Chapter Ten
The Wizengamot
Albus Dumbledore walked into the meeting area of the Wizengamot and found that the meeting had already started. He slipped into his seat located in the center of the oval right between Minister Fudge and Barty Crouch.
He was expecting to hear someone talk about the upcoming Tri-Wizard Tournament. However, this wasn't the case, Amelia Bones had just taken the floor and was requesting a change of venue.
Fudge was quickly ready to cut her down but Lucius spoke up first. He seconded the motion and Augusta Longbottom agreed. This got Albus Dumbledore's attention. He looked at Lucius and Augusta with a puzzled expression on his face as Amelia Bones started to speak.
"Wizards and Witches of the Wizengamot, I am here to bring to light a matter of treason. It has come my attention that three members of this esteem body have betrayed the Wizarding World. They have murdered, stole and lied to control this body and our world. I am here to bring charges to these men and request for their arrest."She then pointed to the center of the room and said, "Albus Dumbledore, Cornelius Fudge, and Barty Crouch, I hereby formally charge you with treason and request that you be held in Azkaban until your trial."
The room erupted with shots of anger and dismay. It took Albus Dumbledore a moment to gain control of his senses before he could gain control over the room. He was stunned at what he just heard. He just placed the gavel down on the table in front of him before asking Madam Bones. "Amelia, I think you have over stepped yourself here today. This isn't the place to bring charges against anyone."
"Wrong, Dumbledore," Lucius spoke up. "My I remind this body that not long ago, you yourself used this body to not only accuse me, but several of the other seated members as Death Eaters and followers of You-Know-Who. I for one want to hear Madam Bones's evidence and request that you and the other accused step down from your seats and turn over your wands until this matter is addressed."
"I agree," said Crabbe taking Malfoy's cue to speak.
The other dark members nodded as did several others in the room that weren't on either side. So, there enough of them to get the matter passed. Albus, Fudge and Crouch had no choice but to remove themselves from control at that moment. The men were forced to hand over their wands as Amos Diggory was named as mediator and he took Albus' seat at least until the issued was settled.
Amelia waited until things calmed down before going on. "I have several bits of evidence to show this body to prove my allegations. Once I'm finished I hope everyone will see that this matter needs to be taken to trial and have these men held until such time as needed." Madam Bones walked to the center of the room holding a small glass vile. "This here is a memory of an event that I think will speak for itself. First, to make sure everyone understands that this memory has not been tampered with in anyway, I am going to allow anyone who wants to, to test the memory itself."
Madam Bones handed Delores Umbridge the memory first. The toad like woman pulled her wand and smugly waved it over the bottle. She glared coldly as the color of the memory didn't change. This proved that the memory hadn't been tempered with. Delores was handing it to the person on her right, but held just inches from the man's hands. The bottle hit the ground but it didn't break.
"I forgot to mention it is in an unbreakable bottle," Madam Bones said smiling as the old man picked up the bottle form the ground to test it himself. There were several that tested it but it soon became clear that the memory was real.
So, Madam Bones pulled out a pensive placing the memory inside it. This pensive was special; it would allow everyone around to view memory together. The group sat there watching as Sirius's memory of James and Lily's murder played out.
There were gasps of rage, anger and sorrow at the sight of James and Lily's dead bodies. The room all turned and glared at Dumbledore as he admitted to Voldemort of his crime. It took all of Lucius' control over the other Death Eaters to keep them in their seats. He hadn't seen the memory but had heard about it., Seeing the Dark Lord murdered by Dumbledore was a bit much for the dark wizard. He too wanted to attack, but knew this wasn't part of the plan. He sat there glaring at Dumbledore as Madam Bones collect the memory and addressed the room again.
"I want call someone to speak. He has seen this memory. He is also a good friend of James and Lily as well, Sirius Black. He can help everyone here understand what they just saw," Madam Bones looked towards Kingsley and the man left the room. He came back a few moments later with Remus Lupin.
Remus was dressed in one an old dress robe of Susan Bone's father. It was out of date but it was in better shape then anything Remus had owned. Amelia figured Remus story would be taken better if he wasn't dressed in rages. The moment Remus walked into the room. Delores stood up and pointed at him. "You can't think we would listen to him?" she hissed.
"You are not a member of this body so, your opinion does not matter. You are only here to take notes for the Minister of Magic," Augusta Longbottom pointed out. She didn't like Umbridge. The lady got on her nerves and needed to be put in her place or that was Augusta's opinion at least.
"He is a werewolf. He has no right to say anything about my…Minister Fudge," Delores snapped.
"Remus Lupin is only a werewolf on a few evenings a night, but he is also a member of this society. What he has to say is important to us so let us hear him out," Amelia said calmly.
