Chapter 35
"Damn Weasleys, I always knew there was something wrong with their family!" the illustrious Draco Malfoy swore irritably and even somewhat overacted in his indignation, casually glancing at Ginny, who was almost touchingly hiding behind my back. "However, it never even occurred to me that someone in their family would be ready to shelter this... Pettigrew!"
"Draco, stop pointlessly sneering already. We already get how angry and dissatisfied you are, and that if you had your way, you would personally curse everyone involved and uninvolved with eternal impotence," I sighed tiredly, trying to slightly extinguish this ferret's indignation with my rather sarcastic tone. "Better tell me, is there any news from the Wizengamot? You know, the kind that didn't make it to the press?"
"It's hard to say for now. Pettigrew the rat is being interrogated, and from what I understand, they've already dug up a lot, a whole lot on him. From unregistered Animagus transformation and faking his own death, to aiding the Dark Lord and complicity in the murder of the Potter couple..." the blond boy drooped slightly, basically repeating facts we already knew. The Daily Prophet publishes news about the progress of the trial of the "Animagus who went mad" almost every day. "Alas, father is in no hurry to share additional details with me, but... you know, Harry, he hinted at the possible release of your godfather—Sirius Black. Heard of him?"
"In all details... which now seem like blatant rubbish and misinformation," I calmly nodded to my friend, casually continuing to move towards an empty table in the library. Gathering here for important conversations and simply doing homework had long become a habit for us. "By the way, isn't Sirius supposed to be your mother's cousin?"
"Yeah. That's exactly why father is pulling strings for him," the pale-faced blond nodded confidently and affectedly, beginning to unhurriedly lay out his school supplies on his part of the table. "By the way, you can intervene in this matter too. As Sirius's godson, you could very well demand a review of his case in court. Especially in light of the newly discovered circumstances of that night..."
"Won't they start this review anyway?" I clarified with slight surprise, mentally admitting that if necessary, I wouldn't mind putting in a good word for my... sort-of relative.
"Most likely they will. Especially if my father has already taken up the case," Draco snorted self-assuredly. As if he himself was going to run and rescue my godfather from Azkaban right now. "But if I were you, I would still appeal to the Wizengamot. It definitely wouldn't hurt. And the press will certainly appreciate your zeal... It'll be a chance to make the front page of the Daily Prophet."
"That's exactly what I definitely don't need," I winced in displeasure, not even wanting to think about such prospects. "But I'll still have to deal with it... Can you tell me what to do and how? Who to address? And will they even let me out of school for such a matter?"
"I don't know the details, but... they should definitely let you out of school. Although it's better to approach your Head of House with this question," Draco drawled thoughtfully, crossing his arms over his chest. "Although you know what... don't rush into it just yet. Let me write to father, and he'll guide us. Maybe he'll even agree to take you to the Wizengamot himself."
"Go ahead," I simply agreed with the other's proposal, perfectly understanding that the company of a former Death Eater in such a matter could still backfire on me, but... let's be honest, I completely don't want to deal with the legal underlying of Magical Britain alone.
And out of the possible alternatives... Well, hardly anyone else could help me with filing such a specific application. Especially since I myself don't even understand yet what exactly this application should be. After all, I can't just write to the court something like... please release my dearest godfather, he is not guilty of anything... That's not how it works, right?
Ahem, well, as practice showed, that was approximately how everything worked. Of course, the wording was not so colloquial and banal, but in fact, after agreeing on some issues with my Head of House and having an actual consultation meeting with Lucius Malfoy—who was only too happy to fan the brewing scandal even more, and simply didn't mind getting to know his son's good friend a little better and helping him out...
In short, I simply wrote a public and open letter to the main magical court of Mag-Britain, where I requested a review of the trial of Sirius Black and the maximum strict sentence for Peter Pettigrew, who by that time had already become famous in all the news as a malicious villain who almost personally led Voldemort to my parents' house.
"I am very lucky that unregistered Animagus transformation is considered a fairly serious crime in this country... As well as the infiltration of an unauthorized wizard into the walls of the best magical school in the entire country. Without this, I'm afraid, the authorities would hardly have approved the use of Truth Serum on the rat Pettigrew, and he could have gotten off with little more than a mild fright after everything that happened..." I bared my teeth mentally, perfectly realizing that for once, my plan had worked even better than I ever expected.
And no one even put spokes in my wheels... Although I subconsciously expected that Dumbledore might pull something to protect his former student. Well, you know, he is generally known in the world for his love of giving all sorts of questionable individuals second chances. And I didn't believe that the Headmaster could fail to notice an Animagus rat in his school for years.
