DISCLAIMER: HARRY AND HIS FRIENDS AND ENEMIES DO NOT BELONG TO ME! THEY BELONG TO THE AMAZING J.K ROWLING! ONLY THE PLOT IS MINE!

A/N: This takes place at the start of the Christmas holidays, OotP. Does not follow HBP or DH timelines.

Chapter 11— Lord Black

Sirius sat in the seat like it was his throne, his best arrogant expression on his face. Andromeda, sitting in front to the left of Fudge's high podium as secondary defence attorney for her cousin, felt her lips quirk slightly. The soon-to-be Lord Black simply exuded haughtiness off of him in waves. She blamed it on the Gryffindor part of the man, as it was natural, though she couldn't help but to admire his acting skills. He could see the glimmer of mischief in those grey eyes as she had come to recognise with skill.

Fudge slammed his gavel. The din in the enormous hall ceased almost immediately as everyone leaned forward, eager to watch the trial unfold. Even though it has already been released that this trial was for proper documentation of an official transcript, the House of Lords and the House of Commons are united in their curiosity to find out what really happened to Sirius Black from the man's own point of view.

"Trial of the twenty-seventh of December, into offences allegedly committed under the Decree of International Secrecy and the Decree for the Outlawing of Perceivable Harmful Sorcery by Sirius Orion Black, resident of currently unknown." Fudge clearly had a disgruntled face upon saying this, causing the present members of the Order to hide smiles.

"Interrogators, Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Court Scribe, Percy Ignatius Weasley, and Defence Attorney Andromeda Tonks, cousin to perpetrator Sirius Black." It was clear that Fudge still wanted to pin something on Sirius despite him being completely innocent, if only to find something he had done wrong that would at least put him in a less-victimised spot and pull the Ministry's reputation up slightly from the pile of mud it currently resided in.

"Primary." Lucius Malfoy stood from his seat on the right-hand side of the courtroom. "Primary Defence Attorney, Minister Fudge." He said. "I myself am Mister Black's Secondary Defence Attorney."

Fudge paled upon the revelation. Hushed murmurs rose from both sides of the court, and once again he hit the sounding block with his gavel. "Silence!" He called. The murmurs died down once more, the shock having worn off and turned into more excitement over the fact that Lord Malfoy was backing Black.

"Ah, yes, forgive my error." Fudge barely managed to not stammer. Any hope he had had of accusing Sirius of anything just slipped down the drain merrily. After all, he was in Lucius Malfoy's pocket. He just did not like to admit that fact, so he tries to play it off. Well, this was his perfect chance to do so, and he'd better make it good.

"Mister Black," he paused, "You will be questioned sans influence, followed up by questioning under Veritaserum with the same questions to the same effect. Do you consent?"

"Of course, Minister." Sirius drawled mockingly. "After all, I have done nothing wrong."

"How dare you speak to the Minister in that tone?" Umbridge stood furiously.

"Madam Umbridge." Andromeda spoke coolly without rising from her seat, nor looking at the woman. "You will remain silent as you are not an interrogator of this session. Only Minister Fudge, Madam Bones, Lord Malfoy and I can speak to and for the accused."

Umbridge turned red, but sat down with a loud huff, glaring at Andromeda.

"Alright, then. Sirius Black. Were you or were you not the Secret Keeper of James and Lily Potter?"

"No." He said with a cold, monotonous clarity.

"Did you betray the Potters in any way to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

"No, and I never will betray anyone I care about." Sirius said flatly, eyes shooting daggers at Fudge.

"Were you ever under the service of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, willingly or unwillingly?" Fudge recovered from Sirius's acidic glare.

"No." Sirius looked properly offended at this question, and Andromeda applauded her cousin for his reactions so far.

"Were you ever in association with associates of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

Sirius looked at Fudge with an expression what could only be called half-disbelief and half-anger, with a smidgen of amusement.

"My dear Minister," he drawled again, "If I remember correctly, and I spent twelve years in Azkaban—I used to be an Auror. Now I'm not sure what you think Aurors do but personally I hunted down Voldemort's—" Cue flinches and gasps. "Henchman and arrested more than a few back in the days. So the answer to this rather stupid question is, yes."

