7

Harry stood tall and confident at the entrance of the ministry. The dye in his messy hair had faded, leaving it a dark crimson colour that he rather liked. His round glasses were perched on his nose, and his long leather jacket was accompanied by ripped, faded jeans and a tight black t-shirt; a stark contrast to the wizarding robes of the other figures hurrying about. He strolled casually towards the security desk, weaving his way carefully through the crowds of people.

"Harry Potter, here for interrogation," he drawled in response to the guard's querying look.

"Indeed. Place your wand on the scales, please," the balding guard said curtly, eyeing Harry as though he thought he was up to no good. Harry flicked his wrist, causing his wand to jump from the holster (hidden by his jacket) into his hand. Smirking slightly, he placed the wand on the scales indicated and waited as the guard wrote down the details.

"Very well, Mister Potter," he said finally, handing the wand back to its owner, "If you could take the lift down to Level Nine, then carry on down the stairs to Level Ten where your interrogation will take place in Courtroom Three." Harry nodded, grabbing his wand back and sliding it into his holster. Turning away from the desk, he sought out the elevators, spotting them quickly behind a crowd of ministry workers.

The lift he entered was crowded, and he got several dirty looks for leaving a large space behind him, all of which he ignored, standing his ground. The last of the crowd got out at Level Eight, and Harry travelled the last part alone. Sirius took this opportunity to fill his godson with nerves.

"Harry, mate," he whispered, stepping forward from behind Harry, where he had been hiding with the aid of the invisibility cloak, "Are you sure this is a good idea?" The worry and doubt was obvious in his tone, and Harry felt his stomach churn as he thought of everything that could go wrong with his plan. Swallowing, he forced his concerns to the back of his mind, needing to at least appear confident when he entered the Courtroom. Just then, the lift's doors opened and a female voice announced their arrival at Level Nine. Stepping out, he ignored Sirius and strode forwards. He quickly found the stairs and within minutes was outside Courtroom Three.

He paused for a second, wondering whether to knock or not, before deciding that he ought to at least begin by being polite and rapping his knuckles against the wooden door.

"Enter," a voice called from within and Harry pushed open the door and, with his shoulders back and his head held high, he stepped into the courtroom, pausing again to allow Sirius time to enter behind him before shutting the door.

The room was small and rectangular, with raised seats along the far side and a single, uncomfortable looking chair placed in the centre of the room. The walls were grey and the light was fairly dim, giving the room the same eerie feeling as the dungeons at Hogwarts. There were six people seated in the raised area; the Minister for Magic himself, in his lime bowler hat as usual, an older witch with short grey hair and a monocle, two official looking women who Harry assumed to be Aurors, a young man who was poised ready with parchment and quill and at the very end of the row, Lucius Malfoy, looking smug and relaxed.

"Have a seat, Mister Potter," Fudge called out, and Harry noticed that the Minister seemed to be far less welcoming than he had been last year when they had met. In fact, with the cold stare he was now receiving, Harry would go as far as to say that he was somewhat hated at this particular time. Pushing the thought out of his head, Harry looked to the chair he was obviously supposed to occupy.

"I think I'll stand," he drawled, imitating Malfoy's usual tone perfectly, and having to suppress a grin when he noticed Lucius's sneer at his actions. He did, however, move to the centre of the room.

"Very well," huffed the minister, "Madam Bones, if you would like to begin the interrogation."

"Thank you, Minister," the lady with the monocle stood, shuffling her papers into order as she did so. "It has come to our attention," here, she flicked her eyes towards Lucius Malfoy, a look of disgust flashing briefly across her face, "that you may be in contact with the escaped convict, Sirius Black. Is this true?" It was obvious by her demeanour that she expected nothing to come of this; she was clearly assuming that Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, would have nothing to do with the man who betrayed his parents.

