Chapter Ten: Predictions
...
It was just one of those nights.
He tossed and turned, but no matter what he did, Harry just couldn't fall asleep. With all of the movement he'd been making trying to find a comfortable position to fall asleep in, Harry was kind of surprised that he hadn't managed to accidentally wake up Snuffles.
Snuffles, the lucky dog, was sleeping away, right next to Harry.
After a few more minutes of shifting, Harry decided to temporarily give up on trying to sleep for the moment. Harry sat up with a quiet sigh and reached over through his curtains to his nightstand. He slipped his glasses on his face, grabbed his wand, and reached into his nightstand drawer, pulling out the Marauder's Map.
"Lumos," Harry whispered with his wand in his hand
As the tip of his wand lit up, Harry glanced over at Snuffles. Luckily the light hadn't woken up the dog. Snuffles has been on so edge recently that seeing him relaxed was a relief – even if the only time that Snuffles seemed to relax anymore was whenever he was sleeping. And even then, it was hit and miss. Snuffles has had a rough few nights. Sometimes Harry would be woken up and thus able to help Snuffles, but Harry was willing to bet that Snuffles had nightmares that didn't wake up Harry; and that Snuffles was forced to suffer those nightmares alone.
With a soft, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Harry watched as the Marauder's Map came to life in his hands.
Harry hadn't really looked at the Map all that much since the twins had given it to him, so now was as good a time as any to indulge his idle curiosity. Even though there probably wouldn't be too many people out and about at this time of night, Harry would still enjoy looking at the Map.
After a few minutes of gazing at the many sections of the map and watching a professor or two patrol the corridors, some movement on the map caught his eye.
Someone was walking down one of the corridors, and it wasn't a professor or a prefect doing their rounds.
The name seemed familiar… Was he a student?
Where had Harry heard that name before?
Oh.
Oh.
No.
No, that's impossible.
And yet…
Peter Pettigrew was apparently walking down one of Hogwarts' many corridors.
'I thought Peter Pettigrew was killed by Black… Maybe the Map is wrong?'
Well, perhaps a quick jaunt out of bed would help Harry get this restlessness out of his system. He could investigate why Pettigrew's name was appearing on the Map and then he would go back to bed – and hopefully fall asleep.
Unfortunately, no matter how carefully Harry tried to get out of the bed, the shifting of the mattress as Harry got up had woken Snuffles.
'So I can toss and turn all I want, but the moment my feet touch the floor, Snuffles pops up. It's like he can sense whenever I'm going to leave or something.'
Snuffles groggily looked at Harry and then shook himself when he realized Harry was standing up next to the bed.
"Go back to sleep, Snuffles," Harry whispered.
Snuffles stood up on the bed in response.
"Seriously, I'll be right back," Harry softly assured. "You can stay right here and get some more rest."
Snuffles looked very unimpressed with Harry as he silently hopped off of the bed and landed on the floor next to Harry.
After a brief stare off between Harry and Snuffles, Harry looked away and sighed.
"Oh, alright," Harry gave in. "You can come with me."
With the Map opened in one hand and his lit wand in the other, Harry quietly led the way out of the room, listening to the soft clicks of Snuffles claws hitting the floor as the dog trailed along after him.
As Harry left the Common Room, Snuffles picked up his pace so that he was walking next to Harry, rather than following behind him. Continuing to consult the Map to be aware of Pettigrew's location, Harry barely paid any mind to the dog walking beside him until Snuffles let out a quiet bark.
Looking down at Snuffles, Harry quietly asked, "What?"
In response, Snuffles cocked his head to the side, still looking up at Harry.
Harry figured that Snuffles wanted to know what Harry was doing out of bed and roaming around the castle in the middle of the night. After checking the Map and seeing that there was only a 'Harry Potter' and a 'Snuffles' in the area, Harry decided to tell Snuffles what was going on. It would still take them a minute or so to get close to where Pettigrew was supposedly at.
"This is the Marauder's Map that I was telling you about the other day," Harry whispered, slightly shaking the parchment in his hand. "And I couldn't sleep tonight so I decided to activate it and look at it just because I could and, well, you'll never believe who I saw walking down one of the corridors – Peter Pettigrew!"
Harry had his eyes on the Map, so he completely missed Snuffles jerking to a stop beside him.
"I mean, it took me a minute to recognize the name, but this guy is supposed to be dead, right? So I thought I'd see what was going on. If this Map is right, we're getting really close to where Pettigrew is wandering."
...
Fire and ice.
Simmering rage and chilling fear.
He wanted to charge ahead at full speed.
He wanted to grab Harry and get him as far away from here as possible.
That rat was so close. He was so close!
But Harry was here.
Harry was right here.
In an empty corridor.
All alone.
All alone, that is, except for him… and that rat.
'I have to protect him. I won't fail this time! No matter what happens, I have to protect Harry.'
That rat could have anything planned.
Harry could be walking into a trap.
Or…
Or that rat might not even know that Harry was heading straight towards him.
Snuffles didn't know what they could be walking into.
'Harry has to come first this time. My revenge against the rat can come later.'
Snuffles quickly caught up to Harry, who had, in Snuffles frozen moment of panicked indecision, continued walking down the corridor with the Marauder's Map in his hand.
He still wasn't at a hundred percent – it was going to be a long time before he could even be considered partially recovered from his time in Azkaban – but Snuffles was now on high alert. He had all of his senses strained forward, listening and looking for that thrice-damned rat.
Snuffles wasn't going to let anything happen to Harry. That rat would have to go through him first.
...
According to the Marauder's Map, Peter Pettigrew was just up ahead.
