Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Meddling with Darkness	By : zoy_grey Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 32786 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 11
Disclaimer: I do not own nor make profit off of JK Rowling's world of Harry Potter, the characters or the timeline. Though I do own the plot that I came up with in this story.

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
A/N: Hello again! I'm sorry this took me a bit longer than I've planned, but I had a minor writer's block this week ^^' Anywya, here is the next chapter. Hope you'll like it and please look forward to the next update ;)

Chapter 15

The next morning Harry woke up feeling cold sweat rolling down his forehead and spine. He had an awful nightmare. It wasn’t one of those Voldemort dreams he used to have years ago; this time it was about Sirius. In that dream he was standing in the main hall of the Ministry of Magic. The place was crowded by thousands of witches and wizards who silently watched the scene before them. In the centre, by the fountain, stood Black with his hands cuffed and looking completely defeated. Harry tried to walk over to his dad and free him or at least find out what was going on, but in that moment a dementor blocked his way and leaned over Sirius to kill him.

Needless to say, the teen was absolutely shaken by the nightmare and he couldn’t go back to sleep. He sat in the dormitory trying to calm down his nerves. He just couldn’t help the bad feeling he had ever since he left London; the way Sirius talked with him at the train station haunted the teen and gave him bad feelings.

Harry looked around the room and noticed he was the only person awake at the moment, which worked in his favour, since he wouldn’t have to explain to anyone why was he sneaking out of the Gryffindor Tower so early in the morning. He cast a Tempus charm to find out it was five thirty in the morning, so he still had almost an hour before his meeting with Draco. He quietly got out of bed, packed his enchanted notebook, that allowed him to communicate with his blonde cousin, to his bag and headed to the bathroom. Since it was still very early he could enjoy a long calming shower. That peaceful morning didn’t last very long, unfortunately.

“Harry, where have you been? We were so worried,” reprimanded him Hermione as soon as he entered Gryffindor Common room.

“What are you doing up so early?” the black haired teen replied with a question.

“The question is, what are you doing up this early, mate?” said Ron yawning and stretching on the sofa. “I woke up just before six and you weren’t there.”

“I couldn’t sleep,” told them Harry. Technically speaking he wasn’t lying to them, he simply decided not to tell them the main reason to get up was to meet with Draco. The teen could clearly see his friends made it their point of honour to keep him away from the blonde Slytherin.

“You had a nightmare?” asked Hermione. Harry had the feeling she expected him to have a bad dream about Voldemort, but he really didn’t have dreams like that in a long time.

“Yes…I guess so. I’m worried about Padfoot,” the teen explained. “I don’t know…he wasn’t in a very good state when we were leaving yesterday and…tonight I had this dream that…that he received a dementor’s kiss.”

“Mate, that’s just a bad dream. You’re worried about him, that’s all,” Ron reasoned, but it still didn’t calm Harry’s nerves.

After about twenty minutes it became clear to Harry that his friends wouldn’t allow him to wander anywhere without them; least of all to a meeting with Malfoy. The teen quickly wrote a message to his cousin in the notebook that he won’t make it to the Clock Tower. Draco however wrote him it’s alright and that they can meet in the evening in the dungeons, when Hermione and Ron start their Prefect rounds around the castle.

Finally after an hour, most of the students were up and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry was grateful, because he was getting tired of smiling and making up excuses to his friends, when all he wanted to do was to go talk with his cousin; he wanted Draco to calm down his nerves, just like he always did this last year.

As soon as the three of them entered the Great Hall, Harry’s eyes searched the chamber for the blond teen; Draco was at his table with other Slytherins, acting superior as always. It actually made Harry feel a little better when he realised that he was one of the very few people who actually saw Draco’s good and loving side. As he followed Hermione and Ron to the Gryffindor table, his gaze wandered towards the teachers’ table and his eyes shortly met with the pitch black eyes of the potions master. The teen quickly looked in a different direction, not feeling ready to face the reality that Severus Snape was his father. He remembered he promised Sirius to give the other man a chance, but he just needed more time to get past all those years of being mistreated by the Head of Slytherin House. Even though he just peeked at the teachers’ table he couldn’t help but notice that Dumbledore was staring at him and Severus had something unusual written all over his face; it wasn’t the usual stern look; the potions master looked almost concerned about something.

The teen quickly brushed it off and joined his housemates by the table. Seeing how Ron started devouring everything in his reach, with a big smile on his face, Harry’s mood brightened up a bit. He thought he might as well fill his own stomach with some food and maybe later he’d send Hedwig with a message to Sirius; that way he’d put a rest to his absurd worries.

