It took Harry Underhill a mere twenty-three minutes to bring down the court ruling on Sirius Black's case. James sat in the chair where he was assigned to be seated as Underhill's assistant, a spot they'd chosen specifically because James was in full view of Sirius while he sat in the chair in the center of the room, where the accused was meant to sit during the trial, where the full wizengamot could see his reactions to the accusations and testimonies given. James was armed with a box full of files that Underhill had pulled together in the three weeks a lotted him to prepare his case, and the volume of documents, interviews, evidences, and articles of research that Mr. Underhill had compiled was stunning.

James realized as he paged through that he had been involved in hardly any of it, despite long hours of running about the Ministry, pulling files and having them copied by Sean Buckner. He'd trailed along with Underhill to two or three interviews and even given one himself on Sirius Black's character, but there were dozens here. James flickered through everything in the box and glanced up at Harry Underhill, completely in awe of master work that had been done on Sirius's behalf - all while fighting to have the whole process expedited.

This box, he realized, represented not only hours of his own time and hours of time Underhill had spent during regular office hours, but also hours and hours of personal time spent, likely a good deal of long nights, and more thought and heart than James reckoned he'd put into much else in his entire life.

He was reminded forcibly of his father, when Charlus had taken up the case for Jasper Odair.

And also of Sirius himself, when Sirius had decided that they ought to become Animagi for Remus Lupin.

He remembered Sirius telling him about Underhill visiting him in the holding cell that night, playing cards and giving him back his cigarettes. The image had never felt quite right in James's mind until that moment, looking over those files and realizing that Underhill had invested himself in the case so thoroughly.  The look in his mum's face earlier that morning, singing praises for Underhill and talking about Charlus and Ottalie stuck in James's mind, too.

This, James realized with a jolt, was not just a brilliant bit of detective work, but this was a work of art. A work of love - an honest desire to see another person done right by - and his heart swelled with pride at the knowledge 

What an honor it must be, James thought, to use the talent that you were born with to help someone else in whatever way that you can... to use your passion and change the life of even one other person who needed what you had to give.

Underhill wasted no time in calling for the testimony of Ms. Hestia Leonards, getting the worst of the evidence against Sirius out of the way up front like tearing off a bandaid. 

The pinched woman walked up to the small podium that stood before the wizengamot, carefully keeping her eyes avoided from Sirius Black, and she recounted tearfully a story about sitting at her lovely tea table outside of her home while the degnoming was being done, sipping tea and talking with her friends. She couldn't recall how the subject of werewolves came about, but they hadn't spoken harshly, she insisted, and one of her friends had asked her about the policies at the University and she had shared that she'd been dealing with a boy thought to be infected with lycanthropy that very week - a boy who had snapped at her when she had spoken to him about his tardies. She claimed Sirius had come up out of the flower bed wild eyed and screaming, calling her a beast and threatening her life and the lives of her friends, saying that he had a werewolf and he would turn the wolf on her at the full moon because she deserved to be bitten. 

Underhill let it rest without pressing the matter and James could see Sirius closing his eye and counting as Underhill had very strictly told him to do during the testimony. "Whatever you do," Underhill had said during their pre-trial talk in his office, "Do not fight or look angry or react in anyway. Keep your mind on other things."

Other than the slightest twitch to his upper lip when Hestia Leonard described Remus Lupin as a wildly foul-mouthed boy during her description of the lycanthropic boy's meeting with her, Sirius managed not to react at all during her entire testimony.

Underhill likewise called each of the friends, and each one gave a slightly varied version of near to the same tale.

He immediately followed these up with Frank Longbottom's report on the arrest, describing Sirius Black's mania, the laughing and singing, along with no less than four reports of similar behavior that had been gathered from old classmates at Hogwarts who remembered Sirius acting in an unhinged manner. For the first ten minutes of his time it seemed nearly confusing whether Underhill was defending Sirius Black or making a case for his insanity.

A confused expression flickered on the face of Mad Eye Moody, who sat in the seats above, rubbing his chin, for this was not at all what he'd expected of Underhill. Hadn't old Harry said he was going to get the boy off completely? He leaned over and whispered something to Albus Dumbledore, who, James realized was there and watching Sirius very closely, smiling benignly and sucking on what looked like sherbert lemon drops.

James wondered when the last time the old cod had summoned poor Regulus Black to his office and he had to look down and count himself, glowering at the files in the box by his side.

Mr. Underhill walked slowly before the bench where Bartemius Crouch sat, flanked by a secretary and an assistant of his own who was looking through the files that James was handing up to him as Mr. Underhill indicated for him to do so. "Now," Harry Underhill said, "Let us take a pause and inventory that which we've heard." He took a deep breath. "Frank Longbottom's documentations read that Ms. Leonards had accused Sirius Black of an assault, which was part of the arrest charges. But no where in Ms. Leonards' testimony today - nor in any of her friends accounts - was there any mention the original assault Sirius Black was accused of. Funny that they all forgot to mention the one thing that got Mr. Black arrested to begin with."

A murmur went up through the wizengamot. James specifically noticed Dumbledore chuckle and lean over to whisper to Mad-Eye Moody.

