Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to J.K. Rowling and/or their otherwise respective owners.

Author's Notes: Hello, everyone! Hope you all have had/will have a wonderful Yule and Christmas! Also hope that those of you who were able to see the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter got to see it. It's been too cloudy at the correct times where I live, much to my displeasure. :(

...Before you read, though, I'd like to make one small note. Although I have loved the majority of all of the reviews/comments I've received from you all, there have been a few that I...haven't. The people who have written these reviews know who they are, so I won't name them. However, I will say that, since I always try to be polite and courteous to you all in my A/N's and review responses, I don't think it's all that troublesome for you all to do the same. After all, it is easier to be nice than it is to be rude. :)

Next chapter will (hopefully) be posted sometime next week.

Until next time,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis

~The Chronicles of Mabon~

~Harry Potter & the Secret of Life~

~Chapter 20: Testaments Pt. 2~

Monday, 19 September 1994
The Ministry of Magic of the British Isles, London, England, Great Britain

"Ah, now, now, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said, his voice kind but also firm. "I know that Lord Crouch wanted you to have some legal...experience under your belt, but I feel the need to remind you that legality is not without its decorum."

Percy, who had been staring at his former headmaster coldly while he spoke, respectfully inclined his head. "Yes, Chief Warlock Dumbledore. I'll keep that in mind," he said, before he turned back to look at Harry.

Harry shifted uncomfortably.

"Mr. Potter," Percy began as he walked forward, his hands clasped behind his back. "Do you consider yourself a good judge of moral character?"

Harry frowned. He didn't understand why Percy had asked him that question. Actually, he didn't understand why Percy would be asking him any questions from a personal perspective. Percy was a Weasley, after all, and all of the Weasleys, him included, had always treated Harry well. They had always treated him kindly, had always treated him like he was one of their own...so what was Percy doing? Why was he here? Why now? And why was he angry at him?

"Mr. Potter?" Percy pressed when Harry didn't reply right away.

Nervously, Harry wet his lips. "I – I suppose so," he replied.

Percy nodded, as if he was expecting this answer. "And, on the evening of June 6th, 1994, did you judge Lord Black to be of...shall we say, good moral character?" he asked.

"I...yes," Harry said. "Yes, I did."

Percy nodded again. "Yes, yes, I understand why you did," he said. "After all, with the undeniable proof of Peter Pettigrew in front of you, it would be hard not to believe the story that Lord Black gave you."

Mr. Fawley, who had been sitting right next to Sirius, suddenly stood. "Objection!" he shouted, flushed.

Immediately, the entire Wizengamot, save for Dumbledore, broke out into whispers again. Harry stared at them, shocked, until Dumbledore raised his hand and silenced them. "Is there a point to what you have just said, Mr. Weasley?" he asked.

"There is," Percy replied. "Mr. Potter, did it ever occur to you that night that Lord Black may not have been telling you the truth?"

"No," Harry said, before he frowned, his eyebrows furrowing. What was Percy trying to do? What was he trying to accomplish?

"And has the idea occurred to you since then? Like, perhaps, since after the events of September 1st, 1994?"

"No!" Harry protested. "Why would they?"

"Because, perhaps, Lord Black was not completely honest with you when he told you he had no knowledge of what your parents did to you?" Percy supplied.

"Objection!" Mr. Fawley shouted again, before he glared up at Dumbledore. "Chief Warlock, there is no basis to Mr. Weasley's claims! What he is using is a muggle tactic that I find completely deplorable, and a tactic I think that the members of the Wizengamot should as well!"

The Wizengamot broke out into whispers again.

Percy stared at them for a moment, before he turned to look at Mr. Fawley. "I disagree, Mr. Fawley," he said with evident distaste – for what, though, Harry didn't know. "Mr. Potter received the largest shock about his parents that any of us could ever receive, and I daresay that it must have had an effect on his views of them...and possibly Lord Black as well."

"Such an idea – " Mr. Fawley scoffed.

But, before he could finish his sentence, Dumbledore raised his hand. "Regardless of where Mr. Weasley's so-called 'tactics' have come from," he said. "As long as he can prove what he has said through questioning or other means of evidence, then this Court must allow it. It is our law."

"Is the Court in agreement about that?" Mr. Fawley snapped.

"Aye," most of the Wizengamot said unanimously, with a few notable exceptions – Castor Greengrass, Kentigern MacDougal, Amelia Bones, and etcetera.

