CH 6
Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter
Remus had followed all protocols, rules and regulations in order to speak to the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (DMLE), one newly appointed witch of good community standing, Madam Amelia Bones. "Madam Bones," he said with a slight bow before sitting down when motioned to so. "Thank you for taking the time to see me."
"Your request came through the proper channels," the woman replied. "It's also not often that I see Cornelius Fudge stumped during a Wizengamot session either so I had to see you and to at least congratulate you for that." She grinned as she recalled the Minister of Magic's face when a piece of legislation failed to pass because the number of votes against his proposal had outnumbered those he'd projected he'd need for it to pass.
Amelia received a sly grin in return.
"That is kind of fun to see," Remus agreed. "I'm not much of a Wizengamot member, but my employer has definite ideas on what we should be supporting."
"All right then enough of that," Amelia said as she opened a request file on her desk with a wave of her hand. "My schedule is tight enough at the moment so why don't you explain to me in your own words just why I should look into the events of Sirius Black's incarceration?"
"I became Regent for the House of Potter a few months ago," Remus told her which also explained much about the number of votes that the man had wielded during the Wizengamot sessions. "The Boy-Who-Lived has been quite insistent that I take up that mantle as per his parents' request." He paused to cough at her incredulous look. "It was through a strange series of incidents from which I had the good fortune to meet him properly and I've witnessed their Will stating that I was to assist the boy. We spent this past Yule discussing his estate at length, including various affairs related to his family and the Wizengamot sessions in particular because of his idle votes. We mostly talked about the history of his parents and that of their old school chums."
"What does any of that have to do with Sirius Black," Amelia prodded.
"Harry's in possession of a few journals from his parents' Hogwarts days," Remus said. "He found out that his father had been good friends with me, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. He also confessed that he absorbed more information when reading than from the spoken expression or being told what something means." He shrugged and explained, "I've always found that some folk are just like that. Some learn by reading and some by doing."
"True," Amelia agreed. "That is so true."
"He'd already sent his own petitions to the DMLE and the Ministry of Magic several times in order to obtain the transcripts of Sirius Black's trial," Remus said. "This is because of his peculiar need to see something in print or in writing. He explained to me that he just needed to know the reason behind the betrayal. He wanted to see it in writing before making any kind of judgement on the man who was supposed to be his magical godfather and the one who is still technically his magical guardian of record. Also he claimed that with a trial and any use of veritaserum, all words spoken would be there as truth of the events that lead to the man's incarceration."
Amelia slowly nodded her head at the words. "That makes sense if young Mr. Potter learns by reading. I can understand his need to read the official court transcripts rather than speculative news reports."
She looked over the paperwork asking for that information and shrugged. It wasn't that big of a deal since the transcripts for all the Death Eater trials were open to the public and had been published in a book format for all citizens to read or access. She took out her wand and summoned the trial information for Sirius Black including any file that the previous Head of the DMLE had on the man.
Only one file flew to her, but nothing came from the court filing system found at the back of her office. "That's odd," she muttered. "Give me a moment to review this file."
Remus nodded. He noticed where the file had come from and he'd noticed her frown. He didn't believe that there'd only be one somewhat skinny file on the man, there should have been more especially where court trials are concerned.
"Bloody hell," Amelia exhaled. She flipped through a couple of pages and said, "I will have to get back to you on this matter. You will receive official notification from my office later this month. I'm going to have to get to the bottom of this first."
"Bottom of what," Remus wondered, "If you don't mind my asking?"
"Keep this quiet for now," the Head of the DMLE said as she folded her hands and leaned forward. She'd already altered and reinforced the secrecy wards in her office so she knew that no one could eavesdrop on their current conversation. "I don't want the child to become involved just yet, but it seems that there are no transcript files. It's ridiculous to have kept denying the child access when they couldn't find them."
"I've already figured that out Madam Bones," Remus told her. "I'm wondering what might have happened to them."
"You don't understand," Amelia said. "Trial transcripts are kept on record for three hundred years and a day before they are subjected to permanent book bound publication, followed by official ministerial destruction of the original files. There are exceptions like those of the Death Eater trials which had been bound before the allotted time limit, but even they are still filed on official record pending the standard time limit of 300 years and a day." She paused to take a deep breath and said, "If there are no transcripts of a trial, it means that there was no trial to begin with and no one's questioned that fact because it too would have been bound in that same book. I'm going to have to open a full investigation first and then I'll probably have to bring the man before the courts for a real trial to uncover the truth of this mess."
