh dear. Lucius is standing. "The Wizengamot recognizes Lucius Malfoy."

As Sirius Black is being led into the chambers, Malfoy addresses the room. His face is calm, but the sneer that is his trademark expression never wavers. "Members of the Wizengamot. Is it not true that a convicted felon loses their Lordship? As such is it not also true that as a commoner who has already been sentenced, by law new evidence must be presented to this very room before they can even be removed from Azkaban much less a trial convened? Does the department of magical law enforcement take us for such fools that we would not know our own laws, Bones? What are you playing at here?"

Amelia stands, disgust practically dripping from her body. "Lord Malfoy, perhaps your hearing is failing you. Did the Minister of Magic not just say that there was no previous trial. As such, he is still the Lord Black, held against his will for a decade. For that reason alone this trial must take place. Moreover, I would ask that you refrain from further commenting or taking part in this trial. Your connection to the Black family is well known, as your wife has had a very difficult time hiding her giddiness that with Lord Black's incarceration your son was due to inherit. To say that you are biased is an understatement. I had considered not mentioning this, but with your own words here you have proven that you are unable to act impartially. Retire to the gallery."

The look of shock on the face of Lucius is enough to make Harry stifle a grin, though Sirius doesn't bother and adds a sharp, barking laugh to go with it.

Albus looks around the assembly. "Does anybody else have anything they wish to add before this trial is to be underway?"

Everyone waits for a minute as the Aurors chain Sirius to the judgment chair. Finally, when the silence becomes oppressive as Albus waits for any voice to be heard, Sirius finally groans and rattles his chains. "C'mon people. Gimme my three drops, I've been behind bars for ten years. Not interested in being chained for ten more."

This time Amelia has to stifle her grin. "Auror Shacklebolt, apply the veritaserum to the suspect."

As Shacklebolt approaches, Sirius sticks his tongue out like a hungry baby bird, mouth open, and makes little sucking sounds with his throat. When it is administered, he smacks his lips twice and was likely on his way to say something that could only get him in trouble when his face goes slack.

Amelia walks up to the prisoner with a parchment, a smile that could only be described as wickedly playful fighting to take over the corners of her mouth.

"Prisoner, state your name for the court."

"Lord Sirius Orion Black."

"Did you betray the Potters to Lord Voldemort at any time."

"Not intentionally."

When he says this, the courtroom erupts into murmurs, and Harry feels his heart drop through to the floor. Albus, oddly, perks right up and has to make an effort not to smile."

Amelia frowns. "Explain that."

"When they were putting up the Fidelius charm to hide the themselves, they wanted to make me the secret keeper. I thought I would be far to obvious a choice, and convinced them to use Peter Pettigrew instead thinking that he would be able to hide better than I would anyway. I then made talk as though it was me to throw Voldemort's people off the trail. I was wrong. Peter was a traitor, and because of this my friends are dead."

Amelia's eyes are beginning to glisten as she can see the pain on his face even through the truth serum. "But you yourself did not personally lead the Dark Lord to them?"

"No."

Damn, thought Dumbledore. Now I am down to convincing these people that the life of a muggle is worth sending a lord to prison. I may as well declare the trial over now.

Amelia continues.

"Did you confront Pettigrew on the second of November on a crowded muggle street?"

"Yes."

"What action did you take?"

The courtroom grows so quiet, that Harry swears he can hear his own heartbeat.

"I attempted to stun him, and missed. Then I asked him why he betrayed us."

Amelia looks around the courtroom, as if to determine that everyone is listening.

"What did Pettigrew do?"

Albus is hanging on every word. This is not what he expected to hear.

"Pettigrew yelled that I had betrayed the Potters, then sent a blasting curse at a muggle lorry that was carrying propane. It exploded, nearly killing me as well as actually killing bunch of muggles. It wrecked the street and a few storefronts. Then he used a cutting curse to remove a finger, shifted to his animagus form of a rat, and fled through the sewers."

At this there is a roar throughout the Wizengamot, people talking over each other and the flashbulbs of the Prophet photographers going off like firecrackers. It is perhaps forgivable that most didn't notice Amelia stepping forward and casting something, then speaking to Black. Dumbledore however, did. While he desperately wanted to know what the Director wanted to ask the man under truth serum without the rest of the Wizengamot knowing, he knew that charging down there would be a terrible idea as his goose was nearly cooked already despite his best efforts, and even being a member of the court wouldn't excuse contempt of court. Very quickly, Bones backs away and with a swish of her wand, cancels whatever privacy ward she had thrown up. Albus tries to get order in the court while Shacklebolt administers the potion to end the effects of the serum.

