Chapter Eighteen

Turn of Events

The court guards were still busy rounding up the kangaroos when Anna stepped into the corridor. She couldn't help wonder how he'd been able to get so many there so fast, shaking her head at the intended insult. Still, she had a feeling he wasn't far, but probably not right in the building either. Stepping out of the Ministry, she turned a corner and onto a busy Muggle street that wasn't visible before, glancing around. Seeing the pub across the street, she sighed and went over.

It didn't take long to spot where Sirius sat at one end of the bar, ordering a draft. At first Anna decided not to say anything, sitting down beside him and ordering the same.

"I got the tests back. Vallid says she thinks it'll be good enough to get him out," she said at last.

"Good," Sirius grunted, taking a drink.

"So what did I miss?" she inquired.

"Not much, just me making a jackass out of myself," Sirius muttered.

"Well that's nothing I haven't seen before," Anna said, earning a dirty look from her husband.

"I wouldn't have even gone in there if it wasn't your brother, you know. I can't stand him, and I can't stand courts. Every time I get up on that stand, I remember what happened at my 'trial' fifteen years ago. Every word I uttered was assumed to be a lie, no one wanted to even represent me," he said staring into his drink. "The Magistrates were a joke, most of them were suspected of taking bribes, and you only need to look at who went free to see that's true."

"Yes, but everyone's said it's been a lot different since Muse was appointed."

"On the surface, maybe, but has it really changed? Malfoy walks free while everyone he hates seems to end up under the light. Azkaban jails one of the few men brave enough to stand up to the Death Eaters, while many of them still roam free, unpunished for their crimes."

"Let's not get Thomas Craw into this. I don't want to get into that argument again." Anna said abruptly.

"Fine. But I know you well enough to know that you don't think this system is any better than I do," Sirius grunted.

"For different reasons," Anna said, nodding. "But I also get the feeling in a different court, you'd probably be in contempt for whatever it was you did in there."

"He isn't exactly in this court's favor at the moment either," said a voice behind them.

"Hi Archie! Working usual or Not-working usual?" The bartender asked cheerfully as Muse took a seat on the other side of Sirius.

"Working," Muse said. The bartender nodded and made him a glass of tonic water and lime before heading back to the other side of the bar. "As for you, Mr. Black, I'd like to see you in my office the moment we are done for the day."

"So how much trouble am I in?" Sirius asked him.

"That depends," Muse said, sipping his water. "On whether you show up or not. If I were you, I wouldn't even go back into the courtroom. Rather, I would head straight over there and wait quietly until I'm ready to see you," he spoke almost casually, but there was also something in his voice that spoke of warning. "Feel free to finish your beer first," he added, picking up his glass and heading over to where he saw Dumbledore sitting in a corner, dressed again as Mr. Door.

"You are going to go over there, aren't you?" Anna said the moment they were alone again.

"Yeah," he decided, guzzling down the rest of his drink and getting up. "You sure Severus is going to get off?"

"Pretty sure," Anna said, walking with him as he headed out the door.

"Good, because either way, I'm not letting him go back to that prison," Sirius said seriously as they walked back across the street.

Counselor Vallid felt as if she'd won the lottery. It showed as she strode up to the Magistrates as they took their places, looking as if she owned the world and everything on it.

"Magistrates, Auror Potter is now in the courtroom. However, because of some startling new evidence, I hope that the prosecution would indulge me if I called a witness before Auror Potter takes the stand," she said ceremoniously, nodding to the prosecution.

"No objections," said Ballenze, curious in spite of himself.

"Then I would like to call Madame Hermione Granger to the stand."

Hermione quickly got up and went to the platform, quickly stating her name and position as Head Librarian and Symbology instructor at Hogwarts.

"You have known the defendant for some time?" Vallid inquired.

"Nearly ten years," Hermione nodded. "First as a student and then from working at the school."

"Did you associate with him much during the time you were his colleague?" she asked.

"No, actually, I spend more time with his wife, Professor Craw, so often came to associate with him through her rather than directly." Hermione said.

"You were present the day he was arrested, correct?"

"Yes, we were all at The Three Broomsticks, at a table we reserved for professors."

