Author's Note: Hello, and welcome back. Thank you all very much for the reviews, they keep me going. Some things are going to look familiar. If they do, they aren't mine. MNF
Broken:
Chapter 2 – Smart Decisions
9 June 1994
Inside the Shrieking Shack
"Harry, you attacked a teacher!" Hermione shrieked. Harry looked at her and then back at the two men who were holding their wands trained on the rat Sirius was holding.
"Tell me the whole truth," Harry begged.
"Harry, the map was the clue to what was happening. Do you remember the names of those who presented the Map?"
"Messer's Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs," Harry answered. "What does that matter?"
"Your dad was Prongs; your professor is Moony, and I am Padfoot!" Sirius yelled triumphantly and maniacally. Hermione looked like she wanted to take the man down, even though Harry had her wand.
"When we were at school, there was a fourth friend, the Wormtail of the Marauders; Peter Pettigrew," Remus explained. "Turned out to be a bit of a false friend as he is the one who betrayed your mum and dad to Voldemort."
"Enough talk let's kill him!" a deranged Sirius exclaimed.
"Wait, wait," Remus yelled, standing between the students and the madman. "Your parents switched Secret Keepers at the last minute. It was supposed to be Sirius –"
"But it would have been too obvious. Your dad and I were like brothers, better than my brother, he became a Death Eater," Sirius distractedly muttered the last part.
"Sirius was sent away for twelve years for betraying your parents and killing quite a few Muggles, when the whole time it was Peter. When you said you saw him on the map, I knew what must have been going on. I found Sirius in the Forbidden Forest and we talked everything over."
"We need to kill him!" Sirius raged again!
"No!" Harry said. "If what you've said is true, then we need him. He needs to go to jail. Can you make a secure box, Professor?"
"Of course," Remus said, surprised he hadn't thought of it before now. He picked up a throw pillow and transfigured it into a metal box with small air holes on the top. "Put him in, Padfoot."
"But I was in Azkaban for twelve years because of him. He should be dead!" Sirius raged.
"If he's dead we can't clear your name," Remus calmly explained. With another look of frustration as Sirius was still holding the squealing rat, he continued in a whisper, "Harry needs you. From what little I've been able to pry out of him, and it is just a little, his home life is abysmal. You need to put aside your vengeance to help him."
"How bad?" Sirius whispered back, giving the rat a squeeze to quiet him.
"Probably as bad as yours," Remus mumbled, and Sirius muttered a string of profanity that made his friend blush. Reluctantly, Sirius dropped the rat into the box and Remus flipped the lid down. He then put a spell on the box to make it impervious to any magic from the inside. He then fired off what appeared to Harry to be a Patronus Charm.
"Who'd you send that to?" Sirius asked.
"The only person I trust in the entire DMLE, King Shacklebolt," Remus answered.
"He's working for the DMLE? He was as good at pranking as we were," Sirius reminisced. Kingsley was a couple of years ahead of the Marauders but was notorious for his pranking skills. He taught the four lads a thing or two in his time.
"You and James were Hit Wizards," Remus reminded him. "King became an Auror." Just then a chime was heard. "Ah, the hour is upon us. I need to depart the full moon is going to rise in thirty minutes and I would prefer to be far away from you all."
"Why would a full moon matter?" Ron asked and the other two students just looked at him, befuddled.
"He's a werewolf, Ron," Hermione said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "He's always ill the day after the full moon, and then Professor Snape set that essay and I was sure of it. Harry and I talked about it at the time, and you were sitting with us."
"You were talking about schoolwork," Ron stated. "I don't listen when you go off about assignments." Hermione rolled her eyes and groaned. Remus handed her the metal box, turned, and left, chuckling as he did.
"Should we awaken Professor Snape?" Harry asked as he helped Ron up.
"No, he'll eventually wake up on his own, and hopefully I will be gone with Kingsley and the rat, and you will all be in your dormitories," Sirius answered. He was sounding slightly more rational. "Harry, give your friend there back her wand so that she can put a locking spell on the box. This way, the only person who can unlock it is her."
"That's rather brilliant thinking," Hermione said in amazement. She couldn't believe that one moment he was a raving lunatic and the next completely sane.
Somehow, Dumbledore and McGonagall knew what was happening, and met the three students and the accused murderer just beyond the reach of the Whomping Willow.
"Don't do anything to him!" Harry yelled. "He didn't kill my parents!"
"Harry, it would be easy to believe in something you've so desperately wanted," Dumbledore began, but Harry cut him off.
"Look, we've summoned the Aurors," Hermione interjected. "Let us wait for them."
"Sirius told us everything that happened, he's innocent and the real culprit is in the box Hermione is holding," Harry began explaining. Sirius was oddly quiet through this.
"Remus wasn't lying," Kingsley said when he was close enough to be heard. He and another person were walking across the field. Sirius recognized the other first.
"Amelia? You brought the head of the DMLE?" Sirius cried.