Fudge looked flustered. Even Lucius looked amused.

"The…the questioning under influence of Veritaserum shall now begin." Fudge cleared his throat and motioned for the Auror to administer the potion. Sirius opened his mouth and tilted his head back compliantly, letting three drops of the tasteless, clear liquid travel down his throat.

A few seconds later his eyes glazed over.

"What is your name?"

"Sirius Orion Black." Sirius said in a tone devoid of any emotion.

"Where do you currently reside?" Fudge continued to test the potion with a small, smug smile on his lips, pleased that he could think of this question to ask while Sirius was under the influence of the truth potion.

"I cannot reveal that information." Sirius replied with some difficulty, as if he were choking on the answer before forced to spit it out.

Fudge frowned, and Dumbledore relaxed in his seat, satisfied.

He repeated his questions again and Sirius answered them clearly, never deviating off topic even though he was conscious under the Veritaserum. The Ministry tends to forget that Aurors undergo resistance training—that is, resistance against potions and spells that would otherwise cause a lot more damage.

"Administer the antidote." Fudge said heavily. The Auror complied, and Sirius's eyes cleared.

He started to smile when he saw Fudge's expression. Everything had proceeded without a hitch, then.

"Reparations amounting to a hundred millions Galleons will be transferred to the Black family vault. However, the fine for escaping Azkaban is twenty million, leaving the actual reparations eighty million Galleons." Fudge said. "All rights will be restored and reinstatement to Lord Black will be allowed. Any objections?"

As expected, none.

Perfect.

The only thing left is Lucius's part. Seeing as the trial was about to end, the final piece of his plan should fall in place right about…

Narcissa leaned out of the shadows, showing her face for the first time since the trial started, her light blue eyes glittering with anticipation.

Now.

"Minister, if you would please." Lucius said smoothly, standing just as Fudge raised the gavel. The Minister looked lost, his arm falling. He waited for the Malfoy patriarch to speak; clearly having no idea what the man would want after all the legal procedure finished.

Sirius leaned back, winked at Andromeda, and watched the trial unfold.

"I speak for the House of Lords today regarding the unjust incarceration of Sirius Black." He began. Fudge paled, and Sirius smirked straight at him, eyes gleaming in a way similar to Narcissa's.

"As you all know, Sirius comes from a very prominent Noble and Most Ancient Family. The mere thought of detaining a member of society's most prestigious brings horror to my entire being." And to his credit, his mouth twisted. "It is an atrocious miscalculation on the Ministry's part, to imprison the Heir to the House of Black—yes, ladies and gentlemen," he spoke with satisfaction lacing his voice, "I have checked the official family records the Lord of Houses holds, and I have discovered that despite all rumours or perceived truths, Sirius Black is in fact not disowned from the House of Black due to an override of Walburga Black's orders by Orion Black, Lord Black in his own time. This, added to the fact that Sirius is the sole remaining direct male heir of the Black family, means he would have been in line to inherit his family's fortunes and the title of Lordship." He paused here, letting the implications set in. "It is with great regret that I express these facts, yet this is nothing less than the complete truth. As such, the wizarding government had condemned an innocent man with a high standing and a bright future ahead of him to a lifetime in Azkaban without feeling the need to give him a trial."

Excited whispers broke out like wildfire. Nobody except for some of the highest-ranking Ministry officials knew that Sirius had not received a trial after his arrest. This would take whatever that was left of the Ministry's reputation and crush it mercilessly. Sirius barely managed to conceal his righteous glee.

