Chapter 252

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Breaking the hug, Andromeda took a step back, wiping the tears from her cheeks and eyes with her hands, getting back in control of her emotions.

After calming down she then looked at Sirius well, realizing that underneath his clean and new clothes, his freshly trimmed beard, and his happy smile there was still a man who had to spend 12 years in a prison accompanied by the worst creatures in the world and many other real criminals.

Andromeda knew her cousin too well to know that he still wasn't 100% well, and that saddened her.

She had always known that he was a good person, and that there was no way he could have betrayed the Potters, his second family that for him could even be considered his first.

She didn't care if the evidence we had was true or not, what mattered to her was that her only family that didn't look down on her was fine.

Finishing looking at Sirius, Andromeda sighed.

"Next time you want to do something stupid, please let me know first so I don't get so worried" Andromeda said to Sirius, giving him a small sad smile.

"Heh, in that case then I'll have to let you know every day... I usually do something stupid every 6 hours" Sirius chuckled lightly, and Andromeda snorted.

"Yes, that's more like you," she said.

Andromeda was going to say something else, but then she and Sirius heard the click of a camera taking a picture, and turning towards the sound with a strange and confused expression they saw Tonks, Ted and I watching them, with Tonks eating popcorn as a camera floated around her.

"Don't pay attention to the floating camera or us, go back to your family reunion moment" Tonks said waving her hand at them, and seeing this Sirius chuckled.

"Well, I can't ruin your fun, can I?" Sirius said smiling, and then he looked to the side as he posed, "Come on, this is my best side to be photographed"

And listening to him Tonks wasted no time and dropped the bag of popcorn as she grabbed the camera, immediately going to Sirius' side to start taking pictures of him.

"Yes, perfect" she said, bending down to take a low angle photo of him, "Now make a villain face, the girls love it"

"Oh serious?" Sirius asked, posing.

"This would be you," Tonks said quickly, and Sirius smiled, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

"Well, do they like murderous fugitives?" he asked.

"Those are the ones they like the most... The longer the list of crimes the better your chances of getting a girl" Tonks replied with complete seriousness, and Sirius stopped that, blinking for a moment.

He then turned to me, with an excited look.

"Ethan, get that list of my crimes for me!" he exclaimed.

"Wait, do you have a list of all your crimes?" Tonks asked.

"Yes, and it's quite a long list" Sirius nodded proudly.

"Wow" she said impressed.

"I knew it would be a mistake to leave these two in the same room" Andromeda moaned, rubbing her temples, and my mom who reached her side rubbed her back comfortingly.

"Ahem!" I cleared my throat, getting the attention of Tonks and Sirius, "It's quite ironic to see the two of you talking so amicably like that considering you're a fugitive from Azkaban and she's an Auror in training."

Hearing that sentence from me Sirius and Tonks looked at each other, looked at me, and then looked at each other again, with Sirius blinking.

"Are you an Auror in training?" he asked in surprise.

"Yes, and Mad-Eye Moody's current student" Tonks said puffing out her chest with pride.

"Congratulations Dora!" Sirius said with a happy and proud smile, hugging the Metamorphmagus who hugged him back equally happily.

And seeing this scene I blinked in confusion.

"That wasn't in the script," I said, and then I turned to Ted, "Those two know each other?" I asked pointing at Sirius and Tonks.

And the one who answered me was Tonks, who snorted.

"If I know him? Uncle Sirius basically taught me every prank and trick I know," she said, and Sirius turned to her with twinkling eyes.

"And by any chance did you make good use of these teachings?" he asked.

"Who do you think held the record for losing points and detentions in Hufflepuff?" she asked, in a mixture of nostalgia and pride.

"Sniff... I'm not crying..." Sirius said, turning his face away and wiping away a fake tear.

"Ugh... How can she be proud of that?" Andromeda questioned with an exasperated look.

'Huh, I didn't expect Sirius to know Tonks' I thought, but then I stopped to reflect, 'But that's not all that surprising, as he continued to keep in touch with Andromeda before he was arrested, and when he was arrested Tonks was between 7 and 6 years old, which means he's probably been interacting with Tonks since she was born.'

Coming to that conclusion, I looked at the two of them again before shrugging.

"Well, you meeting him makes things simpler to explain," I said.

