Rita Skeeter was glad of the break. It gave her time to sketch out both of the articles she was writing. It wasn't strictly speaking necessary to do so, since in an hour or so one of the articles would be sitting in the wastebasket never to see the light of day, but Rita liked her job and rather enjoyed practicing her skills by preparing to write whatever article the Prophet needed.

A conviction was the more likely outcome, in which case, following the miraculous reappearance of Peter Pettigrew, the Wizengamot had been bothered by calls for a trial for the Death Eater Sirius Black and risen admirably to the occasion. The poor deluded Weasley boys, all of whom could definitely use a visit to St. Mungo's, had been persuaded to act as Witness for the Defense. Needless to say they had failed miserably.

Alternatively, after discovering Peter Pettigrew living in hiding near Hogwarts, the noble Weasley brothers had been horrified to learn that Sirius Black was currently imprisoned on charges of murdering the aforementioned Pettigrew and turned him in to the Ministry. When no one was willing to represent Black in court, the Weasleys stepped forward and did such a marvelous job that Black was acquitted.

The part of Rita that occasionally had difficulty maintaining her journalistic professionalism very much wanted to write the second story. It was so much more interesting. After all 'Convicted Murderer Really is Guilty' wasn't much of a headline. If it came to that, Rita would have to play up the Weasley angle. Perhaps suggest that they had been hoodwinked by Death Eaters looking to have their second in command let loose from prison.

Actually, that didn't sound like too bad of an article. 'Confirmed Death Eater Activity, Hogwarts Students Compromised'. Now that headline would sell. It might even sell well enough to prompt an investigation into how the Weasleys got involved in this, thus generating several more highly sellable articles.

Rita didn't have too long to think about which option would be better, conviction or acquittal, before she was interrupted by Dumbledore reconvening the court and announcing the arrival of one Xavier Gibson who was responsible for 'introducing' the wands.

"Now this wand," he held up the first, "can't have been originally been sold to Peter Pettigrew. It was in use for forty-three years, not including the eight years spent as a rat. Thirteen and a half inches. Yew wood and phoenix feather core. Prior Incantato."

A smoky figure burst from the end of the wand. Even from where she was sitting Rita couldn't make out much about it, but it had the large head and stumpy limbs of a small child.

"Deletrius," Gibson said. "The last spell this wand cast was the Killing Curse."

Which might have surprised everyone else, but Rita had already figured that if someone was hiding wands on Pettigrew to get rid of evidence the wands had probably cast some nasty spells. Although, it would have been easier to simply cast an innocuous spell to cover-up the illegal one.

"What about the others?" Fudge asked, sounding a bit nervous. It Black was convicted, Rita would play that up in her article. A moment where the Minister is worried that the Wizengamot will be swayed by evidence planted by Death Eaters. Wonderfully dramatic.

Gibson held up another wand, but before he could say anything Black shouted, "That's James's wand! You stole James's wand, you traitorous– " Black broke off, apparently incapable of coming up with a strong enough insult to describe Pettigrew. Rita took the liberty of noting down a couple possibilities. She probably wouldn't use either of them in her article, but a little preparedness had never hurt anyone.

"Mr. Black," Gibson said, in a tone that might have been intended to be placating but came out more like Gibson was trying very hard not to shout something that would get him thrown out of court. "I am attempting to-"

"Half a moment," one of the Weasley twins said. Gibson shot him a filthy look but he ignored it, instead turning to Black. "You're absolutely sure that's James Potter's wand?"

"Of course it's James's wand," Black said. "It's got that cobwebby design on the handle." There was a hint of defensiveness to his tone, and Rita was sure that, if someone had pressed him on the issue he would have admitted that it had been a very long time since he had seen James's wand and he didn't really remember things from before Azkaban that well anyway.

But of course the Weasley didn't press him. "So, how did Pettigrew get his hands on James Potter's wand without having any idea that James had been killed?"

"He could have borrowed the wand before the attack," the other twin said, before anyone else had the chance to tell them off for speculating.

"Do you really think that happened?"

"It doesn't sound terribly likely, but–"

"Messrs. Weasley and Weasley," Dumbledore said, in an annoyingly obsolete tone. "It is not the job of the Witness for the Defense, or either of his assistants, to engage in speculation about what actually happened."

"But it doesn't fit," the first twin said. "The only way I can figure it is if Pettigrew went around to the Potter's house after they were killed and nicked all the wands he could find. That would explain why the yew wand had last performed the killing curse on a little boy."

