DISCLAIMER: This is not mine… It is JK Rowling's. Thank you.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: All I can say is I AM SOOOOO SORRY!! I know you guys must hate me! I hit the biggest writer's block and I just couldn't write ANYTHING!! So if anyone is still reading this story I hope you can forgive me! Enjoy Chapter Nine!

Chapter Nine: The Trial of the Dursleys

Sirius Black, while being fiercely loyal, had never been known to be the sensitive type. In fact most of his past girlfriends would claim that he was a heartless worm that had no compassion for others. However, when it came to his godson, Sirius Black could turn to a ball of sensitive, mushy putty. He sat gazing at Harry's tiny head poking out of the top of the blankets as the toddler slept. He was at a completely loss as to how the Dursleys could have hurt him. Harry was just too precious and the thought of anyone having the heart to hurt him was utterly foreign in Sirius' opinion.

The afternoon sun peeped through the curtains in Harry's room as the child was having his afternoon nap. Sirius couldn't believe that Harry had no idea what a nap was. The boy seemed to think the very idea of sleeping during the day to be completely mind-boggling. It had taken Sirius nearly an hour to explain to Harry the importance of having the nap. Harry still hadn't understood, but agreed to take one regardless. The boy was just too obedient. Well, Sirius could easily break him of that. Harry would turn out to be a proper marauder in no time at all.

Then Sirius' mind wanders to the trial tomorrow. He was worried about going to it. He didn't know how he was going to be able to face those monsters. Not to mention how worried was about how Harry would take it. Not well, Sirius guessed. He just hoped it wouldn't be too stressful for the youngster. If he hated anything, it was to see that little boy upset about anything. It just seemed to cleave his heart in two and he became sensitive.

"Siwrius?" a muffled, groggy voice broke through the silence, announcing that Harry was awake.

"Hey, pup," Sirius smiled. "How'd you sleep? Okay?"

"Uh huh."

"Good. You hungry?" Sirius asked.

"A wittle."

"Okay then, let's go have tea."

"Kay!" Harry scrambled to get out of the bed sheets and Sirius chuckled at his godson's rumpled appearance.

The two of them headed downstairs to get their afternoon tea started. Sirius set out strawberry tart and hot tea out on the table in the sitting room. He placed a tart on Harry's plate and gave him some tea with milk and honey, which Harry accepted graciously. Sirius watched Harry over his own honey deluded tea, as the boy guzzled down the tart and lapped happily at his creamy, sweetened tea. Sirius never would have thought that the domestic life was for him, but as he watched his godson, he didn't think that he could have been more content.

The rest of the day passed like that, with nothing of consequence happening. Harry and Sirius had a peaceful day and before putting Harry to bed, Sirius had bathed him thoroughly for the trial in the morning. Harry fell, almost instantly, into a peaceful sleep. Sirius was envious, for he knew sleep would not be coming to him even close to the fast. He would lie awake for hours fretting the next day. He watched Harry for a moment before heading downstairs and filling a tumbler with firewhiskey. He sipped at it aimlessly for a while before deciding to fire-call Remus. The threw some floo powder into the hearth and stuck his head through.

"Remus?" he called.

"Oh, Sirius!" Remus replied appearing from the kitchen. "What brings you here?"

"Nothing much," Sirius tried to sound casual.

"Couldn't sleep, huh?" Remus asked, knowingly.

"Yeah, I just can't seem to stop thinking about the trial. What if I can't handle seeing those monsters? What if Harry can't handle it? What if it's too much for him?"

"Sirius calm down!" Remus soothed. "If worse comes to worse, you and Harry can leave the courtroom. Harry may be scared, but you'll have to be there for him to comfort him. And if you think about how Harry needs you, I think you will be able to see those monsters without doing anything drastic. This will give Harry the closure he needs. Besides those despicable beings need to be brought to justice."

Sirius would never understand how Remus always knew exactly what to say to make him feel better. He looked up at his old friend and smiled, "Thank you Remus."

"Don't mention it. Now get to bed. You'll need rest for tomorrow."

"Okay, goodnight, Moony."

"Goodnight, Padfoot."

With that, Sirius removed his head from the fireplace and headed up to bed. His worries had been nearly sedated and he could finally get some shut eye.

* * * * * * *

The next morning came too early for Sirius, but he put on a gentle smile for Harry anyway. He helped the toddler into the best outfit Sirius had bought and made sure to wash the cherubic face gently. Harry seemed to be content with his godfather and not at all worried about the trial. That was probably because the little boy had no idea what the trial would consist of Sirius concluded.

"Okay, all set?" Sirius asked Harry when they had finished breakfast. "Ready to go?"

"Uh huh!" Harry chirped, smiling up at his godfather. He took Sirius' offered hand and they walked out the front door.

"Okay, hold on tight, Harry," Sirius warned.

"Kay!"

Harry gripped his godfather's arm tightly and they apparated away. Apparation was still new to Harry, and Sirius had to steady him when they landed to keep the toddler on two feet. They were standing outside of a dreary courthouse in the middle of Wizarding London. The gray stone walls stooped over them forebodingly. Sirius hope that it wasn't foreshadowing what was to come today. However, he had a feeling that it was.

Sirius led Harry up the marble stairs and through the double doors. The marble from the stairs continued into the lobby of the courthouse and Sirius led the way to the large oak desk in the middle of the room to talk to the young woman under the information sign.

