Ministry officials showed up the next day in the form of Kingsley Shacklebolt and Amelia Bones.
It was nearly nightfall and Sirius had spent the day going through old photo albums with pictures of he, James, Lily, Remus, and Peter. When Remus poked his head into the bedroom to tell him who was there, he noticed Sirius had burned away the portions of the pictures where Peter was present.
"You don't actually believe he's guilty, do you?" Remus asked while he waited for Sirius to get presentable.
Amelia gave him a sad smile and her eyes flickered over to Kingsley who was taking a walk about the living room. "We're only doing our jobs, Mr. Lupin."
Remus let out a mirthless chuckle as he stood and walked over to the cabinet in the corner of the room. "There is a way to prove he isn't guilty, you know." He took his wand from his pocket and tapped his skull suggestively.
"Surely you know the Ministry might not be so quick to trust the memory of someone in your...condition?" Amelia winced at the last word and cast an apologetic look in Remus' direction.
"Yes, of course." Remus snapped, rolling his eyes as Sirius came out of the bedroom. "So surely you would not be surprised that the memory I possess that would clear Sirius of any wrongdoing exists in his mind as well."
Sirius looked between the three of them, sensing tension in the air. "Remus is right. I was not the one who sold James and Lily to...Voldemort."
Kingsley examined the two of them for a moment and nodded. "Then I am certain you won't mind coming to the ministry to give this memory."
Remus and Sirius shared a look that communicated worry for one another. A look of resolve passed across Sirius' face and Remus nearly laughed as he realized he'd never seen him look so...serious.
"We'll come with you. You can compare the memory from Remus and I and you'll see the truth. I'm innocent." Sirius stated as he pulled on an old leather motorcycle jacket and fingerless gloves. Remus was close behind, pulling on a tattered old peacoat and a scarf he'd been given by Lily the previous Christmas.
At 7:49pm, a loud pop was heard in the apartment as the four of them vanished into the night.
Meanwhile in Manchester…
Harry and Dudley were crying at the same time and Petunia thought she might hurl herself from the roof of her townhome. Dudley was crying because he was sleepy and Harry was crying because Petunia was a stranger to him.
Trying her hardest not to turn into a sobbing mess, she picked the two of them up and decided a bath and car ride might be best. She washed the two screeching demons together in the bathtub and gave them both baby massages in hopes that they might be a bit less fussy.
Luckily, by the time she carried them out to the car, the screaming had subsided to light sniffling. She buckled them in and started the car, resolving to drive around the city for an hour or two. It was only 8pm and if she could have the two dead to the world by 9 she might actually have a hope of a good night's rest.
She was making her way around their neighborhood for the fifth time when she looked in the rearview mirror and saw Dudley was asleep, though Harry was awake and peering at her with curious emerald eyes.
"God, you look just like her." Petunia said to his reflection as tears sprung to her eyes. She could recall clear as day part of the last letter she'd gotten from Lily shortly before her wedding to James.
I hope you can forgive me for making you feel abandoned. I hope you can forgive me for making you feel that you were anything less than my sister. I hope one day, Petunia, that we will be so close that our children will play together at holidays and be as close as blood can make them.
She had been so resentful of Lily, of the magic she possessed. They had always been different, so much so that Petunia questioned often whether or not they were truly related. When Lily learned she was a witch, it was simply another thing that made them so different from one another.
Her resentment and jealousy of Lily turned into bitter hate once she began seeing Vernon and intensified to the point that Petunia cut off any contact with Lily prior to her marriage to James.
But now that Vernon was gone, Petunia found more and more that she regretted the hateful person she'd become. She'd had custody of Harry for nearly twenty four hours and she'd come to realize that bitter and hateful could not serve or help her anymore, not where Dudley and Harry were involved.
"Your mother and I did not have the best relationship once she went off to that...that school. It was all downhill from there and I didn't even know you existed. How horrible is that?" She asked Harry's unchanging face in the mirror as she came around to the neighborhood park. She parked the car and turned it off.
Harry blinked a few times, his eyes growing heavy. "Mama." He uttered, causing tears to spring to Petunia's eyes.
"No," Petunia replied, shaking her head. "I'm not her, Harry."
She saw confusion register, not for the first time, on Harry's face. He clearly missed his parents. She turned around so that she was facing him and reached a hand out to stroke his forehead. "I'm not your mother, Harry. But I'll try to be."
London Auror Office, Ministry of Magic…
"They want to put you on trial, Sirius." Remus stated after a while.
Sirius was being held for questioning for James and Lily's deaths and possible connections to Voldemort. It was categorically false as anyone with half a brain knew, but fear created stupidity.
"Bloody idiots." Sirius muttered.
Remus reached across the table and held his hand tightly. "You will be fine. Trust me. I won't let them put you in Azkaban. Besides, Kingsley and Amelia already know we both have memories that show James and Lily switched Secret Keepers. They'll know the truth."
