Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Must have dropped it somewhere.
Sorry for the long wait, it took me a while to get the trial chapter to a place I wanted it. I really just want to get to the chaos, as i'm sure you do too, dear reader.
Just wanted to say thanks for the incredible response to the last two chapters, it was a very nice ego boost to get such a positive response for my first piece of fanfiction, I hope I don't let you down. This is a long one, almost 11k words this time. Chapters probably won't be this long normally.
Anyway, enough of my rambling, strap in and enjoy!
Chapter 3: Tartarus
9th August, 1995, 07:46pm
Ministry Holding Cell 24, Ministry of Magic, London
Harry hummed a tune to a song that wouldn't come out for another 54 years, tapping his foot along to the rhythm. He had been in the holding cell for around 17 hours. They had taken his wand before he was shoved into his cell and left there, with only one meal for lunch since he had arrived. It had tasted like ass with a hint of pumpkin.
The holding cells were a place that he had never really thought he would ever end up in, having been the one that normally had put people there. The cells were deep down underneath the ministry, the room he was in was all grey stone with iron bars separating it from the corridor. There was no light given where he was, which was the maximum security cell. Whoever that Griffin guy was must have some sway in the ministry if he managed to get him here, probably trying to intimidate him.
Hopefully however, Tonks would be able to get the memory to Amelia Bones. From what he gathered after the war in his last life, she was one of the few competent department heads in the Ministry and had jumped on every opportunity to combat favouritism and corruption within her department and others. Unfortunately, this had made her a prime target for Voldemort, and she had died in 1996. If she got him out of this pickle he would be sure to prevent that disaster from happening. Amelia Bones' death had hit people almost as hard as Moody's. Both were bastions of the fight against the dark.
Seeing Tonks had been a bit of a shock, when he had first met her he had been an emotionally stunted 15 year old boy, and had had bigger problems than thinking about good looking older witches. When he was older, she had been shacked up with Remus and then had died with him shortly afterwards in the battle of Hogwarts. So he had never really realised how hot she was. There were beauties like Fleur Delacour and Daphne Greengrass and Susan Bones, but Tonks was different. Rouge and rebel and unique. She stood out from the crowd on purpose and didn't care how people would look at her oddly for her crazy hair colours and styles. It was quite attractive in a way that made many men afraid to approach her, afraid to associate with something so different. For good reason too, she had a tendency to fling some nasty hexes at people who asked, probably passed down from her time with Moody.
Harry chuckled, 'I wonder if I have to morph myself to look 13 years older to have a chance?'
He was brought out of his musings on the now suddenly available witches he could poach when he heard footsteps approaching his cell, and the ugly mug of Richard Griffiths came into view, sneer already fixed on his face.
Harry groaned, "I guess it would be too much to hope that you're here to go to Azkaban in my place?" he asked hopefully.
Griffiths was most likely internally annoyed that he couldn't recite his Azkaban speech to the mudblood but on the outside he smiled nastily, "no chance, mudblood. I'm here to take you to feed you to the Dementors, maybe there you can learn not to be so disrespectful to your betters," he said snidely.
Harry rolled his eyes and stood up, proffering his hands to the jailer, "I'll disrespect whoever and whatever I want whenever I want Griffin shit, now just get on with it and stop spewing shit out of your bigot mouth," he said in exasperation.
Harry inwardly grinned as the idiot unsuccessfully tried to hide how easily Harry got under his skin. This was far too easy, the guy was just so easy to wind up, he couldn't resist.
"We'll see how you keep that attitude after a week in Azkaban," Griffin shit sneered, "maybe you can get antiquated with the place in your stay there, after all, the sentence for trying to frame an Heir of a Noble house for use of the killing curse is at least 10 years," he added smugly while he roughly dragged Harry down the corridor towards the apparition point.
"Bah, I think I can handle it, the Dementors can't be worse company then you after all, more attractive as well," Harry countered with a grin, "at least they won't try to fucking talk to me, which automatically makes me like them more than you."
Harry watched in fascination as the annoying twat steadily approached a familiar shade of Vernon Purple, a sure sign that Harry was successful in getting under his skin, just a little further…
"It must cost quite a bit for you to manage to get the Azkaban transfer through," Harry mused in mock thoughtfulness, he turned to Griffiths to see him facing determinedly forward, "so, what did Umbridge make you do Griffin shit? oral? Bondage? Maybe she put on a strap-on and bent you over the-"
"ENOUGH," he roared, grabbing him by his t-shirt and slamming him against the wall, ignoring the snickering of the jailer behind him, "I WILL NOT HAVE A MUDBLOOD LIKE YOU SAY SUCH THINGS ABOUT ME."
Harry grinned, "I notice you didn't deny it, now is it just me or are you walking a bit funny Griffin shit?"
Griffiths' face looked like a grape.
The jailer tried unsuccessfully to hide his laughter.
Harry's grin widened and turned predatory.
Victory felt sweet.
-oOo-
15th August, 1995, 05:03am
Azkaban, Somewhere off the Coast of Scotland
Auror Irving Sims was on his way to pick up the inmate from his cell in the mid-level security floor of the tower of Azkaban with his partner Shay Davie. Some guy called Harrison Slate, apparently. From what he had been told the guy was due to sit a trial for the assault of an Heir. He almost felt sorry for him, a week in Azkaban would break down anyone. Even he got effected, and he only had to patrol the corridor twice a day. The rest was spent in a guard room which was as far from the dementors as possible. He was annoyed that he had to go out and deal with the depressing aura of the cloaked demons to get the inmate, that prick Richard Griffiths was originally supposed to come and pick him up, but for some reason had adamantly refused. Not that Irving would complain, the guy was renowned for being an arse.
As he approached the cell, he noticed that there was a dementor leaning against the bars of the prisoner's cell, skeletal fingers curled around the dull iron bars. For a moment he thought that the prisoner was being attacked, and started forward, but he then heard horrific raspy, low noises coming from inside the cell and, to his horror, the dementor answered in the same way.
He and Shay stood stock still, watching the noises coming from the cell in detached horror. After a couple of minutes, Shay finally spoke.
"Is he… speaking to it?" Shay asked in disbelief, her voice several octaves higher than normal and slightly shaky.
