7. Free at last

"So! We see each other again, Cornelius Fudge. You will not like it, but you will have to face some facts today. And they are not pleasant for you, I can promise you that much," Sirius said with an icy tone.

Remus held him tightly. He hoped that Sirius would be able to remain calm. Albus had set up a conference table and had called for Winky to take care of Ronja and Rashid. He brought the house-elf to the children and told her:

"Winky, these are Ronja and Rashid Lupin. Would you please take them back to Gryffindor tower and watch out for them until we are through with our meeting and Sirius and Remus can take care of them again? There's also a young dog up there, she needs to go out now and then, but only with you firmly along, you have to protect them with your life, is that understood?"

"I is taking care of them, sir! I is liking children!"

"Very good, Winky. Ronja, Rashid, you will only be bored here, please go with Winky, she'll be your guardian."

"Yes, Professor Dumbledore," said Ronja, taking the initiative as usual," Come, Rashid!"

Albus guided everyone to sit down. They were still waiting for Arthur and Ashley Grover, who turned up just a tiny bit late. Finally they were all. Albus started the meeting by asking Ashley Grover:

"Ashley, will you please give us your report?"

"Yes, Albus, gladly. Well, we questioned Pettigrew, of course and he firmly denied to be Peter Pettigrew. To his bad luck though we are in possession of a device which magically gives information about the person it's placed over, this person may be dead or alive. We can firmly exclude an impostor. If Pettigrew was really dead and someone impersonated him, then we could rule out Polyjuice potion and it would have to be Dark Arts to be able to do it. But the device said it was Pettigrew. We fired questions at him. Here's some of his answers, given under Veritaserum. May I ask to cast a silencing spell over Mr Black, so that he does not yet hear the conversation? I would like to record his version afterwards."

Sirius immediately agreed to that and was completely blocked out from the conversation. He only felt Remus' hand in his and gave him a small smile, closing his eyes even to not see the reactions of the people around the table.

Grover put a wand on the table and said a spell to start the recorded conversation:

"Pettigrew, what happened to you that you were not, in fact, killed on November 1st 1981?"

"I was tracked down by Sirius Black. I blew up the street to cause the explosion, I only wanted a diversion, I didn't want to kill all those people."

"So you killed them, and not Black?"

"Yes, I did."

"But why was he after you? Shouldn't you have been after him?"

"He knew I had given the secret of the Potter's location to my Lord."

"Your Lord?"

"Lord Voldemort, my master."

"Do you tell me that you are a Death Eater?"

"Yes."

"And does your giving away the secret of the Potter's location indicate that you were in fact their Secret Keeper?"

"Yes."

"Not Black?"

"Not Black."

Grover stopped the conversation and said:

"There's a lot more, but for the case we have to discuss today it's not all relevant. It concerns other Death Eater matters mainly. The fact is, that Pettigrew told us that he was the Potter's Secret Keeper. That throws a very different light on the whole matter."

He took the silencing spell from Sirius and asked him gently:

"May we have your statement now, Mr Black? Please tell me what happened on the night the Fidelius charm was cast?"

"I had gone to Godric's Hollow and talked to James and Lily. It had become clear to me that I was not the best choice for their Secret Keeper. At that time I had wrongly suspected Remus Lupin to be the spy, so I particularly did not want him to know that I had suggested another Secret Keeper. I wanted him to believe it was me, just like everyone else was to think it was me. And I suggested Peter Pettigrew instead of me. After a long discussion James and Lily agreed and we called Peter over. I left them then, after having said my goodbyes. After the charm was cast, I went to check on Peter every day to make sure he was still safe. We all planned to go into hiding individually. And then, a week after the spell had been cast, I went to check on Peter as I did every night, but he wasn't there. There was not the slightest trace of a struggle, he had not mentioned a plan to go out that night and he should have been in his flat. I waited for about half an hour then I began to fear for Peter's life and for the Potter's so I immediately went out to Godric's Hollow, where you all know what I found.

