Sirius was standing in the ruins of Godric's Hollow, the walls rose up around him, towering over him, twisted and burnt, covering him in shadows that shifted and stretched, there was the stench of smoke in the air. Before him lay the broken body of his best friend James Potter, hazel eyes which he had never seen without their light of mischief were glassy and blank. As Sirius stared they rolled towards him and in jerky movements the body of James Potter pulled itself to its feet and stared at Sirius with awful blank, empty eyes. "You betrayed me Sirius,"
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"No...no James ... I couldn't, I wouldn't...I swear I didn't know," Sirius pleaded, his voice cracking but the spectre of James Potter continued to speak in the flat dead tone that was worse than anything he could shout or scream.
Discover moreScience Fiction & Fantasy BooksBooks & LiteratureAuthor resourcesWriting workshopsMobile user analytics"You failed me, you failed Harry," the voice of his best friend continued, the words burning him, "You were never my friend,"
Sirius continued to plead, but his words fell on deaf ears.
He blinked disorientated. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he stared up at the ceiling. The nightmare was familiar, it had plagued him virtually every night since that night where he had come to Godric's Hollow only to find two of his best friends dead. He glanced over at his clock and let out a soft curse it was four in the morning and bitter experience had taught him he wouldn't get more sleep that night. Extending the more colourful areas of his vocabulary Sirius dragged his protesting body out of bed and towards the shower, at least he thought wryly the one good thing Azkaban had left him with was an ability to survive comfortably on as little sleep as possible.
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The worst part of the dream of course was the fact that James was totally justified in what he said. He had promised both of them when he became godfather that he would care for Harry if anything was to happen to them and an excellent job he'd made of that he thought bitterly. Why couldn't he have seen that his pup was so much more important than pursuing the rat? If he had he would have been able to raise Harry, look after him, protect him and most importantly love him. Harry had been and still was the most important thing in Sirius's world. He had loved Harry ever since he first laid eyes on him and that love continued to this day. Sirius knew that he would probably never have children of his own but that didn't matter he loved Harry like he was his own son, Harry took that place in his heart. Sirius couldn't help but smile when he thought of his godson; Harry had accepted him and wanted to live with him. The smile faded as his mind spun to the reasons why Harry was so determined to escape from his relatives. At least, he thought, I'm doing everything I can to rectify the situation.
Discover moreBook recommendationsFan fiction platformCreative writing coursesFan fiction communityAnime & MangaA smirk crossed his face as he thought of the recent correspondence with a certain Malfoy. As he expected Lucius had almost been falling over himself to offer a service to work off some of the loan and the conditions Sirius had set were exacting, an investigation was to be set up, the Kiss on contact order had been rescinded, a month's deadline for significant advancements had been set and although he hadn't specified it there was definitely the emphasis that the judgement was supposed to be to his liking. Sirius shook his head at the Slytherin nature of the scheme, still he consoled himself, sacrifices must be made and if it got him his freedom and custody of the pup he would do it a thousand times. Finishing the last gulp of his coffee Sirius headed into the rest of the house, even though his uncle had been his favourite by far in the Black family he had still been more than a bit of a crackpot and his taste in decor left much to be desired. Seeing as this house was likely to be his and then the pup's main residence he was using the waiting time to completely redo it, paying particular attention to Harry's room of course.
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Amelia Bones was not enjoying herself, as the head of the DMLE she thought she ought to be able to do some good but day in day out she was stuck in her office going through miles and miles of paperwork. Sometimes she just felt like taking the entire bureaucracy and throwing through the veil. She sighed as she picked up another one of those infernal memos; that was the other downside to her position – it forced her to endure hours with the idiot Fudge. Sighing to herself she glanced over the note only to realize she had to endure another meeting with that jackass in half an hour. "Well," she muttered to herself, "He'd better actually have something good to give me."
An hour later she was found clutching the desk to steady herself, "You mean to tell me Sirius Black never actually received a trial?" She demanded. Fudge merely nodded spinning his lime green bowler hat with ever increasing speed in his fingers, "Well it was the previous administration's fault Amelia," She ignored him,
"I hope the orders to Kiss on Sight have been removed?" Her voice was scathing. Fudge nodded nervously,
"Of course, of course, I'm sure he is guilty of course but until we are sure we want no accidents." Amelia just glared,
"I suppose nobody even checked if he bore the Dark Mark," Fudge averted his eyes. Amelia threw up her hands in exasperation, "So a man escapes from Azkaban after twelve years when he didn't even get a trial in the first place and nobody even thought to check if he even bore the bloody Dark Mark, have I missed anything?" She asked sarcastically. Not bothering to answer her own question she swept out of the office, "Rest assured I will give the matter a THROUGH investigation Minister."
