Dumbledore's Folly

by Venquine1990

Dumbledore is the Greatest Wizard who ever lived - Or Is He? Harry thinks otherwise. He uses his hearing at the Ministry to prove his beliefs. His actions during this Hearing/Trial will reveal much to many. However, there will be revelations that Harry doesn't know about. That will change his life. WARNING: HEAVY AD/RH BASHING! Not evil-AD, just misguided/stubborn. No Pairings.

24. Whose Side Are You On - Part 02

Hey everyone,
I guess this is the chapter you have all been waiting for.
To be honest, part of me felt like just putting all of these trials into one big chapter.
Glad I didn't,

Venquine1990

---

Chapter 24
Whose Side Are You On – Part 02

29th of August 1995
Courtroom 10, MoM
Sirius' POV

We took an hour break after Snape's trial and I am beyond relieved about that.

I didn't show it during the trial, but to hear that man speak about Lily as if she was just an object to be won and as if she was beneath him in intelligence was infuriating.
Yet I had expected it and had written Amelia the day before. I had told her that I wouldn't be able to stand Proxy for Harry if I wasn't allowed to take a Calming Draught before the trial commenced. Amelia had requested a written vow from me that I would not take any other potions and I had been tested earlier this morning, but she had consented in the end.

After we left the Courtroom, a Healer approached me and gave me the antidote. I would have refused, but an Auror, who told me he was here to help me relieve stress, was there with her. I had accepted the antidote and for the last fifteen minutes I had dueled the Auror to vent my rage.
It had been both helpful and not at all that the man has long black hair as it makes his resemblance to Severus–the-bastard-Snape almost too easy to imagine. But thankfully the aftereffects of the Calming Draught keep me from resorting to lethal spells.

Well, that and I want to see if Harry's other ideas of punishment will be implemented today.

I have been using those thoughts and a few conversations with Augusta, Estrela and Andromeda – who I adopted into House Potter (with Harry's permission) – to further calm myself down these past 30 minutes or so.
All three women – just like the rest of the Wizengamot – know that I had digested a Calming Draught beforehand and had witnessed me taking the antidote and the duel as well. Still they compliment me on my excellent behavior and the execution of Severus Snape and his punishments.

Naturally I ask Augusta how Alice is doing. Augusta and Estrela kept the potion and what Estrela had managed to achieve with it a secret until a week after Gringotts created the contract that Neville demanded after it was discovered that Frank and Alice would need more.
Harry had still been reluctant, but he had been deeply grateful that both Estrela and Neville understood his need for secrecy behind his mother's invention. He already, up until this summer, had so very little to connect him to his parents, he wasn't ready to share what he now had with the world, not yet.
"She is doing remarkable. Both Estrela and Healer Strout believe that it will take her until Christmas to recover enough that she can start returning to proper society – or at least return home and get used to regular life again – but they are also confident that, if they keep this up, both Alice and Frank will be better by Christmas next year, Easter at the latest."

It almost brings me to tears to hear this.
And I'm not alone in this sensation.

Then, just before the next trial commences, Estrela grins at me and tells me about her new position. I absolutely love the fact that she has been chosen to be the new Potions Professor. She also winks at the room at large and says:
"Also, according to Pomona, the staff came up with a little idea of their own. Apparently Minerva was one of the few who tried to argue your boy's ideas, but by now they're all on board. And this new idea of theirs came up during their Teachers Meeting last week.
Though I have been sworn to secrecy about what it is, at least for today. The only thing I am allowed to say is this; this idea has the bond between Hogwarts and its students as the center focus and goal."

And while the woman has many of us curious and ready to speculate, she exits the lounge room. And I snicker under my breath at the sight of her sneaky little grin as she leaves.

We follow after her.

And yet my own humor and amusement are short-lived and vanish like snow as soon as I re-enter the Courtroom. Just like I agreed with Amelia, I take a few more gulps of the Calming Draught that Estrela provided for me earlier today before I retake my seat.
A few minutes later Hagrid has been brought to sit into the accused chair, which has been enlarged to fit his half-giant size. Amelia and the same Unspeakable as before are standing ready, both of them with passive, professional looks on their faces.

"Rubeus Hagrid, you have been informed that a special dose of Veritaserum, created by the Unspeakables of the ICW, has been provided to ensure that your birth nature and its natural abilities will not interfere with this questioning, correct?"
Hagrid nods and the Unspeakable in question provides him with four drops, which Amelia informs us all is standard with this dose and with people like Hagrid. The man actually shows Amelia a small grateful smile before his face goes blank as the potion takes effect.
Like with Snape – and like with all other trials – Amelia questions Hagrid to establish his identity and verify that he is who he claims to be. After she confirms this, she starts her questioning.

Amelia: "Whose side are you on?"
Hagrid: "My own."

Amelia: "Do you support Albus Dumbledore?"
Hagrid: "Yes."

Amelia: "Do you support Lord Voldemort?"
Hagrid: "No."

Amelia: "Then why did you not state that you side with Dumbledore?"
Hagrid: "Because I have betrayed and stolen from those he claims to be his friends."

Amelia: "But you do not consider them your friends?"
Hagrid: "No, I do not."

Amelia: "Why not?"
Hagrid: "Because they get what I've always wanted for little more than free, while I have to work harder than I should have to in order to get even 10% of what they have."

Amelia: "And this is why you stole from these people?"
Hagrid: "Yes, it is."

Amelia: "You even stole from Harry Potter, correct?"
Hagrid: "Yes, that is correct."

Amelia: "Even though he helped save your hide several times in the past four years, correct?"
Hagrid: "Yes, this is correct."

Amelia: "Do you regret stealing from someone so honest and helpful?"
Hagrid: "No, I do not."

