Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. This is for fun only, please don't sue.
Chapter 14: Deposition of Dumbledore
Amelia Bones had worked herself into a fine tizzy preparing for today. Last night she did not get much in the way of sleep as she reviewed and counter reviewed her tacticts for when she questioned Dumbledore. She had the old coot in her crosshairs and she wanted to make sure she got him bang to rights. During the trial, he had certainly demonstrated behaviours which many would classify as a couple of scales short of a dragon but she knew he was worse than that – he was as mad as a box of chocolate frogs. The problem she had was that at other times the man could still be logical and she did not want Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore to get off scot-free. Today was the day she was going to call him as her witness.
After the initial court opening procedures, Albus Dumbledore was brought up from the cells. Today he was in his sparkly lime green set of robes. Amelia mentally rolled her eyes. At times he reminded her of that flambouyant muggle singer, Liberace.
"I call upon the Defendant, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, as the next witness for the Prosecution." There was a stir from the galleries, even though most of the public were in other locations watching the trial via viewing spells.
The court Aurors escorted the man from his seat on the defence bench to the witness box, where he was sworn in with a court wand, as they certainly were not about to allow this wizard to have access to his own wand.
"Mr Dumbledore, did you have a relationship with Gellert Grindelwald in 1898 to 1899?"
"Yes, as you have heard from others, Amelia. Gellert and I were lovers from the summer of 1898. We had met after I had returned from Hogwarts to Godric's Hollow after completing my NEWT year."
"Mr Dumbledore, you are reminded to respect the positions of the court representatives. The Prosecutor will be referred to as Madam Bones or Madam Prosecutor," advised the Chief Warlock, Morris Ogden. He had already reminded the man on more than one occasion. "If you continue to disregard the traditions of the court I will have no hesitation in adding a contempt charge. This is your last warning, Mr Dumbledore."
"Mr Dumbledore, please advise the court what you and Mr Grindelwald were involved in during your relationship?"
"We were intellectual friends first and looked into many things before we became lovers."
"It has been said that you and Gellert Grindelwald were involved in the study of the Dark Arts is this true?"
"We studied an number of things and that may have included Defence Against the Dark Arts, which means we would also have to study the Dark Arts so that we could know how to defend against them."
"It has also been said that you practised the throwing of dark spells and hexes, is this not true?"
"I practised with Gellert defending against dark spells and hexes." He was prevaricating. She was going to get him to admit that he cast dark spells.
"Can you please explain to the court how you practised defending against dark spells and hexes with Gellert Grindelwald?" probed Amelia Bones.
"One would throw the hex and the other would respond with the appropriate counter charm or spell." Amelia was getting frustrated as he just would not come out and say it. Right time to nail him to the wall, thought Amelia.
"Did Gellert practise to improve his skills?" she asked.
"Yes, we both practised"
"Did you practise in the same manner?"
"Yes, it was a joint endeavour."
"So he would cast and you would counter cast and then you would reverse the roles So you, Albus Dumbledore, would cast dark spells at your lover so that he could practise his defence against them?" stated Madam Bones pointedly. She was looking at him sharply, hoping he would try to wiggle out of that statement.
"Yes, that is the normal manner of duelling practice."
"So we can assert that you both know and would cast dark hexes and spells."
"Yes we thought it was the only way we could prepare and practise."
"What were you both preparing for?" Amelia pressed for details.
"We believed that there was the likelihood of a new dark lord arriving, given the conflict of the time. There was so much conflict at the time in Europe and even here in Britain. The same conflict can be seen in the muggle historical accounts of the time. There were signs of war and the muggle First World War began in 1914. Wizards were lost in the trenches of Flanders in that war."
"So you believed that you had to prepare. Why?"
"Gellert and I both believed that there needed to be changes to the political systems of our countries. The Wizengamot was too staid, too hidebound. We were young bucks who wanted to throw over the controls of our elders. Gellert had been expelled from Durmstrang for that reason as he had argued too often with his parents and professors."
"At the time, you both saw yourselves as young reformers?"
"Yes, we wanted reforms."
