▬▬▬ CHAPTER THIRTY NINE ▬▬▬

ONE MORE CHAPTER LEFTTTT!!!

BY THE WAY... I have no idea how law works, but then again, this is wizarding law so it probably isn't gonna be anything like what happens in a courtroom in real life either way (plus, I watched way too many dramatic court scenes on youtube and I know they're inaccurate af. I'm sorry, I was too entertained)

Also... do any of you know any Ethan fics I can read 🥺 (lol I was gonna ask for Essie fics but then I remembered my babie is not a canon character 😔)

LOOKING THROUGH ESMERELDA'S MIND WAS... traumatic, to say the least and that was coming from him, Regulus Black, sociopathic ex-Death Eater with a closet full skeletons. No offense to his daughter of course, but dear Merlin was she fucked up. Or at least, her life was.

Her earlier years were muddled so he left those alone until he came across the time where she reached Camp Half-Blood and was finally introduced into the demigod life. Things became clearer then. He saw flashes of her siblings before they died, of her friends, and of Ethan. He could sense genuine joy coming from her before he was struck by an intense sort of pain. The memories began to bleed red as Esmerelda's life started falling more and more into despair and bloodshed.

Years of abandonment accumulating from all the time her foster parents couldn't handle her only worsened the betrayal she felt when her siblings and Ethan abandoned her too. Then came all the fighting, the killing, the war, and the new arrival of her Roman half-brother, Étienne, who turned out to be just as broken as her, if not more. Her life was honestly a complete disaster. Every horrible event had ruthlessly chipped down at her psyche until there was barely anything left but the few strings holding her together.

But Regulus couldn't help but be stunned at how... idealistic she was. Everything was such a rosy picture to her when it came to the people she loved. Sometimes she would purposely turn a blind eye to their faults, more than happy to deny it as long as her perfect little world wasn't shattered any more than it already was. Other times,  she was genuinely just oblivious to it.

He was pretty sure the only thing keeping her from having a complete catastrophic breakdown was that perfect little world of hers that she conjured up in her pretty little head. As long as that stayed intact, as long as nobody tried to force her to see the truth, she would continue to function on as normally as she could.

Through it all, he couldn't exactly pinpoint when she decided to put on her rose-colored glasses, but he knew enough to pinpoint why she was the way she was now. Trauma ruined people. For him, it made him put people at a distance, made him more wary of his surroundings, but for her it was different. She didn't push them away, she clung on to them instead because of trauma.

Esmerelda craved love, affection, family, and friends. Unfortunately for her, a good portion of the people who were willing to give it to her weren't exactly of sound mind. But she didn't care. She wasn't picky. She would take what she could get with open arms, happily latching on to them despite how awful they were.

Like Ethan for example.

Surprisingly enough, the sound of his name no longer made him want to commit a heinous crime. While Esmerelda had painted him in such a pretty picture in her head, he was able to see through it. Ethan was an unhinged, mentally unstable maniac with the manipulating skills of an amateur. But he cared about her so obsessively that Regulus could feel some of his own burning hate simmer down.

While Esmerelda was idealistic, Ethan was cynical. He knew about her rosy view of the world and instead of trying to forcefully remove them, he recognized that her blind optimism was the only thing keeping her together and did his best to either protect her from the harsh realities or destroy the threats.

Regulus also had to (grudgingly) commended him for trying to make manipulate her when it came to Sirius and the Fates.

He could understand why the boy had to do it. Being straightforward about such an issue would only make her upset, so subtle trickery and deceit was the way to go. Only, he fucked it up by going at it so slowly. Had he done tried to persuade her every day, then she would've been worn down enough to give in to it and finally go back to New York to be properly protected. Then again, Ethan was just an amateur so he couldn't be too harsh on the kid. He would get better over time. He saw potential in him.

Don't get him wrong though, he wasn't becoming fond of the boy. He just barely tolerated him enough to lessen his murder attempts down to ten per day. But he couldn't deny the fact that he truly did care for Esmerelda and did his best to watch out for her. Plus, as much as it pained him to admit it, Ethan strongly reminded him of himself. They were both cunning manipulative bastards who used questionable methods to care for the ones they loved.

So yes, he and Ethan were alike in many ways. The only difference was that he at least had some sense of shame.

"Would you two stop that?" He snapped at the giggling couple.

He had taken Esmerelda back to the outskirts of the village—right outside the cave, actually—where they retrieved his wand from in order to give her some formal practice on the fiendfyre spell. Except Ethan wanted to come with because he was overprotective, paranoid, and clingy (he couldn't hide it from him either, it was so obvious).

So now he was stuck watching them sneak kisses and whisper to each other when they thought he wasn't watching.

"Sorry, dad," Esmerelda said sheepishly, prying her boyfriend's arms off of her and giving him an apologetic smile.

"Focus on the lesson. You wouldn't want to lose control of the spell and set the village on fire, would you?" He said, and she paled at his words. He turned to Ethan next and gave him a cold look. "As for you, stop being a distraction."

