[a/n0]polarbear20000 Thank you for sending Marvin the Martian over!

[a/n]W Arcturus Black suggested Have you ever thought of having harry takevthevvanishing cabinet to the bottom of the lake and thus drowning all of the death eaters when they try to invade Hogwarts?

[a/n1]Star Trek fans will recognize a guest star.

Harry Does Different CDa

Invasion of Black Lake

Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour, new to the post but flush with the feeling of accomplishment and sense of power he had in the role. Being in charge of the Wizengamot was his ultimate thrill. A commoner in charge of all these nobles. He flash/banged his wand and announced imperiously "Order! Order! This, the 308th session of the Wizengamot is now in session. Bring in the accused!"

Courtroom Ten boomed with loud voices. It was a very mixed reception. Boos and catcalls competed about evenly with cheers and huzzahs.

"SILENCE!" roared Scrimgeour, giving credence to the initial impression of shrewdness and toughness; rather like an old lion, one would think. "The purpose of this meeting is to try Harry James Potter, a wizard, a citizen of Wizarding Britain for the following crimes; One, manslaughter of the witch Alecto Carrow: Two, manslaughter of the witch, Bellatrix LeStrange: Three, manslaughter of the wizard Rodolphus LeStrange: Four, manslaughter of the wizard Amycus Carrow: Five, manslaughter of the wizard Fenrir Greyback: Six, manslaughter of the wizard Corban Yaxley: Seven, manslaughter of the wizard Christopher Gibbon: Eight, manslaughter of the wizard Thorfinn Rowle: Nine, murder of the wizard Draco Malfoy: Ten, murder of the wizard Severus Snape. SILENCE! Harry James Potter? How do you plead?"

This was a different situation from last time he appeared in this auditorium-sized room. Harry was completely justified, and felt so, during the Underage Magic trial. And the trial occurred within days, this time he'd had weeks, mostly alone, to sit in a jailcell with nothing but his own conscience and imagination to talk to. His voice had only been schooled to confidence by his defense counsel. He glanced up at the observers' balcony to his friends and replied "Not guilty!"

This brought the same round of noise from the courtroom that had to be repeatedly called to order before quiet returned. The prosecution presented a case concerned with the 24kt reputations of the victims of the atrocity committed by this mass murderer. Coupled to that, testimony from the devastated families about the impact of the loss of their loved one.

"Mr. Cogley, apparently you do not have much trial experience." The Minister complained as the prosecution concluded her case "Are you not aware of the right to cross examine?"

To that Harry's defender laughed scornfully "Minister, I was practicing law when your grandfather was in diapers. But, no, I was merely waiting for the preliminaries to be done. I have only one witness to call. My client, Harry James Potter. Let us start with responding to the prosecution. Mr. Potter, tell us, briefly, about your interactions with the alleged victims."

"I never even heard the names Rodolphus LeStrange, Yaxley, Rowle, Gibbon or the Carrows before that night." Harry gave the carefully rehearsed answer then coughed nervously before continuing "I know that Fenrir Greyback was a werewolf and responsible for turning many current afflicted lycanthropes, including my then 5-year-old Uncle Remus. I knew about Bellatrix LeStrange through my Godfather, then she was one of the group of Death Eaters that we fought in the Prophecy room here. Oh, that group also included Lucius Malfoy. In that fight, she murdered my Godfather."

There was a shout of outrage from the Malfoy box, which Scrimgeour silenced.

Harry's defender nodded "For the record, who is that?"

"Sirius Black, and he didn't betray my parents, or kill Peter Pettigrew. It was Pettigrew. Sirius was totally innocent." This statement from the witness nearly brought the house down.

Mr. Cogley's magically enhanced voice boomed over the yelling "MINISTER! YOU MUST INVESTIGATE THIS! AN INNOCENT MAN WAS WRONGFULLY JAILED! NOT EVEN A TRIAL! I DEMAND JUSTICE! A LORD DESERVES AN APOLOGY!"

"This is neither the time nor the place." The Minister lectured "Move on Mr. Cogley. SILENCE! Or I will clear the courtroom!"

