Chapter 356
"Refused to go through with it." Rowle said clearly. "But then…I don't
understand what happened because I was suddenly standing in front of thetent and the boy…" he choked and had to take a breath, "the boy was on theground in front of me and my wand was pointing at him, and the Aurors werethere, yelling at me to drop my wand!" Gelding nodded and produced a parchment that went to the three judges. "You will see from this independent Healer's report of the night my client wasarrested that he was suffering from the after effects of the Imperius curse." He turned back to Rowle. "Do you regret your actions?"
"Yes," Rowle stated baldly, "I regret ever agreeing to take part in it. I shouldhave…I should have stayed out of it." Gelding tapped the table in front of him. "The defence rests, gentlemen." Albus thanked him. "Mister Dotts, do you wish to cross-examine on any part todo with your client?" Dotts leaped to his feet. "Without wishing to strain the vow you took, howcanyou be sure that those who volunteered on the same day that you did, Mister
Rowle, continued to be the same individuals involved with the unfortunateevents on the night of the twenty-fifth of August?" Rowle looked at him confused. "You mean apart from themgetting arrested?" Dotts had walked into that one, Sirius thought amused.
"Exactly." Dotts said brazening it out. "Did you speak to Mister Jugson at all
between the meeting where there was an agreement something shouldtakeplace and the World Cup?"
"No, I only met with Dennis," admitted Rowle who continued to look confused.
"And on the night of the World Cup, did you speak to Mister Jugson then?" Dotts persisted.
"I, um, think so?" Rowle's uncertainty bled from his every pore.
"Why only think so, Mister Rowle, shouldn't you know who you spoke to?" Dotts asked.
"We were all wearing masks." Rowle said defensively. Dotts grinned in satisfaction. "Thank you, Mister Rowle."
Collingworth asked the same questions and Sirius decided their defence wasgoing to be lousy if they were going for a 'they didn't really do it' tactic whenthey'd been caught red-handed. Sirius shifted in his seat as Bootle stood up and declined to question Rowlewith a sneer at the quivering wreck in the defendant's chair. Albus nodded. "Do either of my fellow judges have anything they would liketoask the defendant?" Gideon and Daniel shook their heads.
"Then as the defendant has pled guilty, my fellow judges and I will deliberatethe sentence." Albus raised a powerful privacy bubble which obscured thejudges from watching eyes as well as listening ears. It was an impressivebit
of magic. Sirius felt himself being watched and turned with a frown to see Bootle glaringat him. He glared back and was happy to see Bootle drop his gaze. The deliberation didn't take long. Albus dropped the privacy bubble and turnedto Rowle with a compassionate grandfatherly expression.
"Mister Rowle, you have pled guilty and confessed to conspiring to commit aterrorist act and being part of a terrorist organisation. The last war took manylives and we cannot allow this terrorism to take hold again; as a society wecannot tolerate such outright attacks on our government and the peace somany fought so hard to achieve. Yet your defence has offered some
mitigation for both charges and you have expressed regret. Keeping this inmind, this tribunal sentences you to ten years imprisonment in Azkaban'sminimum security wing." Albus said gravely. Rowle burst into noisy tears as the Aurors were ordered to take himfromthecourtroom. Sirius knew he would have been tempted to sentence Rowle much more
harshly but he was satisfied and certainly judicial process had been followed. The next prisoner was brought in. Arnold Jugson showed none of the hysterics of Rowle; instead he remainedstoically grim-faced through the confirmation of identity. Amelia's prosecution was swift; she called Wood to testify that he had
arrested both Jugson and MacNair at the World Cup, and submitted the
forensic tests of both wands and the muggle victims which supported thewritten statements from Harry and Ron and their accounts of coming acrosstwo robed and masked figures torturing muggles.
It was at that point that Dotts got to his feet and objected to the absenceof
Harry and Ron. Sirius noticed the surreptitious look his way that the solicitor
threw him and figured he was expected to leap to his feet and protest loudlyat the idea of having Harry testify, voiding the trial with his non-sanctionedinterference. So instead he smiled at Dotts and let Amelia eviscerate Dott'sargument as spurious as everyone had been notified of the decision not tohave them as witnesses and all solicitors had been given the offer to interviewthe boys before they had left for Hogwarts and declined. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 357
Dotts sat back down defeated.