"It is expected that you trust the Wizengamot to decide for themselves what they think fits and is likely to have happened." Dumbledore sounded a bit disappointed, like he expected the little Weasley to have figured this out on his own, but if he had really wanted to keep the kid from speculating he would have cut him off. 'Dumbledore, Supposed Bastion of the Light, Aides and Abets Convicted Death Eater'. A lovely little tidbit, if Black was convicted.

"Moving on to the other wands," Gibson said loudly. He was several feet away from where he had been when the Weasleys had sidetracked the conversation, now standing behind Black, presumably so that the latter could not see the new wand he was holding up. "This one is ten and a quarter inches long, made from willow and dragon heartstring."

"Excuse me, Mr. Gibson," Bones interrupted before he could get any further. Why hadn't she done so earlier, when the Weasley was going on about his theories? For that matter, why hadn't Umbridge, who had so often butted in without any thought earlier in the proceedings, complained about that? Another line of inquiry for Rita's article.

"I'm sorry, Madam Bones, I was distracted by the interruption." Gibson shot a dark look at Black and the Weasleys. "I'll return to that wand when I've finished with this one. Prior Incantato."

This time there was no smoky echo of the last spell cast. Rita supposed that meant that the spell had no visible effect and the Wizengamot would have to rely on Gibson to correctly identify it from... Rita wasn't sure how exactly the spell worked. She made a mental note to look it up later, to see how fallible it was.

"This wand last cast a dusting charm," Gibson said. "I'm not sure what on, but I don't think that's relevant to the present case. Now to the wand that Black claims belonged to James Potter: eleven inches long, made of–" "

"Mahogany and phoenix feather," Black shouted. He smiled at the Interrogators, as though he had done something more than create another disturbance. "I know because James told me once. We were talking about the different wand cores and how–"

"Mr. Weasley, didn't you say that you silence Black if he kept interrupting," Umbridge said. Rita couldn't see Umbridge's face from where she was sitting, but she would have bet her Quick Quotes Quill that there was a fake smile plastered over it. And not a trying to be friendly smile either, but one of the ones that belonged on a cat that had just trapped a very succulent looking mouse under its paws.

"No, he said he'd silence him if he got in the way of questioning Pettigrew," one of the twins said. His face was covered in the self-satisfied smirk of someone who knew they had found a loophole.

"I still think it very unprofessional to allow your client to interrupt a witness giving testimony," Umbridge continued. "I'm sure that there's some rule against it. After all, such carrying on is hardly suitable for classroom at Hogwarts, much less a court of law."

"We could charge him with contempt of court," Bones said. "Of course those charges can't be resolved by the judicial body that brought them up, so if Black were to be convicted we would have to delay returning him to Azkaban in order to settle them."

Umbridge scowled.

"The idea doesn't appeal much to me either," Bones said. "Mr. Gibson, if you would be so kind as to tell us what the wand you're holding is made of."

"Mahogany and phoenix feather," Gibson said. He gritted his teeth. "Like Mr. Black said, although I feel obligated to point out that many people have mahogany and phoenix feather wands, so Mr. Black's statement should in no way be taken as conclusive proof that this wand belonged to James Potter."

For the first time that evening, Rita noticed that Peter Pettigrew looked terrified, not of Sirius Black or or the entire crowd of people, but of Gibson in particular. Whether or not Black was convicted, Rita was going to have to have a talk with Ollivander and see if any of the wands he had sold matched the description of the wands found in Peter Pettigrew's pocket.

"But it is very compelling evidence, isn't it?" Fudge asked. "Mahogany's a tropical wood, so most temperate wandmakers don't even work with it at all. Ollivander probably would, but even he wouldn't have more than a handful of mahogany wands in stock at a time." Even Albus Dumbledore, who was usually good at pretending to have expected strange occurrences, looked rather surprised by the Minister's statement. "I wanted to be a wandmaker when I was eleven," Fudge continued, when he realized that the entire court was waiting for him to explain himself. "I remember a few things from then. Anyone who passed their Herbology N.E.W.T. would know the same."

Among the Wizengamot and on the stands, several people nodded in agreement.

"Hem, hem." The focus of the room shifted from Fudge to Umbridge. "With all due respect, Minister, Black is hardly a reliable witness. Even if he had no incentive to lie, he's spent the last eight years in Azkaban and that's bound to have affected his memory. We don't have anyone else's word on what James Potter's wand was made of."

"It's still a very lucky guess," Fudge said. He paused for a moment, then took a deep breath and with the air of someone about to plow through a very unpleasant task said, "Madam Umbridge, the only way Black would know the composition of that wand in order to lie about it belonging to James Potter would be if he had planted the wand on Pettigrew himself and he can't have! I was there! I took statements from the witnesses, and none of them mentioned anything more than a couple of men fighting, sticks being pulled out, and then an explosion! There was no sticking wands on someone, or turning him into a rat or anything like that!"

