Chapter 38: The Trial
Disclaimer: It is covered in dust; it has been buried alive but its not truly dead. I still do not own anything though. Authors notes at the bottom of the page.
There was loud discussion as Harry and Elizabeth were led into the witness stands by two Aurors, Dumbledore had led them to this area with Elizabeth being a potential witness and Harry being the Godson of Sirius and his status had necessitated the separation from the population. there were no witnesses to come forwards, the Muggles from the incident had been obliviated and the Aurors who had apprehended Sirius were scheduled to appear but a two of them were still on duty Aurors and the last was a Department Head now. Professor Dumbledore was currently sat at the head of the Wizengamot, looking over the people talking, waiting until the bell chimed to signal the start of the Meeting and the court case that was to come.
Harry checked his watch, slightly nervous as Dumbledore called for silence, the trial was important, both for the Wizarding World and for himself. For the Wizarding World it is the potential for righting an injustice but for him it could have effects on where he would live in the near future.
It was tense at the Dursley's he did not want to be there; he did not like them regardless of the fact that they had changed their attitudes towards him during the year he was gone. It was walking on eggshells all the time; his aunt had shifted her attitude, but it had gone from disdain to barely above ignoring him. Dudley was avoiding him, and Vernon seemed to alternate between silently wanting to strangle him and deciding he did not want to acknowledge his existence. there was a time he would have killed for this response from the Dursleys but now he just wanted to be away from it all.
The joy of options. Now that they were there, he did not want to settle for a life at the Dursley's. But as he lingered on that thought his mind went back to what Professor Dumbledore had said about the protections on the house, the blood wards that protected them, could he just remove the protections and let them take the chance of being attacked?
"Harry, they're bringing him out." Elizabeth's voice cut through his thoughts as he snapped back to the present, the noise in the room surging back from the dull murmur that it had dropped to while he had been thinking.
Sirius Black, alleged mass murderer was brought out in shackles, he was gaunt and looked unhealthy, clad in prisoner robes but as tired and ragged as he was looking, he still held himself tall, walking towards the chair in the centre of the room. As he sat down, chains wrapped around from the arms restraining him in the seat. He looked at them in surprise for a moment before relaxing, not fighting against them.
"I apologise Mr Black, if you are indeed innocent then they will be released shortly." Madam Bones spoke as she walked forwards. "Though for the record, I wish to protest these restraints, Sirius Black has never been charged for a crime, nor has he sat trial for any criminal activities, with no wand and enduring eleven years in Azkaban, I highly doubt he will be much of a threat to the Aurors that are guarding him already." She said with a slight gesture to the four Aurors positioned around the room.
"It is noted, but it is standard procedure for trials such as this." Dumbledore responded from his seat, though the look he sent Sirius showed that he did not want to do it either way. There was more murmuring from the Wizengamot and the viewing gallery which was quickly silenced by Dumbledore. "With the accused present, Madam Bones would you like to?" He started to ask before someone else interrupted.
"Hem, hem."
Both Dumbledore and Amelia stopped their beginning interaction to turn to look at the person who had interrupted the proceedings.
"Madam Umbridge," Dumbledore spoke calmly, looking over his glasses at the woman who sat in a pink cardigan looking extremely smug about something. "I would remind you that there are procedures to bring attention to yourself if you need to address the members." he spoke, remaining polite but the sharpness of his tone warned the woman along with any others that would choose to break procedure as she just did.
"My apologies Chief Warlock," Umbridge spoke in a tone that clearly showed she was not apologetic in the slightest. "I wanted to raise an objection to the proceedings." She continued and after a moment of silence she continued speaking. "It falls to me as it seems no one else will, to raise the point that you cannot be impartial to the proceedings that are about to occur," muttering started among the lighter orientated wizards and witches. Harry looked over at the angry muttering, agreeing with them but taking the time to study their reaction and that of the darker orientated families.
Lucius Malfoy, sat next to a man that had been at the party, an Avery Nott if he remembered correctly though he was not sure. The two were leaning towards each other having a hasty conversation after Dumbledore managed to get the Wizengamot quiet, Nott raised his wand, lighting it for the attention of the gathered. "You have something to add Lord Nott?" Dumbledore asked.
