A/N - I received a review on my last chapter stating that they enjoyed it but they didn't expect it to turn into borderline porn. Let me just re-advise you all, this fic is rated "Mature" for a reason. You can expect violence, gore, explicit sexual scenes and other themes of a triggering or distressing nature. In terms of the lemons, I will make sure that I add a line before and after so those who do not wish to read them can skip through those sections. Anyway, on to the main event. Enjoy, and please leave a review.
Chapter Twelve - The Trial of Sirius Black
Four days before
Harry, Tonks and Sirius, who was in the form of Snuffles, walked up the path and into the gloomy and empty Hog's Head pub. When Harry had sent a letter to Amelia Bones the previous night requesting a meeting before the trial, he hadn't expected her to respond so quickly, or request to meet first thing in the morning. Nevertheless, they made the time and just after dawn, they knocked on the worn pine door of the pub. It was usually closed this early in the morning, but the door opened on its own at Harry's knock and they entered.
The barkeep, Aberforth Dumbledore was behind the bar, cleaning glasses, and at first, the pub looked empty, but in a small alcove out of the way, they found Amelia Bones, with her kindly face and scraped-back scarlet hair waiting for them at a small table.
"Good to see you, Lord Slytherin-Potter, Auror Tonks, and your…dog," Amelia said, curtsying Harry but giving Snuffles a confused look.
"Wotcher, Bonesy," Tonks said with a cheeky smirk, earning her a warning look from her boss.
"Good to see you too, Lady Bones. This old dog… is Sirius." Harry said. Amelia looked at him for a second like he was mad until Tonks spoke up,
"Looks like the coast is clear, Padfoot," she said and so the dog shifted, the animagus form morphing and twisting until the smiling form of Sirius appeared in front of them.
"Hi Amy," Sirius said, smiling mournfully, "It's good to see you."
Amelia's look of shock morphed into a smile but quickly turned into a scowl, "I wish I could say the same thing. You've been the bane of my existence for the last two years," she said.
"You can't blame me for escaping though," Sirius said with a hesitating look.
"That remains to be seen at your trial, but, I confess it is at least good to see that you're well, at least," Amelia said, her smile letting Sirius breathe a sigh of relief.
They all sat at the table together, and Harry, Sirius and Tonks explained the plan to prove Sirius' innocence. Tonks had even brought some Veritaserum with her, but after the initial, shorter explanation Amelia said she didn't need him to take it. She said she believed him, especially with Harry being there, there was no way he would be if Sirius had really betrayed his parents. Still, Harry had insisted that they could use her testimony of witnessing Sirius speak under Veritaserum and that it would be strong evidence in the courtroom. After they'd finished a much longer question-based discussion with Sirius having taken the truth serum, Harry, at Tonks' urging, told Amelia briefly about his experiences with the Dursleys. It took a lot out of him, but Amelia was very sympathetic and promised she would keep things completely confidential. Unfortunately, with the trial and everything going on at the Ministry, she had a lot on her plate, so any further investigation on her part would need to wait until the winter, or late autumn at least. It seemed like the meeting was over, but Harry had more that he wanted to accomplish at the trial than just getting Sirius' name cleared.
"Sirius, Tonks, what do you know of Little Hangleton?" Harry asked.
" I know what happened to you there," said Tonks, looking at him searchingly, before adding, "Caught a few young punks doing a spot of muggle-baiting last year as well, why?"
"I need you to do something for me. It will help us in the trial. Take this." He placed on the table a small, gleaming metal icosahedron, about the size of a baseball, that he'd taken recently from the Chamber of Secrets' library.
"Take it to the graveyard, tap your wand on the panel with the engraving of the Kenaz rune and wait. It will glow for about an hour. When it's done, bring it home."
"Can't you do it?" asked Tonks.
"I…I can't bring myself to go back there, but it will help me with what's to come, and I need it to be done before the trial."
"Do you need me for anything else?" asked Amelia.
"Yes, it's to do with this item," said Harry, gesturing to the polygonal orb. "Have you ever heard of something called a Locus Memoriat before?"
"Of course, the legendary artefact. They're priceless, only three have been known to have ever existed. They belonged, or belong to Nicolas Flamel, Paracelsus and Salazar Slyther- are you serious?" Amelia said, mind reeling with shock and anticipation.
"Deadly."
