A/N: OMG I'm so so so sorry about the delay. I really am. Schoolwork just got on top of me, and there was simply no time. I know, you should all get Voldemort to come and kill me. No seriously I am sorry, and thank you all for baring with me. I'm afraid that this will probably be the update pattern for the rest of the story, one chapter every two weeks, though I will do my best to be quicker. LOL, and sorry!

Thanks again to my wonderful reviews, I love you loadz and I hope you continue to review despite the delay! Oh and if you like Harry and Sirius look out for my one shot 'Less like my father' which should be on the site sometime during the next week (it's already half written). Now read plz,

Chapter 11

"Sirius! Sirius! SIRIUS!"

The head auror slowly lifted his head off the desk on which it was resting and turned round hazily in the direction of the voice. "Umma," he groaned stupidly.

"Sirius," Kingsley's voice urgently boomed again. "Sirius pull yourself together! I've been trying to tell you for the past five minutes, the minister wants to see you."

"What does he want?" grunted Sirius lazily

Kingsley Shaklebolt sighed at his boss' antics. "I don't know but it sounded pretty urgent. You really should go," he said, kicking the head auror's chair 'helpfully'.

Rolling his eyes Sirius trudged out of his office and down the corridor to the minister's. I swear if this is another on of his stupid plans to demote me again,' thought the animagus as he raised his fist to knock on the large wooden door, 'I swear I am going to curse him into oblivion.'

"Enter Black, "the voice of Cornelius Fudge from the other side of the door held no warmth. Straightening his robes out angrily, Sirius let himself into the room.

"There will be no need to sit down Black," came the cool voice of the Minister even as Sirius just stepped into the room. The head auror scowled, but wisely did not voice his thoughts, most of which would have been considered 'highly inappropriate'. " Let me cut straight to the chase," said Fudge, standing up from his comfy pink armchair so that he was level with Sirius. "The ministry would like to arrest Harry James Potter, the boy who you happen to have custody off."

"What!" exclaimed that head auror, loosing all former composition. Why does the ministry want to arrest Harry? Unless…

"Let me put it in more simple terms for you, should I Black," snapped the minister, angry for some reason. " Your godson tried to murder someone and now we want to take him to Azkaban!"

Sudden fury exploded inside Sirius. He gripped his wand so tightly that small red sparks flew out of the tip, every inch of his body battling to keep the weapon in his pocket, rather than against Fudge's neck. They want to chuck Harry into Azkaban because of some lies that a stupid newspaper told! As if he would actually try to kill anyone The animagus hastily put that line of thought to one side as the image of his godson crucioing the death eater came into his mind.

"YOU CAN'T CHUCK HARRY INTO AZKABAN," yelled Sirius at the top of his voice, " HE DIDN'T TRY TO KILL ANYONE! THE BLOODY PROPHET WAS LYING!"

A twisted smile appeared on the Minister of Magic's face, as if he were trying to provoke Sirius even more. " Well Auror Black, it was you who expelled him was it not? Nobody else has that authority." He spat the last word in the head auror's face.

Sirius opened his mouth but no words came out. The anger inside him was now joined by a new emotion- guilt. This was his entire fault; if he hadn't expelled his godson none of this mess would have happiness. Instead the head auror ignored the question and spoke in a voice of forced calm, despite the fact that his whole body was trembling. "So does Harry even get a trial before being sent to Azkaban, Minister?"

Sirius could see the conflict of emotions on the minister's face upon hearing his word. He knew part of him wanted Harry to be chucked straight into prison, but the other half couldn't resist the media coverage of the boy-who-lived's trial. After a long silence Fudge snapped, " Fine, he can have a trial tomorrow morning at 10am. Make sure that Potter co-operates or we'll have to bring in him by force. Now get out of here Black."