"If it helps," Remus said. "I have the school journals from all those three friends that do contain supplemental information on a possible line of inquiry or suspect..." He shook his head with a frown as he wasn't quite sure what his mind was telling him, but he had to pursue the strange possibility that some lie had been told somewhere.
"Oh," her head cocked to one side. "What could be useful in those?"
"Impressions on having found their animagus forms," Remus answered her casually. "They even include some of their observations on the forms which in one case had been quite disturbing in nature to read years after the fact." He shuddered after having read Pettigrew's experiments in sneaking everywhere including the gloating, seemingly sneering comments at having successfully infiltrated the girls' washing rooms belonging to all Houses, to watch them undress and shower.
"Unregistered then," Amelia snorted. "That would be just like Black."
"Yes," Remus nodded his agreement. "It is just like Sirius Black, but also just like James Potter and Peter Pettigrew. All four of us were great friends and we used to cause a lot of mischief when we were at Hogwarts. They all had animal forms."
Amelia made a note and said, "I'll just keep that information on the side for now. What were their forms and do you have one yourself?"
"No Madam Bones," Remus said. "I was unable to successfully gain a form. But James's form was a large stag, Sirius was a large black wolfhound-like dog and Peter was a common UK brown rat."
"I see," Amelia said and thought, 'If Sirius Black was innocent then who else would the Potters have trusted to be their secret keeper?' She looked at him and said, "I will keep that in mind when I re-open the investigation. Tell me would the Potters have trusted your group to keep their secrets."
"They would have trusted all of us equally." Remus told her and watched as she made several notes to a piece of official looking parchment. "I know that Harry will be happy knowing the truth. We will await your findings in this matter. I won't mention anything that was said here today. Thank you for your time."
The woman nodded and inclined her head towards the door to tell the man that their meeting was at an end for now. The werewolf bowed to the woman and left her to do what she did best and that was to ensure that criminals were properly charged and that no magical human was denied a fair trial.
Harry - James – Potter
Flash Back – Just after the New Year's Holiday
The goblins had reviewed Sirius Black's family files and found that in the event that the Head of House Black had been incapacitated in any manner, to which the goblins had deduced to it include incarceration, one Remus J. Lupin had been named the man's executor and magical proxy in all legal matters. Said proxy status would be in effect until such a time that Sirius' named heir, one Harry James Potter became a legal adult within the eyes of the Ministry of Magic or found legally an adult under Gringotts' Law through one of their private age of magic rituals.
So on behalf of the absent Head of House Black, Remus had performed a personal ritual that would permit Harry to legally carry his alias name of Lunar P. Black and also the name of just plain Harrison Black for the purpose of pure anonymity. Both names were laid on paper with a Geas Charm that prevented anyone from ever figuring out that both names were linked to Harry Potter unless the boy told the person the truth.
Those names had been officially linked to the Family Black which had then permitted the boy to take over all financial, estate and other operations under the name of the Ancient and Noble House of Black. He'd already added to those estate files the official results from the age of magic ritual, his GFN number and all scholastic results from his home schooling including his O.W.L. result for Potions including a framed copy of his Potions Monthly article.
Days after the New Year celebrations was how four owls had come to Apt. 6AB, Building No. 27 of Hagen Junction addressing a letter to Harrison Black and coming from Jonquil Gabris Owl Outfitters. The ladies had discussed the owl requirements that the werewolf had been looking for in conjunction with a consultation their youngest worker and apprentice from the time they'd met for a holiday visit before Christmas day.
They had officially given Harry the title of Apprentice which would allow any future employees of the Owl Reserve to come to terms with the fact that the boy had earned his rank because he knew his owls. He knew their temperament and their preferred breeding locations. He also seemed to know which owl would match well with another during their mating season or cycle. He was a very hard worker who helped them to start a new branch of study under the learning umbrella for the field under the Care of Magical Creatures.
