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Chapter Fourteen: Avenged.

While scaring Umbridge out of her wits wasn’t exactly the number one highlight of Harry’s second time around, it definitely ranked number three right beneath tricking Lucius out of the Malfoy family fortune and knocking Snape unconscious. The foolish toad actually thought Harry was going to shoot her. An enticing outcome to be sure, but Harry played the game rather well and soon enough, a punishment suitable for someone of Umbridge’s level would be devised in time.

There would be ample time for pleasurable revenge in the not so distant future but business came first and foremost, as Harry arrived at the headquarters of the Daily Prophet newspaper, under the guise of grizzled mobster Allan Michael Barone. Taking in the landscape, Harry suspected that upkeep of the building wasn’t in the Daily Prophet budget, as it looked like they were printing the Wizarding World’s highest circulated out of a rundown, rat-infested flat. Making a mental note to make some renovations later, Harry made his way into headquarters, to hold a meeting with all the reporters, photographers, and assorted other misfits who worked for the Daily Prophet.

Harry arrived and everyone sat around, chattering in an animated fashion.

“Now that I’m here, we’re going to begin,” interjected Harry, causing the occupants of the room to look around and do a double take when they saw exactly who was standing before them. “ For those who don’t know me, I am Allan Michael Barone, yes, the mob boss who took Harry Potter away from his troubled existence in the Muggle World. As it turns out, no one will be losing their jobs, not yet anyway, as I have purchased the Daily Prophet and will be resuming operations as scheduled, beginning effective immediately tomorrow.”

“What do you mean no one will be losing their jobs, yet?” asked one of the reporters.

“Just what I said, all your work will be evaluated and those who pass for acceptable will remain their jobs and those who I feel are a liability to my organization will have their jobs at the Daily Prophet terminated,” answered Harry. “Everyone will get a fair and just evaluation, no matter what you might have written about me.”

Harry looked around, and indeed, a few of the reporters, including one Rita Skeeter, had written some things that painted one Allan Michael Barone in a rather negative light. Most of it was under Ministry order, as no doubt certain Ministry officials wanted the Boy-Who-Lived for their own twisted, quite political agenda.

“Now, the Ministry of Magic no doubt prevented your talents from being utilized at the fullest,” continued Harry. “Certain things that they did or rather didn’t do, they tried to hush up and prevent you from reporting the truth. This will change, as the Ministry has no leverage over me and it wouldn’t be a good idea to try to enrage me, simply because of my charge, young Harry Potter. Otherwise, this headline in a future Daily Prophet might come to light, “Boy-Who-Lived Chooses to Attend Durmstrang over Hogwarts, Due to Guardian’s Distaste over Ministry Action”. A rather catchy title and the story that fits it would tank the Ministry’s reputation, would it not?”

The people in the room nodded politely, some of them no doubt having uncovered certain things about the Ministry.

“So, I have very little to say, except I encourage you to get back to work and remember, reporting the truth can be more damaging to fabricating a blanket of lies. You are all excused…except for you, Ms. Skeeter,” said Harry, causing Rita to flinch slightly and the others got up to their feet, to go back to their usual duties, leaving Rita and Harry alone.

“Yes, Mr. Barone,” said Rita after a few seconds silence

Harry shook his head, before waving his wand, causing three parts of the building to glow, spotting spying charms, no doubt set up for the Ministry. Shaking his head, Harry knew he would have to teach them a lesson and sent a low powered sonic vibration spell to destroy the little presents that the Ministry had left him. A slight ringing echoed throughout the building and Harry knew his work was successful. The ringing would be louder within the Ministry.

“Now down to business, let me make one thing perfectly clear, Ms. Skeeter, now that I own the Daily Prophet, you work for me,” said Harry. “And it would bug me to see such a talented reporter having to lose their job. This Daily Prophet needs to grow wings and move to greater heights, but to do that, your venom needs to be directed towards those who are polluting the Ministry with their outdated ideas. They will be swatted, like insects and I hope in time that most of them will buzz off.”

“I see,” replied Rita in a slow voice, but worried voce, wondering if Barone had known about her Animagus form and was basically telling her that he had no problems turning her in to the Ministry. “Exactly who do you have in mind for me to take down, Mr. Barone.”