"Let him speak," ordered Diggory. "And Madam Umbridge, I hope I don't have to remind you but you have no say in this hearing. You are here only because you are Minister Fudge's under-secretary. If you don't want to be removed from this hearing all together, I think you should stay quiet." Umbridge huffed but sat back down and glared at Remus. Remus just ignored her. He took a seat and waited for Amelia to question him.
Madam Bones walked to where Remus sat and said, "Please for the record, state you name and occupation."
"Remus Lupin and the last position I held was professor," Remus said.
"How do you know James and Lily Potter and Sirius Black?" Madam Bones asked.
"James, Sirius and I were good friends in school. Lily and I became friends after James started dating her," Remus said.
Madam Bones went on to ask Remus questions about not only the memory he retrieved from Gringotts Bank, but of his time as defense professor at Hogwarts and about how he found out about Sirius innocence. He even admitted that it was Dumbledore's idea that he hook up with Sirius later. He said he would work on clearing Sirius name but until then he wanted Remus to make sure that Sirius didn't run into any trouble.
Madam Bones walked to the center of the room holding a piece of paper. "This here is the death warrant for one Sirius Black. It is not only signed by Minister Fudge but Barty Crouch and Professor Dumbledore. It was signed just hours after Sirius Black's escape from Azkaban."
Remus shot Albus a dirty look. He hadn't known about this and was thankful there wasn't a full moon tonight or he might not be able to control the wolf inside him.
Madam Bones dismissed Remus. She then called Solicitor Filch. He is the magical brother of the caretaker at Hogwarts. "Please state your name and occupation," Amelia asked after the man was seated.
The old wizard spoke in clear and formal voice. "Connor Filch, Solicitor. I am Senior Partner of Filch, McGonagall, and McLeod."
"Do you know what this is?" Amelia asked holding up the wills' of James and Lily.
"Yes, I wrote them. Our firm has been taking care of the Potter families for years. They are James and Lily Potter's wills'," Connor said smugly.
"Is their any reason why they should have been sealed up until a few weeks ago?" Amelia asked.
"No, there is no reason. I made sure that every possibility was covered. There should have been no reason for those wills' to be sealed," Connor said.
"Could you read this part of Lily and James's wills' for me?" Amelia asked handing the wills' over and pointing to the line she wanted read.
"Yes, of course," Connor said as he slipped on his reading glasses and started to read the wills'. "Furthermore, under no circumstances shall our son Harold James Potter also known as Harry be placed with Vernon and Petunia Dursley."
"This line is in both wills?" Amelia asked.
"Yes, it is," Connor said.
"Is there any place in these wills that names Albus Dumbledore as Harry Potter's magical guardian?" she asked.
"Our firm was to control the Potter Estate until the boy came of age if Sirius Black was unable to care for his Godchild. A set amount would be handed over for the boy's care. This changed soon after James and Lily's death. Albus Dumbledore with help of Minister Fudge had the wills' sealed preventing them from being read. They then named themselves as caretakers of Potter Estate. I know for a fact the Black family Estate was added after death of Mrs. Black. They stated that since Sirius was in prison and according to wizarding law. Harry is his only heir."
"Do you know how much money was removed from the two estates at this time?" Madam Bones asked.
"We looked into the matter per your request and found that 500 million gallons from both estates has been removed. Also, several items from the Potter Estate have been removed as well. We are making list with the help of Gringotts as we speak."
The room gasped at the large sum of money that was removed. Madam Bones dismissed the man. The door opened one more time and a young man in chains walked into the room. He looked over in Dumbledore, Fudge and Crouch's direction and sneered. "Your murdered the Dark Lord," Barty Crouch Jr. hissed as he was dragged into the room.
Kingsley yanked the man's head back and was about to administer truth serum when his father jumped to his feet. "You can't do that. It is illegal!"
"Not in a treason case," Madam Bones said. She held up papers signed by Connor Filch and Remus Lupin. The last two witness signed binding legal contracts that swore what they stated was the truth. Barty .Jr. here refuse to sign the contract. So, by our law, I can order the use of truth serum due to the nature of this matter. Since, he is already an accused Death Eater, there for to ensure we get to the truth, I think it is best that this method is used."
"You can't," Fudge hissed.
"Yes, she can," Diggory said after talking to the clerk on the matter. "Proceed." Fudge, Crouch and Dumbledore looked worried. They all watched with apprehension as Barty Jr. was given truth serum.
After making sure that Barty Jr. was who he said he was, Madam Bones got to the real questions. The questioning when on like this...
"How did you get out of Azkaban?"
"Mother switched with me with the help of my father. She was dying and wanted me free."
"Where were you taken to?"
"Father's home, where I stayed until you and your Aurors arrived."
"Who knew that you were there?"
