The Touch Of Prometheus

CHAPTER 18 -- For a Fair Judgment

Sirius grinned at Harry from his motorcycle and, ignoring completely the gargoyle's presence, said, “climb here, let's go.”

“What about him?” asked Harry.

“Harry, this is a gargoyle!”

“He's very nice, Sirius,” said Harry and his godfather glared at him. “I didn't know you had such a prejudice.”

“I think you've been spending too much time with Rubeus Hagrid.”

“Sirius, he's saved my life.”

“I'm getting sick of this thing, it seems everybody saves everybody's life around here...”

“Gerard don't want a father and a son to argue because of him,” said the gargoyle meekly.

“He's not my father, he's my godfather,” Harry looked gravely at Sirius, who was looking back at him in disbelief. It seemed Harry was willing to have his first adolescence rebelliousness outbreak, and with him. After everything that had happened the past few hours, it was the most absurd thing to happen.

“Harry, we're not taking a gargoyle to Hogwarts... it's not like carrying a kitten to home after a rainstorm, I can guarantee you that.”

“Gerard does not want to go, Harry Potter,” the gargoyle cut him off.

“What? You want to stay here?”

“This is Gerard's home. There is nothing out there Gerard wants for himself... there is only one thing Gerard asks the wizard on the strange-looking horse who barks like a dog... could thou fix my wing? There is nothing to worry over doing so. Gargoyle wings cannot take Gerard beyond the gap... Gerard just want to be able to go a little higher... a little higher than the bottom.”

Sirius grinned. He knew that gargoyle wings could not ever take that rocky body higher than 30 feet from the ground. Without even hesitating for a moment, he pointed his wand at the gargoyle's broken wing and said, “Reparo!”

And Gerard's wings were brand new again. The gargoyle tested his wings with a grin on his face, which, even consisting of a rocky material, could show the joy of a one thousand years wait. He thanked Sirius and then escorted him and Harry up to a point where he could not go higher, and then he started waving while he saw the motorcycle's light fading away in the darkness. On the way, Sirius told Harry what had happened and how he managed to make the motorcycle pass through the barrier, which was considerably easier after the Death Eater were knocked out. When they got to the surface, there were lots of Aurors and policemen from the Ministry.

Two Ministry policemen kept watching two mummies who had ropes all around them and Harry assumed the mummies were Trelawney and Wormtail. He could also see Sheeba in a corner being tended to by a very short wizard physician; Ron and Hermione sitting on a stone and sharing a blanket; Snape talking to Albus Dumbledore, who was listening to him with a grave expression on his face. Next to the pool of rats, Mad Eye Moody seemed to be making a spell to keep them down there and being watched by Cornelius Fudge, who was visibly nervous. When he saw Sirius, he shouted, “Go catch him, that's Sirius Black!”

“Don't be ridiculous,” said Snape, “I've already told you he's innocent and now he's even able to prove it.”

“Severus Snape is right,” said Dumbledore, walking towards the Minister of Magic with an expression on his face Harry had seen only a few times in his life, “I've been asking you for a fair judgment for Sirius Black for two years, Cornelius, and you've been refusing to do it since then. Now I have two respectable wizards such as Sheeba Amapoulos and Severus Snape as witnesses and now I don't ask you, but I demand a fair judgment for Sirius Black. He deserves this reparation.”

Fudge gulped, he could not do anything about it now.

“And he has the right to wait for the trial at liberty, that's the least you can do about him after keeping him for twelve years unfairly at Azkaban with your Dementors.”

**

Afterwards, Harry was told why he, Sirius and Snape had been the only ones who had not been affected by Wormtail's rats; Snape had a protective garment too, and it was him who had taught Sheeba how to weave it. He was still held back at the hospital with Ron and Hermione, and all of them had a bottle of rejuvenating serum floating by their sides. They were sitting at a drawing room with large armchairs, chatting. Ron and Hermione told him how Sirius gave Sheeba the kiss of life and Hermione emphasized that it cost the person who had given it a year of his life. Harry told them how Voldemort Disapparated, and how he thought he was going to die at the bottom of the abyss and about his stroll with Gerard, the gargoyle.