Ethan cleared his throat and stepped back. 

"Sorry, sir," he said politely.

Regulus just sent him a disgusted look because seriously? Even the teenagers back at Hogwarts weren't this hormonal. Hell, not even Sirius was this bad. Could it just be a Greek thing? He knew that the Ancient Greeks—the gods more specifically—were very... hedonistic when it came to sex, to say the least. Surely that wouldn't pass on to their children, right? Right?

He decided to push that disturbing thought to the back of his mind to focus on the lesson.

He schooled his expression and turned back to task at hand. He whipped out his wand and transfigured a rock into a group of raccoons. They started running around in panic, not knowing what was going on.

"Try again," he told Esmerelda.

She nodded in response. Taking a deep breath, she stretched her arms out in front of her, whispering the incantation under her breath. Enchanted flames came to life. They licked at her fingers before bursting forward like a flamethrower.

Over at the sidelines, he could see Ethan watching the scene in amazement. Esmerelda had only attempted to use Fiendfyre four times before, and his expression had never changed from his usual awe.

Regulus shared the sentiment. He had seen only Fiendfyre being used only a handful of times before by other Death Eaters (it was Bellatrix second favorite spell behind the Cruciatus Curse), but neither of them could hold a candle to his daughter's performance.

The godly blood running through her veins enhanced the spell, making it even more grander and deadlier. At the base of the fire, he could see it tinge blue—something that had never happened before. Blue fire meant the hottest of flames, and no wizard had managed to reach that high of a temperature when using Fiendfyre.

An impressed smirk crawled over his lips as he continued to watch. A majority of the flames were still orange and red, but the fact that it's base was blue was already impressive enough.

The flames grew in size, towering over them and becoming immense enough to swallow a whole building. Soon enough, they began to take the shape of familiar magical beasts like a dragon, chimera, serpent and birds of prey that began to seek out their living targets.

The raccoons scrambled around, but they were cornered. On one side was the harsh crashing waves of the sea where they would no doubt drown, but on the other end was blazing inferno that was getting closer and closer. Regulus watched intently as the mutated flames easily caught up to them, and the targets were consumed by the blazing inferno.

But the fire didn't stop there. After swallowing their victims up, the beastial forms twisted into a fiery cyclone that rose up in the sky, and that was when Regulus knew something was wrong.

"Dad...!" Esmerelda called out nervously through the loud blaze. "I can't—I can't control them anymore!"

He whipped his head back to her. Fire was spewing from her hands uncontrollably and they were even beginning to travel up her arms. He could see the terror on her face and immediately went to work.

He aimed his wand at the dangerous cyclone and muttered the counter-charm*. Slowly, the fire turned into water that quickly rained back down to the ground with a loud splash. All that was left were the charred forms of the rocks he had transfigured.

They ended up getting soaked, but he was more concerned on the small sobs racking through her daughter's throat. Both him and Ethan were already at her side, and he winced when he saw the burn marks on her hands and arms.

"It's okay," she sniffled, pain written all over her face. "It—it doesn't hurt..."

Regulus didn't believe her for a second. He quickly went to work on healing her wounds as best as he could before conjuring up some bandages to cover them up. It helped, but the pain was still there. Her arms were trembling and the tears were still rolling down her cheeks.

"You'll be fine," he assured her kindly. "Once we get back home, I'll put some Dittany essence over the burns to prevent any scarring."

"I brought some ambrosia and nectar with me too," Ethan added gruffly. "That should help lessen the pain."

"Are we going back now?" She frowned, her eyes still watery. "Can't we keep going on?"

Regulus shook his head.

"But dad—"

"—You'll practice another day—"

"—No!" She said the word so viciously that both boys tensed up.

They stared at her in alarm, and Esmerelda's face fell into horror as if she had just realized what she had done.

She swallowed thickly. "Sorry," she apologized, plastering on a fake smile. "I'm sorry. I... I didn't mean to snap. I just... are you sure we can't continue? Just one more try?"

Ethan regarded her worriedly. As the son of the goddess of vengeance, he could sense the hatred within her. The burning need for payback. He understood the feeling, but sensing it from Esmerelda of all people was a surprise for him.

"Absolutely not," he told her firmly. "You'll burn your whole body at this rate. We'll wait until tomorrow—actually, never mind. The day after that to resume practicing again."

He shot Regulus a glance as if checking to see if he would agree (he was the teacher after all). Fortunately for him, he was on his side about something for once.

"He's right," Regulus said (trying to refrain the urge to rip his own throat out for saying such words). "We'll practice it another day. For now, we'll be going back to get you more proper help."

Esmerelda didn't argue against that anymore. Since neither boys wanted her to try Mist traveling back due to her injured state, Regulus had to apparate them back to Grimmauld Place where they were greeted by the unwelcomed sight of Dumbledore and Snape.

