A/n: I'm baaaack, did you miss me? Sorry, I was sent away by the Whisperer who told me to go practice my so-called death scene, but I didn't die which is a GOOD thing.

Whisperer: (holding her idea-notebook) Sirius, what are you doing?

Sirius: Nothing (winks at readers), just talking to the people out there.

Whisperer: (shaking head) I don't want to know. This is the un-beta version, I'll fix it later.

Sirius: A very special thank you to all the people who reviewed the last few chapters, especially those reviewers who didn't want me to die. . . all of you! I feel so loved!

Thank-yous: vmr, Seeker_2000, *Wolf's Cry*, ~*Dumbledore's True Love*~, Ravenclaw_Filly, guess, Lin-z, Jedi Cosmos, Sandrine Black, Snidgey, Creamy Mimi, angel, sweets, Berkeley Halperin (I was just as shock, I thought I was her favorite character, but in the end she didn't kill me, so I guess I can't be that mad at her =), Tschubi-chan (Whisp is working on that flu story she promised, she hopes to get it out soon), Heather, Shadow (longest No award goes to you ;), Desert Hacker, sami, Avalon Princess, Kelzery, Fawkes, Lilly Potter, Fire Phoenix, Lucky Woods, jona, audiaa2 ( thank you), Miss Drew, Shayna Black, Kay, and summersun! We love you guys!

Disclaimer: Not mine, J. K.'s, except what you don't recognize. Some things people may say lines from the Mummy Returns, Stephen Sommers has the rights to them, not I. The first quote is from the movie 'A Few Good Men', and the other quote is said by Aslan, pg.141 in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis, in other words I don't own them.

" The truth? You can't handle the truth!"

"All shall be done, but it may be harder then you think."

Chapter 13: The Truth Serum

Sirius transformed into Padfoot, and bounded up toward the castle, Harry racing at the his heels.

Oh my God, Harry, have you lost your mind? Sirius telepathed, trying to sound stern, but failing miserably. He began scratching at the heavy oak doors. Wasting a wish on me?

"I couldn't have thought of anything better to waste it on," Harry panted, hurtling up the stone steps, and threw the oak doors open.

"Potter!" Professor McGonagall yelled as the doors slammed shut with a bang.

Harry winched, he had to get to Dumbledore's office now, he had no time for a lecture on why slamming doors was improper behavior.

McGonagall said in a rush,"Dumbledore, Fudge, your godfather might be proven innocent! Password's Blue Raspberry Cotton Candy, hurry!"

"Thank you!" Harry called back, heading straight toward the stone gargoyle. "Blue Raspberry Cotton Candy." He said to the gargoyle, while Sirius thumped his tail impatiently, against the floor.

The gargoyle sprang aside, and Sirius bowed to let Harry enter first, a sign of respect.

"Thanks," he said and enter the passageway to Dumbledore's office. The spiraling, escalator like stairs seemed to move faster then ordinary bringing them to Dumbledore's door.

Just as Harry was about to knock on the door it opened for him. Cornelius Fudge stood in the threshold, holding the door open, and ogling at him.

"Where is he?!" Fudge shouted. "I know he's here, come on Potter out with it, where is Black?"

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about Minister Fudge," Harry brushed past Fudge, and walked over to Dumbledore.

"Hello Harry, I see you have emerged from your quest victorious," he said, cheerfully. "Did you meet the Guardian?"

"Yes sir," Harry said.

"Good, good, and speaking of guardians where has yours gotten to? I have a bit of news for him," Dumbledore's twinkling eyes fell to the dog lying at Harry's feet. "Hello Snuffles, have a nice trip?"

Sirius snorted. Yeah, it was a lovely place, I can't decide which part I liked better the River of Rats, or the Banshee Choir, one was just better then the other. I might go back next year.

"Dumbledore, for heaven's sake! That dog is Black! Make him transform, go on, do it," Fudge said pointing a short finger at Sirius.

No need, Albus, I'll do it myself, with a crack like a whip Sirius the dog became Sirius the man.

