"...I thought we were about to have a yelling match with Dumbledore, but he suddenly backed down and said that he'd never allowed himself to consider that he'd made a mistake leaving me with the Dursleys. I put up with them all those years for nothing!"

Harry and Hermione were talking to Sirius through his two-way mirror the morning after Dumbledore had visited.

"I'm glad that he at least admitted it was a mistake," said Sirius. "What happened then?"

Hermione answered. "Well, he thought it might be a good idea to find new guardians for Harry. If you weren't a fugitive, you'd be the first choice. He asked my parents about adopting Harry, but they didn't think I'd want to be Harry's sister. He figures the Weasleys already have enough children, which I'd agree with."

Sirius looked thoughtful and sighed. "I was prepared to take Harry with me the night his parents died. But since Dumbledore interfered and had Hagrid take him to the Dursleys, I had to try to get revenge on Wormtail. I got him cornered and then he faked his death, leaving me to take the blame! The next thing I knew, I was being thrown in Azkaban and sentenced to life without a trial! I wasn't even questioned!"

Hermione's eyes went wide. "N-no trial?"

"That's right," said Sirius, "After Harry vanquished Voldemort, the ministry wanted to pretend they'd helped, so they started arresting every suspected Death Eater they could find. The ones who got out like Lucius Malfoy were the guilty ones. The ones like me who stayed were the innocent ones."

"But don't they have to try criminals?" asked Harry. "I mean, Fudge sentenced you to the Dementor's kiss, but it had never been proven that you belonged in prison in the first place."

"Most people at the ministry don't care about justice. They wanted to look good then by putting me in prison and now by destroying me."

Hermione looked deep in thought. "But Sirius, can't we demand a trial with veritaserum to prove your innocence since you've never had one?"

Sirius said, "Fudge won't let you do that! Although, if you can prove I have the right to a trial, maybe Madam Bones, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, could demand I have a fair trial. She's a fair person. If they have yours, Ron's, and Moony's pensieve memories, it might work. But they'd have Snape testify as well."

Harry clenched his fists at the mention of the greasy git while Hermione said, "But if they use his memories, they'll see that he missed most of our conversation and is therefore an unreliable witness."

"The trouble is, you'll have to give yourself up for a trial, and knowing Fudge, he'll have the Dementors suck out your soul before you can ask for a trial," said Harry.

"There may be a way," said Hermione, "The question is Sirius, would you be willing to show up for a trial if Madam Bones were to guarantee you wouldn't encounter Dementors?"

Padfoot paused for a few minutes to think. "Well, it would probably be better than staying in hiding, but I won't surrender until the day of my trial. Anyway, there's something else I'm curious about. If Dumbledore put those wards around your house, why can you still use your portkeys?"

Hermione smiled. "While he was setting up the wards, Harry and I were watching how he made them. I asked him how long they'd last, and he said several years. I then asked if he'd make it so that I could apparate in, as well as make portkeys. He reminded me that making my own portkeys was illegal, but made the adjustments anyway. I watched him do it. I'd already read all about those wards so I know that he really did it. He doesn't have a clue that I can already make portkeys."

Sirius chuckled. "Good."

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A few days later, right after Karate class, Harry and Hermione flooed to the Ministry of Magic to speak to Madam Bones. They had gotten a magical law book the day they'd spoken to Sirius. While they were having their wands checked, they were asked their identities and the purpose of their visit.

"I'm Harry Potter and this is Hermione Granger. We wish to speak with Madam Bones."

The ministry official looked at Harry's scar and issued them visitor badges and told them where Madam Bones' office was located. After they reached her office, Harry walked up to her secretary, who asked after glancing at them, "What are you kids doing here?"

Harry's ears turned pink. "I'm Harry Potter, and this is Hermione Granger. We'd like to speak to Madam Bones at her earliest convenience."

The secretary's eyes went up to his scar, and asked, "Hello Mr. Potter. May I ask the purpose of your visit?"

"I'm afraid that it is a private matter that is important that we wish to discuss only with Madam Bones."

"I see," the secretary said, looking a bit put out. "I'll let her know you are here." She then wrote something on a piece of paper, and then pointed her wand at it. It then folded itself into an airplane and flew into a window behind the secretary.

About a minute later, the door opened, and a voice called out, "Mr. Potter and his friend may come in."

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Harry and Hermione walked into the room to see that Amelia Bones was just closing up a cabinet that had a strange looking device Harry was not familiar with. "Is that a pensieve?" asked the ever-inquisitive Hermione.

The broad, square-jawed woman with very short gray hair who was wearing a monocle stared at the girl for a moment before answering, "Yes, Miss...?"

"Granger, madam. Hermione Granger."

"It's good to meet you Miss Granger. You too, Mr. Potter," she said, shaking both their hands before sitting behind her desk. As she motioned for them to sit in some comfortable-looking chairs in front of the desk, she said, "Now what can I do for you?"

Hermione took a deep breath and launched into the speech they'd worked out. "Well, according to a law book I've read, it's illegal to keep a suspect in Azkaban for more than one month without a trial. Is that true?"

Bones raised an eyebrow. "Yes, that's right."

"So would it be illegal if someone who'd been in there for years without a trial broke out?" asked Harry.

"Er, maybe. What's this about?"

"Sirius Black was never given a trial," said Hermione.

Madam Bones sat back in her chair. "Minister Fudge said that Mr. Potter and his friends had been confunded the night he was caught and claimed he was innocent. Am I correct in assuming that Miss Granger is one of those friends, and that you are still asserting his innocence?"

