Chapter 19

Sirius Black Innocent?

Thirteen years ago, we at the Daily Prophet reported a dark twist to the happy news of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had finally been defeated: Sirius Black, the rising star of the Auror force (and best friend to the Potter family), was in league with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and it was by his action that the hiding place of the Potters was revealed to the self-styled Lord.

That story was based on a press release from the Ministry of Magic. It took little to confirm at the time that Sirius Black was the best friend of James Potter and that he would be the Potters' obvious choice for Secret Keeper (for explanation of the Fidelius Charm and the role of a Secret Keeper see page 5). The duel between Black and Peter Pettigrew that led to the deaths of a dozen muggles at the scene also backs up this theory, as Pettigrew was another close friend of the Potter family.

However recent evidence has come to light that paints a very different picture about what happened, evidence that comes to me from a reputable source. As a number of you will remember, I was recently granted an interview with Harry Potter, the famed Boy-Who-Lived, who was recently selected as the tenth champion of twelve in the Triwizard Tournament, a competition that is only supposed to have three champions. During our little chat, Mr. Potter showed me a document that he had recently uncovered in a safety deposit box his family kept at Gringotts. Mr. Potter, not knowing that the safety deposit box even existed until his name was selected to be a Triwizard participant, went to search Gringotts for a different document that is not relevant to this story.

The document Mr. Potter found and showed me was the family copy of his parents' Last Will and Testament. Ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you, young Harry didn't know the scoop he was giving me. Here is an excerpt from the relevant part:

"Notice for the DMLE: should we have died at the hands of Voldemort or his band of bigots inside our home at Godric's Hollow, please be aware that we used a Fidelius Charm in our protections, and only our Secret Keeper could have revealed the secret to another person. Our secret keeper was Peter Pettigrew, not Sirius Black as we lead people to believe."

Well, as you can imagine, I immediately told young Harry that he needed to show that to Director Bones of the DMLE. But I had questions I wanted answered as well, and as my readers know, when I have questions I start digging. My first point of call was the Ministry's records office. I wanted to see how this information had been handled at the trial of a suddenly innocent-looking wizard. Only...I couldn't find them.

Now, I know some of my readers will already know this, but please bear with me as I explain for those who are lucky enough to never have been caught up in Ministry red tape. The enchantments on the records department are powerful, and are designed that nothing incorrect can be in the files. Documents are generated automatically by the Ministry itself and are filed away by time and date. Files cannot be removed, only copied, and if you try to destroy a record then the record is replaced instantly with another copy.

I was able to find a copy of the arrest report and a document that ordered the transfer of the prisoner to Azkaban's maximum security wing. Note I said "prisoner", not "convicted criminal", because that is what the record said.

This can only mean one thing. Sirius Black, of the Ancient and Noble House of Black, one of our society's oldest families and members of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, was never given a trial. He was never given the opportunity to present that he was not the secret keeper to begin with...

-ϟϟϟ-

Fudge threw the paper down in disgust. How was he to know that the brat had shown that damned will to that bloody reporter. He had been cornered by Madame Bones already and she had demanded he let her reopen the case and put Black on trial. He had refused, of course; not only was it inviting trouble that he and the Ministry didn't need, they had their hands full dealing with Crouch's murder and trying to find a replacement, not only for the job but someone who could put in a good face for the Ministry at the damned tournament.

The tournament was another thing that was grating on his nerves. It was supposed to be three champions - three, not TWELVE. The budget was designed to build tasks that challenged three individuals, and the original tasks were all designed and budgeted for. But whoever had hijacked the Goblet had switched out the tasks for something else. From what he was able to understand, the new tasks would still be a spectacular show, but they were a lot more expensive and he had no choice but to approve the extra gold, or the champions could die.

The problem was, it wasn't like the Ministry could just magically produce a fat sack of gold from nowhere. He had to find that gold from other budgets, budgets that were already tight after the Quidditch World Cup. What should have been a moneymaker for the British wizarding world and the Ministry had turned into a profit for the British wix businesses and a loss for the Ministry, as they had had to pay hundreds of thousands of galleons in compensation for destroyed tents, emotional and physical trauma, and refunded tickets.

