hello! hope yall have been well! i uploaded this on ao3 a while ago and had a brain fart bc i entirely forgot to crosspost here lol

that aside, i hope u like this bc things are finallyyyyyy getting into motion. harry is taking charge, oscar is my fav OC, and Things Are Happening.

Oscar sat at his desk with a coffee in hand, mentally reviewing everything he knew about Harry Potter which—wasn't much, admittedly, but he needed to keep his mind occupied from running off into tangents about what 'a number of issues' might mean (it was such an intriguing phrase, the insinuation that Potter had multiple areas where he needed legal advice) and this felt like the best use of his time before the boy himself arrived in half an hour.

So he had a quill in hand and an old parchment he was using to note down what he could.

About HP

- Orphaned age 1, parents killed directly by You-Know-Who

- somehow managed to survive (no one knows how)

- not seen until the first year of Hogwarts (where was he? not one leaked picture of the 'saviour'?)

- no information re whereabouts, safety, location (who had him? magical guardian?)

- unofficial books sold about 'Harry Potter' (grounds for libel/misinformation/defamation/copyright?)

- nothing extraordinary in first year

- rumours about being Heir of Slytherin in second year (nothing proven)

- parselmouth

- sirius black's 'target' in third year (but no further info)

- entered the triwizard tournament in fourth year somehow (allegedly forced into it)

- the entire third task debacle (cedric diggory's dead body being brought beside him, claiming You-Know-Who is back with no proof, looked bloody and beaten—could be a consequence of the maze, radio silence after the fact)

- Daily Prophet on a mission of some sort—series of slanderous articles attacking the boy, no response from him (yet)

- nothing extraordinary about him in passing observation, other than the triwizard events

Oscar looked down at his list and frowned. That was a very bleak series of events for a fourteen—fifteen? year old kid. A lot of it was either secondhand information or speculation, sure, but it still didn't paint the best picture. If even a portion of it was true—well, Oscar could very well understand the sudden need for a solicitor on the kid's part, if for no other reason than to make sense of things.

He was just about to get up for another refill of coffee when a knock sounded across the room.

Their assistant, Robert, poked his head in. "Mr. Potter is here, sir."

He glanced at the clock—10:57PM—and nodded in approval. On time, that was certainly a good start.

"Send him in," he instructed and decided against getting that second cup of coffee after all. Instead, he stuffed the paper he was writing on under some files and brought out a fresh one for the meeting ahead. He'd always preferred taking notes over anything else, it let him make connections that he might've otherwise missed.

The sound of the door opening again made him look up, just in time for him to catch his first glimpse of Harry Potter in the flesh.

Hm. Interesting.

He was a skinny child, certainly didn't look as old as he was. He looked closer to, say, thirteen than the almost fifteen years old he was supposed to be. His clothes—muggle—were big on him, slightly ratty, though to be fair to the kid, it did seem like he'd made an effort. They might not be the best quality, but they were neatly pressed, and his shirt was tucked into his trousers, and his collar was properly folded. His hair was in a wild disarray, but from what Oscar remembered of James Potter, and Fleamont before him, that was more a sign of genetics than poor hygiene. There was a—cautiously neutral expression on the lad's face, even as his eyes swept across the room before finally landing on him.

As he made eye contact with the boy, Oscar was taken aback by the intensity in his green eyes. He'd never met Lily Potter, but he'd heard all about her, especially in the wake of the tragedy, and the look in Harry Potter's eyes right then seemed to be all her.

"Mr. Armitage." Potter greeted with a nod, coming forward to stand in front of the desk.

"Mr. Potter." Oscar returned, standing up and extending his hand in response. The handshake he got in response was surprisingly firm. He gestured in front of him. "Please take a seat."

"Thank you so much for meeting with me."

"Of course, of course. I must admit, I was very surprised at seeing a letter from you," Oscar admitted after sitting down himself. He rang the small bell he'd placed on his desk to signal Robert for refreshments.

"Right, I can imagine," Potter replied, running a quick hand over his hair. Nervousness? Or did he have something to hide, perhaps?