Her voice seemed to catch the attention of the dementor as at Shay's words it turned to them, surveying them with whatever was under its tattered black hood. After a moment of just staring at the two guards – who were shuffling uncomfortably – ominously the soul sucker turned back to the cell. It made more of the horrible, scratching noises that sent chills down his spine and, after an equally discomforting reply from inside the cell, it turned away from them and floated away from the two terrified aurors in the opposite direction, torn black robes billowing behind it.
Irving exchanged an incredulous look with Shay. After a few seconds they mutually came to a decision and cautiously continued forward after sharing a small bar of chocolate that Shay kept in her cloak to take the edge off of the depressing aura. His Komodo Dragon patronus and Shay's Dalmatian followed either side of them, positive emotions and faint white light emanating from their ghostly forms and attempting to calm the two red robed figures.
They reached the front of the cell to see Slate hanging upside down on his stone cot, throwing a rubber ball that he shouldn't have been able to own up in the air and catching it. He looked thoroughly bored, but more importantly also didn't look like he had just spent a week in Azkaban, or that he had just been within a couple feet away from a dementor.
"Were you… t-talking to that dementor?" Irving asked disbelievingly in introduction, he didn't even know that the noises that the dementors sometimes made was a language, he just had assumed that it was just another creepy thing about them.
"Hmm?" Slate turned towards the direction of his voice and brightened when he saw them, apparently completely unfazed by the dementor he had just been within arm's length of as he rolled backwards onto his feet gracefully then stretched languidly, like a cat waking up from a long nap, "oh that guy, yeah I was, decent bloke. They don't really have much to do around here so they're always glad for the conversation," he finished with a shrug as he straightened his prison overalls out.
"Right..." Irving dragged out. He glanced to his right and met Shay's eyes again, he could see his 'what the fuck?' clearly reflected in her hazel brown eyes along with a healthy amount of fear as she looked back at Slate, who was leaning against the wall bouncing the ball on the floor looking at them expectantly.
"So… are we off then? I've got a trial to get to, and it wouldn't do to be late," Slate said, tapping an invisible watch on his wrist and throwing the ball over his shoulder, where it promptly vanished before it hit the floor.
He and Shay jumped out of their shock and sheepishly cuffed Slate before leading him away. The dark haired man started whistling a jaunty tune as they led him through the corridors of Azkaban, occasionally waving at dementors as they passed who, to their disbelief, sometimes actually waved back. Irving shared another glance with Shay and shook his head. This guy was either the next coming of Merlin or fucking insane, and he wasn't sure which made him more uneasy.
He and Shay's unease was not lessened when, halfway back to the mainland on the boat, Slates cuffs just fell off of his wrist without the man even looking at them. He, Shay and the boat captain didn't even have time to react accordingly, looking on in shock as he looked down in bewilderment, as if he didn't expect it. With a muttered, 'oh shit, sorry' the man had casually plucked the magic inhibitor cuffs back off the metal floor of the boat and put them back on. He had then proceeded to act like nothing had happened, leaned back and continued whistling.
Yes, Irving was definitely not a happy man. How in the name of Morgana's saggy left tit was he supposed to guard a man that apparently could break about of magical inhibitor cuffs without even realising it?
Shay appeared to share his sentiment if the increased amount of fearful looks that she was sending his way was indication.
All in all, it was a very jumpy pair of aurors who accompanied the cheery man as they made their way to the Ministry.
-oOo-
15th August 1995, exactly 06:00am
Trial room 3, Ministry of Magic, London
Tonks was standing stiffly to the side of the trial room, surveying the crowd critically as they conversed and shifted in anticipation of the arrival of the accused. She had managed to sneak in as a guard through Amelia Bones, as she had passed on the memory for the trial. The predatory smile on the Lady Bones' face after she had watched the memory and Tonks had told her what was going on had been a sight to see, Tonks knew how much she loved to put down farce trials like the one she was currently presiding in.
Suddenly the double doors at the back of the chamber banged open dramatically, and two aurors walked in with Harrison Slate, each one of them holding one of his arms. For some reason, both were giving him fearful side glances as if he would escape at any moment. They were holding his arms because, despite his hushed up stay in Azkaban, publicly they could not show him to be suspect enough to warrant cuffs, plus they had his wand, so there was no chance of him escaping anyway. Someone had also given him back his clothes somewhere along the way, although his wand was still being held by the Ministry. He cast a sharp contrast to his surroundings, juxtaposing the formal robes and dour colours with his ruffled black hair, explicit t-shirt and combat clothes. He strode assuredly into the chamber, a bright smile on his face and his eyes twinkling madly. He seemed to give off the image of one huge middle finger.
Tonks couldn't hold back a smile as she saw him, she had half expected him to walk in a husk of a man, gibbering in fear like so many others who came back from a weeks stay at the dreaded prison. She should have known better, should have trusted that voice in the back of her head that told her that the man she had seen a week ago couldn't be subdued. His grin was wide, the life in his eyes completely undimmed as he took in the room. His eyes settled on Tonks for a moment and winked at her before facing forwards again. She idly wondered if Azkaban was still standing after being forced on him.
Tonks tore her eyes away from him (which took a surprising amount of effort) and looked to Madam Bones, who was seated with two others, Dolores Umbridge (who was probably only on the board on Fudge's demands) and a judge by the name of Zayan Muir, a tough but ultimately fair judge who was renowned for being unshakable. Tonks suspected Bonesey's hand in her appointment, normally in trials like this the judge would be another puppet of Fudge, who in turn was a puppet of Malfoy. Evidently Amelia had called in some favours. Tonks didn't miss the anticipatory gleam in the head of the DMLE's eyes, like a shark who smelt blood in the water. She was evidently looking forward to this.
Looking back at Slate, who was leaning back in his chair with one leg crossed over the other as if he was sitting down for a casual conversation over tea, she couldn't help but look forward to it as well.
-oOo-
Harry looked around the room he had been escorted in curiously. He had never been in a proper trial chamber, his last run-in with the law having landed him in front of the whole Wizengamot in the designated Wizengamot Chamber, which was much larger than the one he was currently in. It didn't escape his notice that both times were a huge crock of shit. He considered that his other self had actually just sat that trial only three days ago if his sense of time was correct.
