Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or his world. That honor belongs to J K Rowlings. I'm just changing things to see them in a different light.
Potterphile thank you for some funny name suggestions for the Bandits.
Sorry for the delay in updates. I will start posting a new story sometime next week. The reason I am putting the note here is because it is a Character Read story of this story. It will be called Reading Making the Truth Known. It is my first attempt of writing Sirius and James younger along with other readers.
Chapter 14 Harry Worries
Sirius was sitting in the faculty lounge with all the professors besides Minerva and Moody. He couldn't help wondering if they were together.
It was only seven weeks before their bonding day. He had noticed the way the two were back to acting the way they did the last time they were engaged. This made him happy to know that Dumbledore's manipulations hadn't ruined the love the two had for each other.
When the two finally came in together he couldn't help giving them a knowing look. That look turned into a smirk when he saw the blush on the Headmistress's face. Oh yeah that made him wonder if they had been checking out a broom closet like some of the students do. That thought while a little uncomfortable had him teasing the two.
"What were you two up to that made you late for the meeting?" He gave a roguish wink at the question.
"Mr. Black." Minerva cried out in embarrassment.
"I think she is having a flashback to when we were her students, Padfoot." Remus laughed.
"I think so too Moony. I mean she calls me Sirius now, or if not that Lord Black or even Professor Black." He agreed with a knowing smirk.
"It is just because you are acting childish." The headmistress stated with a huff as she took her seat.
"Oi Moody is the broom closet on the third fourth still the best one?" Sirius asked the ex-Auror.
"Shut it Black and let's get this meeting over with." growled Mad-Eye.
"Some people just can't take a joke Padfoot." Remus patted his friend's shoulder comfortingly.
"Some of us think you are asking for too much information." Andromeda pointed out.
Minerva decided to start the meeting in hopes of stopping the embarrassing topic. "Did anybody find out who attacked young Mr. Black in Hogsmeade yesterday?"
"No." Regulus was shaking his head. "The only thing we know for sure is the castor was not very powerful or the injury would have been worse."
"Was anybody suspicious seen in the village?" Moody was looking thoughtful.
"We didn't see anybody like that." Sirius admitted. "I truly think it was probably a student, either one of the younger ones allowed in the town or one not very powerful, since no one stood out as a likely suspect."
"Is this going to make you change your minds about having extra Hogsmeade trips this year?" Professor Sprout inquired curiously.
"I think we will just stay with the regular trips for the time being." Sirius ran a weary hand through his hair. "I don't want to take any more chances than necessary for one of the kids to be hurt. Thankfully we didn't tell the students about the possibility of extra trips yet."
"Hopefully we can get some idea soon of who did this." Regulus was looking angry. He wasn't happy somebody hexed his kid.
Moody shook his head. "I don't think that will happen unless the person tries it again."
This had both Black brothers looking furious. Everybody was thinking that the idiot better hope he didn't, because the look on those two men's faces didn't bode well for the suspect.
Minerva decided that she should change the subject. "So how are classes going?"
XXXXXXXXX
While the professors were having their meeting the Hogwarts Bandits were sitting on the floor in the dueling room on the first floor of the Founders Tower. They had decided to use this room since it had a larger space that had nothing in it. They knew that they wouldn't actually be transforming today, but this still felt like the best place for their practices.
Harry and Leilani had high hopes that they wouldn't take anywhere near as long as the Marauders did before they achieved their forms. The journal they had all read said that the Marauders had spent four months doing nothing but research. Then they had spent another three months trying to meditate to find their forms. It seemed that Sirius and James had found a book in the Potter Library during the last few days of their summer vacation after third year that had the potion formula in it. It had taken them until November that year to finally get the potion made and find their forms.
They then had spent the rest of the year once again trying to find their cores before Sirius had gotten fed up, and decided to ask one of the portraits of James's ancestors if he knew anything about how to become an Animagus. That conversation had led them to find out the man had indeed been a lion Animagus, and that he said that he had spent his time learning all he could about his animal form. He then would concentrate on that form each time, and how it would feel to be that animal instead of concentrating on his core. The great-great-great so many times uncle said that it was easier that way.
The Marauders decided that they would do that. They spent the summer learning all about their forms, and when fifth year started they once again started trying to change, but this time they used the man's suggestions. Sirius and James had achieved their forms by the end of November, but it had taken them until the end of January to get Pettigrew to finally be able to change into the rat he was.
This information had all four of the Hogwarts Bandits hoping that they would at least have achieved their forms before the end of the school year. They thought it would be so great if they could outperform the Marauders. Leilani said that she thought it wouldn't be that hard, since they were cutting out all of the extra time the others had to do, because they knew what didn't work as well. She also thought it would help that they had all of the information in their heads about their animal forms already.
When Draco asked why the Marauders hadn't mentioned that, and why they would have had to spend the summer learning about them and they didn't? She had told him that it might have been because they had spent months trying the other method that they forgot about the information transfer from the potion. But they were all pleased that she pointed out that it had only really taken three months of practicing before Harry's parents had changed when they had all of the information that the Bandits now had.