Only moments later, the Great Hall was entered by hundreds of owls with the morning mail. There wouldn’t be anything suspicious about it accept for the fact that it seemed every single student in the school received the newest Daily Prophet. Harry focused on his breakfast, deciding he could read the news later. Ever since this summer and Mrs Figg started stealing his Daily Prophet, he didn’t seem all too interested in the newspapers.

“Merlin’s bollocks! They’ve caught him!” excited Seamus started shouting all of a sudden and pointing at the paper. The same reaction could be heard from all the other tables and quickly the entire Great Hall became extremely noisy. “They’ve caught him at last!”

“What are you talking about, Seamus? Your shouting will give me indigestion,” said Ginny a bit annoyed. She was sitting between Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas; the later one seemed to have taken a liking in Ron’s sister lately.

“Black! They’ve caught Sirius Black!” explained Seamus proudly.

If Harry felt bad earlier this morning, now he felt absolutely sick. His nightmares became true and Sirius was in great danger. Million thoughts ran through his mind at the moment – most of the wizarding world thought he didn’t know the truth about Sirius officially being his godfather; then again, most of the witches and wizards didn’t know that in reality Black was his father and not godfather. Harry knew he should pretend to be relieved about the fact that the wanted criminal, who officially wanted to kill him, was captured, but the teen just couldn’t stop his emotions; he wanted to go to the Ministry right away and tell them the truth.

“Harry? You ok?” asked gently Hermione, who seemed as shocked about the news as the Weasleys.

“Yes, I’m fine…just surprised,” muttered Harry and grabbed his newspaper to go through the headlines. To his biggest surprise he saw an old photograph of Sirius from when he was taken to Azkaban, but there was also a photo of Wormtail; this gave the teen a little bit of hope that maybe his dad would regain his freedom. “Pettigrew?”

“Who’s Pettigrew?” asked Dean looking at his housemates curiously. He didn’t know much about the case; only that Sirius Black was a wanted criminal who tried to kill Harry.

“He was a school friend of Harry’s parents,” explained Ginny. “Black was said to have killed him after the Dark Lord’s downfall.”

“But he’s alive,” said Harry, pretending to be shocked.

He couldn’t help the feeling that someone was watching him, so he looked around the chamber, but at least half of the school was casting glances his way. When his gaze finally landed at the teachers’ table again, his eyes met the stare of Albus Dumbledore. The older wizard was giving him an intense look, not even blinking. Harry got the feeling he shouldn’t be staring back at the headmaster, but for some reason he couldn’t stop doing that. The teen started to panic again – the fear for his father came back and all he could think of was that he couldn’t lose his family again; yet at the same time he was stressing out that Dumbledore would use Legilimancy and find out all of his secrets. Thankfully, Severus saw what was going on and he quickly stepped in. The potions master walked over to Albus, blocking the headmaster’s view of the boy.

After the events during breakfast Harry couldn’t focus on anything for the rest of the day. He didn’t pay attention during classes; he didn’t even pay attention to what his friends and housemates were saying to him. All he wanted was to go back to London and see Sirius.

When the evening came and Hermione had to leave the Tower with Ron for their Prefect rounds, they were very hesitant to do so. They worried about Harry’s condition, but in the end they had to do their duties. Harry, however, took the chance to sneak out of the Gryffindor Tower to find his cousin.

He wrapped himself with the Invisibility Cloak and headed down to the dungeons; he knew he’d find Draco there and he wasn’t mistaken. He quickly found the blond walking down the corridors at the lower levels of the castle, accompanied by Pansy Parkinson. The girl was obviously attracted to Draco and acted awfully clingy; too clingy for Harry’s liking, but he quickly brushed that thought off, reasoning that he was just in a bad mood today. The black haired teen waited for the blond to look in his direction and only then, he pushed the door to one of the empty classrooms open. Even though Malfoy couldn’t see his cousin, he knew it was him; after all, the doors didn’t just open by themselves.

“Pansy,” started Draco. “I need you to do something.”

“Anything Draco,” the girl said staring at him with a wide smile on her face.

“You remember our plans for this year, right?” the boy waited for her to nod. “I need to check something, but I can’t do it with Weasley and Granger interfering. That’s why I want you to find them and pretend you ran into them accidentally. Then I need you to buy me some time. Distract them for as long as you can and keep them away from their common room. Can you do that?”

“Can I do that?” asked the girl indignant and walked away smirking at her friend. “I’m a Slytherin, Draco. Of course I can do it.”

