Yay! Four reviews! That makes 50!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (does fun dance throughout the room). Okay, chapter 26 is rather confusing, things are explained betterin later chaps. This one is nicknamed the ahh and darn it chapter by us authors. You'll see why later. Have fun!

All we own are Heather and the plot

Chapter 26

12,000 Galleons!!!!!!!

A number of things happened at once. The door was flung off its hinges and into the two Aurors, knocking them unconscious. Harry, Remus, and Heather pushed off the Invisibility cloak and the latter two attempted casting their own Patronuses, with no luck. Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Tonks ran into the room, knocked whomever it was that had smashed through the room to the floor and were staring with looks of horror on their faces at the Dementor. Said Dementor had turned for a second towards them and then back to Sirius.

The wizard that had yelled now got off the floor and bellowed his own incantation, producing a large silver ram. It charged the Dementor, pierced it with its horns, and herded it out of the room. Harry let out his breath and turned to look at the man.

It was Krum.

"Ummmmmmmm…" Heather began, gaping at Viktor.

"Would someone mind getting me out of these chains and then telling me what the heck is going on here!?!"

"Mr. Black, they haff decided to give you an appeal."

"Oh, yeah, that's going to make a world of difference."

"You apparently don't think highly of the Ministry, do you, Remus?"

"Nope. Never have, never will."

"Understandable, with that incompetent little slime ball for a Minister."

"And you, Heather, apparently don't think highly of the Minster."

"Nope."

"That's all fine and dandy, but does anyone mind getting me off the wall?!?!?"

"Good luck, we tried before, it's useless!"

"Really Harry? Impervius!" Tonks shouted, and the manacles fell to the floor.

"Wow. I never would have thought of that."

"Duh Ron, that's the whole point."

"Professor, what are we going to do?"

"The Ministry is so biased, Sirius will never be proven innocent!!!!!!!!!"

"Thanks for the encouragement, Harry. Just what I needed to hear right before my appeal."

"Sorry."

"You're coming with me, traitor!"

"Tonks, what the heck are you doing???????" She jabbed her wand in Sirius's face.

"Hey! That hurt!"

"Go!" she hissed and threw the Invisibility cloak at them. Harry, Remus, and Heather tossed it over them just as the whole of the Wizengamot charged into the chamber.

Fudge marched in after them. "Now what? What happened to the dementor? Why are you still alive?!?!?!?!?"

"Haven't you heard, Cornelius?" Dumbledore turned pleasantly towards the Minister. "The Wizengamot has decided to give Sirius an appeal. And for the record, one who receives the Dementor's Kiss is still alive."

"I-it-it's a figure of speech, Dumbledore! You don't want to always have to say, 'Why is your soul still in your body?' now do you?"

"Well, minister, I believe I am fully entitled to about 20 appeals, since you happened to throw me into Azkaban without any trial in the first place!"

"Fine! We'll give you an appeal! Now, what are you doing in here?"

Krum walked over to Dumbledore and whispered something in his ear. Dumbledore's eyes widened in surprise.

"Cornelius, I need to speak to you about something that has just come to my attention." Dumbledore strolled out the door. The Wizengamot followed him, along with a flabbergasted Fudge.

"You," Fudge pointed his wand toward Tonks on his way out, "make sure he doesn't get away."

The door slammed shut behind Fudge. Tonks lowered her wand to the great relief of Sirius, who was in danger of getting his eye poked out. At the same time, Harry, Heather, and Remus came back out from the Invisibility Cloak.

"Krum, what the heck did you say to him????"

Krum walked over to Sirius and whispered something inaudible to the rest of the people in the room. Sirius looked about ready to faint when he heard what Krum had to say. He was just about to respond when a loud roar echoed from the adjoining dungeon.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?"

Harry, Heather, and Remus quickly threw on the Invisibility Cloak as Cornelius Fudge, his face blue with rage, stormed into the room.

"YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT WE SPENT THREE YEARS SEARCHING FOR YOU WHEN YOU WERE INNOCENT THE ENTIRE TIME?!?!?!? WE WASTED THREE YEARS ON SCUM LIKE YOU?!?!?!?!?"

"You know, you're starting to sound like my mother's portrait."

"This would be a good time for someone to explain this to us," Ginny interrupted.

"WHAT ARE ALL THESE CHILDREN DOING HERE?!?!?!?"

"What do you think we're doing here, cheerleading???????" Ron retorted.

"GET OUT OF HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU, BLACK, GET YOUR BUTT INTO THE COURTROOM THIS INSTANT!"

