Between Wands & Sigils - Chapter 109 : Restoring Faiths & Breaking Protocols... (Patreon)

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Hogwarts

–Damian Hawthorne–

He looked at the absence of Dumbledore at the dinner, which could be a sign of him working on the Sirius case, or a sign of him doing something else, or just a sign of his old age finally catching up to him.

It had only been a day since the letter was received by Dumbledore, and the way it was encrypted using his magical signature, ensured that it would catch Dumbledore’s attention, which is why he was not worried about the letter not reaching its intended recipient. 

What he was worried about was the reaction of Dumbledore. Sure, he had threatened Dumbledore with stuff, but the most impactful threat he could ever make, about taking Sirius and Peter out in the open, exposing their existences to the world, and then brute forcing the Wizengamot to acknowledge the lapse in the justice system, was not feasible.

Not in the slightest, at least not with his current risk appetite. If he could help it, he would much rather never appear in front of Dumbledore ever. Even with the old man’s apparent good impression of him, it remained the fact that Dumbledore was one scary bastard, especially with the added wildcard of the Ancient Ruins and the exotic magitech weaponry that was found inside.

Who knows what the old man had managed to hoard with his near absolute authority in some divisions of the ICW and most of Magical Britain? He had already been subjected to that mental pressure attack thing, and while he had bolstered his defenses, including adding a self propulsion method to make sure he escapes even if he is knocked out, he was not foolish enough to think that Dumbledore had just that one weapon alone.

No, the best option, while badass and cool sounding, was out of his reach, which left him some other, tedious but equally effective options. Nevertheless, he hoped never to use them, as that was just extra work.

Work that he would have to leave the Castle for, and that just increased the chances of him being discovered in some way, shape, or form. He had to limit his incursions outside the Castle to make sure that his identity was not burned, not until he was eligible to enter Kamar Taj.

With the Wakandans sniffing for him, to the point that they managed to get inside Hogwarts of all places, he had many reasons to make sure that Damian Hawthrone was never associated with the Giant Killer, especially now that his name was attached to a family full of people who had nothing to do with his activities as the Giant Killer.

The faces of Eleanor and Catherine flashed through his mind, further bolstering his determination. Sirius could live out the rest of his life in luxury in a country the ICW has no jurisdiction over, and Peter could be buried six feet under before he could ever let his sisters risk harm.

He paused at the thought, his spoon stuck in his mouth as his eyes widened a bit, at the thought. He had never done that before. Acknowledged them as his family, and be so protective of them.

After a while, he shrugged, finished his dinner, and went to bed. Sure, he had very limited interactions with them, but even in that short time period, they’;d grown on him. He supposed that their innocence and the absolute certainty that they couldn’t possibly have any hand in his sudden and unexplained transportation to the Siberian Taiga meant that he looked at them, not with suspicion but as kids.

Maybe it was unfair to the elder Hawthornes, but he couldn’t help it. He had consciously maintained distance with them simply because of that one fact, and judging by the fact that none of them had come clean to him or even asked him in detail about his stay there, meant that something was wrong.

He had a lot of stuff to deal with on his plate, which is why finding out who was responsible was not on his immediate to-do list, but maybe something to investigate once he was out of Hogwarts.

Speaking of Hogwarts and the scandals plaguing it, hopefully, Dumbledore did something about Sirius soon, because if not, he would have to do something. After all, he had a reputation to maintain. If he didn’t do anything, he might come off as weak, and that reputation that he had inadvertently cultivated over multiple murders, beatings, cripplings, and acts of arson was very valuable, as it allowed him to get stuff done without actually doing anything.

A higher order procrastination, if you will.

___xx___

DMLE, Ministry of Magic

–Amelia Bones–

“Why have you broken into my office, Dumbledore?” She made sure to emphasise his name so he knew that he did not have the authority to do what he just did. She had half a mind to call Aurors on the man because he had broken into the office of the Head of the DMLE, but one look at the tired expression on the man’s face made her stop. 

She lowered her wand, and watched as Dumbledore took down his as well, having lazily swatted her spell when she had realised that there was someone else in the office, at a time she had specifically kept out of her busy schedule, simply so she could get some shut eye without someone barging into her office with an emergency that was nowhere near urgent.

So, it was obvious that she was alarmed when she found herself not alone. Taking a seat, she sarcastically remarked, “Please, Dumbledore. Take a seat, make yourself at home.”

“Amelia.”

One word. One word was all it took for him to turn the entire room feeling like a tense war room, reminiscent of the ones she attended as an Auror when the Ministry was scrambling to mount a proper response against the Dark Lord. Still, that was then, and this was now. She would never let the DMLE let the Aurors run around like headless chickens, even if they, Merlin forbid, had to face a variation of the Dark Lord again.

