Chapter 351
"I had a check-up with the healers," Bill forestalled the question, putting hishand up, "and everything's fine. I'll go back to work on Monday."
"Hmmm," Arthur made a considering sound and peered at his son as if toverify that the healers had the right of it, "I shouldn't think they said to doanything strenuous though. You still look a little peaky." Bill squirmed under his father's intent regard. "Well, they did say to take it
easy…"
Which probably meant they'd told Bill to sit behind a desk for a week at least, Sirius thought with amusement.
"So you'll take it easy." Sirius instructed. And his work was done; one Bill
delivered to Arthur intact. He slid off the desk. Arthur smiled at him as though anticipating his exit. "I haven't had a chancetothank you yet for your support with Wenlock. Thank you; it was appreciated."
"I was actually hoping he'd say something stupider," Sirius admitted withasmirk, "dealing with him in a duel would be quicker than having to do the
political dance that's about to start."
"I know what you mean," Arthur said but he was smiling, "but I can wait. Andthose are nice robes; you should keep them blood free."
It was an acknowledgement that Sirius would have been the one duellingnot
Arthur. Sirius thought, not for the first time, that Arthur was a good man. "Sometimes my reputation as a mass murderer comes in handy." He joked.
"Wenlock was certainly quick to apologise." Arthur's face took on a note of
smug satisfaction.
"Well, I should get back before Dobby sends out a search party." Sirius said, keeping his voice upbeat. Arthur's eyes narrowed on him anyway. "You'll come home with us for dinner
first. It's the least I can do to say thank you." There was an implicit order in the offer; Sirius didn't kid himself. His heart
ached a little to realise that the look Arthur was levelling at Sirius wasn't toofar off the way Arthur had looked at Bill earlier; as though Sirius was a sonandArthur was a concerned father. Only Charlus had ever looked at him like that before.
"I'd give in before he floo calls Mum to argue about it until you give in anyway." Bill said cheerfully, breaking the moment. Sirius shot him a grateful look and nodded at Arthur. "I would appreciate
dinner; thank you." Within moments they were back at the Burrow. Molly didn't bat an eyelidat
Sirius's presence only checked with Arthur if they knew if Percy was cominghome (and Arthur murmured something about Percy working late). She
ushered Sirius into a seat at the table, handed a decent bottle of wine toArthur to open and asked after Harry and Remus. Sirius spent most of the very delicious meal of pork chops, mashed potatoes
with roast vegetables and a divine cider sauce, talking about the kids andtheduelling lesson with Amelia. He wasn't immune to the fact that Molly soakedup every word and while Arthur was less obvious it was clear that he missedhis children. He thought absently on a wave of parental empathy that he
should create a set of communication mirrors for the Weasleys before hisinner Marauder pointed out the Weasley children might not be so appreciativeof their mother calling every night to check up on them. Pudding was a warm apple upside down cake with thick double creamandSirius managed to eat some of it before his stomach reminded himhe hadn't
eaten quite so much in the last week and that it was very full. He somehowmanaged to eat the remainder and patted his stomach comfortingly, silentlypromising it a stomach soother when they got home. Bill pushed his pudding away half-finished. "I think I'm going to head up andhave an early night." He admitted, chagrined.
"Is Alicia not coming over tonight?" asked Molly, whose innocent expressionwas so falsely innocent that Sirius had to hide his face in his wine goblet soshe didn't see his appalled smirk.
"Not tonight." Bill said with a flicker of annoyance in his voice at his mother'sprobing. He pushed away from the table. "Good to see you, Sirius. Give Harrymy best."
"I will." Sirius promised. Harry would be pleased to hear Bill was almost backon his feet. He had a sneaky feeling his son felt guilty for Bill's injury andlongconvalescence despite the fact that the only person to blame was the onewho had attacked them.
They all watched as Bill headed up the stairs, matching concerned
expressions and relief that for all Bill was recovering slowly, he was
recovering which was the important thing. Molly bustled around the table, clearing plates and eschewing help. Siriusfelt
warm and comfortable and loathe to move despite the feeling he should.