"Okay now, remember concentrate on your animal, and how it would feel to be that animal with all of your might." Leilani said as they all got comfortable in the lotus position on the floor in a circle. "We will only have a couple hours at most to practice today."
Harry closed his eyes and concentrated on the information he had learned about his grim form. He pictured the black fur, four legs and tail in his mind. He remembered the small white blaze of fur above his right eye that was shaped like his scar. He even remembered the smallish form and concentrated on what it would feel like to be a dog wagging his tail. He was spending all of his energy on these thoughts that he was shocked when the tempus alarm charm that Leilani had set went off.
He jumped at the shrill sound. "What's the matter?"
"It's the alarm. We need to stop for today. We need to get to lunch if we don't want the parents to start wondering where we are, or what we are up to." Leilani told them, as she go to her feet.
"Okay," Draco also stood up. "I really can't wait to change though. I swear just thinking about running around like that was so cool."
They were walking towards the door that led out onto the first floor when Neville asked. "Have any of you came up with names for us?"
"I thought of one for Drake." They all noticed the evil little smirk on Harry's face at these words.
"Oh really, cousin of mine," Draco was giving a small glare at the shorter boy. "And just what would that be?"
"I was thinking Spot sounds like a good name for you." Harry grinned at the offended look Draco was now sporting.
"Well if I'm going to be named Spot we should name you something like Ruff." Draco said snidely.
The other two couldn't help laughing at the way the two were acting. They knew the boys weren't mad at each other, but they knew most wouldn't be able to see that if they saw the way they were glaring at each other.
"I don't know Neville maybe we should call Draco Sir Spots-a-lot and Harry Lord Ruff and Ready. What do you think?" Leilani couldn't help teasing.
"I like it." Neville laughed out loud.
Harry who remembered Dudley and his gang talking about a movie they had seen with an orangutan in it spoke up. "Well Neville I guess we could call you Clyde, and as for you Leilani how about we name you Taz?"
"Why would you name them that?" Draco asked curiously since he thought they were weird names.
"Well Clyde was an orangutan in a muggle movie." Harry explained. "And Taz is the name of a cartoon character that is a Tasmanian Devil that causes a lot of destruction, as it moves very fast like a tornado. I know that Lei's form isn't that, but she does seem to be pretty hyper when she starts talking sometimes."
"Well I think all of those name stink." Draco put his nose in the air. "I suggest we choose better names."
His attitude caused the other three to burst out laughing, as they entered the Great Hall. It was this sight their parents saw from the head table. They couldn't help smiling in turn. They loved seeing the kids like that.
The professors that had taught the four kids for the past two years couldn't help thinking that this was a huge improvement. Gone was the snobbish Mr. Malfoy, the bossy know-it-all Miss Granger, the clumsy, shy Mr. Longbottom and the self-destructive Mr. Potter, and in their places were four happy and confident normal children.
On Thursday Leilani was sitting watching her boys tease each other again about nicknames. They had just had another lesson on trying to transform. It was the third one now and as of yet none of them had made any progress, but she knew it was just a matter of time and hard work.
She couldn't help giving thanks for how much her life had changed for the better this year. She had a Dad who spent time with her and took an interest in what she was doing. Every night they would sit and talk about their day for awhile. It made her feel loved to know the man cared enough to ask and not only that, but share his own stories with her. She was brought out of her musings when she heard the outraged cry from Draco.
"You are not calling me Pimples." He yelled at Harry.
"Well you said you were going to call me Shorty." Harry retorted. "I was just trying to find you a good name."
"Good name my foot. That name sucks." The Slytherin complained.
"I kind of liked it Draco." Neville piped up.
"Well I have one for you too, instead of Longbottom we should call you Longarms." was the snide answer.
"Okay you three enough." Leilani called out. "Or I'll call you all the Three Stooges. Draco can be Moe, Harry will be Larry and Neville is Curly."
"Hey," Harry exclaimed since he knew who they were. "We're not that bad."
"Well from my seat you are. I thought we were looking for names that we all could live with not the most ridiculous we could think of." She told them.
"Well why don't, you think of good names for us then?" Harry wasn't the only one pouting. Did that mean they couldn't have fun teasing each other with the names?
Leilani knew Harry well enough to know what was going through his mind. "It's okay to play around with names. I just want you to also try to think of ones you want us to really use, not just the ones to get a rise out of each other."
"We can do that." The three boys replied at the same time happy that they could still have fun finding ridiculous names for each other.
Leilani couldn't hide the scared look on her face. She really hoped the three weren't going to become worse than the Weasley twins, after all they were getting so close to each other, and now they were talking in unison.
"I did think of a name for Neville though." Harry was looking more serious now. "I thought the name Chewbacca would be a good one for him."
"Why would you call him that?" Draco asked confused with the weird name. He couldn't help noticing that Leilani actually seemed to be considering it.
