Chapter Twenty-Seven
Legitiem
Sirius was in a mood as he sat in the uncomfortable chair, trying to stay awake in light of the sober circumstances he found himself in. There were too many different ones whirling around for him to settle on one long enough to decide which one to call himself. Not upset, not happy, not concerned – well, truthfully, concerned was the most hopeful description of his mood but it surely wasn't precise. Last night, he'd been summoned to the Dragon Quarters in such an arbitrary manner that he was trying to decide whether to feel insulted or just go with it. Once he found out that it was Tessaies doing the summoning, Sirius decided that maybe it was a good idea to tone down any outrage. It wasn't as if he could argue too much with her, since she was a giant fire-breathing lizard, after all. He felt like if she didn't flame him for it, she'd bend him over her draconic knee to spank him for showing out and disrespecting her.
As it happened, any outrage expressed this morning was the sole providence of the large dragon he was currently seated in front of. Luckily for him, there wasn't any such display of temper on display expected from the old dragon he was supposed to appear before today.
He hoped. The only question was 'how long was that going to last?'
He didn't know, since he was in a situation that he'd never thought he'd ever find himself in. Sirius thought back to last's night meeting, hoping to figure out how this all had come to be and doing his very best to stifle a tired yawn. His head fell momentarily as his fatigue and general condition took the opportunity in his lack of attention to drop him into a dream state. In turn, his mind latched on to the last thought and replayed the whole meeting for him in a few seconds.
|:-:|
The previous evening:
"Black! Wake up!"
The voice of the Master Auror dragged Sirius Black from a very nice dream about two redheads with licentious ideas, although he had little to no idea why they both looked like a young Amelia Bones from seventh year or so. He just went with it. There were several grumbles emitting from the animagus' half-asleep form, although he had no idea what he was mumbling or even if he was actually muttering. Apparently that didn't matter to the man at the cell door, who must have been blessed with very excellent hearing. What Sirius heard next woke him up quicker than he'd ever thought was possible.
"I'll be sure to tell Madam Bones what you said. She'll be wanting to know so she can discuss it with you. Hope you have a will made out, though."
The grey eyes popped open quicker that Sirius would have expected for just having awakened. This was not good. Amy's idea of discussing anything had never been good for anyone not named Amelia Bones. Sirius jumped up, or tried to. The Master Auror's chuckles went unnoticed as Sirius got tangled up in the blankets and sheets and fell to the stone floor with a grunt, followed by a pain-filled groan.
"Ouch. That had to hurt." The man didn't sound too worried or even considerate. "You'll live. Hurry up. The pair on duty woke me up to come get you. You need to go see someone right quick, Black. She's not in the best of moods."
Sirius blinked, seeing the darkness gathered outside the window. There wasn't a clock in sight, and this was Scotland, but it was evident that it was very late.
"Did you say 'she?' At this hour?" He managed to say that despite the muffling of the blanket bunched around his head.
"At this hour. Believe me, you don't want to piss her off."
He wasn't quite awake, even with the adrenaline jolt and the impact onto Hogwarts' stone floor.
"'She?' Who? Amy Bones?"
The Master Auror traded amused glances with the night watch Auror, who seemed interested in the train wreck before him.
"No, not her. Madam Bones wouldn't be up this late just to talk to you, and if she was, you'd probably soon be missing something you're very attached to when she got done. Right? You went to school with her, so you'd know – I hope. Better you find out than me in a situation like that is all I'm saying."
Sirius had to keep himself from nodding quickly, memories of the underside of a Quidditch stand draped in evening's darkness and a mix-up in scheduling. The slap from Marlene had stung like a bitch, but what Amy had done had resulted in a memory that even the Dementors had shied away from. For some reason, they ran faster than a scalded Padfoot when they found that memory of Amelia Bones. Even the younger ones that the older ones sent after that first time did it, and quickly too. Sirius still didn't know how he knew about that or that Dementors had ages.
Or what thoughts of Amy Bones did to Dementors or even why. Then finally what the man said trickled into his mind.
"Wait, not Amy – I mean, Madam Bones?"
"You'll see. Be on your very, very, very best behavior. I'm not joking. Pretend you're trying to get out of Madam Bones' revenge. Not like you hadn't tried that before, right?"
From the look on the man's face, he wasn't joking one bit. Sirius was confused even more and not just from how he could have heard about that incident with Amy or maybe the other incident with Amy. He was too busy pondering this and wasn't paying attention to where they were going until he looked up to see the Dragon Quarters. At night it had more of an imposing presence than he could have appreciated in the daytime.
"What…"
The question died on his lips as the Master Auror rapped on the post three times.