"I will make plans."
"I can use it to prove Sirius' innocence as well."
"Wow," said Amelia, "We can get it all done in one day, just like you said. But you will need someone to verify that it hasn't been tampered with, to verify it's in good condition.
"That's what I thought," Harry said, "Even if we did use it someone could say it'd been tampered with and without verification, it could be argued the information provided is false. We need Nicolas Flamel, no, wait…we need Dumbledore."
"Well it's a good job you're at the Hog's Head then," said Aberforth Dumbledore, who was scrubbing another table nearby, "He's in the castle and I've got a way of contacting him straight away."
Aberforth walked over to a portrait of a girl that Harry didn't recognise and spoke to her quietly. The girl smiled and walked into the background of her portrait before disappearing.
Five minutes later, there was a knock on the door and then it swung open, revealing the Hogwarts Headmaster in a fluffy, almost extremely orange dressing gown and slippers, who marched in, wand raised. He dropped it quickly.
"Oh, it's not an emergency. Aberforth, when you ask Ariana to fetch me quickly at six thirty am you make me panic. Please give her a reason if you need to do it again."
"I knew you wouldn't be out of bed this early on a Sunday, what did you want me to do?" Aberforth said, his long grey beard visibly moving with the size of his amused smile.
Dumbledore huffed and rolled his eyes, before turning to the other four.
"Hello, Amelia. Harry, Tonks, Sirius, I didn't expect to see you all today," he said.
"We're here about Sirius' trial, Professor," said Harry.
"I see."
"How easy is it for you to get in touch with Nicolas Flamel?" asked Amelia.
"Nicolas? I've not spoken to him for a while, why do you ask?"
"We need an ancient artefact appraising for the trial that he has expertise in. If Sirius' Veritaserum testimony is rejected for some reason, we're going to need a backup. Fudge has hired Lord Boots to represent the Ministry, and we all know he's the best in the business," Amelia replied.
"We do," Albus said with a sigh, "He even managed to twist me up in knots in forty-six and he was just out of school then. What kind of artefact is it?"
"Oh, my dear Professor, can't it be a surprise?" said Harry, eyes twinkling. He knew it would work. All his pandering, playing the part of his lapdog, his playing by Dumbledore's rules, and even the unplanned memory that he'd given to him had led Harry to this. Dumbledore trusted him, and Harry's light-hearted suggestion to let it be a surprise was playing on this grandfatherly position that he saw in his relationship with Harry. It was Salazar's plan of course. Both he and Harry knew that if Dumbledore knew what the artefact was, then he would work out what Harry really planned to use it for, and if Dumbledore had wanted to, he could've accomplished the same effect himself with other methods. Harry didn't trust Dumbledore as far as he could throw him, but he was a Slytherin now, he needed to use his connections and keep the old man trusting him, at least for now.
"Oh, very well Harry, you have me intrigued. I can contact him for you. You can write to him if you like."
"I've got a letter right here, Professor, I just need to write a name on it."
Harry borrowed a quill and some ink from Aberforth and wrote Nicolas Flamel on the envelope, before handing it to Dumbledore, who looked at it.
"This is a very unusual seal, Harry, I've not seen one like it before."
"Ah, that blasted thing," said Amelia, "Took me half an hour to figure out how to open it. Maybe add a note, my Lord." She looked over at Harry. Harry took back the parchment and wrote "Touch wand to seal to open" underneath the recipient's name, saying "Good idea, Lady Bones, I hadn't thought of that."
It was something that had been a little project between Harry, Fred and Hermione over the last two weeks. It all came about when Harry had mentioned to Salazar's Portrait the need for him to send confidential information to people that couldn't be opened by someone else, or tampered with. Salazar had advised that before parchment, they used to use a special type of papyrus that could be soaked in an easily sourced potion, making it very difficult to get into without destroying the contents, and that when he was alive, they used a spell on a letter's wax seal so that only the intended recipient could open it - by touching their wand to the seal itself. Tonks had managed to source some of the potion for him from Diagon Alley and when Fred had seen Harry doodling some very badly drawn ideas for a new seal for the combined Houses of Slytherin and Potter, he'd asked to use his art skills to get in on the fun. Harry really liked Fred's design. It was a monogrammed letter "P", with a strong serif, around which was a wavy circle in the shape of a snake, like on the external door to the Chamber of Secrets.
