YOU DON"T HAVE TO READ THE AN'S IF YOU DON'T WANT TO! I just try to explain some things that people ask me about, but it's usually not really central to the story… just an answer or a clarification. Not mandatory at all…This is why I make them italicized, so you can tell…

Yes, Harry was over rationalizing regarding the idea that it was better that he went to Azkaban. I know it seemed a little weird, and strangely enough, I kind of intended it that way. I think that there is canonical evidence that Harry tends to rationalize that things are either his fault or that his suffering is not on the same level as everyone else. Either he thinks that he 'deserves' it, or in some cases, it just happens to him because of who he is, and therefore, he's more accepting of it than he should be. Because of this, I don't think he has a very good idea of his own worth. What does he have to compare to? Really? The Dursleys never told him he was worth anything, and didn't care when he was hurt. The wizarding world basically expected him to take care of the most dangerous man in the world, and the majority of them didn't really seem to care if he got hurt or killed in the process. That's canon, and then in my story he was thrown in Azkaban for something he didn't do. What there engenders feelings of value? I do intend to have someone set him straight, but I just haven't figured out who or when it will be yet. He may be sane, out of prison, and returning to happiness, but he still has some issues, and I wanted to show that this was one of them. Kudos, I didn't think anyone would pick up on it quite yet.

As to how many chapters this will end up being… um… maybe 30-35. Except it always turns out to be more than I think, so who knows… I just do what the plot monkeys force me to do…

Also, as to relationships right now, I said in the beginning that it wasn't likely that there would be one with Harry and so far I haven't got a realistic place to do one. So, it's quite likely there won't be one at all, and even if there is one worked in somewhere, it will not be a focus at all.

OK, well, this AN got totally out of control. So, if you've stuck around this long, don't anymore.

DISCLAIMER IN CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 23

Testimony

Ten minutes later, a cloaked Harry walked a half step ahead of both Sirius and Remus, who, although they weren't really exactly sure how or why, were accompanying Harry to the Ministry. Sirius especially was confused but hopeful that Harry's new tolerant attitude towards them was permanent. So far, Harry hadn't yelled at him, thrown anything at him, or even shot him one of those blank, empty stares that made Sirius want to slit his own throat with remorse and guilt. Of course, it wasn't yet ten o'clock, so he tried not to get his hopes up too high. At least Harry hadn't ordered them to stay away from him yet. Sirius could only pray that this would last.

Harry, oblivious to the amount of thought that Sirius was putting into his behavior, contented himself with quietly fuming behind the hood of his cloak. The Ministry, and particularly Fudge, was trying to do it again. While Harry wouldn't necessarily call either Snape of Malfoy the epitome of innocence, they certainly had done their part in the war against Voldemort and if anything, they deserved to be recognized and rewarded for that, not punished.

Harry was far from stupid, he knew exactly what was going on. Voldemort had been defeated, and to Fudge's absolute dismay, there was not even one little part of his defeat that he could lay claim to. In an election year, he needed to look as if he was a huge contributing factor to the safety of the wizarding world, regardless of the fact that he wasn't really a factor at all. Stuck, he did what any crooked politician in need of votes would do. If there wasn't anything that he could make stirring speeches about how necessary he was to the ministry, he made something up. In this instance, it had been quite easy for Fudge to use his power to legally attack two men who had long been thought to be death eaters, and blame them for everything that they couldn't directly pin on someone else. The younger death eaters, desperate for a lighter sentence, were quite willing to testify to whatever Fudge or his minions told them to. And Fudge, happy at the large amount of press attention this trial was garnering him, got the credit for taking care of two of the 'most dangerous death eaters'.

What infuriated Harry the most was that Fudge dared to use Harry's name in an effort to draw support to the illegal and totally unethical trial that was going to place two more people in Azkaban when they were innocent of their charges. That was if they weren't straight out killed. All in the name of justice, of course. Fudge probably didn't even know the meaning of the word. Or worse, he just didn't care. That was a big mistake on his part, and Harry fully intended to educate him regarding the stupidity of it.

