Chapter 5

The blaring alarm clock woke Sirius up from his deep sleep. He turned it off with his hand and spent a few minutes lying on the bed wondering why he'd woken up feeling so forlorn. After a few seconds he remembered that today was Jason's final hearing.

Sirius laid there remembering how he had never really liked Jason during school. Jason Webb had been a Ravenclaw at Hogwarts in the same year Sirius and his friends had been there. In between his rising popularity and selfish and conceited life style he'd never really noticed the boy until fifth year. It was around that time that James, Sirius' best friend, had started making an ass of himself to win the affection of the girl who later became his wife, Lily Evans. Around that time, Sirius started paying attention to Lily's Gryffindor best friend, Samantha Wylder. She was a fiery, black-haired and purpled-eyed beauty that would not give him the time of day. She drove him crazy and was an undeniable pain in his buttocks. She also became the first and last girl he ever loved.

He recalled the time they dated during Hogwarts, as the happiest in his life. After school, James and Lily got married and started spouting out a bunch of babies of whom quite a few were Sirius' godchildren. Samantha Wylder and him were engaged to be married until that fateful night on Halloween when Lily and all her daughters were murdered. The loss of one of their best friends and her children hit both of them hard and Sirius dedicated all of his time to helping James get his act together and take care of his remaining sons. Sam, on the other hand, had just lost her sister and brother-in-law and was raising their twin boy and girl children. The strain on the relationship broke them up in a couple of months. Despite everything, they remained friends (sorta) and Sam and Jason became the only link besides his sons that James had to Lily, so he invited him for family events a lot.

During his Hogwarts years, Sirius had never really liked the young awkward gay boy that Jason used to be, but during the war, Jason had proven himself to be a brave friend. That was until they found out about his Death Eater past. Sirius couldn't remember ever seeing James angrier than he did when he found out the news. Sirius, who had taken a liking to Webb through the years found it all a bit too hard to believe. But then again, he was no judge of character when it had been their best friend for seven years, Peter Pettigrew, who had betrayed Lily and her daughters' lives to Voldemort.

Sirius pushed his naked body out of bed and headed for the shower. He dressed in business black wizard's robes and headed downstairs for breakfast. Remus, James, Adam and Charlie were already sitting around the table having breakfast. They all bade good morning to him when he approached and kept eating their food silently. The gloom at the table was impossible to miss. Remus and James would be going to the hearing as well, so they too were wearing black robes. Adam and Charlie, on the other hand, had gotten up early to baby-sit the boys and had casual shirts and pants on.

Sirius smiled a bit as he served himself breakfast, thinking how James' sons had become the most important people to him in the world. Sirius had been around for pretty much all the family occasions as the kids were growing up and when Lily died, he and Remus moved in to help James raise them. Adam and Charlie were no longer children and Sirius always thought that they'd stopped being children they day their mother died. They had been the oldest and had been a fine example to their younger brothers throughout the whole ordeal.

Sirius knew he wasn't supposed to but he did have a favorite. He'd always favored Emily and Harry slightly. Sirius wasn't sure why but somehow he'd felt and immediate connection to them when they were born- the fact that he was their godfather also helped. His favor of Harry probably increased after Emily's death. Harry had been with them during the attack and was the only survivor. More than that, he became the reason of the end of Voldemort and his reign of terror and became famous among the wizarding world as the Boy Who Lived.

Which is why Sirius nearly had a heart attack the night Harry fell down a flight of stairs and injured himself into a coma for several hours. James and Remus had been furious and Sirius still remembered Harry's first words to him after he'd woken up from the coma. "I had to wake up Padfoot" a young Harry had whispered in his godfather's ear "I had to wake up because Emily was calling me."

Sirius had stood shock frozen solid at his godchild's words and decided against repeating them ever again. It was something that, Sirius was glad, Harry never brought up again or told anyone else. Very much like Sirius favored Harry, Harry seemed to favor Sirius in return. The Potter Manor was an eternal prank zone and Harry and Sirius were almost always a team. They usually teamed up against Jake and James. Jake was a two year younger version of Harry with blue eyes and a passion for quidditch that according to Harry 'defied Oliver Wood's'…whoever that is.