Snuffles hadn't made a noise since Harry had last spoken, so the two of them were silently stalking through the corridors.
Harry slowed to a stop and pointed his wand out in front of him. Squinting a little, Harry intently stared ahead, sweeping his gaze from side to side, looking for Pettigrew. But he couldn't see anyone. In fact, he couldn't even hear footsteps.
Glancing down at the Map, Harry's gaze briefly passed over to Snuffles and he noticed that, for some reason, Snuffles was taking up a defensive position in front of him. The dog had his ears back, teeth bared, and was crouching slightly, as if he was getting ready to attack something.
When Harry turned his attention back to the Map, he saw that Pettigrew was still coming towards them. He was getting so close to them that Harry should be able to see Pettigrew any second now.
Harry pointed his wand and trained his eyes towards the spot where Pettigrew should be. But Harry still couldn't see anything.
Snuffles suddenly started growling.
Loudly.
Pettigrew had stopped moving when Snuffles started growling, but now Pettigrew was coming towards them at an even faster pace.
Snuffles' growl turned into an aggressive snarl.
According to the Map, Pettigrew was directly in front of Harry.
Snuffles suddenly stopped snarling and made a noise that sounded like he was lunging for something.
Pettigrew was quickly passing to the right of Harry, but even with his wand following the movement of where Pettigrew should be, Harry still saw nothing.
Harry heard what sounded like teeth clamping down, as if Snuffles had tried to bite something and missed.
Snuffles resumed growling.
Pettigrew was gone, continuing down the corridor and away from Harry and Snuffles.
It didn't make any sense – Harry hadn't seen anyone, an actual person or a ghost.
'What is going on? And what was Snuffles reacting to? I didn't see anything.'
"What was that, Snuffles? What did you see?" Harry quietly asked.
Snuffles moved closer to Harry, but kept growling.
"Knock it off, Snuffles," Harry whispered, laying the hand that held the Map on the dog's head.
Snuffles continued growling for a moment longer, but then trailed off into silence.
Deciding to call it a night and head back to Gryffindor Tower (where he could hopefully fall asleep this time), Harry glance down at the Marauder's Map to make sure that he wouldn't be caught by a professor on his way back to bed.
Unfortunately, it appeared that luck wasn't on Harry's side tonight because the Map showed him one name that Harry really didn't want to see.
Severus Snape
And Snape was just about to turn the corner and see Harry standing in the middle of the corridor.
Without a moment to lose, Harry quickly touched his wand to the Marauder's Map and said, "Mischief managed", wiping the Map of ink and turning it into plain-looking parchment once more.
"Nox," Harry immediately killed the light coming from his wand.
Not five seconds after Harry had shoved the Map into his pocket and turned off his light, Snape appeared behind him, illuminating the hallway with his own wand.
"Potter!" Snape sneered. "What are you doing wandering the corridors at night?"
'Well, shit.'
"I was…" 'I really don't want to draw his attention to Snuffles, but Snape's bound to notice my dog anyway. I might as well make a realistic excuse.' "…taking my dog on a walk. He needs to get out every once in a while," Harry said, looking straight at Snape even though the professor held his wand light directly in front of Harry's face.
"How extraordinarily like your father you are, Potter. He too was exceedingly arrogant. Strutting about the castle," Snape sneered after glancing down at Snuffles before returning his gaze to Harry, glaring at the boy.
"My dad didn't strut," Harry said, highly offended. Snuffles growled lowly and Harry put his hand back on the dog's head. Thankfully, Snuffles stopped growling. He didn't want to give Snape any legitimate reason to make him get rid of Snuffles. "And nor do I. Now, if you don't mind, I'd appreciate it if you would lower your wand."
Snape glared at Harry for a moment longer and then lowered his wand slightly.
"Turn out your pockets," Snape demanded.
Harry stood still, not moving. He felt Snuffles tense up.
"Turn. Out. Your. Pockets," Snape demanded again.
Glaring, Harry removed his hand from Snuffles' head (since he was still holding his wand in his other hand) and shoved that hand in his pocket. Trying to keep a blank face, Harry regretfully withdrew the Marauder's Map and held it out in front of him.
"What's this?" Snape asked, pointing his wand at the parchment that was in Harry's hand.
"Spare bit of parchment."
"Really?" Snape said skeptically. "Open it."
Harry glanced down and unfolded a portion of the completely blank Marauder's Map.
Snape tapped his wand onto the center of the Map and said, "Reveal your secrets."
With his heart in his throat, Harry watched as ink slowly painted its way across the parchment, revealing, not only the name of the Map (which Harry had expected), but some additional writing that Harry had never seen before.
"Read it," Snape demanded.
Harry nervously licked his lips and said, "Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs offer their complements to Professor Snape and…"
Harry had trailed off. If he read aloud what was written next, he was sure that Snape would put him in detention. But, oh, how Harry wanted to read what the Marauders had written. Even though Harry knew it was very likely to land him in trouble. Well, more trouble than he already was in, what with him roaming around the castle with Snuffles in the middle of the night.
"Go on," Snape said.
Harry decided to just enjoy it, for a brief moment at least, before Snape would inevitably decide to send him to detention for all of eternity. Harry glanced at the parchment to be sure of what it said and then looked up at Snape.
"And request that he keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business," Harry said unrepentantly. Snuffles made a sound that could've been a laugh or a sneeze.
"Why you insolent little –"
"Professor."
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw that Snuffles had startled a bit when Professor Lupin appeared from behind Snape. Snuffles barely made a noise as he moved to press himself against the back of Harry's legs.
Snape whirled around to face Professor Lupin.