"S-s-sirius Black?" Fudge gasped, the man standing before him looked nothing like man he had seen in Azkaban.

"Nah, I'm his evil twin, Cyprus Black,"Sirius rolled his eyes, and turned to Dumbledore. "What's the news you wanted to tell me?"

"Yes, umm . . . Cornelius made rather interesting discovery in his teacup, a familiar looking rat?" Dumbledore held up the squirming rat. "Sugamina!"

A blue light shot out of his wand, and hit the rat. A moment later Peter Pettigrew was lying on the floor in disarray, his limbs sticking out at odd angles.

"It can't be! It can't be! It's an illusion," Fudge whispered as a look of utter disbelief crossed his pale, pudgy face. "B-but you're dead."

Pettigrew got slowly to his feet, a cunning plan forming in his mind. "Sirius."

"Rat," Sirius said coldly.

"Harry," Pettigrew sneered, eyeing the boy with great displeasure. "Hello, again, I see you're alive, and well."

Harry backed away for Pettigrew, and stayed as close to Sirius as possible.

"Peter, where have you been these past fourteen years?" Dumbledore asked, his voice level.

"Professor, Minister, I have been in hiding, I did not want him to come after me," Pettigrew said in a piteous voice.

"How did you know Sirius was going to come after you if he was in Azkaban?"

"I knew he would, You-Know-Who taught him things, so that's why I went into hiding," Pettigrew said, playing up to the Minister.

"The Ministry would have given you protection," Fudge said stiffly.

Pettigrew bit his lip, summoning up the courage to say what he said next, "I knew I had to protect Harry from Black!"

"WHAT!" Sirius roared, in shock.

Pettigrew turned to Sirius, "Yeah, Black, you were going to go after Harry, seduce him into believing you actually cared about him, and then take him to Voldemort."

"Are you mental?" Harry snarled. "Sirius would never hurt me. Ever."

No one could looked more astonished then Cornelius Fudge looked at that moment. "Y-y-you trust that murderer?"

"Of course he does," Pettigrew snapped. "Black's promised him things like, if he gets off Harry can live with him, but that's not true, is it Sirius?"

Harry wouldn't have been surprised if an icicle formed on Pettigrew nose under his godfather's icy glare. "The only liar here is you, rat."

"They're confounded, the both of them, Black and Potter," Fudge scoffed. "Completely insane."

Harry saw a flash of red, this wasn't working out the way it was supposed to, wishes were suppose to come true instantly, weren't they? "We are NOT confounded, you're just too childish to believe the truth when it's slapping you right in the face, it's the same thing with Voldemort rising again. Peter is an Animagi, that's how he got away from the explosion, which he caused, and cut his finger off at the scene to make it believable. Oh, and to prove he is working for Voldemort, look at his hand, it's silver."

Pettigrew laughed, high, and cold. "Silver hand? I have no silver hand, see for yourself Minster."

It was true, Pettigrew's silver hand was gone, and a normal flesh one was in it's place, with one a missing finger.

"Interesting, Mr. Pettigrew," Dumbledore said, finally. "Cornelius, may I suggest a truth potion?"

"Why?" Fudge asked.

"So we can finally hear the truth, if my memory serves me correctly Sirius never had a trial in the first place, and a trial by truth potion is the only kind of trial that in which no mistakes can be made."

Fudge thought about this for a moment before agreeing, as long as several Ministry officials were present, and the potion was made before his eyes.

"All right, Sirius, Harry, you go with Minerva once she arrives here, Peter you will stay with me, and Cornelius why don't you contact the Ministry?" Dumbledore suggested.

Fudge grimaced. "Now, Dumbledore are you saying we leave Black alone with Potter? The man is mad, after all? Perhaps we should keep Pettigrew with Potter, hmm? He is less likely to harm the boy, and," his voice dropped, "we all know Potter is a few knuts short of a galleon."

Dumbledore shook his head,"Sirius will go with Minerva, and Pettigrew will stay here, you will alert the Ministry, and Harry will go with Remus Lupin."