There hadn't been any specialized programs or the like for the breeding, registration or categorization of magical owls within the Wizarding World like there were Owl Conservationists and programs in the Muggle World. The ladies were very much aware of what the muggles were doing and had wanted to start a similar program in the magical world.
Nor was there anything that currently existed under the Care of Magical Creatures programs related to any avian species in general or especially anything related the magical world's predominant courier birds other than the training of them by Owl Post Masters. The ladies had been thrilled to launch the new program to oversee many of the technicalities that such a program start up would require in order to begin well and eventually succeed.
They'd begun their program and owl reserve with that purpose in mind along with the many varied suggestions that they received from their new young investor. They had agreed to a standard backer's loan conditions and then had hired the boy on the spot.
They had actually agreed to allow him to use the name of Harrison Black at the time, in order to hide the fact that he was also Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. It had been a good thing that the alias name had been settled legally with Remus' proxy authorization on be-half of the Black Family at a later date. Everything was more official now and that had granted the ladies great relief from a set of worries that they hadn't been aware of until the passing of this year's Yule Season.
Four owls had arrived at Harry's Hagen apartment and were chosen based on speed, size and amiability as well as general temperament. All were there on the recommendation of their favourite employee. The ladies and the boy had made the selection based on the man's interest and the notes Remus had made in the owl catalogue he received a week after having met the strange small person that called himself, Lunar P. Black.
Harry had even ensured that when the owls arrived, should they not be selected to be Remus' primary post owl, that they would be placed in the new Owl Post & Supplies Shop that had opened recently in Hagen Junction. It was currently being run by one Herbert Beklea, a retired employee of Diagon Ally's main Owl Post Office and his amiable daughter.
The old man, Hubie as he liked to be called, had retired in order to take care of his divorced daughter, one Opal Beklea and her young son, Nolan Beklea-Grant. They'd been looking to run a small shop of some kind and since the man had always worked with owls, opening a new post owl shop in a new magical town seemed to be an ideal starter business for the small family. The old man had agreed to accept any owls that needed employment until they found or had chosen a family, a witch or a wizard to be bonded to or keep them at the shop if they preferred to be the town's permanent Post Owls.
The man had been surprised at the sight of the young person that had delivered his first four owls from the Jonquil Gabris Owl Outfitters. He'd ordered several others from different shops, like Eeylop's Owl Emporium in Diagon Alley and Geigerville's General Store of Owl Stuff located somewhere in Ireland or possibly Iceland, since he'd supposed some of thsoe owls had genetic origins from the Americas. The rest came from Tanliao's Yieh Siaw (…name of town, night, owl…) in Taiwan's Nan-T'ou province on the outskirts of the magically hidden mountain city of Chu-Wei.
"What's going to happen to the three that don't wish to bond with me," Remus had asked as he looked at each of the birds sitting on the multi-branch post owl perch that Harry had in a smaller room. The small room had been set up for the birds like a mini-owlery with feeding and water dishes as well as multi-coloured roosting beams with plenty of rafter space for them to sleep. A post owl tree was where they could deliver their post to the house-elf assigned to collect all the letters and packages for sorting by Harry's personal owl post security company.
"I'll deliver them to old man Hubie," Harry replied. "Just talk to them and let them choose. You'll know which one will suit you best." He left the man to it with parting advice, "There are owl treats in the small cabinet by the door."
Remus sighed and could swear that one of the owls sitting there was laughing at him. He narrowed his eyes and said in a quiet tone, "My name is Remus Lupin." He then muttered in a softer tone, "…and I can't believe that I'm doing this." He opened the small cabinet and had taken out a treat for all four owls. "I'm a werewolf, but do have a lot of normal correspondence issues which means that I do need an owl prepared to assist me with the number of letters I'll be sending out. It will not be too arduous a task and I'd never send you out in bad weather if I can help it."
He walked over to a beautiful barn owl with mixed feathers of reddish browns and yellow gold tones. He read the tag dangling from one of its leg. It listed its pedigree or what species his dam and sire were. They were an Andaman Barn Owl and Buff-fronted Owl. He handed it a treat, but watched it fly to a colourful red beam in the rafters.
