Harry Potter and the Forest of Shadows

Harry Potter and

the Forest of Shadows

******Chapter Six******

Daisy nervously paced the stone corridor, just outside the courtroom of Sirius Black's trial. Five minutes in, she still hadn't gathered enough courage to go in and stand up to the upper-half of the ministry. But if she was going to help Sirius, she would have to show down Fudge, one of the people on her most hated list.

But she knew she could do it- some people had actually claimed the two youngest Evanses were related to Albus with their swift words and cunning tongues- their striking beauty didn't help their foes.

For a few seconds she stopped and twisted her engangment ring around her finger; this was definitely what she wanted. The ring was encrusted with diamonds and emeralds, and inside it was engraves with the simpled words I Love You.

She'd been wearing it for sixteen years.

As if the ceiling held hidden answers, she groaned in its direction. She looked decent, had all the evidence, and other evidence to support it. There was no reason why she should have been nervous.

Then thinking about it, Daisy figured it was just seeing her family again, not the ministry. With the comforting thought that her family wouldn't desert her, she smoothed her cloak and dress, grabbed all the documents, wills, and testimonies, and opened the door.

Harry felt like groaning out loud. Nothing was working for them. If they were ever going to win the case, even with Dumbledore on their side, a miracle was going to have to take place. He was quite surprised when the door opened, admitting a fairly young woman, his same eyes and a long waterfall of waist-length chestnut hair.

She wore an emerald green dress, ending in pools at her golden slippered feet and a low neckline; over her shoulders was a navy cloak with golden buttons, slightly shorter than her dress. Due to the low neckline you could see a white amulet dangling from a silver chain around her neck. Clasped around her slim waist was a golden chain that opened widely on one of her hips and trailed to her thigh,

where it hit with every step.

The pale face was soft and light pink lips were curved into a mischief smile and bore a glossy coating. But it was her eyes that caught Harry's attention; the green pools were full of confidence and defiance yet were dancing with laughter.

A collective gasp was drawn from both audiences at the sight of her; this only drew a wider smile from her. Rosemary was clutching Remus' arm, a delightful smile on her face. Harry turned to Sirius. He, too, despite being chained to the chair, looked joyful.

With the grace of a toddler she walked up to the dais where the ministry was seated and fell into a ridiculously low curtsey to the point where she was almost sitting. She was mocking the ministry. This earned her a few chuckles.

"Good afternoon *minister*."

"Good afternoon, Ms. Potter." By the sweat rolling down his face and his nervous expression, he was clearly intimidated.

Harry felt Rosemary's comforting arm leave his shoulder as she swiftly walked down to stand by her sister. Daisy spared her a smile.

"Miss Potter," he said once again, this time in acknowledgement to Rosy. She just raised an eyebrow.

"So what do you two have to say for yourselves, interrupting the court like this?"

"Certainly not sorry," Daisy snorted. More chuckles. "But I would like to speak with the defendant. If it's okay with you... your graciousness."

"You may speak with him for five minutes. Then the court will be back in session."

With one more deep curtsety, she turned to Rosy, placing a hand on her sister's cheek.

"I'll handle this one sweety."

Rosy layed a hand over her sister's and smiled. "Give him a reason to have faith."

Harry watched as the two women exchanged words before Rosemary walked back up and the other woman made to Sirius before getting on her knees and taking both of his hands in her own. For the next five

minutes, they conversed quietly.

"Hi," she whispered.

"What are you doing here?"

"Coming to make sure my nephew is being taken well care of."

"He's getting better," Sirius said slowly and carefully.

"I was just joking," Daisy said softly. "Listen, swearing on James and Lil's graves, I'm going to get you out of this mess in five minutes or less.

"Let's make a bet- to make it more interesting. Five galleons if you give me a positive verdict in five or less minutes."

"You're on."

Daisy walked back up to the dais where the ministry was sitting. Without speaking, she slapped her pile of papers, smiling slightly.

"What is this?"

"Papers, documents, letters. And a ring that had been specifically made for Lily and James' secret keeper; it bears the Pettigrew coat of arms. Also, I believe there are two letters the jury should hear."

Fudge took the two letters he was handed, and read aloud:

"Dear Prongs, I've been thinking over the whole business about your secret keeper. For some reason, I feel as if Padfoot might do something and that I'm probably a much better candidate for-"

It ended there. Quickly, Fudge started on the next letter.

"Wortmtail, Padfoot came by yesterday. He and Tiger Lily got into a huge row over our secret keeper. Padfoot thinks he's too obvious and Moony is struggling with the whole ordeal; we all ended up on you for our secret keeper. Next Tuesday we're having a big supper at The Cottage and we'll switch secret keepers after Moony leaves. Please come. Prongs. P.S. don't tell Moony.

