Embracing His True Self

Chapter 28

Sirius paced restlessly uncharacteristically biting his lower lip, feeling extremely on edge and worried, so much so that his stomach was churning. There was two open letters on the table, both of them had been read but only one was causing him so much worry. One was official, from the Ministry of Magic, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Amelia Bones wanted to see him, it was the beginning of proving him innocent. He should never have doubted his best friends for a moment, he owed Lily everything, smart, intelligent witch that she was she thought of everything.

"Sirius? What are you doing up so early?" Remus asked so suddenly that Sirius jumped almost a foot in the air, Remus' lips twitched a little at the sight. He hadn't seen Sirius so jumpy in a while, he didn't think it had anything to do with the new place, they were very safe here. Wandering over he gave a nudge getting Sirius to sit down, before he sat down himself. "Hey? An answer please?"

Sirius leaned forward and grabbed the letter passing it to his partner, the warmth of him calming his anxiety each passing second. It hadn't been easy in the beginning for both of them, due to the mistrust they'd had in each other. Sirius worried that Remus would go dark (who could blame him with how their so called own side treated him) and Remus thinking he had actually joined the Dark Side killing both of their friends and his godson in one fall swoop. They'd both admitted their mistakes and desire to try again, they'd already lost so many years together that it seemed so damn pointless to continue to deny what they wanted more than anything else.

"This is good," Remus said, perking up, the last dregs of sleep leaving him. "Why does this have you so worried? This is what we hoped for! What we've been praying for…it was a miracle that Harry got the will read otherwise Dumbledore would have made sure it was never unveiled…you would have remained a wanted man." hell Sirius had been put under a multitude of glamours to get this property with him, having fake names and credentials only got you so far, since the Muggle authorities were looking for him too.

"Nothing works out for me, you know that," Sirius sighed, elbows on his knees carding his hands through his long hair. "I get away from my parents then almost get myself expelled from Hogwarts in disgrace, nearly killing you in the process…Snape too." this was added grudgingly he didn't like the wizard, but it was entirely mutual. "I decide to be a bloody decoy to keep James, Lily and my godson safe and what happens? My best friends die and my godson is taken away from me to be abused by the damn Dursley's and I end up in Azkaban. To top it off I almost get free by getting Pettigrew only to lose him and have to go into hiding…I guess I'm just waiting for the shoe to drop."

"No, Sirius, this is nothing to worry about, Lily wrote to the authorities, they know you are innocent." Remus said grimly. "More than one person got a copy of it, it was written after Peter became the Secret Keeper. Undeniable proof that will see that your freedom is granted." as always the level headed one that kept Sirius from doing something stupid - most of the time. Sirius' own worst enemy was his overactive mind.

"It's going to be just fine," Remus added after a few minutes of silence, "Come on, let's get some breakfast, you're due at the Ministry in an hour, why don't you go and get a quick shower and get dressed? I'll have breakfast ready for you when you get down." he suggested, kissing him on the cheek, "You'll be fine, I won't lose you again." he whispered before withdrawing completely. That being the only show that Remus was just was apprehensive as Sirius was.

"Alright," Sirius said breathing evenly, perhaps he should talk to Harry….but it was too early, if anything happened to him he wanted his godson to know he wasn't to blame and that he loved him. He'd proven that by severing all ties from Dumbledore and quite possibly the light side. They wont take it well when they learn that Harry had no desire to fight. He and Remus had spoke about it for days after Harry dropped that revelation on them. As always Remus was able to understand Harry and make him see he truth too.

Harry had been abused by Muggles, thrust into the spotlight, everyone just expecting him to fight Voldemort. It wasn't right, at least they'd made a conscious choice, nobody had forced them into it. Yet everyone was trying to force Harry into it? Including Sirius himself? Who did that? If Harry didn't want to fight that was his choice end of story. He'd already been forced into a confrontation with Voldemort before.