As she'd asked, Harry had given Hermione a book from the Chamber of Secrets on Arithmancy. It wasn't confidential, just very old. It was entirely in Latin, and she'd had to purchase an English-to-Latin dictionary to read the contents. She had a brilliant mind, incredibly logical but Hermione wasn't great at coming up with creative ideas herself, so after she'd said that she was finding the book interesting - it turned out to be a book on magical animation, Harry set her a project to take the spell he'd learned from Salazar and change it so that when the recipient touched their wand to the parchment. If it was the right person, the snake would slither around the circle before the seal disappeared.
After Harry had finished writing the directions on the parchment he handed it back to Dumbledore, asking "Do you think we will get a swift reply?"
Dumbledore chuckled, "We'll send it by Phoenix, and dear Fawkes won't leave without one. Plus he can be awfully petulant. Why, he singed the top of old Sluggy's hair off once after the third day of not replying."
"Excellent," Harry replied.
A crack of the gavel sounded in front of Dumbledore as he called to his audience in courtroom one, also known as the Grand Auditorium.
"Order." Dumbledore said, "Settle down, settle down. I know you're all excited but we need to get started. Order!"
Another crack, much louder this time. Harry hated the sound, and so did the rest of the Noble Lords and Ladies as they all immediately fell silent and sat quietly.
"Bring in the accused," Dumbledore called.
In this courtroom, there were only two exits. The large room, which was shaped like an amphitheatre, had a large dais where Dumbledore, the prosecution, the head of the DMLE, the Minister and the Undersecretary sat. This was separated from the wall, and the emergency exit was directly behind it. Around the wall, however, was the banked seating where the rest of the Wizengamot sat. As Harry was a Lord of the Great Seven, he was the only one allowed to sit in the front row. The main entrance was directly opposite the High Dais, as it was known, and halved the banking into two sides. Those of the Dark faction, officially known as the Pure Traditionalists, sat on the right (from their perspective in the room), while those of the Light, which was what they called themselves, sat on the left. Harry sat as close as possible to the centre on the right-hand side of the room, and so was seated right on the lower corner near the corridor that led to the main exit doors.
The large solid oak and intricately ruined double doors opened and Sirius Black walked in, guarded by Mad-Eye Moody. Sirius took his place on the seat in the centre of the room.
"Lord Sirius Black, you stand before the Wizengamot today on the highest of days. This Annual Equinox Session has been adjusted from its usual procession to prioritise your lack of trial. For this, the Ministry offers its apologies. However, before any recompense will be made, a trial must be held. So I say before you now, Lord Sirius, of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, you stand before us today accused of the murder of Peter Pettigrew and the murder of twelve muggles on the thirty-first of October, Nineteen Eighty-One, as well as for aiding and abetting the Dark Lord Voldemort by disseminating information which led to the finding and murder of Lady Lily Potter, Lord James Potter, as well as the attempted murder of their son, then Heir Harry James Potter. The main doors are sealed to prevent your escape. How do you plead?"
"Not guilty, Chief Warlock," Sirius said.
"Very well," said Dumbledore, "Do you have representation."
"I do, I will be represented by Lord Harry Slytherin-Potter."
Whispers broke out at that. Even though Harry was emancipated, this was the biggest trial of the century, no one of his age had ever presided over a trial of this calibre. Harry got to his feet.
"Lord Slytherin-Potter," Dumbledore said, "Please present your evidence."
Harry nodded and asked, "First, I would like to question Lady Amelia Bones, Head of the DMLE, Chief Warlock."
"Very well, begin your questions."
Harry then began to question Amelia, who testified to the meeting at the Hogs Head three days prior and explained Sirius' version of the events of that night many years ago. To say her words had an effect wouldn't even come close to describing it. Albus had to call "Order" several more times when there was raucous shouting around the courtroom. When they had finally settled down, however, Albus called for cross-examination of the witness. Lord Boot, the head prosecutor for the trial, essentially advised that while Amelia's word was likely true, she had most likely heard lies, as it was likely that Sirius had simply taken an antidote to Veritaserum before the meeting. It was worth a shot, Harry supposed, but really it was just a red herring. They would think he would lead with his main piece of evidence. When Dumbledore asked if he had anything further to present, Harry stood up from his seat once more.
