Chapter Eight
Disclaimer: Sadly, Harry Potter is not my creation. The shining original belongs to J.K. Rowling, may she never get tired of our butt kissery.
I want to thank the following for answering my Trivia: What did the Room of Requirement open as for Albus Dumbledore: (Answer: Old Chamber Pots)
Meuryc (My very kind Beta)
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Shaken Bloodbane
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"Talk"
'Thought'
"Phoenix telepathy"
~ quotes from the book ~
As the sun rose outside Hogwarts on the 3rd of September, Harry exited the Room of Requirement before quickly and quietly making his way back to Gryffindor tower. Harry got back to the 3rd year boys' dorm just as Neville was waking up. Neville saw Harry walk in and was about to ask where he'd been before he was interrupted by one of Ron's snores. Neville instead raised an eyebrow at Harry who replied quietly, "Tell you later."
Harry then moved to get a change of clothes while Neville made his way to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Once Harry was dressed in fresh clothes, he began waking the other boys. By the time Neville returned from the bathroom, Harry had managed to wake the rest of the dorm, though Ron looked at him in indignation. Once they were all ready, they met up with Hermione and went down to breakfast.
As they were sitting down, Luna entered the hall and immediately moved to join them. "Morning. Have a good evening?" She asked, looking at Harry knowingly. When Harry just smirked and nodded, she turned to Hermione and frowned before quickly hiding it. 'She's started using it. I couldn't stop her, maybe Harry's plan will minimize the damage.'
Putting such heavy thoughts away, Luna went about constructing her breakfast with a smile. Before she had finished and started eating, she had made a replica of Hogwarts. The construct was enough to draw Ron from his plate before asking, "Hmm… How does she manage to make that stand like that?" while swallowing. Luna didn't answer, just gave Ron an exasperated raised eyebrow. 'Can you really ask that when we both know how your house looks?'
Ron, realizing he wasn't going to get an answer, went back to his food. Harry noticed the look and was pretty sure she knew what went unsaid, chuckled lightly before returning to his breakfast. After breakfast they dispersed and Harry, Hermione, and Neville headed towards Ancient Runes while Ron had a free period, and Luna happily made her way to Charms.
Professor Babbling was an energetic teacher who clearly enjoyed her subject and the teaching of it. She started the lesson by going over what they would be covering and advertising the multitude of jobs you could get into with a Runes NEWT. She then gave them a practical use of the runes they would be learning; she quickly carved out LAGUZ and RAIDHO and touched her wand to the runes, before water started shooting out of the runes. She tapped them with her wand again and the runes stopped producing water. "The two runes I just used were Water and Movement, from Elder Futhark, mainly used by the Norse and the basis behind magical plumbing. Runic magic is ancient and powerful, but it takes a keen mind, steady hands, and patience to master this art. Now, let us begin your journey to the understanding of ancient runes. Please open your book to page 7, where you will find the Elder Futhark alphabet."
The class studied the alphabet table for the remainder of the class period. Their homework was two feet of parchment on the Elder Futhark alphabet and its origins. The class then split up for their core class lessons and quickly made their way. In the rush of students leaving, Hermione had disappeared.
She managed to get to the next class just as the door was about to shut. The next class was charms. Professor Flitwick gave her a worried look but didn't call attention to her. He welcomed the students to 3rd year Charms and gave an overview of what they would be learning this year.
Class went on much the same for the rest of the day, with Luna joining them for lunch. Once classes let out for the day, Hermione excused herself to get a head start on their homework in the library and rushed off without waiting for a response. As she left, Luna walked up to Harry and Neville, Ron having rushed off after Hermione.
"Planning to share, Harry?" Luna asked with a smile.
Harry smirked before nodding, "I figured you would See this coming."
Luna only grinned while Neville looked at the two in confusion. Harry chuckled and told them to follow him. He led them up to the seventh floor, across from the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy. Harry quickly moved across the blank wall three times before a door, similar to the one the night before, appeared on the wall. Neville stared in shock, while Luna grinned ear to ear.
"Welcome to the Room of Requirement. Come on in." Harry said, smiling and opening the door.
They followed Harry into the Room before staring around the Room in amazement. The room was Ovular this time, the wall covered in selves of books, several couches surrounding a crackling fire in the space between two selves, and a collection of exercise equipment near the back of the room. "What do you two think?" Harry asked.
While Neville still stood stunned, Luna ran towards the nearest bookshelf. Harry grinned and guided Neville towards one of the couches while Luna browsed the collection. "This is where I was last night, Neville. I told you I'd tell you later." Harry said
Harry told Neville about his training last night and about the Room's amazing properties. He then showed him some proof by thinking of an attached bathroom, and a door appeared at the far side of the Room. Neville stared at the door for a moment before heading over to check it out. The bathroom resembled the bathroom at Potter Manor, which on its own was quite grand, though the sunk-in tub held the Hogwarts crest in its center and several stalls.