"Come!" came a growl from inside that sounded for all the world on the angered side of sensual. Sirius didn't voice this out loud and wondered if he was finally going mad to be thinking something like that that didn't really make much sense right now. There was only one being in these Quarters that had a voice like that. He looked at the other man, eyes wide.
"You didn't…"
"… bring you here to see the Mother Eminence? Yep, sure did. She wants to talk to you. Remember what I said about behavior? Really, I wasn't kidding in the least."
There was no way Sirius could forget. The pressure of the hand on his back propelling him into the darkened Quarters underscored that. There wasn't time to realize that the Auror had made sure that he went first instead of following the DMLE institutional cry of 'Aurors lead the way!'
He gulped at the sight that greeted him and barely remembered to copy the respectful bow the Master Auror gave the dragon. Sirius totally missed the smirk on the man's face. He was too busy looking at the glittering scales and gleaming eyes that the simulated torchlight revealed. There was a good deal of sinuous movement in the depths of the Quarters that Sirius couldn't decide whether to be interested in figuring out or gibber in fear about.
"Mother Eminence, I am Master Auror Rubertus Grint. As you have requested, I've brought Sirius Black for your discussion. Forgive me, Madam, but due to the requirements of my posting here and my job duties in general, I will be obliged be nearby as I am not allowed to have him out of my sight until certain unspoken matters are resolved."
The dragon pondered that and nodded after a moment.
"Will I be able to rely upon your discretion for anything you hear here?"
"Yes, Madam, barring anything that would compromise the safety and security of Hogwarts and her inhabitants."
She raised an eyebrow at his careful phrasing. Tessaies accepted that, since she remembered doing that herself from time to time.
"Very well. There are some odd 'chairs' over there that was provided for the use of my non-dragon visitors. I will remain here with my eggs. I trust both of you know not to disturb them?"
There were quick nods. She speared Sirius with a Look and he felt like he needed to wash his face and tuck his shirt in.
"Now, Sirius Black, you might have told others but you have not told me. I have waited long enough and I want answers, which I will have tonight. Why were you not given a trial and why were you not taking care of the Speaker as your Godfather bond required you to?"
The following couple of hours were not fun for Sirius Black at all, but later as he was led back to his bunk, he felt curiously lighter. It was as if Tessaies had burned off the dross in his soul in her sometimes painful interrogation. He told her about his relationship to James and Lily, the feelings of brother and sisterhood he had with them, and the feelings he had when a baby Harry had been placed in his arms for the first time. He told her about the things that he and James got up to with Harry and the training broom that Lily hexed him for. He told her about the Godfather Ritual itself and the smoldering link it forged. He told her about the Full Moon Runs and Moony sniffing both Prongs and Padfoot to find the new scent of Harry. The howls of welcome had felt right.
He was looking her straight in the eyes as he spoke, the golden irises drawing him in as he unburdened himself to her.
Salty tears ran down his face as he told her about the war and those he lost. Sirius completely forgot about the uncomfortable chairs as he lost himself in memory and started reliving the moment that he found the dead in the Potter house and the injured Harry. The rage in his memory resonated with the dragon at the long-ago realization that the Potters had been betrayed and was relived yet again. The pain at the unusable knowledge of the one responsible came to the fore again and the unending frustration that engendered for everyone who knew and wanted to do something about the problem accompanied it.
Sirius didn't know it, but Tessaies was using the mental ability she possessed to its fullest to see the memories even as Sirius spoke of them. She could see the rips that the Dementors had done to some of them, but his Black-family early training had protected most of them. Between that and the use of his Animagus ability, he was in better mental shape than expected. This was not to say that there was nothing to worry about since he was still displaying some of the expected symptoms of exposure, but he was in relatively good shape if not the best – all things considered.
When he talked about the worries he had for Harry's well-being from the time Padfoot had seen him on Privet Drive to now, she made very careful mental notes to be discussed with the other Hogwarts dragons later. Certain connections had been made between things that the four dragons had observed and gathered together. This was something that she wanted to look into, if it was even something that could be explained to her in terms she could understand.
"But he's my godson. I love him more than I ever thought I would, given my family background. I'm damaged and I know it. If things had worked out differently – if I'd not been stupid – there might have… I don't know. I just don't know and I'm…"
Sirius trailed off, lost in his own memories again. He didn't care that there was a dragon that could make a very crispy Sirius in an instant. The fatigue, worry, and other things dragging him down since that night had caught up with him. He was thinking about the sudden change from the Ministry holding cells to Azkaban, being knocked out and waking up in his cell.
Tessaies saw it all. The pain and fatigue from the years in Azkaban had eroded his Occlumency to a point that the dragon could easily see it even with her lesser abilities compared to some of the others.