Thanks to Remus' knowledge of the ministry, they had taken a roundabout way of reaching the judiciary wing, and had so managed to avoid the reporters and gathered crowd that awaited the forthcoming verdict. As they neared the courtroom where the trial was being held, a squad of five aurors stopped them. The leader stepped forward. "Halt! By the order of the minister of magic, this is a closed trial. No reporters or public allowed."

Harry tried to remain calm, knowing that these people couldn't really help their orders. "I'm not a reporter or really just the public. I have evidence for this case."

The auror looked bored. "Sorry, no one is allowed in."

Harry's voice took on an annoyed tinge. "I can prove their innocence."

Then the auror in charge made a mistake that he'd be remembering with horror for a long, long time. He got right up in the Harry Potter's face, although technically he didn't know who it was, and raised his voice. "Listen here, I don't care if you are Merlin himself, you are not going into that courtroom, witness or not." Harry, angered at this, threw back his hood. The auror gaped at the hair, the eyes and the scar and then stepped back. "Right, Mr. Potter. The door is that way."

Harry didn't even spare him a second look. He swept by, heading for the door. However, he hadn't taken four steps when a scuffle broke out behind him. Harry turned. Remus was being manhandled by a couple of aurors. Sirius, furious at this, was trying to fight his way to his friend. Harry heaved a huge sigh, catching the attention of everyone. "What is the problem?"

"Sir, this is a well known werewolf. I can't let a dangerous creature into the courtroom. It might attack the minister." The self-righteous tone that the auror had adopted grated on Harry's nerves. The 'dangerous creature' in question looked both resigned and faintly hurt at this statement and being called an 'it'. Sirius just looked furious.

Not quite as furious as his godson, though. Racism was something that Harry just couldn't tolerate. Not only was it stupid, harmful to society in general and innocent individuals in particular, but it served absolutely no point. Harry stalked forward and lifted the once again highly mistaken auror by a combination of a hand on his collar and a healthy bit of wandless magic. It must have looked very impressive, since the four other aurors began backing towards the nearest exit. Harry glared and growled. "Let me make this perfectly clear. I, and my companions, BOTH of them, are going in there. If you try to stop ANY of us, I will PERSONALLY show you a lot more dangerous creature than you ever signed on for. Got it?" The auror's eyes rolled back and he went limp. Harry dropped him. "Guess so. Git."

Then, followed by Remus, who wasn't able to hide his smirk as he stepped over the unconscious auror, and Sirius, who was now trying to figure out the exact meaning of the word companion and what Harry may or may not have meant by it, Harry headed into the courtroom.

Meanwhile, Severus Snape was having, with the possible exception of the day that he'd gotten the mark from the Dark Lord's wand, the worst day of his life. Fudge was totally in control of the court, the judge, and the jury. This trial was about as fair and balanced as the likelihood of a Hufflepuff deciding to attack a dragon. Snape had woken up this morning with a sinking feeling, and now, chained to a chair beside a defiant and nervous looking Draco, he knew that it was over. The sinking feeling had sunk. They were going to prison. Snape wasn't sure if he wanted the death penalty or not. If it had been the old dementor infested Azkaban that they were heading to, he would have hoped, even prayed for the killing curse, but the dementors were gone now. Snape didn't even let that bit of good news cheer him up.

Currently the courtroom was in the middle of hearing yet another junior death eater shorten his own sentence by listing the atrocities that one or the other of the accused had supposedly done. Not even a fraction of them were true, and those few that were had been unavoidable if they had wanted to keep their status and continue to give useful information back to the order. Fudge had denied both Snape's original request that the witnesses be questioned under veritaserum, and his final desperate demand that the accused themselves be allowed to testify under whatever truth potion the court deemed necessary.

Fudge wasn't letting any order members even in the courtroom, much less testify, even though every one of them could have testified to both his and Draco's spy work. The minister had actually had the nerve to deny Albus Dumbledore the right to defend him. Snape shook his head slightly in disbelief at the thought. The situation was hopeless, but he'd be damned if he was going to give Fudge the satisfaction of seeing him squirm. Snape shut his eyes and purposely looked bored. It annoyed Fudge, and frankly, with only prison or death to look forward to, Snape wanted to take this last opportunity to annoy as many people as possible.