Back in her office Amelia rooted around for the bottle of Firewhiskey she kept for similar occasions, taking a gulp to steady her nerves she had to admit that of all the things she had been expecting from the meeting with the Minister that had been the last thing she had expected.
Discover morecookiesMobile app developmentMobile fanfiction appRegular storiesApp download campaignsSitting down she started noting down all the pertinent facts surrounding the case.
Facts
Escaped from Azkaban
No trial
Pettigrew never found
Dark Mark Unknown
Innocence
Godfather to Harry Potter
Pettigrew sightings
Harry Potter is alive
Killed Death Eaters
Guilt
Pettigrew accused him
Laughed at sight
Presumed Secret Keeper
Blasting curse
She stared at the list in front of her, the evidence that supported his guilt was fairly weak, yes he was the obvious choice for secret keeper but that in itself made him more unsuitable, it made him a target, the only evidence against him was Pettigrew's word and the blasting curse which now she thought about it might and this was a big might have been cast by Pettigrew, Black wasn't the only wizard on the street.
Glancing over the Innocence column she had to admit the Pettigrew sightings were the most intriguing, she had been told by Fudge the story of how he had met Harry Potter at Hogwarts, Black would have had ample opportunity to kill Potter but he had not. Surely if he was one of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named followers he would have killed the boy immediately instead of letting him live, after all he was supposed to have escaped so he could kill the boy. The other point here was that Potter and the other two with him, Miss Granger and one of the Weasley's from her notes all spoke of seeing Peter Pettigrew and hearing him confess he was indeed the secret keeper. Before the news that there wasn't actually a trial she knew that she would have dismissed it as a confundus but now she wasn't so sure. She shook her head and pursed her lips, one thing was certain; she would get to the bottom of this case.
Flicking out a memo she summoned both Moody and Kingsley to her office, Mad-Eye had been one of the Auror's to take him into custody and Kingsley was adept at finding the details in cases that people frequently overlooked.
Within a few minutes both of them were sitting in her office, "So what's this about Bones?" Moody asked gruffly. Amelia surveyed both of them sternly,
"First off I don't want any details of this getting to the Prophet understand," Both men nodded as she sucked in a deep breath, "We're reopening the Black case."
Both men just gaped at her, even Moody. Amelia almost laughed at the expression on the grizzled old Auror's face; very few things could shock Alastor Moody but with one statement she had achieved exactly that. "Now I'm sure you're wondering why, well it recently came to my attention that Black never received a trial." She waited for the two men to absorb that before pushing her notes towards them. Quickly Moody scanned the document, after a moment he sat back and grunted,
"I always had a hard time believing it of him. He and Potter were the best I've ever trained, they seemed to know what the other was thinking. Between them they must have brought down more of them dark bastards than the rest of the Auror force combined. I'd never pegged him as a spy but you can't be sure. Constant Vigilance and all."
Kingsley had also studied the parchment, "Is there the possibility of the Imperius?" Moody was already shaking his head,
"No he could throw it off, both him and Potter could so that possibility is out."
Amelia turned to Moody, "You were there when he was taken in Moody, nobody checked for the Dark Mark correct?" Moody nodded muttering something under his breath that sounded uncannily like stupid fools, constant vigilance. Amelia ignored him and continued to speak, "Did his wand get snapped or is it still around somewhere?" Moody furrowed his brow in concentration "I think it went into storage, evidence for the trial and whatnot."
Amelia nodded decisively, "Kingsley see if you can find the wand, witness statements from the muggles would also be useful if you can dredge them up. Priori Incantatem should clear up the matter of the blasting curse. Alastor I want you to go to Hogwarts and get statements from Potter, Granger and Weasley, maybe Lupin if you can find him, pensive memories if you can. Incidentally your thoughts on the arrest of Black would also be helpful." She surveyed both of them. "I'll want reports before the week's out if possible gentlemen. There is a chance an innocent man has been imprisoned for twelve years." Both men nodded and headed out to begin their respective tasks.
Watching them go Amelia considered the last few hours, it would be interesting to say the least what this investigation managed to uncover. She turned back to her bottle of firewhiskey, well it was something more interesting and useful than the endless paperwork.