hello *waves sheepishly* bet u didn't expect to see me. i definitely didn't.
god, it's been so long i don't even know where to go from here. first and most importantly, though, i want to thank every single people who's kept up with FoD. everyone who's asked about an update and still invested in this little world of mine. a year is a long time, especially when you have no idea if a fic is abandoned or discontinued (which i promise it's not and won't be; i've put too much into this to stop mow)
second, i'm coming off a month's world of incredibly obsessive fanfiction reading. a lot of heavy worldbuilding fics with a lot wizarding politics and slytherin harry and tom riddle shenanigans. i feel like it's kinda seeped into my writing a little; it's become oddly stilted, formal. but that could just be me forgetting how to write, yet again, because of such a huge break lol. i wrote most of this chapter (and the next) in the last two days, after almost a year of not touching any of my works. wasn't easy, i have to say.
third, this chapter is….interesting because it's a bit of a recap and a bit of a confrontation and a bit of a reconciliation. sirius is, sadly, not here but the next one will be all him, i promise.
fourth, i want to thank an anonymous friend over on tumblr who sent me an ask along the lines of 'it's been a year, will FoD be updated :(' and it was just. so earnest, that it kicked my ass into gear. this one's for you, friend.
fifth, and last, i hope you enjoy this :)
(quick recap since it has been a heinously long time: in the previous chapter, harry sits for his underage magic trial. unlike canon, he's well prepared, and represented, by oscar who walks in, kicks ass, takes names. harry discovers he can resist veritaserum if so inclined, which terrified him a little. oscar, the sly old man, also manages to get harry's priors cleared off in a similar manner. they also establish he's a legal adult in the eyes of the ministry, courtesy triwizard tournament. after the trial, harry finally gets his meeting with madam bones, who ends up hearing him out and promising to look into sirius' case.)
(25.11.24)
Harry exited the DMLE with an incredibly satisfied air around him, a bounce in his step as he made his way over to Mr. Weasley who was in conversation with another Ministry employee. As soon he spotted Harry, though, he wrapped it up and came to stand in front of him with a light frown on his face.
"Will you tell me what that was about now?" He could tell the man was annoyed, and he didn't even blame him for it. While the secrecy was necessary for him to ensure he actually had a chance to talk to Madam Bones without being intercepted by…do-gooders, it still meant that Mr. Weasley had to wait outside her office for him for an indeterminate amount of time. He was sure there'd be questions to be answered, most of them laid at Mr. Weasley's feet, on his whereabouts and actions. Already, people were whispering and pointing, and he hadn't been blind to the stares he'd attracted walking in and out of Madam Bones' office.
"I had to talk to Madam Bones about something, Mr. Weasley," he said.
"Harry—,"
"Not here," he grabbed Mr. Weasley's sleeve and looked at him meaningfully. "It's about our Snuffles." Ginger eyebrows raised sky high at that statement and Harry winced, knowing he was in for it now. Mr. Weasley might usually be mild mannered, but he clearly had opinions right then. "I'll tell you when we get home. We can't talk about it in the Ministry, Mr, Weasley." He received a gruff nod in response before the man took off towards the public exits. Harry followed behind, wondering how he'd handle this.
He didn't want to divulge everything he'd been up to during the summer, but he knew he would have to talk about part of it, if only for the sake of getting the man off his back. There was also no doubt he'd be telling everyone else in the Order what Harry had just done. That, unfortunately, included Sirius which was another landmine he had to navigate. Harry was never going to keep his manoeuvring a secret from his godfather, definitely didn't want to spring it on him last minute, but he wanted to have some more pieces in place…a little more confirmation before he told Sirius what he'd been up to.
If only so he didn't raise the man's hopes and crush them in the same breath.
But now, he could see the choice would be taken out of his hands and he was going to have to deal with this today. It was then that he made the decision to come clean to Sirius—worse than raising his hopes on an uncertainty was lying to him. Harry was already balancing on a ledge of morality, running around behind everyone's— behind Sirius'— back like this, playing with lives and reputations. He didn't want to make it worse.
