Chapter - 42 : The True Face of Authority part - 2

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(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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"I...yes, of course."

"Do you mind if I see the court transcripts? If only to satisfy my curiosity."

Madam Bones nodded sharply as she stood from behind her desk, marched across the room, and threw open the door, startling her poor secretary out of his wits. "I need you to fetch Sirius Black's court transcripts from the archives immediately," she said brusquely.

Harry heard a soft murmur of assent before Madam Bones returned to the room. "While we wait," she said, "could I interest you in a cup of tea?"

Harry smiled gratefully. "That would be lovely, thank you."

"Troy." There was a soft pop and a small, fairly well groomed house elf appeared in the center of the room.

"What can Troy do for, Mistress?" the little elf asked, bowing deeply at Madam Bones.

"Would you prepare two cups of tea for us? You know how I like mine and Mr. Potter will have..." she looked to Harry expectantly.

"Two teaspoons of honey and a dash of cream."

"As mistress wishes," Troy said, bowing lowly, before popping away. Not even a minute later, two steaming cups of tea were served to Madam Bones and Harry along with a plate of biscuits.

Harry had polished off the majority of his cup of tea and was going for his third biscuit when the secretary returned, empty handed and horror struck. Just as Harry had hoped he would be.

"Well?" Madam Bones said sharply. "Where are the transcripts?"

"T-there were none, Madam," he said. "I searched the archives but I couldn't find them anywhere. So I asked one of the archivist, and when he couldn't find them, he looked at every time the Wizengamot had convened in October, November, and December and we found out that...that Sirius Black never appeared before the Wizengamot. He was sent to Azkaban without a trial."

"You must be joking."

"I'm not, Madam."

Madam Bones whipped her head around to look back at Harry, who had been calmly sipping at what remained of his tea as everything worked out exactly how had wanted it to. "You knew didn't you?" she said. "You knew that Black had never received a trial and that was why you sent for his court transcripts."

"I did," Harry said unrepentantly.

"But how?"

Harry shrugged "It wasn't exactly hidden was it? The only reason the issue was never brought up was because everyone was convinced that Sirius was guilty. Why try a man we all already know is guilty of all crimes?"

"That is a gross miscarriage of justice!" Madam Bones said furiously. "If what you said is true, then an innocent man resided in Azkaban for twelve years."

"Trust me, it's true."

"But how can you prove it? Yes, Black never having been tried before the Wizengamot is suspicious, but that doesn't prove his innocence. We'll need to track him down and convince him to come to the Ministry so that he can receive a proper trial."

Harry snorted. "That's going to take a hell of a lot of convincing. And it's not just him you have to convince, you've got to convince the Minister and the Wizengamot as well, Dumbledore included."

"Dumbledore shouldn't be a problem."

"Au contraire, he's the biggest problem."

"But why..." A look of understanding dawned on Madam Bones' face. "He knew?"

"Not only did he know about Sirius' innocence and Peter's subsequent guilt, but he had the little rat in his custody and he let him go."

"He let him go?"

"Why do you think we fought at the end of last term? My friends and I...uh stumbled upon Sirius Black last year. We had suspected that he was innocent for most of the year, but it was only when we got to talk to him that our theory was confirmed. Pettigrew was an illegal animagus, an illegal rat animagus, which really should have been my parents' first clue that he was a lying, no good coward who didn't deserve to know their locker combination let alone the secret of their location."

"Locker combination?"

"It doesn't matter," Harry said, waving a hand negligently. "What does matter is that after Pettigrew betrayed my parents, Sirius hunted him down to a little muggle town where, to his shock, the smarmy little bastard got the slip on him. Pettigrew screamed for the whole street to hear that Sirius had been the one to betray my parents, then he blew up the street, cut off his finger, and transformed into his rat form, in which he proceeded to scurry down into the sewer and away from the crime scene. For the next twelve years he spent his days as, first Percy Weasley, and then Ron Weasley, one of my best friends', pet rat."

"He spent twelve years as a rat?"

Harry laughed derisively. "It was the form he was most comfortable in."

"And Black told you all of this? Was there any proof?"

"Of course there was! Pettigrew was my best friend's pet rat. All we had to do was cast an animagus reversing spell on him and the truth was revealed; Scabbers was Pettigrew," Harry sighed. "We were thrilled when we found out the truth, but then I, in my youthful naivety, agreed to hand Pettigrew over to Dumbledore so that he could be turned into the authorities. The next morning I learned that just as McGonagall was about to summon the aurors, Pettigrew escaped his binds and made a hasty escape. The revelation that the traitor had gotten away and that my godfather would not be a free man, made me lose control of my temper, which led to my little little...tirade."

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Loving the story so far? There's a whole world of magic and mystery waiting for you with over 85+ chapters still to come! By supporting my Patreon.

You not only get early access to new chapters but also exclusive content, behind-the-scenes insights, and special perks just for fans like you.

Join us on this enchanted journey and help shape the future of the tale. Your support makes all the difference—discover more and become part of the adventure today!

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(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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