"Mr Potter, while the entire wizarding world is grateful to you for ending this war," Percy grated irritably, his patience with The Boy Who Lived's interference in his courtroom grown beyond thin. "Your presence in this case is neither requested nor required."

Harry give a sneer worthy of the man in the witness box, "My presence may not have been requested, but as long as you wish to discover the truth about Fudge's death, the reasons for it and the identity of his killer, you need me."

The Minister of Justice snorted derisively, "And what could you possibly know about this matter? As I recall, you were somewhere in France on Black Friday, not that anyone knew exactly where. You couldn't even make it back in time for his funeral, or are you telling me that you were so far removed from the rest of the wizarding world that you did not hear of it?" Percy was no longer bothering to veil his contempt for the boy in front of him. He had learned well under Fudge's tutelage.

Harry sighed with regret, "I'm not going to get into an argument with you over comparative ethics now, Percy. As for how I know what I do, that you will discover shortly. You will also find that I know when, I know who and I know why. And it is the why that is most important in this case. It is my sincere hope that you will consider the killer's motive most seriously when deciding their fate."

"First, I shall say this. Address me by my title, sir, or not at all. Secondly, your relationship with the accused is well established, Mr Potter. How do we know you aren't going to fabricate some fantastic story to get her off the hook? It wouldn't be the first time, after all." Percy stared at him in accusation.

From under hooded green eyes, Harry stared back, emulating the serpents with which he sometime conversed. "Who do you think tipped you off?"

Gasps of astonishment were heard from both the Wizengamot and the gallery, reminding Harry that they were not alone and that some things should remain secret. He raised a gloved hand and muttered something under his breath. A semi transparent bubble sprang forth and expanded rapidly. Soon, only those necessary in Harry's mind were within the Sphere's limits and all outsiders could only see vague shadows, allowing them to guess at the events within.

The Minister for Justice shot to his feet in protest. "Mr Potter! How dare you! By what right do you interfere so?!"

Unlike Percy, Harry remained calm. "By the right given me by the State Secrets Act of 1944. 'Any action undertaken on behalf of the wizarding world, that if knowledge of it were made public would harm the wizarding world, shall be regarded as Most Secret, and shall only be revealed under certain conditions.' This trial meets those conditions."

"Harry? What are you doing?" Hermione asked worriedly, speaking to her old friend for the first time since the end of the war.

Harry looked at her sadly, "What I must. I'm sorry, Hermione." She looked at him in disbelief as he looked around the room to ensure that only those necessary for justice to be served were within the Sphere. His gaze came to rest on the Counsel for the Defense. Terry Boot was looking about him as if in a daze. For the first time in weeks, it seemed as if one of his clients would actually go free and with little work from him at that! Admittedly most of his clients didn't deserve to go free, but he did his best anyway. And just as victory seemed assured, The Boy Who Lived showed up and ruined everything.

Terry suddenly felt that he knew how You Know Who must have felt on that Last Day.

"I'm sorry Terry, but you don't need to be here." said Harry, calmly.

"Er, right. But what about her defense?" He nodded his head toward his client.

"Don't worry, Terry. I'll handle it."

What choice did he have? Terry shrugged and began to gather up his papers. "Alright. Your Honour, I hereby dismiss myself from this case for reasons of state security. Hermione? Best of Luck. And should you find yourself available after this, come see me. You always were the best researcher I ever knew."

And with that he left, passing through the Sphere with no difficulty at all. Out of curiosity, he laid his hand against the outside. "Hmph. Hard as a rock."

Within the Sphere, the Minister for Justice was once again making demands of the interloper. "And what of him?" He pointed to Severus. "Surely he no longer needs to be here?"

"To the contrary. Professor Snape is involved in this on almost every level."

"Are you claiming that it was he who killed Cornelius Fudge?"

Harry shook his head. "No. Severus Snape was exactly where he said he was, as far as I know. However, his bedmate was not."

"Then it would seem that he is needed here. To answer charges of perjury!"

Eyebrow raised, Harry simply said, "Perhaps."

The inside of the Sphere was silent for a moment, before the Minister for Justice made another demand. "Well? What are you waiting for? The sooner you give your testimony, the sooner we can send her where she belongs."

Hermione was seething. "Harry. Don't do this."

Harry again looked at her sadly, "I'm sorry, Hermione. I have no choice. I gave my oath"

"And what of your oaths of friendship? Do they mean nothing to you?" She looked at him in horror and grief. "Did they ever?"

Harry closed his eyes in pain. "It is for the sake of that friendship that I do this."

