Two days later, Sirius and I snuck out of the house on the day of his supposed trial. I apparated him to the abandoned building where Hecate joined us a few minutes later and altered his appearance to the unhealthy, dirty look he had while on the run the previous year. We had to make it look genuine, after all. 

Hecate reminded him of the story he had to tell in court before giving him an antidote which would work against the truth potion he would have to drink in court, allowing him to lie about the Order and HQ. 

Leaving him with Hecate, I apparated back to the house to get Harry, Paul and Hermione, who were ready and waiting for me. "Neither one of you have apparated before and it's not a pleasant experience when you do for the first time. Just grab on tight to me and Paul and don't let go." The two kids nodded and Harry had a firm grip on my arm while Hermione held on to Paul. 

Hecate met us inside her son's office and helped block Harry and Hermione's memories to prevent them from saying anything about  the Order or the time-turner that they used to save Sirius. We weren't sure of how well they could lie and thus didn't want to risk giving them the antidote. Mr. Weasley was in charge of bringing Ron with him and Remus had promised to meet us at the Ministry. He wasn't too keen on the Ministry believing his story, though, considering that he was a werewolf.

I shifted my features to Perseus Black's just in time for the door of the office to open and Julian to come inside with two Aurors who were supposed to escort everyone to the trial. They explained that someone from the Ministry would send a message to them if Sirius surrendered, after which they would portkey directly to the Courtrooms. 

"I have to be there at the Ministry entrance to ensure that Lord Black's surrender goes smoothly and if he does come, I will be there at the Courtroom." The Aurors agreed and I apparated to the Ministry entrance, where I was greeted with six wands pointed at my face. The Aurors were quite scared of Sirius, it seems. 

When they saw who I was, they lowered their wands and I joined them in their wait for Sirius to show up. And show up he did. Sirius appeared out of thin air right in front of us a few minutes later, his hands in the air, immediately dropping his wand which Kingsley picked up and pocketed.

Someone tied his hands together and our group walked through the Ministry towards the lifts which would take us to the courtrooms. All the Ministry workers that saw us hurried to get out of our way and I thought I saw a few witches faint. Most of them turned pale and shuddered, trying to get as far away from Sirius as possible. I was quite sure that St. Mungo's would have their hands full for the next day or two, treating these dudes for shock.

 I had a rather entertaining conversation with Sirius, both of us pretending to have never met each other before as we walked. Pretty soon, we were inside the enormous courtroom that Hecate had showed me memories of. 

The entire Wizenmegot, or whatever they were called was assembled, with hundreds of witches and wizards looking down at us as we entered the amphitheatre-style room. There were a few screams and gasps when they saw Sirius, but a large number of people glared at him. 

I was happy to see Amelia in the huge chair in the center, conducting the trial. The Minister was sitting beside her, looking rather nervous. The woman next to him was wearing bright pink and she was looking rather pissed at everything that was happening. Next to the pink frog (I'm not being rude, okay. She really looked like a frog!) , I saw a couple of other wizards, who Hecate telepathically told me were the seniormost members of the court. (Yes, she kept whispering in my head. Something about feeding me lines so that I didn't mess up.)

To my surprise, I saw a mop of red hair at the corner of the main table, recognising Percy Weasley. He was the Minister's assisstant or something like that and would be the one recording the trial.

There was an area labelled, 'Witnesses', where I saw the kids and Remus already seated, with Snape sitting as far away from them as was physically possible. Hecate had told me about his grudge with Sirius and how he had purposely stopped Harry and Hermione from telling their story a year ago. I was pissed, but apparently he would play an important part in the war and I couldn't get him sacked. 

Amelia banged her hammer on the desk. "The Wizengamot is called to Order!" That's what its called. Wizen-Wizengamot! Ha! Take that ADHD!

Everyone settled down and the room was quiet as a grave. "Heir Black? Would you like to start?"

Loud whispers broke out as I stepped forward and bowed. Hecate was running commentary in my head, telling me exactly what to do from her seat somewhere in the room. "Lords and Ladies of the Wizengamot, my name is Heir Perseus Black and today, I am standing before the court to request that a serious miscarraige of justice be corrected fourteen years after it happened. As you might have guessed, I am referring to the unlawful imprisonment of Lord Sirius Black for the murders of twelve muggles and Peter Pettigrew." 