Sirius had argued that Voldemort would just keep coming after Harry. Then Remus dropped another bombshell, it was not really Voldemort…not until last school year. Each time it had been a sheer coincidence and it had been Harry himself who revealed that during their conversations in his third year. That maybe Voldemort could be bargained with, that Harry has nothing to do with the war, then he has nothing to worry about. They knew the reason that Voldemort was so worried, a stupid damn prophecy made by the so called seer.

Even back then Harry had been planting seeds, just waiting on them taking hold at the right moment.

Remus wandered into the kitchen, he was trying to show Sirius how to cook without magic or even with - it wasn't going well. At least he wasn't burning the toast, and could make cheesy toast, or make beans and soups. He was no means going to reach gourmet chef any time soon. Glancing at the time, deciding against a proper English meal, he napped bacon out of the fridge and began to cook it up, buttering the bread at the same time, Sirius would soon be free, by Merlin he felt as though he was on pins and needles.

He was just as worried as Sirius that things might not go as well as they hoped. Neither of them trusted the system as far as they could throw it, Sirius more so than anyone else he had been illegally detained for twelve years without a trial.

The Ministry

Amelia Bones waited on Sirius Black inside her office, having given the wizard her private office Floo Address so he could get to her without having to stop at the atrium. He would need to keep his head down until this was all sorted out and the public were told he was innocent. Normally she would add - if they were innocent - she wasn't one for believing what she was told. She just didn't see how this could be lies, the will was written after the Potters had gone under the Fidelius Charm to keep safe, Lily Potters letter and will spoke the truth of that she had no doubt.

Nonetheless just to be on the safe side, she'd told Cornelius she was meeting him two days from now, she didn't trust for something to go wrong just like she'd been informed of Bartemius Crouch Junior at Hogwarts far too late to act. It wasn't Cornelius' jurisdiction, she had tried to uncover what had happened but no success so far. So today she'd safely meet with him, get a few of the Wizengamot members up and have him declared innocent before anyone could stop it. She also had quite a few questions for him about how he'd managed to escape too.

Straightening up when the Floo pinged, righting her monocle she stared at the two figures who stepped out of the fireplace. She blinked in surprise, it seemed as though Black had at least somewhere to stay and had been eating healthily, since he was no means a stick figure that most are when coming out of Azkaban. Standing up, she put out her hand, "Mr. Black…" shaking his hand, before staring enquiringly at the other wizard with him, "Remus Lupin," he answered her unasked question.

"Mr. Lupin," she said, greeting both of them, noticing how nervous they were. "Please take a seat," which all three of them did.

"Would either of you gentlemen like some refreshments?" Amelia asked kindly but still holding her no-nonsense attitude.

"No, thank you, we've just eaten," it was Remus who spoke, his hand in Sirius' squeezing it reassuringly.

"Would you consent to the use of Veritaserum, Mr, Black?" Amelia asked getting straight down to it.

"Yes," Sirius agreed, anything to help prove his innocence.

"I would like to bring two Wizengamot members into this meeting, that is all that's required to declare you a free man." Amelia continued, glad that Sirius would take the potion, it made it less complicated and allowed her to deal with this in a timely manner.

"Please, not Dumbledore," Sirius begged, completely forgetting that he wasn't a member of the Wizengamot now.

"No, Mr. Black, not Dumbledore, he has been fired from his position as Chief Warlock," Amelia replied, "Give me a few moments." with that Amelia wrote to the two Wizengamot members who were in the Ministry at the moment, flicking her wand at them they formed airplanes and zoomed out of the room. She had been very vague in the letters, she was taking no chances.

"Tell me, Mr. Black…how is it that you and Bartemius Crouch successfully escaped from Azkaban?" Amelia asked seriously. The very first two do succeed in getting off the island too, it was a security problem a severe one.

"You don't know?" Sirius asked surprised, she was one of the most resourceful witches he'd ever seen, trusted her to an extent, it was why he was here.

"Pardon?" Amelia blinked in mild confusion.

"Um, haven't you spoken to Harry?" Sirius asked, surely he was one of the first people she would have spoken to. "I mean he was one of the last people to speak to Barty before he got away thanks to Dumbledore."