"Well, well," Snape said. "Lupin. Out for a little walk… in the moonlight, are we?"
"Harry," Professor Lupin said, ignoring what Snape had said and taking a few steps closer to Harry. "Are you alright?"
Harry nodded and moved to place a reassuring hand on Snuffles' head. Harry was pretty sure Snuffles wouldn't mind that the hand on his head was the hand that was holding Harry's wand.
"That remains to be seen," Snape said, quickly turning and snatching the Marauder's Map from Harry's hands. "I've just confiscated a rather curious artifact from Mr. Potter. Take a look, Lupin," Snape extended the parchment towards Professor Lupin. "It's supposed to be your area of expertise. Clearly it's full of dark magic."
"Oh I seriously doubt it, Severus," Professor Lupin said, staring intently at the Map. "It looks to me as though it's merely a parchment designed to insult anyone who tries to read it," Professor Lupin started to laugh as he said, "I suspect it's a Zonko's product."
Snape started to reach for the Map, but Professor Lupin quickly moved and held it out of Snape's reach.
"Nevertheless," Professor Lupin continued. "I shall investigate any hidden qualities it may possess," Professor Lupin started folding up the Map. "It is, after all, as you were saying, my area of expertise… Harry," Professor Lupin turned to look at Harry. "Would you come with me now please?"
Harry nodded, gave Snuffles a soft pat, and started walking towards Professor Lupin. After what appeared to be a moment of hesitation, Snuffles trailed along behind Harry.
"Goodnight, Severus," Professor Lupin said cordially as he fell into step next to Harry.
Together, Harry and Professor Lupin walked away from Snape and down the corridor. Snuffles was slowly following behind the two. Professor Lupin led Harry and Snuffles to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom since it was close to where they had been.
As they entered the classroom, Professor Lupin continued to walk towards the front of the room. Harry slowed his pace, mainly because he could no longer hear the clicking of Snuffles claws on the floor but also because Harry was sure that he was going to get lectured by Professor Lupin. Glancing over his shoulder, Harry saw that Snuffles had stopped just inside of the classroom door.
Looking forward, Harry saw that Professor Lupin had stopped just in front of his desk and had turned to face Harry. So Harry stopped as well and ended up a few paces away from where the professor stood.
"Now I haven't the faintest idea, Harry, how this map came to be in your possession. And quite frankly, I am astounded that you didn't hand it in!" Professor Lupin sounded disappointed and angry at the same time as he walked forward a few steps to get closer to Harry. "Didn't it ever occur to you that this," Professor Lupin shook the Marauder's Map a bit to emphasize his point, "in the hands of Sirius Black is a map to you?"
Harry shook his head slightly and whispered, "No sir."
The thought of Sirius Black finding and using the Marauder's Map hadn't even occurred to Harry.
"You know your father never held the rules in high regard either, but he and your mother gave their lives to save yours," Professor Lupin sounded furious and now he was almost yelling at Harry. "And gambling their sacrifice by wandering around the castle unprotected with a killer on the loose seems to be a pretty poor way to repay them," Professor Lupin paused for a moment, before continuing in a softer tone. "I will not cover up for you again, Harry. Do you hear me?"
"Yes sir," Harry whispered, shuffling his feet a little.
"I want you to return to your dormitory and stay there. And don't take any detours on your way there. If you do," Lupin tapped the Map. "I shall know."
Harry nodded and started walking back towards the door before a thought occurred to him.
Stopping and turning around to face Professor Lupin once again, Harry said, "Professor, just so you know, I don't think that map always works. Earlier on, it showed someone in the castle – someone I know to be dead."
"Oh really? Who might that be?" Professor Lupin asked.
"Peter Pettigrew."
"That's… not possible," Professor Lupin said, his eyes going wide as his voice shook a bit.
"It's just what I saw," Harry said with a slight shrug. He thought that the way Professor Lupin was acting about him seeing Pettigrew on the Map was odd, but not that shocking. After all, Harry just said that he'd seen Pettigrew's name and that man was dead.
"Goodnight professor," Harry said, turning back around and looking at his dog. Snuffles' gaze was strangely solemn as the dog stared at where Professor Lupin was still standing.
Harry called Snuffles to his side and walked out of the room, leaving Professor Lupin behind.
...
Harry knew he could be stubborn.
He also knew that Ron could be stubborn… and Hermione could be stubborn.
Harry figured that the three of them were all trying to out stubborn each other. Ron was probably waiting for Hermione to approach him. Hermione was probably waiting for Ron to approach her. And Harry knew that he was just waiting for Ron or Hermione to approach the other.
Harry just wanted things to go back to the way they were – when all three of them could talk without it turning into a fight or without Ron or Hermione avoiding each other.
Thankfully, Harry had had a little outside assistance with getting Ron to agree to talk to Hermione.
One afternoon, Harry had received an invitation to visit Hagrid for some tea, so Harry had asked Ron if he wanted to come along. And that meant that Harry couldn't invite Hermione as well because Ron was avoiding Hermione.
When the two boys (and Snuffles) arrived and were seated at the table in Hagrid's hut, Hagrid brought up the subject of them shunning Hermione.
Although Harry had been upset with Hermione for the whole broom incident, he had mostly gotten over it after Professor McGonagall returned his Firebolt. But in a show of support towards Ron (and because Harry was more sympathetic to Ron's side of the issue), Harry had been mostly hanging out with Ron. And since Ron has been actively avoiding Hermione, Harry was also kind of avoiding Hermione as well.
Hagrid told them that Hermione has been heartsick over the loss of their friendship.
"I thought that you two'd value yer friend more'n broomsticks or rats," Hagrid had said near the end of their visit, just before Harry and Ron left to return to the castle before dark.
