Chapter 5: The Trials
As he slept, the Council of Arch-mages were busy making dress robes for each person in the Weasley's household and Remus. When Harry woke up, he was surprised to find that it was morning, and that there was something soft and warm snuggling close to him on the couch. Remembering the day and night before, Harry smiled down at Ginny, who was still asleep. Not wanting to wake her, Harry decided to find out how everything was going with the Council.
Good Morning! How is everyone doing on this perfect day? He asked.
*You better be glad that we are happy enough for you finding you soul mate to overlook this Potter* growled Circe. *We spent all night making YOUR dress robes for you, since SOMEONE forgot to do them.*
Oops?
*OOPS?!?! THAT'S ALL YOU CAN SAY?!?!* exclaimed Artemis, who was usually quite calm.
Sorry! OK? I'm sorry, but after all that happened yesterday and all Ginny and I talked about, it slipped my mind.
*Yes, we gathered that, instead you had a certain redhed who you slept with all night with on your mind didn't you?* teased Godric.
Grandfather! I… well… yeah… Harry admitted. But you really can't blame me can you? I mean… Rowena is a redhead, and I remember all those stories Salazar and Helga told me about how you forgot-
*Yes well we can forgive you this little slip* broke in Godric quickly. *Just don't let it happen again*
If you say so returned an extremely amused Harry. How do you want me to get the robes here? Should I travel to Avalon and get them, or will you send them here?
*We've already sent them, they're all on the kitchen table, nicely packaged, and labelled.* answered Morgana. *By the way Harry, I'm guessing that your entire line fell for redheads ever since Merlin and I married a couple thousand years ago. I am also a redhead if you remember.*
Yeah, I remember. I was wondering about that… You and Merlin are married, but everyone remembers you as an evil witch, why is that?
*Well, my boy, that's because my lovely wife and I had a few extremely terrible squabbles over the years, she has quite a temper* replied Merlin.
Ahh… Right… Do me a favour Old Man? Make sure that I never get on Ginny's bad side? He asked.
*That's probably wise Harry, Oh by the way she looks to be waking up*
Harry of course was perfectly aware that Ginny was waking up since she was shifting slightly, and then cuddling closer to him. After a few seconds of this, she suddenly stiffened then looked up at Harry to see him smiling down at her. She smiled as well, reached up and pulled Harry's head down for a good morning kiss.
"Sleep well?" she asked softly, so as not to awaken anyone else.
"Yeah," Harry answered, then "Best sleep I've had in months."
"Talking about that Harry, you need to talk to someone about your nightmares," Ginny informed him worriedly.
Harry sighed, and then informed her, "I am going to tell Dumbledore soon, I promise." When he said this, Ginny nodded, and leaned in for another kiss.
After a while of becoming better acquainted with each other, Harry and Ginny got up off the couch, surprised that they were not sore at all. They both went to the kitchen to find Mrs. Weasley making breakfast for the family. When she saw the young couple, she smile and said, "I was going to wake you two up, but you were so peaceful that I decided to just let you sleep. Harry dear, How did you get all these robes, even Arthur and I have a set?"
Harry grinned mischievously and cryptically answered, "I have my ways."
After everyone had gotten up, and the robes were handed out (Remus had come in as everyone was sitting down for breakfast) everyone ate breakfast, then went to their rooms to put on their new Dress robes, Remus went to Ron's room with Harry and Ron to get ready.
When they opened the packages everyone's eyes widened in surprise, and their jaws dropped. Everyone that is, but Harry. Harry was used to the opulent display before him, having lived in Avalon for what seemed to have been a month, even though it had been a lot longer for Harry, and had seen the types of clothing that the Council wore many times.
Ron's dress robes were dark blue velvet, the colour of his eyes, and had gold embroidery of Gryffindor lions at the collar and cuffs of the sleeves. Included was a wizard's hat with Golden lions stitched around the base, and new knee length leather boots.
Remus' dress robes were midnight black with silver stitching around the collar and cuffs. Included were new knee length leather boots, and a walking cane made of ebony with a sliver top. Also included for was a silver necklaces of a Phoenix in flight. He seemed more surprised at this than anything else.