"Have you achieved the reforms that you and Gellert wanted to bring about?"
"Some we have but others not. Of course, as I grew older, I learned to compromise and gained a greater respect for tradition."
"What did you want to change?"
"We wanted to change how and when the magical world integrated with the muggles."
"Have you really made any changes to the integration?"
"No, it has been for the greater good that the wizarding world keeps separate from the muggle world. The need for this could be seen in the causes of the muggle second world war."
"Can you please explain this concept of 'the greater good' to the court?"
"The muggle novelist, Charles Dickens, wrote in his novel A Tale of Two Cities that The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one. Before that, Aristotle, wrote in The Aims of Man that Even supposing the chief good to be eventually the aim for the individual as for the state, that of the state is evidently of greater and more fundamental importance both to attain and to preserve. The securing of one individual's good is cause for rejoicing, but to secure the good of a nation or of a city-state is nobler and more divine. These define the concept of the greater good. The greater good means that one individual may have to be sacrificed for the benefit of the wizarding world as a whole."
"According to your brother, he was going to be forced to stay home as your younger sister's carer after the death of your mother, is this true?"
"Yes. I had a job in London and Nicholas Flamel was starting to collaborate with me on my research."
"So it was for the greatest good of the magical world that you continued in your research with the alchemist, Nicholas Flamel?"
"Yes."
Holding up a Chocolate Frog card with its iconic image of the Defendant, Amelia Bones turned to the witness and asked, "According to your Chocolate Frog card, which, Your Honour, I now admit for identification as Prosecution evidence item No 274, you researched the uses of dragon's blood with the famous alchemist?"
"Clerk of the Court, mark it as Prosecution item No 274," directed Morris Ogden. "Answer the question, Mr Dumbledore. What did you research with the alchemist?"
"Yes, we were investigating the use of dragon's blood and found twelve uses."
"Was that important enough to justify interrupting your brother's education?" probed Amelia
"Yes, someone had to look after Ariana," snapped the man.
"Could you not have hired a nurse or a house elf?" inquired Amelia, trying to see if she could push any more of the man's buttons and let the real Albus Dumbledore out for the court to see.
"I was working in a low level, entry position within the Ministry of Magic and completing my research at night," explained the so-called Great Man.
"So you were too busy for your own family. We have all heard that you spent a large amount of your time with your lover and that this was a factor in your mother's death. Can I ask again what is the importance of dragon's blood as a magical ingredient?"
"It is important for many magical potions, too numerous to mention," asserted Albus Dumbledore in that patronising tone she had always hated, both at school and here in the Ministry over the years.
"Can dragon's blood be used as a spot remover and oven cleaner?" she asked.
"Yes, that is two of the uses," confirmed the man with a twinkle in his eye.
"So your brother's education was less important than an oven cleaner? How very altruistic of you." There was derision at the man's research findings and much laughter when it had come out that two of the uses of dragon's blood the man had identified were so trivial.
"You had a job and a very active social life and you were also undertaking important research, thus you were too busy to care for your grieving brother and sister. Aberforth, your brother, completed his NEWTs without your assistance on a scholarship grant. Did you know that he got higher grades than you and in more subjects?"
"He was the more academic brother when we were younger and I was the more practical," asserted the man with a shrug of his shoulders, as if to say that things change.
"Your Honour, I would ask the court to admit the NEWT results for both Albus and Aberforth Dumbledore as Prosecution evidence items 275 and 276."
"Clerk of the Court, mark them as Prosecution items 275 and 276."
"Can you please advise the court what your brother did on completion of his NEWTs?" she probed again.
"I don't know what he did. We were not exactly speaking then."
"Can you remember where you saw him at that time?"
"I would see him in the house we shared at Godric's Hollow and he would floo out each day. There were times I saw him in the Ministry but we didn't have tea together."
"Did you know that you brother was a top researcher with the Ministry of Magic in the Department of Mysteries? He was, and still is at times, an Unspeakable. Wouldn't you say that was an important job?"
"I wouldn't know, as they are known as Unspeakables," joked Dumbledore, believing he had scored a hit against her.