The latter turned his head away when Regulus arrived. For years Snape had been purposely mistreating Esmerelda because he thought she was the daughter of one of his childhood tormentors, but learning that he had been wrong the entire time was like a slap to the face. Instead, he had been mistreating the daughter of Regulus Black, one of the least mentally stable Death Eaters he knew.

"Regulus," Dumbledore greeted him warily. "How pleasant it is to see you again after so many years..."

"Professor," Regulus acknowledged him snidely. "And Snape, is that you? My goodness... you didn't age well."

The bottom of Snape's neck started to grow red.

"Whatever it is you want, I don't care for it," Regulus dismissed them. "I'm busy here. KREACHER!"

Kreacher popped into the room, awaiting orders.

"Go grab the dittany essence and some nectar." He ordered, and the house elf disappeared briefly only to return with the requested items.

Ethan guided her and Kreacher over to the living room to give her some extra help, leaving Regulus to deal with the two other wizards.

"Is there a reason why you're here?" He asked impatiently.

He was never fond of Dumbledore or Snape. He found Dumbledore too secretive and annoying, and always spent his Hogwarts years wondering if he was going senile. Of course, he wasn't the only one who thought that. While his parents respected Dumbledore's powers, they abhorred the man too and he had to spend a good portion of his childhood listening to his mother's angry rants about how shit of a headmaster he was. Then when he graduated from Hogwarts and thought he had escaped from it all, he ended up having to listen to Voldemort's annoying tirades about him too during the Death Eater meetings. 

(For fucks sake, why was everyone so bloody obsessed with the old man?)

As for Snape (before he learned to see the importance of muggle lives) he saw him an unworthy piece of dirt that didn't deserve to breathe the same air as him, but that was mainly because he was a half-blood with a muggle father. He saw Snape as pitifully desperate. He hated his own blood so much that he joined a group of people who had no respect for people like him. And then Snape became disgustingly obsessed with Lily Evans and that was Regulus saw how truly pathetic he was.

To make things worse, he had seen him in Esmerelda's mind. Snape had grown even more pitiful, even more pathetic if it was possible. It would've been laughable had he not taken his petty feelings out on Sirius and Esmerelda.

So yeah. He didn't exactly have the greatest opinion about either of the men before him, which was why seeing their faces in his house was more than enough to grate his nerves.

"Well?" Regulus scowled. "What do you want?"

"I came to ask for you assistance in defeating Voldemort," Dumbledore went straight to the point.

"No."

"I understand that he believes you to be dead," Dumbledore continued on calmly. "Which is why I suggest that you disguise yourself either with your own charms or perhaps utilizing Esmerelda's Mist—"

"—Absolutely fucking not," he spat, giving them all scathing looks. "You've already got yourself a spy, Dumbledore. I'm not going back to Voldemort or his Death Eaters, not after everything. I've even chopped my bloody arm off to get rid of his stupid Dark Mark!"

He waved his arm around, showing everyone the flimsy half of his sleeve where the rest of his left arm should've been.

Snape's eyes grew wide. "You cut it off?"

"Technically, I had Esmerelda cut it off for me," he clarified. "But what I said still stands. I'm not going back to the Death Eaters and I will not become some lackey for you."

"Severus is in a very precarious position—"

"—And that's supposed to make me care?" He snorted. "You're trying to find sympathy in the wrong person, Dumbledore. I don't care if Severus gets discovered and killed. In fact, I don't give a shit about this bloody war. It's taken more than enough from me already. I'm afraid you're on your own."

"What do you mean by that?" Snape asked sharply. "You don't care about the war? That's ignorant thinking, Black, do you understand what will happen if Voldeort wins?"

"Stop trying to preach to me, Snape, it's not a pretty look on you," he sneered. "You don't give a shit about this war either, don't lie to me. The only reason you're here—the only reason you're helping these miserable people is because your precious Lily was killed before you could fuck her. Don't go around pretending you care about the lives of muggles and muggle-borns. You're no fucking hero."

Snape's eyes turned cold. "And you are?"

"Of course not, you fool," he scoffed. "But unlike you I actually tried to fight against Voldemort with actual good intentions. Now though... after years of nothing but never-ending pain, I can no longer find myself to care about anything except keeping my family safe. And that's what I'll be doing. Once Sirius is free, consider us Blacks out of the war. Even if Voldemort does destroy you all, I doubt he could rule the world anyways. The muggles are brilliant. They've got their own methods to destroy threats like him in ways we wouldn't be able to comprehend."

"You can't just pull yourself out of the war!" Snape blew up.

"I can and I will."

"Regulus," Dumbledore said quietly, his eyes narrowed in a slight manner. "What do you mean when you said you tried to fight against Voldemort? How did you do that? What exactly did you do?"

Regulus could feel him prying into his mind but luckily for him, he had expecting this sort of thing to happen and had already blocked his mind through occlumency.

"That's none of your business," he said, smiling at them in mockery. He knew how desperate they were for information. Watching them try to pry into his mind was hilarious.

"Was that how you died?" Dumbledore inquired, growing more serious.

