What If Story - Harry Potter and Sirius?
**** Author's Note: This is a what if story dealing with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. What if Fudge told Snape to shut up and listened to what Harry had to say and decided to give Sirius the truth serum and see if Harry was telling him the truth about Sirius's innocence and that Peter Pettigrew was alive and was the guilty one? Part of the story is from the third book Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, I claim no rights to it. All characters belong to the wonderful J.K. Rowling for writing these characters and the stories. Oh by the way, this is a What If story, the characters will be somewhat out of character like the Minister listening to Harry for one when he really didn't listen to him at all in the book. Please read and review? Thank you. ****
What if Harry Potter convinced the Minister of Magice of Sirius's Innocence?
"WHAT?"
Harry jumped up out of bed; Hermione had done the same. But his shout had been heard in the corridor outside; next second, Cornelius Fudge and Snape had entered the ward.
"Harry, Harry, what's this?" said Fudge, looking agitated. "You should be in bed --- has he had any chocolate?" he asked Madame Pomfrey anxiously.
"Minister, listen!" Harry said. "Sirius Black's innocent! Peter Pettigrew faked his own death! We saw him tonight! You can't have the dementors do that thing to Sirius, he's ---"
But Fudge was shaking his head with a small smile on his face.
"Harry, Harry, you're very confused, you've been though a dreadful ordeal, lie back down, now, we've got everything under control....."
"YOU HAVEN'T! Harry yelled. "YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG MAN!"
"Minister, listen, please," Hermione said; she had hurried to Harry's side and was gazing imploringly into Fudge's face. "I saw him too. It was Ron's rat, he's an Animagus, Pettigrew, I mean, and --"
"You see, Minister?" said Snape. "Confunded, both of them...."
"Snape, shut up. Alright Harry, give me your wand. If you were under the confunded spell, the wands will reveal the last spell your wands have casted. If there is no confunded spell done, I'll listen to your plea for Sirius's life." Fudge said, calmly, holding his hand out towards Harry.
Harry hurried to his bed grabbing his, Ron's and Hermione's wands and handed them over to Fudge. Fudge held his own wand in his hand and took Harry's wand. "Priori Incantatem."
A huge Patronus of a stag appeared out of Harry's wand.
"Very interesting Patronus, you got there Harry." Fudge said, with a smile, as he handed Harry his wand back. He took Hermione's wand and did the same spell on it as he did to Harry's. Chains appeared out of her wand. "Interesting." Ron's wand revealed bandages. "There was no confunded spell at all, casted with these wands. Alright, Harry, I'm listening to your plea for Sirius's life."
Harry's heart leapt into the air with joy. "Please sir, give the Veritaserum to Sirius. He cannot tell lies once that serum is in his stomach. Question Sirius about the deaths of those muggles thirteen years ago."
"Alright. Let's go to the room where he's at and see what he has to say. Snape, bring the Veritaserum to the room as we will see if Sirius Black will lie under the Truth Serum or not." Fudge turned to Harry. "I will not let him go if he tells us that he did kill those people, Harry. I will have the Dementors' kiss him immediately."
"I know sir. He will not lie to you, not my Godfather." said Harry, as they entered the room where Sirius was at.
"Mr. Black, I'm Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic. I am prodded by the words of Harry Potter to give you a chance at life if you tell me the truth about the murders that happened thirteen years ago."
"I know what you'll say I'm lying about that!" snapped Sirius.
"Oh, but you will be under the truth serum. Harry wants you under the Truth Serum so we can know the real facts about that day and maybe two things will happen. I either end up freeing a man from years of being a prisioner of Azkaban or letting the Dementors' kiss you and thus ending your life on this planet." said Fudge, not minding the angry burst from Sirius.
Snape entered the room with a cup. "Here's the Veritaserum, Minister."
"Good. Now, Black drink it." said Fudge, as he handed the cup to Sirius who dranked it down. "What is your name?"
