24/8/23

Another 2 part chapter. Hope everyone likes it. Please review.

"Are we there yet?" Jack asked in voice that had a hint of a whine to it.

"Does it look like we're there yet?" Bunny asked rolling his eyes but agreeing with him – these stairs they were taking, were taking a while.

"Why couldn't the elevator take us straight to the courtroom's floor?" Jack asked Newt, repeating another thing he kept asking.

"Because that's how the Wizards of Old build the Ministry," Newt said sighing. "Back when there were trials almost every other day, they also had Dementors here to give the criminals a Kiss once their trial was over." he explained in a sad voice. "The old wizards didn't want the cries of the criminals or the cold and misery the Dementors created disturbing those who were working in the offices upstairs."

At the sound of 'Dementors' Padfoot whined a little and held back a bit.

"There aren't any here now right?" Jack asked worried "Because I don't do well with those things."

"No, but the Black Veil is still here," Newt mentioned then explained seeing their confused faces. "It's a one-way death-sentence. Used only on the worse of the worse. For criminals who did something that was worse than all those Death Eaters in Azkaban did. You walk through there, and you never walk out again."

"What level of 'worse' does this imply?" Bunny asked raising his eyebrow curiously.

"Mass murdering, destroying entire towns and cities, harming Muggles with irreversible curses. In my opinion those in Azkaban who used the Unforgivable Curses on other living beings – human or animal – should be put through there as well, after their trials of course."

They reached the end of the corridor which had a tall black door in the wall before them and turned left to another set of stairs.

Thankfully at the bottom of these stairs was Amelia Bones in her red robes and monocle in her eye.

"Ah Hagrid, finally." she said seeing the Hogwarts game keeper with the Hippogriff "And you must be Jack Frost, am I right young man?" she asked looking to Jack.

"Yes Ma'am," Jack said nodding bowing slightly as her hands were full with paper work.

"You I take it are his guardian Mr..." she asked looking to Bunny.

"Bunnymund," he said bowing a little as well "And yes he's with me today. And this is my dog, he helps keep me calm when things get a little too exciting." he said pointing to Padfoot who was sitting down beside him like a trained therapy pet would do.

"Nice to meet him then." she said looking at the canine. "And nice to see you too Mr Scamander. You're here for the Hippogriff I take it."

"Yes." Newt said sounding a mix of brave and nervous.

"Well let's go in then. Mr Bunnymund, you and your dog will take the seats in the top row, Jack you will be in the witness box in the front row, and Newt as you are the defence you –"

"I know where I should be Amelia, Thesis was very precise in explaining how the court room was set out." Newt said calmly as he spoke of his brother. "I just need someone to watch over my case while we get this over with. Don't worry the lock is fixed."

"I'll look after it," Bunny said, giving himself something to do.

Agreeing to this, Newt handed his suit case over and they all went into the court room which in Jack's opinion was more like a stadium.

There were people all in red cloaks and hats, like Amelia's, in high seats looking down grimly towards a couple of tables and chairs.

At the table on the right was Mr Malfoy easily recognizable because of his hair.

"Remember Hagrid, just stay calm, don't worry about the future, and don't lose your temper." Bunny said patting the man on his shoulder before going to his seat with Padfoot.

Taking a deep breath, Hagrid – pulling Buckbeak - followed Newt to the defending table on the left where a tall Ministry worker with a ruddy face and a scrubby brown beard took Buckbeak's lead after bowing to him and receiving a bow back, leading him over to a box of his own which looked more like a cage.

"Who's that?" Jack asked in a whisper to Amelia before she took her place in the raised seats.

"That's Amos Diggory," she said "Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. As this is a magical creature trial, he needed to be included."

With that she went to her seat and Jack sat down checking his watch wondering when the fairies were going to start making it snow.

o0o

Up in the audience box, Bunny and Padfoot came to join Mrs Longbottom.

"Nice to see you again Ma'am" Bunny said sitting down placing Newt's case on the floor.

"And you," she said then turned her eyes to the black dog. "And you. While I believe you to be innocent of James and Lily, that doesn't change my opinion on your family and what they did to my son and daughter-in-law. Do you understand?"

Giving a small whine Padfoot nodded coming a little closer placing his head in her lap wanting to show his thanks for helping with all of this.

Sighing she petted his head and looked down into the court as Amelia banged her gavel to get everyone's attention.

"The trial of Buckbeak the Hippogriff, is now in session," she said clearly "Mr Malfoy, you wish for this creature to sentenced to death. Why?"

o0o

Buckbeak's trial took roughly an hour to get sorted.

