Chapter Eleven
The next morning everyone was eating breakfast when Katie suddenly turned to Harry and said "Harry, I have selected a Marauder name."
"What name have you selected?" Remus and Sirius asked at the same time before Harry could even respond to Katie's statement.
She had spent a lot of time considering a name and in the end chose something that described how she felt. She just hoped that none of them really understand what the name meant.
"I have chosen 'Solelorn'," Katie replied quietly the confidence from moments ago forgotten.
Harry was about to respond when suddenly Hermione gasped and looked sadly at Katie.
"What's wrong?" asked George while the others all watching with interest.
Hermione suddenly regretting her response, she could have just made the whole situation harder for Katie. Katie could see the regret in her eyes; Hermione noticed her watching and quickly mouthed an apology to her.
"It's okay, I should have told you all a long time ago, I was just so upset with it all," Katie told them.
She turned to George who looked hurt that she had not told him either.
"I'm so sorry," she said as she saw the hurt in his eyes. He could tell that she was and instantly forgave her as whatever she had to tell them was obviously difficult for her. George got up from his seat and walked up to her and gently took her hands and kissed her softly.
"It doesn't matter," George told her as he stood behind her and gently massaged her shoulders.
Katie proceeded to tell them how her parents had basically abandoned her before the end of term after news of Voldemort's return was published. She had arrived home to find the house empty and her parent's belongs gone. They had not even left a note for her which hurt the most.
They spent the next couple of hours comforting Katie as she let all the bottled up emotions out. George stayed strong for her the whole time and promised that she would have family with the Weasley's. Harry told her she was welcome to live at Potter Castle for as long as she needed and would always be welcome.
Deciding to forego the normal initiation, which didn't seem appropriate at the moment, Harry proceeded to shared with her all the information that all the others had been given.
A while later when she had processed all the new information she was amazed at what she now knew. She thought that she a capable witch before but now understood just how much more advanced the others were.
"Thank you, Harry," Katie said before giving him a hug.
"You have more than earned the right to learn that, Katie. I know the situation is slightly different but I do understand what you are going through and if you ever need anything let me know ok?"
"I will, I couldn't have done it without all of your support. I just wish I had told you all sooner," she replied wistfully.
"Well, at least we know now," Harry told her before leaving the room with Ginny to spend some time together.
George led Katie upstairs to their room and comforted her, she was sad by what her parents had done but was amazed by just how supportive her friends and new mentor's were. Katie and George spent the rest of the day in the room just talking. Harry asked Maxim to make sure that one of the elves served them anything they needed.
Harry and Ginny were glad that they had so many friends around at the moment as it allowed them to now worry about Katie. They had bigger issues to worry about as the trial of Vernon Dursley was this morning. They had completely put it out of their minds as they were so focused on training.
Thankfully Bill had reminded them the previous morning and advised them that everything had been taken care of. He had arranged to meet them at the castle so he could escort them.
Ginny could tell that Harry was not looking forward to facing him again but knew that he would have to so she sent soothing thoughts through the bond to help him.
"Thanks," Harry told her as they walked hand in hand down to the main entrance to meet Bill.
"You don't need to thank me, Harry," replied Ginny as she squeezed his hand.
"But I like thanking you," replied Harry happily.
"Well in that case you can thank me properly later," replied Ginny before sending him a mental image that cause some discomfort in his tight jeans.
"Witch," replied Harry as he tried to adjust himself, causing Ginny to giggle before sending him more images.
"How am I supposed to function today with you doing that," exclaimed Harry while blushing heavily.
"At least you aren't worried about the trial now," replied Ginny before rushing off to the entrance hall before Harry could get his revenge.
"Please promise you won't do that during the trail," Harry begged when he finally caught up with her.
"Only if you promise to thank me later," replied Ginny with a smirk.
"Was there any doubt about that?" asked Harry with a flirty smile.
"I don't want to know!" Bill said as he heard the end of the conversation.
"At least we are married, Bill," replied Ginny with a hint of mischief in her voice. "Of course you could be thanked properly if you would just pop the question to Fleur."
It was obvious from the instant blush from Bill that she had hit the nail on the head.
Harry and Ginny collapsed with laughter as Bill stood there like a fish out of water unable to come up with any response.
A few minutes later Bill explained that they had a Portkey that would take them to a private conference room that had been set aside for the prosecution team. They expected quite a crowd as word has spread about what had happened.
They arrived in the conference room an hour before the trail was due to begin to go over the process.