"I have permission from the Head Unspeakable to discuss your brother's career. Did you know he was responsible for finding part of the vaccine for Dragon's Pox, improving Gunhilda of Gorsemoor's cure for this deadly disease?"
"No, I did not. Maybe he should have his own Chocolate Frog card, like Gunhilda," he deadpanned, playing the sympathetic brother who supported his sibling.
"Did you also know that he worked with the muggle biochemist and microbiologist, Selman Abraham Waksman, to develop antibiotics during the 1940s amidst the muggle Second World War?" she asked, again hoping to prove that there was more to Abe's career than that of Albus' own as an educationalist.
"No, I did not. We stopped talking after the troubles between us in 1914."
"What, may I ask, were you doing in 1939?"
"I was working as a Professor of Transfiguration at Hogwarts."
"This is while your brother, Abe, was undertaking research and missions in Germany for the Unspeakables, investigating the wizarding involvement in the German Nazi party. According to your Chocolate Frog card, you only got involved in the Second World War in 1945, when you helped capture your former lover, Gellert Grindelwald, in a duel. Can you explain to the court how you duel with a muggle pistol?"
"It's similar to a wand duel. You stand back to back and then count off ten paces, before turning and then firing," explained the wizard.
"How far would you say that a pace was in metres?" asked Madam Bones. The audience were on the edge of their seats, sensing was asking something important now. There was a smell of blood in the air and the sharks were circling.
"A pace by a man of average height is about one metre, or three feet," advised Albus Dumbledore in a lecturing tone.
"Would you say that you are of average height?" inquired Amelia.
"I would say that."
"So if you and your opponent paced out ten paces, you should be at least twenty metres from your opponent, correct?"
"That would be logical," conceded the former Great Man
"Mr Dumbledore, I am asking you to look at the following photos, which, Your Honour, I request the court to admit as Prosecution evidence items 277 and 278."
"Clerk of the Court, mark them as Prosecution items 277 and 278."
"Looking at the photos, can you please describe what they are?"
"They appear to be photographs of the scarring on an individual's back."
"Yes, can you describe the shape and unique nature of the scars on this individual's back?" she pushed.
"The scars are like star bursts, with a central circle and petals coming out from the middle."
Waving her wand and casting a spell, the whole court could now see the photos that Albus Dumbledore was holding. They were in colour and the welts of the scars were red against the white skin of the victim. "These photos are of Gellert Grindelwald and I submit a muggle Forensic Scientist report as prosecution item No 279, and a wizarding Healer's report as prosecution item No. 280. Both agree that these wounds were made by a muggle pistol discharging at a close range of less than one metre. It actually has to be very close to the victim – almost touching distance – for there to be radial burns round the impact wound site of the bullet. So I assert that you did not fairly duel Gellert Grindelwald but rather sneaked up behind him and shot him in the back?"
"It was a fair duel. We were at war," asserted the wizard.
"The victim's own aunt, who sees him twice a year, reports that the wizard concerned did not believe that you duelled but rather you shot him in the back with no warning. This is a totally different picture to that given on your Chocolate Frog card. Let me read from the back of Prosecution item 274, the Chocolate Frog card: Albus Dumbledore, the current Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Considered by many to be the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark Wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.' Considered to be the greatest wizard of modern times. It wasn't very wizardry to shoot a man in the back at close range was it?'
"No."
"So you are famous for something you really didn't do, and for this you garnered great respect and fame?"
"Well, I did defeat a dark wizard who had joined forces with a dark muggle called Hitler."
"When did you join the British Army?"
"In 1944."
"So while you brother had already been reporting for years on the rise of a new dark power and working to remove it, you jumped on the bandwagon towards the end of the war and claimed all the fame yet again. I submit as Albus Dumbledore's enlistment papers as Prosecution item No 281, Your Honour."
"Clerk of the Court, mark the British Army Service Record as Prosecution item No 281."
