Title: Retrograde
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.
Rating: M
Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.
Summary: Harry's trial before fifth year goes differently because someone knows more than they should about Harry. Time Travel Fic.
"Junior Auror Tonks reporting." Tonks said as she stood at attention in Amelia's office.
The rookie Auror was intimidated by being in the Director's Office.
"Sit." Amelia said with a slight smirk. "Before you hurt yourself."
Tonks let out a soft breath and sat down in the strait-backed chair in front of Amelia's desk.
"I am assigning you to a new task force I am establishing." Amelia explained. "It will be a small task force. Three Senior Aurors and yourself. You will all be sworn to secrecy."
"With respect, Ma'am." Tonks said. "Why am I being assigned to the Task Force? I am one of the most junior Aurors on the Force."
"Due to the nature of who you are." Amelia replied.
"Who do you want me to pretend to be?" Tonks asked, assuming it was due to her Metamorph abilities.
"You misunderstand." Amelia said with a head shake. "This is not about your skills, but your family. You are part of the Black Family. New evidence has come to light that indicates Sirius Black may be innocent."
"If we can prove he is innocent…." Tonks began.
"There are Political considerations, Auror." Amelia interrupted. "We can not move publicly until we have undeniable proof."
"Who are the Senior Aurors on the Task Force?" Tonks asked.
"Proudfoot, Smyth and Shooter." Amelia replied. "I am aware of your affiliation with Professor Dumbledore's organisation. This operation will take precedence. I will need your oath on that. If you can't commit to that, tell me now and I will obliviate this conversation."
Tonks took a few minutes to consider the implications of Amelia's offer.
"I accept." Tonks finally said. "I want to prove Cousin Sirius is innocent."
Harry watched, from his place leaning against the Professor's desk, as the Sixth Year DADA Students filed in. There were only a dozen students, almost all of them Harry recognised from reputation if not personally. There were three Slytherins, Daphne Greengrass, Blaise Zabini and Millicent Bulstrode; four Gryffindors, Hermione Granger, Parvati Patil, Dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom; two Ravenclaws, Padma Patil and Su Li; and three Hufflepuffs, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott and Megan Jones.
Harry was slightly disappointed but not really surprised that Ron was not in the NEWT Level DADA class. Ron had always required Harry or Hermione to push him to not take the easiest option, and with Harry absent and the distance that had developed between Ron and Hermione, Ron had figured that DADA would be too much work.
"Alright everyone, take a seat." Harry ordered. "I am Professor Tenor. For those who do Ancient Runes, yes, that William Tenor."
That got a laugh from Hermione, Susan, Padma and Su, who all did Ancient Runes.
"Now that's out of the way, let's get started." Harry said. "This year we are going look at things a bit differently. We're are going to look at different aspects of Defence, like the philosophy of why to fight as well as tactical and strategic thinking."
"Professor, what do you mean by the philosophy of fighting?" Megan asked.
"Ok, let's look at the following statement. 'There is no good or evil.' What does that phrase mean to you?" Harry countered.
"You-Know-Who was often reported as saying that." Millicent answered. "He used it as a justification for ever action he did."
"From a completely objective viewpoint, the statement is correct." Harry said, shocking everyone. "The fault in his logic is that he applied that statement as a universal truth. Unfortunately, nothing is really objective when dealing with humans, or sentients in general. Good and Evil are social constructs that are imposed by the ruling authority within a specific social group. It's all about context."
"Context?" Su Li asked. "But aren't some things always evil? Like killing?"
"Killing anything or just Humans?" Harry asked. "Never mind. No, killing has not always been considered to be always evil. Still isn't in fact. Murder is considered evil. Killing in self-defence is not. In the past, even in Celtic Brittan, human sacrifices were made and it was considered a necessary not evil, a prayer to the Goods to stop a plague or end a drought."
"In the here and now, is killing only… I won't say good, but not evil, is if it is in self-defence?" Daphne asked.
"Well, what do you think?" Harry asked. "Can you think of any other situations where killing someone is not evil, besides self-defence?"
"To stop someone hurting or killing someone else?" Dean suggested.
"Correct, though again in a limited context." Harry confirmed. "That is the basis around which all Law Enforcement is formed, be it the medieval Men-At-Arms or our current Aurors. Sometimes it requires force to stop bad people doing bad things, but no ruling authority want ordinary citizens running around trying to stop others from doing bad things as they my have a different view of what is bad than the authorities do, especially in Feudal Societies or Dictatorships, so the authorities create a select group that is trained to understand and defend the rules of the authority."
"You keep saying ruling authority, not society." Blaise pointed out.
"Yes, I do." Harry replied. "The laws and justice of a society are almost never fully determined by the people, even in a Democracy. They are designed to keep the powerful in power and the 'common people' in their place. Yes, a system like Democracy give the so called 'common people' more power to remove truly bad politicians, however the Party System and the economics of the election process means that the powerful can, to a degree, control who is able to run for seats in parliament, thus restricting the pool of candidates to those with similar viewpoints."
Harry paused there to let the lesson sink in, and also to allow Hermione to give a brief outline of what Democracy was to the purebloods, except for Susan.
"If Law Enforcement get a free pass, wouldn't that attract those who like killing?" Padma asked.
"In some cases, but there is a lot of discipline and procedural focus in training to discourage or drive off most those who are just in it to kill." Harry explained. "Also, it is not a free pass to kill. Every time a Police Officer or Auror is involved in an incident that leads to violence, regardless if it leads to a death, there is always an investigation into the incident. If the Officer or Auror is found to have acted inappropriately then they can be fired or sent to prison. The authorities want the law enforced to their will, not to the will of individual Aurors. So, we agree that, in general, Aurors aren't evil?"
The class in general nodded.
"Good. Then we have clearly established that my Wife is not evil." Harry said.
Had noticed a few lustful looks from some of the girls in the class, not Hermione or Susan obviously. He had made the Wife comment to make it clear that he was not available.
"What about you, Professor?" Hermione asked cheekily. "Are you evil? You are the DADA Professor after all."
"If I did not know the history of your Year Level, I would be insulted." Harry shot back. "I can clearly and honestly say that I have no intention of trying to kill Harry Potter, so you won't have to worry. Besides it never seems to work out well anyway, so what's the point?"
There were a few laughs from this nonchalant declaration.
TBC...
A/N: I know there was a lot of dense dialog and philosophical concepts in this chapter. Don't worry, not every DADA lesson is going to like this one, but the Sixth Years are 'Harry's Class' so he expects a bit more from them.