Shortly after they arrived an older man walking into the conference room and introduced himself. "Good morning, Mr. Potter. I am Mr. Robert Smythe and will be presenting the case today."
"Good morning, Mr. Smythe," replied Harry as he shook his hand. "This is Ginny Weasley, my girlfriend and sister of Bill."
"Good morning, Miss Weasley, Bill," Robert said as he also shock there hands.
They spent the next hour going over the case, Robert explained what would most likely happen, and he did warn them that it could take several days to present everything depending on what the defense says.
Harry could hear Hermione telling several of their friends what would happen and that they were not allowed to say anything during the proceedings. He wasn't sure how they were going to get through this trial without an incident happening as there were a number of witches and wizards around. He was amazed they even made it into the court room based on how badly they had dressed.
As Harry looked around the courtroom he spotted several members of the Order, clearly sent by Dumbledore to make sure there was no trouble.
A few minutes after Harry arrived in the courtroom Vernon was brought in. You could hear a pin drop in the room as he made his way to his seat surrounded by two very large court officers. If looks could kill then Vernon would not have made it an inch into the court due to the number of eyes focused on him.
"All rise," the court clerk told them.
The Judge walked into the courtroom and quickly took her seat.
"The honorable Judge Grace Phillips presiding. Please be seated, this court is now in session."
Everyone quickly sat back down, Vernon was already complaining that the seat was uncomfortable. Harry doubted there were any chairs big enough to make him comfortable and suspected that most of the people there thought the same thing.
"Mr. Greene, is there a problem?" the Judge asked Vernon's solicitor.
"No your honor, we are sorry for the delay," Mr. Greene replied politely while telling Vernon if he didn't stop fussing then he would most likely be removed.
"Very well, Mr. Harris, would you please read the charges," the Judge asked.
Mr. Harris the court clerk stood and pulled out a sheet of paper containing the charges.
"Mr. Vernon Dursley, you are charged with five counts of sexual harassment, two counts of resisting arrest, one count of assaulting a Police Officer, one count of possessing an illegal firearm, one count of embezzlement and one count of child abuse."
"Mr. Dursley, how do you plead?" asked the Judge.
"Not guilty," replied Vernon in a strong clear voice.
"Mr. Smythe, please proceed with your opening arguments," the Judge ordered.
"Thank you, your honor," Mr. Smythe said as he stood up.
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, you have heard the charges against Mr. Dursley. We will present the evidence to back up these charges. I have to warn you now that some of the testimony that you will hear is very disturbing.
"Mr. Dursley has shown a complete disregard for his nephew Harry James Potter he was orphaned at the age of one when his parents were murdered; being the only living relatives Harry was placed with them. As you will hear during this case Mr. Dursley's treatment of Harry from that day until he was arrested has been horrendous.
"In addition he abused his position at Grunnings to sexually harass five different people and also steal from the company. It seems that Mr. Dursley knew that his nephew was a major shareholder in the company and felt that it was his right to have the money," Mr. Smythe finished.
Mr. Greene then approached the jury, "You have heard the charges against Mr. Dursley, however what you have not heard is the abnormal behavior that Mr. Potter displayed whilst living at the Dursley's house. During this trial we will demonstrate that Mr. Potter was the cause of all of these issues and that Mr. Dursley is innocent of all charges."
Harry was not surprised by any of this; he could tell that no one else believed a word of what Mr. Greene had just said.
"Mr. Smythe you may call your first witness," the Judge told him after Mr. Greene had finished.
"The prosecution calls Mrs. Harriet Folding," Mr. Symthe announced.
A court officer escorted Mrs. Folding into the court and guided her to the witness box. Once she was sworn in and her identity confirmed Mr. Smythe proceeded with his questions.
"Mrs. Folding, please can you describe what happened during your employment at Grunnings?" Mr. Smythe asked her.
She proceeded to tell the court how Vernon had sexually harassed her, how he had threatened to have her fired if she told anyone. She explained that as she was having some financial difficulties at the time she couldn't afford to be fired so didn't say anything. By the time she had finished telling them everything that had happened to her most of the people in the room looked even more annoyed than they had at the start.
"Thank you, Mrs. Folding," Mr. Smythe said as he turned to Mr. Greene and said "your witness."
Mr. Greene approached the witness box, "Mrs. Folding, you have accused Mr. Dursley of raping you at the office, yet you have not produced any evidence of this. Why don't you tell the court what really happened? How you seduced Mr. Dursley because you thought that it would help your career and help you get the pay raise you desperately needed."