It went possibly better than expected, in Jack's opinion.

The good news was, Buckbeak wasn't going to be killed, even with the arguments and no-doubt-rigged-by-gold-votes Lucius Malfoy set up.

The not-so-good news was that Hagrid was to be fined 200 Galleons (10 per student he put in danger), needed to have a Safety Lesson taught to him on what creatures were safe for the students, and wasn't allowed to bring Buckbeak home – he was to go back to the reserve with Newt.

"That ends this trial," Amelia said banging her gavel. "However..." she said as everyone was starting to get out of their seats "It has come to my attention that an Azkaban prisoner's sentence and trial was not seen through properly 12 years ago. Meaning they never received one."

There was many gasps and questioning words and looks, some shaking their head not believing it.

Staying quiet, Amelia looked up to the audience box and the black scruffy dog beside Lady Longbottom and the man who the brown haired boy came with.

Everyone was now curious and looking at the dog too, some silently asking their neighbour if Madam Bones had gone crazy.

"Ma'am are you..." one was about to ask when, before their eyes, the dog changed into –

"SIRIUS BLACK!" the wizards not expecting this cried out and reached for their wand's to point at him, one telling a scribe boy to call for some aurors telling them to being Dementors.

"SILENCE!" Amelia yelled banging her gavel rapidly for order. Once everyone had settled down, she continued. "I have been told: that the only crime Sirius Black is guilty of, is not being a registered Animagus."

"But Madam Bones, what about the Potters and Pettigrew?" one of the other wizards asked, their wand still pointing to Sirius who was staying where he was, hands in the air to show he was unarmed.

"Sirius didn't kill the Potters, because he wasn't their Secret Keeper." Lady Longbottom said standing up next to Sirius. "And nor did he kill Pettigrew. When your people found him the day after You-Know-Who's defeat, you made quite a few mistakes."

"One of them: Sending a Pure-blooded heir to prison with no trial or chance for him to explain himself simply because of his name." Jack spoke up looking at the wizards in red.

This got more confusion and whispers from everyone present.

"You." Lady Longbottom said pointing to the scribe boy. "Go and find Mr Crouch and Mr Fudge, and bring them back here. NOW!" she said when they didn't move.

Quickly they left and the occupants of the room changed placed.

Sirius and Lady Longbottom were now in the defence table, Jack, Hagrid, Amos Diggory, and Newt were with Bunny in the audience and Mr Malfoy was a few seats away, glaring down at Sirius, his hand flexing over the handle of his cane.

It took a few minutes for the boy to come back with those he was sent to get, along with a one-legged, red-haired, crazy eyed, walking staff using man, and the girl Jack met in the Leaky Cauldron the summer before third year started.

"Who's that?" Jack whispered to Newt.

"That's Alastor Moody, he's an auror," Newt explained calmly "And that's Tonks his apprentice – so-to-speak, probably here to handle the Veritaserum."

"What?" Jack asked confused.

"It's a truth potion," Bunny explained handing Newt's suitcase back to him.

Jack was about to ask more questions when the banging of the gavel got everyone's attention again.

"This is the trial of Sirius Orion Black III, to see if he was guilty of betraying James and Lily Potter, selling them to You-Know-Who, and then killing Peter Pettigrew along with 12 other Muggles." she explained as the scribe boy got out a new piece of parchment and started to write all of this down.

"Before we give you the Veritaserum, Sirius Black, how do you plead to these crimes." she asked.

"Not guilty on any of them. As you said Madam Bones, I am only responsible for not being a registered Animagus, which I will become once this is over." he said sitting tall as the chair he was sat in had his arms tied to it.

This was received by small gasps and whispers from everyone.

"But of course he is lying." Mr Crouch said standing up. "He was their Secret Keeper, it was known by everyone here at the Ministry who had to clean up after You-Know-Who destroyed the Potter house trying to kill Harry."

"I have been given evidence that says otherwise Mr Crouch, now sit down." Amelia said firmly, glaring at the man who returned to his seat. "Miss Tonks, the serum if you please."

Jumping a little in surprise, her hair having turned bluey-green, Tonks moved forward and tipped the vial of clear liquid into Sirius' mouth.

"Mr Moody, the questions please." Amelia said calmly.

"Right," Moody said coming forth. "Is your name, Sirius Orion Black?" he asked starting easy.

"Yes." Sirius said calmly.

"Did you once train under my teachings to become an Auror?" Moody asked, leaning on his staff.

"I did."

"Are you, or were you ever a Death Eater to You-know-Who?"

"No. I would die before I ever became loyal to him."

This caused some whispers and banging of the gavel to silence them.

