"Objection-!"
What followed next was, in Harry's opinion at least, the stupidest argument to ever grace his ears. Bennett seemed entirely checked out as he reviewed these new papers and ignored the squabbling happening around him; he might've even cast a silencing charm around himself just to be sure he was uninterrupted, because if he hadn't that amount of focus was truly impressive. Meanwhile Reeds just kept repeating that submitting this paperwork now was inappropriate, that nothing it said would actually make a Black verified as sane, that Veritaserum was unethical across the board and should never be used—and various iterations of the same, kind of weak arguments.
Valencia just kept shrugging at him with a very badly faked sympathetic looks, repeating over and over to his inane arguments that he'd had eight hours to read them so, as politely as possible, get over it. She seemed to be having fun it, while he most certainly was not. Sirius actually crossed his arms in annoyance at Reeds' insistence that he was insane but since his lawyer was pretty much toying with him he wasn't taking it too much to heart thankfully. And the colors Reeds was turning was amusing enough that the insults he was tossing out seemed to lack any sort of weight or credence behind them.
Bennett also didn't not seem to give a single fuck and went about reviewing the paperwork in real-time and ignoring the growing din the room was becoming. Nothing new was happening until Bennett called order again so people were not pretty openly talking amongst themselves about what they were hearing so far.
"What do you think?" The man in front of Harry asked his companions in the brief lull.
"I'm thinking I gave too much credit to Reeds, and I honestly never gave him much to begin with." The woman huffed in annoyance.
"I knew he was useless but this is ridiculous. Combined with the fact that woman is tricky as hell, wiggling out of the charges that way! If Black actually gets out on these nonsense technicalities I'll throw a fit," The second man seemed genuinely pissed for some reason while the first man just sighed, shaking his head.
How is having solid evidence 'technicalities'? Have they just never encountered genuine arguments before? Harry could not believe the grown adults in front of him were that stupid. Or maybe they had just never talked to a Slytherin or Ravenclaw in their life.
The first man at least seemed to be catching on that Sirius might actually be innocent, but was holding himself back for now so not to be at odds with his colleagues just yet. By how he'd let them speak first and then just kind of fell silent without really nodding or agreeing to their words, Harry suspected that his opinion had actually been flipped already… but he wasn't going to do anything about it until he was sure he was voting with the majority.
Kind of spineless.
They were pulled back into it though at the sharp sound of wood knocking, Bennett having lifted his head finally and giving a flicker of a frown at the chaos around him finally.
"Order," He called, shuffling the papers to be in the right sequence again. "These seem to be authentic and have the right signatures from the St. Mungo's Mind Healing committee. The wards date to nine hours ago so while you cut it close Ms. Valencia, I'll allow it. Now, are these people here today willing to testify as witnesses?"
"Yes sir," She nodded confidently.
Reeds however, pressed his lips into a thin line. "The prosecution waves the cross examination."
Bennett raised a single brow at him. "Mr. Reeds you do not wish to question these witnesses? You accept the written testimonies that Mr. Black is, by St. Mungo's standards, a sane man?"
Reeds looked like he'd swallowed a lemon.
"…yes sir."
So he did read them. Harry instantly clocked. And he knows he can't have them vouching for Sirius in front of an audience or they'll make him look pitiable.
Valencia had pretty much destroyed the initial charge into nothing, since Reeds couldn't actually provide the connection to the murders. Obviously his next tactic would be to question Sirius openly and get him to look bad somehow, so that even if there was no strong evidence connecting him to the crime, if a majority of the room still believed Sirius belonged in Azkaban, he'd be found guilty anyway.
One of the easiest ways to do that was to get him riled during questioning, to lose that Gryffindor temper and twist his words, make the audience think he'd lost his temper with Pettigrew and admit something that would condemn him somehow…
If Sirius took Veritaserum that'd be much harder to do. Clearly Reeds didn't want him taking the potion, but he also couldn't allow a bunch of healers to talk about how sane (and probably traumatized) Sirius was, as that's just paint him as a victim. That would be even harder to overcome than Veritaserum would be, most likely, so he'd chosen the lesser of two evils.
Going by Valencia's smile, she'd known he'd call chicken first.
"But sir, even so I have to protest that Veritaserum cannot be used without proper documentation! It could be corrupted without the appropriate potions master and would compromise the integrity of the trial itself!" Reeds did not give up.
"In that case, feel free to examine the potion yourself," Valecia chirped up, sliding a heel beneath Sirius' chair to gently push out a box so that it slid to a rest at Reeds' feet. It actually visibly startled Sirius, as he'd clearly had no idea that was there. Honestly neither had Harry, he'd completely overlooked it—had it been there the entire time?
Reeds picked it up with an impatient look, clearly intending to claim it was invalid no matter if the Queen herself had signed for it's authenticity—before the symbol atop it sunk in and he froze solid, paling several shades in a second.
"Mr. Reeds?" Bennett demanded after his silence went a little too long.
"…I accept the validity of this potion if Madam Bones will verify the ward untampered with." He meekly went forward to hand it to a semi-confused Amelia, who did a double take at the top of the box herself before giving a very done-with-you-all sort of look. She placed it on the same table where Sirius' wand still lay and waved her wand over it to check the ward.
It didn't take a minute before she stepped back and nodded.
"I vouch that the ward is in tact and that the seal verifies that that Zabini family vouches for the potion's authenticity." She announced to the room in a tone akin to a woman approaching a hangman's noose.
"What the hell?" Harry couldn't help but blurt out, thankful it at least came out as a low whisper—and was also drowned out by several other people making the same choked sound of shock.
Mr. Malfoy probably would've given him a sharp look at drawing any kind of attention to himself being here during this, but to his credit he was too busy looking like he fully agreed that the Zabini contributing to this was, in fact, an absolutely fucking crazy plot twist.
To his immense joy, he caught sight of Fudge loosing all the color in his face as it probably sunk in that his man in there might've been on his payroll, but the spineless Reeds would sell the Minister down the river in a second rather than deal with the Zabini.
Veritaserum was happening, and he could almost pick out Fudge and Dumbledore's people in the crowd by who looked the most dismayed as everyone realized that this was going to happen. Only Valentia seemed entirely unperturbed, like she knew she'd get there in the end and was fixing her hair again since the real show she'd been prepping for was about to start.