Then, two of the Beauxbatons champions, twins by the name of da villains or something like that, had sent a letter via a barista* no less, demanding that they increase the Triwizard prize money from 3000G to 9000G, as the champions had entered under the pretext of having a chance to personally win 3000 galleons. And if the Ministry didn't agree, they would take the matter before the International Confederation of Wix. He had had little choice but to give in there as well; fighting with two children over 6000 galleons was not going to do the Ministry's image any favours, and the ICW would probably side with the dam villains anyway. They had him over a barrel and they knew it, bloody French.

Now the damned brat had shown the will to that bloody reporter. Stupid bloody kid, didn't anyone ever teach him you don't show anything to the press? He went to pour himself a large brandy, but then remembered his brandy was French and instead poured himself a scotch and downed the 100 year old spirit in one gulp.

He couldn't exactly blame Potter, the woman was a vulture. She had probably cozied up to him and played nice to get him to drop his guard. She had probably been working on him since the trial of that damned hippogryph a few months ago. Maybe he should arrange for the boy to have some lessons in politics so he wouldn't be blindsided like this in the future. It was an idea - maybe Lucius could suggest someone, he had a son that age after all. It was a pity he couldn't just ask the Malfoy warlock himself, but after what his son had done to Harry a few months back, even if young Draco was under an Imperius, Potter would never accept help from them. Though that gave him an idea. Lucius still owed him for helping keep his son out of Azkaban...maybe it was time for another of his 'political contributions'; pity he would actually need to put the money towards the tournament rather than directing it to a vault he controlled.

He sighed as he sat at his desk and started writing a letter to Lucius. This year was supposed to have been Magical Britain's big return to the world stage, thirteen years since the downfall of Voldemort and celebrating their big comeback with two international events, but now Britain was looking like a joke on the international stage.

-ϟϟϟ-

There was a knock, and the door to the Room of Requirement opened to reveal Professor McGonagall standing there. Fleur, Harry and Hermione stopped their spell practice and looked over at their faculty advisor, who (if they were honest) hadn't actually given them much advice yet.

"What can we do for you, professor?" Fleur asked while Harry and Hermione caught their breath.

"The headmaster has asked to see harry." The professor said as she surveyed the rubble that littered the room from their practice.

"Why does he want to see me?" Harry asked, confused.

"Ms. Skeeter released her article today. I can guess that because you and your parents' will are mentioned in the article, you have managed to pique his curiosity," Professor McGonagall explained.

"After what happened over the summer, you aren't going alone Harry," Hermione said with conviction.

"What happened over the summer?" Fleur and Professor McGonagall both asked.

"The headmaster tried to have Harry sent back to his relatives, and in doing so he had my parents accused of kidnapping and my mother almost Obliviated." Hermione fumed. "I don't trust him with people I care about anymore."

Professor McGonagall and Fleur both looked taken aback, but Fleur also looked confused and like she wanted to ask questions, but Professor McGonagall spoke first. "I will stay with Harry through the meeting, is that good enough?"

Hermione shook her head. "No offence, professor, but no." Their professor looked like she had been slapped. "I want to be there. And as Fleur and I were at the meeting with Rita, we can add our side as well."

The professor nodded, but the look on her face said that she intended to talk with them later and it wasn't going to be a fun talk.

The three of them disappeared into the changing rooms the room had created, and 5 minutes later the three of them emerged back in their everyday clothes, only to find Professor McGonagall seated in a comfortable-looking chair reading a book. Seeing them, she stood up and led them to the headmaster's office.

The gargoyle leapt aside at the password ('rosey apples*) from Professor McGonagall. The four of them made their way up the stairs to the office that waited for them at the top. After a quick knock, Professor McGonagall opened the door and walked in, and the three teenagers followed.

"Ah Minerva, you found young Harry, I see. Though I am a little surprised at the presence of Miss Granger and Mademoiselle Delacour."

"Both girls are here because they think they know what you wish to talk about and feel they can add extra context," Professor McGonagall said.

The headmaster nodded. "Very well. Harry my boy."

"Professor."

"I was wondering what you think of this article?" He slid a copy of the Daily Prophet across his desk.

