The Consequences

"I was told by James Potter, your father, that they had chosen Sirius to be their secret keeper. I had offered him to become the secret keeper myself as Voldemort had shown an unusually high interest in your family and wanted to keep you safe, but James refused, saying that Sirius would never betray them and go into hiding himself to keep them safe. I know that the charm was performed on the 22nd October as at that point I forgot about the location of your home." Dumbledore said.

"So you weren't present when the charm was performed?" Harry asked.

"No, Lily, your mother, was the one that performed the charm." Dumbledore explained.

"Thank you, Chief Warlock." Harry said. "So, while all indications indeed point to Sirius Black being the secret keeper of my family we don't have proof of that. Professor Dumbledore didn't see the charm being performed which would have been the only way for him to know with certainty who was made the secret keeper. So far he only made logical deductions. From various stories I have heard about my parents' time at Hogwarts there always comes up a group of four friends that included my father, James Potter, as well as Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. They were said to be the closest friends with my father and Sirius Black being like brothers. Those four were infamous for being pranksters who sometimes went too far in their pranks.

"So, knowing that my father and his friends loved to deceive people at school, would it be too far-fetched to believe they planned a prank against Voldemort to keep us safe?" Harry asked, making people that had known the group at Hogwarts gasp.

Harry let them think about it for a while.

"The only one who can tell us with absolute certainty what really happened in 1981, what has caused his actions and what led to the failing of the Fidelius charm and the explosion that cost thirteen muggles their lives is Sirius Black himself. Though even if he is the only one knowing the whole truth, he never was even questioned." Harry said.

"He would just have lied." Somebody shouted. Harry gave the man an icy glare that froze the man's movements instantly.

"Do I have to assume that a member of the Wizengamot is so ignorant of the possibilities the Magical Law Enforcement has for solving a crime that he doesn't know that in cases of murder, terrorism and treason against the country the use of veritaserum isn't bound to the permission of the suspect?" Harry asked coldly.

Many whispered. It seemed they hadn't known that fact.

"That is written down in the Decree for the Ministry Controlled Use of Veritaserum, Article Seven. It would be good if those that are responsible for upholding our laws constantly kept informed about them." Harry stated. He knew he had stepped on a few toes with that statement, but they couldn't tell he was wrong as he had just shown.

"Chief Warlock Dumbledore, I request an interrogation under veritaserum of the accused." Harry said.

"Granted. Madam Bones, please administer the veritaserum." Dumbledore said.

Madam Bones took out a vial of the truth potion which she always had on her person for trials and walked over to Black. He looked at her grinning. The cheek of that man. He willingly opened his mouth and accepted three drops in his mouth. She started the interrogation as that was her part in a trial before the witness of the defence had the word, even if in this trial Harry Potter had been saying way more than her.

"What is your name?" She asked.

"Sirius Orion Black." He answered.

"Are you a Death Eater?"

"No." That caused uproar and Dumbledore needed to silence the Wizengamot. She saw Rita gleefully taking notes.

"Were you the secret keeper of the Potters?"

"No. We changed to Peter to trick Voldemort." Sirius answered. Harry looked smug.

"Why?" She couldn't stop herself asking.

"I was too obvious. I was James' best friend so everybody would assume that I was the secret keeper and come after me. We thought if we let people continue to think that and made Peter the secret keeper and he stayed in hiding, James, Lily and Harry would be safe from Voldemort." Sirius answered.

"What happened after you found the Potters dead?" She asked.

"I saw Hagrid being there holding Harry in his arms. He said Professor Dumbledore had ordered him to take Harry to his aunt. I tried to get Harry as I was his godfather, but he refused. So I did the next best thing and gave him my flying motorbike to get Harry to safety. I had to make sure Harry was safe and if I couldn't take him myself I at least wanted to give Hagrid a means to avoid attacks. I went into the house and levitated James and Lily out. I didn't want them to be crushed if the house crumbled. Then I was gripped by fury. I didn't think clearly anymore. I wanted to make the rat that betrayed James and Lily to Voldemort pay. So I went to hunt him down. I found him a few days later. I cornered him after trying to stun him. He surprised me by shouting how I could have betrayed Lily and James. Then he blasted the street behind him apart, grinned and cut off his own finger. He transformed into a rat and ran off into the sewer he had blasted open with his hex that coincidentally had hit a gas line.

"At that moment I couldn't help but laugh. Weak, pathetic, little Peter had got one over me. And I still felt guilty for suggesting him as the secret keeper to Lily and James. If I had just been the secret keeper myself, they would still be alive." Sirius said.

The courtroom was deathly silent. The reality of what people had done to this man began to sink in. He was innocent and still had been sent to Azkaban.

"Did you hear enough? I think this is the irrefutable proof that Sirius Black is innocent of all the crimes you accused him of and tore him apart for in the press. You let an innocent man stay in Azkaban in the high security tract without even granting him a trial for ten full years. I have to wonder how many more people were sent to Azkaban without a trial. A right that every person is granted under the law of the crown which still is valid for the wizarding world according to the decrees made when, with the activation of the Statute of Secrecy in 1692, the English king let the magical population of England go and live in their own society with their own government completely separated from the muggles. The king permitted self-government as long as the crown was still the highest sovereign of all the people of England. Are there perhaps more unlucky ones like my godfather who were chucked there, seen as the scum of the world and forgotten without proof of their guilt? I request a thorough investigation on all the ones that were sent to Azkaban during the time that Bartemius Crouch was head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. With as shaky evidence as he had in this case, who is to say he didn't get rid of a few political opponents this way? Or just wanted to look good in the eyes of the public." Harry asked the assembled members of the Wizengamot.

One man was glaring at him, he had a strictly cut moustache and perfectly sitting robes. Harry guessed that it was Barty Crouch as many were now looking at the man suspiciously. He didn't care. That man was the reason he had had to grow up in the hell that was Privet Drive. He would destroy him and he was relatively sure this would do it or at least most of it.

"Members of the Wizengamot, I think it is time to come to a voting. You have heard the accusation, the defence and the interrogation of the accused under veritaserum provided by the Ministry through Madam Bones. Those in favour of declaring the accused guilty of the charges against him?" Dumbledore asked.

....

Join my P*atreon for early access to 60+ chapters ahead of the public release. 

Free members also get 4+ advanced chapters for free.

Link: pa*treon.com/MysticVerse (Remove the *)