"He did, and I think we should get inside," she said. "I want to hear your story, but I don't feel like tangling with Dementors tonight." Everyone agreed, and Professor McGonagall took charge of Ron, saying she'd make sure Madame Pomfrey fixed him up. She and Ron broke off when they entered the castle. That's when Hermione remembered something.
"Oh, sir, Professor Snape is unconscious in the Shrieking Shack. Harry-"
"The less I know, the better. Is he in any danger or badly injured?" Dumbledore asked and the girl shook her head.
"Then I think I shall let him awaken on his own. He's going to be rather upset at the turn of events," the headmaster said. Hermione looked at him strangely but didn't say anything more.
Dumbledore considered dismissing Harry and Hermione to their dorms, but in looking at the boy arm-in-arm with his fugitive godfather, Harry would argue with him mightily. Dumbledore couldn't afford to make an enemy of Harry or Sirius if his plans were ever to come to pass.
As they entered the headmaster's office, Hermione felt unsure of where to place the metal box holding Wormtail. Eventually, she placed it on the empty chair between Kingsley and Amelia. She was happy to be free of it. She couldn't help but remember times she'd seen it scampering about in Ginny's room while they were in their pyjamas or dressing. It made her feel dirty. "Professor Lupin had me put a Locking Spell on the box, so only I could open it. I'll remove mine and then –" Madame Bones pulled her wand, swished it over the box and it glowed a lurid bright orange.
"Now only I can unlock the box," she said with finality. Hermione nodded and sat down.
Dumbledore called for his elf once everyone had a seat in his office, and tea was served. "Where shall we start?"
"I'm going to start," Amelia said immediately and with authority. "I went to retrieve the trial transcripts when Lord Black here escaped, and I was shocked to find that not only there wasn't a transcript, but there was a Notice-Me-Not Charm on the empty file. I then went to look at the docket calendar for the days after Lord Black's arrest and he wasn't there. How did that happen?"
"You're saying I never was convicted? I couldn't remember having a trial, but I wasn't in my right mind. Harry, you must know that I loved your mum and dad. He was my brother and his death hit me hard. Then Hagrid took you to Dumbledore and –"
"Wait, what? Hagrid took me?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, I was going to take you to my flat," Sirius started. "I'd collected up your stuff and was about to go there. I figured we could go to Potter Manor to live, believe me, my flat was not a place for a baby."
"Why did Hagrid take me?" Harry angrily asked. "You're my legal guardian! You just told me that's what mum and dad wanted."
"He is, Harry, but I think we'd best unravel this tale from the beginning," Kingsley said softly. "Why don't we ask our questions, then we can talk about the other things that happened that night, okay?" Sirius shared a look with Kingsley. Everything was going to their plan. Remus had contacted Kingsley shortly after hearing Padfoot's tale in the forest.
"Okay, but you wanted me, right? You wanted me to live with you?" Harry asked Sirius.
"Harry, I wanted you then and when we get this legal mess taken care of, I still want you. I made you my heir when I became your godfather," Sirius replied. Since Harry and Sirius were on the settee, Harry threw his arms around his godfather. Suddenly several of Albus's little silver trinkets stopped moving, and one broke apart.
"What was that?" Amelia asked, alarmed.
"Nothing you need worry about," the headmaster replied. Only he knew that the protections on the house on Privet Drive had ended. Harry's heart did not consider the Dursleys his family, and the spells that kept the family safe exploded. Dumbledore knew he needed to do something but couldn't leave at the moment and doubted he'd ever convince Harry to call that house his home again.
"So, somehow, there was never a trial?" Hermione asked to return the story to the beginning and give Harry a moment to collect himself.
"That is correct," Amelia said. "While normally I would take you in and we'd have a trial in front of the Wizengamot, your biggest detractor is our illustrious leader, Cornelius Fudge. He is terrified of looking weak, and apparently righting a miscarriage of justice for one of the country's richest Lords will do that."
"Wait, that's the second time you called me a lord? What's going on, I was disinherited by my mother," Sirius said.
"Not according to the official list of Lords of the Magical UK," Kingsley said. "I went to speak with the goblins in my official capacity and they confirmed you're the richest man in the county."
"Sweet Merlin, my grandfather must have reinstated me. Can't think of a worse punishment," Sirius muttered.
"You just spent twelve years in Azkaban," Harry said.
"Bureaucracy is much worse," Sirius sighed. "In Azkaban I could spend my days as a dog. As a Lord I'll be expected to be respectable." Several in the room struggled not to laugh, Harry included.
Piece by piece the saga unfolded from the moment of Dumbledore's dismissal as the Secret Keeper to Sirius's imprisonment without trial. By the time everyone had added their bit Harry was fuming.
"You knew! You knew he was innocent!"
"I suspected it, but you needed to live with your aunt and uncle to renew the protections your mother gave you through her blood," Dumbledore started.
"Dumbledore, Lily had created a protection zone in Harry's bedroom. The frames of the windows and doors were covered in runes and there was a containment circle in his bedroom, under the little round carpet that went under his bed," Sirius explained. "I helped her inscribe them. Voldemort stepping into the room would have activated them and he was basically a fly caught in a spider's web. The web was designed to dissipate his magic. Must have worked if Harry survived."