"How dare you, I have told the truth, Mr. Greene," replied Harriet looking absolutely furious at this suggestion.
"As you have no evidence then it is just your word against Mr. Dursley," Mr. Greene said smugly thinking he had won that round.
Before he could proceed further however Mr. Smythe stood and addressed the Judge. "Objection, Your honor, there is evidence to back up our claims. The defense is well aware of this fact and deliberately ordered tests at the last minute to cause further delays."
"Actually, Mr. Smythe I am pleased to say that the results came back first thing this morning," announced the Judge as she asked the court clerk to hand off the envelopes to each team.
Each time reviewed the evidence before the Judge announced "Mr. Greene do you have any further questions for this witnessed based on the new evidence?"
He quietly replied that he didn't knowing full well that they had all but lost the case now. The only hope they had was to show Harry as a freak.
The rest of the morning passed very quickly Mr. Smythe proceeded to bring in witness after witness who had suffered at the hands Vernon. By the time lunch arrived Mr. Greene had already given up asking questions as they always had a very good answer that would end up hurting his defense more.
After lunch they returned to the court and proceeded to interview the Police Officer's who had been present during the arrest including the office who had been hurt when he escaped.
By the end of the first day the evidence against Vernon was already very detailed and damming. Mr. Greene had attempted to discrete several of the witnesses but in the end it just made him look incompetent.
At the end of the day the Judge advised the jury that they were not to discuss the case outside of the court room and adjourned the case until nine o'clock the next morning.
Harry and Ginny made there way back to Potter Castle, to relax and enjoy a quiet evening together. Ginny was happy to remind Harry of his promise when they got back.
They spent a couple of hours eating dinner with the others, while discussing the case and all the evidence against Vernon, before they disappeared to their suite for the evening.
The next morning found them all back in the courtroom. It seemed that more people had found out about the trial as the court room was completely packed with people.
Once Judge Phillips had entered the court Mr. Smythe called his next witness. "The prosecution called, Mrs. Petunia Dursley."
The look of shock on Vernon's face was not missed. It seemed that he had not been made aware that she was testifying against him. Once she had been sworn in Mr. Smythe approached the witness box.
"Mrs. Dursley, please can you tell the court why you are here today?"
"To tell the court the truth of what happened to Harry Potter when he lived with us," Petunia replied.
"Mrs. Dursley have you been forced in any way to do this?" Mr. Smythe asked.
"No, I am here of my own free will," replied Petunia.
"Thank you, Mrs. Dursley. Please could you proceed to tell the court your story," he asked kindly.
Petunia spent the next two hours telling them everything that had happened while Harry was living with them. She didn't hold back any information and made it clear that they were all involved in one way or another in the treatment. It soon became clear that Vernon was the one who would meat out the worse of the punishment whenever Harry did something unusual.
By the time Petunia had finished talking everyone in the court was deadly silent. Most of them looking angrily at Vernon, a few were looking directly at her in the same way. She didn't care any longer she knew that she had hurt Harry by her actions.
Mr. Greene approached the box again.
"Mrs. Dursley, you have told quite a story today. You said before that you were here of your own free will, please could you tell the court why you decided now to testify when you could have stopped this alleged treatment at any time?"
"I have always been faithful to my husband and supported him, however when I found out about the charges against him and having investigated myself I determined that he has not been faithful to me," replied Petunia.
"So you are saying you are doing this to get even with him for cheating on you?" asked Mr. Greene seizing on the opportunity.
"Do you honest think I would have implicated myself if I was trying to get even?" asked Petunia in return. This brought a number of coughs as people tried to hide their sniggers. Harry noticed even the Judge smiled for a brief second.
Mr. Greene was speechless, and desperately tried to turn this around as the evidence was very damaging.
"Mr. Greene, Dudley and I turned ourselves into the police because we realized that Harry didn't deserve the treatment he received. We didn't do this for ourselves," she continued. Mr. Greene asked the Judge to ask her to stop but she refused saying that he had asked the question.
Mr. Greene quickly returned to his seat with his tail between his legs stating that he had no further questions.
Mr. Smythe then called Dudley Dursley to testify. He basically told the same story that Petunia had said adding in the times that he had attacked Harry at school or beat up anyone who tried to be friends with him. By the end of the testimony Harry could see tears in a number of people's eyes as the full impact of Harry's childhood hit home.
Mr. Greene didn't even bother to question Dudley, he had already resigned himself to the fact that they had lost the case no matter what he said. There was just too much evidence, he had known this all along but the law required him to represent Vernon.