Rick, who was thirteen at the time, always reminded Sirius of Remus during his younger years. He had love for strange magical creatures and had a disturbingly close relationship with Hogwarts Groundskeeper, Hagrid. Hagrid was a great guy, loved by all in the Potter home but his mentorship to Rick made way for some rather bizarre moments in the household. Like the time when the half dragon half sphinx mutant breed had made home in the house's second floor bathroom and refused to let anyone shower who did not answer its riddle and burned whoever needed the toilet.

Finally there was Darren and Danny, the youngest of the Potter boys. The fiery red haired twins reminded Sirius much too much of younger versions of the Weasly twins, Fred and George. Although Danny was the more hyper of the two, both boys had personalities almost as similar as their looks and were wickedly difficult to tell apart when they were in a playful mood. Only James and Charlie could always tell who was who. As he finished his pancakes Sirius forced his thoughts to wander away from the Potter girls and stopped himself from imagining what would have become of them if they had not been killed at such a young age. 'A lot' he though quietly 'that's for sure'.

After breakfast, Sirius and his two old friends, made their way down to the Ministry of Magic. The trial would be held open for public view of those related to the case and would be held in front of the entire Wizengamonts. Sirius tried not to think about how Jason must've been feeling. They arrived at the floor where the trial was going to be held and Sirius glanced around. The place was littered with stray witches and wizards who were consulting quietly amongst one another. Sirius recognized most of them and greeted a few nearby him. The atmosphere was tense, as it always was when dealing with something like this. In a corner of the room, James and Remus were speaking to head auror Kingsley. Sirius was about to make his way to them when a small hand grabbed his arm and stopped him. Sirius knew who the hand belonged to without turning around from the way his body filled with goosebumps.

"Hello Sam" Sirius greeted his ex-fiancé warily.

"Sirius please" she replied, her eyes wild and red from crying "You need to say something. Jason didn't do it Sirius…he would never. If he says he was a spy…"

"Sam come on" Sirius said losing patience with her and being jolted by a weird feeling at the pit of his stomach "You fought in this war, you're not that naïve right? He's lying of course." Sirius spoke in the same secure way as James although he was not quite sure how much he believed his own words.

"Yes but…" she stuttered.

Sirius looked at her and his heart contracted. She was usually a strong, independent and mind numbingly stubborn woman but at the moment, she looked like a vulnerable defenseless girl who had spent the last several months crying herself to sleep and was desperately clinging to her last memory of Lily.

"Come on Sam" he put his hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "He fooled us all. But losing him doesn't mean losing Lily again."

"Yes it does Sirius" she finally looked at him with tear filled eyes and a look of absolute hopelessness "yes it does."

Sirius watched her walk away sadly before turning to join his friends inside the chamber where the trial would be held. He let his mind wander for a few seconds and thought about how pretty Sam looked when she cried.

Trial

The whole Wizengamonts stood before Jason Webb as a very intimidating crowd- Dumbledore included. The spectators watched from a filled balcony atop the chambers. Amanda Bones stood stern-faced in the middle of the crowd, facing Jason. "We are here for the final submission of evidence in the case of the Ministry of Magic versus Wizard Jason Webb. Mr. Webb is accused of treason, betrayal, Death Eater activity and of all other actions that fall under these here categories. For the record, the accused pleads…?"

"Innocent." Webb's voice cracked slightly and made Sirius flinch. At the first trial Webb had seemed unflinchingly determined of his own innocence but as the trials extended his conviction was faltering and fear had already started to seep through. Sirius stole a glance toward Sam who was nodding encouragingly at Jason. Her eyes, however, were hopeless.

"And the evidence?" Amanda asked again.

Kathleen Turner spoke up as Jason's defense attorney "We have already submitted the documentary evidence…"

"Your own client's will is not enough evidence Miss Turner." Amanda replied.