When Pansy vanished from sight, Malfoy walked into the old classroom and locked it behind him. He cast privacy wards on the room and searched for his cousin. He saw the black haired teen sitting on the floor in the corner of the room. Draco immediately felt the need to hug him when he saw the distraught look on the boy’s face.

“I don’t know what to do, Draco,” said the teen as soon as his cousin sat by his side and wrapped one arm around him. “I’m just so scared that he won’t make it. I can’t lose him…I just can’t. When we left London he said goodbye to me…he acted oddly, but I never expected he’d do something like this. Draco…why did he do that?”

“Orion listen,” the blond took a deep breath and continued. “I know this is difficult and dangerous, but no one ever said it’s going to be easy. Your father is just going with the plan. For your dad to be declared innocent, Pettigrew’s presence is necessary and as far as I know…that pathetic excuse for a wizard would never go anywhere near the Ministry unless the Dark Lord told him to do so.”

“You’re saying that it was Voldemort who sent Wormtail there, because he knew my dad would be there?”

“Yes, I think so,” admitted the blond. “Now the dangerous game begins. We need to be very careful to play our roles properly…and we need to trust one another.”

“I trust you, but I can’t do anything about Hermione and the Weasleys. They blindly trust Dumbledore.”

“That’s why you have me, your other father and the rest of the Slytherins,” Draco laughed at the suspicious look his cousin gave him. “It’s true. I know my housemates were never very pleasant to you, but the Dark Lord gave me a mission. I’m going to protect you and so will my housemates…or at least they are supposed to follow my orders. However with time they will come to their senses and will show you respect. After all, you’re the heir of the Black family.”

It has been almost three days since Sirius was captured by the aurors. Just as he expected he was treated like a criminal and even Tonks had to pretend he was one. Right after he was caught, he was taken to the Ministry and locked up in a cell in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He didn’t get much information on the situation, but the fact that he was still alive gave him hope. The only piece of information he overheard from some aurors’ conversation was that the wizarding world was in an uproar that Peter Pettigrew was alive and that Fudge ordered to keep the plump wizard for the upcoming trial.

Nonetheless, the lack of any other information and isolation in his cell caused Sirius to start questioning his choices again – maybe it was all a trap? Maybe Regulus and Voldemort planned him to go to Azkaban again to pay for his distrust in the family all those years ago? He even thought that he might be actually deserving such a fate; the only painful thoughts were that he would lose his son forever this time, and Severus as well.

“Good morning, Mr Black,” said a young, handsome wizard, who just entered his cell. From the first glance Sirius could tell the man was a pureblood, but he didn’t quite recognize him. He had short black hair and blue eyes; was dressed elegant and even his posture gave of the feeling of superiority.

“Definitely not such a good day for me,” answered Black and sat straight, although he didn’t move from his seat.

“I dare to disagree, Mr Black. My name is Dorian Witham and I’m your solicitor.”

“I see Fudge is trying to keep up appearances….even giving me someone to represent me,” said sarcastically Sirius.

“I’m not acting on the Ministry’s behalf. I was hired by Mr and Mrs Malfoy. Mrs Malfoy was very clear about not allowing the head of the Black family to be declared a criminal,” smirked the younger wizard seeing a sign of hope showing on Sirius’ face.

“Sweet Cissy,” laughed Black.

“Now that we have the introductions behind us let’s get to work. I went through the evidence material here at the Ministry…anything that could help me prove you to be innocent, but honestly speaking…last time you were sent to Azkaban not based on solid evidence but because the public opinion wanted to see the story that way. However this lack of evidence might actually help us. I also have the reports from the Malfoy family on how your relations were during the last war. Those reports also mention a certain child,” the solicitor paused for a moment to see Sirius’ reaction. As he expected, the older wizard was coming back to life at the prospect of all the secrets to be brought out to light. “I see your will to fight is back, Mr Black.”

“Yes, of course it’s back. I’ll give you all the information you need as long as it brings me back my family,” Sirius stood up and walked over to the table in the centre of the cell. The younger man did the same; took out his notebook and sat comfortably prepared to take notes.

“Alright then, let us begin. I was warned it might be a long story, but I’m going to spend here as much time as needed to get all the details, all the information I can use to make you a free wizard again…and regain custody over a certain boy,” Dorian smiled knowingly at the other wizard and continued. “But first, we should focus on the part concerning Peter Pettigrew. We need to prove he was the one, who betrayed the Potters and served the Dark Lord.”

