Harry Potter and The Fate We Make
Chapter 22: Trials and Tribulations, Part 3
A/N: Disclaimer's in the first chapter. I am aware that in canon, Veritaserum is not foolproof. In my happy little world ... it is.
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August 5, 1995
To say the next few days were eventful is to vastly understate the case. For one thing, Remus began the anticipated prank-war with Sirius at about two in the morning the next morning. For another, well ... Augusta hadn't been kidding about the paper. Having given all and sundry a few days to let it soak into their minds that not only had proper legal procedure not been followed in one case, a man's wand had been snapped, Augusta moved in for the kill, and the Prophet headlines were screaming about Sirius.
The articles themselves were a blistering, vicious denouncement ... not of Sirius, but of the legal system that tossed the scion of an Ancient and Noble family into Azkaban without a trial. Without even doing a 'priori incantatem' on Sirius' wand. And while the article did say something about demanding a trial so that 'the Potter's betrayer can get his just deserts' it was immediately followed by 'if he is indeed guilty of the crime of which he is accused.', followed by the reporter speculating if there might not be an untold story there somewhere, since it made no sense to NOT have taken proper steps in such a huge case. The evening paper had carried an article by none other than Amelia Bones, the director of the DMLE, promising to investigate the matter fully, and publicly guaranteeing Sirius protection if he turned himself in for a trial. They found out later that between the morning and evening editions, the Prophet and the Ministry both had got snowed under by letters and howlers demanding a trial and ripping Ministry officials new orifices over the lack of proper legal procedure.
The next few days had alternated between owls being sent back and forth (they were using post office owls, so Sirius' correspondence with Amelia couldn't be tracked), pranks, and ever-increasing, nearly unbearable tension. Harry was fairly sure that the only thing that kept Sirius from snapping like a high-tension wire that's been cut was the pranks, which allowed him to let off steam. At the very least, everyone was being rather tolerant of the sudden transformations, color changes, random soakings and other pranks that were hitting everyone in the house. And thankfully for everyone's sanity, Snape had, indeed, refused to so much as set foot in the house when he discovered pranks were being played.
Today, if all went well ... Sirius would finally be free. Harry's stomach was tied in knots of anxiety. Sirius was a nervous wreck, Remus was pacing frantically ... it was insane. Hartgrove was sitting in a corner watching them as they waited for the time Sirius had arranged to meet Amelia. None of them were any too sure she actually believed the story about Peter, but she had promised to come only with those aurors she knew could be trusted. And she had contacted Remus, Harry, Hermione, and Ron, asking if they would be willing to attend the trial, in case it was proven their testimony was relevant and needed, since Sirius was claiming they'd all seen Pettigrew.
Finally, it was time. Sirius and Hartgrove left. Harry joined Remus in his frantic, worried pacing. The next fifteen minutes were the longest of Harry's life. Then, finally, a regal eagle owl soared in, landing on the table, and extended a leg burdened with three letters. Harry hurried over and untied the letters.
They were all the same, saying that Sirius had, in fact, presented himself for trial, and that it had been set for three hours hence, and they were all required to come as potential witnesses.
Two hours later, they were in the ministry. The courtroom was, astoundingly, already filling. Evidently, word had spread that Sirius had turned himself in. Fudge was already in his seat, looking less than pleased but faintly smug at the same time, which worried Harry.
By five minutes to three, the courtroom was packed to the rafters with people from every walk of wizarding life, and the room was alive with chatter. Finally, Fudge called everyone to order, and with a smug little grin, called for the accused to be brought in.
Harry, along with the others who'd been called as potential witnesses, were sitting close to where the lawyers sat. Two doors opened at almost the same time ... and a cold, pervasive chill soaked into Harry's bones, followed almost instantly by the indistinct murmurs of his mother's voice. Harry's head snapped around. Where in the name of everything had Fudge got his hands on a dementor? They'd defected weeks ago! Anger replaced shock, and it took every ounce of self-control Harry possessed (and Hermione clamping her hand on his wand-arm) to keep from setting Prongs on the thing. The entire courtroom had gone very quiet, and everyone looked more than slightly shaky.