So, about two days after their visit with Hagrid, Harry had finally managed to convince Ron to go over to Hermione when all three of them happened to be in the Common Room one evening.
As Harry guided Ron over to the couch that Hermione was sitting on, he noticed that Snuffles was already curled up with Crookshanks at Hermione's feet.
"Hey, Hermione," Harry greeted.
Hermione looked up from the book she was reading, tentatively smiling at Harry before sending a wary glance at Ron.
Ron, looking uncomfortable, cleared his throat and also said, "Hey… Hermione."
Hermione opened her mouth as if she was about to say something and then closed it. She shut her book and placed it on her lap.
"Ron, I… I'm sorry. I mean, I'd like to apologize for… for Scabber's dea-… for what Crookshanks did to Scabbers," Hermione said somewhat uncertainly.
"Yeah, well, I guess I also need to apologize," Ron said reluctantly. "To you, that is. I'm sorry for… overreacting like I did. It wasn't you who did it, but I still blamed you. And I'm sorry for that."
"So… can we go back to talking to each other now?" Hermione asked hopefully. "Because I really missed you guys."
"We missed you too, Hermione," Harry assured. Ron nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I mean, who else is going to nag us into doing our homework?" Ron asked teasingly.
"Ronald!" Hermione exclaimed in mock offense before her lips twitched.
"So does this mean I can get my dog back?" Harry asked.
"Huh?" Ron looked confused.
"Hermione's been stealing Snuffles," Harry accused, looking amused when Snuffles seemed to shoot him a glare from his position at Hermione's feet.
"It's not my fault that Snuffles has apparently decided that I'm better company," Hermione could barely keep a straight face as she said that.
Harry couldn't help it. He started laughing – mainly in relief that he, Ron, and Hermione were all talking together once again.
Ron and Hermione were quick to join in on the laughter.
Snuffles snorted at the three of them before resting his head back down on his paws.
It looked like things were finally taking a turn for the better.
...
Elizabeth Lewis was happy with her lot in life.
She had supportive parents, an amazing fiancé, and a great job.
But, just because she had a great job, that didn't mean that it wasn't a hard job to do. Don't get her wrong – she loved working as Madam Bones' assistant. Madam Bones was a hard woman, yes, but she had always treated Elizabeth with kindness.
Elizabeth never gave Madam Bones a reason to be disappointed with her or her work. Elizabeth always put her best effort forward, and even when she made a mistake or someone else made an error that she had to fix, Madam Bones was understanding and gave her the chance to correct what was wrong.
But this…
This was not going to be an easy fix.
This was, to put it lightly, a complete and utter disaster in the making.
If anything about this were to get out, and it would – things of this magnitude always do (and there was absolutely no way that this wouldn't get out because it has to be made public), the consequences alone could completely destroy the reputation of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement as well as a lot of the other departments in the Ministry – even though this whole thing occurred years ago.
Elizabeth wasn't a person who usually cursed. In fact, as a personal preference, she generally avoided being around people who cursed a lot. It wasn't anything against them, it was just that that type of language made her uncomfortable.
But this…
This deserved a curse word or two because what she had just found out was a… a tragedy! It was a miscarriage of justice that was about to become a public relations nightmare and a media circus.
Maybe she should've taken a sick day… or a sick week. Maybe taking a month off wouldn't've been a bad idea.
It had taken her a couple of weeks to put it all together, mainly because of bureaucratic posturing, misfiling, and red tape, but she had found all of the paperwork the led to Sirius Black being thrown in Azkaban Prison.
And what did she find?
One sheet of parchment.
That's it. That was all she could find.
One measly sheet of parchment.
After sending memos and requests, personally speaking to various department heads, hounding Aurors and office workers alike, and searching through just about every file and folder in the entire Ministry herself (being the personal assistant to the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement gave her some surprisingly high clearance), the only thing that Elizabeth could find about Sirius Black being sent to Azkaban was a short request form that took up less than half of a sheet of parchment. And it was a request for an Azkaban prisoner's uniform for Sirius Black.
Clothes.
That's all she could find about Sirius Black and Azkaban.
A request for clothes.
No trial record.
No transcripts.
Not even the paperwork detailing the arrest of Sirius Black.
Nothing.
And just in case some type of catastrophe occurred and somehow managed to destroy just about anything related to Sirius Black's stay in Azkaban, Elizabeth went to the media – but not to inform them about this, no, most definitely not! She went to do some more research.
On one of her days off, she enlisted her fiancé's help and together they went to various media headquarters throughout the country to look through all of the old issues around the time that Sirius Black would've been thrown in Azkaban.
Madam Bones had delegated the task of finding Sirius Black's missing court transcripts to her and Elizabeth was nothing if not thorough.
So, she and her fiancé spent an entire day searching through dusty archives. The results of their search were highly discouraging.
No mention of a trial for Sirius Black in any issue of the Daily Prophet.
Nor in Witch Weekly.
Nor in Global Galleons.
Nor in any of the other news-type outlets – hard news and gossip rags.
They even checked the Quibbler.
Nothing.
They found absolutely nothing.
Not even a single sentence mentioning an upcoming trial or the outcome of a trial for Sirius Black. Just general statements about Black's arrest and how he betrayed the Potters.
Black's trial would've been very heavily covered by reporters and followed by the public.
To find nothing about Black's trial in any newspaper or magazine…
From what she could find, the only logical conclusion that Elizabeth could come up with for why Sirius Black's trial transcripts couldn't be found was that Sirius Black never received a trial in the first place.