"Who are these people?" Fudge asked. "Prongs, Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail, and Tiger Lily?"

"Nicknames for James, Remus, Sirius, Peter, and Lily from school. But," she said, turning to the jury, "isn't it odd that on that Peter be so interested in switching with Sirius yet stopping in the middle of his letter. Obviously he had received James' letter. Not to mention there's enough proof within that pile to prove this man innocent."

For a few moments, the jury conversed quietly. When the head juror stood, Daisy saw she had thirty seconds left until she lost five galleons.

"Well?" the minister and Daisy asked at the same time. Fifteen seconds.

"The jury and I have decided that Sirius Black is-" He looked back at the other jurors as if for support. They nodded. Five seconds. "That Sirius Black is innocent."

Those words rang throughout the room until they finally sank in. People opposite of the ministry started clapping.

Daisy walked over to Sirius; he enveloped her in a hug. "Thank you," he whispered.

"I'll come back. Soon," she promised, sliding out of her cloak and handing it to him. "You owe me five galleons." And with that, she walked out, saluting Fudge along the way.

Harry raced from their side of the courtroom and into his godfather's outstretched arms. Sirius looked down at him and gave one of the first true smiles he had had since Azkaban. Harry returned it.

Hermione, Ron, Rosy, and Remus came down from their seats, all beaming. Harry moved to the side but Sirius still kept an arm around his shoulders. Hermione and Ron gave him a one-armed hug, pratically bouncing with happiness.

Remus smiled slightly, a look of awe on his face. Rosy came up laughing like a child who had just been given a bag of candy. At the same time they both became much more solemn. Remus backed up and motioned for the other three teenagers to do the same.

"It-it's only right," Rosy said reassuringly.

"It's not immature or anything," Sirius confirmed.

"Of course not!"

"Are you ready?"

"When you are."

They both turned away and walked two paces. At first Harry thought they were going to duel as he watched them face each other, but something quite ironic happened.

Rosy gave a sequence of claps, snaps, and slaps on her thighs. When she finished, Sirius gazed unimpressedly at her and did an even more complicated beat. His competetor laughed and held her hand out. He took it and they did a short handshake.

Remus was shaking his head, a hand over his face. "Long story," Sirius explained to the dumbfounded teens.

"Uh-oh," Remus muttered as the court doors burst open and reporters flooded in.

Almost immediately Rosy produced a portkey. They managed to disappear just as the reporters began closing in on them.

"Congratulations, Mr. Black."

Professor Dumbledore had left right after the verdict was announced and was now sitting in the Weasleys' kitchen having a cup of tea.

"Thank you Professor," he said, his smile not faltering.

"You're quite welcome. And now I have a gift for you."

He presented Sirius was a wooden box beautifully carved our of cedar. Inside it was lined with navy blue velvet and upon a small pillow was a wand.

"Is it- I mean, is this one... *mine*?"

Dumbledore nodded, smiling slightly as Sirius removed the maple

wood wand as if it were made of glass.

"How did you get it?" Sirius whispered.

"I got Mr. Kingsley to get ahold of the pieces for me and had Mr. Ollivander put them together. And Harry, for your early birthday present."

Harry blushed furiously as the room's attention was drawn to him and the prospect of having Albus Dumbledore give him a birthday present. He was handed a wrapped package which he opened with shaking hands.

The room watched as he froze, his eyes wide; his hands shook more now than ever. Rosy placed one of her's over his to stop the tremors. "Is this real," he said in barely a whisper.

"With the seal and all," Dumbledore confirmed.

"Harry, what is it?" Hermione asked.

"A-an official document stating that Sirius has full custody over me."

"What?" Sirius asked breathlessly, coming around so he could read over Harry's shoulder.

"Who got this?" Harry asked, not removing his eyes from the paper.

"Rosemary," Dumbledore said.

"I... it wasn't all me," she tried to explain, wanting to give her mentor some of the credit. But Harry's arms were already hugging her. She relaxed and returned it whole-heartedly.

That evening Harry escaped upstairs for a little while to catch up on some homework. Halfway through his potions essay, a soft knock came at the door.

Ginny walked through, laughing at all the papers that had been strewn all over her brother's bed. In her hand was a mug and a sandwhich on a plate.

"Watcha working on?" she asked, sitting the objects on the bedside

table and plopping down next to Harry.

"Poison resolvers. Know anything about them?"

"Well, they'll only work twelve hours after the poison was taken and it takes about twenty-four to make it, so unless you have one handy you're in a pretty bad situation. Also, the main ingredient is always the main ingredient of the poison you're trying to reverse."

