Authors Note:

The trial begins.

I always kind of viewed Crouch in my mind as being a bad guy — how do you arrest someone without giving them a trial? He had good intentions, of course, trying to stop the Death Eaters and trying to save the world, but sometimes you need to hear the whole story — and sometimes you have to admit when you're wrong.

Also — I have this head canon that McGonagall was always there for Sirius like a second mother (Euphemia Potter was obviously the mother that mattered most in his life), but I always felt like McGonagall loved him like a son. She was there when he needed her; she respected him and him her. She knew what kind of terrible home he had come from, and she let him know that she was always there if he needed to talk about anything, which is why she is so devastated in Prisoner of Azkaban when she tells the story about Sirius in The Three Broomsticks.

So in my story — she is his One True Defender.

Also, I know that Crouch was moved in 1982 to the Department of Magical Cooperation because of the trial of his own son, but I felt that in this case (and because he was the Auror that put Sirius away), he would be able to conduct the trial with authority — just not with FULL authority.

There has been no reference to Sirius Black's wand (as far as I know as of 2018) so I made up my own. Accept it. I voted on unicorn tail hair because unicorn hair produces the most consistent magic, least subject to fluctuations and blockages, most difficult to turn to the Dark Arts and the most faithful of all wands. And I just loved the description for dogwood: "Dogwood wands are quirky and mischievous; they have playful natures and insist upon partners who can provide them with scope for excitement and fun. It would be quite wrong, however, to deduce from this that dogwood wands are not capable of serious magic when called upon to do so; they have been known to perform outstanding spells under difficult conditions, and when paired with a suitably clever and ingenious witch or wizard, can produce dazzling enchantments. Dogwood wands refuse to perform non-verbal spells and they are often rather noisy."

It just sounded so much like Sirius Black to me.

Reviews and Comments: To Queen Helen: I AM BACK! Thank you so much for the welcome! I'm honoured that you loved my Beginning Series and I hope you will very much enjoy this new one as I promise it will be entertaining! To E-Dett: Thank you! I am only uploading so fast because I have the first fifteen chapters already written! To The Go1den Snitch: Thank you! I do plan to continue it. I do plan on introducing Neville, though I'm not entirely sure when, and yes, Harry will meet McGonagall. To njmeyer9: Thank you! I'm honoured that you're already hooked after one chapter and I hope you continue to enjoy it! To ObsessedWithHPFanFic: They do move slowly, but justice will prevail for our dear Sirius. To gabbywatts017: We will meet Ginny early on, I promise! To BohemianVoldemort: Thank you! I don't know if I will take it through Hogwarts as I have an idea of stopping and doing a time jump or a sequel… we'll see where it takes me. Thank you!

Thank you very much for reading and please, please review!

Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you!

CHAPTER TWO:

The One Where The Rat Is Out of the Bag

22nd of April, 1986…

It was the Auror known as Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody who arrived three days later. The Auror's wand unlocked his chains only to lock them again to the Dementor, who would be following them to the Ministry of Magic for his trial. He felt sick as the Dementor brushed him and the moment they stepped into the round courtroom that would be holding the trial, he vomited. He didn't even know that he had anything in his system to be throwing up, but he threw up just the same.

Moody, his wooden leg making him limp, reached up to click the chains around Sirius' wrists and ankles, locking him into place in the iron hanging cage in the middle of the room. Sirius breathed a sigh of relief when the Dementor stepped back. His eyes moved around the room, looking at the assembly of the full Wizengamot before him. He could feel his Aunt Druella's dark eyes boring into him from the public gallery and he refused to make eye contact with her. But he did wonder why she had dragged herself to his trial and why his own dear mother wasn't here to ask them to toss him back in and throw away the key. But he was thankful not to see her just the same. She would be the last person to support him in this fight to clear his name.

Dumbledore sat before him as Chief Warlock and McGonagall sat in the public gallery which cheered him up some. His eyes fell on the golden orbs of Remus Lupin and his stomach twisted at the sight of disgust in the eyes that he had once trusted so much.