"Ok, wow. This room is really amazing." Neville said, examining the room again with more awe.
"It gets better, Neville. The one that sets the room up can manipulate the flow of time between this room and the rest of the castle. I literally spent a week in here last night. The only problem is that the Room isn't able to summon food, so that limits the amount of time you can spend in the room." Harry said.
Luna walked over to the couch to join the boys. "This is amazing, Harry. Thank you for sharing. I wish we could all sneak up here each night." Luna said, coyly.
Harry chuckled and called for Dobby, who appeared in the room holding the book he was about to ask for. Dobby bowed after delivering the book and popped away. "Thanks, Dobby. I was waiting till we got back to Hogwarts before sharing this. It's called the Book of Invisibility; I found the shipment in Flourish and Blotts and the shopkeeper gave it to me. This book contains several invisibility spells and spells to reduce your chance of detection by four of the five senses, not much is going to hide you if you put your hand in somebody's mouth. I wanted you two, and eventually Ron and Hermione as well, to learn from this book so you could sneak up here whenever you wanted, or slip away in case of danger."
Neville grinned and thanked Harry, while Luna smiled and kissed Harry on the cheek. Harry blushed, but smiled at Luna. They spent the next hour going over the spells in the book; Harry teaching Luna and Neville how to cast them. By the time they left for diner, Luna and Neville could each cast a passable disillusionment charm.
They met up with Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor House Table just before dinner was served. Hermione seemed even more worn down than when she had last seen them, while Ron looked like he'd been woken from a nap. Luna could only shake her head.
FG
Over the next week, Harry and his friends fell into the routine of a new school year. Each morning, Harry would watch the mail drop, hoping for news on his Godfather's trial. They would then separate to their various classes, with Hermione randomly disappearing and reappearing just before the next class, looking winded. Luna would join them for lunch, before they went about their afternoon classes. After classes, Luna would join them in the library, where they would knock out as much as their assignments as they could before dinner. Luna would join them for dinner before they would return to their dorms. Once Ron was asleep, and Hermione was up in the girls' dorms, Neville and Harry would sneak out Gryffindor Tower and meet Luna at the Room of Requirement where they would train for the rest of the night in accelerated time. Needless to say, they always had their assignments done before dawn and were flying ahead of their year mates.
Friday morning, the 10th of September, Harry got a letter from Madam Bones informing him about the trial of Peter Pettigrew and the long over dew trial of Sirius Black, to be held on September the 12th. The letter informed him he might be needed and to be ready for Auror Shacklebolt to retrieve him, they shall leave and return to the castle by the Floo in Professor McGonagall's office at 9:30am, as the first trial was to be held at 10:00am. Only his skills in Occlumency kept him from showing his joy and excitement.
Luna, who was sitting next to him, gave Harry a smile and squeezed his hand. She had been keeping as close to Harry as she could after the DADA class the previous day. When Harry went back to eating, she glanced to the head table and briefly glared and their Defense teacher, Remus Lupin; she already knew more about him than 95 percent of the school and staff, and twice as much as he was comfortable with. She didn't care that he was a werewolf, so long as he took his medicine and didn't endanger the lives of the students, especially her Harry.
As she turned back to her breakfast, she couldn't help thinking of what Neville had told her happened in their Defense class the night before.
FG
(Flashback)
Harry was already in a meditation training session with Fawkes when Luna arrived that night in the Room of Requirement. Neville was trying to study while occasionally glancing over at Harry and Fawkes. When Luna walked in, Neville motioned her to the couches with a concerned expression on his face.
"What's wrong, Neville? You look like someone about to confess his feelings. If that's it, I'm sorry but I think it's clear you're a few months too late." Luna said with a smile, trying to make Neville relax.
Neville froze, before spluttering and turning beet red. After Neville closed his eyes and did a quick occlumency exercise to get his blush under control, he glared at Luna who was grinning back at him. "I'm not trying to confess, thank you, I can clearly see how you and Harry feel for each other. I'm sure I'll find someone else." Neville smirked, before smirking and chuckling as he moved to retake his seat. "We had a rather interesting Defense class this afternoon, Professor Lupin taught us how to fight off a boggart. He had apparently found one in the Staff Room and thought it would make a good teaching aid."
"As soon as we got to class, he had us put our books back away and led up to a class room a few doors down. Snape was waiting there with the boggart in a wardrobe, and left as fast as he could after throwing another derogative comment about me to the class and Professor Lupin. Professor Lupin told us a few things before asking some questions about boggarts, which Hermione popped in out of nowhere to answer. How is she doing that, do you know?" Neville asked. When Luna didn't respond, Neville refocused on her before seeing the expression he and Harry had come to know as her 'I know, but I'm not able to tell you' expression. He gave her a firm nod before continuing.