Severus was sitting in the smaller drawing room in Voldemort’s castle. He wasn’t summoned, but according to his previous arrangements with the dark wizard, he was supposed to deliver the pregnancy potion as soon as it’s prepared; and so it was. The potions master observed the small bottle in his hands and couldn’t stop memories coming back. The last time he saw such a bottle with this particular potion was when he slipped a few drops of it into Sirius’ tea one wonderful October evening sixteen years ago.

Severus angrily squeezed the potion in his hands, but not strongly enough to break the bottle. Recently he felt helpless and angry all the time. It was already mid-September and there were no news of his husband getting free. He tried asking Dumbledore about it, but the wizard said there wasn’t much they could do – Sirius acted rashly and it would ruin the entire plan if anyone from the Order tried to defend him. The potions master knew it would be even stranger if he tried to help his husband, especially since almost no one knew about their marriage, but he recently realised he still had strong feelings for Black. It pained him to think that his husband was imprisoned at the Ministry and might be sentenced to death, as well as it hurt him to see his son every day looking more and more depressed about the situation.

“Severus,” hissed the Dark Lord entering the room. As usual, he was accompanied by the mysterious Death Eater, whom no one really knew. After his discovery at Grimmauld Place, the potions master had a very good idea of who this loyal Death Eater might be, but he decided to keep silent about it for the time being. “I assume your visit here is connected with a certain potion I’ve requested from you.”

“Yes my Lord,” answered the black haired wizard and handed the bottle to Voldemort. He couldn’t help but notice the masked wizard was watching the little bottle closely. “There is just one more thing I need to inform you about, my Lord. Judging by the body mass,” he eyed the silent Death Eater. “I suppose ten drops of this potion will be enough.”

Voldemort didn’t miss the look Severus gave the other man and for a moment he was trying to quickly calculate the situation. Moments later, the dark wizard slipped into the potions master’s mind with ease; Severus was expecting that and didn’t even try to hide his thoughts. Immediately Voldemort found the memory of Severus and Sirius standing in front of the Black family tree tapestry and a knowing smirk formed on the Dark Lord’s lips.

“I see,” was all Voldemort said to the potions master. There wasn’t any need to say anything else; it was clear Severus didn’t have any intention to reveal this secret to anyone else and the Dark Lord was fine with it. “I’ll trust your experience with this particular liquid then.”

“My lord there is something you should know. Dumbledore is starting to lose his grip on the situation. He’s trying the most ridiculous ideas,” said Severus.

“Such as?”

“He wants me to go to Durmstrang and convince Karkaroff and other wizards from that part of Europe to join the Order,” explained the potions master.

“He wants to reveal the truth about you being a double agent to one of the most traitorous and cowardly wizards in Durmstrang?” asked the Dark Lord after a fit of uncontrollable laughter. “A drowning man will clutch at a straw indeed. Karkaroff is a coward, but a dangerous coward. Dumbledore is just trying to get you out of here while the Ministry continues with Sirius’ trial. However we need to make the old fool believe he has control of the situation…go to Durmstrang. Act neutral, but make suggestions, especially to the old pureblood families, that it would be beneficial for them to support my cause in the future. As for Karkaroff…play along with Albus’ plan. Igor will either flee or he’ll come to me and try to undermine my trust in you.”

“As you wish, my lord,” Severus bowed and was about to leave, but he hesitated for a moment. “My lord…forgive me asking, but…what about Sirius and Wormtail?”

“He already has the best solicitor,” smirked Voldemort and stepped closer to the masked Death Eater. In that moment Severus felt slightly better; after all, the Dark Lord wouldn’t let Regulus’ brother die. “The trial with Wormtail will start next week from what we know.”

“Thank you, my lord.”

The day Sirius both anticipated and dreaded has finally come. After two weeks of being locked in a cell, guarded by a dozen of aurors and not allowed to see anyone other than his solicitor, the day of Black’s trial has come. He knew he was lucky to even have a trial; something he was denied last time. However he couldn’t stop worrying what would happen to his son if the trial went wrong. Dorian calmed him down yesterday evening, when they last saw each other, that they were prepared for whatever might happen. To be honest, Sirius had to admit, he has never told anyone so many details about his life as he told Witham; this alone proved that they were prepared better than anyone in the wizarding community might expect from them.

“Black!” a harsh male voice came from the door to the cell, immediately catching Sirius’ attention. “It’s your last moment in here…now get moving!”

