'This is taking too long,' Venom said impatiently as Harry finished up his breakfast.
'It's not like there's much I can do about it,' Harry mentally replied before sipping down the last of his juice.
The pair had been waiting for the last half hour for Professor McGonagall to come and collect them so they could go to Sirius's trial, but as of yet, the transfiguration professor hadn't yet arrived, meaning that Harry had simply eaten some more food to pass the time. One irritating thing that Harry had to deal with was the fact that it had gotten out that Sirius Black was having a trial and that Harry was somehow involved, most people didn't really know what had happened which was why most of them assumed that Sirius had tried to kill Harry, meaning that Harry had to put up with people staring at him more than usual.
'Let's go and find her,' Venom suggested.
'Might as well,' Harry agreed, not wanting to eat more. He got up and had only taken a few steps from the Gryffindor table when he found his way blocked by Malfoy and his ever-following friends, Crabbe and Goyle.
"So, Potter," Drawled Malfoy. "A bit nervous, are you? I mean, standing in front of the whole Wizengamot in a room with Sirius Black? I imagine that that's quite frightening for you."
"Do you truly have nothing better to do in the morning than come and bother me?" Harry asked in an unimpressed voice.
"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to be a bother," Draco said in a mocking voice. "Tell me, Potter, are you scared that Black might go and finish the job?"
"Let me ask you something, Draco," Harry began. "I once heard that a wise man starts his morning in the company of good men so that he may learn from them and improve himself, have you ever heard of that?"
"Yeah," Draco nodded, looking confused. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"It's just that I have a different opinion," Harry said before he gave Draco a long stare. "In my case, I like to start my morning chatting with a total dickhead to remind me that I'm the best." Harry looked at Draco like he was a particularly bothersome bug before he walked past him and his friends, he had barely gotten out of the hall when he saw Professor McGonagall approaching.
"Ah, there you are, Mr Potter," She said as she walked up to him. "Forgive me, I would have been here sooner but I was delayed since I had to help fix the Weasley twin's latest mess."
"Ah," Harry nodded in understanding. "What was it this time? Exploding toilet seats? Startled wallpaper?"
"Angry doors," Professor McGonagall huffed. "The door to Professor Snape's classroom would start yelling some rather unflattering words every single time it was opened, I believed that at one point it referred to Professor Snape as an 'ungodly poster for stranger danger,'." She finished, Harry barely suppressed a snort and gave her a look that quite clearly asked if she was trying to make him laugh.
Harry sat in the stands, nervously waiting for Sirius's trial to reach its conclusion. Having never had any experience in a courtroom, Harry wasn't sure if this was a very long trial but it certainly felt like it. Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic himself, had personally chosen to oversee this trial, most likely simply for the publicity that came with it, but Harry didn't much care as long as Fudge didn't actively go out of his way to hinder the trial.
Several witnesses, including Sirius along with Harry and his friends, had testified about what they knew, though Harry did have to alter his testimony slightly to hide some things like the fact that he had a powerful alien living rent-free in his head. Thankfully, Venom had helped him keep track of what he had said so he didn't make any mistakes. The best witness of the bunch was Peter Pettigrew, the very fact that he was alive punched a big hole in the theory of Sirius being a mass murderer that had killed him. Not to mention the fact that Pettigrew was declared legally dead meant that he didn't have the same rights as a living man and truth serum was allowed to be used without his permission.
Peter had ended up singing like a canary and had confessed his every crime in front of the whole courtroom. At that point, Harry couldn't have seen any possible way for Sirius to not be declared innocent, but that didn't mean he expected the case to be a done deal. Until he heard the words coming out of Fudge's mouth, Sirius wasn't free.
"Mr Black," Fudge said, doing his best to sound powerful and important, looking down at Sirius who was tied with chains in a chair in the centre of the courtroom. "This courtroom has reached a conclusion, on the charges of betraying the Potters, terrorism, mass murder, dark magic and aiding the dark lord we refer to as 'He-who-must-not-be-named', you are innocent." Fudge announced. Sirius stared at him with shock on his face, unable to believe his good luck.
"Yes!" Harry cheered loudly, his voice heard amongst all the loud noise coming from the rest of the crowd.
