Over the next several weeks, there were several owl posts, mostly from Kingsley with further questions; those Harry answered as best he could. Others, even from the Daily Prophet or Quibbler, if not from private citizens who were readers of same, seemed merely trying to either discredit him or Ginny and therefore he chose to ignore them, especially if he recognized the name as either a family member or acquaintance of people who were either open Death Eaters or manic pureblood supporters like the Malfoys, if not both. Which reminded him, he still hadn't gotten anything from Lucius, and that was most significant. Maybe Lucius intended to save his worst venom for the public trial; at any rate, Harry vowed to be ready for him.

Even at that, he had been told that there was a fairly low likelihood of actual conviction and prison time for the offenders, that only about one-fifth of the rape cases even reached court, but he was frankly convinced that it would be different this time, particularly since there was so much evidence on their side to support their position. He had done some research and learned that many times the reason rape cases were dropped was for lack of evidence, either physical or forensic.

He also learned that most rapes were not reported, mainly because of the documented evidence which showed the disquieting and unfair statistics that many times the victims were made to feel like they were the ones being prosecuted, having to endure traumatic and embarrassingly probing interrogations into their private lives, whereas the defendant was rarely, if ever, asked such things.

Fortunately there were also some statistics on their side, the fact that the younger the victim and the fact that Dudley had been a stranger to Ginny, not to mention the fact of her physical injuries made the likelihood greater that at least he would be convicted, although Harry intended to do everything he could to see that Draco was as well.

He was also not looking forward to the possibility that the Malfoys' defence lawyers were likely to attempt to drag both him and Ginny through the mud by either claiming that she was promiscuous or that Harry himself was trying to cover up his own wrongdoing. Little likelihood of that sticking, though, especially once the DNA sample reports were made public and admitted as evidence.

Not to mention both the Healers' and the Muggle doctor's reports—particularly the results of Ginny's medical, which the doctor had assured him showed that she had been subjected to attacks by two attackers, not just one, despite the fact that Draco had used the hypnotic suggestion that Harry was responsible for it all. Calling Ron, Hermione and other family members (or almost-family members) of Ginny's to serve as character witnesses for both of them should help on that score as well.

Nor could the other side claim they were lying if they openly stated that they were willing to take Veritaserum or (in Dudley's case) sodium pentothal so they would be obliged to tell the truth on the witness stand. Veritaserum was a very strong truth drug; only a few drops were necessary. Even Snape himself had said that it could make Voldemort himself spill his darkest secrets … and Harry was sure it would make a significant impact if he were to publicly challenge Lucius and company to take some themselves, then testify as to Harry's, Ginny's, the Weasleys' or even Draco's character (or lack thereof). He only wished it could be used in Dudley's trial …

While waiting for the trial to be scheduled, Harry made some inquiries and found that the best prosecuting attorney willing to act in their defence, his fees were ordinarily quite high, but because of Harry's fame and his dislike for the Malfoys and their ilk, would be willing to work pro bono—in other words, he would not be paid unless the case was won.

Of course, even if he hadn't agreed to donate his time and services, Harry had enough money to have paid him what he was worth, if only to ensure that justice would be done, at least in this instance. It had now been roughly fourteen months since Ginny's attack and she seemed to be improving, at least according to Arabella, but Harry was still hesitant to have her testify, even if it meant a greater likelihood of conviction, particularly in Draco's case.

His research had also netted the fact that nine times out of ten the victim knew her attacker and this made conviction less likely, especially if it was even conjectured that they might have been consensually intimate at one point. Harry was dead certain otherwise, however, and intended to press that point until it sunk in, whatever he had to do.

Especially the point that virtually the sole motivation for Ginny's attack had been revenge on Harry, the only way to hurt him being the serious injury or death of someone he loved. Harry was now convinced that one of the main reasons she had survived was because he had found out about her abduction fairly soon after it had happened and hightailed it to the Malfoy mansion within half an hour after being informed by Neville what had happened.

By this time Arabella had given Harry her report covering the counseling sessions so far, and the results that she could see, not to mention the ones Harry himself had reported to her, then he had sent it on to the Wizengamot as well after keeping a hard copy to admit as evidence in Dudley's trial. Which reminded him, he had been gratified to hear that Dudley had finally broken his curfew the one necessary time and was himself now sitting in a holding cell, accused of multiple counts of sexual battery against various victims.

The Little Whinging authorities had also informed him that they had met with either the families of or the actual victims themselves and gotten their statements and that the statements in question were in their hands and once the trial was scheduled, would be admitted by the prosecution (Harry's side) as evidence against the defendant.

Of course, in the midst of all this, the young people were doing their schoolwork; Harry had even completed all the necessary makeup courses and passed the final NEWT tests with flying colours, officially having become a Hogwarts graduate once the results had been received, the majority of them being "Oustanding," if not "Exceeds Expectations." He was now preparing to take the necessary tests to become an Auror, which would likely take six to eight hours.