“Believe me, I have a whole laundry list of people who deserve to be taking down a few pegs,” answered Harry before adding dangerously. “Just remember, I’ll be hovering over you, making sure you know your place and everything remains truthful. Is that understood?”

“Yes,” answered Rita

“Good, so there will be no trouble, or there will be trouble for that,” concluded Harry. “Now, unless there is something else, I have to get to work on the renovation plans for this place”

Rita nodded, not really knowing what to say. Her new boss was an enigma but as long as she got paid, it didn’t matter to her one bit. Plus, she knew of a few in the Ministry that deserved to have their reputation shredded to bits. Now, she was being allowed to be as vicious towards the Ministry as possible. Stretching the truth just added to the intrigue, but Rita had no problem digging deeper to find damaging, concrete facts, especially when her job was hanging in the balance, along with the fact she had a pretty good idea that Barone would stooge her illegal form off to the Ministry without a second thought.

Back at the Ministry, Bartemius Crouch sat in his office looking rather pleased with himself. Bagnold’s health was getting worse with each passing day and many suspected that this year would be her last as Minister of Magic. It was amazing to think that only maybe about seven or eight months ago, Crouch nearly got shunted down towards the International Department of Magical Cooperation, but the Harry Potter situation involving his Muggle family and Crouch being the integral part of bringing them to justice helped give renaissance to Crouch’s career. Before it was almost certain that Cornelius Fudge would get the top job, along with Umbridge gaining more power as well, but now Crouch felt that no one could stop him from securing his rightful place as Minister of Magic.

Sadly, Crouch’s good mood was punctured by the untimely rival of Dolores Umbridge, a face that only a mother could love, but only if a copious amount of alcohol were in play.

“Dolores, you seem a bit flustered,” said Crouch.

“Flustered doesn’t seem the world, my life was just threatened by that infernal mobster!” shrieked Umbridge, causing Crouch to be taken aback.

“You met Barone?” inquired Crouch.

“Yes, that mobster attempted to blow my brains out with a fireleg or whatever those things that those damned Muggles used to attack each other, that shoot those metal things,” explained Umbridge. “And that’s not the worst thing, that’s far from the worst thing.”

Crouch just sat silently and waited for Umbridge to elaborate.

“He bought full and complete ownership of the Daily Prophet,” added Umbridge which caused Crouch to sit up, looking aback.

“That’s not acceptable Dolores, you were to ensure our distribution contract was to be resigned,” admonished Crouch.

“I offered the absolute maximum, Crouch, and he refused, willing to sell out to that, mobster,” said Umbridge who seemed to be losing her composure. “That ungrateful…if it wasn’t for the Ministry, he would be poorer than a Weasley.”

“I daresay Barone offered a large amount that we couldn’t even imagine to pay,” prodded Crouch.

Umbridge just nodded stiffly.

“He demanded a trial for that fugitive, Black, as well,” continued Umbridge. “He threatened that the Wizarding World would suffer a cataclysmic disaster that would make He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named seem like a day in the park.”

“I very much think he’s bluffing Dolores,” responded Crouch. “If we put the entire Ministry against his mob organization, we would wipe them out within seconds.”

“Why not hunt him down and take him out now?” demanded Umbridge.

“Under normal circumstances that would be acceptable, but Harry Potter is with that unstable criminal and even the smallest chance that the Boy-Who-Lived would be killed or severely injured in the crossfire of a Ministry raid is not a chance that anyone is willing to take and Bagnold agrees, it could cause the Wizarding World to fall into utter chaos, especially with the recent Dumbledore fiasco and all those Death Eaters breaking out of Azkaban, before promptly vanishing” explained Crouch. “Still, Black will not receive a trial, and when the Ministry finds him, he is receiving the Dementor’s Kiss.”

“Barone also thinks he has leverage over you, something about a secret that could destroy your life if he chooses to reveal it,” said Umbridge and with that Crouch became absolutely alarmed, but did his best to turn away, not to show it.

“This is just an attempt to force my hand,” said Crouch stiffly, reasoning with himself there could be no way Barone or anyone else could have known about his son. Only Crouch and his house elf, Winky knew about his son being broken out of the house and it shouldn’t have been much of a problem, as Crouch had kept him under the Imperius Curse, keeping him under control. “Anything else.”

“He said you have a week to meet his demands to give Black a trial or else,” informed Umbridge which Crouch scoffed at.