Sirius left the office, taking extra care to slam the door behind him. He walked down the corridor, only breaking out into a sprint when Fudge was well out of earshot. I've got to find Harry…'

!"£$&()+

"Ronald Weasley don't you dare even think about buying that firewhisky"

Harry James Potter smiled into his butterebeer. He was glad the engagement hadn't changed his best friends too much; they still bickered just as much as before. It felt good to be sitting in the 'three Broomsticks' with Ron and Hermione again. Between everything that happened since they left Hogwarts, the three friends had hardly got time to spend as a trio.

" Same goes for you Harry! I know that look on your face," Harry half cringed, half grinned as Hermione's bushy head turned towards him instead. Much too the young witch's indignation the two boys turned round and rolled their eyes at each other.

"Bloody hell, Mione," smirked Ron, " We might not all be the smartest witch in our year, but me and Harry aren't stupid enough to even think about drinking when you're not allowed!"

Hermione, as probably expected, began glaring daggers at the boys, particularly the redhead. "Ronald, how…" she began whispering furiously, so not to attract too much attention from the people at near by tables.

Harry leant back in his seat- this could take a long time. It was at times like this when he felt that he would happily go and do everything he went though at Hogwarts, just to experience these movements more often. It was funny ho as much as he hated it then, he found himself rather missing Ron and Hermione's bickering now. He wished he could see them more often than just a couple of times a week, but with the couple's auror training taking up practically every living hour, he knew it simply wasn't possible.

"Harry. Harry. HARRY! For heavens sake what are you thinking about? This is the fifth time I'm asking you, how's thinks between you and Sirius now?"

The boy-who-lived was snapped out of his reverie by the sound of Hermione calling him, waving her hands frantically in front of his face. Harry jumped. More time must have passed than he thought; Ron and Hermione were no longer arguing. Though by the slightly (or very in Ron's case) flushed look on both of their faces, Harry would say that they must have kissed and made up- literally.

"Mate you OK?"

Harry brought his eyes to first look at Ron, then at Hermione. "I'm fine," he said hurriedly, spotting their slightly worried looks, "I'm fine. I was just thinking," he added. Saying he was remising sounded stupid, even in his own head. "Anyway what were you saying 'Mione?"

" I was just asking whether you and Sirius have made up yet?"

Harry inwardly rolled his eyes. His good mood was rapidly deflating. Why did Hermione have to keep asking him about Sirius every time they'd met recently? It had nothing to do with her. "We're on speaking terms if that's what you mean." Replied Harry cautiously, keeping his voice perfectly neutral. Technically he was telling the truth, Sirius and him had been talking to each other now. True, conversation was forced and formal, really getting any more personal that. "Dinner's ready". Harry suspected if Remus weren't there, constantly hitting him and Sirius over the head forcing them to be civil, number 6 would come to a complete standstill. Either way he wasn't actually lying- too bad Hermione didn't fall for it though.

The frizzy haired witch heaved an exasperated sigh at her friend. "Honestly I thought you'd have more sense than to let your pride get the better of you. You don't know what you're missing out on by not speaking to him. Just say sorry."

"Hermione…" began the raven-haired boy weakly but she cut him off

"No Harry, listen to me. Look, I don't mean this badly but it's the truth. You see," Hermione's voice was slightly higher-pitched than normal as she paused albeit nervously, fidgeting with her fingers, " Well, Sirius and Remus have looked after you since your parents passed away, and I'd have thought you'd show more gratitude to them than this."

The male teenager opened his mouth to retort furiously, but Ron stepped in instead. The Weasley, who'd stayed out of the conversation until now, ears' were starting to go their trademark red colour. "Look 'Mione, Harry doesn't lecture you about your parents, so don't lecture him. What goes on between him and Sirius is his business. But whilst we're on the topic mate, I think Hermione's right. You should make up with him. Now can we please enjoy the rest of the morning in peace?"

!"£$&()+

"HARRY!" yelled Sirius at the top of his voice, pushing the front door aside and sprinting up the stairs, " HARRY!"

"Padfoot," came a startled voice at the top of the landing, "What on Earth's going on?"