The second owl was long legged with a tan spotted chest and a facial disc face, quite like a barn owl. However it had darker colouring on its back and wings. Its tag indicated that this one was an African Grass Owl which explained the spotty colouring, but it too took the treat and flew up to the rafters to nap.
The fourth owl in the line-up stole a treat and flew away to nap while the third owl had hopped onto the man's shoulder. It took the owl treat, held it in its claw and nipped at it delicately. "Figures that I'd get the one that seemed to laugh at me," Remus said with a smile. "All right then, I accept."
The owl just looked at him like he'd said something funny. It had been the rare result of a pairing between a Striped Owl and a tiny reddish Sokoke Scops Owl. It was only one of two survivors from a clutch of three eggs and only one of which had been magical. It was smaller than a regular Striped Owl, but its colour was burnt red with the black outlined heart shaped face of a Striped Owl with dark stripes running through the reddish plumage. (…i…)
The small owl was a cute thing with a fuzzy look, distinctive striped markings and ear tufts. It was about eight to nine inches tall with a wing span of five to six inches. It was rather small, but being a magical species it was hardier than some of its muggle brethren and would likely live longer than his unmagical siblings.
"Now what to name you," Remus said. He looked at it and asked, "Unless you already have a name?" The owl twisted its head from side to side and then tilted it to look at the man upside down. "Guess not," he muttered. "Why don't you rest here until we head out for supplies and to turn those three over the Owl Post store?" The little thing preened the man's hair and gently nipped his ear before it flew up to a dark blue rafter, tucked its head under a wing to sleep.
Remus grinned and then left the small room to join his nephew in the boy's well-made library. He entered to room, sat down in the chair he'd claimed as his and joined the boy in reading some of their Christmas presents, namely the journals that they'd copied and shared with one another.
"Which one was it," Harry asked still keeping his eyes focussed on the journal that Sirius Black had kept during his second year at Hogwarts. It had been a habit formed from living with his blood family as 'All Blacks are required to record their thoughts for posterity' or so Gryffindor had told his friends back in the third year when they'd started planning pranks in earnest and recording them in their separate journals.
"The one that laughed at me," Remus said. He grinned at the startled expression he received and then explained, "Well it looked like it was laughing at me. I'm thinking of calling him Jester, unless it's girl."
The boy chuckled and then asked, "It's a fine name and they don't care about gender names. Which one was it?"
"The little red one with the stripes and the fuzzy ears," Remus told him.
"It's male," Harry told him. "Two females and two males were sent here. After I finish reading the entries for the month of May we'll go see old man Hubie to deliver the other three owls to him."
"I would like to meet the man, but I'll have to make of list of additional items to purchase for Jester before we go," Remus said. He put down the interesting journal he'd been re-reading which happened to be Peter's seemingly innocent sounding third year journal and then sat at the desk to start his list for owl food supplies. He had a starter kit for everything else that he'd already received for Christmas, but he believed he needed a bit more to satisfy the small cheeky owl.
Harry - James - Potter
Flash Forward – Time Jump – Nearly Two Years Later
Remus Lupin sat in the court room next to a now nine year old Harry Potter. Both of whom had been called in as witnesses related to the journal entries of the Marauder's time at Hogwarts for when they'd discovered their animagus forms. They'd already submitted the pertinent entries to the Aurors for their investigation which had been copied for the lawyers of this trial.
Sirius Black sat in the convict's chair in the middle of the room, chained and shackled. He had agreed to take Veritaserum. It was the ultimate truth potion that the Wizarding World currently had. He'd take anything in order to clear his name. His eyes had sought and found bright green ones in a familiar looking and very young face. He then looked into the amber eyes of one of his oldest friends who'd just nodded at him once to indicate forgiveness. Black suddenly felt a small measure of hope that for the first time in the eight years since he'd been locked in prison that he might be freed.
"State your name for the courts," the court clerk said.
"Sirius Orion Black," the prisoner said. A few more questions had been asked to ascertain that the truth potion was working properly. The clerk nodded back to the Minister of Magic and the Head of the DMLE.
"Mr. Black," Amelia Bones began. "You were found laughing when the Aurors had caught you eight years ago. You had claimed at that time, that it was all your fault," the man now had tears in his eyes. "What did you believe was all, your fault?"