"I have placed something that I can use to provide further evidence, Chief Warlock, in the rear exit behind you, may I retrieve it?"
"You may."
A minute later Harry returned carrying what looked like a very large ornate golden standing lamp. At its tip, a large sphere glowed, and at the base was a golden box, covered in thousands of tiny runes. Harry placed it between Sirius and Dumbledore before projecting his voice to the courtroom.
"This is the House of Slytherin's Locus Memoriat," Harry said to an instant chorus of whispers. He reached into his pocket and removed the small, shining icosahedron. "The Locus is able to capture the memories of a place, using the magic within everything, and that magic itself's collected memory can be displayed for us all to see. Within this device, I have collected the memories of the Shrieking Shack on the night when I first met Lord Black, over a year ago. I will use it to prove my Godfather is innocent."
Lucius Malfoy stood up from his seat.
"The Wizengamot recognises Lord Lucius, of the Ancient House of Malfoy," Dumbledore said.
"A truly impressive device, I'm sure Lord Slytherin-Potter, and while it does have a history of being used in this courtroom, it hasn't been seen for over a thousand years. We cannot be sure that it even works, or that anything it projects will be the truth." Lucius said.
"I thought you might say that, that is why I brought a very old friend to visit. Harry called to the main door, "Nicolas, please come down."
More whispering came as the very old form of Nicolas Flamel stepped down from the witness seats, which were on the top row, high at the back of the courtroom. Albus smiled at the sight of his old friend, and after several minutes of questioning, Nicolas had verified that the device was in full working condition and gave a small description to those who didn't know about the device about how it worked. The internal shape of the capturing device contains a series of completely reflective polygons, he explained, which concentrates the memory's form from which the main device pulls it upwards and would project it with a predetermined space decided by the Locus's operator. He advised them that it was impossible to tamper with a place's memory, as until the memory is captured it is without form and once captured held within a sealed container that is surrounded by lead and then goblin-forged iron. When the seal is opened again the memory no longer has form, so it instantly becomes nothing and therefore it would be impossible to interfere with the memory at all.
Lord Boot sat tight-lipped where he sat. Harry caught Cyrus' eye, who gave him a little smile from his seat, two seats to the right and one row up from Harry's, near the staircase leading down to the floor.
Now that it had been established that the Locus Memoriat was in working condition, Harry stood, approached it again and bending down, opened the door at its base before placing the icosahedron inside. He asked Sirius to step to the side so he wouldn't be stood within the memory projection.
Harry shut the door, messed with some dials on the side, and then tapped it with his wand. The glowing "bulb" at the top of the device flared into life and a large white translucent dome appeared over half of the circular "arena" at floor level in the room. With Harry still inside the dome, he played with the dials some more and it enlarged to fit the size of the entire floor-circle. He gave it one more tap with his wand and the dome disappeared and was replaced by a smaller, miniaturised version of the inside of the Shrieking Shack.
For close to an hour, the courtroom watched the events that took place in the shack at the end of Harry's third year. They gasped when Peter Pettigrew's true form was revealed and Dumbledore had to ask the throng to be quiet so the miniature Harry, Lupin, Ron, Hermione, Snape, Sirius and Peter Pettigrew could be heard. The courtroom couldn't believe it, Pettigrew wasn't dead after all. When everyone had left the Shrieking Shack, there was no point watching the memory anymore and the courtroom sat in silence as Harry deactivated the Locus.
"I don't think we need to see any more evidence, do we,?" said Albus Dumbledore, "The evidence that Peter Pettigrew is alive, that he was the secret killer and that he killed those muggles is incontrovertible. The memory of a location cannot lie. All those wishing to vote Lord Sirius Black as innocent, raise wands and cast Lumos."
There was no point for even those who didn't want Sirius declared innocent to not vote for his freedom now. It would only draw attention to themselves and so by unanimous vote, Sirius was declared innocent and pardoned.
As there were standard rules in place for recompense for incorrect imprisonment, Sirius was given ten thousand galleons for each year since the trial, including the time he had spent outside of Azkaban as he was still unable to live free. This amounted to a hundred and thirty thousand galleons, the biggest payout that the Wizengamot had released to one witch or wizard for over five hundred years. After the proceedings were completed, Sirius took his seat next to Cyrus as Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black. Of course that was after he gave his godson a bone-crushing hug and thanked him profusely.
