Disclaimer- I make no claim to owning anything related to the world of Harry Potter. It is the sole property of J.K. Rowling. I only own the plot.
The Summer After Sirius
Chapter 5: The Trial
As the doors were flung open, Harry could see hundreds of wizards and witches all looking at him. He looked straight ahead as he couldn't bear to look into their accusing gaze. He quickly wished he hadn't though because there in front of him was the chained chair that was going to tie him up, just like he had seen in Dumbledore's pensive two years ago.
He was about to pass out from the Dementors proximity to him when he finally reached the chair and was unceremoniously thrown into it.
As soon as he was put in the chair the chains glowed gold suddenly and snaked their way up and over his arms, binding him solidly in place.
"Bloody hell Harry!" he heard Ron exclaim loudly.
Looking up once more, he could see all of his friends in the front row; Remus looking terrified, Hermione sitting with tears coming down her face and all of the Weasley's (especially Ron) with a shocked and saddened expression on their faces. Even Fred and George, who could make a joke at almost anything, were sitting with solemn expressions on their faces. Everyone was looking upset, all except for Ginny, who strangely had a look of bewilderment on her face.
Looking up and to his right, he also saw Dumbledore who as always had a look of polite curiosity on his face, sitting among the rest of the Wizengamot a few seats away from Fudge.
"The trial for one, Harry James Potter, resident of number four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, will now begin, this fifteenth of August." Said a voice to his right that he recognized as Fudge's.
"Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister of Magic; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and Court Scribe, Percy Ignatius Weasley."
"Witness for the defense, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Remus John Lupin, Hermione Jane Granger, Ronald Bilius Weasley and Ginevra Molly Weasley. Fudge Finished with a sneer.
At the news that they would all be testifying for him his heart felt like a giant weight had been lifted off of it.
"Witness for the Prosecution, Vernon Dursley." Fudge then added with a smirk.
'I knew it was too good to last. He'll defiantly have nothing good to say about me.' Thought Harry as an Auror was bringing his Uncle to sit in an empty chair on the other side of the room that also had gold chains that were keeping him in place.
"The charges against Mr. Potter are as follows: That he did, knowingly and deliberately kill his cousin in cold blood with the Adava Kedavra curse which if used on another human being, constitutes a lifetime sentence in Azkaban prison under paragraph D of the Decree for using unforgivable curses, 1747."
"Harry James Potter, you have been brought here to stand trial for the death of your cousin Dudley Dursley. How do you plead?"
"Not guilty." He said, hopping it didn't sound too shaky.
"Very well then" Fudge said looking very annoyed. "I would like to address Mr. Vernon Dursley at this moment.
Uncle Vernon suddenly looked up and appeared quite nervous to be inside a room with so many witch's and wizards.
"Yes?" he croaked out.
"I would like to ask how Harry behaves when he is at home?"
"Harry?" he asked looking quite flustered.
"Yes. Harry. Your nephew who lives with you." Growled Fudge.
"Oh right, him… well um… mostly he just stays in his err… room and keeps out of the way. That is unless he is doing his err…chores of course. Then he is usually um… doing them."
Vernon was defiantly out of his element and could hardly keep his train of thought straight. Things seemed to be looking up.
Seeing that his star witness wasn't all he was cracked up to be, Fudge decided to let him go.
"Very well, your witness Dumbledore."
Looking positively delighted, as if he had planned it all out himself, he declined the chance to question Uncle Vernon. Which only seemed to make Fudge even redder in the face.
Now the only testimony that Fudge had was of the muggles who claimed to have had seen him kill Dudley, however; all of their memories were wiped before the trial, leaving Fudge with no other witnesses present.
At this, Dumbledore rose from his seat and looked to where the Weasley's were sitting.
"Mr. Ronald Weasley, please stand up."
Ron did as requested and looked like he was doing better since Uncle Vernon had spoken but still looked quite nervous.
"How long have you known Mr. Potter and what is your relationship to him?"
Glancing in Harry's direction quickly, he seemed to get a surge of strength and started his testimony.
"I've known him ever since our first year at Hogwarts and he is my best friend. We've been through many adventures together and I would trust him with my life."
Looking happy with the response, Dumbledore continued.
"Have you ever known Mr. Potter to be a danger to anyone?"
"No sir."
"Has Mr. Potter ever, as long as you've known him, try to bring attention to himself in any way like Minister Fudge has stated in the past?"
No sir. In fact, he is probably one of the most private people I know and I've been proud to be his friend."
"Thank you Mr. Weasley, that's all. Your witness Minister"
Fudge appeared to be thinking of how to proceed, knowing that he could never get his best friend to go against him. Finally he spoke, looking quite unhappy.
"No questions at this time."
Appearing quite relieved to have his turn over, he plopped back down in his seat with a sigh.
Dumbledore didn't waste any time in selecting the next speaker.
"Next, I would like to have Miss Granger give testimony."
She looked slightly less nervous then Ron had but she looked a little green in the face, like she was going to be sick at any moment.
Would you care to explain your relationship to Mr. Potter?"
"I've known him since our first year together and have been friends ever since. I have never in my life seen him ever go out of his way to hurt anybody."
