Wizard with a Mutation : Chapter 33 : Flashback No Jutsu! I

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don’t mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP. 

Diagon Alley, Magical Britain [2nd November, 1980]

–Albus Dumbledore–

He looked up and smiled in an effort to encourage young Sirius from breaking down in front of the whole Diagon Alley. “Ready?”

Sirius Black, now Lord Black since he was the only surviving male from the main line of the once prestigious and large Black Family, was in the process of encouraging himself, dressed in the finest suit money could buy and yet, looking completely depressed and haggard from the events of the past two days.

It was always a disturbing event for him, even in all of his old age, to witness someone so full of life and wonder turn into someone who jumped at shadows and was half suicidal. Oh, yes, he was quite aware of what went into the mind of Sirius when he was alone or when he was staring at the fireplace for a bit too long.

The only thing that was keeping Mr.Black in the land of the living was Harry, the last living remnant of his best friends. The Marauders, a once (in)famous trio who were the life of Hogwarts for all seven years, now reduced to a single living member.

His eyes hardened as he remembered Peter, and what he had done, how he had almost doomed Magical Britain out of fear and greed. As far as he was concerned, Peter was dead and the Marauders now only had Sirirus as its sole living member. 

It came as a shock to him when he first learned of Sirius’ actions and how he had been arrested. The moment Minvera informed him about Sirius’ arrest, he had lept to action and rushed to the Ministry.

–Flashback–

Dozens of things flashed through his mind as he all but ran out of the Floo, exiting the station, disregarding any employee in his way as he marched to the DMLE. The news of Sirius’ arrest was something that he had been both waiting and dreading for in equal measure.

He knew that Sirius was the secret keeper of the Fidelius charm and to his knowledge, it was not something that could be broken using brute force. Someone had to hear it from the Secret Keeper voluntarily for the information to be accessible by someone else. With that information, it painted a very ugly picture.

Sirius, betraying James? A mere 48 hours ago, he would have dismissed that as someone’s imagination. Sirius would die before he would do anything that might hurt James and Lily, and especially young Harry. This was not something that was negotiable in his mind. That was the immutable truth in his mind.

But once he heard the news? That Tom somehow found and killed the Potters? A very pointed question was going to be pointed at Sirius once he arrived at the mandatory ORder meeting and yet, except Sirius, every single alive member of the Order had arrived, further fueling his suspicions.

And yet, somewhere deep in his mind, he refused to believe just the reports. He wanted to hear it, from the man himself, that he truly, willingly, betrayed the Potters, his sworn family. He also knew that the man currently heading the DMLE was someone with a mean streak against Dark aligned families, sometimes to the point that he would break his own rules to make sure that the people he perceived to be his enemies were sent to Prison.

That is why he was hurrying over, to make sure that Sirius received a fair trial. It was also not lost on him that Sirius was now the key to a vast fortune, the likes of which most wizards in the world could not even think of, let alone ever see in their lifetimes. There were multiple factions and people aiming for Sirius’ life and while he was assured of his self control, he did not know what the people under his command would do if they were to ever find out that the person the Potter Family trusted the most was the one person who betrayed them at their most vulnerable.

He wandlessly shoved aside many people who had their backs facing him and were blocking his way and the people who tried to consciously stop him all backed away by his frigid glare. He was not in the mood for diplomacy and words today. He needed answers and Sirius was one of the pieces of the puzzle who could give him some of the answers.

“Headmast–” He, once again, ignored some of his students as he marched up to the DMLE and without even flinching, brushed past a gathering of Aurors and marched up to the receptionist, who was supposed to stop people from meeting her boss without an appointment and yet, all she could do was stay rooted in her place as Headmaster Dumbledore, the strongest person in the country, all but bulldozed his way to her boss’ office.

Undoing the enchantments on the door was child’s play for him, not even worth breaking stride as the door opened, revealing Barty Crouch Sr., the current head of DMLE.

“Dumbledore? What are you–”

“Where is Sirius? Take me to him,” For some reason, he had been feeling very done with the whole situation in MAgical Britain recently. He had been forgoing pleasantries entirely and was even disrespecting people who might not even have deserved it, when in the past he went out of his way to be polite to even people he most assuredly knew were Death Eaters.

Something about this whole event, Potters’ Death, Harry’s survival, The Death Eaters, and more had been bugging him more than he thought.

The man’s prying gaze fell on him and yet, he had weathered far worse than this. Eventually, the head of DLME stood up, “fine.”

Together, they marched down into the lower floors where the temporary prison for the DLME was kept, where prisoners were kept until they were processed and sentenced by a court. He had not yet received any summons for the Wizengamot hearing but he was certain that if his suspicions were proven correct, Sirius would either go to Azkaban for life, or he would be kissed by a Dementor on the spot, something that he would not wish on anyone, even for a crime of this magnitude.

He was handed a small file by Crouch as they descended the stairs, “This is the preliminary report generated from first responders, muggle as well as wizards. Your boy there killed 8 muggles by blowing up a gas pipeline.”

He didn't let his thoughts show as he parsed through the small report, “It says here he was unresponsive, and had voluntarily disarmed himself by the time the Aurors arrived?”

“Yes, that struck me as odd as well but what I can tell you is that Black was continuously admitting to his crime. He was saying, over and over, I killed them. If that is not an admission of guilt, I don’t what is.”

He snapped the folder shut, handing it back to the man, “The Wizengamot will look into this matter, to ascertain if it really is as open and shut case as you make it out to be.”

“Have it your way. I know you well enough to be sure that even as much as you love that boy, you of all people will not be doing anything to set the court or something. You are above that.” 

Barty was right. His integrity was far above bending the rules for one of his dear ones, especially considering the severity of the crime.

Soon, they reached the lowest end of the prisons, reserved for the worst criminals with magic suppressing enchantments on every prison cell. He could not fault the DMLE for such treatment as they finally reached the last cell, and his eyes widened as he saw the blood pooling beneath Sirius's body.

Barty was a moment too late to notice it as he had all but barged into the cell after burning through the enchantments with ease, or more accurately, shifting the enchantments since they were powered by the primary Ward Stone of the Ministry and he knew the magic on that Stone like the back of his hand.