Hermione shook her head in disbelief. "I don't know you anymore. I don't think I ever did."

Harry just turned away and began his testimony. "The great philosopher, Sun Tzu, wrote that there are five kinds of spy. The local spy, the inside spy, the reverse spy, the dead spy, and the living spy. Professor Snape has been in his career, all five, at one point or another. But he was not the only one. We had several of all five types and without them, Voldemort would have won. We called them Spectres. However, there was one type of spy that Sun Tzu did not mention. This sixth type were few in number, and known only to myself and their individual handlers. We called them 'folds. Lethifolds. They were our assassins."

Harry held up his hand to forestall the inevitable questions and protests. "Before you ask, no. I will not reveal who they are, nor how many, nor shall I relate to your their assignments. Those are things you do not need to know, things you shall not know." He paused and glared until it became clear to the Wizengamot that he would stand by his statement. "On July 3rd of '98, a young woman who had decided to stay off the front lines, was proposed to by her longtime boyfriend. That evening as she was breaking the good news to her future mother-in-law, she lost her new fiancé and his father in an apparent Death Eater attack. A week later, after it became clear to her that the Ministry had little interest in finding their killers, she came to me, begging me to track them down. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't."

"Or wouldn't!" Hermione spat venomously from the dock.

Harry gritted his teeth and continued. "As much as I wanted to hunt down my best friend's killers and take my revenge on them, the war took precedence. But Hermione had so much anger that I feared she would take to the war personally..I've seen it hundreds of times, and it always ends in death. I couldn't bear that to happen to her, so I made her a deal. I would use all my resources to find the bastards and bring them to justice. In return, she would remain off the front lines. Instead, she would redirect her anger and skills to where they were most needed. She became a 'fold."

"You son of a bitch!" This time, the commentary came from the rigidly still man in the witness box, his knuckles white as he gripped the front of the stand.

Harry looked askance at him. "Don't act so surprised, Severus. After all, you were her handler."

Severus just scowled more darkly.

"Over the next few months, she and I met at least once a week, discussing anything but the war, and our respective roles in it. The first time, we had trouble talking about anything at all. We drank our tea in silence, and then I opened a Chocolate Frog. It sprang into her hand and we both remembered how much Ron loved them. After that it was easy to talk. And then every time we met she would always eat a Chocolate Frog after tea and we would talk. When I returned from the continent in November, we met again, but she didn't touch the chocolate. She never did again. It was then that I began to suspect that she blamed Fudge for Ron's death and had taken her revenge."

An unusually pale Percy asked, "Was she right?"

"At the time I didn't know. I once asked her, just after Christmas, if she had discovered herself who had killed Ron, and she said no. But she lied to me…she lied to everyone."

"I'll ask again. Was Minister Fudge responsible for the deaths of Ron and Arthur Weasley?"

"Yes. During the fatal interrogation of Peter Pettigrew, he confessed witnessing a meeting between the Minister and Bellatrix Lestrange. In exchange for entry into the ministry where they would be vulnerable, Bellatrix would kill not only Ron, who had killed her husband in a duel the during the Graduation Battle, but Arthur as well."

"Why?" Percy asked, seemingly incapable of imagining why anyone would want to see his father dead.

"Because Arthur was a threat to him, politically. And due to the war, Fudge couldn't use his accustomed methods to remove him. They would only make a political martyr out of him. So Fudge chose to make him into a different sort of martyr."

With the truth of his father and brother's deaths finally revealed to him, the Minister for Justice became momentarily incapable of speech, so one of his colleagues directed a question to the Boy Who Lived. "And how did Miss Granger discover this fact?"

"On October 30th, we discovered the daytime hideaway of Bellatrix Lestrange. Bellatrix had proven herself to be one of Voldemort's most fanatical and dangerous followers. Hermione was instructed to. . .eliminate the threat. I can only assume that Bellatrix gave up that information in an attempt to save her own life, or at least buy herself time to escape." Harry smile grimly at the fate of the woman who had killed his godfather. "Instead she was returned to Voldemort. In several small boxes."

"Good God!" Several of the Wizengamot looked ill.

The Minister for Justice had finally recovered his composure. "Thank you, Mr Potter. Your presence was required here today. It would seem that the accused is indeed guilty. However, in light of the circumstances, it will be necessary for the Wizengamot to take a short recess to discuss sentence. We will resume here in one hour."

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A/N So? How many have I surprised? Review and tell me! And don't miss the Sentencing which should be up in a couple of days!