So it was decided, as he held on to Mr. Weasley and apparated to the front stoop of Grimmauld, he'd do this.
"What were you thinking , Harry?" Mrs. Weasley cried, hands twisting the hem of her robes anxiously.
"He wasn't, that's the whole problem, isn't it," Moody said. His fake eye was whirring rapidly while the real one was fixed firmly on Harry in a glare.
It was a while after they'd gotten to Grimmauld Place—just enough time for Mr. Weasley to apparently call in the reinforcements—and the joy of Harry's success was drowned out by all the revelations of the day. Oscar, his sudden-legal status, meeting with Madam Bones. Mr. Weasley didn't tell them much, but the barebones were out there for everyone to hear.
Harry hadn't been alone and isolated the way they'd thought, planned . He'd been in contact with not just the magical world, but a barrister as well. Someone close enough to represent him in the trial, with preparation . And if that wasn't enough, he'd planned to meet with Amelia Bones as well, though it was a small mercy that they didn't yet know why,
For a few minutes there, the room was plunged into silence as they digested that, trying to figure out which part to focus on.
Eventually, they'd decided to forego the matter of Oscar in favor of Madam Bones. And oh, how loudly they did it.
Harry was torn between defending himself and staying quiet for as long as humanly possible. Both options had its merits and demerits. It was the look on Sirius' face though—pale, haunted, overwhelmed—that made him go with something in between.
"You don't even know what I did."
Which was true enough. No one had bothered asking him anything—the minute Mr. Weasley announced that Harry had 'snuck off to talk to Amelia Bones about Sirius' there was an immediate outburst of noise. Ironically, he'd been shunted off to the side, per usual, as the adults started going off on tangents. It was quite depressing if this was the sum total of the war effort, the mean part of Harry's mind wondered, as he looked at the group of people surrounding him.
"Harry—,"
"No," he firmly cut off Mr. Weasley, not wishing to drag this on longer than it needed to be. "We've been back for over 10 minutes now, and not once has someone thought to ask me what I did, let alone why I did it. At this point, I don't even care about it. The only person who deserves an answer is Sirius, and best believe he'll get one. Everyone else, though?" He made a 'eh' sound with the tip of his tongue, letting his face spell out his thoughts in a way no one could mistake.
"We're only looking out for you, Harry," Mrs. Weasley said, wounded.
"And I appreciate that," he made himself say through gritted teeth, "really, I do. But that does not allow anyone the right to make my decisions for me. I decide what I want, and I will not sit here and let any of you question that."
That triggered an explosion of noise from all corners of the room.
"How dare you, boy-" Moody.
"Now, that's not fair-" Mr. Weasley.
'Oh, come on, mate." Ron, alongside a loud, scandalised gasp from Hermione.
"But, Harry, you're just a child!" That little gem was Mrs. Weasley, and ultimately, what got to him in the end.
" I AM AN ORPHAN ," he roared, slamming one shaky hand on the table with a bang loud enough to shut everyone up. "My parents. Are. DEAD."
For a few horrible, peaceful seconds, there was silence. No one said a word, didn't even dare move. Only Harry's labored breaths echoing around the room.
"I am a child to you ," he continued accusingly, looking into the eyes of every single adult who'd failed him so far. "But I have done nothing except fight for my survival all these years. I think it speaks to the success of those attempts that I'm standing here today, in front of all of you, to be able to say this." That was a bit of a joke, on the darker side to be fair, but all it did was enhance the sense of horror permeating the room. Oh well, he tried.
"So," he exhaled, slow, tired. " So . I'm going to ask that we start this over, and do better this time around."
There wasn't an immediate reply, not that he expected it, really. He was sure he'd shocked the pants off most of the people today, even if they didn't know the extent of his actions. Hell, the Harry Potter of a few weeks ago would've hardly believed what he was seeing today. So he stood there, waiting.
