Eventual Exoneration

Title: Eventual Exoneration
Author: Claire Watson
Series: Plack & Botter #2, CYOB – Courtroom
Fandom: Harry Potter
Genre: Gen, Fix-it
Relationship(s): Harry Potter & Sirius Black
Content Rating: G
Warnings: None
Author Notes: This was written for stage one of Create Your Own bingo, the full card can be found here.
Beta: Grammarly
Word Count: 1,790
Summary: Augusta might not be able to protect Frank anymore, but she’d be damned if she’d see his opinions and wishes sidelined just because he couldn’t fight for them himself.

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Augusta knew many wizards and witches schemed their entire lifetimes to be in the position she was in. It was the pinnacle of magical society, the chance to steer the nation, to affect legislation, to make a meaningful difference.

It had never been something she aimed for, however. She’d been happy to leave that side of things to Jeremiah, to split her focus between her son and her research into arithmantic and runic collaborations.

Jeremiah had trained Frank well to fulfil his duties on the Wizengamot, and although Jeremiah’s death was much earlier than could ever be expected, given how healthy he’d always been and how robust his magic was, Frank had been ready to step into his shoes.

Unfortunately, with the blood war at its height, darling Frank and Alice hadn’t felt comfortable quitting their roles as aurors.

“We can’t,” Frank had told her bluntly when she’d tried to get him to see sense. “I agree that, ideally, we should, but the truth is we’re doing more good where we are. I want to name you as proxy for the family seats; that way our vote won’t be affected if something happens to send us to St Mungo’s.”

Then Alice had fallen pregnant. Augusta had been over the moon about the coming grandchild, and had been only too happy to continue taking care of the official duties so that Frank and Alice could prepare properly.

Neville’s birth was a joy, despite the darkness deepening.

Then, it all seemed to crumble. Frank and Alice had received information that You-Know-Who was targeting them directly, and went into hiding. Augusta was honoured that they asked to be their secret keeper, and determined not to fail them.

Every day after that was an eternity of waiting for the hammer to fall.

Then, on the night when the veil between worlds was at its thinnest, James and Lily Potter were betrayed by one of their closest friends and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named attacked.

The stories of what happened were fanciful and no doubt exaggerated, but what no one could deny was that after killing James and Lily Potter, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named turned his wand on their son Harry, and met his end.

The relief Augusta felt was immense. She immediately went to Frank and Alice to tell them the good news, but found them less jubilant than she was.

After she had told them everything she knew—Sirius Black’s betrayal, the attack and the subsequent end of You-Know-Who—both Frank and Alice had insisted that Sirius Black would never betray James Potter, that something was wrong.

Alice also wanted to know what had happened to Harry, since she was both his godmother and listed in the Will as having shared custody with Black should James and Lily both perish and Harry survive.

Augusta was all prepared to help them with that when the unimaginable happened: Frank, Alice and Neville were attacked by some of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’s most devoted and psychotic followers.

They all survived, but Frank and Alice were so damaged that the healers at St Mungo’s thought their state might turn out to be permanent. Neville had also been affected, with one healer even postulating that the attack might have damaged his magic channels permanently.

Augusta had found herself in the position of grieving her darling son while he still lived, of shouldering the responsibility of raising her—possible squib—grandson and also trying to steer the perilously close to extinct house of Longbottom through the turbulent days following You-Know-Who’s fall.

She didn’t precisely forget about Sirius Black and Harry Potter, but she didn’t have any time or energy to spend on concern for them. Augusta withdrew from society except for where her position as Longbottom Regent dictated she couldn’t, and just did her best to keep on going.

Neville’s possible squib status was eventually proved incorrect, and Augusta was overjoyed that her hard work hadn’t been in vain. Neville was a shy child, though, with none of Frank’s robust enjoyment of life, and Augusta couldn’t help but be disappointed that her son’s heir was so unlike his father.

She did her best to encourage him, but her efforts in that direction proved, over time, to have an opposite effect than the one she wanted, so in the end, she gave up.

His Hogwarts letter came right on time, and so she sent him off on the train with dear Frank’s wand and a directive that she expected him to be a Gryffindor.

The reports she got back from Minerva after his first year were disappointing, but nothing more than what she had come to expect. She tried not to hold it against the boy—it wasn’t his fault he’d been attacked as a baby—but she couldn’t stop comparing him to Frank.

His second year was much the same.

His third year was enlivened by Sirius Black’s escape from Azkaban; the first successful escape from that dread prison and a figurative black eye for the Ministry and the auror corps.

