AN: Hi everyone! I'm so sorry about the long wait. I want to continue this story, but I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update. Thank you to everyone who encouraged me to keep writing! My biggest criticism in my last chapter was that the paragraphs were too long and hard to read, so I tried to fix that here. Let me know if it worked or if I need to keep trying. Anyway, on with the chapter. I do not own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter

Harry POV:

The days leading to my trial passed slowly. I was a mess. All I could think about was the upcoming trial, and whether I would be allowed to return to Hogwarts. Hogwarts was the only place I had ever felt safe. It was the only place that had ever truly felt like a home. I couldn't leave. It wasn't fair.

I still wasn't talking to Ron and Hermione. Or at least, I was limiting the amount of time I spent near them. Since we were living in the same house, it was kinda difficult to avoid them completely. Mrs. Weasley was desperately trying to get us to make up, but it wasn't working. She couldn't do much more than force us to clean rooms together. It wasn't like there was anything else to do since we weren't allowed into Order meetings. I mean, seriously! I was old enough to face Voldemort in the graveyard last school year, but I wasn't old enough to find out what people were doing to resist him. It wasn't right.

I woke up early the day of the trial. No matter what I did, I couldn't fall back asleep. There were a few Order members in the kitchen; all of them looked bleary eyed and stressed, like they hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in months. I supposed it would make sense if they hadn't. With Voldemort back, no one could afford to relax. I grabbed a piece of toast, and half heartedly began to eat it. I was nauseous, and I didn't feel like I could keep any food down. I prayed to whatever god was out there, if one existed: Please let me get through today. If I'm not expelled, I promise I'll never hold a grudge against my friends again. We can kiss and make up after the trial, just don't let me be expelled. I'll do anything.

It didn't matter how hard I prayed; there was still a bloody good chance that I would be expelled from the one place I've ever felt at home. The ministry was still against me. The Daily Prophet was still painting me to be a lying idiot who was just trying to get more fame. My life was still going to shit. Ugh. I felt bad again. Whatever. I just had to get through today.

Mr. Weasely came bustling in. "Harry, your time has been moved back to 8 AM. Thank God Dumbledore contacted me last night, or we would have never made it in time. Lord knows why the Ministry changed the time last minute. It's almost as if they want to make you look bad."

Of course they wanted to make me look bad. That's what they had been doing all summer. Why would they do anything different for my trial? They wanted to completely dismiss all of my claims of Voldemort returning, and what better way to do that than to have me expelled. Fudge was probably planning exactly what he was going to say once he saw me. Who knew if they were even going to give me a fair trial? They certainly hadn't given one to Sirius. Wait, they didn't even fucking give Sirius a trial. Huh, at least I have that. Hey, maybe if I was expelled, I could move in with him. I refused to go back to the Dursely's. I just couldn't. I wouldn't survive having to live there and not having at least the assurance that there was a home waiting for me at the end of summer. It would kill me. How could I go back to a house where I was utterly despised when I had my real family here at Grimmauld Place? I mean, sure I wasn't talking to all of them at the current moment, but they were still my family. I couldn't get expelled; I just couldn't. Of course, I didn't voice these thoughts aloud to Mr. Weasely. He already had enough on his plate without having to worry about whether the Ministry was purposefully trying to kick me out. Besides, it was his place of work. He didn't need to hear how it was working against me. He could keep his optimism. There was no reason to point out everything that was going wrong.

I started pacing across the floor. How was I going to get through this? Maybe I shouldn't have been ignoring Hermione. She could have helped me prepare my defense. Oops. It was too late now. I could only pray that Dumbledore would come to my aid. At this point, it looked like that was my only hope. If only he would talk to me. Or at least acknowledge my existence with a message. Or a 'good luck with your trial. I hope you don't get expelled.' Yeah, that would be nice. But no, I hadn't heard anything from him this summer. Every time he visited the headquarters, he would come in the night while I was sleeping. It wasn't fair. Why was I being ignored? Dumbldore was also the one to forbid my friends from contacting me during the summer. I didn't understand. Was he mad at me? Had I done something wrong? I just wanted for him to talk to me. Was that too much to fucking ask? Ugh. Whatever. He couldn't afford to have me expelled. He would have to show up. The Prophet may have been painting him as crazy the entire summer, but he still held power. Wizards respected him. I would be ok. I had to be.