Harry opened it and read. He was a little annoyed that Rita had said he gave her a copy to read but understood that she needed to do so in order to give the evidence credibility. He handed the paper to Hermione who read it before handing it to Fleur. "I think it's criminal that Mr. Black never had a trial, no matter how sure anyone's guilt is, you need to prove it in court before sending them to prison," He told Dumbledore his opinion.

"Very true, my boy, very true, though sometimes you need to act quickly to get a dangerous person off the streets." Dumbledore countered.

"A short time in prison while you arrange a trial makes some sense, but six months is ridiculously too long. Thirteen years is criminal. Whoever was behind that should be locked up themselves." Harry said. He thought he saw a little flash of something in the headmaster's eyes, but it was gone instantly and may have just been the light catching his glasses.

"Can I ask when you went to Gringotts?"

"Sure," Harry shrugged. "1st of November."

"I thought so. I'm afraid I will need to suspend your Hogsmeade privileges and you will serve a month of detentions with me."

"What, why!?" Harry shouted. Fleur and Hermione looked taken aback and ready to shout as well.

"You snuck out of the school without permission. I know I have been lenient with you in the past for stuff like this, but there were always exceptional circumstances. You can't do stuff like that whenever you like."

"I didn't sneak out of the school."

"And you can't block Harry from leaving the school."

"I think you will find I can remove that privilege from any student. Miss Grangers"

"Not a Triwizard champion. The rules from the tournament are written to encourage creative solutions to the tasks. Because we have to make everything except our wands and non magical robes on our own, then the freedom of the champions to collect any materials they may need can't be restricted. So not only can you not stop Harry visiting Hogsmeade, you can't punish him for going anywhere else either." Hermione finished.

The headmaster looked taken aback by Hermione's little speech.

"And you may want to try talking to the person who was in charge of letting students out of the castle on the day in question before you try handing out punishments," Professor McGonagall interjected. "I gave permission for Harry and Hermione to attend the bank, and after a conversation with Madame Maxime I got permission for Fleur to go as well. I did this in my capacity as both Deputy Headmistress and as the faculty advisor for their team. Next time you wish to punish one of my lions for not getting permission to do something, I would advise you speak to me first and actually check they didn't have permission." She was calm as she spoke, but there was more force behind her words than if she were shouting.

"I am surprised at you, Minerva. You know I prefer to be the one who signs off on if a student can leave the school," the headmaster tried to chastise the Head of Gryffindor.

"Then maybe you should try being in the castle long enough to do your job, instead of constantly foisting your duties off on me. I used my authority under Hogwarts rules. My students followed all the procedures required. Neither Harry nor Hermione will have their privileges removed, nor will they serve detention for this. Now, unless you have something else to talk about, you are interrupting their preparations for the tournament." Professor McGonagall finished up. Dumbledore didn't respond to that statement, so she led them back down the stairs.

Harry had never seen his Head of House like that before. He wondered if it was because of something the headmaster had done or if it was because Professor McGonagall felt a little put out that Hermione had admitted to not trusting the professor with his safety. Or maybe it was both, there wasn't a way for Harry to know.

-ϟϟϟ-

Minervra was fuming as she led two of her lions and the Beauxbatons student from the head office. She was already on edge from the introspection Miss Granger not trusting her had brought about, but then Albus had pulled his usual shit. The man had three full time jobs, two of which pulled him away from the school, yet despite the fact that he shunted most of his head teacher responsibilities off on her he still expected to micromanage the school and have the final say on a wide number of issues. They had had the argument before, where she had pointed out that while he was away from the school it was her responsibility to make such decisions. It was in the Hogwarts by-laws and in the contract she signed when he made her Deputy Headmistress, as it had been in the contract for every Deputy Head Teacher ever since the position was created centuries ago.

His argument was one of tradition, that it was custom for deputies to wait for the head teacher to return to the school and render a decision if that was what the head asked. Of course, if she did that then with as much as the headmaster was away, the school would cease to function. She led the three teens to the Deputy Head's office as they walked; the Head of Gryffindor office was actually closer, but the larger office would be more comfortable for the three teenagers. She pointed to the sofa* and the three of them sat. She noticed that Miss Granger took the middle seat, forcing Mademoiselle Delacour and Mr. Potter to split up either side of her. She smiled internally at that; it was obvious what Miss Granger was doing keeping the two apart.

