Harry and Remus – Sirius' Surprise

Harry Potter sat on the couch at Remus Lupin's house, wondering what Remus wanted to talk to him about. As he was about to get lost in thought, Remus entered the room. "Hello Harry. Did you get a letter on your birthday from an old friend?" Harry grinned, "Yes. It was the best birthday present I could have hoped for, too." Remus smiled back at him before saying, "I could get you something extremely good for both you and Padfoot if you'll help me with it – I can't do it alone." Harry looked at him questioningly. "With these letters, including Padfoot's, which we'd have to 'borrow' so that he didn't know, we could prove his innocence." The change from curious to ecstatic happened in less that the blink of an eye. Then he changed back to curious. "We could only prove that he didn't betray my parents – what about Peter and those muggles?" "We could prove enough for them to at least give him a fair trial."

- two hours later, ministry of magic, department of magical law enforcement -

Harry and Remus walked in, both grinning like it was the best day of their lives – and it probably was pretty high up on both their lists.

flashback -

As they got their visitors badges and got their wands checked, they saw a little rat running across the hall. Harry grinned – they were getting Sirius freed, entirely now. He quickly stunned it and grabbed it, asking Remus to perform the spell to make Peter show his form. They marched him to the DMLE as quickly as they could, and told them who it was. They warned that he was a rat animagus, and were told to come back in an hour.

- end flashback

They figured that Sirius had to be free now – with those letters and Peter as evidence, there was absolutely NO way that they couldn't free him. They walked straight to the head Aurors office and went in. The auror gave a fake smile and said in a stuck- up sounding voice, "with the evidence provided by the two of you, we give Sirius Black an official pardon and twelve million galleons for his years in Azkaban. Also, he has custody of his godson," he said pointing at Harry, "If you know where he is please give him this, it's the official papers for his innocence and the custody of Harry. There will be a press conference in an hour, at which time I and the minister will answer questions. I suggest you go tell him if you know where he is." They both grinned and raced out of the office, talking about how Sirius would react. They were home soon, and Sirius was sitting at the table looking angry.

"Would either of you happen to know what happened to my letter from James?!" Both of them smiled guiltily. "ARGH! Did you read it?!" Both were still grinning, and Sirius was getting irritated. Harry replied, "No, Sirius, we didn't, and you might get angry – but I assure you, you'll get over it – someone did." He looked between them. "Well, are you going to tell me who you let read my letter?" They grinned even wider and nodded. "The head Auror at the ministry read it – a few other might have, too. Why don't you turn on the wireless?" He looked between them and then realization lit up in his eyes and he pointed his wand at the wireless. "In a special press conference today, it was told the Sirius Black was innocent of all charges, and Peter Pettigrew is still alive and now in ministry custody. Mr. Black received a full pardon, twelve million galleons, and custody of his godson, Harry Potter." At this point, Sirius was grinning bigger than Harry had ever seen him grin.

Sirius ran to Remus and Harry and hugged them both tightly. "how…did you do this? How did you catch Peter? And why'd you let him live again?" Harry frowned at the last part and said, "well, we went to the ministry to show them the letters and get you a fair trial. When we got there, I saw a little rat with a silver paw running across the hall. I stunned it and took it with us, where Remus did the anti-animagi charm. They told us to came back in an hour and when we did they had these papers for us to give to you." Sirius looked from Harry, to Remus, to the papers, and smiled. He looked up and said, "thank you James, you've freed me in more ways than you'll ever know."