CHAPTER 18 – For a Fair Judgment
Sirius grinned at Harry from his motorcycle and, ignoring completely the gargoyle's presence, said, "climb here, let's go."
"What about him?" asked Harry.
"Harry, this is a gargoyle!"
"He's very nice, Sirius," said Harry and his godfather glared at him. "I didn't know you had such a prejudice."
"I think you've been spending too much time with Rubeus Hagrid."
"Sirius, he's saved my life."
"I'm getting sick of this thing, it seems everybody saves everybody's life around here..."
"Gérard don't want a father and a son to argue because of him," said the gargoyle meekly.
"He's not my father, he's my godfather," Harry looked gravely at Sirius, who was looking back at him in disbelief. It seemed Harry was willing to have his first adolescence rebelliousness outbreak, and with him. After everything that had happened the past few hours, it was the most absurd thing to happen.
"Harry, we're not taking a gargoyle to Hogwarts... it's not like carrying a kitten to home after a rainstorm, I can guarantee you that."
"Gérard does not want to go, Harry Potter," the gargoyle cut him off.
"What? You want to stay here?"
"This is Gérard's home. There is nothing out there Gérard wants for himself... there is only one thing Gérard asks the wizard on the strange-looking horse who barks like a dog... could thou fix my wing? There is nothing to worry over doing so. Gargoyle wings cannot take Gérard beyond the gap... Gérard just want to be able to go a little higher... a little higher than the bottom."
Sirius grinned. He knew that gargoyle wings could not ever take that rocky body higher than 30 feet from the ground. Without even hesitating for a moment, he pointed his wand at the gargoyle's broken wing and said, "Reparo!"
And Gérard's wings were brand new again. The gargoyle tested his wings with a grin on his face, which, even consisting of a rocky material, could show the joy of a one thousand years wait. He thanked Sirius and then escorted him and Harry up to a point where he could not go higher, and then he started waving while he saw the motorcycle's light fading away in the darkness. On the way, Sirius told Harry what had happened and how he managed to make the motorcycle pass through the barrier, which was considerably easier after the Death Eater were knocked out. When they got to the surface, there were lots of Aurors and policemen from the Ministry.
Two Ministry policemen kept watching two mummies who had ropes all around them and Harry assumed the mummies were Trelawney and Wormtail. He could also see Sheeba in a corner being tended to by a very short wizard physician; Ron and Hermione sitting on a stone and sharing a blanket; Snape talking to Albus Dumbledore, who was listening to him with a grave expression on his face. Next to the pool of rats, Mad Eye Moody seemed to be making a spell to keep them down there and being watched by Cornelius Fudge, who was visibly nervous. When he saw Sirius, he shouted, "Go catch him, that's Sirius Black!"
"Don't be ridiculous," said Snape, "I've already told you he's innocent and now he's even able to prove it."
"Severus Snape is right," said Dumbledore, walking towards the Minister of Magic with an expression on his face Harry had seen only a few times in his life, "I've been asking you for a fair judgment for Sirius Black for two years, Cornelius, and you've been refusing to do it since then. Now I have two respectable wizards such as Sheeba Amapoulos and Severus Snape as witnesses and now I don't ask you, but I demand a fair judgment for Sirius Black. He deserves this reparation."
Fudge gulped, he could not do anything about it now.
"And he has the right to wait for the trial at liberty, that's the least you can do about him after keeping him for twelve years unfairly at Azkaban with your Dementors."
**
Afterwards, Harry was told why he, Sirius and Snape had been the only ones who had not been affected by Wormtail's rats; Snape had a protective garment too, and it was him who had taught Sheeba how to weave it. He was still held back at the hospital with Ron and Hermione, and all of them had a bottle of rejuvenating serum floating by their sides. They were sitting at a drawing room with large armchairs, chatting. Ron and Hermione told him how Sirius gave Sheeba the kiss of life and Hermione emphasized that it cost the person who had given it a year of his life. Harry told them how Voldemort Disapparated, and how he thought he was going to die at the bottom of the abyss and about his stroll with Gérard, the gargoyle.
Then, Ron asked, "You know who's also here, don't you, Harry? Cho Chang. She's been duped by that loathsome Trelawney, it seemed she was willing to talk to the dead..."
"Yeah, I know," said Harry. "I'm going to visit her later," he added, but did not feel the faintest desire to do so. "Why don't we go to see Sheeba?"
They got to Sheeba's room, and she was currently being paid a visit by three witches, and she seemed to be much better then. She was still too pale, very true, and the mark on her forehead looked even darker, but she was smiling. The witches were speaking to her so cheerfully they could hear the sound of their laughter in the corridor.
Lupin and Sirius were talking by the window, and eventually, Sirius looked annoyed at the witches ("jealousy," Harry thought). The sun on Lupin's face highlighted the dark circles under his eyes and he looked tired, as usual.
"Harry!" Sheeba exclaimed, "Come to meet my friends: these are Silvia Spring," she said, pointing at a rather chubby witch, with a very friendly face and really beautiful hair, "Beth Fall," a witch with tanned skin, black hair and a malicious stare, "and Liza Lionheart," a red-haired witch with an aristocratic mien and a rather reserved stare. "This is my godson, isn't he adorable?"
And it was followed by a praise session in which the witches made him embarrassed, talking only about his boldness and bravery. Harry tried to look around, feeling his ears burn, and then, he saw...
A little bit farther from Sheeba's bed, there was the most adorable teenage witch he had ever seen: she was a brunette with a large face and malicious black eyes. She looked at him and grinned sheepishly... Harry felt an urge to invite her for a ride on his broomstick. He did not even pay much attention when somebody said, "Bianca, come here to meet Harry Potter."
The teenage witch got closer to him and said a very quiet "hi" and he replied in the same tone of voice. . Just then he realized she was Beth Fall's daughter and wondered why this girl was not at Hogwarts.
"She studies at High Hill, Harry," Sheeba told him as soon as the witches left the room.
"Who?"
"Bianca, Harry. I saw the way you looked at her," said Sheeba, giggling. "Send her an owl, she's gonna love it..."
"Speaking of owls, Sheeba, there is one more for you," said Sirius, holding jealously a showy black owl. "I think you correspond with too many people," he added, giving her a magical card that danced and sang, giving wishes for her to be completely healthy again soon.
After some time, a one-eyed yellowish owl arrived and Sirius read the name of the sender, "Who is Sobrenatural de Almeida?"
"He's friend of mine, from Brazil."
"When I say there's too many people..."
**
Sirius's judgment took place a few days later. Sirius presented himself in front of the judge and Ablus Dumbledore presented the defense in five minutes, calling only Snape and Sheeba to testify (which frustrated Ron a lot, because he had willed to take a part in it, as ever). The simple proof of Wormtail's existence seemed to acquit Sirius.
When Avatar Fernandez, Auror and Ministry attorney, stood up, Harry thought some sort of debate was about to begin, but he just said, "Before irrefutable proves, the Ministry of Magic retracts all the accusations against Sirius Black, returning him all his past functions, and asks this trial to award a medal to him for showing bravery on several occasions."
Simple just like this. In less than twenty minutes, Sirius Black was completely free.