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The room held its collective breath as the members of the Wizengamot resumed their seats. Harry was thankful that he was standing close to the double doors. He could properly see everything that was going on inside the courtroom. He looked around at the people behind and around him. Everyone was stretching to try and see out. Hermione and Ginny were standing to his left. They were holding each others hands and staring out at Fudge. Ron was to his right; his face was mingled with relief, worry, and spite. As much as he had protested against testifying, it seemed to have given him a great sense of satisfaction.
"Dolores Jane Umbridge, will you stand and face the Wizengamot." An older looking Auror said from the corner of the room.
Her toad like face was pale and shining with sweat. Harry was glad to see that she was scared.
Fudge held a piece of parchment and looked down at Umbridge. "Dolores Jane Umbridge, you have been placed on trial for accusations of using cruel and unusual punishment against students during your employ at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Also you have been tried for the attempted use of an Unforgivable Curse against one said student. You have pleaded not guilty against the accusations, have you not?"
Umbridge did not speak, but simply nodded and continued to stare at Fudge.
"Very well. After reviewing the testimonies given by students and staff of Hogwarts School, the Wizengamot has reached a verdict. On the charges of cruel and unusual punishment against minor witches and wizards..."
Harry felt his stomach clench. Surely they would convict her...surely.
"...we find you guilty."
A deafening roar went up around Harry. The people in the room behind him were jumping up and down and shouting. The people sitting on the stone benches in the courtroom were clapping and jeering at Umbridge. For the third time that day, Aurors had to use their wands to bring about order.
Fudge continued when complete silence had fallen again. "As for the charge of attempting to use an Unforgivable Curse against a student, we find you guilty."
The room seemed to shake with the noise that was being made. Hermione and Ginny were still clasping hands, jumping up and down. Ron turned to Harry and gave him a smile and then jabbed his thumb towards Umbridge. Harry turned to look at her. She was standing, gripping the table edge as if her legs were about to give way. She had gone very green and looked as if she were about to be sick. Harry laughed when he realized that her toad-like appearance was now complete.
It took nearly ten minutes to quiet the room. No one seemed to be able to contain themselves, so even after the din had died down small whispers still carried through the room.
Fudge cleared his throat and continued. "While the accusations of cruel and unusual punishment are severe, it is the accusation of attempting an Unforgivable on a student that has brought the Wizengamot to a unanimous decision regarding an adequate sentence. The members of the Wizengamot sentence Dolores Jane Umbridge to ten years in Azkaban prison."
The almighty uproar that followed was something that reminded Harry of his first year at Hogwarts, when Gryffindor had managed to win the House Cup. The Aurors clearly knew there was no point in trying to silence the crowd. The only thing they could do was to wait until the noise had subsided a bit.
Umbridge had fallen back into her chair, horrified. She was staring at Fudge as if he were the foulest creature to walk the earth.
Fudge continued again, only needing to shout a bit to make himself heard. "You will immediately be sent to Azkaban Island. Your case will be reviewed five years from this day. If you are shown to be a model prisoner, you will be granted parole. Normally any person using an Unforgivable would be sentenced to life in Azkaban, but seeing as you never actually managed to complete the curse; the Wizengamot cannot hold you to the same sentencing. I declare Dolores Jane Umbridge to now be in Azkaban custody. Aurors, if you will remove her from the courtroom."
Umbridge was yelling something indistinguishable as the Aurors came to take her into custody. One, Harry recognized as Kingsley Shacklebolt, was taking a firm grip on her right arm. He gave Harry the tiniest of winks as he and the others led Umbridge past the double doors. Umbridge struggled against the Aurors holding her when she spotted Harry.
"Potter, I'll get you for this one day, I promise. One day I will come after you when you least expect it!" She screamed at him, she looked as if she had gone quite mad.
"Yeah, well take a number. There are a few other people who want that chance before you!" Harry roared back as she was dragged through another set of doors.
Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were shouting with happiness as Harry turned around.
"Well mate, looks like the old bat is getting what she deserves!" Ron called over his shoulder. He had been accosted by Neville.
Harry felt a knot form in his stomach. "No she didn't. At least she got a trial; that was more than they ever gave Sirius. And she doesn't have to deal with the Dementors." He hadn't really meant to say any of that out loud.
Harry felt someone take his arm and pull him around. Before he realized it Ginny was hugging him and breathing in his ear. "Please Harry; don't be sad, not today. She's going to Azkaban where she belongs." And with a quick smile she pulled away from him and began talking to Hermione.
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Diagon Alley was packed as usual. Harry noticed a few Aurors roaming the street, watching for any signs of suspicious behavior. The trip to Gringott's wasn't pleasant. Harry noticed with a pang how much fuller his vault was now. Sirius's fortune had been divided amongst the different recipient's vaults. The Weasley's vault seemed to rival Harry's now.
The first stop for the group was Madame Malkins. Ron and Ginny had never looked as happy at the thought of buying their school uniforms. Neither had ever received new robes before.
After their new uniforms had been packaged, they headed to Quality Quidditch Supplies. Harry laughed as Ginny took her mother's hand and dragged her into the store.
Ginny had been made a prefect and Mrs. Weasley had simply been over the moon about it. Ginny had seemed quite disgusted about the whole fact, until her mother had asked what she wanted as reward for being made prefect. After glancing between Ron and Harry, she announced that she wanted a brand new broom. After a questioning look from her mother, Ginny told them that she was going to try out for a chaser position on the house team. Harry and the others laughed as Mrs. Weasley shook her head and sighed, "Not another one."
Harry stood inside the shop, watching Mrs. Weasley and Ginny argue over the brooms.
"Mum! A Cleansweep is fine for Ron; keepers don't have to tear up and down the field! A chaser needs something faster!" She was shaking a new Nimbus at her mother.