Harry fidgeted a little. "I don't really know what you would call an orangutan, but there was this character, creature or whatever in the Star Wars movie that was furry and orange and walked on two legs, and I kind of liked him. I thought Neville's form wouldn't be too far off from that. We don't have to use it if you don't like it."
"I don't know if Neville will like it, but I can see why you do. I think it would fit." Leilani had to admit she could see why Harry had come up with the name.
"Chewbacca, huh?" Neville seemed to be considering the name seriously.
"Yeah and they sometimes called him Chewy, too." Harry told him.
"I like it." Neville smiled at Harry.
"So Neville has his new name, and even a nickname in the nickname." Draco smirked. "Now we just have three more to find."
"Come on Chewbacca lets head to dinner before the parents come looking for us." Harry was gathering his things together as he spoke.
"Hey Harry have you convinced your Dad to let you go to Dumbledore's trial yet?" Draco asked leading the way to the door.
"No," was the disgruntled reply. "He says that old man has already messed with my life enough, and he doesn't want me around him at all, so I don't get to go."
"You know that could be a good thing." Leilani pointed out. "We could use the time to get in a few extra hours of practice at least."
"I know," He agreed. "I just wanted to see the manipulative old goat get his if you know what I mean. He really did a number on Dad and my life."
"Yeah but I think Uncle Sirius just wants you to not have to think about the bad anymore." Draco threw an arm over the shorter boy's shoulders. "We know it won't be that easy, but your Dad really is way over-protective."
"Tell me about it." But Harry couldn't hide his smile. The man may be over-protective, but it did feel good to know that it was because the man loved him, and wanted him to have a happier life.
XXXXXXXX
When Saturday morning came around the Hogwarts Bandits were standing in the entrance hall saying goodbye to their parents and the other professors that were going to Dumbledore's trial. They were all having trouble holding in their yawns since it was only seven-thirty in the morning, but they had wanted to see them off even if it was a day they could sleep in.
Harry was of course still trying to get to accompany them. "Are you sure I can't go with you? They might need my testimony."
"I'm very sure you aren't going." Sirius chuckled at his son's determination at still trying to get his way. "They will have enough witnesses that you won't be needed Kiddo."
"Fine, I just thought I could be support for you." He hoped his change of tactics would work.
"Your Uncles Reggie and Remus are planning on staying with me through it all." He assured him.
Harry gave the two men appreciative smiles. He had worried about his Dad, because he knew the man would have to stay for the whole thing.
"Now you guys Tonks and a few other Aurors are going to stay here to help Professor Sprout and the others keep things under control, but I want you four to be careful." Sirius told his son, niece and nephews.
"We will Uncle Siri." Leilani told him. "We are going to be doing some studying in the tower this morning. I think it will be around lunch time before we do anything else."
"That is good." Remus smiled proudly at his daughter. "I believe acting Minister Bones said they were going to get some of the professors through this morning, so some of them should be back by lunchtime."
"Nymphadora please keep an eye out for your brother and cousins." Andromeda reminded her daughter. "You are the only one of the Aurors that can get into the tower."
"Don't worry about it Mum I will watch over them. We can't have the little darlings getting up to mischief on my watch after all." She smirked at the disgruntled faces the teens were giving her.
"Just behave," Ted shook his head. "All five of you."
"Daad I'm an adult." Tonks said with an offended tone.
"You'll always be my little girl." He promised her. "And I know just how grown-up you act at times."
"Humph," she turned away to stalk off, but her tripping over her own feet and falling ruined the effect.
The group of professors left the castle and headed towards the gate so they could apparate to the Ministry. They all turned on the spot as soon as they were past the wards. A moment later their arrival in a deserted alley beside a phone booth that looked to be out of order was heralded by quite a few pops. A few at a time entered the phone booth dialed MAGIC. It only took a minute each for them to have their wands checked and head to the lifts.
Sirius led the way into the courtroom. It was the largest one they had since the trial was open to the public and press. The sound in the room seemed to cut off all at once when the crowd saw him and the professors all standing there.
The people accompanying him knew it was because of the striking and intimidating stance of Lord Black that had everybody staring. He looked like the ultimate pureblood Lord and with his ten crests showing on his formal robes just added to the picture.
The group moved further into the room where all of them took a seat on the benches for the witnesses except Sirius. He walked over to stand in front of acting Minister Bones and a man she was talking too.
"Lord Black it is good to see you again." Amelia told him with a small smile. "This is Lord Leopold Graves. He is one of the three men nominated to be the next Chief Warlock."
Sirius could tell by her attitude that she would be supporting the silver haired man for the position. He didn't know much about the man except that he had worked at the Ministry for many years. He could vaguely remember Dad Potter speaking highly of the wizard. He knew that because of those two he would most likely be using his votes to help the man get the position.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Lord Graves. I seem to remember that Charlus Potter spoke highly of you around the manor." He shook the man's hand firmly.