"Sirius Black."
"Are you the Potter's Secret Keeper?" asked Fudge.
"I was their first of two Secret Keepers. The day before they were murdered by Lord Voldemort, I begged them to switch to Peter Pettigrew, who was one of their best friends from school. They agreed and so it was done."
Fudge looked shocked as did Snape. "What happened that night of their deaths?"
"I told Peter I'll be by to visit him later that night. When I did, he was gone and I feared the worst as I flew my motorbike to their home and found it in ruins. Hagrid was there with baby Harry. I begged Hagrid to let me have Harry as he's now my responsiblity, but Hagrid had his orders from Dumbledore to give Harry to his uncle and aunt to raise. I then gave him my bike and went off sniffing the ruins for any sign that Peter was there and there was signs of him being there. Him and Lord Voldemort. Both of them were in the house when it blew."
"You're lying!!" snapped Snape, angrily. "You couldn't tell who was in the house when it had blown up!"
"I am not lying. My nose told me." said Sirius, calmly.
"Are you an Animagus, Sirius?" asked Fudge. He was curious about it as he wrote it all down on the parchment he had with him.
"Yes, I am. Illegally of course." said Sirius.
"Take your animal form for me?" asked Fudge. Sirius nodded and shifted into his dog form and came out of it. Fudge wrote something down. "Tell me about Peter Pettigrew and the day that those people were murdered by you."
"They were not killed by me but by Peter Pettigrew. I didn't even have my wand in my hand when I confronted Peter about killing our best friends Lily and James Potter. I had realized that Peter had betrayed his own friends to Lord Voldemort."
"Then, what happened?" asked Fudge, writing everything down.
"I was on my ass after he knocked me down screaming at me for killing Lily and James when it was him who had done the betrayal of their location and gave it to Lord Voldemort. The next thing I knew I was being cuffed by the ministries police and I looked around to see if Peter was around but he was gone but for his finger and about thirteen muggles on the ground dead. I laughed my head off as I realized that the little rat had chopped his finger off to escape my fury."
"Was Peter Pettigrew an Animagus too?" asked Snape, he suddenly started to realize what Hermione and Harry were saying in the tunnel. Maybe Sirius was innocent.
"Yes, he was. He could turn into a light grey rat. The only thing that would mark him as Peter now is his front paw where he had cut his finger off." said Sirius.
Harry looked at Fudge. "Is this enough to let him go free?"
"I wish there was but we need to have Peter Pettigrew here to state his side of the story with the Veritaserum in his stomach. But he's not here." said Fudge, looking sadly at Harry. "I'm sorry but Sirius will have to return to Azkaban."
"NO!!" cried Harry and Hermione at the same time.
The door was pushed open by McGonagall holding a light gray rat in her hand. "I'm sorry to disturb you Minister but this rat was just brought to me by a yellow cat that belongs to miss Hermione Granger."
"Peter Pettigrew!!" snapped Sirius, as he lunged towards the rat in McGonagall's hand and yanked him right out. His mouth was smiling big as he looked at the rat.
Peter was so scared of being killed by Sirius that he shifted right into his human form to the shock of both the Minister and McGonagall. "Please save me from him!! He'll kill me!!" he cried.
"Not if I have anything to do with it!" snapped McGonagall, glaring angerily at Peter after he was seated and McGonagall casted a spell which prevented Pettigrew from transforming into a rat to get away from them. "You betrayed your best friends for what? Power? Money? Fame? Having a real dear friend? Peter, you had friends in James and Lily Potter! How could you let them die?"
Peter didn't say a thing until Fudge handed him a cup which Sirius had dranked from. "Yeah, they were my friends but he stole her from me!! He stole the one girl who I loved!"
"Who stole your girl from you?" growled Sirius.