Sirius didn’t even have strength to say anything to the ridiculous behaviour of this unknown to him auror. He simply walked out of the cell to see at least ten aurors waiting there for him. He couldn’t recognize any familiar face among them though. They pushed him towards a dark, gloomy tunnel and led him to the courtroom. When they reached the doors to the assigned room, Sirius noticed a big group of reporters waiting outside of the courtroom. Black couldn’t help but snort seeing how eager the crowd was to find out all the details about the trial.

“Feeling smug, Black?” asked a bulky looking wizard, who just passed them and headed to the room. “You won’t be so cheerful when dementors show up for you.”

Sirius decided to stay as calm as possible today. He knew he had to control his impulsive nature or the entire plan and work will go to nothing.

The moment he entered the courtroom surrounded by the aurors he felt as if he was losing air. For the first time in a long while he felt scared; really scared, because he knew how much he could lose and this trial didn’t help at all. If he thought earlier that today’s events were important for the entire wizarding community, then now he thought someone has made sure this trial would be a bloody spectacle for people’s entertainment – not only did they choose the biggest chamber in the Ministry, there was entire Wizengamot, Hit Wizards, a selected group of reporters were also allowed inside the room; Sirius even recognized a few Unspeakables from the Department of Mysteries. It wouldn’t be too much to say that a trial like this was unheard of.

“Let us begin with this trial,” announced Cornelius Fudge and gestured for the aurors to bring Black to the centre, where a seat was waiting for him. When Sirius was finally seated, his arms and legs chained to the chair, the Minister continued. “Today we have gathered to hear and judge Sirius Black, Azkaban escapee. Sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban for being a Death Eater, revealing the hiding place of the Potters, which led to their death and murdering Peter Pettigrew as well as a group of Muggles. Due to the fact that Mr Witham, Sirius Black’s spokesman, applied to the Ministry for a trial, which Black was denied during last war, the Wizengamot has gathered to investigate the matter.”

“Thank you Minister and Madame Bones for allowing Mr Black the chance to defend himself and prove that he was wrongly accused of crimes he did not commit,” Dorian Witham, even though in his late twenties, made astonishing impression in front of Wizengamot; the man was simply in his element when facing judges. “I trust the honourable assembly has read the evidence and reports I have provided before this trial.”

“Yes we have, Mr Witham,” answered Amelia Bones. “Now we will proceed with questioning the defendant.”

“According to the testimonies we’ve received you do not admit to have committed the accused crimes,” started Fudge and Sirius confirmed. “Taking into consideration the circumstances in which you were captured at the beginning of this month, as well as the reports I have here, I believe you attempted to catch Mr Pettigrew and hand him over to the Ministry. The fact that Mr Pettigrew is alive was a shock for everyone, but what was the reason for your actions?”

“The crimes I was accused of were not committed by me. Those were in fact crimes of Peter Pettigrew. He framed me and even pretended to be dead, but I knew he wasn’t dead. He escaped laughing in my face. I was able to prove it, but no one wanted to listen to me. Instead I was locked in Azkaban and I waited for the opportunity to prove that I’m innocent,” explained Sirius, barely containing his growing anger. “Finally two years ago I was able to track down that traitor. He was in his Animagus rat form, hiding for all those years. I knew no one would believe me again, so I had to act on my own. I escaped Azkaban and followed him to Hogwarts…I almost had him, but he has fled. Since then I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to bring him to justice.”

“Mr Black, that’s your word against his word,” said one of the oldest wizards in the courtroom, who didn’t seem like the friendly type.

“The Hit Wizards have confiscated my wand fourteen years ago. If I tried killing Pettigrew or those Muggles back then, it’s easy to confirm by checking the last spells I’ve cast with my wand,” reasoned Sirius.

“Indeed. The test conducted on Mr Black’s wand has proven that no harmful spell has been cast at least in months before the wand was taken to the Ministry,” answered one of the aurors. “However that doesn’t prove that Mr Black didn’t try to use some other wand or hurt Mr Pettigrew in a non-magical way.”

“Minister Fudge,” interrupted Witham. “Seeing how difficult this case is and how important it is for the Wizengamot to make the right decision, I ask for a memory test.”

“Do you agree to share your memories of the night of 31^st October 1981 with this gathering?” asked Fudge. Sirius didn’t seem convinced; he was afraid he might show them too much from that fateful night. However he saw Dorian giving him a small reassuring smile and saying that everything was under control, Sirius agreed. “Very well then. The Unspeakables are going to use a spell that will allow us to all to see your memory of what happened.”