"This is fucking ridiculous!" Elizabeth exclaimed, throwing an old issue of Casters' Corner on the ground.
"Woah! Lizzy! Did my ears deceive me or did you just say 'fucking'?" Gregory asked slightly incredulous and more than a little worried. "In all the years I've known you, I don't think I've ever heard you say fuck."
Gregory put down the stack of papers that he had been levitating onto the table in the middle of the room and then wrapped his arms around Elizabeth's waist, pulling her into a hug.
"And I would know," Gregory continued in a teasing tone. "After all, it's such a rare occurrence to hear you curse – I make it a point to keep a record. I think you're up to five 'damns', two 'piss offs', four 'arses', and one very creative usage of a 'rat-arsed-twat-bastard' – which I supposed could go into the 'arse' category, but…"
"Greg!" Elizabeth groaned before hugging Gregory back and tucking her face in the crook of his neck.
"What's got you all worked up?" Gregory asked. "I thought you told me that searching for any mention of Black's trial was going to be a new twist to our Saturday date night. If I recall correctly, I think you sold this idea to me as a historical scavenger hunt. But don't think that I didn't realize that this 'hunt' was more important to you than you were letting on. What's going on, Lizzy?"
"Classified," was the muffled response from Elizabeth.
"Classified?"
"Mm hmm," Elizabeth nodded her head miserably. "Classified."
"Can you talk around the issue?" Gregory hesitantly asked. "Maybe talking about it, even vaguely, would help. And I know that this has something to do with Sirius Black's trial since that's what we're searching for – so it's not like I'm entirely clueless here."
"I know," Elizabeth said, pulling her head back to look at her fiancé. "It's just that this whole situation is so many levels of messed up. I mean, technically it's not classified yet, so I can tell you about it, but I've been working for Madam Bones for so long that I know how she's going to react. And when I tell her about what I've found, she's going to 'classify' it to the highest of security levels until she and some of the other higher ups, like probably the Minister of Magic himself, can find a good way to deal with this mess."
"So… Since it's technically not classified yet…" Gregory wheedled.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes with a tired smile and, since they were alone in the room, pulled out her wand. After putting up a few high-level privacy and silencing wards, Elizabeth began explaining the situation.
"So, this all began when a man came into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement looking for the transcripts from Sirius Black's court trail…"
Elizabeth took a good twenty minutes to outline everything that she went through, first looking for the transcripts and then systematically searching just about every department in the Ministry for any evidence or report related to Sirius Black's trial.
"And since the only thing I could find was a request for prison garbs, I thought I might as well look through old magazines and newspapers. Because if Black did receive a trial, then at least one media outlet would've reported on it. And, well, since I knew it'd take me a while and it'd have to be on one of my days off – because looking for Black's transcripts is just one of the many responsibilities I've been tasked with doing for Madam Bones – I thought that maybe it'd be a fun idea for a date," Elizabeth grimaced slightly, "Well, maybe not fun, but if I was going to have to spend the day searching through dusty, old archives, then at least I could drag you down with me. One of the perks of asking for my hand in marriage, yeah?" Elizabeth bumped her shoulder against Gregory's arm, "But now that I've told you, well, practically everything, you can't tell anyone or else I could very likely be fired. Especially if this gets out before my boss can find a way to deal with this."
"Hey, research comes with my job description, so searching through old archives is something I'm used to," Gregory said lightly. "And, as a lawyer, my secrets tend to have secrets, so my lips are sealed. No one will hear about this from me."
"I know," Elizabeth smiled. "I trust you."
Gregory smiled back at her.
"So, do you really think that Black didn't –"
"Receive a trial?" Elizabeth interrupted, guessing what Gregory was going to say. "Yeah. I mean, I've searched through everything that I could get my hands on these past few weeks. I've left no stone unturned, no corner unchecked, no file unopened. I couldn't looked through everything, because there are some files and places that are above my clearance level, but… I'm pretty certain that Sirius Black was thrown into Azkaban without a trial."
"You do know that there will be some pretty severe backlash and there will very likely be public outcry when news of Black not being tried at all gets out," Gregory commented.
"Yeah," Elizabeth agreed. "Just think – what if Black actually was – is – innocent? What if we, the Ministry, the public, condemned an innocent man to spending just about… twelve years?" Elizabeth looked upwards as she tried to remember the correct number of years that Sirius Black was locked away. "Yeah, we condemned Black to Azkaban for twelve years just because 'everyone knew he did it' but no one thought to check to be sure?"
"Well, it was pretty chaotic back then," Gregory said, not excusing what happened, but just stating a well-known fact about the times immediately following the fall of You-Know-Who.
"I know, but how do you think the Ministry is going to respond to this? Are they going to try to keep finding Black without the Dementors? Send him an owl, asking him to come in? Are they going to send out a statement to the press or something?" Elizabeth asked, somewhat rhetorically. "Like, 'Hey, you know how everybody knows that Black was guilty and thrown in Azkaban. Well, surprise! He never actually received a trial so he might be innocent. Oops – our bad?' Yeah, like that would go over well."
"I think that the most logical course of action for the Ministry to take would be to send some type of statement to the press," Gregory said. "They'll pretty much have to. It'd be in their best interest if they sent something out before the public finds out about Black's lack of trial on their own. The press will have a field day over this – Black being sent to Azkaban for years without a trial."
"Being stuck in Azkaban," Elizabeth shuddered, "some people have been reported to go insane within just months of being held in that place and Black was in there for over a decade. It's horrible."
"It is horrible. And I'm not just thinking morally," Gregory said darkly. "Black being thrown in Azkaban without a trial has the potential to set a dangerous precedent."
"Precedent?"
