Title: Retrograde
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.
Rating: M
Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.
Summary: Harry's trial before fifth year goes differently because someone knows more than they should about Harry. Time Travel Fic.
Susan looked into the living room of Bones Manor, with Hannah next to her looking over her shoulder. Uncle Harry and Aunt Amelia were sitting on the Couch listening to music on the gramophone and reading books. Aunt Amelia was laying down with her head on Uncle Harry's lap.
With a gesture, Susan led Hannah into Susan's bedroom. Susan had not been spending as much time with Hannah in the last year and a half as she had been previously, having spent so much time with Hermione since Harry's disappearance and return. Hannah would be spending up until Christmas Eve at the Bones Manor and Hermione would be staying from Boxing Day.
"I still can't believe your Aunt is married to Professor Tenor." Hannah said. "What's he like?"
Hannah was not one to draw attention to herself, and thus had not interacted much with Professor Tenor.
"As tough as Aunt Amelia." Susan said. "Smart and ruthless when he needs to be."
For a moment Susan considered telling Hannah about Harry's true identity, a secret known only to Harry, Amelia, Susan and Hermione. Hannah was a very good friend, her best friend for many years, but she was not family. Hermione was family to Harry, and maybe something more.
They spent the rest of the afternoon just chatting. Hannah talking a lot about Neville Longbottom and how cute he was. Susan was reluctant to talk about who she was interested in because recently that had changed and she was still sorting out her feelings about it.
Amelia walked through the DMLE to check on the latest developments. It was the 23rd of December so she was just in for an hour or so.
"Moring Director." Mary, her secretary, said as she passed. "You have some Aurors from the Gold List waiting on you."
"Who?" Amelia asked.
"Senior Proudfoot and Junior Tonks." Mary replied.
"Show them in." Amelia ordered as she entered her office and sat behind her desk.
A few minutes later Senior Auror Proudfoot and Junior Auror Tonks entered and stood in front of her desk.
"I assume you have news." Amelia commented.
"Smythe and Shooter have a dead man in custody, in isolation. One Peter Pettigrew. Auror Tonks found him at a… less than reputable establishment." Proudfoot informed.
"Auror Tonks?"
"Director, I was… well there were not a lot of leads so I was going undercover at the various grey establishments to see what I could find out, not just about this case but anything going on." Tonks began.
"You were the tip about those artefacts and the gang of thieves?" Amelia asked.
"Yes ma'am." Tonks nodded. "Anyway, Pettigrew entered and I recognised him immediately."
"How was that?" Proudfoot asked.
"My mother has photos up at home of her favourite cousin and his friends from school. Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew. Anyway, Pettigrew was dropping Lucius Malfoy's name a lot." Tonks explained.
The Murder of Pettigrew was one of the major crimes Sirius Black was accused of, alongside betraying the Potters to Voldemort. The murder of the thirteen Muggles was not really something most of the Wizengamont cared about.
Given everything Harry had told her, both cryptically when they were at School together and later, Amelia no longer trusted Dumbledore and she had never trusted Malfoy. This arrest had made her decision for her, she could not let a pawn of Dumbledore or of Malfoy into the office of Minister, so she would have to take the role herself.
"Good work." Amelia said. "Keep Pettigrew in isolation. No one sees him but your team."
"Understood Director." Proudfoot replied.
Sirius Black was sitting in the living room of 13 Gimmauld Place, his parent's old home, reading the Daily Prophet. Dumbledore had once asked him to use the house as the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, but as he asked around two days after Harry disappeared Sirius had turned him down. The Order now met at a series of four remote properties that belonged to various members of the Order, though the members of the Order were divided into different groups and the groups met separately with only Dumbledore attended all meetings. Perhaps not surprisingly, Sirius was in a different group to the Auror Members of the Order.
Turning the page, a small advertisement, that seemed nonsensical at first, caught his attention.
Bright Hound,
Long term extermination job completed. Your current official residence is no longer suitable. New Accommodation options open. For more details, contact the Celestial Gathering's offspring.
Jolly Rodger.
Sirius had to read through the advert a few times to understand all the codes and clues. Bright Hound was obviously a reference to himself, with his namesake star both being called the Dog Star and was the brightest star in the night's sky. Given that context, that meant Jolly Rodger, the pirate Skull and Crossbones flag, was Amelia Bones… or her niece Susan but that made no sense. Official Residence would have to be Azkaban as he was still a wanted criminal in the eyes of the Ministry, though that seems to have changed. Long term extermination job and Celestial Gathering's offspring were less obvious.
Standing to stretch, Sirius walked around the room. Being alone in the house had been hard. The isolation, apart from Buckbeak, was starting to get to him. Occasionally he managed to either disguise himself and go to fringe areas of the Magical World or head out into Muggle London. As he walked around the room, he saw a photo of himself and his cousins from when he was nine. Narcissa, Bellatrix, Andromeda and himself. He was about to move on but he stopped. Andromeda. She was named after a Galaxy, a celestial gathering. That means the Celestial Gathering's offspring was Andromeda's daughter, Nymphadora Tonks, an Auror.
Could that possibly mean that the Aurors were not looking for him? Had something had happened to change their minds? Was it all of them, or just some of them? The only thing he could think of that would change that was if Peter Pettigrew was captured. Wait… Extermination Job. Someone caught the damn Rat.
So, Amelia Bones wanted him to covertly get in contact with Nymphadora Tonks to see about getting his name cleared. He could not contact Nymphadora directly, but he could probably covertly her mother Andromeda.
TBC….