Surprisingly (or perhaps not?) it's Kingsley, who'd remained silent up until now. His presence was just as calm as Harry remembered, and his voice was even, free of censure when he spoke.
"Well, Harry, if I may-what did you talk to Madam Bones about?"
Harry turned to him with a small, grateful smile. "I'd owled her a while ago, before this whole fiasco actually. When this trial came around, though, it seemed like a good time to target two targets with one stone."
"But why did you owl her in the first place?" It was Mr. Weasley who hesitantly spoke up this time.
"Ah, see, I wanted to talk to someone in charge about Sirius' imprisonment and, y'know, escape," he said sheepishly, hand going up to mess up his hair before flattening it. "Madam Bones is widely considered to be the fairest official in the entire Ministry…not like that's a huge bar to cross." The last bit was said in an undertone, but clearly heard by the others if the small choking sounds he heard were an indication.
Harry only had eyes for Sirius, though, who'd somehow gone paler than he'd thought possible. No mean feat considering the first time Harry had seen him, he was coming off a twelve year long imprisonment with no access to the sun. He winced, wishing yet again that it hadn't come to this. Sirius shouldn't have had to find out this way, not when it was something as serious as his life, his freedom .
"Anyway, she-er. She agreed to hear me out, and I gave her an overview of what's happened so far."
"Harry." Remus' voice was stern and mildly disapproving-the tone he pulled off increasingly often, one that Harry was unfortunately familiar with. It never failed to grate on his nerves, for what right did Remus have to use it on him? But alas, that little fact had never stopped him before and nor did it do so now. "That was an incredibly risky move, not to mention reckless. How can you be sure-?"
With a roll of his eyes, Harry replied, "It can't make things any worse than where they are now, Professor. There's already a bounty and a Kiss order on Sirius' head-what more can she do?"
That seemed to shock him into quite an undignified splutter. Harry had to bite down on the smile threatening to erupt at the sight of the normally-unflappable man so clearly at a loss for words.
Amusingly, it seemed to bring Sirius out of his stupor, just marginally so but enough. He stepped forward, fingers twisted into a fist Harry could see through his robes.
"Harry, I-You-," he stopped. Took a deep breath and swallowed it in a noisy gulp. It was practically a white flag, raised high into the air, from a man as composed as Sirius. The amusement turned to ash in an instant. "I can't, that is—Please forgive me, I have to…step out for a minute." The words came out through gritted teeth, control balancing on a knife's edge. He looked at Harry for another minute, dipping his head in a nod before slowly moving out of the room. They could hear the soft snap of the door closing behind him, echoing ominously in the silence he left in his wake.
Harry stared after him, fear and anxiety and concern warring inside him. He would like to think that he knew Sirius well enough to know that he wasn't angry or upset…merely a bit overwhelmed. He preferred not giving into emotions around others, definitely not this sorry lot. At least, that's what Harry would tell himself until he got the chance to go to the man,
He didn't get the time to dwell on it, though, because the peanut gallery started up again as if nothing happened.
"Remus isn't wrong, Harry. What on Earth made you think something so irresponsible was the right thing to do?" Mr. Weasley asked, slightly aggravated, mostly exasperated.
"Well, for one, I didn't think it was irresponsible. Still don't, actually," Harry shrugged, "I've definitely been through worse before. And, beyond that, I know Sirius being a runaway fugitive is a big thing hanging over our heads but…you guys do realise that we had a very legitimate claim back in third year, right? Like, I don't mean to be dismissive but we had a strong argument, and if Snape hadn't poked his ridiculous nose into things, it might not even be this bad today."
From the looks of their faces, and how no one chastised him about being disrespectful of greasy Potions Masters, it seemed like they did actually forget that little tidbit. Some part of Harry can sympathise, because he'd also gotten caught up in the whole thing.
Not counting that first horrific Halloween, or the fact that knowing but not admitting where Sirius was today could become criminal liability, that night where all the truths had come out had enough material to keep a police force and it's adjoining legal system tied up for weeks .