Fudge could not find argument in that arrangement, "I'll wait until Lupin, and McGonagall get here before leaving."

He had not long to wait, soon enough McGonagall, and Remus appeared at Dumbledore's door. Dumbledore explained the situation, and also told McGonagall to tell Severus Snape to bring up the materials to make the Veritaserum potion.

Remus lead Harry off into a side room that only had a desk, and a few armchairs. Harry turned back to see Sirius being lead down a staircase.

Remus put a hand on Harry's shoulder, "He'll be fine."

"What if he's convicted again? It would be my fault, it was my wish, and it was flubbed," Harry said, mournfully. "I seriously think I'm cursed."

Remus bit his lip, wishes couldn't be "flubbed," but this one definitely looked like it had been. "They're using Veritaserum, everything will work out . . ."

"But what if Snape messes it up, he hates Sirius, and maybe this is his demented way of getting revenge?"

Remus sighed. Snape could do that, he was cunning enough, but would he? "No, Snape detests all Voldemort supporters, he'd like to see Pettigrew behind bars as much as you, and me do."

Harry flopped down into a chair, and buried his face in his hands. "How did Pettigrew get rid of his silver hand?"

"I don't know, Harry, I really don't," Remus felt confused, very confused. Pettigrew must have used some kind of dark magic to conceal the hand, but what?

Twenty minutes later, McGonagall walked in, Harry, and Remus leapt to their feet. "I must ask you two something, would you agree to give a testimony in the defense of Sirius Black under the influence of Veritaserum?"

"Yes," Harry, and Remus said in unison.

McGonagall looked from Harry to Remus, and back. "You understand the full effects of this potion?"

Remus nodded.

"Yeah," Harry lied. He, actually, had no idea about the effects of Veritaserum, but would do anything to help Sirius.

"The potion will be ready in an hour," she said, then retreated from the room.

"Er . . . Remus what are the side-effects of Veritaserum, again?" Harry said, mildly.

Remus paled, "Harry, you don't know about them? At all?"

Harry shook his head.

"Harry!" he barked. "Are you mad? Telling McGonagall that you knew them, when you didn't? Good grief! When you take a truth potion, you can quite literally spill your guts out!"

"You mean you . . . blah?"Harry made a face like someone who had just thrown up.

Remus nodded, solemnly. "I really think you shouldn't Harry, you've been through enough already."

"No, I have to help Sirius, anyway I can, he risked his life to save me for the Eye's curse and I have to help him, I have to Moony!" Harry gave Remus a pleading look.

Remus sighed, it was hard to say no to those eyes. "You're becoming more like your father everyday, with a good mix of Sirius. I might never survive the two of you."

"Thanks Moony."

Remus smiled sadly, the fears of Sirius being convicted again kept creeping back into his mind.

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An hour later, Harry, and Remus were lead to a dungeon room, Harry looked on the edge of a nervous break down.

Sirius was already in the room, seated next to Dumbledore, he jerked his head around to look at Harry, giving him a small smile.

Harry returned it, reluctantly, as he scanned the members of the Ministry carefully, a friendly face stood out. "Mr. Weasley? He knows Sirius is innocent! What's he doing here?"

"He's head of his department at Ministry, I guess Fudge only wanted department heads," Remus said thoughtfully also scanning the Ministry members that would stand as a jury. "No way, David Christi? He hero-worshiped Sirius, he never thought he was guilty of anything! God, most of these people did, and still do have great respect for Sirius! Harry, do you think the Guardian has something to do with this?"

Before Harry had a chance to reply, the trial begun.

A dark robed man stood up,"Today we reopen the case of one Sirius Orion Black, the accused will be tried under Vertiaserum, as will Remus Lupin, and Harry Potter in Black's defense. Also today we will finally learn the truth behind Peter Pettigrew so-called death, in his own words under Vertiaserum."

"What do you mean, David? Pettigrew is dead!" one women exclaimed.