Then, Ron asked, “You know who's also here, don't you, Harry? Cho Chang. She's been duped by that loathsome Trelawney, it seemed she was willing to talk to the dead...”

“Yeah, I know,” said Harry. “I'm going to visit her later,” he added, but did not feel the faintest desire to do so. “Why don't we go to see Sheeba?”

They got to Sheeba's room, and she was currently being paid a visit by three witches, and she seemed to be much better then. She was still too pale, very true, and the mark on her forehead looked even darker, but she was smiling. The witches were speaking to her so cheerfully they could hear the sound of their laughter in the corridor.

Lupin and Sirius were talking by the window, and eventually, Sirius looked annoyed at the witches (“jealousy,” Harry thought). The sun on Lupin's face highlighted the dark circles under his eyes and he looked tired, as usual.

“Harry!” Sheeba exclaimed, “Come to meet my friends: these are Silvia Spring,” she said, pointing at a rather chubby witch, with a very friendly face and really beautiful hair, “Beth Fall,” a witch with tanned skin, black hair and a malicious stare, “and Liza Lionheart,” a red-haired witch with an aristocratic mien and a rather reserved stare. “This is my godson, isn't he adorable?”

And it was followed by a praise session in which the witches made him embarrassed, talking only about his boldness and bravery. Harry tried to look around, feeling his ears burn, and then, he saw...

A little bit farther from Sheeba's bed, there was the most adorable teenage witch he had ever seen: she was a brunette with a large face and malicious black eyes. She looked at him and grinned sheepishly... Harry felt an urge to invite her for a ride on his broomstick. He did not even pay much attention when somebody said, “Bianca, come here to meet Harry Potter.”

The teenage witch got closer to him and said a very quiet “hi” and he replied in the same tone of voice. . Just then he realized she was Beth Fall's daughter and wondered why this girl was not at Hogwarts.

“She studies at High Hill, Harry,” Sheeba told him as soon as the witches left the room.

“Who?”

“Bianca, Harry. I saw the way you looked at her,” said Sheeba, giggling. “Send her an owl, she's gonna love it...”

“Speaking of owls, Sheeba, there is one more for you,” said Sirius, holding jealously a showy black owl. “I think you correspond with too many people,” he added, giving her a magical card that danced and sang, giving wishes for her to be completely healthy again soon.

After some time, a one-eyed yellowish owl arrived and Sirius read the name of the sender, “Who is Sobrenatural de Almeida?”

“He's friend of mine, from Brazil.”

“When I say there's too many people...”

**

Sirius's judgment took place a few days later. Sirius presented himself in front of the judge and Ablus Dumbledore presented the defense in five minutes, calling only Snape and Sheeba to testify (which frustrated Ron a lot, because he had willed to take a part in it, as ever). The simple proof of Wormtail's existence seemed to acquit Sirius.

When Avatar Fernandez, Auror and Ministry attorney, stood up, Harry thought some sort of debate was about to begin, but he just said, “Before irrefutable proves, the Ministry of Magic retracts all the accusations against Sirius Black, returning him all his past functions, and asks this trial to award a medal to him for showing bravery on several occasions.”

Simple just like this. In less than twenty minutes, Sirius Black was completely free.

CHAPTER 19 -- BACK TO HOGWARTS

Some people need years to be loved, other people are loved from the first sight. Harry was thinking about this as he watched to Sirius and Sheeba's wedding being celebrated by Albus Dumbledore at Hogwarts. In a deeper analysis, he has loved his godparents ever since he met them, and they had showed, in many different ways, that they loved him too. Now they were his true family, much different from the Dursleys, whom in years Harry could not feel more than some respect.

Sirius and Sheeba looked very different now; they were wearing elegant white robes; Sheeba wore also an eye-catching flower garland. Next to her, Hermione and Bianca, who were wearing beautiful bride's maids robes, were whispering to each other, and next to Sirius, Lupin executed his best man role very seriously arm in arm with Silvia Spring (they make a nice couple, thought Harry). Between Harry and Ron, Rubeus Hagrid shed tears desperately, blowing his nose using a handkerchief that resembled a table-cloth “Isn't it beautiful?” he sobbed. “Just thinking they've waited so much time...”