"Very well. Do both counsel agree to a cross examination of Sirius Black under Veritaserum?" Bennett got down to business.
"Yes sir," They echoed back, one much happier about it than the other.
"And Mr. Black, do you consent to taking Veritaserum in order to be questioned by Ms. Valencia, Mr. Reeds, myself, and the members of the assigned council here today?" He asked Sirius directly, who stuck his chin out, clearly having been waiting for this the entire time.
"Yes," He said clearly—visibly biting his tongue against saying more at the very threatening smile Valencia shot over her should at him.
"The use of Veritaserum is hereby approved. In accordance with the decree of ethical use of Veritaserum, the potion will last one an hour and then the antidote will be given. Only myself, Ms. Valencia, Mr. Reeds, and the members of the assigned council may speak to Mr. Black while under the potion's influence. I will call on people to speak and no one will speak or question Mr. Black out of turn." He narrowed a look at the lawyers below him and then a quick, sharp look around the crowded room too. "If anyone speaks out of turn, you will be fined and any answer Mr. Black gives in response stricken from the record. If anyone tries speaking to him outside of those approved individuals, you may be serving a night in Azkaban yourself. Am I understood?"
There was agreement from the lawyers and the audience members in the first row wearing red robes, and some vague disgruntled mumblings from the general audience itself.
"What a hardass," The second man in front of Harry complained under his breath, but Harry couldn't help but remember he'd called the man 'barely out of Hogwarts' just an hour ago, so clearly Bennett was right to lean on his power since most of the people here didn't come into this room respecting him. Any other time was one thing but when Sirius was being forced to tell the truth it was only the right thing to do, Harry thought.
Being a reasonable person seemed to be a very unreasonable thing to do in the wizarding world, though.
"Ms. Valencia, Mr. Reeds, you will each be given 20 minutes to ask Mr. Black questions. Then the council, should they have any follow up questions, will get 15 minutes total. We will allow some time for exchanges should they be necessary." Bennett gathered their attention again, finishing arranging his things and folding his hands in front of him pointedly. "Madam Bones if you will, please administer the Veritaserum to Mr. Black."
While the potion was unboxed and handed over, Harry took a moment to breath for a moment. All of this was already a lot but this is what the trial was actually about. The rest of it was just this weird build-up, this opening dance before the real show that would finally end things, since you couldn't argue against the strongest truth serum in the world.
As much as Harry liked to imagine the man Moony told him about, as much as he'd pinned his hopes on Mr. Greengrass' assurances that Sirius was in fact innocent, there was still so much he didn't know. If Sirius hadn't betrayed his parents then who did? Or was it all just Voldemort himself? Valencia had done enough to convince Harry at least that Sirius hadn't killed Pettigrew but then… what had actually happened?
He realized he'd kept himself from wondering (more like worrying, honestly) about the full truths, too focused on the main one that Sirius was innocent, as that was the most important bit. But despite being desperate to, even Remus hadn't been able to scrape together some kind of explanation or real proof he hadn't been guilty this whole time, which was part of the reason the werewolf had looked to be in physical pain to talk about it. Remus had wanted to believe Sirius was innocent more than anyone but hadn't been able to think of a single reason to hold onto that faith beside the fact he cared about his old friend with all his heart and believed he'd never betray Lily and James Potter. In true Gryffindor fashion, despite all logic and reasoning and pain it had caused him, Remus had held onto his belief anyway.
And if the promises he'd been given were true, then in the end Remus had been right to do so.
Which begged the question… what was the truth?
No, the real reason Harry had almost blocked it out until just now when it was about time for Sirius to finally get a chance to start talking, was that he knew no matter what the truth was, he was going to have to hear about his parents' deaths.
The story Sirius was about to tell involved a time eleven years ago, on the night Moony lost everyone and he was left at the Dursleys. The same time he hadn't even really believed was real when Moony called him pup.
The last night he had a family that loved him as a baby, before it all went away.
He'd kind of brushed by it when McGonagall had hesitated in sending him along, ignoring it as her seeing him as a child at the time. In reality, in the back of his mind he knew damn well what all the adults around him did: that despite it being right that he was here for this today, it was going to be rough for him to hear.
He knew it. He'd just ignored it right up until the moment Sirius was downing the potion in his hand, and the reality of what was about to happen hit him.
Thankfully, Bennett did not waste any of the single hour they got keeping them in suspense.
"What is your name," He got to the point, as a test.
"Sirius Orion Black," Came the blank reply, and Harry noted his voice had lost a lot of the sass the rolling eyes and pointed glares would imply he should've had normally. Being compelled to tell the absolute truth must also suck the inflection out of a lot of things, and Harry didn't strictly want to ever need to take this potion himself honestly… though Sirius at least looked calm and a little bit spaced out instead of uncomfortable or frustrated by his lack of free will for the next hour.
"Do you understand that you are about to be questioned and will not be able to lie during this examination?"
"Yes."
"Do you consent to the questioning?"
"Yes."
"Very well, Ms. Valencia your time starts now," Bennett sat back with eyes fixed on the situation with a calm, but critical watch, and the woman in question stepped up to shoot the room another TV smile.
She was talking to Sirius only in that they knew she was directing the questions at him, but for all intents and purposes she was speaking to the audience as if this really were a game show and she was displaying her words for everyone to hear, not just for Sirius to answer. Harry figured, being his lawyer and all, this was all completely practiced and the only questions Sirius didn't know were coming were the ones Reeds was going to be asking. Then again Valencia was a good enough lawyer that she had probably read Reeds' pathetically predictable mind already and had prepped her client of even those possibilities too.
Like Mr. Malfoy had said, the outcome was already determined—this was just a show to win over the public's opinion when the court record was released to the papers later.
The woman at center stage turned and gave a contrite, knowing smile.
"I know everyone is dying to know the answer of 'if you did it' or not, but let us start with a slightly different, but more revealing set of questions here. One that paints the full picture instead of arguing the technicalities of who did or didn't see something that night." She began, splaying her hands for her audience, which were silent in response to Bennett's threats, but also because no one would miss a word of this for the world. "First of all: where were James and Lily Potter on the night they died?"
"In their home, in Godric Hollow." Sirius answered blankly, and Valencia walked in a slow, meandering pace around his chair as she spoke.
"Was this home protected?"
