Prison Cell, Ministry
Sirius awoke with a start and found himself chained to the chair. He lurched to the side in an attempt to break free but found out painfully that the chair was glued to the ground. He then took the moment to observe his surroundings to see an unamused Amelia Bones lowering her wand.
"Sirius Black, suspect. Here for his interview on the events on both Godric's Hollow and Wisery Street. Present for the interview: Amelia Bones, Head of the DMLE. Rufus Scrimgeour. Head Auror." she dictated and a quail obediently wrote down the words.
"It almost sounds like you are going to give me a fair hearing Amelia." Sirius deadpanned as he was inwardly panicking why Dumbledore had given him up. "Madam Bones is the correct title mister Black." Amelia scolded. "And we are preparing to give you a fair trial, which includes the gathering of evidence."
"Huh?" Sirius replied intelligently. Amelia sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Dumbledore said you were impulsive. But did you even read the Prophet that came in earlier today?" she asked and Sirius let out a nervous laugh. "I might have stormed off after reading the front page." he admitted.
"On the second page was an article describing the horrendous handling of your person by the ministry." Rufus replied in a factual tone. "There might not even be…" "Rufus." Amelia interrupted and the man took the rebuke with a graceful nod while Sirius was left wondering what might not be happening.
"We should focus on the interview." Amelia declared decisively. "Mister Black. Were you present at Godric's Hollow on October the 31st in the year 1981?" Amelia asked. "I was." Sirius said as he knew nodding would not be recorded by the quail. "Why were you there?"
"James and I go back to the Hogwarts train as firsties. We had monitoring charms on each other's homes. The moment I found out mine had gone off I took my wand and rushed over." Sirius replied factually while in the back of his mind he was wondering how in Merlin's name this would prove his innocence.
"Did you encounter anyone on the way or at the Potter's house?" Amelia asked. "I did not meet anyone on the way. I did find Hagrid holding Harry once I got there. I offered to take Harry but Hagrid said he was taking him on Dumbledore's orders so I offered him my flying motorcycle so he wouldn't be intercepted by any death eaters."
"And what did you do then?" Rufus demanded sternly with a glare but Sirius was not impressed. Professor McGonagall had made him and the other marauders all but immune of those. Only Lily when sufficiently riled could halt him in his tracks for a moment.
"I went hunting after the traitor rat. Peter Pettigrew." "Traitor? Most people believed you were the traitor and the Potter's secret keeper." Rufus noted and Sirius nodded. "We let that rumor slip out on purpose. Only the four of us knew that Pettigrew was the real secret keeper. I was the decoy so if I disappeared Pettigrew knew he had to hide to keep James, Lily and Harry safe since Voldemort was hunting them for some reason."
He was pleased neither flinched at the name. "And how do you plan to prove this?" Amelia asked and Sirius grinned roguishly. "For you Amelia, I will strip down to my underwear so you can give me a thorough inspection that I do not have a dark mark anywhere. I will even get out of my underwear if you insist" "Your arms will suffice. Do you consent for a visual and magical check?" Amelia asked as she ignored the blatant flirting.
"Sure, go ahead." Sirius said with a shrug. "The suspect consents to a check whether they have the dark mark or not." Rufus rose from his chair and with a spell the cloth of Sirius's clothes rolled up to his shoulder. One arm was released and Rufus raised it to check it over. He did the same with the other arm. "The suspect has no dark mark." Amelia stated.
Sirius repressed a sharp and witty remark and explained how he had hunted down Pettigrew. With a grimace he explained what happened on the street that Pettigrew ended up blowing up and how he had broken down after he saw how the traitor had disappeared into the sewage system.
"And that is how you ended up in Azkaban." Amelia agreed as Sirius described how he was effectively ambushed, thrown into a holding cell and then shipped out to Azkaban. "But how did you escape?" she demanded.
"Pettigrew was not the only Animagus. James also managed to transform but kept this from the ministry for his own safety. I was close to obtaining my own form. A grim to exact. When I was thrown into Azkaban." Sirius lied but he wasn't going to tell he had achieved that form during his Hogwarts years. He had no intention to return to the place. "As you can imagine I was thoroughly motivated to make that last step when the dementors came in."
Nothing gave away that Sirius was lying his bollocks off. If the interviewers had brought along the transfiguration professor Sirius would be busted. But they did not and they saw nothing that gave away Sirius was lying. "Understandable." Amelia noted. "Very well. I will register your form on your behalf."
