4-Trial

Back at the Dorms, Hermione helped Harry find appropriate clothes for visiting the ministry. Some subtle use of magic made Harry's clothes fit him better and seem in better condition. He still thought that using the school uniform and robes would be most appropriate, fitting the image of a serious and rule-abiding student. Hermione agreed.

They barely started eating breakfast when Hermione noticed a man coming in, wearing the distinct Auror robes. "Your escort is here," she told him, making him aware of the man. It only took a moment for the man to approach. "I'm here for Harry Potter. Where is he?" he asked the table at large.

Harry stood up. "I'm here, Auror. Do you mind if I finish breakfast first? Maybe you could also join us."

The Auror approached with a reassuring smile. "I need to escort you to the Ministry and back, but there's still time for you to finish eating. Thank you for the offer, but I've eaten before coming here."

Harry's future memories told him this was Kingsley Shackelbolt, even without reading his name tag, but he knew he shouldn't show any sign of recognition. The man moved back and stood near the door, waiting for Harry to be ready.

It didn't take long for Harry to join him. Although Harry thought it should go just fine, based on what his future self knew, he was still excited and apprehensive. If anything went wrong, it could cost Sirius his life, and Harry knew he'd try everything to prevent that. His anxiety made him lose his appetite and he barely ate anything, leaving most of the food on his plate.

"You should drink, at least," Hermione urged him, and he obediently drank a full goblet of pumpkin juice and then wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood up.

Hermione hugged him tightly. "I hope everything will go fine," she whispered in his ear before letting go.

Harry smiled reassuringly at her, hoping just the same, before going to the waiting Auror.

"Would you like Floo, apparition or portkey?" the Auror asked with a smile. "Each is uncomfortable in its own way, I admit."

Harry nodded understandingly. His future self didn't think much of any of these methods. It looked like wizards preferred speed over comfort. "What would you suggest?"

"Portkey. It's the fastest and it would also bring us inside the ministry, not just to the entry hall," the Auror responded. He took a small metal rod from his pocket. "Hold one end while I hold the other," he told Harry. Once both were holding firmly, he touched it with his wand and intoned, "Headquarters, Activate!"

A few unpleasant seconds later, Harry found himself in a bare room, along with his escort, who made sure to help Harry stay on his feet, since he seemed a bit dazed. "We're in the Auror incoming room at the Ministry. Officially, you should come through the main entrance and show your wand to the guard, but since you are with an Auror, this step is unnecessary. We can now take the lift to the courtroom."

Harry thought that the lifts looked like some of the oldest lifts in existence. Unlike modern lifts, these looked like metal cages that rattled badly while moving. They fitted what he was coming to see as the way magical people were thinking. 'If it works, no need to look for improvement.' No wonder that the Muggle world had left them behind.

When they arrived at the courtroom, Harry was appalled to see that everybody could go in with their wands. He didn't even need his older self in order to know that a wand was as much of a weapon as a handgun, or even more so, being potentially able to do much more damage, yet nobody seemed to think of that. "Why is everybody allowed into the courtroom with a weapon in hand?" he asked the Auror.

The man sighed. "We tried to stop this, but the pureblood elite always stopped our initiatives. They wouldn't be parted from their wands."

Harry shook his head disappointedly. "That means that whoever doesn't like something may freely cast a spell to hurt or kill any other person present in court. Isn't that exactly what a courtroom is supposed to prevent?"

The Auror nodded approvingly. "It is, but the political situation is such that nothing can be done just yet. We still try our best to make not only law but also justice prevail. You'll see that the accused is well protected by a magical shield and some physical barriers that can stop the unforgivables. It's not enough, I'm sure, but it's all we can currently do."