In fact, the trickiest part to navigate was getting Professor Lupin out of it unharmed. If anyone but the most sympathetic ever found out how he conducted himself that evening…
Harry shuddered just thinking about the repercussions. Over two decades of secrecy would be brought down in one fell swoop, with devastating consequences for everyone involved.
So no, he didn't think it was a stretch to say that everything else could be sorted out with relative ease. If it wasn't, then his conversation with Madam Bones wouldn't have gone as swiftly and cooperatively as it did. The Ministry was corrupt, yes, but that seemed to be the nature of governments if his study of polity was accurate, and the Minister was an utter tit, also yes, but he was just one man at the end of the day. A powerful man occupying the highest seat in their nation right now, but still just a man. And one who's shown himself to be extremely easy to influence, at that. Harry knew that Oscar had already gotten together a list of all his weaknesses, ready to press at the slightest provocation.
He looked around him, faces displaying confusion, annoyance, realisation, shock. It seemed like his words didn't really sink in and it wasn't really a surprise, was it, because how many here know exactly what went down that day.
A deep sigh escapes as it hits him what he would have to do. Harry scowled at the thought—all he really wanted to do after the day he'd had was curl up beside his godfather and tell him everything. Every single person he'd talked to, item he'd bought, and place he'd visited this summer. Wanted to confide about the game of chess he'd been trying to play. Needed Sirius' assurance and warmth and comfort, more than anything else. He wanted to apologise to Sirius for keeping so many secrets, for playing with his life, and he needed Sirius to forgive him for doing it. None of that included pandering to this crowd but he knew, he just knew because that's how his life always was, that he must.
None of them were his enemies and he didn't want to treat them like one, no matter how on his nerves they were getting at the moment.
Another sigh before he straightened up, shoulders rolling back in a decisive stance.
"Okay. Alright. Twenty minutes. I'm going to talk about this for twenty minutes before I go to my godfather, as I should've from the start. He's the only one involved in this. But—,"
"Now that is definitely not true, Harry," Hermione cut in quietly. "Everything else aside, we're all equally guilty of hiding a fugitive on the run. If nothing else, you have to acknowledge that. Sirius is not the only person mixed up in this and it's not wrong for us to be worried."
Harry opened his mouth, blinked, and promptly closed it when he realised she wasn't wrong. He'd really forgotten that bit, hadn't he?
Running a hand sheepishly through his hair, he conceded, "You're right. I apologise. I've been stuck only on Sirius this whole time and didn't realise how it could backfire on anyone else. That's on me. But," and here, his eyes hardened, as did his voice, "that does not mean I regret my actions. I did not mention anyone except myself to Madam Bones, nor did she ask."
He held up a hand at the expected rebuttals, knowing that he had to give them something if he was to get away from this mess. He had to play the long game, because there was an entire Summer in front of him. There were only so many times he could get away with irreverence and dismissals.
"I think, what's happening, is that most of you don't know what happened at the end of my third year. I don't even know if you know the whole story of Halloween '81." The expressions round the table told him his suspicions rang true. He held in a sigh that rattled his lungs instead. Of course, of fucking course.
"I'm going to tell you about both those days, and then I will tell you what I did today. I will hope that is enough to let me go after that." Harry had, in the past few weeks, learnt a thing or two from Oscar. One of them was speaking decisively, never giving a choice to the other side, making them aware of who held all the cards in the room. It made him feel a bit slimy, if he was being honest, and he tried not to put it on too often, but he couldn't help how utterly useful it was.
He got enough nods from everyone that he felt comfortable going forward. "For reasons even I am unsure of, my parents decided they needed the extra layer of protection that a Fidelius would give them. Sirius was, unsurprisingly, the first option for Secret Keeper. This is where the story moves away from what everyone assumes."
"It is because he was such an obvious choice that they decided to change it, behind the scenes. Peter Pettigrew was chosen, for being such an unlikely choice. After all, who would think the snivelling rat hiding behind everyone's coattails could be given such a responsibility?" Try as he might, Harry couldn't keep the disgust out of his words. This was the man who'd ruined his life, who'd betrayed everyone so spectacularly that they were still feeling the repercussions a decade later.
