Trials and Twists

"I understand that the three of you will be called upon to give evidence" said Dumbledore. He was sat behind his desk with the trio and Professors McGonagall and Sprout sat on the other side to discuss the situation with Snape.

"My Aunt says it could be by the end of the week as they've got most of the evidence" Susan said.

"Indeed" Dumbledore said and gathered his thoughts together. "You have my deepest regrets over what happened, and I would like to officially apologise on behalf of Hogwarts for it. I am also obligated to give you restitution for the attack on yourself, Mr Potter, and the slur upon the honour of yourself and your wives. This is not just because of the Hogwarts Charter, but my own personal honour because I should have dealt with Severus Snape long ago. I did not do so because I was blind to what he did for us during the later stages of the war"

"It wasn't your fault, Professor" Harry said kindly. "I really don't want to take your money because its not fair. Do you have to give me money?"

"No, but I have to give you something"

"Excuse me" said Susan and pulled her friends into a huddle. They talked in hushed tones for several minutes before sitting back up again.

"I want permission to leave Hogwarts on weekends for me and Susan and Hannah" Harry said.

"May I ask why?" McGonagall enquired.

"Professors, the Ministry stole my home, the only home where I was ever loved… They took it away from my family and then they turned it into a war memorial and nobody ever bothered to tell me about it. I saw the statue of my parents and I and yet… And yet I can't remember them – only their dying screams! I want it back and I'm going to fix it for me and Hannah and Susan to live for the rest of our lives – I want to know what a family is" and Harry burst into tears and had to be comforted by the girls.

"Mr Potter, I will give you what you want and much more" Dumbledore said. "I will personally make sure that you get your house back. When you are in a better state of mind, you send a letter to the Goblins giving them permission to talk to me – I'm certain we can get the Ministry to give you back your home"

"With compensation" Susan said

"Lots of it" Hannah added.

#

A week later the trio sat behind a desk with Dumbledore and Susan's Aunt in front of them.

"Bring in the Accused!" ordered the Judge. A side door opened and two Aurors dragged a struggling Snape into the Courtroom and put him in a chair which instantly bound him in thick rope. "You are Severus Tobias Snape, former Potions Master of Hogwarts?"

"I am" Snape spat out. "This is a sham of a trial… I demand to be set free!"

"You are in no such position to demand anything" the Judge looked down at Snape before glancing at her papers and at the two opposing sides. "Who speaks for the Accused?"

"I do – Horace Rumpole"

"Madam Bones, do you speak for the defence?"

"I do"

"Professor Dumbledore, may one ask why you are sat next to Madam Bones?" and Dumbledore rose from his seat.

"Although Lord Potter is emancipated, Honoured Judge, he has hired my service so that I may speak for him unless he is needed for direct questioning"

"Very well" said the Judge. "Defence, you may begin"

"Members of the Jury, it is, perhaps, sad to see such a man of Severus Snape's dedication brought down to such times as these. Whilst my client admits he physically attacked Lord Potter, it is my contention that his brief mental incapacity is due to the inhalation of many years of potions fumes"

"Objection!" Madam Bones stood. "Defence is not a trained Healer and so can not say with certainty what affected Mr Snape"

"Overruled, but please keep to the point, Defence"

"Your Honour… Members of the Jury… The reason I spoke just now about the mental illness, if you will call it that, is because it relates to a deep seated hatred of James Potter"

"Objection! Speculation by the Defence" Madam Bones said.

"Overruled"

"My client once had a great love for Lord Potter's mother and was extremely jealous of his father winning his mother's attentions. When, after many years of brewing potions and taking in their fumes, he saw the current Lord Potter with his two wives, he had a kind of mental episode and flashed back – causing his assault. That concludes the opening for the defence"

"Thank you, Mr Rumpole. Madam Bones, you may now set out your argument"

"Thank you, Your Honour" Susan's Aunt rose from her chair. "Your Honour, members of the Jury… It is–"

"Objection!"