"Professor Lupin taught us the charm to deal with a boggart, Riddikulus, and walked me through using it to defend myself, after bringing me near the wardrobe. Naturally my boggart would turn into Professor Snape when Professor Lupin opened the locked door. He had me envision my Gran's clothes on him. Half the class broke out laughing." Luna, immediately seeing how that would look, broke out into giggles. Neville couldn't help smirking.
Neville told Luna about all the students who went. Parvati Patil revealed a fear of mummies, she had the bandages at the feet untangle and it tripped. Seamus was afraid of banshees; he made her cluck like a chicken when she went to scream. It turned into a severed hand for Dean; he caught it in a mouse trap. Ron is terrified of spiders; he put skates on its feet, it fell down every time it tried to get up.
Neville sighed before coming to the matter at hand. "It landed right in front of Harry. Professor Lupin tried to intercept it, but it already started changing. It couldn't make up its mind at first; turning from the spider into a large, fat, and purple faced man who looked like he was about to scream before it changed again, this time into what Harry nicknamed Quirrelmort. Before it had time to more than sneer it changed, this time into a giant, blind, snake with huge fangs. It prepared to strike before the boggart changed again, into a Dementor."
"It tried to lower its hood, its presence having the same reaction as a real dementor before Harry was holding that strange fire of his in his off hand, making the boggart real back from the danger. Then the boggart changed one last time. It changed into you Luna, lying dead on the floor. Everyone got scared, then more rightly so as Harry's control slipped. I can only guess that Fawkes reached out to him immediately, because the temperature in the room dropped back to normal and the room stopped shaking. I think Harry might be one of the rare few who now knows what a boggart really looks like, his eyes were glowing as he glared at the boggart." Neville said, shaking slightly.
"Then Harry said, with a voice that resonated with power, 'That was a big mistake, boggart. Release that shape and return to the wardrobe right now, or I shall destroy you.' The boggart turned into smoke and made a shapeless dash back to the wardrobe. Professor Lupin awarded everyone who faced it 5 points and Harry 10 before announcing the class was over. Harry was the first out of the class, and I'm pretty sure he came right here, since I think he skipped dinner." Neville finished, looking over to his friend with concern.
As Neville finished telling Luna about their DADA class, Harry and Fawkes finished up with meditation. Both rushed over to Harry the moment they noticed. Neville grasped his fore-arm while Luna hugged Harry. Harry, though feeling calmer after working with Fawkes, embraced Luna's hug as if she was about to disappear. He also responded to Neville with equal strength. Despite the silent tears Harry was shedding, both felt they couldn't be safer. Knowing they wouldn't get much done as they were, they spent the first 'hour' just being kids, sitting comfortably on the couch seats. They then knuckled down and got back to training.
(Flashback Ending)
FG
Harry gave Luna's hand a gentle squeeze back before returning to his breakfast. As Fridays were still half days for every student below 5th year, Harry and his friends all had a double lesson and a single lesson. For 3rd year, they had double Transfiguration and Care of Magical Creatures. Luna had Double Charms and a History of Magic. After their classes, they met Luna for lunch and all headed to the library after.
While Harry, Neville and Luna all only had their morning assignments to do, Ron still had several he had been putting off for the weekend, and Hermione pulled out all of her books from her bag. While Harry and Neville looked worried for their friend and Ron looked gob smacked, in Luna's head she was scowling. She was a Ravenclaw, and she loved learning as much as the rest of her House, but Hermione's obsessive needs to take all the classes and the effect Hermione was ignoring was happening to her was getting on Luna's nerves. On the outside, Luna was frowning at the amount of assignments Hermione was pushing herself to do.
After dinner and some time with their house mates in their respective common rooms, Harry and Neville met Luna in the Room of Requirement; she was already at the training dummies and barely giving them time to reform. After Luna had vented her stress for nearly an hour, she joined the boys on the couches they were reading from while they waited for her. Luna sat beside Harry, who subconsciously put his hand on hers while not looking up from the book he was reading; A History of Fire Elementals by Aladdin Ababwa. Luna nearly giggled when she noticed what book Harry was reading.
Neville, who was reading Plants of the Mediterranean, slid a book mark in place before closing his book to stare worriedly at Luna. "Would you mind sharing what's up, Luna? From the previous times you've allowed yourself to get stressed you usually meditate, paint or read. Is it something we can help with?" Neville asked, Harry saving his own place in his book before closing it.
