Chapter 9: Halloween, dumb dogs and court cases
)0(
Sorry about the delay but I've decided to rewrite the last 9 chapters, but the updates are going to be really slow. Sorry.
)0(
Sirius crept up into the Gryffindor boys' dorm, he had to find Peter! He just had to. The man turned puppy trotted along the corridor and right up to the Fat Lady's portrait, the Lady rolled her eyes at him but swung open on recognising the puppy that sometimes followed Harry Potter up into the common room. She swung open before speaking to the animal.
"You won't find Harry in there," she told him, "He's down at the feast with everyone else."
Snuffles ignored her and darted into the common room; everyone being at the feast was the exact reason he was here.
It was Halloween and the feast was in full swing in the hall and Sirius aka Snuffles was taking full advantage of it. He had to find Peter Pettigrew and prove his innocence so he could support Harry and Hermione in their plan to change the world and so he could get his wand and compare it to Siren's and find out just what was going to happen between them. He just couldn't wait until he was free!
But Peter wasn't there and the scents were weeks old.
)0(
Sirius ran back to Siren's rooms as fast as he could in his tiny puppy body. He had to change back into his human form to say the password to Siren's guard portrait as the painted woman only responded to the password or the room's owner and nothing else.
The Woman stared at him for a moment and he realised that after so long in his animagus form his human appearance was a bit unkempt; he hadn't been changing forms during the night either, afraid of him been discovered and Siren been removed from the school and as such removing protection from both Hermione and Harry.
"Rebecca." He growled at the portrait, ignoring her gaze, and storming inside as soon as it opened, not seeing Hermione, Harry and Siren all sitting on the chairs near the fire and all staring at him.
"Well," Siren spoke making Sirius jerk out of his anger and face her, "nice of you to finally turn up, though I really hope you didn't walk around the school like that."
Sirius just glared at her, too angry at Pettigrew's escape to really process that she was talking to him.
Siren coughed and looked him up and down pointedly.
Sirius still didn't quite get it.
Siren sighed.
"You're human Padfoot." She pointed out, giving up on being subtle.
Sirius blinked.
"Bugger." He muttered.
"You might as well sit." Hermione spoke up, "We need to talk."
Sirius walked over and flopped into an empty seat, noticing the cage on the table that contained a rat with a missing toe and a smug ginger cat.
"You….." he glanced at the three other people, "Have Pettigrew already?" his whole body sagged, "Well there goes the point of this evening." He muttered dryly making Hermione snort in amusement and Siren roll her eyes, Harry just stared at one of the last living links he had to his parents in shock.
"I've already contacted Amelia Bones," Siren spoke up, "told her I saw a boy with an animagius rat and was rightly worried about what the rat was doing, sleeping in a dorm room with young impressionable boys, she'll be here in about," she pulled her communication watch out from under her robes and checked the time, "three minutes."
Sirius stood.
"I can't be here then." He made towards the door.
"Not so fast," Hermione stood and ran so she was blocking his way, "I think you have some explaining to do." She nodded towards Harry who was still just staring.
"Come on." Siren grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him to his feet before pushing him in the direction of her bedroom, "You and Sirius can talk in there, Hermione and I will keep Madam Bones out." She gave him a reassuring smile before pushing him fully into the room and grabbing Sirius to do the same.
Hermione closed the door behind the two and hit it with a high level locking charm.
Siren and Hermione shared a grin before high-fiving.
"Go girl power!" Hermione giggled as Siren chuckled.
"Am I interrupting?" A voice asked from the fireplace.
Siren and Hermione jumped, both of them lifting their wands and pointing them at the source of the voice. The monocle wearing woman held her hands in the air peacefully.
"Oh, Amelia." Siren sighed and lowered her wand, Hermione copying after recognising Amelia Bones the woman they were here to talk to.
"Aunt Siren." Amelia grinned. Siren chuckled and gestured for her to take a seat. Amelia moved to an armchair and made herself comfortable looking at the rat in the cage in question, while Hermione and Siren took seats beside each other on the sofa.
"Aunt Siren?" Hermione repeated.
Siren grinned.
"I know a lot of people." She answered.
"Ah." Hermione frowned, not sure why she was suddenly feeling jealous of the other witch in the room.
"You wrote a rather worrying letter, Aunt." Amelia prompted.