"Thank you." Sirius agreed. "Very well Mister Black. You are free to go." Amelia noted. "I hereby close the interview. The suspect has been cleared of charges." "What?" Sirius asked with wide eyes. "Just like that?" "Just like that." Amelia agreed. "Your old wand, stashed with the rest of the 'evidence' already cleared you. That you arrived at the ministry confirmed it in my books. I advise you to lay low so that the news can spread."
"I will do that." Sirius agreed. "If you can show me the nearest exit I will make myself scarce." "Rufus." Amelia commanded and the auror nodded. The pair left through a small obscure exit and Sirius hoofed it to safety before he Gryffindored himself back into jail. 'Clearly I am missing an important detail or two.' the wrongly accused and never convicted man thought.
More importantly he didn't want to be around when they started awkward questions like 'Why did you go to Dumbledore.'
With nary a sound Victoria landed on the outskirts of the Hogwarts fields. "I can't get off." Hermione said as she tried to move but found that she could not. Harry meanwhile slid off Victoria's back without a problem and held out a hand to assist Hermione to help her down.
"That was really weird." Hermione grumped as she slid down. "I can imagine." Harry agreed. "Still it was fun flight right?" he asked as Victoria disappeared in a flock of light particles with a happy neigh. "It was." the bushy haired girl agreed reluctantly.
Hermione looked up to see the fall sun. "It must be near lunch, if it isn't already." she noted. "I do not think Headmaster Dumbledore intended us to be so long out." Harry shrugged with a carefree smile. "Then he should have given us a time to arrive at his office. And you can't say we didn't have a productive conversation."
"The height must have gone to my head as I agree with you Harry. Or you are a bad influence on me." Hermione replied. Harry smiled slightly as the conversation he had with her about what constituted a 'king' had been quite interesting as they both listened to the other without trying to be overbearing.
The pair chatted amiably as they started the long walk back to the castle proper.
Mansion
Princess Alice took a nip of her tea that Patricia had prepared for her. "So what do you truly think of the new Campione?" her father Duke Goddodin asked as Louise placed her cup back on the table. "I have told the assembled members exactly what I thought father." she replied.
"Truly?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "Truly." she confirmed. "I wonder why so many members had already forgotten we kept a limited profile of the young Campione before his ascension for surviving a direct hit of the wanded death spell."
Duke Goddodin nodded. "Do you think the Witenagemot acted rashly by associating with the Campione without investigating him further?" "No." Louise said firmly. "The other organisations would have acted if we had not. Furthermore he is under Dumbledore's guidance. He might dislike politics but he is gifted in it and I am certain he will ensure that Harry won't be too much of a tyrant." she stated confidently.
"Harry?" Goddodin said surprised. "He is a good hearted young man." Louise said with a mysterious smile. "Not that grand on formality either. I do not think he will request much from the Witenagemot and once he grows further into his power we will have to worry less about the likes of Voban."
"That is if he survives long enough to grow into his power." Goddodin noted. "He only has one authority at the moment and three years of wanded magic instructions. Campione or not that is a dismal arsenal to engage a heretic god with."
"I am certain Dumbledore has it under control. The wand wielders do have some powerful magics he could study. They might not be able to cast it in the modern age but a Campione would certainly be able to."
Goddodin thought it over and gave a conceding nod. "We will see."
Hogwarts hallways
Draco Malfoy was between a rock and a hard place by his own making. When Harry Potter had managed to enter the tournament somehow he had enlisted his father's assistance in making Harry's life as miserable as possible. All this to discredit the 'boy who lived' so that he could not be rallied around when the Dark Lord made his inevitable return.
It also provided the added bonus for his own reputation within the Slytherin house. Having his godfather as the head of house all but ensured his future placement as a Prefect, but that title would mean nothing if his house members did not see a reason to accept his authority, or worse undermine it within the house.
All had gone swimmingly as Potter entered the first task. Draco secretly wished that the dragon would gobble the Potter up. That however was not to be as a heretic god appeared out of nowhere. Draco had recognized the being exactly for what it was thanks to his mother's tutoring but he was unable to make his escape when he was hexed by a group of foreign witches.
If he could he would have smiled with glee when Potter was arrogant enough to challenge the heretic god. He had cursed his stuck position when they both took to the sky as that prevented him from seeing Potter's last moments when the most impossible, and for him worst, thing happened.
Potter had killed the blasted Heretic God. Draco had a prime view of watching the white clad man slam face-first into the rocks. His prayers to see Potter land fately as well were denied as he landed outside the arena.
Only to find out that Potter had survived everything and turned into a Campione. His mother had stressed how to stay well clear of Campione as the prestige and wealth of the Malfoy house meant nothing to the tyrants. He had not believed it but he couldn't find his father after the lecture and had promptly forgotten it.