"You will receive compensation for those unfortunate years you have wrongfully spent in Azkaban," Fudge continued after the crowd's noise had died down long enough for him to be heard. "You will not be charged with escaping Azkaban since you technically should not have been there in the first place. The trial has also revealed that you are an illegal animagus, usually, that would result in a fine and a few years at Azkaban. But in this case, I think that since you've spent far longer in Azkaban than you should have if you were charged with that crime, that we will allow this to go unpunished providing you register yourself within the next month. I believe that this is all, this court is adjourned." He finished by banging his hammer on his gavel.
Harry grinned before quickly jumping the stands and running up to Sirius as soon as he had been released from his chains. The two quickly pulled each other into a big hug in front of the courtroom, ignoring the camera flashes and gossiping crowds around them.
"I'm free," Sirius whispered into Harry's neck, tears dripping down his eyes. "I'm free."
"Someone looks happy," Andromeda noted after the end of another potions lesson.
"I might be," Harry grinned at her. "But I don't think I'm the only one, I saw you smiling for most of the lesson."
"My favourite cousin just got declared innocent, yeah, I'm happy." Andromeda easily admitted. "In fact, I'm going to go and visit him in St Mungo's after I leave here." She added with a smile. "Do you want me to pass on a message?" She asked.
Harry adopted a thoughtful look as he thought about if there was anything he wanted to tell Sirius, he hadn't seen the man since the trial yesterday. After the trial had finished, Sirius had been shipped straight to the wizarding hospital which was fairly understandable given that he had spent more than a healthy amount of time in Azkaban and on the run.
"Perhaps you could tell him to make sure he takes a bath," Harry suggested with a small smile. "He didn't really smell great last time we met."
"I can imagine," Andromeda chuckled. "Though to be fair, he never did smell great, when he was your age he would just absolutely coat himself in beauty products and they left quite a big impression on a person's sense of smell."
"Can't be worse than Malfoy," Harry shrugged. "Honestly, with all of the products he puts into his hair, I expect him to be hairless by the time he's thirty." He added just as the door opened and Tonks entered the room.
"Wotcher Harry, hi Mum," She greeted the two of them.
"Hello sweetie," Andromeda greeted her.
"Hi Tonks," Harry said with a small wave.
'Tonksie!' Venom cheered in Harry's head.
"Not that I don't feel honoured to be in your presence, but what are you doing here?" Harry asked curiously.
"Did you hear that, Mum?" Tonks asked Andromeda in an amused voice. "The boy-who-lived is 'honoured' to be in my presence, shame I don't get that sort of respect at home, eh?"
"Maybe you would get it if I didn't have to magically repair everything you bump into," Andromeda said in a thoughtful voice. "Who can say for sure?"
"Whatever," Tonks rolled her eyes before she turned her attention back to Harry so she could answer his question. "I'm here because my shift has finished so Mum and I are going to go and see Sirius. You want me to pass a message to him?"
"Your mother already asked that question, but the offer is appreciated," Harry replied as he packed his stuff away. "Anyway, I'll leave you two lovely ladies alone, see you later." He gave them a small wave before he walked out of the room and headed back to the Gryffindor common room.
After several minutes of peaceful and uninterrupted walking, he managed to enter the common room which at this point was fairly empty with the exception of Ron and Hermione who were moving about all over the place, clearly looking for something judging by the way they were looking around, moving everything and then moving it back.
"What's going on guys?" Harry asked the two, causing them to stop there search and look at him.
"Harry," Hermione spoke up, for a few moments she looked hesitant before she overcame whatever was stopping from her speaking. "Ron and I are looking for something,"
"I can see that," Harry said in a dry voice. "What is it that you're looking for?" He asked, despite having a fairly good idea.
"My necklace," Hermione answered, looking quite worried. "It's gold and it has a little sand clock in it, I can't find it anywhere. It's really important." She told him before looking around and continuing to search.
'I feel like we should give it back to her,' Harry told Venom.
'I don't,' Venom replied, sounding as honest as ever.
'I just feel bad,' Harry admitted.
'I understand that but let's be honest, we're going to use it in a far better way than she would,' Venom argued. 'She had the power to control time and used it to attend extra lessons, we'd use it to do superhero stuff and important shit. Think about it, with our track record, who knows when we'll need it again?'
'Fair point,' Harry mentally sighed. 'I might as well at least try and help them out.'
"Have you tried summoning it?" Harry asked Hermione.