"Mister Black. I see what you're saying to me. I have given an oath to magic that you cannot use, to see to Harry's well-being. I cannot communicate to you mentally what I've seen, for a couple of reasons. One, our brands of magic are not as compatible as either of us would possibly wish and two, you need to heal yourself – physically, mentally, and emotionally. This needs to be done and I cannot emphasize this strongly enough."
Sirius nodded. There wasn't much he could say to that, since it was true. She regarded him for a moment in silence, long enough that the feeling of being pinned by that golden gaze made him feel like loosing control of his bladder. Luckily for his emotional state, he didn't, but it was a very near thing.
After about ten minutes of her consideration of him, she spoke.
"I promise to you that there will be a place for you with Harry, but you need to first promise to me that you will do everything you need to heal in order to have that place. A promise to a dragon is not undertaken lightly and in your case, will be tied into your Godfather oath by the individual magics you and I possess. Do you understand?"
He coughed, trying to clear his throat before he could answer.
"I understand, Mother Eminence. I make this promise without reservation, for Harry."
A fresh tear joined the others. Master Auror Grint had been silent during all this, watching while making his own mental notes with his Auror training pointing out this thing and that, and saw her scratch a draconic rune of some kind engraved on the wall for a moment. It chimed a note just at the lower end of his hearing, but Sirius didn't notice, as lost in his memories as he was. A few minutes later there was a scratching at the post.
"Come!"
Annika stumbled in, shaking her head a bit and yawning. The sight made the Master Auror shiver a bit, but no one noticed.
"Annika. You are needed to observe a Promise between Mister Black and myself. We have come to an understanding."
She was subdued, at least as much as Annika could be for having been awakened.
"Promise?" The question was in her voice as she looked at the visitors with increasing curiosity through her sleepiness.
"Yes. This is the Speaker's Godfather, magically bound to him from nearly birth."
Annika woke up quicker and regarded Sirius much the same as Tessaies had, which didn't help him keep control of himself any easier. She looked into Tessaies' eyes, and her greater mental abilities found the conversation that Tessaies and Sirius had just had. Annika blinked for a moment and then smiled at Sirius.
By now, he wasn't sure what to think.
"Relax, Dark Furry Godfather. We will all protect him."
Dark Furry Godfather? Sirius thought to himself a bit hysterically. It could have been worse. Hopefully they hadn't found some of the things Lily had called him over the years.
There was an amused snort from the Master Auror that everyone mostly ignored. Annika jumped for a bit, surprised. Sirius stiffened with his own surprise as Tessaies placed a talon on his shoulder. It glowed for a moment and he felt something settle within his magic. It was warm, but with a note of warning to serve as a reminder of sorts.
"You have promised me to heal in all ways, to help your godson, Harry of the House of Potter, the Speaker, ward of the Mother Eminence of the Weyr of Hogwarts. I am standing in place of his Nestmother in taking him as my ward. This promise was made in good faith for his sake and for yours. I accept this promise and hold you to the power of your words."
Tessaies gently drew him toward her with her unhurt wing and breathed a puff of smoke at him. Sirius found himself actually relaxing, almost to the point of falling asleep standing up. When she released him, he found Annika doing the same thing. She also hummed a lullaby to him and rocked him a bit.
He did fall asleep at that point and if it hadn't been for her wing around him, he would have sprawled out on the hard ground. Sirius hadn't noticed the flash in the golden eyes of the Horntail as the Promise settled within her or the gleam in the Short-Snout's eyes as she Witnessed it. He was unaware that within their draconic memories, he would forever remain, long after he was gone from this earth. Neither dragon was elderly, which meant that even with his wizarding lifespan, both would outlive him so long as they didn't die in battle or other happenstance outside of the normal course of time or events.
Tessaies regarded him for a moment before looking at the Master Auror and speaking softly.
"Return him to his bed, Master Auror. He has a full day ahead of him."
Sirius didn't hear that, Annika asking Tessaies who this 'Moony' was, how to find him, or anything else and never knew that he was guided back to bed. Behind them, Annika waited for the pair to get some distance away before she asked Tessaies another question.
"Who was this 'Lily' in his memories? She had a few things to say about Dark Furry Godfather."
"Oh, like what?" Tessaies didn't mention that it must have slipped the ditsy dragon's mind that Lily was the Speaker's nestmother.
Annika practically giggled in excitement and Tessaies sighed to herself, resigned to her fate. So much for sleep, but she had made the mistake to ask the question. She knew who Lily was and wanted to know more about her.
"You've got to hear this," the Short-Snout chortled, wide awake now.
