An Author's Hope (When The House of Black Takes Control)

A Mother's Heart (Reunited With Its Desire)

Sirius was shocked. His Great-Aunt had chosen to represent him in court, even though the woman hadn't represented anyone for years; after she retired when he was a teenager. She'd been so happy to stay at home and enjoy the rest of her life with her husband. He hadn't thought she'd go to court ever again, not even for family members, but here she was, taking the time to represent him and make sure he got his freedom back.

"Auntie I-"

"I know Siri...." The woman sighed, unintentionally interrupting whatever explanation he was about to give. "We were wrong to bury our heads in the sand while you were in that hellhole suffering for nothing. I'm so sorry you had to go through all that, and while I know an apology will never erase all the pain you went through, I hope you know that we'll do everything in our power to get you your freedom and try to regain your trust. I hope you also know how much I love you Siri." As her passionate speech progressed, Sirius's eyes grew damp until a few tears started falling.

"Oh Auntie Lena... I get it though. The evidence was so obvious, and you didn't have anything to refute the ministry's claim or proclaim my innocence. I never blamed you or Mum for anything that happened and I never lost my trust in you. And I love you too."

"You remember?"

"One good thing the dementors do; they break any memory charms or compulsions that were on you before you get thrown in prison." Sirius said with a derisive laugh.

"Oh I'm so glad." The smile had slowly returned on the woman's face, even if she grimaced at the reminder of what her Great-nephew had been around all these years. "Your kids also got their memories unblocked and full purges. Apparently Dumbledore had gotten his claws on them and your nephews and nieces as well."

"How?" The man asked curiously even as he sighed in relief at the news.

"Your daughter is one smart cookie." Sirius's face lit up in a proud grin and Selena laughed under her breath at the expression. The kids would be in good hands once he was released. "But we've veered from the real reason behind out meeting. Your case. Now I need you to tell me everything that had happened that day, with as much details as you can. I know it's been years since the incident, but I need you to recall as much as possible, so we can build your case."

With that, Sirius started telling the story of the night on October thirty first 1981, and once he'd started, he found he couldn't stop. Tears fell from his eyes as he recalled arriving and finding the house destroyed and his best friend nowhere to be found. He told her about how he'd had the initial thought of taking Harry (or Hydrus but he didn't say that) and going to work the next day to start filing a case against Peter Pettigrew (who'd been the actual Secret Keeper) but then he'd gotten the unexplained urge to go after the man and kill him. Selena explained that it was probably a compulsion charm cast on him that changed his thoughts all of a sudden, and a simple Health History Charm done by a qualified Healer would confirm it. Sirius then continued to explain how the little traitor had cornered him in a muggle street, shouted about Sirius betraying James and then Pettigrew blew up and destroyed the street, killing the twelve muggles who'd been there before he'd cut off his finger, shrugged his robes off and transformed into his animagus form (a rat) and escaped through the sewers. Sirius had been blasted into the building behind him by the curse and had had a huge concussion when the Auror's had arrived, which was why he was laughing as he was both grieving the loss of his brother in all but blood and what he'd thought was the man's wife but wasn't (it was a long story of Lily Evans being a bloody obsessed psychopath) and feeling the concussion settle into his mind.

"That... is the craziest story I've ever heard." The disbelief in the woman's voice was very clear.

"I know...." Sirius said with a slight laugh, scratching the back of his neck.