Amelia: "What is your opinion on Harry Potter's role in your life?"
Hagrid: "He is to be my hero when I purposely get myself in trouble and is to provide my with more furniture whenever his fans send him some of their stuff."

Amelia: "How do you feel about the fact that you stole Harry Potter's inheritance from him?"
Hagrid: "Potter would have died by Voldemort's hand and would have given me some of it in his own will. I just skipped a step in the whole process."

Amelia: "Why do you believe that Voldemort would have had a chance to kill Harry Potter?"
Hagrid: "Because Albus Dumbledore wasn't properly training the boy or keeping Severus Snape and others from bullying him and making his life worthless. The boy was too weak to ever stand a chance against Lord Voldemort."

Amelia: "So you don't support Lord Voldemort, but you do support the belief that he would have killed an innocent student who has considered you his friend for years?"
Hagrid: "Yes, that is correct."

Amelia: "If you were given the chance, would you deliver Harry Potter to Lord Voldemort yourself?"
Hagrid: "No, I would not."

Amelia: "Were you informed of Lord Voldemort's demise?"
Hagrid: "Yes, I was."

Amelia: "And even now you know this, you would consider continuing your thievery of Harry Potter's personal possessions?"
Hagrid: "Yes, that is correct."

Amelia: "So you are not just stealing from him because you believe in his death by the hands of the late Lord Voldemort?"
Hagrid: "No, I am not."

Amelia: "Do you acknowledge that you are stealing Harry Potter's family from him through your thievery the same way Lord Voldemort did through murder?"
Hagrid: "No, I do not."

Amelia: "So you believe you have a right to steal from someone who has already lost that which is most valuable to most people, their families?"
Hagrid: "Yes, I do."

Amelia: "Again, can you elaborate why you believe this?"
Hagrid: "I was expelled because the Purebloods would rather listen to someone they believed to be one of their own than the truth. My father was killed and the killer got away by claiming the whole thing to be an accident. Even Purebloods who claimed to be on my side flaunted what I could never have in my face every time we met.
No one, not even those who claimed to be my friends, ever stood up for me or did what was right for me. I knew I was the only one who really looked out for me and that I deserved revenge. I discovered that I have a gift with animals, especially owls. Being the Hogwarts Grounds keeper helped me cultivate this gift.
Since then I have been evening out the playing field and taking back what should have been rightfully mine. Purebloods have enough already. Whatever they give away is finder's keepers. And my gift makes it so that I am always the finder and always the keeper."

I knew I wouldn't like Hagrid's explanation as to why he stole from my son. The notion that he thought Harry would give him his inheritance upon his death, that he didn't think Harry would survive the war and that he considers Harry something akin to a House Elf makes me very, very glad that I have a Calming Draught running through my system right now.
It helps me keep a calm and clear head and when I see that Amelia is done with her questioning – and that she seems to wish she had taken a Calming Draught herself – I stand up again.

Everyone turns to me and I say: "Once again my son wishes to speak his mind in regards to punishing this suspect. And considering that he was Rubeus Hagrid's –
Wait, have you ever stolen from Harry in any way other than through your trained owls?"
Hagrid answers: "Yes, I was the one who paid the thieves that almost emptied out Godric's Hollow between 1981 and 1985."

If not for the Calming Draught, I would have been too furious to think straight right now. Yet the Draught seems to be working overtime as my mind remains sharp and clear.
I clear my throat and say: "In light of Rubeus Hagrid's final answer, I request permission to speak my son's idea of a verdict.
My son acknowledges that Azkaban is, indeed, a fitting punishment for crimes of this nature, but he fears that, in due time, Hagrid might be able to overcome the emotional turmoil caused by the Dementors. And because I was in Azkaban myself, I can vouch that the bars there are simply nothing compared to the strength of a half-giant such as our suspect."

Everyone nods, though some nod with looks of unease and displeasure on their faces. They obviously don't like it that Harry pointed out this flaw in Azkaban's security to them. I ignore this and state:
"In 1991, Rubeus Hagrid visited my son Harry on a small rock in the middle of the ocean. He and the members of Muggle House Dursley were staying in a small, cranky, almost windswept hut during this time.
The reason for Rubeus Hagrid's visit was to deliver Harry Potter's Hogwarts letter. With this he basically delivered Harry Potter from a life of solitude and bestowed upon him a new sense of freedom.
My son, therefore, considers it iconic, symbolic and a true sign of justice if Rubeus Hagrid is sentenced to spend the rest of his days in said hut. All alone, all by himself, with never another soul to visit him. None but Dobby the House Elf who has sworn fealty to House Potter already."

If it weren't for the Calming Draught coursing through my system, I would be smirking in gleeful pride at my son's idea as I present it to the Wizengamot.
And I would be suppressing the need to snicker at how shocked and awed some people are at my son's brilliant idea. "Surely they remember his brilliance from a few weeks ago?"

"Lord Black, am I correct to assume that Heir Potter has already ensured that Rubeus Hagrid will not be able to escape this aforementioned location?"
Amelia asks me. I nod at her and answer:
"We have negotiated with both Gringotts and Curse Breaker William. He will, if you were to contact him, place every required ward and spell upon the perimeter of the aforementioned location and have this finalized by tomorrow morning at the latest."

Instantly Amelia asks if all of the Wizengamot is in favor.
And naturally almost every wand in the panel is raised and lit up.
My son strikes again and another symbolic punishment has been delivered.

---

Poetic justice,
And don't worry! Hagrid's wand will be taken from him, an Anti-Animal ward will be placed all around the hut, Sirius has already confiscated his old bike from Hagrid even before Hagrid left on his mission and what little magic he has will be blocked through the work of the Unspeakables.
He's stuck,

Venquine1990
PS. And if he tries to swim out, Dobby will pop him back into the hut, DUH!