Seconds later, a loud, ear splitting ringing echoed through the Ministry of Magic, causing both Crouch and Umbridge to instinctively cover their ears as the ringing seemed to only intensive causing the Ministry of Magic to vibrate.

“What was that abomination?” inquired Umbridge and seconds later, a very frazzled looking Ministry official was running around, muttering under his breath outside of Crouch’s office. “What happened?”

“Madam Umbridge, the monitoring charms we had on the Daily Prophet headquarters, someone broke them with a sonic vibration spell,” answered the official in a frantic tone of voice.

“That would have had to have been Barone, but those spells could have been disabled with a simple Finite Incantatatem spell,” muttered Umbridge before realizing something. “It’s impossible that he could have neutralized all three monitoring spells.”

“Quite possible in fact, because that’s what he did,” replied the Ministry official before running off as someone yelled at him from down the hallway.

“What now?” barked Crouch as he rose to his feet, before moving through the doorway outside his office and looking around.

“Once the monitoring spells were taken down, whoever did this knocked out the Floo system,” explained the second Ministry official who had arrived on the scene.

“The entire Floo System?” asked Crouch as he waited for confirmation.

“Yes, everything is all out of order and the Floo regulation experts are looking into it, I don’t know when we’ll be able to get everything back on line,” informed the second Ministry official.

Crouch just stood there, wondering if Barone had discovered the monitoring spells and had decided to send a troubling message to the Ministry by reeking havoc with the Floo Network.

“One of you had better inform Minister Bagnold and put the entire Ministry on full alert for any strange characters,” ordered Crouch as he turned, resolving not to fold to Barone’s threats, before addressing the other Ministry official. “Tell the Floo Network people to step up any and all efforts in fixing everything, or we’ll have a lot of angry people on our hands.”

Back at headquarters, early the next morning, Harry couldn’t help but notice that his godfather seemed extremely amused about something.

“What now Sirius, did Snape finally get the Dementor’s Kiss?” asked Harry.

“No, something even better, it appears that someone knocked out the Floo Network, just heard it on the Wizarding Wireless in fact,” said Sirius with a grin. “Now, I don’t suppose you know who might have done that, do you Harry?”

“I do wonder, if I put those sonic vibration spells through those spying spells, the vibrations that went through the Ministry caused an influx of rogue magical energy to reverberate through the Ministry of Magic wards thus causing a feedback loop which lead to the Floo Network to be disabled,” said Harry.

“Could you please repeat that one time, in English?” suggested Sirius who looked rather lost.

“Accident magic caused by cancelling monitoring spells caused the Floo System to shut down,” repeated Harry in a bored voice.

“Ah, gotcha Harry,” said Sirius nodding his head.

“I haven’t checked in with my employees at the Daily Prophet yet, but I bet the story will be all over the papers, no doubt calling into question the ability for the Ministry to properly run the Floo System,” said Harry.

“Should be a barrel of laughs,” added Sirius with a grin.

“Have I mentioned how much I hated the Ministry?” questioned Harry.

“Not in a couple of days,” responded Sirius before both Sirius and Harry broke out laughing before Harry grew serious.

“I do hope for the sake of the few noble people in the Ministry that they decide to finally give you a proper trial,” said Harry evenly.

“What do you have in mind?” asked Sirius.

“Let’s just say I managed to work a few little additions into the Ministry of Magic wards when we went there for the Dumbledore trial,” remarked Harry cryptically. “Not going to tip my own hand, but if Crouch doesn’t cooperate with my warning and give you that trial in six days, the Ministry will be redecorated.”

Harry got up to his feet.

“Now, I have a few short pieces of business to attend to before school,” said Harry as he pushed open his office door and walked out.

Time passed over the next week but unfortunately for them, the Ministry’s incompetence did not. Despite Harry being very clear with his demand that Umbridge warned Crouch about the consequences of not giving Sirius his proper trial, the Ministry had not made the proper steps in doing so. It seemed like they were willing to play hardball so Harry was more than prepared to use a bigger bat to put the Ministry in their place.

On the week anniversary of his warning to the Ministry, all within found out the hard way about what happens when they developed a listening deficiency problem.

A loud siren echoed through the Ministry, causing many employees to jump up and look for the source.