"Yes."
"How was it protected?"
"Their home was placed under a Fidelus Ward to hide the home from the dark lord."
"I did notice you said Fidelus 'Ward' instead of a Fidelus Charm… briefly, in layman's terms, explain the difference." She held up a finger, and Harry blinked—he and probably everyone else having no idea where she was going with that. Moony had mentioned that Sirius had a knack for wards and had done a lot of that bit for the map but…
"It is a ward based off of the Fidelus Charm, but is more closely related to wards instead of charms. It works the same way muggle repelling charms do, only it repels everyone who doesn't know the secret. The 'secret' is stored in one person and only the secret keeper can tell others what the secret is, and allow them to find or even sense the building under the ward's protection." Sirius rattled off, blank but still with this air that he actually did know what he was talking about. Harry wasn't sure why that surprised him but it did. "The ward Lily and James were under was also crossed with a patronus charm, meaning the secret keeper had to be happy to share the secret, as happy as one would need to be to cast a patronus."
The gadflies sitting on the bench in front of him all choked on air, and Harry didn't know what a patronus charm was to know what that meant, but he took note the it must be big fucking news when even Mr. Malfoy beside him made a small noise of shock. Harry whipped his head up to look at the man, but was ignored—the blond's eyes widening in his own thoughts.
"He can't be…" Lucius murmured under his breath and Harry wanted to ask what was going on so badly but Valencia only paused long enough to let the shock ripple across the room and properly sink in, before she briskly continued.
"Mr. Black, how do you know the details of this ward?"
"I cast the ward myself."
Harry froze.
…what?
"The world at large believed Albus Dumbledore cast a Fidelus Charm around Godric's hollow to hide the Potters. Did that happen?"
"Yes. I took it down and cast a Fidelus Ward instead, two months later once I'd perfected it."
"Were you the secret keeper of this Fidelus Ward you cast?"
"No."
"Who was the secret keeper?"
"Peter Pettigrew."
Despite Bennett's threats, the room exploded in a cacophony of shock and indignation.
Harry realized he wasn't breathing and suddenly sucked in a breath, fisting his hands into the robes over his lap. A hand suddenly came down on his back gently and he glanced up to realize it was the woman beside him. She was still looking down at the scene below them, but her hand bestowed a tiny bit of reassurance he wasn't sure what to do with.
Peter? THAT Peter!? The Peter Moony talked about…? What is… how did…?
"ORDER!" Bennett bellowed sharply, and while it wasn't immediately the room did scramble to contain themselves again, though it wasn't nearly the dead silence it'd been before. It probably wouldn't settle again honestly, since that bombshell implied there'd be quite a few more since what the fuck? "Ms. Valencia, continue."
She nodded, and took another step in her performative pacing.
"Why Pettigrew, Mr. Black?"
"He was always the weakest of us, the least threatening and most cowardly. I convinced James that no one would ever suspect Peter, everyone would think it'd be either me or Remus and would come after us. The idea of us choosing Peter was so ludicrous, it was the perfect cover—or so we thought."
Harry's heart skipped a beat to hear his father's and Remus' name brought up so casually. It felt weird… like it wasn't just a make believe story he'd been told, that they'd all once been friends.
"So Pettigrew was the one who betrayed the Potters' secret to the dark lord that night?"
"Yes."
"And to betray the Fidelus Ward, he had to have been happy to do so, didn't he?"
"Yes." Finally some anger began to seep into blank tone, and Harry figured the potion was actually muting him quite a lot. Which meant that despite the strongest truth serum in the world, Sirius was pissed about it.
"Do you believe Peter Pettigrew to be a death eater?"
"Yes." He managed a streak of acid in the accusation even as his face remained empty.
"Did you think so at the time?"
"No. I trusted him with my life, and more importantly the lives of my brother and sister. He betrayed all of us."
"Is Peter Pettigrew still alive?"
"Yes."
There was a sudden uproar again, but as Bennett lifted his wand as if to make a point people caught themselves and piped down. Harry was thankful for the distraction as he knew he couldn't handle this, he slipped a calming draft from his bag to down it as subtly as he could though he knew the two adults on either side of him noticed at the very least.
He didn't care though, he was not about to let his temper ruin this for his godfather.
"How do you know for certain Pettigrew is still alive?" Valencia raised her voice to be heard over the murmurs still going around.
"When I cast the Fidelius Ward, everyone involved in it exists within the ward, which is connected to me. I knew the moment James and Lily died as I could feel it through the ward, and I can feel Peter even now since he is still the secret keeper." He explained.
"The ward is still active even though the protection was broken?"
"The ward did not fail, it was betrayed. The dark lord was told the secret so he could get into Godric's Hollow and kill the Potters, but the ward never broke. It's still standing even now."
"But then how was young Harry Potter removed from the rubble that night?"
He gripped the empty potion bottle in his hand for lack of anything better to do.
"I was there that night and found him—I knew the secret, and I gave him to Hagrid. Hagrid didn't know the secret so as soon as he put Harry down no one would be able to find him again, so I instructed him to hold onto him until he could be either given back to me, or to Remus. I did this because I could sense Peter was alive, and knew what he'd have had to do to betray Lily and James. I was furious and tracked him down, intending to rid him of his magic."
"Your intent was not to kill him?"
"No. He deserved worse than death, and I knew from years of friendship that being normal is his worst fear."
"How would you be able to remove his magic?"
"By submitting to my ward, Lily, James, Harry, and Peter were all connected to it. So long as it remained, I had control over their magical signatures and have the ability to remove their magic. I warned them about it and they accepted on one condition: that it not impact Harry's growth. So I created a secondary ward around Harry so that the moment he began to access more control over his magical core, then any and all magical influences such as blocks, wards, spells, or charms would be undone. It should've happened around the time he was five, and I sensed him slip free of it around that time too."
Harry blinked.
Maybe it was the calming draft but the vague, long ago memory of him staring at himself in his elementary school bathroom mirror flickered before him for a moment. That… was about the time his hair had gone from dark black to red.
Was… that actually related somehow? Was his hair not natural, or had his black hair been unnatural and Sirius' protection had freed him from it?
These weren't really things he should be focusing on right now given everything else was probably way more important, but he was vain and numbed by a calming draft and it was all he could wrap his mind around at the moment.