McGonagall sat at her desk and called an elf to serve them tea, mostly so she could collect her thoughts on what she wanted to say. The tea was quickly served, and the four of them fixed it how they liked. Fluer with a slice of lemon and honey, Harry added two sugar cubes with milk, and Hermione added two things from a little red box she had in the pocket of her robes before adding milk.

"I think I owe two of you an apology" she admitted. " Miss Granger, when you said you didn't trust me with Mr. Potter's safety, I was originally planning on this conversation being a little more heated. However, while you were cleaning yourselves up I tried to see things from your point of view and I didn't come out looking that good. From your first year, when I caught you out of bed helping Hagrid with the baby dragon - yes, I know about the dragon now, but I didn't at the time. I also only found out later you were taken into the forest for your detention. When I gave your detention to Mr Filch, I expected him to have you dusting trophies or cleaning bathrooms, not risking your life looking for something that could kill a unicorn." She recalled the argument she got into with Argus and Hagrid over that. Hagrid had looked ashamed, but Argus didn't look like he cared one way or another. She had ended it by threatening the man that if he ever sent one of her lions into the forest again she would make the remainder of his life unpleasant and mercifully short.

"Then the incident at the end of your first year. You came to me with your concerns and I just dismissed them. Of course, you decided to deal with it yourselves and were right about your concerns." That one stung when she realised it. She had been so swamped with end of year paperwork that when three students had asked her for help she had refused and sent them off. That the paperwork had been the headmaster's responsibility that he had just dumped on her only added to how annoying she found it.

"Second year, the whole school turned on you Mr. Potter, and Miss Granger you had your potions mishap, yet the two of you saw me doing nothing to step in, leaving you to deal with things yourself. Even last year, where I think it would have looked better to you, your biggest takeaways would have been banning you from visiting the village and sitting in with you while you spoke to Director Bones."

little she had done the second year had been a real eye opening. The first year she could excuse as she didn't actually know about anything as it was happening. Second year, however, she had known that most of the school had turned on Mr. Potter after it was revealed that he was a Parselmouth, yet she did nothing. A simple statement from her at dinner, saying that the staff had investigated the claim that Mr. Potter was the one attacking people and found that he could not have done it, even having an alibi for some of the attacks. It wouldn't have solved Mr. Potter's problem entirely, there would always be some who clung on to the idea, but it could have still saved Mr. Potter from a lot of trouble.

"I apologise for not doing as much as I should have, the only thing I can say in my defence is that I have too much work for one person. Transfiguration Professor, Head of Gryffindor, and Deputy Headmistress, and I have to step in as Acting Headmistress way more than I should." She let the conversation go to the students at this point, and Miss Granger, after hesitating a little at the start, was mostly honest (though it was obvious she was still holding back). Her two lions took a lot of the sting out of their critique by admitting that despite everything she was still one of their favourite teachers.

By the end of the conversation, though, the Transfiguration Mistress was feeling emotionally drained. She had failed way more than she wanted to admit, but when viewed in the light of discovering that she was one of Mr. Potter's listed guardians, she couldn't really deny it. She had failed Mr. Potter - no, she had failed Harry.

She considered again, as she had been doing constantly since they returned from Diagon Alley, what she was going to do in terms of Harry's custody. She could, in theory, apply to Wizarding Child Protective Services to have Harry's custody transferred to her in accordance to his parents' will. However, from what she had seen from Harry in the last year, he was doing well with the Grangers. His grades were up and he was happier. On the other hand, the contract with Fleur could see that go up in flames. While the Grangers didn't seem to be the type to be cruel to Harry if his relationship with their daughter was to collapse, they would probably side with their daughter.

