The Conviction of Ron Weasley
Harry was used to silence, but this was more deafening then any silence he had known before. Hermione walked upto the stand, and lowered her hood to prove it was her that was going to speak. The entire Weasley family were opening and shutting their mouths like fish out of water. Some of them appeared to be speaking, but no words could be heard from any of them. Ron looked as if he was going to have an aneurism and give birth to Voldemort's secret lovechild on the spot. If dramatic was a subject taught at Hogwarts, Harry would have been top of the class.
"Objection" cried the legal-wizard, a shade of red that would have made Uncle Vernon proud. "This is highly irregular" he stammered.
"I did say it was a new witness" Harry said as he gave a hint of a smile on his face.
"Objection overruled" Diggle said, as he waved his hand to continue the trial.
"Thank you" Harry said. He turned to Hermione to ask his first question. "Miss Granger, can you tell us what happened please? You can start from the moment Professor McGonagall left the Gryffindor common room".
"I left the common room, to go to the libuary to think over things. I decided to take the scenic route and go the long way round via the forth floor corridor, when I heard footsteps behind me. When I turned round I saw it was Mr Weasley, so I asked him what he wanted" Hermione's voice was a little shaky as she began to recount the entire drama.
"And what did he say?" asked Harry.
"He said that he was going to punish me" Hermione said.
"Punish you?" Harry really didn't want to press the issue, but knew he had to do it to punish Ron.
"Yes, punish me" Hermione confirmed. "He started to push me around and then he shoved me into a classroom, threw me to the floor and started shouting how much people hated me. Then…. then…." Hermione's voice trailed off as she began to describe what had happened next. "Then he started to touch my chest and put his hand up my skirt started to feel me. When he felt satisfied with that, he started to hit me a few times and then he began to take off my clothes" she said, and her voice was very shaky, but Hermione kept her calm and pressed on. "After he took off my shoes, socks, underwear, skirt, jumper and blouse, he pulled down his jeans and boxer shorts and grabbed my head and forced his…. He forced himself into my mouth and made give him oral sex" tears began to run down Hermione's face as she got to the most distressing part of the story.
"Take your time" Harry said kindly as he conjured a handkerchief for her to use. Hermione accepted it gratefully and dabbed at her eyes, and at the same time came…..
"Objection!".
"Mr legal-wizard. If you do not stop going "Objection" all the time, so help me, I'll have the one remaining Dementor perform the Kiss on you" Diggle said nearly exploding in rage. The recipient of his anger sat down and stayed very quiet. "You are fined 100 Galleons, for your manner of conduct" Diggle looked at Harry. "You may continue".
"Thank you" Harry replied. "Are you able to go on?" he asked Hermione, and the girl nodded. Silence reigned over the entire room as Hermione told her tale. What happened next?" he asked.
"When he was finished forcing himself in my mouth, he hit with a light body bind and he pushed himself into me. I was begging him not to do it, and to stop but he pulled my nipples really hard and slapped my breasts. Then he pulled out of me and I thought he was going to go away when he slammed his whole length into me and broke my hymen and it made me bleed and cry in pain. He was still inside me and biting my nipples when you burst in and stunned him" Hermione said as she finally broke down and the brave girl was comforted by Tonks who led her away from the witness stand and out of the courtroom.
"The Prosecution rests" Harry said simply, and sat down.
"Defence rests" said the legal-wizard feebly.
"We will break now so the Jury can decide its verdict" Diggle said and he walked out the room with the entire bench following him.
"If I get in trouble" Tonks said as she looked at Harry "Can I hire you as my lawyer?" she finished smiling.
"Maybe" Harry said as he went out to have a little walk to stretch his legs, and his escort followed behind him closely. He had hardly turned the corner at the end of the corridor, when he heard Kingsley call him back.
"They've already decided" Kingsley said.
"That was quick" said Harry, looking at his watch. "We've only been on the break for eight seconds!".
"I know" Kingsley said with the air of someone who knew something else as well. They went back inside the room and watched the entire jury came back inside the room. When they where all seated, Diggle stood up.
"The Jury has told me that it has reached a verdict" Diggle turned to the Jury. "Fore-witch of the jury, what is the verdict please?" he asked.
"We, the Jury, find the defendant Ronald Bilius Weasley guilty of the charge of rape" said a small witch, who Harry was sure had been at Dumbledore's trial as well.
"Was this verdict unanimous?" Diggle asked.
