"Call me Shacklebolt. The top parchment is a measuring parchment. I'll activate it if you want."
Sirius nodded.
"Hold it behind your back and turn away from me." Kingsley was taking no chances. His partner handed him his wand and he activated the parchment stepping away from the cell quickly. He had no intentions of letting Black escape on his watch. But even he had to admit that so far the man had been extremely docile.
Paige O'Shaunessey couldn't believe the offer in front of her. It would be the answer to her prayers and a crowning jewel in her research.
While she was technically a half-blood she was muggle raised and she had always known what she wanted to be, a healer of people's minds and hearts. Her mother had been raped by a wizard and had gotten pregnant. Devout Catholics that her parents were, they regarded the resulting pregnancy, despite the horrifying circumstances, as God's answer to their prayers. The couple had suffered from infertility; this child was theirs. Her magic had posed a sizable stumbling block for the couple, until they decided that the powers came from God and were natural for Paige. They constantly stressed to her that to honor the gifts and God, she had to use them to benefit others. A life devoted to service was the example Paige's parents had set. Her mum was a social worker who worked with children and her dad was a social worker at a prison where he did his best to help prisoners reshape their lives. Both of them were gone now, lost in a dementor attack at the end of the last war.
Paige had, unlike many of her fellow Hogwarts students, worked very hard, so not only did she graduate from Hogwarts near the top of her class, she had both her O and A level qualifications and she went to college. To be more specific, she went to medical school. After getting a degree in psychiatry she proceeded to get her medi-wizardry qualifications from St. Mungo's. She had just gotten her medi-witch certifications when the last war began. As a mind healer her talents had been in high demand with the war. As the war progressed, she found where the mix of her education did the most good: helping war victims, especially those who had been exposed to dementors. She spent hours doing research mostly using her own funds.
Since the war ended she found herself doing a job remarkably similar to her father's. About half the time she helped people newly released from the low security at Azkaban and aurors who served there recover from the exposure to dementors. She served three shifts a week at Saint Mungo's so she could pay her bills, but most of her time was spent in her own practice. Apparently the work she did had been noticed, because she was being approached to give six months of care to someone who had spent a long time being around dementors. It was a research opportunity of a lifetime and if she did this perhaps she would have the information she needed to finish writing her proposal for prison reform in the magical world.
....
The day of Sirius' trial Mr. Fawcett arrived early and brought a woman healer with him. Sirius tried to flirt with her while she cast several charms on him. When she was done, Sirius donned the non-prison style robes Mr. Fawcett brought him. Nymph came and put shackles on him, keeping one hand on them. Mr. Fawcett also touched them. A moment later the three of them were whisked away to courtroom one via a portkey.
Sirius felt very intimidated: apparently he was being tried before a full Wizengamot. He was steered to the chair that bound the prisoner. He didn't fight it, he remembered Shacklebolt's threat and he desperately wanted his chance to speak in court.
"All rise. This court is now in session. Honorable Chief Warlock Cecil Warrick presiding, Court Secretary Delores Umbridge, Barrister for the prosecution Bartemius Crouch, Barrister for the Defense Jamieson Fawcett. The crimes of which the accused is facing are conspiracy to commit murder, doing magic in front of muggles, thirteen counts of murder, twenty two counts of battery.
The Prosecution started off by presenting the case. Sirius was relieved to realize that the case wasn't being tried by the current Head of the DMLE. Nymph had told him Amelia Bones was the current head. He wondered a little when Barty had been demoted while Barty made his opening remark. "Honorable Chief Warlock, esteemed members of the Wizengamot, today we are here to give trial to a man who has spent the last ten years and ten months in Azkaban for his crimes against his fellow magical beings. I intend to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he is guilty of the crimes which he has been accused of so that he may be returned to Azkaban for the remainder of his days."
Jamieson Fawcett stood. He saw Stephen Corner out of the corner of his eye and smiled. "Honorable Chief Warlock esteemed members of the Wizengamot, I intend to prove a gross miscarriage of justice has occurred beyond any doubt. While Mr. Black acknowledges he did magic in front of muggles, he is not guilty of the other crimes of which he is accused. So let's get started." He bowed politely to the chief Warlock and the members of the Wizengamot.
Crouch stood and began. "For my first witness I call Alastor Moody."
After the battered old auror was sworn in, he asked him to show his memory of Black's capture via a projection pensieve to the court. He did so. Sirius had to admit to himself that Moody's memory was pretty damning. Because it showed the full chaos that surrounded the blast. It also showed him laughing maniacally and saying "It's all my fault.""
"Thank you I think that establishes the battery charges and the murder charges. Now you were godfather to James Potter, were you not?"
"Yes."
"James Potter and family were in hiding when they were killed, were they not?"
"Yes, under the fidelus charm. Lily cast it, after she died it fell."
"Do you know who the secret keeper was?'
"Black, of course, who else would James have chosen."
Bartiemus Crouch was positively gloating. When it was Fawcett's turn to cross-examine he asked Moody, "I'd like to start with where you just left off. Were you privy to the secret of James and Lily Potter's location?"
"No."
"What proof can you give me that Sirius Black was the secret keeper?"
Alastor Moody hemmed and hawed for a moment, then said with a snarl, "None."
"So, you are basing your accusation, that Mr. Black was the Potter's secret keeper, on the reality of their long-standing friendship?"
"Yes." Moody snarled.
....
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