"How do you know all that?"

"I've been studying. Mum asked me to bring you something," she said quickly, changing the subject.

She showed where the sandwhich was and handed him the mug. In it was a light colored tea.

"What is this?" Harry asked uncertainly, being able to taste the potions that were being slipped into his other drinks.

"Tea. There's no potions or anything in it. Taste it," she urged.

He took the mug and sipped at it. If it truly was tea, than it was the best tasting tea he had ever had. As Ginny took it from him, Harry caught a whiff of perfume.

"Are you wearing perfume?" he blurted out. Ginny nodded, smiling. "It smells really good."

A hint of pink rose in her cheeks as she bowed her head, muttering a soft "thank you".

Harry gently lifted her chin with his fingers. Her brown eyes clashed with his own green. She bit her lip and drew her eyes from his.

"You look cute when you blush," he murmured. Without a warning, soft lips shortly came over his, before Ginny got up. "Please," he said, "don't leave. Wait."

She payed no heed and walked out of the room, her head bowed. Harry groaned and pulled the covers of the bed over his head.

Padfoot, who had been curled up under the bed and eavesdropping on the whole thing shook his head slowly.

*Potter men and red haired women,* he thought, prowling unnoticedly out of the room.

Rosemary came up a few minutes later, smirking, Sirius following closely.

"What's in this tea?" Harry asked.

Sirius laughed. "Herbs," he answered, tossing a glass vial with a ground up herb in it. "Belladonna. It's a weak sedative and relaxes you. Your mother used to use that and lavender. I thought it might help you to sleep."

"Thank you."

"Not at all. And if I remember correctly, it should be kicking in just about...now," he said, watching as Harry's eyelids flickered and he stifled a yawn.

Rosemary cleared the bed of the papers as Sirius gently lowered Harry under the covers and kissed his brow. A small smile flicked over Harry's face as he settled into the bed.

"He loves you," Rosemary murmured, a glazed look on her face. "So much."

Sirius pulled the younger woman into his arms. "He doesn't know you that well. And you know how hard it is to open up after something like what happened to him."

"I'm glad you came back. He deserves you."

"He deserves parents," Sirius said stiffly.

Rosy felt a tear trickle down her pale cheek. "Shut up Sirius."

Harry felt dizzy at the stench that he remembered so well and the screams that echoed through the hallway. His scar burned furiously as he feet moved forward yet his brain told him to go back.

He ended up in a room covered in crimson, feeling as though he were being torn in two. His stomach lurched as he saw the people on the other side of the room.

Their faces were gaunt and white as though no blood was running through them. They were wearing nothing but rags and marks could be seen through the holes. And where their hearts should have been beating were empty spaces.

People entered the door he had come through as his scar burst with pain. Voldemort was smirking with delight as two other Death Eaters held onto a girl that was wearing a silky white gown. She seemed unharmed with a look of defiance to her.

"Where's your sister, child, or you can join your little friend."

The girl being addressed looked no more than an eight year old. Harry looked across the way to find another child about her age but with the lifeless.

"I'll never tell you. I'd rather die than utter a word about my family to you, you snake!" she spat.

Voldemort raised a hand and slapped her fragile face. It left a large red print with slight bruising and a trickle of blood from her nose. She gave not such a whimper.

"Take her back to her cell. See if you can make her change her mind."

Harry tried to reach out for the girl's hand but she seemed not to notice him. Voldemort turned to the zombie-like creatures at the other end of the room and walked over to the girl that the other one had stared at.

"Go and see what fun you can have with your friend," he muttered.

She nodded and walked out of the room, smirking. Harry sank to his

Knees for the child he had not been able to help and this group of people that had been tortured and turned into dead things.

When he was finally pulled from the nightmare, he was shaking and sweating. The images of those people, women, men, teenagers, and children down to the age of five, flashed in front of his eyes.

Weakly he stumbled to his feet and walked down the stairs.

Ginny looked up from her cup of tea as footsteps descended down the creaking wooden staircase; she hadn't been sleeping well and had gone downstairs. Harry entered, looking as though he were about to fall.

She caught him just in time before he fell. He was as light as a feather and easy to take into the living room where she layed him down on the couch. When she put a hand on his forehead to see if he was running a temperature, she pulled it back up and gasped. Blood from his scar covered her hand.

Rosy was shaken awake by Sirius. "What?" she muttered, blinking to clear her vision. He handed her the piece of paper that was linked with her sister's. It was supposed to show any writing or substances that were put onto it.

In shaky writing, bordered by blood was the word: Help.