Stealing Words
Written for Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, Round 10
Chaser 3: Setting: Wizengamot (Law Enforcemnt); prompts: (quote) "A well-composed book is a magic carpet on which we are wafted to a world that we cannot enter in any other way." Caroline Gordon; (quote) "Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one." Terry Pratchett; (quote) "I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me." S.E. Hinton, The Outsider
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his realm are from the imagination of J.K. Rowling. I am borrowing a few of the characters and settings for my plot.
The day dawned, cold and snowy. The wind was raw and blew as a portend of things to come. Hermione Granger was already up and showering when the floo call came in.
"Hermione! Hermione, where are you? The case has been moved up 3 hours, just like when they tried to railroad me for running off the Dementors," shouted Harry Potter. "If you don't answer on the count of three, I am coming through. One…two…three." With a whoosh he entered her living room and yelled for Hermione again.
"I was in the shower. What were you saying, Harry?" answered Hermione as she entered the room toweling her hair.
"You have 39 minutes to get to the Wizengamot. They moved your case ahead of Thomas' for some reason, then didn't owl you." Harry looked around for her briefcase and said, "Throw on some clothes and you can button your robes when you get there."
They arrived with 17 minutes to spare. Hermione straightened her skirt and brushed a fleck of lint off the hem of her robe. Entering the room she and Harry sat in the seats provided. If this had been a criminal trial the a chair for the defendant to be magically bound to would sit in the middle of the room, but since this was a civil case it had been moved to the side and a lectern had been placed there. The Wizengamot was a body not unlike the House of Lords in historical make-up. The body is primarily made up of hereditary peers with a few appointments for meritorious endeavors on behalf of the wizarding world. Since Harry Potter was the person bringing forth a new idea and was represented by Hermione Granger, nearly all fifty members were present or filing in as the new hour for the case to be presented approached. Hermione was reading over her notes, ignoring the growing crowd. The remaining seats in the room were filled with visitors and members of the press. An overflow crowd filled the lobby of the Ministry where the proceedings could also be heard. The gavel sounded and the Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt entered the room followed by the Junior Undersecretary, Percy Weasley who would act as scribe. (Percy was angry that he had not been promoted to Senior Undersecretary, but his actions prior to the final battle of the Second Wizard War had not put him in good graces. His recent actions had stood him in better stead and if he could make it to the end of the year when his supervisor retired, the promotion would be his.) To everyone's surprise Aberforth Dumbledore had succeeded his brother as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, but the position was seniority based and every member of the body older than he had died in one war or the other. After he entered the room, all were seated and Hermione was asked to come forth to present her case.
Wiping her hands surreptitiously on a handkerchief taken from the right sleeve of her robe. She fingered the left where her wand was usually holstered, but found the sleeve empty because all wands had been checked at the entrance of the Wizengamot Chamber. She rose and walked to the podium, stacks of parchment containing her notes and the brief she wished to present. "Minister, Members of the Wizengamot, visitors, Harry James Potter has filed a copyright infringement claim and requests an injunction be filed against 'The Daily Prophet' and Ms. Rita Skeeter. He has written and published his autobiography, which has been egregiously plagiarized and presented by her as being entirely a work of fiction written by her and published as a serial in the paper. We will prove this by presenting side-by-side excerpts for you to compare." With that opening statement, Hermione took her seat.