Rhiain and Quiangya don't have to put up with this, do they?
|:-:|
Present time:
The bailiff was a very unamused Romanian Longhorn named Mirela. The glittering golden horns stood out with one a bit crooked in comparison to the other, the sharp points catching the attention of everyone in the area that wasn't a dragon. If the bailiff had to exercise her duties, there wasn't going to be a good time for whoever disrupted the proceedings. Everyone knew it, too, since she didn't look happy in the least. There was more than one speculation that wondered if this was normal for her but no one was brave enough to ask the question out loud where she could possibly hear it. No one wanted to know what the answer was that bad enough to risk finding out.
From the way Mirela glowered at everyone and especially anyone with an exposed wand, the wizards kept their peace. Some of the other dragons laughed at them from behind slightly raised wings as they watched, but otherwise remained quiet. They didn't want to risk finding out, either. They knew what the steam drifting from her nostrils meant every time she glared at someone.
There hadn't been much discussion about conduct during the proceedings. Practically everyone knew that they wouldn't be able to get away with the shenanigans in a dragon-run court that they might have in front of the Wizengamot or other such gathering. It was better to be quiet than to be flamed, they had all silently agreed. They could see the activated runes on the judge's bench, the witness stand, and the jury box, but no one knew what they were for unless presumably something for ensuring truth.
Perreh was waiting patiently for his cue. As he was filling the role of defense versus Dahne's prosecuting role in the dragons' adversarial mode of trial, he had to wait for Dahne to finish with his opening statement. The prosecutor went first, and Perreh wondered if that was the reason Dahne had chosen that role. The other dragon seemed to do that a lot, he thought. Thankfully, neither dragon was long-winded and tended to say what they had to say and sat down. It made for quicker trials and more time for relaxing.
"… Your Honorable Battle Draco," Dahne addressed Whopnehr by his formal title, "as this is a delayed trial, there have been unavoidable lapses in time and memory. Some of the witnesses that we otherwise would have called to testify in this matter are not available due to death or lost memories and/or capability. Some of the circumstances of others have changed and so too have their testimonies."
Meaning they aren't being paid anymore, Perreh thought as he listened to his opponent's words. He caught his old friend's eye and Dahne nodded minutely without breaking his speech or movements. The Horntail didn't give away that the Ironbelly had rolled his eyes slightly at what Dahne hadn't said outright. No one was watching the defense dragon right now, after all. Neither looked at the judge, knowing the canny old dragon would know what was going on. They didn't want to be held in contempt of court, which was embarrassing to them depending on what the old dragon found for them to do.
Perreh broke away from that thought and tuned back into Dahne's statement.
"However, the means of using magic have not changed. The humans use a slightly different branch of magic than we dragons, but the expression of Magic is the same for either humans or dragons. I will use the upcoming witnesses to this matter that are still available to us during this trial and the methodology of magic used during that point of history to prove to the court that Sirius Black is guilty of the crimes that he was originally taken in talon for."
Next to Perreh, Sirius shuddered in his seat after having been jolted awake a moment ago by the feeling of the point of his defense dragon's talon tapping his foot. He could feel that even through his dragonskin boots. Perreh hadn't seemed too pleased to see them, even if they were made of a different breed from either himself or Dahne. If he tore the boots from things like that, it wasn't the dragon's problem. Sirius had been wondering why the dragon handlers' uses of dragon-relating clothing didn't bother either of them, when he heard the law-dragons' substitute phrase for the action of 'being arrested.'
If Perreh's talon was that sharp to feel it from just that light poke, he didn't want to think about the whole idea of being 'taken into talon' or anything else talon-related in their idioms and speech. The idea of dragon Aurors using excessive force was just scary. Dahne continued on with his speech – something about the absence of a statute of limitations – and Sirius looked around the strangest courtroom he'd ever heard of. It was truly something that he wouldn't have thought was a courtroom, since it wasn't actually a room of any sort.
With no walls or ceiling, everything that was said was audible to anyone who wanted to listen. The judge, of course, sat up on a raised platform where he could hear everything. Sirius looked at the old dragon, seeing a few scars and the way he moved with the obvious ache of old injuries. The eyes were still clear and bright, despite the somewhat more frail appearance when compared to the younger dragons. Whopnehr looked like a tough old reptile that didn't put up with more than he had to, and just listened for now.
The jury box was filled with dragons that he hadn't seen yet: a colorful Ampitheare that didn't seem to like the others for some reason, a Gargouille that was paying close attention to what was said, a Finback that looked like she was bored, a Fleur-de-Nuit that frowned a lot, and three other dragon breeds seated outside the jury box that he had no idea what they were or where they came from. He supposed they were the alternate jurors, but had no real idea.
Dahne finished his statement and bowed toward the judge. Everyone watched as he strolled to his stone and looked at whatever his assistants shoved in front of his snout. Perreh stood up and walked to the center of the open area and bowed to the judge and the witness box in acknowledgment.