"He was?" Amelia sat up straighter at that news.

"Yes," Sirius said slowly.

"And did he reveal this information to you?" Amelia then asked.

"I didn't ask," Sirius replied honestly, "Harry has a knack for getting information out of people." he added wryly with a grin, shaking his head ruefully.

"Interesting, I wasn't aware that Mr. Potter was involved in anything to do with Crouch." Amelia sighed in exasperation.

"Everyone at Hogwarts did, Crouch posed as Moody for an entire year, it was Harry who uncovered who Crouch was." Sirius explained baffled by the fact that the Ministry were so in the dark about the happenings at Hogwarts. "It was also Harry who unsealed his parent's wills after Dumbledore sealed them."

"That I am aware of," Amelia stated, she had started an investigation into Dumbledore, what she had wouldn't even see him in court, so she would have to dig up more. Apparently, she was going to have to talk to Harry and find out what he knew. With this new information, she completely forgot to ask Sirius how he had gotten out of Azkaban himself.

A knock at the door broke any further conversation.

"Come in Gentlemen," Amelia called, unlocking her door and removing the silencing charms for only a moment before placing them back on once they were in her office. "I'm so glad you could make it, Mr. Black has consented to the use of Veritaserum to prove his innocence. Before you ask why he isn't escorted by Auror's we received a letter from Lily Potter that proves that Sirius Black wasn't the secret Keeper to the Potters. Obviously what happened that night isn't what we fully believed."

"Even if he is innocent of that he still took the lives of several…." the wizard did not get a chance to finish.

"I didn't do that!" Sirius said breathing harshly through his nostrils in anger.

"Easy, Sirius, you knew they'd have to ask about it," Remus said, a warning clear in his tone.

Huffing quietly, he slumped further into his seat, uneasy.

"Go ahead and administer the potion, I will set up the dicti-quill," the Wizengamot wizard replied moving around her office picking up supplies as Amelia did as she was told. She didn't give him three drops, just two, so he would answer their questions truthfully but wouldn't go fully under the influence.

"What's your name?" Amelia started off, not able to get around that since they needed it on official record. She noticed that the names of everyone present in the room was already written down, even Remus' so the wizard knew who he was.

"Sirius Orion Black,"

"How long did you spend in Azkaban prison?"

"Twelve years,"

"Did you betray your best friends by revealing their whereabouts to Lord Voldemort?"

"No, I wasn't their Secret Keeper," Sirius answered.

"Who was?"

"Peter Pettigrew,"

"Did you attack a street full of Muggles when you cornered Peter Pettigrew and blasted him?" it wasn't Amelia who asked but one of the Wizengamot wizards.

"No, I didn't attack the street," Sirius replied.

"What happened that night?" Amelia stepped back in giving the wizard a pointed look. In the background the dicti-quill was recording every word that was said.

And so Sirius went on to explain monotonously, not even able to express his grief over what happened. Telling them about the bad feeling he had that night when he got to Pettigrew's to see it trashed. How he'd hopped onto his motorbike and raced there as fast as possible only to see the house in flames, with the roof folded in. How he found James dead on the ground floor, Lily on the top floor in Harry's room. How he's just managed to get his godson quiet before Hagrid showed up and demanded Harry, taking him from him and insisting Harry was to go to Dumbledore despite him being his godfather and magical guardian. How he'd blown into a rage without any anchors and hunted Pettigrew down, not stopping until he found him and was about to demand answers when Pettigrew began wailing that he'd done it. Then the horrifying moment that Pettigrew let loose a blasting curse, and turned into a rat going down the sewer and how he'd just laughed incredulously that he'd been deceived by the son of a bitch.

There was complete silence in the room when he was finished, all bar Remus were sitting there in horrified silence. An innocent man had been in Azkaban for twelve years, for the first time it truly hit them. They were aghast at what they'd allowed to happen. What had happened, it was a disgrace, and they were going to have to inform the public which would make it ten times worse for them.

