SIRIUS BLACK IS INNOCENT
DUMBLEDORE GUILTY OF WRONGFUL IMPRISIONMENT?
By Rita Skeeter
Yesterday an emergency meeting of the Wizengamot was called by Amelia Bones as the head of the DMLE. The session turned out to be the trial of Sirius Black, with the discovery that the one that should have happened thirteen years ago was ignored, and the recently appointed Lord Black (see p.5) was thrown in prison without being given one of the fundamental rights that rule our country. The appearance of new evidence, namely the resurface of Peter Pettigrew, the man Lord Black was accused of killing, alive and well. During the questioning of Pettigrew, where he admitted to being a death eater and the one responsible for the death of the Potter's, the man ended up choking to death. The cause of it is still unknown, as the unspeakables are still trying to figure it out, but theories have come forward and the most believable is that the former Dark Lord had some contingencies placed on Pettigrew in case this was to happen. Lord Black ended up testifying himself under Veritaserum and was proclaimed innocent by a large majority of the votes. His last statement, saying that Albus Dumbledore knew who the secret keeper was all along is what causing the biggest gossip, with people wondering if the Chief Warlock is really the leader of the light, if he can send an innocent man to prison. (For a complete description of the trial, see page 9)
Albus Dumbledore folded the newspaper, not wanting to read anymore about his fall from grace.
If not for that meddling reporter, he knew we would be able to do some damage control of the situation, but with him being the subtitle of her article, that was harder. Dumbledore was good with people. He knew how they thought and how to control them. And he knew they were ship. They enjoyed groups and wanted to always be a part of one. And Skeeter's articles played very well with those weaknesses.
He noticed a lot of students with newspapers in their hands, some looking and pointing at him. He needed something to boost his public opinion, and he needed to shut down the inquiry that Amelia Bones was preparing, about his mal-conduct with Sirius' trial.
He closed his eyes, the political game he was playing for the better part of a century was tiring. He would take a big vacation after all of this was done.
Harry sat on the floor of the chamber of secrets meditating. He had been spending more time doing it every day. It served for his training in occlumency, something he'd asked Salazar for pointers a few days ago, but also helped to relax his mind and focus better. He noticed his training sessions went better after meditating for a while, his magic more powerful and focused. It also helped take his mind of the conundrum he had been since his run with Fleur.
If he was being honest with himself, the idea of going with Fleur was tempting. She was incredibly beautiful, the Veela nature only increased the fact. She was interesting, funny and powerful. She had proved to be interested in him, and she had done that before the first task, before his incredible demonstration of power against the dragon.
She also liked teasing him, something which Harry secretly enjoyed, even if more afterwards than when he was on the spot. At the same time, she was lonely. The arrogance most people knew in Fleur was a façade, Harry had saw that before the first task, in the champions tent. He's seen the fire with which Fleur protected the ones close to her. Her loyalty and devotion. He couldn't blame the people who got stuck with her beauty, but he pitied them for what they were losing.
On the other hand, she was a few years older than him. And even with the rituals accelerating his growth and fulfilling al the physical potential he had, the age gap was still big. In a few years, of course, that would be irrelevant. But that would be in a few years. He also couldn't forget the fact that she lived in France, and even with magical travel, that could represent a problem in the future.
But making all those problems irrelevant was Daphne. Looking back, he realized that he had a thing for the girl for a few years now. They'd spent more than three years together, and even with his primary relationships being Tracey and Blaise, Daphne had always been there. If Fleur had not showed up, he wouldn't even consider anyone else. Daphne's father was also a problem, but unless he decided to go after the man himself, there wasn't much to do about it right now. He could always pray for the man to change his entire world view, but he doubted that would ever happen.
He considered the two wives hypotheses. Salazar had been the one to brough it up. It wasn't unheard of, an only child that was heir or Lord to more than one important house to take two wives. Magical women usually had a small number of children, usually one or two, with some rare cases of three. 'Molly Weasley as the exception' he thought with distaste. He found the women unbearable. And in a world where everyone carried literally a gun at all times, one child per house was a bit of a risk. So, two wives was the solution some man found for that issue.