"Yes," Siren agreed, gesturing at the cage where the rat was cowering in a corner, "this is the animagus in question."
"Alright," Amelia pulled out her wand and waved it over the cage, muttering under her breath, the rat flashed white, "he's an animagus alright," she confirmed as she put her wand away, "and unregistered."
Siren smiled in triumph.
"You'll be taking him in then?" she asked in an innocent tone that managed to convey anything but.
"Yes." Amelia shot her a suspicious look, "Anything you need to tell me?"
"Have I ever lied to you?" Siren asked.
Amelia just looked at her.
"Amelia," Siren leaned forwards and spoke seriously, "what do you know about Sirius Black?"
"Just that he wants to kill Harry Potter." Amelia hedged.
Siren snorted.
"Come now Amelia you've got to be smarter than that."
The woman frowned.
For a moment Hermione thought she was insulted before Amelia's expression changed to a more thoughtful one.
"Not as much as I would like," Amelia answered slowly, "his Ministry records were sealed by Dumbledore before I took office."
Siren leant back in her chair.
"Sirius never got a trial." Hermione spoke up.
Amelia looked scandalised.
"What?!" she demanded, "How do you know that?!"
"We have our sources." Siren answered firmly, trying to close the conversation.
"Aunt Siren, if you're in contact with him I need you to tell me."
Siren stared her down.
"Fine!" Amelia snapped standing and lifting the rat cage before leaving through the fire again.
)0(
The next morning the Great Hall was a buzz, the Weasley family was collected by aurors as they entered and taken away for questioning.
Neville and Luna were sitting together at the end of the Gryffindor table and watched it all happen.
Dumbledore never even turned up for breakfast, McGonagall saying he had been asked away by the Ministry.
Harry and Hermione slid into the empty seats on the other side of the table just as the owl post arrived. An owl landed in front of Hermione. She took the paper it carried and paid it before it flew away. She grinned at the front page.
"Hey," she got the other's attention, "listen to this!"
Ministry Mix-up Leaves Innocent in Azkaban!
By Rita Skeeta.
Late last night Madam Bones was called into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry by a concerned Professor Celeste, a new recruit to the teaching staff and Head of House to the Celeste and Shadow families, Professor Celeste, who had declined to comment until the DMLE has finished their investigation, reported seeing a suspicious rat. This rat is the pet of one Ronald Weasley youngest son of Arthur Weasley Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Department and has been in the family for over a decade. Prof Celeste reported the rat as an animagus and fearful of what an animagus could be doing in a Hogwarts boys dormitory immediately contacted Madam Bones.
Madam Bones took the rat into her possession and on reaching a Ministry holding cell reversed the transformation revealing none other than Peter Pettigrew! A man thought long dead by the magical community. After questioning under veritaserum it seems that Pettigrew was the Potter's secret keeper and not Sirius Black; as was widely accepted by the magical world.
Sirius Black is innocent of all charges. When asked why this had not been discovered before this reporter is ashamed to admit that Sirius Black, Lord of the most Ancient and Noble House of Black, was never given a trial!
The Minister immediately set to right this wrong: "after the DMLE finishes its investigation a trial date will be set, it shames me to think of the lows the last Minister allowed during her term in office and I am backing a full investigation by the DMLE into all other cases that may have the same circumstances."
More on Professor Celeste on page 5.
More on Sirius Black on pages 6 to 7.
Hermione and Harry shared a grin; Sirius was going to be free!
)0(
Hermione and Harry were sitting in the back of the History class room when Hermione finally couldn't hold in her curiosity any longer.
"What did you and Sirius talk about?" she asked quietly. She knew that Binns wouldn't hear her but the rest of the students were still a risk so she kept her voice down.
"Stuff." Harry smirked; he loved teasing his Hermione.
"Harry!" Hermione wined; she hated not knowing things!
Harry just chuckled.
Hermione gave him puppy-dog eyes; he didn't stand a chance.
"Well, to start…"
Magic Flashback
The door locked behind Harry with a click. He heard Siren and Hermione's voices but they faded after a moment as they moved away from the door.
Sirius shuffled awkwardly behind Harry; what in the name of Wizard God was he supposed to say?!
"Hi?" the man winced at the uncertainty in his voice.
