Fireman

Dobby had fixed the inside of the abandoned cottage, making it livable and putting all the necessities Harry needed inside.

He had also bought Harry some clothes, seeing as his old ones were not "worthy of the Great Harry Potter Sir". Harry didn't know how the elf accomplished this, seeing as Harry had never given him any money.

Eventually his hearing at the Ministry got closer, and the day of Dobby popped into the room he was in.

"Bad news, Great Harry Potter Sir!" Dobby exclaimed, "The Minister has changed the time for your hearing, and it's now a trial!"

Harry's eyes widened in disbelief, and the thoughts of Voldemort having taken over the Ministry came rushing back. Perhaps this was Tom's plan all along? To put me on trial in front of Wizarding Britain?

He actually considered the thought, feeling his stomach sink before he grabbed onto the rage he had felt for what felt like years at this point. "Thanks for telling me, Dobby." Harry said, putting on formal wizard robes the elf had purchased for him. "Can you take us there now?"

Dobby nodded, reaching out with a hand and they apparated away. They reappeared in a dark hallway of stone, and Dobby pointed towards a large door at the end. "Through there, Harry Potter Sir."

Harry nodded, reinforcing his occulmency and keeping his emotions on a leash as he stormed towards the door. Dobby followed, nearly running to keep up, and Harry opened the door before marching through.

He was in a large courtroom, the same one he recognized from the pensive memory of the trial of Crouch Jr. last year. The room went silent when he entered, and everyone stared at him as he stalked towards the center of the room.

The Minister, still Fudge, Harry noted, glared at Harry with anger. His gaze slipped over to Lucius Malfoy and he felt the anger in his bones heat up. Lucius glared back, before breaking the stare down and looking off to the side where Dobby was standing with a sneer. Soon you will die, Malfoy. I know you were in that graveyard.

"Be seated." Fudge ordered, and Harry looked over at a wooden chair with chains attached to it. Harry sat, leaning back in the chair comfortably and resting his arms on the armrests.

"Disciplinary hearing of the twelfth of August, into offenses committed by Harry James Potter, being the use of Underrage magic and the breaking of the Statute of Secrecy at Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. Led by Chief Warlock and Minister Cornelius Fudge, Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge, and Madam Amelia Bones. You are Harry James Potter, are you not?"

"I am." Harry said plainly, his voice still somewhat raspy. Several people in the audience winced, and the Minister looked a bit taken back before he moved on.

"And you reside at Number 4 Privet Drive?"

Harry shrugged, "I haven't lived there in a year."

"Hem-hem!" The pink woman said. "That is your address as registered with the Ministry, Mr. Potter."

"I've been in Saint Mungos the past couple months." Harry explained. "Before that I was at Hogwarts."

"It is a mere formality." The Minister waved him off harshly, and Harry realized how rushed this all felt. "As for the charges, how do you plead?"

"Not guilty." Harry said.

The Minister glared. "You have been charged with casting a patronus charm in front of muggles, Mr. Potter. Not only did you use magic while underrage, you violated the Statute of Secrecy."

"I did no such thing." Harry shook his head. "You are mistaken-"

"Hem-Hem!" The pink woman interrupted him, a strange smile on her lips. "It is not good to lie in court, Mr. Potter."

Harry went to respond but the witch with the monocle spoke suddenly. "You can cast a patronus charm? A corporeal patronus?"

"Yes." Harry said, feeling confused.

"Impressive." The witched observed. "To be able to accomplish such magic at your age is an impressive feat."

"It does not matter how impressive it is." Fudge snapped, glaring at the woman then at Harry. "The accused just admitted to being able to cast a patronus charm. No doubt he used the spell in front of muggles and ended up here."

Harry felt a headache coming on, this whole trial just seemed to come out of the blue. "Do you have any evidencccce, Minisssster?" He asked, an unintentional hint of parseltongue in his words. He still hadn't fully accumulated to speaking normal English since his vocal cords were healed, and serpenttongue had always come easier.

The Minister looked slightly taken back, before glaring at him. "The Ministry's word is enough in this matter, after today your wand will be snapped and you won't be returning to Hogwarts!"

"So that's all you have?" Harry asked in raw disbelief. "There had to be whole trial over this?"

Whispers sounded out around the courtroom at his words, and the pink woman spoke with a scowl. "Hem-hem! You should not doubt the Ministry, Mr. Potter. All underrage magic is carefully tracked and traced back to each wand sold to an underrage witch and wizard-"

"I don't have a wand!" Harry said, interrupting the woman. "I haven't had a wand, or have usssed one in months."

Whispers broke out among the audience, and most of them turned and glared at Fudge and Umbridge, including Madam Bones. Malfoy and his cronies all looked taken back, unsure of what to do. Fudge looked suddenly pale, and Umbridge was simply gaping at him.

"What do you mean you don't have a wand, Mr. Potter?" Madam Bones all but demanded.

"No one told me what happened to it." Harry shrugged. "I guess it got destroyed during the third task of the tournament. All I remember was that one moment I was in some sort of graveyard, then the next thing I know I woke up in Saint Mungos. No one has told me what happened, and I've yet to actually buy a new wand. As for the patronus charm, I certainly didn't cast one, nor could I have without a wand."

"I see." Madam Bones muttered. "Well if that's the case the charges against you for your second offense of underrage magic will be dropped. An error must have been made and it will be investigated."