"I do Chief Warlock, though I may surprise many of the people here by my actions, I wish to call the actions of Madam Umbridge into question, The Chief Warlock, while his political views do not align with myself or many that I know has always sought to be fair during his judgements. So, I am curious as to what her basis is for her claims." Again, there was murmuring from the spectators, with Nott defending Dumbledore the world was beginning to look like it was turning upside down.
"An understandable question Lord Nott." Umbridge said with a pleasantly sickening tone, "and I admit I may have been a bit abrupt with my comments without due explanation, it is not his capability to remain impartial but it would be more due to the fact that when this alleged miscarriage of justice first occurred during the time that he was Chief Warlock, for all purposes of clarity would it not be better that someone else take the seat during this investigation?" Umbridge questioned and surprised many people. She did have a valid point.
"Yes, I understand your objection and I do agree with it. In fact, it had already been decided before we would begin that myself and Madam Bones were unsuitable for this task due to our previous associations and that she is in fact the lead Investigator of the case." Dumbledore said thoughtfully and looked around the room. "However due to an interruption." he looked at her pointedly, "I was unable to proceed with the task, but you are correct, it is only right for me to step down during this trial for that reason."
"If I may offer a nomination to take the role?" Umbridge requested and Dumbledore turned his attention back to her.
"You speak out of turn again Madam Umbridge, though I'll allow it." Dumbledore said.
"Honourable members of the Wizengamot, I would like to nominate an outstanding member of our society, a man who has proven to be a great contributor of our society..." Her grandstanding was cut off.
"Madam Umbridge, some of us would like to go home before the turn of the century." Amelia interrupted sharply drawing a few laughs.
"Order." Dumbledore called sharply drawing silence in the room. "Madam Bones, the same rules apply to you as everyone else, Madam Umbridge, your nominee."
"I select Lord Malfoy." She said proudly drawing many a comment.
Harry looked to Elizabeth who looked thoughtful, "this is all part of the show, he already knows he can't do it and so does Dumbledore. Of course, he's expected to take the seat by the darker side, but he also knows that it would never stand." She explained quietly, mentally going over what she had learnt before the trial. "There is going to be multiple hollow nominations, ones that will be dismissed for various reasons before they finally settle on the one person that can steer it through as needed."
"How do you know this?" Harry questioned quietly and Elizabeth smiled.
"It's in their faces, they glance to specific people, each action gives away what they want and they're all gravitating towards a small section of the room, but they also have to play politics, it's a grand show for those involved."
It took longer, with threats of being ejected from the room being used the gathered quieted down. "Lord Malfoy, do you have anything to say either way in regard to this?"
"I do," Lucius started, looking over the collected Witches and Wizards. "While I am glad that Madame Umbridge holds me in such high regards, I must decline the suggestion, there is enough bad blood between myself and the suspect that any decision I make would be called into question." He paused for a moment seeing the nods from the other people agreeing with his statement. "Also, to add there is other conflicts as well, my wife is his cousin, my son is a potential inheritor of the Black Estate, I cannot take this role even though I wish only for justice to be delivered." Lucius finished before sitting down again. After that, there were several other nominations that were shot down as quickly for a variety of reasons, some due to a close enough blood relation, others due to their dislike of the man in question and a few because they were deemed too nice to do the task that was necessary with voting histories thrown about.
looking over the collected members and spectators, Dumbledore turned his attention back to Madam Umbridge, "the truth is Madam Umbridge, there are very few that can claim true impartiality our community is too small for everyone to not have some form of a connection to another." He stopped as Amelia lit her wand. "Madame Bones?"
"I nominate Tiberius Ogden." She said sharply, "Lord Ogden you were neutral during the last conflict, you were not associated with the suspect in any way due to age differences and you do not have any close relatives in the Black family if I am not mistaken?" She asked looking up at the dark-haired man who leant forward pensively, studying Amelia carefully.
"You are not mistaken," he admitted after a few moments, his voice sounding tired but ready to deal with the task if he was asked. There was muttering again, the collected members not sure on how to proceed but eventually both Lucius Malfoy and Augusta Longbottom spoke up to recommend him as well.