"So the only one left within the still-existing ward is Peter Pettigrew?" Valencia prompted.
"Yes."
"Because he submitted to the ward once eleven years ago and is currently still alive?"
"Yes."
"And you could remove his magic at your convenience?"
"Yes, so long as he's in front of me and I have a wand."
There was more murmuring, but this time with a definite tone of unease to it.
Bennett spoke up with a sharp tap of his wand on the pulpit in front of him. "To interject here, no one will be doing such a thing until Mr. Pettigrew is verified alive and has received his own sentence. This trial is not in reference to his crimes at this time."
"Of course," Valencia placed a hand on her stomach in an imitation of a bow despite the fact her head never bent. "To redirect back to the accused crimes then, Mr. Black do you confess you went after Peter Pettigrew that night then?"
"Yes."
"But you did not kill him."
"No."
"Please recount what happened then."
"I was mainly there to scream at him. I was furious." Going but the ripple of heat that surfaced even through the Veritaserum, that was the understatement of the century. "I did attack him but not with an intent to kill. I was an auror and intended to arrest him, so I called for backup. I watched him cut off his own finger."
What!?
"I wasn't sure what he was doing, but he began shouting about how I was insane and then blasted the street apart himself. I was knocked to the ground, but when I got up the backup I had called for arrested me instead. I begged them to search for Peter, but they only found his finger."
"According to the records, there was no trace of apparition having occurred. Do you have any idea how he could have evaded a team of aurors searching for him?"
Sirius jaw flexed, and that the answer was not as immediate as the others meant that for the first time this was a question he was not completely willing to confess too. Still, he had no chance against Veritaserum and the pause was only the briefest of moments.
"He is an illegal Animagus: a rat. I believe he might have turned and disappeared into the sewers. Faking his death and being able to disguise himself this way is likely how he's been able to hide this long."
The room reacted in shock once more, but Harry found it most interesting that Madam Bones finally cracked too, her face flickering in a surprise and unease that she was clearly not prepared for. She was the head of the DMLE, and even though she hadn't been back then she was likely part of the team that had done the investigation, or someone she'd known and trusted did back was. That an unregistered Animagus had never crossed their minds in their hunt probably struck as a personal failing on her, or her people's part.
"Do you have anything else you want to tell the court?"
"I didn't mean to betray the Potters. They were my family, more than my own blood ever was." Sirius got out immediately—faster than before even so it really felt his departing to have that plea heard more than the potion forcing him to unearth it. Clearly he would've stopped there, but surprised himself when his mouth opened again.
"I am ashamed I outlived them." He confessed.
Sirius… Moony, I wish you could've heard that.
Valencia showed a modicum of gentleness finally, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and voice lowering to be a little more polite than before.
"Do you believe you betrayed them?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because it was my ward and I was once so confident it'd never be broken, it gave them false hope. Because I trusted Peter, and I convinced them to trust him too. It was my fault he turned out to be a rat in more ways than one."
It was a rough confession, but Harry knew it was wise to get it out now. Without a doubt, during his turn Reeds would probably try to get him to admit 'he betrayed them' in just as many words, without giving Sirius room to explain himself. They needed to get the question out of the way during Valencia's time instead.
"If found innocent today, what do you intend to do?"
"Find Harry, and beg for his forgiveness. I failed his parents, and him by being an absent godfather."
Despite the calming draft, Harry couldn't breath and suddenly it was like he hadn't taken one at all.
Oh.
"What of Peter Pettigrew?"
"I have been threatened not to do anything rash by my cousin, so I will let the Ministry arrest and prosecute him themselves," They could tell he wasn't thrilled with that, but it was the grudging truth.
Valencia gave a small, amused chuckle. "Threatened how?"
"Nothing specific but I don't intend to cross her."
"Scarier than Azkaban?"
"I wouldn't say that, but enough." Sirius made a small annoyed expression but the tactic worked as intended. Harry saw some flickers of amusement around room, and even a soft laugh somewhere to his left. She was humanizing him, making him seem like less of a threat than the past eleven years of rumors had made him seem. Everyone had a woman in their life they feared to cross, after all.
And it warmed Harry a bit too, since he was also wary as hell of Narcissa Malfoy so they already had that in common at least.
"I'll leave that to you then. No more questions, I yield the floor to the prosecution." Valencia abruptly concluded her questioning, taking a neat step back and clearly taking Reeds off guard as he found himself taking a step forward and coughing a bit to clear his throat as Bennett gave him permission to begin.
Harry was trying not to cry and took a moment to collect himself so he kind of tuned out the first part of Reeds questioning—which from the general silence around him meant nothing particularly interesting was being asked. Reeds proved himself a bit worse than mediocre as he started repeating a lot of questions Sirius already been asked but in different ways. Valentia however, had done a remarkable job discrediting most of it ahead of time so even if the questions came off abrasive and accusatory, even if Sirius' stifled 'yes' and 'no' answers would've caused a lot of confusion before, thankfully most of it had already been cleared and Sirius had gotten his chance to tell the full story.
Reeds' inability as a lawyer really shone through in the fact that clearly he hadn't expected the whole 'Pettigrew is alive' plot twist, so none of his questions actually followed up on that at all. He didn't even ask 'are you sure he's alive', he was clearly following some pre-rehearsed list of questions thought up in advance and could not think on his feet fast enough to come up with anything more meaningful.
When he inevitably got to the, "Did you betray the Potters," question, to which Sirius was forced to say 'yes' since he did believe it despite explaining why, Reeds skimmed right by any follow up questions like Harry knew he would.
His ineptitude and bias was pretty obvious at that point, even to the most prejudiced, slowest members of the audience here today.
"If Peter Pettigrew was an illegal Animagus, how did you know of this and yet never report it? You were an auror yourself, were you not?" After nearly half his allowed time was up before Reeds finally got to a halfway decent question, but even that he still managed to fuck up.
"Yes." Sirius could confirm only the last question asked and was clearly frustrated—the both of them were actually but Reeds could only blame himself for it. Valentina's calm questioning made it clear on Veritaserum you could only ask one question at a time and you had to be direct with it: the roundabout, implicating questions weren't making much progress.
"Why did you not report him!?" They got there after some churn, and it turned out he'd accidentally managed to stumble into a genuinely good question for once.
