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harry potter - What made the Ministry admit Sirius was innocent?


In Prisoner of Azkaban, Professor Dumbledore explains to Harry why he cannot convince the ministry that Sirius is innocent. Yet, in the beginning of Half-Blood Prince, the Minister of Magic admits to the Muggle Prime Minister that Sirius Black was innocent:




‘Is Serious Black with – er – He Who Must Not Be Named?’


‘Black? Black?’ said Fudge distractedly, turning his bowler rapidly in his fingers. ‘Sirius Black, you mean? Merlin's beard, no. Black's dead. Turns out we were – er – mistaken about Black. He was innocent after all. And he wasn't in league with He Who Must Not Be Named either. […]’


– The Half-Blood Prince Chapter 1: The Other Minister



What has changed that has made them admit his innocence?


Sirius's body disappears in the fight in Order of the Phoenix, so there's no evidence left that he has fought there. Pettigrew is still in hiding. There's still only Harry and Hermione's word against Snape's story that would prove Sirius's innocence.



Answer



Presumably it was right after Voldemort fled from the Ministry at the end of book five, when Dumbledore was telling Fudge everything that happened:



"You will give the order to remove Dolores Umbridge from Hogwarts," said Dumbledore. "You will tell your Aurors to stop searching for my Care of Magical Creatures teacher so that he can return to work. I will give you ..." Dumbledore pulled a watch with twelve hands from his pocket and glanced at it "... half an hour of my time tonight, in which I think we shall be more than able to cover the important points of what has happened here. After that, I shall need to return to my school."

The Order of the Phoenix Chapter 36: The Only One He Ever Feared



As part of the important points of what happened, Dumbledore would certainly have mentioned that Sirius died and, through his infinite credibility at the time, would probably have convinced everyone there of Sirius' innocence.


It's rather difficult to deny Dumbledore's word moments after he's fought against Voldemort.


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