Black was already feeling exhausted. The emotional strain and stress were taking their toll on him. He didn’t say much as the Unspeakables did their work. He simply focused on the memories connected with what happened after he has found out only Harry Potter survived in Godrick’s Hollow. He didn’t even pay much attention to the reactions of Wizengamot to what they have just seen.

“Is the memory untainted?” asked Cornelius when the vision was over. One of the Unspeakables examined something on the screen, on which the memory was playing just moments ago, and quickly nodded, confirming that the memory was real.

The trial dragged for hours and Sirius was starting to lose feeling in his arms and legs. After he showed them his memory, Witham took over and talked in his stead. Black only registered that Dorian called for many witches and wizards to testify whether Sirius could really be a Death Eater or not. As the first person to be questioned was Minerva, who talked about him from the times he was in Hogwarts. Later on came Dumbledore, whose words weren’t extremely kind for Black, but they weren’t incriminating either. The person who surprised him the most was Lucius Malfoy, who admitted he wasn’t in good relations with Sirius, but he confirmed that Black was never a Death Eater or supporter of Voldemort. However the blond confirmed that Peter Pettigrew was indeed a close follower of the Dark Lord.

After Lucius’ testimony, finally came the time to question Wormtail – something Sirius was stressing out about the most. He wasn’t sure how Peter would act and what he was going to tell the Wizengamot. As far as he knew, Wormtail could easily ruin the entire plan just by saying too much.

Another chair appeared not far from where Sirius was seated and the aurors brought Peter in front of the assembly. All of a sudden, all the reporters in the room started taking thousands of photos of the supposedly dead wizard.

“Mr Pettigrew,” started Fudge. “I assume you know why you’re here today.”

“It’s Black’s fault! He tried to kill me and now he’s trying to accuse me of something, isn’t he?!” the plump wizard started shouting nervously looking from the Minister to Madam Bones.

“You say Mr Black attempted to murder you and that’s what he was accused of, but we can all see that you’re safe and sound, Mr Pettigrew. How do you explain that?” asked a witch from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

“He’s a psychopath! He’s a murderer! I had to hide from him!” Wormtail tried to avoid answering the question. His words only aggravated Sirius’s anger.

“You lying bastard! James and Lily trusted you with their lives and you betrayed them!” Sirius couldn’t take it anymore and yelled at his former school friend.

“Mr Black calm down,” reprimanded him Fudge and looked sternly at the plump wizard. “Mr Pettigrew, if you don’t answer the questions we will be forced to use Veritaserum. The circumstances are serious, Mr Pettigrew, so please don’t take this lightly.”

Wormtail paled visibly and tried moving in his seat as if he was attempting to free himself, but with no success. When Peter was asked for answers three more times, but still avoided giving any information, Fudge gestured for the Hit Wizards to apply Veritaserum to Peter. With dread feeling Sirius observed the potion being forced down the other man’s throat; if only the Ministry asked too many questions, Wormtail would no doubt reveal the truth about things Black didn’t want others to know about; at least not yet.

“Now let’s continue. Mr Pettigrew, did Sirius Black try to kill you?”

“Yes.”

“Why did he do that?” asked Cornelius again.

“Because I’ve told the Dark Lord where the Potters were hiding,” a loud group gasp of shock was heard in the courtroom.

“Did you kill the group of Muggles to frame Mr Black?” continued the Minister and Wormtail confirmed it to be true. “Did Mr Black ever attempt to kill Harry Potter?”

“No,” wailed Peter trying to resist the potion’s effects.

“Did you support Voldemort during the war?” Fudge finally asked the question most reporters wanted to know the answer to.

“Yes…but I had to…”

“Why is that? Were you under the Imperius Curse?”

“No…but I was scared,” the wizard nearly cried. “If I supported him then he wouldn’t kill me.”

“So you admit to have joined the dark side willingly, in order to protect your life?” asked the Minister, while Sirius held his breath waiting for the answer. This testimony could lift him off charges and make him a free man again.

“…yes,” admitted quietly Wormtail.

“Mr Pettigrew...why did you reveal the hiding place of the Potters to Voldemort?”

“He wanted to know where they were. I hated James for picking Sirius and Remus as his best friends over me. I wanted him to get a lesson,” Peter explained slowly, still fighting against the potion. “I told the Dark Lord where they were hiding hoping that he’d steal their child…that would teach James a lesson.”

“Didn’t it cross your mind that Voldemort might kill the boy instead of kidnapping him? Didn’t you think he might kill James and Lily Potter?” asked one of the elderly witches indignant.

