It wasn't long before they found themselves back in the same seats as before in courtroom ten. At precisely two pm, Dumbledore rose from his seat and started the proceedings. "Today we are here for the trial of Peter Oliver Pettigrew for unimaginable crimes against the Wizarding World including the betrayal of James and Lily Potter to Voldemort, murder of Cedric Diggory and returning Voldemort to a physical body," Dumbledore glanced over at the Percy once again and asked the required question. "Mr. Weasley are you prepared?"
"Yes sir," Percy Weasley replied as he dipped his quill into the inkwell and pulled another roll of parchment closer.
"Aurors bring in the accused," Dumbledore commanded.
Harry was half-way expecting the Aurors to report that Pettigrew had escaped in his animagus form, but as the doors opened, he realized how they were preventing such a thing from happening. Peter Pettigrew was not walking. He was immobilized and secured to a pole which was attached to a small cart which was surrounded by six aurors. The cart itself was edged with a two foot high mesh fence. Even if Pettigrew managed to morph into his animagus form, he would find himself caged inside the fence.
As the cart moved slowly down the aisle toward the chair, two wizards stood as if to get a better look at the accused. Just as an Auror was about to tell them to sit back down, they both pulled out wands and sent blugeoning hexes at the Aurors surrounding Pettigrew. At that close of a range, nothing would protect them and two of the guards went down in a scene of blood and gore while the other four Aurors quickly subdued the men who had attacked their partners.
When the four other Aurors had their backs to their charge, another man, who had been sitting across the aisle moved. His own wand came out and he released Wormtail from the immobilization spell. "Your master wishes you to be free," He whispered urgently. "Change."
Sirius saw his old friend start his shape shifting and acted at once. He yelled "Watch the rat!" as he scrambled out of his seat and bolted toward the confusion. He made it just in time to find a hand reaching into the mesh pen toward the rat cowering in the corner. "NO!" Sirius yelled as he grabbed the man's arm while barreling him over. They crashed over two other chairs before hitting the ground.
"IT'S BLACK!" one of the Aurors yelled as he turned toward the disturbance. "He's trying to free his friend."
Though both Amelia and Remus had tried to stop them, Harry and Hermione had followed Sirius and were only a few steps behind him. When the Auror leveled his wand at Sirius, Harry immediately unleashed a shield that covered his godfather. The stunner the Auror had sent at Sirius ricocheted back at the Auror who collapsed.
"Thanks," Sirius said as he kept a grip on the man who'd tried to rescue Pettigrew. "Where's Wormtail."
Harry glanced into the mesh pen and saw the beady eyes of the terrified rat who was missing a paw, staring back at him. "He's still there," Harry said as he then started surveying those around him looking for additional threats.
"STOP!" Dumbledore's powerful voice radiated through the courtroom.
"What's going on here?" A voice said and Harry turned to find himself staring into the yellowish eyes of a man who died protecting his whereabouts, a man he never liked though, Rufus Scrimgeour. Though Rufus was speaking to the Aurors around him, his eyes were darting about looking for dangers. "You," He commanded one of the Aurors, "secure the prisoner."
"Yes sir!" The Auror replied.
"Black, showing your true colors?" Scrimgeour snapped as he pointed his wand at Sirius. "Did you really think you could get away with this?"
"It's not like that Rufus," Sirius replied as he stood up. Two more Aurors pointed their wands at him. "I caught this man trying to get Peter out of there."
"An accomplice you mean?" Rufus snarled.
"Stand down Scrimgeour," Amelia said as she walked up to the crowd. "Sirius Black was sitting next to me and reacted to the events. Without his fast actions we might have lost our prisoner."
Rufus turned his eyes on Amelia and paused for a second before replying. "Of course Madam Bones."
"Now who is this?" Amelia asked indicating the man who Sirius still had a hold of.
"Never seen him before," Rufus said. "Someone trying to help Black free his friend more than likely."
"I wasn't doing nothing wrong," The man said in a wheezy voice. "I was just try'n to help the Aurors."
"He had his hand in there reaching for Peter," Sirius said nodding into the mesh screen while keeping a firm grip on the man's arm.
"I saw'm turn into a rat and thought he was going to escape," The man said as his face fell into a lopsided grin that was more like a leer. "I was just try'n to help."
Something about the man seemed very familiar to Harry but he was sure he'd never seen him before. As the grin emerged on the man's face, he knew exactly when and where he'd seen that grin. He'd seen the same facial expression on a man who'd spit in McGonagall's face. His wand was up in an instant and pointed directly at the man. "Trying to help? Help your Master get Pettigrew back right Amycus Carrow? Who'd you polyjuice yourself as?"
The man's eyes widened but only for an instant. He put his free hand in his pocket and said "Easy lad; I don't know who you're talking about, my name is...eh...Gifford Oldridge."
Amelia didn't understand since Harry's memories had clearly showed the Carrows and this man looked nothing like the man in his memories but she also knew Harry might have seen something that indicated the man was who he was claiming he was. She leveled her own wand at the man. "Gifford is it? Well if nothing else, we'll at least need a statement from you. One that I'm sure will take at least an hour. Now why don't you take your wand out of pocket slowly and hand it over."
"I didn't do anything," The man clamored again. "I'm not this person the kid thinks I am."
Harry eyes were already looking past the man at the chair next to where his was and saw that it was empty. He scanned the rows and noticed a woman moving slowly away, toward the entrance to the courtroom. "I'd also bet that woman is his sister, Alecto."
"Rufus, secure that woman immediately," Amelia said pointing where Harry had indicated. The woman in question started moving much quicker.
....
Join my P*atreon to enjoy 60+ advanced chapters.
Link: p*atreon.com/ScarletRosee (Remove the *)
Free members can get 2+ advanced chapters FOR FREE.