"Lily. I loved her and told her that but she told me she loved James more than me and would be marrying him the next day which she did." Peter said, sadly. "So I made a bargain with Lord Voldemort, to get the girl of my heart back to me. I told him where to find them at. He was going to only kill James and Harry leaving me with Lily. I would come in like a hero and rescue Lily when I heard her screaming at Lord Voldemort not to kill Harry to kill her instead. He killed her and broke my heart. I went mad and fled from the house. In my mad state, I made a stupid mistake, I blamed Sirius for Lily and James's death and made sure that he'll get punished too. I cut my finger off and cursed thirteen muggles to die, then I fled from sight. I went and lived with the Weasley's since I knew that Arthur Weasley worked for the Ministry. He would know when the dark lord came back or not. I stayed with them being their family pet rat Scabbers for years till I heard that Sirius had escaped Azkaban and was free. I was so terrified, I started to lose my hair."
"Why, Peter, did you let a friend go to Azkaban?" asked Fudge, his voice was angry.
"Because he let James take Lily from me! Plus I was jealous of him. Having all the girls while I got none." said Peter.
"I have to state this, Snape, go get the Dementors. The Ministry will right the wrong done on Sirius Black right now. Sirius Black, I hereby find you innocent of the charges of murder and you are now free to go. I'll notify the Muggle Ministry about you been proven innocent of the murder charges. *turns from Sirius to Peter* Peter Pettigrew, I hereby find you guilty of murder and I order the Dementors' Kiss to be applied on you immediately." said Fudge, as Harry hugged Sirius as he cried happy tears for once.
Harry didn't want to stay in the room to see the Dementors kiss Peter but he did. Harry thought of the most happiest moment of his life as he watched the Dementors' kiss Peter and left him a mindless husk of a man. It was soon after that that Peter Pettigrew's heart stopped and he formally died.
Hermione asked, "What about Buckbeak? He's innocent of attacking Draco."
"Oh, yes, MacNair revealed that Buckbeak couldn't have done what he did as he had handled the beast personally when he was transferring the Griffs to Hogwarts. He said that the only time a griff would attack anyone is if that person insulted them. I believed him and told Hagrid that the claim of violence done by this griff is dropped and the excution order dropped after we got Draco Malfoy to confess that his arm wasn't as seriously hurt as he claimed it to be. MacNair ordered him to confess to the truth about what happened to that day and Draco Malfoy crumbled under MacNair's gaze and admitted that he was just wanting to make Hagrid's job as teacher of Care of Magical Creatures class his roughest and make sure that any 'supposedly' dangerous creatures would harm someone in the class and he knew he could easily fake being injured even though his injuries could easily be healed. Draco Malfoy has been suspended from school for three weeks and he is to get zeros in all the class exams and homework assignements he'll miss." said Mr. Fudge, smiling big.
McGonagall turned to Sirius. "For some strange reasons, I had my doubts about you being guilty, Sirius."
"Good, sweetie. I need to now find myself a job, a house for two and get my life on track again."
"Um, Sirius, the house will be handled by the Ministry and I expect to see you registering yourself as an Animagus in the morning." spoke Fudge. He turned to leave the room but stopped and looked at Sirius. "Why a house for two, Sirius?"
"For me and my godson to live in. Harry's going to live with me." said Sirius. "I'm going to go into Hogsmeade and get myself spiffied up. Then, he and I are going to go to his muggle family and getting the rest of his stuff, so he can live with me in my home."
Fudge smiled and said, "Then, sleep here tonight and in the morning you can deal with your godson's muggle family problem."
Harry and Sirius headed back to the hospital wing together since Madame Pomfrey wanted to check Sirius out as he looked overly exhausted. They walked in to see Ron sitting up in bed chewing on some chocolate.
"What's he doing here?!" snapped Ron, pointing towards Sirius.
"Oh, he's innocent of all charges now, Ron. He had the truth serum given to him and he revealed the full truth about what happened. I'm going to be living with him, come the summer holiday." said Harry, as Sirius laid in the next bed next to Harry.