Leopold Graves couldn't help noticing the interested way some of the members of the Wizengamot were paying rapt attention to the conversation he was having with Lord Black. "Please call me Leo. I also remember him singing your praises. He was very proud of you."
"Thank you Leo. Please call me Sirius." was his answer, but those nearby could see the man seemed pleased at the words he had been told. "I know I truly wanted to make him proud, so thank you for saying that."
A buzzing sound was heard which had most of the people that were still standing rushing to their seats.
Amelia glanced around the room. "Well that is the signal that we have two minutes before the meeting will start. If you will wait here Lord Black we will start with you taking your seats on the Wizengamot."
"Yes Minister."
When everyone but Sirius was seated Amelia stood from her position next to the empty chair of the Chief Warlock. "This meeting of the Wizengamot is called to preside over the trial of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, but before we can get to that we have a few other things to handle first. The first business on our agenda is to add the new family heads to fill their seats on this panel. Lord Black, I will allow you to claim your seats."
"Minister Bones I need to make an adjustment before I can claim my seats if you please." Sirius said solemnly.
"Of course, Lord Black, the floor is yours." She assured him.
"I Sirius Orion Black, Lord of the Noble and Most ancient house of Black do hereby award the Lordship of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Wizen, a direct line in the Black family to Regulus Arcturus Black. So I say! So Mote it be!" as the last words left his mouth the middle patch in the last row of crests on his robe disappeared in a golden light to reappear on his younger brother's robe.
Regulus felt a warm feeling on his right hand ring finger. He glanced down to see a golden ring with a large diamond and an owl insignia in the middle of the diamond.
"Lord Wizen, would you please come and claim your seat on the Wizengamot?" Sirius called out to get Reg moving.
When Regulus was near his brother he hissed. "Why did you do that?"
"Because I want your help in everything. The rest of these I can't really transfer to you, but I did ask Grandmother and she said this one I could. Now I would suggest you claim your seat, so I can claim mine." Sirius told him firmly.
"I Lord Regulus Arcturus Black of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Wizen do hereby claim my seat on the panel of the Wizengamot. I swear to help uphold the laws of this noble body. So I swear it! So mote it be!." His words had the effect of lighting up one of the seats in the third from the top row of the seats to be occupied by members of the Wizengamot.
Those in the room were shocked that Lord Black had just given away one of the more important of the Lordships, one that hadn't been held in a couple of centuries.
The Wizengamot held ten rows of seats, the higher the row, the more important the seat, except for the Chief Warlock's seat which was in the first row. It was situated there because it was an elected seat. The rest of the first row was held by members of the Ministry like the Minister, Head of the DMLE and Head of the Department of Mysteries. The next two rows held the seats of Merlin First Class Award holders. Then there was two rows each of the minor houses.
The fourth and fifth rows were for the Noble Houses. The sixth and seventh rows were for the Ancient Houses. The eighth row was for the Noble and Ancient Houses or higher. All of these rows except for the first one had twelve seats available. The ninth row of seats had only four chairs while the tenth and highest row had two throne-like chairs.
All of the seats were represented even if the chairs were empty except for some in the eighth row and none of the top two rows. The top two rows had no representatives for more than seven centuries.
Regulus walked up and took a seat between Lord Greengrass and the empty seat of the Black family. He gave a little nod to Lords Abbot, Davis and Corner. He noticed the empty seat of Longbottom. Neville wanted his new Papa to take the seat until he was older, but Ted thought Andi should hold it since she was the pureblood, since they hadn't reached a decision yet the seat was sitting empty. He knew the Bones seat was being represented by Lady Bones, but she was sitting in the Minister's seat at the moment. He had been raised with the knowledge of the importance of the houses, so he knew that the last five seats were for the Black, Potter, Grant, Peverell and Standish families. The Grant, Peverell and Standish families had had no representatives for as long as the Wizen seat, and from what he had learned recently that the Potter seat had been voted by Dumbledore, while the Black seat had been by Lucius Malfoy. Sirius had not been happy to find out that by any means.
He turned his head back to his brother as he started speaking. He wanted to watch some of the faces in the room to see their reactions, but he didn't because he could tell Sirius was nervous even if nobody else could. He had learned his brother's little tells when they were kids, and Sirius had stood up to their parents. The little way he would lick his bottom lip and the slight tilt of his head were signs that he wasn't as confident as he let on. He hoped his encouraging smile would help calm his older brother.
Sirius never gave any sign that the smile from Reg was appreciated, but it truly was. "I Sirius Orion Black, Lord of the following houses do hereby claim my seats for the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter. The Noble and Most Ancient House of Peverell, The Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Ravenclaw, The Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Gryffindor, The Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Hufflepuff, The Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Slytherin, The Royal and Most Ancient House of La Fey and The Most Royal, Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Merlin. I swear to do my utmost best to uphold the laws of this noble body of law and use my nine votes for the good of the people. So I swear it! So mote it be!"