"Harry, we should leave now," Mr. Weasely called to me.

I checked my watch. It was only 6:30, but I had no clue where the Ministry of Magic was, so I supposed it made sense that we would have to leave so early.

"We're going to be entering the ministry through the visitor's entrance today. Normally I would go through the employers' entryway, but we need to leave a good impression. No shortcuts. Nothing that could get you into trouble. We'll use muggle means to get there too. Luckily there is an entrance in London so it shouldn't take us too long. We just need to figure out where the nearest entrance to the tunnel train thing is that the muggles made. Oh, what's it called? The-the circle? The pipe? The tunnel?"

"Do you mean the tube, Mr. Weasely?" I asked.

"Yes, that's it! We'll take the tube to the entrance to the Ministry. The Ministry conveniently placed a passageway right outside a tube stop. From there we'll go through the entrance, register as guests, I'll check into my office, and then I'll bring you down to your courtroom. You should have plenty of time to gather yourself before it starts, so that's good. Why they chose to have your trial in the biggest courtroom they have is beyond me. It's not like you hurt anyone or anything. Even if you were truly guilty, it shouldn't be big enough of an offence to warrant that. This is all just so confusing."

It wasn't that confusing: I was destroying the false sense of peace that surrounded the wizarding world. The Ministry didn't like that, and so they were trying to get rid of the threat that had taken shape as me. I admired Mr. Weasely's optimism despite the war. I'm sure he knew exactly what was happening, but he still chose to believe the best in people. Or maybe he was trying to make me feel better. I didn't know. But either way, it was impressive, really. I appreciated it.

I grabbed my wand, shoes, and coat and stood by the door waiting to leave. Mrs. Weasely, Professor Lupin, and Sirius came to say good luck. Mrs. Weasley pulled me into a tight hug and told me that there would be a celebratory feast that night to celebrate my being cleared of all charges. I hoped that there would be something to celebrate. Professor Lupin clapped me on the back and told me that it would all be okay and that the Ministry would come to their senses. I doubted that; my only real hope was a miracle.

Sirius also gave me a hug and told me that everything would work out for the best. I noticed that he didn't assure me that my name would be cleared. I looked up and saw a glint of hope in his eyes. I didn't know if it was hope that the Ministry would pardon me, or hope that they wouldn't. It had probably occurred to him that there was a possibility that I could live with him if I was expelled. I couldn't dwell on that. No matter how nice it would be to live with my godfather, I couldn't let myself want that. If I were expelled, Voldemort would have the easiest time in the world getting to me, and I wouldn't be able to defend myself in any way shape or form. There was only so much the Order could do to protect me.

Mr. Weasely opened the door and we stepped outside. It was a dark, foggy day, which perfectly matched my mood. I hoped it wasn't a sign that the day would not end well. Despite the fact that it was summer, I shivered. It was too early in the morning to be warm. I almost wished I had brought a few more layers. We walked down the dark streets and to a small, dingy tube station. Mr. Weasely walked to the ticket dispensers and fumbled with the regular British money. I didn't see how despite his fascination with muggles, he hadn't figured out their monetary system. I mean, muggle borns and their families had to learn the wizarding system when they got their Hogwarts letters, but they seemed to do alright. And the amounts in the wizarding system were so random. It was like the goblins chose numbers out of thin air for how many knuts were in a sickle and how many sickles were in a galleon. At least the British system made sense.

Eventually I took the money from him and paid for the tickets myself. Mr. Weasely thanked me and we turned toward the map of the tube. I will admit that both of us were confused. I had never been on the tube before with the Durselys; they always left me home when they went to London. I had been with Hagrid, but I was hardly paying attention during that trip. Mr. Weasely had never had a need to figure out the maps; he could apparate or take the floo network. We both frowned.

"Well, we're here, and we need to get off at this station. But there are so many lines, and I can't figure out which one we're supposed to take," said Mr. Weasely.

I squinted at the map. The station we needed to get off at had a lot of stations crossing it, but the one line that ran through this station was not one of them. I traced my finger along the map, trying to figure out where one of the lines intersected. After a minute of searching, I had found the quickest route.

"Mr. Weasely, if we take the tube to here, we can transfer to the yellow line which will get us to our station."

"Where? Oh! Oh yes, I see. That should work perfectly. Thank you, Harry. I don't know where I'd be without you."

