** Oh come on. I didn't think it was that much off a cliffy. Oh well, you lot certainly know how to keep a girl writing. And I have the whole of Saturday afternoon.

Can't you think for yourselves? Does there have to be a reason for James being there? Well, I suppose there does, but you could just say that there was no reason really, he just didn't feel like being dead anymore.

I'm glad you liked it! I hope you will like this one too. I am really sorry ESP. I wish you could be here to read this (and review it) I didn't think you were leaving so soon! Oh well, you can read it when you get back.

I am in a weird mood because I just got back from school and we're doing Romeo and Juliet, and I was playing watsisname, Romeo's cousin, and then we watched the video and the guy who played my part was slimy. Ewwwwwwwww!

PLEASE DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE I CAN FIND NO GOOD CAN COME OF THIS ? I can't find it anywhere, and I can't remember whom it's by.

Anyway, I have blabbed enough now. Onto the tale!

The Trial of Sirius Black Chapter 12

The room went still. Harry wondered whether anyone was still conscious – he certainly didn't think he was. The form of James Potter was indistinct and blurry around the edges, and kept flickering in places.

It was like watching an especially bad pirate copied video, like the ones Dudley had brought home last summer, and claimed that his friends had given them to him as an early birthday present. Aunt Petunia had insisted that he bin the lot.

Sirius and James Potter stared at each other, and then Sirius took a step back.

"James?" he whispered.

James Potter looked down at himself. He looked around. He took in where he was, and the thousands of people watching him 

Remus had moved around the platform until he could see his friends clearly.

James Potter looked around at him too. And then he spoke.

"Oh not again."

His voice sounded distant, like ancient church bells a few miles down the road. At his words, Sirius grinned, Remus ran forward with as much speed as he could muster, Harry sat down again with a thump, and Denicofitus fainted.

James looked around at Sirius, his eyes bright and gleaming. He was smiling now, a happy smile that made him look suddenly like the man Harry recognised from his photos. "Sirius!"

Sirius reached out a hand, but James drew back. "Don't bother," he said in that oh so distant voice. "It'll just go right through me. Being dead does that to you."

Sirius smiled weakly. James turned to Remus. "Remus! But – how did I get here? Why am I here?"

Both men looked straight at Harry, who stood up again, his knees shaking, his legs like jelly. But if he couldn't face his own father, who could he face? Certainly not Lord Voldemort.

James Potter's eyes lifted to see Harry. He wasn't wearing glasses, and his robes were simple, black, like Harry's school ones.

He squinted. "Harry?"

Despite himself, Harry smiled.

"Yeah."

"What on earth did you do?"

Harry felt as if he'd been slapped.

"I was only trying to stop the Dementors from murdering Sirius!" he exclaimed. "Not much of a big deal, then!"

"Harry, calm down." That voice could have made Harry do anything. He calmed down.

The ghost, or whatever it was, of James Potter suddenly looked frantic.

"What? Murdering you? What the hell for? What did you do this time?"  The question was not aimed at Harry, which was good because he knew he wouldn't have been able to answer if it had been.

Sirius turned away, not meeting anyone's eyes. Harry suddenly saw that he looked old, and strained. But Sirius wasn't old. He wasn't even fifty.

"What happened?"  James asked Remus. "This looks like a court room."

"It is," said Remus, his voice quiet, but not enough that the whole room couldn't hear him. "Sirius was on trial. They – they think – they think he sold you, James. To Voldemort."

"What?????"

"You heard."

"But…but… didn't he tell them? That we switched?"

"Yes," Harry heard himself saying, before Remus could say a word. "But who'd believe him?"

James Potter started to laugh. He laughed so long that several of the witches who had fainted when he'd arrived were awake by the time he'd stopped.

"You fools" he said when he could speak. "You complete idiots!"

"I use stronger words," Remus whispered to Dumbledore. Dumbledore smiled.      

"Sirius Black? A Death Eater? You're out of your minds, the lot of you! Peter Pettigrew's the traitor, little vermin. I hope you found him," he added to Sirius, who still wasn't looking his way. "Wait, Sirius, what's wrong?" 

He stopped laughing, and a hard look of concern spread across his face. "Tell me." Sirius only croaked and shook his head. Harry got out of his seat and came to stand next to his Godfather. Sirius grasped his arm so tightly it went white.

"The whole world thought it too, James. Sirius spent twelve years in Azkaban for Peter's crime, and the murder of twelve Muggles," said Remus, even softer.

"Oh hell. Sirius…"

"They thought I killed Peter too," said Sirius after a long pause.

"Then why didn't you tell someone? Before…"

"I didn't have time. Before I could tell Dumbledore, you were dead." He gestured vaguely in Dumbledore's direction, and James jumped.

"It was all my fault, even so," said Sirius in a choked voice. "I should have guessed…"

"Oh shut up. I'm dead, and there's nothing you can do about it. And I still can't believe they thought you were the Death Eater!" 

Harry was starting to feel a bit left out of this conversation. He had been alive then after all, and he was the one who had done this after all. He wanted to talk to his father, to see if he could remember anything about what had happened the night of the Third Task.

As if it could read his thoughts, the indistinct form of James Potter looked up at him. "You got back all right then? Your mother's been frantic. We never get any decent news out of old people, and everyone else who dies hasn't got a clue."

"So it was you," said Harry in awe, wondering why his father was being so formal. He was dead after all. Maybe he was a bit miffed at having to come back a second time.

James snorted. "Who'd you expect, the Gripper?"

"What?"

"Oh never mind." He lent in closer, so that he could see Harry properly, and then turned around when Remus muttered something. A pair of glasses zoomed in through one of the windows and landed in Remus' hand. He passed them to James, who raised his eyebrows at his old friend.

Remus shifted embarrassedly. "I found them. I was on the site first thing in the morning, after they'd cleared – after the place was cleaned up a bit. You probably think that's sick…" Harry gaped. He'd never heard Professor Lupin say 'sick' before. 

"Not at all. What's sick is that you've kept them all this time," said James with a smile. He put the glasses to his eyes. He had to hold them there, because otherwise they fell straight through his nose. Then he had a good look at Harry.

"Wow. He's like someone squashed me up so I was much shorter and then painted a nasty mark on my head."

"Yeah," said Sirius, with a grin that showed all his teeth. "Poor kid."     

Harry smiled at them both.

"If I may," said a cold voice from some where behind Remus. "I think that verdict still stands, unless someone else wants to offer some more proof?"

It was Snape. James stared at him. "He's right, Dad," said Harry quickly. The word sounded strange coming out of his mouth. "They've already said he's guilty."

"Well stuff that. I'm the one that was killed, and I say he's innocent."

Everyone looked at Wattling. He was so white you could have written on his face in white pencil and it would have shown up.

His notes were strewn all over the floor, the desk on which he lent was cracked.

"I say, did I do all that?" said James in a would-be-innocent voice.

"Yes," said everyone.

**OK, that's where I'm leaving it for today. And you CAN'T tell me that's a cliffy. OK, well maybe a little one! Muahahahaha! REVIEW!!!!!!**