Harry dropped the subject but made a mental note to keep a tab of Lucius Malfoy and any other Death Eater in the hall and make sure they do nothing against Sirius. Despite his lack of any formal training, his old self had learned quite a bit while preparing for the tasks of the Triwizard tournament during the fourth year and then as the leader of the Defence Association during the fifth and during the search, studying some of the books from the Black library. While he couldn't cast a shield against the killing curse, he could easily conjure a reflective surface to block such spell and send it back to the caster. It was something they had found in a book and Hermione had improved it, adding the redirection of the spell and shortening the vocal part, thus making it more useful. Before returning in time, Harry had even mastered it wandlessly. He wasn't sure he could still cast it that way. He still hoped he wouldn't need to use it at all.

Madam Bones was already in the courtroom and noticed Harry as soon as he came in. A short while later, she approached the child. Harry made sure not to seem to recognize her. Indeed, his younger self had never met her before, but his older self had met her during the trial after the dementors incident.

"Mr. Potter, I'm Amelia Bones, Head of the DMLE. I'm delighted to meet you in person. I also feel indebted to you for making me realize this miscarriage of justice. I promise you to do all that I can to assure justice is done here today."

Harry accepted her offered hand and pressed firmly. He was actually surprised that she didn't give him her hand to kiss, like many purebloods customarily did. Her hand pressed his just as firmly, giving a message that this was a no-nonsense kind of person. "I'm glad to get to know you, Madam, and I really hope to see justice served here today."

She gave an appreciative nod. "Do you want to ask the accused anything at all?"

Harry had already thought of this. "I'm not sure. Depending on what we find out under Veritaserum, I may want to ask some questions later. Has he been interrogated?"

She nodded. "I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to discuss the details until the trial is over." He still thought he saw some glint of mischief in her eyes, as if promising it wouldn't be what everybody was expecting. He really hoped it would go that way.

It didn't take much longer before the trial proper started. Harry noticed that Dumbledore was presiding in his role as Chief Warlock. He also saw Minister Fudge taking his seat and the pink-clad toad, Ms Umbridge, sitting behind him. He made a mental note to make sure to get rid of her as soon as possible.

Looking around, Harry noticed that Malfoy was sitting quite far, looking as uninterested as possible. Harry couldn't identify any other Death Eater in the hall. He still didn't feel like he could let his guard down. He would watch Malfoy until everything was over and scan the others regularly.

Dumbledore opened the session. "This special meeting of the Wisengamot was called specifically to correct what seems to be a miscarriage of justice, although it's more likely just a bureaucratic error. I'm referring to the case of Sirius Black being imprisoned without getting a trial first. We intend to correct this and give him the expected trial. Let the accused be brought in."

Harry didn't like this. Dumbledore sounded as if he was sure about Sirius being guilty and lacked only the proper procedure to assure it. Harry hoped it would turn better for Sirius.

A moment later, Sirius came in, escorted by two Aurors. He was still wearing the prison uniform, but it seemed to be clean and new. He also looked much healthier than Harry expected him to be. He had a suspicion that Sirius had spent the last few days being given medical care and food, not just being interrogated.

After Sirius was seated and chained, Dumbledore read the accusations and then turned to Sirius. "How do you plead, Mr. Black?"

Sirius's voice sounded loud and clear. "I plead not guilty. I'd also like to be interrogated under Veritaserum to prove my innocence."

Harry glanced at Malfoy, who seemed to shudder at the mention of the truth serum, but didn't give any other reaction, keeping both his hands on his cane and resting his head atop them. Dumbledore, though, seemed surprised, and so did Fudge. Madam Bones, though, seemed content. "Please let it be noted that the accused asked Veritaserum to be used for his interrogation."

Dumbledore seemed to overcome his surprise. "Are we all agreed about the use of the truth potion?" There were some murmurs, but nobody seemed to object. "Then permission is granted to use Veritaserum for this interrogation. Please administer it."

It took a short while for an Auror to fetch the potion and put three drops on Sirius's tongue after Sirius put it out willingly. They waited a short while longer for the potion to take its effect before Madam Bones started the interrogation.

"Please state your full name," she asked.

"Sirius Orion Black, heir to the Black Lord position," Sirius answered in monotone.