Then there was Sirius Black. If he was given his trial, and given Harry's plan with Director Bones and Ms. Skeeter that seemed likely, he would probably be found innocent and released. He would have a stronger case to Harry's custody than anyone, he was second in the Potter's will and Harry's vow-sworn godfather, second only to Harry's vow-sworn godmother, who was unfortunately in no fit state to look after anyone. Did she want to go through all that, just to have Harry whipped out from her care before she even got him for the holidays? She didn't know what to do, so she decided to wait and see what happened between Mr. Potter, Miss Granger and Mademoiselle Delacour, and what happened with Mr. Black. In the meantime though she could actually fulfill one of her responsibilities and actually help her champions, so she turned the conversation to what they had been doing to prepare and made some suggestions for more exercises to include.

-ϟϟϟ-

Rita shivered as she entered the clinic-like waiting room not far from Hampstead. She had gotten an appointment to see the one of the doctors who worked here, one of Miss Granger's parents. The dentists sounded barbaric to her, drilling holes in people's teeth! That just had to be wrong! The Clearwater girl had arranged an appointment for her to have a 'check up.' Apparently the muggles, to compensate for their lack of diagnostic charms, did a visual inspection. It didn't exactly sound fun, but Clearwater assured her that there would be no drilling, so it would just be another tale she would have about the length she would go to find her next story.

She gave her name to a receptionist, a woman in her 20s by the look of her. She had a badge on the front of her blue top that said her name was Abigail. "Just take a seat over there, and Dr. Granger will call you when he is ready." She had said with a smile. "And you can fill out this paperwork." She handed Rita a clipboard with a peace of paper attached and a muggle pen.

Rita didn't like muggle pens, they were heavy and the line they left as you drew it across the page lacked all elegance. She was soon finished with the sheet of questions, though, and tried to focus on how she was going to get information from Dr. Granger, but her mind kept flashing back to how disturbing a drill had sounded. She was starting to get nervous when three people came from the back: a woman, a child, and a man who bore a resemblance to Miss Granger.

Rita had first assumed that the mother had just been unable to find a sitter during her appointment, after all such things happened but then the child spoke up. "Thank you Dr. Granger for fixing my brace." What really took Rita aback was the smile on the kids face.

"No problem, but no more chewing gum until we take out the brace, OK?" Dr. Granger smiled at the child.

"I promise." The kid answered with the sincerity only a kid has, that would be completely forgotten in a few hours.

The adults continued to talk, but Rita didn't pay any attention. Instead, she was lost in her own thoughts. Why the hell was she so nervous, the muggle child didn't seem to have any problems. It was embarrassing to think about. One of the other people waiting in the room was then called to go back, but was soon back out in the waiting room with one side of his face completely relaxed and slurring his words when he spoke to the receptionist for a few seconds. Rita watched the people in the room to see if this was normal, but no one seemed to think it was unusual.

Then Dr. Granger came and called her into his office and had her sit in a large chair that was in the center of the room, with an unusual light on a mechanical arm pointed right at her face.

"OK, open wide and no biting." Rita did as directed, and what followed was one of the most awkward and unclear experiences of her life. And she ment emotionally uncomfortable. She had to give it to Dr, Granger, he was gentle and careful the entire time. It was just something about having a stranger poking around in her mouth that felt weird. "So Miss Skeeter. How is my daughter holding up?" Her eyes widened in shock, but as he hadn't removed a small mirror from her mouth she could only grunt in surprise.

Dr Granger chuckled. "My daughter writes home regularly, her latest letter was rather long and included a page on how you were helping. I'm guessing you are looking to talk to the parents or guardians of all the champions?"

She nodded a little. If he was going to supply a cover story for her, she wasn't going to disagree. She sat there and let the doctor finish his inspection and arranged for her to meet both of the elder Grangers later in the week in a local cafe. She also had a description of a crack in one of her wisdom teeth that would start to be painful soon. She would have to go see a healer in the next few days, she had had a cracked wisdom tooth before and it wasn't something she wanted to repeat.

A/n

again the next chapter is already available on the site with a name that sounds like 'pay-try-on' under the name Lowten. /lowten chapter 21is already done and will go up on the advanced post's site ;) as soon as I can get it up.

To everyone who has joined the pay-try-on page thank you. you don't know how much that helps me.

Tits up*- a British turn of phrase that means something has gone wrong

Rosey apples* - a classic British hard sweet that has a ball-like shape and taste of apples. Can be a little sour sometimes.

Sofa* - couch, settee. Three seater heavily padded furniture for sitting on