"We couldn't find anybody who knows the summoning spell," Ron grunted whilst looking under a chair. "Just have to wait for them to come back."
"Let me try," Harry said, pulling out his wand.
"You know the summoning spell?" Hermione couldn't help but ask.
"Yep," Harry nodded. "Accio," He said the incantation whilst performing the correct wand movement, but made sure to not actually put any magic into it. He waited for several seconds. "I don't think it's in the common room," He said to Hermione.
"I think it's far more likely that you just didn't do the spell right," Hermione argued before going back to searching, missing the offended look on Harry's face. Harry opened his mouth to speak when Colin Creevey walked into the room.
"Harry!" The boy said excitedly. "Professor Dumbledore wants to talk to you in his office."
"About what?" Harry frowned.
"I don't know," The boy said, still smiling as if he was permanently happy.
"Right, thanks Colin, give me a sec." Harry grunted as he walked up into his dorm room so he could put his stuff away. 'What do you think he wants?'
'Not a clue,' Venom answered. 'Maybe he found something important he wants to share with us, either way, I'll be on guard.'
"You wanted to see me, Professor?" Harry asked as he sat opposite Dumbledore in the old man's office.
"Indeed, I did," Dumbledore confirmed with a small nod of his head. "Firstly, I'd like to ask how your lessons with Mrs Tonk have been going."
"She's been brilliant," Harry said with a small smile. "She explains the subject really well, she makes sure I know the theory and she also does a great job in helping me out with the practical portion."
"Ah, so it's safe to say that you're enjoying her lessons?" Dumbledore asked thoughtfully whilst stroking his long beard.
"Yeah," Harry nodded before he narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. "It's amazing what one can do with a competent and professional teacher," He said, unable to resist the temptation to throw a verbal jab to Headmaster about his pet potion's master.
"Hmm," Dumbledore hummed, acting as if he had no idea that Harry was referring to Snape. "And how are Miss Granger and Mr Weasley doing? I can imagine that the incident with Mr Black and Mr Pettigrew had left quite an impression."
"To be honest, we haven't really talked much since it happened," Harry responded, wondering when Dumbledore would get to the real reason why this meeting was taking place.
"Ah, well, I would advise making some time for them, a good pair of friends are as valuable as any Gringotts vault." Dumbledore smiled.
"I don't think we should tell the goblins that," Harry said, half-joking.
"No, I suppose not," Dumbledore chuckled.
"Sir, I am sorry if I seem a bit blunt but why exactly am I here?" Harry asked, he watched as the smile on Dumbledore's face vanished near instantly, as if taken away by magic.
"I am sorry to say, Harry, but this is going ot be a hard conversation, for both of us," Dumbledore said with a heavy sigh. "I understand that since Sirius is free, you plan to go and live with him."
"That is my plan, yes," Harry said quickly and dryly, staring at Dumbledore with narrowed eyes.
"I am afraid that that is not possible, Harry," Dumbledore said apologetically. "Sirius, though innocent, has spent a large period of time in Azkaban, even with his secret animagus form, it is doubtful that he's in a sound enough state of mind to look after a child."
"Then I'll look after him and help him out," Harry said simply.
"Harry, the adults are the ones that are supposed to do the helping," Dumbledore replied.
"The majority of my life says differently," Harry muttered, not caring if Dumbledore heard it or not. "If I can't stay with Sirius then I'll just spend my summers in Diagon Alley and visit him occasionally." He decided.
"Harry, why not stay with your family?" Dumbledore asked, sounding curious.
"What family?" Harry raised an eyebrow.
"The Dursley's," Dumbledore answered, sounding like he wasn't sure why such obvious knowledge should have to be voiced out loud.
"They are not my family, my desire to be away from them is, as you put it earlier, as valuable as any Gringotts vault."
'Nice one,' Venom complimented him.
'Thanks,'
"Harry, I understand that your relationship with them is not the best but I really do think that all you need to do is put in a bit of effort into mending bridges," Dumbledore began, he either didn't notice or didn't care for the instant rage that appeared on Harry's face. "Now, I understand that this is hard for you but you must return to the Dursley's for the summer, I think that..."
'He still wants me to go to the damn Dursley's!' Harry mentally hissed, feeling royally pissed off.
'Fuck this guy,' Venom said bluntly. 'Remember one thing, Harry, we do whatever we want.'