Sirius's hair hung to down to the bottom of his ears, cut short in the back. His steel grey eyes turned upward as he groaned in annoyance. He stood, his hand falling away from Remus' as he paced around the disgustingly small room.
"And what about Peter?" he asked, venom dripping from his voice. "What about Harry?"
Remus turned in the chair, half facing the two-way window and half facing Sirius. He knew that someone had to be watching them. Someone always was. "I'm sure Harry is fine, Sirius. We can focus on getting him back later but you are what is important right now and-"
"NO!" Sirius' voice was positively thunderous as he punched a wall, his jaw clenching as waves of pain radiated through his arm. "Harry needs to be safe. He needs to be with me. I'm his fucking godfather."
A long sigh escaped Remus' mouth as he stood and walked over to Sirius who was now leaning against the wall. He stood in front of him for awhile until grey eyes met hazel.
"Sirius, you are going to be out of here by morning. I swear it. And when you're out, we are going to get drunk off our asses and cry until our throats hurt and the next morning-"
"But, we need to-"
"And the next morning, we will wake up bright and early and find Harry. Until then, there's nothing we can do. For all his faults, I am, at least, certain Dumbledore would not have brought him anywhere dangerous."
Remus was interrupted by a loud knock on the window and the door swinging open. In the doorway stood a rather severe looking man that neither of them had ever seen. He had platinum blonde hair and electric blue eyes. His perfectly tailored suit clung to his body and Sirius fought the urge to laugh at such an impractical choice of clothing for working in the DMLE.
"Mr. Black, I must ask that you come with me immediately." His voice, raspy and emotionless, caused a spike of nervousness in Sirius.
Remus cast a reassuring glance toward him and Sirius returned a small smile. "I'll be right behind you." He whispered.
Soon, the three of them were walking down a long hallway that led to the courtrooms in the Ministry. The man escorting them said nothing until they arrived at courtroom 12.
"In you go." His gravelly voice instructed as he held the door open for them. The two walked inside and saw that a hastily assembled court was waiting for them.
Ahead, Minister of Magic Millicent Bagnold, old crone that she was, sat in the center stand, donning her full regalia. Behind her sat representatives of various departments in the ministry in similar robes. On the right side of the room sat a few individuals neither of them had expected to see.
Sirius' cousin Andromeda sat in the row closest to the floor, her husband Ted Tonks next to her. On the row above them was Professor Minerva McGonagall and to her right was Albus Dumbledore. The two of them fought the urge to narrow their eyes at the man. Alastor Moody was off to the side of the row closest to the bottom, peering intently at Sirius and Remus alike.
"We are ready to begin." Minister Bagnold announced, her voice firm and unwavering, her expression blank as she gazed down over Sirius.
Remus rushed forward to talk to Sirius. "You will be fine, Sirius. You are innocent."
He caught Sirius nod nearly imperceptibly before he moved to the side.
"As many of you well know, domestic terrorist Lord Voldemort has disappeared after murdering James and Lily Potter and harming their one year old son. His whereabouts are as yet unknown, however, the Ministry has learned that there was only one person who was aware of the Potters' location: Sirius Orion Black." Minister Bagnold's voice portrayed no sort of emotion to indicate if she had any feeling about the events taking place.
Remus could not help holding his breath as Sirius' memory of switching Secret Keepers at the urging of James and Lily played for all in the courtroom to see. There was an audible gasp when the new Secret Keeper was revealed to be Peter Pettigrew.
"I'm innocent." Sirius said into a room so silent you could hear a pin drop. However, rather than sounding smug or triumphant, he sounded completely broken.
Remus had known him long enough to know that beneath that brokenness lay an anger like a simmering volcano. He did his best to convey love and calm toward Sirius even though they were not physically close to one another.
Nearly forty-five minutes later, Remus was unlocking the door to the flat he and Sirius shared. He had been cleared of any wrongdoing and, as he was Harry Potter's godfather, had been given permission to adopt the boy if he could be found. But that meant talking to the manipulative old bastard known as Albus Dumbledore, whom they both knew would sooner give his wand than tell the two of them where Harry was.
"We'll need to find him ourselves." Remus thought to himself as he went to the kitchen to put tea on the boil.
Sirius was not far behind, tough he appeared to be lost in his own head. He took a seat at the chair nearest the window and leaned his head against the glass. Remus had not bothered to turn on the lights, meaning that the kitchen was filled only with the muted glow of the half-moon.
A few moments later, Remus sat a mug of steaming chamomile tea in front of Sirius and came around to hug the man from behind. Sirius reached up to touch Remus' arms, snug around his neck.
"That snakey bastard ruined everything, didn't he?" he asked, his voice a small shadow of its typical nature.
"No," Remus replied as he rested a tired face in Sirius' neck. "Not everything."