Now that was something he hadn't considered, he didn't know how he would react if he saw his younger self. He would probably fuck with himself, it would be funny to see how he would react. Maybe he could pretend to be a seer or sometime and say something he shouldn't know all mysterious-like.
He was seated in an uncomfortable wooden chair in the centre of the room, with Elias Burke to his right, who was currently leering at him. Harry gave a wide smile and an enthusiastic wave, causing the aspiring junior death eater to scowl and turn away.
In front of the two of them was a long mahogany table, on which were seated 3 people. Harry had to make use of some advanced occlumency to stop himself from launching himself at the rounded pink eyesore seated to the left side of the table, instead forcing himself to look to the next person along.
In the centre was a thin mixed race witch who was fixing him with a look that reminded him of Dumbledore when the man was scrutinizing someone. She had sleek black hair that was tied up in a tight bun and equally black eyes framed by a pair of rectangular silver glasses.
And finally, on the right was the woman that would hopefully be preventing him from having to break out of Azkaban, perform some mass obliviation and probably do some heavy damage to the ancient wards over the dratted place.
She had shoulder length blonde hair tied up into a bun, not unlike the witch's in the middle, with a square jaw and steel grey eyes, a monocle clasped in one of them. She wasn't the most attractive witch, but she was certainly very intimidating. Susan took the cake in the Bones family for looks, Harry would always fondly remember the younger Bones as the first one to 'sprout' in his year.
To the right of the room against the wall was a stand consisting of around 30 mages. Harry was mildly surprised to see the twat that had fast tracked him to the dark and gloom was sitting in the stands as well, apart from the others. Harry idly wondered if he was going to stand as a witness, he really hoped so. His suspicion was all but confirmed when the auror caught his eye and shot him a smug look.
'Wanker.'
"Interrogation of Harrison Slate of number 14 Fyfield Road on the 15th August 1995, judge presiding Zayan Muir, the rest of the board consits of Dolores Jane Umbridge, undersecretary to the minister to my right, and to my left is Madam Amelia Bones, head of the DMLE," the witch in the middle, Muir he now knew, said in a no-nonsense tone.
This was how trials in the wizarding world were normally done. 3 judges would be chosen for a board. The idea was that this would make it harder to force a corrupt judge to sit on a case and make the final choice fairer. In reality, it just meant that the people in power would end up spending more money on bribes, but at least it was an effort.
The only reason why Fudge had been the only interrogator in the trial in his 5th year was because the fat prick brought him before the Wizengamot, where there was only one interrogator but in the end the whole Wizengamot would vote on the punishment.
"You stand accused of the attempted framing of an Heir of a Noble house for the use of a killing curse, how do you plead?" She asked.
Harry snorted, "is that even a real fucking thing? Attempted framing my as-"
"Yes Mr Slate I assure you, attempted framing is a real accusation, with a 10 year sentence in Azkaban if it passes, so how do you plead?" Muir repeated, sounding slightly irritated.
Harry rolled his eyes, "fiiiine, not guilty" he said, making his voice childishly petulant on purpose.
Harry heard Umbridge sniff imperiously. He listed the various ways he could hide a body to calm himself down.
"Very well, Heir Burke I am aware has already acquired legal counsel, Mr Slate, do you have legal counsel you wish to call up?"
Harry gave off a bark of laughter, "legal counsel? And how exactly do you envision me getting legal counsel from Azkaban?"
Muir frowned "Azkaban? You were held in Azkaban for an attempted framing? That is highly irregular for a case of this si-"
"Hem hem."
'Right, she's dead as soon as I'm out of this shithole.'
"Pardon me judge Muir, so silly of me, but it almost sounded like you were questioning the judgement and integrity of the Ministry, and my extension, the Minister himself," she gave off a high pitched giggle, "now, we are getting off topic, could we please proceed with questioning the suspect?"
'Painfully and slowly should do it.'
Muir frown deepened as she turned to look at the woman in annoyance, "very well, although I hope this will be looked into Miss Bones" she directed the second half to Madam Bones, who nodded tersely, "good, now Heir Burke has already provided what occurred from his point of view, this was done in order to prevent either the defence or the prosecution from changing their version of the event. Mr Slate, please tell the board exactly what occurred at roughly 1:30 am on the 7th August from your point of view?"
Harry sighed, "I was woken up by my alert ward-"
"Alert ward?" Umbridge cut in with another ear-raping giggle, "forgive me for asking, but why would one need an alert ward in the muggle world?"
Harry sighed dramatically, "well, apart from it just being common fucking sense," he glared at the underdeveloped swamp debris, who went an ugly shade of red (not that any other shade was any more attractive), "I had recently narrowly survived a raid on my home by some men in some ridiculous looking skull masks, I thought it scrupulous to take precautions to not get murdered in payback, constant vigilance and all that." He waved his hand dismissively.
The corner of Bones' mouth twitched upwards Harry knew that the woman had been one of the few chosen to be personally mentored by Alastor Moody, "indeed, now please continue Mr Slate."
Harry hummed then continued, inspecting his fingernails in apparent boredom, "yeah, well, as I was saying before the wart there interrupted me I woke up, and when I realised that it was my ward that woke me up I knew it was a mage, so I got out of bed and waited by the door, I then set up an illusion to make it look like I was sleeping in my bed," he shrugged, "wanted to see what they wanted with me, turns out they just sent ickle Elias here to kill me, tried to send an Avada Kedavra through my head," Harry sneered at Burke, "too bad that he was a shit assassin, fucking pampered prat had no idea what he was doing, didn't even silence his footsteps," he shook his head, "fucking moron."
Muir spoke up at that, speaking in an admonishing tone, "now Mr Slate, Heir Burke's competency as an assassin isn't what's being called into ques-"
It was at this point that Umbridge decided to cut in and open her mouth again, much to the detriment of all living beings in her vicinity. Harry seemed to have been able to crack her out of her girlish mask and reveal the hateful bitch residing below the surface. Harry grinned in anticipation, people around here were so easy to annoy.
"Now listen here mudblood, I will not have the character of the honourable Heir Burke called into question by filth such as you!" She finished, crimson faced and jowls quivering.