I was out of my mind. It dawned to me that if Peter had not been hurt he must have been the spy. Before I could tell anyone anything I went after him and tracked him down. Things happened much too fast then for me to do anything, Peter called out for everyone to hear that I had betrayed James and Lily, then blew up the street and vanished. Left me in hysterics."

"He apparated away?" Grover asked curiously.

"No. He transformed. He's an Animagus. His Animagus form is the rat. He actually had time to magically cut off a finger of his right hand and then he ran away with the other rats. The Law Enforcement squad turned up just a few minutes after Fudge. They arrested me and from then on they put me under a muting spell so I couldn't tell anyone what really happened. I was pushed before Crouch who declared me to be Voldemort's right hand and shipped me off to Azkaban."

"You are telling us that you had not even been allowed to speak for your defence?"

"Yes, that's what I'm saying."

"That was illegal, Fudge!" Ashley said calmly but accusingly.

"The times were difficult, we couldn't grant everyone a trial and it was a clear case!" Fudge reasoned.

"No, it was not. Not even then. You were to investigate the case and if Black was not allowed to speak then you were not allowed to send him to Azkaban. Is that why you have given the order to the Dementors to have him Kissed if they were able to catch him? To make it impossible for him to speak up? I will have to roll out several of those 'clear' Death Eater cases again, Fudge, I'm afraid that there will have to be some investigation on yours and Crouch's doings."

"I will have you removed from your office, if you dare doing anything of the likes, Grover!" Fudge threatened.

Dumbledore intervened.

"Cornelius, you cannot continue to hide your head in the sand. It looks like you are willing to sacrifice hundreds of wizards and witches, especially Muggle-born ones or half-bloods, just to be able to keep your office. Make no mistake you are not a dictator and we have the means to have you removed if we see fit. So please act reasonably and finally acknowledge the signs of the times. Everyone makes mistakes, and if mistakes can be corrected there is simply no reason for not doing it."

"That's rebellion, Dumbledore!"

"No it is not. We would rather fight this fight with you than against you. You are, in fact, just wasting our precious time we need to prepare for the fight against Voldemort."

"There is no indication that You-Know-Who is back, Dumbledore - none!"

"Ah yes, and who has been able to convince you of this? Lucius Malfoy? Or Walden McNair? Who, by the way, is in a cell next to Pettigrew for aiding him in his raid of Professor Remus Lupin's house, which held, just coincidentally, Harry Potter."

"McNair was on the hunt for a werewolf! That's what he told us."

"Do you know who that werewolf is?" Dumbledore asked sweetly.

"Of course not, but there must be one in the area if McNair was after it," Fudge said grumpily.

"He sits precisely opposite you, Fudge, and it would have been murder had McNair gone through! And you would have excused that murder!" Dumbledore roared.

"It's not murder to kill a werewolf, as you know very well, Dumbledore!" Fudge shouted.

"It's murder, if you go out and kill an innocent citizen who has never committed any form of crime and who, on top of that, is a very responsible person and secludes himself securely on the nights of the full moon. On every night of the full moon, Fudge. You might look into your own history and see whether you have as clean a conscience as Remus Lupin has!"

"Be that as it may, it was not what McNair really was after. This was just the excuse that would be given if he was caught. Only we didn't buy it in spite of the bow and silver arrows he had with him. Because he did not head for the shed in which the werewolf sat through the night. He and his colleague Goyle went straight for one of the windows on the ground floor to get inside of the house. The Aurors arrested them right there as you well know, Fudge. I can give you their statements right here on this wand, if you like. What we also did, upon request of Professor Dumbledore, was check their forearms. All three of them clearly wear the Dark Mark. Mr Black, would you please show us your left arm - or better still, both arms?"

Sirius pulled back the sleeve of his robes and showed them his bare forearms. Only some scars were visible.

"No Dark Mark. No Death Eater. You could have checked for that right on the spot where you arrested Black, Fudge, but you did not. You were in charge, but the Aurors did not either. Why not? It was the first thing to look for, wasn't it? You also did not check the wand for the last spell that had been cast."

"He could have removed the Dark Mark. Or he could have concealed it," Fudge said.

