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Cyrus stood up, placing his wand to his throat. "From the information we have gathered here today, I believe it rather apparent that it was not Sirius Black who betrayed the Potters. Having known him myself in my youth, it had seemed rather unlikely that events played out as we had assumed for the past twelve years, but I had been willing to assume that the war had simply gotten to the man. Pettigrew having been both alive and in hiding for the past 12 years does not strike me as the actions of an innocent man as he claims to be. Do we have any evidence beyond hearsay that it was Sirius Black who was the secret keeper for the Potters in the first place?"
"In matters regarding the Fidelius Charm, the Ministry unfortunately does not maintain any records, the spell being far far older than our institution, and its secret practices effectively requiring that no records be made of it." Amelia Bones said.
"Then, given what we know of the war, I believe that Sirius Black's testimony holds the most water. He provided rationale for his decisions in a way that Peter Pettigrew could not, and acted in ways that are incredibly in line for someone in his position to do so. If Mr. Black had desired to kill the Potters that night, he would not have given Rubeus Hagrid his motorbike to take Harry away, as he likely would have simply killed him there. It makes very little sense for a man who, as far as the world was concerned at that moment, committed no crimes to hide out for 12 years." Cyrus said.
"Here here." Came a smattering of responses from the crowd.
"Does anyone have anything to say in defense of Peter Pettigrew?" Amos Diggory asked.
Arthur Weasley stood up. "Not in defense, but I would like to say that I feel horribly uncomfortable and somewhat violated by the fact that Peter Pettigrew was living in my home for all of those years. While my family holds no voting power in the Wizengamot, I am still a citizen of this country. I believe that there should be some punishment presented to Pettigrew for that crime, even if no other charges exist, since he has confessed to doing so."
"Your concern is noted and expected Mr. Weasley. Rest assured my thoughts are in line with yours. Pettigrew's charges will be dealt with once Mr. Black's charges are wrapped up." Amos Diggory said, with many members nodding in agreement.
"I thank the Wizengamot for their support." Arthur said, before returning to his seat.
"In regards to the case of Sirius Black, will anyone step forward with their opinion on the matter?" Amos Diggory said, and Mr. Greengrass stood up.
"It is of my opinion that Sirius Black be exonerated of his charges, and be released from custody to return to his life. Given the new information of his animagus form, he should be required to register, but I propose we waive the penalty for the late registration. His prison sentence aside, I understand and can support the decision to hide his animagus status during the war." Cyrus said.
"All in favor of Mr. Greengrass's proposal?" Amos Diggory asked.
A majority of the wands were raised, filling the sphere in the center of the Wizengamot chambers nearly 2/3 of the way. "By majority, Sirius Black is to be exonerated of all charges relating to the events of Halloween 1981, and will be required to register his Animagus form with the Ministry of Magic, but will suffer no other penalties."
Harry let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding. Sirius was free.
Harry was a bit nervous as he paced around the living room of the Tonks house. It had been about two weeks since Sirius had his trial, and outside of the celebratory dinner they had had immediately afterwards, Harry hadn't seen his godfather.
In some ways, Harry was relieved about that. Everything regarding that situation was still very fresh, and time to process it was good for Harry. He'd gotten his feelings about what Sirius was to him in line.
He'd also had time to accept the decision of the Wizengamot that Peter Pettigrew was not found guilty for the murder of his parents. Insufficient evidence that Peter was directly responsible for their deaths had been the verdict, and while this did make Harry upset, other charges levied against Pettigrew earned him a life sentence in Azkaban as it was. Harry could accept that. Memories of the night in question were piecemeal at best, and without any real evidence that Pettigrew WAS the secret keeper beyond the word of Sirius, the court simply couldn't rule that he was directly responsible. Surprisingly, it was the time spent with the Weasley's that had earned Pettigrew the worst sentence. A dozen years of sleeping in the same room as a child of a generally well-regarded pillar of Wizarding Society was a hefty thing in the eyes of the Wizengamot, and the sentence had been passed accordingly. Ten years for every year he had done so was considered a fair precedent by the community, and combined with the sentence for not registering his Animagus status for all that time? Pettigrew would be older than Dumbledore when his sentence was finished, assuming he survived it at all.
Moving back to his thoughts of Sirius, those continued to plague Harry a bit. The man by all accounts could have raised him had that Halloween night gone better, and that was odd to Harry. Sirius was still a free man when he handed Harry over to Hagrid, had he expected to come back and pick him up later? Had the Dursleys simply been a temporary measure? If that wasn't the case, why was he taken there? Harry still occasionally saw glimpses of his scars in the bathroom mirror, covered with age and rejuvenation potions, but never fully gone. Should he consider Sirius responsible for that abuse?