Disclaimer: I disclaim any knowledge that I might or might not have of the claimed or unclaimed variations of the disputed and undisputed claims. I will however have another Guinness, thank you very much.

Chapter 17

Madam Bones called her in early Tuesday and gave her Harry's waivers and told her that after the trial of Pettigrew she was to escort Harry to Olivander's for his new wand.

Then she told Tonks that she was going to need to get her mother and bring her to the office. They were going to bring Sirius in for the trial and she was hoping that with Andromeda there he would be more cooperative. She said that the Minister would talk to him before the trial and offer him the opportunity for a public apology in front of the press. He might want to be there for it because a couple of other things were going to be announced at the time.

She then tossed the morning Prophet to Tonks who scanned the headlines.

'You-Know-Who Really Dead This Time'

'Sirius Black Innocent?'

'Dumbledore and Accomplice Die in Escape'

It was the last headline that had her cursing.

'Boy Who Lived Part of Massive Hoax'

"What the bloody hell is this? Those bastards were told that it was part of an official Ministry Operation to get You-Know-Who, what's this?"

"That's one of the things were going to address in the press conference, I'm still working on a way to undo the damage. With the Prophet being the main paper in England I'm not sure how we can get our story out to as many people as they can.

"I can tell you one person who's angrier than you are though. Amos Diggory's son is portrayed as a substandard wizard who easily fell in with Harry's plans. It never says what those plans are but leaves no doubt they're dark, and it has Amos out for blood."

Tonks sat reading the article for a few moments while thinking.

"Use it against them." She said "Have Amos lead the whole ministry to the front door of the Prophet and threaten them with having everyone they know cancel their subscriptions unless they tell the story the way it's supposed to be. Have Fudge standing next to him and all of the Aurors you can spare in the crowd as part of it. They can be on site if things turn ugly but it will also leave no one for the Prophet to ask for help."

Amelia smiled. "Fudge will love that. I'll tell him to make a very short speech about how he's only there to show support for the still grieving father and the memory of his son and then leave all of the talking to Amos and his friends. They can demand the idiot who wrote the article is fired and an immediate retraction be sent out. Go get your mother and I'll talk to Fudge."

As Tonks made her way to the apparition point she had another idea about how to deal with the Prophet and sent a couple messenger spells off. It didn't take long for her to get back to the ministry with her Mum and Dad in tow.

She was met by three people when she got off the lift. Bill, Jacques and Florean Fortescue were standing there waiting to find out why they were called in. She quickly told them what she was hoping that they'd do for her and received positive replies as they separated and headed their own directions. Her father said he could contact a few of his friends also and left to do so.

Madam Bones had met with similar approval of the plans. The Minister quickly called the heads of all ministry departments and Amos for a meeting.

"I want all of you to have everyone who's not absolutely needed for anything to come with us. We're marching on the Prophet to demand they retract this article and fire the reporter. We will not allow them to slander the memory of Amos' son and get away with it. I want everyone to contact as many people as possible and have them all gather outside the Prophet the larger the crowd the better."

"I know that we have a couple of trials today and people are needed for them, but anyone else you can spare should be. This is going to be a peaceful demonstration, I only met Cedric once but I believe he wouldn't want this to become anything else. Thank you all, we'll meet at the Prophet at nine thirty."

Madam Bones gathered her Aurors and filled them in on what they were to do and then dismissed them and returned to her office to find Tonks already waiting with her mother.

After quickly filling Amelia in on her added plans the three of them left for Grimmauld Place.

Remus was looking even more ragged than normal when he opened the door, and once he saw Tonks standing there he just turned around and walked away leaving the door open.

"What's wrong with him?" Madam Bones asked.

Tonks snorted "He's missing something, like his brain."

"Nymphadora, be nice. He's going through a rough time right now." Andromeda said as she entered the house to look for Sirius.

"He brought it on himself and I can't find any sympathy for someone who automatically assumes that I'm sleeping with everyone."

"True, but try to…Oh never mind."

They found Sirius in the sitting room again, this time looking a lot better until he saw Madam Bones.

"You brought the head of the DMLE?" He jumped up and started frantically looking for an escape route.

"Relax Sirius they're not here to arrest you. You need to attend Pettigrew's trial today so you can be cleared. They're just here to escort you there so there won't be any misunderstandings. You still have a price on your head you know."

Tonks looked at her boss "Harry handled being arrested much better than this."

She nodded "The fact that he could barely move might have had something to do with it."

Tonks shook her head "You know as well as I do what he can do when he's barely moving."

"Good point. Are you going to show Sirius your fuzzy cuffs like you did Harry?"