The chamber went silent, disgusted looks were being given to both Harry and Umbridge at her words. Harry was smiling with an anticipatory gleam in his eye, gaze fixed on the horrid pink woman, who still looked furious.
"First of all, I will question the character of whoever the fuck I want whenever I want, including certain ass kissing secretaries who I shall not name," he paused and looked significantly at Umbridge, "second of all, not that it matters either way, but I'm actually a pureblood," at this there were several gasps in the crowd, and the cows face shifted from red to white at an impressive pace.
Harry looked around the chamber and laughed mockingly "Ooo, not looking so eager now that's been revealed, are you? Not so happy to see a possibly innocent man off to prison now you know he's one of you eh?" he looked sweepingly over the crowd, some of whom indeed did not look as eager as before, then spat on the floor, "you all disgust me," he bit out, "and you know Umbridge, it really doesn't surprise me that you didn't do any research before trying to sentence me" he laughed "naughty naughty Dolores, you best hope that Daddy Fudge doesn't give you too hard of a spanking" he crooned, leaning forward in his seat.
"That is enough!" Muir snapped, seeing that Umbridge was about to respond, "Madam Umbridge, if you cannot control yourself I will have you thrown out of this courtroom, and that goes for you as well Slate, I will not have people throwing around insults around my chamber like school children!" She glared at both of them, Harry just smiled back with a 'who, me?' expression on his face which she chose to ignore.
"I agree," Amelia piped up, "Mr Slate, please continue with your recounting, I'm sure the both of us wish to be finished with this sooner rather then later," she threw him a significant look, which he returned with a wink. Everyone around them looked confused at this interaction, and in the case of the Heir Burke and the undersecretary to the Minister, slightly concerned.
Harry bowed his head, "of course Madam, after this sack of… I mean, after the individual who invaded my home cast a killing curse through what he assumed to be the back of my head, I drew the conclusion that he perhaps might have less than honourable intentions. In response, I simply cast a stupefy to the side of the brat's head, then waited for the aurors. During that time, I took off the mask of the intruder, which was also one of the funny looking skull ones by the way, and bound him" he tilted his head to the side and drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair, "funny choice of outfit, could have mistaken him for a death eater, but surely that couldn't be true, considering that the Ministry is still insisting that they don't exist, right?"
Harry knew for a fact that the guy was a death eater, he had seen the guy die at Flitwick's hands at the Battle at Hogwarts after all, one of the many fallen in the final battle. But his forearm hadn't revealed any mark back in his flat when he had looked. He assumed that killing him was supposed to be Burke's initiation, a murder was often the way they were inducted into the group.
Umbridge sniffed and appeared to be trying to look down her nose at him imperiously, which only made her ugly from a different angle, "indeed, your insinuations that Heir Burke is a death eater are preposterous, yet more proof in my eyes that you are simply making up this whole story, the Dark Lord is not back, no matter what Dumbledore says."
Harry nodded sagely, "you're right, he could have just been wearing a Halloween costume."
Umbridge looked surprised that he had agreed with her then nodded stiffly, apparently agreeing with him.
Harry was laughing incredulously in his , no wonder the Ministry went to shit so fast with room temperature IQ people like her in positions of power.
"Please continue Mr Slate, we must get onto presenting evidence sooner rather than later" Muir said, tapping her wand impatiently on the desk in front of her, apparently she didn't appreciate his humour.
"Well, there's not really much more to say really," he continued, "aurors arrived, I came out willing with my hands up, the lead auror, I think his name was Graham or something, went to look at the guy I knocked out while I got questioned by a pretty witch. Gerald came back out and started laying into me for stunning Burke here, performed some frankly pitiful intimidation attempts then apparated away with Burke, and I was led into the cells by the pretty auror and another one that looked like Hagrid." Harry snuck a glance to the side to see that both Tonks and Griffiths had gone red for different reasons, with Tonks managing to make her hair the same colour as her face, which looked amusing.
"You mean auror Griffiths?" Muir asked.
"Oh, is that his name? The guy was such an ass I kind of just tuned him out after a couple seconds," he said dismissively, "very unpleasant fellow, made all kinds of unkind remarks about my parentage."
"And you say that he apparated away with a possible murder suspect and ordered you to a holding cell?" Her perpetual frown deepened as she turned to the stands to her left to look at Griffiths, who looked distinctly uncomfortable, "that is most irregular."
"However… unfortunate it is that Mr Slate here had to be imprisoned, we really must move on to evidence," Umbridge said, changing the subject with the subtlety of a first year Gryffindor. She gained an anticipatory look in her beady eyes, "I am most interested to see what Mr Slate has to prove his tale" she finished with a giggle.
Muir and Madam Bones agreed then asked Burke's lawyer to present his evidence. The guy was pasty and pale, looking like someone made some dough, moulded it into some semblance of a human then hit it with an animation charm. He had a permanent sheen of sweat on his forehead and wore an expensive looking white suit. According to Raymand Richie, Harry had kidnapped Burke from outside of his home in South Wales, them taken him to his flat, bound him then fired the killing curse with his wand. They had even gone so far as to put some newspapers referencing Burke around his flat to insinuate Harry had been keeping track of him, which Harry found hilarious as he had only moved into said flat on the same day. The prat may have said more but that was all Harry could be bothered to listen to before he started to space out. He preoccupied himself by sending discreet wandless itching hexes at Burkes fat arse when he thought nobody was watching. He thought he saw Amelia shooting him suspicious looks every now and again, but she didn't act on it.
They even brought Griffiths on as a witness, Harry wasn't really sure how that worked, considering that Griffiths was the one who arrived on the scene after the alleged crime had been committed, but then he remembered this was wizarding Britain, where the impossible becomes distressingly common.
Harry was eventually brought back to reality by his name being repeated by someone who didn't sound too pleased. Harry looked up into the unimpressed face of Judge Muir.
He shook his head to clear it then smiled innocently back, "sorry, that was just so boring that I genuinely was at risk of falling asleep."
Muir snorted, then looked slightly horrified that she had actually just let out some semblance of an emotion other than displeasure and feel back into a deep scowl, "just get this over with and present your evidence Mr Slate," she said, a hint of exasperation colouring her tone.