Mrs. Weasley finally put the Cleansweep she was holding down. "Fine, but if you break your neck on this thing, you'd better not come home crying about it!" She snatched the Nimbus from her daughter's grasp and took it to the counter to pay for it.
It was in Flourish and Blott's that Harry finally started enjoying himself for the first time in ages. Hermione had taken up a seat, reading a book about the history of house-elves; when Ron snuck up behind her and jerked the book from her hands. He held her at bay as she flung her arm up to hit him.
"Oi, Harry! Looks like we're going to have to put up with spew even longer than we thought!"
Hermione finally managed to shake off Ron and snatch her book back. "It's not spew, Ron! How many times do I have to tell you that it is the Society for..."
Ron attempted to take the book back from her, but received it to the side of his head for his efforts. He ran away from her before she had a chance to hit him again. "That will teach you to take a book away from me Ronald Weasley!"
Harry laughed as Hermione settled back into her chair. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ron slipping around a shelf, obviously wanting to attempt revenge on Hermione.
Harry scanned the shelves in the "Potions Making" section of the bookshop, looking for his new Potions textbook. He finally found the last copy tucked away in the corner. He marked it off his list and headed to the front to pay. He rounded a corner, when he heard Ginny's voice.
"Oh bother!"
He heard several small thunks and then one loud thump. He hurried around to where her voice had come from. He couldn't help but laugh as she stood in a pile of books.
"Well, don't just stand there laughing at me! Help me!"
He laid his own books aside and helped her replace the fallen books. "What book were you trying to get down?" The shelf the books had fallen from was almost higher than Harry could reach, and he knew that Ginny, being shorter than him, would only to have managed to get her fingertips over the edge.
"That great black one up there. It's on my list; I'm not sure for which class yet."
Harry managed to get the book in question. He glanced at his own booklist and did not see the title. "I don't have it on my list." He was just about to say something else, when he heard Hermione shouting at Ron. "I'd better go and keep those two separated."
When Harry found his two best friends, Ron had taken refuge under a table while Hermione fervently searched for him. "Ron, if I ever get my hands on you, I swear you will rue the day you were born!"
Ron refused to come out of his hiding spot until Hermione had been calmed down by Harry and she set off to another section of the store. Mrs. Weasley had thankfully not seen any of this scene, she had left them all to go over and check on Fred and George's shop.
"Temper of a banshee, that one! All I did was take that bloody book from her again."
The four stood in line to pay for their books (with Harry and Ginny keeping Hermione and Ron a safe distance apart) when a sneering voice made them all turn.
"Well, well, well. Since when have the Weasleys' been able to afford new school things. Oh, yes I forgot. Potter's dear sweet godfather tried to make them respectable. How does it feel to be spending a dead man's money, Weasley?"
Harry made a lunge at Malfoy, but it was Ginny who got there first. "Well, Draco why don't you tell us how it feels to have the world know just how low your family really is?"
Malfoy's pale face turned red and he raised his hand as if to slap her. Ginny was quicker than him. She pointed her wand directly at his face.
"Try it, Malfoy. I'll even use the Bat-Bogey on you again. Liked that last time, didn't you? I'd be glad to face expulsion just to wipe that ugly smirk off your face!" She smiled smugly as his face turned back pale and he lowered his hand.
"You'd better watch your girlfriend, Potter. She's going to let her mouth get the better of her one day."
Harry snorted. "Don't you have somewhere to be Malfoy? I doubt that anyone wants you around anymore though. I suppose the Malfoy name doesn't get as much respect as it used to."
Malfoy looked ready to fight, but when Ron and Hermione closed in around Harry and Ginny, he backed down. "You just wait. You won't be so smug when..." He cut off when his mother grabbed him by the shoulder. He sneered at them and followed her out of the store.
"You'd think he wouldn't be such a cocky little git anymore, would you?" Hermione asked as she laid her books on the counter.
Everyone stared at her in amazement.
"Since when do you call anyone a git?" Ron asked in sheer amazement.
Hermione smiled as she took the bag from the cashier and walked past Ron. "Well I've been calling you that for years, just not to your face." With a grin she pushed open the door and walked outside, leaving Ron stunned. Harry and Ginny howled with laughter as they pulled Ron outside.
It wasn't until they entered the apothecary, that they stopped laughing at Ron's incredulous look.
Harry caught Ginny watching him as he examined the dried Billywig stings he needed for Potions.
When he tilted his head questioningly at her, she came over to him. "You should do that more often."
"What?"
"Laugh, I miss hearing you laugh. It's been a long time." Then without another word, she went back to join Ron.
After they had bought all the supplies they needed, they headed back to the Leaky Cauldron to use the fireplace to floo back to Grimmauld Place. Harry felt that the fire that had ignited in him at the sight of Fudge's apology had grown over the course of the day. He felt happy, even though the memory of Sirius nagged at him from the back corner of his mind. He was with his friends, Umbridge was paying for her time at Hogwarts, and the death-eaters were locked away in Azkaban. And Ginny was right, he did need to laugh more, it made him feel better. For this one moment, he felt happy.
Harry heard people gasp, and turned around to see what had happened. A large group of Aurors had just apparated into the middle of the street. Each had their wand out as if prepared for a duel. Mrs. Weasley took out her own wand and looked around.
"Mum, what's going on? Why are all those Aurors here?" Ron's voiced shook as he spoke.
Before Mrs. Weasley could answer, Tonks came running up to them, looking worried.
"Molly, Arthur said you would be here. You've got to get these kids back...well back home."
"Why Tonks, what's happened?" Hermione sounded scared.
"When Kingsley and the others arrived at the island with Umbridge, they were attacked. Malfoy and the other death-eaters have escaped."