Now that the trial was over, the Wizengamot was ready for the main part of the session to begin, usually starting with declarations of upcoming marriages, alliances and acknowledgements of oaths of fealty. Sirius gave Harry a squeeze on the shoulder, and whispered in Harry's ear, "Heads' up pup, Fudge's got something up his sleeve, it's not over yet."
Harry looked over at the High Dais, where Lord Boot was whispering quickly in Fudge's ear.
Albus Dumbledore stood up once more.
"Now that the trial portion of today is over, we will commence the main traditions of the equinox -"
"Excuse me, Chief Warlock," said Lord Boot, getting to his feet to the left of the Headmaster, "We have something else to raise concerning the case.".
"Very well, what would like to discuss?" said Dumbledore.
"I would like to question Lord Slytherin-Potter." Lord Boot stated.
Harry got to his feet, smiling. Hopefully, this line of questioning would be exactly what he expected.
"Yes, Lord Boot, how can I help?" Harry asked.
"The memory you presented by your Locus Memoriat is locked to only one location, is that correct?" Lord Boot asked.
"That is correct," Harry confirmed.
"And you were very angry at Peter Pettigrew when you found out that he was the one who betrayed your parents?"
"Of course I was, he was the cause of their deaths? Why ask such a ridiculous question?"
"I'm doing the questioning." Lord Boot said, stiffly, "Would you agree that as the Locus is only locked to one location that there is no proof of what happened afterwards to Peter Pettigrew after you, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger escorted him from the Shrieking Shack."
"The information given by Amelia Bones on Sirius' Veritaserum testimony is exactly correct as to what happened, my Lord."
"But you cannot prove it."
"I cannot, I could however call in witnesses who will also attest to what happened?"
"These would be the words of a known werewolf and two Hogwarts Students, those two students who are also known to be your best friends and the werewolf who not only turned on that night but was also shown in the memory to be furious at Peter Pettigrew, would they not?"
"Yes. They would not lie to this courtroom."
"That is what you believe. I do not believe we can trust their evidence."
"That is not for you to decide," Harry replied, trying to remain professional.
"Cut to the chase," called Fudge, "How do we know you didn't kill Pettigrew yourself?"
"Aside from the fact that in the memory you explicitly heard me stop Lord Black and Mr Lupin from killing Peter Pettigrew and instead decided that we would escort him back to Hogwarts to meet justice at the hands of the Ministry's dementors?"
"Yes," Lord Boot, glaring at Fudge for interrupting his line of questioning. "How do we know you and your friends wouldn't lie to cover up his murder? He as good as killed your parents, how do we know you didn't look at the man in the moonlight and just boil over in fury as many would have? If he is still alive, surely you must know where he is."
Harry said, "I don't know where he is now but as I assure you, Lord Boot, he is still alive."
"Prove it," shouted Fudge.
"Very well," said Harry, smiling menacingly. This was it. He'd done his job perfectly. Fudge was manipulative, but he was just too impatient.
Harry stood up and walked back to the Locus Memoriat, looked up and nodded at Amelia, who seemed to stiffen in her chair.
Harry adjusted one of the dials on the Locus, before removing another memory pod from his pocket and placing it in the machine. A chorus of murmuring began. They hadn't been expecting another memory. People became uneasy, but Harry gave no warning about the memory he was about to display. He tapped his wand on the machine and it flared into life. He wouldn't give the Death Eaters there a chance to try to escape or disrupt the machine and so he'd set it to display that night at the Graveyard at the exact moment that Lord Voldemort, already risen was surrounded by his followers. The miniature Harry was still trapped atop Voldemort's grave and Wormtail cowered behind his newly risen master. The tiny body of Cedric Diggory lay lifeless and ten Death Eaters bowed at Lord Voldemort's feet.
The courtroom gasped and some began to wail, as Lord Voldemort, calling their names one by one pulled off the masks of his inner circle of Death Eaters.
"Nott, Avery, MacNair, Crabbe, Goyle…even you, Lucius."
A bright blue spell flew across the room and hit the Locus, knocking it onto its side. It began projecting its image on the far left curve of the wall, but thanks to built-in shields, it wasn't destroyed. Harry had been ready for this, his wand in hand in his pocket, and he pulled it out instantly to cast a shield and begin a counterattack against whichever of the mentioned Death Eaters in the courtroom had fired at him. But it wasn't any of them, it was Lord Yaxley who was at his feet and followed up his initial spell with a blasting curse that was quickly absorbed by the protego.