Sirius's eyes flashed and he jaw flexed again, but he was still forced to answer.
"I too am an illegal Animagus. Peter, James, and I became Animagi our fifth year of Hogwarts and we used the fact it was a secret to help fight against Voldemort during the first war—or so I thought in Peter's case. We knew the dark lord had spies in the Ministry and our advantage would be lost if we were officially registered."
The shock that time was silent as everyone absorbed what they'd just heard. Even Reeds needed a moment before he hastily cleared his throat again.
"But if the war ended you mean to tell me you would've registered yourself then?" His tone was dubious.
"We had every intention to if the war ended, yes. I was particularly interested in rubbing my transfiguration skills in McGonagall's face as she always said I was a lousy student in her class." That admission startled several genuine laughs from some people in the back, but were quickly smothered. If he weren't a bit shell shocked Harry would've also found that kind of hilarious.
As it was, Remus' making him promise to never tell anyone about their illegal school shenanigans made him now extremely nervous about if this would get Sirius into more trouble than he already was.
"What inspired you to become illegal animagi and while you were underage no less!?"
Shit, Harry winced. The one question he absolutely did not want brought up.
And going by how hard Sirius jaw flexed, the longest pause yet preceding his answer, he also knew this was not good. Still, he had no choice but to out his old friend.
"One of my best friends in this world is Remus Lupin, who suffers from Lycanthropy. We did it so we could safely stay with him during a full moon and prevent him from hurting himself."
The room went absolutely silent.
Reeds… stood there for a solid ten seconds, stun locked it seemed and his face turning a full rainbow of colors slowly before he gathered himself and adjusted robe collar. He was clearly thrown, and the fact he asked no follow up questions meant he had no protocol for that sudden confession at all. He defaulted to one of his pre-prepared questions instead.
"Ah… ahem. In any case, looking back at your record as an auror, can you explain the large gaps in your attendance? We find it strange they correlate to several large, highly publicized death eater attacks. Were you working with death eaters at that time?"
"No."
"Then explain where you were!"
"A group of a people had banded together at the time to try and protect ourselves and innocents against death eaters. I fought with them against the death eaters during those attacks since I was technically off duty as an auror but still wanted to fight."
There was a very obvious next question to that.
The fact Reeds just made a twisted expression and didn't ask it, told Harry everything he needed to know.
This guy was not just on Fudge's payroll, but he was also at least somehow connected to Dumbledore. Despite there being a lot of possible follow ups to this new information, if he asked anything else about at all, it might out headmaster as ringleader of this secret organization.
So he didn't ask, and kept trudging along with his repetitive questions.
"Did you ever fight with death eaters?"
"Yes,"
Harry felt like face palming at the poor phrasing—Sirius' expression clearly said he also thought this man was beyond stupid.
"So you admit to working with them!"
"No."
"You are contradicting yourself then, even on Veritaserum!" Reeds waved his arms to the court at large like this was a play, but Bennett just tapped his wand impatiently once.
"Mr. Reeds, I believe Mr. Black means he fought with death eaters, as in against them. Please be careful of your word choice, as Mr. Black is not always able to elaborate under this potion effects." He spoke with an impassive but his tone was a distinct warning, one that Reeds just turned away from with a grumble under his breath.
Things went around and around and around again as Reeds struggled to get Sirius to say anything incriminating, to the point they had only minutes left and Harry hoped this would finally be over. Of course it wasn't that good as Reeds, once again, stumbled into something.
"Have you ever been before He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" He tried, the latest in a long list of questions of still trying to tie Sirius to death eater activities somehow.
"Yes."
The sudden confirmation startled everyone, including Reeds who clearly hadn't expected that to actually work. Harry just felt his heart jump in his chest in panic.
"When did this happen?" He asked immediately, clearly thinking he got something.
Sirius somehow managed to hold out answering for a full six seconds.
Harry felt his stomach plummet to the ground when even Valencia's expression flickered, like she had no idea what her client was trying not to say, much less what he was fighting so hard not to admit… much less that it was even possible for someone to hold out that long against Veritaserum that long.
He'd only held out half a second to out Moony so what…?
Inevitably, the Veritaserum won despite it sounding like Sirius was fighting tooth and nail against the words that came from his own lips.
"When I was a child my parents sold the dark lord the idea that the Black heir would be his servant, as they were. When I refused I was tortured by him personally."
Silence.
…what?
Reeds was white as a ghost, mouth popped open in shock and trailed his gaze down to the tile floor before him. He was realizing, as they all were, that he'd fucked up. That after that confession there wasn't really a way he could spin this to make it sound like Sirius had ever willingly served the dark lord.
Sirius silver eyes were far away, but still glaring at man through his potion induced trance. What really got Harry's stomach churning though, was the small frown on Valencia's brow. He wanted to believe this was all part of her master plan and she was just playing Reeds to be the insensitive sleezy lawyer who was trying to pin blame on the victim, but a part of him was really, really worried that that confession had been unplanned.
"Any more questions, Mr. Reeds?" Bennett prompted, lifting a pocket watch to indicate his time was almost up, and his dragging silence implying he was at a loss of where to do with this line of questioning anyway.
The man seemed to know this was a losing battle as he frowned at the floor a moment… but seemed resigned that he still had one more blow to make.
He swallowed as if nervous at his own question.
"Do you admit that you have had moments of insanity during your time at Hogwarts?"
Sirius' eyes widened. "Yes." He was forced to admit.
"Is it possible you might have them again, as a result of your time in Azkaban."
"Yes." Clearly that was not what he wanted to admit, but he had no choice.
"Do you think you are a worthy guardian for Harry Potter then, since you claim to be his godfather?"
"No."
What the fuck!? Harry tensed to the point of shattering, Mr. Malfoy's hand suddenly on his shoulder to keep him seated. Not that he was about to get up and yell or anything but he sure as hell wanted to.
He HAD to be fucking working for Dumbledore, there was no reason to do that unless he wanted to keep him from being his guardian!? He'd already lost! He just wanted to sow the seeds of doubt in the public's mind that he'd be a good guardian.
And he ignored the silently panicking portion of himself that was wondering why the fuck did think he wouldn't be a good guardian!? He'd said he wanted to, but now this!? Even if he believed Mr. Greengrass would pull through and his godfather would be free to adopt him in the end…
Why did he say that?