"So, you mentioned there were a number of things you wanted to talk about, Mr. Potter, starting with the—"

"—the Prophet, yes. And please, call me Harry. Mr. Potter feels too formal—like I'm in Hogwarts," Pott—Harry interrupted. Oscar inclined his head in agreement but stayed quiet. Normally he'd be annoyed at being interrupted, but he could almost feel the nervous energy in the boy sitting across from him, from the way his knee was bouncing, to the almost silent tapping of his fingers on the arm of his chair. So he waited patiently for him to talk about whatever was bothering him.

"I was wondering, before we start—this, what is the guarantee for confidentiality?"

Oscar was impressed despite himself. That was a surprisingly bold way to start, especially for someone that young.

"Well, since this is a first meeting, mainly to gauge compatibility and see what we're working with, you would have only our word, which is worth quite a bit, I assure you, Harry. However, if we do decide to move ahead with this, all paid consults will be bound by extensive privacy and confidentiality agreements, which would be both legally and magically binding," Oscar explained.

"Right," was the reply, almost too quick. And then,

"Is it possible to turn this into a paid consult right now? Since we—we haven't really discussed anything yet, right? That shouldn't be a problem?"

"We certainly could do that," Oscar began hesitantly, "but would you want to? There's no guarantee we would take you on as a client, Harry, especially since I have no idea what you have in mind. And paid consults aren't cheap, mind. It could all very well end up being a waste of your money."

"That's not a problem," Harry replied firmly, and he could see the decision reflected in the set of his jaw and the squaring of his shoulders, "I'd rather pay more upfront if it means I'm assured that what we talk about won't leave this room. And that's not a comment on you or your office's ethics, Mr. Armitage, just my own experiences making me a bit paranoid. I'm sure you understand."

Oscar did understand, a little too well, the necessity of protecting yourself. He was just wondering why a fifteen year old did too.

"Of course, I'll just get Robert to arrange the papers. In the meantime, can I interest you in some sandwiches, perhaps?"

Fifteen minutes later, all the necessary paperwork had been signed and Oscar had learnt a few more things about the lad.

Like the fact that he didn't just sign where he needed to blindly as Oscar had expected. No, he read through every single line meticulously and carefully, even asking for clarification in a few places, and only when he understood what he was signing did he put quill to parchment.

Or that he had a habit of entangling his fingers in his hair as he concentrated, twisting and pulling none-too-gently, which would also explain the state of his hair.

The most important thing that Oscar figured out, however, was that he was definitely going to take this case, no matter what they ended up discussing. Because he had been in this profession for a while now, and his gut was telling him that would be the case of a lifetime. There was just—something about Harry Potter and the quiet strength of character that was visible in the smallest of his actions, from the way he held his back straight to the unapologetic nature of his presence. He didn't know many people who would even attempt to imply to his face that his, albeit verbal, assurance wouldn't be enough and basically demand a contract before even beginning the conversation. That took—courage and self-assurance and a certain level of chutzpah making Oscar even more intrigued about why he needed a solicitor now.

Finally, after all the formalities had been taken care of, both of them settled into their seats and Oscar gestured at Harry to start the conversation.

"Right, with the contract taken care of, I feel much better, thank you, Mr. Armitage," he smiled gratefully, "Now. Regarding what I wanted help with. There's—a few things, as I indicated in my letter. The first, of course, is the Daily Prophet. I'm not at all familiar with how the law works in the Wizarding World, but if I'm referencing Muggle rules, then basically everything, including a good chunk of what they published last year, would come under defamation of character, including blatant lies."

Oscar only nodded in response, taking notes of everything he was hearing while also quietly marvelling at this young man's preparation. Clearly he was serious about this if he'd done this kind of research into the issue, even if it was only the Muggle side of things. He could definitely appreciate that kind of initiative.

"The next thing I'd like to inquire about is the reading of my parents' wills. I went to Gringotts recently and had some things explained to me, like the fact that my parents knew they were living in the middle of a war and had taken appropriate precautions for the same. That their wills weren't read after that suggests some sort of interference and I'd like to get to the bottom of why."