Regulus' smile faded away in an instant. "Don't you dare—"

Then he paused, sensing another person in the room. He whipped his head up to the top of the staircase, his eyes connected with Harry's green ones.

"What are you doing here?" He demanded.

"S-sorry," he stammered. "I heard Essie got hurt, so I wanted—I wanted to know if she's okay."

"She's fine," Regulus said curtly. He had seen how close the two were and he wasn't exactly happy about the relationship. He had nothing personal against the boy, but he was the star figure of this war. The one destined to go against Voldemort. He didn't want Esmerelda getting any closer to him because that would only make her want to get involved in the wizarding war and he just couldn't allow that to happen. It was already bad enough Sirius was attached to the kid. 

"Hello Harry," Dumbledoree greeted him with a kinder air, looking like a friendly old man greeting his favorite grandson.

"Hello Professor," Harry said nervously, then his eyes darted to Snape and his face fell into one of disgust.

Regulus inwardly snorted. Yeah, that sort of reaction was understandable.

"If you'll excuse us Harry, Severus and I were just trying to have a discussion with Mister Black over here," Dumbledore explained patiently, as if the boy hadn't been eavesdropping from the very beginning.

"This is discussion is over with," Regulus said coldly. "Goodbye."

He strode out of the foyer and disappeared into the living room where Esmerelda, Ethan, and Kreacher were. Harry watched him leave, before glancing back at Dumbledore and Snape.

They didn't look very happy, but there was nothing else they could do.

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In Harry's opinion, things were already bad when Ethan first came to Grimmauld Place. He had never met someone so terrifying and murderous before. And then Esmerelda and Regulus came back and things took a turn for the worse.

Don't get him wrong, he was happy that Esmerelda was alive again, but after learning all these new things about her and her two companions, Harry was starting to see her in a new light. And it wasn't a very good one.

He thought the discovery of demigods was bad enough, but realizing just how fucked up the three of them were was even worse.

Ethan was a heartless murderer. A monster. Every time people saw him, they would scramble out of his way as if they were afraid he'd gut them with his poisoned knife (a knife that Esmerelda had actually given him) or slice their heads off with his sword. Everyone left him alone to do his own thing. Even Mrs. Weasley stayed away, though her curled lip showcasing her disapproval was always evident, Harry knew she was too scared to scold him or tell him off about anything. Hardened aurors like Moody or Kingsley would eye him warily but other than that, they would never dare to get in his way.

Don't even get him started on his relationship with Esmerelda. They were attached to the hip ever since they reunited. Harry didn't think there was a moment where they weren't more than twenty feet away from each other. If anyone got close to her, Ethan would stiffen like he was preparing for an attack or whenever Esmerelda was needed elsewhere, she would look back at Ethan as if she was afraid he'd disappear. It wasn't healthy. Harry couldn't believe all the times she'd talk so lovingly about her mystery boyfriend back at Hogwarts...

Regulus was surprisingly worse. He didn't have Ethan's cruel face or his bloodied weapons, but he was an ex-Death Eater with a high body count, not to mention the countless amounts of people he tortured.He was cunning, sneaky, and untrustworthy; the Slytherins back at Hogwarts had nothing on him.

It always terrified everyone when he would casually shoot a Killing Curse or Cruciatus Curse at Ethan, and Harry would always be floored at how casually Ethan would dodge it all. Regulus threw those curses around like they were nothing and Ethan treated them the same way. It also didn't help that he would go to basement time to time to torture Peter. Everyone was against it, but everyone was too scared to speak up. It was infuriating.

(And again, even poor Mrs. Weasley couldn't do anything about it. Usually she would step in whenever he tried to take charge of Esmerelda, but Regulus would give her a deathly stare and Mrs. Weasley would back down.)

And then... there was Esmerelda. The daughter of Regulus and Ethan's girlfriend. Harry thought that she would be able to put a stop to them—he had hoped for it, but he couldn't describe how defeated he felt when he realized that she was actually no different. She wasn't as awful as them, thankfully, but she never did anything to stop them.

'Help us,' he wanted to tell her. 'Look at what they're doing. They're scaring us. Can't you make them stop?'

But she never did. Esmerelda looked at them with such love and adoration, like they were the greatest parts of her life. She didn't seem to care that Ethan had murdered people. Didn't care that Regulus was currently torturing the life out of Peter down in the basement. And it wasn't just because they were her loved ones. Harry was beginning to realize that she truly didn't give a shit about acts of violence. She never senselessly murdered anyone, but she had nothing against the act either. To her, killing people was no big deal. It was just another normal occurrence in her life.

He had hoped that maybe the arrival of Dumbledore would help calm things down, but after witnessing how callously he had been dismissed by Regulus, he knew now that nothing could be done.

They were all just stuck here in this hellhole of a house. Suffocating under the dark and oppressive air Ethan and Regulus had brought in, the same air that Esmerelda eagerly welcomed with open arms.