"And many people saw you sitting together, correct?"

"Oh, I'm sure everyone there did. We were near the bottom of the balcony, and of course Rosmerta was there, and there were several of us at the table."

"Can you remember what you were doing at the time it occurred?"

"Definitely. I was telling a few professors, including Professor Snape, of an experiment I had in Symbology that the students were working on. I remember it had taken me quite a while to tell them about it, because it was a complicated setup involving a chessboard. And for a change, they all seemed mildly interested."

"But something happened during that discussion which you found important enough to bring to me. Can you tell everyone what it was?"

"Well, after I had got done telling them about the experiment, Severus, who had been listening the entire time, had noticed that he had let his drink sit for too long and it had warmed up a bit. He's a bit particular about… well everything, actually, but the point is, he paused a moment before drinking it to chill his wine with his own wand," Hermione said. "Which means that the last spell cast with his wand before he got arrested was the Chill spell, and not the Killing Curse."

"How many people were witness to this?" Vallid asked.

"Everyone at the table, eight of us all told, but it was such a common spell that I'm not sure if anyone really noticed or thought about it. In fact, I hadn't realized the significance of it until several days later. I knew something had been bothering me about the wand, I just hadn't known what. Then when I remembered it, I kept wondering why the chill spell was not the last spell recorded on the wand."

"And did you come up with a working theory for that question, Madame Granger?"

"Yes," she nodded. "The only logical conclusion was that Cornelius Fudge must have been murdered after Professor Snape was arrested." The court broke out in a murmur, but Muse let it go, thinking they deserved a bit of room for that one.

"And how do you think that was accomplished?" Vallid asked.

"Whoever the real murderer is had access to a Time-Turner. The person responsible premeditatively made a decision to do it, watched the murder play out, then waited until the wand was confiscated by the Ministry so that he could obtain it and commit the crime afterwards," Hermione explained confidently.

"No further questions," Vallid said, smiling warmly at her, stepping a way. Ballenze stood up thoughtfully.

"Madame Granger, do you have any experience in investigations at all?" he asked.

"Well, yes, but if you mean officially, no. I do have extensive knowledge about Time-Turners, being that I used to use one myself. I believe Professor McGonagall still has my permits on file if you need them," she added.

"Then perhaps you don't realize how difficult it would be for someone to have gotten a hold of a wand after it had been turned over to evidence," Ballenze said.

"Actually, yes, I'm quite aware of it," Hermione replied. "I didn't say it was easy, only that it's the most logical answer."

"In fact, only a handful of top officials in the Ministry could possibly have access to it, isn't that correct?" he pointed out.

"Objection," Vallid said standing. "Madame Granger is not a member of the Ministry and can hardly be called an expert of their internal procedures by any standard."

"Exactly," Ballenze agreed. "I withdraw the last one, and no further questions."

"Did you wish to call Auror Potter to the stand for the prosecution?" Vallid asked him.

"Not at this time, no," Ballenze admitted.

"Good. Then I'd like to call Auror Potter to the stand," Vallid said. "For the defense," she added, smiling enigmatically.

Harry got up and walked to the platform as if he belonged there. In fact, he had been there so many times to testify in Death Eater cases and others that it was beginning to be old hat to him. He stated his name and titles as if nobody had heard of him, noting the sparkle in Vallid's eyes as he did so.

"Mr. Potter, you've only been an Auror about a year now, correct?"

"Yes."

"And how many arrests have you accomplished?" she asked.

"Thirty seven," he said.

"That's a very impressive number for your first year," Vallid said with a smile.

"Yes, well, there was and still is a lot of cleanup left with the Voldemort mess," Harry explained, glancing pointedly at Lucius before turning back to Vallid. Lucius stared darkly back at him. He then got up and slipped out the back.

"You have a fair amount of knowledge then of the justice and law enforcement systems then, and the government?"

"Yes, I have working knowledge in those fields both here and in the United States, actually. I also have Auror licenses in both."

"Tell me then, were you informed at all about Madame Granger's findings?"

"Yes, I'd say I was one of the first she spoke to about it, as well as her fiancé and Anna Hughes Black, who sometimes works for the Ministry."

"And what did you think of her theory?"