Harry's dress robes were about what he had come to expect from the Council. They were a dark green, almost black with golden embroidery of Lions and Phoenixes alternating around the collar and cuffs of the sleeves. In addition, Harry's dress robes were a different style than everyone else's, having pants, a tunic, an under robe and an over robe as well. He also owned a new pair of knee length boots, as well as a necklace of a phoenix of pure gold with glowing red rubies for eyes. Also included in his package was a golden signet ring with the seal of the Gryffindor/Potter family on it.
Once all of them were dressed, they all took stock of themselves before going downstairs. Overall they all looked rather dashing. Remus looked dignified instead of scary in their midnight and silver dress robes, and Ron looked extremely handsome in his blue and gold dress robes. Harry, to everyone else, seemed to have an aura of strength and surety while in his new robes. The pants, tunic and under robe were seen under his over robe which hung open, since it had no clasp. Behind him, was a large, Celtic type hood, which took the place of a wizard's hat. Everyone noticed the ring on his right hand, but did not comment on it, even though they wanted to know what the seal was.
When they went downstairs they were all in for even more surprises. Bill Charlie were wearing robes the same colour and style as Ron's, except Charlie had dragons on his, and Bill, for whatever reason, had what seemed to be fire on his. Both Bill and Charlie wore gleaming gold chains of a Phoenix in flight as well, although Harry noticed, not as finely made as his own. The twin's robes were a darker shade of blue with golden WWWs stitched around their robes. Instead of having chains, each had a golden signet ring on his finger that said WWW and under it Weasley Wizard Wheezes on it. Mr. Weasley looked extremely dignified in his blue and gold robes with chequered golden stitches at the collar and the cuffs. Like Remus, he also carried a walking cane, except his was made of mahogany and had a golden top on it. Around his neck was a golden phoenix in flight on a chain like the others. Mrs. Weasley was wearing dark red dress robes made of silk. Her robes were skin tight on the torso and flared out at the hips, to fall gracefully to her feet. The arms of her robes were also skin tight to the elbow and then flared out as well to a length that made them slightly above the ground when Mrs. Weasley's arms were at he sides. Around her neck was a delicate necklace with an even more delicate phoenix pendant on it. Around her arms was a golden shawl that seemed to be made out of liquid instead of any type of fabric. Hermione was wearing peacock blue robes of the same style without the shawl. She also wore a delicate golden necklace with sapphires on it. In her ears were sapphire earrings as well, and her hair fell in soft ringlets around her, instead of her normal bushy hair. However, Harry only noticed all of this in passing, because his eyes were on Ginny.
Ginny was wearing silk robes the colour of gold. The entire top half of her robes seemed to be a second skin for her, giving a new meaning to the phrase skintight. When they reached her hips, they flared out as like the other women's robes and fell gracefully to her feet. Whoever had designed Harry's robes obviously did the same for Ginny as well. She too had an over robe, which was a sleeveless and the same colour gold as her under robes were. It was also transparent, leaving nothing of Ginny's charms hidden. Around Ginny's neck was a delicate, golden necklace with several rubies the colour of her hair, which was hanging loose behind her. On ring finger, Ginny wore a golden ring with a gleaming ruby that seemed to glow with an inner fire, and on which was inscribed My Promise to You around the front of the ring, and on the inside of the ring was inscribed With all my love, Harry. How Harry knew this, he did not know, but he somehow he knew about that ring. Ginny also had ruby earrings twinkling on her ears. All in all, this was the most beautiful Harry had ever seen Ginny, and he was dumbstruck as to how to approach this beautiful goddess in front of him. Whoever made those robes has my undying thanks. Harry informed the Council. He heard a chuckle in response and then whispered acknowledgements, but he barely noticed it, as he was too busy staring at Ginny. Finally, however, Mrs. Weasley was able to get his attention.
"Harry dear, not that we don't appreciate the gesture, but these robes that you've bought for us are… well they're too expensive. They must have cost you a fortune!"
"Mrs. Weasley," replied Harry, looking into her eyes with an extremely serious expression on his face. "Unless you have forgotten, I own a fortune," he said bluntly. Before anyone could say anything, he went on. "And it is my decision who I should or shouldn't use it on." He looked around at everyone gathered there. "All of you here are my family, and if I can't use my fortune to buy my family the best, then what use does it have? This is probably going to be one of the most important days in my life, the my parent's betrayer is brought to justice, and I decided that I wanted to share the uniqueness and meaning of this day with my family" At his words, everyone seemed to tear up, even the twins, and everyone nodded. Ginny took Harry's hand in hers, and when he looked to her smiled a bright, happy smile at him. He grinned back at her. Their budding conversation was cut short, however, with Dumbledore's arrival. His eyes widened when he saw the opulent display that they all made, especially Harry and Ginny, but he did not comment. He merely told them to grab onto the portkey that he had brought, a large muggle plate. As soon as everyone was touching the portkey, it activated, and they were all spinning on their way to wherever the trials were being held. As he was travelling, the Council of Arch-mages were instructing Harry on what he should and should not disclose at the trial.