Will things ever go back to normal? He asked himself desperately as he quietly walked into the library. He had been asked to go retrieve Esmerelda and Ethan from the library since dinner was all ready. This was going to be so embarrassing for him because he had already accidentally stumbled in on them during what was supposed to be their... private time.

He found them at the back of the library, sitting on a couch that had been placed against the wall. Ethan was supposed to be focusing on Sirius' upcoming trial, but he seemed more interested in laying kisses on Esmerelda's neck while her sweet giggles interrupted the quiet air. His notebook, a bunch of files, and a law book had been abandoned on the table.

But what stunned him more was that Ethan was actually smiling. It wasn't exactly a common sight, but it wasn't rare either. Ethan only seemed to be genuinely smiling when Esmerelda was around. But when she wasn't, he was back to looking like a serial killer on the hunt for his next target.

"Ahem," Harry cleared his throat, and the two broke apart. Esmerelda nearly pushed herself off her boyfriend's lap, red in the face, while Ethan shot him a deadly look for interrupted.

"H-Harry!" Esmerelda squeaked. "He was just, um... helping me! With, uh, something!"

That was such a terrible lie that he almost cracked a smile if it hadn't been for Ethan's intimidating presence.

"Yeah," Ethan snorted in amusement. "I sure was helping you."

Esmerelda looked like she could burst into flames from how embarrassed she looked. She quickly tried to change the subject. "S-so, uh, did you need something, Harry...?"

"I came to tell you that dinner's ready," he said awkwardly, trying to ignore their messy appearance.

Esmerelda jumped up to her feet, desperate to get away from this embarrassing situation she had been caught in.

"Oh! Right, we'll go down together then." She said as she tugged Ethan back to his feet.

They walked down into the dining room together. The second they stepped into the doorway, a calm, almost bored, voice said, "Avada kedavra."

It was said so casually that Harry didn't even bother to react. Esmerelda did it for him. She grabbed him by the shoulders and nearly squished him against the wall just as a green streak of light flew by where Ethan had once stood.

Naturally, everyone was panicking again.

"REGULUS!" Mrs. Weasley shrieked. "YOU COULD'VE HIT HARRY! HE COULD'VE DIED! HE DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE IT!"

"Then he should learn how to dodge," Regulus droned.

More arguments ensued after that, with everyone shouting at him about his carelessness and Regulus smoothly quipping back with a ruthless insult or two, all the while cutting the steak Kreacher had served him with the severing charm.

Harry was shaken. He had nearly been struck by that spell...

"Thanks," he mumbled to Esmerelda, who had to guide him to his seat that was conveniently far away from Regulus and Ethan.

"No problem," she gave him a quick reassuring smile before going to her seat. "Gods, dad, do you have to do that every time you see Ethan? Come on, can't you just give it up?"

"No, this is how I bond with him," he replied bluntly.

"I don't like this bonding method," Ethan said, equally as blunt.

Regulus' lips curled. "Well then that's too bad."

Esmerelda just looked between them and sighed, but there was a noticeable fondness in her eyes that nobody could ever understand.

Dinner, as usual, was tense. Several people kept glancing at Ethan as if expecting him to reach out for the bread knife and stab someone, while others glanced at Regulus in case he'd start going on a cursing spree. Hermione was eating her food quickly, eager to get out of the room. Not even Ron looked to be enjoying his food.

Harry wished the Ted and Andromeda were here. They were usually good at turning the atmosphere back to normal, even if it was only temporary. Unfortunately, they had to go back home a few days ago.

"So," Remus broke the silence, having finished his dinner first. He was looking at Ethan. "Sirius' trial is in two days. I take it that you're ready?"

"Yep," Ethan said through a mouthful of food, but then he seemed to remember that Regulus was nearby him and quickly swallowed his food to speak more clearly. "Everything's ready. I just need to Essie to disguise me by the time the trial comes."

"And... and his actual lawyer?" Remus gulped.

"He's been taken care of."

Harry bit back a shudder. He, like everyone else, was almost certain that meant he had killed the man. He glanced over at Esmerelda, half-hoping that she would be just as horrified, but he already knew what to expect.

Esmerelda was smiling over at Ethan, but when she saw Harry's look, she misunderstood what he was worried about.

"Don't worry Harry, after the trial is over, I'm going to use the Mist to make the Ministry think that Leviticus Haverford resigned from his job and moved to a different country." She assured sweetly, but her reassurance only made him shudder some more.

Her boyfriend had most likely just killed a man... and she was more than happy to cover it up for him.

"And what if you all get caught?" Mrs. Weasley asked sharply. "Are you—are you going to just kill them as well?"

"I mean, sure," Ethan shrugged.

Obviously, that wasn't the answer she was looking for.

"Regulus!" She hissed over at the eighteen year old boy. "This needs to stop now! Any decent parent knows that this isn't right! You shouldn't be encouraging this!"