Suddenly, the door to the courtroom banged open. Snape instinctively opened his eyes at the sound and then ceased to look bored at all. Every eye in the courtroom was drawn to the figures entering. Well, technically, once their eyes hit the first to enter, the other two were largely ignored. Harry Potter himself, obviously ignoring the fact that Fudge had announced his death two weeks before, strode into the room and down the center aisle, cloak flowing around his shoulders as if it was alive. His eyes were reminiscent of the faint hint of bright green that sometimes occurs in the hottest of fires, and he looked every bit the powerful wizard he had become. The courtroom erupted into whispers and movement.

Snape had never been so glad to see a Potter in his entire life. Beside him, Draco slumped slightly in relief. Surely Potter wouldn't allow this horrible excuse for a trial continue. Fudge, however, was stunned. Stunned and quite intimidated, not that he'd ever admit that to anyone. However, one does not get to be minister of magic without learning to roll with the punches, so he actually recovered quite quickly. He found his voice just as Harry neared the judges' bench that he sat behind. "Why, Mr. Pot…"

Harry was quite aware of the effect he was having on the room, and, quite frankly, was enjoying it immensely. Fame did occasionally have good sides. Although he had relieved a little of his anger on the misfortunate auror outside, he still had plenty of venom in his voice as he interrupted Fudge coldly. "What is this?"

Fudge sputtered for a moment. "Well… er… yes… Well, Mr. Potter… er, can I call you Harry?"

Harry lifted his chin slightly. "Absolutely not." The disdain in his voice was glaringly evident.

This flustered Fudge even more. "Umm, well, perhaps I could speak to you in just a few moments, Mr. Potter, but we are in the middle of a rather important trial right now. If you will excuse me for a moment, we can finish it up. Perhaps you'd like to wait in my office?" Fudge sounded hopeful that Harry would take him up on the offer and leave.

He was doomed to disappointment. Harry folded his arms. "No. Answer my question." At Fudge's blank look, Harry sighed and repeated himself. "What is all this?" He waved a hand at the two prisoners.

Fudge smiled weakly. "Well, you see, these are two of the most prominent death eaters. Members of the you-know-who's inner circle. Their dark magic allowed them to survive while the others didn't and the Ministry of Magic has a responsibility to the people to see that no further damage is done by them. I will do my duty." By the end of this speech, Fudge could hear the agreeing murmurs of the majority of the watchers, and had regained a little of his courage. "So, Mr. Potter, you are welcome to stay and watch, but we really must be moving on now."

Snape was watching all this with great interest, wondering what would happen next. To his surprise, Harry actually relaxed a little and adopted an almost apologetic tone. "Oh, of course, actually, in that case, I'd like to testify. I believe that I can shed some light on the dark activities of the accused, since I certainly knew of them." Snape would have been slightly concerned by this about face, but he had a prime view of Harry's face. For a split second it brought back old memories of James Potter right before you walked under a bucket of something smelly. For once, Snape didn't mind seeing that look on someone's face at all.

Fudge, looking somewhat gratified by Harry's rather unexpected compliance, didn't catch the scheming look that flitted across Harry's face. But both Sirius and Remus did, and both of the marauders found seats in the back of the courtroom to watch the fun unfold. Sirius couldn't wipe the smirk off of his face. He had been right. Watching Harry force Fudge to dig his own political grave was going to be fun. Fudge conferred with an aide, and Remus' hearing could pick up a muttered word here and there. "...old school enemies… hated them both…" Then Fudge looked up and sent a sickeningly sweet smile at the still waiting Harry. "Of course, Mr. Potter. Please, take the stand."

Meanwhile, outside in the press room, assembled members of the Order stood talking and waiting for the verdict, including most of the Weasley family, a tired looking Dumbledore, and Alastor Moody. Moody was in the process of garnering some very strange looks from his colleagues, since he hadn't stopped staring through the courtroom wall for more than five minutes. He didn't seem to be able to stop laughing long enough to relay what was causing this uncharacteristic burst of hilarity, and to be quite frank, no one was quite sure if they wanted to know what would cause the grizzled old man to laugh like that.