The voice that asked that was the small, childish part of himself that was still sitting with his back against a gravestone and crying for his mom when Moony had been taken from him. It cried out again, a small, tearful voice pleading—why don't you want me?
"No more questions, I yield the floor." Reeds walked away then, looking like he was aware he'd lost this bought but was unfortunately still determined to do as much damage as he could before this was over.
Fuck him. Harry sneered and chose to seethe at the man than focus on the pain that was echoing inside of him.
"Thank you, counsel." Bennett actually stood himself, lifting a piece of parchment to begin rattling off his own questions. To all the was good and merciful, he was brutally impartial and the questions came out in a clean, clinical tone. Most of it was just repeating the previous questions to be sure there was no room for interpretation in his answers, confirming things officially from an unbiased standpoint. It was short and sweet thankfully, and was over just like that without any more drama.
"That concludes our questioning. Madam Bones, if you could please administer the antidote to Mr. Black now." He announced, and Harry breathed a small sigh of relief as Sirius was freed from the Veritaserum, though the way he hunched in his chair some proved it wasn't as easy as the trance implied it was. "Based off the testimony we just heard, the council will now request evidence of the listed claims." He nodded to the line of witches and wizards in red robes to either side of them, and the one closest to him stood first.
"Ms. Valentia, you allowed Mr. Black to speak to his ability in warding. Inventing a new ward is frankly unheard of, much less for such a specific use. Do you have any proof this ward he spoke of existed?"
What a weird question? He was forced to tell the truth! Harry wanted to be annoyed but he also knew he couldn't count on these people to be as bad at questioning as Reeds was.
Luckily Valentia just smiled, completely unsurprised.
"Of course. Evidence 21.a through 21.p are all signed testimonies from aurors who have worked with Mr. Black in the past, including exam proctors for the auror entrance exam, claiming his prodigious talent in warding. It is not something taught at Hogwarts so there'd be no OWL or NEWT score to corroborate, but it was a known fact to those who once worked with him that Sirius Black had an unprecedented skill in warding. Evidence 21.c is actually a statement from Gringotts verifying they have been unable to break past Mr. Black's wards several times in the past. Evidence 21.m is record of the ward protecting the Ministry's muggle entrance—created from scratch by Mr. Black himself. The evidence includes the invoice that the Ministry paid to him for his work." She put her hands up in a gentle clap. "The Ministry themselves have paid him over Gringotts for his warding ability, which I think is sufficient proof that his talent in the subject is beyond question."
The council member's face flickered, but only for a moment. "Muggle repelling wards are not quite the same as inventing new wards on a whim," He sniffed.
"Very true sir! Which is why you'll find that evidence 9, in its entirety, to be a complete family history of the Black Family tree. You will find there that the Black family had shown evidence of being Seed descendants for upwards of three hundred years reliably, with a gift in warding." She announced.
Harry had no idea what that meant but by the burst of whispers that broke out across the room and Mr. Malfoy humming lowly in interest, he made a note to follow up on that. Clearly it was something big as the council member's all exchanged looks and had their lips pressed unpleasantly at that news.
"Councilor?" Bennett prompted as he just stood there for a moment, trying and failing to come up with a rebuttal to that.
"…I accept the claim. No more questions." He gave in grudgingly, sitting down so the woman a couple down from him could take her turn.
She spoke, "Mr. Reeds, you cited incidents of Mr. Black showing signs of insanity as early as his Hogwarts days. Could you provide proof of that?"
The man in questioned twisted his lips for a moment before schooling his expression.
"Madam Pomfrey declined to testify at this time." He admitted, and the councilor blinked, then cleared her throat… clearly she had not expected that at all. Which meant she definitely worked for Dumbledore too, since she'd fully expected something to be there.
"Ah… no more questions."
Bennett paused a moment but a glance along the line of those in red but no one else moved.
"Any other councilors with questions?" He allowed a brief pause of silence but no one spoke. "Alright, onto my own then. Mr. Reeds, you cited incidents where Mr. Black was absent from his duties as an auror eleven years ago. Could you provide evidence of that?"
"Yes, evidence 4.a through 4.v are all recorded instances of absences."
"Sir, if I may," Valentia chirped up with a polite smile. "Evidence 33.a through 33.v are signed testimonies from a one Minerva McGonagall confirming Mr. Black was with her in each of those instances, and that they were indeed fighting against death eaters at the time."
Reeds paled, and he wasn't the only one who looked genuinely shocked—certain council members, including the woman from before, were immediately whispering to themselves rather noticeably.
Harry though was just… touched.
Professor… thank you.
"Thank you Mr. Reeds, Ms. Valencia, we will review the evidence submitted. One last question from me as well: Mr. Black, as part of this you admitted to being an illegal Animagus. Do you deny it?"
"No." Sirius had his chin up, now that truth was out anyway, he was almost proud of it clearly. He'd did it in service of a friend… and his completely unrepentant attitude about it now even at a murder trial with him as the main suspect meant he certainly was that blindly trusting Gryffindor that people thought all lions were.
He remembered Mrs. Malfoy calling him 'quite the Gryffindor' at dinner a couple days ago and no, it had not seemed to be a compliment. Coming from a Slytherin it pretty much was though.
"That will be added to your list of crimes for today, and you will be found guilty on that count alone through your own admission. Do you accept?"
"Yes," Sirius huffed, crossing his arms again and not seeming nearly as worried about this as Harry was. It was more comforting that Valencia wasn't concerned about it though.
"Any other questions of the defendant testimonies from the panel members?" One more brief pause. "Very well, onto witness questioning. Counsel, please submit your witness list."
The two lawyers unearthed parchments and walked up to the pulpit to hand them over to the Judge directly, Bennett accepting them and giving them a proper read.
"Minerva McGonagall was named in today's proceedings, but was not in the pre-approved listing. Do either counsel wish to question her?"
"No sir," Valencia inclined her head.
"No sir, we concede to the evidence." Reeds admitted stiffly.
"Then we will proceed with witness testimonies—" Bennett began, but was cut off when Valentia lightly coughed and raised her hand just oh so innocently.
"Sir, if I may… one witness on our call sheet is not available for questioning today. A Remus Lupin?" She brought up delicately, and Harry's heart stopped in his chest.