The whispers turned into outraged shouts! "SILENCE!" Amelia almost shouted, startling everyone into doing what she ordered. "Perhaps you would like to elaborate as to why you say this, Heir Black?" She asked.

I recited the cooked-up story that Hecate had come up with, finishing with how I am unable to take control of the Black estate as Lord, since Sirius was never actually convicted. "I went through the Gringotts records, where I found only an arrest warrant issued by one Bartemius Crouch, then Head of the DMLE, for the arrest of Lord Black, who was subsequently sent to Akaban prison without a trial. "

Everyone looked horrified at that, so I continued, stressing on the same point. "The head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black was sent to the Dementors without a trial, where he languished for twelve years before escaping. How is that justice? Lord Black was accused of being a follower of You-Know-Who without even checking to see if he bore the mark of the Dark Wizard." Right on cue, an Auror rolled up the sleeves of Sirius' robes to show his bare arms. "Lord Black was also accused of betraying the Potters to You-Know-Who, but we have testimonies from a number of people that he was not their Secret-Keeper at the time of their death."

After dropping that bombshell, I left the open area in the front and took the Black seat on the court, the witches and wizards around me muttering furiously. Frog-Lady looked ready to jump out of her seat and murder me, while the men next to her were looking worried. Percy Weasley was frantically writing at top speed, ink splattering on his nose as he wrote. 

"Witness for the defense?" 

One by one, everyone in the witness corner gave their accounts, as did Snape. He tried to stick to the story of Harry, Hermione and Ron being Confunded by Sirius the day he escaped from Hogwarts, but Julian was ruthless with his questions and he got Snape to admit that he completely ignored Sirius and Remus' request to listen to that story. The minute he admitted that he was eager to get a possibly innocent man kissed by the dementors due to a grudge from their school days, was the minute everyone lost interest in his story. 

With that, it came to the matter of deciding whether Pettigrew was still alive and had been in hiding as a rat. The trio of kids had testified about the events of the night under Veritaserum and shown the court their memories, which easily showed how incompetent Fudge was. It also showcased Snape's furious outburst when they discovered Sirius gone and the way he had yelled at Harry, accusing him of helping Sirius escape. 

At the end of these testimonies, Amelia asked the court, "Any objections or requests for cross-examination?"

A man with long blonde hair and an aura of arrogance about him stood up. "I do."

"The chair recognises Lord Malfoy, member of the Wizengamot."

"Potter's been spouting nonsense for years! He's been going on about Philosopher's stones and basilisks and claiming that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back! How can we trust the testimony of a delusional boy?" Malfoy demanded.

That set my blood boiling. "Permission to speak, Madam Bones." I gritted out, trying not to hex the blond idiot where he stood.

"Granted, Heir Black."

"Heir-Lord Potter has spoken to me of the stories printed in the Daily Prophet about him, claiming him to be delusional and mad, making up stories to garner attention. He has also told me about the incidents about which the stories were published, and let me tell you, my Lords and Ladies, the stories have been blown out of proportion. Miss Rita Skeeter, who is at present representing the Prophet at this trial, was the reporter who wrote those articles. I would very much like to know how Miss Skeeter was able to obtain the specifics of private events such as Heir-Lord Potter collapsing in class due to a headche when she had been banned from the grounds months earlier!" 

Everyone's heads swivelled to face the horrible woman sitting in the corner who cowered under the collective gazes of more than a hundred people. Julian said, "Let it be noted that Heir-Lord Potter has hired me as his legal representative and we have made the decision to press charges against the Prophet for slander of his character and misappropriation of his name." 

He waved his wand and hundreds newspaper clippings from the past few years that mentioned Harry flew out of it, each hovering in the air as Justin read out the articles. "Let it be known to this court that my client has never given an authorised interview to any member of the press, including Miss Skeeter. From what I have been told, this bogus interview that was published during the Weighing of the Wands at the Triwizard Tournament was forcibly conducted in a broom closet without the consent of my client!"

There was a roar of outrage at that. Many of the members were standing up in their seats and yelling at Skeeter. Julian waited till Amelia shouted for silence before continuing. "The Prophet has been calling Heir-Lord Potter delusional and attention-seeking for the past two months, slandering his name and making the general public believe as such. I would like to point out that such allegations are unfounded without confirmation from a MediWizard or MediWitch which was never obtained!" He thundered, sounding a lot like Uncle Drama Queen when I pissed him off, which I did every time I saw him. 