Half a second after that, a square-jawed witch with a monocle strode in, with Sirius just behind her, surrounded on both sides by none other than Kingsley and Moody, and behind him was Tonks. Dementor or no, Harry almost fell over laughing at that. As far as he knew, Amelia had no knowledge of the Order, nor any idea that the three people she'd picked as trustworthy just happened to be three people who not only knew Sirius was innocent beyond any shadow of a doubt, but had been hanging around him nearly every day for the last month.
If Harry had thought he reacted negatively to the dementor's presence, he had nothing on Amelia. She spotted the thing standing in a corner, whirled on Fudge, and started yelling.
"What is the meaning of this? I assured Mr. Black he would remain unharmed until the end of the trial, and you bring that foul creature in here? Even before they abandoned their post at Azkaban, they proved uncontrollable, or did you miss the bit where they tried to suck the souls out of a schoolful of children ... TWICE! Get it out of here at once! Before it decides to feed on the spectators!"
Behind her, Sirius had gone deadly pale and was shaking almost uncontrollably, eyes wide as he stared at the dementor in horror. Fudge hemmed and hawed, but finally had the thing removed. Harry took a deep breath, sighing in relief and mentally promising to find a way to end Fudge's career for good for that stunt.
Amelia turned back to Sirius and muttered something under her breath. Sirius managed to get the shaking mostly under control and squared his shoulders. His eyes flicked around the room, and Harry knew the moment he spotted them, because some of the tension in his body faded, and he walked to the chain-wrapped chair and sat down with a remarkable amount of equanimity. The chains secured him to the chair, and then Amelia and the others withdrew to the side until they might be needed again.
At that point, Hartgrove stepped forward. "Considering the gravity of this case, the horrific miscarriage of law and justice that has occurred, and to ensure that in future there can be no question as to my client's innocence in these matters, I request that veritaserum be used."
There was a rumble of sound at Hartgrove's assurance of Sirius' innocence around the room, but the request for veritaserum was granted. A small vial was produced, and Sirius was more than willing to stick out his tongue for it to be administered. A few moments later, his expression became dreamy and relaxed.
"For this question, please attempt to lie to me. What is your name?"
Sirius' lips parted, but that's as far as he got. Then, in a tone that was rather disturbingly reminiscent of Trelawney. "Sirius Orion Black."
Hartgrove nodded. "Excellent. The veritaserum has taken full effect. Mr. Black, when James and Lily Potter went into hiding, did they make you their Secret Keeper?"
"No."
There was an instant rumble of sound from the audience.
"I see." Said Hartgrove. Harry could see an almost-amused look in his eyes. "Are you a Death Eater?"
"No."
"Did you knowingly and willfully betray James and Lily Potter to Lord Voldemort?"
"No."
Harry grinned widely as chaos reigned for a few moments. Right about then, Voldemort could have apparated into the middle of the room and no one would have noticed. Fudge eventually managed to shout everyone down.
"Did you kill Peter Pettigrew?"
"No."
More chaos as people reacted to this bit of news.
"Did you kill the twelve muggles that were found dead at the scene of Petter Pettigrew's supposed death?"
"No."
Less of a reaction this time, either because it was just muggles (which thought rather disgusted Harry) or because people were beginning to be dulled to the shocks.
"Who did kill those twelve muggles?"
"Peter Pettigrew."
Angry mutters.
"Do you know who the Potters' Secret Keeper was?"
"Yes."
Harry braced himself. If they'd been howling over Sirius being innocent, they were going to have a collective apoplexy when they found out it had all been Peter.
"Who was it?"
"Peter Pettigrew."
The roof very nearly got blown off as people reacted. Most of them looked beyond angry, shaking their fists and looking like they wanted to go out, find Peter, and wring his neck. Harry was more than willing to let them. Finally, eventually, Fudge got them calmed down.
"There is still the matter of his escape." Fudge tried.
Hartgrove gave Fudge a truly evil look. "Since my client was never tried, much less found guilty of any crime, he was merely ... leaving his current accommodations. No crime was committed in his leaving the premises."