Mr. Fawley flushed again, before he sat down. At the same time, Dumbledore peered down at Percy over his glasses. "You may continue your questioning, Mr. Weasley," he said. "But, if you are unable to prove your claims, then your entire line of questioning after this point will be struck from the records."

Percy inclined his head again. "Thank you, Chief Warlock Dumbledore," he said. Then, he turned to look at Harry once more. "Mr. Potter, do you deny that the revelation of what your parents did to you in order for you to survive had a profound impact on your views of them?"

"I – " Harry began.

But Percy wasn't having any of that. "Answer the question, Mr. Potter," the third-eldest Weasley son said, his voice sharp.

"No," Harry immediately replied, the frown on his face deepening. He wasn't liking what Percy was doing, he wasn't liking it at all. In fact, he didn't like it so much that, for the first time in a while, he was beginning to feel...

"Did your view of them take a turn for the worse?"

"...Yes," Harry reluctantly ground out.

"But the same did not happen with your godfather?" Percy asked.

"No."

"Why? Because you believed Lord Black when he told you that he had no knowledge about what your parents had done?"

"Yes."

"Even though you have no memory of whether or not he had known, so you could not say what had happened for sure?"

"Yes."

"Just like you have no memory of the events of November 3rd, 1981?"

Harry did not answer.

"Mr. Potter?" Percy said.

Still, no answer.

"Mr. Potter?" Percy called again.

Harry gritted his teeth.

With a scowl, Percy turned to look at Dumbledore. But, before he could even open his mouth, the headmaster turned to look at Harry. "Mr. Potter," he said gently. "You must answer Mr. Weasley's question."

That did it. Why, Harry didn't know, but hearing Dumbledore's voice...hearing Dumbledore's words...well, it caused something inside him to snap.

"Alright, fine!" he shouted, which he vaguely noticed caused a few of the Wizengamot members to jump in surprise. "Yes, I don't remember the events of November 3rd, 1981, but I'm sure you don't either, Percy! So why are you asking about it? What does it matter to my – my – my testimony?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he realized what he had said was a mistake. He could tell by the way Mr. Fawley sighed, by the way that Sirius gave him a sad smile, and by the way that Percy smirked, as if he had just gotten everything he wanted. "Thank you, Mr. Potter," the Weasley son said. "No further questions."

"The Court will now have a recess," Dumbledore announced a few minutes later, after Harry had stepped down from his chair, "To decide the verdict. Seeing as how I am intricately involved in these matters, I will be rescinding the Ancient and Noble House of Dumbledore from the vote, and I am sure that my proxies for the Founding House of Potter and the Founding House of Black will do the same."

When two certain wizards who Harry didn't recognize inclined his head, Dumbledore nodded and said, "Thus, the total votes for the verdict will come to one-hundred-and-thirteen, leaving no place for a tie. Does the Court recognize and accept this decision?"

"Aye," the forty-seven remaining members of the Wizengamot said unanimously.

Dumbledore nodded, then stood. The rest of the Wizengamot members stood as well, before they all, Dumbledore included, shuffled out of the room through two doors that Harry realized must have been exclusively for them.

When the doors closed shut behind them, Harry stood. He saw Percy sitting there at the prosecutor's desk, looking innocuous, but nothing was innocuous about him, about what he had done. However, before he could do anything else, there was a sudden pull on his robes, and a familiar voice said, "You did a good job there, Harry."

Harry turned. There, standing behind him, was Professor Lupin. Upon seeing him up-close, Harry couldn't help but realize that the werewolf looked a rather worse for wear, but he didn't focus on that. He couldn't focus on that. Instead, all he could focus on, all he could say, was, "No, I didn't, Professor."

"Remus," Lupin corrected with a gentle smile. "Not Professor, Harry. I'm no longer your professor. And I must say, I profoundly disagree with that statement. You did a wonderful job. It is Mr. Weasley who is in the wrong."

"I agree," another voice said. The owner of it was Tonks's mother, Harry realized, and she was giving Harry the same kind of smile that Remus was, although she was still sitting next to her husband. "What Mr. Weasley did was absolutely disgraceful, but I suppose it's only natural, considering who his boss is. By the way, Mr. Potter, it is nice to meet you. I am Andromeda Tonks, and this is my husband, Ted. Nymphadora has told us so much about you."

"Nymphadora would protest if she heard you calling her by her first name, dear," the wizard next to her, Ted, said with a grin.