"Eeeewww! He's my cousin, that's just sick. I think I know what Harry meant about nightmares the other night. Mum I need a cleaning spell for my brain."

"Yes dear, as soon as we get you home." Andromeda said while pinching the bridge of her nose.

"At least I didn't suggest you buy him pink underwear to model for you." Madam Bones said with a smile.

Tonks started sputtering.

"Has Harry modeled them yet? I was wondering how he looked in pink."

Tonks stopped sputtering and got an evil grin "You'll have to ask him if he'll model them for you if you want to know because I'm not telling"

Sirius was just watching them until this point. "He's modeling underwear?"

"Only pink boxers as far as I know." Madam Bones said innocently.

"I haven't decided what color to get him next. If I get him red he'll probably think I'm mad at him. I might just stick to different shades of pink."

"Might be a good idea, especially after that carpet matching the drapes comment he made. He does seem to really like pink now."

"The carpet…pink…likes…What?"

Andromeda sighed "They're pulling your leg Sirius, there's no pink underwear."

Tonks smiled wide "Yes there is, I gave them to him. Bright pink boxers that he says could be used to blind any enemy. Ask him about them next time you see him, his face will turn almost the same color."

"Don't we have a trial to get to?" Her mother asked.

Tonks cleared her throat "Sirius Black you're under arrest for allowing Madam Bones to put that horrid picture of you and my fuzzy cuffs in my head. I'm going to have to burn them now. Oh well maybe I can find a pink set Harry will like. You can come peacefully or I can have my Mum start that spring cleaning project again until you surrender. Which will it be?"

Sirius almost shouted "I'll come peacefully; I promise I'll behave, just don't let that woman near me with a scrub brush again."

Andromeda shook her head "Now I know why I was needed, I'm the only sane one here."

"At least I have an excuse. Her only excuse is that you raised her."

"Watch it mister, I still have that brush."

"Sorry, I'll behave."

Madam Bones lost her playfulness "Sirius, Minister Fudge is going to say that we found out that you didn't have a trial right before we found you and that the way we found out is through Pettigrew. Most of that's true for me so it's not much of a stretch. I'm not sure how he's going to have a press conference after the trial though, but I suppose that at some point he'll have one.

"You were supposed to be asked by him if you would appear at that press conference by his side so that he could give you a public apology and tell you what your reparations would be. Things have changed a bit since this morning started though so he probably won't be there. He was also going to announce that there are three other's who went to Azkaban without a trial. Two of their family's will be receiving official apologies and reparations. The third man is already at St. Mungo's and will be given reparations when he is able to understand what's going on.

"You'll be in a holding cell until after Pettigrew is questioned under veritaserum and sentenced; afterwards you'll be brought in to the court room to be cleared and get your wand back. Tonks and Andromeda will stay with you the whole time. We need to shackle you for appearances but I won't lock them, ok?"

"My wand? I thought it was snapped."

"They do that in front of you after a conviction. It has to be part of the sentence before they can snap it."

Sirius nodded and came forward to be cuffed before leaving for the ministry.

"Why is this place so empty?" He asked as they walked through the atrium.

"Madam Bones and I are starting a riot in front of the Daily Prophet and decided to use all the ministry people for it." Tonks said.

"No, really why isn't there anyone here?"

Madam Bones grinned "She's almost telling the truth, it's only a demonstration not a riot. That's why the Minister probably won't be able to do the press conference today."

Andromeda looked at her watch "Right about now all of the shops in Diagon Alley will be shut down, hopefully along with Gringotts, and they're going to threaten to stay closed until the Prophet fires that reporter."

Sirius was looking between the three ladies. "Can I ask why?"

Tonks patted his shoulder and smiled sweetly "The Prophet pissed us off this morning, don't worry I'm sure you would never do anything to piss us off. Would you?"

He looked at Andromeda who sighed "I know you've been away for a while, but the correct answer would be no."

He looked at Tonks and shook his head. "What did they do?"

Amelia answered "They wrote an article we didn't like about Harry."

Tonks saw his jaw drop "You didn't think I was joking about not letting people hurt him again did you?"

"No, but I didn't know you had that much power over the whole ministry and Diagon Alley."

"They can explain it when we get you in the cell." Madam Bones told him as they exited the lift and walked to the holding area.

As the three of them went into a cell that already had three chairs and tea set up Amelia shut the door.

"It's not locked but try to stay put; I don't need some idiot killing you before you're free. I'll come get you when it's time." She waved her wand and a copy of the Prophet sailed through the air to her. "This might help with explaining the 'riot' as you call it."