Luna shut her eyes and sighed heavily; she should have realized her friends would pick up on her mood. She opened her eyes before looking into each of theirs, and surprisingly Fawkes, who was rested on the back of the opposite couch as far from her as he could; for everything Fawkes had faced in his long life, Luna significantly scared him.
"I can't tell you exactly. But I can say that Hermione is doing something reckless and dangerous to herself. It will be resolved within two weeks but it still hurts to watch her struggle and weaken herself. I can only be thankful that this foolishness she is doing will be curbed by one of her birthday gifts." Luna said, her friends looking worried for their other friend.
Harry understood the subtle hint and nodded sharply. Neville, having been told of Harry's plans for the 19th, thought for a few moments before understanding as well. Fawkes, who wasn't told of the plans for Hermione's birthday could only look at the three of them in confusion. 'At least she's not angry at me.'
Harry took hold of her hand before saying, "I understand you can't tell us what she is doing, but if my plans for her birthday will help you know I will make sure they go off without a hitch."
Luna squeezed his hand back and smiled. She knew Harry meant what he said. When he felt one of his friends was in danger, there wasn't a force on earth that could slow him down for long. A pity those that continuously seek to get in his way never seem to learn.
After Luna was back to her usual self, the three teens got back to studying the vast library that the Room offered them. If they kept their current rate, they'd be ready to sit their OWLs by the end of the year.
FG
They spent the Saturday as they had the week before. They worked on their assignments and studied in the Library with Hermione and Ron. When their assignments were all done, they redid the assignments they had finished the night before to keep up appearances, and they searched the library for advanced reading. Hermione's problem wasn't the only reason the group couldn't wait till Hermione's birthday, redoing assignments was tedious and annoying at times.
Harry, Neville and Luna persevered through the Saturday and before they knew it, it was Sunday. Harry had revealed what was going to happen this morning to Hermione and Ron before they turned in for bed the previous night, from Hermione and Ron's perspective, so they weren't surprised when Harry went up to Professor McGonagall's office after breakfast. Harry knocked on Professor McGonagall's office door with five minutes to spare.
"Come in, Mr. Potter. You're early, but that is usually better than being late." Minerva said, calling from her desk. She had anticipated Harry or Auror Shacklebolt arriving early, so enjoyed a private breakfast in her office and was just finishing a cup of tea. As Harry entered, Auror Shacklebolt stood from his chair to face Harry.
"Good morning, Mr. Potter. I am Senior Auror Shacklebolt, and Madam Bones requested I bring you to her office before proceeding to Courtroom 10. The capture of Peter Pettigrew has thrown the court into a tizzy, so Madam Bones wants to explain how things are going to go." Auror Shacklebolt said, bowing slightly as he addressed Harry.
Harry nodded and greeted Professor McGonagall before looking nervously at the fireplace. At a raised brow from Professor McGonagall, Harry explained his first experience with Floo travel. Minerva couldn't keep her lips from twitching, trying to stay her stoic self while imagining what Harry had said. Auror Shacklebolt felt no compulsion about holding his mirth as he let out a deep belly laugh.
Harry just scowled at Auror Shacklebolt and moved to the fireplace to wait. After a quick stinging hex from Minerva and a stern look, Auror Shacklebolt stopped laughing and made his way to the fireplace; grabbing a small pouch of Floo powder from within his robes. Throwing a pinch in to the lit fireplace, the fire turned green before he called out "Ministry, Madam Bones office". He then motioned Harry to go first. Harry quickly stepped through the Floo and came out flying into Madam Bones office, catching the back of one of the chairs. Auror Shacklebolt arrived a moment later and barely held back another laugh at seeing Harry and seeing the expression on his boss's face.
Harry grumbled something that Madam Bones was just close enough to hear, "I hate Floo travel, never feels right to me." Auror Shacklebolt stood by the door while Madam bones asked Harry to take a seat. Madam Bones sent a quick glare at Auror Shacklebolt before getting on to business.
"Thank you for joining us, Harry. We'll make this quick as we need to be in the courtroom shortly. It was mentioned in the letter you should have received on the 10th of September, you might be called on to provide testimony, though I doubt that will happen. You'll be sitting in a special part the visitors stand, enchanted with a notice me not charm, so that nobody should be able to know your there. That being said, it's not foolproof, so try not to draw attention to yourself. I'm fairly sure you don't want the Chief Warlock to notice your there unless your called upon. First will be the trial of Peter Pettigrew, followed by a trial for your godfather." Madam Bones explained.
"Your godfather appeared in my office yesterday, accompanied by your elf; much to both our surprises. After holding a quick interrogation, must still follow policy or some people could use that to have the case thrown out. He spent last night in one of the holding cells with a notice me not on it, so none of my Aurors could complicate things more than they are." She continued, holding up a hand when Harry almost rose out of his seat about Sirius being interrogated and spending a night in a holding cell. She ended with her hand to her temple.