The young couple looked at each other for a moment. Each looked unsure, but they both said, "Yes."

Bones started rubbing her chin as though deep in thought. "Why don't you show me what happened inside the Shrieking Shack that night? Let me copy your memories for my pensieve. I want both of yours to make sure neither has been tampered with."

Harry and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief while smiling.

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A little while later, after reliving both kid's memories (from the time they entered the room with Sirius up to the point where they were alone in the hospital wing with Dumbledore), they exited the pensieve. Amelia looked furious. "That stupid Fudge wouldn't even listen to you! Snape didn't listen to anything! He deserved what you did to him! Fudge was gonna give him the Order of Merlin! They weren't even going to wait for Lupin's testimony!" she ranted and raved about the miscarriage of justice for a few moments before giving them an appraising look. "You had something to do with Sirius' escape, didn't you?"

Both teenagers looked at the floor as their complexions turned pink. Amelia pointed her wand at the door, causing it to glow for a second before saying, "This is strictly between us. If I'm going to help, I need to know the full truth."

"Er, yes," said Harry.

"How?"

Hermione said hesitantly, "I, er, had a time-turner for my classes, which I turned in afterward, and we used it to rescue Sirius."

Her eyes widened. "That's illegal, but then again, so is sentencing a man who never had a trial to the Dementor's kiss. Let me see your memories of that. I'll let you reabsorb them so no one else sees them, but I have to know everything."

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After seeing what happened from the time when Dumbledore was alone with them until Fudge left, disappointed that Sirius had escaped, Amelia was looking at Harry with incredible admiration. "You, you conjured a corporeal Patronus that was strong enough to drive all the Dementors away."

"Well, after Fudge placed them at Hogwarts, they wouldn't leave me alone. They nearly killed me in a quidditch match, so I asked Professor Lupin to show me how to defend myself against them."

"I see," said Bones with a serious look on her face. "I was against Fudge's decision to do that, but he's the minister." She took a deep breath. "I assume you have some way to communicate with Mr. Black."

"Er, yes," said Harry. "He doesn't want to give himself up for a trial and wind up back in Azkaban before the trial or worse yet getting a Dementor's kiss."

Amelia smiled, "I understand. Fudge is anxious to look good to the public, and is convinced that having Black kissed is the way to improve his image. I don't suppose there's a way I could talk to him about it."

Hermione grinned. "There is, actually." She then pulled out her mirror. "Snuffles."

Sirius' image appeared in the compact mirror and said, "Hello, Hermione. To what do I owe this call?"

"Harry and I are in Amelia Bones' office, and we've shown her everything that happened on the night you escaped Hogwarts. She wants to speak to you."

Sirius sighed. "Well, I guess I should."

Hermione handed Madam Bones the mirror. She said, "Hello Mr. Black."

"Hello Madam Bones."

"I understand your fear of coming here, and quite frankly I believe that it's justified. The Dementors have been ordered to kiss you on sight, so until they are otherwise ordered, you can't come here. I was hoping you could send me memories of when you talked the Potters into making Peter Pettigrew their Secret-Keeper and every memory relevant to that. Perhaps informing him of the change. If you witnessed them making him Secret-Keeper that would be excellent. Also, I want you to show what happened when you confronted Peter."

He nodded happily. "I've wanted to do that for twelve years. I'll send them today, but it will take a few days to reach you."

"I'd also like to be able to contact you. I believe Miss Granger called you 'Snuffles.' Is that correct?"

"Yes Madam Bones."

"Very well. I will do everything within my power to arrange a trial for you. Perhaps it will be a public announcement that you never received a trial and a promise of safety until after the trial if you show up. However, I want to arrange exactly when and where that will be so that I can have people to protect you from any Dementors that may try to intervene. I shall keep your animagus form a secret until the trial, at which time you will be fined for not registering. However, if things go well, you'll be granted more than the fine for compensation for the serious miscarriage of justice that you have suffered. You will have to show up on the day of your trial, so plan on it. I'll be keeping this whole affair a secret from Fudge until that day."

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After getting a request and permission to make Madam Bones a two-way mirror, Hermione did so. She and Harry left the office after collecting their time-travel memories from the pensieve. They then portkeyed back to the Granger residence to spend the rest of the day playing like toddlers on the swing set and then going swimming.

The rest of the week went by quickly, and before they knew it, it was Friday, and they were studying magical travel again. They started out with charming carpets, but found that the charms were so similar to brooms that within fifteen minutes, they'd each created a flying carpet (that they'd never show anyone because they were illegal). They spent the rest of the lesson starting to learn how to put something on the floo network. They learned that it doesn't need a chimney. In fact it doesn't require anything but a fire. You could actually put a campfire on a floo network.

They got to work learning how to transfigure things into a fireplace bottom that can safely contain a fire. After they learned that, they had to learn specific charms to put on it to connect it to a private floo network. Hermione successfully flooed to Grimmauld Place's fireplace (which she charmed to allow to belong to a private floo network, requiring a password) before the lesson was over. Harry had just finished transfiguring his miniature fireplace, while Ginny was about three-quarters done with that.

Neville did manage to get his yellow belt that day, so both Harry and Hermione congratulated him after the karate class. Harry and Hermione went out to dinner and a movie that night and had a good time.

Saturday morning, before they portkeyed to Grimmauld Place, a letter arrived for Hermione by a ministry owl. When they opened it, they found that it was from Amelia Bones.

"Well," said Harry, "That looks like good news. In nine days Sirius could be cleared."

"I can't wait to show the letter to Moony!"