Andromeda 'Andi' Black (unrepentblack) wrote in reduxpitch, @ 2016-08-01 08:32:00 |
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Entry tags: | !thread, character: james potter, character: sirius black, location: ministry of magic |
WHO: Sirius Black, James Potter, NPC Solicitor
WHEN: Monday Morning, August 1st, 2002
WHERE: James’ Office, DMLE
WHAT: James is trying to help Sirius and Sirius is not helping himself.
RATING: F - for mutual Frustration, but in all reality PG-13 for possible language
STATUS: Closed/Completed in Docs
Sirius was not in a good place once he had gotten the message from James. He had thought he had flirted inappropriately - again. Not that the first few times had been his fault. And after those...well...sometimes it was fun. He wasn’t going to lie. But to have the looks be because of that fucking… He ran his fingers through his hair in agitation. He supposed it was better that James had asked him to come in instead of just showing up with Aurors to bring him in. Which he was in his rights to do…
But James should KNOW him by now. He was his eldest son’s godfather. James was another brother. He… He should KNOW that this wasn’t on Sirius. That none of this was on him. Out of all of the living Blacks…. His blood ran cold for a moment. If this was a ploy to get to Regulus...who had been trying so hard to get his life back from…
He knew in his gut that none of his siblings were involved. He wasn’t involved. But in order to prove that to the world. Who seemed to be bound and determined to paint him and his family in a bad light. He punched a hole in the wall across from his seat and tried to take even breaths to calm himself down. Going into this like a hothead wasn’t going to solve anything.
And while he knew it was his job - having Prongs call him in for questioning - it hurt more than he would ever admit.
~~
Three days later, Sirius was standing in the DMLE, trying to not growl at every person that looked at him sideways.
James hadn't gotten much sleep ever since the Dark Mark went up into the sky. He'd been at the Ministry around the clock, save for the couple hours he managed to get away to see Lily, crawl into bed, then wake up to shower and start again. To say he was running on coffee would have been an understatement. He was aware he wasn't a spring chicken anymore, but he likes to think he was doing well considering the circumstances.
And then the mess with Sirius. It had taken a bit of convincing to get it so he was the one doing it, since it was known they were friends and somewhat recently housemates, but James had his time at the Ministry on his side and he had essentially dared anyone to say to his face that he wouldn't do his job properly. No one had, so there they were.
“Sirius, thanks for coming,” James said, stepping out into the doorway of his office and motioning his friend over. “Come on in.” He shifted back into his office but didn't go behind his desk, instead sitting back on the front edge of it to keep it from seeming as formal as it might have been otherwise.
Sirius took his seat and leveled a look at James that the other probably hadn’t seen in decades. Closed off, cold and under very tight control, “Well, it was come in or be brought in I assumed so….here I am. My lawyer will be here shortly.” He stretched out his long legs and crossed them at the ankle. He knew in his heart and his brain was screaming at him that this was JAMES. It was PRONGS. He had his back in this. But at the same time - it killed him that James even had to do this at all. Because it was ludicrous. Absolutely ludicrous.
“And before you ask - it’s not your wife. I wouldn’t do that. The Black family solicitor will be here just to make sure - well to do whatever it is they do in scenario’s like this.”
God, James hated this. He hated that his best friend was looking at him like that, and that there was about to be a lawyer involved. At the same time, he knew it better to be him doing the interview than anyone else in his department. Anyone else might take that expression on Sirius’ face and the presence of a lawyer as signs of guilt, or at least concern.
“As much as I enjoy seeing my wife, I'm glad for that,” he replied, running his hand through his hair. “It'd probably look questionable at best, conspiracy at worst, should she show up to represent you.”
Just as Sirius was about to open his mouth there was a knock at the door before his solicitor let himself in. An older gentleman - whose family had been the Black family legal team since forever - settled himself in next to Sirius and eyed James with an air of exasperation, “I am Melthorne Tidwell, Mr. Black’s solicitor.”
Sirius could feel the eyes on him as the door opened and saluted the crowd with a one finger salute.
“Mr. Black, we have had this conversation before - please do not incite the opposition.” Melthorne looked at James, “My client has done nothing other than attend a World Cup Finals match - that I am to assume was open to anyone who bought a ticket. How is he being penalized for attending when it seems no one else is?”
James felt as exasperated as Melthorne looked when he came in, and waved his wand at the door to get it to close to hopefully keep most of the people working outside from seeing Sirius.