Harry wasn't entirely pleased about the situation of his godfather but could understand the steps Madam Bones had needed to take. After raising his Occlumency shields to suppress his irritation, Harry nodded back to Madam Bones with a blank expression that Madam Bones recognized and was surprised by but chose not to comment. Better he maintains his composure than let out his anger in her office.
Madam Bones got up and motioned for Harry to join her. She walked across the room, with Harry by her side, and left her office with Shacklebolt following them both. They quickly made their way through the Auror department and entering the elevator at the other side. Once in the elevator, they made their way down to the 9th floor, paper planes entering and exiting the lifts on each floor, delivering memos to the various departments. They then took the staircase next to the lift, moving down to the 10th floor; home of Courtroom 10 and the Department of Mysteries.
FG
Despite arriving at 9:30, it took them a quarter of an hour to reach the courtroom. Fifteen minutes before the start of the trials and many seats were already taken. Madam Bones broke off from them and made for her spot as Head of the DMLE, it was her task to lead the case unless the Chief Warlock held the floor, which would be as brief as possible if she had anything to do with it. Auror Shacklebolt led Harry to the Notice Me Not section of the stands, which made several visitors and quite a few reporters interested in who was sitting in the exclusive seating, but knew better than to try investigating; it hadn't gone well for the last five reporters, they now worked in a different field of work.
As 10am rolled around, several doors behind the stands of the Wizengamot members opened and those holding the illustrious seats entered, with their noses held high and an air of disinterest. It was then that Harry first saw the witch all of his allies despised; in the sea of black and purple was a vibrant pink cardigan. Delores Umbridge primly made her way up the stands and sat in the seat three to the right of the Chief Warlock, next to the seat reserved for the Minister of Magic; who was already sitting there, green bowler hat in hand and Order of Merlin First Class hanging around his neck. Minister Fudge had gotten that medallion for bringing in Sirius Black after the events on the 3rd of November, 1981. Harry saw this and had mixed feelings about him wearing that to Sirius's trial; on one hand his wearing it made a statement that Sirius's incarceration was just, on the other hand the reactions by the masses when they realize he's wearing it when Sirius is pronounced innocent will be hilarious to watch.
Once all the members were seated, Albus Dumbledore as the Chief Warlock rose from his seat, a replica of the golden throne he sat in during meals in the Great Hall of Hogwarts, and called for silence so that the trials may begin. After order was established, Dumbledore called for the defendant of the first trial, Peter Pettigrew. He had not been pleased that Peter had been captured and taken away from the Weasley family within his school while he had not been the to mediate the issue, now he had to do so while in court.
Peter Pettigrew was escorted in with magic suppressing chains, the Aurors bringing him in had been informed he was a rat Animagus and didn't want to face Madam Bones if they were negligent on that detail and he got away. When they got to the defendant's chair, he was chained to it, while the magically binding chains forged into the chair bound him tight. The Aurors then moved quickly to stand on either side of the entrance. There was quite a lot of murmuring about the treatment of Pettigrew and the actions of the chair. One of the visitors close enough for Harry to hear mentioned that the chair seemed to be similar to the sorting hat and judged those that sat upon it while the Wizengamot passed judgement.
Harry examined the chair, and sure enough, the chair was literally layered in magic. Harry quickly turned his gift off so as not to be blinded by it during the course of the trial. After Dumbledore called the room to order again, he called on Madam Bones to explain the charges.
Madam Bones rose from her seat to stand before the accused. Raising her voice so that she would be heard throughout the room, she said "Peter Pettigrew, you stand charged with being an unregistered Animagus, whose form is a common brown rat. You stand charged with willfully falsifying your death the 3rd of November, 1981. You stand charged with the death of 12 muggles on the night of the 3rd of November, 1981. You stand charged with framing the Heir of a Noble and Most Ancient House with murder on the night of the 3rd of November, 1981. You stand charged with sleeping in the bed of an underaged wizard in our illustrious school of magic from the year of 1986 till your capture on the 2nd of September, 1993." By the time she had read out all the charges, she was out of breath and nearly everyone in the stands had their mouths hanging open. "How do you plead?"
Peter Pettigrew cowered, and struggled in his chair against the chains. He wanted to escape, by Merlin he did not want to answer honestly. Then he felt Harry's presence and sat ramrod straight, he'd had nightmares of Harry since the day he was taken away from Hogwarts. With a look of great fear, he answered, "Guilty." He might be afraid of the consequences of that answer, but he was terrified by Harry's presence promising the alternatives. Those in the stands that hadn't believed the accusations were dumbstruck by Peter Pettigrew's answer; they didn't want to believe they could be so mistaken.