When the words stopped three seats in the eighth row lit up. All four seats in the ninth row and both seats in the tenth row glowed. Every eye in the place had turned to watch to see if this would happen when Lord Black claimed the La Fey and Merlin seats. None could hide their shock when they saw the top two seats give off a gold light that lit up the whole room for a minute. The royalty lines of the wizarding world was once again being claimed.
A din of noise broke out as people couldn't help commenting to their neighbors about this turn of events. It didn't help to know that the man to claim both Lordships had been sent to Azkaban without a trial for twelve years. This did not bode well for Albus Dumbledore when his own trial started, as they all knew the man had made sure Lord Black hadn't received a trial, and even worse he had lied about the man to make sure he was sent to prison.
Minister Bones finally recovered from her own shock enough to call for order. She couldn't believe all the times she had seen the man she hadn't paid attention to the crests he was wearing. She should have and this wouldn't have been such a bombshell, since the crests for Merlin and La Fey were ones she knew.
Sirius climbed the aisle stairs and shocked the people when he turned into the eighth row and took the Black hereditary seat next to his brother, instead of sitting in one of the two throne-like seats he was entitled to. They watched the younger Black brother lean over and whisper something into the older one's ear.
"What are you doing? Why aren't you sitting on the top level?" Regulus hissed quietly at his brother.
"I don't want to sit up their all alone. It will feel like I'm in time out if I do." He almost pouted at the thought. "I'm going to sit right here next to you in the most obvious seat I can claim. It's not like I can sit in all of them anyway, so why not the one I would feel the most comfortable in?"
Regulus had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. That was just such a Sirius thing to say.
"Now that the seats have been claimed we need to move on to electing a new Chief Warlock. We have three nominees for the position. Lady Griselda Marchbanks of the Ancient House of Marchbanks, Lord Amos Diggory of the Ancient House of Diggory and Lord Leopold Graves of the Noble House of Graves. You all have a ballot with the three names on it. Please mark your choice. Those of you that have more than one seat to represent will have a ballot for each of them. Please cast your votes now."
Sirius had no problem casting all nine of his votes for Graves. Marchbanks was just too old in his opinion. The woman was older than Dumbledore and had to be set in her ways by now. Diggory was not somebody he would vote for, because he knew the man had been one that pushed for anti-werewolf legislation. No, he would never vote for somebody who tried to take away a person's rights, because they had been the victim of an attack.
He sat back in his seat after all nine of his ballots disappeared and reappeared in front of Minister Bones with many others. He couldn't help wondering who Regulus voted for. It was his brother's choice, but that didn't mean he wasn't curious. All was quiet while Amelia Bones, Rufus Scrimgeour, who had taken over as Head of the DMLE for the time being, and Stanley Croaker the Head of the DOM counted up the ballots.
The three took it in turns to count the ballots. Everyone could see they were taking this very serious.
"We have a new Chief Warlock." Amelia finally called out. "With more than two-thirds of the votes we welcome Lord Leopold Graves as the Head of this august body. Lord Graves if you please."
When the man was standing if front of the seat he would soon be occupying the acting Minister swore him in. The clapping broke out from most of the people in the room. Sirius was happy to notice that not only was Reg one of them, but everybody he came with as well. That made him happy to know that he had voted for somebody they agreed with.
The new Chief Warlock called for everybody to quiet down. "Thank you for the votes and that warm welcome. We now need to get onto the main focus of today's meeting, the trial of Albus Dumbledore. Aurors please bring in the prisoner."
Two Aurors escorted the cuffed aged wizard into the room. When they led him to the prisoner's chair the shackles on it bound the man's arms and legs to it. To those who had not seen the man since his arrest he didn't really look like Dumbledore to them. The short hair and beard was just so different, and add in the fact he looked like he had aged quite a bit. They knew this was due to the magic dampening cuffs, but it was still shocking for most to see anyway.
Chief Warlock Graves spoke out. "I now call to order this court of the Wizengamot to hear and pass judgement on the crimes that Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore has been accused of. I will now read out the charges."
Everybody sat with bated breath as the man began to name the numerous charges.
"Albus Dumbledore you are charged with the following crimes. Two counts of kidnapping, two counts of child abandonment, assault on a pregnant mother resulting in premature labor and sterility, stealing from the vaults of a minor Heir to a Most Noble and Most Ancient House, perjury to get another Heir to a Noble and Most Ancient House thrown into Azkaban, dereliction of your duties as Chief Warlock by not making sure said heir was given a trial, endangering the students of Hogwarts, protecting and harboring a Death Eater, Obliviation of at least nine witches or wizards, two counts of muggle tampering, being an accomplice in murders of Lily Evans Potter and Lord James Potter-Black…"
Hearing James's name Sirius stopped listening to the charges. He thought back to a happier time. James was smiling at him on that Halloween day, as he went off to do an assignment for Dumbledore and the Order. He couldn't help remembering the way James's lips felt as he kissed his husband goodbye, before kissing the squirming little boy being held in his Dada's arms. He hadn't wanted to go, but at the time he had trusted Dumbledore. A hard look came across his face, as he remembered how well that turned out.
