HP : THE TRAUMA AND CHOICE

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Harry was not entirely certain what was going on. Currently he was sitting across from Madam Bones, Kingsley Shaklebolt and an Auror that he had never met named Oliver Stoat. His solicitor was sitting next to him and the cage with the petrified Peter Pettigrew was in the center of the table between them. The Bones women kept firing legal jargon back and forth between them and the Aurors seemed to be able to follow well enough. Harry, however, kept his attention on Wormtail. Now was not the time to become careless or sloppy.

Someone's wand tip entered Harry's line of sight.

"What're you doing?" He demanded sharply as he knocked the unfamiliar wand away. Harry glanced up to see Oliver Stoat holding to the other end of the wand.

"Verifying your claim."

Harry narrowed his eyes. There was a bit too much smug condescension in his tone of voice. A quick glance around the table proved that everyone else was also humoring him. Even his solicitor seemed to have difficulty believing how serious he was about this rat.

Of course, he was eleven and the world still thought Voldemort was dead.

Harry took a deep, calming breath.

He tapped the conference table they were sitting at twice and visualized what he wanted. The magic flowed from him, down his wand, and into the wooden table. Just like with the paperweight, the table slowly reformed itself into a larger cage around the smaller one that held the petrified rat. Then he visualized the cage turning from wood to steel. That change was actually a bit quicker. There was no door on this cage. Unfortunately the bars were large and far enough apart that a rat could easily wriggle through them. Harry had the power but he lacked the skill necessary to create his ideal cage for Peter Pettigrew.

Harry slipped the tip of his wand through the bars. He roughly tapped the rat's cage. Ms. Bones' paperweight reformed next to the rat.

"Alright. Now do it."

"Take off the… whatever spell that is" Kingsley said, speaking to Harry for the first time.

"Not a chance." At Kingsley's frown, Harry added "The bars aren't close enough together."

Stoat sighed but no one said anything else about his paranoia concerning the rat.

Kingsley and Stoat performed the same charm that Sirius and Remus did third year with more or less the same result. There was a flash of light then a small, pudgy man with two hands, nine digits, and watery eyes stood propped against the bars. He was still petrified.

The adults gasped.

Harry rolled his eyes. 'And this is why I will always apologize rather than ask for permission.'

When Harry turned his attention to the petrified man in the cage, he knew that his smile was decidedly unpleasant.

"So which one of you brought the Veritaserum?"

Ten minutes later, Peter was still undosed and petrified and Harry was seriously considering hexing Oliver Stoat into the next week. Literally. In the previous timeline no one had ever seemed particularly concerned about using Veritaserum on Harry at the drop of a hat. Which is why he was completely and utterly outraged when Madam Bones started making noises about 'retaining representation for Mr. Pettigrew' and isolating Pettigrew 'until his system is clean of any potions' and 'reading Mr. Pettigrew his legal rights concerning the administration and use of Veritaserum.'

"Rubbish!" Harry snapped. "He's my parents' betrayer and Voldemort's right hand man! I'm not taking my spell off of him!"

"Mr. Potter, the Wizarding World has laws which we must all abide by –" began Madam Bones.

"I didn't see anyone abiding by the law when Sirius Black went to Azkaban for ten years without a trial!"

Madam Bones had enough decency to flinch. "In certain cases a trial is erroneously perceived as unnecessary because –"

"Even Bellatrix LeStrange got a trial and she was caught red-handed torturing the Longbottoms!"

"What happened to Sirius Black wasn't right or fair" Kingsley Shacklebolt interrupted. "Sirius Black should have had a trial like all of the other alleged Death Eaters. But if Peter Pettigrew really killed your parents, do you want someone to be able to come along later and overturn his conviction for failing to follow the proper procedures?"

Harry glared at Kingsley Shaklebolt, wishing with every fiber of his being that he could hex the Auror. Because the absolutely worst thing was that he was pretty sure that Shaklebolt was right.

"If he gets away I'm holding you personally responsible, Auror Shaklebolt" Harry gritted out as he negligently waved his wand at Pettigrew and silently canceled the spell. Pettigrew slumped against the bars of his cage.

"This is all a terrible misunderstanding!" he quavered "I –"

"Silencio!"

A jab of his wand later and Peter was groveling in complete and utter silence.

Kingsley was good enough not to ask Harry what an underage wizard might possibly threaten an adult Auror with. Instead he said, "I'll see what can be done about making Sirius Black more comfortable while we figure this out."

"Perhaps you could pass this along to him" Mrs. Bones said as she fished a familiar envelope out of her desk. "Harry asked me to get it to him but I have found it almost impossible to get the proper permits necessary to send personal mail to Azkaban."

Kingsley Shacklebolt took the fat envelope suspiciously. "What's in it?"

"Just pictures of my first week at Hogwarts. Oh!" Harry fished another handful of pictures out of his pocket. He waved them at Shacklebolt. "D'you mind?"

Shacklebolt passed the envelope over to Harry. Harry quickly unsealed the envelope, stuffed the newest pictures in at the back, and resealed the envelope. He started to hand the envelope back but paused.

"Maybe I should write him a letter so that he'll know why I'm sending him these."

It was hard sometimes to remember that he was the only one who already knew everyone.

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Want to know what happens next? 100+ advanced chapters await you on Patreon! Be the first to read what others will have to wait for. Join the community and read ahead today!

(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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