That was interesting. And raised a number of questions, starting with who could've been behind the (wilful) suppression of that information? Because it had to be deliberate. James and Lily Potter had been well known, despite their young age, and had only become more so after their untimely deaths. And considering James came from such a prestigious line—yes, it definitely screamed of someone's interference. Also, the implication that the young Potter didn't know about his parents' wills or even that he didn't realise it was common for Heirs to have one regardless of age or wartime….that was something to think about.

Meanwhile, Harry continued his explanation, "Now, my main interest in having the wills read—beside knowing what my parents had to say, of course—lies in the provisions they'd left behind for my guardianship. This…is the first arena where I'm really glad for the secrecy charms, Mr. Armitage."

Unknowingly, Oscar leaned forward in interest, his brain forming a conclusion with what little information he'd just received but unwilling to believe it. Surely not—?

But it was. And Harry Potter himself was admitting to it in front of him.

"I was placed with my mum's relatives. They're Muggle and—that's not the problem, actually, that sounds misleading. The issue is that they hate magic and everything to do with it. And considering that I'm, well, a wizard, my entire existence is kind of a deal-breaker for them, y'know?" he shrugged, somewhat self-deprecatingly.

"Mr. Potter, I—," Oscar started but stopped just as abruptly. What could he even say? He didn't know enough to reassure the lad, nor could he claim that he was lying. That would just serve to alienate him and not help anyone. Besides, it was entirely possible he wasn't lying. In which case…someone, somewhere had really dropped the ball when it came to the 'Saviour of the Wizarding World.'

"It's fine, Mr. Armitage, I've come to terms with that fact," Harry smiled, way too ruefully for someone his age, "I'd just like to know what my parents had stipulated for this situation, and if this entire arrangement was even abiding by their wishes or not. For that, we need to find out what happened to their wills."

By this time, Oscar had managed to get over his embarrassing mishap and could actually form words, "Of course, I agree, Harry. So, dealing with the Daily Prophet—you want to look at the previous year's articles too, right, not just the current ones?—then the Potter Wills, finding out what happened to them, why they weren't read, and if your guardianship was in line with your parents' last wishes."

"Yes, that's exactly it. But, those aren't my pressing concerns at the moment. Well," Harry corrected, "maybe the Prophet thing so it doesn't get worse, but there's something else I'd like for you to look at urgently."

"Oh?" Oscar's left eyebrow rose in question. What else could he have in mind that was more important than what he'd already brought up?

"For that, I would—at least like an assurance that you'd hear me out til the very end, Mr. Armitage, and that you'd take me seriously, despite my age and how…far-fetched it might sound. I have no reason to lie to you."

The eyebrow rose even higher at that. "You have my word, Mr. Potter. The contract you signed wasn't a small thing, I wouldn't think you'd go to those lengths if you wanted to spin tales here."

Harry nodded but the seriousness on his face didn't fade, his green eyes were still blazing with a sort of…self righteousness? determination? Oscar was intrigued at this play of emotions, wondering what could have triggered it. (And mentally applauding himself for correctly predicting how this meeting would go. It was definitely more interesting so far than even he had anticipated, and apparently they hadn't even gotten into the meat of the issue as of yet)

"Um—okay, so I'm sure you've heard about the Sirius Black case, right?"

That was the absolute last thing Oscar had been expecting to hear.

"I…have, yes."

"What do you know about it?" Straight to it then, okay.

Oscar took a few seconds to think about his answer. He was old enough to remember how the original scandal had gone down, when Sirius Black was arrested for not only betraying the Potters to You-Know-Who, but also killing muggles and being exposed as a Death Eater.

He remembered the kind of uproar that had caused- the knowledge that someone who'd supposedly been fighting on their side—everyone remembered Sirius Black and James Potter, the kind of camaraderie they shared—could turn out to be responsible for something like that? That a friendship like that could implode in such a way. It had made many suspicious of the people in their own lives afterward.