"I thought it made a lot of sense, but asked her not to say anything until we had more evidence to back it up," Harry said.

"So were you able to gather enough evidence, then?"she asked.

"I guess we're going to find out," Harry said. Vallid grinned at him.

"Tell us about your investigations then."

"Well, first we had to find out who possibly could have had access to the wand before it was spell tested, and we found that there were only three people with enough authority to do that; Minister Weasley, Minister Brown, and the current Minister of Mysteries. We also checked the Ministry's Time-Turner to see if anyone had possession of it during the same window."

"And was that knowledge something you had normal access to?"

"Well, no," Harry admitted. "I had to call in a favor of a friend who had to call in another favor with someone," he said, glancing out to the spectators. Ron grinned back at him. "But in the end we were able to get the information we were looking for."

"And did any of them match the correct period of time?"

"Yes. The Minister of Mysteries seemed to be the only one who had access to both the wand and the Time-Turner."

"And did you know who that was?"

"Not at the time," Harry admitted. "Mysteries tends to keep all that information to themselves when possible. However, since it was only circumstantial evidence, we got permission from a Ministry Investigator to run a parallel investigation on the Fudge residence."

"And who was it that gave you that permission?"

"Deputy Thurspire," Harry said.

"Was there anything in particular that you were looking for that you didn't think the Ministry investigation handled?"

"Well, yes, quite a bit," Harry said. "Thanks in great part to Anna Hughes Black. She works as a correspondent for the Ministry concerning Muggles and who has connections to several Muggle investigators who knows about the magic world. She suggested that by using Muggle means to investigate, that they might uncover some clues that the Ministry might not have thought of. In the process, it also revealed another part of information that we missed initially."

"Which was what?"

"The person who killed Mr. Fudge must have been allowed in by someone in the house. No one can get in the house except by invitation. Therefore, whoever it was, Fudge trusted them enough to let him in. Considering his paranoia, which I'm sure many can testify to, it'd almost had to have been a close friend."

"And did the Muggle evidence you found correlate with that?"

"Most definitely. The Muggle team had taken some DNA samples around where the corpse had been, inside the Ministry vault, and conducted some fiber tests of the surrounding areas."

"Objection, DNA tests?" Ballenze said, "Really, can we trust such methods in a magic case?"

"Counselor Ballenze, I'll have you know that in some ways Muggle investigations far surpass our own at this point," snapped Vallid, glancing up to the Magistrate. "Magistrates, the British government acknowledges that DNA tests are admissible in court and as investigation tools. Since we're under their jurisdiction, it legally is admissible here as well. In fact, this method can identify with 99% accuracy whether or not a person's chemical makeup was left in a particular area. Considering that that this DNA test sample taken from the living room did not match the defendant at all, and yet it was also found in the Ministry vault itself, proving that someone else may have had an opportunity," Vallid said, getting out the folder and handing the lab test over to the Magistrate. Ballenze hovered over it, trying to make sense of it.

"Auror Potter," Vallid continued the moment the evidence was accepted. "Were you able to get test samples of a subject's DNA to compare to prove beyond reasonable doubt who was in the Ministry Vault?"

"Yes," Harry said. "It was the Minister of Mysteries himself, Ludo Bagman." The courtroom broke into a loud rumble of surprise. Several looked towards where Bagman was sitting at the beginning of the trial, but the seat had been vacated. Suddenly there was a call from the back of the chamber and everyone looked over to see Arthur Weasley coming forward with a firm grasp of Ludo's arm with one hand while the other held a wand under his neck.

"Look who I found trying to sneak out with the kangaroos," Arthur said as the courtroom roar slowly subsided. "By the way, Bagman, you're under arrest. And trust me, I have every intention of a fully investigating the Mysteries department since you've been head of it while we're at it. Perhaps we'll finally get to the bottom of that nasty corruption problem that seems to crop up now and again."

"Counselor Ballenze, Minister Brown, in light of this new evidence, do you still want to pursue the current prosecution before the court?" Magistrate Muse inquired as soon as he got the court settled again.

"No, sir, not at this time," Ballenze said. Brown whispered in his ear and went over to join Arthur.