Back inside, Harry sat calmly in the witness box and repeated the truth oath as it was read to him. The female interrogator stepped forward. Harry instantly disliked her. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but something about her instantly set his teeth on edge. "Mr. Potter, you have been present as several death eater gatherings, correct? And at these gatherings you saw both of the accused committing grievous crimes, correct? Perhaps murder?"

Harry's eyes narrowed. "Are you going to let me testify or are you planning on doing it yourself?"

"Hem hem. Just answer the question, Mr. Potter." The woman gave Harry an intimidating glare. That is, it would have been intimidating for nearly anyone else, but Harry didn't even blink. He was far beyond the point of a simple stare being able to cause him any concern.

Harry shot her a small, sarcastic grin, which caused her to blink in surprise. "Very well. Yes, I was present at several of the meetings, and I did not recognize either Malfoy or Snape at any of them." Fudge's jaw dropped. The annoying interrogator gaped. Harry continued, donning a fake helpful look. "You are aware that all the death eaters wore masks? It would be impossible to identify a death eater by face." Feeling that people of such low IQ probably needed further explanation, he continued, speaking as if he were talking to a very young child. "That's why they wore the masks. Even voice recognition would be impossible, since the masks muffled them." Harry ignored the interrogator's efforts to interrupt and continued. "If fact, the only real way to tell if a person is a death eater is to check for the dark mark." Harry twitched his finger slightly, not even bothering to pull his wand, and both Snape and Malfoy jumped slightly as their sleeves rose to above the elbow, revealing conspicuously bare arms. "Why, look at that. Fudge, are you sure you have the right people?"

Fudge stood from his seat and leaned over the podium, fists clenched on the edge. His face was red as he growled. "Potter, what are you on about?"

Harry finally unleashed what Sirius had mentally named the death glare and aimed it at Fudge, causing the minister to swallow convulsively. "I will tell you exactly what I'm on about. This trial is an absolute farce, Fudge, and you know it. You have denied these people their rights to a defender, witnesses to their favor, and the publicity of an open trial. That in and of itself is a crime. Not to mention, in this case, it is easily provable that they are innocent. As the one person that would actually know, I can guarantee that both Voldemort…" At this, most of the room, including Fudge, flinched. "…and all of his loyal inner circle are dead. Both Snape and Malfoy are obviously alive, and have no mark, so it follows that they are neither inner circle or death eaters at all. Now, quit this idiotic vote mongering and release them."

Fudge exploded, his pride cut too deeply not to try to retaliate. Unfortunately, since Harry had kept his temper and outlined the truth plainly, he didn't have a whole lot to work with. Which was exactly the way that Harry had intended it. This was too important an issue to let slip by because he desperately wanted to call Fudge a few nasty names. There might be time for that later, but not right now. So Harry listened calmly to Fudge's outburst. "YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" Harry merely raised an eyebrow. Snape bit back a chuckle, noticing as he scanned the room that nearly everyone present was on the edge of their seats, watching the verbal battle with wide eyes. Fudge continued furiously. "I'm the Minster of Magic, and if I say so, I'll send them both to Azkaban."

Harry stood and calmly folded his arms, exuding menace and power. "I'm Harry Potter, and if you do, I'll break them out." There was no tinge of humor in his voice, only certainty.

In the back of the room, Sirius snorted loudly at the look on Fudge's face, and then quickly dodged Remus' elbow. Fudge looked quite humorous, to be sure. His face was red, his eyes were nearly popping out of his head, and on top of it all, his bowler hat had slid off of his head, leaving his carefully combed over hair looking frazzled. He sputtered angrily. "That's illegal! That's a threat! Auror, arrest this man!"

The solitary auror guard who had been standing by the door took one look at Harry and shook her head hurriedly. "Not a chance. I just retired."

Remus muttered under his breath. "Smart girl."