"Your Honorable Battle Draco, there are precepts of law that are, if not universal, then are more common between different systems of jurisprudence. Those systems have several commonalities: there are laws, there are law-breakers, and there are punishments to name but a few. There can be many laws, or varieties of laws, or even different interpretations of the same laws, depending on who you ask. But... two things are the same – once a being is determined to be a law-breaker, there must be a punishment. The punishment must fit the law-breaking, in either similarity or in severeness to discourage repeated law-breaking by the same or others."
Sirius started to sweat a bit. His defense dragon was sounding more like a prosecuting dragon, which didn't bode well for him.
"Conversely, there are the opposites of law-breakers: those we term as 'innocent' in one system or as we call it 'guiltless of blaze' in ours. Those are the ones that must stand before the flames of trial to be reveal as unharmed by the fire of trial and untouched by the heat of questioning. Sometimes this process is easy, sometimes it is one of the most trying times – pun unintended. Once those who stand in the dock to be tried have been cleared, then we as keepers of the law (whether human or dragon) must see to it that such is prevented from happening again, through application of truth in all things and the discovery of those unwilling to use that truth. I will prove to the court by various means that my client, Sirius Black is guiltless of blaze, has been subjected to false flames, and has been denied. Denied, I say to the court, of his freedom, of his family, of nearly his very life."
As Dahne had before, Perreh bowed to the judge and returned to his stone. Whopnehr harrumphed to himself, smoke puffing out of the side of his mouth and looked at the prosecuting table as he scraped his talon over the stone. Humans winced at the screech that was produced and dragons merely nodded their heads. Some were taking furious notes about what they were watching. One was scratching her talons in colored chalks that she would heat up from time to time to transfer to a large slab and those nearby could see that she was rendering a sketching of what she saw in full color.
"We begin. Call your first witness," the old dragon ordered.
Dahne stood up again.
"I call Master Auror Alastor Moody to the perch."
|:-:|
In the public gallery, everyone watched as the witness stumped his way up to the 'perch,' as the dragon had called it. The old man was standing as upright as he could from the various injuries that he'd sustained over the course of his career. It had been a surprise to him to receive a summons to testify in what had to be a first for many people, but after thinking about it decided to treat it like any other court appearance.
It wasn't like he'd never done those before.
He looked at the bailiff and mentally approved of her stance and watchfulness throughout the area. Moody recognized the look and wondered to himself if she went about yelling about constant vigilance to whatever passed for dragon trainees. If she didn't, maybe he would find her after this was done and introduce her to the concept.
Who knew, maybe he would learn something too. The idea of a dragon at the Auror Academy was a bit funny, and he absently wondered if he'd taken too many Stunners to the head.
He sat down in the seat, pleasantly surprised to find out that the stone was more comfortable than he was expecting. The moment his buttocks made contact with the stone, he could feel a slight buzz run through his body and hear a soft hum. He felt a bit relaxed. It was similar to the effects some of the truth runework in the Ministry, and Moody decided to hold off on jumping out of the seat to curse it with six of the eleven ready curses he had for this situation.
The bailiff, Mirela, made him swear an oath, wording it as 'swearing to tell Magic's truth, Blood's truth, and Fire's truth, upon pain of loss of all,' and he swore it. There was a rumble of surprise in the gallery, and some anxious looks were traded among more than a few.
Dahne looked at the witness, not moving from his position. His wings were curled around his body for now, but there was plenty of space for him to pace four or five steps if he needed it. There was even room for his spiked tail when he made the turns.
"Witness, please identify yourself for the record."
"I am Master Auror Alastor Moody. I am nominally retired from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but really I'm subject to recall at need for special circumstances. Due to the specifics of this case being a special circumstance, I have been recalled to active duty."
Dahne nodded.
"Thank you, Master Auror. As a side note, I note for the record that the draconic runes for truth and specificity have activated and due to the location of being at Hogwarts and its special placement in the ley network, those runes are stronger than normal. I understand that you are not given to evasive answers, nor are you given to so-called 'unhelpful non-answers,' so you should have no problems even though the runes will have a much stronger area of effect than usually considered by those who created and charged them."
Moody agreed with the dragon's evaluation and sat back to wait for the questions to start, while in the gallery, Albus Dumbledore had the curious sensation that everyone was looking at him. The dragons' runic magic was interesting, if a bit oversized to his way of thinking.
"Master Auror, I will start by asking if you recall the events of 31 October, 1981?"
"I do. That's not a date that's going to be fuzzy in a lot of people's minds."
"Indeed. What was your posting on that date, and what were you doing?"
"I was a newly-promoted Senior Auror, working the night watch. There had been several attacks by Death Eaters over the previous couple of months and it seemed that they were getting ready for a big push. The attacks were just softening the Department up for a coup de grâce, except there was nothing merciful about it."