Harry had grown up in a monogamic society, so he wasn't very interested in that solution, but at the same time, when he thought about sacrificing one of the girls over the other, he found it extremely hard to choose. It was a subject he would calmly and discreetly approach.
Noticing how distracted from the meditation he had become, he decided to put an end to it and deal with the other issues pressing him.
He wrote to Sirius, informing that he would be going to Gringotts the next day, and asking if his godfather would like to accompany him. He invited the man for lunch also, when he remembered that he had never shared a meal with Sirius.
"Hey, Sal, how are you doing with the sound from that egg? Any advancements?"
"Call me Sal ever again, and I'll make sure you will never be able to enter this chamber ever again" was the response, barely a whisper.
Harry could feel the disdain coming from the founder. Harry had pushed the limits of the founder, by a lot. Their relation had evolved, a lot since the beginning, going from a very formal one, where Harry was slightly scared of Salazar, to one of mentorship, friendship, and, sometimes, almost paternal even. But Sal was a bit too much, apparently.
"Sorry"
"You better be. Now, about the voices. As you may be aware, Helga was the nicest of us all. For all the things they got wrong about us four founders, that is one of the right ones. And was one her greatest prides, was the fact that she had a great relationship with a lot of the magical creatures here in Hogwarts and in magical Britain. She went as far as learning how to speak in some of their languages."
"She learned how to speak magical creatures' languages? How is that possible?" Harry always appreciated this small history lessons. The founders had been incredible people, all very powerful on their own fields, and Harry always found it funny how all of them were so different from what people believed them to be these days, it was almost ironic. Yes, some of the characteristics were the same, Salazar's wit, Godric's recklessness, Rowena's intelligence, or Helga's kindness. But a lot of the others were incredibly wrong, like Salazar's hatred for Muggles and Muggleborns. He wasn't a fan of the Muggles, that's for sure, the witch burnings happening in his time and the fact his own son had been killed in one of those, ensured that. But he had no problems with Muggleborns, even believing they should be more protected than purebloods, due to the fact that they were born in a family who didn't understand magic, and usually led to cases like Harry's.
"Rowena gave her a little help. That diadem of hers was very useful to us four in all kinds of situation. In fact, I would say without it, this chamber would be a way more rudimentary work than it is. But going back to Helga, one of the magical creatures she was found of was the merpeople. They live in the black lake, underwater, and have a lovely voice. Their chant is recognized all around the world as an enticing but very beautiful sound."
"And they are also known for not being able to speak out of water! Exactly!" Exclaimed Harry, remembering some of his studies on magical creatures.
"That's right. And the sound of the egg is very familiar with the sound I remember from merpeople. It has been one thousand years, so I won't say it is for sure, but I think that it."
Harry understood that he would have to open it underwater. He looked at the small pool on the main chamber. The water was freezing. He slowly breathed in and out a few times, casted a few warming charms on the water, took out his cloths and jumped, with the egg around his arm.
He instantaneously felt his bones freeze, his muscles screaming for warmth. His warming charms had apparently done nothing to the water.
He opened the egg, and a beautiful female voice could be heard.
Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching ponder this;
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour, the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back
Come seek us where our voices sound…
Harry quickly memorized the poem and came bursting out the water, chattering is teeth like crazy.
He tossed the egg aside and started casting another set of warming charms on himself, to the point where he felt he was in the middle of the desert.
Only then he noticed Salazar was cackling at him.
"What?" he asked, the sour mood visible on his face.
"You really still have too much to learn. What is wrong with you? That water is freezing, it was for the Basilisk, not for you! You know you could have just taken a bath with it, right?" He burst out laughing again, unable to control himself with Harry's idiocy.
Harry wanted to facepalm himself. How had he not thought of that? Taking a warm bath was a way more obvious solution than jumping into the Basilisk's pool.
"Do you want to hear the clue of not?" he said, trying to make the founder calm himself
"I guessed it worked then. What did it say?"
Harry repeated the poem to Salazar, who analyzed it step by step.
"Come seek us where our voices sound, we cannot sing above the ground. That's an easy one. Unless they take you out of Hogwarts, something which is highly doubt, they mean the lake. We've taken what you'll sorely miss. That's very ambiguous. You'd miss a lot of things. But is it an object? Is it someone? The rest of the it is very straight forward; you have one hour to search, or it will be lost forever."
