The dramatics at the Wizengamot remained secret for nearly twelve hours, until the Daily Prophet broke the story on the front page. Hermione had been eating an omelet when Blaise had gasped over the paper, turning her and hitting her on the head with it.
"Is this you?" he demanded, brandishing the paper. "This is you, isn't it?"
"Is what me?" Hermione wanted to know. She set her eggs aside and took the paper, scanning the front page.
SIRIUS BLACK DECLARES HIS INNOCENCE IN OFFICIAL WIZENGAMOT COMPLAINT!
Complaint alleges Black never got a trial before being thrown in Azkaban
Hermione glanced at Blaise, who was looking at her expectantly. There was a long pause.
"Alright, fine, yes, it was me," she hissed, and Blaise looked triumphant.
"I knew it," he declared. "With the ritual result… it all makes sense, now. Kind of, at least."
Hermione continued reading the story, curious to see what all the paper had gotten right.
SIRIUS BLACK DECLARES HIS INNOCENCE IN OFFICIAL WIZENGAMOT COMPLAINT!
Complaint alleges Black never got a trial before being thrown in Azkaban
By Rita Skeeter
Tuesday afternoon, the regularly-scheduled Wizengamot session was rocked by an official petition for justice from the Head of the House of Black, who happens to be none other than wanted criminal Sirius Black. The complaint alleges that Sirius Black is innocent and that he never got a trial for him to prove his innocence to the court before being thrown into Azkaban.
Shocked by the complaint and allegations, the Wizengamot voted to investigate Black's claims of innocence. If probable cause of their truth is found, a stay of execution will be issued so Black can receive a fair trial without receiving the Dementor's Kiss on sight.
"The Ministry takes such claims very seriously," said Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. "If Black has been innocent all this time, a serious miscarriage of justice has occurred."
The Ministry is undoubtedly searching through its records to determine if Sirius Black ever received a trial. Our own writers searched through our back issues to see if the Daily Prophet had ever published something on a trial or verdict for Black twelve years ago.
"There's nothing," said Caitlin Massine, Assistant to the Editor. "We've got headlines about his capture, and headlines about his crimes, but there's nothing about a trial, a verdict, or even sentencing. We covered his story, but if he ever got a proper trial, we missed all of it. And I don't think that's likely."
Some people disagreed.
"Trials were held in secret to not clue other Death Eaters in that they were going to get arrested too," said Lyle Crowley, Assistant to the Head of International Magical Cooperation. "Back then, trial transcripts were kept under lock and key. It's entirely possible Black's trial was one such trial, and the transcript has never been released to the public."
Possible, certainly, this writer concedes. Is it likely, though? Would any wizard really be so bold to make such claims if they could be so easily proven false?
"As Regent of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, I presented the petition from the Head of my House to the Wizengamot," said Narcissa Malfoy, Regent of House Black. "It will be up to the Wizengamot's collective decision as to what to do with it. But I, personally, do not think there is a Black alive who would make such claims if they were naught but lies."
A special investigation session for the Wizengamot has been scheduled for Thursday evening. It is officially a closed session and not open to the public to be kept confidential, but we'll do our best to get the full story out to you all!
Hermione set the paper back down, surprised.
"They didn't… all the relevant details and supporting claims weren't mentioned," she said. "I'm surprised the paper actually kept the important bits secret."
"More likely that the source didn't tell them the important bits," Blaise said. He glanced at Malfoy, who was staring sullenly down at his food. "If the Malfoys contacted Skeeter first, she'd be more than happy to angle the article how they wanted, if it meant she got to break the story first."
Hermione frowned.
"What is up with Malfoy?" she wanted to know. "He hasn't spoken to me once since we got back to school. He can barely look at me."
Blaise shrugged. "Maybe challenging his world view of his father wasn't a thing he wanted to deal with right now."
Hermione rolled her eyes. Her sympathy for Draco's daddy issues had worn thin.
"They're going to call Harry and Susan to the stand on Thursday," she told Blaise quietly. "Ron too, maybe, to testify about his rat. The rat's an Animagus."
Blaise's eyes grew wide, and he whistled.
"Merlin, Hermione," he said. "And he's been in your dorm room all this time? Watching you all change?"
Hermione felt a stark bolt of horror.
"No, no, I doubt it," she said quickly. "I put the cage on the very top back of my wardrobe so Crookshanks couldn't reach him and kill him. He wouldn't be able to see past the decorative edging."
"Are you sure?" Blaise said pointedly.
Hermione bit her lip, uneasy. She'd have to double-check after class.
Harry found Hermione later that day, holding an official-looking piece of parchment.
"I've been called to testify in a hearing on Sirius Black's claims," he said, eyes wide. "Is this what you were talking about on the train?"
"It is," Hermione admitted. She looked up at him. "Are you up for it?"