Two days later, after a whirlwind of store visits thankfully helped by Hermione and Ron, Sirius walked out of the last one which was the hairstylist and with his face and hair alot cleaner than his face and hair looked three days earlier. Since Sirius could Apparate, he and Harry Apparated to the Dursley's home.
Harry smirked as he opened the door. Vernon was home having lunch in the kitchen.
"Petunia?" asked Vernon, as he stood up from the table to enter the hallway. His face went from happy to mad all within a few seconds. "You! Get out of here, boy! You are no longer welcomed to live here!!"
"Good, cause this is my Godfather Sirius Black. You remember the supposedly convicted murderer that was on the telly a few months back? Well, this is him but now innocent of all charges. I'm here just to tell you that you are no longer my guardian as Sirius is now my official guardian from this day forward." said Harry, with anger in his eyes as he looked at Vernon.
Vernon looked at Sirius Black and backed away from them. "If he is your new guardian, then you don't need to live here anymore. Get out of here then, you stinkin' wizard!"
An angry growl was heard as Sirius glared murderously at Vernon. "No one calls my godson a stinkin' wizard without paying for it!!" Vernon wetted himself as he backed away from them and then scurried out of the room to where they heard the backdoor swing open and then slam shut. Sirius broke out into a loud evil sounding cackle. He turned to Harry and asked, "Want to go home, Harry?"
"Sure, Sirius. This been quite interesting day. A very interesting school year. I thought you were the one who betrayed my mum and dad." said Harry, as he took hold of Sirius's hand.
"I would have died before I betrayed them." said Sirius. "James was like a brother to me. He was my best friend and I would never betray him to Lord Voldemort for anything."
"I know. Come on, we got to get back to the house as the furniture folks are going to be there soon." said Harry, looking at him.
"Okay, Harry. I'm going to have to teach you how to Apparate." smiled Sirius.
"Illegally? Or legal?" asked Harry.
The laughter that came from Sirius was broken off by them vanishing from sight. Harry and Sirius appeared in front of their home and watched as the truck appeared carrying their newly bought furnishing for their home.
"Hi Hermione, what brings you here?" asked Sirius, seeing her walking up the walkway.
"Well, I made this this morning and since you got a new home I think this might be perfect for you two." said Hermione, as she handed the wrapped present to Sirius.
He looked at the wrapping and pulled it off to find a photo of him and Harry right after they had gotten Sirius cleaned up from his years of looking so dirty. "Hermione, thank you for this present."
"Well, Ron has one for you too." said Hermione, blushing gently.
Ron came rushing up the path breathing hard. "Sorry, I'm alittle late. I had to get away from Snape. Here's my present. Hope you like it."
Sirius unwrapped it to reveal a sign 'Home, Sweet, Home'. "Ron, did you make this?" asked Sirius, as he passed it over to Harry to look at it.
"Um, yeah, I did. You, like?" asked Ron, his ears turning red.
"Yes, I do. But I got you something when I was in town earlier today. Hope you approve of it?" asked Sirius, as he made a covered cage appeared before Ron.
Ron carefully lifted the cover off the cage to find a small minute owl sitting on the perch. "He's an owl!"
"I am the reason why you don't have a rat now, Ron. Is that a suitable replacement?" asked Sirius, looking at him as Ron pulled the little owl out of the cage and held him up so he could have a better look at him.
"Yeah, this is perfect. I love the little owl. Thanks Sirius." said Ron, beaming big as he looked at Sirius.
"Good, now I need to hang this up somewhere." said Sirius, as they entered the house and looked at the wall that was bare of any photos. Sirius looked at one spot near the front door and hung the sign up there and then took the photo of Sirius and Harry up next to it. He turned to Harry who smiled a very happy smile.
"Hey Harry, we gotta get back to school! We're late for class!!" yelled Hermione, as they all raced down the street towards school.
Sirius smiled as he watched them race down the street towards school with the little owl flying behind Ron.