"I believe we have more than enough, don't you gentlemen?" Amelia asked both wizards grimly.

Neither spoke, they just nodded their heads in agreement.

"Then Mr. Black you are free to go, truly an innocent man, but please give us until the end of today to get it into the newspapers so the public doesn't panic." Amelia informed Sirius.

"That's fine," Remus said speaking for both of them, Sirius just stared at them truly overwhelmed that he was actually free.

A few moments later Sirius had the paperwork to prove it, then both were gone leaving Amelia and the others to deal with the fall out this would cause.

At Hogwarts

"Er…Harry that's Hedwig! She looks hurt," Neville said his eyes wide as he observed the owl who was flying erratically towards them. He, Harry and Luna were sitting in the courtyard, just wanting to get away from the rest of the students and Umbridge since they had a free period after breakfast. Neville noticed the way Harry's eyes darkened every time she was mentioned. It probably should have scared him really, but Neville understood that kind of anger.

Harry abruptly stood up, moving down the last of the steps in the courtyard holding his arm out for Hedwig to perch herself upon. Her wing was at an odd angle, feathers completely ruffled, with a hoot she swooped down almost falling to the floor but Harry kept her from falling completely, worry consuming him for his familiar.

"She's been attacked," Neville observed worriedly. "You need to take her to Hagrid,"

"Is he back?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Yes," Neville nodded, "I heard a few first years talking about their lessons with Hagrid weeks ago,"

"But he's not been attending the feasts," Harry mused, stroking Hedwig softly, wondering if he should take her to Hagrid…he'd honestly prefer to have Severus see to her. "She's getting on my last nerve." Harry growled angrily, knowing who had done it.

Neville blinked at Harry's abrupt shift in temperament, but it didn't take him long to figure out what was going on. "Normally I'd say are you sure she'd do something like that," Neville admitted, "But she's a real piece of work, makes me glad I only have Trevor and that he's safe at the manor."

"Daddy could help her," Luna commented, she adored animals and Hedwig was no exception to that rule. She was absolutely beautiful and she loved petting and talking to her when she had the opportunity. "I don't think her wing is broken though,"

"It's alright, I'll try someone else first," Harry said shaking his head, "I'll see you both later, alright?"

"Sure," Neville replied as Luna nodded in understanding.

"Bye," Harry added, his arm straining to keep aloft with Hedwig on his arm, he didn't want to move her to his shoulder just in case, she was still slightly wobbly hooting in distress occasionally. He hoped Severus could help her, he'd lost enough in his life without losing the one thing in his life that had been there for him - unconditional support - Hedwig didn't care about whether he was light or dark, or whether he decided to be neutral in the war she was just there for him.

It was risky actually going all the way down to Severus' quarters without his cloak on, but Hedwig wouldn't remain quiet wrapped up in an invisibility cloak and he didn't want to risk her punching holes in the priceless piece of magical shroud. Groaning, Harry finally couldn't keep the weight up on his arm so held out his other hand and Hedwig stepped onto it, chirping softly. He stroked her belly with his fingers, finding it extremely soothing as always.

"What the…" Pansy Parkinson's muttered her eyes sharpening in on the figure at the bottom of the corridor, cutting the conversation she was having with Daphne, Draco and Blaise. "What the hell is he doing down here?" this was Slytherin territory, no Gryffindor should be here.

"Potty," Draco spat after turning around wondering what Pansy was dithering on about. "You don't belong down here, go back to the trash you consort with," insulting both Gryffindor and his friends in one go, feeling rather smug about it too.

"I would suggest you move out of my way," Harry bit out through gritted teeth, "I am not in the mood to deal with your dramatics right now." he hadn't since Hogwarts started back up but that was life. Bloody Slytherins honestly, it was as though they never had anything better to do.