"You know we really should continue our weekly dinners." Arthur commentedmildly, and Sirius wondered what the older wizard had seen on his face tomake the offer. "We did say at the start of the Summer that we'd work onanalliance of friendship ourselves beyond that which binds our children."
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"We should." Sirius replied, touched despite the lurking want to refuse onthegrounds that he didn't need any kind of pity. Arthur suddenly smiled with all of the mischief that typified his twins. "Canyou imagine the look on Wenlock's face if we announced an alliance of
friendship between the House of Black and the House of Weasley?" The two of them burst out laughing.
"Really." Molly tsked at them. "I don't know what you were thinking, Arthur, almost calling someone out."
Arthur hummed.
"Although the invitation for a weekly dinner stands, Sirius," Molly said, sittingback down with a cup of tea, "we'd be pleased to have you." And she didlookgenuinely pleased.
"Thank you," Sirius said, marvelling at the change from the start of the
Summer.
"I'm afraid it's purely selfish," Molly said suddenly with a rather sheepishsmile, "you'll be seeing the children every week and well…"
It actually made Sirius feel better knowing that she wasn't being completelyselfless. He said so. Molly nodded in understanding. "We do understand, you know." Her smilewent motherly. "It's hard seeing them away to school." She sighed quietly, wrapping her hands around her mug. "I almost kept Ginny home her first year
to avoid having an empty home." She grimaced. "After…I really wished I had." Arthur's hand slid across the table and Molly took it, their fingers intertwiningin silent support that made Sirius think about James and Lily and go slightlywistful for the lack of his own love life.
"How's the mind healing going?" asked Sirius instead.
It was Arthur who answered with a disappointed shake to his head. "We tookher to the first one and she was very…" he sighed, "Healer Allen said she
needed to want to come if progress was going to be made." Sirius made a sympathetic noise. He remembered having a similar
conversation with Healer Fay over Harry's treatment, specifically the
discussion where she'd told him Harry would need to want to recognise theDursleys' treatment of him as unacceptable before he could begin to heal. Frustration hadn't even begun to cover how he felt.
"So no more mind healing until she asks?" summarised Sirius. Molly nodded. "Maybe it'll be fine. She seems to have made some newfriendsthis year even if they are a little boy obsessed for my liking." And he so wasn't going to be the one to tell Molly Harry's theory that LydiaandJessica had befriended Ginny to get to the Boy Who Lived. Sirius made a non-committal noise and smoothed a hand down the front of
his robes. "Well, I should make a move. Thank you so much for your
hospitality, Arthur and Molly."
"Same day next week?" asked Arthur pointedly.
Sirius nodded and got to his feet. The goodbyes were a whirl and Sirius endedup back in The School House with a portion of pudding in a Tupperware boxbefore he knew it. Dobby sniffed at him, plucked the box out of his hands before he could
explain and gave him a stomach soother. He was ushered into his night timeroutine as though he was a recalcitrant child and Dobby a harried nanny. He called Harry in self-defence. Their chat soothed him more than the potionand he fell asleep with Harry's discussion about his first fifth year Runes classdrifting through his head. The next morning, after a breakfast that would go easy on his stomach –asurprisingly light oatmeal with wonderfully syrupy strawberries – and a
worrying message from Amelia about needing to talk with himabout a
missing pregnant woman (because it might mean Voldemort was definitelyset on the ritual), Sirius set off to the tribunals. Courtroom Ten was quite imposing but then it was meant to be; it was acourtroom. There was a chair for the accused; stands for the prosecutionandthe defence, and tiers of seating that would normally be filled by the
Wizengamot. Sirius was the first one there; he looked around the empty roomand shrugged. He slid into the Black seat and opened the Daily Prophet. The headline storywas the new Department of Muggle Affairs. There was a good picture of
Cornelius and Arthur standing side by side on the podium shaking hands andlooking suitably serious. His eyebrows rose as he read the article. Rita's wordsended up mostly positive towards having the new Department and the