“Good afternoon everyone, for those who don’t know me, I am Boss Allan Michael Barone, the current guardian of Harry James Potter, the boy who you seemed to respect above all else, and also, I respect the interests of Sirius Orion Black, a poor soul who has been shunned by all of you, thanks to the rhetoric of the Ministry” echoed the voice of Barone throughout the Ministry. “It has come to my attention that my second client has not been getting the proper respect, despite repeated requests for a trial, under the influence of Veritaserum. Hell, I’ll even pay for it to get properly brewed, if you tightwads in the Ministry can’t afford one simple request.”

Crouch and Bagnold made their way through the Ministry.

“Where is he broadcasting from?” barked Crouch angrily.

“Not from within the Ministry, we’ve double and triple checked identities coming from all entrance points within the Ministry, by your request Crouch,” replied Bagnold in a tired voice, looking about ready to keel over at any second. “We need to evacuate everyone, before he does something drastic, of course, giving Black the trial might be the best option…”

“With all due respect Minister, that would be the worst option, that would be admitting that we can’t handle a simple mobster,” said Crouch before looking around. “Barone, you won’t get the better of me, I know you can here me.”

“Oh I here you, Barty, loud and clear,” echoed the voice throughout the Ministry. “And I know you can here me, so let’s see how long the Ministry can last, when they are cut off from the rest of the world.”

“You’re bluffing, Barone, there is no way you could have blocked all exit points from the Ministry,” challenged Crouch.

“Try me, Barty,” retorted the mysterious voice.

Crouch turned to a pair of Aurors who hung around in the corridor.

“Well don’t just stand there,” barked Crouch angrily. “Make sure everyone finds a way out, this Barone isn’t going to defeat the Ministry.”

“Not going to work,” sang the voice in a mocking fashion and sure enough, after about twenty minutes of intense searching, the two Aurors came back, with several others who looked flustered.

“He’s right, we can’t get out through the Floo, Apparation, or a Portkey,” informed one of the Aurors. “Hell, we even tried to get out through a window like a common Muggle and something blasted us back in.”

“Excellent, now that everyone is here, I’m going to tell a story, unless of course you want to be nice and cooperative, to give Sirius a trial,” said Harry.

“The Ministry of Magic will not fold to your demands,” said Crouch and Bagnold just hung her head in disgust.

“If we can’t get out, we should for Merlin’s sake!” snapped Bagnold, who slumped against the wall, clutching her heart. All this excitement was too much for a woman her age.

“Minister, we’ll find a way, the collective efforts of the entire Ministry of Magic will find a way around whatever he did to the building,” said Crouch in a reassuring voice.

“You should listen to him Minister Bagnold, after all, do remember that eventually the entire Minister of Magic collectively broke Lord Voldemort’s power after countless hours of hard effort,” retorted Barone in a sarcastic voice. “Oh wait, that was a fifteen month old toddler, my mistake.”

“Barone, I will make sure the Dementors have your soul for these crimes,” said Crouch.

“No Barty, they’ll have yours after I tell my story, the one thing that would ruin your career, actually scratch your career, your life,” replied Barone. “Now I’m not like Albus Dumbledore, I’m not some grand chess master, playing a complicated game that makes sense to no one but him. Rather I am rather straight up and blunt, kind of like a beater bat to the skull and the secret will be revealed.”

“You don’t know anything about me, there is no way you can ruin me, Barone,” fired back Crouch in a smug voice.

“Now, ladies, gentlemen, and Umbridge, I’m going to tell you a story, but I can assure you, this isn’t a story about a man named Jed, poor mountaineer that barely kept his family fed,” continued Barone. “This is a story about one of your very own, and a rather interesting cover up, something that shoves what an ass backward hypocrite Bartemius Amadeus Crouch is. Now, gather around children and take a seat on Uncle Al’s knee, to hear a riveting tale.”

Crouch took a step back, resolved that there was no way that Barone could have known this, no way whatsoever.