Sirius sat reading the paper in silence until he got to the article about Dumbledore. "You didn't tell me he killed Snape too."

"That's because he didn't, his new boss did. Conner hit him in the back of the head with a metal bar which distracted Dumbledore long enough for Harry to attack him. Conner looked like he was trying to knock a building down with one swing."

Sirius just stared at her for a second before going back to his reading. When he read the article about Harry he looked back up.

"I don't get it, they've said a lot worse about him, why did this article piss you off when the others didn't?"

"We never said the others didn't." Tonks explained how and why they had started blackmailing Fudge. When she was finished Sirius had his jaw hanging again.

"You have all the goods on him and you let him take all of the credit?"

"We don't want to control everything, just the things that help us and the Auror Corps. We couldn't find a better replacement so we decided to keep him around. He's so happy with the way things are going for him that he actually runs ideas past Madam Bones before he makes them happen. He's not a bad Minister once you get the idiots to quit bribing him and he gets decent advice. Some of his ideas are really good."

"Why didn't Harry get any mentions in these other articles? He's the reason for all of them isn't he?"

"Sirius, he's trying to get away from all of the attention. He doesn't want to be famous or have everyone know who he is just by seeing his scar. He knows about the others getting credit for this and is happy about it."

He smiled sadly "That's more like Lily than James. James would have wanted his name all over the papers to help him get the girls."

Tonks laughed "Harry doesn't need help with that, they're practically lining up and waiting for him to pick one of them. If he was like that he could probably have all of them and they'd be happy to share. I think Ginny and Gabrielle already have a schedule worked out just in case."

Sirius was grinning "That's more like James."

Andromeda swatted him in the back of the head. "He's a good kid Sirius, he wouldn't do that."

"He also seems clueless about all of it. The only one he's really shown any interest in was Hermione, and she killed that off really fast. I think they'll stay friends after yesterday but I don't think there will be any romance any time soon."

"Well he's almost fifteen; he'll figure it all out."

"Actually he's almost sixteen now. The Prime Minister gave him a new birth certificate so that he could take the job at the café."

Sirius choked on the drink of tea he was taking. "The muggle Prime Minister gave him a new birth certificate?"

"Yep, Madam Bones worked up a whole bunch of paperwork and had him sign it all. His adoption is all but done now and he has a letter of commendation to hang on his wall if he wants to."

Seeing the look on his face she continued. "Madam Bones told him about the attack on Malfoy Manner and let him take credit for eliminating a terrorist in the muggle press to help him out in his election."

"Sounds like Madam Bones really likes Harry."

"She loves him, and from what I understand she's been really good friends with Rebecca for a long time now."

"So he really is a charmer like James."

Andromeda took his hand "You're going to have to stop comparing him to his parents, he's not them. Harry's not a charmer; he just has people who care about him. He would never use that to his advantage."

He nodded "There's so much I don't know about him."

"You can get to know him Sirius." Tonks said. "Just get to know him and try not to see his parents in everything he does."

She sighed "I told this to Hermione yesterday. You and she are the two people who hurt him the most and have the ability to do it again. Take this slow cousin and you can get to know him like the rest of us do."

He nodded again.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Madam Bones came back.

"It's time to go. Pettigrew just got sentenced to the kiss because he was the one who brought Voldemort back and killed Cedric. You're up next."

They walked into the courtroom and put him in the chair in the center of the Room.

Felton was sitting in the lead chair and saw Tonks come in. Once everyone was settled he asked.

"Are we going to have any of the same problems we had with the last person you were here with?"

She smiled "We can if you want; I've been studying Harry's technique for insulting people so I should be able to fill in for him."

"No, that's all right." He banged his gavel and went through the formalities of the trial.

"Now do we have any motions for this case?"

Madam Bones stood "Given the evidence of the previous trial I move that all charges be dropped and Sirius Black be released from custody."

"Are there any objections?" No one said anything so he banged his gavel. "Motion granted. All charges are dropped, Mr. Black you are free to go with our apologies for all of this. It is my understanding that the Minister is handling reparations for your time in Azkaban but that he is currently unavailable."

"Yes sir, I know all about it." he said as Tonks took the manacles off of him and Madam Bones handed him his wand.

Andromeda hugged him "Let's go get your things, you're going to come stay with Ted and I until we can get you back on your feet."

He looked around wide eyed "That's it?"

Tonks stared at him "Yeah, what did you expect?"

"I'm not sure but I thought it would take longer."

Madam Bones spoke "Like I said, you're brought into the courtroom, cleared and given your wand back. It doesn't take that long to drop all charges when no one objects to it." She turned and led them back to the atrium.