"Case dismissed then," Muse said with a thin smile as he and the other Magistrates stood, starting to talk among themselves of the consequences of what had just occurred.

As the Ministry guards came over to help Arthur, the chamber broke into excited chatter and discussion, for most of them had not even known that Bagman was the Minister to begin with.

Jennifer hadn't known either, but at that moment in time, she couldn't really care less as she pushed her way over to where Severus was standing and into his arms, laughing with relief. Hermione, Ron, and Harry soon stepped down to the floor and Vallid shook each of their hands in thanks, followed by a quiet but grateful nod from Severus. He took a deep breath but didn't say anything for a while, patiently waiting for Jennifer to release her hold a bit before finally acknowledging the rest.

"I can't believe Bagman was Minister of Mysteries all of this time," Hermione said, shaking her head. "But it does explain a few things, doesn't it?"

"Like that whole business with Miles Jasper. He was pumping the Death Eaters with potions for information, I think, and since everyone thought he was a fool, nobody suspected he was actually gathering intelligence," Harry said.

"I had almost forgotten about that," Ron said.

"And just how did you three find out he was the Minister?" Vallid asked. "That knowledge was only privy to the Minister of Magic and his direct staff."

"One of which happened to be Percy," Ron answered. "When this started to come out, Harry and I were able to convince him that someone in the Ministry was responsible, then he helped us get into the lab and the Ministry of Mysteries office for a DNA sample. That's when he broke down and told us who it was."

"Everyone thought Ludo was a complete clown that nobody ever took him seriously, being a Quidditch 'jock' as it were. Who better to head up the department then someone who actually isn't as stupid as everyone believed?" Hermione said.

"He was also a member of the Order of Equinox. In fact, he was one of the senior members," Harry said. "After Malfoy had lost the book there was a panic to get it back, and when Fudge got a hold of it, they began pressuring him for it. But Fudge was afraid of them by then, and he was also afraid what the Tome was capable of after what Lorcan tried to do with it. The trouble was, he didn't know who to trust with it. And he didn't think that Bagman would be the one to finally turn around and try to take it, they'd been friends for a long time.

"In fact, Bagman might not have risked killing him had Thurspire not went and questioned Snape for breaking into Fudge's house," Harry said. "Bagman decided that Thurspire might have been onto something, and that Dumbledore might have sent him specifically to try and get the book, so he devised this plan so that he could get hold of the book and make whoever got arrested for it take the fall. I don't think he necessarily was after Severus specifically, though. He was waiting for whoever the Ministry happened to arrest, taking the wand and going back to finish the chain of events, knowing that he would succeed before he ever did it," Harry finished. "He might have gotten away with it too if Hermione hadn't figured out the Time-Turner part."

"It was odd, we were sitting in the staff room mulling over it, and then the moment I heard the word 'time' it finally dawned on me," Hermione said. "Thank goodness it all worked out. It wouldn't have been the same walking down the main corridor on the second floor without hearing Severus' voice down the halls, bellowing at his students."

"I think I missed the color in Jennifer's cheeks as much as anything," Vallid agreed, "But there, it seems to be back again, doesn't it? Well done, you three. And well done Anna! I wonder where she is?" Vallid asked. "She deserves a lot of the credit here."
"I'll go find her," Harry offered and went out the chamber door, stopping to shake some of the Magistrates' hands on his way out. Dumbledore stepped up in his place, beaming warmly at them.

"So, Severus, now that you're a free man again, is there anything that you need before you start back to work?" Dumbledore asked. "You've had quite an ordeal, I imagine."

"A week," Severus said, still holding Jennifer as she turned around to look over at Dumbledore. "With Jennifer," he added.

"Classes are supposed to start back on Monday," Hermione pointed out.

"Oh, well, I'm sure I can convince Minerva to keep Audi on another week. Although she does keep things quite riled up, you know," Dumbledore said, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "And I doubt Professor Craw's classes would suffer too much from a week delay on Potions."

"Sir, I can help fill in, if Minerva doesn't mind," Hermione offered.

"Excellent idea," Dumbledore smiled. "I'm sure we can manage, but I for one will be quite glad to have you back on the job, Severus."