"Why did you betray the Potters?" somebody from the audience shouted. Sirius stayed silent.

Madam Bones turned to the audience. "Please refrain from asking the accused any questions. When under the potion, questions need to be asked in a very controlled way to assure valid answers. In this case, the questioner assumed that the accused had betrayed his friends. Since this is yet to be proved or disproved, any answer would be invalid and misleading. If I hear another unauthorized question, I may need to evacuate the audience."

She turned back to Sirius. "Were you the Potter secret keeper?"

"No."

"Do you know who it was?"

"Yes."

"Please tell us who the Potter secret keeper was."

"It was Peter Pettigrew."

"Then why did you act as if you were the one?"

"It was intended to mislead the Death Eaters, drawing attention away from Peter."

The interrogation went on for quite a bit longer, revealing the way the friends had decided whom to name the secret keeper and how Peter proved to be the traitor, the confrontation, the framing and Peter disappearing in his rat form. "Please tell us what happened after Peter disappeared," Madam Bones requested.

"I got into a hysterics attack, laughing my brains out, until the Aurors came and stun me. I then woke up in Azkaban. I was never interrogated nor trialled before being incarcerated."

Amelia checked her notes. "I have no more question. Is there anybody who wants to ask the defendant anything?"

Harry stood up. Sirius couldn't see him from where he sat, so he couldn't know who was asking. "Mr. Black, are you Harry Potter's godfather?"

Despite the potion, a smile appeared on Sirius's face. "Yes, I'm his godfather."

Harry pressed on. "Did you take an oath when becoming his godfather?"

"Of course. I felt it was an honour to do so."

"What was the oath about?"

Sirius seemed to relieve that scene. "I' Sirius Orion Black, swear on my life and magic to fulfil my duty as Harry's godfather, to do my best to protect him from any and all dangers, to help raise him and teach him to become a respectful wizard. So say I. So mote it be."

Everybody seemed surprised when a bluish flash engulfed Sirius for a moment, as if reconfirming his oath.

"Why didn't you take Harry to raise, once you found his parents were murdered?"

Sirius seemed sad. "I couldn't. Hagrid came there at the same time and insisted on taking Harry to Hogwarts, as Dumbledore asked him. I couldn't fight Hagrid and I thought Harry would be safe there, until I could come and fetch him, after finding the rat."

Harry felt like he could ask many more questions, but they were irrelevant at the moment. He sat back down.

The rest seemed anticlimactic. Sirius was declared innocent and regained all his rights. He was also allotted the salary he would have received throughout these years, had he continued serving as a hit-wizard, the way he'd been before.

As soon as the verdict was read, one of the Aurors brought Sirius a proper robe to wear over his prison clothing, until he could change. Yet Sirius didn't seem to mind any of this. Once the trial was over he shouted at Dumbledore, "Where's Harry? When can I meet him?"

Dumbledore didn't look like he wanted to answer, but Harry didn't wait any longer. He moved quickly, coming to Sirius. "Pafoo, I'm here!" he said, barely holding back his tears.

Sirius turned to the black-haired child. "Harry?! You look so much like James at your age. Only your eyes are Lily's."

He hugged Harry tightly, and then sank to his knees, pleading with Harry. "Please forgive me for not being there for you during all this time. I should have been wiser and insisted on staying with you, not trusting others to care for you."

Harry smiled at the distraught man. "There's nothing to forgive, but we have a lot of catch-up to do."

Sirius stood up and hugged Harry again. Harry wasn't sure, but he thought he heard some muffled weeping before Sirius spoke again. "I need to find out what I need to do and where I can live, and my mind and body still need some healing, but I'll come to see you as soon as I can. Will that be alright with you?"

Harry smiled at the man. "It would be more than fine." He then sighed, noticing his escorting Auror looking at the clock. "I think I should return to school now. Owl me as soon as you can, and I'm looking forward to getting to know you."

"As am I," Sirius reassured him.