“He's not being penalized,” James said calmly, pushing off his desk and moving around to sit behind it, no longer feeling the want to seem casual since there was a lawyer present. “And while I appreciate your concern, I would point out that as you don't work for the DLME, you can't say as fact whether or not anyone else has been or will be brought in. This was quite the event that happened, and I assure you that questions will be asked to and of many.”
He let his hands clasp on his desk in front of him, his forearms resting against. “If I may ask, Sirius, where were you when the Mark appeared above the stadium?”
Sirius looked at his lawyer who nodded, “I was in the Stadium. I needed another pint and I was on my way down to get one.” He raised a brow at James, “I made a pit stop at the loo on my way. But before I could get to the lovely keepers of the beer - they sold out - which led me on a hunt for an open one.”
His lawyer held up a hand when Sirius was about to go further into detail - and for once Sirius stopped when asked. Just giving enough information without oversharing. And as the lawyer was well aware - trying to keep Sirius’ temper in control.
That was what James had been assuming - a logical, reasonable explanation that also was vague enough that others could latch on and say he was making it up to cover what he'd actually been doing. Unfortunately with a stadium that large, the likelihood of them finding people to corroborate Sirius’ story was small, though he very much planned on doing his best to do just that.
“Did you speak with or see anyone you can remember around that time who would be able to verify you being there?”
“Yes, I got signed affidavits from the guys in the loo….and from the empty beer stand.” Sirius looked at James like he had lost his mind, “I don’t remember. I was already…..”
Melthorne jumped in, “Mr. Black was enjoying himself at the game - no more or less.” He looked at James, “And that is all he has to say about that….”
James wanted to reach across his desk and smack Sirius up the back of his head. He was doing his job, no more or less, like Melthorne had so nicely said. He refrained from mrolling his eyes at his friend, and instead pulled open one of his desk drawers and retrieved the wand they'd found at the scene, setting it on the desk in front of them.
“Do you recognize this?”
The wand - it wasn’t Sirius’ or any of his siblings, but there was something about it….. He narrowed his eyes at wand, then leaned over and whispered in his solicitor’s ear. The man remained stoic but looked at James thoughtfully and nodded at Sirius.
“It’s a Black family wand. Not this generation. But it’s a Black wand.” Sirius said, running his hand over his face. What he didn’t tell James - and wasn’t going to tell him if he didn’t have to - was that any old wands that weren’t buried with relatives - were kept in the Black family vault. Which he had the key to. His siblings had their own personal vaults - but the family ones...those keys were his in keeping as the head of the family.
Which wasn’t looking great for him to say in the middle of the DMLE. So he gave the briefest answer possible and hoped for the best.
“Do you know of anyone who would have access to where this wand was previously?” James asked, hoping he did. Everyone handled wands differently when the owners passed away, and while he wasn't excited about the prospect of a grave robbing he had to admit it would be an easier explanation for him to use. “As it isn't from this generation, do you know any particulars about it? Such as whose it was specifically, anyone currently living who had ties to them…?”
Sirius gave his solicitor a wave of his hand, and Melthorn sighed, “It is the Black family custom to keep the wands in the Family vaults. With as long and proud a bloodline as they - you can hopefully see that there would be more than a few in the corners of the vaults. This was done to stop the horrific grave robbing to try and get to these very sacred and priceless family relics.”
When Sirius went to speak, Melthorn put a hand on his arm, “And of course - the vaults are kept very well guarded in Gringotts….” His voiced trailed off as Sirius leaned over and whispered again. The man’s eyes closed and a look of exasperation went over his features as he waved Sirius on to speak.
“There are some - personal favorites of my mother that have been kept in family safes. I would need to look it over more closely to see whose it was. And I wouldn't want to contaminate your evidence.”
James have a wave of his hand to indicate he was free to look it over if he wanted. “It's safe to handle, there's been a charm placed on it to keep it preserved in the state we found it at the stadium. You're touching it won't be picked up on it, just like mine wasn't. Any information you can provide about it would be welcome and helpful.”
Sirius took the wand from James and ran his fingers along it his eyes scanning it for marks of ownership. He had a VERY bad feeling about this entire situation. The moment a wand was produce - his gut had been churning. He looked over at Melthorn and then at James - his face stoic, his body language rigid and cold, but his eyes…..his eyes were cracking and were flashing a bit of fire.
