Chapter 126 - Swift Negotiations!

{Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts}

{6th Oct 1991} 

{3rd person POV}

...

"Peter Enid Pettigrew..." Pettigrew's words lingered in the air as everyone seemed to ponder the implications. Rigel looked at Amelia. She was staring at Pettigrew with a blank look on her face. He knew he could take advantage of this situation a little, but he controlled himself and instead leaned into her ears and whispered.

"...Calm down, Please. I need your help to make sure Uncle Sirius could be free." Rigel nudged her. 

Her eyes blankly turned to him, and after staring at his face for a moment, she nodded and regained her balance. Rigel let go of her waist. The feeling of grabbing onto her plump flesh lingered as Rigel focused back onto the room.

'Now let's deal with the Minister...' Rigel thought as he turned to Fudge, who was frowning.

"What do you think, Minister Fudge? Don't you think that the last Minister before you made a mess of things? Not only did he allow the Dark Lord to ravage our country, but he also threw an innocent person, an heir to a Most Ancient and Most Noble house, into Azkaban. Surely the current government would step up and right those wrongs, making sure that the citizens of our country have faith in its justice system?" Rigel asked with a smile on his face.

...

Fudge stared at Rigel Black. He wasn't fooled by the young man's smiling face. Although his words were flowery, it contained a hidden message to not fuck this up. He knew if he didn't follow the same path, then the young man would probably leak this whole thing in the newspaper the next day. He had managed to talk to the Director of the Daily Prophet to suppress Rita's personal war against Malfoy, but this wasn't something he could suppress.

'How in the world did he get Rita on his side? I don't understand...'

At the same time, he looked at Amelia. Although she was not in the line of inheritance for the Bones household, she was untouchable to him as well, so he had no out. Dumbledore would also be against him. Although Lucius would support any plan to bury this incident, Fudge knew that it wasn't a good idea to muddle through this much opposition.

'I could still use this incident to increase my prestige as well. It is a chance, but I would lose Lucius's support for a while.' Fudge calculated. He knew he wasn't the smartest person in this book, but in politics, connections mattered, and although he would probably lose Lucius over this incident, there was a chance to gain the favor of not only the current Black heir who is on the run, but the next one as well.

...

"Of course, you can count on the Ministry to look deeply into who was involved in this horrible mistake. I personally guarantee that this situation will not be brushed over by some office politics," Fudge promised. His words caught many people by surprise as he turned to Amelia. 

"Amelia, I want you to personally handle this case and make sure no details are left untouched. If Pettigrew was the reason for that unfortunate night 17 years ago, he needs to answer for his crimes... and the kill-on-sight order on Sirius Black has hereby been revoked. Pending a round of questioning and admission of nonguilty, he will be exonerated of all of his alleged crimes." Fudge declared. He made his stance clear and sneaked a glance at Rigel, who nodded.

"Understood, Minister," Amelia replied, her voice a little hollow.

"Good, heir Black," Fudge turned to address Rigel. "The ministry thanks you for bringing this severe misunderstanding to our attention. I would forward your name to be included in the list of recipients for the Order of Merlin, Second class."

Rigel paused for a moment and looked at Fudge's expression. He didn't contemplate for long before he nodded his head in thanks, "Of course, minister."

Accolades like these didn't matter to him, but a positive image always helped. Fudge looked around at everyone before he tilted his head at Dumbledore and spoke, "Albus, I'll talk to you later. Please do release Pettigrew into the Ministry's custody by nightfall."

As Fudge got ready to leave, so did Amelia. As the head of the DMLE, it was her job to make sure nothing happened to Fudge. Lucius and Narcissa swiftly followed behind the minister, and Lucius whispered something into Narcissa's ear when they left. 

Rigel turned back to look at a bound Pettigrew, who was now looking around the room. He was trembling as he looked in between Dumbledore and Severus.

"I think I should leave too. I'm sure Headmaster Dumbledore would be able to handle this matter." Rigel smiled as he looked at Dumbledore. He had noticed that from the time Pettigrew had confessed his sins, Dumbledore had been looking at him.

"How did you know Pettigrew was hiding as a rat?" Dumbledore asked. Normally, the headmaster was a master of hiding his intent, but right now, he was being entirely blunt.

Rigel was a little taken aback before he replied, "I read about some things from a book that my Father left me. The thought that Sirius could betray the Potters was a notion that was foreign to him. I had to get to the bottom of what happened that night, and once I found out that something like this was possible, I had to clear the name of my only living relative."

The story was a stretch from the truth, and Dumbledore could tell that Rigel was hiding a lot of things. The disadvantage that he had was that Rigel's mind was safe, and he couldn't act more blatantly than asking him for the truth.

"Can I go, Headmaster?" Rigel motioned to the door, and Dumbledore absentmindedly nodded. He could feel Dumbledore's eyes as he left the room and walked back to his room. The plan had gone great, and now he had a safety blanket named Sirius who would safeguard him from both Dumbledore, Lucius, and the Ministry itself.

The trek back to his room was peaceful. When he opened the door, he was met with a pair of grey eyes tracking his move. There was a hint of steel in her eyes as she stepped forward and spoke, "Can we talk?"

...

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AN - I was assaulted by a sense of weakness all day and had to push myself to complete this chapter. I think I'm going to be a little ill, but I'll try to update tomorrow!