"Now, many of you may be thinking: but Sirius Black broke out of Azkaban. Surely he deserves some sort of punishment?" Lucius asked rhetorically. Everyone listened with rapt attention, and he could see people nodding. "Yet if someone places you in that situation. Would you have broken, or would you have gathered enough courage and strength to break yourself out, all the while retaining the knowledge of your innocence and not succumbing to the terrors of the Dementors?" He followed up another question. "In light of such a situation, I myself feel the need to applaud Sirius." He inclined his head at the manacled man. "Such resolve is almost unheard of. Look at him, my friends," he said, "Does he look defeated? No! What you see in him is anger! What you see in him is rage, is fury at the injustice that has been dealt to him by Fate's cruel hands and the Ministry's ignorance! Here is a man who refuses to be put down by the subjective laws and the corrupt administration we have suffered under for too long. We will not cower under ignorance and pretend that everything is fine, because. It. Isn't." His voice had risen to a crescendo at the height of his speech and rapidly lessened to an ominous whisper by the end. Somewhere in the middle he had descended the stairs and entered the centre of the courtroom. The corrupt politicians could only watch in devastation.

"How many amongst us are hidden and disguised, waiting to strike a lethal blow in the heart of our Ministry? No more, my comrades! We shall not suffer under such blasphemy. We shall not live in fear of being tortured and murdered next. We shall not kiss the hems of those claiming to be our superior, for who is truly superior to the purest of pure? No more, my comrades! Let this be an example of what you could be subjugated to. Let us learn from this atrocious case. Let us finally rejoice for the justice that was long overdue!" He raised his voice in the end, his near-shout echoing in the dead silence of the chamber.

"Let the Lords unite. This will be our first and last warning to all who oppose."

When it became apparent that he was not going to speak anymore, Fudge dismissed the court, complexion pasty. Augusta Longbottom looked decidedly pleased at the sudden turn of events, despite it being a Malfoy who had spoken. The Lord Greengrass had a glint in his eyes. He knew it did not bode well for his family to remain neutral in such urgent times, and if his sources were correct then the Dark Lord Voldemort was indeed back. He had his two daughters to worry about, and he was afraid they would mix with the wrong crowd in Hogwarts. Many of the children in the Slytherin house had parents who are staunch supporters of Voldemort, but this shocking move by Lucius Malfoy has just revealed that the man was not allied with the Dark Lord. Yes, it would do Daphne and Astoria good to steer closer to the Malfoy heir in any case.

Sirius stood as the court slowly filtered out. The last ones remaining were the Malfoys, Andromeda, Amelia Bones, and Dumbledore.

"Very impressive, I must admit." Sirius said to Lucius, rubbing his wrists slightly. "I had not expected you to come up with such an extravagant and blatantly anti-Voldemort speech."

Everyone flinched except for Dumbledore, although the old man looked like he was caught off-guard by the recent turn of events.

"I will not say anything on the subject of that." Lucius said.

He means later, Narcissa translated for Sirius, sending the message via telepathy.

Ah. We will have to arrange a private meeting sometime after my visit to Gringotts, then. Sirius said. Narcissa dipped her head imperceptibly, and telepathized no more.

"Your sentiments at the end were very anti-Ministry as well, Lord Malfoy." Amelia said interestedly. "Would you care to explain that?"

"Fudge is an incompetent idiot." Lucius sneered. "I only support him because it is beneficial to myself." He admitted. "But…" He eyed Sirius. "Perhaps we should reconsider the choice of personnel under the Minister, and even the Minister himself…Madam Bones would be an excellent replacement for Fudge." He said graciously. Amelia smiled tightly.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Lord Malfoy." She said.

"Somehow I doubt that was flattery." Sirius commented. "He is right, you know. You are a just person with a good sense of what is right and wrong, and where loopholes can be exploited. You have got the wits of a Ravenclaw, the ambition and cunning of a Slytherin, the loyalty of a Hufflepuff, and the bravery of a Gryffindor, as demonstrated by your impressive defence this summer when Voldemort attacked Bones Manor."

"Always the sweet-talker." Amelia smiled more naturally this time. "But as things are, we cannot shift the centre of power in the Ministry. If I become Minister then there will be a power vacuum in my current department, and we cannot risk having an unjust person as Head of the DMLE."

"As things stand, then," Andromeda mused, "We need to get rid of that Umbridge woman. She is definitely more trouble than she's worth, and all she has managed to do is screw up Hogwarts's defence regimen, from what I've heard."