"The deaths of Lily and James Potter were my fault," the man cried. "All my fault-"
"What events pertaining to the night of their deaths was your fault," Amelia asked, clarifying the question and narrowing down the possibilities, since a person saying stating that something was their fault needed to be narrowed down to not include things like drinking the last butterbeer or ruining some important bit of parchment because of a paper cut.
"I was not their secret keeper," Sirius told the court with earnest honesty forced from him by the potion he'd been given. "I didn't protect them like I should have." He bent his head and whispered, "I was not their secret keeper."
"Who was the secret keeper for Lily and James Potter," Cornelius Fudge asked leaning forward.
Sirius looked the man in the eyes and said, "Peter Pettigrew."
The clerk was quick with a muffling charm to prevent the man who'd been in prison for the past eight years from being bombarded with questions by members of the Wizengamot. "Silence in the courts," the man said through a Sonorus spell. "Silence or you'll be removed from your seats. The DMLE is in charge of this trial and only the panel members here may ask questions of the prisoner."
The people had tried to quibble, but quickly stopped asking their questions as they knew very well that Madam Bones would ask the same ones in order to get a clear picture of the events that fateful night.
"Why was Peter Pettigrew the secret keeper for the Potters," Madam Bones asked.
"I was being targeted," Sirius Black explained. "Our small group of friends had decided to switch the secret keeper to someone least expected to be a Death Eater target. He wasn't being hunted and at the time we believed that he'd be ideal protection."
"Who cast the Fidelius Charm," asked the Minister of Magic.
Sirius sent a glare to the Chief Warlock and answered truthfully as the potion was still in his system. "Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and Supreme Mugwump for the International Confederation of Wizards was the one that had cast the charm that changed the secret keeper from myself to Peter Pettigrew."
"Dumbledore," the Minister of Magic turn to look at the old man in the higher seat and asked, "You allowed an innocent man to go to prison?"
"I have sent several petitions for the transcripts of Sirius Black's trial, all through the proper channels," Dumbledore explained with open hands, palms up as an indicator that his hands had been tied on the matter.
"I've received a notice each time from the Ministerial Offices stating that as I wasn't a family relation to the man and that I had no right to request the transcripts. My hands were legally tied." His eyes twinkled at the two that had successfully forced the DMLE to re-investigate the event of that night, but he certainly wished it hadn't happened this soon.
'Harry should not have been exposed to our world this early,' he thought. 'I'm may have to speak to Remus about this since I distinctly recall advising the man to stay away from the boy until the child started attending Hogwarts.'
Madam Bones turned back to the man magically secured and chained to the dark chair. "What did you do when you realized that the Potters had been betrayed?"
"Harry was in my arms at the time and I handed him over to Rubeus Hagrid who'd arrived on the Headmaster of Hogwarts' behalf seeking any survivors," Sirius explained to the courts. "I was assured that the boy would be safe and had assumed that he'd been taken to Hogwarts for medical scanning. I allowed the big man to use my motorcycle and then I went after the traitor." He paused to cough a bit and had been given a glass of clear water to drink. "I had gone to all of Pettigrew's usual places and had finally encountered him in the muggle streets. He screamed that I was the one that had betrayed the Potters before releasing a bomb type spell that took out part of a building and killed those muggles." He looked to the Head of the DMLE and said, "I believe that he may have left behind some blood and something to identify him."
"Yes," the woman nodded. "The investigators had found matching blood type and his left pinky finger."
"Hmph," Sirius snorted. "That finger is one of the ones that can go unmissed if an effective escape is needed." People looked at him with a question in their eyes and the Minister had asked the question for clarification to his statement. "It's one of the potential evil person's escape scenarios that comes straight from the Aurors' training manual. An evil witch or wizard would never really miss their little finger as it's not used in many of the branches of magic. The lack of it can be readily compensated for when spell casting and therefore should they be caught and need to escape quickly, severing their smallest finger along with a large distraction such as an explosion or large body count will allow them to escape a hunting Aurors' notice."
Amelia and a couple of Aurors in the room had grinned and then grimaced at that. It really was part of their basic training scenarios. It was also a common testing question that an Auror Trainee is required to analyze and clarify all points of action that needed to be taken prior to declaring a person guilty. It was a sticking point and very telling that they'd all forgotten it at the time of Sirius' arrest, but it should have been remembered. Even if Pettigrew had not been a true suspect at the time, there should have more to the primary investigation file rather than what's obviously turning out to be a scandalous Ministry foul up.