"What they'll take is really the big mystery here. Not that I think they would kill the hostages, if they use people, that would end the tournament right there. But if they take an object, they may be crazy enough to let it go."
"And what lives there. I know some of the creatures, but in the last millennia things can have changed. You should do some research on that."
"Noted. To breath underwater, I know of some options, like gillyweed or the bubblehead charm, but which do you think it's the best?"
"You could always do a ritual to allow you to breath underwater, but you would probably end up with gills for the rest of your life." Joked Salazar "Gillyweed is the best out of the two, if you can get your hands on some. It's more reliable, can't be broken with one spell, and gives you fins. The bubblehead charm is vulnerable to any spell that hits it, so I wouldn't recommend it. Don't forget that fights between champions happened all the time, you told me that yourself."
"Right, that's also a good strategy in case one of the champions attack's me. I guess gillyweed is the go-to, right?"
"You could, but isn't this tournament based on points given by judges? And if you want to win, isn't it a better option to try to impress them? Do something different?"
Harry pondered the idea for a while. Salazar had a point. Those two options would probably be what the other three champions would go for. If he wanted to stand out, he had to think of something different.
"Any ideas then?"
"I'll think of something. In the meantime, focus on dueling. You have very few days until the second task. And the Ball, don't forget the Ball. It's always a good opportunity to make connections, and you know you will need all the allies you can gather. Have you made a decision about your dilemma on the other day?"
"Some progress, but no decision. I can't go with Daphne, so that's out. We can't be seen dating in public. I wanted to take Fleur, and she outright showed interest in going with me, but I don't know if Daphne would go for it."
"It's complicated, no doubt. But if there's something that I learned with all the journey I went through, it would be that your partner will always be the most important person to you, and that no amount of power or influence will ever top that." A tone of sadness and bitterness was present in his voice
Harry thought about those words for a few moments. Something had happened in Salazar's life where he had made the wrong choice. He would ask the founder later. Now, he had to go, but wanted to push the founder's buttons one more time.
"Thank you for the advice Sal, I will really consider it."
And then he ran out of the chambers, as it trembled slightly with Salazar Slytherin's ire.
Harry approached one of the two girls he had ever kissed in his life.
"Daph, can we talk?"
"Sure Harry, what's up?"
"I wanted to talk about all this mess we are in." Daphne's eyes darkened with those words "We had a date, it went well. We kissed. I like you, and I assume you like me. But we can't be seen together. I don't like that. At the same time, in just a few days, I'll have to go to a Ball with a girl and dance with her. What do you propose that I do?"
Daphne's expression saddened; she knew this conversation was coming.
"Harry, I understand your position. I really do. And I hope you understand mine, and that this is not easy for me. All I wanted was to go with you and have a great night. But my father would never allow it. So, I guess you're free to take whoever you want."
Harry didn't like it. He knew that could cause him trouble in the future.
"Even if I take Fleur?"
"Ev- even if you take Fleur. I don't like it, but I can't oppose to it."
She was sad, her eyes looked like she would burst into tears at any moment.
He hugged her, placing a kiss on her forehead.
"I just want you to know you would always be my first choice. I would take you if I could."
She hugged him tighter, upon hearing those words.
Harry was happy that that situation was kind of resolved. He still had to ask a seventeen-year-old gorgeous witch to be his date.
He gave her a small kiss on the lips.
"I promise I will take you to an even better date after that" he said.
A small smiled graced her lips.
AN: Another one done, the Yule Ball will be on chapter twenty and the second task right after that. We are almost there.
I thought about writing a poem of my own for the clue, but honestly, the original is so well done I ended up just leaving it alone.
Brasheril_holmestalentmaster: I just want to thank you for taking the time to comment on every single scene. I really enjoy reading your reviews, both the praise and the criticism. Those really made my day today.
Thanks to my Beta Arthur for his once again valuable input on this story. Sorry if I'm a pain in the ass.
Thank you all for the amazing reviews. I really enjoy reading them all. They give me the motivation to keep spending a good part of my days writing this story. Keep them coming.