"Moony," replied Sirius breathlessly, " Where's Harry? I need to find him? Where's he gone?"

"He went to the three broomsticks with Ron and Hermione this morning" Remus had frown lines creasing his forehead. He spoke slowly and gently in contrast to Sirius.

"Thanks!"

"Sirius, what's…" But it was too late. The head auror had are already disapperated, leaving behind only an empty spot of carpet and an extremely confused Remus.

!"£$&()+

Sirius cursed loudly as he waded through the dense crowd of people. The pub was far too crowed for the animagus' liking. It meant that it was taking him a lot longer to find his godson. The head auror pushed aside an elderly witch with a large crocodile skin handbag and was in the process of muttering a quick apology, when he saw it- James' hair.

Abandoning the old witch to her own lecture on how to respect your elders, Sirius practically ran to the corner of the Three Broomsticks where Harry was sitting and swiftly placed a firm grip on his shoulder.

The boy-who-lived jumped and hastily turned round in his seat to see who was there. He rolled his eyes at the sight of his godfather standing above him. Who did you think it was- Voldemort.

"Good morning Ron. And you Hermione," said Sirius politely in Harry's silence, but didn't wait to hear their answers. "Harry, can you come with me please," and before the boy could even began to protest the head auror had grabbed him by the arm and was gently pulling him away.

"Don't worry, no one's died," he said, softening at the look on his godson's face. "Now…" and without warning the older wizard appparated away, taking Harry with him.

The pair of them landed with a soft thud on the living room floor, much to Remus Lupin's astonishment. Ignoring both of their silent protests, Sirius gently pressed Harry down on to the maroon sofa and knelt down on the floor in front of him, placing on hand on the boy's knee.

" Listen to me Harry," said Sirius softly, " The ministry wants to send you to Azkaban cause the they think that you really did try to kill Snape like the prophet said,"

"But…" began Harry but was cut of pretty much just as he started.

"No, listen to me mate. They've given you a hearing at 10am tomorrow. Don't worry about it, okay…"

"But…"

" I'll be your witness, and Snape'll be able to clarify that you didn't do anything to him if nothing else works. It'll be okay. We'll make sure nothing happens. You won't have to go to Azkaban, promise. K."

Harry tried to reply, but his mouth suddenly felt dry. He might be sentenced to Azkaban. He might never get to see Remus and Sirius again. Panic rose inside the boy as Sirius' words processed inside his brain. He was only vaguely aware that both his guardians were still staring at him. Why did everything always seem to happen to him? Why did he have to go and loose his temper and crucio the death-eater? Why did the stinky prophet have to say that he tried to kill Snape?

Remus slowly walked over from his position in the corner of the room and sat down on the sofa besides his young charge. He placed a hand on the young boy's shoulder, "Harry, you know we mean it when we say don't worry. You're not guilty and they can't arrest you for something you didn't do. Alright?"

Harry managed to mutter a gruff "okay". Everything suddenly seemed so distant now. He stared straight ahead at the fireplace, not seeing it at all. His mind was full of worse case scenarios and wild pictures of what the rest of his life in Azkaban would be like.

However in those few moments, the wall of tension that had been building up in the house for the past week suddenly collapsed. It was as if everything that happened between Sirius and Harry had been forgotten. As the young boy slowly pushed himself off the sofa, the head auror was half convinced he was going to crawl into his arms and bury his face in his neck, the way his godson always did when every he was upset of worried. When he first visited his parent's graves, when he defeated Quirrell with the philosopher's stone, after the chamber of secrets, when Voldemort came back to life…

But instead Harry walked straight passed Sirius, furiously trying to avoid eye contact, as if he knew exactly what his godfather was thinking, and went up to his bedroom, ignoring the two pairs off eyes staring at his back. Once up there alone the boy-who-lived finally allowed all the panic building up inside him to consume his body. He lay face down on his head and bit down hard on his pillow. It was going to be a long night.

!"£$&()+

Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red: he was laughing at her.

'Come on you can do better than that!' he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.