“Now as you might have remembered, little Barty Crouch Junior, the son of very own Bartemius Crouch decided to join up with everyone’s favorite Dark Lord, Voldemort,” added Barone. “Now perhaps he was just a bad seed out of a good family. Or maybe he had Daddy issues. Maybe he was envious at not getting hugged enough as a child or maybe he felt some rage at his father not attending his Quidditch games as a young lad. Whatever the case may be, he decided to join up with Voldemort, just a few weeks before he had the ultimate out of body experience. Then, Little Barty, decided to go party, as only Death Eaters would but you see if he thought he could, he was surely mistaken, because to the Ministry of Magic he was taken. Caught with Death Eaters, but not just any Death Eaters, as Little Barty Crouch Junior was found in the company of the dangerously insane dark witch bitch Bellatrix Lestrange and her slightly less insane, but still dangerous in their own right, brother in law and husband, Rabastan and Rodolphus.”

The people in the Ministry remained quiet, wondering exactly where Barone was getting at.

“We naturally already know all this,” piped up a Ministry worker.

“Yes my son was a disgrace but it’s all over, he’s dead and buried, good riddance to that traitor” added Crouch curtly.

“I’m not finished yet, rather this is the part where it gets rather juicy, as Little Barty, along with his newly found Death Eater chums, were put on trial, rather interesting considering that the three Lestranges in particular killed many more people than Sirius was alleged to and yet they got a trial,” said Barone in a somber voice. “They were convicted, sent to Azkaban, many tears were shed by the poor Little Barty’s mother, perhaps wondering where she went wrong in her raising of her son and she fell into very ill health. The story from her, you know that both Bartemius’s wife and son died almost a year after this fiasco, but the story doesn’t end here. You see just a few days prior to Barty Junior being found dead, Crouch was authorized a visit to the Ministry with his wife, perhaps to gain closure as his wife was very close to dying as well and a last minute favor. Interesting enough the favor extended far beyond just a simple visit and what I’m about to reveal to you is that Barty Crouch Junior was…”

“Barone, I’ve changed my mind, I will give that fugitive Black a fair trial, under Veritaserum!” ejaculated Crouch, causing many people nearby to look queerly at him for his unexpected outburst. “Ten AM, in the main courtroom on Monday morning sound like a fair venue, Minister.”

“It’s what I’ve been saying all along and I will officially make the trial officially, but the outcome of Black rests on the decision of the Wizengamot,” said Bagnold in a tired voice.

“I realize that,” replied Barone.

“If Black is judged to be innocent, then he will get his freedom, along with a full apology,” added Bagnold.

“And when he is judged guilty, both of you are going to receiving the Dementor’s Kiss!” added Crouch, who looked completely mad.

“Fair enough, but a word of warning, if I hint any attempt to shift the outcome unfairly, I will finish my story, Crouch,” concluded Barone. “Now, you are free to leave, see you Monday.”

Another shrill siren echoed, signaling the disappearance of the voice of Allan Micheal Barone.

Crouch turned around, before storming off, looking rather agitated and he would find out exactly how Barone managed to find a way to manipulate the wards surrounding the Ministry. He was an independent thinker, always something that the Ministry generally frowned upon.

Yaxley walked down the corridor to the Dark Lord’s quarters. While most of the other Death Eaters were working on very important project that would make the Dark Lord more powerful then ever and thus increase the chances of them getting power, Yaxley had a different job, gathering much information as possible on the mysterious mobster guardian of the Boy-Who-Lived. A search that had turned up little to nothing of value, but he was required to check in monthly with the Dark Lord on his minimal progress.

After the events of an hour ago at the Ministry, it seemed rather appropriate that Yaxley make his report to the Dark Lord at this moment.

“Enter,” prompted Voldemort in a calm, quiet voice, before Yaxley could even knock on the door. The door swung up on its own accord and Yaxley knelt down before the Dark Lord, awaiting acknowledgement. “Speak, Yaxley.”

“My Lord, I found no further information about Barone as of yet other than what we know, but I did find something interesting about a connection that Harry Potter has through the mafia through his mother’s side of the family,” stated Yaxley. “His grandfather was a key mob boss for several years and the Mudblood was slated to take over before you disposed of her and James Potter.”

“Interesting, tell me Yaxley, do you draw any interesting conclusions based on this?” commanded Voldemort.

“My lord, it is possible that this Barone is a freelance mafia enforcer, who just happens to be a wizard, brought in for the express purpose of grooming Harry Potter to take over the criminal organization later on in life, along with giving him a jump start on magical training” supplied Yaxley. “However, numerous leads have sparked dead ends and I can’t find one piece of evidence to support the fact that this Barone even exists.”

“He did mention that he was known by many aliases during the Dumbledore trial,” prompted Voldemort calmly.