Ron rolled his eyes exasperatedly and Harry grinned.

The party had been really good. Ron asked Hermione to dance with him and Harry noticed they could not stop (Restless Feet Potion?), and, with some distance away, Severus Snape watched everything, with a solemnly grave expression.

In a moment, Harry saw Snape calling Sirius and telling him something; Sirius was staring at him gravely and nodding in agreement. Harry also watched as Sirius reluctantly stretch out his hand and Snape shook it, distending his face in something that resembled a smile. Sheeba, who showed up next to Harry this very moment, whispered at him, “Harry, this is the day when hell is freezing over...”

“What?”

“Never mind... Harry, could you entertain Bianca for me? She doesn't know Hogwarts.”

Harry turned on his heels and faced Bianca Fall's charming smile. He felt as a delightful warmness flowed through his body and show up on his face; he was sure he must had been red. Oh, why didn't I have some Restless Feet Potion?

He asked her to dance with him, even though he was a terrible dancer, and felt simply ruffled as Bianca stretched out her neck and whispered at him, “Someone told me you have a Firebolt... will you invite me to a ride?”

Harry gulped and opened wide his eyes, and bumped into Ron, who mouthed something like, over Hermione's back, “hey, come on...”

“Sure,” Harry nodded, feeling his ears getting red.

Half an hour later, he and Bianca were flying around Hogwarts on his Firebolt and Harry felt her hands pleasantly holding him around his waist. That was much better than a good butterbeer bottle... wait! It was way better than seizing the Golden Snitch in front of Draco Malfoy... it was better than... anything else he had ever tasted. For a moment, it was like Voldemort and all the Death Eaters had not ever existed, as if he had not ever passed his childhood locked in a cupboard.

“Do you want some action?” He asked her.

“Sure,” she said, holding his waist even tighter and then, Harry raced with all the swiftness he could and whirling his Firebolt, and then racing up, and then diving again... when they landed on the floor, Bianca Fall's hair was messy and her bride's maid's garland had simply disappeared. She put her hands on her face and said, “My face is cold, can you feel it?” She pulled one of Harry's hands and put it on her face, looking up and into his eyes. Harry hesitated for a moment before he pulled her tightly and kissed her, feeling the fresh night air in her lips. Certainly, it was better than Quidditch.

When Dumbledore announced Sirius and Sheeba were leaving and everybody at the Great Hall clapped, Harry ran after his godparents and embraced them. They walked towards Sirius's motorcycle, that was standing in front of Hogwarts; its engine was making a low noise, just like a happy dog.

“Where are you going?” Asked Ron, who was lightly swinging, just like Hermione.

“Somewhere far away,” said Sirius as he put on his helmet. “And I hope we don't come back so soon, we really need some great vacation.”

“Yeah, we do, but we'll need to be back soon. Dumbledore's going to need us later on. Things are going to get really bad, many really, really serious things are going to happen and...” said Sheeba until Sirius cut her off.

“Could you please forget about it now? Ron, don't marry a clairvoyant, okay? This is really awful and can drive any man crazy...”

“Sirius, you aren't the best guy to give this kind of advice,” said Harry with mock seriousness.

“Harry, take care, and please, don't get into trouble while we're on honeymoon, okay?”

“The same goes to you, Sirius,” Sirius looked suspiciously at Sheeba, who was laughing behind him. She turned at Harry and whispered. “At least you've learned something; if you want to make a good impression to a girl, you have to show her what you're best at. See you soon, Harry!”

“See you soon!”

Sirius's motorcycle raced upwards and passed through the mountains as an arrow, fading away.

“I hope you've done at least Tuesday's homework,” said a cordial voice behind Harry and Ron. “And Weasley, I still want to know what magazines you were talking about.”

Well, there was still some time left until the end of this school year...

THE END

(To be continued in “The Sacred Fire”)