Well, probably at the Ministry right now, considering that he could've taken the floo network to get there instead of having to go through the guest entrance.

We walked through the barrier separating the entrance from the trains. Looking at the announcement board, I noticed that we would have a 7 minute wait until our ride came. Ugh. The minutes passed by slowly while Mr. Weasely and I sat in a bit of an awkward silence. Neither of us wanted to be the first one to speak. There wasn't much to say that didn't have to do with my upcoming trial, and I really didn't want to think about it. I had spent the past few days dreading it. Hermione was constantly talking at me every single moment she could about every single outcome possible. She quoted past trials and who would probably oversee my trial and how a lot of the outcome depended on who was in charge. I tried to tune her out, but at the same time, I wanted to hear everything she was saying in case it could help me. It didn't matter now anyway; it wasn't like I could recall a single thing she said.

After waiting for what felt like an eternity, our train came rushing into the station. We hopped on and began the long wait to get to our station. I wasn't sure how much time had passed when we switched trains, but the second train ride was considerably shorter. Finally, we got to our station and were caught up in the rush of people getting off. The station was far more crowded than the station we got on was. We walked along with the wave of people out of the station and into the open air. It was still drizzling out. We hurried off a side street and stopped at a telephone booth. I looked around, but I couldn't see anything special about it. To me, it looked like an ordinary telephone booth you could find anywhere. I suppose the only strange thing was its location. There was no reason for a telephone booth to be on such a deserted street. Especially since telephone booths were hardly used anymore since everyone had a cellphone. In all honesty, it looked completely broken.

"Mr. Weasely, are you sure this is the right…"

"Yes, I'm quite sure. I think. It's the only telephone box around here." Mr. Weasley picked up the receiver and started dialing a number. "What was it again? Five, four… No, Six? Oh yes." Looking over his shoulder, I saw him punch in the numbers six, two, four, four, and two. As soon as he put in the last number, everything went dark, and I felt like I was falling. Suddenly, a bright light filled the booth, and a woman's voice came through the receiver.

"Hello, and welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and purpose, and then you can be on your way."

"Er… I'm Harry Potter, and I'm here for a hearing?" I cringed when I heard how unsure my voice sounded.

"Harry Potter, disciplinary hearing. Please have your badge visible at all times. Thank you, and have a good day." A badge that said Harry Potter, Disciplinary Hearing on it came out of the coin slot. I pinned it to my shirt as the door slid open and the Ministry came into view. I gasped. It was incredible.

We stepped into a brightly lit entrance hall that was bigger than the Dursley's entire house. Wizards in brightly colored robes hurried in and out of doorways while others rushed out of fireplaces where they used the floo network. In the center of the room was a huge gold fountain with a wizard, a centaur, a witch, a goblin, and a house elf.

Mr. Weasley directed me over to a desk that had a sign saying check-in floating above it. A bored man sat behind the desk. I had to give him my wand so that he could somehow confirm my identity. Once he confirmed that the wand was indeed mine, Mr. Weasley and I continued into the Ministry of Magic. I wasn't sure how they identified my wand. Maybe Ollivander had to register it when I bought it. That would make sense.

We walked through what felt like a maze of rooms to me until finally arriving at an elevator. We got in, and Mr. Weasley pressed the button for the bottom floor.

"Mr Weasely, where does the light here come from? I see no artificial lights. In some of the rooms we passed it almost looked like there were windows looking outside, but that's impossible considering how far underground we are at the moment."

"The Magical Maintenance department is in charge of the lighting and weather here. Normally they just give us nice sunshine, but sometimes they can be real jerks. They had hurricanes here for over a month when they were campaigning for a raise."

I laughed but then fell silent. The shock of seeing the ministry for the first time had made me momentarily forget why I was here, but the thought of being expelled came rushing back. I felt sick to my stomach. People got on and off the elevator at every level as we descended deeper into the Ministry. Finally, we were the only ones left in the elevator. We went lower and lower until finally the elevator dinged and opened up to the very lowest floor.

With my stomach churning, I stepped out of the elevator with Mr. Weasley. It was darker here and colder. It was just a long hallway with a couple of doorways leading to God knows where. We walked for what felt like an eternity to the end of the hall, but in reality it was more like three minutes at most. There was a door there with a bench, and my breathing was shallow as I sat down.