"Yup," Harry answered, allowing a small grin to grace his lips as he watched the reactions. Fudge jumped in his seat slightly, dislodging his bowler hat from where it was perched on his head, causing him to dive under the chairs to retrieve it. The two Aurors had matching looks of shock on their faces, though one of them also had her hair flicking through colours- purple, red, blue, black, before settling again on brown. Harry quirked an eyebrow at this, he would have to ask Sirius about that particular skill later on. Lucius Malfoy had smirked for a second, before confusion took over his satisfaction. Madam Bones surprised Harry, however, by merely raising her eyebrows before continuing with the questioning.

"I won't bother asking if you were aware of his status as a convicted murderer, as I very much doubt anyone could be living in the wizarding world and, after last year at least, not be aware of it. I will therefore ask you what, precisely, you are doing with him? And be warned that if we feel that you are answering untruthfully, we will be forced to use a truth serum on you. Please do not make us take such extreme measures."

"Oh, don't worry, I plan on telling the truth. Well, what have I been doing with him? Bit of an odd question, since you only thought I was in contact with him, but ok. In the last few days, I have been getting drunk with him, dying each other's hair, though we didn't get to the braiding- which Sirius was very disappointed with," here Harry paused for a second, wincing as his godfather kicked him in the shin, "I have also been eating a lot of bacon, and watching him break a lot of probably extremely valuable items," Harry finished with a grin, knowing that the people in front of him were probably very confused about how this meeting was going.

"I see," Madam Bones said slowly, finally giving in and allowing the confusion she felt to show on her face, "Do you have anything else to say on the matter before we arrest you?" Harry swallowed, knowing this was his one chance.

"Yeah, I do actually. I have here-" he rummaged in the pockets of his coat for a second, before triumphantly pulling out a sheet of folded parchment, "-a letter written to me from my mum and dad, just before they died. And though I am reluctant to allow you all to read such a personal letter, I feel that it will benefit my situation greatly," Harry cautiously stepped forward, holding the letter out to his interrogators. It was the Minister for Magic who snatched it from his fingers, the portly man's eyes growing comically wide as he read through the letter. Wordlessly, he passed it on to Madam Bones, who also read it in silence before automatically passing it down the line to the Auror who had changed her hair colour. She in turn read it and passed it to the second Auror, who was about to pass it on to Lucius Malfoy before Harry stopped her.

"Sorry," he said unconvincingly, "but as I already said, I am reluctant to allow people to read it, and as I have not yet seen any reason for Lucy here to even be present, I don't think we'll be allowing him access to my personal letters." Saying this, he stepped forward and pulled the letter from the Auror's hands, grinning at the glare he received from the man in question.

It was Fudge who snapped out of it first.

"This is preposterous!" he yelled, "Sirius Black, innocent? Utter rubbish! Why would he have been put in Azkaban if he was innocent, eh? Answer me that, boy!" Harry bristled at the use of the term 'boy', having had quite enough of that from Vernon.

"Because he was never given a trial, maybe? Because everyone assumed that he was guilty, because he came from a dark family? Because everyone was so goddamned happy that my parents were dead that they didn't pause to try and give the benefit of the doubt to their best friend? There's quite a few reasons, pick one!" Harry was shouting by the time he was finished, months of pent up frustration and anger coming out at last, the restless feeling in the back of his mind growing, until he was forced to begin pacing in front of the raised seats, his leather coat whipping around him.

"Happy? That your parents were dead? My dear boy, I think you are mistaken," said Madam Bones coldly, glaring at him in such a way that he knew she was unimpressed by his outburst.

"Then why did you all party, eh? I heard about that, you know. The entire night was spent celebrating the downfall of Voldemort, ignoring the price it cost," he spoke quieter now, but the anger was still obvious in his voice and the Aurors both began fingering their wands, in case things got out of hand. Before anyone could answer his questions, however, Lucius stood up, drawing the eyes of everyone in the small room.

"Interesting as this may be, it has no relevance to the question at hand. And whilst I did not read the letter, I have to doubt its validity. It would have been only too easy for Potter and Black to have forged it," he spoke smoothly and calmly, the exact opposite of how Harry was feeling.