The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest. The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.

Harry released Neville, thought he was unaware of doing so. He was jumping down the steps again, pulling out his wand, as Dumbledore, too, turned to the dais.

It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall: his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards though the ragged veil hanging from the arch.

Harry saw the look of mingled ear and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for the moment as though by a high wind, then fell back to place.

Harry heard Bellatrix Lestrange's triumphant scream, but knew it meant nothing-Sirius had only fallen through the archway, he would reappear from the other side any second…

But Sirius did not reappear.

"SIRIUS" Harry yelled. "Sirius!" He had reached the floor, his breath coming in searing gasps. Sirius must be just behind the curtain, he, Harry, would pull him back out…

But as he reached the ground and sprinted towards the dais, Lupin grabbed Harry around the chest, holding him back. 'There's nothing you can do, Harry-'

"Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!"

"- IT'S TOO LATE Harry."

"We can still reach him-" Harry struggled hard and viciously, but Lupin would not let go.

"There's nothing you can do, Harry…nothing…he's gone"

Harry's screams echoed around the house, as he suddenly sat up in bed, breathing hard as if he'd just been duelling. Within seconds both Sirius and Remus were also awake, worriedly running into Harry's room.

"Harry?"

At the sound of the voice Harry jumped into his godfather's arms and hugged him tight, as though his life depended on it. "Sirius, you're alive. I'm sorry, 'Mione was right. I'm so sorry. Please don't go," he sobbed into his guardian's shoulder.

Sirius wrapped his arms round the shaking boy. " It's okay, Har. I'm not going anywhere. It was just a dream that's all. You don't have to tell me about it if you don't want to. Do you want to go back to sleep?"

Harry shook his head, but pulled himself slightly away from Sirius, blood suddenly rushing to his face. Suddenly all the memories of the previous day came rushing back to him- the hearing was only in a few hours time. As the fear from the dream inside him slowly vanished it was instantly replaced with furious panic. Today was the day that he might be sent to Azkaban.

"Let's go down and eat breakfast," suggested Remus, and a few moments later Harry found himself sitting in the kitchen with toast in front of him and barely any recognition of how he got there.

" Just keep your head cool. Don't loose your temper. Only speak when they directly ask you something and I'll do the rest of the talking. It'll be fine, trust me!" Harry listened as carefully as he could to the last minute advice Sirius was firing at him. He was only eating his breakfast to keep Remus happy; the toast tasted like paper and the pieces would just not go down his dry mouth.

!"£$&()+

A couple of hours later Harry found himself standing outside a huge wooden door, trying frantically to remember Sirius' advice. "Come on, let's get this over with," said the head auror, giving Harry's arm a reassuring squeeze, before pushing the door open.

A cold male voice rang across the courtroom. "Take our seats."

Harry dropped his gaze to the chair in the centre of the room, the arms of which ere covered in chains. His footsteps echoed loudly as he walked across the stone floor. When he sat gingerly on the edge of the seat, the chains pulled him further in, and magically fastened themselves round his waist and arms, digging into his skin painfully as if trying to suck him into the chair.

His head swimming, Harry looked around to his left where Sirius was sitting in his own wooden chair (without the chains), trying and failing to give him a small reassuring smile.

Feeling rather sick he looked up at the people sitted on the bench above him. There must hade been about fifty of them. Harry could quite make them out, for his vision had suddenly started swimming, despite the fact that he was still wearing glasses. In the very middle of the front row, Harry could just about make out, Cornelius Fudge, the minister of magic. A broad, square-jawed witch sat on Fudge's left; she wore a monocle and seemed rather forbidding.

"If you don't mind can we please begin," Harry heard the clam familiar voice of his godfather coming from his left. No don't begin. Why did you ask for it to begin? Every inch of Harry's brain pounded.