"Mr Rumpole, the prosecution has said but a few words – what is your objection?" asked the Judge.

"Madam Bones is the department head for the DMLE – her niece is married to Lord Potter" Rumpole said carefully.

"Whilst this is true, this is not a prosecution involving the Ministry but a private one taken by Lord Potter. As he has only a small education in such matters, he asked that I handle the case for him with Mr Dumbledore taking care of any and all educational matters. I believe you'll find a note of approval from the Minister in our submission, Your Honour" and the Judge went through the papers before her and found there was a note.

"Your objection is overruled. Madam Bones, you may continue"

"Thank you. Mr Snape has always picked on Lord Potter ever since his first lesson with him some months ago – expecting a child with very little knowledge of the magical world to identify substances included in a first year text. He has verbally abused Lord Potter and others on a number of occasions, both tacitly and outright approved of bullying and child endangering – The man is a monstrous person who is petty, small minded and loves power over others…"

#

The trial went on for hours before they broke up for lunch. Dumbledore treated the trio to dine at the Cateagle – a restaurant that served the finest food that money could buy. Harry had never seen so much food in his life outside that of the Welcoming Feast at Hogwarts. They had just entered the Ministry when a young Auror came rushing up to Madam Bones.

"He's dead!" she panted.

"Who is dead?" asked Madam Bones, though she had a feeling she knew already.

"Snape – somebody blew his head apart and then ate his own wand"

"That has to be disgusting… I mean you'd get splinters in your mouth" Harry said. Dumbledore leant down and whispered something to Harry. "Oh…"

"Albus, you'd better take these three to Hogwarts. I will try to contact you with more details as soon as I have them" and Susan's Aunt hurried away.

"Why would somebody want to kill Snape?" asked Harry.

"To stop him from talking" Dumbledore replied. "I'm beginning to suspect that I knew not even half of what Severus was up to…"

"What if it was another Death Eater?" Susan suggested.

"That would make sense, Miss Bones, but I am sure that your Aunt will find out in the fullness of time. Whilst her report will be sent to Mister Potter here, he'll let you read it as you're part of his family"

"I don't keep secrets from my friends" Harry said firmly.

"I think he meant the fact we're technically married" Hannah blushed.

"Oh" Harry frowned. He'd forgotten they were classed as married – he was still getting used to the fact he had friends.

"Well you do seem to have quite the life, Mr Potter… I wish I had been half as exciting when I was your age. Come, we should get back to Hogwarts before the Press get near you"

"Actually, Professor, can we go to the bank first? I've got something I need to talk to the Goblins about" Harry said to Dumbledore. The Headmaster pulled out a pocket watch and looked at it.

"I dare say we can find the time. Do you need me to come in with you or are you alright?"

"I have to talk to them about sorting out my house" Harry told him.

"I see… Well, I shall take you there and then wait for you. I assume the Goblins are fixing up your old home as somewhere for you to live?" and the trio nodded together.

"We know we're not old enough to live there all the time" said Susan, "But we thought we could live there at weekends with some of our House Elves"

"I do believe I know already" Dumbledore replied. "I presume that you plan to furnish the building yourselves?"

"Yeah" Harry's eyes lit up. "I was thinking maybe some wooden tables and chairs in the kitchen for a start…"

#

"… but there is nothing that I can do" the goblin he spoke to said.

"So are you seriously telling me that the Ministry took my family's house and used it as a war memorial without even asking me or giving due payment?"

"That is so"

"Then, in that case, we want to sue the Ministry" Susan said.

"That is a case for Lord Potter to decide" the goblin replied.

"You will help Susan and Hannah as if you were dealing with me, Mister Goblin – they are my family and friends" Harry did his best to look angry.

"I apologise, but I can only deal with it between myself and you"

"Then we need a new Goblin" Susan said, "This one appears to be broken"

"I can not go against the rules of the bank"

"Can you go against the wishes of a customer?" asked Hannah before turning to Harry. "You know, they say that the Dwarves are offering good rates to new customers. Perhaps they'd give you better than most because of how rich and powerful you are. Sure, they might want to muster a legion which was fully armed and filthy, but they sure as heck love to play snakes and ladders"

"Really?"