"Sorry, but I don't see any of that…" Ted started to say with a frown gesturing to Sirius, "Being simple"

"But with you believing he's innocent saves us having to explain half of his situation," I said, and Ted nodded.

"That's true," he said.

"Well, since everyone has calmed down and we're all ready, let's talk about what matters" I clapped my hands, getting everyone's attention, "But let's all sit down, as the conversation may take a while" I said gesturing to the sofas in the living room.

The Tonks then looked at each other before going and sitting on the couches, with Sirius and my parents doing the same.

Seeing them sit down I nodded my head before going to get a box that was next to the bookcase at the far end of the living room, and that box contained everything we had already written down about Sirius' case.

Dropping the box onto the table, I sat down between my parents.

"Here in this box is all the information we could gather about Sirius's illegal arrest and the whole case involving him," I said, pulling some folders and parchments out of the box, "And at the bottom of the box are all the scrolls of evidence we were able to gather to help exonerate Sirius, and they may seem insufficient, but the real evidence is locked in a cage in my suitcase" I continued, finishing with a rather cruel smile on my face.

"Pettigrew" Andromeda spat out the name, and while her husband and daughter looked at her in confusion, my family and Sirius looked at her in surprise.

"What? How do you know it's him we're talking about?" my father asked.

"Hmph, for starters I always knew that the one who betrayed the Potters and killed those 12 Muggles was the cowardly idiot, and I never trusted him," she said with a snort, "And besides, I know that Sirius and his friends were Animagus, and if Ethan said the real proof is in a cage..." she finished, not needing to finish her answer for us to understand how she came to that conclusion.

"Very clever, you got it right," I said, and Sirius cut me off.

"No, wait! How did you know we were Animagus?!" he asked shocked.

"No, wait a minute!" Tonks said right after, just as shocked as he was, "Since when are you an Animagus?! And why didn't I know about that?!"

"Did you seriously ignore the fact that they just said Pettigrew is alive?" Ted asked his daughter with a strange look.

"I have my priorities," she shrugged and then turned to Sirius again, opening her mouth to say something else, but her mother's gaze silenced her.

And Sirius, who also noticed his cousin's gaze, wisely kept quiet.

Nodding in satisfaction, Andromeda turned to me again.

"Well, if you already have Pettigrew himself locked in a cage, which is proof enough that Sirius is innocent, why do you need my husband's help?" she asked.

"The answer is simple" I said, "Politics"

And upon hearing this sentence, all who were present here groaned.

"Yes, I understand why that could be a problem" Ted said with a frown.

"Yes, and needless to say, it would be very difficult to exonerate Sirius with the big families trying to get involved in this case," I said with a shrug.

"And even without those families, there's still the ministry itself and the minister who would try to hide the mistake they made" my mom started saying, "And to get us through this we would need a good lawyer, and even with me being a lawyer, I'm still a Muggle, and that basically means I have no right to interfere in a wizarding case."

"And that's why you need my help" Ted nodded, "Well, in that case I would be very happy to help you with that case and—"

"I will be Sirius' lawyer" Andromeda interrupted him, and we turned to her and saw her with a look of total seriousness.

Ted then looked at his wife in surprise and was about to say something, but then he noticed her angry look and her clenched fists.

Heaving a sigh, Ted looked at his wife with a ironic but affectionate smile.

"Well, I guess that's your case then" he said, and Andromeda looked up at him only to find him smiling slightly at her, and she smiled back.

"Huh, I had forgotten you're a lawyer too" Sirius said rubbing his chin.

"Wait, are you a lawyer too?" I asked, and Andromeda nodded, "Oh that's unexpected" I said.

"An euphemism" Tonks said with a snort, "Having two lawyer parents can be stressful and fun at the same time"

"And how would that be fun?" I asked.

"Well, it becomes fun when a competition to get the last blackberry muffin turns into an argumentative debate involving laws and other confusing things I don't understand" she replied, and then a small playful smile appeared on her face, "And besides that, having two lawyer parents makes the chances of me going to Azkaban smaller".

...

...

...

""Damn lucky girl"" Sirius and I both grumbled, making Tonks' smile bigger.

End.

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(End AN: Hmm, I'm wondering if The Last of Us series is worth watching. I've never played the games, but they say it doesn't matter and the series is wonderful.

What do you think? Do I watch the series or look for something else to do while I write?)