After lunch on the second day Mr. Smythe called several more witnesses who testified against Vernon and his various activities.
Mr. Roberts told them how he and Vernon had been stealing from the company, he told them that Vernon had come up with the plan and he only went along when he blackmailed him. When Mr. Greene challenged him about his testimony he told them that he had not been offered any deal and was willing to accept any punishment for his crimes.
By the end of the second day the prosecution's case was wrapped up. The Judge told them that they would return in the morning for Mr. Greene to present his case and would then allow the jury to decide.
Harry has thankful that no one comments on what Petunia and Dudley had said during the trial. He knew that Ginny had told them not to, at least they had respected that request. They spent the evening alone in there room relaxing and preparing for the next day.
The next morning Mr. Greene started presenting his case, he called his first witness.
"The defense called Mr. Harry Potter as a hostile witness," Mr. Greene said smugly.
Harry was not actually surprised at this, he already had a general idea of what they were going to try and do.
Harry calm stood and entered the witness box, the clerk quickly swore him in.
"Mr. Potter, we have heard from your Aunt and Cousin how you were treated whilst growing up. However at no point during any of the testimony was anything mentioned about your abnormality.
"Mr. Potter, please can you tell the court if you are a wizard or not?" asked Mr. Greene.
Before Harry could even respond the Judge herself halted the proceedings.
"Mr. Greene, are you trying to make mockery of this court?" she asked in anger.
"No, your honor, we are just trying to prove that Mr. Potter was the cause of these issues," replied Mr. Greene.
"Mr. Greene, do you have any way of proving that there is such a thing as a wizard?" the Judge asked.
He looked nervous for a second before responding, "No, your honor."
"In that case unless you have any other questions I will dismiss the witness," the Judge told him.
"We do, your honor," Mr. Greene said before turning back to Harry.
"Mr. Potter, please can you tell us what happened at the Zoo before your eleventh birthday?"
Harry described the day and how he to go because his normal babysitter was ill. How he had been watching the snake move around, when Dudley came over and pushed him out of the way. When he picked himself up afterwards he noticed that Dudley had broken into the room and let the snake escape.
At this Vernon jumped out of his seat and shouted that he caused the glass to disappear and trap his son using his freaky magic. The Judge warned Mr. Greene that if he didn't control his client then he would be returned to his cell.
"Mr. Greene, this is your last warning. Unless you have any valid questions for Mr. Potter then I will dismiss him," the Judge told him.
"We don't, your honor," replied Mr. Greene looking resigned to his fate.
"Mr. Potter, I am sorry that you had to deal with that, you may return to your seat," the Judge told him.
"Mr. Greene do you have any other witnesses?" the Judge asked him.
"Yes, your honor. The defense calls Ms. Marge Dursley," replied Mr. Greene.
Marge walked into the courtroom and after being sworn in took her seat. Mr. Greene proceeded to ask her a number of questions about Harry and each time she just told him that he got what he deserved. They all knew at this point the Mr. Greene was desperate as Marge was actually hurting his case more than she was helping it.
Mr. Smythe questioned her afterwards and got her to admit that she would have dumped at an orphanage the first change she had if she had been in Vernon's place. Finally Mr. Greene just told the Judge that he didn't have anything else to add.
During the closing arguments Mr. Smythe once again highlighted what all the witnesses had said and closed finished off by asking the jury to make sure justice was served.
Mr. Greene again attempted to say that Harry was a wizard that had special powers which he was using to force everyone to testify against Vernon and that he had been a loyal worker and loving caring husband, father and uncle.
Finally the Judge closed by telling the jury their duty and asking that they only return when they had a unanimous verdict. If they had any questions they would return to answer them. Once she had concluded she dismissed the jury and told everyone else that they would return when a verdict had been reached.
The jury arrived in the jury room to deliberate the foreman stood at the end of the table as the others sat down.
"Well I don't know about you but I don't see anything to debate. Does anyone have anything to ask or shall we just take a vote?"
When no one said anything he took out the list of charges and asked for a vote on each. Ten minutes later they had voted on every charge and found him guilty. As lunch had just been served while they were voting they decided to eat before sending a message to the Judge to say they had reached a verdict.
An hour later everyone returned to the courtroom to hear the verdict.
"Mr. Foreman, have you reached a verdict on which you all agree?" the Judge asked him.
"We have, your honor," he replied.
The foreman handed the verdict sheet to the court clerk who presented it to the Judge. After she had finished reading she handed it back and then addressed Mr. Dursley.