"Thank you Miss Granger."
When Hermione sat down, Harry chanced a look in Fudge's direction and even in all his years with the Dursleys, could never remember someone's face as red as Fudge's was now. He even had a vein slightly protruding out right next to his temple.
"Next, I would like Remus Lupin to speak." Said Dumbledore suddenly, interrupting his thoughts.
"Have you ever seen Harry say anything that would suggest that he was capable of killing his relatives?"
"No. He has always regarded his relatives with a certain distance but has never said anything to suggest that he would kill them. But even if he had, I wouldn't blame him with the way that they've treated him all his life."
"Thank you Mr. Lupin." Said Dumbledore. "The next person to testify will be miss Ginerva Weasley."
Out of all the people that had testified so far, she was the only one that didn't look nervous. In fact, she looked almost too calm. It was almost what Dudley looked like the last time he had seen him.
"Miss Weasley, would you tell the Wizengamot what your relationship to Harry is and what kind of person he is?"
"Of course." She said with a coolness that was quite unnerving.
"I've known him since before the start of my first year at Hogwarts and ever since I've known him, from what I could tell, he has always been quite unbalanced."
Hearing this, he whipped his head in her direction so fast his neck cracked. As he did that there was a large collective gasp in the courtroom at her answer mostly from the Weasleys. What was she saying? Wasn't she the one who had been so worried about him that she wouldn't leave his side?
"In fact" she continued, "he has always had quite a mean streak inside of him. Just ask Draco Malfoy about all the times that he's come out worse in fights with Potter."
"With Potter." Those words hurt more than all the other stuff combined. How could she be so cruel? Where was all of this coming from? He had never been anything but nice to her.
Due to his own disbelief, he barely even noticed Ron's mouth hanging open in shock along with the rest of the Weasleys. Hermione had even been taken aback by her words as her lower lip was trembling slightly and she wore a look of disbelief on her face.
Looking over to Fudge he saw someone who looked like Christmas had come early. Percy even had a smug look on his face, as he clearly wasn't expecting his sister to come to their cause and go against him.
Dumbledore, sensing that it was time to wrap things up, dismissed Ginny and started back toward the Wizengamot benches.
Fudge then stood up with a triumphant looking face.
"Now miss Weasley, has the defendant ever threatened anyone?"
Looking calm as ever, she answered without hesitation. "Yes."
Fudge was now positavly jumping for joy at hearing this.
"Who was it he threatened?"
"He, along with Alastor Moody, Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks all were making threats to the Dursleys to make sure Harry was treated well over the summer break."
She couldn't have said anything more damning if she tried.
"Very well miss Weasley, that will be all." Fudge said latterly shaking with glee over this latest turn of events.
It didn't look good for the boy who lived, because the Wizengamot was talking among themselves and giving accusing looks in Harry's direction. Seeing this, Fudge kept going.
"If there is nothing else, than we will have to put it to the Wizengamot for a vote. All in favor of sentencing Harry Potter to a lifetime in Azakaban…"
He never finished his sentence because suddenly Dumbledore stood up and walked out in front of the Wizengamot. Quietly he started to address the court.
"There is one more person with whom I would like to question through the use of Veritaserum so that there will be no doubt, Walden MacNair.
Quite suddenly there was an uproar from Fudge.
"Walden MacNair, is currently hiding among the Death Eaters since his breakout of Azkaban over a month ago."
"That is not entirely true Minister." Dumbledore started.
"On the day of Dudley Dursley's death, he was found at the scene of the crime and has been at Hogwarts ever since."
"Sevreus, Minerva, please bring him in."
The doors to the courtroom burst open and there stood MacNair flanked by both Sevreus Snape and Minerva McGonagall. He was bound at the wrists with a pair of shackles but looked well taken care of.
"This is completely improper Dumbledore. I wont stand for it."
"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but it is completely legal. If you like, sometime after the trial we might have a chance to sit down and review wizarding law." Dumbledore said with a small smile on his lips.
Fuming red once again, Fudge reluctantly took his seat once more.
Since they needed another chair for McNair Professor McGonagall pulled out her wand and gave it a little flick like she had done last year in Dumbledore's office and transfigured a hard looking, straight-backed chair out of thin air.
"Now Sevreus, please administer the Veritaserum and we will finish up this little get together."
Snape bent over the man who was trying to get away but was being held by some invisible force. After administering the clear liquid Snape backed away, but not before shooting an extremely nasty look in Harry's direction.
'Good thing Fudge didn't ask Snape about me. He sure would have given him the goods.' He thought to himself.
After MacNair's face went slack and his gaze became unfocused, Dumbledore started his questioning.
"Can you hear me?" He asked quietly.
"Yes." He softly answered.
"If you would be so kind, could you tell us about what happened on the date of July 20th?"
"I was summoned by the Dark Lord, along with Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange. We were ordered to go and find Harry Potter's cousin and put him under the Imperius curse. Lucius was the one to put the curse on the boy and I ordered him to go fetch Harry Potter so that we could kill him away from all the protections of his Aunts house."