"And for the record, 'Death Eaters' were the followers of this Dark Lord leading the attack upon your Ministry?"
Dahne didn't sound a bit impressed, but being a dragon he wouldn't have to be.
"Not just 'were,' but also 'are.' We never got rid of all of them the way we should've, thanks to some less-than-thoughtful consideration."
"An opinion, I am sure, so far as 'consideration' is concerned, but I can see what you mean. So there were judicial and politicial reasons, you're saying?"
"Objection. Leading the witness."
"Sustained. Rephrase that."
"Yes, Your Honorable Battle Draco." Dahne said. He paused for a moment. "Master Auror, how would you explain the 'considerations' you mentioned?"
Moody grimaced, and several people shivered to see the expression on his face. It wasn't much different from the very few times he grinned.
"At the time, we were short-staffed as we were fighting a war and people were getting killed faster than we could get replacements into the ranks. Or they were invalidated out or otherwise rendered incapable. Something of one thing or another would happen from month to month, sometimes week to week, and during some really bad times day to day things happened to further reduce the Corps of Aurors. Training times were reduced twice, sending younger and younger people out to die – it seemed that way more than once."
Dahne nodded in encouragement, but said nothing. He had to listen carefully as these humans did things differently. The prosecuting dragon was sure Perreh was doing the same thing, as expected.
"Those that we caught and took alive either disappeared into Azkaban or used some legal shyster or political pettifogger to find a way out or grease an escape with Galleons. There was a bigger share of the second type that we were ever comfortable with. But, what could we do?"
There was a casual glance around. Moody's eyes rested on several, but he said nothing. Several dragons noticed this and whispered to each other, especially when the magical eye seemed to focus on several people that the natural eye didn't.
"And where did Mister Black fall into all this, Master Auror?" Dahne asked, almost negligently.
"Sirius Black was thought to be the Secret-Keeper for the Potters when they went into hiding. That was odd, since a Secret-Keeper is supposed to be, well, secret themselves if you want true security – unless you want to kill the Secret-Keeper. Three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead, after all. That in itself brings up too many problems in itself, however."
"And if a Secret-Keeper revealed the Secret in a way that later led to the death of those in hiding?"
"They would be considered at the very least to be accessory to murder, and subject to the possibility of the same penalties."
"I see. Were you present when Sirius Black was taken in talon for the murders of…" Dahne paused, momentarily appearing to be forgetting the names, "oh, yes, James and Lily Potter?"
"I was. I was second-in-charge of the squad that responded when the Fidelius dropped. The squad leader, Master Auror Vinton Marchbanks is no longer alive."
"What happened to him?"
"He committed suicide not long after this. James was a friend of his," Moody said quietly.
"My condolences, Master Auror. What happened at the site?"
"Due to the circumstances of the war, we had to contain the situation fast since we didn't know if there was any hidden Death Eaters that had turned the cottage into a trap or a new charnel house for some ritual or something. The Dark Mark wasn't present, so whatever went on had been interrupted somehow."
"This Dark Mark was something to be wary of?"
"Yes, it meant that the Death Eaters had completed whatever grisly task they had come to do at a given place. If we got somewhere that had confirmed Death Eaters present and there was no Dark Mark, then either they hadn't finished and was still around or something or someone had killed them all before they could cast the Mark."
"And so your squad was being understandably cautious?"
"Yes."
Moody was quiet for a moment.
"Master Auror?"
Moody looked up.
"I just remembered that there was a great deal of noise there. Usually there's not much, what with people being dead or otherwise not making a sound or at most the sound of fire burning down a building."
"What was the noise?"
"There was the sound of a toddler crying, which was young Harry Potter. There was a magical ward alarming, but it sounded like it was almost out of magical energy and would be quiet on its own soon. There was sound of something humming with power, but what it was no one could tell."
"What happened next?"
"We obtained entry into the cottage and found the body of James Potter about twelve feet from the doorway, which had been subjected to a forcible entry. Potter had been injured in a major fight but had residual energies on his corpse consistent with being hit with a Killing Curse. One of the juniors was put to documenting everything around Potter and Potter himself, and the rest of us fanned out to check the rest of the cottage. It didn't take long for such a small sized building."
"What else did you find?"
"There was no one in the kitchen or the loo, and no magical residue to indicate that there had been anyone other than the residents there. Lily Potter was found deceased in an upstairs nursery, in somewhat better shape than her husband – meaning, no signs of battle. She had been hit with the Killing Curse, same as James Potter and lay where she fell."
"Where was that?"
"Directly in between the smashed-in doorway and the baby's bed. It was in rough shape itself, as we detected that a small magical explosion of some sort stressed the wood that some runes had been carved into."