"Take Sirius home and wait for a couple of hours before taking him back out into public. I'm going to go tell everyone at the riot what the verdicts are. Tonks, after you make sure they get back all right check with Harry and see when he wants to get that wand, I don't think he'll want to try it this afternoon even if Olivander's opens."

"Right boss, oh he would also like to check on getting a waiver for Hermione."

Madam Bones nodded "Remind me in the morning and I'll get one signed, just be sure they know it still doesn't release them from the secrecy act."

Sirius had his mouth hanging open again "Just like that they get waivers for underage magic?"

Amelia looked at him blinking a few times "We know Harry's not going to start going wild with a wand and has special circumstances. If he's asking for someone else he's got a good reason and I'm sure I'll hear what it is because I have to put it on the forms. There's really not much to getting the waiver, we just don't advertise the fact that anyone can come in with almost any reasonable reason for it and get it."

"Hermione is thinking about taking the Harry route and getting magical tutors instead of going back to Hogwarts."

"Tutors are the most common reason, though it's usually because someone's grades are slipping. Home schooling is also popular. Now I need to get to the Alley and make sure the Prophet is still standing, if nothing else someone can use the building and equipment to start a new paper."

They separated and Tonks took her Mum and cousin back to Grimmauld Place where Sirius asked her to let him know when Rebecca would like to meet before she left to find Harry.

XXXXXXXX

Harry was walking up his walk to his home when he heard a pop on the side of the house. The only one who apparated there was Tonks and she always used a corner in the kitchen because it was closer to the food.

He ducked up next to the house and started to slowly and quietly work his way towards where he heard the noise. As he reached the corner he saw the movement of someone coming around to the front. He leapt and tackled the person pinning their hands with his knees and raising his fist to strike. Then he noticed who it was.

"Professor McGonagall? What are you doing here?"

"At the moment I'm being assaulted by one of my students."

Harry blushed and jumped off and helped her up. "Sorry, I guess I'm still a little nervous about being attacked."

"That's quit all right Mr. Potter; I suppose I should have informed you that I would be stopping by for a visit."

"How did you find out where I lived?"

"I was able to find your address through the magic of the school mailing list for its students."

"But I'm not a student anymore, I was expelled."

She got a disgusted look "Yes well, the book has to be updated manually for students who leave school before they complete their seventh year."

Harry nodded in understanding and invited her in and offered her some tea. Once they were settled he asked.

"So what brings you by Professor?"

"I received a letter from Miss Granger this morning that has me disturbed. She says that she is considering other educational options and would like me to send her a list of tutors and schools that I consider adequate. Miss Granger also says that the reason she's doing this is because you won't be attending Hogwarts anymore.

"Yesterday I was named the new Headmistress of Hogwarts…"

"Brilliant, congratulations."

"Yes, thank you. As such I have the ability to petition for your reinstatement to school."

Harry was shaking his head "Professor, I don't want to go back, I want to get a muggle education and have a muggle life. I appreciate the offer but even if I am reinstated I won't be attending Hogwarts again."

"May I ask your reasons why?"

"Let me ask you a question. Who's going to be your DADA teacher this year?"

"Hestia Jones, why?"

Harry sighed "I thought she'd be in a cell for kidnapping longer."

"She was fired from her position as an Auror and sentenced to a week in Azkaban because of a deal she made to testify against Albus."

"So you want me to come back and attend classes with someone who got fired for kidnapping me. I may not be doing a good job of staying uninjured but I'm not actively trying to get that way."

"I can see where having her in that position might be a problem, but we don't get many applicants for the position anymore. She was the only one who was qualified that applied for it. I think we can work something out that would allow you to attend and possibly have one of the other Professors take over your Defense lessons."

"Professor, the DADA teacher isn't the only reason that I've decided not to come back. Aside from my decision to live as a muggle from now on, I wouldn't come back for other reasons.

"For four years I've come close to dying in that school. I've also had to put up with teachers insulting me on a regular basis with no one doing anything about it. The school not only turns a blind eye to that but also to all of the prejudice against muggleborns and one of your teachers actually encouraged and participated in that prejudice. You had a teacher who insulted everyone who wasn't part of his house and generally made his class and life in that castle a living hell and not one of the other teachers did anything about it.

"Two years I was accused of being something I wasn't. Second year I was outcast because everyone thought I was opening the Chamber, and last year the whole school thought I was a cheater and had entered my own name into the cup. The Professors knew that I didn't yet they never once said a word about it to the other students. Can I ask why I was allowed to be ridiculed by the entire school? Do the teachers think that the unity of the houses is so important that they'll accept it even if it's only to belittle another student?