"I see. Who was the one to put the killing curse on Dudley Dursley?"
"Lucius ordered it and Bellatrix carried it out."
"And what of the muggles that claimed to have seen Harry do it?"
"I put the Imperius curse on them to make them think they had seen Potter perform the curse."
"So Harry is completely innocent of the crimes that he is accused of?"
"Yes."
Turning to face Fudge, Dumbledore spoke again.
"I believe that that clears everything up."
Fudge looked as if he might shoot fire out of his nose at any second.
"I don't see where this proves anything. It is possible for a really powerful wizard to overcome Veritaserum. Lest we forget about Snape's past, wasn't he a Death Eater at one time? Should we truly believe that he is capable of producing Veritaserum?"
"As I have said to this court before, Sevreus Snape was once a Death Eater but changed sides at great risk to himself. He is also a noted Potions Master and is quite capable of brewing Veritaserum. But if you are so eager to test this lets put the matter at hand to vote."
"All in favor of clearing the accused?" Dumbledore said loudly making his voice rumble off the walls.
Looking up Harry saw that a good majority of the Wizengamot raised their hands, about three quarters in all.
"And against?" Dumbledore boomed again.
Only a scattered few raised their hands, with some doing it reluctantly while shooting glances in Fudge's direction.
Fudge looked livid.
"I can't believe you people. This boy is guilty." Shrieked Fudge."
All at once, as soon as the innocent verdict came down, the chains that were holding Harry in the seat suddenly went slack and fell to his side.
"Well if you won't do what has to be done then I'll do it myself." Yelled Fudge as he pointed to the two Dementors at the door and ordered them to perform the kiss on Harry.
They were on him in an instant, tipping his head back and lowering their hoods revealing they're rotted looking faces.
The one nearest him was just about to clamp its mouth on his when he heard someone bellow "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
The two Dementors were suddenly pushed away by what looked like to Harry as a flock of bumblebees. Leaning over, he could see Dumbledore standing a few feet away using his wand to keep the Dementors at bay.
Fudge looked as if he might explode any second as Dumbledore was chasing away his Dementors.
All of a sudden, Fudge unexpectedly jumped in between him and Dumbledore and simultaneously raised his wand at Harry.
"This ends now Potter. You will pay for killing your cousin and ruining my name." He spat at him as he said two words that Harry thought he would never come out of the Minister of Magic's mouth.
"AVEDRA KEDRAVA!"
A jet of green light exploded out of Fudge's wand and went hurtling toward Harry.
He didn't have time to even register it. He only knew that in the next moment he would be dead. He almost welcomed it fact. It was obvious that Ginny didn't love him as he thought she did. It was also his fault that so many had already died, his parents, Cedric, Sirius and finally Dudley. Yes, he did welcome death, because there was nothing but suffering in his life and he wanted it to end. He had been punished since a cold day in October of 1981, and he had had enough.
These were all thoughts that ran through his head while the beam of green light blazed it's way to him.
Suddenly, just before it struck him dead a chair flew out of nowhere and slammed into the beam exploding into splinters as the curse connected with it knocking him painfully to the floor.
Momentarily dazed, he wasn't quite sure where he was. Was he dead? Was this what death felt like? He sincerely hopped not because he was sure in a lot of pain at the moment. This train of thought continued until a familiar face stepped in front of him.
"Remus?" He asked with barely a whisper.
Grinning like it he had just opened a present on his birthday, Remus called out loudly.
"It's ok everyone, he's just taken a nasty fall."
Looking around to his right, he saw Dumbledore conversing with Madame Bones, but giving a small smile in his direction at Remus's news. Meanwhile, two Aurors were walking Fudge out of the courtroom in shackles. Looking to his left, he saw Ron gaping at him as if he'd seen a ghost with Hermione leaning on his shoulder wiping away tears from her face.
Ginny on the other hand looked utterly bewildered, like she didn't even know where she was. Not that he cared of course, especially after what she had said about him.
Professor McGonagall came forward suddenly holding an old spinach can.
"Here Potter, take this. It's a Portkey that will take you back to Hogwarts so that Madame Pomfrey can get you looked at properly."
"Thanks" was all he could muster as he took hold of the can and felt the familiar tug behind his naval and was whisked away from the courtroom.
He landed with a thud into a crumpled heap, because his legs had given out from lack of nourishment.
Slowly looking around to his right, he could make out the familiar looking white beds of the Hogwarts Hospital wing gleaming in the sunlight that was pouring into the room.
He also saw a very peculiar sight because Madame Pomfrey was looking past him with a look of terror on her face.
Dreading what he thought he must look like to her, he turned his gaze away and received the shock of his life.
A/N I'd like to take the time now to thank everyone who has been reading and reviewing this story, it truly means a lot to me.
All the middle names are from different Q&A sessions between J. K. Rowling and fans that I've read so they should be accurate. As for Vernon, Dudley and MacNair, I didn't want to write this and have it contradicted later on in either book 6 or 7 so I just left them without middle names.
Also, sorry about the wait for this because I know you've been dieing to find out what happens to poor Harry.
And please don't forget that I love your suggestions and comments.