The chatter died down and he gripped the iron bars before him, slowing the shaking of the iron cage a little as Auror Bartemius Crouch stepped forward, wand pointed at the cage. His pencil thin moustache was starting to go grey and his perfectly parted short hair had streaks of salt peppered among the dark locks. His bright eyes were locked venomously on Sirius as he spoke.

"This man, Sirius Orion Black, sentenced to life in Azkaban Prison by yours truly on the first of November 1981 for leaking the hidden location of James Potter and Lily Potter nee Evans, resulting in their death as they were then murdered by He Who Must Not Be Named; resulting in the attempted murder of their son Harry James Potter otherwise known as The Boy Who Lived; for the murder of thirteen people, one wizard called Peter Pettigrew and for twelve Muggles listed as follows: Alfred Bern, Madison Daniels, Lillian Fox, Justine Finch, Logan Matthews, Linda Morton, David Morton, Peter O'Shea, Pauline Preston, Gregory Sampson, Vincent Simpson, and Kendrick Wessex — all who were caught up in the explosion caused by the use of the blasting curse." Crouch declared, his eyes cold as they stared Sirius down through the iron cage. "One life sentence of a hundred years for each life you took means that you will die in Azkaban Prison before your sentence of thirteen hundred years has been served. How do you plead?"

"Not guilty," Sirius said, his voice hoarse.

His eyes were on Remus who was staring at him with so much contempt that he wanted to vomit again. His best friend believed him to be guilty of such heinous crimes; of betraying his true family. It was the worst feeling knowing that, worse than any torture that they could possibly inflict upon him.

"How are we, the court and the jury, supposed to believe that you, Sirius Orion Black, are not guilty of such charges when the evidence is so overwhelmingly against you?" Crouch demanded.

The man standing next to Crouch, dark locks over dark skin gestured for Crouch to back down. Sirius jolted as he recognized Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"Mr Crouch, we asked you here as a courtesy to oversee the trial that you denied this man, but remember, you are no longer an Auror."

Crouch seemed to be seething in response, but his face kept its stern, disgusted look as he glared at Sirius. "I repeat: How are we, the court and jury, supposed to believe that you, Sirius Orion Black, are not guilty of such charges when the evidence is so overwhelmingly against you?"

Sirius swallowed carefully, his throat so dry that it hurt to speak, but McGonagall had gotten him this trial and he wasn't going to do anything to screw up his chances of getting his story heard; no matter the consequences. He wasn't going to let her down after all that she had done for him.

"I was made out to be Secret Keeper for the Potters, this is true. They were in hiding because it was rumoured that the Death Eaters were searching for the Potters; but we believed that there was a spy amongst us and James and I…" Tears welled up in his eyes for the first time in years as he spoke. "We decided to change Secret Keepers at the last minute to keep them safe. We agreed that I was the natural choice and that Voldemort —"

"DO NOT SPEAK HIS NAME!" Crouch bellowed, interrupting his speech.

Sirius licked his lips. "That HE would know that they would choose me so we asked Peter, Peter Pettigrew, and he agreed. Lily performed the spell almost immediately and they went into hiding right after."

"Are you saying that you were not the Secret Keeper for the Potters?" Crouch demanded, his eyes still cold as they stared him down.

The tears blinded his vision, but he held them back, refusing to let them spill down his cheeks for fear that he may not be able to stop them once they fell. "That is correct, Sir. Peter Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper. I… it was my job to check on him; to keep him safe. But on Halloween, when I went to pick him up, he wasn't there. James and Lily had invited us over for All Hallows Eve and when I arrived to bring him over, he wasn't there. I waited around for about thirty minutes and then I really started to worry so I headed to the house. James and Lily… the house… the whole side where Harry's nursery was… it was destroyed and they were both dead."

Crouch's cold eyes blinked at this before he turned to whisper something to the short woman sitting next to him. She had toad-like features as she nodded and scribbled down whatever he had just told her to write.

"What did you do when you found the Potters dead?"

Sirius swallowed carefully again, this time his eyes moving to McGonagall, whose brown eyes were urging him to go on. "I held Harry. I couldn't believe that he was even alive after I had seen the house and then Hagrid came, Rubeus Hagrid. He told me that Dumbledore had sent him; that he would keep Harry safe. It was at that moment that I realized that this had happened because of Peter — that he was the spy — and I wasn't going to let him get away with it. So I gave Harry to Hagrid and I went after Peter to find out what had happened."

