"Good morning," (Y/n) greeted pleasantly as she and Dumbledore strode back into the courtroom. She peered around the room, hoping her grimace wasn't visible. "What a professional setting," she murmured.
"Miss (Y/l/n)," Fudge called. (Y/n) peered up, smiling. "This is your final chance to back away without having any charges or records against you."
"Thank you, Minister," said (Y/n). "But I do not agree with the Magic community's unjust way and if I am banned from it during my path of justice, then so be it."
"Very well..." Madam Bones mused. She looked rather impressed with (Y/n)'s firm foot.
"Where do we begin? I'm sure you're all aware of the charges against Mr. Sirius Black III?" (Y/n) asked peering up at them all before looking around for a place to set down her notes.
"Here," Dumbledore said, Transfiguring one of the spare chairs into a desk.
"Thank you," (Y/n) smiled, tapping her stack of paper against the table before licking her finger and separating some of the pages. "Can you send these up to them?" she whispered. Dumbledore hummed and accepted the six or so pages, tapped them with his wand, and sent them flying upwards, where they hovered in the air until someone took them.
"For obvious reasons, the accused cannot be present today, but I have taken his testimony, handwritten and copied at my local paper shop," (Y/n) said professionally. "Need I read it to you?"
"We can do it ourselves, thank you very much," Fudge said rather impatiently. (Y/n) smiled and nodded her head, taking a moment to reread Sirius's testimony for herself. She passed it to Dumbledore next, growing rather exasperated with how petty Sirius had written up his testimony. She patiently waited as the papers were passed down and the members of Wizengamot scanned over the paper, some of which grew annoyed the Sirius's pettiness. Only when she had their full attention before opening her mouth to continue.
"Miss (Y/l/n)," Madam Bones said, "depending on what evidence and how much you have prepared, we may need to cut things off at ten this morning, but I am sure we can all continue this through the week?"
"Of course," (Y/n) nodded. Having been interrupted, (Y/n) lost some of her flare and knowing she was on a time crunch, (Y/n) scrambled to find where to begin. Dumbledore, sensing her nerves, gave her a comforting nod, encouraging her to continue. "A-as we all know, Mr. Black escaped the Azkaban Prison during the summer of 1993 and has since managed to stay out of the Ministry's watchful eye. In 1994, Hogwarts had the great pleasure of getting a visit from Mr. Black... I believe we'll only have time to watch a video of my, Harry Potter's, Ron Weasleys', and Hermione Granger's meeting of Mr. Black. Mr. Fudge, I believe you have already seen this video, but the Wizengamot has not?"
"That would be correct," Fudge nodded.
(Y/n) nodded her head and gave Dumbledore her video camera and Dumbledore cast the very same charm he used to project Quidditch games, Muggle Studies projects, and, as of last year, the Tasks for the Triwizard Tournament. Once a black screen was visible, (Y/n) pressed play on her camera, watching through the viewer of her camera and listening.
The very beginning of the video had showed Remus explaining his experience with the Marauders' Map, which the Ministry would not know about and (Y/n) would not be telling them about it. The video went on to show a lot of Hermione, Ron, and Harry's refusal to believe Peter Pettigrew was an Animagus under the alias of Scabbers. This didn't stop Remus and Sirius from getting their story in and eventually the sight of Severus Snape being knocked out via multiple Disarming spells was shown. There was an explanation of Sirius wishing for the Secret Keeper to be changed from himself to Peter. It was only under a lot of reassurance that Ron had finally agreed to let Remus and Sirius reveal Peter's true form.
A few of the witches and wizards' eyes bulged at the sight of the vaguely familiar Peter Pettigrew, who should have been dead at the young age of twenty-one. The video continued to go on, showing Peter digging his own grave. He eventually admitted to his crimes under the excuse of being killed if he continued defying Voldemort. The video ended with Remus's words of 'Goodbye, Peter.'
"I did not record it, but Harry with his big heart wished to bring Peter back up to the castle but as things would go, this did not happen," (Y/n) said. "Peter escaped under the distraction that happened during Mr. Lupin's transformation and he has returned to You-Know-Who's clutches. Harry saw him last summer, as he recounted to you, Minister, and now I as a Muggle-born live in fear of being targetted for a hate crime because the Ministry cannot seem to get its priorities late."