So, she sat upright in her seat, her hands resting on the table in front of her, before asking Dumbledore to speak, “What can I do for you that required you to break into my office?” 

Instead of answering, he took out what looked like Ministry archive files before tossing them on the table in front of her. He gave the man a look, but seeing that he was in no hurry, she took the files. Her hand froze as she read the name on the file.

Sirius Black - [Life Imprisonment - Azkaban]

They must not have updated his file yet, as was expected, since this was nowhere near even the top 100 fires that the Ministry employees had to put out on a weekly basis.

Steeling herself to read through the traitor’s actions, testimonies, and forensic evidence despite having no wish to relive the horrors of the war, she opened the suspiciously light folder and stopped.

She examined the file in its entirety before snapping it shut, the noise echoing in her office, as she gave Dumbledore a dry look, “Is this supposed to be a joke? This is empty.”

“Precisely, Madam Bones. The file is empty.” He was just repeating what she said. Why would—

“No,” She whispered, taking one look at his expression before pressing the buzzer on her table. Dumbledore wandlessly cast a Notice me Not charm on himself as the door to her office was opened by her secretary.

Before she could even get a word in, orders were already being barked, her secretary struggling to write everything down.

“Get me all the conviction notices from 1990-92. I want every single record of administration of Veritaserum from that time period as well. Get me the list of all the Wizengamot trials and their attendance, as well as the Yays and the Nays. Also, go through the Pensieve records and see when and by whom it was used from 1990-1992. Get Graves with you. Keep it quiet. Take this,” She jabbed her wand at one of the coasters on the table, which were really just administrative tokens that she kept handy just in case she had to quickly delegate someone.

Swiping the wand towards her, she caught the token, realising the intensity, and hastily left her office.

Dumbledore dispelled the charm as she asked him, “You don’t think Sirius is innocent, do you?”

“I don’t know, Amelia. I don’t know,” Dumbledore replied, and his tone made her realise that even if he did not know about it, he had reasonable doubts about it, and that alone made her stomach drop. Only open and shut nutcases like Bellatrix Lestrange deserved Azkaban, if anyone even deserved to go to that place instead of dying painlessly

“There are no records whatsoever in the Archives. I was hoping the DMLE might have more accurate documents. If not…” Dumbledore’s voice trailed off, and she realised the implications immediately.

If the evidence was not there and someone had railroaded Sirius into Azkaban, then they were talking about an absolute breakdown of Justice. Taking into account Sirius’ status as the last male member of the Black Family who was alive at the end of the war meant that the Ministry had taken the Head of one of the richest and most powerful Houses and put them into Azkaban.

And now, he was dead. Killed by the Giant Killer because he did not like Azkaban and how it was used to house prisoners. 

She might have agreed with the man’s opinion about Azkaban privately, but his heavy handed actions just killed a man who might have been innocent. 

“Assuming,” her throat felt dry just thinking of the injustice that had happened and at the thought of being ordered to keep quiet about it because Cornelius did not want any more scandals, “That he was innocent, what will we do about it?”

Dumbledore cracked a sardonic smile at that, “That, Dear Amelia, depends on the answer I receive, probably in the form of a letter.”

What?

Her confusion must have been evident on her face as Dumbledore took out a letter from his jacket and passed it to her after a moment of deliberation.

Taking it carefully, she noted that it was written using a pen, an absolute muggle marvel that the Ministry hadn’t come around to using yet.

Reading through the letter, she looked at Dumbledore disbelievingly, before going through the letter two more times, until she was finally convinced that this was not reality and not a nightmare her mind had conjured to torture her.

Still, while the political ramifications and the work that was cut out for her did make her head hurt, the fact that Sirius was seemingly alive relieved her. It also made sure that she will fight to the very end to make sure Sirius received his trial.

The fact that Peter Pettigrew, the actual traitor, was still alive made her vindictive side rejoice, as it allowed her to nab the true guilty figure.

“If we pull this off,” She started, looking at Dumbledore, who folded the letter carefully before putting it back in his jacket, “We might just avoid destroying the public’s trust in the Ministry's justice system.”

“That is what I am hoping for, yes.”

She remained silent for a moment, mentally going through the protocols she would have to follow and the protocols she would have to break to get this trial done, as the door to her office was opened, revealing her Secretary, standing there with an awkward expression on her face, holding only a single file.

“Madam Bones, t-this, um–”

“Just give me the file,” She remarked tiredly, as she went through the file and saw the same thing.

Nothing.

There was no record of anything that was used during Sirius’ trial. It was as if it had never happened at all.

Which was looking increasingly true.