It was the beginning of the end…Dotts tried to get the conspiracy charge
dropped on the basis of lack of evidence but Amelia produced the surveillancephotos of Jugson at his meeting with Dennis Travers – the entire reasonwhythe tribunals were sealed because the photos gave away that they were
watching the former Death Eaters. The Imperius curse defence was counteredby a Ministry Healer who testified. Sirius watched in satisfaction as Jugson was found guilty on all charges andsentenced to ten years in the maximum security part of Azkaban – whereSirius had formally resided. Jugson didn't say a word as he was led out. The recess Albus called was welcome since the ever-full mug of hot
chocolate had produced a natural consequence that had Sirius finding thenearest bathroom as soon as the doors to the courtroom opened up. He
decided to get some fresh air and made his way through the corridors of theMinistry to a little known balcony off on the top level, wrapping around acorner of the building, completely invisible to muggle eyes. He and Jameshaddiscovered it the second week of their training as Hit Wizards and had usedit
as an escape to talk occasionally.
Sirius closed the balcony door, and walked around the corner to what he
considered his usual spot. He had usually lounged back against the buildingwhile James had perched on the metal railing. If he closed his eyes…He gulped in air and tried to ignore that his shivering wasn't just due to theicywind that blew across his cheeks and sent his hair flying. Bloody Dementors, Sirius thought tiredly. A scuff of the door opening on the other side of the building had Sirius
straightening and he squared his shoulders to be polite to whoever was about
to disturb him.
"Damn it, Amos! What has gotten into you?" Leonard Abbott's voice carried around the corner and Sirius shrank back
against the building's side, quickly casting a disillusionment charm. He
needn't have been worried; neither Leonard nor Amos Diggory walked aroundto his side of the balcony.
"Are you trying to get arrested?" Leonard continued harshly.
"I just wanted to talk to Walden!" Amos replied heatedly.
"He's about to go to Azkaban!" Leonard stated bluntly. "He's a Death Eater for
Merlin's sake! What in the name of all things magical were you thinking?"
"I've worked with him for years, Leonard! He's sat at my table and talkedtomyson about Quidditch!" Amos replied. "I just wanted to know why! He's not abad man; he's always been good at his job." Sirius understood Amos's bewilderment; hadn't he felt the same with Peter?The need to know why had been a nagging constancy of Sirius's thinkingonPeter ever since he'd realised Peter's betrayal.
"And now we know why! He's a murdering bastard!" Leonard snarled.
"We don't know what he's done beyond attacking the muggleborn family." Amos said defensively. Leonard made a scoffing sound. "You must be kidding me, Amos. You forget
I've seen some of the creature executions MacNair has carried out. I sawhimput down a sixteen year old wizard without pause."
"A sixteen year old werewolf." Amos corrected. Sirius shuddered, unable to do anything but picture a sixteen year old Remus
in the place of the unnamed executed boy.
"I will never agree on your agenda there, Amos." Leonard said firmly. Amos snorted. "Well, of course not! Not now Black with his pet werewolf hasyour balls in the palm of his hands!"
"Amos!" Leonard snapped. "We have been friends for too many years tocount
but you go too far!" There was a tense silence.
"I apologise, Leonard," Amos said gruffly. Leonard's sigh was heavy and loud enough to travel to Sirius. "What is goingon with you, Amos? You haven't been right since…since you didn't get theWizengamot seat."
"I was the best candidate, Leonard. The only reason why I didn't get it wasbecause of Black."
"You can't solely blame him for that, Amos." Leonard retorted. "Most of theHouses that voted for someone else prefer Yaxley's view of the world or don't
hold your views on werewolves and other magical creatures. They don't like
the legislation you and that awful Umbridge woman forced through."
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"Werewolves are dangerous…" Amos began heatedly.
"Amos, stop!" Leonard ordered. "Look, what happened with Thaddeus wasatragedy but not all werewolves are as feral as Fenrir Greyback." Thaddeus? Sirius frowned at the mention of Amos's younger brother. They'dbeen school contemporaries; Thad had been sorted into Hufflepuff the sameyear as the Marauders had sorted into Gryffindor. Thad had gotten somejobon a creature reserve in the Alps the last Sirius had heard.
"If you're about to mention Lupin; don't." Amos snarled. Sirius stiffened.
"Amos, I'm only going to say this once; don't set yourself against Sirius." Leonard said firmly. "He's every bit as powerful as his grandfather usedtobe– maybe even more so. Don't go up against him."
"Thank you for the advice, Leonard," Amos's voice dripped with sarcasm, "nowsome of us have jobs to do."
The creak and slam of the door echoed around the corner and Sirius heardLeonard swearing under his breath before the door opened and closed againsignalling his departure. Sirius kept himself invisible until he was half-way back to the courtroom. Hesneaked back in and sat back down in his chair, nothing absently that theever-fill mug had disappeared. He sighed. He should have gotten some morechocolate or some tea. But it was too late because the doors were shutting and Albus was callingeveryone to attention as the docket moved onto Walden MacNair.