"Miss (Y/l/n), I ask you to stay on subject."
"I am. Because of your failure to listen to the Potters, Sirius himself, Dumbledore, and multiple others, we're on the brink of another war," (Y/n) stated firmly. "I believe multiple matters could easily be cleared up if you weren't so prideful... We need to get our priorities straight— Sirius Black is innocent, Peter Pettigrew is who you should be searching for, and the Dementors will abandon your side the moment they see a more fit leader." (Y/n) stared up at the Wizengamot and a fire seemed to be blazing behind her eyes. "I don't believe we have time for the Potters to come in, but I believe they'll be glad to do so tomorrow at the same time?" (Y/n) grabbed her stack of papers and her video camera.
"Yes... that sounds best," Madam Bones agreed, sounding rather far in thought and she checked her watch, finding the video had taken a good majority of their time. "Tomorrow at the same time, then. Those who can make it will, those who can't won't."
"Dumbledore," (Y/n) whispered as they strode out of the room side by side. "Did you see Madam Bones? Do you know her views on You-Know-Who?"
"I would imagine she is against his views," Dumbledore answered. "Her entire family— with the exception fo Susan Bones— was killed by His Death Eaters."
"Oh, geez," (Y/n) murmured under her breath. She momentarily listened to the conversation happening up in the stands as she and Dumbledore left the courtroom. The Potters perked up as did Arthur. Dumbledore strode right past them, not having much time to spare.
"Well? Is he cleared?" James asked.
"Not yet," (Y/n) said. "We didn't have the time to go over much else or call you guys in... I couldn't present their wands and court's continuing tomorrow... I barely had to do any talking, but holy cricket I'm exhausted." They all stepped aside as the Wizengamot started filing out.
"Merlin's beard," said Arthur wonderingly, "you were tried by the whole court?" he asked Harry. "I'd understand (Y/n)'s case, but you?"
"I guess so," said Harry quietly.
One or two of the passing wizards nodded to Harry as they passed and a few, including Madam Bones, said, "Morning Arthur, James, and Lily," to the Potters and Arthur, but most averted their eyes. Cornelius Fudge and the toad-like witch were almost the last to leave the dungeon. Fudge acted as though they were all part of the wall, but again, the witch looked almost appraisingly at Harry as she passed. Last of all to pass was Percy. Like Fudge, he completely ignored his father and Harry, only giving (Y/n) a short nod; he marched past clutching a large roll of parchment and a handful of spare quills, his back rigid and his nose in the air. The lines around Arthur's mouth tightened slightly, but other than that he gave no sign that he noticed his third son.
"I'm going to take you straight back so you can tell the others the good news," Arthur said, beckoning Harry and (Y/n) forward as Percy's heels disappeared up the stairs to the ninth level. "I'll drop you off on the way to that toilet in Bethnal Green. Come on..."
"We've got to get going, bud," James said, ruffling his son's hair. "Your mom needs to get to her department and I need to get to mine... We'll bring home something special, all right?"
"Right," Harry nodded. Lily smiled, kissing Harry's forehead and then (Y/n)'s cheek. Despite needing to go the same way, they wished to get in their goodbyes.
"So what will you have to do about the toilet?" Harry asked, grinning. Everything suddenly seemed five times funnier than usual. It was starting to sink in: He was cleared, he was going back to Hogwarts.
"Oh, it's a simple enough anti-jinx," said Arthur as they mounted the stairs, "but it's not so much having to repair the damage, it's more the attitude behind the vandalism, Harry. Muggle-baiting might strike some wizards as funny, but it's an expression of something much deeper and nastier, and I for one—"
Arthur broke off mid-sentence. They had just reached the ninth-level corridor, and Cornelius Fudge was standing a few feet away from them, talking quietly to a tall man with sleek blond hair and a pointed, pale face.
The second man turned at the sound of their footsteps. he too broke off in mid-conversation, his cold grey eyes narrowed and fixed upon Harry's face.
"Well, well, well... Patronus Potter," said Lucius Malfoy coolly.
Harry felt winded as though he had just walked into something heavy. He had last seen those cool grey eyes through slits in a Death Eater's hood, and last heard that man's voice jeering in a dark graveyard while Lord Voldemort tortured him. He could not believe that Lucius Malfoy dared look him in the face; he could not believe that he was here, in the Ministry of Magic, or that Cornelius Fudge was talking to him, when Harry had told Fudge mere weeks ago that Malfoy was a Death Eater.