direction of Ministerial policy but rather lukewarm about the appointment of
Arthur; Wenlock's challenge had been included as a side story. Another problem to solve, mused Sirius. The publicity over the Summer hadbeen very positive for himself and Harry but he was all too aware that
journalists – and Rita in particular – would be circling for blood in the water. It
wasn't quite so much fun putting someone on a pedestal if they didn't fall
from it, or someone didn't pull them down. He watched as the prosecution arrived; Amelia with an old female Auror withsteel blue hair who looked like a contemporary of Moody's. Rufus hoveredinthe background. Cornelius wandered in and started talking with Amelia;
probably a last minute plea to be the one to prosecute but Amelia was
shaking her head and looking determined. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 353
The defence advocates started to arrive. Rowle's was first; Hermon Gelding, asolicitor with dark slicked back hair and a bulbous nose that looked purplefrom Sirius's vantage point. Jugson's and MacNair's came together; GilesDotts and Clemence Collingworth of Dotts and Collingworth. They were asmall firm but represented many of the pureblood Minor Houses. Both werebrown haired and indistinguishable. Travers's advocate arrived last; Barry
Bootle. He was polished in his appearance; perfect blond hair, classically
handsome features, good physique adorned in quality robes. He'd been oneof
Regulus's friends. Sirius's hand clenched on the newspaper and he carefully smoothed it flat
again. Regulus had come to his senses and done the right thing in the endeven if there had been a moment where he had tried to kill Sirius with Barry
Bootle standing right beside him, both of them trying to earn their DeathEater
stripes. One day, Sirius would take Kreacher and go back to where Regulus
had found the locket and find his body. He would bury his brother. He shivered, suddenly cold. And the world started to blur at the edges as his mind slipped into a memory…James, dead on the floor…
Lily, dead in front of the crib… Harry crying and bloody… Hagrid holding Harry and telling Sirius he had his orders…
Peter defiant and yelling something…
The blast and shock shuddering through him…
"I said get those Dementors out of here now!" Amelia's voice cut throughthefog and Sirius came back to himself abruptly.
He was curled up, hands over his head; rocking. He stopped and took a deepbreath. He shivered violently.
"Sirius!" Amelia was suddenly beside him. She held something out and hetookit automatically, recognising the scent of chocolate. He stuffed it into his mouth.
"They're gone." Amelia said as though Sirius regaining his senses hadn't
already told him that.
"I'm so sorry!" Cornelius was wringing his hands together. "I arranged…I
thought it was best to have extra security and I didn't think…"
"That's right," Amelia snarled at him before she caught herself, "but we will
talk about this later, Minister." Her eyes went pointedly to the gawping
defence advocates. Cornelius nodded unhappily. "Sirius…"
"I'm fine, Cornelius." Sirius said briskly. "I just wasn't prepared for them." Heattempted a smile. "A cup of hot chocolate wouldn't go amiss though." Cornelius's assistant took off immediately to go get it.
"My sincere apologies, Sirius." Cornelius said again. Amelia handed Sirius another chunk of chocolate and he put it in his mouth, letting the sweetness melt on his tongue. He swallowed and motioned backat
her table.
"You should get back to what you were doing," Sirius said firmly, "I'mfine." Hewasn't – too cold and the ache in his limbs went all the way to the bone –but
he wasn't going to give Bootle any more ammunition. He was already bettingthat the fact that he'd had a bad reaction to the Dementors would make theProphet's headlines the next day. Amelia's eyes were filled with nothing but understanding though. She handedhim the rest of her chocolate and went back to work, Cornelius followingafter
Sirius had reassured him again that it was fine. Five minutes later, Cornelius's bright-eyed assistant, (Marty? Sirius struggledto remember the name), brought him the hot chocolate and Sirius held it close, inhaling the warmth and scent as he staved off the urge to turn into Padfoot. The arrival of the judges – Albus, Gideon and Daniel helped. Albus hurried over. "My dear boy, I heard what happened. Are you alright?"