"We've analyzed what remains we had of Peter Pettigrew," Amelia nodded to the Minister of Magic. "You'll note that our findings show that a time release bomb spell had been used on the building instead of the 'Bombarda Spell' as declared by the newspaper. The remains of Pettigrew show that the finger had been sheared away from the hand. If the finger had been torn away during the blast there would be more frayed skin and it certainly would not look like it had been cleanly cut. Also there would have been more of Pettigrew's body parts lying around, much like those of the poor dead muggles that 'were' found. That no other body part had been found is too suspicious and speaks towards Pettigrew's escape rather than his actual death at the scene of that crime."
The Aurors' findings had been forwarded to the magical folk of the jury who'd had ample time to review them. They only needed one more question answered and everyone there was curious of the reply.
"Are you now or have you ever been a Death Eater or sympathizer of the Dark Lord," Amelia Bones asked.
"Never," Sirius Black replied strongly. "I have never been a Death Eater nor was I ever a sympathizer to that Dark Idiot."
Dark Idiot had been a mocking term of endearment that he'd often used during the days of his Auror training and career as he'd felt anyone wanting such supreme control over a person or several people's lives were idiots. He'd used it to piss off his mother before she had died and it was a phrase that he'd been docked an hour's pay every time he used it during his training. That information was on his old employment record and which also was made available to the jury.
Cornelius nodded to the clerk, allowing him to administer the potion's antidote. "Well witches and wizards of the jury and Wizengamot," the man said. He knew that by allowing this trial to take place he'd look good to the public which would ensure that he remained in office and on the Potter Regent's good side, whoever they were. "It seems that the previous administration had been slightly overly zealous in apprehending this man when they were hunting down dark wizards in the employ of You-Know-Who. I will hear your verdict before making a pronouncement."
The jury were secluded behind a severely strong muffling charm, but they didn't need that long to deliberate on this issue. Eight years in Azkaban for an innocent man was eight years too long. The juror in the first seat stood up and said, "We the jury find Sirius Black innocent of all charges. We recommend that the Ministry of Magic exonerate him and pay him compensation for eight years of lost Auror wages including any promotional wages he may have earned based on years in service. We strongly recommend he visit a Mind Healer before returning to any type official work within our society."
"Agreed," the Minister of Magic said and then turned to look at the bound man. "The Ministry exonerates you of all charges and will pay you full compensation for your lost Auror wages including any promotional wages based on years of service as well as obtaining your new wand. Should you wish to return to your career choice you will have to be cleared by a Mind Healer first, understood?" Sirius Black nodded, but kept silent as the Minister was obviously not finished. "This case is concluded in favor of Sirius Orion Black's immediate release from Azkaban and all charges against his original incarceration are dismissed from this court, from now ad infinitum, so say I, so mote it be!"
Then he banged the gavel with a loud clack dismissing the rest of the people from the courtroom.
Remus and Harry quickly stood up from their seats and ran down to where the confinement chains had just released the man. Sirius stood up unsteadily, but had been able to hug his old friend and pat the boy on the head as the werewolf kept his arm around the man's shoulders to steady him and guide him out of the room as quickly as possible.
There were no personal effects to get back as the standard procedure for Azkaban incarceration was to incinerate everything that a prisoner owned prior to putting the prisoner away. His personal wand had been snapped and fully destroyed by the arresting officers. Sirius had been issued standard grey prison robes and that was it. That was what he wore to leave the courtroom.
"Sirius Black," a woman with a blonde head of rigidly, curly hair, white jeweled, horn-rimmed glasses and long fingers with sharp red coloured nails. "A quote for the Prophet? How was it living in prison knowing that you were innocent all this time?"
"Not today madam," Harry said drawing attention away from Sirius and towards himself as they kept walking away quickly from the court room to a public Floo access in order to take the man home. "Give him time to rest and recover before your paper requires something of him. Perhaps he'll permit you an exclusive by the end of the week."