The whole room stilled. Esmerelda and Ethan grimaced, knowing that she had gone too far now. Mrs. Weasley always criticized Regulus about his... parenting, but that was only when he wasn't around to hear it. This was the first time she had openly expressed her disdain to him.

Regulus slowly turned to her, his expression icy. "Excuse me?"

Mrs. Weasley pursed her lips. "Frankly, I don't approve of your parenting methods. Your daughter looks up to you, and Ethan respects you. You shouldn't be encouraging them to commit such despicable crimes! No sane father would let this go on! Not to mention the fact that you're teaching your own daughter Dark Magic! Look at the state of her arms!"

Harry glanced over at Esmerelda's arms and winced. Lately, Regulus had been taking her (and Ethan) out to practice the Fiendfyre spell, a spell that Remus had told him was dangerous and advanced Dark Magic. Harry had never seen what it looked like, but he didn't want to know. Almost every day, Esmerelda would come back with new burns on her arm. She'd get them healed up, only to get burned again the next day.

"They'll heal," Regulus said simply, a dark look on his face. "And I would appreciate it if you mind your own business, Molly. Do not tell me how to parent my child."

Mrs. Weasley looked like she wanted to argue, but Mr. Weasley quickly cleared his throat before the fight could worsen.

"Molly dear," he said quietly. "We ought to leave these things alone, okay? In the meanwhile, we should all head up to bed. Sirius' trial is starting soon. We should prepare for that."

Mrs. Weasley huffed, but settled down. "Fine."

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When the day of the trial came, the only one who was actually excited about it was Esmerelda.

"I fucking hate this," Ethan grumbled as she helped him put on his tie.

"But you look so handsome," she beamed, taking in his new look. He was dressed smartly in a deep, navy blue suit, which was a stark contrast to what he usually wore. "Besides, you should get used to this. Lawyers have to dress professionally, remember."

He let out an annoyed groan but deny it.

"Alright, I'm done," she said. "Now let me just..."

She glanced down at the picture Ethan had given her of Leviticus Haverford, before turning back to Ethan and concentrating hard. Slowly, his whole body started to change. His skin became paler with age spots, his hair turned into a greying blonde, and his stature turned shorter and weaker looking. Soon enough, Ethan Nakamura was gone and Leviticus Haverford was in his place.

"Done! I think I got it right."

"Let's get this over with..." Ethan scowled.

About half an hour later, everyone was in the Ministry for Sirius' trial.

There was a huge grin on her face as she followed them into the visitor's gallery to watch it all happen. She and Regulus were disguised as simple looking wizards, unrecognizable to anyone as they stepped into the courtroom. Only the select few who stayed with them in Grimmauld Place knew the truth.

Sirius was already chained up at the defendant's table with a middle-aged man in a proper dark navy suit (AKA, Ethan in disguise). Sirius looked... terrible for a lack of words. He didn't look as sickly as when he first escaped Azkaban thankfully, but he was certainly getting there. Beside him, Ethan was boredly playing around with his quill and picking at it's feathers.

Esmerelda nearly tripped on the way to the her seat when she saw Cedric sitting down beside his father. He shot her a weird look when he caught her gawking, but had the decency to pretend not to notice.

What is he doing here?! She thought, only to finally notice the scathing look he was sending her uncle.

Oh gods. She had almost forgotten. Sirius was suspected of her death. Cedric probably hated him for supposedly 'killing' her.

"Sirius Black is your friend's father, isn't he?" Amos Diggory said with a look of distaste. "Just watch. He'll be proven guilty and sent back to Azkaban where he belongs. I told you the whole family's rotten—"

"—Shut up," Cedric groaned. "For the love of Merlin, dad, just—"

Esmerelda didn't get to hear what he said next because Regulus was impatiently dragging her to her chair. She was still shooting the back of Cedric's head glances even when the trial finally began.

"Sirius Black III," Amelia Bones started. "You are here today to answer for the murders of Peter Pettigrew and twelve unidentified muggles fourteen years ago. How do you plead?"

"Not guilty," Sirius said, his voice broken and hoarse. Ethan wordlessly slid a glass of water towards him.

"I object!" Fudge roared. "The arrogance in this man! To try and convince us that he never ruthlessly murdered all those—"

"—Minister Fudge," Ethan interrupted, and even though he sounded like a tired old man, the familiar annoyance could still be heard in his voice. "I must remind you that you are not here as a prosecutor, a legal representative, or even as a witness. Therefore, you have no power to object anything."

Fudge's eyes were bulging out of their sockets. Esmerelda stifled a laugh. Leviticus Haverford was supposed to be on the side of the Ministry, so hearing 'Leviticus' say this to him must have been like a punch to the gut.

"Isn't that right, Your Honor?" He asked Amelia.

Amelia nodded in agreement. "That is correct, Mr. Haverford. Now let us proceed... Sirius Black, why don't you start us off. You claim to not be guilty of those murders?"

Ethan leaned over to whisper something to Sirius, who nodded in understanding and straightened up.