“The Dark Lord didn’t want to kill the boy…he kept saying he needs to return the boy to his family,” majority of the Wizengamot members didn’t understand what Pettigrew was saying. Obviously he went mental, because none of this last bit of information made any sense.

“But you found out that Voldemort killed the Potters and you were afraid of Mr Black’s wrath. Is that why you tried to hide from Sirius Black?” asked Cornelius.

“No,” this answer was the most surprising that day. Even the reporters stopped taking notes. The Minister asked Pettigrew to explain what he meant and what has happened that night then. “The Dark Lord went to Godric’s Hollow, but he left James unharmed. I couldn’t take it that James got out of the situation unharmed…also he knew I betrayed them and told Voldemort where they were…I couldn’t leave it like that…when the Dark Lord vanished I had to protect myself. I had to keep my secret safe.”

“Mr Pettigrew, what are you saying?” asked Cornelius baffled. “Are you trying to say you were the one who killed James Potter?”

“Yes,” Wormtail cried saying this one word. He knew this was his end; no one would be able to save him now; not after he confessed his biggest crime.

All of a sudden there was a huge commotion in the room. The Minister ordered to take both Black and Pettigrew away to their cells and the rest of the audience to leave the courtroom as well. Sirius followed the aurors unwillingly back to his cell. He was both shocked and furious, but also he felt relieved as well; he knew Voldemort didn’t kill James and Lily, but he never thought that it was Wormtail who murdered James. On the other hand he felt light, as if a heavy burden was taken off of his shoulders – with Peter’s testimony he was practically a free man already.

The Wizengamot took its time to debate over the final verdict and Black was getting restless inside his cell. He couldn’t wait to walk out of the Ministry as a free wizard again. But most of all, he already made plans on how his life will change now with his son and husband back. The time was dragging immensely, though. After nearly three hours, Sirius was brought to the courtroom once more. Dorian Witham was waiting for the outcome as well, but he was sending reassuring smiles towards Black.

“The trial of Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew has come to an end. We’ve come to a decision and announce as follows: In the light of the collected evidence and testimonies, the Wizengamot finds Mr Sirius Black not guilty of revealing the hiding place of the Potters to lord Voldemort; not guilty of murdering Mr Pettigrew and the group of twelve Muggles. Regarding Mr Peter Pettigrew, the Wizengamot finds him guilty of willingly cooperating with lord Voldemort; guilty of revealing the hiding place of the Potters and guilty of murdering James Potter. As such, we sentence Mr Pettigrew to a Dementor’s Kiss. However, due to complexity of the accusations, the Wizengamot decided to postpone further trial of Mr Sirius Black till the end of the month. Until the trial officially comes to an end Mr Black will remain imprisoned at the Ministry.”

“What?” muttered Sirius completely taken aback by the verdict. “This can’t be true.”

A group of aurors took Black by the arms and forced to go with them, back to his cell. Sirius only saw his solicitor giving him signs that he’s going to get him out of the imprisonment somehow.

“The Dark Lord will catch you Sirius! He’ll catch you and kill you and that traitorous Snivellus!” shouted Wormtail while the aurors tried to transport him to Azkaban. “You’re son is already dead, isn’t he, Sirius!?”

Pettigrew’s maniacal laughter made all the reporters and Wizengamot members confused. Sirius, however, nearly laughed at Peter’s stupidity; the plump wizard unconsciously brought up the matter Witham would discuss with the Ministry during the next trial. He also gave him an alibi, suggesting that he wasn’t supporting Voldemort.

Almost three weeks have passed since Sirius’ trial. The Daily Prophet and other newspapers were bombarding people with new information about Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and the Potters. The most annoying part was that the reporters focused on the unimportant news. Harry, however, desperately needed information about the trial. The Ministry seemed to have made it their point of honour to torture his family by dragging the trail endlessly. So far the Wizengamot has gathered already three times after they sentenced Wormtail to death, but Sirius was still held imprisoned in the Ministry.

In school, everyone was either talking behind his back about how his life was messed up, or simply walking over to him and pitying him. He was getting fed up with all of it. His friends wouldn’t let him be alone even for a moment. He hardly ever met with Draco anymore; the only times they saw each other was during classes and meals in the Great Hall. However they used the enchanted notebook almost all the time. Harry found out that the blond has divided his housemates into groups and secretly trained duelling with them. The black haired teen would give anything to be able to take part in those trainings; maybe at least that way he’d stop thinking about his dad.