"The Minister was just telling me about your lucky escape, Potter," drawled Mr. Malfoy. "Quite astonishing, the way you continue to wriggle out of very tight holes... Snakelike, in fact..."
The Potters stepped closer to their son as Arthur gripped Harry's shoulder in warning. (Y/n) slipped her hand into Harry's, not taking her stern expression off of Mr. Malfoy's face.
"Yah," said Harry, "yeah, I'm good at escaping."
Lucius Malfoy raised his eyes to Arthur's face.
"And Arthur Weasley too! What are you doing here, Arthur?"
"I work here," said Arthur shortly.
"Not here, surely?" said Mr. Malfoy, raising his eyebrows and glancing toward the door over Arthur's shoulder. "I thought you were up on the second floor... Don't you do something that involved sneaking Muggle artefacts home and bewitching them?"
"No," said Arthur shortly, his fingers now biting into Harry's shoulder.
"What are you doing here anyway?" Harry asked Lucius Malfoy.
"I don't think private manners between myself and the Minister are any concern of yours, Potter," said Malfoy, smoothing the front of his robes; Harry distinctly heard the gently clinking of what sounded like a full pocket of gold. "Really, just because you are Dumbledore's favourite boy, you must not expect the same indulgence from the rest of us... Shall we go up to your office then, Minister?"
"Certainly," said Fudge, turning his back on Harry and the others. "This way, Lucius."
They strode off together, talking in low voices. Arthur did not let go of Harry's shoulder until they had disappeared into the lift.
"Why wasn't he waiting outside Fudge's office if they've got business to do together?" Harry burst out furiously. "What was he doing down here?"
"Trying to sneak down to the courtroom, if you ask me," said Arthur, looking extremely agitated as he glanced over his shoulder as though making sure they could not be overheard. "Trying to find out whether you'd been expelled or not. I'll leave a note for Dumbledore when I drop you two off, he ought to know Malfoy's been talking to Fudge again."
"What private business have they got together anyway?"
"Gold, I expect," said Arthur angrily. "Malfoy's been giving generously to all sorts of things for years... Gets him in with the right people... then he can ask favours... delay laws he doesn't want passed... Oh, he's very well connected, Lucius Malfoy..."
The lift arrived; it was empty except for a flock of memos that flapped around Arthur's, James's, and Lily's heads as Arthur pressed the button for the Atrium and the doors clanged shut; he waved them away irritably and Lily and James plucked theirs out of the air.
"Mr. Weasley," said Harry slowly, "if Fudge is meeting Death Eaters like Malfoy, if he's seeing them alone, how do we know they haven't put the Imperius Curse on him?"
"Don't think it hadn't occurred to us, Harry," muttered Arthur. "But Dumbledore thinks Fudge is acting on his own accord at the moment— which, as Dumbledore says, is not a lot of comfort... Best not talk about it anymore just now, Harry..."
"I think I might be able to get Amelia Bones on our side," (Y/n) spoke.
"Careful there, (Y/n)," James murmured.
"No, I think she's right... Amelia's got all the motives to join us," Lily said. "Dead family, the need to protect her niece... just don't go pushing yourself, (Y/n). I doubt you'll need me to tell you to choose your words carefully."
"I'm friends with Susan," (Y/n) said. "If I can't get it done by the summer, maybe Susan can."
"We'll talk more about it during the next meeting, all right?" Lily said as the doors slid open and Harry, Arthur, and (Y/n) stepped out into the now almost deserted Atrium. Eric the security man was hidden behind his Daily Prophet again. They had walked straight past the golden fountain before Harry remembered.
"Wait..." he told Arthur and (Y/n), and pulling his money bag from his pocket, he turned back to the fountain.
He looked up into the handsome wizard's face, but up close, Harry thought he looked rather weak and foolish. The witch was wearing a vapid smile like a beauty contestant, and from what Harry knew of goblins and centaurs, they were most unlikely to be caught staring this soppily at humans of any description. Only the house-elf's attitude of creeping servility looked convincing. With a grin at the thought of what Hermione would say if she could see the statue of the elf, Harry turned his money bag upside down and emptied not just ten Galleons, but the whole contents into the pool at the statues' feet.