He jerked to attention to ask his brother in a snarling voice, "Did he just say not guilty? Not Guilty?"
"Yes he did." Regulus cast a wary eye on the man. He put a hand on his arm hoping to hold him in his seat. It seemed his big brother did not like that Dumbledore wasn't taking responsibility for his crimes.
"Albus Dumbledore do you have a solicitor?" Graves asked.
"I'm going to defend myself." was the unbelievable response.
This had the effect of calming Sirius down some. "Oh," He said shaking his head. "This reminds me of something Lily once told me. She said American muggles have a saying. I'm not for sure of the precise wording, but what it boils down to is that the man that defends himself in court has a fool for a client. Dumbleshite fits that to a tee, since can't really expect anyone to take anything he says seriously after all we have learned. Can he?"
"Very well Mr. Scrimgeour will be acting as the prosecutor. Please call your first witness." The Chief Warlock told the acting Head of the DMLE.
"Thank you Sir. I call Minerva McGonagall to the stand." Scrimgeour called out for all to hear.
XXXXXXXX
The Hogwarts Bandits were in the dueling room practicing their Animagus transformation. They had been at it for the last two hours when Leilani decided she needed a break to find the loo. She opened her eyes and stared with an open mouth. A high pitched squeak came out which had Draco opening his own eyes to stare at her.
"What's wrong Lei?" He asked curiously.
The only answer she gave was to point a trembling finger at Harry. He turned to see what she was pointing at. It took a moment for it to register, and when it did he burst out laughing. By the time Neville opened his eyes to see what was going on Draco was rolling around the floor in a fit of hysterical laughter.
"What's wrong with Draco?" Neville demanded at the same time Harry opened his eyes.
"Harry," was all Leilani could get out.
Neville turned to ask Harry what she meant, but the sight that met his eyes had him sputtering without being understood.
"What is the matter?" Harry was glancing between his cousins as if they had lost their minds.
Neville was now holding his hand over his mouth to keep his laughter in. Oh Merlin this was hilarious. Harry was a sight he wasn't expecting to see. He knew if he opened his mouth to explain he would be laughing as hard as Draco, and Harry wouldn't understand him anyway.
"Leilani, why are those two laughing? What is wrong with you?" His frustration was obvious by this point.
She bit her lip nervously. "Harry, I think you need to look in a mirror."
Brows furrowed in a frown he asked, "Why?" He had jumped up to go look in the mirror in the next room.
Leilani watched the door apprehensively while listening to Draco and Neville laughing. It was only a few seconds later that she heard a yell from Harry's direction.
"What the bloody hell? This isn't how I'm supposed to look?" was his anguished cry. "How do I fix this?" He demanded walking back into the room.
"Well you definitely have the right name." Draco got out through his laughter. "Your name is Harry and you are definitely hairy."
"Drake this is not funny. I'm covered in black fur all over. I was trying to turn into a Grim dog not a furry person. How do I explain this to my Dad? He is going to know what we were doing if he sees me like this."
That had the effect of sobering the other two boys up. No, they couldn't let Uncle Siri see Harry looking like this or the gig would be up.
Neville spun around to Leilani. "How hard do you think it will be for him to change himself back to normal?"
"I don't know." She fretted plucking at the hem of her shirt. "Harry, you need to sit down and try to imagine you looking like yourself again."
"But wouldn't it be easier for him to continue on to trying for the complete transformation now that he has done part of it?" Draco wondered out loud.
"It probably would be, but as we don't know how long it will take for him to turn back he needs to start at once. We don't know when any of our parents will be back. They have been gone almost three hours now." She said checking her watch.
"I see your point." Draco was now looking at his cousin with worried eyes.
"Fine," Harry sat back down in the lotus position. "So you think I just need to concentrate on how I really look this time?"
"Yes," Leilani let out a relieved sigh to see him getting ready to try.
He noticed the others weren't getting back into position. "Aren't you going to practice anymore?"
"I don't know. What if we make a partial transformation too? We don't want to have to worry about being caught that way."
"But if we don't practice we won't make the change at all." Harry reminded her.
"Oh I don't mean not do it anymore at all. I just meant that today. We have been at it a couple of hours, and I'm sure that some of our parents will be back soon. We don't want to get caught. We'll still practice but we need to make sure we aren't going to be interrupted for a few hours when we do like today." She assured him.
"Okay but what are you going to do while I try to change back?"
"I think we should try to think of nicknames for the rest of us." Draco piped up. "We'll go to the far side of the room and keep it down so you can concentrate though."
"Sounds good," Harry closed his eyes and tried to picture the way he looked normally.
It wasn't easy because the hairy version of him he had just seen kept popping into his head. He gave a determined shake of his head to clear it and started concentrating hard.
Draco kept glancing back at Harry as he took a seat between the other two on the far side of the room. "I think we should call him Furball." He said with a snort.