Kathleen continued talking "The only other people beside my client who knew about his spy activities were Lily Evans and Frank Longbottom."

"Yes and we've all concluded that it is mighty convenient since neither of those witnesses is available to testify." Minister Fudge spoke up from a corner of the room.

"As and Unspeakable, auror Lily Evans had the ability to open up an espionage operation along with another unspeakable auror's knowledge…in this case, auror Frank Longbottom."

"True" Amanda said "but we need the evidence."

"We request permission to submit Mr. Frank Longbottom's statement on this issue." Kathleen pushed.

"I have to go" James said suddenly and left the room. Remus and Sirius shared a glance but said nothing as James walked out of the chamber.

"Certainly not" Amanda Bones spoke up.

"Mr. Longbottom is in no condition to make any statement." Dumbledore's voice boomed around the room "nor is Mrs. Longbottom as we all know perfectly well. We've been over this for several months already and unless you have any concrete evidence I'm afraid this has all been a waste of our time." his gazed hardened over Jason "Treachery is not permissible."

"Yes but…" Kathleen stuttered for the first time. I couldn't blame her though, Dumbledore was an intimidating man.

"If there is no more evidence of an espionage operation, Wizengamonts has no other choice than to declare Mr. Jason Webb guilty of treason…" Amanda began to speak.

"I have evidence of the espionage operation and Mr. Webb's involvement in it" a woman's voice sounded in the room. Sirius peeked down the balcony and saw a hooded figure enter the room, briefcase in hand. The whole room began mumbling and Remus whispered "Who the hell is that?" next to Sirius. Sirius wondered the same thing himself.

Amanda Bones threw her a dark look and asked "And you would be?"

The woman stopped next to Webb and whispered something in his ear. Instead of looking relieved, he looked terrified- as if he's seen a ghost. Kathleen looked surprised and stared at the woman curiously.

"State your name please." Amanda's voice was stern and it was clear she was losing her patience.

The woman in the hood straightened up from the recoiled Jason and turned to face Wizengamonts. She raised her hood and revealed her face. "My name is Lily Evans. I'm an ex-unspeakable auror plus creator and head of Mr. Webb's entire espionage operation. I have all the evidence in this briefcase."

The room stayed quiet for several seconds as people stared at the woman claiming to be Lily. She certainly looked like Lily with her long red wavy hair and light green eyes that Harry had inherited. Still she looked different. Slightly older, more mature and weather-worn. Identical to what Lily would've looked like if she was still alive.

A sudden stream of rage overtook Sirius and he charged down the stairs at her. "You can't be Lily" he half screamed, half gasped "Lily is dead.".

The expression on her face was shocked look that was probably identical to Sirius' own face. She looked exactly like Lily. "Merlin's beard Sirius. I though you were dead. If I'd known you'd survived I would've taken you with us. I had to leave, ut was for the girls. I faked our death in order to protect them."

Sirius was stumped, although his blood boiled a bit beneath his skin at the mention of the girls. Sirius was about to say something when a yell from the balcony beat him to it. It was Remus screaming "Don't LIE!" and looking angrier than Sirius had ever seen him.

"Remus…" the woman started speaking up again.

"Bullshit!" Sam screamed as she walked towards them and slapped Jason "This is low! I hope you rot in Azkaban you sick demented bastard!"

The whole room went in an uproar as witches and wizards everywhere began yelling and even running away. The woman looked surprised at the whole mess and gave Sirius a confused look. He looked her directly in the eyes and that's when he realized who he was talking to.

"SILENCE!" Dumbledore's voice cut through the noise and froze the gaggle of witches and wizards running around, reminding Sirius of a Halloween night during his third year at Hogwarts- involving a pudding explosion and twenty dozen white mice.

In the silence, the chamber doors opened but nobody paid it any mind as all eyes were glued on Dumbledore. He stared at Sirius and the woman for a bit until a surprised voice cracked through the silence. "Lily?". Sirius flinched recognizing the voice immediately. James was back.