"Only the four of them knew—my parents, Sirius, and Pettigrew." His eyes cast over Remus for a second, just briefly, but enough to see the stricken look on his face. It brought to mind something Harry wondered himself, why hadn't they confided in him? Did something happen? He made a mental note to ask Sirius about it when he could. "However, Pettigrew was the real Death Eater and squealed to Voldemort as soon as he could. Sirius, acting as the decoy, had no idea. On Halloween, well, we all know how it went down."
He paused for a second, both for those who'd flinched back from his casual use of the Dark Lord's name, and for himself. Ever since he'd faced the Dementors, the memories of his parents' last moments were never far away. He didn't think he wanted them to be, either, no matter how terrible they were. If he could only have that piece of them, then he'd hold it gladly, cherish it with all he had.
"After…everything, Sirius tracked down Pettigrew but, as with everyone else, underestimated him to the point of tragedy. Pettigrew shouted out lies, created a convincing light show for everyone around him, and hit a blasting charm into the gas pipeline running directly beneath the street. Gas," he added lightly, "is an incredibly flammable substance and when he pulled that shit, it created what could be called Muggle Fiendfyre."
He almost smiled at how everyone paled at that comparison. Good, let them know how dangerous it was. He was so glad he'd had this conversation with Sirius now.
"Then Pettigrew transformed into a rat—he was an illegal animagus, like Sirius and my dad—and ran away in a sewer. A year later, he popped up in the Weasleys' backyard like a common garden mouse, just with a missing finger, and led a nice, comfortable life until two years ago." The few who didn't know about Scabbers turned to look at the Weasleys in open-mouthed shock. Molly and Arthur winced, head bowed. It was a terrible position to be in all around. Not only the fact that they had a Death Eater in their home, but that he'd been rooming with all of their underage children….
Pettigrew didn't even realise how many enemies he'd made. He thought it was only the Dark Lord and Sirius he needed to be afraid of but in truth, the number was much larger. And deadlier.
Harry continued, "Sirius broke out of Azkaban and essentially cut Pettigrew's lifespan in half with the amount of fear and stress that induced. Quick rundown, Sirius as a dog could slip through the bars of Azkaban, after which he spent thirteen hours swimming through the ice cold water of the Azkaban Ocean to get to land. His repeated breaks-ins at Hogwarts were an attempt to get to Pettigrew, still masquerading as Scabbers. It all came to a head at the end of the school year."
"Another long story short, and really that is the story of my life in the Wizarding World so you might as well get used to it, but we—that is, Hermione, Ron, and I—confronted Sirius in the Shrieking Shack, yes, yes, that one—," he answered before anyone had gone further than opening their mouth in question, "—and don't answer us why, there's no good answer other than karmic dark humor. Things were said, Professor Lupin realised what had happened, the three of us somehow got the truth of the matter, and for a moment, it seemed like all was well. Pettigrew was trussed up tighter than a Thanksgiving Turkey, Sirius was beside me, and we could've resolved it all right there and then."
It was here that he stopped, unable to continue for the bitterness flowing through him. It could've been so easy, none of this bullshit politicking and running around if they'd just…succeeded that night. Harry has had enough time, and hindsight, to realise that it wasn't just one thing that went wrong—it was a whole year, no, decade, of people making bad decisions—but he couldn't help but lay the entire blame of that night's misfortune on Snape's shoulders. If only the man had just…stopped, for a second. If only he'd chosen to be a decent fucking human for once.
The list never ended. The 'if only's grew longer and when the Snape-related ones died out, the only thing that remained were Harry's faults.
"But things went horribly wrong after that." The new, unexpected, voice startled him badly enough that he twitched back in shock. Harry looked up from his clenched fists to see Hermione looking at him with a soft smile, sadness and understanding curling at the edges of it. "It wasn't Harry or Sirius' fault. We just didn't count on a few…obstacles in our way. The biggest one being the horde of dementors that realised their target was nearby. After that, our biggest priority became survival. The rat transformed and ran away in the commotion and the fact that all of us came out of it alive, with our soul intact, is a credit to Harry's skill with the Patronus."