"For finding out the truth of who betrayed my parents?" His green eyes hardened. "Absolutely."
The school was buzzing with gossip about Sirius Black's claims. No one knew the details he'd alleged his innocence on, so theories ran amok.
"Why would he break into Hogwarts?" Ernie Macmillan demanded loudly, to no one in particular before Charms class. "How can we think that's anything but something a bad person would do?"
"Maybe he just wanted to talk to Dumbledore," Hannah Abbot suggested. "He's who I would turn to for help."
"Yes, that's why he broke into the Gryffindor common room," Pansy Parkinson sneered. "Makes perfect sense."
"What's your idea, then?" Hannah challenged, and Pansy sniffed.
"I don't have one," she said, tossing her hair. "And I don't care. We'll all find out soon enough after the hearing."
The news even leaked into classes. Defense Against the Dark Arts was a pop quiz, something Lupin had never done before.
"This is just to check where you all are in preparation for end of year exams," he reassured them. "If everyone's weak in a particular area, I'll know what we need to review."
It was a fair idea for a teaching tool, Hermione thought, but as she looked over Lupin's pale countenance and the way his eyes were constantly drawn back to the newspaper on top of his desk, she suspected he'd abruptly changed his lesson plans.
Professor Trelawny was happy to openly exploit the breaking story.
"In order for us to discover the truth of the matter, we need to ask specifics, and we need to connect it back to ourselves," she emphasized. "Take turns. As you shuffle your tarot deck, reflect: what does Sirius Black mean to me? How would his innocence or guilt affect me? And is he innocent or guilty?"
The tarot card readings, though, seemed to not think Sirius Black was important at all.
"…for environmental factors, you've got the ten of pentacles reversed," Hermione said, flipping the card for Tracey. "This indicates worries over family. For your ninth—" she flipped a card, "you've got the Star representing your inner emotions, which means you're hopeful. And for the final result—" she flipped the last card "—you've got the Lovers."
Tracey blushed a brilliant red, and Hermione looked her squarely in the eye.
"Were you thinking about Sirius Black at all?" she asked.
"What do I care about Sirius Black?" Tracey said defensively. "I want to know about my future, not his."
When it was her turn, Hermione was careful to shuffle the cards and reflect on everything with Sirius Black. If any of this actually worked, her tarot spread would probably have the most accurate information in it.
"Keep your Inner Eye clear as you shuffle the cards," Tracey intoned, taking on a mysterious persona. "Your Inner Eye must be free of sleep dust and fallen eyelashes, lest your future be plagued with exhaustion and clumpy mascara…"
Hermione snorted, handing the cards over to Tracey, who promptly dealt six out.
"Your present position is the seven of pentacles," Tracey said. "You've done all you can in this situation, and now you must wait for the results to grow."
"That is not what the book says," Hermione said, annoyed. "The book says 'long-term view, sustainable results, perseverance, and investment' for the seven of pentacles."
"That's what I said, pretty much," Tracey shot back. "You've got this goal you've been working towards for a while, but right now, you've done all you can. See the little man?" She pointed to a man standing with a hoe, looking down at the pentacles in a bush. "He's planted his plants. Now he has to wait for nature to work her magic and make them grow."
Hermione gave Tracey a look. "Are you really doing this?"
"It's my Inner Eye," Tracey said haughtily, though her eyes sparkled. "Be quiet and let me have my moment."
Hermione rolled her eyes but smirked, sitting back. "Then by all means."
Tracey flipped the second card.
"The crossing shows immediate influences and obstacles that lie just ahead," she said. "Err—you've got the seven of swords. It symbolizes betrayal, deception, getting away with something, and acting strategically."
Hermione frowned. "That's hardly fair! Everyone keeps secrets."
"This isn't you keeping secrets – that'd be if it were reversed," Tracey said. "Upright, someone else is going to deceive you."
Hermione rolled her eyes. If Sirius Black tried to betray her, it'd be the last thing he ever did before he got his soul sucked out.
"Third card is your goal or destiny. You've got Justice," Tracey said. "That's exactly what it sounds like – you're seeking justice and fairness in the world."
"That's fair at least," Hermione said dryly. "Maybe your 'Inner Eye' isn't so bad after all."
Tracey flipped the fourth card, pausing.
"Fourth card is distant past," she said. "You've got the three of swords."
Hermione waited, but Tracey frowned and flipped the remaining two cards.
"You've got the ten of swords in the 'recent past' position, and nine of swords in the 'future influences' position," she said. "That's… really not good."
Hermione bit her lip, looking over the cards. "They… don't look good."
Tracey took a deep breath.
"Well, in distant past, someone was getting away with something sneaky," Tracey said. "Possibly you, possibly someone else. But it's an influencing factor. Ten of swords, though – that's fairly clear. Someone's betrayed you. And recently."