He didn't like having to be away from Ginny even for that long, but it was necessary in order that he be legally able to work as a dark-wizard catcher. After having successfully battled and vanquished Voldemort, however, he was at least fairly certain that his work wouldn't be all that hard now, although he was under no illusions that it would be easy, either.

He was also seriously looking into the possibility of taking extra Transfiguration courses specializing in Animagi transformations. What's more, he had pretty much already decided which animal(s) he wanted to be able to change into if necessary—a large, hawklike bird or a horse, both of which could live in the wild if need be. He was even considering asking Ginny to do the same, so in the event he had to go into hiding, she could go with him and they could live as animals as long as they had to, as Sirius had done while in hiding.

Once they got used to maneuvring in animal form, that is. The nicest thing about Animagi transformations, though, was that they would be able to retain their Human intelligence and at least some of their magical abilities, even in their animal form. They wouldn't be able to speak or hold wands, of course, so they would have to rely on nonverbal spells, mentally aiming at who- or whatever their target was.

To get back to the legal issues, Harry had even been sent a (supposedly) simplified layman's version of how DNA evidence was used in the UK criminal justice system by the Little Whinging constabulary. Despite their claims, however, he had only been able to get the gist of a fraction of it—such as the fact that related people tended to have similarities in their DNA patterns—but that it was virtually impossible for unrelated people to have a match in all of the thirteen designated spots in their DNA.

That basically meant that there would likely be several similarities in both Harry's and Dudley's DNA samples, mainly due to the fact that they were related. But even the most closely related people, such as parents and children, didn't always match perfectly in all thirteen categories … and he and Dudley were cousins, so there would definitely be differences between their overall DNA. Differences which would likely prove his, Harry's, innocence in the matter of Ginny's assault and Dudley's guilt. (Not to mention Draco's, but that was another story.)

He had had no idea he had been so absorbed in the hard copy of how DNA evidence was used in the UK criminal justice system until a loud knock brought his head up with a jerk to find Hermione standing at the door. "Harry!" she called impatiently, obviously having done so more than once.

"Yeah?"

"I've been trying to get your attention for the past ten minutes. Molly says to come down for supper." When he didn't reply to this, she strode over to the bed and looked down at the reading material spread over Harry's lap. "Just what is that, anyway?"

"Something I got from the Little Whinging authorities detailing how DNA evidence may be used in a criminal trial and what it is likely to happen when it is."

"Learned anything from it?"

"It's supposedly simplified for laymen, but I've still not been able to grasp a lot of it. However, I have been able to surmise this much …" With that, he went on to detail what he had learned about how DNA could ID both related and unrelated people, about the similarities found in the DNA of related individuals, things like that.

"Does that mean that they're likely to confuse your DNA with Dudley's?" she questioned, sitting down at the foot of the bed.

Harry shook his head. "I doubt it. Even the most closely related individuals don't match perfectly all the time … and Dudley and I are cousins, so there are bound to be plenty of differences as well as many similarities, if only due to the fact of the genetic differences between our parents." He was silent for a time, then smiled and said, "Oh, did I tell you that Dudley is sitting in jail right now?"

"No. That's great. What happened?"

"He broke his curfew and they picked him up, charging him with multiple counts of sexual battery. I was even told that many of either his victims' families or the victims themselves were able to give official statements as to what had happened to them and/or their relatives at Dudley's hands."

"Have you heard anything from your aunt and uncle?"

"No, and I think I know why, which suits me just fine. Not that I'm not sure they'd love to go after me with both barrels, accusing me of everything under the sun, but they don't dare, not with bonafide evidence from both Dudley's room and his victims in the hands of the law. But even if they did, they can't touch me, either legally or financially, because I'm of age. They also know bloody well that my testimony as to their abuse of me could easily put both of them away as well as Dudley … and I've already decided that if they make even one move against me, I'll go after them with both barrels and make them regret ever crossing me."

Just then a loud yell brought both their heads up with a jerk, a yell they were certain that everyone in the household heard. "Supper's ready! You lot get down here right now or I'll see to it that you go to bed without any!"

"Molly shouldn't shout like that. She could lose her voice," Harry observed. "Just the same, we'd better get down there if we expect to eat."

Hermione smiled and agreed; within moments they had arrived downstairs to find Molly at the bottom of the stairs, her face like a thundercloud. However, she didn't say anything, just glared at them and ushered everyone toward the table; Harry took his regular seat next to Ginny, as Hermione took her regular seat next to Ron, and they dug in once Molly had seated herself.

Just the same, both Hermione and Harry made mental notes to fill both Ron and Ginny in on what the UK's latest laws were regarding rape and using DNA evidence in criminal trials at the earliest opportunity.