"I don't think he would agree with that." Leilani told him trying to be the voice of reason. She knew the other two would come up with more outrageous names if she didn't keep them on track.
"I say Hairball." Neville piped up.
"Or Blackie," Draco suggested.
Neville came back with, "Fluffy."
"No." Leilani cried out to their astonishment. "He will not be called Fluffy. Don't even suggest such a name again."
"Okay, okay," Nellie was holding his hands up in a defensive way.
"Why are you being such a spitfire about that name?" Draco asked curiously.
"Do you two remember the night in first year that Draco challenged Harry to a duel?" At their nods she continued. "Neville, do you remember what we met that night?"
"Yes of course I do. I will never forget that giant three-headed dog. It was the worst think I have ever seen." He told her even though half his mind was thinking about something else.
"That dog was named Fluffy. I do not want to think of that animal every time somebody would call Harry, Fluffy." She gave a shudder at the memory.
"What? That dog was as tall as the ceiling and looked rabid in all three heads. How could anybody think that thing should be called Fluffy?" Neville asked flabbergasted.
"Hagrid," was the only response Leilani gave.
Draco stared at the two dumbfounded. "Where did you meet a three-headed gigantic dog?"
"Third floor corridor," They said together.
"Merlin, what was that old fool thinking of?" Draco's eyes were wide with shock.
"Well after all we have learned about him now, I would say he was setting Harry up." The girl answered.
Neville decided to change the subject, since he didn't like remembering about the dog that had centered in a few of his nightmares. "Leilani I think I have the perfect nickname for you."
"Really?" She asked sure he was going to give another joking name.
"Yeah, well actually Draco came up with it, but I think it fits your personality." The blond really liked the name.
"Me?" Draco questioned. "I didn't think up a name for her."
"Yeah you did. You just called her Spitfire. I think between her personality, her red hair and what I have learned about wolverines I think the name would fit her perfectly." He explained excitedly.
The other two had pensive looks for a moment before Draco spoke up. "I like it. The way she goes off on us sometimes it does fit."
"I think I could live with that name," She agreed. "But we should get Harry's opinion too."
"We'll do that." Draco glanced back at the smaller boy. He was happy to see that the hair on his arms was gone. From what he could tell the only extra hair was on his face at the moment.
"So if Harry agrees that will be two of us named." Neville reminded them. "But we still need one for Draco and Harry."
"Don't worry we will find the perfect names for them." Leilani assured him. "We still have time. Heck we may have to wait until we actually see their forms for the perfect name to come to us."
"I know but I know that Harry really wants us to find names for all of is determined that we have nicknames like the Marauders. It's real important to him." He noticed the other two seemed to understand the same way he did that the nicknames were more for Harry than them.
At noon the Hogwarts Bandits made their way to the Great Hall. Harry was thankfully, back to looking like himself and talking excitedly about Leilani's new name. He had jumped on the idea and had already started calling her Spitfire.
"Where have you guys been?" An angry hiss came from behind them.
They spun around to see Tonks glaring at them.
"What's the matter Dora?" Neville seemed stunned that the older sister he had grown to love was glaring at them right now.
"What's the matter? You said you were going to study in the tower. I looked in all four quarters and the seventh floor. Hell I even checked out the greenhouse in the dungeon and you weren't there." She snapped at him. "Where were you? Mum and Dad got back a half an hour ago, and are upset that I hadn't seen you since they left."
"We were on the first floor of the tower." Neville stammered out in the face of his sister's anger.
"What were you doing there?" She demanded. She had not enjoyed the scolding her parents gave her for not knowing where the kids were. It had made her feel like a little kid again.
Leilani saw how nervous Neville was so spoke up first. "We were in the dueling room there. We figured since it was so big that we could practice our spells without worrying about getting in each other's way."
"You were dueling?" asked an astonished Tonks.
"No, of course not," the young girl shook her head. "I meant like the transfiguration spellwork Uncle Siri had us working on in his last class."
"There weren't any accidents, were there?" The voice came from behind the group.
They spun around to see the elder Tonks standing there. Andromeda had been the one to ask the question.
"No Aunt Andi," her niece answered. "We didn't spend much time on spells but just stayed there and did the rest of our studying."
Harry shared a glance with the other two boys. They couldn't believe that Leilani was telling so many half truths. All three of them knew their Dads would consider them lying and punish them accordingly, if they ever found out they had lied like that. Leilani didn't seem worried about it though. Harry figured it was because Uncle Remus had only punished her once, and that was grounding her to their quarters for the weekend. He was definitely not as strict as the other Dads.
He decided to change the subject since he didn't want pulled into the lying. "Why did you guys come back so early? I thought Dad said that you wouldn't be back before lunch time. We would have come looking for you if we knew you were already back."
"The new Chief Warlock called for an early recess for lunch." Ted informed them.
"Why?" Draco didn't think that sounded normal from what he had learned when he was a Malfoy.
