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Harry stared into the mirror for a moment, it was the first night back at Hogwarts and he wasn’t happy. Having Um-Bitch as a teacher was going to suck he just knew it. He snorted softly as he heard an after echo of Xander in his head. Xander might not have thought much of himself but Harry respected him a lot. The two were very similar with the crappy childhoods and the having of two amazing friends that made the bad days not matter as much. They even shared moments with the friends that were uncomfortable because of tensions, neither of which were really their faults. In the end Xander was willing to risk everything to protect the ones he loved.
He turned to look at his summer project. Hermione had been very impressed when he’d asked for some help studying potions. He hadn’t told anyone why he’d wanted to know more about potions, he hadn’t been sure how to. Everyone at the house just thought he was doing it because he wanted to be an auror and they needed to take potions NEWTS. He frowned staring at the parchment that he’d spent so much time making, he’d only finished it the day before.
In a way it’d made him happy to know that Xander wasn’t on his family tree but what was there disturbed him slightly. He’d been worried later after he’d had time to sleep after Xander had apparently passed through him into the afterlife and had thought maybe his family tree would show if he’d somehow become Xander. He placed the parchment into his bag so he’d remember to bring it with him, he needed to show it to Dumbledore whenever he got a chance.
Harry smiled as his roommates all came up to their beds, he spoke for a couple of minutes with them before they all settled into bed. He wasn’t looking forward to classes tomorrow. He lay awake for awhile until the rhythmic snores from Ron finally calmed him enough to fall asleep.
***
The next day he shuffled slowly into class staring at Um-Bitch as he took his seat with his friends. He listened and watched as Hermione tried to get them their practical defense back. As the so called professor denied the return of the dark thingy. Harry couldn’t fight it back as the troll carried on and he let out a snort.
“Is something funny, Mr Potter?” Um-Bitch said with a glare. It didn’t intimidate Harry at all, it was kind of silly the way she seemed like a blend of the mayor and Snyder from his Xander-memories as he decided to call them.
“How can you be so sure that Voldemort isn’t back?” Harry asked.
“We at the ministry know he’s gone for good Mr. Potter, he’s been gone since you were a baby. It is very wrong of you to worry your classmates like this.”
“And the ministry is never wrong?” Harry asked softly. Hermione tried to shush him as she noticed the dangerous look on their teacher’s face. *Hook*
“Detention Mr. Potter, and 15 points from Gryffindor.”
“Right. What was I thinking? It’s not like the ministry has ever done anything like send a man to prison without a trial because they all just knew he was guilty.” Harry spoke passionately staring at Um-Bitch.
“Sirius Black is guilty, there were several witnesses to the murder of Peter Pettigrew.”
“So you admit to knowing he didn’t get a trial? After all, the first name that came to your mouth after hearing someone went to prison without a trial was Sirius Black,” Harry’s words caused his classmates to sit up and stare at the teacher, even Malfoy had stopped sniggering. “You’re very interested in rules aren’t you? Did you know that that is considered a crime? It’s illegal for someone in the ministry to deny someone the right to a trial.” *Line*
Ron was staring at Harry in open-mouthed shock. Hermione leaned over to Ron, “Harry asked me to look up anything I could to help get Sirius free. We couldn’t do anything since we couldn’t prove he didn’t get a trial or that Peter Pettigrew is alive.”
“I wasn’t involved in his case when he was originally sentenced. If I had any reason to believe him innocent I’d request an investigation and a re-trial. Another 15 points Mr. Potter, and a weeks detention.”
“So if you had ANY sort of proof that Peter Pettigrew was alive you’d have to request a re-trial?”
“Of course. Ministry law is very clear on this issue.”
Harry smirked. *And sinker* He stood up and reached into his bag. “Then look at this.”
“What is it?”
“My family tree. Interesting isn’t it? I appear to have had a son named Tom ‘Voldemort’ Riddle back in the 1940s with two other men, a muggle named Tom Riddle and another man, a wizard, named Peter Pettigrew. According to this both Voldemort and Pettigrew are still alive. Aren’t living family trees fascinating? Letting you know when those who share your blood are living.”