Chapter 18 - For the Greater Good
Greater good is just halfway back to Bad.
-Sheri Holman
Harry lay slumped on the chair beside Hermione, having fainted from shock. Dumbledore who was also shocked by the revelation that the muggle girl Hermione is somehow Harry's "Protector" and God-Sister recovered faster and jumped at the chance presented.
"I think we should postpone this. We should take care of the boy first. Let me through, I'll take a look" said Dumbledore, all the while contemplating how to place a confundus on Harry without anyone noticing.
However before he could take a step forward, a Ministry official blocked his way and said "We came prepared, . We have brought Healers with us who will be better equipped to help Harry. I believe it's just a shock. It'll only be a moment. Please take your seat"
Dumbledore started to protest but the women had already turned around and left. True to her word Harry was revived and was embarrassed by the attention he was receiving. He refused to look at Hermione and nodded at the Goblin to continue.
The goblin continued as though there was no interruption. "The accused has agreed to the charge of claiming the Potter's will without their permission. I ask both the Goblin council and the Ministry council to mark the appropriate charges for this crime. The other part of the complaint stating that he sealed the will before the Potters death is unproven therefore dropped" and gave them the time to write down the same.
Harry noticed that Dumbledore remained calm as though he knew the charges won't be severe. It's exactly that, Harry realized. Dumbledore turned to give him a smile which proved it. Harry turned back to the Goblin in anger.
The Goblin made sure everyone was done and continued, "The second charge against the accused is as follows, the accused has been illegally withdrawing the amount of 15000 galleons every year from the trust vault of one Potter(defendant in the trial) claiming it is for 's upkeep. However we have here an affidavit from 's relatives that they have never seen a knut of the said amount. We also have a statement from who confirms that he had always had to earn his keep by cleaning the house and cooking for his relatives among other things. The total amount is 2 lac galleons including the interest it would have gained. what do you have to say for these charges"
Here Dumbledore had the gall to actually smile at Harry before turning to the goblin. "I agree that I took the amount, but it was for upkeep in a way. I took it as the amount due to me for setting up the wards around 's relatives's house. Which kept him safe till now"
Harry expected the room to zap Dumbledore with it's magic. But again it remained quiet meaning that the old goat was saying the truth. Hermione who has been quiet till now turned to the goblin and asked for permission to question. At the goblin's approval, she turned to the Ministry council, "I believe you have brought the warder that we requested."
A man with flaming red hair stood up and Harry was immediately reminded of Ron. As luck would have it the man introduced himself as Bill Weasley. Harry hoped he was more like the twins and less like his classmate. Hermione asked him " in the document that you are given, details about the wards that were around the Dursley residence is given. Please let us know how much you would charge for it."
Bill Weasley who had already gone through the document, nodded and said "All these wards are one time application. It does need maintenance as it is designed to live off the magic of the occupants. Usually in a wizarding family, due to the number of people this is not a big deal. But seeing that Harry was the only wizard in that house the amount of magic that would have been drained off him to keep that ward all these years is scary. As for the price, the market standard for these wards is 5000 galleons at the highest"
"Thank you . please let us know why you paid yourself 10 times more than the market standard?"
" , I am Albus Dumbledore. My talent is a step above the standard and therefore so is my pay"
"And you justified this as thus. But the fact remains that you took more than the amount that was due you. 195000 galleons to be exact. I ask the councils to charge on this please"
The goblin nodded and motioned for both councils to charge. Still Dumbledore remained calm. Harry was getting more irritated every second. None of this is going to put Dumbledore on any real trouble by his reaction. Harry still avoided looking at Hermione. If he had looked at her he would have noticed the quick nod she gave the goblin.
The goblin continued "The third charge against the accused is as follows, the accused conspire to kill the Potters, imprison one Black, outcast Lupin, condemn Pettigrew to a life of hiding and turn Potter into his tool eventually to be martyred. Please provide your answers . Did you or did you not?"
The silence in the room could have been cut with a knife. Harry looked at Dumbledore with pure loathing. If looks could kill, Dumbledore would have died a 100 times now. Dumbledore himself was lost for words as if he just realized that everything that happened till now is only to lull him into a false sense of security. He looked at the goblin and then at the people from the ministry. He saw Amelia Bones, a friend till today give him a look of disgust. He wondered who uncovered all this. He turned to look at Harry.
From the look on Harry it was evident that he was only now hearing of all this. His gaze shifted to Hermione next to him. She was staring right back at him. He just couldn't figure how she could have done all this. Someone should be behind her. He probed her with a light legilimency just on her surface thoughts. However as soon as the spell hit her, he was taken aback by the voice in his head.
"Took you long enough, you old goat"
"What.. How? Who are you?"
"Wouldn't you like to know. However that is for another day. As for the situation at hand, I urge you to plead guilty and feel some remorse."
Dumbledore turned to the goblin and said "I am being falsely accused of this". No sooner had the words left his mouth, the room flashed white and Dumbledore was hissing in pain clutching his wrist. The number one was branded on his skin which was still sizzling from the burn.