"What do you have to say to that, Heir-Lord Potter?"

Harry nervously looked around the room, locking eyes with me for a brief second where I gave him a small smile and a go-on look. He took a breath before explaining each incident and what had happened, most of the Wizengamot becoming more and more angry as he spoke. 

"I will definitely be pressing charges against the Prophet as well as Witch Weekly for the trouble they have caused me and one of my best friends, Miss Granger by printing such stories. The backlash and hate mail she got for the fake story was not what she deserved and I will see justice served."

Justin perked up at the mention of hate mail. "Perhaps you could tell us about the hate mail?"

"There were dozens of letters telling her to stay away from me and the Durmstrang champion, Viktor Krum. She was called various demeaning names and told quite a number of times that she should die for what they assumed she had done. There were also letters which were hexed or jinxed, including one which contained undiluted Bubotuber pus. Hermione had to spend a full day in the infirmary as Madam Pomfrey healed the boils on her hands, the injuries affecting her academic performance for more than a week."

"He's a criminal!" Malfoy yelled, forgoing all the rules and decorum. "Potter's due for his own disciplinary hearing in a week! He was expelled from Hogwarts! You can't trust his word!" 

I couldn't help the laugh that escaped my mouth at that declaration. Amelia looked over at me, confused. "Heir Black?"

"Right. Sorry. Lord Malfoy here has apparently forgotten that Gringotts keeps accounts of the withdrawals and transfers made from their vaults. I was unable to gain control of the Black funds as stated earlier, but I was able to look over the accounts of House Black and its subordinate houses which included House Malfoy. 

Imagine my surprise when I saw the sum of two hundred and fifty galleons being transferred to a high-level Ministry vault from the Malfoy family vault every month, not to mention various other amounts paid to the same vault at various times throughout the last few years, each coinciding with the changes in various policies that were made by the Ministry.

There was one exception, and that was a very generous donation to the Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures two years ago to authorise the execution of a hippogriff that Heir Malfoy purposely provoked to attack him in class. A minor injury was turned into a major one and the poor creature was sentenced to death, the Department even going as far as to bring in an executioner to the appeal. How is that justice?!"

Malfoy had gone white and I was pretty sure that Fudge was on the verge of fainting. Percy Weasley was looking horrified at what I had just suggested, while Malfoy clearly regretted ever speaking out. Sirius was giving me a huge mega-watt grin. 'That was bloody amazing' he mouthed, catching my eye. 

Amelia had an expression on her face that looked as if Christmas had come early. She was suppressing a smile as she said, "The DMLE will be looking into those matters, Heir Black. Rest assured, we will investigate your claims thoroughly. But let now get to the matter at hand. The trial of Lord Sirius Orion Black, of House Black. Do you, Lord Black, consent to the use of Veritaserum?"

"Yes." Sirius stuck his tongue out immediately, waiting for the Aurors to dose him with the truth potion. The drops were poured on his tongue, and his expression turned blank and vacant. 

"What is your name?" Amelia asked.

"Sirius Orion Black."

"What was your relationship with the Potters?"

"James was my brother in everything but blood. He, his parents, Lily, Harry and Remus were the only family I had. James and his parents welcomed me into their home when I was blasted off the Black family tapestry by my mother. She wasn't able to disown me form the Lordship, but I was kicked out of the house for my beliefs."

"Beliefs?"

"Our parents were supporters of Voldemort, as were many other members of our extended family. She did not appreciate us mingling with muggle-borns, half-bloods, or blood-traitors, as she referred to the Potters. She threw Salina and I out of the house a few days into the school holidays at the end of our fifth year."

"Who is Salina?"

"My twin sister, Salina Black. She went missing when we were seventeen and was presumed dead, one of the many casualties of the War."

There were a few sympathetic looks sent his way. Thankfully, the inheritance test I had taken did not show your parents. It merely showed your magical inheritances, so mom was still safe. It was then that I got a brainwave. Why not play the biggest prank ever and give everyone solid 'proof' that Percy Jackson and Perseus Black were two completely different people? I began planning it out in my head as Sirius' interrogation continued.

"Now that we have the background, were you the Secret Keeper for the Potters?"

"No."

"Who was?"

"Peter Pettigrew."