"But how? With what?" Hermione wanted to know, looking at the little picture of a person lying on the ground with ten swords stabbed into their back. "How am I betrayed?"
"No idea," Tracey said promptly. "In whatever the reading was about, I'm guessing? But possibly just in your life. It's not going to get better, either – with nine of swords, you're in for feeling stabbed in the back and a lot of mental and emotional anguish."
"I am not," Hermione argued, flushed. "Everything is going to be fine."
"Well, we'll see, won't we?" Tracey said easily. She dealt out the next four cards. "Next we've got the questioner, which is meant to show you your present position or put things into the proper perspective. You've got the nine of wands, which indicates you've been in a battle or fight recently. It also cautions you to remain vigilant, as the fight's not over yet."
"That one might be accurate," Hermione conceded. Despite all her prep work, after all, the hearing for Sirius Black was only just about to start.
"Environmental factors is next," Tracey said, flipping the eighth card. "You've got Queen of Swords reversed. So… an over-emotional, irrational woman who's determined to get what she wants."
"This is an outside influence, right?" Hermione said, frowning. She couldn't imagine Narcissa Malfoy ever becoming emotionally overwrought and irrational.
"Probably a woman with dark hair and dark coloring?" Tracey said, guessing. "Anyway, for your ninth card, you've got—"
The Devil flipped up on the table upside-down, looking ominous with its horned creature and chained naked man and woman.
"So this card represents inner hopes, hidden emotions, secret desires, fears, and your anxieties," Tracey said. "The Devil is all about your shadow self, accepting your darker impulses in order to free yourself. You can see the shackles around the people are loose – they can free themselves whenever they want. Reversed, it's actually better in this case – it's calling upon you to confront your inner fears and anxieties to free yourself from the chains that bind you to your limiting beliefs." Tracey got a sly look on her face. "This card also represents your sexuality. If it's telling you to free yourself—"
"Not in this case, I assure you," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "Come on. What's the last one?"
"Tenth card, the outcome," Tracey said. "And you've got—er—"
The Tower sat at the top, a picture of people leaping out of a burning building being hit by lightning.
"Um. So this card is generally bad," Tracey said diplomatically.
"I can see that," Hermione snarled.
"So… well… um…" Tracey hesitated. "The Tower generally means the unexpected – a massive change, an upheaval, destruction, and chaos. It's anything that shakes you to your core and shocks you – it's a change that will create chaos and destroy everything in its path, but ultimately for the greater good."
"I'm done with this," Hermione announced, folding her arms and glaring at Tracey. "Sirius is going to go free and it will be fine."
"Maybe it wasn't about Sirius Black," Tracey objected. "All the betrayal cards were about you, not him."
The reverse hadn't occurred to Hermione.
"No, no, they were about him," she said slowly, thinking. "He was betrayed – that's the whole claim on his innocence. The reading is for him, not me."
Tracey blinked. "I don't think that's how it works."
"No, no, look," Hermione said, pointing to the cards. "Seven of pentacles, that's the same, but the seven of swords here just means sneaky tactical planning – that's fine, that's what we've been doing to try and get his freedom. Justice holds, but the betrayal cards – those have got to be about his friend's betrayal, both the past one, and undoubtedly the one yet to come on the stand. And the future – err – well, I imagine the trial will be a lot of emotional anguish for him – he'll be reliving the worst time of his life."
"You are not a stand-in for Sirius Black," Tracey said crossly. "No matter what dodgy political nonsense you've been getting up to, Hermione."
Hermione ignored her. "The Questioner makes sense – he just battled his way out of Azkaban, and now he's looking at a legal fight – and the outside influence is the Queen of Swords – that could be me, right? A very determined woman with dark hair? Then the Devil – he's literally going to take his shackles off his neck when he's freed—"
"And the Tower?" Tracey said pointedly. "How's that going to be a positive outcome?"
"Err…" Hermione stalled. "Maybe… it could be his imprisonment in Azkaban? He's now free from the dark tower?"
"By it being struck by lightning and leaping to his doom?" Tracey asked incredulously.
"Well, maybe it's metaphorical!" Hermione said hotly. "Being freed would destroy everything he's known for the past twelve years of his life! The lightning could be the court's judgement, shaking everything he knows to its core, and he'd have to build a new life afterward, wouldn't he?"
"That is not how divination works, and you know it," Tracey said, annoyed. "My Inner Eye is clearer than yours, Hermione. This is about you."
"It's not." Hermione was certain; she knew much more about Sirius Black's situation than Tracey did, and with that extra knowledge, the cards made perfect sense.
Tracey rolled her eyes and huffed, but Hermione huffed right back. What did it matter, anyway? Divination was imprecise and dumb.