*Go ahead and tell them the truth about your first four school years at Hogwarts Harry, but don't let them know that you are aware that you are my Heir,* Godric was telling him. *And also do NOT disclose the fact that you are Rowena's heir as well. Not many people knew about us getting married, or our family. For this reason and this reason alone the Potters have been kept safe until now, and I am quite sure that you will agree with me when I tell you that I want my family to be safe for all time.*
When Harry agreed, Merlin took over. *Also you will probably be asked about why you were able to do magic without the Ministry being able to detect it. Go ahead and tell them about that silly little Charm that book gave you, and tell them that you looked it up before leaving Hogwarts, just in case you had to use magic to defend yourself during the summer. Say that you were paranoid after the Dementor's attack last year.*
*Also, feign ignorance as to why you were able to stun that many Death Eaters with one spell, as you did with your friends and family* added Morgana quickly, before they materialized in what seemed to be the cross between a court room and a dungeon.
Sitting in the Judge's chair was none other than Cornelius Fudge. The witches and wizards that made up the jury were people who Harry had never met, but Dumbledore seemed pleased with their identities, so Harry did not worry about that too much. Harry quickly told Ron and Hermione that he planned to disclose to the Ministry the truth about what happened during their first four years at Hogwarts, at their nods of understanding; Harry turned away and put an arm around Ginny, who smiled up at him, and squeezed his hand in unspoken support. In return, Harry smiled and softly kissed Ginny on the cheek as they were taking their seats. The trials all started with the questioning of witnesses. Several people had been in Diagon Alley that day, and everyone gave his or her account of what happened that day. Most of the people gave fairly accurate accounts, and there were very few exclamations of 'He waved his wand and all of them were blown into nothingness! I swear!' Mrs. Weasley, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Ginny all gave their testimonies, as well as Mad Eye Moody, who was sitting with a group of Aurors that were at the trials. Finally, Harry was called up to the stand.
He stood and walked to the witness stand and sat down in the chair. Well here goes nothing he sent to the Council.
*Don't worry Harry, you'll do fine,* came Circe's soft encouragement.
"Well Harry, why don't you tell us about the events that led up to the attack in Diagon Alley?" asked Fudge.
With that small outlet Harry was able to speak, and speak he did. His testimony was a lot longer than everyone else's and incredibly detailed. He started with his first year, and told the events up until the end of his fifth year at Hogwarts truthfully, not leaving any details out. When it was heard that He had actually met Sirius Black in his third year, and that he, Ron, and Hermione had helped him escape the Dementor's Kiss, there were gasps of surprise from the court room, who were all hanging onto his words. When he got to Voldemort's rebirth, those gasps turned into gasps of horrors, and a few shrieks as well. Finally, Harry talked about the day in Diagon Alley. This is where he started to lie. He told the court that his Uncle and Aunt had dropped him off, when in reality; he had actually simply Apparated in that morning. He talked about meeting up with the Weasleys and Hermoine and going shopping, leaving out the parts about him and Ginny. Finally, he gave his account of the attack, how he took down ten of the wizards, and how the Weasleys, Hermione, and Lily had taken down the rest. When he was finished, the courtroom was silent. He had been talking for a good 2-3 hours, and everyone was digesting all of this information. Then, Fudge continued with his questions. He asked Harry how he was able to perform Magic without the Ministry knowing, and how he had been able to stun five Death Eaters with one spell. Each time he gave the response which the Council had supplied him with, which seemed to please the court. Finally, he was allowed off the stand, and a cup of water was administered to him. Since he had been taking for so long, his throat was dry, Harry drank down the liquid, and sat back down sitting between Ginny and Dumbledore. Ginny took his hand and gave it a squeeze. Harry put his arm around her, and she leaned a bit on his shoulder as they waited for the Death Eaters to be brought in.