" , I would like to remind you that lying is not permitted in this room"
"I did it for the greater good of the wizarding world" this time the room flashed blue and the number two now added to Dumbledore's tattoos. Harry felt nauseated and content at the same time.
Dumbledore immediately stood up and called "Fawkes, come to me". There was a bright flash of orange light and Harry thought it was the room again and Dumbledore was dead but it turned out to be a Phoenix sitting on a perch high on the wall. The phoenix seemed to be looking at Harry but he couldn't hold it's gaze.
Dumbledore shouted at the bird to come to him, but the bird seemed hesitant. The goblin signalled his guards to man the doors and said calmly "Do not try to escape . It will not work"
Harry noticed movement from his side and saw Hermione point his wand at the phoenix. He was scared for Hermione because from what he had read in the creatures book, Phoenixes were extremely powerful and resistant to most spells. He was about to tell the same to Hermione but she motioned for him to keep quiet and started muttering a strange song-like tune. A white string of light dancing to her tune erupted from her wand and started to reach the Phoenix.
Dumbledore noticed and his eyes widened in fear when he realized what she was doing. He pulled out his wand but was hit with 5 disarming spells at once from the Ministry council. A lesser man would have fainted. But he did lose his wand which flew to Harry. Harry instinctively caught it and felt a jolt go through him. But he couldn't drop it. He looked at the wand in wonder for a second and turned his attention back to Hermione. By now the light had reached the phoenix and was dancing around it. Hermione bowed to the Phoenix and kept singing. The phoenix looked at Hermione with something akin to amusement and opened its mouth.
The white light immediately went inside the phoenix and it burst in flames. Harry gasped and ran over to where it had fallen in ashes. He threw an angry glare at Hermione and bent to pick up the ashes. He immediately withdrew his hand as it touched something squirming inside the ashes. Hermione came and put a hand on his shoulder, "It's not dead Harry. It's just reborn free. Dumbledore binded it to him. I set it free."
Sure enough when he looked down there was a baby phoenix making its way out of the ashes. One of the goblin guards came to pick it up and placed it on a red cushion and took it away. Hermione guided Harry back to their seats. When Harry looked at Dumbledore again, he almost gasped at the despair on the man's face. He looked utterly defeated.
The goblin continued once everyone was seated again "Please charge the accused with the respective punishment for the third set of his crimes which is fully proven by his own admittance"
After about five minutes, the goblin collected parchments from both the council members. He looked over it and began to read.
"The ministry's charge sheet. The accused is proven guilty of the following crimes, Intentionally sealing and disregarding the will of James and Lily Potter and therefore condemning Harry Potter to an abusive environment. Theft of an undue amount of galleons from the trust vault of Harry Potter. Conspiring and succeeding in the murder of the Potters, imprisoning Sirius Black, Banishing Remus Lupin and framing Peter Pettigrew for the said crimes. The ministry charges the guilty person to 98 years of Prison in Azkaban and a fine of 10 million galleons out of which the amount stolen from will be returned to him"
Harry was gaping open mouthed at the Ministry women. 98 years of Prison? Dumbledore looks like he is already over 100. Hermione noticed Harry's confusion and said quietly "Wizards live a lot longer than humans Harry". Harry nodded mutely and still refused to meet her eyes. Hermione sighed and turned back to the goblin.
"The goblin council's charge sheet. The accused is proven guilty of the following crimes, Intentionally sealing and disregarding the will of James and Lily Potter and therefore condemning Harry Potter to an abusive environment. Theft of an undue amount of galleons from the trust vault of Harry Potter. Conspiring and succeeding in the murder of the Potters, imprisoning Sirius Black, Banishing Remus Lupin and framing Peter Pettigrew for the said crimes. In addition to this, Dumbledore has also broken the terms he agreed to when he opened an account with the Gringotts Bank by stealing from . Therefore Gringotts will seize all properties and vaults belonging to Dumbledore. The fine will be paid to the Ministry from the same and will receive an additional 2 million galleons to what was stolen from him as a token of good faith from our part. We also sentence him to 5 years in goblin prison and request the ministry to let us imprison him first before he is sent to Azkaban"
"Why only 5 years?" Harry asked Hermione before he could stop himself. Hermione hid a smile and said "Because goblin prisons have a different time center. 5 years there is equivalent to 50 years in our world. So that make a total of 148 years for the Headmaster"
Harry started to feel guilty but reminded himself that this man was the reason that he had no parents and family. He pushed the guilt aside and watched with satisfaction as Dumbledore was bound with strong iron bracelets by the goblins carrying spears and was heralded out of the hall.
The ministry wizards came over to shake Harry's hands and apologised for the life he had till now. They promised to support him from here on out and to reach out if he needs anything. The goblins simply nodded at him and left the hall. Finally it was only Harry and Hermione.
Hermione put her hand on Harry's shoulder, "Harry, I know you have about a million questions. I will answer each of them. But would you like to go home first?"
"Home?"