"Oh yeah… When I was younger, me and Susan used to play with one called Gimli" and Hannah sighed. "He used to hate the elves though… Never figured out why"

"Maybe we could visit him – he sounds cool" Harry shrugged.

#

"Professor?" Harry stood at the top table a few days after with an uneasy look on his face.

"Yes, Mr Potter?"

"I've got something to say to you, but I don't want everybody to know – can I talk to you in private?"

"Can you meet me in an hour in my office?" and Harry nodded and went back to the Hufflepuff table.

"He says I can see him in an hour"

"We'll just stick around in our dorm room – we're… We're a little uncomfortable about going there" Susan replied.

"But it wasn't Dumbledore that did that to you"

"I know, but all the same…"

"Okay – never mind" Harry shrugged. "Say, let's use your bras as slingshots and get the Quidditch team with waterbombs when they come back" and the trio giggled as they made plans to attack the older students. Over the previous months, they had gained a reputation for being loyal only to each other before the House and the school, putting up with incredible amounts of hurt and pain… Some people, mainly the teachers, wondered how on earth Harry was still so grounded.

#

After telling Dumbledore about the fact Hagrid had a dragon egg he was hatching, some way of getting it to a dragon reserve was needed. After that, Madam Bones was called in because Hagrid getting one was against the law but nobody wanted to send the caretaker to jail. In the end, the trio argued that Hagrid must have guessed this dealer he was getting it from was going to just smash it – so he'd got it away from the guy but it had started to hatch. Susan went on to guess that he'd decided to be so secretive about it that people had misunderstood and that Hagrid clearly deserved a medal for saving the life of a valuable creature.

Hannah and Harry wondered when she'd become such a good lawyer…

As it got towards the end of the year, plans were made for summer holidays and all three had decided switch between staying with Hannah's parents and Susan's Aunt as living at the Potter residence was still a problem in the courts. The day of the end of year exams, Dumbledore called the three to his office along with Professor Sprout and explained that he was going to be leaving shortly after the pupils had returned home, that he was sorry for all that they went through when he had been impersonated and was there anything else he could do in his positions and roles to help the trio for their future lives.

"I miss muggle foods" Harry said.

"Oh? Such as…?"

"Coke, burgers, pizza, sweets that don't try to kill you, orange juice, fizzy pop…"

"I see – and these foods are common?" Dumbledore asked.

"Oh yeah – I miss the coke and pizza most of all" Harry said. "We sometimes get the coke sent to us by Owl mail, but the rest of it is tricky to get"

"And this is what you want from me as a parting gift to the school?" Dumbledore's eye twinkled in a way they hadn't for weeks.

"Not just for me, but for everybody – I know some of the other muggle born or raised miss the stuff too" Harry said.

"And we like it too" Hannah and Susan chirped up, trying to battle their desire to run out of the room.

"I see" and Dumbledore sighed and rubbed his nose. "You know something…? I am going to miss being here – I am willing to bet that you three and your friends have a great future ahead"

"We can stop you leaving" Harry said.

"I doubt you could – my mind is already made up"

"We have rope" Harry reached into his pocket. "And if you don't listen to us, then we will put you in the comfy chair"

"NO… NO… ANYTHING BUT THE COMFY CHAIR!" and Dumbledore vaulted over his desk and ran out the office.

"First of all, what is so terrible about a comfortable chair?" asked Sprout. "Second, do you think one of us should have opened the door first?" and she pointed to a Dumbledore shaped hole that had comical bits of smoke drifting from its edges.

# # # # #

The last exams done, all that was needed was to relax a few days before the leaving feast. The trio spent time packing their things in trunks before walking round taking pictures of all the really interesting things for Harry's scrapbook before they left for the holidays. On the final afternoon, Harry wondered how his life had changed so much in the space of a few months – from being a nobody to a saviour of the country, a Lord and married to two really pretty girls.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Susan asked as she looked at him from the doorway to the common room.

