Darius made his way over towards Knockturn Alley first today. The alley was just as crowded today and he made his way through the crowd steadily. Finally reaching Magical Altum, he stepped into the brightly-lit shop.

There was already a customer with Ater Caelum in front of the cash register. She took a thin, long package, likely a wand and left the shop.

Darius stepped up in front of the shopkeeper.

"Hi Caelum! Got my wand ready yet?"

"Of course, I did. I always keep my promises. Anyways, here you are. Yew and Unicorn hair. 12". Rigid and inflexible. Handle of white pine with a lapis lazuli focus jewel. It is a good all-rounder wand equally suitable for powerful or minute magics. No pesky trace on the beauty either. It is a fine piece of work."

Darius held the wand as Caelum handed it over and the feeling was instantaneous. This wand was HIS. And HIS ALONE. The connection was very strong and he understood just how much the other wand was holding him back.

"Thanks a lot, Caelum. This wand is just perfect for me. I am going to enjoy using it."

"Nothing to it, my man. You pay me, I deliver the goods. And I love making people the ideal wands for them. I am not like that old crackpot Ollivander, who sells his pre-made wands and sticks to less than a quarter of the choices I can offer."

"Yeah, I know. And I used to believe that crap about him being the best wandmaker in the country. And was so proud of that wand I had."

"Well, that is a rumour that I perpetuated, y'know? I get enough business on my own without any kind of flashy monikers and I didn't want the ministry breathing down my neck. So, I just made someone else's reputation better than mine and let the ministry go after them. Ollivander has to follow some of those ministry guidelines, compulsorily put the trace on every new wand, stick to only the prescribed cores and so on. Where is the spirit of wandlore? He might as well be a wand making golem at this point."

"Wow, that is some devious thinking. Anyway, thanks again for the great wand. But I need to leave now. See you later."

"Goodbye. Come back if you have any problems with the wand whatsoever."

"Yeah, I will."

Darius left the shop after that and whistled merrily as he headed back towards the Leaky Cauldron. The wand was so perfect for him. He could almost feel the wand humming with magic in his grasp. He couldn't wait to cast with this wand. He would also have to practice his Cantatio with it. He had been slacking off on that for some time now and that just won't do.

He finally reached the Leaky Cauldron and was pleased to see he was about 15 minutes early. He went in and met Tom at the bar.

"Good morning Tom. I have a meeting with Madam Amelia Bones at noon today. I believe she has reserved a private booth for it?"

"Oh, good morning, sir! Yes, she has. Right this way."

He led me across the room to the staircase and we went up a floor. It was a long passage with a multitude of rooms in it. We went to the third and he let me into the room. It was a comfortably furnished room with a large table in the centre with chairs all around it.

"Here you are, sir. This is one of our private rooms. The room has been spelled to prevent most sorts of eavesdropping or spying. I will send Madam Bones up here as soon as she arrives."

The room was certainly comfy. Darius took one of the chairs on the table and plonked down on it. This was one of the essential steps of the plan. He didn't want Sirius Black on the run. It would be even more difficult to start the trial if he is on the run.

The Weasleys won the Daily Prophet's Grand Draw and left for Egypt. He was not very sure when the photo of them comes on the Prophet but he should have the leeway of a few more days. Sirius only sees the paper when Fudge takes it to Azkaban and shows him the paper.

In the original timeline, Harry escapes from Privet Drive and spends 3 weeks in Diagon Alley. Sirius Black had escaped just before that and that means he had somewhere around a month's time in hand. He needed to disrupt events badly enough that Sirius never has to escape from Azkaban. It would get rather difficult if there is a kiss-on-sight out for the man. Thankfully, that does not happen immediately and is done near the end of the summer.

While he was deep in his musings, the door swung open and Tom led Amelia Bones into the room. He ushered her in and bowed out, not noticing Madam Bones going rigid at seeing me. Tom had barely closed the door when she had her wand out and pointing at me.

Truth be told, there was no way I could have reacted to that. My eyes could follow but my body was just a mite too slow to fully react. Guess being the Head of the DMLE needs to be backed by serious amount of skills.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"Relax Madam Bones. I really am Darius Icarus. I am wearing a rune anchored glamour to hide my identity. I will remove it if you wish."

"Do so now. Slowly and without any sudden movements."

She really was the DMLE Head. Darius did as she had asked and slowly pulled the rune stone around his neck off and place it on the table. The glamour slowly wore of and his younger self became visible. She seemed to relax at that and took the seat opposite to mine.

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"Sorry for that, but my job requires me to be careful at all times. There are too many people who would be happy to see me gone from the position. But I am curious regarding your need to hide so well."

"No harm, no foul. And I appreciate that you are so careful with your surroundings. I wouldn't want my friends' relatives being hurt due to carelessness. As for my disguise, it is because of a couple of reasons.

It is easier to roam Diagon Alley alone in the guise of an adult. It's not that my mom doesn't want to come but I like to roam around the place alone. The second is because of what I am about to tell you. I don't want there to be even an iota of evidence that I was the one who uncovered this massive ministry scandal."

"Alright, I can understand that. Let's start over. My name is Amelia Bones and I am the Head of the DMLE. My Susan has told me a lot about you and I really appreciate the trouble you have taken to teach the students how to defend themselves. I have tried to teach Susan a few times but it is difficult to take out time regularly to do so and she also made much more progress in a class filled with her peers. Anyways, enough about that. What is your purpose for inviting me to a meeting, that too in my official capacity?