All of them were brought in held, not by Dementors, but by Aurors. Each one was chained to a chair that had been placed in front of the Minister, and was given veritaserum. After their questioning, the jury walked out to make their deliberations, and everyone got up to leave.
"It could take them a while to decide on their sentence," explained Dumbledore. "The court will be in session tomorrow to decide the sentencing, but we can get some things care of right away." With that, Dumbledore went to Fudge, and talked with him quietly for a few minutes as everyone else looked on. After they were done, Fudge reached into his robes and handed Dumbledore several documents, which he took and calmly walked back to the group waiting for him. "Let's take this somewhere private before we discuss anything," he said, nodding to the reporters who were all listening in with rapt attention. Everyone quickly grabbed onto the portkey, and were all transported back to Headquaters.
After they had returned, everyone sat down in the living room. Since there were not enough seats for everyone, Harry and Ginny occupied the comfortable seat that they had taken over the past night, while Dumbledore literally drew up three chairs for himself, and Remus. After everyone had gotten comfortable, he took out the documents that Fudge had given him, and he began speaking.
"Well today has been a very productive day if I do say so myself. First of all," here he held up a document and handed it to Harry. "This awards you the various Black fortunes, all the Black holdings, and all of the possessions that the Ministry took away from Sirius when he was imprisoned." At his words gasps of surprise and delight could be heard around the room.
Dumbledore turned to Remus. "Sirius asked me to make you Harry's Guardian in the event of his death Remus," he informed the werewolf, shocking everyone yet again. "This," he said handing Remus a parchement of his own, "Does just that."
Remus looked from the paper to Harry, his eyes wide. Harry did the same, looking from the paper to Remus, then he smiled. "I couldn't think of anyone that I would want to become my Guardian more than you 'Uncle' Remus." Remus grinned suddenly at Harry's words and reached out and took the parchement.
Dumbledore smiled at Remus who was looking at the parchment with a bittersweet smile on his face at hearing that he was Harry's Guardian. Dumbledore then handed a document each to Harry, and each of the Weasleys who had been present that day and Hermione. "As some of you may or may not know, the Order of Merlin comes with a cash reward as well. Mr. Potter, since you are receiving the Order of Merlin First Class that voucher awards you 100,000,000 galleons and since you already have a considerable amount in your Gringots vault, you have also been awarded a larger vault. When you go to Gringots next, they will exchange your old key for your new one."
Turning to the Weasleys, Dumbledore said, "Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger I have a surprise for you," this to Ron and Hermione. "Since the two of you were instrumental in saving an innocent man from the Dementor's Kiss, you have both been awarded the Order of Merlin Second Class along with Miss Weasley," at this he gestured to Ginny. "Those vouchers award each of you 10,000,000 galleons, which have been put in newly opened Gringots vaults issued to each of you. You will be able to get your new keys when you turn in your vouchers next time you go to Gringots."
Finally, he turned to Mrs. Weasley and the twins. "Since each of you have been awarded the Order of Merlin Third Class, those vouchers have awarded each of you 5,000,000 galleons into your existing Gringots vaults."
Everyone in the room was silent. They either reconciled themselves to the fact that they were all now extremely rich, or that they were RELATED to someone who was now extremely rich. The Weasleys would never have to worry about money every again. Dumbledore took out another set of vouchers and handed them to Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione. Once they all looked back at him, he spoke again. "These documents waive the age restriction on under age use of magic, which means that you are now able to perform magic year round, like any adult witch or wizard." This was said with a twinkle in his eye.
For a while no one spoke, but finally Mrs. Weasley broke the silence. "I never knew that you three had done all of that. How did you break all those school rules and not get caught?" At that, everyone started laughing, the tension, or whatever was in the air, finally broken. After a few seconds, she joined in as well.
It was decided by Mrs. Weasley that everyone would stay for a celebratory dinner, and since no one had anything better to do, Harry suggested that they all go out and play a game of Quidditch. Dumbledore surprisingly enough was delighted by the idea and produced a true set of Quidditch balls, and an miniature Quidditch stadium, which he promptly made life size in the back yard. When everyone gasped in surprise, he merely twinkled at them and informed that this stadium was invisible to all muggles, and had been a gift to him by his brother Aberforth. Teams were decided to be Ginny, Harry, Fred, and Bill against Hermione, Charlie, George and Ron as a chaser, seeker, beater, and keeper respectively. Eager to try out his custom made broom, Harry tossed his Firebolt to Charlie with a quick "To make it as even as possible, mate," and quickly jumped off, soaring high into the air. As he sped around the pitch, he was amazed as to this broom.