"Did you find him?" Crouch demanded.

Sirius nodded. "I did. It took me almost a day, but I found him. I demanded of him how he could have betrayed us this way, betrayed his family, his friends who loved and protected him and he cowered away from me, used the Sonorous Charm on himself and bellowed to the entire street that I had betrayed James and Lily Potter and that I was the reason that they were dead. Then he blew up the street with a single blasting curse and vanished before my eyes."

"He vanished?" Crouch said with a smirk. "How completely convenient for you."

"He's an Animagus."

Crouch's eyes widened, locking onto Sirius' face now. "He's a what?"

Sirius swallowed slowly. He knew that revealing this now was almost like breaking a promise to his best friend, but after everything that Peter had done, Sirius wasn't taking any chances in letting him get away.

"He's an Animagus. A rat. He transformed and vanished amidst the chaos of the curse and left me there, surrounded by dead bodies."

Crouch turned back to the woman next to him to confer and they whispered fervently amongst each other. Shacklebolt was staring at Sirius, his face revealing nothing of his thoughts.

Sirius' eyes found Remus in the crowd of the public gallery again. Remus was looking at him now in wonder. The contempt in his eyes had lessened slightly and Sirius could see the wheels turning in his friend's head as he tried to comprehend the story that Sirius had just told to the room at large.

"Sirius Orion Black, where is Peter Pettigrew now?"

Sirius snorted. "Hiding somewhere is my guess. He's a fucking coward is what he is. But if you find him, kill him for me."

"If you cannot produce the whereabouts of Mr Pettigrew then I cannot in good conscience allow a convicted murderer such as yourself freedom without evidential proof."

McGonagall stood up now, her eyes flashing in anger. "Crouch! That is preposterous and you know it! You have heard the boy's story and still not given him a fair trial! Have you even listened to what he was saying about Pettigrew?"

"He is a not a boy, McGonagall!" Crouch yelled. "Black is a twenty-six-year-old-man who has been tried and convicted of hideous crimes! His use of the blasting curse not only slaughtered twelve Muggles, but left nothing of Pettigrew but a finger! Now he's claiming some cock and bull tale about Pettigrew turning into a rat! Innocent is not the word that I would use on such a criminal!"

McGonagall huffed angrily. "He was never tried, Crouch! I believe every word that has left that young man's mouth! He is innocent! Use Veritaserum if you must! View his memories! Why haven't you checked his wand? I thought that this was to be a fair trial!"

"Permission must be given to use truth potion as you very well know!" Crouch exclaimed, the vein in his head popping slightly above the skin. The fact that he had been forced by the Minister to give the man before him a trial to begin with irked him enough and he wasn't going to be made a fool of in his own courtroom. "Not to mention the fact that memories can be altered, tampered with!"

"Permission granted!" Sirius shouted, his grey eyes on McGonagall.

The bubble of hope that had sprung up in his chest when she had so vehemently defended him had caught him off guard. Minerva McGonagall had always been there for him and seeing her now defending him so passionately was more than he ever could have asked for.

"Use truth potion on me. You'll see that I'm telling the truth! Take my memories! Whatever you need to do! The Aurors took my wand; look at my spells if you must — I didn't do it!"

Crouch turned back to the woman, but this time it was Dumbledore that stood up to speak.

"Bartemius, I think using truth serum is an excellent plan," he said calmly. "Auror Dawlish," he said turning to the young Auror trainee at the door. "Why don't you grab a phial from the Auror Department? I assume, Alastor, that you brought Sirius' wand with you from Azkaban?"

Dawlish nodded, hurrying out of the room as Alastor Moody stepped forward. "I did, Albus, it's here," he said producing the wand from his pocket. "Twelve and three quarter inches, dogwood, unicorn hair, made by Ollivander and belonging to Sirius Orion Black since August of 1971."

The lawyer who had come to stand by his cage nodded before going on to explain the process of how they would examine his wand. Sirius already forgot his name. He didn't look much older than himself and he wondered how the wizard had gotten stuck defending him in the first place.