"I have used my rune-glamour form to enlist the help of a lawyer in a case. I have asked said lawyer to bring about the trial of a man who has been unjustly incarcerated within the prison of Azkaban for the last twelve years without even the courtesy of a trial."

Madam Bones seemed to positively bristle at that. She went red in the face and was on the verge of screaming out before she controlled herself.

"And who, may I ask, is this poor soul? And how sure are you of your claim?"

"The person in question is Sirius Black, incarcerated for crimes he is innocent of and framed unjustly without even the decency of a trial."

She gasped at that. It seemed to hit her a lot harder than I thought. Darius could see the beginning of tears forming in her eyes, before she asked in a strained voice.

"Are you sure? Everyone believes him to be a murderer. What proof do you have that he is innocent?"

"Anyone competent investigator could tell that his arrest was nothing but a farce. The only part of Peter Pettigrew that was found was a severed finger. You are the head of the DMLE. Just give yourself a second to think about the consequences of a blasting hex at close range. There would have been pieces of Peter along with his blood and innards all over the place.

It is far more likely that Peter was the traitor who framed Black and escaped after severing his finger to throw Aurors off the trail. It didn't help that Sirius Black broke down right after that and started laughing. The Aurors just walked up to him and arrested him and he didn't even defend himself."

Madam Bones seemed to have calmed down after that explanation and seemed to be deep in thought. She took her time and I waited patiently for her to reach her own conclusions. She finally gave a deep sigh and after seemingly hardening her resolve she turned to me again.

"Alright, let's say I believe you just for a second. What is your play here? What are you hoping to gain out of this?"

"I won't be gaining anything out of this. I merely want a man punished unjustly to be set free and to help Harry to get his Godfather back in his life."

"Alright, I also have something I'd like to say. To be honest, I knew Sirius Black very well. I was a couple of years below the marauders while in school and on fairly good terms with them, especially Sirius. I couldn't believe it when Sirius was arrested for murdering James but with the rumours flying around and the environment at the time, I somehow convinced myself he was to blame for it and tried to hate his memory ever since. But your conclusions lead me to believe something else entirely. So, what I want you to do is make a copy of all your suspicions, doubts, theories, basically everything and send it to me. I' ll go over everything with a fine-toothed comb and get to the bottom of this.

Another ridiculous claim is that he never got a trial. I find that hard to believe but with everything else you told me, I believe I should at least check up on it. Luckily, I work at the ministry and getting access to the records section should be easy for me."

"Very well, Madam Bones. Please keep the investigations going and schedule the trial as soon as possible. It can't have done Sirius Black any good to spend that many years in Azkaban."

"Yes, I will. In fact, it is way past time for this meeting to end and I have to get going now. Take care and owl me as soon as you are done with your proof. Just as a point of curiosity, who is the lawyer you spoke to? Sirius will need a good lawyer to get out of this."

"I have engaged the services of Edward Tonks. He is a good counsel-at-law and I myself will be present as his assistant in my disguised form."

"That is most unorthodox but seeing as you are the principle force behind this, I guess it makes sense. Do your best to free Sirius, won't you?"

She looked rather emotional and I was curious why Sirius brought about such strong emotions from her.

"Of course, I will. As a final question before we part, can you tell me what relationship you had with Sirius? You are oddly emotional about him."

"I guess it couldn't hurt to tell you. We were in a relationship before. We were very close and he even set aside his womanizing ways for me. He proposed me in all seriousness but I didn't think it would work out between us. I was too focussed on my job and my ambitions and we parted ways. I loved him though, and it really hurt when those accusations came in and he was sent to Azkaban. But I'm not going to let him down again. If he is innocent, I'm going to move heaven and Earth to get him out of there."

"Thank you for sharing that with me. I'm sure you can rekindle your relationship when he comes out again. He will need a lot of help after being out of commission for twelve years and who better to lend him support at the time."

"Thank you. I'll keep that in mind. I really need to get going now. Goodbye."

"Goodbye. Thanks for the meeting."

She left after that. Darius had manged to reel in his surprise at the time but that revelation had shocked even him. There was never any mention of this in the books. Guess that goes to show that there is a lot hidden behind the surface that he didn't know. Of course, Sirius was on the run from the law during that time, so they never really got to talk. Hope it turns out different this time.

Darius left the Leaky Cauldron after that and headed home. He would need some time to throw in all the information he had on one parchment.

He sent off the letter to Madam Bones the very next day and she thanked him in a reply letter and assured him that she had got the gears rolling for Sirius' trial in front of the Wizengamot. It couldn't have been an easy task but she seemed absolutely determined to sort this mess out.

The week passed uneventfully and soon it was the start of the next week. The lessons with the Flamels were not to be this summer break as they had had to go to France this year. They were two of the most esteemed alumni of Beauxbatons Academy and had to put in the occasional appearance there. He didn't grudge them that. In fact, he was rather relieved as his summer seemed pretty packed at the moment. And it wasn't as if they couldn't teach him next year. Apprenticeships could easily last several years if both the master and apprentice were fine with it.

It was in the middle of the second week that the article came in though. The picture of all the Weasley's in Egypt and Scabbers along with him. Crap!

He had thought the breakout had happened just before Harry's flight from home but the Grand prize news about the Weasleys came out earlier than he had expected. The following train of events were simple, Fudge would let Sirius have the paper, Sirius would break out and all hell would break loose.

He had to do damage control and plan out his next steps as soon as possible.