Harry turned slowly and looked his Godfather up and down: he was clean and well shaven, he probably cleaned himself up while Siren was sleeping but his robes where threadbare; he'd probably never had the chance to replace them.
"Hi." Harry answered, completely unsure about what he could say to the older man.
"Fancy meeting you here, eh?" Sirius joked awkwardly but it was enough and the ice was broken.
Harry snorted in amusement and shook his head. Sirius shrugged unapologetically.
"Not my best line I'll admit but it worked." Sirius grinned and Harry returned the gesture.
The two moved and sat on the bed side-by-side but with a respectable distance between the, they were male after all.
They spoke for a short while, about Harry and Hermione, about Harry and Sirius, about Peter and Harry's mum and dad but last they talked about Siren.
"I have the other wand." Sirius announced quietly, "The one that matches Siren's."
Harry stared at him.
"Are you sure?" he asked hesitantly.
"Yeah." Sirius breathed.
"I'll help you!" Harry decreed grinning at Sirius, "No matter what we'll get you and Siren together."
)0(
Sirius sat in the chain wrapped chair in the centre of courtroom ten, the chains rattled on the arms of the chair but didn't move to tie him in place. He glanced around the incredulous and whispering members of the Wizendgemot that were all sitting in the circular seating around the room before focusing back on the witness stand where Harry, Hermione, the Weasleys, Remus and Siren were all waiting to be called; Peter was being held in a different secure cell to the side of the courtroom until he would be needed for questioning.
Dumbledore was sitting right in front of Sirius and to the right of the raised dais where the Minister was sitting, Madam Bones on the Ministers other side.
Sirius took a deep breath as the Minister slammed his gravel on the bench and called for silence.
"Order!" the noise stopped, "I Minister Cornelius Fudge, call for the start of the trial of Lord Sirius Black, charged with; being a servant of the Dark Lord, murder of twelve muggles, murder of one wizard, the betrayal of Lord and Lady Potter to the Dark Lord resulting in there death and lastly of being an illegal animagus." He paused to let the members digest what he said. "How do you plead?"
"Innocent of all charges!" a black haired woman called from beside Sirius, she was his cousin Andromeda, "Apart from the charge of being an unregistered animagus which my client is willing to pay the required fine for."
Dumbledore glared at madam Bones for a moment before standing and saying:
"Call the first witness; Peter Pettigrew!"
)0(
It was a matter of hours after Peter went under truth potion that Sirius was cleared of all charges, his fine paid and packed off to Saint Mungos for a check-up, his bank account bolstered by the reparation money the Ministry paid him.
Siren, Hermione and Harry were talking to a reporter; their plan was slowly coming together.
)0(
Sirius Misunderstandings Within the Ministry!
Lord Sirius Orion Black, head of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, was declared innocent today of the crimes of; serving the Dark Lord, murder of twelve muggles, murder of one wizard and the betrayal of Lord and Lady Potter to the Dark Lord. He was also declared guilty of becoming an animagus illegally and remaining unregistered. Lord Black is now officially registered as an animagi and has paid the fine for mastering this rare and difficult magic.
"Lord Black is my Godfather," one Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived and heir to House Potter, informed this reporter after the trial, "he loved my mum and dad and he loves me. I don't see how anyone thought he would betray the Potters." At this point the Lady Siren Celeste, Head of House Shadow-Celeste, stepped forwards.
"I was the one to discover Peter Pettigrew at the school," she explained, "he was hiding as a rat in a young boy's possession as a pet. At first I was just worried about what an animagi could be doing in a room full of young sleeping boys. So I caught him quietly but I had no idea just who he was until I was called in for the trial." Lady Siren shuddered at this point, "I'd hate to think what that man might have done to those boys." She paused, "And that's why in my capacity as Advocate Potter, and with the permission of Heir Potter, I am offering to pay for any and all medical treatments for any Gryffindor student that may have been affected by Pettigrew."
A young muggle-born student, Hermione Granger, known to be in a relationship with the young Potter Heir was also with Lady Siren and Heir Potter, she had this to say:
"I do hope that whoever was responsible for stealing from your vaults is feeling like a right idiot right now Harry."
As I reporter I had to enquire further.