"Black is, or was, the heir to the House of Black, right? Well, throwing Sirius Black in prison without a trial could, legally speaking, cause an increase in other heirs being sent to Azkaban without a trial as well – based on solely on circumstantial evidence – which is what happened with Black. If this isn't handled with extreme care, Lords and Ladies, in fear of what happened to Black happening to their own heirs, could rise up against the Ministry."
"Are you talking about there being… what, some kind of riot in the streets? Or an uprising – like… like a rebellion?" Elizabeth practically squeaked out that last word.
"Well, it would be a very extreme reaction, but I'd say that the potential could be there. Very unlikely, but it could happen. Who knows? They might just call for someone's resignation or not do anything at all."
"Merlin," Elizabeth breathed.
"Yeah," Gregory softly said. "But if the Ministry handles this correctly, then it'll probably be a media-craze for a few months. After that, most people will… well, maybe not forget about it, but they'll start to view it as something that's mostly unimportant or irrelevant. It didn't happen to them, so why should it matter to them?"
"Well, I have until Monday to figure out how to tell Madam Bones about," Elizabeth gestured to the entire room, "all of this – about this whole messed up situation with Black. Hopefully it doesn't end in disaster."
"I'm sure you'll do fine."
...
It was the very opposite of fine.
The first thing that Elizabeth did when she came to work on Monday morning was to immediately inform Madam Bones about her findings in the privacy of Madam Bones' office. Madam Bones had Elizabeth recount everything she could remember doing, every detail of her investigation, twice.
After about an hour of going over everything that Elizabeth had found, or rather, hadn't found, Madam Bones told Elizabeth to cancel all of her appointments for the day and to make sure that she wasn't disturbed for any reason. Elizabeth was also told that she needed to keep her silence on the subject of Sirius Black's nonexistent trial, at least until Madam Bones could consult with some other higher ups to figure out how to efficiently handle this problem.
It was just after Elizabeth was returning from her brief lunch break when she was summoned to Madam Bones' office – where Madam Bones, Minister Fudge, and two other wizards that Elizabeth didn't recognize were waiting for her.
All four of them were seated at the small conference table that Madam Bones had tucked away in the far right corner of her office. And all four of them were seated together on the same side.
"Please have a seat, Ms. Lewis," one of the unidentified wizards said.
Feeling very much like she was facing a firing squad, Elizabeth tentatively sat down in the seat that was directly across from Madam Bones.
"Ms. Lewis, you are the one who gathered all of the evidence that points to Sirius Black not receiving a trial, correct?" the same unknown wizard asked. He was a brunet, so Elizabeth decided to mentally refer to him as Mr. Brown.
"Yes, that's right," Ms. Lewis answered.
"And why did you start investigating this matter in the first place?" Mr. Brown asked.
Glancing at Madam Bones, who nodded at Elizabeth with her lips pressed together in a firm line, Elizabeth started recalling the circumstances that led her to where she was. She told them about Mr. Lupin's visit, about Madam Bones asking her to look into the supposed missing transcripts, about her systematic hunt through the Ministry, and finally about her search through the archives of major news media outlets – leaving out her fiancé's part in helping her. She didn't want to get Gregory involved in this any further than he already was.
"While we don't doubt your work, Ms. Lewis, we will be opening an official and silent investigation into this matter that will be led by a team of professionals," the other unidentified wizard spoke up this time. He had white-ish grey hair, so Elizabeth was going to mentally call him Mr. Grey. "During this period of investigation, it is imperative that any knowledge about the ongoing investigation does not make its way to the public. Therefore, we need certain assurance that this information will not reach the public, or anyone else, from you."
"Oh, well, of course –"
Elizabeth was cut off by the sound of a something heavy thumping on the table. It was a rather large folder full of papers – all of which, Mr. Grey informed her, required Elizabeth to thoroughly read through and then sign.
Elizabeth flipped the folder open and took a moment to shuffle through all of the papers.
Confidentiality contracts.
Liability contracts.
A bunch of confidentiality and liability contracts.
Why were there so many?
Looking at the titles of the documents, Elizabeth reasoned it was likely that there was one contract for each Ministry department that she went to and for each person within the Ministry that she talked to about finding information about Sirius Black.
Briefly skimming a few of the contracts, Elizabeth noticed a few phrases that stood out. The gist of most of the contracts could be summed up as: if Elizabeth should talk about Black not getting a trial before being thrown in Azkaban, then she will be immediately fired, blacklisted, fined, and potentially have to serve about a month or two in the Ministry's holding cells. And Elizabeth was sure that there were other threats and punishments speckled throughout the contracts.
So all of the papers would require a very thorough read.
And there were probably close to a hundred papers in the folder.
Oh, and looking at the last sheet of parchment in the folder, apparently she'd have to swear a vow to not breathe a word about this investigation until the investigation was over.
Awesome.
As Elizabeth grabbed the first confidentiality contract, Madam Bones turned to address the two wizards who Elizabeth realized were most likely lawyers that the Ministry, or just the Minister, had on retainer. Elizabeth thought that it was kind of odd that they hadn't introduced themselves to her, but, then again, she was pretty sure that they had other things on their mind.
"Is all this really necessary? When Ms. Lewis was first hired to be my assistant, she signed a non-disclosure agreement and beyond that, I trust Ms. Lewis," Madam Bones said. Elizabeth knew Madame Bones well enough to tell that she wasn't really protesting these contracts (well, maybe the number of contracts because, Merlin, excessive much? Elizabeth's wrist was already aching just thinking about having to sign all of these), Madam Bones was just showing her displeasure that the Minister was interfering in DMLE business. "She has never let me down before when she had to be informed of classified matters. Ms. Lewis was the one who gathered all the evidence in the first place and she had been able to keep quiet about it all this time. I can understand the need for discretion in this instance, but –"
"Madam Bones," Minister Fudge interrupted, looking rather red in the face. "While Ms. Lewis may be trustworthy, I'm afraid I can't risk anything getting out on your word alone. Think of how the public would react. No! No! I'm afraid that I really can't risk it."