Mrs. Tonks, though, merely rolled her eyes. "I'm her mother," she said. "I will call her whatever I like. Now, come, sit with us, Mr. Potter. I'd rather like to get to know you better, what with us being cousins and all."

Harry reluctantly did as he was told and sat down, right next to Mrs. Tonks. He still wanted to confront Percy, still wanted to make him answer for what he had done, but he also knew that there was no point in doing anything now. Not when whatever he would do would merely cause a scene.

Mrs. Tonks observed him for a moment. "You do look a lot like your father," she mused. "I don't suppose you're as troublesome as he was?"

"I – I try not to be, ma'am," Harry answered.

Mrs. Tonks's lips quirked. "'Ma'am'," she quoted. "Please, Mr. Potter, we're family. Call me Andy."

"Only if you call me Harry," he countered.

"Cheeky," Andy said with a smile. "Ah, well. That's unfortunately a Potter trait. Your grandfather, Charlus, was much the same. Merlin knows how great-aunt Dorea ever put up with him. But, that's neither here nor there...for now, anyways. No, what I want to know, Harry, is how are you settling into the...change of things? How are your wives?"

When Harry sighed, her smile faltered. "Not well, then?" she asked.

Harry shrugged. "Truthfully, I don't really know," he said. "According to Tonks, I...well, I haven't been really doing anything. N – nothing that my future in-laws would approve of, anyways."

Andy hummed. "Well, Nymphadora, despite her faults, may be right in that case," she said, "but don't consider it to be your fault. You've been thrust into a situation, Harry, where you can only either sink or swim. But, swimming requires effort, and it's an effort that you're not always willing to give. Not immediately, anyways."

Harry blinked. "You sound like you speak from experience," he said.

"I had Nymphadora when I was sixteen," Andy replied. "Ted and I, we loved each other, you see."

"Too much, perhaps," Ted Tonks interjected joyfully.

Andy rolled her eyes again. "Yes, yes," she said. "Regardless, despite how much I loved him, despite the fact that my family had covered up such a scandal twice before, Ted is a muggleborn. And the Blacks, they don't like muggleborns. So, they emancipated me. Disowned me. Blasted me off the family tree. And it made me feel like I was drowning, for a little while. Especially when the only relatives who would talk to me were your grandmother and Sirius."

"But then?" Harry asked.

Andy smiled again. "I decided to swim," she answered. "Like I said, it wasn't easy. I had to make an effort. But, I got my NEWTs. I became a mediwitch, and then a healer. And now, I work at St. Mungo's, in their equivalent of the muggle NICU.

"What I'm saying, Harry, is that, despite how hard things may be, despite how many people may view your situation in black and white like Percy Weasley there," here, she inclined her head at the wizard in question, "You can do it. I have every faith in you about that. And I'm sure that my cousin, your godfather, does as well."

Here, Harry looked up, towards where his godfather was sitting. The older wizard was staring at him intently, that sad smile still on his face. The sight of it made Harry's heart ache.

"I know," he told Andy softly.

Suddenly, the doors that the Wizengamot members had exited from opened. All of the wizards and witches in the room, Harry included, stood up with bated breath, and waited until they had all sat down to sit again.

"Lord Black," Dumbledore began. "For the thirteen charges of murder, the charge of breaking the Statutes of Secrecy, and all charges thereafter, in a near unanimous vote, the Wizengamot finds you not guilty on all accounts."

Sirius, who had been sitting on the edge of his seat, suddenly sagged with relief. Harry found himself doing the same as well, as did Remus and Tonks's parents, apparently.

"The only charge," Dumbledore continued, causing everyone to look up in surprise, "that the Wizengamot does find you guilty of, a charge of their own inclusion, the charge of being an unregistered animagus. However, since you have already served more than enough time for the charge, you are released on time served, and are not required to pay any fines. Thus, the Court is now adjourned."

As soon as Dumbledore finished speaking, Sirius began to laugh. It was the first round of laughter that Harry had ever heard from the older wizard that actually sounded genuine. Then, with a shout, he jumped over the fencing that kept him away from the gallery, and rushed over to Harry, Remus, and Andy. He immediately hugged all three of them and clasped Ted on the shoulders before he claimed, laughing still, "I'm a free man now! I'm free! Oh, I can hardly believe it! After all these years!"