"You see, Your Honor, it all began the night the Potters went into hiding," he said. "Lily cast the Fidelius Charm to hide themselves, but they needed to a Secret Keeper. James wanted it to be me, but... but I had this foolish idea of having it be Peter instead—"

Cries of outrage cut him off, with people in the stands screaming profanity of him.

"This again!" Fudge blew up. "You see, Amelia, I told you this would be a waste of time. This is the same little tale he gave us two years ago after he escaped from Azkaban and was found in Hogwarts. Peter Pettigrew! Alive and a traitor! What bollocks! How dare you dirty the name of a good man—"

"—Minister," Ethan cut him off once more, his irritation turning more dangerous. "As I have told you before, you have no authority to interrupt."

Fudge spluttered. "No authority—why I—I—I am the Minister!"

"That's very dictatorial of you," he said with a raised brow, and Fudge turned red. "Being the Minister does not give you the power to do as you wish in the courtroom, so be quiet. Now please, order in the courtroom so my client can actually speak."

His words had an immediate effect. People in the courtroom suddenly started to go back to their seats, neutral looks on their faces as if they had never behaved so wildly. Ethan allowed a small smirk to crawl over his face. He sneaked a glance over to the visitor's gallery and caught Esmerelda's eye. He winked.

Beside her, Regulus bristled.

Sirius, fortunately, didn't notice the exchange, but he did look bewildered by how quick everyone was to obey his lawyer. Before he could mull over it some more, Ethan nudged him with his elbow and motioned for him to continue.

He cleared his throat and resumed speaking. "I thought that having me be the Secret Keeper was too obvious, so I wanted to take advantage of it. The Death Eaters would expect it to be me, so I wanted them to waste their time trying to chase after me while Peter would stay safe and unassuming."

"So you claim that Peter Pettigrew was the traitor, and not you?" Amelia asked.

"Not was. Is," Sirius corrected with a growl. "Peter Pettigrew never died. He's still alive."

"Preposterous!" Fudge bellowed and Esmerelda could see Ethan's nonexistent patience shatter. "Do you take us as fools, Black?! Nobody here is going to believe your made-up story about—"

"—Do I need to silence you, Minister?" Ethan snapped. "Because it seems to me, that you don't understand what 'be quiet' means!"

Fudge withered in his seat. Beside him, a familiar toad in pink cleared her throat.

"Excuse me, Mr. Haverford, but I don't believe you have the right to speak to your Minister in such a manner," Umbridge said in her usual simpering voice.

Ethan had to do a double-take when he saw her. Funnily enough, he looked like he was struggling to determine whether she was a monster or not. Esmerelda could even see his hand inch up for his earring.

"What the fu—who the fuck are you?" He asked, quickly correcting himself.

Her eye twitched. "I am Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary—"

"—The what."

"The Senior Undersecretary—"

"—Isn't that just a glorified secretary position then?" He scowled at her. "You have no authority to interrupt this trial either, so be quiet. Also, this isn't kindergarten. If my manner of speaking hurt the Minister's feelings then he needs to suck it up."

(At the last part, his American accent accidentally slipped but people were too distracted to notice it.)

Over at the visitor's gallery, Esmerelda, Harry, and Ron were barely managing to hide their snickers while Hermione had clamped a hand over her mouth to hide her amused grin. Even Regulus was smirking approval.

"Now, I need you all to please behave so we can get this trial done and over with," Ethan said through gritted teeth. The 'please' looked like it killed him to say. "Mr. Black, what happened next after you realized Peter Pettigrew was the traitor and not you?"

"I went to find him," Sirius answered. "I chased him all the way to a muggle street and cornered him there. He must have realized he was trapped because he quickly tried to turn the tides on me by screaming that I was the one who betrayed my friends. And then, he blew up the street and killed those muggles."

"And why do you believe he didn't die in that explosion? His finger was the only part left of him." Amelia pointed out.

"Peter... is a rat," Sirius said slowly. "An illegal animagus."

"Illegal animagus?" She was intrigued now. "Care to explain?"

"Back in Hogwarts, James, Peter, and I became illegal animagus in our fifth year," he explained reluctantly. "James could turn into this great big stag. I can turn into a black dog that looks like the Grim. And Peter... he can turn into an old, ugly rat. On the night of the incident, I believe he cut his finger off on purpose and left in there so people would think he died in the explosion."

Fudge and Umbridge looked like they wanted to explode at the mention of there being unregistered animagus, but one look from Ethan was enough to silence them.

"I see, I see..." Amelia murmured.

"I also believe that after he blew up the street and cut his finger off, he turned into a rat and escaped through the sewers," Sirius added.

"I did manage to... acquire forensic serology tests from the muggle investigators who were covering that case." Ethan said vaguely. "And for those who don't know what I'm talking about, forensic serology is the detection, identification, classification, and study of various bodily fluids like blood, and their relationship to a crime scene."

Some wizards glanced at each other in confusion, as if they couldn't possibly believe that muggles would be able to do something like that.