But at the same time, Oscar was also old—and connected—enough to remember an earlier scandal. That of the young Black heir abdicating his position to run away to the Potters. The outspoken vehemence against his family. The rumours of targeting those who practiced the Dark Arts in Hogwarts. While he hadn't been close enough to the parties to warrant more than a passing glance, and sympathy, at the entire situation, he could admit to himself that some things didn't make sense. Was it just a long con on Black's part? Get into the Potter's graces from a young age—for everyone who'd ever seen the two could see how close they were—and then use that against them? Was it all a ploy from the Blacks? Everyone knew the younger one had been a Death Eater, and of course, Bellatrix and Narcissa were equally involved in the movement. The older Blacks (who were all dead or had dropped off the face of the Earth now), while never confirmed to be Marked, had always been vocal about their support for You-Know-Who. It wouldn't be a stretch to believe that Sirius Black had tread the same path, after all.

He tried to summarise all this into words for the boy waiting expectantly in front of him.

"Well, if you're talking about 1981. Black was caught, red-handed, at the scene of the crime with the remains of—how many was it, ten? twelve?—muggles around him. He'd been confronted by Peter Pettigrew, and eyewitnesses claimed that they heard a man matching his general description to have screamed about Black's betrayal of the Potters out loud. He didn't deny any of it. In the aftermath of the explosion, they could only find a piece of Pettigrew's finger. When the aurors arrived on the scene, he didn't protest his arrest, and was laughing at the time, which only added to the implicit admission of guilt, I would say."

He broke off to take a sip of water, thinking about the events of the last year.

"Last year, he became the first person to break out of Azkaban. No one quite knows why, although the general consensus is it was to finish what he—," he suddenly stopped, realising what he'd been about to say and who he'd been about to say it to.

"It's okay, I know what you were about to say. Finish what he started, come after me, yes?" Harry prompted, looking supremely unconcerned for someone talking about their own possible demise, in Oscar's opinion. Maybe because this had already happened?

"Er—right, that." he said, still slightly awkward, "There were also some…whispers that he was heard muttering something about Hogwarts, someone being there? Which only added to the credibility of that theory. Then, of course, the Minister deemed it fit to station dementors around Hogwarts, of all things."—he couldn't keep the distaste out of his words. Anyone with half a brain could've told him that was a monumentally unwise decision—"Black broke into Hogwarts one, two times? Though there wasn't a lot of information available about that. I think Dumbledore stopped all members of the press from talking to students and poking around."

"He can do that?" he heard Harry mutter under his breath, and mentally filed that comment away for later.

"Things get very muddled after that. Something happened at the end of the school year, no one's quite sure what since the Minister's been tight lipped around it. Black was captured? Or, at the very least, spotted? But he's definitely not in custody or Kissed, because if he was, then the Ministry would've made a much bigger deal out of it. The DADA professor—Lafin? Ludwig?—turned out to be a werewolf in hiding, though I'm not sure how relevant that is to the entire Sirius Black debacle, but it was big news. And, that's about it, really. I wouldn't say I know any more than the average person out there," Oscar concluded. He ultimately decided it was best not to talk about his earlier confusions regarding Black's betrayal. After all, this was the child who was most affected by his actions. It wouldn't do to seem sympathetic towards the man or his decisions.

He observed Harry as he drank some more water. The boy had a peculiar look on his face, something between a frown and a smile? Like he was amused, but also unhappy? It was—an unusual expression, especially considering what they were talking about.

"I figured you'd know as much, Mr. Armitage," Harry began. His words appeared to be carefully chosen. "There's a—lot more to that story so I hope you'll bear with me because…it's long and quite twisted."

"You've piqued my interest now, Harry," Oscar tells him, leaning back against his chair.

Harry smiled thinly at him.

"Right. I guess, the first thing to start with would be, hm, Sirius is my godfather."

Okay. Wow. A lot of things to unpack there. Oscar found it—telling that Harry chose to start with that fact. He wouldn't expect something that…personal right off the bat. Second, the use of the word 'is' rather than 'was' or 'had been' or anything in the past tense was interesting. Third, and perhaps the most surprising, was the utter lack of hostility in his words. The familiarity of using the man's first name was also…interesting.