"Fine," Sirius lied, uncomfortable more with the knowledge that his reactionhad already made the gossip tree within the Ministry (he was so going tokill
Monty on his way out), "just could have done without the trip back downmemory lane." He pressed his lips together. "Ignore me, Albus, I'll be fine. Just
get this done."
"Drink your chocolate, Sirius." Albus said gently, before he moved away. Almost unwillingly, Sirius followed the instruction. The hot chocolate was still
hot; Murphy had obviously got him a charmed mug when he'd gotten it for himand told the rest of the building about Sirius's unfortunate reaction to
Dementors. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 354
Seeing Albus reminded Sirius that at some point he needed to talk with hisformer Headmaster about the Elder wand. The Hallows had to be the 'power' mentioned because Sirius was never going to believe that Harry neededtosacrifice his own life to get rid of Voldemort. Didn't the line 'neither can livewhile the other survives' suggest that the survivor would live once it was all
over?
He slurped down the rest of the chocolate and watched as the mug
automatically refilled. OK, Sirius thought bemused, perhaps he'd hold off onkilling Murray. Everything suddenly came to order; the Courtroom door banged shut. Arather
cowed Cornelius took a seat by Amelia. The scribe, a young harried lookingadministrator with bright yellow hair that had to have come froma potion, slipped into position and Albus asked if everyone was ready. Amelia stood, wonderfully authoritative in her formal robes. "The prosecutionis ready."
"And the defence for our four defendants?" Albus's gaze strayed to the four
advocates. There was a chorus of confirmations. Then, Bootle stepped forward. "I would like to make an objection on the recordabout the presence of Lord Black." Sirius wasn't surprised. Albus blinked. "He is here to observe and bear witness that justice is doneasdirected by the ruling of the Wizengamot."
"Unfortunately the LeStranges can no longer bear witness to what Lord Blackfeels is justice." Bootle said snidely. Amelia was the one to get to her feet in response. "Objection! Mister Bootleisso far out of line he's in a different country. Lord Black's family business isjust that; family business." She stared down Bootle across the courtroom. "Chief Warlock, as you are aware the Wizengamot made Lord Black's inclusionmandatory for this tribunal to go ahead. Lord Black is here to bear witnessnothing more. There are no grounds to object to his presence unless he
attempts to interfere in judicial process."
"I agree." Albus said firmly. "Let's move on. I believe each defendant will betried separately?"
"Yes, Chief Warlock." Amelia said politely. "The first defendant is ThorfinnRowle."
"Bring in the accused." Albus ordered. Rowle had been a few years behind him in Hogwarts. He vaguely remembereda skinny looking blond haired kid who looked half-scared of his shadowandwho couldn't aim a curse if it killed him. How old had he been when he joinedthe Death Eaters, mused Sirius; fifteen, sixteen?
Rowle was escorted to the accused's chair where he crumpled like a wet
tissue, sobbing his heart out as he confirmed he was Rowle and his current
address. Amelia began. "Thorfinn Rowle, you are accused of being part of a terrorist
organisation known as the Death Eaters also known as the Knights of
Walpurgis, and of conspiring to commit a terrorist act on the twenty-fifthof
August of this year. You would also have been charged with committingaterrorist act and committing violent spells with intent to harmexcept for thefact that you were found under an Imperius curse on the night in question." She stopped and raised her head. "How do you plead?"
"Guilty," Rowle sobbed, "guilty."
Sirius had the urge to tell him to buck up and took a swallow of hot chocolateto prevent himself from speaking.
"In your own time, please confirm this signed confession I amentering intoevidence." Amelia said, handing over a sheet of parchment to Albus whoreplicated it and handed a copy each to Gideon and Daniel.
"I joined the Death Eaters when I was fifteen." Rowle admitted with a
downcast expression. "I was taken by my father to a group initiation whereI
received the Dark Lord's Mark." Which meant that at fifteen Rowle had killed someone.
"I don't really remember that night." Rowle said hesitantly. He cast a look
towards his solicitor. Gelding hauled himself to his feet. "Let it be known to the court that ThorfinnRowle was previously judged as being a minor and forced to take the Markfollowing the events of Halloween nineteen eighty-one."