“That he did but there is something else you may find of interest my lord,” said Yaxley, pausing as the Dark Lord looked up with interest. “Barone had given a warning to the Ministry to give Sirius Black a trial, but Crouch convinced others to continue to deny Black the trial. That wasn’t the best idea, as Barone had found some way to manipulate the Ministry of Magic wards to prevent everyone from leaving and what’s rather curious, he planned to do it from the outside.”

Voldemort looked at Yaxley for a minute, rubbing his chin in thought.

“Step up your efforts, Yaxley, Barone will join us and by extension, Harry Potter,” said Voldemort after a good, long pause and the truth was that the Dark Lord needed one component from Harry Potter when he completed his new body. Potter’s blood, the Dark Lord believed, held the secret of why he was defeated in the first place and with that added component, Lord Voldemort would truly be invincible and unlike Voldemort’s original plan to gaining a new body, it would not matter if it was taken by force or willingly given. “Is that all you have to report to me, Yaxley?”

“Yes, my Lord,” replied Yaxley with a nod.

“Then depart,” hissed Voldemort and Yaxley wasted little time in departing, leaving the Dark Lord to sit alone in his preferred atmosphere of darkness and solitude.

Monday had came and so had the trial, the members of the Wizengamot having filed in to prepare for the trial of Sirius Black, but many of them curiously regarded Crouch, as they wondered what Barone could have potentially said that caused him to change his tune about Black receiving a trial. Whatever it was Crouch wasn’t speaking about it.

Five minutes before the trial began, Harry, under the guise of Barone, walked in with several armed bodyguards and right behind them, Sirius, who had an unreadable look on his face as he was dressed in brand new robes and looked rather well groomed. Once he saw Crouch, Sirius’s eyes rested on him with utter contempt.

“Your wand, Barone,” commanded Crouch.

“Why, so you can slap a tracking spell on it?” challenged Harry and Crouch raised his wand. “Didn’t you learn anything from the Dumbledore trial? Once again I’ve made it so that no one can use any magic in this courtroom but me.”

Crouch stepped forward, the urge to wrap his fingers around Barone’s throat and strangle him the Muggle way sounding very appealing, even if he was willing to risk being filled with holes from Barone’s bodyguards.

“Try it and I’ll bite your fingers off, old man,” hissed Vinny as the snake poked his fingers out in sleeve of Harry’s robes.

“That’s a snake Barone,” commented Crouch.

“Really, and here all this time I thought it was a worm on steroids,” answered Harry sarcastically. “No, seriously, it’s cool, he’s my familiar, don’t worry, he doesn’t bite…unless you do something to make me angry and then you’re really taking your chances.”

“A snake as your familiar, you fool, serpents are the mark of dark wizards,” said a Wizengamot member. “We should just give him the kiss right now.”

“You know if stupidity was an unforgivable crime, most of the Ministry would receive the Dementor’s Kiss,” remarked Vinny and Harry nodded in agreement.

“If we may, I’d like to proceed with why we’re here in the first place,” said Harry as he looked around.

“Yes, Mr. Barone that would be most acceptable, this is a courtroom, not a circus, Bartemius,” said Madam Bones as she glanced coolly at Crouch who decided that it would be wise to just shut up and sit there stewing. “Now I knew you would not find it acceptable otherwise, so I must inform you that I personally had the Veritaserum for this trial tested by three accredited neutral Potions masters and they found it to be a rather foolproof batch, with a ninety nine percent certainty of telling the truth.”

“Madam Bones, I thank you for ensuring Sirius to the chance to tell the proper truth,” said Harry and a ministry official with stringy grey hair walked up with the Veritaserum to administer it to Sirius.

“Open your mouth, Mr. Black,” commanded the Ministry official and Sirius obeyed, as the official placed three drops on Sirius’s tongue.

“The Veritaserum will take effect within the next minute or so, so let’s allow this trial to officially begin,” said Madam Bones in a business like tone. “Interrogators for this trial of Sirius Orion Black are Bartemius Amadeus Crouch, Minister Millicent Annabelle Bagnold, Robert Anthony Yaxley, and Amelia Susan Bones. The witnesses for the defense will be Allan Michael Barone.”

“The Veritaserum should be taken effect, Madam Bones,” prompted the Ministry official as he stood by Sirius.