"Runes?"
"Protection, Strength, and several others that it was too badly damaged to make them out with."
"Did you see anything else in the room?"
"There was a tattered black robe and a wand, with a pile of ashes gathered within. There was still some air flow, and some of the ashes were floating around in the wrecked room getting onto everything. Some of us had trouble breathing in there once we figured out who it was."
"Who was it?"
"We thought that this was Voldemort, since we recognized his wand and the robes looked like what he usually favored wearing."
Dahne hmmphed again, but said nothing else about that.
"What happened after that?"
"Sirius Black made an Apparition into the front yard of the property and stared at the damage. He uttered the name 'Peter' and 'I've killed them.' Before we could question him, he disappeared again. He hadn't been standing there even ten seconds. It took us some time to catch up with him."
"I take it your squad captured him?"
"We did. He had just cornered Peter Pettigrew when there was an explosion, later determined to be a gas main explosion. It threw him against a brick wall some twenty or thirty yards away and stunned him, and I'm unsure if he was aware at that point that twelve Muggles were killed in the blast."
"And Pettigrew?"
"We found nothing left of him but a finger. He must have been standing at the epicenter of the blast and the energy related to that blast disassociated him."
"'Disassociated?' Which means?" It was a new term to the dragon.
"His body was completely destroyed to the molecular level, maybe even atomic."
There was a good bit of confusion in the gathering from the humans, but the dragons all nodded in understanding as they realized that they called it something else. Sirius snorted to himself, not something that everyone could hear but Perreh could. He tapped his talon on top of Sirius' boot again in pointed warning. Sirius grimaced at the pressure coming from the talon, but decided that maybe it was better than being whapped in the face with a wing. There were also talons in the joints of those wings, and he could handle limping around a bit more than he could handle his face getting torn up.
It would have made for a hell of a story, though.
"Was that ever proven, Master Auror?"
"The disassociation? No, but there was enough energy floating around in the area from the duel and the explosion could have fed on that. We just had no way to show it."
"I see. And what happened with Sirius Black?"
"Well, we checked him over using our field first aid training – he was out cold, so he wasn't a threat to us. We bundled him up and took him to the DMLE's secure ward at St. Mungo's…"
Dahne interrupted. "St. Mungo's is a healer's den? What you humans call a hospital?"
"Yes, that's right. We had to wait for him to be awakened to arrest him for murder, since by then we had a witness statement that he was the Secret-Keeper."
"Did you have any others that corroborated that witness statement?"
"At the time there were ten or twelve people that made their own statements, but most had been discounted because of obvious tampering."
"Tampering?"
Moody sighed.
"Threatening, payoffs, personal gain for lying on a statement form – even with magical oaths, if you Occlude well enough and phrase things just right, you can bypass those."
"But those other witness weren't accepted?"
"No, those were known to be 'less than dependable.' They wouldn't have been believed as well in court. The others we had were considered much more reliable."
"I see, and after that?"
"We filed our parchmentwork as quickly as we could, since we immediately got sent out on more calls. It was a very, very busy month or so after that. The squad heard that Black ended up in Azkaban, but we were far too busy putting out fires and arresting Death Eaters to worry about him. None of us got much sleep."
"So he was arrested for murder and processed through your justice system?"
"Yes, but after we left the secure ward, our involvement ended and his case was passed to the prosecutor's office. We didn't really have the time to stay caught up on cases we weren't working on right then, and there was so much at the time. His case just fell through the cracks, as it were. Plenty of cracks around to fall through, as many calls as we had then."
Dahne nodded, not wanting to comment on how dragons handled these things.
"No further questions."
Whopnehr peered at Dahne for a moment, then waved Perreh up.
"Thank you, Your Honorable Battle Draco," Perreh said, as he rose from his stone. He found a spot closer to the witness box than Dahne had stood before addressing Moody.
"First, Master Auror, just for clarification's sake, what is your Ministry's definition of the term murder?"
"Murder," Moody pronounced gravely, "is defined as 'the action taken to kill intentionally and with premeditation, or with malice aforethought.' This is generally the accepted definition in many law enforcement agencies, whether Muggle or Magical, with maybe a few changes to the wording. It works out to pretty much the same thing."
Perreh grunted. It seemed to the others watching that it was the sound someone made when ticking off something on a mental checklist.
"Second, earlier you said 'subject to the possibility of the same penalties' when testifying about accessories to murder."
"I did."
"What are those penalties, Master Auror?"
"At least life in Azkaban, and at most, subjection to a Dementor's Kiss or being sent through the Veil of Death."
"In either case, removal from society in a more or less permanent way."
"That's right. The murder victim was removed from society in a permanent way as the result of the murder, so the penalties fit. There's a lot of discussion about what penalty to use, but we have jobs to do in the meantime."