Professor McGonagall looked like she had been slapped and remained silent for a moment.

"Think about that for a minute and I'll get us some more tea."

While he was in the kitchen there was a familiar pop in the corner.

"Hey Tonks, want some tea?"

"Wotcher Harry, I'd love some, starting riots and arresting people just so they can be released is thirsty work." Then she noticed his slightly angry look. "What's happened?"

"Professor McGonagall is in the sitting room trying to get me to come back. I just told her what I think of the Professors and how they take care of and stick up for their students. Did you know that they have Hestia Jones teaching DADA? How the hell does someone who is convicted of kidnapping a kid get a job teaching them?"

Tonks rolled her eyes "I'm beginning to believe that you have to be mentally unbalanced to become a teacher at Hogwarts."

"I agree, let's go see if she has the power of speech yet."

Once they were settled and Tonks had greeted the headmistress, Minerva spoke.

"I don't know if you've been told this yet but Professor Snape was killed while trying to help Albus escape from the Aurors so he won't be teaching anymore."

Harry stared at her for a moment with his jaw hanging open then looked at Tonks.

"What, that's what we told the Prophet. We didn't think you'd want your name involved."

"Thanks, but that's not the problem. My problem is that they think that having one of the problems removed for them exonerates them from allowing me to be put in front of the entire student body and having them all but told to make me feel like shite. The teachers practically pointed to Snape and said this is how we want you to treat Harry and there'll be added points for it if you're in Slytherin. Just because he had his head cracked open I'm supposed to forgive all of this and come back to see who gets to take over his position of head insulter."

"My money would be on Hestia, but I don't know who the new potions teacher is yet." Tonks added.

He turned back to the stunned teacher "Professor, he didn't get killed trying to help Dumbledore escape, he succeeded and then they tried to kidnap me again. A muggle we know killed him and I killed the old man. None of that changes the fact that not one teacher ever tried to help any student who was being bullied whether by another student or another Professor. Hell they even let all of the students have an unforgivable used on them by a teacher and didn't say a word about it.

"Why would I want to come back to that and why the hell would I encourage anyone else to? Especially Hermione who is constantly insulted by everyone because she's smart, even the Ravenclaw's insult her for it."

"I'm not actively trying to get students to quit; the only one who I wanted out of that damned castle was me. Hermione is making up her own mind about what's best for her future all I did was ask about magical tutors as a possibility. It's her decision whether or not to return and I'm not trying to influence it but if she decides not to go back I'll support her and try to help her if I can.

"I can tell you only one thing for certain right now, there are only two reasons I can see that I'll ever step foot in that castle again. The first is if someone else kidnaps me and takes me there, as odd as that sounds, a couple of months ago I wouldn't have even thought of the possibility now it seems kind of likely. The second is if I eventually have kids and they're magical. I'll take up my wand again if that happens and let every teacher in that castle know what will happen if my kids aren't treated right. If I have children who are magical I'll look into every other possibility for their education before I allow them to go to Hogwarts."

Professor McGonagall was still too stunned to speak for a couple of minutes when Tonks picked up a biscuit and almost shoved it into her mouth.

She sputtered "Miss Tonks, what do you think you are doing?"

"Trying to get some sort of reaction out of you, if you hadn't moved when I did that I would have had to call Harry's Mum to take a look at you and see if you were in a coma or something."

"His Mum?"

Harry sighed "I'm being adopted so I have a new Mum now. You could talk to her about me coming back but you might like her answer even less than you like mine."

Tonks snorted "Yeah, having someone answer you by throwing hexes instead of talking might not be what you want. She's not real happy with Hogwarts instructors right now. You might just want to give Hermione the name of some really good tutors and cut your losses. This isn't a fight you're going to win."

"Yes, perhaps that's the best decision at the moment. Harry, I'm sorry that Hogwarts' Professors have failed you so badly."

"It's not just me it's all of the kids there that you're failing. The whole anything goes attitude is what makes the bad ones think they can take over the world and become Dark Lords to begin with. We might have less of them if someone tried to stop it when it started."

Professor McGonagall nodded "I apologize for taking so much of your time this afternoon. Have a good day."

When she left Harry sat back down and put his face in his hands "Who's going to be the next one to try to convince me?"

Tonks sat next to him and rubbed his back "Probably Hagrid, it looked like he really liked you in your memories."

Harry groaned "Do you know any spells to strengthen the furniture?"

A/N: It would be just his luck if he went back to Hogwarts and found out that one of the people who kidnapped him was his teacher.