The house was, at first glance, just a normal house in a mainly-muggle neighbourhood, but to the expert eye, signs of magic were easily visible.
The most obvious sign was the lack of a telephone cable leading to the house while the chimney was unadorned by an aerial. The garage doors were spotless, but closer inspection revealed that the edges had been fused with the walls, meaning that it was unable to be opened. Notthat most people would bother to examine it since the house was under several wards, the net effect of which was to remove the house and its occupants from the perceptions of anyone without magic.
"Jor-El… start recording." Harry commanded quietly and the stealthed spy-probe which had deployed form the now-completed passenger shuttle drifted down to just behind him, holographically disguised so that it was effectively invisible. Striding up the perfectly-mantained path, Harry felt the low-powered anti-Muggle wards admit him, then he reached out and touched the doorbell. Even as the chimes sounded, the door was opened by a short non-human figure.
"Can Gilligan be helpi…" The House-Elf began, then his eyes widened. "Master Potter? Is it really you?"
"It is." Harry confirmed and then he almost fell over as the House-elf latched onto his leg, crying with joy.
"Gilligan is being a Potter Elf again? Gilligan be returning to The Pottery?"
"Gilligan!"A harsh voice grated and the House-elf cringed. "Where's my tea?"
Harry set his face into a stern expression and strode into the house, Gilligan following him nervously. Entering the living room, he found himself facing an irate witch who stared at him in shock.
"…James…?" She whispered.
"My name is Harry. Harry Potter."
The witch stared at him, then she growled. "What do you want?"
"Something has come to my attention and I came here to speak with you about it." Harry stated, suppressing his rising anger and ex-Minister Millicent Bagnold sneered.
"You mean Black being thrown into Azkaban? He betrayed your parents, boy! He deserved it! I'd have had him Kissed if I could, but if I'd given him a trial, he would haveescaped like the others!"
Harry frowned, thrown by the unexpected direction of the conversation. "What are you talking about?"
It was Bagnold's turn to look blank. "You're not here about that Merlin-damned bastard? Then what the hell are you doing in my house?!"
"Collecting what is rightfully mine." Harry stated, patting Gilligan on his head and Millicent pulled out her wand.
"Oh no, you bloody well don't! Those house-elves are mine! Do you hear me? Mine! I deserve them, I'm the one who led the war against the Dark Lord and they're mine! Now get out before I hex you!"
Harry bared his teeth in what could technically be called a smile as he manifested the twenty-three Symbols around him, then moved them to form a wall between him and the shocked witch.
"I think you may wish to rethink your position, Madam Bagnold." he stated coldly as he carefully lined up three symbols and reached out to touch the innermost one. "That is, unless you can prove that you purchased them from the Potter estate and since Account Manager Axefist hasn't been able to find any evidence that you paid even a single knut for them…"
.
.
"Welcome home, Gilligan, Herriet." Harry smiled as he escorted the two House-elves into the main house after the shuttle had dropped them off outside at his instruction. The two elves looked round at the rebuilt mansion with expressions of amazement.
"So big…" Herriet whispered as she looked down, then she frowned. "Herriet not understand all the things down there."
"You can see the hidden levels?" Harry asked in shock and Herriet shook her head.
"No, but Herriet can feel them, they are part of The Pottery. Herriet can feel the magic as well, lots of magic, new magic. And the not-person who is part of it."
"That would be Jor-El." Harry said. "He's the one who protects this place and who's been keeping it clean and tidy… well, him and a pair of… golems called Kelex and Kelor. Jor-El?"
The AI's avatar materialised. "Welcome back, Lord Potter, and welcome home, Gilligan and Herriet. I have already informed SssSthss of our returned staff members."
The two elves looked at the holographic representation of the AI curiously and Harry dropped to one knee to speak to them. "You can trust Jor-El. He's… um, I have to ask… when I was born…"
"Herriet and Gilligan were there when Master Harry was adopted by Master James after little Master Harry was born dead." Gilligan stated. "Mistress Lily never knew her Master Harry was not her Master Harry and we did not tell her as it would have hurt Mistress Lily."
Harry nodded. "Thank you. Anyway, Jor-El is kind of a guardian spirit that my other-father sent with me, but he was asleep in the pod which brought me here until only a couple of years ago when I returned and found him. He's totally loyal to me and I trust him completely."
"Thank you, sir."
"We understand." Herriet nodded, her ears flapping slightly. "Jor-El knows all complicated things below including magic maker thing."
"I read that House-elves need magic to live." Harry noted and both elves nodded in agreement. "As such, however much magic you think you need from the thaumic reactor, it's yours. And I'm sorry I didn't come for you earlier. I… I didn't know until recently."
"Master Harry came and rescued us from false-mistress." Gilligan stated. "That is all that matters."
Harry got back up to his feet. "Jor-El, please show Gilligan and Herriet around, full access. I need to head to the Ministry of Magic and speak to someone about a certain lack of a trial. Oh, and put some parchment and an envelope on the shuttle while I call Grace. I just know that Bagnold'll try something when she finally wakes up and I'll need to set up some insurance."
"Very good, sir. the shuttle is waiting."
"Good." Harry said, turning to the door. "Be ready to catch me, I'll probably Floo back."
"Of course, sir."
The two House-elves watched their master leave, then Gilligan looked up at the hovering figure.
"What did Master mean, be ready to catch him?"
In answer, a screen blinked into life and both Elves quickly started laughing.
.
.
"Wotcha, Harry!"