Fudge subsided, and Hartgrove administered the antidote to Sirius. Once he'd sat up and looked with it, Fudge spoke again, looking like he's gotten a hold of something particularly foul-tasting. "It having been proven that you are guiltless of the crimes of which you have been accused, I, Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic do hereby decree that you are henceforth declared innocent, your name and all rights as a wizard in good standing restored. Further, for your wrongful imprisonment, 120,000 galleons in reparations shall be paid. Court adjourned."
The chains on the seat fell off Sirius immediately. It was a very good thing he was sitting. He started to shake again, looking stunned and more than slightly shell-shocked, like he couldn't quite believe this was real.
Harry, not caring a whit what it looked like, vaulted over the low wall that separated the spectators from the courtroom floor and covered the distance between himself and Sirius at a dead run, vaguely aware that Remus and the New Marauders were hard on his heels. Harry hugged Sirius as hard as he could, hauling him out of the chair in the process, wanting to get him away from it and the chains. The moment he had a mostly-unresponsive Sirius clear of the chair, they were surrounded by exultant Weasleys (the twins in particular were dancing a jig and shouting 'Sirius is free!' at the top of their lungs.) and an only marginally calmer Hermione and Neville. It took a minute or two, but Sirius finally managed to seem to get his legs back under him, blinking around the room like he was coming out of a dream. He looked down at Harry.
"I didn't imagine that?" He asked. "It's really over?"
Harry's grin threatened to split his face in half. "We did it, Sirius. You're free!"
Remus, who'd been standing as close as he could get, reached over and gripped Sirius' shoulder, grinning like a madman. In that moment, Remus truly resembled the far more carefree teenager he had once been, graying hair be damned. "It's done, Padfoot." He said quietly. "We did it."
That seemed to do it, as Sirius finally returned the hug Harry was still giving him, a grin starting to spread across his face.
The first Harry knew of anyone approaching was the sudden lessening of the racket from the twins. He turned to look, and smiled. Augusta and Septimus were both standing just beyond the knot of celebrants. Augusta had the faintest of smiles on her face.
"My Lord Black. It is good to finally make your acquaintance." She said, offering a hand.
Sirius took it and kissed the knuckles. "My Lady Longbottom, Lord Weasley. Thank you for your assistance with this." He waved his free hand, indicating the courtroom (which was still quite full ... evidently, everyone was too interested in watching the floor show to leave right away, except maybe the reporters). "I am in your debt."
Augusta made a rude noise. "Nonsense, Lord Black. To quote an old codger who needs to practice what he preaches, we did what was right."
Septimus nodded firmly. "If you're going to insist on seeing it as a debt, Black, it's been paid in full and then some. The Weasleys still owe Harry for saving Ginny."
Augusta's expression turned crafty. "Though we wouldn't say no to your backing in future." She looked over at Harry. "I'm quite sure we're both on the same side in this."
Sirius glanced over at Harry as well. "Yeah, we are." He agreed. "But we'll talk about that later. The natives are getting restless."
Septimus chuckled as he glanced around. "Indeed they are. Let's give them a show, shall we?"
And that was how Sirius came to leave the courtroom flanked by Augusta and Septimus, smiling and talking like they were the oldest of friends. Harry was right on their heels.
The press went completely insane when they were spotted. A hundred and one questions got fired at them in what seemed like less than a second in a rush of sound that defied Harry's attempts to hear anything clearly. He stood close and watched in awe as Augusta and Septimus worked the reporters. Finally, one of them shot a question at him.
"Mr. Potter, how do you feel about this?" One of them wanted to know.
"I'm really angry that Sirius got thrown into jail without a trial." Harry said. "And relieved he's innocent. It'll be nice to have family in the wizarding world, since I've heard that Sirius and my dad were as close as brothers."
Eventually, they got away from the news hounds, and escaped to the manor. Everyone collapsed into chairs for a bit, Harry snagging the spot next to Sirius, catching their breaths. Then Fred (or was it George?) let out an exultant whoop.
"Weeeeeeeeeee did it!" He cheered.
That got a round of delighted laughter. "It's going to take a while to really sink in, I think." Sirius admitted. "But it does feel good."