"Scabbers", before ending up with Ron, was Percy Weasley's pet for almost five years, and Ginny's older brothers could very well have appeared in the school with this "pet". Although here I wasn't particularly sure anymore. Ginny didn't really know anything about this issue and generally behaved more depressed and awkward than ever.
Too many things had piled up on the girl in such a short time. First the dark lord's horcrux diary, now her brother's pet turned out to actually be some creepy guy all this time, who had lived in the same house with her for many years... For the young witch, it was quite a blow and a real shock, multiplied by a wild feeling of guilt and awkwardness towards me.
And Draco, the little shit, didn't hesitate to sneer about it, for which I sometimes just wanted to punch him properly in the jaw without any fuss, but... I held back for now. Largely due to the fact that the boy was still in no hurry to go too far with his attacks. And in general, he read the overall mood very keenly, afraid of causing sharp displeasure with his persona in me or Daphne.
This was the first reason why our ferret still hadn't been beaten... Well, that is if we omit my general reluctance to beat up friends and children. I considered it beneath my dignity, especially since I now also significantly surpassed all my peers in magic...
But still, the second and main reason for my inaction remained the fact that Draco was already getting it from the female part of our collective, which is why there was simply no need for me to intervene in this matter in any way. For once, the girls showed simply stunning unanimity, acknowledging that Ginny in this matter is almost the main victim, and in general she needs to be calmed, pitied, and protected...
With which I completely agreed, not even wanting to imagine what it would be like for me to find out that some vile pervert Animagus had lived in my house for many years... And after all, "Scabbers" became the Weasleys' pet almost before Ginny learned to walk, which makes this whole situation especially absurd and unpleasant.
In this regard, we were all ready to sympathize with the red-haired Gryffindor, cleanly ignoring any disagreements or conflicts we had before this... And Draco was simply presenting himself in not the best light. Which was already quite familiar and even commonplace.
I, partly, was even glad that we had a person like Draco in our company at all. Not in the sense that I somehow disliked him or anything. No, in most cases Malfoy was quite a pleasant conversationalist, a valuable friend, and simply a good buddy. He simply lacked some basic communication skills—he was banally unable to read some situations, blindly imitating his father... which he suffered from, frequently taking upon himself the wrath of the female part of our company.
And I'm only glad... Perfectly understanding that as long as the girls—gradually turning into young ladies—briskly lash out at Malfoy, they cannot similarly gang up against me. After all, I'm not perfect either, and generally established myself as quite the budding schemer.
Which in most cases is even welcomed by those same snakes, or ignored by Luna, but... situations are still different. You never know when these terrifying consciousnesses in the guise of pretty and harmless maidens will decide to recall some of your old little sins... So yes—how wonderful it is that we have the illustrious Draco Malfoy in our company!
Let him continue to act as a lightning rod and voluntary scapegoat for me. While the humble Harry Potter will continue to be, in the eyes of the fair sex, a kind and understanding young man who has done absolutely nothing wrong in this life, and in general is a saint. He's only missing wings and a halo over his head.
However, alright. These are all jokes, caused by the need to somehow relieve stress after somewhat spontaneous communication with the magical press.
In reality, I myself was somewhat worried about the emotional state of my red-haired friend, trying by all means to calm and cheer up this usually feisty girl... Fortunately, she was not going to withdraw into herself completely, and the ever-new details of what Peter Pettigrew had managed to do in his life only helped Ginny to recover from her temporary shock.
The understanding that this bastard would, in the very near future, at a minimum be locked up in Azkaban, and at a maximum—immediately be given the Dementor's Kiss, kindly calmed down the Gryffindor who had worked herself up too much... She is generally a very kind and forgiving girl in this regard, yeah. Almost like a real witch from old Muggle fairy tales.
"However, it's not for me to accuse her of excessive cruelty," I immediately smirked mentally, catching myself thinking that I myself wouldn't mind at all if Pettigrew were sentenced to the death penalty. That way I would definitely manage to get rid of all possible problems from his side.
And if Peter is still found guilty of all the crimes he committed... This will automatically drop most of the charges from Sirius. And with this mage... well, not that I was burning with the desire to meet him. Surely he has gone quite mad over so many years in Azkaban. It was really very noticeable even in the movies, but...
Between the opportunity to have at least some adult relative-patron in the magical world and not having one at all, I will still choose the first option. Sirius can be useful... And that is exactly why I am so eagerly awaiting our possible meeting. If everything goes well—by the end of the school year, he could already be released into freedom.
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