"Tonks!" Harry waved at the pink-haired Auror, then nodded to the scarred-and-grizzled wizard watching him with a narrowed eye. "And Senior Auror Moody, I presume?"
A curt nod was his answer and Harry turned back to Tonks. "Tonks, I could use your help. I assume you've heard of Sirius Black?"
"I heard he betrayed your parents." Moody interrupted. "Was never sure about that, he didn't seem the type, but he was found guilty."
"Actually, he wasn't." Harry stated. "I… erm… talked to Millicent Bagnold and it would seem that Black never actually got a trial."
"…and I want him arrested!" Bagnold's voice echoed as a door at the far end of the office area opened. "He broke into my house and stole my House-elves!"
"They were my House-elves!" Harry shouted across the crowded room, causing everyone to pause in their work and stare. "You abused your position to steal them and you didn't recompense me with even a single knut! I was perfectly within my legal rights to reclaim them!"
Bagnold paused in the doorway, a stern-looking monacle-wearing woman behind her and Harry continued.
"Plus, you locked Sirius Black into Azkaban without a trial and kept him there illegally! On his behalf, I am invoking the Liberty Protection Act of Eighteen-fourteen. You have had over a decade to put together a case against him and failed. Since it has taken more than four weeks to do so, that means that Black is either to be granted a trial within twenty-four hours or he is to be freed and compensated for his time in Azkaban, at the rate of fifty Galleons per week beyond the original month, payable by the one who signed the order imprisoning him!"
Bagnold went white. "No! That's… that's…"
"Over twenty-five thousand Galleons." Harry stated coldly. "Of course, this will be halved if you give him a trial… a public trial, but for each additional day you wait now that I've invoked the act, the amount you owe will double. So this time tomorrow, it'll be over fifty thousand you owe him. The day after, a hundred. Then two hundred. I would advise moving quickly, especially since I've already sent an Owl to the Daily Prophet about this."
Bagnold managed to turn even whiter (something that Harry would not have believed possible) and the woman behind Bagnold stepped past the stuttering witch.
"Moody, Shacklebolt, go to Azkaban and retrieve Black on my authority. Take him direct to the Wizengamot. Tonks, go with them. Yaxley, get the Investigation Department to check their records, I want everything we have on Black. See if he did have a trial and if he didn't, send out an emergency Wizengamot alert before bringing the files to me. Move!"
Harry stepped aside as the named Aurors burst into motion and the woman glowered at him.
"I was hoping to go home early, Lord Potter. I hope for your sake that you're telling the truth about the lack of a trial, or I'll have you charged with wasting Auror's time."
"Look at Bagnold." Harry suggested. "She's still trying to find a reason why she refused to give my Godfather a trial."
The monacled woman tilted her head slightly. "Really? Regular or Magical?"
"I… don't actually know. What's the difference?" Harry asked in confusion.
.
.
Harry sipped the mug of tea that had been handed to him while he watched Amelia Bones page through the remarkably slim folder that Yaxley had handed to her before he had bustled off. After several moments, she sighed and leaned back in her seat.
"It looks like you were right, Lord Potter. Black never received a trial and the evidence itself is little more than a couple of brief statements by the arresting Aurors… one of whom is our current Minister. He's going to make quite a fuss over this."
"No, he isn't." Harry shook his head. "If Black's guilty, then he returns to Azkaban and all that happens is that Bagnold's reputation takes a big hit. After all, if he deserves to be there, then he wasn't innocent and isn't owed any money. On the other hand, if he is innocent, Bagnold's going to be extremely out-of-pocket and her reputation will be shattered. Either way, though, I win. All Fudge has to do is declare that he had assumed that Bagnold had followed the law and now that he knows that she hadn't, he'll order a review into the other prisoners to check for any others who didn't have a trial."
"If he is innocent, then who betrayed your parents to the Dark Lord?" Amelia enquired and Harry shrugged.
"It had to be either Pettigrew or Lupin, my father's other best friends. One of them would have been the Secret Keeper."
Amelia picked up the phone on her desk and almost barked into it. "Get me everything on Lupin, he was a friend of James Potter. Now!"
"Not Pettigrew?" Harry asked and Amelia shook her head.
"Pettigrew was killed by Black. They only found a single finger after the explosion."
Harry frowned. "I didn't think explosions worked like that. If a finger was the biggest bit that remained, wouldn't everyone have been covered in him?"
"Thank you for that delightful image." Amelia snarked, then she picked up the phone again. "Get me the records on Pettigrew's death! And don't forget the witness statements!"
Putting the phone down, she leaned forwards, resting her elbows on the desk as she steepled her fingers.
"You really have a way of creating unusual situations, don't you?" She finally asked. "My source in the Unspeakables tells me that they're trying to duplicate whatever you did against Lockhart… who seems to have vanished off the face of the planet, by the way…"
"I had nothing to do with that!" Harry protested, but before he could continue, someone knocked on the door and then stepped through.
"The Pettigrew file, Ma'am."
Bones took the file, placing it on her desk and leafed through it. After several minutes, she sighed.
"Dammit. If I'd been in charge, this would have been investigated. There's no way an explosion that killed twelve muggles, leaving their bodies fairly intact, would have vaporised Pettigrew."
"Could he still be alive?" Harry asked and Amelia sighed again.
"Merlin, I hope not. If he is… it would call a great deal of our assumptions into question."
"Ma'am, message from Moody. Thy've collected Black and should be back within the next hour."
Amelia rose from her chair, motioning for Harry to join her. "Come on. I can't think of anyone with more interest in the case than you, so you may as well be part of it. Let's go."