"Hello," Sirius said suavely. "I was hoping you could help us out." He jerked his head lightly at his little godson, who looked up at the woman with wide, shy emerald eyes.

"Well, aren't you just too cute!" the young woman behind the counter swooned at Harry. Then she looked up at Sirius and smiled. "What can I do you for?"

"We're here for the Black/City vs. Dursley case at eleven," Sirius informed her.

"Hmm…" the girl looked through her files. "Looks like that case will be in room 105. It will be straight down the corridor there." She pointed to the hallway to the left.

"Thank you, miss!" Sirius flashed the woman his best smile. "Come on, kiddo." Harry smiled bashfully at the woman and allowed himself to be led away. She smiled back sweetly.

"She nice!" Harry said, once they were out of ear shot.

"Yes she was," Sirius agreed, smiling gently. His mind wandered to how Harry was sure to be a heartbreaker when he grew up. With those emerald eyes and genuine sincerity, the girls wouldn't stand a chance.

Sirius opened the door to room 105 and he and Harry stepped into the court room to find many people were already there. Remus smiled at them from his seat on the left side of the room, behind the plaintiff desk. They walked over to join him.

"Hello, Harry! Padfoot," Remus greeted.

"Moony, good morning!" Sirius replied. The three sat to together and chatted lightly. Suddenly, the doors swung open and in walked the three peoples Sirius had wished he would never have to see again.

Vernon Dursley had a scowl on his face as he walked into the room with his wife and son. Petunia's beady eyes were darting around the room, as if in any given moment a ghoul was going to jump out and startle the daylights out of her. Dudley was nearly dragging his feet he was whining about how he wanted to go to the movies and he didn't want to go to this boring "meeting." All Sirius could think was how happy he was that Harry didn't act like that.

Harry stiffened next to Sirius. Why were the Dursley's here? Were they going to take him back? Did Sirius not want him anymore? Tears sprang to Harry's eyes. Sirius noticed this.

"Har-bear what's wrong?" Sirius worried.

"I'm s-sawry!" Harry sobbed.

"For what, kiddo?"

"I dunno!" the boy cried miserably.

"Why did you say sorry?"

"Cause you don't want me anymowre! Yous gonna give me back to da Duwrsleys!"

"What?" Sirius exclaimed. "No I'm not! You're never ever going back to those horrid people, Harry! They are here to get punished for what they did."

"Why?"

"Well… because what they did to you was wrong."

"Oh." Harry was still confused. No one had ever cared about what happened to him before. So, why did they care now?

* * * * * * *

The court was in session and Sirius was dreading the moment that they would call Harry up to give his memories. Harry had calmed after Sirius had explained the reason for the Dursley's being there and was now swinging his legs absent-mindedly.

"The court would like to ask Harry Potter for his memories of his time with the Dursley's, please." Sirius heard. He looked up to see the judge nod his head in approval. Harry looked up at his godfather expectantly. Sirius smiled gently and offered a hand to Harry, which the boy took. Sirius walked the boy to the front of the court room, squeezing the tiny hand comfortingly when the toddler whimpered as they passed the Dursley's. The lawyer on their side walked up with a smile. She had long dark hair that was pulled back into a clip and she had a gentle heart-shaped face. She bent down to Harry's level and looked him in the eyes.

"Hey sweetheart," she said softly. "Do you remember living with these people, over here?" She pointed to the Dursleys. Harry looked and nodded. "Do you think you could think about the way things were at their home for just a minute?"

"Otay… w-what do I tink about?"

"Well how about start with how you got this," she said pointing to a scar on Harry's collar bone.

"Um… otay," Harry closed his eyes and thought of that day. He had been cooking bacon and burned it. His uncle had gotten mad and dumped the grease on top of him. Harry had howled in pain, but his uncle had just thrown him in the cupboard. The woman put her wand to the top of his head and warned that he may feel an odd sensation and extracted the memory. They repeated the process until they had extracted at least ten memories. The lawyer placed the memories into a large pensieve that was connected to another device with a large screen. The device acted as a projector and the memories that Harry had supplied were played for all of them. Harry being thrown into the counter, left in the dark, hungry and alone, crying, smacked, whipped, and worse. Harry hid his head in his godfather's chest, and Sirius felt his heart shatter. His poor, sweet, innocent godson.

After the memories were finished, there was hardly a dry eye in the courtroom. The jury looked like it had already reached its verdict. The court went into recess as the jurors deliberated. Sirius held Harry close and rocked him slowly. Only fifteen minutes later the jury came back into the courtroom. Soon the judge was asking the jury if they had reached a verdict.

"Yes, your honor. In the case of Black/city vs. Vernon Dursley, we the jury, find the defendant guilty of all charges against him, and sentence him to seven years in muggle prison. In the case of Black/city vs. Petunia Dursley, we the jury find the defendant guilty of all charges, and sentence her to seven years in muggle prison. As for Dudley Dursley, he is to be released into city custody and will require corrective services."

"Very well," the judge replied, smacking the mallet down. "Court is adjourned!"

The Dursleys went into an uproar and tried to fight off the bailiff. That's when Sirius took Harry out of the courtroom.

"It's over Harry. They're gone. They will never hurt you again, I promise!"

A/N: Again, I am so sorry for the delay and I hope you guys liked it! Read and Review please!