Title: Retrograde

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.

Summary: Harry's trial before fifth year goes differently because someone knows more than they should about Harry. Time Travel Fic.

Sirius strolled into the Tonks yard in his Animagus form, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. The street was abandoned and there were no suspicious vehicles or structures. Changing back into his human form, Sirius knocked on the door, which was opened by Andromeda. His cousin led him into the living room and sat him down on one of the recliners. A moment later ropes slithered out of the chair and wrapped around him.

"Clear." Andromeda called.

Three people entered the room. The first was Amelia Bones, in a formal outfit with her red hair back in a bun and her monocle in her right eye. The second was a man in his late twenties, with square cut glasses, dressed in cargo pants, boots and a long sleaved shirt, with a shoulder holster and a knife and wand holster at his waist. The third person was Andromeda Tonks.

For a moment Sirius' eyes flicked between the Andromeda who was standing beside him and the one that had just entered, until the one beside him started to morph into a much younger woman with bubble-gum pink hair.

"Bones, Rommie." Sirius acknowledged to the two older women before nodding his head at the younger woman. "I assume this is Nymphadora. And who is this?"

"William Tenor." Tonks said. "And don't call me Nymphadora."

"My husband is not the topic of discussion right now." Amelia interrupted. "I have been provided reason to doubt your guilt in the matters of the betrayal of James and Lilly Potter and the murder of Peter Pettigrew and thirteen Muggles."

"I would never have betrayed Ja… wait, did you say Husband?" Sirius replied.

"Bloody hell, Padfoot." The man said. "Keep on topic you old dog."

"How do you know that name?" Sirius demanded.

"How's Buckbeak?" The man asked.

Sirius stared at the man in shock. How did he know about Buckbeak? Of course, Sirius had heard of William Tenor. Everyone heard of him when they went through Hogwarts, at least in Sirius' day they did, but this man was too young to be him. But he was married to Bones, so that leant credence to the claim, because everyone also heard about the grand romance of Amelia Bones and William Tenor. None of that explained Buckbeak. Only three people besides Sirius knew about Buckbeak's escape alongside Sirius. Dumbledore, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter.

Looking past the clothes and weapons, Sirius looked at the man himself. The shape of the face, the nose, the chin and the eyes. He knew them.

"Harry?" Sirius asked. "Is that you? What happened? You should be attending Hogwarts not teaching there."

"That information is a secret." Bones snapped. "Auror Tonks, this is covered by your oath. Andromeda, I am relying on your discretion on this matter. Black, if you breath a word of this to anyone, both you and your Animagus form will be neutered, and then I'll stop being nice."

"Lia, dear." Harry said.

"Right." Bones acknowledged, before turning back to Sirius. "Convince me, and tell me every detail."

Sirius simply nodded and began to talk.

Amelia was sitting at the vanity desk in the main bedroom of Bones Manor, dressed in nothing but her underwear covered by a late 60's The Who t-shirt a few sizes too big so it hung on her like a short dress, and the too large head hole making it half hang off one shoulder. Harry was sitting on the bed with his back against the wall, watching Amelia as she was doing her makeup, by hand not with Magic. Harry found the image incredibly sexy, but she was getting ready for a very important day at the Ministry. Today, the nominees for the position of Minister were to give their final remarks before the voting.

Amelia had her hair in the tight bun she often wore to important meetings and Wizengamont sessions, but Harry still remembered and personally preferred the loose and dishevelled as it had been an hour before when they had been laying together in bed.

Amelia slipped out of the t-shirt and began to dress in her formal Wizengamont Robes. Harry was dressed in semi-formal slacks, button up shirt and a jacket. His pistol shoulder holster under his jacket. As Amelia dressed, she attached her sheathed dagger in a special attachment at the small of her back.

Once Amelia was dressed, they both walked out of the main bedroom and headed towards the entrance hall. As they passed Susan's room, they heard giggling. That was both Susan and Hermione in Susan's room… the room that had once been Amelia's when she was a child. Hermione was officially roomed in the same room that had once been Harry's when he had stayed over with Lia all those years ago, so they both knew that Hermione had used the secret doorway between the two rooms. Harry and Amelia had to supress their laughter.

"Think we were ever that naive?" Harry asked.

"Of course." Amelia replied. "That doorway has been used for centuries, with centuries of parents pointedly ignoring the usage of it. Otherwise my parents would have put you in the room on the other side of mine, which would have given the same official level of hospitality but not the tacit approval of the relationship."

Another giggle came from the bedroom.

"Do you think they have any idea?" Harry asked.

"Susan is starting to have an inkling, but I don't think Hermione has admitted to herself yet." Amelia admitted.

"Does it worry you if they do?" Harry asked. "Given what it will probably mean for House Bones."

"If it happens, it happens. I have not fully given up the dream of us." Amelia admitted sadly.

Harry leaned over and wrapped his hand around her shoulder as a single tear ran down her cheek. Harry wiped the tear away, noting idly that Amelia's mascara was waterproof as it did not run, and then gave her a deep kiss.

"You are all I ever wanted or needed Lia." Harry told her. "Anything else is just a bonus."

Amelia took a deep breath, nodded, and then, when they reached the entrance hall, they apparated out of the Manor, that being the only place you could apparate out of.

The last of the other candidates, Amos Diggory, finished their speech, returned to his seat and sat down, passing the floor to the Acting Minister Henry Boot. Only four Candidates remained, most of the minor ones having dropped out. Dedalus Diggle; Pius Thickness; Amos Diggory and herself. Dumbledore's Man, Voldemort's Man, the Grieving Father and the War Hero.

"I now call on the last Candidate, Master Auror and Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Lady Amelia Bones-Tenor." Henry announced.

Amelia stood, her eyes latching onto Harry's for a second where he was sitting in the visitor's seats, before she moved down to the floor of the chamber.

"Members of the Wizengamont, all my fellow candidates have spoken well and at length on Honour, Tradition and Justice. They have described in detail how they will uphold these worthy ideals, flowery words and grand promises. For me, I have always held to one mantra. Actions speak louder than words. Given that… Aurors, bring him in." Amelia said, shocking the entire hall.

Two Aurors escorted in a single hooded and chained person who was shuffling between them.

"I give you justice, the correction of an injustice from almost fifteen years ago." Amelia announced, stepping over to the hooded man and yanked off the hood, revealing a balding rat-faced man. "I give you Peter Pettigrew, a man believed dead since 1981, and the murder victim which caused the, then, Heir Sirius Black to be sent to Azkaban without a trial."

Given the prejudice of the Wizengamont, the Murder of 13 Muggles was not technically a crime in the Wizarding World and the Betrayal of James and Lilly Potter was a socially abhorrent act but a Secret Keeper giving out the Secret of a Fidelius Charm to an enemy was not a crime as the Charm was so rare and difficult to use that there were only a dozen recorded uses of the Charm in the entire history of the Wizarding World. Making anything related to the Fidelius Cham illegal would be as ridiculous to a Magical as making dancing on the Moon illegal would be to a Muggle. Given this, the only actual Crime that Sirius had been accused of had been the Murder of Peter Pettigrew.

For the next hour, her allotted time to make her closing argument, Amelia first interrogated Peter Pettigrew and then invited Sirius Black into the Chamber to be officially acquitted of the charge. The fact that the others had done nothing but talk while Amelia had uncovered a guilty dead man and cleared an innocent man had not gone unnoticed or unconsidered by the Members as they considered and then cast their votes for the new Minister. Actions speak louder than words indeed.

TBC….