There was conspicuous silence left in the wake of her words. Harry still didn't have it in him to continue. But he forced himself to sit up straight. Just a bit more, and he'd be done.
He mouthed a 'thanks' at Hermione, knowing she would see the sincerity behind it, before turning to the Auror trio in the room.
"All of this," Harry leaned forward, making eye contact with each of them, ending with Kingsley, "is what I told your boss. Just in a little more detail. Since you're the most familiar with Auror protocol in this room, can you tell me if there's anywhere I fucked up enough to ruin anyone's life with my reckless abandon?" The words were just… slightly mocking, but could anyone blame him? The initial reactions, and the continuing mistrust he could feel, were still itching under his skin.
Judging by the slight uptick of the man's lips, he understood the sentiment perfectly well. "I would have to say no, Harry. If anything, you conducted yourself very well if this is how you brought the issue to Madam Bones." He nodded respectfully to Harry before turning to face everyone else.
"We've maintained secrecy for a good reason so far. Fudge is an idiot but an idiot who's in Malfoy's pocket, which makes him dangerous. But Madam Bones is as fair as an official can get. If nothing else, you can rest assured she will see this through for the sake of her pride," he smirked a little, then, "For a Hufflepuff, Bones is surprisingly ruthless."
"That's the information I got," Harry nodded, "which is why I decided to go to her. And I didn't just drop in saying Sirius is innocent and she needs to call her guards off, you know? I sent her a letter asking for an appointment regarding his case, first. Said I had some questions about the whole thing, and I contacted her directly because everyone knows I have personal stakes in the matter."
"Now that's a smart lad." That unexpected compliment came from Moody, who'd just been staring in a particular intense way at Harry so far. "Approach her directly, but formally, and only talk procedure. Your advisor really knows what's what, huh. Bones is as by-the-book as you can get in that damn place, and you had her number from the start, didn't you." There was an almost uncomfortable amount of admiration in his voice. Harry merely bowed his head in thanks,
"To be honest, I didn't even know if I'd be meeting her for sure today. I was hoping to, but she hadn't sent me a reply. My trial might have decided for her, I think." Here, he let himself smile, sly and proud and straight gleeful. Though the whole debacle was unnecessary and ridiculous, he can't deny it led to some very, very favorable outcomes for him. Why, Harry felt positively Slytherin in that moment.
It felt very, very good. Vindicating, even. Take that, Sorting Hat, because greatness wasn't just limited to one house.
"And what happened at the trial, then?" Kingsley asked, gaze piercing and almost, knowing .
His smile sharpened. "I kitted myself with some fantastic representation. Oscar is worth his weight in gold and more, and not just because he kicked some serious ass today."
It was a minor victory that no one called out his language, for once.
Moody nodded thoughtfully. "Oscar Armitage, I assume. Man has been a legal powerhouse for longer than half the auror force has been born. Another good choice." Okay, now it was getting weird.
"Who is Oscar Armitage?" Hermione asked, eyes bouncing between Harry, Moody, and Kingsley, looking unnerved by the unexpected solidarity.
"He's the barrister I've been talking to this summer. Gringotts pointed me in his direction, apparently the Potters were very familiar with his firm. Which makes you wonder why they needed them so often, hm?" Harry was darkly amused by that fact, though he knew enough about his family from Sirius now that he knew many of them were in trade and enchanting and potioneering. All of which added up to numerous contracts, patents, and even, lawsuits at times.
"As for today, we'd realised almost as soon as the trial notification came that something was…off. On its own, it might've made sense but considering the Prophet's slander the entire month…" He trailed off, letting them come to their own conclusions.
"Slander, you say?" Moody asked, words slow and measured.
Harry answered back in the same tone. "Not very cleverly planned, and definitely lacking in subtlety, but what else can you call an attempt at trashing a single boy's name?"