"That bitch has been using Blood Quills on students." Sirius snarled. Dumbledore looked shocked. "How do you explain that, old man?"

"I was not aware of that fact." Dumbledore looked old and tired. "But I cannot directly interfere with the Ministry proceedings in Hogwarts. My hands are tied."

"Ah, but his hands are not." Sirius cast a meaningful look at Lucius. "If you'll all excuse me, I have some unfinished business to take care of in Gringotts." And with that, the free man strode out of the courtroom, leaving the five purebloods behind.

Sirius wasted no time. As soon as he reached the Ministry Atrium's fireplaces, he flooed to Gringotts directly.

"Good day to you, Director Ragnarok." He spoke, landing in the much more elegantly furnished private receiving room reserved for his family. As he thought, the goblin was seated and filing through papers. "I wish to claim my family vaults and the Black Lordship."

"Straight to the point, eh, Sirius Black?" His family account's manager grinned toothily. "Very well. Have a seat."

Sirius sat in the comfortable chintz armchair, facing the excited goblin. Ragnarok shuffled his documents and set them aside. He reached under his desk and took out a gold ceremonial knife and a gold bowl.

"Drop your blood into the bowl. The magic should recognise you as the Head of House."

Sirius did as instructed, and the wound healed on its own. His blood fizzed and foamed in the bowl, and he watched, fascinated as it disappeared and was replaced by a heavy-looking ring. It was solid silver with an obsidian stone set in with intricate silver patterns holding it in place. Small dark amethyst stones circled the obsidian, and the engraved motto Toujours Pur could be seen on the inside of the ring.

He picked it up with a sort of reverence, and smiled when the family magic responded. He slipped it onto his left pinkie and it resized to fit. A rush of power filled him, and he knew he was now officially Lord Black.

"Now, onto business." Ragnarok steepled his long, gnarled fingers. "The Black family's liquid estate sums up to 113 million Galleons, 201,029 Sickles, and 5085 Knuts." He said. Sirius looked impressed.

"That's almost twice the amount we've had a decade ago or so."

"Indeed. The interest rates boomed after your very own godson's triumph over Voldemort." The goblin spoke the name with disdain. Clearly he held no fear of the name or the wizard. Sirius smiled.

"Please, do continue."

"In one Bellatrix Lestrange's personal vault, the liquid investment is a total of 100 thousand galleons, 1507 Sickles, and 217 Knuts." He said.

"Why are you mentioning this to me? I thought everything in her vault now belongs to the Lestrange family."

"Not quite. The marriage contract states that only the dowry is to go to the Lestrange family. Any additions to her personal vault will remain hers and hers only, unless and until the current Lord Black does something about or to it." Ragnarok explained crisply.

"I like it." Sirius grinned broadly. "I'd also like to annul that marriage contract. Are there any terms and conditions I should know about?"

"No, there are not. Your father and uncle took care before they proposed the contract, and they ironed out a strict deal with the previous Lord Lestrange. Anything currently belonging to Bellatrix will be completely sealed off from any Lestranges as soon as she is divorced. Also, only the signature of the Lord Black is required to completely disintegrate the contract. It was a necessary precaution taken by your father without the knowledge of your uncle."

Sirius smiled broadly at this, praising his father's forethought silently.

"Perfect. I would like them divorced immediately." He said.

"As you wish." The goblin took out a piece of parchment. "You need to sign here." He pointed at the bottom. Sirius picked the quill up and scanned through the parchment quickly. Nothing seemed amiss. He was half-hoping to pick up something that read similar to 'must obey Rodolphus Lestrange at any time', but no such luck. Bellatrix did everything in her own free will after the marriage, including torturing the Longbottoms into insanity. At least, that is the only crime she was accused of and convicted for. He didn't doubt for a moment that she was an avid participant in all of Voldemort's raids before his downfall; nor did he doubt that she was what people would call his right-hand woman. Getting the insane witch out of Azkaban would be the easy part compared to how he would try to keep her out of that hellhole afterwards.

He finished signing it with a flourish, smirking when the parchment glowed and burnt to ashes, which Ragnarok gathered carefully and swept into a small vial.