"I think the man was afraid spells were going to start fly at Dumbledore, and he wanted to make sure the angry party had a chance to calm down before more testimony was heard." Andi explained without mentioning who was angry.
Harry gave her a strange look. "It was my Dad, wasn't it? He was the one they wanted to calm down."
"Yes Sweetheart, it was." She felt it was only right to answer when he asked.
"Is he okay?" He was biting his lip. He knew he should have been there for his Dad.
"Yes he is fine. Your uncles are with him." She soothed the child. "I think we all should go have some lunch."
"Okay Mama," Neville tugged on Harry's arm leading him into the Great Hall.
"What are you kids going to do this afternoon?" Andi called after them.
"Harry has Quidditch practice from one to three, and Draco has it from three to five." Neville had stopped to tell her.
"They have the first game of the season tomorrow. I forgot about that." Ted glanced at the two boys with concern. It would be the first game they played against each other since they had become family and friends. He knew that Sirius and Regulus were worried that it would cause hard feelings between the two.
"Yes they do." Leilani was frowning. She didn't want the close friendship the four of them had to be ruined by Quidditch.
She followed her boys to the Slytherin table where they were going to sit with Blaise, Daphne, Tracey and Astoria. To her surprise they didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that they would be playing against each other tomorrow, instead Draco and Neville seemed to be trying to get Harry to stop worrying about his Dad and Dumbledore's trial.
"Come on cheer up." Neville encouraged. "Dumbledore will be made to pay and then we can put this behind us."
"Yeah, you know Uncle Siri wouldn't like it if he knew you were worrying." Draco reminded him.
Harry sighed deeply. "I know, but I can't help if worry about him. He suffered through so much because of that old man, and I hate that he is getting upset today because of him."
Blaise could see that Draco and the others really wanted to get Harry's mind off of the trial so he decided to intervene. "Hey Harry, how would you like to place a bet on who wins the game tomorrow?"
Leilani looked scandalized. "You shouldn't bet."
"Oh come on Lei, it's not really a bet when we know I'm going to win. It's a sure thing." Harry told her cockily.
"Says you little cousin." Draco sniped at him.
"So betting then?" Blaise questioned.
"What's the stakes?" Harry asked interested.
Blaise had a strange expression on his face. He knew that the four cousins were now into pranking having caught Draco with some pranking products, ones that later showed up in some of the Slytherins' food. He knew they were keeping this quiet, so he leaned closer to Harry and whispered. "If the Slytherins win you have to make sure that the Gryffindor team have green and silver hair for twenty-four hours."
"Deal but we win it will be the Slytherin team sporting red and gold hair." Harry said holding out his hand to shake.
"Wait a minute." Leilani stopped them from shaking hands. "I think that would make people think we had something to do with it. I have a better idea."
Four boys sent inquisitive looks her way. Neville finally asked as she didn't seem to get the hint they were waiting for her to go on.
"What's your idea?"
She leaned in and spoke quietly. "I think that we should make sure all four teams end up wearing their hair in the color of the winning team for twenty-four hours."
"Oh I like that idea." Blaise smiled. "I am going to love all of the support for Slytherin."
"Dream on Blaise," Neville snickered. "Gryffindor will have some great supporters after the fact."
"Can you actually pull that off?" Daphne asked sticking her head in the midst of the five.
This had the ones planning checking around to see who else might have heard them.
"Don't worry I cast a silencing spell when I saw that you guys were acting sneaky." Tracy laughed.
"Thanks." Harry and Draco said as one.
"You didn't answer my question?" Daphne pointed out.
"Not yet." Leilani admitted sheepishly. "But we will work on the plan while Harry is off to practice and if not done by then while Draco has his. It will be ready for dinner time tomorrow."
Harry was lying on the sofa in his quarters. His grandparents kept trying to get him to go down to dinner, but he wasn't having any of it. Dinner time started almost an hour ago, and his Dad still wasn't back from the Ministry. The longer he was gone the more worried the thirteen year old became.
What was taking so long? Shouldn't the trial have been over with by now? Did that mean Dumbledore was going to get off? It wouldn't be the first time the Ministry let somebody guilty go free.
He grabbed the throw off the back of the sofa and covered himself completely. He turned and buried his face in the back of the couch. It was taking everything he had not to cry right now. He didn't want his grandparents to think he was a big baby, but he was worried about his Dad. He could go to his room, but he didn't really want to be alone. Having his grandparents there even if they were only in a portrait gave him some comfort. Why couldn't his Dad just come home already?
Helga watched over the blanket covered lump that was her grandson. She knew he was truly upset. It broke her heart to see him this way. She started singing an old fashioned lullaby that she used to sing to her own children in hopes of offering some comfort for the child.
Her companions stayed quiet as they listened to Helga's song. It didn't take long before they could all hear a gentle snore from the child they all had grown to love. Godric pulled his wife into his arms and kissed her. She had done a good thing, and they were all hoping by the time Harry woke Sirius would have made it back. They all hated to see that child's face so sad.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next one will tell you Dumbledore's punishment.