"Mr. Dursley, please stand while the verdict is read," she told him.
"Mr. Foreman, on the first count of sexual harassment, how do you find?"
"Guilty."
"On the second count, how do you find?"
"Guilty."
After another ten guilt verdicts were returned the Judge thanked the jury for their work and dismissed them.
"The court will recess for one hour to consider the sentence. Mr. Potter, please will you join me in my chambers."
Harry and Mr. Smythe followed the Judge into her chambers.
"Thank you for joining me. I need to discuss with you what you would like to do about your Aunt and Cousin, based on there own testimony they should be punished but it has to be up to you?"
"Your honor, we have discussed this at length. I am not going to press charges against them but I am going to required them to commit to community service to help out others who are less fortunate then they are," Harry told her.
"Very well, Mr. Potter, I am very impressed with your maturity in this matter," she told him honestly.
"Thank you, I just hope that people learn from this. There were a number of people who knew something wasn't right at the Dursley's house but never did anything in all those years," he replied sadly.
"I hope so too, Mr. Potter."
She dismissed Harry and Mr. Smythe so she could consider everything. There was no doubt in her mind that Mr. Dursley should never get out so she wanted to pass the sentence in such a way that it would be almost impossible unless he lived for a very long time.
An hour later they were all back in the court room.
"Mr. Dursley, you have been found guilty of all charges, based on the evidence we have heard and the descriptions of your treatment of Mr. Potter I am sentencing you to the maximum term for each charge to run sequentially. Therefore Mr. Dursley you are sentenced to serve one hundred thirty years with the possibility of parole in seventy years," the judge told him before asking the prison officers to take him away.
A loud cheer was heard around the court room as he was led away. Before anyone could leave the Judge announced that she wanted to meet with Mrs. Dursley and her son. They immediately followed her looking very nervous as they knew there testimony could land them in trouble if Harry chose.
"You have been given a very large gift. I spoke with Mr. Potter before sentencing to determine what he wanted to do about your testimony. Based on the evidence you should both be charged with a number of crimes, however Mr. Potter has told me that he will not press charges if you both agree to do community service helping others. If you agree to this then we will enter it on your file so that you will not be prosecuted in the future," she told them.
They both quickly agreed to do whatever was required. She sentenced them to serve a minimum of 1000 hours and told them that they would both be on probation for twenty years. If there is even a rumor of them hurting anyone like they had Harry then they would be charged and punished to the full extent of the law.
The Judge showed them out of her chambers where they found Harry and Ginny waiting for them.
"Harry," Petunia said. "We wanted to thank you for what you have done for us. I know we don't deserve it after everything we did."
"It was your own decision to testify against Vernon that allowed you to go free," Harry told them bitterly. "A large part of me wanted to punish you just as you did to me all those years, if it wasn't for my new family and the love they have shown me I may well have pressed charges."
Petunia wasn't surprised by his reaction; it would take more than one meeting to fix all the issues.
"We are sorry that it took so long to come to the right decision, I should have stopped it but never did. I have no excuse for that, I was scared of what would happen if I turned against Vernon but that still didn't justify my in-action.
"I just don't know what will happen now, they took away the car and most of our possessions as they were brought with stolen money. Dudley won't be able to return to Smeltings next year either not that it was really helping him," Petunia told him.
Harry already knew what he was going to do, he was surprised but at the end of the day they were still family and he couldn't see them just put out on the street like they wanted to do to him. He would be no better than they were if he did.
She again apologized before leaving. Dudley had been quiet the whole time, Harry could tell that he was upset at what had happened but wasn't sure if it was because of the sentence or because it finally hit home just how bad life had been for Harry.
Everyone at Potter Castle had a small celebration that evening; it wasn't anything major as they knew Harry wanted to forget about it all as quickly as possible.
Harry thanked them all for behaving during the trial even though he knew most of them wanted to badly hex Vernon when they heard the full description of what they had done to Harry when he lived there.
After the celebration Harry had a quiet word with Bill Weasley asking him to look into the mortgage on the Dursley's house and secretly pay it off so they would at least have somewhere to live.
Bill tried to talk Harry out of it before Ginny told him that Harry didn't want anyone to think that he was deliberately making them suffer because of what they had done.
Harry and Ginny spent the rest of the evening celebrating in private. The case had been very hard on Harry but he was forever grateful that he had Ginny with him every step of the way.
A/N: I have based most of this on my own experiences as a juror when I lived in England; however I am sure that some of it is taken from the TV shows I have seen.