"Were you a Slytherin when you went to Hogwarts?"

"No I was a Gryffindor. Something my parents, mainly my mother, were not happy with."

Nodding seeing the serum was working Moody got to work.

"Please state in your own words, what happened on Halloween night 1981, and the days leading up to it." Moody said giving the room to Sirius.

"James, Lilly and Harry were told by Albus Dumbledore to go into hiding, for he had just received a prophecy by a seer which stated that a boy born at the end of July would be Voldemort's downfall." Sirius began calmly, though Jack thought that might be because of the potion. "He suggested placing the Fidelius Charm on their house to keep them safe. At first James said he wanted me to become the Secret Keeper –"

"HA! See?! He admits it!" Crouch said leaping up and pointing to Sirius again, before being ordered to sit back down.

"But just before the charm was set into place," Sirius continued as if not interrupted "I said using me was too obvious, and that we should use someone else. As one of our school friends was on a mission of his own, and we didn't know who to trust when it came to strangers, we went with Pettigrew."

This got a loud gasp from everyone in the room who didn't know the story already.

"So Peter Pettigrew was the Potter's Secret Keeper?" Moody asked making sure he and everyone else understood this.

"That is correct." Sirius said nodding.

"Why did you go after him, the day after that night?" he asked asking Sirius to continue.

"Because I went to see if he was doing alright in his own hiding place," Sirius said, his fists tightening a little. "When I got there, he was nowhere to be found. There was no signs of a struggle, no evidence that he left not on his own free will. Understanding what must have happened, I went to check on the Potters, but the house was already destroyed when I got there, and Hagrid was pulling baby Harry out of the nursery."

"How could Hagrid have been able to find the house, if it was under the Fidelus Charm?" Tonks spoke up before apologising for disturbing the questioning.

"Because of their jobs, James and Lilly needed a lot of babysitters for Harry and Hagrid was one of them," Sirius said smiling gently "So he was told the location of their house so he could find them and watch over Harry when Hogwarts wasn't in its school year."

"Is this true Hagrid?" Amelia asked looking to Hagrid who shocked by all of this just nodded.

"Very well, continue," Amelia said turning back to Sirius.

"After a moment of comfort he gave me, at seeing my best friend and his wife dead, I tried to get Hagrid to hand Harry over to me, saying I was his godfather and therefore the one responsible for him now." Sirius continued. "But he told me he had orders from Dumbledore to take Harry elsewhere. Seeing I needed to hunt down Pettigrew to make him pay for what he had done, I let him take Harry telling him to take my motor bike to get him there faster.

I hunted for Pettigrew until the next morning, where I found and cornered him down an alleyway in a Muggle village near Godric's Hollow. He started crying out to get their attention saying I was the one responsible for their deaths. I was about to place a silencing charm on him, and place the full body bind curse on him to bring him to the Ministry, when he blew up the street with the wand he had behind his back, hit me with a tickling jinx, cut of his finger, transformed into his unregistered Animagus form – a rat – and escaped into the sewers below the town."

More gasps and whispers were heard after this section of the story and more scribes were writing all of this down, some it looked like were for newspapers.

Once the room was settled down again, Moody said:

"You say he is also an unregistered Animagus?"

"Yes, and so was James." Sirius said calmly "We became Animagi while still at school."

"Is there a reason why you did this?" Moody asked raising an eyebrow.

"We did it to assist our fourth friend when they needed us." Sirius said not saying anymore than that since Moody wasn't clear enough with his question. "I became a dog, Pettigrew became a rat, and James became a stag."

"Getting back to Pettigrew blowing up the street and escaping," Moody said now pacing the room a little "You are saying he escaped, and that the Ministry made a mistake by arresting you and not doing a proper investigation as to what happened?"

"Yes." Sirius said firmly glaring up at everyone in the high seats and then looking over to Barty Crouch.

"THAT'S RIDICULOUS!" Crouch yelled out, standing for the third time, he left eyes having a twitch in it "We here at the British Ministry of Magic NEVER make a mistake."

"Of course, you would say that Mr Crouch," Lady Longbottom said in an 'eye-rolling' voice despite keeping them still. "It will snow at the Ministry before anyone with a high seat here admits they were ever wrong on something."

Just then, as if perfect timing, someone came running in.

"Mr Fudge, come quick it's an emergency!" a young man said something like fear over his face, panting a little.

"What the matter Robinson?" Fudge asked standing up as he fiddled with his hat.

"Come see." the boy said leading everyone but Sirius, Moody, Lady Longbottom, and Amelia Bones back up to the main halls of the Ministry of Magic