The lawyer nodded, then prompted "During the prosecution, Aurors testified that eight bodies were recovered from Black Lake. Specifically, all those except for Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy. What was your involvement in those deaths?"

"I have a map of Hogwarts …invented by my Father, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black…" testified Harry "With it you can see every room and corridor, every person, every second of every day. I …some time in February… saw Draco on the seventh floor, when he disappeared from the map. I knew he'd gone into The Room of Requirement."

There was a great deal of muttering, into which, Cogley interjected "Obviously no one knows what that is."

"In a way I don't either." Harry admitted ruefully "What it does is change into anything a person needs in the instant they need it. One of them is where everything anyone has ever lost in the castle.

The prosecutor stood and demanded "A disappearing room? There is no such thing. I move this whole line of questioning be stopped."

"It's called magic, you moron!" snapped Harry "I suppose you don't believe in crumple-horned snorkacks either. Skipping to the end, I discovered he was working to fix a vanishing cabinet. I recognized it was another one just like one I saw in Borgin and Burkes. I visited several times and realized Draco was fixing it. When he went almost a week between visits I knew he must be done. That night, I duplicated it and left my useless copy in The Room of Requirement, then took the original and floated it to the lake."

Again the prosecutor interjected snidely "And what kind of a spell could a half-trained boy possibly know to help with that?"

"How many times have you foughtVoldemort?" retorted Harry, angrily. Then ignoring the outburst of gasps and flinches answered "Well, there's a Firstie spell called Wingardium Leviosa, and my bookworm friend taught me the Xeroxius… ermm, last year? Maybe?"

Cogley held up a calming hand to his client "Easy there. Continue."

"So I floated the cabinet out over the pier, y'know, where the lake is nice and deep. Then I cancelled the spell. Watched for a few minutes, while it sank. And went back to my dorm. That, now that I remember, was April 15. I wasn't sure exactly why I'd done it, but somehow I felt it was a good idea. Things got crazy over the next few weeks, I'm sure everyone knows about why. I just forgot about it." Harry concluded the first part of his testimony with a sigh and shared a look with his friends.

His lawyer held up a hand and addressed Scrimgeour "Minister, it's been almost an hour. Can we have a recess?"

"I think we could all use a bathroom break." His wand flash/popped and he concluded "Fifteen minutes."

When the hearing resumed Minister Scrimgeour had a dire warning "Mr. Cogley, you should be aware, sentiment is running against your client at the moment. I urge you to accept a plea deal. End this now and - - -"

"Not a chance!" growled Harry "If I'm going to Azkaban, then the world is going to know everything. Right. Let's skip ahead to the Astronomy Tower. Me and Dumbledore just got back from a Voldemort expedition. He was weak and tired and told me to get Snape to bring him a potion to help."

The prosecutor jumped on that "So your Headmaster, a man ten times your age, trusted your Potions Professor. Interesting. Somehow you know better?"

"He'd earlier made me promise to do exactly what he told me… No matter what it was, that night… He heard someone coming and told me to hide. I ducked out of sight on the platform down a flight from where we'd been talking." At this point, Harry paused and wiped away a tear at the memory. He rubbed his nose on his sleeve.

"Take your time Harry." His defense encouraged gently.

The young wizard nodded, then resumed "I heard Draco Malfoy enter and disarm Professor Dumbledore. They were arguing and that's when Snape- - -"

"Objection, Minister. Professor Snape was both a highly respected professional educator and a war hero. He is entitled to respect…I was going to say even in death, I would rather add ESPECIALLY in death." The prosecutor completed his protest with a self-satisfied grunt.

Before Scrimgeour could rule Harry laughed derisively "Snivilus was a big-nosed greasy-haired git, who setup my parents to be murdered by his lunatic master. And that was before he murdered Professor Dumbledore!"

"The witness is fined GG50." Ruled Scrimgeour "Foul language is not tolerated in these hallowed halls."