Taking a sip of water, Madam Bones paused before continuing. "According to item 281, the British Army records, you did not join until December 1944, so you were only active for a grand total of six months. It was your brother's intelligence gathering which helped to track down the location of Grindelwald, who you then shot in the back on the third of May 1945, just five days before the unconditional surrender of the Germans on the eighth of May 1945. How many muggles died in that world war?"
"A lot," Albus Dumbledore replied tersely. He was not sure and he hoped that she would not press much further.
"One million? Two million? How many would you say?" she pushed for an answer.
Thanks for the help, Amelia. I'll go with a large number, he thought before answering "About 10 million." Dumbledore then dropped his eyes to the floor, as though that was a horrible number and he could not bear the weight of that number. There was a slight shake to his head as though he was suggesting to the court that he felt it was a horrible thought, to have that many dead due to a war. His body language was designed to pull on the heartstrings of the court officials.
"I would like to correct you. Mr Dumbledore. It was more in the range of fifty to eighty million. There were at least ten million killed in the muggle death camps alone and twenty-two million military persons were killed. That does not include the civilians who were caught in the cross-fire of the fighting, died in bombings or were killed randomly or in retaliation by military personnel. So why did you take so long to get involved when, obviously, you could have stepped in earlier if you are one of the greatest wizards of this century? You are not really that great, are you, to allow all those deaths?"
Many a face in the various courtrooms had gone white with the thought that so many people had been killed. The entire magical population in the whole world could have gone within the total of the death camps alone. The numbers were sickening. The on-call Healers in the public gallery courtrooms had to treat a number of patients who were overcome at the colossal number of dead.
"After that experience, did you believe it would be better to ensure that children were cared for and that we did not get involved in war?"
"Yes. I tried to do that by supporting the orphans at Hogwarts who were impacted by the Second World War," asserted the former school professor.
"Did you really? Then why did students who had less than satisfactory homelives, as has been reported by other witnesses we have heard, advise that you, as their Head of House, then Deputy Headmaster and, later, as Headmaster ,advised them that you could not help them. One such child was the Head Boy in 1945, one Tom Marvolo Riddle, who went on to become the next Dark Lord Voldemort, who was only defeated in 1981. During that time, we lost 3,000 magicals and close to 100,000 muggles from Death Eater attacks. Why didn't you stop him coming to power? Why did he feel the need to kill muggles and halfbloods, even when he was a halfblood himself?
The court was gasping with the news. Madam Bones had written Tom Riddle's full name out in full in the air and when she identified him as Lord Voldemort, she had made the letters move into the anagram, "I am Lord Voldemort." Screams were heard at the sight of the writing and the sound of the name that most could not say, due to their fear and the history of the taboo that had been placed upon it.
"As a teacher, I have always been one to give individuals a second chance," asserted the man, as though that was enough of an answer for the court to justify his rationale.
"Not fairly, as we have heard from Lord Black. You seem to have had a bias against Slytherins. Was that due to Tom Riddle being a Slytherin?"
There was no reply but Amelia let it lie, instead continuing to interrogate Albus Dumbledore, trying to push for a heated answer.
"Why did you not punish the young Sirius Black when he almost killed another student through his reckless behaviour?" she queried, trying to get a true response. She was hoping that if she kept pressing he would lose control and answer unguardedly, and she was just about to score her jackpot.
"It was important that Lord Black as the Heir to the House was not a follower of the pureblood supremacist movement like his mother. The funds of the Blacks could not get into Lord Voldemort's hands," he snapped at her if she was a foolish child.
"So the halfblood child was hurt and the offence was unpunished for the greater good. Did you not consider that you could have been pushing supporters to Tom Riddle, as they saw the continued bias encouraged by you in the school, which then continued out into the wider society where Slytherins felt isolated."
"I needed to ensure that we had enough future light minded wizards to fight the dark," Dumbledore said, again demonstrating his attitude that his pupils were just chess pieces on his game board that he moved about to achieve his ends.
"It has been proven by the courts that Peter Pettigrew, once a member of your light movement, the Order of Phoenix, and a former member of Gryffindor was a Death eater. So you wouldn't say that you were successful in that aim would you?