Harry stepped into the Floo with Sirius' arms wrapped around him. He tossed the floo powder down and whispered the name of Remus' country sea-side cottage, 'Maison Drubant', near Nice, France. It was where they'd agreed would be the best place to get Sirius the help he needed to recover privately from being in prison for eight years while innocent. The two of them were whisked away before the woman could ask them anything else.
Remus had let them go in order to seek out Madam Bones and get Ministry written permission for Sirius Black to acquire a new wand now that he was truly free. He eventually had the paper in hand and been glad that the female reporter had left to go write her story about the trial that had just taken place rather than stick around to find out where Sirius Black had gone.
Harry - James - Potter
Harry called out to one of Remus' house-elves, "Attend me Gibby." A matronly house-elf appeared in front of him dressed in a simple sack like dress without sleeves and a clean white apron over it, much like a maid or house keeper used to wear back in the day. He sat Sirius down on an old wicker chair. "We need a full bath run for Remus' guest here, a disinfecting one and set him up in the blue room. Fresh clothes are needed for him too!"
"Gibby be doin' it young Master Harry," Gibby replied. "Two minutes it be ready."
Remus had then flooed into main room and saw that Sirius was staring at Harry as he said, "Padfoot?"
"This can't be," Sirius stared at Harry who stood tall with a straight back much like his father had done, but his mother's eyes shown behind the simple black round rims of a pair of glasses that looked to have been purposely made to resemble his father's old round school frames. "So many years lost!"
The werewolf stood behind the boy with his hands on the boy's shoulders. "This is Harry Potter," Remus said with a grin. "As Regent to the Potter and Black Families I was able to get you that trial." He hung his head, "I'd have done it sooner, but-"
"I know," Sirius sighed. "I know and I understand. I'd have done the same thing if our situations were reversed."
The house-elf popped back into the room and said, "Yous follow me now." The house-elf then glared at the ex-prisoner, "Yous got fleas on the chair. We be cleaning you up, right now!"
Sirius couldn't say another word as the elf dragged him into the prepared bathroom and tossed him into the huge tub, tattered prison garb and all. "Hey," he started to say, but yelped as the clothes were removed by elf magic and vanished to a local landfill with a rapid degradation spell on them. "What…wait…"
It was hopeless because the house-elf had used her magic to activate the soap and soft scrubbing brushes to clean up the ex-convict from Azkaban.
Harry giggled and Remus only shook his head at the sounds of complaint and protest coming from the bathing room. "I'll just go do my homework now," the boy said. "I'll also make sure that you have all the nutrient potions he'll need to recover safely and properly. I can talk to him later."
"How long will you be here," Remus asked as he wrote to a Healer friend of his in a town nearby to come diagnose Sirius' immediate medical needs as promised before the trial began.
"I've been given a week's holiday from my studies and from my work," Harry told him. "They figured that I'd need it to help me relax after the events of the trial. I'm more than likely going to be receiving a few owls after the Prophet prints the story though. I'm quite certain that someone was there taking pictures of all of us, so I know they'll want some kind of story about me, but it really should be about him." He sighed.
"Right then," Remus said. "I'll wait for him here. He may need to rest and he definitely will need to eat something, skin and bones that he is."
"Right," Harry nodded and left the room. "I'll go tell Ajix to prepare something light for lunch for all of us."
"Thank you," Remus said as he sent the wicker chair into the fire place to burn it. His sharp eyes had seen something crawling on the surface of it. He knew that the cottage may have to be fumigated before they could settle down and discuss what Sirius planned to do now that he was free.
'Harry might have to give up some of his secrets,' the amber eyed man thought. 'At the very least he'd have to let Sirius know everything that I know. It would be awkward to do otherwise. I just hope that Sirius is willing to go to a Mind Healer too. I'd like there to be no question of his sanity.'
Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter
TBC...
(…i...) All owl configurations will be inspired by this web site: www dot owlpages dot com/owls dot php?genus=all (remove the spaces and change the word dot). From which I will shamelessly use as general references.
This site contains all types of owls, including images of those owls, I will not presume that the site to contains every, possible information on owls, but I definitely will be mixing and matching up the pairings to create magical owl hybrids.
They may or may not appear in this story, but from here on, I will not be repeating the web reference for any accurate or odd future owl description presented in this tale.