Harry looked around and saw that both Umbridge and Griffiths looked very smug. Belatedly he realised that they had not given him any opportunity to present a memory or got a counsel, so they assumed he had nothing. He smirked, this was going to be fun.
"Very well, I call for my memory of my event to be brought into the courtroom, and for an official to register the authenticity of said memory."
He watched in satisfaction as the smug look on the faces of several disappeared and suddenly turned various shades of white. It was very interesting, being able to tell who had contributed to his accelerated incarceration by the ovals of contrasting white among the stands. With the amount of times people were going red with anger then pale again, he thought they might start having circulation problems.
"What! That's not possible!" Umbridge shouted before she could help herself, "obviously the mudblood has faked it!"
What?
And she had called him a mudblood again… did she just call anyone she didn't like mudblood?
Harry feigned confusion, "I don't see how you would know it was fake when you haven't even seen it yet" as he was saying this a short red-headed witch in auror robes came in pushing a cart with the memory on the side of it and a large, wide pensive on top.
At this Umbridge fell silent, which was a blessing.
Madam Bones waved her wand over the memory, which had been placed in front of her. After several seconds of intricate wand waving the memory inside glowed blue briefly. At this the stern witch nodded, "the memory is valid, it has not been tampered with, all in favour of watching it?"
Bones and Muir rose their arms, Umbridge seemed to sulk and folded her arms crossly, Harry rolled his eyes. Fucking child.
"Very well, auror Yori, please play the memory for the chamber."
The petite mage nodded stiffly with a 'yes ma'am' and poured the memory into the liquid in the pensive. She then tapped a few runes around the edge of the basin. The runes glowed briefly, then the liquid rose from the basin and formed a flat circle in the air, with the memory starting in the centre.
And so everyone watched as everything that the young Harrison Slate had said was replayed in front of their eyes. It was most amusing to see the face of Burke and Griffiths turn to fright. Umbridge looked less frightened and more like one of her toys had been snatched away, she knew she wouldn't be affected by this, she was just losing a supporter and potentially one of her contacts in the auror office. The ones who were in deep shit were Burke and Griffiths, although Griffiths would probably get off the worst of it because Harry's memory had been before the prat had arrived.
The audience watched as Harry woke up for no apparent reason, not able to sense Harry's ward, then move to the door. In the memory he was only in pyjama bottoms. He looked to Tonks and noticed she was checking him out not so subtly. He caught her attention and winked; her eyes widened slightly at being caught but she seemed to get her blush under control in time to not redden.
There were some appreciative murmurs at the illusion he had placed on his bed, Harry was quite proud of that actually. The chamber then seemed to collectively hold its breath as the intruder crept into the room, and some gasped in shock as they watched the killing curse cast for probably the first time in their lives. They watched as the intruder was hit in the side of the head with Harry's pale red stunner, and then the room was filled with the angered muttering as the intruder was unmasked, with scattered laughter at Harry's comments about the man. The memory ended just as Harry was about to take off his pyjama bottoms, much to the disappointment of some of the witches and a few closeted wizards in the crowd.
Amelia Bones look very satisfied as the water sank back into the pensive, smugness radiating from her as she spoke firmly, "well, I believe that sheds a very clear light on the actual events. I do believe the wrong man is being accused here, all in favour of charging Heir Burke with attempted murder of a mage by the use of a killing curse?"
That unpleasantly reminded Harry that the law specified 'mage' because killing a muggle carried a roughly halved sentence.
Even Umbridge raised her hand, but didn't look very pleased about it. It's not like she could refute it.
Muir shot off a canon shot with her wand again to make the crowd shut up, kind of like the mage equivalent of banging a gavel, "very well, Elias Ruben Burke, you are hereby charged of attempted murder of a mage by the use of the killing curse, the sentence of which is 45 years in Azkaban. Aurors, take him away."
Harry grinned widely and waved merrily at Burke as he was taken away shouting and screaming by two aurors, who weren't bothering to be very gentle with him.
Harry stood and received his wand, revelling in the feeling the magic in it gave off as it connected back to him. He hadn't held it for very long before he had been parted from it, but it had served him well in that time. He slipped it back into the holster that had been returned with it and turned to address the board again.
"Judge Muir, may I please address the stand one last time before I depart?"
She looked slightly reluctant but, probably against her better judgement (hehe), she nodded and gestured him to continue.
Harry grinned and turned to the small crowd of mages, some of whom looked angry, some satisfied and some scared for some reason.
"I would like to finish by saying, to those who contributed to this attempted farce of a trial, as a great man once said, 'fuck you all very much," Harry ignored the outrage and primly brushed his coat free from non-existent dust, "and your mother twice'" he finished with a wide smile.
"Yes yes Mr Slate, you may stop now" Amelia admonished sternly over the shouts in the crowd, although Harry thought he saw amusement in her metallic eyes, "before this trial ends, I wish to ask to talk to you afterwards, if you would please wait outside of the chamber for me?" she questioned.
He nodded slowly in response, "yeah, sure, who am I to deny such the honour of a talk witch a witch as well reputed as yourself?"
"You can stop flirting now Slate, you are free to go. This trial is hereby concluded by my word" Muir said irritably. Harry was very proud of himself when he noticed that he actually managed to get the notoriously unshakable woman to blush slightly.
There were mutters and stares as the audience departed the room, Harry skipped out merrily, ignoring people were sending him look as if he was insane.
He met Tonks in the corridor outside of the chamber, sitting down on one of the benches normally used for people waiting to enter. She looked as she did when she was relaxed, heart shaped face, pastel pink hair, brown eyes and a curvy figure. He couldn't really tell because she was sitting, but she looked like she was around 5ft 9.
"Hey," he said, slipping onto the bench beside her, "thanks for saving my ass in there, I'm glad my read on you turned out to be correct."
She turned to him and smiled, "you're welcome Mr Slate, as you said, people like us should probably help each other out, speaking of which, how come I've never heard of you? I've been looking for another metamorph for all of my life."