"No more than I," Severus agreed with a nod, glancing over to see Harry coming back over to them.

"Anna's outside, talking to Lucius Malfoy believe it or not," Harry said in a low voice. "Should I step in?" he asked, looking straight over towards Severus. "There's no sign of Sirius."

"Sirius is speaking with Magistrate Muse, I believe," Dumbledore said thoughtfully.

"I'll take care of this," Severus said, turning towards the door.

"Not without me you're not," Jennifer said, hurriedly catching up with him.

"Do you think she's all right?" Hermione asked Harry concernedly.

"Anna can take care of herself," Harry said reassuringly, "Besides, Malfoy's not likely to do anything out of line when all of his worst enemies are in the next room," he said, walking towards the door with Hermione not far behind. Ron, who had been interviewing Ballenze, suddenly broke off to meet up with them.

Dumbledore and Vallid watched them go before Dumbledore finally turned back to Vallid with a smile.

"You know, you were doing quite well, even without Harry's help," Dumbledore said as she let out a sigh of relief. "I'm not sure it would have turned out as bad as you think it would have, even if he hadn't found out about the wand. Quite a few of the council weren't convinced that he had done it. You might have won."

"Maybe," Vallid said doubtfully, "but thank God I don't have to find out," she added. "Want to go to Flannigan's? The drinks are on me."

"Nonsense, Lunette, the drinks are on me," Dumbledore smiled at her, "After all, you did save me from having to replace one of my most dependable professors. I'm not sure the school would be ready to have Auror Belle teaching full time."

"I'm not sure the world would be ready for that either," Vallid chuckled as the two of them walked out.

Lucius Malfoy was far from happy when he had stepped out into the hall during Harry's testimony, watching with disgust as the last of the signs of the kangaroos were swept away, leaving the dull white hallway spotless again. So young Harry still had his eye on him, did he? Well let him pry, Malfoy thought to himself. There was little he could do to him at this point, for Lucius had already been tried as a Death Eater and it had been thrown out. Even Potter, the justice 'expert' that he was, should realize he couldn't be tried for it again. In any case, this particular trial was quickly losing its appeal now that it was obvious that Severus was going to get off on this wild explanation of theirs. Lucius decided to save his stomach and utter revulsion and wait outside for Narcissa and Draco.

A few minutes later there was a sudden burst of activity from the backdoor of the courtroom. Lucius peered around the corner in time to see Bagman getting ready to scurry around it, only to be stopped by Arthur Weasley, who had come out the front door and barreled past Malfoy with his wand out to cut him off. Putting a wand to Bagman's neck, Weasley walked him back into the courtroom. Lucius squinted at that thoughtfully, then he realized that there was someone else in the hallway watching what had just happened. He turned to see that the woman standing beside him had a grim look of satisfaction on her face.

He recognized Anna at once, of course, although he had only seen her in passing or with her brother or Vallid. He also had heard quite a number of stories about her mutant abilities, although he wasn't quite sure if he believed any of them. He looked at her calculatingly, uncertain of how close she was to her brother… after all, it was obvious that her husband hated him. But he also knew that she was teaching at Hogwarts, so it was always better to be cautious about such things.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Black. Did you get tired of the trial as well?" Lucius asked. Anna looked over at him with an even expression.

"No, I just walked Sirius over to Muse's office and he already told me how it was going, actually," she explained.

"Not in too much trouble, I hope?" Lucius asked. "He's been a very profitable investment partner. I'd hate to lose him over a little outburst in court."

Anna didn't say anything at first, pondering to herself whether or not Sirius could actually could be jailed again. She had a feeling that he would find his way out no matter what restrictions were put on him, and would probably end up a fugitive for the rest of his life.

"It would appear that your brother is getting out as well," Lucius added with an obvious lack of enthusiasm.

"He wasn't guilty," Anna said.

"He wasn't guilty of murdering Fudge, perhaps," Lucius said, "But he admitted that he stole the copy of Merlin's spell book, which should have rightfully gone to me as its true owner."

"If you are the book's true owner, why don't you ask Dumbledore to give it back?" Anna replied.

"Do you really think for a moment he would? I think we both know better than that."

"And just where, exactly, did you get it in the first place?" Anna asked.