"Then it is settled, for the remainder of this investigation and trial, Lord Tiberius Ogden shall take the seat." Dumbledore said and moved out of the seat, walking to the usually unmanned seat that he had earned years ago through the defeating of Grindelwald. Tiberius Ogden walked across the pathway to the now vacated seat and looked over the members of the Wizengamot.
"I will make this brief before we begin, I've never been one for showmanship or obfuscation." He said bluntly, looking at Amelia for a second before looking over the Wizengamot. "I am also rusty on the basics of this case outside of hearsay and rumours. so, before we truly begin for the record, Madame Bones can you go over what is common and public knowledge regarding the suspect Sirius Black?"
"Of course, Lord Ogden." Amelia spoke as she stepped forwards, holding a folder in her hand. "Sirius Orion Black, born Third of November Nineteen Fifty-Nine, Born to the Most Noble and Ancient Black family. The family itself has a long history of dark and although there was a lot of unconfirmed... illegal actions." She paused as there was angry muttering and objections popping up from the traditionally dark families. Lord Ogden was quick to react, setting off several small pops that silenced the room.
"Nothing she has said has been grounds for objection, the actions of the Black family are long and well documented." He said before raising his wand again as the voices started up. "Any more outbursts over this and I will see the parties responsible ejected."
Silence quickly fell.
Down in the suspect area, Amelia stood patiently until she was given the signal to continue. "Went to Hogwarts and in the eyes of his family fell in with the wrong crowd, was sorted into Gryffindor and quickly became the white sheep of the Black family he did everything to distance himself from his family and its history. Falling in with James Potter and his friends, closer than brothers, the Godfather to James future son." She looked at him, seeing the shadow of pain shadowing across Sirius's face. "And then the war. With people not knowing who to trust Mr Black was trusted with one of the greatest secrets that anyone could possibly have. He was the Secret Keeper for the Potter family." She turned to look up at Dumbledore, pausing as she did. "Headmaster Dumbledore, would you kindly explain the Fidelius and its usage?" She asked and Dumbledore nodded, standing up to draw the attention to him.
"The Fidelius is the ultimate form of trust in spell form." He began with a look at Sirius, "the target of the spell, the Secret Keeper, is entrusted to a secret, the secret is usually a location such as a safe house, as long as the person keeps the secret then that house can truly never be found. You could be standing right in front of it, and you would never know."
"So, to clarify, it hides a location from sight and senses unless the Secret Keeper tells you the location."
"Correct."
"Thank you." Amelia said with a slight bow of her head. "It was well known that James and Lily Potter were targeted by the Dark Lord, it was well known that they had faced him and survived multiple times." She stopped, looking over the dark factions. "But when Lily Potter became pregnant, they withdrew from society and went into hiding. With Sirius Black as the secret keeper." She stopped speaking as Umbridge stood up.
"If this is all known then why are we wasting our time with this?" Umbridge questioned and Amelia focused on her with a glare.
"Because the information we know is wrong." She snapped off the answer, surprising everyone. "But before I start to explain that I need to finish what we believe we know." She explained, "we all remember that eventful Halloween night. The Dark Lord attacked the Potters in their home and killed them both." She stopped again, taking a moment to glance at Harry, an apologetic look sent his way, but he barely reacted as Elizabeth spoke quietly to him. "With only one survivor." The declaration started up another round of hushed whispers, but Lord Ogden was quick enough to silence them. "So, what happened? Did Sirius Black break under torture? did he give the secret willingly? current belief is that he sold them out, that he betrayed them, this is also wrong." She said forcefully with multiple people disagreeing with her. "After the attack, there was a confrontation between himself and Peter Pettigrew, the one many dismissed as the weakest of their group, the tag along, when anyone thinks of their group they think first of James Potter, then Sirius Black, then Remus Lupin, their quiet but intelligent friend and then finally Peter Pettigrew."
"I am assuming you're getting to a point for all this?"