"It was" replied the witch, and she sat down.
"Thank you" Diggle said. He turned his gaze on Ron at the Defence stand. "Ronald Bilius Weasley, you have been found guilty of the charge of Raping Hermione Jane Granger. I have taken the steps of allowing the press into these proceedings because of the oddness of the case. You have been convicted of raping a muggle born witch, and that is something no wizard should ever do. Even though the last conviction of rape was two hundred and fifty years ago, you must be made an example of" and Diggle paused for breath. "Ronald Bilius Weasley, it is the judgement of the court that you are guilty of the charge, and you are hereby sentenced to spend twenty one years in Azkaban. Your mind will be altered, and you will have the memories of Miss Granger as you raped and abused her. You will experience them for your entire time at Azkaban. May Merlin have mercy on your soul" Diggle said as he finished passing the sentence on Ron. Harry thought that it was very fitting indeed, when you considered what the crime was after all.
"No!" came an anguished cry from Ron as he pulled out a wand from absolutely nowhere. He should not have had a wand, and Harry could only suspect that one of the Weasley's had given him it. He aimed it Harry and shot a curse that sent him flying into the thick stone wall. Dobby cracked out of view and he re-appeared in front of Ron.
"You will not harm Harry Potter" Dobby said loudly, and the elf reached up above his head towards Ron. Dobby was so close that nobody could see what he was doing.
"ARGH!" cried Ron as he fell back from the elf dropping the wand and holding his hands over his groin. Harry's first thought, as was everybody else's, was that Dobby had punched Ron in the testicles. That theory was proved to be correct when Ron fell to his knees clutching his groin area, as well as going a deathly shade of white. Harry had to smother a smile as he silently praised the elf. As he looked away, Harry noticed blood seeping through Ron's hands and Harry knew that Dobby had ripped Ron's testicles off.
"I must protest" the legal-wizard said.
"Oh, for Merlin's sake, shut up" Harry said, and he sent a silencing charm at the man who opened his mouth, but of course no sound came out.
"Mr Potter, you are fined 10 Sickles for that" Diggle said.
"Oh, fine" Harry replied, and he tossed 10 silver sickles at Diggle. He looked at his watch and noticed that it was time for Ginny's trial to begin. As he watched Ron being led away by Aurors to Azkaban, Mrs Weasley breezed past and handed Diggle a letter. The older wizard read it, and then beckoned for Harry to come over to him.
"Harry" Diggle began, making it clear this was not a court thing, "This is a full confession from Ginerva Weasley. She's admitted to everything and she is willing to have all of her Gringotts account drained and donated to Miss Granger. I think it is better if we lest it at that" Diggle said.
"I agree" Harry said after a moments thinking. "I do not want Hermione to be caused more upset by going over this again".
"Very well, I will do the paperwork" Diggle smiled. "What will you be doing?" he asked, expecting Harry to reply that he would be going back to Hogwarts.
"My plans are to go back to Hogwarts, where I am going to have at least twelve hours sleep" Harry said, with a remarkably straight face.
"Very well" Diggle said, and after bidding Harry farewell, he turned and left the courtroom.
Harry looked around the room and saw that with the exception of his friends and Tonks, the courtroom had now emptied of most people. Harry went towards the mass of Hannah, Susan, Luna, Neville and Tonks, and began to discuss his plans for getting back to Hogwarts. The general theme was that they didn't want to get the Knight Bus and the group thought of ways to get round that problem.
"Could we get the train again?" asked Hannah.
"That train was only a one off run" Harry said, and explained the oddity of having a service that only went one way.
"So, if we can't take the train then it has to be using the Floo Network" Neville said.
Harry and the rest agreed, and they went out to the corridor and used the lift to go to the entrance where they could use the Floo system. The minute they had exited the lift, they heard noises coming from one of the corridors leading off the main entrance and Harry thought that a few odd magical items had gone off. His thought seemed to be confirmed when he saw two wizards flying through the air to hit a wall and slide down.
"Somebody will be in for it" Susan said. But at that moment, they saw Kingsley running towards them, completely out of breath from the direction of the holding cells.
"Death Eaters" Kingsley said, red in the face and trying to get his breath back.
A/N: I hope you liked the punishment for Ron. I hope you don't mind me skipping Ginny's trial, but it will be for the better trust me. A short chapter I know, but its going to get interesting the next chapter with a fight. Please tell me if you liked Dobby's moment of glory in this chapter.
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