Sirius made a mad dash for the courtroom, followed equally as quickly by Fudge, Tonks, and Krum.

Harry, Remus, and Heather once again took off the Cloak. "Okay, does anyone have any clue of what's going on???"

"No idea. Krum seemed really happy about something, though."

"Okay, let's straighten out the facts here," Hermione suggested. "Sirius is about to get kissed by a Dementor. Krum comes in, whispers something to Dumbledore and Sirius, and now they decide to have an appeal out of the blue. But why????"

"Because Fudge has finally cracked," Ron concluded.

"Ron, shut up," Hermione snapped. "I wish we had a pair of Extendable Ears!"

"Well, you're in luck, because Fred and George gave me a pair in case of 'emergencies'," Ginny proclaimed. "I think this qualifies as an emergency."

"What are you waiting for? Get it out here! I want to find out what they're raving about!" Ron shouted.

Ginny pulled the Extendable Ears out of her pocket. The occupants of the chamber filed out quietly and placed one end of the extendable ears under the door of Courtroom Ten.

Fudge was questioning Sirius. "…EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT?!?!?!?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it."

"How can you prove it?"

"Uh, if you could just give me back my wand then I'd..."

"ARE YOU INSANE?!?!?!? GIVE A MAD MASS MURDERER HIS WAND?"

"Well, the general public does believe me to be insane thanks to you, but that's beside the point."

"Is this a spell that someone else could perform?"

"Uh, I think so…."

"Alright then. Kingsley, get up here! I cannot believe I'm doing this. Just know that if you're wrong, Black, I will personally murder you on the spot."

Ron chose this moment to sneeze loudly. They heard footsteps coming toward the courtroom door.

"Quick!" Remus whispered. "Scatter!"

The six of them ran in separate directions. Harry and Ron ran off toward the door to the Department of Mysteries and opened it without thinking. The room suddenly began to spin.

"Oh, great. Harry, why'd you have to drag us in here! Now we'll never get out!"

"Hey, you're the one who turned left."

"Fine, so I did. But how'll we get out of here?"

"Uh…"

"Okay…let's try…this door!"

"Sounds good to me."

They opened the door to their left, revealing the room with a tank full of brains.

"Okay, I am not going in there again!"

"Agreed. But remember to leave the door open."

"Oops."

"Thanks a lot, Ron!"

Meanwhile, back in Courtroom Ten, Kingsley had forced Pettigrew to change form and drink Veritaserum. Sirius was watching with glee.

"…Yes, I did betray Lily and James to the Dark Lord."

"And why did you do this again?"

"Well, I was sick of always being second to Sirius and James, and I was scared of what the Dark Lord would do to me if I didn't comply."

"Oh. Well, uh, uh…HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN!?!"

"Very easily, because you, Mr. Minister, are an incompetent git."

"I'm not through with you yet! All those in favor of administering the Dementor's Kiss to Peter Pettigrew raise your hand!" The entire Wizengamot raised their hands. Sirius jumped out of his chair and attempted to run out of the Courtroom to tell the others the joyous news.

"Wait just a second, we still have one little matter to discuss!!!" Sirius turned around in apprehension. "Would you like your 12,000 Galleons to be transferred to your account at Gringotts or given to you in person?"

"Would I like my what to go where?!?!?!?!?!"

"You're 12,000 Galleons. One thousand for every year you were in Azkaban."

"Uh, in person would be…great."

Heather was still running around the Ministry, cursing herself for not following Remus. She was back on the bottom level near Courtroom Ten when she spotted a familiar looking door. Opening it, she discovered it was not in the Chamber she had intended to find, but the Department of Mysteries. The room immediately began to spin.

"Darn it!"

Just then, a door burst open and a familiar voice cried out in triumph. "See, I told you we'd been in that room twice already!"

"Alright, fine, two chocolate frogs to Ronald Bilius Weasley."

"Harry, you know how much I hate my middle – oh. Hello, Professor."

"So, Ronald Bilius, huh?"

"See what you started?!?"

"Let's just get out of here, okay Ron?"

"Good luck."

"I personally think this door looks nice." Heather opened the door directly across from her, and walked through it. Ron and Harry followed.

"Ummm…" Ron stammered. They were in a room that apparently wasn't used very much, for it was covered in cobwebs. Giant spiders were crawling on the floor towards him, clicking their pincers menacingly.

"HARRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Ron bolted to the door and turned the knob. Nothing happened. "ALOHOMORA!!!!!!!!!!!!" Still, nothing happened.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Muahahaha! One situation resolved, another started. Four more reviews for the next chapter!!!!!!!!!!!!!