"Everything we know is wrong." Amelia said bluntly, ignoring the interruption. "And today I will prove it, beyond a shadow of a doubt." She turned back to look at Sirius, "Sirius Black, are you willing to testify under Veriatserum as to the events of that night?"
Sirius straightened up as much as he could, looking at Amelia and spoke with a quiet and raspy voice that still showed a level of calmness and determination that he held. "Yes. I will take it, like I should have been allowed to do twelve years ago."
"Auror's bring in the Veriatserum." Amelia ordered and one quickly entered holding a crystal-clear vial with a just as clear liquid inside. "For the record, he has been tested for nullifiers and has accepted the cleansing potions and has been monitored since his removal from the High Security Wing of Azkaban by heavily vetted Aurors." She announced to the Wizengamot as Sirius opened his mouth to accept the three drops. "It will take a moment for it to take effect. Does anyone have any questions for myself?"
"How did you become aware of his innocence?" Augusta Longbottom asked almost immediately, and Amelia turned to face her.
"That will be revealed shortly." She said with a dismissive motion. "It will become clear very soon though."
"That's not really an answer." Augusta responded bluntly drawing a slight shrug from Amelia
"To give the answer would compromise the proceedings." She explained and
"What does this mean in regard to the Black family seat?"
"If Sirius Black is cleared of charges, he would have a right to the seat again, what he chooses to do with it is up to him."
"What do you seek to gain from this?" Another voice, one from an observer spot spoke drawing many a comment from both sides of the political spectrum.
"I'm going to ignore that question." She said as she checked her pocket watch. "The serum should have taken effect." She said turning her attention back to Sirius. "Suspect, please state your name for the record."
"Sirius Orion Black." He replied calmly.
"When were you born?"
"Third of November 1959."
"To prove the Veriatserum is working, would you tell me a lie, really try to force it."
"My hair is r..." As he tried to speak the lie, the magic of the potion cut him off, straining against it his voice held the letter R on his lips before it disappeared, replaced by the word that was accurate. "Black." He said and looked almost pained by the exertion.
"Did you Kill James and Lily Potter?" Amelia asked bluntly, shifting the topic straight away.
"No."
Muttering started almost immediately, and Amelia quickly cast a spell to deafen Sirius to stop him from hearing any questions that should not be asked.
"Order!" Lord Ogden called sharply, and the crowd started to quiet down.
"Your honour, that question has never been up for debate, we know he did not kill them himself, the question is too vague for an accurate reading."
"Of course, it is." Amelia interrupted sharply, glaring at the figure who spoke, someone from the spectator seats that should not have been speaking in the first place. "It was just the start, if you would kindly keep quiet and allow me to progress you will understand." She snapped and removed the spell from Sirius Black. "Mr Black, did you tell You-Know-Who where to find The Potters on that Halloween Night?"
"No."
Again, more mutters and discussions broke out and Lord Ogden, with the backing of the wards silenced the room. "If you cannot be trusted to remain quiet while the questioning occurs, the choice will be taken away from you completely." He said calmly, his voice carrying across the now silent room. "Continue Madam Bones."
"Were you the Secret Keeper for the Potters?" She asked, looking over her notes that she had taken while investigating that fateful night.
"No."
"If not you then who was? After all it was reported by everyone that you were their Secret Keeper."
"It was the deception in place to protect them and the Secret Keeper. I was the obvious choice, friends since first year, Godfather to his son." Sirius paused, sagging slightly in the chair. "Then the Rat chickened out, I don't know who the Secret Keeper was because when it was supposed to happen, he backed out."
"The Rat? He? who are you referring to?" Amelia questioned.
"Peter Pettigrew. Wormtail if you knew our group back in Hogwarts." He stopped himself almost thoughtfully before he added. "He's a Rat Animagus."
"He's not registered." Amelia responded calmly and Sirius shrugged his shoulders.
"None of us were."
"None of you?"
"James, Peter and I were all Animagus. We learnt during our fifth and sixth year. I can turn into a Dog, James a Stag and Pettigrew a Rat."
"And you didn't register?"
"No. The three of us agreed with the war taking the turn that it was, we should keep it quiet and do it after Voldemort (there was a shudder from the gallery.) was defeated to do it. We would willingly pay the fine. It was better to have an ace up our sleeve."