Once Dumbledore had managed to regain control of the room, he looked at Peter Pettigrew with disappointment before he began to speak. "Peter Pettigrew, having admitted your guilt to these many crimes, I move for a vote for life in Azkaban; in the cell of your old friend, who you betrayed." In one of the few occurrences of the event, all members of the Wizengamot voted unanimously for guilty. With the formality of the vote done, Dumbledore continued. "With the majority votes in favor, you are hereby sentenced to life in Azkaban, in the maximum-security wing. The cell will be warded in such a way that you will not be able to transform into your Animagus form, and you shall wear magic suppressant manacles whenever you leave that cell. So, mote it be." This led to the rest of the Wizengamot to proclaim the same.
Peter Pettigrew was then removed from the binding chair and led back to the holding cell until the conclusion of the trials. Peter was wailing his entire way out of the courtroom. With the first trial now concluded, Dumbledore attempted to get the members back on topic. "Though it seems to no longer be necessary, next is the overdue trial of Sirius Orion Black. Aurors, please bring in Mr. Black."
Murmurs broke out in the stands as Sirius Black strode into the room, escorted by guards. While Peter Pettigrew was clearly worried and scared of the chair, Sirius Black strode towards it with confidence. As Sirius Black sat down willingly upon the chair, the chains wrapped loosely around him; proclaiming his near innocence to those who knew how the chair worked.
"Sirius Black, you stand accused of being an unregistered Animagus, the form of an Irish Wolf Hound. You stand accused of betraying the Potters on the night of the 31st of October, 1981. You stand accused of the murder of 12 muggles and one wizard on the night of the 3rd of November, 1981. You stand accused of breaking out of Azkaban on the night of July 27th, 1993. How do you plead?" Amelia Bones listed off.
"To the accusation of being an unregistered Animagus, I admit my guilt. Myself, James Potter, and Pettigrew became Animagi during the summer of our third year, to help our friend. To the other three charges, I declare I'm not guilty." Sirius Black stated, much to the disgruntlement of the members.
This had been planned in advance by Sirius and Amelia. "Sirius Black, do you consent to questioning under Veritaserum?" Amelia Bones questioned. Sirius nodded and an Auror was sent to retrieve a vial of the powerful truth potion. Many in the stands were surprised he had agreed. Purebloods could not be forced to Veritaserum in court. The law was created, claiming to protect family secrets and magic.
When the Auror returned with the vial of Veritaserum, Sirius made a show of accepting it; sticking his tongue out for it and smacking his lips. Once it was clear the potion had taken effect and the test questions asked, Amelia started questioning Sirius. "Sirius Black, did you betray the Potters on the 31st of October, 1981?"
"No, I was not the secret keeper for the Potters. I knew I would be the obvious choice, so I urged James to choose Peter Pettigrew. We didn't know he had already turned traitor." Sirius answered.
"Sirius Black, were you responsible for the murder of the 12 muggles on the night of the 3rd of November, 1981?" Amelia asked.
"No, I hunted down Peter after finding the Potters house in ruins. I saw Rubeus Hagrid coming out with my godson. I tried to get Harry from him, but Hagrid insisted he had orders from Dumbledore to bring Harry to him. I gave Hagrid my bike, hoping to quicken Harry away from danger before I went searching for Peter. I found him after tracking him for 72 hours straight, exiting his home. He immediately started yelling how I had betrayed my brother in all but blood. I was too slow to realize what he was doing before he cut off his finger and cast a silent Bombarda Maxima at the street between us. When I got back to my feet, the street was a mess, there were dead bodies everywhere, and Peter was gone. Moments later, Aurors popped in and arrested me." Sirius responded.
"You claim you are innocent of breaking out of Azkaban, yet you were imprisoned there for over a decade. Explain." Amelia ordered, keeping her wicked smile behind her occlumency. This one was a slap in the face of those who had thrown him in there without a trial.
"I was thrown into Azkaban without a trial and left there for years. According to the Magna Carta, which went into effect before we separated from the muggles, I could not be incarcerated without a trial of my peers. I believed Harry was safe, so I remained, waiting for my trial. When I saw the picture of Peter with the Weasleys and read the paragraph beneath, I knew Harry was in danger. I escaped where I was being held illegally. I'm not clear on the exact length of time someone can be held before their trial, but I do believe over a decade well exceeds that." Sirius answered, only the effect of the potion prevented him from smirking and sneering at the same time.
It took several seconds for those assembled there to process what had just been revealed via truth potion. Sirius Black truly was innocent of the crimes he was accused of and had been locked up for over a decade without a trial, aside from being an unregistered Animagus. Then all hell broke loose; from people shouting he must still be lying to those who were horrified that such a thing could happen, could happen to them. Harry could see the witch in pink trying to clear her throat for attention, but with the bedlam in the chamber she wasn't heard by anyone, nor hardly noticed.
