The following morning when Sirius awoke, he saw two new people one of whom seemed somewhat familiar but she also appeared too young for him to have gone to school with her. The woman auror noticed he was awake and sent off a message. She watched him. but didn't say anything. Ten minutes later another tray appeared This time it had a bowl of porridge, a soft boiled egg. Toast, a half a grapefruit, hot chocolate and tea in addition to another nutrient potion. Sirius sat quietly on his bed. He wondered how long it had been. All he knew was that it had been a long time. About half an hour later a man came into the ward and showed the two aurors watching Sirius a piece of paper. They nodded and after taking his wand and conjuring a chair for him they let him in the holding cell. Then cast privacy charms between the cell and the observation area.
The man pulled a file folder, a quill, and some parchment from a pocket and said, "Mr. Black, my name is Jamieson Fawcett and I was hired to represent you in these proceedings. You should be informed that while I will represent you to the best of my ability and see that you get a fair trial, my actual employer's only interest in all of these proceedings is to get to the bottom of what happened Halloween 1981. Innocent or guilty, I have no stake in the outcome of these proceedings. With that in mind do you wish for me to represent you?"
Sirius thought over what was said. He was innocent of the main crimes he was in Azkaban for so he said, "Yeah. But I have to ask. Who is your employer?"
"That's confidential. You can find out after the trial."
"Oh. Okay. So, how long has it been anyway?"
"It's almost eleven years."
Sirius was stunned. He had thought five maybe six, but eleven? Hell, eleven years meant Harry was already at Hogwarts. When he died, James and Lily would have his hide; failing his godson like that. He was surprised they hadn't already found a way to get their revenge.
"I want to go over the charges you're facing and what happened and get your take on it. That way I'll know how to proceed." He flipped open the file folder. "Conspiracy to commit murder, doing magic in front of muggles, thirteen counts of murder, twenty two counts of battery. Aurors report you laughing unrepentantly and saying 'it's all my fault' before they stunned you. Your wand was confiscated as evidence.
"So what happened that night, Mr. Black."
"Conspiracy to commit murder?"
"Yes, you revealing the location of James and Lily Potter to You-Know-Who and their subsequent murders."
"I wasn't their Secret Keeper, but it was all my fault they're dead, because I persuaded them to use the rat."
"The rat?"
"Peter Pettigrew, our friend," his rusty voice dripped with sarcasm. "He- we, were unregistered animagi. Prongs was a stag, I'm a dog, and Wormtail- Wormtail was a rat. A dirty, stinking, traitor of a rat, the order had a spy, you see. We thought it was Moony, but it wasn't. It was Peter. Weakling that he was. Guess he was sneakier and smarter than we gave him credit for being though. James and I figured that everyone would believe I was the secret keeper because we were so close, so we thought we'd pull a fast one and asked Peter to do it. I'd be a target and Pete could be safe; after all who would expect shy, weak, unassuming Peter to hold a secret for flamboyant James when I was around.
"But it all backfired, didn't it. Peter betrayed them and framed me for it. It was early November 4, 1981 shortly after midnight outside a muggle nightclub when I finally caught up to him. He screamed how I'd betrayed them. I was quiet because the whole time he was shouting he was cutting off his own finger and I was trying to figure out what the hell he was up to. Then he cast that blasting hex at the gas line. Next thing I know I'm crashing into a wall. And he's disappearing down the hole he made and into the London sewers as a rat and it was one of those laugh or die crying moments. I was hit by the aurors two seconds later. Next thing I know I'm being chucked into a cell in Azkaban."
"So, you're saying it was all Peter Pettigrew? That's awfully convenient, since no one has seen more than his finger since that hex hit the gas line."
"Priori my wand. The last spell I cast was an expelliarmus and before that were a bunch of locator spells as I was hunting Peter. Shoulda reductoed the bastard on principle. He fired the expluso that caused the explosion that killed and maimed all those muggles."
"Would you be willing to testify to what you just told me under Veritaserum?"
"Definitely."
"Then Mr. Black, I think I can just about guarantee that you'll be a free man in a short time. What about the use of magic in front of muggles charge?"
Sirius couldn't help it. He winced.
"I see. Well you've given me plenty to work with. I'll make arrangements for a different robe before the trial, in the meantime is there anything I can get for you?"
"Something to read? Maybe some parchment and a quill so I could write a letter or two." Sirius couldn't help himself. This had to be a dream. Tears spilled out of his eyes.
"I'll see what I can do." Mr Fawcett got up and left the cell. Sirius laid back on the bed and tried to stop his tears, twenty minutes later he was still crying.
Nymphadora Tonks couldn't take it. She had never quite believed the stories about how evil her favorite cousin was. She remembered all the times he took her for ice cream to allow her parents time together while she was young. Now he was here, no longer in Azkaban, about to face trial which she hoped meant he would get cleared. And he was crying. She asked Ferguson if she could get a medi-witch or even just a potion to calm him.
Ferguson frowned but nodded. Black had been in maximum security in Azkaban for over a decade. Usually only lifers were in the maximum security. He personally doubted the wisdom of the higher-ups, but every Englishman had his rights. Their orders were clear: to protect Black from those that might try to interfere with his getting a trial, while at the same time keeping him absolutely under their control because if he was guilty they didn't want him getting loose and attacking the British Wizarding population.
A couple minutes later Tonks was back. She handed Ferguson her wand and approached the cell. "Mr. Black, here's a potion for you." He didn't get up to take it. "Mr. Black? Sirius?" When she called him Sirius he startled, then sat up and shuffled over to where he took the potion from her and drank it before handing her back the vial.
"Thank you, Auror Trainee." he gave her a searching look. "You look familiar."
"I should hope so." She gave a half smile and changed her hair from the sleek brown bob she wore on duty to bublegum pink spikes.
"Nymph?"
"Yeah Siri, it's me." She said with a frown. "I just go by Tonks these days. How about you get some rest, alright."
He nodded and padded back to the bed. He awoke two hours later when his lunch arrived. The small chicken pot pie, broccoli, strawberries and custard accompanied by hot chocolate and tea had his stomach feeling full for the third time in twenty-four hours. He noticed his cousin was no longer on duty, instead the auror named Spencer and the black one were on duty again. The black one came to the bars.
"Your barrister brought these by." Sirius padded over and took the small stack of items. There was an everfull quill, about a dozen parchments, and a novel. "Thank you. Do you mind telling me your name, I remember you had just joined the aurors when… stuff happened."
"Call me Shacklebolt. The top parchment is a measuring parchment. I'll activate it if you want."
Sirius nodded.
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