'Well maybe there are real tyrants out there. But Potty? A tyrant? A king? Hah, don't make me laugh. That the rest of the house believes it shames them. Potter is just a spineless coward hiding behind the teachers and getting their favor.' Draco thought confidently.
With that fire in his belly he started his day and nearly laughed out loud out how easy Potter was making it for him. It did not take long for him to confirm that Potter couldn't be bothered to show up for his lessons. His own roster was free so he could hang around the entrance while thinking up insults to prod Potter with.
And when lunch time approached he saw a pair of figures make their way into the great hall through the main door and he all but jumped up and approached them.
Hogwarts great hall
Harry held back a groan as he saw Malfoy approach him almost eagerly with his two friends in tow. "So Potty? Feeling too good now to attend your lessons?" Malfoy 'greeted'. He held back the first two snappish responses on his tongue as he could almost Hermione telepathically reminding him of what they spoke about on Victoria's back.
"Good morning to you as well mister Malfoy." Harry replied neutrally. "I was busy with my new duties under the Headmaster's supervision." "Really?" Malfoy drawled in such a way it was clear he did not believe it. "And your little mudblood friend had the same excuse?" he insulted. He took great delight in the clenching of muscles that gave Harry's anger away.
Unlike previous encounters however Harry did not shout back or start threatening with his wand. Instead he took a deep breath. "I see your breeding is showing Malfoy." Malfoy couldn't stop the surprised blink at the change of tack "I will have let you know that Hermione is a highly intelligent well educated witch who routinely battles and wins over the Ravenclaws for the top spot in our year's ranking."
Hermione smiled rather smugly at that. "And how does that…" Malfoy paused as Harry held up his hand. "I was not done speaking Malfoy." he interrupted. "Thank you. Her knowledge was invaluable in figuring out my new authority." Harry lied and he hoped Hermione wouldn't give it away. "Now do you have something to say or were you here to throw insults worthy of a six year old child?" He asked.
"You think you are better than us don't you?" Malfoy growled and Harry raised his eyebrow. "Not at all. I merely have new responsibilities now and I wish to do them the best I can. Headmaster Dumbledore was kind enough to help me and so was Hermione." He turned away from Malfoy as he had run out of things to say and held up his arm as he had seen in one of Lavender's magazines she had left behind in the common room. "Shall we go? I am rather peckish."
Hermione's eyes twinkled with pride and mirth as she placed her own arm gently on top of Harry's. "Let's." she agreed. With a bit of awkwardness as they tried to match steps they walked towards the Gryffindor table unaware that the biggest insult of their exchange had been ignoring Malfoy.
Harry meanwhile kept his ears sharp for any spellfire from Malfoy. It wasn't the way he wanted to test his supposedly new magic resistance but he would shield Hermione in a heartbeat.
Together they found a spot at the Gryffindor Table near the older years. "You handled that nicely." Lee noted with a smirk. "Completely shut him down before he could do anything." Harry blushed lightly. "Well acting 'kingly' seems to work well enough then." he agreed. "Yes it did. Even Skeeter cannot find fault with that." Hermione added.
There was some hubbub as the already arrived students from Durmstrang rose from their seats, and with Viktor Krum in the lead, marched over to the Hufflepuff table who received them with puzzled looks. Some of the Slytherin closest to the vacated seats shot Malfoy a heated glare as they figured out why the Durmstrang delegation had suddenly relocated.
Dumbledore's office
"Thank you for your patience miss Develd, miss Layla." Dumbledore greeted as he returned from the ministry. He had left the hot-headed former Gryffindor in the fair hands of madam Bones and he had all the confidence he would be treated well. 'And if they don't… well then things get interesting in the ministry.'
He glanced at the clock and realised that the pair had arrived far later than he had expected and he wasted a bit more time at the ministry then the promised five minutes. "It was no trouble at all Headmaster Dumbledore." Cressida replied while Mia came out of the cat-nap she had taken.
"I am grateful to hear that. I suggest we head down to the great hall and partake in lunch." The two women nodded their agreement and followed Dumbledore out of his office. They arrived in the great hall just in time to see the Durmstrang students migrate to the Hufflepuff table while Malfoy beat a quick retreat to the Slytherin table.
Without further word Cressida headed towards the Gryffindor table and Mia mumbled a quick. "Thank you for your time." to Dumbledore before following Cressida. He watched them leave with a raised eyebrow, he had not expected for the young lady to charge off like that. He stored the action in the mental folder he kept on her and resumed his walk to the professor's table.
With keen interest he watched the situation play out.