He saw Sirius' head snap up in shock, blue eyes so wide that from this distance they seemed an insane shade of silver.
Bennett frowned. "What do you mean by not available?"
"He agreed to be a character witness, however he was arrested without cause yesterday. I believe he is currently in Azkaban and my attempt to summon him for questioning was denied."
"Madam Bones." Bennett demanded immediately, some unspoken question.
"I was not aware of any arrest notices for a Remus Lupin." The auror instantly supplied, but as her face didn't flicker it was clear she knew damn well what had happened.
Her own aurors. There was no way she didn't know that some of them hated werewolves enough to go harassing them, that her own men were in someone else's pockets… but she wouldn't be in her position long if she took a hard line about it, since that 'someone else' was her boss. Still, here in open court she was outing all of them as acting out an illegal arrest warrant, making no effort to protect or hide what they had done.
Sirius made a strangled sound that the entire court heard, almost standing before Valencia abandoned the judge's pulpit to return and hold him down to his seat by the shoulder.
"W-wait, Remus is in Azkaban!?" He gasped, looking up at her as if begging her to tell him that wasn't true, but she couldn't. Instead she leaned down and spoke lowly into his ear and he froze, clearly fighting the urge to get up and scream but also knowing he needed to listen to her right now. He'd trusted her this far after all…
Madam Bones and Bennett went back and forth for a moment about this issue before Valencia eventually trusted that Sirius would stay in his seat long enough for her to stand and cough once more to get their attention.
"Actually sir, I have a copy of the notice filed this morning."
"This morning?" He narrowed his gaze, holding out a hand and she came forward to place a conjured paper into his hand. This morning meant the notice had been filed after Remus' arrest, and clearly Bennett was not happy about that.
He read it over carefully, expression souring with every word.
"He was arrested for violating a house arrest… for the duration of this trial?"
"Due to his connection with Mr. Black." Valentia confirmed sweetly.
"…" He turned, and in a calm tone addressed Fudge who was witnessing this front and center and sweating visibly in his seat but pretending he wasn't. "Minister, this arrest notice has your signature on it. What was the reason of the house arrest?"
"Ah, well—he was determined to be a key witness but also a flight risk," He offered as if it were obvious, but annoyingly had composure enough to answer.
"Minster, are you saying he attempted to flee then, and that was why he was arrested?"
"Ah, yes in fact, we found him nearly out of the country in fact—"
"If he was deemed a 'flight risk' and was arrested in order to ensure he attended this trial, then why was he denied attendance at this trial?" Valencia cut the Minister off without hesitation, and clearly Fudge was not used to the lack of respect as he gaped, aghast.
"Ms. Valencia-!"
Reeds jump in to cover for the flustered minister before he could do any more damage. "Ms. Valencia, the prosecution waives it's need to question Remus Lupin at this time!"
"Well the defense does not." She harumphed, putting a hand on her hip imperiously as she addressed the room at large. "He is a key witness for several reasons, including the fact that he was the first person to attempt to get Mr. Black a trial eleven years ago, although unsuccessfully. Clearly he had evidence from the very beginning supporting Mr. Black's innocence and was ignored due to his condition. I believe he is an exceptionally important witness that should be here for his testimony. May I remind you that he wanted this trial to happen eleven years ago and had eagerly agreed to testify on Mr. Black's behalf for this trial today. That he would flee the country rather than attend makes no sense at all, and I would have him speak for himself to explain."
Bennett looked like he'd swallowed something disgustingly sour, before cooling it enough to regain his composure.
"Minister. Can you please cite your reasoning for why Mr. Lupin was arrested and imprisoned when he was already under house arrest, as well as why he was not permitted to be in attendance today." He voice was even and polite, even giving the politician to take back the 'nearly out of the country' line. Even the 'already on house arrest' was too generous, as Harry really doubted Remus had known he was under house arrest at all without any kind of decree on file about that before he'd been arrested in his own home and not breaking that mythical house arrest at all.
The truth was they'd arrested him flat out as soon as they found that letter in Dumbledore's office, with no real reason or proper justification. They'd tried to slap a reason over it after the fact, but not only did they do a half assed job about it, but they clearly thought no one would notice or care… they certainly did not believe they'd be called out about it so publicly.
Remus was a werewolf after all. Who actually cared what had happened to him besides Harry and Sirius? And the people Harry was paying to get his godfather back, he supposed.
The way Valencia had played this though, it didn't matter if he was a werewolf or not. Fudge had clearly arrested a 'key witness' for the defense rather than let him speak.
That was NOT a good look, and a lot of Fudge-haters would be reading about this specific point of the trial in tomorrow's papers and eating it up happily.
"…he was interfering with the trial by speaking to the witnesses and prepping them for the story to be told." Fudge dismissed the whole thing once again, clearly used to people not questioning him.
Valencia was clearly not a British citizen though as she didn't seem to give a fuck about this politician in front of her.
"But if Mr. Black was always to be given Veritaserum, having a cover story would do no one any good." She sniped back with a coyly polite smile.
Bennett brought an end to the whole affair, realizing that Fudge could make all their lives hell, and he would in a second going by how his face was turning the same color as Valencia's pantsuit.
"Order." He snapped, tapping his want to his desk sharply. "We've gotten off track here, Mr. Lupin is not the case of this trial and even with Mr. Black confessing that he is an illegal Animagus, Mr. Lupin was not part of that. He was aware of course, but has never been employed by the ministry and so cannot be punished legally for that aside from perhaps a fine if it was found this information being hidden has caused harm to others. An argument can be made that the murders committed by Peter Pettigrew may fall into that category, but that would be a separate trial altogether." He announced, trying to be diplomatic here.
"But Remus wouldn't have needed to come forth if I'd been given a trial in the first place! I could have told you all of this eleven years ago—Pettigrew could have been caught by now and those families' actual killer brought to justice! James and Lily's murderer could've been brought to justice!" Sirius burst out—and Harry almost found it funny when Velencia whacked him upside the head and hissed at him to be quiet, if he wasn't worried about pissing Bennett off.
Thankfully he let it slide, but shot a look at both him and Valencia to keep a lid on it.
"Enough. If there are others implicated in the crimes addressed today, Madam Bones will submit them at her discretion for their arrest and sentencing separately. That being said, this arrest warrant was issued after the arrest had already occurred, which is of course illegal, so I deem this notice invalid. We will proceed with the witness testimonies we have available today, and Remus Lupin will be released from Azkaban immediately."