"Glenda, I assure you Peter Pettigrew is alive, and he is standing before us," the dark robed man called Miguel gestured to Peter Pettigrew, who didn't look as self-confident as he did before standing next to Severus Snape.

"Sirius Black, you fully understand the effects of this potion?" Christi asked.

"Yes," Sirius said flatly. Christi handed him a vial of crystal clear potion which Sirius downed in one gulp, making a disgusted face. A minute later a blank look covered Sirius's as though he wasn't quite sure of his own name, the serum had worked.

"Were you James Potter's Secret Keeper?"

"No."

"Elaborate on that, Sirius."

So once again Sirius told the story of the Animagi transformation, the Secret Keeper switch, his going after Pettigrew, the escape from Azkaban, the Shrieking Shack, and so on.

Fudge was dumbstruck by this story.

Remus went next, his account of the Shrieking Shack episode intertwined with Sirius's perfectly.

"Now, Harry Potter do you fully understand the effects of this potion?" Christi asked, sternly.

"Yes," Harry said as he was handed a vial of Vertiaserum, and drank it quickly. His insides churned as if someone had turned a blender on is his stomach, it felt like a thousand tiny needles were being shot out of that blender's blades and piercing his sides, then it stopped. He felt nothing, but he knew that if he tried to lie the churning feeling would come back but worse.

"Is Sirius Black guilty of betraying your parents?"

"No, he wasn't their Secret Keeper."

"Then who was?"

"Peter Pettigrew."

"How did you find this out?"

"In the Shrieking Shack, Sirius and Remus made Pettigrew transform, and then I finally found out the truth about my parent's betrayal."

"Is Black your godfather?"

"Yes."

"Have you stayed in contact with Black after he escaped Hogwarts?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Letters mostly, he comes to visit me as often as he can."

"How would you described your relationship with him?"

"Great."

"Has he ever intentionally hurt you?"

"No, once when I still thought he was a murderer we wrestled around a bit, but he spent most of the fight trying to stop me from strangling him before I found out the truth."

"I see," Christi nodded. "Has Black ever done anything to . . .,"he made a face, before saying, "Has Black ever sexually abused you?"

"No." Harry said, disgust creeping into his voice.

"That's all," Christi said handing Harry the antidote to the truth potion.

Harry moaned slightly, as the antidote coursed through his body, he wasn't really sure what had just happed, and it hurt to think about it. He returned to seat next to Remus.

As soon as he sat down again, Pettigrew was tried under the potion, and the entire room gasped as they heard the pleasure in his voice when he told of how he handed over the Potters to the Dark Lord, killing Cedric Diggory, and how he had been the one who had helped in the rebirth of Lord Voldemort. "And then he burned the Dark Mark into my left arm."

Without preamble, Christi yanked Pettigrew's sleeve up to show the faintly glowing Dark Mark that had been burned into the skin.

"Oh my Lord!" someone breathed.

Christi told Sirius to show him his arm, it was bare. "Would we like to discuss a verdict now?"

"Yes," Mr. Weasley said, then he, and the other Ministry members filed out into a separate room.

The web of lies that Pettigrew formed was unraveled like a ball of yarn, the knotted truth was finally being untangled and set straight.

"How you feeling?" Remus whispered once the members had left.

"Like I just fell down nine flights of stairs," Harry rubbed his broken jaw.

"It's the potion, just think about Sirius being set free, it will take some of the pain away," he squeezed Harry's hand comfortingly.

Harry nodded as the Ministry members filed back into the room.

"Have we reached a verdict?" Christi addressed the jurors.

A women stood, "Yes, we have, Arthur?"

"We agree that Peter Pettigrew is guilty of betraying Lily, and James Potter, and murdering twelve people, working for You-Know-Who, killing Cedric Diggory, and helping him regain power," Arthur Weasley said. "And even though he did escape Azkaban, and is unregistered Animagi, we believe his time in Azkaban, and on the run is enough punishment and on the grounds that he does register himself, we pronounce Sirius Black, on all grounds of offense, not guilty."

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