"This is where I have to leave you," Mr. Weasley told me apologetically. "Good luck; you'll make it out of this. They have nothing against you."

He gave me a hug and walked down the hall back towards the elevator. I was now alone. I glanced at my watch and saw that I had ten minutes before my trial started. I tried to focus on happy thoughts that would distract me from my nerves, but everything just led my train of thought back to the trial. All my happiest memories were at Hogwarts, but if I lost this trial, I would never be able to go back there again. Thinking about Ron and Hermione was painful; it was just a reminder that I hadn't been nicer to them leading up to the trial. I even tried thinking of the Dursleys, even though that was not a happy thought, just to occupy my mind, but that made me think of how Dudley was with me when the dementors attacked. I decided to just focus on my breathing to try and slow it down.

Time crawled by at a sickeningly slow pace. With about two minute left before the trial, the door creaked open and a humming man who I didn't recognize stepped out. When he saw me he jumped and let out a little scream.

"Oh I'm so sorry. I wasn't expecting to see you here. You shocked me a bit."

I smirked. Of course they weren't expecting me. They were expecting me to make a fool out of myself by being late. "Oh, my bad. Is this not courtroom ten? My trial was rescheduled for eight o'clock. If I should be somewhere else, please tell me."

The wizard looked a bit sheepish. "Er no. You are in the right spot. It's just that we weren't… well, nevermind. You can come in now. Follow me."

We walked into a huge room illuminated only by torchlight. On one end of the room, fifty people sat in elevated seats. I assumed they were judging me. In the center of the room, there was a huge chair with chains on the armrests. The wizard who brought me in motioned for me to sit there before he returned to the elevated seats. I gulped. This really wasn't looking good. I was being treated like a dangerous criminal.

I walked to the chair and gingerly sat down on the edge. The chains on the armrests rustled, but made no move to constrain me. Strange. Maybe they were only there for looks? But the judges started whispering amongst themselves and pointing at the chains. Fudge and a woman who looked like a toad were glaring at the chains as if they had personally wronged him. Strange. Maybe they only restrained dangerous, guilty people, and so of course they wouldn't restrain me. Hopefully, this was a point in my favour.

Fudge cleared his throat to get the attention of the courtroom. "We are here to oversee the trial of Harry James Potter. He has been accused of performing magic while underage in front of a muggle. Does the accused have someone representing him?" Fudge grinned a bit, as if he knew I didn't have anyone with me.

"He does," a voice came through one of the entryways to the room. I grinned. It looked like Dumbledore cared about me after all. That was a relief.

"Wha- How- Dum- Dumbledore?" Fudge spluttered. "I was not aware that you would be at this trial. I'm not even entirely sure this is legal. There's no time to look through all the laws so I'm afraid I will have to ask you to remove yourself from the courtroom."

"And I'm afraid that you will find that I am, in fact, allowed to be here. The law states that if an underage wizard can be represented by any of age wizard they want regardless of whether that wizard is a lawyer. That is, as long as they have consent. Harry, do you consent to me representing you?"

I grinned. "Of course professor."

Fudge looked downright murderous. Ha. Shows him not to mess with Dumbledore. He'll never win. "Well… uh… That's settled then. Dumbldore will represent Harry. Anyway, on with the trial. Potter casted the Patronus charm in front of a muggle on the second of August. This breaks both the law of underage magic and the statute of secrecy. For these Potter should be expelled. Does anyone have something against this?"

A woman in the front spoke up: "I'm sorry, how old is Mr. Potter?"

"I'm fifteen."

"And you produced a patronus?"

"Well, yes."

"A corporeal patronus?"

"Yeah, I've been able to since my third year."

"That is most impressive."

Fudge interrupted: "The issue here is not whether or not he is a talented wizard; the issue is that he produced a patronus while underaged in front of his cousin. He probably used that spell just to show off that he could get a glowing animal to come out of his wand."

Dumbledore spoke up: "Minister, you just said that Harry performed this spell in front of his cousin, correct?"

Fudge simply glared at Dumbledore so the woman in the front spoke up. "Yes, it was Harry's cousin." She smiled as if she knew where Dumbledore was going with this.

"And I am correct in saying that this is the cousin who Harry has lived with all of his life since his parents died? The same one who was introduced to magic at age eleven?"

The witch in the front was positively grinning. "Yes, that cousin."

"So we agree that this muggle that Harry performed magic in front of has known about the existence of magic for five years now."

"Yes."

"And so therefore, the statute of secrecy was never broken by Harry. He only performed magic in front of a muggle who was already aware of its existence. He can't be punished for that."

Fudge turned a shade that would make Uncle Vernon jealous. "But… That's not… NO!"

The witch in the front spoke as if the Minister had not just had an outburst. "You are absolutely right, Professor. Mr. Potter really can't be tried for a crime that was never committed. All in favor of dropping the charges of breaking the statute of secrecy?"

Everyone in the courtroom except for Fudge and the toad woman raised their hands, although some did it far more slowly than others. I supposed maybe they were waiting to see what everyone else would do. Going directly against what the Minister wanted wasn't a great move unless there were a lot of people to back you up.

Fudge looked around, furious. "Well, that doesn't matter. Potter still performed the charm while underage which is highly illegal. He must be expelled."

"But I only did it because of the dementors!" I was getting angry at Fudge's obvious hatred of me.

Mutters broke out across the courtroom. Apparently they hadn't heard about the dementors. "I'm sorry, dementors?"

"Yes, there were two dementors that were attacking my cousin and me. I had to cast a patronus or else I would've lost my soul."

Fudge immediately jumped in: "That's nonsense. The dementors are under Ministry control. There were no dementors in a muggle neighborhood. That would be impossible. This is obviously a far-fetched story to try to keep Potter out of trouble."

"You may think they are under your control, Minister, but I will have you remember that that has not always been the case," Dumbledore spoke up. "In the last wizarding war, they were on Voldemort's side. Now with Voldemort back, they may have joined him again. It would make sense that Voldemort would want to take out Harry, and what better way than with dementors."

Mutters broke out in the courtroom as people processed what Dumbledore just said.

"Now Dumbledore, you will find that there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that You-Know-Who is back!" Fudge shouted. "The very idea is preposterous."

"Minister, Voldemort is certainly back. Your denial just gives him more power. But even if it wasn't Voldemort who sent the dementors there are other possibilities. Someone from the Ministry could have sent them. Someone who didn't like Harry."

"Are you saying I sent the dementors after Harry? That is ludicrous!" Sputtered Fudge.

"Hey, your words, not ours," I muttered under my breath so that they wouldn't hear me.

"Oh no, Minister, I would never accuse you of something like that. I am just saying that it is a possibility that it could have been an inside job."

I noticed the toad-like woman shift around uncomfortably at that. Huh. Maybe she had something to do with it. I knew the Ministry was against me, but I didn't realize they would stoop so low as to directly attack me.

"There is absolutely no way that it was an inside job because there were no dementors! It is all a cover up to try to save Potter from being expelled. And it won't work! After all, there were no witnesses," said Fudge smugly.

"My dear Minister, I am afraid you will find there was a witness. Do I have permission to call forward Ms. Arabella Figg?"

"Permission granted," said the woman in the front, and Fudge glared at her.

I was worried. What if they didn't accept Ms. Figg's testimony because she was a squib. Wizards had so many fucking prejudices. There was no telling what these wizards would do, especially since some were very against me.

Dumbledore walked out of one of the doors, and then returned with a very nervous looking Ms. Figg by his side.

Fudge squinted at her. "I don't believe I've ever seen you in wizarding society. Dumbledore, are you sure she is even a witch? If not, then she can't be a witness. Muggles can't see dementors."

"I- I'm a squib," Ms. Figg's voice shook and was almost too quiet to hear.

"What was that? Speak up dear," said the witch in the front.

"I'm a squib," Ms. Figg said a bit louder.

"What? A squib can't testify before the court. Can squibs even see dementors? This is all too convenient for Potter," said Fudge.

"I assure you, Minister, squibs can see dementors," Ms. Figg seemed to be feeling a bit braver. Or maybe she was just very offended by Fudge. I wouldn't blame her.

"Could you describe what the dementors looked like and what you saw?" asked the witch in the front.

"Yes, they were big and had long black cloaks on. The air turned colder, and I began to feel like I would never feel happy again. I saw the dementors walk- well, glide since they didn't have feet- towards Harry and his oaf of a cousin. The idiot ran toward the dementor, not knowing what was happening, despite Harry's warning to stop. Harry had to cast his patronus in order to save both his and his cousin's souls. Brilliant bit of magic if I may add."

"ONCE AGAIN," Fudge spluttered, "WE ARE NOT HERE TO DISCUSS THE IMPRESSIVENESS OF THE PATRONUS! WE ARE DISCUSSING WHETHER POTTER BROKE THE LAW, WHICH HE CLEARLY DID!" Fudge was heaving in his chair and turning a shade that would make Uncle Vernon jealous.

"Minister, do I need to remind you that the law states an under-age wizard may perform magic outside of Hogwarts in extreme situations?" the lady in the front spoke up. "If dementors are not an extreme situation, then I don't know what is."

"But but but- there's no proof that there were any dementors. All evidence is hearsay. How can we trust this woman? She's a squib! And this isn't Potter's first incident of magic outside of school. We have it documented that he performed magic before his second year!"

"You'll also find it documented that Harry was cleared of all charges for that. I am under the impression that that instance was actually a house elf. A house elf who now works at Hogwarts. I would be happy to call him here to testify for that." Dumbledore spoke up.

"NO! I would not like some house elf to come here and testify. It's a goddamn house elf. How can we trust what it would say? And what is it with Potter being excused by the presence of magical creatures forcing him to perform magic. It seems pretty fucking convenient to me!"

"Minister! Please watch your language! And what, Minister, is the point of calling witnesses if you are going to refuse to listen to any evidence they give? There is no reason to doubt Ms. Arabella Figg's testimony: she gave an accurate description of the dementors, something that a muggle would not be able to do. Dementors are certainly reason enough for a young wizard to use magic outside of school. I suggest we take this to a vote," she paused. "Are you quite alright, Minister?"

Fudge was quite literally shaking in his chair. It would have been funny if I wasn't so nervous.

"Minister, you don't look well at all. I really think you should step outside for a moment and collect yourself."

"I assure you I- I'm perfectly alright. Y- Yes I'm fine," Fudge stuttered unconvincingly.

"Sir, I insist. You're turning a shade that I don't believe I've ever seen before."

Glaring at her, Fudge stood up and stalked out of the courtroom with the toad-like woman scurrying behind him.

The woman watched them leave and smiled as soon as the door shut behind them. "Well, I think there's nothing more to discuss; let's put this to a vote."

I frowned, confused, and it was clear I was not alone. A few wizards glanced toward the door that Fudge had just exited from. One in the back spoke up: "But- what about-"

"I said, there is nothing more to discuss. We will now cast a vote." She had an almost dangerous lilt in her voice that made it so that no one wanted to disagree with her. She winked at me, and I smiled. There really was someone on my side here. Someone who was willing to actually fight for me. The wizards in the room shifted around uncomfortably, looking to see whether someone would speak up, but ultimately no one did.

"All those in favour of clearing all charges?" I looked around. Almost half of the hands shot up immediately. I held my breath, praying that more would go up. Slowly more hands started to go up once they saw that I had genuine support. A few more glanced at the door as if they were waiting for Fudge to come back in and tell them who to vote for. Seeing no sudden appearance of Fudge, they too slowly lifted their wands.

So that was the plan all along. It looked like I really did have more support in the Ministry than one would think at first glance, but people weren't willing to sacrifice their political power to help me. With Fudge removed, they could support me relatively safely since information such as how people voted probably wasn't permitted to go outside the courtroom, and Fudge technically wasn't in it so he couldn't legally find out. In the end, about three quarters of the room voted to clear all charges against me.

"I suppose someone should fetch the Minister to find out his vote. Not that it will change anything," said one woman in the back of the room. She had a slight smirk, so I assumed she was one of the ones who immediately voted in my favour. A balding wizard stood and ran towards the door, tripping over his robes on the way. A few moments later, he returned with a growling Fudge and the toad-like woman.

"Well then, Minister. We are just wrapping up the vote here; your vote is the last one we need to close this case."

Fudge's scowl deepened. "You mean you voted without me?"

"Yes, our apologies Minister, but you really didn't appear to be fit for voting at that moment."

Fudge grumbled a bit but couldn't find anything specific to say. "Well, no matter. I vote that he is completely guilty. Alright that's done, now let's decide how severe his punishment will be."

"Actually, Minister, Harry was cleared of all charges," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Wait, WHAT? Who voted not guilty? WHO?" Fudge whirled around to face the court with his wand out. I stiffened, not knowing whether he would attack or not. Was there even protocol for a minister attacking high ranking wizards? Could he pardon himself?

Minister, please calm down! This behavior is unacceptable. Harry was cleared of all charges, and that's the end of it. The court is dismissed, and we can all go home."

Fudge glared at the woman in the front, turned around, and walked out of the room, mumbling under his breath. I heaved a sigh of relief as I physically felt all the tension I'd be carrying for the past couple weeks leave my body. I was pardoned. I wouldn't be expelled from Hogwarts.

Everyone in the court started to get up and get ready to leave. I approached Dumbledore, hoping to thank him, but he whisked past me and out the door. Ouch. Why was he avoiding me? Did I do something wrong?

I shakily stood up, not trusting that my legs would support me. Slowly, I made my way to the door, hoping that Mr. Weasley would be there waiting for me.

Thankfully, he was. "Congratulations Harry! I knew there was no need to worry." He wrapped me in a tight hug, and I let myself relax into it. A few wizards said hello to Mr. Weasley as they exited. "Let's get home and tell everyone. I'm sure they'll be excited to celebrate. Molly can put together a feast for all of us."

I smiled. That actually sounded pretty nice. I could apologize to Ron and Hermione, and we could go back to being normal. Finally. I knew it was mostly my fault that we weren't talking, but they deserved some of the blame too. But whatever. It didn't matter anymore. I was going back to Hogwarts, and my two best friends would be with me.

We went up through the many levels of the Ministry and back into the entrance hall. Stepping into the phonebooth that connected to the world above, we shot up and back into the gray sky of London. Taking the Tube was much quicker this time seeing as Mr. Weasley remembered what we had done earlier that day. The door of Grimmauld Place looked foreboding, but I knew that inside there would be happiness once I told everyone the good news.

There was no one around in the entrance hall nor any of the adjoining rooms. Mr. Weasley and I walked towards the kitchen; there everyone one sat talking in hushed tones. They were all so concentrated that they didn't notice our entrance. I cleared my throat to get their attention.

"HARRY!" Ron shouted. "Did you- I mean, are you- I mean"

I smiled. "Cleared of all charges."

A cheer rose up from around the table. A bang was heard, and miniature fireworks went off, presumably the work of Fred and George. Mrs. Weasley started to chase them around the table, scolding them, but even she was too excited to really care.

That night, Mrs. Weasley prepared a huge feast, and many of the Order members came to congratulate me, although Dumbledore never showed up. Fred, George, and Ginny were annoying Mrs. Weasley with their ever increasing shouts of "He got off!" I couldn't see what her problem with it was though. It was a factual statement. Hermione, Ron and I retired to our bedroom to talk about what happened.

"It was a full trial and everything. Apparently that's not normal. Fudge hates me for saying that Voldemort is back and was trying to mess me up in any way he could. That's why the start time was changed last minute. You should have seen his face; looking back on it, it was hilarious. I'm not sure if I've ever seen that shade of purple before, and I live with Uncle Vernon. At one point he almost attacked the entire court."

Hermione looked shocked. "And he's still the minister? Don't they want someone who can keep their temper in stressful situations?"

Ron piped up: "They want someone who they can easily bribe to do what they want. As long as he didn't actually attack anyone he's in the clear."

"Pity, wish he'd attacked someone then. That would have been interesting. But anyway, I just want to apologize to you two. I've been a real git to you guys leading up to this, and you didn't deserve all that. I hope we can put this behind us."

"Yeah, you have been a bit of a git."

"Hey! Ron! Ouch."

"What, you said it first."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I want you to say it. Whatever, doesn't matter. The point is I'm sorry."

"It's alright Harry," said Hermione, "and we're sorry for not doing more to reach out to you while you were with our relatives. We could have done a lot more."

I smiled. Everything was as it should be. Well, minus the fact that Voldemort was back, but that was a problem for a different day. I was going back to Hogwarts with Ron and Hermione.

I crawled into bed, hoping to get my first truly good sleep in weeks. Faintly from downstairs, I could hear Fred and George continuing their chant: He got off! Mrs. Weasley continued to try to shush them, but it was no use. There was no stopping the twins. Not that I wanted her to. It was good to hear them cheering for me. I closed my eyes and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

AN: Thank you for reading! Please review and tell me what you liked or didn't like; it means the world to me. Next stop: Hogwarts! (Probably)