"Although unlikely, this is true," Madam Bones said, adjusting her monocle, "Do you have any other evidence for your claim?" Harry stopped pacing and stared at her for a minute, trying to decide if this was worth risking his godfather's capture. He felt a hand on his shoulder and knew Sirius was beside him. If this worked, there would be no need for the invisibility cloak and Sirius would be able to stand tall and free. It was worth it.

"How would a statement from the man himself under your strongest truth serum be for evidence?" he asked casually, eyes fixed on Madam Bones and ignoring the reactions of the others present. Again, the stern faced woman raised her eyebrows, glancing around the room as if she would see Sirius Black hiding in a corner.

"That would be sufficient," she answered, "How soon can you send him a message to b-"

"You can't be serious!" interrupted Fudge. Harry heard a snigger from beside him and rolled his eyes; his godfather would never cease finding that particular joke funny. "You-"

"I am perfectly serious, Minister," Madam Bones cut him off, "Due to the evidence we have been presented, we have an obligation to investigate this. If it turns out to be lies, then we can easily arrest Black afterwards." Harry raised an eyebrow at this last, but let it go, knowing that arguing that particular point would not do him any favours. Throughout it all, Lucius Malfoy glared, unable to see a way in which this situation could still work to his advantage.

"If you fetch the truth serum right now, then we can begin immediately," Harry chimed in helpfully, fishing around in his pockets for a cigarette.

"I see," the Minister answered, looking annoyed as he motioned to one of the Auror's to go and fetch it. It was the woman who had changed her hair colour earlier, and she flashed Harry a grin as she passed him. Slightly confused, but grateful that at least one person in the room appeared to be on his side, he found his lighter and lit his cigarette, taking a deep drag. He had performed the spell to stop him from coughing the first night he had spent at Grimmauld Place, sharing his first ever cigarette with his godfather, who felt as though he were in heaven after not smoking for thirteen years.

It only took a few minutes for the Auror to return, but it was an awkward few minutes. Harry stood and smoked, attempting to ignore the glares from the officials before him. He got the feeling that they wanted to tell him to stop, but had no grounds for the request and so were forced to stay quiet. He could feel Sirius fidgeting next to him, and knew that his godfather was nervous, to say the least. Eventually the Auror came back, tripping slightly as she entered the room and only just managing to keep a hold of the vial in her hand. Blushing red, she rushed to the front of the room where she stood and awaited instructions.

"Where is he then, Mister Potter?" Fudge asked curtly, as though he wished nothing less than to get this meeting over with, "We haven't got all day."

"Ready Pads?" Harry muttered, receiving a squeeze on the shoulder as an answer, which he took for confirmation. "Right here, Minister," he called, just as Sirius pulled the cloak off, hiding it quickly behind his back. Fudge jumped back again, and the two Aurors drew their wands, training them on Sirius. The scribe paused in his scribbling to glance up and, eyes wide, immediately turned his gaze back towards his parchment. Lucius Malfoy sneered in disgust, glaring down at the man he considered a blood traitor. Only Madam Bones seemed unaffected, though she did surreptitiously finger her wand in her pocket.

"Auror Tonks, the serum if you will," she commanded, not taking her eyes off of the emaciated man before her. The Auror moved forward warily, holding out the dropper without saying a word. Sirius opened his mouth and allowed three drops to fall onto his tongue before he stepped back, slumping into the chair.

"Is your name Sirius Black?" Madam Bones questioned, her voice ringing around the small chamber.

"Yes," Sirius replied emotionlessly, slumped in his chair.

"And you were born in 1959, correct?"

"Yes."

"Were you James and Lily Potter's secret keeper?" It seemed for a second that the entire room was holding its breath, waiting for the answer. It didn't have to wait long, however, for within seconds Sirius voice rand across the room.

"No."

Fudge gasped, as did both Aurors, and everyone looked to Madam Bones to ask the final question they needed to be sure.

"Did you betray James and Lily Potter to Voldemort?" she asked, her voice uncharacteristically soft.

"No."