"The court so notes." Albus said formally.
"Recently…" Rowle avoided all their eyes, "the Mark…the Mark has hurt and
grown darker. Everyone…everyone thinks he is gaining in strength…the DarkLord that is. We…we had to do something so he wouldn't be angry!"
"We?" asked Gideon, questioning Rowle as was his right as a judge. Gelding was on his feet again. "Please note that my client cannot answer that
question beyond the other three men that were arrested at the same timewithout violating an Unbreakable Vow."
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Sirius raised his eyebrows and wondered if Rowle was lying. Lucius hadnever
indicated that his alliance was subject to such a vow.
"Very well," Albus said anyway, "let us continue."
"Eventually, five of us volunteered to…to do something at the Quidditch WorldCup." Rowle admitted. "We planned to split up; one pair would target the
muggles and one would target a muggleborn family. We discussed tortureand…and killing them. Dennis would then put up the Dark Mark in the sky toshow…"
"The Dennis you refer to is Dennis Travers who was arrested the same night
as yourself?" Amelia interjected.
"Yes…" Rowle said. "We paired up together on the night. But he…he was talkingand I…I'd never done anything before. I just…I wasn't…I couldn't do it. I don't
remember very much until the Auror was suddenly there." Amelia produced another parchment – the Auror's report – and handedit toAlbus. "Please note that Mister Rowle was found at the scene of a crime. Hiswand had evidence of several dark curses including the Cruciatus. He was, however, under the Imperius curse himself which was broken when Mister
Travers was stunned by myself."
"Objection!" Bootle got to his feet. "My client is not here to defend himself
from such a charge."
"I was under the impression that was why you had to be present." Ameliapointed out. "For the record, I wasn't aware that I had actually made any kindof charge against your client." She pinned him with a stern gaze. "Yet." Sirius hid his snort in his mug of chocolate.
"You implied…" Bootle began.
"I merely related a fact: Mister Rowle regained his senses at the point whereMister Travers was stunned." Amelia said dryly.
"And I…"
"Mister Bootle," Gideon interrupted, "your point is made and I think the Chief
Warlock, Lord Greengrass and I are capable of understanding that an
implication is not a formal charge." His eyes swept to Amelia. "And we arealso capable of separating implications from actual evidence. I suggest wemove on." Amelia nodded briskly. "Mister Rowle, you mentioned that you were pairedwith Mister Travers; who formed the other pair?"
"Arnold Jugson and Walden MacNair." Rowle stuttered out.
"Objection!" Dotts and Collingworth were on their feet.
"Sit down, gentlemen!" Gideon said firmly. "You have no cause to object toanidentification and you can challenge in cross-examination." Amelia looked as pleased as punch as she sat down.
"Mister Gelding, your defence may begin." Albus instructed.
"Mister Rowle," Gelding began gently, "why did you volunteer to take part indemonstrating loyalty to the Dark Lord?"
"My father…" Rowle swallowed hard, "my father failed a mission once back
in…back then." His stricken face looked up suddenly. "The Dark Lord killedmymother to teach my father a lesson. When the Mark grew dark, I was…I wasscared. I have a wife! And a son! I thought if we…we were to prove ourselvesto the Dark Lord…if I could prove my loyalty then perhaps my family…they
wouldn't pay for my sin." Sirius winced. It was hard not to feel sympathetic.
"On the night of the World Cup, Mister Rowle, why did you change your mind?" Gelding said softly.
"The family that Dennis picked out…" Rowle blinked hard against another
onslaught of tears, "the boy…the boy is the same age as mine and Dennis
wanted…he said we had to kill him. I couldn't…a child! He was just a child!"
"Objection!" Bootle said again. Gideon stared him down, visibly perplexed. "On what grounds?" Bootle shifted his weight. "This is hearsay against my client."
"Which we will get to when we get to your client." Daniel pointed out. "As
Gideon has already said in much politer terms, we are not idiots. Sit down."
Bootle shot him a furious look but sat. Gelding cleared his throat. "After the suggestion was made, what did youdo?"