HP: In The Magical World As a An Extra [ Chapter 71 ] (Patreon)
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The case box labelled with Sirius's name, looking over the dates on the box everything lined up and Ted reached up to take the box down and finally get a read at the court transcripts and review the evidence that had been presented at his court hearing but the second he lifted the box a look of concern crossed his faceface.
The boy was way too light, normally that wouldn't have been anything of concern, most of the boxes we enchanted to be featherweight and with undetectable expansion charms on them to store all the evidence involved in a case.
But Ted knew from what he had heard about Sirius's arrest that he had been arrested at the scene of Peter Pettigrew's murder, there would have been no real major evidence that would have required the use of the charm on the box.
Bringing it down quickly Ted took off the lid and his eyes went wide at what was inside, a single folder, that was it, nothing else, no evidence, no trial transcripts nothing, and the file looked to be paper thin maybe only two or three sheets, this was not all that should have been in here for a case this big.
Taking the folder out and letting the box drop Ted quickly opened it and began to read through its contents, it was the arrest report on Sirius for that night....
....and that was it, it only confirmed what he already knew from word of mouth that Sirius had been arrested minutes after following the murder of Peter Pettigrew, and that was it, nothing else, no witness reports, no interview transcripts from when he was in custody, not even a signed confession.
This confirmed Teds worst fear, Sirius Black, the suspected traitor to the Potters and the murderer of Peter Pettigrew, had been sent to Azkaban and had been there for ten years, without ever having received a trail.
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It was the end of classes that day that Magnus found himself sitting in his trunks office behind his desk, mirror in hand, with a pensive look on his face as he was deep in thought about what he had just heard.
Never had he thought that it would have been this fast for things to turn in his favour, and yet that was what Ted had just gotten through telling him.
There were no records at all for Sirius's trial, which was a pretty good indicator that he never had one in the first place.
He wanted to grin openly like a mad man and start to laugh and dance around, but he would keep that for another time, right now he needed to make sure of this, he could not mess this up.
"And you are absolutely sure of this, no sign of them whatsoever,?" Magnus asked looking concerned, a feeling of hope rising in his chest.
On the reflective surface of the mirror Ted's image nodded back, "I checked and double-checked again after I found the first box, in case there was a second box with the records misplaced somewhere. There was no sign of them." he said firmly before sighing.
"I can't believe that the ministry has been this careless. If this means what I think it does then we have just stumbled over a cover-up and Sirius has been imprisoned for over a decade now, an innocent man in that hell on earth."
Magnus nodded, "my uncle," he said frowning his hand unintentionally gripping the handle of the mirror tighter as he felt his emotions rise up.
"My family." He spoke his voice sounding hurt and it wasn't faked. He could feel his chest tighten at the thought of his family, Magnus' family, being locked up in that hell, it hurt.
Ted's image scoffed as he hears the tone and he sighed, "Don't worry Magnus, we'll get him out and get to the bottom of this. I'm going to be filing for Sirius's immediate release as soon as the offices open in the morning."
Magnus' eyes widened, "no, not yet!" he said in a hurry making Ted look at him in shock.
"But, Magnus he's your family, if he's innocent. We need to get him out of there, family or not no.." Ted began to go off on a rant, his years as an Auror coming to the front and his sense of right and wrong showing through. Before Magnus cut him off.
"I know that Ted," Magnus spoke firmly, "what I meant was that you can't go and run headfirst into this without more backing. Even with House Blacks' backing we'll need more support." He explained.
"From what I've heard about our current minister, Fudge is the kind of man who cares about his image more than doing his actual job. If you go marching in there and proclaim that the ministry has condemned an innocent man to prison, a member of House Black nonetheless."
"He will do everything in his power to sweep this under the rug and the people will back him because to everyone else they believe the same, that Sirius guilty."
Ted frowned but nodded nonetheless, he hadn't considered that angle of things, Fudge would no doubt do anything to prevent even a smear against the ministry while he was in office.
And that pet toad of his, Umbridge, would do the same if she even suspected that they were going to do something that would make the ministry look bad in any way.
"What do you suggest then? Do you have someone in mind?" Ted asked, curious to know what Magnus' plans were, from what he'd seen of him Magnus wasn't the kind to voice an idea without having already put some, if not a lot of thought into it.
It could be quite scary at times seeing an eleven-year-old boy talk like an adult, and he worried what Magnus would be like as an adult, he would be a monster in politics.
Magnus nodded, "I do. Madam Bones, the head of the DMLE. If we get her behind us she'd be a powerful ally to have in getting Sirius free from that hellhole" He explained.
"From what little I've heard of her, she's a harsh but fair woman, she should at the very least hear you out if you asked for a meeting."