"Draco, let's go," Blaise said, giving him a shove out of the way, there was a time and place for everything but Potter looked furious and given some of the things that happened around Potter when he was angry he didn't want to be in the vicinity. If the rumours were true he had blown up his aunt for mentioning his mother. He could see that the owl was hurt, and Potter and his bleeding heart probably would lose it over the thing. Even he wouldn't disparage the bond between a wizard and his or hers familiar, it would be like mocking his own traditions.

Draco threw Blaise a furious glare for interrupting him, but by that point Harry had already swiftly walked passed them and down the darkened corridor. "Don't be stupid, his familiar was hurt, you'd do the same if it was your hawk." Blaise rolled his eyes, plus he'd heard through the grapevine that Lucius had warned Draco against antagonising any of the Gryffindors. Lucius Malfoy wouldn't say anything like that without a reason or purpose.

"There's nobody down there except for Professor Snape," Daphne pointed out, staring at the corridor where Potter had turned out of sight. Suspicion churning in her gut, why would Potter go to Professor Snape for help? Potter hated Snape! You'd think he'd go and take his owl to Hagrid before anyone else. He had a soft spot for the damn half-breed, it was disgusting to see.

"Probably been told by Dumbledore to go down," Pansy sneered, "Potter wouldn't deny Dumbledore anything, pathetic little puppy that he is."

"I don't know about that," Daphne said speculatively, were they blind to how Potter had been acting since school resumed? There was more than met the eyes, Pansy and Draco were just too blinded and prejudice to see it. Blaise knew something, or suspected as much otherwise he would have happily watched Draco tear into Potter…or try to at any rate, he hadn't been successful before now. The detentions or loss of points didn't seem to bother him at all.

Hogwarts Severus' Quarters

"Get in here," Severus hissed in annoyance, seeing Harry standing at his door without his damn invisibility cloak on. Anyone could see him, the last thing he wanted to do was try and explain himself to Dumbledore of all people. Thankfully though his Slytherins should know not to say anything, key word should know, and there were hardly any portraits down this way, he'd removed them all when he took on the position of Head of Slytherin house. He wasn't going to help Dumbledore spy on the students within Hogwarts. He closed the door behind Harry quickly, "I assume you have a good reason for showing up here?"

"She attacked Hedwig," Harry said, his mask nowhere to be seen, leaving a face that promised retribution in its wake.

Severus sobered up, glancing down at the owl in Harry's hands, he should have guessed, Harry didn't make a habit of carrying Hedwig around with him. He was glad to see she was alive, if Umbridge had killed Hedwig he was afraid there would be nothing he could do to prevent her death. "Put her on the bench," Severus demanded, already knowing why Harry had come to him, making a little nest for her by transfiguring a few pieces of paper.

Harry did what he was told, watching Severus mutter quietly in Latin, so low that he couldn't even begin to hear what kind of spells he was using. A light blue glow spat out of his wand and encompassed Hedwig gently, it didn't seem to bother her as she sat and preened her good wing.

"Don't just stand there like a spare end, you know where the book is, go read," Severus stated firmly, glancing up briefly, not surprised to see Harry was worried. Hedwig was probably one of the few things that could elicit true emotion from the wizard in front of him. "I'll come to you when I have healed her." and he would heal her, he wasn't a professional and only had basic training in even Medi-wizardry which was required as part of his Potions Mastery.

Harry just rolled his eyes, before skulking off to the couch grabbing the book he'd been reading whenever he came down here. Crossing his legs, he opened it at the bookmarked page,

"Did you have anything compromising in a letter you just sent out or had being delivered?" Severus asked thrusting a cup under his nose half an hour later.

"No," Harry answered, his green eyes glinting sharply in the firelight, Umbridge had gone too far.

There we go! I did want to add some Voldemort into it but there will be a lot more of him to come when this story is all said and done :D I don't just want to write about Harry and mentioning things that are outside of Hogwarts in passing and I know I've been doing that but hopefully that will change...so do you actually want to see Harry leave Hogwarts or would you prefer him to stay? usually in these story's Harry does stay and that's why, I sort of wanted to make it go that way to make it a refreshing change...I like my stories to be different :D so in Hogwarts or out? R&R please :D