The Prisoner's Trial

Chapter 18 –

On a small rocky island, covered by dark clouds, East of Edinburgh and North of Sunderland, in the middle of the North Sea, lay one of the darkest places on earth. This place, was patrolled frequently by amortal soul sucking demons, known as Dementors, and the place they were guarding, was used as a magical prison, for the magical community, known as Azkaban. This triangular prism like tower was host to some of the most dangerous criminals known to the magical community.

On the top of said tower, inside a small cell, that contained a metal bed, and a bucket for the prisoner to use, lay a shaggy haired man, huddled in a corner. The man was constantly whispering to himself, mumbling "I am innocent, ….. innocent" again and again.

His cries went unheard, as the shrill cry of rage from another cell, few floors below his rang out, and that was the only change that he was privy to on the island, apart from food. The man's mind was playing torturous visages of his dead friends, especially the tall bespectacled James Potter, who kept accusing him with "It was your fault, you killed us, you suggested the change….. We will never forgive you." The accusation was followed by the sudden sensation of a slow tugging at his soul, following which almost by instinct the man's magic enveloped him and turned him into a mangy, shaggy black dog.

As soon as the dog replaced the man, the sensation of tugging on his soul vanished, and the dementor responsible for his slow torture moved to another location on the island prison, and despite him liking to stay as a dog for however long he could, he did not have the strength to maintain the transformation, but he held on for the time being, still thinking, in his doglike form "I am innocent, I did not mean to, I am innocent, ….. I am sorry, innocent."

The man's name was Sirius Black, and he was imprisoned here wrongfully on charges of treason and murder without a valid trial. This was his everyday routine for the past eight years, alone and forgotten in the hellish cell, waiting for the sweet release of death, but as he knew that a man whose soul gets devoured by a dementor is not granted the mercy, he chose to endure and hold on to his last vestiges of sanity.

Sirius did not know how long he had spent in the prison, his thoughts and emotions filled with constant reminders of a past yet unforgotten. Thoughts of James, Remus, Lily, and even the – rat.

Suddenly, Padfoot's animal senses detected a distant sound. It was the sound of boots … human guards. Quickly Sirius turned back into human form, noticing as he did so the lack of the chilling misty cold almost always present. The storm had calmed as well, the drip in his cell slowing in pace. He had no idea what was coming, or why. Humans hardly ever came into this section of the prison, though it certainly explained the sudden lack of dementors. For the first time in days, perhaps weeks, Sirius felt the dementor induced fog lift from his mind.

It couldn't possibly be a meal, Sirius was sure that it had barely been an hour since they were 'fed', if you could call that gruel a meal. In any case, that was a duty generally left to the dementors. Maybe it was another new prisoner. He couldn't help but think dryly, 'Welcome to the worse place on earth.'

The light seemed to grow brighter. Sirius quickly put his hands over his eyes to shield them. Unused to the brightness, the light hurt. Sirius barely registered the people until he realised that the footsteps had stopped. Looking through his fingers, he could see the blurry form of two guards standing right outside his cell.

"Get up, Black," one of them snapped, "Turn around and face the wall, hands up where I can see them."

Blinking rapidly in an attempt to get use to the light, Sirius numbly followed the instructions, standing up on shaky legs. The guard was pointing his wand rather threateningly so he quickly turned around and put his arms up against the wall, heart pounding in his chest. What the hell was going on? They never moved prisoners, not unless… he felt his heart sink; the only reason prisoners were moved was to be taken to the ministry for evidence …or to be given the dementor's kiss. He shivered slightly; that was one fate he never wanted. Surely this couldn't be it.

He couldn't help himself, as the guard entered the cell he muttered, "What's going on?"

"Shut it Black!" the guard grunted poking his wand into Sirius neck, causing him to wince involuntarily, "You'll find out soon enough."

This, if anything only made Sirius more nervous. Lost in his thoughts he let the other man roughly drag his arms behind his back. Then with a muttered spell he felt chains draw tight around his wrists. This was followed in quick succession by the feeling of cold iron around his ankles. Looking down he saw a loose chain joined the two together. Grimly, he realised how much they really thought him a danger to society. He, Sirius Black, once a trainee Auror and member of the Order, was now no more than a dangerous mass-murdering madman in the eyes of everyone else.

The guard grabbed him by the worn cuff of his robes and turned him around, directing him to his cell door.

"Any attempt to escape, and you will be stunned," the guard said, "So you walk out or we drag you out, is that clear?"

"Yes Sir," Sirius muttered mockingly under his breath.

He wasn't sure if the guard heard him at first, but the rough shove, causing him to nearly fall flat on his face, seemed to indicate that he did.

As a hand went to pull him upright, Sirius shook it off and shakily stood up straight, saying softly, "I can walk by myself thanks." If this was the end, he wanted to keep his head up high all the way. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw one of the guards shrug slightly at his words.

"Have it your way then," the other guard responded, before jabbing his wand into Sirius' back and saying, "Walk."

The first guard moved in front to lead the way, light in one hand. Sirius followed blindly, barely hearing the cries of other prisoners begging them to let them out too. His mind was completely blank; he wasn't thinking; he didn't know what to expect. Several times he nearly stumbled over the chain holding his ankles together, but each time he managed to stay upright and shook the guards hands off. In the end, they let him be, save for the wand's ever presence behind his back.

Finally they reached a solid iron, light grey door. For some reason it seemed to spark a memory, but he couldn't remember where from. He felt his heart quicken even more. Was this it?

The guard muttered several spells and the door opened to reveal a clean, yet dull, and slightly warmer room. The back guard shoved him into a seat by the wall, before turning to the two people in front of them.