"Not entirely," he admitted thinking that that would be enough and she would move on to another point.
"The reality is that you try to find the best advantage for yourself so that you can live in the style that you wish to instead of what you really can afford, is that not so, Mr Dumbledore? It has been shown that you have taken advantage of orphan students who you are supposed to help by embezzling from their accounts and making sure that they are unprepared and unaware of their inheritances while you take advantage of the unclaimed monies.
"For someone who purports to be on the side of the light you actions over the years have certainly been grey, if not dark. You were the Supreme Mugwump of the ICW and the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. You were supposed to uphold the law and the rule of law and yet you, as a supposedly well-known light wizard, encouraged a man with an exemplary record as a Hitwizard and Auror, a member of your own light organisation, the Order of Phoenix, which was supposedly fighting against the Dark Lord, to be incarcerated without a trial. Why did Lord Sirius Orion Black not get a trial?
"He was in protective custody, as we were dealing with chaos of the end of the Blood War," was the man's justification, but it was evident to all who had followed the case presented by Amelia Bones that there was a different reason, namely the money in the Potter accounts.
"Protective custody, what rot! Sirius Black was in the maximum-security division of Azkaban where he was taunted by dementors on an hourly basis. He did not get medical treatment, no one followed the rule of law and took his statement or even investigated his so called crime. He only got a trial once it was proven that he had not received a trial previously.
"You declared Sirius Black guilty and threw him into Azkaban because it suited your grand plan to control the Potter heir. The Goblin Forensic Accountants have proved that you were dipping into his family accounts. You were a witness to the will of James and Lily Potter and proceeded to place Harry James Potter, against the wishes of his parents, with Lily's sister, Petunia. Why did you put him in a muggle home?" She had reminded those who had not been there earlier what had happened and pushed to get more details of the man's thinking in relation to Harry Potter.
"We thought that Sirius was guilty, the Longbottoms were in St Mungo's and you had enough on your plate with your niece Susan. The next closest relatives were all known dark families. I didn't want the child to be at risk from a dark family and I wanted to make sure he wasn't arrogant due to his fame. There were Death Eaters still on the loose at the time, so he had to go to the protection of his mother's blood and the blood wards that Lily had set up on her sister's home. The magical world need the Boy-Who-Lived as he would be needed again to ensure the defeat of Lord Voldemort when he returned. It was for the greater good of all.
"Hang on. So you falsified documents to support your game plan and put the child with his muggle aunt? How often have you counterfeited or edited documents in the Ministry of Magic?"
"I did what had to be done," asserted the man, demonstrating his arrogance and deluded self-belief that he was infallible.
Amelia was giving him enough rope to hang himself, and she moved on to the next point. "You believe that Lord Voldemort will come back and that Harry Potter, a child, will be needed to kill this dark wizard again?"
"Yes, that is correct. There is a prophecy that says that while either is alive, neither can live," he proudly stated, meanwhile many in the watching courtrooms thought he was several scales short of a dragon.
"This would be the Trelawney prophecy that was recorded with the Department of Mysteries?" she queried. He had stepped right into her plan.
"Yes. I was there when she gave it to me during a job interview in 1978." There was her confirmation and now she could sink her battleship.
"I have the Department of Mysteries transcript of the prophecy which I will now display on the side screen so all can read it. Your Honour, I would like this official prophecy transcript to be labelled as Prosecution item 282.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."
"Clerk of the Court, mark the transcript as Prosecution item No 282," advised Morris Ogden. He was watching a maestro at work with Amelia Bones's prosecution case. She was stringing the idiot up by his beard.
"Let us analyse this prophecy. We can say we can ignore the first line. When the prophecy was given in 1978, it indicated that would be someone with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord was coming but no there was no indication of a timespan of even which Dark Lord was being referred to. We are assuming that it was Lord Voldemort, also known as Tom Riddle, who was the current Dark Lord at the time when the prophecy was made in 1978. So if we assume a timespan of ten years, we can go through a list of people who had thrice defied him and who had a child. Well, that could have been many but the prophecy did not refer to notable individuals, we could say that there were two couples – the Longbottoms and the Potters – who both fitted the thrice-defied requirement.