"Madam Bones, I fail to see the relevance to this current line of questioning." Lord Ogden spoke, and Amelia turned back to face him.
"I ask for a tiny bit more leeway your honour." She requested and Lord Ogden nodded slowly.
"A little bit, but this is beginning to seem like you are on a fishing expedition."
"I assure you; this is all leading to a point. Just a tiny bit more." She said before turning back to Sirius Black, "In your own words, what happened the night of the Murder?"
"I had been out for the majority of the day, a mixture of following up on a few of the known Death Eaters and my original plan was to head to the Potters in the evening, With them going into hiding, we couldn't take little Harry out Trick or Treating so we had decided to spoil him rotten... well, Myself and James had decided that, Lily just knew that I was turning up. She was always determined to make sure that he 'didn't get as big of a head as his father.' but something was off, you know when you get that gut feeling that something was wrong?" He asked her getting a nod. "The Death Eater in question was smug, seemed to think they were on the cusp of something big, the only important things that I could think of was either Hogwarts or their number one target, The Potters." He said with a resigned sigh. "I went to Peter, knowing that he'd be their first stop, the 'Secret Keeper' as it was, even if the spell was not done, they didn't know that we had agreed to keep up the charade but had kept quiet as to who it was. People expected me, but Remus and Peter were both good friends of James and Alice was a good friend of Lily."
"And what happened when you arrived at his place?"
"He was already gone, it was early evening when I arrived and there was no sign of a fight or a struggle, I had planned to visit to make sure his protections were still secure and in place, but they had been turned off by him."
"How do you know it was done by him?"
"Because the only other way it could be turned off was through both myself and James doing it together." He explained, "Lily was a genius when it came to Runes and protections, we all wanted to make sure that it was either of us disabling them ourselves without removing the option of friends getting in if they knew we were in trouble."
Murmuring occurred up in the crowds as the information was revealed, they had worked hard to take care of each other in the time of war and apparently, they had worked on safeguards to prevent one of them turning on another with their protections as well. Harry leaned over to Elizabeth whispering quietly. "The way he speaks about it, it's almost like they knew one of them was a traitor, but they didn't know who," he said thoughtfully.
"That or like Sirius said, they were taking their protections seriously, four friends closer than brothers, do you really think they would consider another a traitor?"
Back down with Sirius, he waited for the muttering to stop, it was not impossible to talk over it, but he wanted to make sure they heard, they had to know the truth that he was innocent, they had to know the truth that Peter was still out there and still a danger to them. "I knew instantly where to go after that, I knew of only one place that he could potentially have been, if not there as intended then because he led the Death Eaters to them." He paused; his voice pained. "It wasn't until I arrived that it turned out to be much worse than I could have imagined."
"What did you find?" Amelia asked softly, she had seen the case file of that night, seen the photos that had been taken as evidence and how the Potters had died.
"The door had been broken in, the Hallway light had been destroyed and the house was badly damaged, I cast a spell to light the way, running into the Living Room, I completely ignored my training, it was my best friend in there." Sirius continued, his eyes seemingly staring off into nowhere as he relived the memories. "James was there, wand nowhere near him. So confident that he was safe in the house that he did not have it on him. Voldemort (the people in the gallery winced) cut him down, though with the damage to the room, he didn't stand still and just let himself die." He finished proudly as he looked into the crowd and saw someone with a head of messy black hair. His heart skipped a beat, could that be Harry? "I stayed with James for a few moments, all I could think was that it was my fault that he was dead, and that's when I heard him."
"Heard who?" Amelia asked although like many others she had glanced briefly up at Harry.
"My Godson." He said slowly, turning to look up at the boy in the stands. "I heard him crying." He said, taking a moment to breathe and steady himself before he continued into the next part of his tale. "I heard it quietly, I was shocked, Voldemort was not one to leave people alive, he didn't care if you were a baby or an old man incapable of being a threat. I rushed up the stairs towards the nursery, the only other part of the house I checked, I entered, Lily was lying on the floor in front of the crib and Harry was there, bleeding from a wound on his forehead."