After letting this go on for several minutes, while Amelia had her Aurors administer the antidote, Dumbledore stood and let out several cannon blast noises from his wand. By this point, Dolores Umbridge's 'Hem Hems' were little more than a wheeze. All those around her had to hide their amusement as she glared at everyone who seemed to laugh at her. Behind his Occlumency shields Harry was laughing his head off.
Once everyone had settled down, Dumbledore began to call for a verdict. "Sirius Black, you admit to being an unregistered Animagus. Given the time you have served, I believe we can wave the fee so long as you register at the earliest possibility after we are done here. As to the remaining charges, you have proven through willful use of Veritaserum that you are innocent of the remaining charges. I hereby call for a vote of not guilty for those crimes you were proven innocent of." Dumbledore put extra emphasis on the word proven.
When the votes were in, Sirius Black was declared innocent by a vote of 70 percent. The remaining 30 percent were all from the darker houses and looked rather put out. When Dumbledore called for a vote to allocate funds for Sirius's long imprisonment and defamation of character there was much debate, but it was decided to reimburse Sirius for his time kept from his job as an Auror and match that, giving Sirius 500,000 Galleons and his bill to get his health back at St. Mongos to be paid in full. Sirius was then escorted from the chair to get his things from lockup before being escorted to St. Mongos to ensure he went and so that the Ministry could get an estimate at the cost for his bill.
Dumbledore called the session of Wizengamot to a close and rose to leave. Moments later the remainder of seat holders on the Wizengamot rose to leave as well. Harry was about to rise as well before the Auror that was stationed near him put a hand on his shoulder and motioned for him to wait. Once everyone else but the scribe had left, the Auror escorted Harry back to Madam Bones office. Harry entered her office to see her hard at work with the parchment work that went with a Judicial session of the Wizengamot.
She nodded to them before putting down her quill and addressing them. "Mr. Potter, I'm glad we didn't need to call upon you; and nice work controlling yourself with both cases. I could only detect you once, and that was after Peter froze up from fear. I think that went better than we could have hoped for. Peter Pettigrew will spend the rest of his life in the cell one of his victims spent a decade in and Sirius Black, after he's fixed up a bit, will walk a free man. Speaking of which, Sirius Black was rather insistent on asking to meet with you. Would you be amendable to that Mr. Potter?"
Harry took a moment to think about that. Sirius Black wasn't the one who betrayed his parents but had abandoned him to Dumbledore's machinations and a decade with the Dursley's by choosing to chase after Pettigrew. Then again, they had both lost a decade of their life because of that mistake. He had heard a lot about Sirius Black from his parents' portraits and his grandparent's portraits'. After reaching a decision agreed. "After he is released from St. Mongos, we can arrange some time on the weekends to meet."
Madam Bones nodded before rising from her desk and moving towards the fireplace. Grabbing the pouch of Floo powder on the mantel turned to Harry. "Very well, and might I say very wise of you Mr. Potter. I shall let him know, but first we should get you back to school." She said, then tossed a pinch of powder and threw it into the fire calling out, "Hogwarts, Head of Gryffindor's office." The fire turned green and she motioned him through.
Once Harry was through the Floo, Professor McGonagall helped him up and asked how things went. Harry gave her an overview of the trials while they sat down to talk over tea.
FG
After giving Professor McGonagall an overview of the trials, Harry headed towards the library to meet up with his friends. His friends clearly wanted to ask how things went, but held back due to Madam Pince looking towards them as Harry arrived. They took the smile on Harry's face as good news and buckled down on their studies. They left slightly earlier than usual so Harry could give them an overview in an unused classroom.
The next week moved on quickly with a routine having been established. Classes and homework in the library during the day and room of requirement training for Harry, Luna and Neville during the night. It was Saturday night before they knew it, with tomorrow being Hermione's birthday. Harry called Dobby to make sure everything was set up for Hermione. With Dobby's excited nodding, Harry was looking forward to tomorrow, probably more than Hermione was.
The next morning, Hermione woke up after letting herself sleep in. She got up and ready for the day, before heading down to the common room to meet Harry, Neville and Ron for breakfast. She knew it was her birthday, but after two years here didn't expect anything from her friends. It surprised her however when while she was eating breakfast, four owls landed in front of her with notes and packages.