"During the holidays," Miss Granger explained, "Harry came to stay with Aunt Siren and I, we visited Diagon Alley and the Goblins told us that money had being going missing from the Potter vaults since the Lord and Lady Potters' deaths, their wills were never even read! There was even an illegal Marriage Contract!" Miss Granger shook her head and seemed to be struck dumb with anger.
Heir Potter comforted Miss Granger for a moment before continuing her explanation.
"I made Siren my official Advocate and my adoptive parent in both the muggle and magical worlds, however Lord Black has a stronger claim on my Guardianship and so, once he's declared well by the staff of St. Mungo's the responsibility of my care will fall to him while Siren will continue to run my House business until I reach eighteen. The first thing I asked Siren to do was break the marriage contract that would have forced me to fall in love with a witch I barely know against my will and insure that everything stolen from me by my old guardian was returned."
We talked for a few more moments longer before the three had to return to Hogwarts where Lady-Advocate Celeste-Shadow-Potter is teaching DADA while Heir Potter and Miss Granger are studying. But they left this reporter with some questions; who was Heir Potter's guardian and how could he, or she, steal from the orphaned Boy-Who-Lived?
Neville and Luna, sitting together at the end of the Gryffindor table reading the evening addition of the Prophet like almost everyone else in the Great Hall. The shared a look before they turned to the Staff Table, looking for Dumbledore; it was common Knowledge to the pureblood students that Dumbledore was the guardian of the Potter Heir, he'd being using it and the Potter Wizendgemot seat for his own gains since that fateful Halloween.
Dumbledore stood and tore from the Great Hall; how was he going to fix this?
)0(
Siren, Harry and Hermione were all sitting in Siren's rooms to eat dinner so that they could avoid the general population of Hogwarts until the next morning. Siren had just dismissed Pixy and the three were tucking in when the fire flared green and Sirius stepped through.
Harry grinned and leapt to his feet before launching himself at Sirius.
Hermione and Siren smiled at the two men; a family finally reunited.
)0(
"Okay then." Siren smirked at her 5th years making most of them gulp nervously, "Time for a pop quiz." The Ravenclaws let out the breaths they'd been holding and reached for their bags to pull out quills and ink.
Siren just stared at them.
"Not that kind of quiz." The smirk she gave this time made the Weasley twins shudder. Siren waved her wand and the twenty five training dummies around the room straightened, pulling out wands, "Your grade depends on how long you last, what spells you use, teamwork and dodging." She grinned, "Have fun. You have a minute before the dummies activate." She summoned a broom out of her office and flew up to the ceiling so as to be out of the crossfire and to be able to judge the students.
The teenagers all leapt to their feet and pulled their wands, breaking into their pairs and standing back to back a large distance from each other; Siren had taught them well.
The dummies woke slowly, twisting their heads around to judge the students locations.
Fred and George seemed to realise that Siren had said nothing about when they were supposed to start; after all it was stupid to let your opponent have the first shot! The twins glanced at each other before nodding and yelling as one.
"BOMBARDA!" two dummies on either side of the room shattered. The rest of the dummies took the chance that the confusion of the rest of the class created and managed to stun one of the Ravenclaw pairs before they could react.
Siren watched as three of the dummies disillusioned themselves and vanished.
)0(
Sirius and Remus were sitting in the latter's office, talking about the old days when they heard a series of rather worrying bangs and shrieks from Siren's classroom. Sirius jumped to his feet and pelted out of the door without really thinking Remus hot on his heels, worried for the woman it seemed he had seriously misjudged and needed to apologise to.
The burst into the classroom and froze when they saw the destruction that littered the room, their entrance distracted the last few students long enough for the disillusioned dummies to hit them with stunners.
Siren floated down to the floor and landed in the centre of the room, a wave of her wand sent the broom back to her office, a second wave deactivated the dummies, repaired them and sent them off to her office as well, the third and final wave of her wand revived her students.
"Well done," she smiled gently at them, "I'm sure that if professor Lupin and Mr Black hadn't of burst in you would have managed the task." The teens all nodded and moved back to their seats to treat the small injuries they had gained, exchange stories and ideas. She turned to the doorway at smiled at Sirius. "Can I help you?" she asked.
"We were just worried about the noise." Lupin explained as he put his wand away, Sirius copying his actions quickly so Siren didn't see his.