“It’s a very old relative’s wand. And while a favorite of my grandmother - less so of my mother. This was in the Black Family Vaults. In Gringotts.” Sirius said handing it back, not giving another millimeter of information on the wand. Like how no one but him should have had access - because the keys that could open those vaults were on his key ring.
In his pocket. Yeah, this wasn’t going to fly well at all.
James hated everything about what was happening, but especially that each bit of information made it seem harder to clear Sirius of anything to do with what had happened. He frowned slightly as he took in the bits of what Sirius was saying, bringing his hand up to rub over his face before taking the wand back from him and setting it aside on the desk.
“Who all has access to the vaults?” he asked, bringing his hands back together on his desk, needing to do something with them to keep from fiddling with the wand beside him.
Exchanging looks, both men looked at James, but it was the solicitor that spoke, “The noble Black family had enemies - and some members that they didn’t trust. It was long ago decided that there would be one set of keys.” He sighed, “For the Head of the Family…”
Sirius looked at James and shrugged, “And we only have one of those…..”
Fuck. James leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes for a moment and trying to think through any possibility other than the very obvious one that everyone else in his department would latch onto. The one he knew was wrong, and there was no way it could be right. Because Sirius wouldn't - he knew that.
“Have the keys ever been out of your possession for any period of time?” he asked, looking across at his friend. “And can you recall the last time you saw this wand in the vault?”
Sirius wanted to laugh. He wanted to shout and implode. Of course he didn’t fucking remember the last time he saw the wand. He did inventory of the fucking vaults once a year for the audit for the Goblins. He knew how this was looking - he really did. But with all the work he was doing to the house - he kept them on the key ring with his house and pub keys. He didn’t want them falling into the wrong hands. What had seemed like a safety precaution - now was feeling foolish.
“Mr. Black, has not been charged and will not answer questions that could come back to work against him in a trial.” Melthorn said, and tilted his eyes to eye James curiously, “And with this having just happened - and like you said - you have many people to talk to and gain insight from - I am going to hope that you are not going to rush into rash choice about forcing this issue at this time…”
Sirius clenched his fists and sighed, his mouth opened and closed several times before he nodded in agreement with his lawyer. He had already said more than he was overly comfortable with. But at the same time - he was worried if he didn’t say more - the next Black in here would be Regulus….and his little brother had been through enough without this....
Mental screaming at his parents and then leaned in to confer with his council before looking at James and simply shaking his head negatively. He was not going to allow anyone to bring his brother into this mess - he had been working so hard to get away from all of this….and now…Sirius would sit on the hot seat if it spared Reg.
“Of course not, I'm merely trying to gain as much information as possible about the wand we found that was used to cast a symbol that holds a lot of meaning for many who remember it, and even those who've only heard about it in stories,” James said cooly, his gaze even as he looked at Melthorne. “I'm sure you understand why we would want to get to the bottom of this quickly, and why it's taken such a priority in the department and Ministry in general. No one’s been charged, but we are grateful for any cooperation in helping us move forward with this case.”
“Well, as Mr. Black as accounted for his time and authenticated your evidence…..if there is nothing else….?” Melthorn wanted Sirius out of this office and safely home. And he wanted him there now. He wanted to get to the bottom of many things before they sat in front of this man again - and he had every certainty that they would be sitting in front of him again.
James wanted to thrash the attorney sitting across from him. He wanted to be able to talk to Sirius as they normally would, but he couldn't - not there, and not with that man sitting beside him. He drew in a breath and let out a slow exhale, giving a shake of his head. “Thank you both for coming in. The Ministry appreciates your time and of course your ongoing cooperation as we continue our investigation. I'm sure we’ll be in touch.”
Melthorn looked at Sirius expectantly, the Head of the noble House of Black, and prayed to whatever diety was listening that Sirius could keep his temper for just a bit longer. If he could get him out of there and home before the implosion….he couldn’t do more damage than he already had., “Mr. Black…..”
Sirius got to his feet and ran his fingers through his hair, “Yeah, I am going, I am going….” He let Melthorn leave in front of him, and on his way to the door, pulled out his key ring - the one that everyone and their ancestors knew he kept on him at all times - and twirled it on his finger, the keys jingling - and the Gringotts keys spun and jingled a bit higher than the others. He looked James in the eye, saluted him with the key ring and headed for the door.