Chapter 17.2- Doom Days

“Spit it out then, don’t leave me on the edge of my seat forever.”

“The ICW predates the ministry by a fair bit. In England, at least. In fact, the ministry was created to fulfill ICW mandates for protecting the Statute of Secrecy. So when it comes to England, there was no ministry to sign the Charter, so the six most prominent wizarding families at the time stepped up and did the signing: Gaunt, Black, Nott, Parkinson, Bones, and Peverell, to be precise. As a signatory to the Charter, you have some benefits under the ICW- one of which is the right to appeal to the court for redress at any time. Now, this wouldn’t work in most nations as their ministries have specific provisions either in their charters or other laws to prevent that kind of thing- that is, you don’t get to skip the local court all the way to the ICW. But the British ministry, for whatever reason, has no specific provisions of that nature. Probably because the six families with the right to apply to the ICW courts for redress wouldn’t want to see that right taken away, and they had more than their fair share of influence with the ministry. This only becomes useful since you were never actually convicted of…”

“Okay, I’ll stop you there and say you’re losing me. Just explain how this all helps me” He said, and I had to resist the urge to frown. That hadn’t been a complex explanation, and Sirius had definitely been of above average intelligence before Azkaban- he had the NEWTs to prove it. I guess, that was another point in favour of getting him to a mind healer as expeditiously as possible.

“Fine, to put it simply, since you never got a trial, we are going to sue the British ministry for illegally placing you in Azkaban for 12 years and issuing an illegal warrant for your arrest” I said, and he laughed once more.

“They’d arrest me the second I showed my face”

“They’d try to, at first. But the warrant won’t apply in Geneva, where the next session is scheduled to hold. You will apply to have your case heard and then the ministry would have to present a representative to argue against your case in three days after that. The entire thing will have to be resolved in a single session, and we will be locked in there until the matter is resolved.” I said, and then he turned apprehensive.

“What if we lose the case?” He asked with a fragile smile on his face.

“Well, in that unlikely situation, we leave the Conference and return here. We’re not having a criminal trial, so even if the ICW holds that the ministry were allowed to issue a warrant for your arrest, then it wouldn’t matter because the warrant still wouldn’t be valid in Geneva.” I said, and this time the smile he gave me was much more genuine. I sensed the emotions behind it, so much that he could not say.

“That’s enough of that, though. I need your help asking a girl out” I said, diffusing the tension and making him bark another laugh.