"I'm a man of means, Mrs. Black, and a man of means can acquire anything with a bit of ingenuity."

"Acquire anything, or dispose of anyone?" Anna challenged him. Lucius squinted at her. "My brother mentioned to me once that you were a seventh year student when he started and he used to run errands for you. I don't suppose that you were one of the friends he happened to give an address to that year?"

"I think you underestimate your brother, either that or he's got you as much fooled as most of the rest of this court," Lucius said, his eyes turning cold. "Did it ever occur to you that perhaps he might have told Voldemort himself where they were? He hated his father with a passion for marrying a Muggleborn, even more than that he hated your mudblood mother for daring to be there. He told us all that, many, many times, and I'm sure that if you don't believe me, there are several others that would happily confirm that fact. Tell me, Mrs. Black, if he felt so terrible about his parents getting killed, why ever would he have spent the rest of his youth serving the man responsible for it?"

"Severus only made one mistake, and that was trusting the wrong people," Anna snapped back. "And in the process it ruined his trust in the entire human race, not that I blame him for that part of it. He has never maliciously or intentionally gone after someone out of spite, which is more than I can say for someone else in this hallway."

"Oh really? And what about his murder attempt on your husband?" Lucius was quick to point out.

"Sirius forgave him, that's all that matters."

"But can you forgive him?" Lucius said with a serious expression. "Or do you even know what really happened? How much has Severus actually told you about his past, and how much did he just conveniently smooth away?" Anna suddenly broke out laughing, making Lucius blink with surprise.

"You know, you're a manipulative bastard, but I've played this game too long not to know when someone's playing. I don't know if you're actually foolish enough to try and attempt to turn me against him or if you're just trying to see where I stand, but nothing you say could possibly change my opinion about anything."

"Trouble, Anna?" Severus' calm voice rang out from behind Malfoy, who quickly took a step to the side so that his back wasn't turned to him. He met Severus' steady gaze, who was watching him carefully but expressionlessly. Beside him stood Jennifer, her face expressionless as well but her eyes were flashing dangerously.

"Not really," Anna said, going over and hugging her brother with such warmth it even surprised him. "It's good to see you out again!"

"Thanks in large part to you, it would appear," Severus said, stiffly giving her a brief hug back.

"The least I can do for my brother," Anna said with a smile. "But you owe me a long talk."

"Nice to see some justice served in there… for a change," Jennifer said, looking pointedly over at Malfoy who glanced back at her with open dislike.

"We do what we can," Magistrate Muse said as he, Arthur Weasley, and Sirius stepped up behind them. Sirius seemed unusually solemn as he nodded to everyone, avoiding Severus' direct gaze.

"Ah, Lucius, do you have a moment?" Arthur asked with a thin smile. "The Ministry would like to ask you a few questions about how you acquired that spell book that Lorcan stole from you? The Artifacts department is quite interested in knowing exactly why it was never registered. I'm sure Draco would be happy to see your wife home while we talk."

"I'll go inform them then," Lucius said stiffly.

"Allow me to walk with you," Arthur offered, smiling again. Lucius smiled back at him very unpleasantly, nodding to Sirius, Muse, and lastly to Anna before finally heading back towards the courtroom.

"You see, Sirius, the system does work sometimes," Muse said, "when we have people willing to do everything to make it work," he added, smiling approvingly at Anna.

"The day Malfoy goes in jail and stays in jail, I'll agree with you," Sirius said.

Severus nodded at Sirius but stayed silent, distracted by Jennifer's arm on his. Then again, perhaps it wasn't such a bad system after all. Of course, he could do with some changes in the investigations department, he thought to himself as they turned to walk down the hallway, attempting to avoid the string of reporters in the main corridor. He was not surprised to see Ron waiting around the side passage waiting for him for a statement.

"Well? Would you rather have me, or them?" Ron asked, pointing down the main corridor. "I can always call them, you know, if you don't want me to do it," he said slyly.

"This is your fault, you know," Severus accused Jennifer, "For starting that school newspaper."

"I know, don't you love it?" Jennifer grinned. Severus decided not to comment. Instead, he nodded to Ron, who walked them the rest of the way out.