"Evidence." The goblin gave another toothy smile.

"I also like the way you think, dear Ragnarok." Sirius agreed to the delight of the goblin. "Any time you need a favour, just ask." He added. Ragnarok stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"You know, your father said the exact same thing when he first came into his own inheritance." He said carefully.

"Well then I guess the apple never falls far from the tree." Sirius responded. Ragnarok looked satisfied for some reason.

"Anything else you would like to request before we move onto the shares?" Ragnarok asked.

"Yes, actually." Sirius said. "I wish to fully reinstate Andromeda Tonks née Black as part of the family, and also add her daughter Nymphadora Tonks to the family tree."

"I will draw up the legal documents. Once it is finished both you and your cousins will need to sign the parchments and the magic should bind them and accept them."

"Alright, you take care of the documents. When you are finished I'll floo call them." Sirius said. The goblin summoned another goblin of a lower rank and murmured something to the goblin who hurried off.

"Perfect. Now, I am very pleased to inform you about your investments in the various shops in Diagon and Knockturn Alley." He produced a sheet full of writing and numbers. Sirius accepted it and his eyes widened as he went through the entire thing.

Shares of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black

Broomstix: 20%

Eyelops Owl Emporium: 10%

Flourish and Blotts: 45%

Madam Malkin's: 20%

Magical Menagerie: 10%

Quality Quidditch Supplies: 15%

Slug and Jiggers Apothecary: 50%

Ministry Press: 30%

Twilfitt and Tatting's: 60%

Borgin and Burkes: 55%

"That's…more than I ever anticipated." The man said, stunned.

"Your father and grandfather worked very hard to keep these shares, Lord Black." Ragnarok looked at him seriously. "I hope you will continue to do the same."

"Of course, of course." Sirius said rather anxiously. He expected a lot of responsibility, but not this. Seems like he would have to keep an eye on Gringotts and keep in contact with Ragnarok more regularly.

"Lastly, I have to inform you about your properties. There are five properties in total that you own, two in England including Number 12 Grimmauld Place in London and Black Manor at Wiltshire. You own a mansion in Monte Carlo in Monaco as well as a Manor at the outskirts of Paris near the Versailles Palace. Finally you have a summer villa on a private island around the Dodecanese." He said.

"Oh." Sirius said rather dumbly. "Wait, we have an entire island invested in Greece?" He asked, flabbergasted.

"Indeed, Lord Black." The goblin looked amused.

"Damn, that's rich." He murmured. He would have to check out all the foreign properties soon.

"I do not believe there is anything else to say except that I will keep you updated with further exchanges. Should anything urgent arise, I will inform you immediately.

Just then, the door opened and the same goblin who scurried off earlier entered with documents in his hand.

"Here are the requested reinstatement contracts, Lord Ragnarok." He said.

"Good. Dismissed, Sharptooth." Ragnarok took the documents, scanned through then, and handed them to Sirius. "Everything should be in order. The ceremony can be done immediately if you wish."

"I'll call them."

Bleh, things are picking up again, but I'll continue to make progress. I hope this chapter wasn't disappointing, because I don't know how to write politics or banking exchanges.

IMPORTANT: A lot of people have complained about how the story is progressing slowly and how I'm putting too many details in. If I feel the need to explain things, it's because I don't want people going 'how the hell are they able to do that? explain'. If you DON'T feel the need to know these details, it actually saves me a lot of time and brainpower, because thinking up these things is draining. I myself don't like to explain every single detail but the reason I'm doing this is because they'll be used in the future, especially the Mind Arts, and I want to make it clear how things will happen.

FYI it's NOT going to be a harem, nor am I going to make up all the history and definitions in JKR's world. If I were the reader, I would want to learn things with the characters, but it seems that a lot of you are impatient for the actually plot. It may come as a surprise to you all but I'm an extremely impatient person who just wants to jump right in to the storyline, and trust me, doing all of these necessary preparations is bloody painful.

But from now on I'll try to avoid dallying and too much detail. I just thought it would be interesting and a challenge of some sort to make up some things about the preexisting universe.