The day of Remus' trial came all too soon.
Sirius knew that the Minister was up to something and planning the trial to be this soon was part of it. He felt so unprepared, he hardly knew what he was going to say and even worse someone's freedom depended on this, someone that Sirius was starting to fall in love with.
He sighed as he put on his best suit and left his flat, he had to do this, Remus couldn't be put back in that prison.
He was escorted to the court room by a large, tough looking wizard who showed him straight to his seat.
As what seemed to be hundreds of other wizards came into the room to sit down Sirius began to sweat a little, he couldn't sit still either, he was tapping his foot on the ground and flicking through the few notes he'd thought to bring with him.
He was distracted when they finally brought Remus in.
Sirius' heart dropped, Remus looked scared, his brown eyes had bags underneath them again, he looked pale and seemed almost skinnier even though he had only been locked up again for a few days.
The Minister stood, "let's please get this over with quickly," he said, staring pointedly at Sirius, "I have important things to do."
Sirius tried not to give the Minister a glare, instead going for what he hoped was a polite smile as he himself stood up to give Remus' defence.
"I spent many days with Remus Lupin," he began, trying not to look anyone that was watching in the eye, "and I know just how kind and gentle he really is..."
He was cut off when a man who was representing the Department for the Control of Magical Creatures stood up, "yes, but the time you spent with the werewolf he was weak due to the special precautions taken by the ministry, can you tell us that, if he were at full health, he wouldn't have tried to kill you?"
"Remus wouldn't try to kill anyone," Sirius said, getting more nervous as he wasn't expecting to be interrupted and challenged.
"Can you prove that?" the man asked, wearing a smug smirk.
"I know Remus, I know him better than anyone," he continued, "you took him away from his parents when he was just a boy, he was scared and confused and hurt and you took him away from the only people who could offer him any kind of comfort and stuck in a cell, a child..."
Some people were beginning to show signs of mild outrage, as if they had never thought of a werewolf as a child before and were realising it for the first time, this gave Sirius some hope.
"But," the Ministry representative interrupted again, "we took the werewolf away from his parents for three reasons, to protect him, to protect his family and to protect our society, it is necessary for our community to regulate dangerous creatures such as werewolves."
Sirius' moment of hope was gone again, but he had to keep trying.
"Remus would never hurt anyone," he said, "I know that he wouldn't and with careful planning and safety measures injuries at the full moon can be prevented."
"This is all based on assumptions," the Ministry representative said, looking almost amused, "Black here breaks a werewolf out of a prison and spends a few weeks with him and instantly thinks that he knows him, perhaps there is some sort of special bond between them?"
Sirius took this moment to look up at Remus, who looked as if he had lost all hope, at this point, so had Sirius.
Sirius took a deep breath and was about to speak again when the Ministry representative decided to continue, "and this Lupin is a monster," he said, "monsters have to be contained for their own good..."
"Their own good?" Sirius repeated, "you execute them when they reach seventeen years old!"
"It's for the good of our society, monsters don't deserve to live..."
"They do deserve to live!" Sirius yelled, "they deserve a happy life free from people like you kidnapping them and killing them!"
"That's enough, Black," the Minister boomed, smirking, "sit down and calm down, we're taking a few minutes break for you to clear your head a bit."
Sirius was forced to walk around outside for fifteen minutes, when he came back inside he was ready with new arguments and enthusiasm, but the second he got into the court room the Minister announced that the trial was suspended until a later date.
Sirius knew the Minister did that to irritate him and to make it very public, to make sure it was all over the news and everyone was watching.
He sighed and watched as Remus was taken away again, they wouldn't even let Sirius talk to him.
He went back to James and Lily's flat that night, trying to get their help on what he should say, what his next argument should be.
"When I mentioned that he was taken away when he was a kid, they almost started to feel sorry for him," Sirius told them.
"Well, of course," Lily said, as if it was obvious, "you're taking a person who is usually painted as an evil monster and reversing it to show that he was the victim, they're going to feel sorry for him, it's human nature."
"Yeah, but it wasn't enough," James pointed out.
"You need to approach from the same angle, but with more heart breaking stuff," Lily said, "what do you know about his childhood?"
"Almost nothing," Sirius sighed, "they won't let me speak to him, though I doubt he'd be able to remember much anyway."
They fell silent for a moment before Lily gasped, James and Sirius looked at her, "what?" they said.
"You need to show Remus as a victim," she said, "who better to help you with that then his parents? They know exactly what he was like as a kid, they'll be able to help you!"
Sirius thought quietly for a moment, "Lily," he said, "you may just be a complete and utter genius."