Many of the people in the courtroom screamed, some dived behind their chairs, while others tried to make their way to the unfortunately sealed main exit, crushing against the doors.
With the addition of Yaxley, the only Death Eater that had chosen to reveal himself, he made it up to seven opponents for those willing to take up arms to face.
Dumbledore, thinking first of the innocents next to him, quickly shielded from a rain of spellfire that erupted from the seats, not only against Harry's rapidly raised protego but against those at the High Dais. He held a shield himself, and backed away from the Dais and towards the emergency exit, shepherding Lord Boot, Fudge and Umbridge through it as quickly as he could, his first duty being to protect the Minister's life. Kingsley Shacklebolt sprinted down the left staircase to take some of the pressure off the main circular area where Harry and the Dais were. He quickly engaged both Crabbe and Goyle in combat, masterfully weaving a variety of charms that instantly had them both on the backfoot, but then MacNair joined in the fight and started turning the odds, shielding for Crabbe and Goyle who clearly had much experience in working together.
Sirius vaulted over the chair and forward rolled into the arena behind Harry's Protego, which Harry increased in size to protect them both.
"Alright, there Harry, just like we practised eh?" Sirius called with a tight smile.
Harry nodded and quickly started to switch his shield between neutral and solid, firing through a variety of stunners, severing charms and blasting hexes, but it was very tough. Avery, Malfoy, Nott and Yaxley all still had the high ground, and none of their spells were getting through. Dumbledore appeared at his side, and was mid-conjure in bringing up a large stone wall between Harry and Sirius and the Death Eaters, before there was a scream and Kingsley fell to the ground, his leg totally shattered. This diverted Dumbledore's attention and he went to try to engage Kingsley's three attackers, while simultaneously trying to stabilise his friend at the same time. Unfortunately, the stone wall that Dumbledore had been raising from the ground was only about three feet tall, and Harry and Sirus dove behind it, a flurry of red and green spells streaking across the room above them.
Amelia, who'd been trying to use the dais as cover, concerned about her fallen colleague, rolled out from behind the platform and began casting quickly across the room, trying to cover herself through sheer volume of spells while she ran to Dumbledore's side. She managed to stun Avery but the attention of Malfoy, Nott and Yaxley was now on her, and anticipating her path, Nott hit her with a well-aimed cruciatus curse before reeneverating Avery. She fell to the floor with an agonising scream.
Now, their attention was back on Harry and Sirius, and the stone they were hiding behind was heating up quickly. They would have to move out in the open any second, but they were right in the middle of the Auditorium, smack bang in the middle of the kill zone.
"Fuck this, Harry. Fuck Dumbledore," Sirius said, "We go for the kill."
"Harry nodded and then heard another voice nearby start casting.
"Who's that?" asked Sirius.
Harry recognised it instantly. He'd only spoken to him yesterday.
"It's Cyrus. He's right at their side, we have to go now!"
Sirius and Harry dived in opposite directions from the wall. Harry was right, Cyrus was on his feet and was impressively holding his own against the Death Eaters, crouching behind the corpse of an unknown Lord who'd died still sitting in his seat.
Using the distraction, Harry slashed his wand in an arc and fired an incendio at Nott, whose robes instantly caught fire. Sirius followed up and levitated Nott high in the air before Harry cast a depulso and he flew backwards at speed, impaled on a metal brazier hanging on the back wall.
Yaxley turned his attention to the pair and sent an Avada Kedavra streaming towards Sirius, but speaking parseltongue, Harry conjured a small stone barrier of his own, instantly absorbing the curse. It shattered on impact and Sirius quickly followed up by reshaping the shards of stone into spikes and sending them flying back at the Death Eaters. Yaxley shielded all of the spikes, but Harry a saw stray one hit Malfoy in the leg, and he dropped to a knee in pain. Unfortunately, though, Cyrus was tiring quickly his shield no longer staying up and he was unable to move. He took three spells to the chest and Harry screamed as he saw him take a diffindo the the shoulder, completely severing his arm and taking him out of the fight.