"Prisoner 838, Sirius Black, here for transfer," the guard announced.

Sirius, who had been staring down at his feet, felt his heart slightly slow down at those words and relief begin to flood through him. Transfer, well that sounded slightly more promising; at least it didn't sound like the dementor's kiss. His mind filled with hope as heard the guard said the next words.

"Prep him for custody, Madame Bones has demanded he be transferred to the holdings, and then prep him for trial."

Sirius chuckled inwardly as he thought 'Finally a trial for me, eh? They took their sweet time.'

His musings were cut off abruptly as the guard finally ordered "Stun him." And Sirius wasn't sure he would have resisted had they asked before in the first place.

oOOOOOOOOOOOOo

Nathan Frye watched as a stunned and bound Sirius Black was dragged by a dementor out into the courtroom, and immediately upon his entrance he saw the look of contempt, recognition and understanding cross over the faces of the members gathered around. The entrance of the dementors caused the surroundings to become unnaturally chilly, and he could feel a slight pressure at his soul.

"What is the meaning of this?!" The portly little man, wearing a bowler hate, over black robes, who Nathan had identified to be the minister for magic, Cornelius Fudge, shouted "This man is a convicted killer, and murderer. We do not have time for this, you cannot call for an emergency hearing over Sirius Black, Chief Warlock! This is abuse of Power!"

Following his accusation, the Wizengamot descended into a cacophony of shouts and noises as most members gave their support to the accusation.

Dumbledore responded by emanating a loud bang from his wand, and effectively silencing the entire floor. He then calmly responded "If you would deign to check, Cornelius, you will find that this man has never received a trial, and considering new evidence that has come to light, me and Amelia believe that it would be a disservice to the magical community as a whole, if his case was not revisited at this moment."

The minister's face colored slightly as he asked "Why was I not informed immediately about the new evidence, Chief Warlock?"

"I did inform as soon as I was privy to the information and had deemed it worth the time for this body, as I did inform through Madame Bones, to the rest of the esteemed body as well." Dumbledore supplied.

"Hem, Hem!" A shrill voice interrupted the conversation, and Nathan got his first look of the pale, toady woman, dressed in black robes, adorned by a pink hat. He immediately disliked the woman, by the extra sweet, yet condescending look on her face "If I may interject, Dumbledore, you mentioned new evidence in this criminal's case. Would you please enlighten this body?"

"Ah yes, Miss Umbridge, I will merely be presiding the case, today as is my station as Chief Warlock, the case has been brought forth by Edward Tonks, and I merely thought it prudent, so as to quickly exonerate a wrongly imprisoned man, now if you would wait a moment, I would like to carry on with the proceedings." Dumbledore said.

"Now wait, a moment Chief Warlock!" Another voice interjected yet again. "I was the assigned auror on the case of the defendant, why was I not informed as soon as he was involved." Nathan identified the man, who had interrupted the proceedings again, to be Barty Crouch Sr, based on the Hitler mustache that he was sporting.

"Councilman Crouch, following your transfer to the Department of International Magical Co-operation, all proceedings and working of the DMLE are worked only through the head of the department, and I have done so, by informing Amelia Bones, at the earliest, she was present when the information came to light, and the first accounts were taken, and even if you did lead the team responsible for this man's arrest, you are no longer a part of the department, and hence exempt from its matters." Dumbledore replied succinctly, and Nathan could see that the man's ears colored slightly, whether from rage or embarrassment, he did not know. "Now, if I will no longer be interrupted, I would like to call upon Edward Tonks, to the floor, and begin the hearing of one Sirius Orion Black."

Nathan watched as Ted rose from his seat beside Nathan and made his way to the center of the floor. Upon reaching the floor, he first requested "Your honor, as the defendants representing attorney, I would like to first of all rennervate him, under a silencing charm, and relieve both us, and the poor man, of the foul presence of the dementors."

Cornelius obliged the request "Granted, please begin your case." And the aurors on guard immediately placed silencing charms on Sirius, before casting Patronus charms to fend off the foul creatures. Nathan had his first glimpse at the hope filled spell, and he could immediately deduce the intent and power that was supplied in its production. He figured he could recreate it, given practice, now that he had seen a live demonstration. As soon as the dementors had left the courtroom, he felt the pressure that had remained against his soul leave, and little warmth entered his body. Sirius was then rennervated, and he tried to speak and get up from his chair, but the shackles that bound him in place, and the absence of his wand, along with the silencing charm made the effort futile. Though he quickly realized the situation and became quite compliant with the ongoing events, and his eyes remained fixed on the visage of Dumbledore, who was sat at the lower dais.

"Now, as you all may already know, Sirius Orion Black, had been accused of treason against the magical community, murder of one Peter Pettigrew, along with 12 muggles, and conspiracy with the Dark Lord, on the 31st of October, 1981. What is not known however, that he was never given a trial, and in light of recent events, I believe that the charges laid upon him, must be dismissed, and he should be given an adequate compensation, for the miscarriage of justice that has occurred to him." As soon as Ted uttered his opening words, shouts filled the courtroom, and Dumbledore had to intervene, by again producing a loud ringing noise from his wand.

"Silence!" He bellowed, "Let the statement be complete, and evidence be presented before interrupting the proceedings or be held in contempt." He glared at the present members of the court, all 27 members of the courtroom, including the minister and his undersecretary, looked sufficiently cowed in front of the powerful visage. "Please, continue." He nodded to Ted.

"As evidence, supporting his innocence, I would like to bring forth, the supposedly dead murder victim, Peter Pettigrew." Ted finished, and he was met with disbelieving silence, from all around. Nathan could see that Sirius Black's eyes were now filled with hope, and a longing for freedom.

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