Harry held his hands up, palms outwards and grinned, "first of all, call me Harrison, Mr Slate sounds like the name of an accountant, second of all, as I'm sure you know, revealing yourself as a metamorph is dangerous. As I'm sure you know, there are many who would try to take one of us and sell us to the highest bidder for our abilities." This was a lie to cover his ass, but the facts themselves weren't false, the value of a metamorph was immense, especially to the prostitution and sex slave rings that would pay top galleon for a mage that could look however they wanted. It was the same for Veela, luckily these types of organisations were few and far between in the wizarding world, but they were still there.
She grimaced, yeah, don't I know it, had to fight off a couple of attempted kidnappings in my day, luckily I'm more than capable of dealing with them."
"I have no doubt of that, you seem like a very capable witch," he had no way of knowing that of course, and she knew that as well, it was blatant flirting. The fact that he did actually did know that she was a formidable mage wasn't something she needed to know.
She smiled at that, a good sign, "still, it's nice to finally meet someone like me, are you a full or partial metamorph?" she asked, eagerness through, I noticed that her eyes had turned the same mirror grey that my new ones were.
"I'm a full metamorph, gender switching and height and all that jazz, I'm assuming you're the same?"
She nodded, "yeah," she tilted her head, "funny isn't it? How we are neither female nor male. Both of us can have the opposite genders appendages and capabilities, I wonder what that makes us?"
"I dunno," Harry said, shrugging, "sex is interesting though, it's been entertaining morphing as a man then having ladies pull down my pants to reveal the wrong parts" he added with a self satisfied smirk.
Tonks laughed shortly, "oh Merlin, I've never thought of doing that, that's fucking genius, the look on their faces when..." she broke off into another fit of laughter, "oh by Hecate that's good." She chuckled for several more seconds before moving on, "do people ever ask you what you really look like? It's just that I get asked that all the time."
Harry sighed in exasperation, "not that many people knew, but many who did asked and it pisses me off to no end every time they ask, I'm a metamorph, what I look like is fluid, I don't have a definite base form or whatever bullshit people come up with, I have what I would probably have looked like if I wasn't a metamorph, and I have what I settle on when I'm relaxed, but my morphing powers are what make me… me. What I really look like is whatever I feel like appearing at the time, and I'm not about to change how I look for anyone" Harry finished his rant and turned to see that Tonks was grinning wildly.
"Exactly!" She crowed in triumph, "that's what I've been trying to tell people for so long, so many dates with both sexes where they go all soppy and want to see what the 'real me' looks like, like it's some kind of fucking spiritual adventure," she scoffed, "I am what I am, my powers make me and I'll be damned if I'll look like what I would have if I wasn't blessed with them."
Harry laughed and clapped loudly, flashing his eyes a deep gold for a second, "hear hear!"
She snorted inelegantly and switched topic, her curiosity about his powers apparently momentarily sated, "talk about failed dates and metamorphing aside for the moment, that was wicked in there by the way, I thought Umbridge was about to burst a blood vessel" she sounded wistful at the notion of the unpleasant woman bleeding out.
Harry nodded, "preferably one of the major ones, by the way, what do I call you? I'm assuming Tonks is your last name..." he was grinning evilly inside, he only had one opportunity to do this and he wasn't about to waste it.
She stiffened slightly, "just Tonks is fine" she said firmly.
Harry grinned, "oh? Embarrassing first name? Your parents didn't name you Margaret or something did they?"
"Worse than that," Tonks said, fists clenched, "but I'm not telling, just call me Tonks."
Held up his hands in mock surrender, "ok Tonks, you can call me Harri if you want, Harrison is a bit of a mouthful."
She cocked her head and smiled at him mischievously, "Harri, like Harry Potter? Don't you get a bit tired of being compared to the Boy-Who-Lived?"
"Bah," he waved his hand dismissively, "that little pipsqueak came after me, he can stand to the side. Plus, I'm far better looking."
Ouch, self burn. Those hurt the most.
She looked at him cautiously, "not a big fan of Harry Potter?" Harry noticed that she didn't refute his last comment. He didn't know whether to be offended or not.
Ah, she was probably wondering if he believed what the papers were saying about him at the moment. He knew he was around halfway through August, so at this point the papers had been calling mini-Harry a murderer and poor old Dumbles senile for almost 2 months now.
Harry shook his head, "nah, feel sorry for the kid. The way people speak about him in this fucking country makes him seem like some sort of god, like he's supposed to just be able to kill Voldemort and save the day," he snorted, "he's what, 15? He's probably only just figured out that the girls in his year have tits for fucks sake."
Tonks cringed at the use of the dreaded name but laughed at the final comment, it wasn't a delicate giggle or a ladylike titter, it was a hearty, boisterous laugh that echoed loudly around the corridor and made the passing dignitaries turn and scowl at them. Harry found that he liked that laugh. He wanted to make her do that more.
"Sorry, sorry," she gasped out after several seconds, trying to get herself back under control and wiping a tear away, "it's just the thought of Harry and girls, he always gets so flustered around them."
Harry looked at her sharply, that was a Hagrid level slip-up, "first name basis, huh? How do you know him so well?"
She only looked panicked for a moment before she got herself under control after a brief pause, Harry was slightly impressed, not many could compose themselves that well after being caught like that.
"Oh, I've met him a few times, and I'm pretty close to the Weasley family, whose son is his best friend, I've picked up a couple things about him," she said, feigning casualness that didn't fool Harry in the slightest, he gave her a sceptical look and she started fiddling with the edge of her robe.
She was a smooth liar, probably auror training. Moody was a very thorough instructor, it wasn't surprising that she was good, from what he had heard Tonks was a formidable auror when she was alive in his time. She would have had to have been if Moody had chosen to personally mentor her.
The young metamorphmagus turned the topic away from things she shouldn't say before Harry could reply, "so you believe what he and Dumbledore said about what happened in the third task? That the Dark Lord is back?" She pierced him with her eyes as she said this, searching for any sign of a lie.
He shrugged "well, seeing as my house got burnt down by some death eaters and I almost got killed by one afterwards, I would say there's a decent possibility that that's not a coincidence" he said dryly, "Voldemort was a dark fucker, and they never found a body when ickle Potter offed him, so it wouldn't really surprise me if he was back."
"The public would disagree with you" she said, wincing slightly at the use of the name again.