"You cannot remove that Mark. Both, McNair and Goyle confirmed it in their statements. Only Voldemort can put it there. He could have decided not to give Black a Dark Mark, but according to our information it is the means to summon all the other Death Eaters. They feel a burning pain, put their wands on it and apparate to the spot where their Master is. Quite ingenious actually."

"Look at the scars he has, he must have been able to get it away!" Fudge insisted, but this time he had gone too far.

"You want to know where these scars come from, Fudge?" Sirius asked calmly, "Then let me tell you where they come from. They're the memory of five attempts to commit suicide during the first three years at Azkaban. You know about them, because they inform you about such things. But the Dementors do not tolerate suicide inside their domain. They smell it. They feel the blood flowing and they rush there to heal the prisoner who does it. I know how many inmates have tried, but only one succeeded. That is where these scars come from."

Everyone in the room, even Fudge, grew silent after that. Harry's brain swirled. 'Five times, five times he tried to kill himself', he thought and his heart went out to Sirius. He squeezed his godfather's hand and leaned in to give him a comforting hug, the same time Remus did, and then could feel Sirius getting warmer again instantly. Minerva had drawn in her breath sharply. She looked at Sirius with tears welling up in her eyes.

"You cannot imagine the horrors I went through in there. Oh, I know you thought I was strangely unaffected by the Dementors, but you were wrong. I was affected worse than any other prisoner, but the knowledge that I was in there wrongly convicted kept me sane. The knowledge that one day the truth would be out helped me through. I also kept my powers, Fudge, not something that would go for every other prisoner to crawl out of there. I cannot count the times I wished for you to rot in there for a while. You'd be out of it after two months, if not earlier. I was in there for twelve years! Twelve years you and Crouch have stolen from my life. Twelve years which were more like fifty! If you don't wake up soon and set things right you might find yourself unable to do anything anymore at all!" Sirius went on.

Remus put a calming hand on his arm. Grover reminded him in a soothing tone:

"Mr Black, it doesn't do to threaten to kill the Minister. I am the judge, and I've got the papers that set you free all here to be signed. Cornelius Fudge will not leave this office without putting his final signature under these contracts. We have established the fact that you have not committed the crimes for which you were sent to Azkaban. The Department of Law Enforcement will go through the documents once again and investigate the procedures of your arrest and sentence. It's already been started by the way. You will be consulted and if you are willing to testify under Veritaserum we will question you more intensively about the days of your arrest. With that I'm closing my case."

Fudge did not seem to be willing to sign any such bill, but finally it was made clear to him that he would only win a good man back if he did. Remus calmly stated that they could wait in this office until the next full moon, and Fudge did not take this as the joke it was meant to be. He glared at Remus who just smirked and fully played on the fact, that Fudge seemed to be deathly scared of werewolves. Holding back his signature would only mean acting very childishly and even Fudge was able to see beyond that. But when he walked out of Dumbledore's office he threatened to have him removed from the school and to have Grover thrown out of his office.

But both, Grover and Dumbledore had been busy that morning. Grover had organised everything with the Ministry and the Wizarding Council regarding a possible removal from his office. He had secured a majority of votes in his favour before he exposed himself to Fudge. Dumbledore had done the same with the Wizarding Council and the Board of School Governors. Fudge was thus unable to actually have them taken out of their positions. And he fumed about it. But the latest events had convinced more and more people that it was indeed Voldemort who was behind those attacks.

The next day's headlines in the Daily Prophet almost called for a larger size of parchment, they were so big. Sirius, Remus and Harry read the article happily enjoying their breakfast the next morning and they were joined by the rest of the staff who all congratulated Sirius on being freed.

"So, do you think we will be able to enjoy a few days of normal family life for a change?" Harry asked with a sigh, after he finished reading.

"As normal as life with us and you can get, Harry, I guess," said Remus.

They all laughed. And in the afternoon they went back to the Lupin home, where Remus and Sirius renewed the wards and reinforced them. They were at it this time until they had it all nailed down. Both were exhausted afterwards and vanished to bed for 24 hours straight through. Harry took care of Ronja and Rashid, which became easier every day.