Just as soon as he had hugged them all, though, he pulled away from them, his grey eyes glittering with delight. "We must celebrate," he declared. "You," he said to Harry, "me, Remus, Andy, Ted, and – and – "

"Nymphadora had to work, Siri," Andy interjected with a sad smile. "But we can go gather her up soon enough. I'm sure Madam Bones won't mind."

"No, I won't," the blonde-haired witch said in question as she walked towards them, still dressed in her plum-colored robes."Merlin knows we all need a little bit of celebration right now, after everything that has happened."

Sirius blinked. "Amelia," he greeted, but his voice was...well, it sounded strange. "It's nice to see you again."

Amelia Bones smiled. "It's nice to see you too, Sirius," she said, before she turned to look at Harry. "And you, too, Mr. Potter. I hope you won't let what Mr. Weasley did bother you too much. Most of us in the Wizengamot and the Ministry do not hold the same views that he and Lord Crouch do."

"Oh," Harry said lamely in response. "Um, thanks."

The blonde-haired witch smiled at him warmly. Then, she turned back to Sirius. "If you ever need my help, Sirius, please, just let me know," she said. "But, until then."

"Until then," Sirius echoed, watching her as she walked away.

Remus snickered, but then clapped his best friend on his shoulders. "Come on, Sirius," he said. "Let's collect Dora and go to the pub. It'll be my treat."

"No," Andy suddenly interjected. "It will be mine. I don't care what you say about it, Remus."

As the two of them began to squabble about who was paying, Sirius smiled and grabbed Harry's shoulder, before he squeezed it lightly. Harry smiled in return. Despite what had happened, despite how much he still wanted to make Percy Weasley pay, his godfather was free.

His godfather was free and that was all that mattered.

"So," Andy asked a few hours later, when all of them, Tonks included, were sitting in a private dining room at The Leaky Cauldron, waiting on the food that they had already ordered. "Sirius, what do you plan to do now?"

"Besides being here for my godson, you mean?" he asked in return. When his cousin nodded, he shrugged and said, "I don't know. There's no war for me to be a war auror in anymore, and I'm not too sure I even want to be an auror still in the first place. Not after what they did to me."

"What about Amelia?" Andy asked. "Or Rose? Didn't you want to find her, after the war was over?"

Harry blinked. "Rose?" he asked. "Who's Rose?"

Remus and Andy shared a look, while Sirius sighed. "I kind of wanted to wait to tell him about her, Andy," he said.

Andy merely smiled. "He was bound to find out sometime," she said, before she turned to look at Harry. "Rose Lovegood was one of Sirius's loves back when they were in Hogwarts. Some might say that she was his only love, even."

Tonks suddenly snorted. "And just who might say that, Mum?" she asked. "Severus Snape?"

The mother scowled at her daughter, but Sirius paid them no mind as he took up the rest of the story. "She was the younger sister of Selene Lovegood. The third one, that is, who was also Luna's mother," he said. "But the two couldn't have been anymore different. Selene was always...well, she was always logical, although also a tad whimsical, whereas Rose..."

"Was headstrong, stubborn, and adventurous," Remus finished with a chuckle.

Sirius glared. "Yes," he said. "Anyways, we were together, for a while. During our seventh year. I'm not sure what happened, but one day, she broke up with me."

"Which had never happened before," Remus interjected with a grin. "Sirius always broke up with the girls first."

"She broke up with me," Sirius continued, although he leveled a glare at his best friend for good measure. "And then, at the end of the year, she left. She ran away. Just like that. Left all of Britain. Where she went, no one knows. But it was my intent to find her after the war ended, even if..."

He trailed off.

Harry frowned. The name, Rose, it...well, it sounded familiar, but he wasn't quite sure where he had heard it. He'd heard it recently, though, that was for sure. There was no other way that his mind would be trying to make the connection so hard if he hadn't.

"Well, I'm sure if you decide to look for her, you'll find her," Andy soothed. "You two were so in love, I remember. Aunt Dorea wrote to me about you two all the time. She actually thought that you two would get married. And what a great match that would've been. Aristocratically-speaking, of course."

Sirius snorted. "You should've tried telling that to my mother. Merlin knows what she would've said about a halfblood marrying into the Founding House of Black," he said, before he shook his head. "But, no matter! Today may be about me, but me is not what I want to hear about. No, Harry, how have you been lately? Tell us all about it!"

Word Count: 3,259

Next Chapter Title: A Talk With Ginny