Harry wanted to be relieved but… something was nagging at him unpleasantly. The way the entire panel scrunched up their noses and brushed it off… despite Valencia's words about Remus being a 'key witness', they didn't care to hear from a werewolf.
Hell, even the way Bennett was saying they'd proceed without him. As if he didn't matter despite the defense counsel claiming he was…? Either Bennett also didn't care to hear from him, or he knew having a werewolf here wouldn't actually do anything but make people angry, potentially even cause some blowback from Fudge for directly countering him.
Bennett had been a pretty good judge so far—unbiased, clear, and obviously on the right side of the law. The spirit of the law even, not just the letter.
Even he knew when to play politics though, and going directly against Fudge was a career-ender. He'd already gone pretty far in openly calling him out to explain himself on the court record despite not being technically involved in the trial himself, which was more than most others could—or would—do.
He wasn't going to stick his neck out and risk his career for a werewolf though. Everyone had a line he guessed.
As the witness testimonies began, Harry noticed a lot of the room begin to talk amongst themselves quietly and getting pretty distracted, and a lot of the questions being asked of the witnesses were pretty repetitive as well. The mind healers all showed up, several people who'd known Sirius back in the day and vouched for him, and several more there to talk about how 'Blacks were all crazy' and had some anecdotes about the Black family tree that raised Harry's brows at least—no one else seemed to find it news though.
He had heard from Daphne, a bit about the Black family of old, before Sirius' himself. Going by some of these tales it sounded like once upon a time the Black family was actually way scarier than any other Slytherin family alive today—some people felt like they were telling ghost stories instead of official testimonies. The fact that Sirius was actually stifling a laugh at some of it and rolling his eyes at the rest proved even the insane stuff was probably closer to true than anyone was comfortable to hear.
What he was gathering by the fear in these grown men and women's voices, was that in their heyday the Black family had been as rich as the Malfoys, but scarier than even the Zabini. More so, and I mean way more so, since the Blacks weren't just batshit insane like Blaise and his mother were, but also fully, confidently, happily dark-sided compared to the Zabini's family infamous grey status.
It made Harry wonder a bit, since he'd seen Gryffindor tower's reaction to the news Sirus was getting a trial, but he had no idea how Slytherin house was reacting to it right now. On the most part he knew getting a family to back him would do something to his standing in snake politics, but it was only just now occurring to him what having the Black family specifically behind him would make him look in Slytherin's eyes. Sirius was obviously a Gryffindor but… maybe it didn't actually matter, he was still a Black no matter if he'd been disowned from them at one point.
Clearly it didn't matter to these Dumbledore-loyal witnesses who spoke of them like boogeymen, and even Mrs. Malfoy had openly wanted to be on Sirius' good side even if that meant having a werewolf to dinner, so clearly some snakes still saw a lot of value in the name 'Black'. Even if Sirius was a Gryffindor and wanted nothing to do with his family's horrid legacy.
Harry hadn't really given any time or thought to that, but as the testimonies closed out without anything more interesting happening, he realized he probably should.
He realized he was starting to plan for the future actually… since the hope he'd been denying himself was starting to rear it's ugly head, and tricking him into starting to believe that… things might actually work out as planned.
If Sebastian Greengrass was right, Harry being here meant for sure Sirius would be declared innocent, all he had to do was vote that way—to Mr. Malfoy's point of things already being decided before the court date, that's exactly what had happened here.
He wasn't even mentally ready by the time Bennett was tapping his wand on his pulpit once more, to draw the room into silence.
"With that, our witness testimonies are complete. Is there any other evidence the counselors wish to present to the court?"
"No sir," The two lawyers chimed in vastly different tones.
"Your closing statements then. Mr. Reed."
The man swallowed, seemingly intimately aware there was nothing to be done at this point, but he held his dignity and persevered anyway. "I simply beseech the Wizengamont to understand the importance of not letting a dangerous, unsound man free onto the streets. Regardless of promises or past transgressions, we cannot allow dangerous people amongst us or we will lose all semblance of our society. I plead with the voting members here today to see sense." He concluded.
Harry almost laughed when Sirius stuck his tongue out at the man's back as he inclined his head at his audience.
"Ms. Valencia."
"Thank you sir, and I'll keep it just as simple as my colleague." She smiled sweetly, but then it became wide enough to show her teeth once more and Harry sensed danger a second before it hit.
"Sirius Black is innocent and was wrongfully imprisoned for eleven years because this Ministry is woefully corrupt and incompetent. There was no evidence to arrest him, and no evidence now to sentence him with anything at all. He fought for his friends and has lost everything because of this government's absolute failure to do their only job in protecting its citizens. Everyone who ever heard and dismissed his tale is guilty of believing gossip rather than doing the right thing and should find it hard to sleep at night knowing they helped contribute to this atrocity. With all due respect—of which I have very little—Minister Fudge should resign his position in disgrace for his interference, as he purposefully kept an innocent man in the hell known as Azkaban simply to save his own career. A career he's accomplished nothing at anyway! The man is deplorable and anyone who supports him is a corrupt quack as well. Thank you all, for your time today." She did a neat little curtsy despite the pantsuit instead of a skirt, and didn't drop her smile for a second.
Harry almost clapped before realizing it would certainly out him in the dead-silent chamber.
Fudge was stunned quiet for several seconds along with the rest of them before he snapped out of it, and was clearly about to yell before Bennett hastily coughed, bringing things to order quickly before chaos could erupt. And it was undoubtedly about to.
"And with that!" He raised his voice, standing quickly and holding his wand up to grab their attention before anyone could start yelling. "I call this Wizengamont session to a vote, for the posted crimes against Sirius Orion Black. Each charge will be voted for separately. On the count of being an unregistered Animagus, he is found guilty by his own admission. The court will set a fine for the infraction and he will be required to register within ten days of today. On the count of the murder of Peter Pettigrew, what does the defendant plead?"
"Not guilty," Sirius snapped, chin up once more but maybe harry was imagining how nervous he seemed. Maybe he was just projecting though since he himself was, in fact, quite nervous.
Bennett raised his wand into the air as if lifting a flare in order to be seen.
"The Wizengamont will cast their votes now."