You would think, when talking about someone that led to the murder of one's family, one would show more anger or sadness or aggression. Now, Oscar didn't think he was any sort of an expert on behaviour, but he couldn't have predicted the…fondness? that he could hear either. That was the last thing he would have expected and it definitely meant there was something Harry Potter knew about this entire situation that wasn't common knowledge, and it was possibly something that could shake their entire understanding of the case.

"Second, and I don't know if this will come as a surprise to you since I think I've been leading up to it so far, but he's innocent."

Wrong. It did come as a surprise. Oscar genuinely wasn't expecting that, even after the observations he'd just made. It just didn't—yes, there were some things about the entire thing that didn't add up, but to say that Sirius Black was innocent? and of what, at that? He'd been accused of many things.

"I—must admit, I didn't see that coming, Harry," Oscar admitted, "And when you say innocent, what exactly do you—?"

"I mean, innocent of everything he's accused of. Well, perhaps not the Azkaban part. That one really did happen." There was a small smile playing on the corner of his lips, like he was enjoying this, and Oscar was in too much shock right now to wonder about that.

"I'm—going to need you to elaborate on that one."

"Of course," Harry said, calm-as-you-please, "That's what I'm here for."

"It all started when my parents had to go into hiding during the war and, along with Sirius, decided they needed an extra layer of protection—"

And over the course of the next half hour, Oscar sat, stunned, as he heard the complex web of lies and treachery and betrayal and a massive miscarriage of justice. What he was being told was—almost too fantastical to believe. So many improbable events had to line up exactly in that particular order, at the right (or was it wrong?) time for things to happen the way they did. It was—unbelievable that so much misfortune could be crammed into one person's life, and yet, here it was.

And perhaps if it was anyone else—if he hadn't just signed a number of magically binding privacy agreements accompanied by a fairly hefty sum of a galleons—if the boy in front of him wasn't focused on a point above his head, eyes blazing green, fired up in self-righteousness and determination, sincerity oozing from his very being, perhaps then Oscar would've written this off as either fiction or delusion. It was the easiest thing to do, honestly. Just the fact that three teenagers managed to complete a full Animagus transformation alone was mind-boggling enough. There was a reason only a handful of people were added to the Animagus Registry every decade. The dangers of self-transfiguration were well ingrained in every wixen's mind from a young age.

But Oscar did believe Harry Potter, Merlin help him. Every single thing he told him just now (and for some reason, he actually thought there were some things that had been censored which—what more could possibly have happened?)

"—and now, Sirius is in hiding—I couldn't tell you where—and I'm here, trying to figure out a way for him to receive the justice he was denied twelve years ago and every moment since," he finished.

Oscar didn't say anything for a while, merely levitated a glass of water in front of the lad. He smiled gratefully and downed the entire thing in one go. Oscar silently refilled it again before leaning back against his chair with a rough exhale.

"I—feel like I should apologise for dumping so much on you, Mr. Armitage."

Oscar rubbed his index finger across his brow before answering, "No, no, it's just—I wasn't prepared to hear anything of this sort. I wasn't sure what you needed a solicitor for, yes, but this—not even my wildest dreams would've—,"

"I understand, really. I went through the same five stages of grief." Harry smiled gently, and Oscar had to admire the strength of the young man. Having to talk about all that, the way it affected his entire family, that can't have been easy and yet, here he was, joking and trying to make him feel better.

He took a deep breath, straightened his glasses, and exhaled slowly. Right. Harry had done his job, now it was time for Oscar Armitage, Senior Solicitor, co-owner of Armitage and Shellworth, to do his.

a few notes:

- harry advocating for sirius will be a recurring theme here, not least bc its projection and i love my characters that way but bc i also feel v strongly about *someone* fighting for sirius ykno? i think it'll both give harry a purpose and give them the space to bond

- oscar will show up quite a bit, i think. there's quite a few legal bits lol

- i kind of really, really like this chapter? i know i say that everytime lol but i think this was the first thing i wrote for this fic (almost a whole year ago) and it has a special place in my heart

tell me what u thought! i love hearing from readers 3 also, thank u so, so much for all the love on this lil fic. it makes me immeasurably happy that people r enjoying my indulgent baby haha