It was a hopeless repeat of Jugson's trial. All the same arguments bar theoneabout Harry and Ron, and all the same counter-arguments with the sameresult at the end of it. But Sirius knew it had to be that way. MacNair's solicitor
had to tread the same ground as Jugson's or MacNair could claima mistrial. He was ecstatic though when MacNair was sentenced and Albus calledfor
the last prisoner. The Dennis Travers that walked in didn't quite fit the description of the surlyprisoner holding his silence that Amelia had painted but Sirius figured maybethe trial had knocked some reality into Travers's head finally. He was goingtoAzkaban and probably for a lot longer than his associates since he'd beentheringleader. Travers sat in the chair and sweat lined his brow.
Yeah, Sirius mused speculatively, Travers was beginning to understand just
what was going to happen. Amelia stood up, her expression the very definition of grimdetermination. "Asthe accused has eschewed all attempts to get him to speak since his arrest, I
would ask the court to allow the use of veritaserum…" Bootle was on his feet immediately. "Absolutely not!" Amelia shot him an annoyed look. "We discussed this yesterday…"
"We did not!" Bootle snapped.
"If this is an attempt to cause a mistrial, Bootle, it isn't funny!" Amelia snapped. "I have the notification document here with your seal on it. What are youplaying at?" Bootle went red. "And I don't know what you're playing at! But I do knowyouare attempting to falsify evidence. We didn't discuss anything of this kindinour meeting yesterday morning!" Amelia rolled her eyes. "Not in the meeting in the morning, no, but we diddiscuss it in the afternoon before you visited your client."
"I didn't visit my client in the afternoon! I was sick as a dog and throwingupinmy flat's bathroom!" Bootle stormed back. The entire courtroom froze.
If Bootle was telling the truth – if someone had impersonated him…but why?Just to see Travers? And if someone had impersonated Bootle they hadtoknow the truth would come out when they'd signed a document Bootle
himself would have no knowledge of signing…
Bootle suddenly turned and stared at Travers before glancing back at Amelia. "I don't know what's going on here but my objection stands; I have receivednonotification, have sealed no such document and do not agree to my client
being given veritaserum." Albus motioned at Amelia. "May we see the notification document?" Amelia handed it to him. Albus waved his wand over it several times.
"This seems to be in order. The magical seal is verified as belonging to theoffice of Bootle, Appleforth and Crackton." Albus briefly looked at GideonandDaniel. "We will allow the use of veritaserum and record Mister Bootle's
objection."
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Chapter 359
Bootle bristled but the ruling had been made. Travers cringed in the chair. The veritaserum vial was presented for authenticity and the Auror movedtogive it to Travers. Unsurprisingly, Travers had to be restrained before they
could get the three drops into him. They all waited with bated breath for the few moments that were neededfor it
to take effect. Amelia moved into position. "What is your name?"
"No, no, no…" Travers squirmed in his seat, tears streaming down his faceinhis effort to resist the truth serum. "No…"
"What is your name?" asked Amelia more insistently.
"Col…Colin Basil Summers." The words came stiffly forced out. Dear Merlin, Sirius thought wildly; it wasn't Travers…the prisoner wasn't
Travers!
"What the…!" Bootle was on his feet. "Where is my client?"
"They have him." Colin sobbed, answering automatically. The three other solicitors looked torn between excitement, curiosity andoutrage. The Auror guards looked disturbed; the scribe, bewildered. Amelia brought her hand up and silenced everyone with a look.
"Why are you impersonating Dennis Travers?" Amelia asked snappily.
"They have my sister!" The man – Colin – sobbed. "I was supposed to gotoAzkaban in his place. Please, please; they have my sister and she's pregnant
and if I don't do this…they'll kill her! Please!" Sirius's heart leaped into his throat and his frantic gaze met Amelia's. Voldemort had freed Dennis Travers, another loyal servant, but Sirius didn't
care about that. Another pregnant woman was missing which meant therewas no doubt that Voldemort was going ahead with the ritual.
And the time was long past that Sirius needed to tell Harry.
..... The golden Potter griffin let the golden Nott jackal bow to it before noddingimperiously. The jackal turned to look at Harry before it dissolved into mist
and disappeared completely. Harry let out the breath he had been holding. Too many odd things had
happened with him and family magic for him to be comfortable with usingit
anymore. Across Minerva's office, Sirius smiled at him reassuringly andHarrydidn't think he was making up the matching relief in Sirius's grey eyes that
nothing had happened. Finally, Harry glanced at Theo who nodded at him.
"Guess I'm in truly in service to the House of Potter now." Theo said withenough satisfaction that it was obvious even to Harry who sometimes hadproblems reading Theo.
