Mo Chridhe

Chapter 12

"Hi!" Harry chirped, as he made his way through Professor Snape's private quarters unchaperoned. He had the password, so he was able to come and go as he pleased. Not that he did, not without permission anyway. He closed the door tightly behind him and made his way over to Marcus who was reading a book Auror grade guide level 5.

"How are you doing?" Marcus murmured, absently reaching over and rubbing Harry's back when he sat down next to him.

"A lot less tired at the end of the day, the potions are amazing!" Harry enthused, his legs kicking back and forth aimlessly, "Although, I wish all of them could be put in my pumpkin juice." He confessed, wrinkling his nose they didn't taste nice at all.

"Speaking of potions, they're on the table," Marcus prodded Harry, encouraging him, "Go ahead and drink them."

"Can I have a glass of orange juice after? It really helps the taste?" Harry asked as he stood, "They didn't have oranges at meal time today." Just peaches, kiwi and pears, they were lovely, he loved eating them, but he'd noticed only orange helped the after taste of the potions.

"Serin?" Marcus called out, once the House-elf appeared he spoke again, "A strong black coffee and a glass of fresh orange. Do you want some fruit?" he questioned Harry.

Harry shook his head, potion swallowing most reluctantly, "Got some in my bag," grimacing and gagging, it was truly horrendous.

With no further orders the House-elf popped away to do her duties.

"You don't have to hoard food," Marcus told him, "We've told you before what to do if you're hungry." Although, Severus seemed to understand Harry's needs, and he guessed he did too a little bit. Harry had been starved to the point it was likely irreparable. He'd never gone hungry, despite what his grandfather put him through, it was never that type of abuse.

"I couldn't eat anymore, and they had pomegranate," Harry said, "Have you tried it?" the coffee and Orange juice was set on the table and the House-elf was gone before he could even think to say thank you.

"I have, they're good," Marcus agreed, "Here you go," putting the orange juice further in Harry's reach as he finally – grudgingly – drank the last potion and set the vial on the table. The amount of food Harry ate was infrequent most days, although according to Severus it was a good thing, he ate what he could about eight times a day, it will allow him not to only build up his appetite but prevent further medical issues such as refeeding syndrome.

Harry moved over and gulped the entire glass until it was empty.

"Do you have any homework today?" Marcus asked, flicking his wand and the glass floated on towards the sink.

"No," Harry shook his head, as he sat back next to Marcus, leaning unconsciously to the side of him. The few hours in the evening, were his down time so to speak. He wasn't sure how he'd survived without it this far, but he knew he wouldn't survive without it.

"Guess what came today?" Marcus commented, causing Harry to perk up a little, but remain glued to Marcus' side. "The one on the top is the one you'll want to read first." He told Harry, pointing towards the box under the table.

"So quickly?!" Harry all but outright squealed in delight.

"My parents are back home," Marcus replied, "They've sent copies, the real ones remain on the estate." Not that he reckoned Harry cared about that.

"Thank you!" Harry said, hugging Marcus as tightly as he could. He closed his eyes, feeling everything Marcus was, including the uncomfortable contentment.

Marcus returned the hug, a little uncomfortable, his parents always offered him comfort. His grandfather did the opposite, and his friends' version of affection was smacking him on the back. It was unusual, and Harry didn't normally extend that affection, it was usually him rubbing his back to soothe him which he knew worked now and maybe his friends rubbing Harry's hair with affection. "What are you searching for?"

"Did you know basic magical law is based on the Muggle laws?" Harry perked up, ignoring the book for the moment.

Marcus' brows rose in surprise, "Where did you read that?" wondering if it's some sort of light propaganda book he'd gotten his hands on.

"I took it out of the library on Monday," Harry told him, the piece of parchment helping him open the book at the aforementioned page. "See, right there," his finger jabbed at the line, which remained unmarked, Harry wasn't going around marking up books, Madam Pince would kill him. She was so super protective of the books. Recalling the one-time Ron followed him into the library and the librarian had screeched at him for touching her books with orange dusted hands. Which fair enough, he had just eaten a packet of crisps.

Marcus glanced at the title, his brows rising steadily higher, before reading where Harry had jabbed earlier. "You're right, apparently it does." A thoughtful frown on his face, "And why would we care?"

"I used what was left of my money to get a lawyer," Harry confessed, pulling out a file, "I may have written Lord Potter as my signature."

"And they believed that?" Marcus asked, taking the file to see what on earth his little Chridhe was up to. what kind of idiot had Harry hired? Especially if he believed Harry was a bloody Lord? It was well known that Harry was the last of the Potter family.

Harry opened his mouth wordlessly, shaking his head, barely refraining from shrugging his shoulders. Marcus had been helping him with all pureblood graces and manners, along with everything else. "I guess…"

"This is about Black?" Marcus frowned, reading the letter, eyes getting steadily bigger, to the point he was almost choking. "Bloody hell," he croaked out, guilty or innocent, to lock up Sirius Black without a trial for what was it? Ten years? That was shocking, oh, this was going to land a lot of people in prison. "Why are you interested in this?" the last thing he ever expected was for Harry to look into Black. Not after what he'd done to the family.

"The newspaper clippings you gave me got me thinking," Harry confessed, "So, I read every newspaper in the past ten years but nothing mentioned him. Considering how much they love talking about my family and what happened…there was no way someone wouldn't have covered the trial." And they did talk about his family heaps of times.

"So that was what you were up to," Marcus murmured, he'd thought he was looking for more pictures of his parents. He'd spent at least half an hour in the corner looking, he hadn't thought much of it.