"Exactly what I've been saying all along," one of the Weasley twins said. From the angle of his body, it seemed like he was talking more to his twin than to everyone else, but the entire room still heard him. "Well, not the bit about the wands, because we just found out about that, but–"

"Mr. Weasley, I have already asked you to refrain from speculating," Dumbledore said. Rita supposed she could fault him for not cutting off Minister when he had started speculating, but Fudge was an Interrogator and she was not sure that she would have dared interrupt the Minister of Magic if she had been the one calling the shots.

Now Fudge's rant, that would be much easier to deal with if Black was acquitted. 'Miscarriage of Justice Rectified by Minister of Magic' made for a lovely headline and all there was to do was tweak the words a bit so as to make the Minister as elegant as possible without tipping off anyone who had been to the trial and heard what the Minister had actually said.

If Black was convicted on the other hand, well 'New Minister of Magic Flubs First Big Crisis of his Career' was a possible headline, but Minister Fudge was unlikely to be pleased by it. Nominally, the Prophet was an independent paper, but they could only make the government look so bad before they found themselves unable to sell papers anymore. Perhaps it would be better to play it off as Black's dark charisma influencing even the staunchest of hearts.

"Well, then," Gibson said. "Prior Incantato." Thin grey streaks issued from the mahogany wand that might have belonged to James Potter. "This wand was last used to make sparks. If it belonged to James Potter then he didn't use it to defend himself from You-Know-Who."

"The DMLE's known that for years," someone seated behind Rita whispered to the person next to her. "There was no sign of any struggle, magical or otherwise. Half the house was blown out when the Killing Curse backfired, but there was no other damage. No other traces of spells, and no wands. That's why Director Bones hasn't pulled out the case file and proven that wand isn't James Potter's"

Rita was so busy making note of that as from a 'confidential informant in the Ministry' that she missed most of Gibson introducing the next wand, only remembering that the trial was still ongoing when a smoky finger came out of the last wand.

"This wand was last used to cast a severing charm used to take someone's finger off," Gibson said. "My evidence has been presented, so if you have no further questions..."

The three Interrogators shared a look. "No further questions, Mr. Gibson," Fudge said. "Unless the Witness for the Defense has any?"

"This severing charm," the oldest Weasley said, "cast by the wand matching Mr. Black's description of Peter Pettigrew's wand, could it have been what cut off Peter Pettigrew's right index finger?"

"Certainly," Gibson said. "There's no way to prove it was, but considering that it was found in the possession of Peter Pettigrew, I would consider it quite likely that–"

"I don't remember how I lost my finger," Pettigrew said. His voice was high and terrified and not at all convincing.

"You don't seem to remember a lot of things," the eldest Weasley said. For half a second, Rita thought that he was going to add something else, but instead he turned and addressed the Wizengamot. "The defense rests."

The Wizengamot burst into whispered conversation, debating the merits of Black's case. Bones was rather involved in the debate, with half a dozen people lobbing questions at her. Some of them seemed to direct questions at Fudge, but he did not answer any of them. A number of other people in the ranks, probably those who had been involved in the original investigation also found themselves surrounded by a knot of confused people. It was a shame that they were too far away for Rita to make out much of what they were saying.

The audience, meanwhile, was doing enough speculating of their own that Rita couldn't catch more than a few words of any one conversation. Oh well, one Ministry statement that she was not supposed to have was enough for a single article.

"Quiet," Dumbledore said, when the debate had died down among the Wizengamot. The audience was still going strong, although they quieted at Dumbledore's words. "Those in favor of clearing the accused of all charges?"

Across the Wizengamot, about a dozen hands went up. After a couple of seconds, so did Fudge's. His decision appeared to be the deciding factor for those who weren't quite sure, and in another couple of seconds the vote had doubled. More than doubled – Rita had time to count twenty-nine people in favor of acquittal before Dumbledore said, "And those in favor of conviction?"

Almost all the remaining hands went up. Two members of the Wizengamot abstained from voting. "Cleared of all charges," Dumbbledore announced.

A loud thump came from behind Rita. She wheeled around and saw Barty Crouch Sr. lying across the floor. Apparently he had tried to stand up and fainted. A bit of a shame considering that he had been the prime candidate to replace the soon-to-be-retired Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Collapsing in public places, people were going to say that his health wasn't up to the job.

Although, if Rita remembered properly, Crouch had been the one to have Black imprisoned without a trial. There might be something worth looking into there, after Rita had finished writing tomorrow's headline. And what a headline it would be.

A/N: There is a follow up to this story, about Sirius coping with life outside of Azkaban. It is entitled Coming Home and the first chapter has been posted.