"You can rest assured, Ms. Lewis," Mr. Brown said once the Minister had finished speaking. "Every member of the investigation team that has been put together must also sign these contracts and swear a secrecy vow. This is all just a precaution. I'm sure you understand."
"Yes," Elizabeth almost sighed in resignation. She knew that all of these contracts were probably a bit over excessive, but mostly necessary. "Yes, I understand."
Unfortunately, with all the trouble that the Minister was going to in order to keep all of this quiet, Elizabeth was pretty sure that this meant that Mr. Lupin would be waiting a while for the news about Sirius Black's transcripts… or lack thereof.
...
There were only a few minutes left before it was time for Harry to go up into the Divination classroom to take his final exam, but standing outside of the classroom was reminding Harry about Hermione's dramatic exit from the class a few days prior.
It had been completely unexpected.
Well, maybe not completely unexpected, but it was definitely surprising.
And maybe not that surprising either since just that morning, Hermione had missed Charms – which was very unusual for her. So, immediately after Charms, Harry and Ron went to go look for her. Luckily Hermione was in the first place they looked: Gryffindor Common Room.
When they walked in the room, Snuffles padded right up to Hermione. She had fallen asleep with her head resting on an open book and some parchment at one of the tables.
Ron called her name as he and Harry got closer. When Hermione lifted her head off of the table, there was a piece of parchment that was stuck to her cheek. Hermione brushed it off and looked at Harry and Ron in confusion for a moment – and in that moment, Harry could see that she was clearly exhausted.
After a few blinks, Hermione looked towards one of the windows and saw that the sun was already well into the sky. Then she started frantically shoving her books and papers into her bag.
"Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Don't tell me that I missed class!" Hermione looked close to tears. "What class did I miss? I don't – was it… what was it? What was the class?!"
"Charms," Ron said, looking concerned.
"We made sure to take some good notes for you," Harry said. "And we were mainly reviewing, so you didn't really miss anything."
"I have to – I have to go to the library and finish this –" Hermione was shouldering her bag when Ron interrupted her.
"It's just about lunch time, Hermione," Ron said. "Why don't we go get something to eat? Yeah?"
"No. No, I'm sorry, but I just don't have the time!" Hermione exclaimed, rubbing her hands over her face as if she was trying to wipe away the sleep from her eyes. "I have to finish reviewing three chapters of Ancient Runes and finish the essay for Potions and for Muggle Studies!"
"Come on, Hermione, why don't you take a short break to eat some lunch? Just fifteen minutes to eat something?" Harry suggested, smiling a bit when he saw that Snuffles appeared to be trying to herd Hermione towards the two boys.
Hermione looked at him as if he was crazy.
"Food," Harry clarified. "It'll give you energy and help you think better."
"I don't –" Hermione started to say.
"You have time," Ron said, tossing an arm around her shoulders and physically guiding her out of the Common Room. "Everyone has time for food."
"Ron's right," Harry said, tossing his arm over Ron's arm and Hermione's shoulders once they left the Common Room and started walking down the corridors towards the Great Hall. "Which is surprising, I know."
"Oi!" Ron exclaimed, more amused than offended.
When they arrived in the Great Hall, Harry and Ron managed to get Hermione to sit down and eat for about twenty minutes before she ran off to the library to finish some work before their next class.
The next time that Harry saw Hermione was when she came into the Divinations classroom after the class had already started.
Professor Trelawney had everyone gazing into crystal balls, but when Hermione arrived, Trelawney started making some misty comments about her predictions for their final exams – which appeared to annoy Hermione. But what apparently set Hermione off was when Trelawney came over to Harry, Ron, and Hermione's table, gazed at Harry's crystal ball, and declared that she saw yet another Grim.
"Not that ridiculous Grim again!" Hermione exclaimed in a huff before gathering her things and leaving the classroom.
Harry and the rest of the class were left to stare after her in astonishment.
Shaking away his stray thoughts and taking a deep breath, Harry tried to focus on preparing himself for his Divination final exam which would take place any moment now. He just had to wait for the person in front of him to finish with their exam.
After Gryffindor's Quidditch victory against Slytherin (which had resulted in an amazing celebratory party in the Gryffindor Common Room), Harry had been hard at work preparing for the upcoming final exams. So Harry felt that he was as prepared for his Divination exam as he could be.
The Potions exam had been exceedingly difficult.
Charms and Transfiguration were difficult, but Harry was pretty sure that he managed to ace them.
His History exam was probably a lost cause and the Care of Magical Creatures was easy.
But Harry excelled in his Defense Against the Dark Arts exam. In that exam, he had to combat several of the creatures that Professor Lupin had them study over the course of the term. If he had to pick a favorite exam, then the Defense Against the Dark Arts exam was most definitely his favorite.
The sound of someone coming down from the classroom pulled Harry from his musings. It was finally time for his Divinations exam.
As Harry made it into the classroom, Professor Trelawney directed him to sit at a table and find signs of the future inside a crystal ball. So Harry sat down in front of the crystal ball and stared at it, thinking of a few signs that he could make up that would seem plausible – because he knew he wouldn't be getting through this exam without some creative and fictitious tales. And the more morbid he made them, the more Trelawney seem to like it.