The concern about his father was conflicting with his studies. He couldn’t focus on any subject, but majority of teachers knew the situation and treated him lightly. Even Mad-Eye Moody allowed him to be passive during his lessons, although it was hard to remain neutral and calm about Moody’s teaching methods; even Harry had mixed feelings about the DADA classes, especially that he knew this time it was the real Mad-Eye, and not an imposter. At one point, the black haired teen got to the conclusion that even the potions master wasn’t that cruel during his classes.

Severus Snape was another one of his biggest concerns. Harry still felt awkward even when thinking that the potions master was his father, but recently with everything that was happening to their family, the teen started feeling this awful urge to get the man’s attention and acceptance; he even tried to get better in Potions class to impress his own father.

During one of such classes Harry was paired up with Ron and they were working on some potion. The dark haired teen was paying close attention to every detail of the recipe and every word Severus has said about their task. Harry tried so hard that he scared Ron a bit at how diligent and determined he’s become to improve his brewing skills. However that day the teen has seen something that caught his attention – for mere seconds when Severus has leaned over his desk, a silver neck-chain with a ring on it hung around the man’s neck; the potions master quickly hid the object under his shirt, but Harry recognized the ring; it was a ring that looked exactly the same as Sirius’ wedding ring. At that moment he realised the man really loved Sirius and the fact that he was acting oddly lately was caused by him worrying about his husband. That realisation made him smile and for the first time he felt slightly closer to the potions master.

“Harry, watch out!” shouted Ron and pulled him under the table. “Everyone duck!”

Moments later their cauldron exploded staining the entire dungeon with sticky, glowing mucus. Harry felt embarrassed as he never had before; here he was trying to impress his father and the second he takes his eyes off of the potion, the cauldron explodes.

“Class dismissed,” they heard cold words of Severus, who only stared at the mess, but didn’t say anything else. Harry glanced at him from under the table and saw sadness in the man’s eyes. For a second, their eyes have met and the older wizard announced. “Mr Potter, you will stay and clean this.”

“I can help him,” offered Ron, not wanting to leave his friend alone with Snape. He was quickly told to tend to his other duties by the teacher so he left the chamber feeling sorry for Harry.

When they were left alone in the dungeons, the teen rolled up his sleeves and picked up what was left of his cauldron. He looked at the object that was clearly impossible to use anymore and sighed heavily; he’d have to order a new cauldron. The teen vanished the

remains of the cauldron and was about to scrub the mucus off the floor, but he was stopped by the older wizard.

“Leave it,” said Severus and cleaned the dungeon with one swift move of his wand. He then summoned one of his personal cauldrons and placed it at the boy’s desk. “You can use this one.”

“I can’t accept this,” answered the teen feeling weird at the thought of taking something from the potions master.

“I know you hate me…I don’t blame you for that, but no matter if you like it or not, you are my son and it’s a parents responsibility to provide his child with everything it needs, especially regarding its education.”

Harry didn’t argue anymore with the man; he knew the wizard was right, so he just stood there, leaning his back against the table and looking at the floor in order to avoid eye contact with Severus.

“Normally I wouldn’t do such a mess…I’m not that bad in potions,” the boy muttered when the silence became too awkward.

“I know. I never really thought you were bad in my subject,” said sincerely Severus and smiled slightly at the teen when Harry finally looked at him. It wasn’t a wide heartily smile like the ones Sirius always gave him, but this was the very first time he has seen the potions master actually smiling. The only other time he has seen something like that was on the photographs aunt Narcissa showed him.

“I never would have guessed.”

“I tend to be sarcastic to push people to their limits…to show them how much they can achieve when they try hard enough,” explained the wizard. His voice was still the same voice Harry has known for four years, but there was a tinge of affection audible this time. “Well, apart from the times when I’m just being mean to people who are insufferable idiots.”

Something about the way the man has said this last sentence made it sound very much like Draco’s remarks about other people. Realising that Severus Snape must have a good and loving side too – even if it was hidden deep inside – he couldn’t help but laugh. For the first time in weeks he forgot about all the problems he had and laughed.

“I know that you suffer right now, but Sirius is strong. He takes strength from the fact that he has you back and he won’t give up easily,” said the man when Harry stopped laughing. He even risked placing a hand on the boy’s shoulder and to his biggest surprise, but also relief, the teen didn’t protest. “He’ll come back to you…he has to. Because you both deserve a normal life after everything you’ve been through. Until he comes back you have me. I might not be a good enough replacement for Sirius, but you can come to me with every little thing that bothers you.”

“Thank you…professor,” he couldn’t utter the word father – not yet – but they both felt that today a big gap between them has become a tiny bit smaller.
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Meddling with Darkness