"Dumbledore and Fudge, they helped father get me out. It was Dumbledore that placed the spells on the home that kept me imprisoned."
"Why?"
"Because mother forced father into making a promise to get me out of prison., She found out that he was working with Dumbledore and Fudge to control the Ministry and Hogwarts. She set something up that prevented them from harming me. If anything happened to me, the evidence she had on father would come to light."
"How did she do that?"
"I don't know."
"Do you know where this evidence is now?"
"No."
"Have you ever heard Professor Dumbledore, Minister Fudge and your father talking of their plans?"
"Yes, lots of times. They talked openly in front of me of their plans."
"Give me an example?"
"The last time was a few days ago. They were worried about the Potter brat being removed from his muggle relatives. They feared that someone was going to learn about the money they removed from the vault. They were stealing from him for years. Fudge has a slight gambling problem and Dumbledore is addicted to some kind of power growing potion. They use the money to fund their addictions. Father uses his money to help keep me happy. He thinks that if he gives me anything I wish for, I wouldn't try to escape." The truth serum wore off then and Barty stopped talking. He just sat there his hands chained in front of him with Kingsley and another man behind him.
Amelia Bones walked to the front of the room and said, "Wizards and Witches, there is more to be told but I believe I have proven enough to hold these men over for trial. What is your vote?"
The people around Madam Bones talked quietly together. She stood their waiting until everyone quieted down. Amos Diggory then started to call the roll and asked for a vote.
Madam Bones wasn't shocked to find that all the dark followers voted for a trial. It wasn't shocking to find that several members that spent most of their time in the middle agreed to a trial. It was shocking to learn that over ½ of the light followers agreed for a trial. This gave them enough votes to hold Dumbledore, Fudge and Crouch over for trial.
A group of Aurors were handcuffing the men's hands and preparing to take them away as Delores Umbridge and several others tried to prevent it. They pulled their wands and prepared to send spells flying just as Mad Eye Moody removed his invisible cloak and stood there his wand aiming at the small group. "Try it!" he hissed.
Augusta Longbottom and several members behind the group pulled the wands free of the group. "You are an idiot!" Augusta snapped as she pulled Umbridge's wand from her hand. She then handed it over to Mad Eye and said, "Good to see you again, Mr. Moody."
"You too, Mrs. Longbottom," Mad Eye said bowing slightly. He took the others wands and with help of the Aurors the group was arrested.
"You can't arrest us," Umbridge snapped.
"We can and have," Mad Eye said smiling. He hated Umbridge. She was responsible for cutting his retirement benefits in half. It felt good to slap the cuff on the witch.
While Umbridge was being arrested, Albus was being led past Amelia Bones to a holding cell until he could be removed to Azkaban. "Amelia, there has been some mistake. Everything I have done is for the best of the wizarding world, if only you could take the time to hear me out."
"Save it for your trial, Dumbledore. I don't believe in you any more," Amelia said as she turned away from the old wizard and went back to her seat. She knew they had a lot of things to clean up before the meeting could end. They had to name a temporary Minister of Magic and a Chief Warlock.
It took several hours but they finally managed to agree that Amos Diggory was named temporary Minister of Magic and Lucius Malfoy was named Head Warlock. Amelia wasn't happy about Lucius but at least he didn't become Minister of Magic. He would be really dangerous in that position. She figured they would work getting him replaced as Head Warlock, but at this moment they had bigger fish to fry- like Albus Dumbledore.
Fudge, Dumbledore and Crouch were marched down a long hallway towards the holding cells with Delores and several others behind them. Dumbledore hadn't said a word to anyone since Amelia refused to hear him out. It wasn't the same for the others. Fudge was blaming Dumbledore for all of it. Barty was blaming both Fudge and Dumbledore. Umbridge was just cursing everyone out and promising that 'she' would have their jobs.
The guards were very close to shutting up them up permanently, but thankfully they reached the holding cells. One by one, each prisoner was shoved into a holding cell. Albus was put in last. A guard gave him an extra hard shove and said, "That's for James, you old b…"
Dumbledore didn't utter a word. He just stood up and dusted himself off. The guard laughed and closed the door. Albus looked around the room a twinkle in his eye. He called out, "Fawkes." The phoenix didn't arrive. He tried again and again. He got so upset that he kicked over the stool that was sitting next to a small writing table. "Where is that dumb bird," Dumbledore snapped finally showing real emotion for the first time since he was arrested.
Fawkes was at Hogwarts. He was perched on his perch ignoring the calls from the old wizard. He no longer needed to pretend to obey him. He was where Fawkes knew he belonged, behind bars. He would soon be out of the way leaving the heirs safe. It was why he was working for Dumbledore in the first place. What better place to spy on the enemy than inside their own camp.