"It didn't have to do with her sacrifice?" Dumbledore asked numbly.
"Not that I knew of. If she died, it was because he hadn't come into the circle yet." Sirius watched the man deflate. The headmaster knew he should have gone and inspected the house. He was just too busy at the time.
"Well, sounds like there might be some powerful magic to uncover in the ruins," Kingsley said. "What are we going to do about his freedom?" he asked while turning to Director Bones.
"First, we're going to do a Veritaserum trial right now, if that is permissible, Professor?"
"Er, what, oh yes, of course." Dumbledore looked a thousand miles away.
"I need one more adult witness," the woman stated. "Sorry Harry and Hermione, but the word of two third years will not help."
"I'll go get Professor McGonagall," Hermione offered. While waiting, Sirius scarfed down three cups of tea and nearly all the remaining items from the tea plate. The pair returned relatively quickly, as Minerva was on her way to Dumbledore's office already.
"Hello Director Bones, Auror Shacklebolt," Minerva said as she entered and sat down after she transfigured a rather hard wooden chair into a squashy wingback chair. "You will all be glad to hear that Mr Weasley will make a full recovery. The dog bite he suffered was rather significant." She glared at Sirius, who had the good sense to look embarrassed.
"If he'd just have dropped the rat, I would have left him alone," Sirius stated.
"I see, and where is Mr Pettigrew now?"
"He's in this box," Kingsley said, pointing to the box on the chair next to him. "Remus created it and did the spell work on it. He's not going anywhere but into the magic supressing cell in the Ministry holding cells." A small squeak could be heard from the box. Ignoring it, he said, "I think we should move on."
"Agreed." Amelia then pulled a small phial of the truth serum from her robes, cracked the seal and gave Sirius three drops before sitting back down. "Is your name Stubby Boardman?"
"No," Sirius answered.
"Is your name Lord Sirius Black?"
"Unfortunately, the Lord is attached to my name." This time the room chuckled at Sirius's answer.
"Very well, it's a truthful answer. Were you the Potters secret keeper?"
"No!" he replied emphatically.
"Who was?" Amelia asked, already prepared for the answer.
"Peter Pettigrew."
"Did you give them up to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."
"No, and his name was Voldemort. Fear of a name increases the fear of it." Sirius parroted back one of Fleamont Potter's favourite sayings.
"Do you have the Dark Mark?"
"No, I hated everything the Death Eaters stood for," Sirius said, bearing his arms. Harry looked at the healed scars that ran the length of his forearms, and the marks from spell damage.
"Who did that to you?" Harry quietly asked. Sirius fought answering him, but the serum was too strong.
"My deranged cousin, Bellatrix, gave me these when I was sixteen," Sirius said. "I nearly bled out. Your grandmum saved my life." Harry just nodded sadly, realizing Sirius might understand his life. The pair looked at each other, and when they realized the other KNEW their secret, Sirius couldn't control the tears that came to his eyes. The room was unnaturally quiet for a moment.
"Sirius," Amy said softly. "We need to continue. Did you blow up the street and kill twelve Muggles?"
"No."
"Kingsley, you may administer the antidote," Amelia said and the Auror removed a similar phial, broke its seal and gave it to Sirius. "Joy," Amelia said quietly and an elf in a clean and frilly tea towel popped in. "Bring me the file we discussed." The elf was gone and back in a matter of moments.
"I had already cancelled the Kiss-on-sight order, these are the parchments which will declare you innocent," she explained while signing them. She then handed them to Professor Dumbledore to sign in his capacity as the Chief Warlock. "Lastly, I need the memories of this evening from everyone, students included." She and Kingsley worked methodically, pulling, storing and labelling all the memories.
"Sirius, I think you should get checked out by a healer," Amelia said. "Here is the name of a healer who will keep your health and legal statuses quiet. I will write the Daily Prophet and our Minister as soon as I'm back at the office. Kingsley, call for back-up to escort you and the prisoner to the Ministry." The Auror nodded and went to the fireplace. "Could I impose for a moment to see my niece, please?"
"Certainly," Minerva said. "I'll walk with you. Harry and Hermione, curfew is quickly approaching. Sirius, why don't you come to my office and I'll get you set up for the night at my house in Inverness."
"Thanks, Mini." Sirius said with gratitude. "Now, Harry, you need to finish the year out, but Remus or I will be at the train station to meet you when you come home for the summer. I'm not sure where we will live, but you will have a home with me." Harry hugged his godfather again.
"Harry, we need to be going," Hermione said. The trio left the office.
Dumbledore felt lost, all his planning and expectations were wrong. Harry might have been safe, but his family had not been. Family, he used it in the loosest of terms. He had known what Harry had been through, what he'd suffered. The reports had always made him upset and the number of times he had to have someone heal the boy – but he believed it was for the greater good. Turns out it was not. What was he going to do?