"When I couldn't find anything I uh…I wrote a letter, asking them to look into it, I wanted the results of the trial. I wanted to know how long he's going to be in Azkaban for." Harry said stubbornly, crossing his legs, ugh, he shouldn't have drunk all that orange, he needed to pee. "Then they wrote back, told me that there had never been a trial held for Sirius Black. That there were no trial transcripts, which would have been there if there had been a trial of any kind for him they said, even if the file couldn't be found. The folder with the 'evidence' they said was flimsy, they'd never seen a more abhorrent job done."

Marcus made a noise of understanding.

"I swear I need to start carrying a dictionary around," Harry grumbled as he stood, legs crossed, "Luckily the tone was enough to figure it out." He added, as he made his way to the bathroom.

Marcus cleared his throat, expectantly.

Harry stopped, glancing back, legs dramatically crossed, "What is it?"

"You're supposed to say excuse me, it's only polite," Marcus pointed out wryly, still half distracted by the work Harry had done in fourteen days, in fact, it wouldn't be fourteen days until Monday.

"Even if it's just you?" Harry asked, his face a picture of offence, it sounded bloody stupid if you asked him. however, he'd been raised by the Dursleys and somehow managed to retain a polite demeanour when compared to any of the Dursley's. If he could succeed in that, then he would do what he had to in order to fit in with the magical world.

Marcus made a thoughtful grunting sound, "Only person you can do that with would be your immediate family and partner and only after you're married." He told Harry thoughtfully, before nodding to confirm that his words were correct.

Harry grunted out his displeasure, sounding remarkably like Marcus who huffed out a quiet laugh.

Marcus then went back to the information, finding out the name of the lawyer and realized why perhaps he'd gone through with it. Ted Tonks. It also explained the shaky writing, he'd want to tell his wife everything likely. However, since it was a job, he wouldn't be able to tell anyone anything. If he did, he'd lose his magic.

Once Harry had re-seated himself, he grabbed the bag of fruit, which was primarily pomegranate. He began to eat slowly, knowing how easily be became full to bursting.

"Ted Tonks, he's a decent lawyer, for a Muggle-born," Marcus conceded, folding the file up, with the information safely contained within. "He's actually Sirius' cousins husband, Tonks married Andromeda Tonks, who was born Andromeda Black and disowned for marrying a Muggle-born. Andromeda was…I think…the second born daughter of Cygnus and Druella Black. They were the only ones of their generation to be disowned. Although, whether it was done magically or not I do not know. Considering he's still being called Sirius Black it's unlikely to have been done properly."

"Do you think he'd work for me again?" Harry asked more than a little hopeful.

Marcus snorted, "Definitely not, he was risking it this time around." He was an underage child, "If you wait a year, you'll technically be a teenager so he might work to the letter of the law." There are some cases where teenagers could and did obtain lawyers.

"Why did he risk it then?" Harry asked befuddled.

"The magical world would do anything for you, you are their precious Boy-Who-Lived. You saved all their lives that night. They've grown up hearing about you, it's not just the students that adore you, or the idea of you." Marcus pointed out, chuffing at the look of disgust on Harry's face.

"I'll take do anything for me," Harry said thought, "But the rest I'm not interested."

Marcus smirked, "Slytherin," he teased the red and gold clad boy.

"What would you do next?" Harry asked, mouth and fingers smeared red from the juice of the pomegranate. "I mean if you were in my shoes." And they were nice and new and shiny, unlike the trainers he had which were Dudley's castoffs, and they were stretched around his meaty feet. It left Harry with a shoe that wiggled around regardless of what he did so he always wore his uniform and clothes.

"I'm not in your shoes, our lives were vastly different," Marcus was blunt in his reply as he often was. Sighing softly, "What do you want to be done next?" Sitting back, eyeing the eleven-year-old curiously.

Harry just sat there looking lost, "I um…don't know," he confessed, shrugging helplessly, "I guess a trial? I want to know why he did it, at this rate we're going to have a trial after he's served his time."

"He's in Azkaban for life, and by life we mean it, he won't leave the island alive." Marcus firmly told him. "As illegal as that incarceration is." He conceded.

"That's…wrong," Harry said, indignant.

"It is," Marcus conceded, now that was why the hats second choice had been Gryffindor for Harry. "Alright, I'll write to Tonks and open a case, but are you prepared for the backlash? Regardless of the consequences?"

"What kind of consequences?" Harry asked blankly.

"Every action has consequences; the Ministry won't take this lying down. They could do any manner of things up to including murder to keep this quiet. Could be Tonks, could be me, could be you…or worse, Sirius Black." Marcus said, pleased when Harry didn't just defend the government.

"What would you want?" Harry asked, peering up at Marcus, leaning into the back rub.

"Justice." Marcus agreed, "Alright, we'll do this with as much secrecy as possible."

"Do I want to know?" Severus questioned them, as he stepped into his quarters, a massive pile of scrolls he had yet to look over. Regardless of how tired he was, the first thing he did was check the table that Harry's potions were always left on for him and found them all empty.

Well, at least I managed to get something out tonight, even if it's only 2.5 thousand words but at least I'm keeping my word about updating which is important to me. And soon enough I'll be back to normal updating every 2/3 days depending on real life in general 😊 so I do hope you've been enjoying the frequent updates 😉 also I'd like to say that if you're disappointed there's so little, a Mo Chridhe will be slotted up top after the promised 7 chapters R&R please

So, hypothetically how long would it take (if the law was dragging its heels) to get a trial date set up? Will They tell Severus or keep it quiet with his knowledge that they were keeping things from him?