Harry Potter: Eclipse.-Chapter 82:

Sirius looked at Harry in shock, trying to find his logic. "A favour?" he asked.

"He's showing the world that he doesn't care about creature rights; he's showing his hand. Before now he has always preached goodwill and fairness and, even if his name isn't on this bill, those who need to know will find out."

"So his attack is a good thing?" Sirius asked.

"Yes and no. No, as if it goes through it's bad in general, but I will do everything in my power to stop that from happening. Yes, as it shows the world Dumbledore isn't as great and Light as he claims," Harry said.

Remus, who hadn't relaxed since the mentioning of the bill, nodded his head stiffly. "I will leave if I have to," he said quietly.

Harry shook his head and Sirius moved to stand, however Remus stilled them by raising a hand. "I promised to always be there for you, Harry - and if that means I have to leave for a while so Sirius can gain custody, I will. But I will never truly abandon you. Yes, I may be gone from home, but I will still be around."

Harry sighed. "It won't come to that. The trial tomorrow will be fine."

"There is also a large chance you will be called on to testify, Harry," Dodge said.

"Me?" Harry asked. He thought you had to be informed before; hand-sign, papers, etc.

"Yes. I received word of it just before I arrived - I believe Dumbledore hopes that the pressure of a trial will make it easy to manipulate you."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Let him try. It could actually be a good thing; I can share my story in my own words."

~

After talking through the details once again, the three of them left the bank. Harry had been thinking of the newest proposed creature bill and felt his magic flare behind his occlumency shields. He couldn't let it pass. Slowly, an idea formed and he smirked darkly. Seeing the look on Harry's face, Sirius leaned down and whispered into his ear.

"If I have to help you bury a body, I want a few days notice," he said, joking but not.

Harry looked up and rolled his eyes. "Please, like I would need help with that," he said.

Sirius grinned. "Yes, but an alibi is something I could provide."

Remus, overhearing their conversation, snorted. They quickly reached the apparition point and Sirius, holding onto Harry, moved to apparate.

Returning home, Harry went straight upstairs and into the library, pulling out books on creature history, statistics, and old law books. After a few hours, Harry stood and stretched his back, hearing it pop in satisfaction. Pulling out a piece of parchment, Harry smirked as he wrote down all he had found out, before writing his letter. ~

Miss Skeeter,

I'm sure you've heard about the truly horrendous new creature bill proposed by Dolores Umbridge? It's an atrocity, really. Not only is she relentlessly persecuting the victims of an unfortunate curse, but also their families and loved ones. Her relentless bigotry truly disgusts me.

I'm sure you, like I, feel this awful act cannot go on and that the public needs to know how truly biased and restricting the laws against Dark creatures are. You will have noticed a few extra pieces of parchment in this letter. They are notes I have made, all true and referenced.

You will find that the number of Dark creature attacks on wizards and muggles has increased only after restrictions were put in place. Before, when Dark creatures had more rights—the rights they should have—there were less than ten attacks a year, usually performed by rogues and outliers.

Much like I, I'm sure you will want to share this amazing discovery with the public and make it known to everybody.

Your friend,

Harry Potter ~

Sending Hedwig off with the letter, Harry wandlessly cast a tempus charm and quickly headed downstairs.

"I thought I would have to call for you," Remus said. Harry had almost been later for dinner.

"I'm sorry, I was caught up writing a letter," Harry said, sitting down just as dinner appeared on the table. Kreacher had made chicken in a creamy sauce and boiled potatoes.

"To your friends?" Sirius asked.

"No, actually. I was writing to Miss Skeeter about the creature bill," Harry said nonchalantly.

Remus choked on his bite of food and coughed slightly. "You're going to involve the press?" he asked.

"Well, you see, I decided to do some research. Did you know that the number of creature restrictions put in place directly correlates to the rising number of creature attacks? Before the restrictions came about 200 years ago, the number of creature related attacks were under ten per year," Harry said, shocking the men.

"Wait, is this true?" Remus asked.

"Yes, I even referenced my findings. I thought Miss Skeeter interested in sharing them."

would

be

"Pup, you're a genius," Sirius said, staring at Harry with wide eyes.

Harry blushed. "Well no, I'm somewhat impressive and surprisingly good at research - but a genius? Nah." novelbuddy.cσ๓

Sirius laughed and Remus looked slightly choked up."You have no idea how much this could help," he said.

Harry reached over and placed his hand on the wolf's. "I do and that's why I did it."

~ Grimmauld Place, 3rd August 1992

The next day was the trial and Harry seriously considered hexing both Sirius and Remus; their nervousness and panic was annoying.

"What if something goes wrong?" Sirius said, pacing with his hands in his hair.

Harry sighed and gave up. Flicking his wrist so his wand was in hand, he sent a petrifying curse at Sirius.

"Now listen to me, the trial will be fine. Nothing will go wrong," Harry said. "Don't you agree, Remus?"

Remus,

who

was

watching,

inched slightly away when Harry turned his irritated gaze on him. "Yes," he said.

Flicking the countercurse at Sirius, Harry watched as the man became reanimated. "You know, petrifying curses are borderline Dark," the animagus said.

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