"And The Dark Lord?" She asked and Sirius shrugged as much as he could in the restraints that he was sat in.
"There was another set of robes, no body, it could have been him, it could have been anything." He said drawing surprised and slightly concerned muttering from the gallery.
"For the record, no body was found that was identified as You-Know-Who, all that was found was a badly damaged robe and his wand." Amelia added looking over at the Chief Warlock. "Please continue."
"I healed the cut as best as I could with the basic medical training we received during training and then Hagrid turned up, insisting he take Harry to Hogwarts. This was where I made my big mistake." He stopped, looking back up at Harry, the two locking eyes. "I never should have given him up, I should have stayed with him, but with the Death of James and Lily and Peter disappearing into the night, I was blinded by grief and rage, and I had to find the traitorous rat." More muttering started at this declaration, but it was quickly shut down by Lord Ogden. "I tracked him, to a town, I can't remember its name, I shouted at him, accusing him of betraying them and then he responded in kind, accused me, said it was my fault they were dead." He said, knuckles turning white as he gripped the arms of the chair that held him. "Then everything went white. I barely managed to get a shield up in time before the explosion overtook me. it kept me alive but the next thing I knew, I was being awoken by Aurors and carted off to Azkaban." He finished and looked towards Amelia, "now I find that eleven years later I'm getting a trial I should have had with two weeks of being arrested, something has changed."
"Perhaps, or perhaps a miscarriage of justice has been discovered and we're working to rectify it," she paused as she turned to the acting Chief Warlock. "Lord Ogden, unless anyone is willing to argue that Mr Black is lying under the effect of truth serum, I would like to immediately request that the charges against him be dropped."
There was an outcry from the people in the gallery, those who did not want to believe that what had happened was true were adamant that he had found a way to cheat the serum. "ORDER!" Lord Ogden shouted and activated a Rune to silence the room. "Madam Bones, you understand the request you're making right? although I agree with you that it is highly unlikely that he has managed to resist the truth serum there will still be enough with doubt that it will leave questions. You seem certain that the is innocent and that he did not kill those people, then I must ask, what evidence do you have to prove that?"
"Outside of the results of his wand showing that no spell that could have caused that damage was cast by his wand. As submitted by an impartial auditor when I started the investigation?" She asked as she looked around, judging the reaction. "We have a witness, another victim in this situation." She explained as she looked to the Aurors at the door, giving a slight od.
"Another witness? as far as I was aware, there was no other magical users at the scene? and the muggles all had their memory wiped after the initial investigation."
"You are correct, there was only one other magical user that was there that day, and for the last eleven years he was assumed dead. though with the testimony that has been received by that court, you can understand now that there is doubt as to whether that is true." She stopped seeing that she had their attention, "think about what was found that night, it is commonly known that Peter Pettigrew was blown up and that the largest piece of him found was his finger, but outside of that, there were no other pieces. How is it that such a thorough destruction was caused and yet no trace or robe, no blood outside of the small amount, no hair, no bones, no skin fragments could be located. No spell that could cause that much damage would leave no such little trace of him. When the Aurors arrived, they should have needed to scrape him off the walls that day."
"Are you implying what I believe you are implying?"
"My witness, Peter Pettigrew."
The rune for silence was all that kept the gallery from exploding in outrage, though they still tried it was just silence that carried through the room. The Aurors brought the man in, he looked tired, nervous, and almost ready to bolt at a moment's notice. but he walked forwards into the room.
Sirius sat, stunned at the man that was being escorted in, his mind going black as the target of all his rage stood in front of him but not in prisoners robes, they had him and he was free! How was this any semblance of fairness. He tried lunging forwards, but the chains held him in place securely, he opened his mouth to shout at the man, but Amelia held her hand up silencing him. "Trust me Lord Black," she said quietly, temporarily disabling the spell that allowed her voice to carry across the room, "there is more going on here than you know, I promise that you will be free when this day ends." She said as Sirius sat silently, glaring at Peter Pettigrew.
The man was led to another chair, no restraints rose up to hold him in place and he was willing to take the truth serum, like before he was asked a test question to make sure it was working and then the interrogation began.