Harry muttered under his breath "Worth it." But at a look from his attorney went on with his testimony "After I heard Malfoy disarm Dumbledore I blew a hole in the ceiling above me and jumped up it. I saw Snape fire the Killing Curse at Dumbledore. The Headmaster BEGGED him 'Please Severus' he said. But the heartless bastard did it anyway and out the window he flew. Since Avada is an Unforgivable, I used another spell I read about. It was in a book I found written by someone called The Halfblood Prince. That's how they both died."

"So you were outnumbered, outgunned and only defending yourself?" his attorney asked for clarification.

The prosecutor was out of his seat "Objection! Leading the witness!"

"Watch yourself, Mr. Cogley." Scrimgeour warned "You know better."

But the ancient defender had made his point. He just went on "Now, let's talk about the following morning. What happened then?"

"We were all in shock." Replied Harry "I mean Dumbledore dead? Even me. I saw it and I could barely believe it. Professor McGonagall was addressing everyone in the Great Hall when Hagrid came running in. He was real upset, yelling and waving his arms. He yelled about bodies in Black Lake. I knew right away what happened."

Cogley followed up "What did you think it meant?"

"Objection Minister." The prosecutor arose again "He is asking the accused to essentially read the minds of his victims. Is he a Legilimens?"

Cogley countered "I am asking my client to report his thoughts at that moment. It is up to the Wizengamot to decide if he is correct or not."

"With that caveat the witness may answer." Ruled the Minister.

Harry went on "I realized that Draco was fixing that cabinet I moved exactly so Death Eaters could invade Hogwarts and kill Professor Dumbledore. From there I'm sure he was behind all the incidents this year. I was right when Ron ended up poisoned by something given to Professor Slughorn. He Imperiused Katie Bell for that attempt too."

"I object to that slander of my son!" Lucius yelled from his box.

Scrimgeour's wand flash/banged "The Lord Malfoy is correct. We cannot try a deceased person either. The Wizengamot will disregard. Have you anything else, defender?"

"The defense rests. Have I your permission to close?" Cogley replied formally, and after a nod "Lords and Ladies, we are here to deal with not just the simple facts, but the motivations and the results. Did Mr. Potter's actions result in the deaths of eight people? Yes. Did Mr. Potter directly kill Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy? Also, yes. HOWEVER in the case of the latter, he had just witnessed his beloved mentor be slain and had every expectation he might be. Remember, an Unforgivable was used. A simple matter of self-defense. For the former, Mr. Potter acted to protect the school and he succeeded. Most of the people killed were convicted Death Eaters. The LeStranges are responsible for the conditions of the Longbottoms. Were they visiting Hogwarts for nostalgia? I suppose that's possible, but not something I would bet a rusty Knut on. Far more likely they were there for purposes of mayhem. They would certainly participated in the murder of Professor Dumbledore. And, once done, how many students would have been killed? How many of you have children there? From where I'm sitting all of you owe Harry Potter a large thank you. Not his first, given his history."

The prosecutor gave an unimpressed look before beginning his speech "My learned colleague began correctly enough, but he is leading you astray. Fact …and the only germane one… Harry Potter murdered ten wizards and witches. He should be found guilty; he should die for his crimes."

"By that logic, just execute me for Voldemort while you're at it!" added Harry, in a violation of court procedure. But the point was made.

Abcij

Deliberations and voting took three days. Advance warning of a verdict led to a near riot among those that didn't fit into the overlarge room. Harry stood waiting with Mr. Cogley as the Wizengamot filed in.

"Madam Speaker, have you reached a verdict?" the formal question came from the Minister.

Neville's grandmother was in that role. Wizarding politics is different than non-magical. She wasn't the head of a political party. Augusta merely had the force of personality to convince enough members to vote her way enough of the time to hold the position. She stood and replied as formally "Yes, Minister. The Houses have voted and the Parliamentarian has certified the result."

"The Speaker will publish the vote." Was the formal instruction.

She nodded "With nine-four Houses voting. The count totals For Conviction thirty-one: Against sixty-three. The motion is not agreed to."

"Very well. Aurors release the accused forthwith." Scrimgeour ordered. There was no emotion on his face.

Harry held in a celebratory howl until he was with his friends outside the courtroom.