Fudge decides that this is an ideal time to see to it that the reporters remember his name. "Given what we have just heard I think it is safe to say the man is innocent. As I would not wish there to be anything hanging over the man later, however, I am calling for a vote! Yes, a vote of the Wizengamot! I urge you to vote with your conscience, and ignore the reporters in the room."

At that, a half a dozen members of the assembly that had been glaring at Black the entire time suddenly paled, and when Albus called for the white lights of not guilty, there was no point in calling for the red. With his chains undone, Sirius blinks and turns towards Amelia, who merely laughs at him, and points towards Harry in the Gallery.

Albus is beside himself. Sirius innocent? Truly innocent? But that would mean... No. No, given the information he had at the time, the call he made was the correct one. Unfortunate that Sirius had to pay for Albus' mistake, but truly, having Harry raised by the man would likely have caused problems the likes of which wizarding Britain wouldn't have survived. The choice, while regrettable, was still the best one to be made at the time. Albus will have to find a way to make it up to him, but to admit fault outright would be to go a step too far. For the greater good, it had to happen that way. Now he just needs to declare Black an unfit parental figure for reason of dementor exposure. Not tough to do, dementors were known to be detrimental to the mental health of the people placed in Azkaban even for a short time. After ten years, Black was probably about to crack like an overripe watermelon dropped off the astronomy tower. But that will have to be a task for another day. Now he needs to end this session. Gringotts will be expecting him in an hour, and he has a stop or three to make on the way. Now he just needs to figure out how to distract or call in a favor on Alastor. He needs to somehow use his rights as magical guardian respected and get the boy over there. His attempts to get the Wizengamot as a whole to collude with him regarding this issue has been like pulling teeth, and nothing is going to be decided in time. It will have to be the boy.

"If that is all that we had on the docket today, I declare this session..."

Amelia interrupts him at this time. "Chief Mugwump, I have a second item that needs looked at today. Shacklebolt, bring in the noted parties."

With this, Shacklebolt heads to the staging room and brings out a thoroughly annoyed Nigel Thornwood.

"Amelia, what is the meaning of this? I already gave my statement. Under veritaserum, I might add. Voluntarily! Why am I being brought before the Wizengamot?"

Albus looks over her glasses at Amelia, not noticing while he grandstands the Wizengamot that Shacklebolt has waved down Harry Potter, and Lepenski is wheeling in the giant stone bowl that is the ministry pensieve. "Amelia, the man has a point. Is there new evidence? If not I fear I will have to end this now."

Amelia smiles a decidedly predatory smile, and Albus can't help but feel that somehow he is on the menu as much as Thornwood is. When he sees Harry walking down and sitting in a witness chair opposite Thornwood, little alarm bells start sounding in his head. When he sees the pensieve, the bells become a klaxon. "Indeed, Albus. New evidence is exactly what you could call this. Lord Potter, did they explain how to use the pensieve?"

Harry nods. "Yes Madam Bones. Should I put my memory in now?"

"Go ahead, I will explain the facts to everybody while you do so."

Thornwood looks confused, but it is Albus that speaks first. "Amelia, Harry is a fine young lad but he is no more a lord than he is a unicorn. As such, the laws state that he cannot use the pensieve in this way. For good or ill, I am going to have to put a stop to this."

Amelia casts a spell that causes her voice to boom over the room of people that, while interested, had began chattering amongst each other. Holding out her wand, she intones: "As Director of Magical Law Enforcement I swear on my life and magic that the following testimony of mine is true to the best of my current knowledge, so mote it be." With a flash of light as the oath takes hold. The court is now enraptured. A vow on life and magic could see a new head of the DMLE by tonight.

Amelia continues, voice still booming over the Wizengamot. "First, the court should know that Lord Potter is just that." She passes the first parchments to Dumbledore to peruse, and the old mans face goes ashen as he reads them. "As per the Gringotts blood test for succession, Harry Potter is not only Lord Potter, but also Lord Gryffindor by blood through his father, and Lord Slytherin by conquest through his mother. It would seem that it was something Lily did, rather than Harry, that brought the Dark Lord down ten years ago, and when she died she passed it on to him. Second, the court needs to be aware that due to a soul bond marriage arrangement between Lord Potter and his wife, Alice Liddell Potter, he is considered an adult by law and magic, and able to take up these titles." Amelia pauses for a second as Thornwood starts to turn green. "Finally, the court should know that I brought Harry into the Wizengamot yesterday to meet with his godfather, Lord Black, before the trial we just witnessed. When I did so, at his request I glamored him to look like his wife so we would not be mobbed here in the ministry. Therefore Thornwood, it was Lord Potter, Not Alice, that was in that room, and he is both capable and allowed by our laws to have evidence entered by way of a pensieve." With that, Amelia lowers her wand, signifying the end of the statements that are bound to her vow. By then, Harry had already placed his memory in the pensieve. Rather than wait to be asked, he just turns it on and a three dimensional representation twelve feet across is projected above it, complete with surround sound. The image starts as they are exiting the cell block, and Thornwood makes a break for the doors to the Wizengamot as the alarm goes off that caused Amelia to have to send Harry on alone. He doesn't get far, three steps from the witness chair he suddenly stiffens with his arms to his sides and his feel slapped together, crashing face first into the floor where his nose hits with an audible crunching sound. Moody clears his throat. "Lord Potter, could you back it up? I missed a bit."