"The blood samples all confirm that it belongs to the twelve muggles who were murdered that night. They managed to get only a small sample of an unknown person's blood, Peter Pettigrew's. His blood, suspiciously enough, doesn't belong amongst the huge carnage of blood in the crime scene. Strange isn't it? Surely if he were to be blown up, his blood would be everywhere... but then again, you all are ignorant so I doubt you would believe this."

He gave a simple shrug, easily ignoring all the scathing remarks he was earning from the bigoted wizards.

He turned to Amelia. "Would you still want it? Would it count as evidence?"

Amelia looked a little uncomfortable. "I apologize, Mr. Haverford, I don't believe anyone here actually understands how such a thing works..."

"That's fine," Ethan assured. "I still have other... evidence. Now Mr. Black, can you tell us what Peter did after he murdered all those people and faked his death?"

Sirius nodded. "After that, he stayed with the Weasleys for years as their pet rat, Scabbers."

The Weasleys all did a collective shudder. Ron looked like he was going to be sick. Esmerelda couldn't blame him. He did sleep in the same bed as Scabbers a lot.

"I only found out about it in a newspaper article that Minister Fudge so kindly lent me," he shot a sickly sweet smile at the reddening Minister. "I saw him on the front page in his animagus form. He was with the Weasleys, and I was able to connect the dots that he was at Hogwarts."

"So that's what you were heard muttering about," Amelia said. "We believed you were speaking of Potter."

"Harry is my godson," Sirius said firmly. "I would never lay a hand on him. My only target was Peter. That's why I escaped. I... I was skinny enough to slip through the bars in my animagus form, so that's why I did. The dementors didn't bother me either because I wasn't in my human form. I sneaked into Hogwarts and after some time, I managed to find Peter and corner him in the Shrieking Shack."

"And do you have any proof that this exchanged ever happened?" Umbridge asked sweetly.

Ethan was about to snap at her to shut the fuck up already until Sirius exclaimed, "There were witnesses there! Esmerelda Black—"

"—Who is dead."

"Harry Potter! Hermione Granger! Ron Weasley!" He listed off.

"If I remember, I recall Severus Snape mentioning that they were all confunded by you, so their recounts are unreliable."

If Snape were here, a whole lot of people would be strangling him right about now.

"Remus Lupin!" He exclaimed.

Umbridge let out a dainty laugh. "He is a werewolf, Mr. Black. His word is even less reliable than the confunded children."

There were a few chuckles in the courtroom. Remus pretended not to get angry from her words, but Ethan wasn't that good in holding his anger in.

"I do not tolerate discrimination in my court, Umbridge," he said darkly. The court was by no means his, nor did he rule it either, but since he was the son of Nemesis, it might as well be that way. The whole room fell into a hushed silence at his words, and Fudge even shut his mouth obediently.

"Now," the dark tone was still there. "It looks to me that the only other person who was there at the time who could confirm that this all had happened... is Peter Pettigrew himself, but you all believe him to be dead."

"Yes..." Amelia said, not knowing where this was going.

"Of course, there are other methods, like using Veritaserum or a pensieve to easily confirm it, but it was conveniently outlawed by your beloved Ministry just before they cleared the charges of several Death Eaters who came from very wealthy and prominent Pureblood families—which totally isn't suspicious at all—but oh look... it looks like those same people are the ones behind bars again for the same crime they were acquitted for. Weird."

"I like this guy," Esmerelda heard Ron say. She could practically hear the grin in his voice.

"So it seems like our only chance of winning this case and proving Sirius Black innocent is if Peter Pettigrew were to be here..." Ethan trailed off, sounding more and more sinister.

"Yes... that seems to be it." Amelia was looking worried now, as if sensing the growing danger in the courtroom. Everyone looked just as anxious, like they too could sense it.

Ethan gave them all a sadistic smile. "Well, in that case. Let me bring him in."

He let out a sharp whistle that rattled in everyone's ears. The door to the courtroom opened and in came Moody, dragging behind him another man.

The wizards gasped. Horror evident in their faces when they saw who it was and what state he was in.

It was Peter Pettigrew in the flesh. And he was alive unlike what they all previously believed. Except, now he looked like he was really going to be dead because he was in such a horrible state. His face was swollen and littered with bruises, his whole body was twitching like he was still suffering from Regulus' Cruciatus Curse, and his wounds were opened and bleeding with blood and pus.

Ethan turned back to the audience with a chilling smile. "Here's Peter Pettigrew. Alive. I hope you don't mind the blood."

— author's note —

* Unfortunately, not much is known about Fiendfyre. Not even the incantation of it is known. But there IS a charm that could counter the curse, except the name of it was never mentioned.

Ethan has his dramatic moments, but he has to in order to be accepted by the Black family 😌

Poor Harry tho... So far two people have confirmed that Snape used to be obsessed with his mom 😂

Harry trying to protect his virgin eyes whenever he witnesses Essan doing... things:

Ethan's priorities:

From M. Nevermind:

From el: