Avian Anarchy
by Teddylonglong

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling or Disney, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. I am merely borrowing the characters to play with them.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.

Warnings: Completely AU, partly OOC, magically powerful Harry. Dumbledore/Weasley bashing.

"A special guest?" Minerva cast the young witch a questioning look. "And who might that be?"

Tonks looked at Santa in apparent suspicion. "Apparently, someone invited the Queen. Usually, she never attends the Wizengamot meetings, although she has her own seat."

Santa chuckled. "That was not my doing alone, but in coordination with Sirius as the head of the Wizengamot and Draco's father as the Minister of Magic. We believe that this trial is important enough for the Queen to partake as the head of Britain's magical world."

HP

When they reached the courtroom and Minerva separated from them to take her seat on the Wizengamot, they were led into the seats of the witnesses. Andromeda Tonks-Black as well as Aberforth Dumbledore and Alastor Moody were already present, and Harry happily greeted Andromeda and introduced her to Luna, Ariana and Tom. Seeing that Luna motioned Ariana into the seat next to her, he took the spot on the ghost's other side, inviting Tom to sit next to him. Hedwig and Paws remained in their canine forms and nestled onto his feet.

Sirius as the head of the Wizengamot opened the session. "We have assembled here for the trial of Albus Dumbledore. The trial is scheduled for three days, of which only the third day will be open to the public. My wife, Amelia Bones, will lead through the trial in her function as the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

"Albus Dumbledore." Bones immediately came to the point, as she addressed the old wizard, who was sitting in the chair of the accused in chains, flanked by four Aurors. "You are accused of having kept your sister Ariana Dumbledore under the Imperius curse for more than five decades and in extension making Tom Riddle do extremely evil things and kill hundreds of people. How do you plead?"

"Innocent."

'What?' Harry thought in shock, when Tom calmingly laid a hand on his arm.

"Don't fret," he whispered. "He must be a brilliant liar."

Harry listed in annoyance, when Dumbledore gave a long-winding explanation how everything that he did had been for the 'Greater Good' as he called it.

Fortunately, Amelia Bones was annoyed enough to not listen to Dumbledore's explanations for long. "Dear members of the Wizengamot, I request permission for the use of Veritaserum on the accused."

It took the Wizengamot less than a minute to make the decision, and the ministry's potions master was sent to administer the truth serum to the old wizard.

"What is your name?"

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore."

"Are you the headmaster of Hogwarts?"

"Yes."

"Did you repeatedly cast the Imperius curse at your sister, Ariana Dumbledore?"

"Yes." The response came slower than the previous reply.

"He tries to fight the Veritaserum," Tom whispered to him, and Harry nodded in understanding, feeling grateful for the explanation.

However, the old wizard's attempts to fight the Veritaserum was not very efficient, as he automatically responded to each of Amelia Bones' questions.

Ariana was called to the witness stand and confirmed everything that her brother had already said.

"I thought you were a ghost?" Minister Malfoy enquired, giving her a look of pure suspicion.

"I am a ghost." Ariana looked back at Luna and Harry, who simultaneously waved their wands to cancel the concealment charm. "My friends merely cast a charm at me, because I feel safer under the charm. I've been a ghost ever since Albus cast the killing curse at me more than one hundred years ago."

A huge gasp followed her accusation, and Malfoy thanked her, before he enquired, "Madam Bones, is the murder of his sister also part of Dumbledore's trial?"

Bones let out a deep sigh, before she addressed Griselda Marchbanks. "Griselda, if I am informed correctly, you attended Albus' trial at that time. Would you be willing to comment on this point?"

The old witch rose from her chair. "If I remember correctly, the trial was adjourned, as due to a quarrel between three wizards, Albus and Aberforth Dumbledore as well as Gellert Grindelwald, it was unclear who had cast the deadly spell at young Miss Dumbledore."

Amelia Bones nodded. "That's what I heard as well. Miss Dumbledore, is there anything you can add to it?"

Ariana nodded. "I know that this was the outcome of the trial, to which I was not even invited. Oh well, people usually do not invite ghosts I suppose. Anyway, I am sure that it was Albus' spell that hit me. I was evading a spell coming from Gellert, when I accidentally ran into his. I saw it coming from his wand, but I was too close and too slow to avoid it."

The matter was discussed for a while, before it was decided to dismiss it for the time being.

With Ariana and Tom as witnesses and the occasional input from one or the other member of the Wizengamot, during the following hours, every single deed of Tom as Lord Voldemort was discussed, beginning with the incident at Hogwarts, during which a fifteen-year-old had died due to the look into a basilisk's eyes.

Harry listened with growing annoyance, as the discussion proceeded very slowly. 'Now, I understand why Amelia said the trial was going to take three days,' he thought in annoyance. 'Doesn't it suffice already? He's going to go to Azkaban for casting Unforgivable spells and murdering anyway.'

However, the discussion continued the whole day and was finally adjourned to the following morning.

HP

It was only on the third day that the topic of the murder of Lily and James Potter came up.

Amelia Bones called Ariana to the witness stand. "Please explain what you made Tom do to kill Lily and James Potter."

Ariana let out a deep sigh. "I did exactly as my brother imperiused me to do. I made a copy of Tom and sent him to kill the Potters. I don't know what happened at the Potters' place, except for the fact that all the adults seem to have died and Harry survived."

"Mr. Riddle?"

Tom rose from his chair. "I only know that Ariana somehow made a copy of me, handed the copy my wand and instructed the copy to kill people, while she ordered me to remain at home and not go outside. The copy she made never came back, and the Daily Prophet said the following morning that Lord Voldemort had died. Why they made the copy I don't know. I've wondered about that for many years, but right now, I'm glad they sent a copy and not me. I only miss my wand, which I lost at that occasion. I only have a spare wand, which doesn't work exactly well for me."

"I wish to call Lily and James Potter to the witness stand. Would you mind telling us what you know?"

A huge roan went through the Wizengamot, when Hedwig and Paws transformed into Lily and James Potter.

They told the court everything they knew about that certain Halloween night, how they had died along with James' sister Cassiopeia, who had managed to save Harry by wandless magic.

The Minister of Magic rose from his chair. "Will you please explain why you're alive in spite of dying at that time? While I have been brought up to date by Draco, I believe that this would be interesting for the other members of the Wizengamot as well."

"I believe Santa would be the best to explain." Amelia Bones called the ancient wizard, and Santa quickly told the Wizengamot about his white animals.

The members of the Wizengamot bombarded him with questions, causing Harry to become extremely impatient. 'That's not really the topic of this meeting,' he thought in annoyance. 'They should go on and already send Dumbledore to Azkaban.'

At some stage, the Queen herself came to Santa's help.

"I believe that Mr. Clause has answered enough questions in a very patient manner and that it's enough now. He is doing amazing things with his white animals, not only for our beloved Britain, but for the whole world, and I wish to thank him profusely for his help for the members of our magical world."

Santa lightly bowed in the direction of the Queen in gratitude, before he said. "I have one question. When Harry came to us, we found a dark object, presumably some kind of Horcrux, behind the scar, which he received during said Halloween night. What might that have been? I would like an explanation here." Rolling his eyes at the members of the Wizengamot, who let out a collective gasp, he added, "Do not worry. The dark object has been removed years ago. I've seen to it."

Ariana nodded in understanding and confirmed that through Dumbledore, she had instructed Tom to make a Horcrux. "At that time, I didn't even know what that was, but I don't think that he was supposed to make Harry a Horcrux."

Alastor Moody stood from his seat and was given the floor. "If I remember correctly, there was no body of the so-called Voldemort; however, I believe that Albus Dumbledore found his wand and kept him at Hogwarts. It would be good to ask him under Veritaserum what happened to the wand. It should be returned to Mr. Riddle as soon as possible."

HP

Finally, Dumbledore was questioned under Veritaserum for the fifth time since the beginning of the trial, and the old wizard admitted to everything that Tom had been forced to do as Lord Voldemort. He informed them that he was keeping Tom's wand in a drawer of his desk at Hogwarts.

Harry inwardly sighed in relief, when the questioning ended at last. 'Thank Merlin,' he thought. 'This is taking much too long for my liking.'

He looked up in surprise, when Lily rose from her chair and was allowed to speak. "I have another question to Mr. Dumbledore. We have all heard that you are the evillest person of the century. How in the world are you able to keep a phoenix as your familiar?"

"Phoenixes are attracted by power not by light."

Several people began to talk at the same time, before the Queen spoke up.

"Quiet!" Turning to Dumbledore, she said, "It is well known all over the magical world that phoenixes use to follow light wizards and witches and not evil people."

Dumbledore chuckled, before he replied, "That rumour was originally brought into circulation by myself. In fact, phoenixes are attracted to power, not to light."

Merlin rose from his chair to speak. "I can confirm that it's only a rumour, which did not exist in the past. I am a phoenix Animagus myself, and over the time, I have met good and bad phoenixes."

All of a sudden, a bird appeared in front of Dumbledore in a bright flame. Everyone stared at the red-golden red phoenix in apparent amazement.

'Is that Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix?' Harry wondered. 'He looked exactly like him, when I saw him in the headmaster's office.'

#I should have left you ages ago, but now I will finally do so. Minnie, please translate.#

"What did he say?" Amelia Bones cast the accused a questioning look.

"I did not understand what he said. Apparently, it is not Fawkes, although he looks like him."

Minerva rose from her chair and translated, before she looked at the phoenix in apparent confusion. "Fawkes?"

#Yes. I took the liberty of bonding to you. The old grumpy chick has laid too many bad eggs. Please translate.# With that, the phoenix flew right into the Wizengamot chamber and made himself comfortable on her left arm, while she translated his trills. Everyone stared at the couple in apparent amazement, when the bird craned his neck to have his crown feathers caressed and Minerva gently did him the favour.

"Madam Bones, I have one request." Amelia looked at the highest member of the Wizengamot in apparent surprise. "Please shortly question Mr. Riddle under Veritaserum if everything that we heard from Mr. Dumbledore is true."

Amelia Bones turned to the witnesses. "Mr. Riddle, would you mind being questioned under Veritaserum?"

Tom readily rose from his chair and headed to the witness stand. "I am ready, Madam."

The ministry's potions master once again administered one dose of the truth serum, and the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement began to ask questions.

"Please state your name."

"Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"Did you do any of the deeds you did during the last fifty years on your own accord?"

"No, Madam."

"Did you use any of the Unforgivable spells by your own free will?"

"No, Madam."

"Did you do anything that would warrant for a stay at Azkaban if not due to being under the Imperius curse by Ariana Dumbledore?"

"No, Madam."

"Last question then. What do you intend to do with your Death Eaters, who have been bonded to you in the past by a ritual?"

"Last night, I used the Dark Mark on Severus Snape's arm to release everyone from the bond. There is no such thing as the Dark Mark anymore."

"Madam Bones." Amelia turned to the Minister of Magic. "I can confirm that the Dark Mark vanished from the Death Eaters' arms last night."

"Thank you, Minister Malfoy. Thank you, Mr. Riddle. You are free to go."

'Thank Merlin,' Harry thought in relief. 'I really like Tom. He's nice.'

Finally, a break of an hour was announced, and everyone left the courtroom in groups, some eagerly discussing what they had heard, however, most of them simply remaining quiet in disbelief at what had been revealed during the three days of trial.

HP

During the break, Andromeda led Harry and their group to a muggle restaurant, which was not far from the Leaky Cauldron in a small side street, where Harry had never been before. Tom's good mood due to being free and himself after so many decades of struggle was contagious, and their lunch quickly turned into a celebration.

Right on time, they returned to the courtroom to hear the verdict.

It was announced by one of the ministry's judges.

"Mr. Dumbledore, first of all, Unspeakable Croaker will cast a spell on you that will purge all possible oaths from others and any enchantments that you have cast on people without their explicit permission."

Before Dumbledore could as much as protest, of which he seemed unable anyway, as he was slumped in his seat in apparent defeat, the Unspeakable cast two spells at the old wizard.

The judge nodded in apparent contentedness. "Now, we have spent three days listening to everything that you have done during the last at least five decades. Your deeds do not only warrant for a lifetime at Azkaban, but for at least five lifetimes. In fact, you deserve the Dementor's kiss, but we have decided to give you some more time to reflect your actions. Thus, you will simply receive a one-way ticket to Azkaban. All your belongings will go to Mr. Tom Riddle for everything that you have done to him destroying his life from an early time onwards. Aurors, please take him away."

"One moment please."

The Aurors, who were just going to follow the instruction, froze in their movements, and everyone stared at the Queen in apparent shock.

"I still have one question, Mr. Dumbledore. Why? Why did you destroy Mr. Riddle's life as well as your sister's afterlife?"

Everyone turned their heads back in the direction of the chair of the accused, where Dumbledore had just used the inattentiveness of the Aurors and everyone else and transformed into his phoenix Animagus form. #Good bye,# he uttered, only understandable for Lily and Fawkes, before he flashed away in a bright flame.

#Isn't it obvious?# Fawkes trilled, as he relaxed under Minerva's soft touch.

#Why?# Hedwig enquired after quickly transforming into her phoenix form.

tbc...

Thanks to the kind readers for your feedback for the previous chapter. Please let me know what you think about this chapter.