Smiling and nodding, Harry taps the rune to reverse it fifteen seconds, and when it continues and the entire Wizengamot sees and hears what happened, there are questions but none concerning who the guilty parties are. In fact, the looks being sent to Thornwood even by many of the more traditionally dark representatives could only be called disgusted. Whether that is because he did these horrible things or because his assassin and then himself were outwitted by a child is anybodies guess. Those more leaning toward the light start demanding that the man be brought to trial for attempted murder, which Amelia happily obliges, saying that his trial will be scheduled for sometime next week.

Harry unfortunately doesn't seem to be in a sharing mood. After the third question regarding how he had done what he did in the pensieve memory, his response goes from the "No comment" it had been to "Next week are we going to be putting you in the hot seat to divulge your family secrets and magics? If not then we are done here." With no takers, and a number of the more traditional members of the Wizengamot giving baleful looks to the upstarts that were so determined to get to the bottom of how that they tried to stomp on a Lords right to defend himself, things calm down.

With that Harry stands and starts walking towards Sirius. Sitting back down in the gallery, he waits while Dumbledore wraps things up. Then he turns to Sirius as he can no longer stave off his curiosity, as like Dumbledore he was paying close attention the entire time that Black was in the chair. "What did she ask you at the end?"

Sirius looks at Harry and his face breaks into a half grin. "The evil little witch asked if I still fancy her."

Harry can't help it and laughs, but does manage to stutter in a "What was your answer?"

Sirius fakes a groan and dramatically points down at the courtroom floor. "Look at the sneaky little shrew and take a guess!"

Harry looks down in time to see Amelia blowing Sirius a kiss. He can't help it, and the laughter starts up again. Oddly, Sirius would swear he hears more than just Harry laughing and the second voice sounds like a damn pixie.

HaA

Authors Note:

THANK GOD. Finally done with the current crap in the ministry. By that I mean the stuff that Harry and Alice will have to take direct part in. Moving forward, most ministry stuff for a while will be second hand from Amelia. To say that this batch of ministry crap took longer than I thought it would is the understatement of the century.

From a storytelling standpoint though I had a few goals I needed to accomplish.

Sirius: Free.

Amelia: Established as a member of team good guys and also willing to pull a fast one on Sirius. A requirement for dating a marauder.

Alice: Established as a nice, kind, loyal, and a cutthroat little psychotic that will kill if pushed regardless of the circumstances.

Lepenski: Gotten enough screen time that hopefully even though she is an original character you will remember enough about her to not curse my name when she shows up.

Harry: Still trying to be a "good" guy in the face of the world being almost entirely populated by assholes.

Dumbledore: Some of his motivations revealed. Like I said in the Authors Notes at the end of chapter four. In this story Dumbles isn't evil. He isn't really good in a traditional sense either, in spite of what he thinks. What he is basically boils down to a little bit greedy and self serving combined with a lot of knowledge, experience, and a masters degree at rationalization that he uses to make the bulk of his decisions. The vast majority of the time, they come out okay. Occasionally, he screws the pooch and like many powerful people, when he does the poor animal pays the price instead of him. Believe it or not, this isn't really a Dumbledore bashing story. This is me taking the evidence presented in the books and desperately trying to figure out what kind of man would do all the things that Dumbledore did. This is what I have come up with. Then of course, I changed the circumstances when I brought in Alice, but left Dumbledore the same. We'll see what happens.

Lastly, I know that Amelia and Sirius has been done to death in Fan Fiction. It is a pairing that I tend to like because I think they are good for each other. But I also think that in order for any woman to be attracted to Sirius Black for more than the length of time it takes to recover from the hangover that resulted from them being brought them together in the first place, they would need a bit of a sneaky, devil may care, prankster side to them even if it didn't get out very often. In these stories I love that put these two together, she is rarely shown to be like that. It makes me crazy. Amelia asking Sirius that while he was doped to the gills, in front of the entire ministry, during his trial, and when he couldn't lie to her was both the quickest way she could think of to try to pick up where they left off... and the best prank that had been played since the marauders were in Hogwarts. She did it that way to make a statement that she was ready for him, and trusted his own sense of humor to not be too upset if his answer was no.

Later all.