Meanwhile, Fudge was nearly apoplectic with rage, but then his canny political sense kicked in. This situation was hopeless. He had lost the support of the audience, and even his own supporters seemed to have changed alliances. He just couldn't compete with Harry Potter in popularity. Not right now anyway. He decided to cut his losses. "My, my. Mr. Potter, you have saved us from making a dreadful mistake. Auror, release the two prisoners, they are free to go."

Harry remained standing while the chains were removed from the two former death eaters. "Good. I'm quite sure you will be making a statement regarding their innocence." It was not a question.

Fudge grimaced at this, but had very little choice but to nod in agreement. It didn't help his pride that both of the formerly accused were sending him distinctly Slytherin smirks. Harry walked over to talk to the smirkers. Snape spoke up as he approached. "Honestly Potter, did you have to wait until the last day?" He sounded grumpy, but a blind man could sense the relief in his voice.

Harry looked slightly embarrassed. "Uh, sorry about that. It's been an… interesting couple of weeks. Although…" Harry smirked wickedly. "…I might have left it for the last day just out of spite."

Malfoy sneered. "I wouldn't put it past you. Dammit, Potter, I can't keep owing you these debts. It's causing generations of Malfoys to spin in their graves."

Harry waved it off. "Forget this one. I needed an excuse to set Fudge straight. Not to mention, the Potter's probably wouldn't be all that happy about me bailing out a Malfoy either."

The courtroom was clearing slowly and the babble of reporters could be heard from outside the double doors. Remus and Sirius were watching from just inside the courtroom, and Fudge could be heard making a statement. Harry, perhaps stupidly, trusted Fudge to make his own announcements, and, catching Remus' eye, he jerked his head towards another exit. The last thing that he wanted right now was to get mobbed by reporters. Remus snagged Sirius and they headed to meet Harry.

Harry was actually somewhat proud of himself. He hadn't lost his temper, yelled at Fudge, called him any names or hurt him. He had a feeling that his mother would be proud. He'd defused a bad situation without violence. Fudge would have a hard time rebounding from this fiasco, so even the goal of making sure that he didn't get reelected was already well on its way to being accomplished. Harry figured that a nice letter or two to the Daily Prophet regarding his non-supportive stance on Fudge's reelection would finish the annoying minister off nicely. So, Harry was just moving to leave when he heard faintly something that caused all of his former anger to start bubbling back up to the top.

He stopped suddenly, causing Sirius to ram into him and start apologizing profusely, and Malfoy and Snape to chuckle wickedly at the sight. Remus just rolled his eyes and asked if everyone was OK. Unfortunately, all this babble made it very difficult to hear, so Harry turned and hissed angrily. "Shut up." Perhaps it was the anger in his voice, or maybe it was the reawakened gleam in his eyes, but dead silence fell immediately.

From outside the main door, Fudge could be heard speaking over the noise of reporters and questions. "…heard correctly, yes. Harry Potter, our hero, is alive and has brought forward new evidence in this trial causing the conclusive decision of innocence. He has also thrown his full support behind my campaign for reelect…"

Draco Malfoy, as the one person present that hadn't seen Harry furious yet, nearly fell out of the way as Harry started stalking towards the press conference. He gulped slightly and turned to Snape, who was also looking a little stunned at the look on Harry's face and the anger visible in every line of his body. "What's he going to do?"

Remus spoke, but didn't answer the question. "Oh, he shouldn't have said that. Not until Harry had left anyway."

Sirius was rubbing his hands together gleefully. He'd been somewhat disappointed by the lack of fireworks inside the courtroom. "This is going to be fun."

And for once, both Gryffindors and Slytherins found themselves in complete agreement, as they followed along in Harry's wake. Fudge was going to get his, and they were going to enjoy it immensely.

COMING SOON: Harry crashes the press conference and tells Fudge, the ministry and the wizarding world exactly what he thinks.

Urk, it got long again. See what I mean about never coming out the amount of chapters I plan? According to my original rough outline, I should be on about chapter 13. So much for that! And this stuff was only supposed to take one chapter, but I started actually filling out the chapter and it grew. So, now it's going to be two. Next one coming up soon, sorry about the wait for all you Fudge bashers, trust me when I say that Sirius will get to see his fireworks. - krtshadow