For the first time in over a decade, Augusta remembered Frank’s insistence that Sirius hadn’t betrayed the Potters and his plans to investigate, and began to wonder what had actually happened.

Having dementors stationed around the school didn’t sit right with her, but Fudge had enough support for the notion that there was no point in kicking up a fuss about it. The later break-in—Black had actually made it inside the castle, into the Gryffindor dorms!—raised even more concerns. What was the point of having them there if they didn’t deter Black?

Then, as the school year drew to a close, the Wizengamot was called for an emergency session.

Amelia Bones had captured Sirius Black, and rather than have him kissed, as the Minister had directed, she was convening the Wizengamot for a trial!

The shocking news that an heir to an Ancient and Noble house had been imprisoned in Azkaban without trial was enough for Augusta to consider that maybe Frank and Alice had been right, all those years ago. After all, why deny the man a trial unless you wanted to get him out of the way and knew a trial wouldn’t have the outcome you wanted?

For the first time since the attack on her son, Augusta felt invigorated and driven. For Frank’s sake, she would ensure that justice was done for Sirius Black, whatever that might be. She would shout down Cornelius Fudge and that loathsome Undersecretary if necessary.

v^v^v

The trial itself was anticlimactic. The prosecution had nothing but hearsay as evidence. At the same time, the defence was able to mount a highly credible opposition, including veritaserum testimonies and even pensieve evidence proving that Peter Pettigrew was not only the perpetrator of all the crimes Black had been accused of, but was alive and well and had spent over a decade in hiding as a family pet.

Even without Black agreeing to veritaserum, Pettigrew’s actions in the wake of the confrontation that had killed so many muggles was enough to make him appear guilty. The only reason for him to hide, was if he had something to hide.

Augusta was left with no doubt whatsoever that Sirius Black was innocent, at least of these crimes. She also believed his impassioned declaration that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was a blight on magic, and all those who followed him were traitors who deserved nothing less than the veil.

Unfortunately, Fudge and his toadies were more concerned about how the Ministry would look than about seeing justice done, just as Augusta had expected. On top of that, Lucius Malfoy had a vested interest in Black’s continued imprisonment: his son was amongst those who would be eligible to claim the Black family wealth if Sirius was convicted and his ability to claim the title impeded.

Malfoy had a lot of the dark faction in his pocket in one way or another. Luckily, Augusta felt she knew just what to say to have them reconsider whatever that white-haired cockroach would have offered them.

She waited until all the usual windbags had given their opinions before touching her wand to the signal light before her, signalling that she wanted to speak. When Dumbledore indicted that it was her turn, she rose to her feet.

“We can all see that there hasn’t been a shred of solid proof that Sirius Black committed the crimes we all believed he had been convicted of. To the contrary, there has been plenty of proof that he didn’t. I believe all rational beings, without a personal agenda, would admit it. What this discussion will determine, therefore, is what we as the judicial authority are planning to do about it.”

“The Ministry cannot be seen—” started Fudge.

Augusta interrupted him. “The Ministry is irrelevant in this instance. We have here the last scion of one of our leading families, a member of the sacred twenty-eight, who has been imprisoned without trial for over a decade.” She glared around at the other members of the Wizengamot. “If we as a ruling body do anything but condemn such a thing and prosecute those who perpetrated such an injustice to the fullest extent of the law, we set a precedent. A precedent whereby such a thing could happen to any one of us, or our heirs. Next time, it could be you sent to spend a decade with dementors for someone else’s political gain.”

“Now, now,” Dumbledore said, “let’s not create a conspiracy out of whole cloth, Augusta. There has been no suggestion that Mr Black’s unfortunate incarceration was anything but a terrible oversight due to the turbulence of those days.”

Augusta scoffed. “What tosh! Don’t try that disingenuous nonsense with me, Albus. Next, you’ll try to tell us that our Ministry officials don’t regularly take bribes! Of course Sirius Black’s illegal incarceration was politically motivated!” She leaned forward. “I, for one, don’t intend to sign my own house’s death warrant by allowing such a dangerous precedent to be set. Sirius Black will be compensated to the best of this government’s ability, and this whole matter will be investigated by people under oath to find the truth. To take any other action is to doom us all.”

Dumbledore sighed. “Does anyone else want to share their opinion before this goes to vote?”

No lights lit up, and so a vote was taken.

Augusta was smugly pleased to see that she’d swayed all of the dark faction—aside from Malfoy, of course—and several of those in the neutral faction that had been leaning towards placating the Minister.

She might not be able to protect Frank anymore, but she’d be damned if she’d see his opinions and wishes sidelined just because he couldn’t fight for them himself.