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"Or it's been ignored."
"Or it's been ignored." Alastor agreed dryly.
Amelia sighed heavily. "You know what else bothers me."
"That he didn't know his Dad was a Hit Wizard?" Alastor suggested. "It bothered me, I can tell you."
"Well, yes, that too," and Amelia, "but what I was referring to was something Brian Cutter said to me about the new Lord Black."
Alastor's eyebrows shot up is his grizzled forehead. "A new Lord Black? And he's hired Brian Cutter?"
She explained about the letter from Lord Black to Cutter, the meeting in Cornelius's office, and saw that he got the political implications immediately; Moody had never been stupid. "Cutter has a copy of the Potters' will and Sirius Black was named, after the Longbottoms, as guardian." She put her glass down and gazed at Alastor. "Albus Dumbledore took illegal custody of Harry Potter, placed him with the muggles, and failed to ensure that one of the named guardians on the will got a trial!"
"I can see how it doesn't look good, Amelia," Alastor admitted, "especially in light of the fact that he didn't place Black in protective custody at Hogwarts either, but I don't think Albus would deliberately keep a man in prison for twelve years if he knew he was innocent."
"Not even for his vaunted Greater Good?" Amelia asked pointedly.
Alastor conceded that with a huff. "Admittedly, Albus can justify almost anything to his greater good but not something unquestionably wrong. Keeping the boy behind blood wards where he might be unsafe from his relatives, no. Keeping the boy behind blood wards where he might be unloved, yes. Condemning an innocent man to Azkaban for twelve years, no. Not stepping in to clear Black's name because Albus thinks Potter will be safer where he is, maybe."
Amelia grimaced; the lines separating the statements Alastor had made into acceptable and unacceptable were very thin but they were there. "You know him better than me." She allowed.
"And knowing him, regardless of my belief that I don't think Albus would keep the boy there if faced with all the evidence we have of the muggles' neglect of the lad, I would advise you to get Potter's new guardianship situation sorted out before Albus ever gets wind of it." Alastor said bluntly.
"Understood." And Amelia knew who she was going to call first.
o-O-o
Sirius reread the letter from Brian again. And again.
Completely cleared subject to Minister's signature.
Did Lord Black have a way to contact Sirius Black?
The Ministry wanted to know if Sirius Black would be prepared to assume immediate guardianship of Harry Potter.
He read it again.
Remus impatiently plucked it out of his numb fingers and read it. "Padfoot! We did it!" He slapped Sirius's back, jolting him forward. "Congratulations! Didn't I tell you sending Bones round to the muggles would increase your chances to get custody of Harry? You owe me five galleons! And don't think…" he suddenly looked at Sirius who hadn't moved. "Are you OK, Padfoot?"
No. Yes. He really had no idea. His emotions swung in a pendulum from crazed happiness to complete astonishment to total fear that he was going to mess up with Harry and – what had he been thinking?
Sirius rubbed his forehead and dragged his mind back into focus. Harry. Harry. Harry. He was doing this for Harry and it had worked. "Sorry," he said, realising belatedly that Remus was regarding him worriedly, "just," he flapped a hand at him, "surprised. I thought it would take more time or something."
"But you are pleased?" probed Remus carefully as though he was afraid Sirius would explode or break or something.
"Beyond happy." Sirius confirmed. He took the parchment back. "I'll write back to Brian. I guess it's time to come clean on my identity with him."
The signature of Cornelius Fudge looped its way across the parchment. It was attached to the official investigation report that concluded Sirius Black was innocent of the arrest charges in 'eighty-one, and pardoned for escaping Ministry custody and his actions during his time as a fugitive. The statement acknowledged the Ministry's culpability and awarded compensation to Black to the tune of ten thousand galleons for every year of false imprisonment and an additional five thousand for the year he had been a fugitive.
"The press statement?" Cornelius asked briskly as he added the official seal to the parchment.
Amelia exchanged a look with Brian Cutter and slid it across the desk to the Minister.
"Following new evidence, a Special Investigation was made into the matter of Sirius Black under the jurisdiction of Amelia Bones, the Head of the DMLE. The findings of the Special Investigation are thus: Sirius Black was imprisoned without trial. Evidentiary and legal procedures were not followed and his guilt or innocence never established beyond circumstantial hearsay. A review of all the evidence gathered at the time of his arrest, and the subsequent addition of new witness testimony following recent events at Hogwarts, including a statement by Harry Potter, has concluded that Sirius Black is innocent of all charges. Given his twelve years of unlawful imprisonment, we have pardoned him for the lesser charge of escaping custody.
Additionally, we want to announce that Peter Pettigrew is alive and a suspected Death Eater. He is hereby stripped of his Order of Merlin and is wanted for questioning in the deaths of James Potter, Lily Potter, and thirteen muggles. He is also wanted for conspiracy to pervert the course of Justice. He is considered armed and dangerous. Citizens are advised to report any sightings to the Aurors immediately.
Clearly a gross miscarriage of justice took place under the previous administration and, although it was a chaotic time, the current peacetime administration is appalled. We apologise unreservedly to Sirius Black for his loss of freedom, damage to his reputation, and disregard for his basic legal rights. While it is our understanding that he is currently abroad, he is once again a free citizen and welcome to return to Britain and public life without fear of reprisal."
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If you want to read ahead by 10 chapters from her you can visit my Patre-on.
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