"Well, welcome?" Harry said with a small smile. Theo's father interrupted before Theo could reply. "I know you'll take goodcare of my son, Lord Potter." Harry stiffened but nodded sharply. "Of course, Lord Nott." He kept his tonepolite.
"Sirius, if I may have a word in private before I leave?" Lord Nott asked, turningaway from Harry. Sirius frowned but accepted, gesturing at Harry. "Can you wait outside theroom? I'll be with you in a minute."
"Sure." Harry said. He was eager to be alone with Sirius. He had so muchtoask him since Sirius had refused to tell him about the tribunals until they wereface to face.
"I'll write to you soon, Theo." Lord Nott placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "Be good."
"Of course, Father." Theo said warmly. Harry led the way out of the room, shutting the door behind Theo once he'dstepped out. Theo hovered and Harry motioned at the nearby stairs.
"You don't have to wait with me."
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Theo shrugged and leaned against the wall. "It's Sunday."
It was enough of an explanation. Nothing happened much on Sundays. Theywere supposed to be homework days. Harry wistfully thought back to thefather-son Sundays he'd spent with Sirius during the Summer and felt a pangof disappointment that Sirius would be leaving as soon as they'd talkedabout
the tribunals and caught up.
"Besides if I go back all I have to look forward to is Malfoy sulking about mebeing in service to the House of Potter and Greengrass debating about
whether she should ask you to Hogsmeade next weekend." Theo continuedcheerfully. Harry's eyes snapped to the Slytherin in alarm. "What?" Theo smirked at him. "You do realise everybody is discussing who you'replanning to go with? Are you planning to ask someone?"
"I'm not." Harry replied automatically.
"Great," Theo commented with genuine cheer, "Zabini owes me a galleon." Harry glared at him, and folded his arms. "I'm going to see Sirius." He paused. "Actually, a bunch of us are going if you want to come along."
Theo blinked at him. "You want me to come along?"
"You're part of my House now, Theo." Harry shrugged. "Ron, Hermione andNeville are all coming along too." Theo nodded slowly. "Thanks but I have…" he shifted as though he was
suddenly uncertain, "I'm going to Hogsmeade with Jeremy." Harry's eyes widened momentarily in surprise before he realised it was kindof
rude to act shocked about it and Theo was braced as though he expectedsomething bad. "Jeremy's a nice guy." Theo's expression smoothed and he nodded again. "He is." He bit his lip. "I
would bet money Daphne is going to ask you. Her Dad is keen for her tomakea good match and you…you're the one they all want to date."
"I don't…I'm not…" Harry stumbled over his words. "I don't really want a
girlfriend right now?" He settled on.
"So… you may want to say that but you might want to think about datingafewof the girls you trust anyway." Theo advised. "Otherwise the others will thinkthere's hope for them."
"Really?" asked Harry worriedly. Theo looked at him. "You're kind of clueless." Harry bristled but he couldn't really argue with Theo's comment. "I just…don't
get why they're so interested in me." Theo's eyebrows shot up. "Potter, setting aside the whole Boy Who Livedthing, and I know you don't think like this but you're Head of your House and you'rethe Heir to another really powerful House. If that wasn't enough, you're agenuinely nice guy, hero to the rescue type." He waved at him. "And you'renot
a totally bad Seeker either although if anyone in Slytherin ever hears that I saidthat, I will deny it." Harry felt the heat in his cheeks and wished the ground would open himup.
"Look, my advice? Just ask Granger and Lovegood, maybe Bones, to goonpretend dates with you so people think you're dating – Greengrass probablywould do it too if you asked. I don't think she's interested in you so muchasshe's interested in keeping her Dad off her back about making an appropriatematch." Theo said. Harry frowned. He disliked the idea but he guessed it might work to deflect
attention from his non-dating and complete inexperience. He'd talk to his
friends about Theo's idea. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to go on pretend dates or
maybe they could call them practice dates so Harry wouldn't be totally horribleon a real date?
The door behind Harry suddenly opened. Sirius poked his head out. He paused seeing Theo but nodded an
acknowledgement at him before motioning for Harry to enter the office again. Harry waved a goodbye at Theo and headed straight into the room. Sirius shut
the door, perched on the desk and put up a privacy bubble as Harry madefor
one of the comfy chairs.
"Sorry about that," Sirius said as Harry got comfortable, "Benjamin wantedtogive me a heads up that Wenlock's beginning to organise an opposition, asthough I couldn't work that out for myself." Harry nodded because Sirius had already talked with him about Wenlock andthe likely political shift. "So what happened at the tribunal that you couldn't tell
me over the mirror?" Sirius grimaced and changed position to fully look at Harry. "Do you remember
just before the World Cup when I told you that there had been a sightingof therat and Voldemort at Little Hangleton?"