The only thing he got in return was a smirk, the smug bastard.
Harry looked around the room once, then. The general atmosphere was better than it had been an hour ago, which wasn't really saying much but it was better than nothing. All the anger and fear had melted into a softer look of concern, confusion. He much preferred it that way.
Suddenly, he felt so, so exhausted, like the very air was pulling him down with it. He wanted nothing more than to sink into a puddle onto the floor and stay there.
Just barely stopping himself from giving into the urge, he instead chose the next best thing and stood up. "I think that's well beyond twenty minutes. If you have more questions, Ron and Hermione know as much, if not more than me. Now that we've had this chat, I'm going to go and do it all over again with my godfather. See you all later."
With a careless wave, he dodged the few who tried to step towards him and slipped out of the room. A deep, rattling exhale of relief him when he finally found himself alone for the first time that day. But alas, it wasn't to be, because he had another, harder, conversation to get through before he could collapse in his mind.
With a fortifying breath, he made his way to Sirius.
ahhhhh
that was, yep. something. now, as always, some thoughts.
- i wanted to explore some of the interpersonal dynamics at play here. every character has its motivations and and certain behaviours they tend towards, and i really wanted to bring it out here. remus his disapproving pacification tactics; molly's overprotectiveness and shortsightedness; kingsley's calm (as well as position as an auror, which i think is criminally overlooked); moody's arrogance, paranoia, but also willingness to consider other povs; mr. weasley's quest for the truth; hermione's sensitivity towards harry etc etc. i was particularly fond of the last one, because harry is rightfully annoyed w her (and it'll come out some more later) but she's also one of the few who really knows him inside out at this point and he's grateful for that. relationships are complex, what can i say.
- the whole….telling the order about past events thing came out of left field, i know, but i was thinking about how it seemed like dumbledore's MO is always fragmented info, only the bare minimum a person needs. and harry is so done w that shit ykno? plus, the order might've been told sirius is innocent but if they don't know the whole thing, there won't be any trust, and he doesn't want that. this ties into his willingness to talk also, he's realising that if he doesn't give out things in a controlled manner now, it can blow up in his face later. and no matter how annoyed he is, he def doesn't want to alienate anyone he cares about (or potential allies)
- i always wondered why people were so freaked out about sirius' case, if i'm being honest. like, for all it's faults, the WW def has a legal system and diff departments. there's some level of autonomy also. the systems is functional and if anything, it seems to be a matter of who can play it the best. so it never made sense that they didn't take advantage of the aurors they have to create a strong case (ofc, the doylist argument is rowling hated sirius and never saw a future for him whereas the watsonian side is possibly that the system was SO broken that it wouldn't have made a difference anyway (parallel to umbridge's torture and fudge arbitrarily offing barty jr) but ykno. i wanted to work around that here.
- i can't fit it anywhere, but i don't think i'll ever get over snape in PoA. that mf was so petty that he just. ruined lives left, right, centre w/o any repercussions. and then he's got the audacity to cry over a lost order of merlin? like bruh fkn chill? i will never be able to take snape portrayals seriously where he's this super mature, emotionless robot bc of how utterly hysterical and unhinged he was in that moment. mans lost his entire mind at the sight of sirius. just, ridiculous.
- sirius, my poor baby 3 don't u just wanna hug him tight all the time?
on that bittersweet note, that's about it for me. next chapter will include the promised conversation w/ sirius, some fun stuff, and maaaaaaybe a golden trio moment, depending on how much screen time sh decide to hog. only time will tell. i would like to get it up in the next week or so, and if i maintain the manic writing of the last two days, it might actually happen. but, there's literally no guarantee for anything. things have just been…tough this past year, and especially the last two months, and it's become very hard for me to do anything. this chapter is nothing short of a miracle, imo.
so, i hope u enjoyed it, and i would really love to hear all of your thoughts. as always, u can find me at tumblr under the same name, always open to asks and messages there. see u at the next one :")