When he was in the middle of dutifully fictionalizing what he was seeing in the crystal ball, Professor Trelawney suddenly spoke up.
With her eyes looking hypnotized and her voice sounding different, deeper and raspy, Professor Trelawney said,
"It will happen tonight. The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight… the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever he was. Tonight… before midnight… the servant… will set out… to rejoin… his master…"
Harry sat still, shocked at what had just happened and not quite sure how to react. Meanwhile Professor Trelawney blinked a few times, cleared her throat, and then looked around the classroom before refocusing on Harry.
"I'm sorry," Professor Trelawney said. "Did you say something, dear?"
"Why did you just say that?" Harry asked.
"Say what, dear?" Professor Trelawney asked.
"About the… about Voldemort. You said something about a servant rejoining him tonight," Harry said.
"No, I don't recall saying anything like that," Professor Trelawney said, sounding confused.
"But you just –"
But Professor Trelawney wouldn't hear of it – she didn't remember anything about making that prediction.
Eager to leave and tell Ron about what had happened (but not Hermione because after how she had last acted in Divination, she probably wouldn't be the best person to talk to about this), Harry dashed out of the classroom.
Snuffles was waiting for Harry at the bottom of the ladder, so when Harry jogged away from the classroom and down the corridor, Snuffles was hot on his heels.
Figuring that Ron was either outside enjoying the weather or in the Common Room, Harry decided to check outside first. As he rounded a corner, Harry almost ran into Professor Lupin.
"Sorry, Professor!" Harry said as he paused for a moment to apologize. Snuffles hadn't stopped, in fact, the dog was already halfway down the corridor. Harry would have to run to catch up to him.
"Harry," Professor Lupin said, bring Harry's attention back to the man that he had almost collided with. "I needed to speak to you about something. Are you finished with your exams?"
"Well, yes, but –" Harry saw that Snuffles had stopped and was waiting for him at the far end of the corridor, almost out of sight.
"I'm afraid that this is rather important, Harry," Professor Lupin insisted. "Why don't we go to my office to have this discussion?"
"Okay, yeah," Harry agreed. He could tell Ron about what Trelawney had said after he was done with whatever Professor Lupin wanted to talk about. Harry was sure that whatever the professor had to say would only take a few minutes. "I could meet you in your office. I think Snuffles wants to go outside, so I can take him down to the grounds really quick and then come back up."
"Actually, Harry, why don't you bring Snuffles with you," Professor Lupin suggested.
"Uhh… Alright," Harry said before raising his voice so that Snuffles would hear him at the end of the corridor. "Snuffles! Come here boy!"
Snuffles appeared to dither at the end of the corridor before he slowly, very slowly, walked back down the hall towards Harry with his ears down and his tail between his legs.
Well, that was weird behavior from Snuffles. Harry had never seen the dog seem reluctant to come to Harry's side whenever Harry called for him. Usually Snuffles was enthusiastic in coming to Harry's side.
"So, can I ask you why you want my dog to join us? I mean, it's just Snuffles," Harry asked, curious about what the professor was up to.
"What I have to say concerns your dog just as much as it concerns you," Professor Lupin said solemnly.
It appeared that Snuffles had heard what Professor Lupin said because the dog stopped walking towards them and tensed up as if he was preparing to turn tail and run.
"Come on, Snuffles," Harry encouraged, a little stymied about why his dog was acting this way.
Snuffles shook himself and, contrary to his earlier behavior, took quick steps to make it to Harry's side. Once Snuffles was back at Harry's side, Professor Lupin took the lead and led Harry and Snuffles through the corridors and to his office.
Snuffles stayed steadfastly by Harry's side and continually brushed up against Harry's legs.
Professor Lupin opened the door to his office and ushered Harry and Snuffles into the room before shutting the door behind them. Harry took a seat in one of the chairs that was in front of Professor Lupin's desk. Snuffles took a cautious look around the room as he sat down to the right of Harry and rested his head on Harry's right leg.
Seeing that Snuffles seemed nervous for some reason, Harry started petting Snuffles in what he hoped was a comforting manner. It didn't seem to be working because Snuffles remained tense.
Professor Lupin was just off to the left of Harry, leaning against his desk. For a moment or two, Professor Lupin seemed to be considering something as he observed Harry and Snuffles.
"Professor?" Harry prompted, wondering what could be so important that Professor Lupin had to speak to him now and how it would concern Snuffles.
"Tell me, Harry," Professor Lupin said, folding his arms across his chest and looking directly at Harry. "What do you know about Sirius Black?"
...
Author's Note:
Alright! We're getting so close to the end of this! Get excited!
Also, I have some news – previously I mentioned that I'd be moving sometime soon and now I have a date! So, I'll be driving across the country at the end of April/beginning of May. And I'll be turning it into a fun road trip type of adventure rather than it just be me driving for 12 hour straight day in and day out until I reach my destination…. Which means that I'll be extending my drive from about 4 days to a little over a week. And that means I'll likely be too exhausted (from driving for hours and exploring the area) to write much.
So what does this mean for you? – Well, it means that my next update will probably be in a month, rather than in two weeks because I have to finish packing all of my stuff this week, start driving the week after and most of the week after that… and then I'll have to move into my new place, get settled, and find a job. So my updates are in the air as of right now. But no matter what, I want you to know that I AM NOT ABANDONING THIS! Alright? Don't worry. I might just be inactive for a month or so. I already have everything for the end of this story already planned out – all I have to do is flesh out my outline and fill in some of the finer details. And who knows? Maybe an update will come sooner than expected.
And I always appreciate any comments/reviews you leave!