"Another thing, Ms. Leonards mentioned having talked to a boy at the University about an accusation of lycanthropy." Mr. Underhill paused, "She acted as though this was - one, a very rare thing to do, and, two,  something which gave Sirius Black motivation to attack her - an attack she forgot to mention, I remind you. However..." Underhill motioned to James to hand up the next file in the box and he did, "...you now see before you the student files of no less than four additional boys that were falsely accused by the University in the past five years. All instigated by Ms. Leonards." 

Underhill paused while Crouch took the folders from James and looked them over through the glasses that sat perched upon his nose. 

"Not so rare a thing after all, then... and in addition -" another indication for James to pass a file up, "- Ms. Leonards has personal reasons to fear an attack by werewolves. Her own family was affected by an attack... coincidentally about five years ago." 

Crouch looked through the folder quickly, then back to Underhill as more whispers shivered about the room.

"It seems," Underhill mused, "That perhaps Ms. Leonards is desperate to avenge circumstances of her past, and that Mr. Lupin is owed an apology for being slandered. Mr. Lupin's blood was tested as part of his entry into the University before being accepted and returned negative results for the presence of lycanthropy. See the document enclosed in his student file -" he nodded to James again, "- which is personally signed by Madam Pomfrey, the mediwitch on staff at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore - a member of the very body to which I now present my argument." Underhill gestured toward Dumbledore. "These documents clearly state that Remus Lupin is not infected with lycanthropy. Therefore, I ask you, what were wolf did Sirius Black supposedly have access to in order to carry out the supposed threat that he was accused of having cast? Not only, therefore, did she accuse him of attacking her and have him arrested for such that was so significant in her life that it slipped her mind to mention it once she was under oath..."

James smirked.

"...but also she nearly caused an innocent boy to be expelled from his University studies and to go through the horrible experience of Ministry testing for lycanthropy." Underhill paused, then, "For the sake of having it on the record alone, I submit a full description and three interviews with men and women falsely accused and the things that they have gone through during your testing. Surely you're aware what a barbaric set of policies the Ministry enforces concerning the treatment of these men and women... and if not, then perhaps it's time you learned. We won't discuss as it only marginally applies to the case at hand but I do submit them for your records so that it's nice and easy for you to find them in case you do wish to review them. But I must warn you that you may find yourself unable to sleep at night once you've visited what a horrible policy you'v constructed, Mr. Crouch."

Crouch bristled.

"There is no werewolf, you see. The idea of any one - even a member of a marginalized group such as those infected with lycanthropy - should suffer and be mistreated upset Sirius, given his history with witnessing such atrocities!" Underhill took a deep breath. "And why should we believe that Sirius Black is innocent of a true attack and only standing up for those who the Ministry deems unworthy of standing up for themselves? Because he himself has been through so much that his conscience would not allow him to overlook the sufferings of another being."

And then, in an emotional summary, Harry Underhill cited the death of Orion Black at the hands of the Dark Lord, the arrest and imprisonment of Walburga Black for conspiring with the Dark Lord, and the recent death of Regulus Black, whose dead body, he said, had turned up murdered, assumably at the hands of the Dark Lord himself.

"In her own testimony, Walburga Black confessed to using the unforgivable cruciatus curse on her son, Sirius, the boy you see sitting before you." Underhill murmured, shaking his head, "Her own son!" He paused and looked at Sirius, who was struggling very hard now, his brow furrowed, his eyes damp as he shifted uncomfortably, feeling all eyes turned upon him. Underhill said, passionately, "Part of the rescue of the Minister's grand daughter, Sirius was awarded alongside James Potter a sum of money for the rescue of the kidnapped girl. He was one of several who fought at the battle of Fallengunder barely more than a year ago... An upright student, known for his light hearted pranks and merriment about Hogwarts School, including helping at caring for younger classmates, despite not being named prefect... Good grades, excellent attendance, and a favorite among many of the teachers that I spoke with at the school - despite all of the rubbish he's been through - this boy turned out as good as all that --" Underhill chuckled, "But yes, absolutely, let's throw the boy in Azkaban right away an attack that was so heinous not a single one of the victims remembered to so much as mention it on the stand." He paused, then. "I rest my case, Barty."

By the end of the twenty-three minutes, the witches and wizards of the court ruled that Sirius should be required to be enrolled in required therapy sessions for a minimum once a week for at least the duration of six months to help ease his sufferings, which they said was for his own good more than a punishment, and the agreement was made that Sirius Black was to be released and cleared, effective immediately. They also ruled that Remus Lupin should be offered an opportunity to reenroll in the university.

"Absolutely brilliant, sir," James whispered to Underhill as they were walking out of the courtroom.

Underhill's chin lifted, proud, and James smiled to himself as they trotted Sirius out of the courtroom corridors and up the stairs. It was in the lift when Underhill reached over and hit the button to the atrium and to the auror training center floor. "The press will be in the atrium. I'll go and deal with talking to them - you lot don't have to do that. Go and have a good afternoon, the both of you."

"You're sure, sir?"

Underhill nodded as the door opened on the training center, "Go this way so you're not stopped."

James hesitated, then nodded, "Thank you Sir."

"Yes, thank you sir," Sirius said sincerely. "Thank you very much."

Underhill nodded. "See you Monday, Potter."

"Yes sir."

The elevator doors closed and carried Harry Underhill away.