"Added to that, both couples had a child born as the seventh month dies. That could be any time in the last few days of the month of July. So, again, we have both the Potters and the Longbottoms. Neville Longbottom was born on the thirtieth of July 1980 at 11:55pm, while Harry Potter was born at 12:10am on the thirty-first of July 1980. Not much time between the deliveries of both children.
"The Dark Lord will mark as his equal. The wizarding community counts the mark on Harry Potter's forehead, which he received in the attack that killed his parents that Halloween night in 1981, as the Dark Lord's mark. This could be described as marking him as his equal but it is a pretty foolish action.
"But he will have power the Dark Lord knows not. We don't know what Lily did but we know she did do something that enabled the child Harry Potter to reverse the Killing Curse when it was fired at the toddler by the Dark Lord, causing the curse to bounce back at Tom Riddle, so that he was the one killed. We know it was the Avada Kedavra, as it has been reported that Harry Potter keeps seeing the colour of the spell fired at his mother and himself in his nightmares. We even have the man's wand and the last spells fired on that night were the Killing Curse.
"The next line is pretty self explanatory in that neither can live while the other survives. Since Harry Potter is alive it is evident that the Dark Lord Voldemort, Tom Riddle, was killed that night. We have had no reports of the man. The goblin Bankers have reported that according to their systems, Tom Riddle is dead and they have awarded his accounts to young Master Potter as right of conquest. We do not have any loyal Death Eaters still alive. Just this Halloween past, according to the Department of Mysteries, all loyal Death Eaters died as a result of a failed link to their former Master. Observations of those who were unwillingly marked like Lord Malfoy and the DMLE spy, Professor Severus Snape, indicated that their Dark Marks faded after the death of the Dark Lord and that they disappeared completely this Halloween. It has been found that if the individual was still loyal, they died when their link to their Master finally dissolved.
"So Tom Riddle, Lord Voldemort, is dead and of the assumption is correct that it was indeed referring to Voldemort as the specific Dark Lord, the prophecy has been completed it. Mr Dumbledore, would you agree that Harry Potter is alive?"
"Yes, the Boy-Who-Lived is alive," he had to confirm that he had left the boy as a baby on the doorstep of his aunt.
"Thus the prophecy has been completed?" Amelia Bones summarised.
"Yes, but..." he tried to come up with an alternative explanation without saying anything about the horcruxes but could not think of anything before she cut him off with another question.
"Have you had any reports of Voldemort since the thirty-first of October 1981?" she countered, stopping him from coming up with a contradictory statement.
"No," he had to agree there were no more reports on the man; it had been silent for years.
"His true followers are all died when their binding marks collapsed on the thirty-first of October this year, so he must be dead, too."
Since he was in the cells that night, Albus he could not counter what that statement. If the Unspeakables had found this to be the case, well, who was he to counter their knowledge? He was not going to admit he had no idea about what had happened. He had seen Lucius and Severus both being brought into the DMLE holding cells in the days after Halloween but he had not known the reason why.
Madam Bones had sunk Albus Dumbledore. Her prosecution case had taken his actions apart and had proven time and time again that he was a self-serving wizard who took advantage of individuals so he could benefit, whether by fame, position or fortune. He could not counter the case. When he tried to suggest that Voldemort was still alive and that they needed him to help defeat the Dark Lord, she had rebutted this argument by bringing evidence from the goblins. Amelia linked her arguments together and she stitched up every gap Albus Dumbledore left in his defence argument. In the end, he looked madder than a box of Chocolate Frogs for even suggesting that the latest Dark Lord was still alive.
The court found Albus Dumbledore guilty and all his accounts and belongings were to be liquidated and reparations were to be paid. The Great Man himself was sent to the maximum-security section of Azkaban for fifty years. It was the same place he had sent Sirius Black for 'protective custody' and there were some bookmakers who were giving short odds that the man would not last even until Christmas this year before he died in the dark, soul-devouring prison in the North Sea.