"Just thinking about my life over the last few months" Harry replied, "And how much of it is yet to come"

"What do you mean?"

"What is going to happen to us when we're all grown up – will we get jobs and everything?" and he shrugged. "I don't want to deal with this adult stuff for years yet but people send me invitations to big events and stuff – I'm bored with it all"

"That is what happens when you are the Head of your family, Harry" Susan sat down and pulled him into a hug. "Besides, you can decide which ones you do go to, so just tell them no and that you are competing in the International Bed Jumping Championships"

"Is there such a thing?"

"Well no… But everything has to start somewhere"

"Hmm" Harry shrugged and sighed to himself. "Do you think next will be the same?"

"Nah…" Hannah said as she took a running leap from the doorway and belly flopped onto their giant bed, "It'll be even better" and the other two looked at her with rueful looks on their faces. Harry was about to say something when he stiffened and turned to stare through the wall. "You alright?" asked Hannah as she sat up on the bed.

"Something is wrong" he muttered, "I think Hermione is in trouble" and he stood, picked up his wand and headed for the common room and the corridor beyond. The two girls looked at each other, grabbed their wands and hurried to catch up with Harry. His sense of danger to friends and family had served him well with the Fake-Dumbledore trying to do things to the girls, but most of the time it only bothered him if one of them or his friends was upset or feeling depressed. This time, though, the sixth sense was giving off danger signals and the three of them rushed up to the Gryffindor Tower.

"You seem to be in the wrong place, young Hufflepuffs" the Fat Lady said.

"Um, yeah, we know – any chance you can let us in to see our friend Hermione?" asked Susan.

"I can only let you in in the company of a Gryffindor member" the portrait replied.

"Please?" Harry begged. To their surprise, the painting swung open and let them scramble through into the Gryffindor common room.

"Bloody stupid password" the Fat Lady was heard to mutter. They didn't stay long as somebody said they had seen Hermione go to the third floor corridor with a boy with red hair. The trio quickly discussed their options and decided to go off in pursuit and find her before anything happened to her – deciding to tell any teacher they saw on the way. They ran along corridors, through passages and up and down stairs until they got to the forbidden corridor that they had all been warned about. Looking at it, they could see that it was ajar, so they pushed it open and found a gigantic dog asleep next to a trap door that had been pushed open.

"We better go after them" Hannah said, "If we find a teacher, something bad might happen to Hermione"

"Okay, but how do we get down?" asked Harry.

"Well I don't see a ladder or stairs" Susan glanced at the hole.

"Two of us will levitate the first down, then we'll levitate the second person down together and then they can get me down" Harry reasoned.

"I'm going to go with the option that involves us just jumping down and hoping for the best" Hannah remarked.

"Huh? Why?" asked the other two.

"Because the really big dog just woke up" and they all looked to see the three headed dog loom over them.

"It has three heads… How the heck does it have three heads?" Harry protested.

"I don't care right now – make like Alice and down the hole" Susan said and the trio jumped down before the trap door was smashed into matchsticks.

"So, where do we go now?" Harry asked looking around as they climbed off a pile of strange cucumber like things.

"There's a door over there" Susan pointed, "So I guess they went that way… I wonder who has taken Hermione because the Weasley twins are in the hospital wing"

"What about that brother of theirs?"

"The Prefect?"

"No… The younger one" Harry said as he checked the passage ahead.

"He's going to be expelled if he has" Hannah pointed out.

"Assuming he lives" Harry muttered.

"You're not going to kill him, are you?" questioned Susan.

"No, but what if there is more danger here then giant dogs and oversized cucumbers?" Harry shrugged. "Look, we better keep going and hope there is another way out of here… At least we have to go in the same direction as those two" and the girls agreed so, with wands pointing in front of them, they slowly walked forward. Over the space of an hour they managed to work their way past a troll and simply walked through a room filled with flying keys – ending up in a giant chess board.