The questions asked were the same as the ones that had been asked back in Hogwarts, this time in front of the Wizengamot, revealing to them that Voldemort had another associate, one that none of them had known about, it had scared them because it left the question in the air 'what if he was still out there?' For Sirius, he found himself flipping through a range of emotions, everything that he thought he had understood was thrown out the window. One of his friends had not betrayed them, it had been a set up from the word go, Peter had stayed silent.
He did not know how to feel in that regard, the only things that had kept him sane in Azkaban was the knowledge of his innocence and the rage that he had felt towards the many that had been responsible for the death of James and Lily. Now it was gone, he felt hollow, his mind struggling to find some kind of stability to understand what was going on.
So, it locked on to the one thing that had been revealed during the trial.
One of his best friends faked his death because of how terrified he was of this threat, even more so than Voldemort, and then said friend continued to hide leaving him to rot in Azkaban.
"With the evidence already available to us, and the new testimony from Mr Pettigrew, I request that the Wizengamot clear Lord Black of all charges placed on him, that he be released to St Mungo's and treated for the exposure and an investigation started into this mysterious associate of You-Know-Who."
Lord Ogden looked down at Madam Bones and then over the members of the Wizengamot. "These shall be taken as separate votes, firstly for the fourteen charges of murder, how do you find the defendant Sirius Black?" He asked looking up at the gallery, "as is usual in these situations though I will mention for the people in the Gallery who are not used to these proceedings, vote with a blue light for innocence and a red light for guilt." He explained and as he finished, almost immediately Dumbledore lifted his wand, voting for his innocence. Others on the light side followed almost as quickly, though as the families became more neutral in their alignment took longer though they too were still heavily towards him being innocent. As it shifted towards the Darker orientated families, the votes were much more inclined towards Guilty, rallying behind Lord Nott and voting against his freedom knowing it would mean a greater shift in power. Lucius and those loyal to him voted not guilty. There were more than a few comments from different people as to why that happened, but it did not matter, the vote was clear.
Sirius Black was a free man.
It was a subdued reaction from the audience, the one two punch of him being sent to prison without a trial and the revelation that there was a new potential threat out there had put many of the people in the crowd on edge. "I think the answer is clear, on the charge of thirteen counts of murder we find Lord Sirius Black, Not Guilty, he will be transferred to a secure ward in St Mungo's to undergo treatment for Dementor exposure while reparations for his imprisonment are discussed." Lord Ogden declared, and the wands lowered. "Now for the second vote, to start a task force to investigate the associate of You-Know-Who?" This one was a lot quicker; the task force was agreed upon unanimously, even by the ones that had been accused of being a Death Eater. 'After all, they were all meant to be upstanding citizens that were controlled, how could they not vote to track down the potential next threat to the Magical World?' Amelia thought in amusement as the confirmation was announced. "Madam Bones, the Wizengamot has unanimously agreed to the creation of this Task Force, you are to organise it and report when you are ready to begin." He called and She nodded her head.
"I'll start on it immediately after this Lord Ogden." She said and he looked over the rest of the Wizengamot and the people in the crowd before announcing the closure of the day's proceedings.
A Miscarriage of Justice had been rectified but the mystery behind that night continued.
TBC
Well it's been a little while since I've done anything with this. During that time, I moved house, lost all the files due to a corruption on the hard drive that had all of my writing on… was not happy about that as you could probably imagine. Thankfully about 90% of them are sitting on my old PC so I can restore them at any point (I hope, I haven't actually checked.
thankfully I managed to pull a copy of this story and a few of my later ones off of my one drive. Always have multiple backups in multiple locations.
After that I kinda lost interest in writing anything, I'd sit down to do something and I could just never have the words form, I crashed and burned and it left me at the state where this chapter was nearly finished. It took me a while to come back to it and add the last little bits to it but here we go.
I'm working on the next chapter at the moment, I have ideas for the next year but just finding the time to write while I still do everything else I have to get done during the day is proving to be a nightmare as many can probably imagine. Still I'm trying to chip away at it and I hope to supply more to this sooner rather than later.