Harry fumed, and he saw Sirius glance at him oddly through the corner of his eyes, but Harry was in the zone, and boy was he angry. The necklace heated up rapidly, and Harry twisted his wand, flicking it like a lash toward Yaxley, and flicked it quickly upward. Yaxley shot upwards at great speed, flying up high, smashing into the ceiling and dropping to the floor.
Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Sirius took advantage of Avery and Malfoy's momentary distraction at their stolen comrade and with a strong summoning charm, pulled Avery away at speed from Cyrus's rapidly bleeding form and sending him soaring towards them. Harry, filled with rage, wanted the man to die quickly, to stop him from causing his girlfriend's father any more pain, and raised his wand, thinking only to destroy. He jabbed his wand forward when Avery was less than a metre away, hissed in Parseltongue and the man's head exploded into a pile of bone, brains and viscera. It was only Lucius Malfoy left, and Albus, his fight with Crabbe and Goyle now over, stunned Malfoy and bound him in thick steel chains.
Sirius let out a relieved sigh, but Harry ran over to Cyrus, who was getting paler by the second. Harry shoved Malfoy out of the way and crouched by Cyrus's side, the knees of his trousers quicking soaking in blood. The fight was over. All in all, it had taken less than five minutes. Sirius ran to Harry's side.
"Harry we need to get him to St Mungo's."
"I've called for them," said Dumbledore, but they may take some time getting here down the elevator.
"We haven't the time," said Amelia, "He's bleeding too much. Does anyone have a blood replenisher?"
No one did, blood was pooling on the floor and starting to drip down the stairs.
"Harry…" Cyrus said, breathing heavily, "Tell my girls…tell them I love them."
"No, tell them yourself," Harry said, his mind flicking between despair and denial at what was happening. His mind was racing. He'd just killed a man, no, three Death Eaters, and accomplished all he'd wanted to do today, but this…. He imagined what he would say to Daphne, imagine her face when he told her what happened, that her father died when she'd known that he would be putting her father in danger at the session today. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't handle it. But what could he do? He'd just killed three Death Eaters, threw one into the back wall, one into the ceiling, and the other he'd exploded his head using a bone-breaking spell from Slytherin's Parseltongue Medicine Boo-
"Wait," Harry shouted to the room, "Get me his arm. GET ME HIS ARM!"
Sirius looked at him confusedly but moved immediately. He quickly found the severed appendage at the bottom of the stairs and threw it to Dumbledore, who caught it wandlessly and levitated it to Harry.
Harry swallowed. He hadn't tried this spell. He'd only read about it, but it was his only chance, surely? He was just lucky that Avery had taken it off with a cutting curse and not anything that would leave any dark residue. He shoved the severed arm, which still had his shirt sleeve attached back onto Cyrus' shoulder.
"Harry, my boy," Albus said, "What are you doing? You're glowing! We don't even know the spell that-"
"Shut up! I know! I need to concentrate!" Harry screamed at Dumbledore, who fell silent.
Holding his wand closely to the meeting point between arm and shoulder, Harry hissed in parseltongue, trying to think of everything he'd learned about bone, circulatory and muscle anatomy. His wand glowed white and the flesh and bone began to knit itself back together. It was incredibly draining, but he held the spell for ten seconds while the spell was completed. When it was done, only a scar wrapping all around Cyrus's shoulder was visible in between where his white shirt was torn,
Relief flooded through Harry and he sat back on his ankles. Cyrus then started laughing.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked, guessing the laughter was just from relief,
"I will be," Cyrus laughed but he was still breathing heavily, "I'm really dizzy… it's just funny… that's another life debt,"
"Still not gonna ask to marry Daphne. I'll vow it away again once you're better."
This made Cyrus laugh more.
"Thanks…for the heads up… dragon-scale…waistcoat. Guess it came in useful. That first spell he hit me with was a blood boiler…thank you." Cyrus sputtered, before making a weak smile…"From what I heard yesterday…Daphne might not mind…if you asked for her hand, that is…you're a good man, Harry."
"You tell her if she wants to marry me, she has to ask me herself."
Cyrus smiled. "Good answer…she will love that." and then promptly passed out.
Minutes later, the doors opened and tens of emergency healers from St Mungo's turned up. The meeting was over, and no one knew when the next Wizengamot date would be, but Sirius was freed, Cyrus was alive, and Harry's plan had worked. No one would know what the consequences of today would be for a few weeks, but in the end, Harry could go home happy..ish.