Harry laughed and shook his head in exasperation, "the public have a tendency to believe what they read and not what they see."
There was a pause for several seconds before Harry spoke up again, "so, do you believe the kid and the old man? It would be interesting to hear from your perspective as an auror."
She nodded slowly, hair turning a dull brown due to the dark thoughts, "yeah, I think I do, first of all well… it's Albus Dumbledore, right? I mean he's rarely wrong, and on top of that like you said I'm an auror" her hair gained some angry red streaks in the dark brown, "I've seen remnants of the recent raids and murders, they're quiet and don't leave any evidence but I can tell it's their work."
"No evidence apart from lucky ol me" Harry said cheerfully.
Tonks laughed and her hair slowly turned blue, "yeah, I would warn you to be careful but it looks like you can take care of yourself, that illusion for instance was pretty impressive and the concentration on that stunner was impressive."
Harry grinned, "cheers, by the way, any idea what Bones wants to talk to me about?"
She shrugged, "No clue, maybe she wants to thank you for the opportunity to bring Umbridge down a couple notches," she looked thoughtful and fiddled with a lock of bright gold hair that had snaked its way over her shoulder, "maybe she wants to recruit you, she was right impressed with ya memory."
He nudged her with his elbow and smiled, "You want company? From what I can see most of the people there are assholes."
She raised one shoulder and smiled at him over it, eyes a deep blue which along with her now bronze hair made her look like a Ravenclaw mascot, "I wouldn't mind company from such a distinguished gentleman such as yourself" she teased "but there are actually some good people in the office, and some bad. Griffiths is one of the worst, as you found out."
Harry scoffed, "I'm many things Tonksie, but I'm definitely not a gentleman, I'm the guy that breaks into the gentleman's house and nicks their shit."
She laughed again and Harry smiled at the sound, "you know, you remind me of someone I know" she said after she had stopped laughing.
Harry arched an eyebrow, "Oh?"
She nodded, "yeah, same kind of humour and attitude, although recently he has been slightly more subdued" she said, a hint of sadness in her normally bubbly voice.
Ah, she was talking about Sirius. He had never really thought about it but Sirius was Tonks' cousin, and one of her few remaining relatives on her mother's side who wasn't trying to kill her, they would have been close. And he supposed that his current mental state was probably somewhere on the same level as Sirius', he observed detachedly.
"Hmm, sounds like a great guy if he's anything like me, maybe you should introduce us some time, we could be buddies or something." He really wanted to see Sirius again, even if his Godfather wouldn't recognise him in his current state, he missed the man.
Tonks' lips thinned into a line and she looked slightly pained, "maybe, someday" she said heavily.
Yeah, not much chance of someone she only just met meeting her infamous mass murdering cousin any time soon, much to Harry's regret. Maybe he could 'accidentally' come across Pettigrew and drag the rat into the Ministry by the tail and free the man from the charges. That's if he could restrain himself from killing the man on sight.
They fell into a silence that was somehow neither comfortable nor uncomfortable, Tonks looked pensive, probably thinking on Sirius' situation and Harry fished around in his various pockets to see what he still had on him to keep himself occupied. He found, much to his amusement, that apparently the mages who searched his belongings didn't see any reason to remove the baggy of weed he had in his inside pocket of his jacket. Probably thought it was Gillyweed.
Just as he was about to ask some vague and boring question about being an auror to break the silence Tonks turned to him and opened her mouth as if to say something, then snapped it shut as she saw something over his shoulder. Harry looked over his shoulder as well to see the tall figure of the head of the DMLE Madam Bones approaching them from the doors to the chamber.
"Auror Tonks, I need to speak to Mr Slate here, I assume you have somewhere else to be? If I remember correctly, it's still work hours for you and you were not assigned to guard Mr Slate here," Bones said, eyebrow raised with her hands clasped behind her back.
Tonks sighed, "yeah, don't I know it. Azkaban patrol" she grimaced, "not sure how you stood it Harri, that place gets me down in the dumps" she said grimly as she stood up from the bench, Harry stood with her and shrugged.
"The dementors aren't so bad behind their gloomy exterior, you just have to get to know them," he said casually.
Both witches looked at him incredulously for a few seconds before Madam Bones blinked rapidly then shook herself out of her stupor and turned back to Tonks, "no matter how miserable the place is, someone has to do it and you are required to be there, you are dismissed" she said, the order clear in her voice. Harry almost snapped to attention and saluted on instinct.
Tonks nodded in assent, then addressed Harry, "Alright then I've got to be off, I hope we'll meet again?" she asked, she didn't bother to hide her hopefulness as she looked at him with turquoise blue eyes, widening them slightly to give off a puppy dog look.
Harry grinned, "try and stop me, and before I forget, thanks for saving my ass back there. I would probably be rotting in Azkaban by now if you hadn't helped me out."
She smiled happily, bouncing on the balls of her feet with her hands behind her back, her chest thrust out. Harry cursed the restrictive auror robes, "no probs Harri, and by the way," her smile became an amused one, "fuck you all very much, and your mother twice?" She laughed again, and Harry heard Bones let out a breath through her nose in amusement next to him as well, "that was the funniest thing I've head in a long time" she got herself under control, "anyway, later Harri, bye Boss, I'll see ya both later."
"Later Tonks, I'll see you at the scene of next crime I commit."
Tonks snorted, "see you then," then, after nodding to Amelia and saying goodbye with a muttered 'boss' she turned sharply on her heel and marched off like a palace guard, straight arms and legs swinging. She threw one more grin and a cheery wave over her shoulder before disappearing around the end of the red carpeted corridor.
The two stood in the now empty corridor for a few more moments before Harry broke the slightly awkward silence, "I like her, she seems like a… unique person to have around."
Bones hummed in agreement, "good auror too, probably about as good as Alastor Moody was back in his day, it's a shame there aren't more like her in the department" she said ruefully.
"So, Madam Bones, not that I'm complaining or anything, but what did you want to talk to me about?" He asked curiously.
She looked away from where Tonks had gone and looked at him appraisingly, "well first of all, I wanted to personally thank you for getting that memory to me, trials such as the one we were just in happen far too often and it's always nice to get the opportunity to shut one down."