If his Firebolt had responded to his very thoughts, this broom seemed to anticipate them. He sped around, warming up, and dived and swooped around in a dazzling display of flying that no one, not even Dumbledore had seen or thought possible. Soon everyone was in the air, and the game started. Ginny and Hermione both made surprisingly excellent chasers, and both Ron and Bill were hard pressed to stop their goals, which quickly mounted up. Fred and George were being their normal crazy selves on the brooms and were beating bludgers in complete disorder and at anything that moved. As this was going on, Charlie and Harry were furiously searching for the snitch, both knowing about the other's reputation for spectacular game wins. They both saw the snitch at the same time, in the middle of the field, equidistant from both of them. As one they zoomed towards the snitch, which dived away, and they followed it into a vertical dive. Harry, whose broom could go a lot faster than what he was going at the time, sped up, desperate to get it, and when he was barely a foot from the ground he caught it and pulled up hard. When he was vertical, everyone was rushing down and over to him, sure that he had been killed by the move, but his broom had pulled out of the dive with barely a half foot to spare, and was hovering at his side. Harry, who had gotten off his broom and was lying on the grass, was laughing in uncontrolled delight. That was until Ginny got to him and found out that he was O.K.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER," she screamed at him, her face pale with fright and uncontrolled rage. "HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID? MY HEART STOPPED WHEN I SAW YOU LIEING THERE! IF YOU EVER DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT AGAIN I WILL PERSONALLY –," but they weren't able to find out what Ginny would do because Harry, having been shocked out of his laughter by her had pulled her down on top of him and was kissing her deeply.
"You know what?" asked Ron when he saw this, "If I had know that Ginny's temper could be dealt with so easily, I would have told Harry to snog her silly years ago." At this, all his brothers sniggered, and Ginny and Harry broke apart, Ginny blushing madly, and Harry with a smug grin on his face.
"You know Hermione you and Ginny should try out for the team," Harry said. "You guys are excellent players." Hermione blushed at his praise, but Ginny beamed up at him and said, "Do you really think so? I thought about it, but I didn't know if I would be able to make it."
Harry grinned down at her and said, "Well it's really up to McGonagell and the captain who makes the active team. All of the spots are up for grabs until they make the decision. Plus, I think that Katie will probably be too busy this year since she's made Head Girl."
At this statement everyone looked at Harry in surprise, and Dumbledore looked at him sharply before asking, "How do you know that Harry?"
"Well, who else would it be Professor?" asked Harry innocently, even though he had really read it from the man's mind moments before. "She's a seventh year Gryffindor prefect, and she's got the best marks in her year. She's the logical choice." At this statement, Dumbledore seemed to calm down, and Ginny grinned in excitement at the thought of making the house team.
After Dumbledore had put away his Quidditch stadium, all the teenagers, Bill and Charlie sat outside talking about the upcoming school year. Ron surprised everyone by asking Hermione to any and all formal school functions during the school year, even though they still had a few days of summer vacation left. Harry, in turn asked Ginny to be his girlfriend, which was a bit humorous due to the fact that she was sitting in his lap at the time, busy twirling the promise ring he had given her on her finger. She had refused to take it off when they had changed clothes before the game, even when Hermione pointed out that it might get hit by a bludgers and break. At that, Harry had surprised everyone by pulling out his wand and casting an advanced unbreakable charm on the ring that most students did not learn until their seventh year. That had ended the debate. Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione asked Bill about being Prefects, and were delighted to learn that most prefects were just as mischievous and breakers of the rules as anyone else at Hogwarts. "Percy is the first prefect since the school founded that actually deserved the title," he said, which made everyone break out into laughter.
Everyone enjoyed the dinner as much as everything else, and Dumbledore surprised everyone again by asking Remus to become the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher for the coming year. After he had agreed, Remus left to take a look at the various Black holdings, and survey what needed to be done so that it was liveable after the school year ended. "You might as well live in one of them Harry, all of them are as well protected as this dump. You should choose where in the world you want to live though, they have houses in almost every country…" Dumbledore also left, reminding the entire Weasley clan to be at the start of term feast for their induction into the Order of Merlin.