"Then why did you say that you had killed James and Lily Potter?"

"I might as well have! I was the one who convinced James to switch secret-keepers to Pettigrew who betrayed them. I thought that I would be the obvious choice for the role and no one would suspect Peter. Remus was already in danger and we didn't want to burden him anymore."

"What happened on the night you were arrested?"

"As soon as I had seen what had happened at Potter Cottage, I knew what Pettigrew had done. I was so blinded by rage and despair that I went straight after him instead of taking care of Harry. I found him in that street, but he was waiting for me. He played his role, hiding his wand behind his back and then blasted the entire street apart."

"How did Pettigrew escape?"

"He transformed into his animagus form, a rat, and escaped into the sewer."

"Do you have any proof of this?"

"The front page of the Prophet from two years ago." Sirius rasped out and Julian enlarged the copy he had so that everyone could see it. The picture of the Weasleys on their holiday was dislayed, with the rat on Ron's shoulder. Percy Weasley had turned white and was shaking, but he did not stop writing. I was really happy that this piece of evidence was shown, for no one could deny the fact that the rat lived with the Weasleys for twelve years.

"The rat has a toe missing, and I saw Pettigrew cut off his finger just before transforming. I had seen him transform a number of times before and was thus familiar with his Animagus form."

"If I may, Madam?" I asked, standing up. She nodded.

There were a few other questions asked, after which Amelia stood up in her chair and spoke to the entire court. "The interrogation and questioning of witnesses has been concluded. The numerous other claims made will be investigated, so the Wizengamot is requested to be prepared for another such session where all the members' presence is required very soon. With that, we shall proceed to the verdict. Those in favour of conviction?"

Only two hands in the entire room went up. Fudge and Frog-Lady's. Fudge had turned purple and was angrily murmuring something to Frog-Woman as Amelia said, "Those in favour of clearing the accused of all charges and providing compensation for the injustice caused?"

Everyone else raised their hands, including me and I smiled as Amelia banged her hammer. "Cleared of all charges. Lord Black, welcome back to society. I would suggest that you see a Healer about your current health. You may take a week or so to recover form your ordeal before we meet again to discuss your compensation and any other issues you may have."

The chains holding Sirius in place fell away and he stood up, grinning from ear to ear as everyone in the room slowly filed out. I walked down to him and he pulled me into a hug. "Thank you." He whispered. 

Everyone who had testified for us came down to congratulate Sirius, big smiles on everyone's faces. Julian had decided to stick with us till we got back to his office just in case we needed his help, so our group went out of the Courtrooms and into the main part of the Ministry.

When we reached the Lobby, there was a pin-drop silence for a second when everyone saw Sirius walking out with his wand in hand, before it erupted into total chaos. People were falling over themselves to run away from us, and quite a few even fired spells at us.

Sirius muttered, "Protego", casting a shield charm in front of us. The spells hit it, and dissipated harmlessly, but by then even more wizards had fired stunners.

I pointed my wand at my throat, and said, "Sonorus!", amplifying my voice, before saying, "HOLD YOUR FIRE! LORD BLACK HAS BEEN DECLARED INNOCENT BY THE WIZENGAMOT! HE IS NOT A THREAT!"

By then, Kingsley had come running in. He took one look at the situation, and pointed his wand at the sky, setting off loud booms. The panicked workers stopped attacking us and looked at him. 

"Heir Black is right. Lord Black has been cleared of all charges and been set free along with an official apology from the Minister himself. Please, lower your wands. He is just another citizen like you now." His slow, calm, voice reassuring the scared people, who did as he said, and we were able to lower our shields.

A tall figure pushed his way out of the crowd towards us and I hid a smile when I was confronted with the face of Percy Jackson. His green eyes scanned over us as everyone in our group stopped in shock. Paul recovered first. He stepped forward and placed a hand on Percy's shoulder. (Gods, it's dam weird to talk about myself in the third person.) 

"Percy? I thought you were staying at home with your mother."

When 'Percy' was debating his answer, I said. "Mr.Blofis? You know this young man?"

"My apologies. This is my stepson, Percy Jackson. Percy, this is Lord Black and his Heir, with Heir-Lord Potter and Mr. Weasley and his son Ronald. You've already met Hermione."

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Jackson." I shook his hand. 

"You too, Heir Black. Perhaps we could continue this conversation somewhere private?"