"Do you think Sirius Black killed the Potters, Peter Pettigrew, and those unnamed Muggles?"
Dahne jumped up.
"Objection! Speculation from the witness!"
"Sustained," Whopnehr intoned. "The witness will not answer that question."
In the viewers' gallery, there was plenty of speculation and a lot of dirty looks sent toward Sirius. He didn't look back as he could feel the hot glares intersecting the back of his neck.
"As I understand it, someone taken into talon in your system is entitled to a trial. Is this correct?"
"Yes."
Moody didn't elaborate. He answered in the affirmative in a clear voice and said nothing else. From the look on his face, he didn't like the possibility that Sirius Black had been sent to Azkaban without trial and it made his face pucker in disgust. Perreh turned to Whopnehr.
"Your Honorable Battle Draco, I place into evidence Exhibit Flicker One: the complete Ministry record of Sirius Black. For the record, there are documents within that show an arrest, dated 1 November, 1236 A.M.," Perreh squinted at the unfamiliar terms but read them out correctly. Whopnehr leaned forward to listen, as did everyone else for the most part.
"The reports from the supporting arresting officers to Master Auror Marchbanks and Senior Auror Moody are also there. There is an inventory of personal effects: one wand, marked as broken by order of DMLE, one wallet with fifty pounds of Muggle currency and six Galleons," Sirius started, distinctly remembering that there was thirty-nine Galleons, thirty Sickles, and three Knuts instead. He said nothing, but listened as he'd forgotten everything else except his wand. He didn't know that it had been broken, however.
"A small notebook, black in color, well-used. Four condoms, whatever those are, described as 'wrinkled, dusty and miniscule,' along with a silver chain with large box links and a peacock feather."
Everyone was looking at Sirius for a different reason, and he still didn't look back.
"Also, there was an order of transfer of custody to Azkaban prison, signed by the then-Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, a Mister Bartimeus Crouch, Senior and then-Minister of Magic, a Millicent Bagnold. There was a space for a third signature, which is present, but obfuscated to the point of illegibility."
Perreh paused for a moment, then drew himself up to his full height.
"The file contains nothing else. No scheduling of trial, no entry of notice of any legal representation, no pre-trial motions or rulings, no trial or penalty phase after a ruling of guilty, no intake documentation at Azkaban or healer notes, no notes about his time there or visitations with counsel or family. Nothing. It is as he was dropped into a blackened flame pit, never to be seen again. Under the Ministry's own documentation, Sirius Black has been denied of much. Not least of which, is the right to defend himself. This exhibit is the start of the case I bring before the court."
Whopnehr nodded his acceptance of the exhibit. Perreh turned to Moody after that.
"So, it seems that in light of this information, Sirius Black was sentenced to life in prison as a murderer, but without the benefit of a trial. I have to ask you, Master Auror, is this commonplace for the Ministry of Magic?"
Everyone could see the rage on the old man's face at having been put on the spot for something that he didn't do.
"No, Counselor, it isn't – or it's not supposed to be."
Perreh leaned on the jury box. The Ampitheare had been leaning away from the others and now had to lean away from Perreh and didn't have anywhere to go.
"We are not to speculate on whether Sirius Black killed those humans, as I've been reminded. However I would put to you that someone in a position of authority back then did just that, resulting in what you see before you today."
He turned back to Moody.
"And who was that initial witness that you got the statement from?"
Moody was silent for a moment.
"Master Auror?"
Moody sat up straight.
"That witness was Albus Dumbledore."
There was a lot more chatter in the area along with more looks at Dumbledore than at Sirius, who was looking at him with no small amount of anger in his face. Perreh didn't look at him right away, but frowned for a moment.
"Well, then, I believe there will be questions for Albus Dumbledore at some point. Thank you, Master Auror. I yield the witness."
Perreh returned to his stone. The sound of Whopnehr dismissing Moody back to his seat was almost covered by the sound of the muttering in the area. Whopnehr grimaced and scraped his talons over the stone. The loud screech silenced the group and the judge graced the whole group with a disapproving squint. Finally, he relaxed and looked at Dahne.
"Next witness?" he asked.
Dahne stood up and regarded the crowd. He was searching for someone, it appeared.
"Who is he going to call?" Sirius whispered to Perreh.
"Don't know. We'll find out soon."
"You made the judge call you on the speculation, didn't you?"
"I did."
Sirius wanted to ask why, but was interrupted by the other law-dragon's voice.
"I call Monroe Bitterberry!"
There were several people that reacted, but the general gist of what they all said was uttered by Sirius himself.
"Who?"
Author's Note:
The trial is going to be broken up, as my plotting for it got a bit longer than I first thought in the details.