After shooting Sirius a look of loathing Fudge began speaking in the cold voice that seemed to bounce of the stonewalls, " Disciplinary hearing of the 29th of August. Harry James Potter trailed for attempting to murder his professor Severus Snape. Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Mistier of Magic, Amelia Suzan Bones, Head of the magical Law and Order Enforcement. Court scribe, Gemini Alexandra Laxcrosse…"

The Sirius' insides seemed to turn inside out. It was Gem- but she was a death eater. Why was she at the ministry? It took all of the head auror's self control to stop himself from looking up and trying to spot Gemini. He was here for Harry. He was going to ignore Gemini. Harry, not Gem. Harry, not Gem.

As Sirius tried to convince himself, Fudge drew a piece of parchment from the pile beside him and read out. " You are Harry James Potter, whose parents, Lily and James Potter, are deceased, and you now live with your joint guardians Remus Lupin and Sirius Black."

"Yes," Harry said, trying to keep his voice neutral, as Fudge casually threw out his parent's names.

" And is it true that you and Severus Snape, haven't been the best of friends since the time that you first met him, when he was the potions master in your first year at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry."

"Yes, but-"

"And you attempted to murder him on the 23rd August?"

"NO!" yelled Harry at the top of his voice, earning him a sharp look out of the corner of Sirius' eye. "I never attempted to murder Snape."

"But you did get expelled from auror training by head auror Black, on that same day did you not?" said Fudge, a trace of anger now apparent in his cold voice.

"Y…" Harry's mouth was fully fledged to say the word yes, but his godfather cut loudly across him.

"No. He was never sacked. He wasn't enjoying training and asked me whether he could leave. I complied to his wishes."

"Is this true?" enquired the lady sitting besides Fudge, looking down at Harry though the top of her monocle.

"Yes," replied Harry a little too quickly, nodding his head, as if the piece of news was no shock to him.

'Hem, hem' the sound of a fake, girlish cough altered Harry to the presence of another woman sitting in Fudge's shadow. She was rather squat with a broad, flabby face, and wore a fluffy pink cardigan. When she spoke her voice was fluttery and high-pitched, which for some reason managed to unnerve Harry. " Excuse me. But do you actually believe the story Mr. Black just told you. Being the boy's godfather he is bound to cover up for the boy and make him seem innocent. He's probably lying to the wizengamot. The Daily Prophets sources of information must be seen as more reliable." She paused as Harry accidentally let out a sceptical laugh causing the wizards above him to stare at him.

"Mr Potter's new fascination with the dark arts must not be forgotten either, neither should his 7 year long unrequited hatred to Severus Snape."

She was unable to say anymore even if she wanted to, for Sirius' loud voice swiftly interrupted her. "Where is Snape anyway? Surly he should be here to testify whether Harry tried to kill him or not? Then we'll all know the truth.

"Severus has been emotionally shaken by what Mr. Potter did to him and was therefore unable to appear today." It was the voice of the minister who replied, rather than the cardigan woman. The chains on Harry's chair seemed to know that the boy's blood was pounding angrily though his veins and increased their grip on him until Harry saw droplets of blood on his wrist. Why the hell did Snape not tell the truth? Surely he didn't hate my dad enough to send me to Azkaban for the rest of my life. Or maybe he did. "Now let's get this trial closed. We are obviously getting nowhere."

"Those in favour of clearing the witness of all charges?" said Madam Bone's booming voice.

Harry's head jerked upwards. There were hands in the air, some of them. But was it more than half? Less than half? Breathing very fast he tried to count, but before he could finish, Madam Bones had said, "And all those in favour of conviction.?"

No! Either Harry was just being paranoid, or more people had just put up their hands. Had they? The boy's heart was hammering inside his chest. Please no, he prayed, throwing a quick look at a wide-eyed Sirius next to him.

Fudge glanced round at them all, a twisted smile on his face. "Well, well, well. Mr Harry James Potter you have been pronounced guilty."

A/N: Now please review if you can and I'll love you forever.

Autumnlover: Was zweite Brief? Das Deutsches Letter? Dieses nacht ich werde dass ich du anrufen. K.