Lucius Malfoy proceeded to the podium, but did not stand behind it. He walked about the room as he spoke in an easy manner, using his considerable charm to hold the attention of the crowd. "In the words of Caroline Gordon, 'A well-composed book is a magic carpet on which we are wafted to a world that we cannot enter in any other way.' Ms. Skeeter's book is merely a fictional biography of Mr. Potter. After all his story is hardly believable as non-fiction. Who in their right mind would believe an eleven year old would be able to pass puzzles, trials, riddles of the teachers of Hogwarts to keep the Philosopher's stone out of the hands of one of his professors who was supporting the parasite of Voldemort? Who among you would believe that a fourteen year old boy would be able to put his entry into the Tri-Wizard Tournament and singlehandedly bring back Lord Voldemort from the dead? And why would a seventeen year old lad and his friends forsake school to scour the countryside for horcruxes all to bring about the demise of the same Lord Voldemort that he brought to life three years previously? Who would believe children could kill a basilisk, break into Gringotts Wizarding Bank, and exit from the same on a dragon, and destroy the entirety of the Department of Mysteries including all prophecies and time turners held therein? After all is this all not but fiction and in the words of Terry Pratchett, 'Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one.' The plaintiff has stated that Ms. Skeeter's book was plagiarized from his book, a dry, unimaginative tome. And is this not a wonderful fiction shared by Ms. Skeeter and 'The Daily Prophet.'" With that he took his seat, folded his arms and smirked.
"Even if this were a work of fiction," began Hermione as she took the floor again. "Mr. Malfoy has not presented on iota of evidence that there has not been plagiarism involved. Mr. Potters book was written, published and released for sale on November first of 1999, a mere five months and a few days after the Battle of Hogwarts ending the Second Wizard War with the death of Tom Marvolo Riddle. If you will direct your gaze to the wall opposite the entrance where we have provided a screen on which we will project the side-by-side images we mentioned before. The right screen has excerpts from Mr. Potter's book and the left the matching passages from Ms. Skeeter's papers as printed in the 'Prophet'." Point by point Hermione went through the book.
An hour into her presentation, she was interrupted by Minister Shacklebolt. "I think that we have seen enough to deliberate."
The court was cleared of all visitors, as well as the plaintiff and the defendant and their attorneys. Aberforth Dumbledore took the floor and said, "I would like the members of the Wizengamot to vote by a show of hands. Who believes Ms. Skeeter plagiarized Mr. Potter's book?" All hands went up except for Dolores Umbridge, who started to rant that Mr. Potter had always been a liar in her experience at Hogwarts. She was silenced by a glare from Minister Shacklebolt who told her that in his opinion she was the embodiment of the first part of the passage from the Outsiders by S.E. Hinton that says, "I lie to myself all the time." Then he continued, "You, Madam, need to heed the second part which reads, 'But I never believe me.' You would not know a lie if it jumped up and bit you. Thank the gods that you are the last of your line and your idiocy will die out and your seat in this esteemed body will remain vacant."
As Chief Warlock, Aberforth called the body back to order and asked what recompense should be awarded. Various ideas were thrown out but the final decision was reached, again with one descending vote. He then called for the plaintiff, defendant, attorneys and visitors to return to the chamber. He called for the Junior Undersecretary to read the wishes of the Wizengamot. "The Wizengamot finds for the plaintiff. The defendant shall have her press credentials withdrawn for a period of five years and she shall be responsible for paying all court costs. Furthermore, since 'The Daily Prophet' should have vetted the papers before publishing, it shall be responsible for all publishing costs of Mr. Potter's autobiography in perpetuity and reimburse the current publisher for costs occurred for the first edition. All copies of Ms. Skeeter's papers shall be confiscated and destroyed and neither Ms. Skeeter nor 'The Daily Prophet' shall make a knut off the publications."
As the crowd filed out of the Wizengamot Chamber, they shook Harry's and Hermione's hands in congratulations. When only the two and Mr. Malfoy remained Hermione offered him a hand as a sign of good sportsmanship and coyly remarked, "Who owns the controlling interests in the paper? Is it not you? There is a muggle saying that a man who represents himself in court has a fool for a lawyer. I suggest you hire your son next time you need a lawyer. Draco would have never allowed you to make the mistake of printing that garbage in the first place." She handed him a business card reading "Granger and Malfoy, Attorneys, Muggle and Wizard cases handled, owl or email granger . malfoy uk . wiz."