"Ah, that's understandable. If you'll excuse me." She turned back to her class and Sirius and Lupin started out of the door when Fred yelled.
"Professor! Why don't you duel them?!" Siren blinked at him.
"I'm sure Professor Lupin and Mr Black have much better-"
Sirius spoke over her.
"We'd love to." He grinned charmingly. Lupin saw the challenging look Sirius sent Siren and sighed; he wasn't going to get out of this was he?
"Very well," Siren agreed after seeing the eager looks on her students faces, "winner can ask a favour of the loser," she smirked, "and has bragging rights, of course."
"Of course." Sirius grinned.
Lupin and Sirius stood at one side of the room wands ready while Siren stood at the other.
"Avis!" Siren yelled, creating a flock of birds, "Oppugno!" the birds flew at Lupin trying peck at his head and face. Lupin calmly waved his wand and the birds burst into flame before banishing them back at Siren.
Siren ducked under the flaming birds and didn't notice the piece of floor in front of her that Sirius transfigured into a large pile of wood.
"Confringo!" Sirius yelled, setting the pile on fire and causing a small explosion that sent Siren flying back. Siren hit the wall behind her with a muffled thump, uninjured due to the cushioning charms she had cast at the beginning of the year to make the room safer for duelling students. She stayed down though, knowing that Sirius and Lupin wouldn't know about the protections she had cast on the room. Because of the way she fell her back was to the room at large so no one could see her wand moving minutely as she transfigured some of the mess caused by the explosion into long, sharp, daggers.
"Siren?" she heard Sirius call in concern.
"Professor?!" Fred and George yelled.
Someone grabbed her shoulder and rolled her onto her back. Lupin. Siren was going to enjoy this.
She hit him with a silent conjunctivitis curse and jumped to her feet and he fell away his hands going to his eyes. She rolled away to dodge a spell that Sirius sent at her. When she was the right way up she summoned the daggers to her and then, when they were all in the air, banished them at Sirius.
Sirius dropped to the floor. The daggers shot over him and slammed into the wall with extreme force.
"You okay Mooney?" Sirius called to his friend as he and Siren exchanged spells.
"Fine Padfoot!" Lupin called back as he got to him feet. Sirius gave Siren a taunting grin as he jumped over a spell aimed for his kneecaps.
Lupin ran over and started shooting spells at Siren's back; she'd managed to get herself trapped in the centre of the room with one wizard on either side of her. She turned to hit Lupin with a spell chain giving Sirius a chance to transform. The bear sized Padfoot leapt across the room and pounced on Siren's back, knocking her down and her wand out of her hand.
Siren struggled for a moment before huffing and lying still.
Sirius transformed back to his human-self grinning.
The class applauded.
Siren shoved Sirius off her and picked up her wand, waving it to repair the damage done to the room and return it back to its proper state.
The bell rang.
"Class dismissed," Siren yelled, "no homework!" that earned her a cheer from the students as they filed out of the room, only Fred and George staying behind both of them looking at Sirius and Lupin like they were their personal heroes.
Siren sighed and turned to a grinning Sirius and Lupin.
"What do you want then?" she asked, remembering the reward offered for winning the duel.
"A kiss!" Sirius grinned and rocked back on his heels. Lupin watched him for a moment before internally smirking; Sirius had a crush!
Siren smirked before walking over and kissing Sirius on the cheek.
"Hey!" Sirius tried to complain.
Siren shrugged innocently.
"You didn't say where."
"She's right Padfoot." Lupin grinned before turning to Siren; he was going to mess with Sirius as much as possible now he knew about his infatuation with Siren and he needed to try and earn her forgiveness for questioning her motives over Harry anyway so this would be the best way to kill two birds with one stone: "I, dear lady, would love for you to accompany me to Hogsmead during the next visit."
Sirius's jaw dropped.
Siren nodded silently to Lupin before turning to Fred and George.
"Don't you boys have a class?" she asked.
"This is much more important than potions!" Fred insisted as they stared at Sirius and Lupin.
"Are you the Marauders?" they asked together.
Sirius grinned.
"Indeed we are," he answered with a dramatic bow, "I am Padfoot while my companion here is Mooney."
Fred and George shared a look before dropping to their knees.
"We're not worthy!" they chanted.
Siren sighed and walked into her office; she didn't want to know.