Harry stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket and leaned against the wall, "It was no problem, I'm just lucky that I know enough about the ministry to record the memory before the aurors came, speaking of which, is that cunt Griffiths going to get away with this?"
Amelia frowned at him reproachfully for the cuss but responded anyway, "most likely, the man's a good auror in a fight but apart from that he's just a puppet for Fudge and, by extension therefore, Lucius Malfoy" she grimaced at the name of the blonde death eater, "there was no proof of his actions so he'll probably be let off the hook as he always has before. I can't defy direct orders from the minister."
Harry nodded, unsurprised. That explained the Umbridge speak as well…
"And what else? I mean I know I'm good looking and all, but I doubt a high up witch like you would speak to a miscreant like me without a good reason" he said cheekily.
"Indeed" she said with a small twitch of her lips. She paused for a few moments to collect her thoughts, polishing her monocle with her sleeve idly, "I watched that memory before the trial multiple times, and each time I noted that you acted quickly, efficiently and caught the person trying to end your life without panicking, all very rare traits in a young mage" she said, peering at him with steely eyes.
Harry tilted his head to the side, he wasn't sure where she was going with this.
'Is she coming onto me?'
Harry grinned impishly at the witch, "no offence Madam Bones, I love the compliments, and you're a good looking witch, but right now I'm looking to date more in my own age range" he finished this with a blinding eye twinkle that would have made Albus proud.
She took a few moments to process what he said, blinking rapidly again as if trying to reboot her brain, then scowled at him, a slight red dusting her cheeks, "I can see now why you and Tonks get along, she has said the same thing to me on multiple occasions."
Harry barked a laughed, "great minds think alike Madam Bones."
She sent him a glare that, with her personality and looks, was actually pretty intimidating then continued, "no, I was not in fact propositioning you," she glared at him again, "I was going to say that we could use people like you in the aurors, and that I would sponsor you to go through the training programme to join. We need people like you, people who can make snap decisions and execute said decisions reliably, from what I saw in the memory, you already think like an auror should, your training would most likely be reduced from the standard 3 years."
Harry whistled appreciatively. That was a good offer, he must have really impressed her. It also showed how desperate she was for reliable aurors. She probably knew that a disturbing amount of her aurors were corrupt and when she saw Harrison Slate, a capable, confident young man who won a fight and a trial against a death eater and publicly disparaged the group, she had probably jumped at the chance.
Unfortunately for her, Harry barely had to think before he answered.
"Sorry Madam Bones, but I think if I was put into an office with the people there currently I would kill half of them before the end of the week, and me and rules aren't exactly conducive," he said apologetically. He couldn't help but feel slightly guilty for turning her down, it really was a good opportunity that many would kill for and the woman needed all the help she could get, but on the other hand he was already on the brink of losing it as it was, if he was locked up in an office with assholes like Griffiths he would be on a killing spree within minutes. Not to mention the training which normally took years. He really couldn't be bothered to go through that again.
She looked disappointed but not exactly surprised, "I thought that might be your answer, from what I could see from the trial and your memory, you don't exactly seem the type to do something you don't want to do, especially for people like Griffiths who, unfortunately, isn't alone in his behaviour in the corps" she said, faint amusement in her normally stern tone.
Harry shrugged, "control over my life was something I used to struggle with, I prefer to do what I want" he said darkly.
To Harry's appreciation she didn't pry, but instead nodded stiffly, "if that's your decision, so be it, but just know if you ever change your mind, the option is always there, I have a feeling you would be a valuable asset."
She had no idea.
"Yeah, that's my decision, but if you want a quick and not exactly clean way of clearing out the corrupt in your department feel free to send an owl my way," Harry said with a small smile.
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind" another small mouth twitch, probably the equivalent of a broad smile on the strict witch's face, "very well, goodbye Mr Slate, I wish you good luck in your future endeavours, and do be careful, the people that Mr Burke probably worked for are most likely not pleased with his new situation."
Harry grinned and saluted, tucking his wand back into its holster from where he had been holding it behind his back, "Yes ma'am! See you another time ma'am!" He barked loudly.
And then he spun on his heel.
-oOo-
Amelia watched as the boy turned on his heel. She briefly wondered if he was about to apparate, then just as quickly dismissed it, logic dictating her thoughts once more. There were strong anti apparition wards up, nobody could apparate in or out.
It came as a surprise then when Slate's body seemed to blur for a moment, then he disappeared with a loud CRACK, making her step back and draw her wand in instinct.
Amelia stared at the place where Slate had just been in astonishment. Soon, alarms started blaring around the Ministry, warning the inhabitants that someone had just bypassed the anti apparition wards. Which was something which normally took a large group of wizards to do, something which the slim man had just done by himself.
She blinked rapidly then brought herself out of her daze, now slightly humbled that it appeared he could have just apparated away at any time. She wondered who she had just let out onto the world, and if it would survive him.
Nevertheless, she liked the kid who didn't seem to follow any rules, nobody needed to know about another of his impossibilities, she had heard about him talking with the dementors and the incident with the magic inhibitor cuffs from the two very shaken aurors just after the trial had ended, this seemed par for the course for the young Slate.
Amelia shook her head and holstered her wand again, drawing up her stern visage once more. Nobody had made her lose her composure like that in a long time. She glanced back at the bench, which she now noticed had a piece of paper with a smiley face on it, snorted in amusement, then set off down the hall at a brisk pace.
She would be keeping an eye on Harrison Slate, it would be entertaining at the very least.
AN: I know I know, it was long and drawn out, but it had to be written. Thanks for all of the reviews, favourites and follows.
If you want to envision what Harrison looks like, i'm thinking of a mix of Mylo from Arcane and Newt Scammander from Fantastic Beasts, or, uhm... kind of like that. Pixie-like. Hmm.
I dunno when the next chapter will be out, I follow no rules and have no timetable.
See you next time folks!
Update: Uhm, so literally 10 mins after posting this I tested positive for covid. I guess this means i'll probably be getting the next chapter out sooner, being stuck inside and all.
Don't go out clubbing when theres a global pandemic kids, I think that's what you can take away from this.
Pray for me, after all if I die you're not gonna get another chapter ;)