The first was from her parents, wishing her a Happy Birthday and sending their love and a bottomless bookbag. The second package was delivered by Hedwig, in a leather pouch she found a globe, when she looked into the globe, she could see the night sky. The third owl delivered a rare book on plants and a new bottomless notebook. The final owl delivered a set of potions; the notes on each vial identified them as a calming potion, a dreamless sleep potion, and the third one only had a clock on its side. In the box with the potions there was also a note that when Hermione quickly read caused her to blanch slightly before she closed the note and put her gifts into her new bag.
She thanked Harry, Neville and Luna, before turning to Ron who was looking at her dumbstruck. She frowned slightly but smiled understandingly a moment later. Ron was never the best at remembering events and didn't exactly have the money to buy gifts before school. She went back to eating, with a few nervous glances at Luna. Every time Luna saw this she just smiled and continued her breakfast.
Once they were done eating, Harry asked Hermione and Ron to follow him and the others up to the seventh floor. Once he was in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, he quickly walked in front of the empty wall three times before to Hermione and Ron's surprise a secret door revealed itself. Harry, Luna and Neville smiled at their reactions before Harry encouraged them to enter. They took three steps into the room before stopping, awestruck.
"Hermione, Ron, welcome to the Room of Requirement. This is the configuration we've been using it in, but with a thought it can add or remove almost anything." Harry said, demonstrating by having the room provide a wide screen T.V. with stereo system before removing it again. "Depending on what you want when you summon the door, it can even become different environments. It's even able to manipulate the flow of time within the room. It just can't provide food."
"Can I try?" Asked Ron. With a nod from Harry, Ron focused and a toilet appeared.
"Charming, Ron." Hermione said, flatly.
"I was shown this room this year and thought it would be awesome to share it with my friends. We've been coming here every night to train and study, while still getting lots of sleep. The room is set so that you can literally stay in here for a week and only seven hours will pass outside. We've been waiting for your birthday to share this with the two of you. No offense Ron, we would have shared it with you before, but you're terrible at keeping secrets. We wanted it to be a surprise."
"None taken, Mate. This rooms amazing, I'm amazed you've managed to keep this secret so far. Oh, so that's why you and Neville keep coming in early." Ron said, stunned.
After nearly a minute of silence, Hermione finally spoke. "This room is amazing! I really can't fault you three for keeping this room a secret. Thank you very much for sharing it with me. Honestly, even with the… help Professor McGonagall gave me, it's still been really difficult to keep up with all the homework. Thank you all for this amazing birthday." Hermione smiled brightly before wrapping them all in a group hug.
They then spent the next hour with Hermione and Ron exploring the room, with Harry, Neville and Luna playing tour guide. At the end of the hour, they nearly had to drag Hermione out of the room so they wouldn't be noticed being out after curfew.
Once everyone else had gone to bed, Ron bowing out for sleep, Harry and Neville met up with Hermione in the common room and all hid beneath Harry's invisibility cloak. Harry and Neville not really needing the cloak, having both mastered the disillusionment charm, planned to help teach Hermione it and the other charms to mask their presence that they had learned from the Book of Invisibility. They reached the room just as Luna came skipping along, dropping the charm on herself. Hermione's reaction almost had the three teens under the cloak taking a tumble.
Luna opened the door for them and all four went in. By the time the door opened at seven the next morning, Hermione had finished all her homework, mastered the disillusionment charm, devoured the Book of Invisibility and had started on the shelves that lined the walls. She had also been let in on the secret of Harry's training with Fawkes, which led to them teaching her the beginnings of Occlumency.
Hermione also had the best sleep she had since arriving this year. She hadn't realized what a detrimental effect all the extra studying, combined with only a few hours of sleep a night, was having on her until then. If she didn't have her friends and the amazing room they shared with her, she had to admit to herself she might have had a mental breakdown before the end of the year.
FG
The rest of the month passed on rather relaxingly. Ron joined them for an hour of compressed time in the afternoon, shocking the teachers that he actually had his homework ready when it was due. After he found out the room could make secondary rooms and could provide a quidditch post and enchanted quaffle, he almost didn't want to leave and didn't begrudge having to study if that was the price for the training room.
Harry received a letter asking him to meet Sirius at the Three Broomsticks on the first Saturday of October, which Harry quickly and happily responded. Sirius was on the road to recovery, and those that cared about him couldn't be happier.
Luna was annoyed and concerned that Hermione was still using the Time Turner, but with using the room Hermione was sleeping better and less stressed, so she would let her keep her secret a while longer. It wasn't her secret to tell after all, and she knew that by the end of the year the need for that irritating device would fall away.
Thank you all for reading this chapter and my most sincere apologies for the very long wait. I hope to start the next chapter by the time this gets back from Meuryc and uploaded. Next chapter, we move on to October and a bit of drama. I hope you all enjoy and maybe respond to my chapter trivia. 😉
Chapter Trivia: Anyone care to spot the Disney Cameo in this chapter?