"Well, there is a door on the other side" pointed Hannah, "So I guess we have to play our way over"

"But we might not have enough time for that" Harry protested.

"I've got this" Susan said and stepped forward. "Listen up, chess pieces… This is an official rescue party. If you do not move, we will be forced to destroy you in accordance with Ministry Regulation 123A" and the chess pieces looked at each other before quickly moving aside. As they walked through the door on the other side, Harry glanced at Susan.

"What did you threaten them with?"

"The regulation…?"

"Yeah"

"Oh, they thought I was going to kill them for making bad cheese"

"You bluffed?"

"Yep"

"Mrs Potter, you are one heck of a scary girl"

"Thank you" Susan grinned and then jumped as a table appeared out of nowhere and flames shot up all around them. Hannah summed it up for all of them.

"Okay… This is different"

# # # # #

Caring very much for her niece, Madam Bones had long ago given Susan a necklace that was charmed to inform a crystal ball in her office of Susan was in any danger. Normally, it gave off the occasional muted glow before dying down as whatever danger there was passed – usually in DADA, but this time ball was flashing at an alarming rate. Madam Bones was just walking into her office when she saw it flashing violently and she stumbled and gasped – Susan was in terrible danger.

"Shaklebolt, get your arse here!" she yelled and the Auror came bursting in.

"Ah" was all he said.

"Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts" Madam Bones called out as she tossed powder into the floo.

"Ah, Amelia… Come to wish me a happy retirement?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, Susan's monitoring charms are going crazy"

"I see" Dumbledore frowned. "I'll just be a moment" and he placed a hand on a small piece of parchment and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was a little shaken and confused. "Madam Bones, your niece is indeed in terrible danger – she and her friends have gone after something that has already been destroyed"

"Which is?"

"A Philosopher's Stone" Dumbledore replied. "A very old friend of mine asked me to look after it for him until he could find a way to destroy it. For safety, it was placed under the best defences that we could muster at the bottom of a shaft…" he jerked in fear and grabbed his wand in a grip so strong it was in danger of being broken. "Come, we must go to the third floor"

# # # # #

"So we go forwards and find Hermione by drinking this potion, but there is only enough for one" Harry scratched his chin in thought.

"One at a time" Susan said.

"Huh?"

"If Hermione and this Weasley prat went ahead of us, then they had to have used the same bottle – therefore, its self refilling"

"But which one is it?"

"That one" Hannah pointed to a small vial tucked behind some larger ones.

"How do you know?" asked Harry.

"Because it has lipstick smudge marks on it"

"Good point" Susan said, "But how about we just put out the fire with water?"

"Or we could do that" Hannah sighed.

"It was a very good plan" Harry patted her on the shoulder as he pointed his wand at the flames. The trio was just about to shoot jets of water when there was an extremely loud scream that was cut off almost as quickly as it started – at the same time the flames stopped moving and faded away. "I don't like the sound of that" and the three Hufflepuffs ran on to find a huge chamber with a mirror in the middle, Hermione laying on the floor in a pool of blood and a red headed man standing and looking at them with a surprised look.

"Okaaaaaaaaaaay" whistled Hannah, "That wasn't who I was expecting"

A/N:

Yep, I'm back... I've been away for a very long time from writing anything – mainly because of the very rude and disgusting comments sent to me in PMs about fanfics that I wrote over a decade ago when I was still learning how to do a fanfiction. I decided to take an exceptionally long time away, but I am back and ready to get on with it

Two references to previous chapters are here (and one is a Monty Python gag) so I hope you like the call back. The idea of a monitoring charm on Susan is something akin to a baby monitor that I figured Madam Bones would have on her only living relative.

In the next chapter, I plan to have a major character die, Harry go to court to get his family property back from the Ministry before we take a major jump towards the fourth year.

Regards

Pixel