“Let’s make sure though,” said Yaxley as he rose to his feet and his eyes lingered on Barone for a second, before he turned to Black. “What is your full name?”

“Sirius Orion Black,” answered Sirius promptly.

“What is your opinion of Severus Snape?” inquired Harry before Yaxley could ask the next question.

“I think he is greasy pathetic man with no redeeming qualities,” replied Sirius.

“Well it works,” said Harry.

“Did you cause Lily and James Potter’s deaths?” barked Crouch.

“Objection, leading the defense,” said Harry who knew that Sirius did feel partially that he caused the deaths of Lily and James, because he suggested the change to Pettigrew.

“Yes Crouch, please do not attempt to influence Mr. Black,” said Madam Bones.

“Very well, what role if any did you have in the deaths of James and Lily Potter?” inquired Crouch but Harry placed a silencing charm on Sirius before he said anything.

“Fair trial my arse,” muttered Harry before turning Madam Bones. “Permission to take part of the interrogation of Sirius Black.”

“This is highly unorthodox, but as long as you keep in the scope of relevance, I see no problem with it, Mr. Barone,” said Madam Bones.

Harry dropped the silence charm.

“Who was the Secret Keeper for James and Lily Potter?” asked Harry.

“Peter Pettigrew,” replied Sirius.

“So, you did not betray the whereabouts of the Potters to Lord Voldemort?” added Harry.

“No, I would never do that,” said Sirius.

“Very well, did you take part of the murder of Peter Pettigrew and twelve Muggles?” asked Harry

“No,” responded Sirius.

“Tell us what happened,” prodded Harry.

“I had intended to kill the traitorous little rat, but Peter got the better of me,” answered Sirius and even in the Veritaserum induced haze, a little bitterness shined through. “He shouted lies about a betrayal to Lily and James, before he blew up a gas pipe underneath the street and sped down with the rest of the vermin in the sewer. I don’t doubt he intended to kill me as well in the explosion, but I was able to put up a strong shield charm to avoid the backlash of explosion.”

Harry turned to look at the court members who looked at Crouch.

“Now I have a question for you, Bartemius, exactly we know that you took Dumbledore’s word but I want to know the reason why,” said Harry.

“Dumbledore promised me that he would do everything in his power to make me Minister of Magic if I just put Black in Azkaban, in retrospect, I believe that Dumbledore thought that Black would be an obstacle to his attempts to put Potter with the Dursleys,” said Crouch. “Of course, Dumbledore wouldn’t give me the time of day once my son was found with the Death Eaters, he viewed me as damaged goods and decided that Cornelius Fudge would be a better pawn.”

“Very good Bartemius, but you see, those who follow Dumbledore blindly don’t get the slightest bit of sympathy with me,” retorted Harry coldly and Madam Bones cleared her throat, before turning to the other members of the Wizengamot.

“I feel we have heard a sufficient amount of evidence to put the future of Sirius Black to a vote,” said Madam Bones. “All those in favor of allowing Mr. Black to be walk out of here a free man.”

Most of the Wizengamot raised their hands, over half at least and Harry smugly nodded looking at Crouch and Harry couldn’t help but notice two others looked smug at Crouch’s slow descent back into disgrace. Two others who Harry planned for formulate a suitable punishment for because of their crimes against him the first time around.

“All those in favor of giving Misters Black and Barone the Dementor’s Kiss,” said Madam Bones, following official protocol, but only Crouch and a few others raised their hands. “Very well, Sirius Black, you are free to go and on behalf of the Ministry of Magic, I would like to apologize for you not receiving a proper trial nearly six years ago.”

“I would as well,” said Minister Bagnold weakly and Crouch sat there, looking rather put off, but said nothing as Sirius sarcastically waved at him with a cheery expression on his face and for good reason, he could walk the streets freely without worry of having his soul sucked out.

“I need to apologize for something as well, as it was rude of me not to finish my story the other day at the Ministry,” interjected Harry and Crouch seemed petrified on the spot, unable to do anything to stop Harry from continuing. “Barty Crouch Junior is still alive, at his father’s house, held under the Imperius Curse, he switched places with his mother during that last visit Azkaban under the Polyjuice potion. She’s buried in the walls of Azkaban under her son’s appearance and the grave for Mrs. Crouch is empty. Have a nice day!”