Crouch looked livid. His eyes glaring daggers at Dumbledore as he issued orders to his staff in the courtroom. But he could see the jury shuffling in interest so he took his seat, fuming silently. He kept his mouth shut until fifteen minutes later when Dawlish stepped back into the courtroom with a phial of truth serum in his hands.

"Do you, Sirius Orion Black, allow us to administer this potion of Veritaserum to you?" Crouch asked tensely.

"I do." Sirius announced clearly.

The lawyer handed him the phial and Sirius accepted it, tossing back the liquid and wincing at the sweetness of it as it burned a path down his throat.

"Sirius Orion Black, are you willing to speak truthfully now?"

"Yes." Sirius responded calmly. He could feel the effects of the potion already tangling his tongue, demanding that he speak nothing but the truth.

"Were you the Secret Keeper for James and Lily Potter?"

"No."

The chatter around the room heightened and Crouch held his hand up to silence them.

"Sirius Orion Black, who was the Secret Keeper for James and Lily Potter?"

"Peter Pettigrew."

"Did you kill Peter Pettigrew?"

"No, I did not kill him."

The courtroom went silent, all eyes trained on him.

"What happened to Peter Pettigrew if you did not in fact kill him?" Crouch demanded.

"He blew up the street with a single blasting curse and transformed into a rat."

"How do you know that Peter Pettigrew is an Animagus?"

"He became one in fifth year. I watched him learn. He was my friend, my dorm mate," Sirius said calmly, stopping himself from continuing to tell the room that he himself was also an Animagus. He hadn't been asked the question so he wasn't obligated by any sense of disloyalty or by the potion to confess as such.

Crouch' cold eyes bored into Sirius'. "Did you, Sirius Orion Black, kill any of the twelve Muggles in the street the day that you went after Pettigrew?"

"No. I did not kill anyone."

The chatter filled the room once more and this time Crouch didn't stop it.

Dumbledore spoke now, his eyes on Crouch. "It seems that Mr Black has been honest here, Barty. Perhaps you would also like to view his memories to be even more positive that we have convicted an innocent man?"

Crouch's eyes hardened and his face flushed. "Actually, I would Dumbledore. Bring me the Pensieve from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," he demanded of Dawlish who only nodded and scurried out of the room again.

Moody stepped forward and handed Crouch the wand in his possession. "Let's look at the last spells that he used while we wait, Crouch."

Crouch looked positively livid, but he accepted the wand and performed the revealing spell. The courtroom watched as echoes of the last spells performed by the wand appeared before them: Lumos, a dog patronus, a stunning spell, a dog patronus, and a summoning charm.

"This is turning in your favour, Mr Black," the lawyer whispered, making Sirius look over at him before turning his attention back to Crouch's angry face.

"Well, Bartemius, if Sirius did perform the blasting spell, he clearly did not use his own wand to do so," Dumbledore stated as Crouch shoved the wand back into Moody's hands, his eyes flashing in anger.

"You are not in charge here, Albus!" Crouch exclaimed angrily. He turned back to the woman making notes and he whispered something to her. She nodded and quickly scribbled away. "Now, it is time to extract those memories to be viewed."

"At this point, it seems like overkill, Barty," Moody said as he tucked Sirius' wand away in his coat. "His wand and the truth serum have proven him innocent of the crimes that he has been accused of. We never should have sent him to Azkaban in the first place. Minerva is right, he's innocent."

There was a murmur of approval around the room and Crouch's face flushed again. "Are you questioning my authority, Alastor? Are you questioning the authority of the very department that you work for? Of the Wizengamot? I have spent years rounding up Death Eaters and have never been questioned before on how I did my job; on how those who followed He Who Must Not Named should be punished! Did I not put my own son away in Azkaban Prison for his crimes against the Longbottoms?"

Moody stared at him for a moment. "You were a great Auror, Barty, but this man deserved a trial and we never gave him one. And now it looks like he was innocent the entire time. It was a mistake. Our mistake. And you're not an Auror anymore."

Crouch only stared at him, his nostrils flaring angrily. "We need those memories."