The Anger .

Amelia then caused to be played through the projection feature of the court pensieve the memories Harry handed over of the night his parents were killed.

Once the memory finished playing out, Amelia stood once more and asked, "Lord Black, do you consent of your own free will to the taking of Veritaserum, for the purposes of asking you questions regarding what happened on the night of the 31st of October 1981 at Potter Cottage; and what happened on the day of the 3rd of November 1981 in Covington, when you confronted Peter Pettigrew?"

"Yes, definitely," replied a now grinning Sirius Black.

With a nod of her head towards her aurors, one of the aurors came forward carrying a small phial of clear liquid. Sirius tilted his head back and three drops were dripped onto his tongue.

As the auror backed away, Sirius brought his head forward again and made a show of smacking his lips.

Amused, Madam Bones asked, "What is your name?"

"Sirius Orion Black"

"What is your date of birth?" "14th of February 1960" "On the night of the 31st of October 1981, were you the Secret Keeper for the Fidelius Charm placed over Potter Cottage?" "No, that was Peter Pettigrew."

"Why would people think it was you?" "I thought I would be too obvious a choice. I suggested to James he choose Pettigrew, another friend, instead."

"During the day of the 3rd of November 1981, did you track down Peter Pettigrew to a street in the shopping district of Covington?" "Yes. It took me almost three days of hunting to finally find him."

"Did you kill Peter Pettigrew?" "No." "Did you kill any of the thirteen muggles that were in the vicinity?"

"No, that was Pettigrew."

"Who blew the hole in the street?"

"That was partly Pettigrew using a Blasting Curse to open up a hole in the street, and that he hit a gas main line when he did so."

"What happened to Pettigrew after he blew the hole in the street?"

"He cut off the little finger on his left hand using an underpowered cutting curse, changed into his animagus form of a brown common rat, and disappeared down the opened sewer pipes."

"Pettigrew is, or was, an unregistered animagus?"

"Yes." "Are you, or have you ever been, a member of the organisation known as Death Eaters."

"No."

"Have you ever desired to, or wished you could, join that organisation?"

"No, never."

"Madam Marchbanks, I have no further questions for this man," said Amelia after first turning to the elderly witch. "May I have the antidote given?"

Madam Marchbanks sighed and said, "Go ahead."

The same auror stepped forward and pulled Sirius's head back. He carefully dropped a couple of drops of the antidote into the slightly open mouth. When he released Sirius's head it moved back to it's original position. A few moments later, Sirius blinked a few times and he became more animated. Clearly, the antidote had taken effect.

Amelia called, "Madam Marchbanks; based on the evidence presented this day, I move that all charges be dropped and Lord Black be exonerated of any wrongdoing in this matter."

Nodding, Madam Marchbanks called, "All those in favour of dismissing all charges and exonerating Sirius Orion Black of any wrongdoing, raise your wands."

A quick count and the court stenographer gave a small nod to the elderly witch.

"All those not in favour of dismissing all charges and exonerating Sirius Orion Black of any wrongdoing, raise your wands."

Only a few wands were raised. "Based on the count," said Madam Marchbanks, "Sirius Orion Black, due to the overwhelming evidence in your favour, this court has dismissed all charges against you and exonerated you of any wrongdoing. You are free to go."

"Woohoo!" exclaimed Sirius. He was almost too jittery with excitement for the aurors to unwrap the chains from his emaciated body.

While they were doing so, Harry stepped down from the visitors' gallery a second time. This time he waited at the foot of the stairs facing his godfather. When the man, finally free of the chair's chains tuned towards the door, he spotted Harry.

With a look of surprise on his face he came forward and asked, "Harry?"

"Yeah, Pa'foo," replied Harry. "It's me." Sirius took him into a tight hug and said, "I'm sorry I let you down, Pup. I should have been there for you."

"It's okay, Pa'foo," replied Harry, finally extracting himself from the man's arms. "We can discuss it later. For now, come up into the visitors' gallery. There's something about to happen you need to see."

With a frown on his face, Sirius followed after Harry and sat on the other side of him from Daphne. "What's going on, Harry?"

"Just watch and you'll see. This won't take long," he replied.

Madam Marchbanks had just asked Amelia if they were done.

"I have one further case to be dealt with by this body, Madam Marchbanks," replied Amelia. "However, I only wish to have it noted on the books today. And for it to come before us next Monday." With a sigh, Madam Marchbanks said, "We're not going to be called once more to sit in judgement of Merlin, are we?"

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