Out of the corner of his vision he noticed Umbridge stiffen, but disregarded it as he suddenly realized something. "What do you mean second offense? I've never cast a spell outside of Hogwarts before, and even if I did I never had to stand trial because of it."

Fudge and Umbridge both looked extremely uncomfortable, while some members of the audience looked like they were making efforts not to smile or smirk. Madam Bones looked irritated, shooting Fudge an annoyed glance. "I admit it is unusual to have a case of underrage magic brought before the entire Wizengamot. As for your first offense… It says here you used a levitation charm before your second year?"

Dobby stepped forwards, looking extremely embarrassed and uncomfortable. "My apologies, great Sirs, Dobby was the one who levitated the cake in order to frame Great Harry Potter Sir."

"You admit to being responsible for Mr. Potter's first offense?" Madam Bones asked, to which Dobby nodded. "Very well then, your record of underrage magic has been cleared and you are free to go, Mr. Potter."

Harry nodded and simply left the room with Dobby trailing behind. They weren't alone in the hallway outside the courtroom, Dumbledore was there waiting outside the courtroom. The old man looked pale, and somewhat taken back at his appearence.

"Harry-" The Headmaster began, meeting his eyes. Harry felt a pressure on his mind, a foreign one that could have only come from Dumbledore. He immediately knew this was legilimency, having read about it a lot in the hospital, and the anger he had felt throughout the trial threatened to spill over.

"Dobby!" Harry barked, and the elf quickly grabbed his hand before apparating them away.

-

A large black dog scurried up the path to the abandoned home located in the north of England. The dog shifted into the form of a man with black hair, and he was met by another man, also with black hair.

His godson had grown, looking older. His skin was pale, almost deathly so, with bright green eyes and black hair that were his most defining features. He wore shorts and a shirt, and he couldn't help but wince at the sight of all the scars on his arms.

"Sirius." Harry greeted plainly, but not coldly. He looked emotionless, but at the same time dangerously so.

"Harry." Sirius returned. "I came to find you."

"You are the first." Harry observed. "No one's spoken to me in months, not even a letter."

Sirius winced. "I have no excuse, other than the Ministry is looking for me."

"Very well." Harry said simply. "Tell me what's going on. And what was the deal with my trial?"

Sirius sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Dumbledore has taken control, and restarted his Order of the Phoenix group to fight Voldemort. He's using an older family manor I own as their base, and I've been staying there with a lot of its members. Dumbledore's being more secretive than ever, and for some reason doesn't want any of us to be in any contact with you."

"Why?" Harry asked, furrowing his brows. It was the first emotion he showed so far.

"I don't know." Sirius said, feeling frustrated. "He kept saying things along the line of you needing space and time to grieve. At first I believed him, but the past couple weeks I got fed up with everyone wanting nothing to do with you. So I escaped and came here."

Harry clenched his jaw and looked away before his face became emotionless. "So Voldemort is back?"

Sirius looked at him with wide eyes, a sinking feeling in his stomach. "You don't know?"

"I spent the past couple months in Saint Mungos drifting in and out of consciousness. I barely remember anything but flashes from the third task, just Voldemort and his Death Eaters torturing me for the most part. The healers said I was lucky to even survive, much less live a normal life."

Sirius felt sick, his stomach turning over as he tried to breath. "Oh Merlin Harry I- I- just… I didn't know."

"How could you have?" Harry asked, the question innocent but he swore there was a hint of bitterness in it. "Dumbledore's secrecy, remember?"

"The fucking bastard!" Sirius seethed in rage. "He didn't tell us any of this! Not a word!"

"So everyone thinks I've just been sitting at the Dursleys all summer?"

"I'm so sorry, Harry, I just-"

Harry shook his head and waved him off. "Just tell me what's going on with Voldemort? What's Dumbledore doing?"

The change in conversation didn't help Sirius' anger. "Basically nothing. He's holding every scrap of information he has close to his chest. He did shit like this before, but it's worse this time. There's some sort of item in the Depart of Mysteries at the Ministry he thinks Voldemort wants, and most of our meetings revolve around that."

"I see." Harry said, his face carved from stone. "So he's not going after the Death Eaters? Malfoy and his lot?"

"No." Sirius gritted his teeth. "We don't know where Voldemort it, and attacking random Death Eaters certainly isn't the way Dumbledore does things."

Harry didn't say anything, didn't have to, but Sirius could only image how angry he must feel over everything. "Kreacher!"

The old Black family elf popped into existence, looking at them with narrowed eyes. "Master calls Kreacher?"

"Bring the books I set aside." He waved the elf off.

Kreacher vanished before reappearing, a dozen large tomes in his hands that were taller than he was. Harry looked on with interest, and Sirius spoke. "I've made you my heir, Harry. Just go to Gringotts at some point at they'll work through all the paperwork with you."

"And the books?" Harry asked dully.

"I want you to learn from them when you have time. You need to learn more magic, powerful magic, if you want to stand against Voldemort. I doubt Dumbledore will bother training you, so this is the best I could do."

Harry looked at him, a faint smile on his lips. "Thank you, Sirius."

Sirius nodded, "It was the least I could do."

"Shall we be going, blood-traitor Master?" Kreacher asked, handing the books to Harry.

"Yes." Sirius growled. "I will see you again, Harry. It's only a matter of time till Dumbledore comes looking for me, and you're better off here than back at headquarters."

Harry nodded. "Good seeing you, Sirius."