One may be assured that plenty of publicity was generated by the news of Draco Malfoy's rape conviction, and not all of it positive, although Harry was definitely encouraged by the amount it did engender. Just the same, he knew that Lucius had to be plotting revenge against him and vowed to be prepared for it. Just one article, in fact, engendered considerable comment on both sides of the fence, as it were … one which came out roughly a week after the trial ended, entitled "Lucius Malfoy Vows Revenge for Son's Rape Conviction."
But it seemed that Kingsley Shacklebolt, the one who wrote the article, seemed slanted in favour of Harry and company, because he included copies of the DNA reports obtained from the Wizengamot, showing that Harry alone could not possibly have been responsible for Ginny's rape, but rather, that the results showed there had been a double attack. Certainly it showed similarities between Draco's, Harry's and Dudley's DNA, but also considerable differences, which Kingsley explained was mainly due to the genetic differences between their parents, despite the fact of the latter two's having been fairly closely related. (For the first two, there were also spots in their DNA reportedly unique to those born of wizarding families or who had at least one pureblood wizarding parent, which both Harry and Draco did.)
There was even a side article featuring the news that Harry and Ginny were now officially engaged to be married and how happy they reportedly were in spite of all the publicity surrounding the trial. They even mentioned the fact that Harry planned to push rape charges against his cousin; however, it would take time to get that started, so they had to be patient. If it took fourteen months to get Draco on the stand, it would take at least half that long, if not as long, to get Dudley on the stand, particularly if Vernon and Petunia ran true to form and did everything they could to try to throw the proverbial monkey wrench into Harry's efforts to obtain justice. But he had gotten this far, so Harry wasn't about to stop now.
Just the same, while waiting to hear regarding Dudley, Harry took steps to protect himself and the Weasley family from anything Lucius might try to do to harm them, up to and including placing various protective spells and charms on the Burrow, not to mention bodyguards consisting of various members of the Order of the Phoenix uniquely qualified to protect their charges, which included the noted ex-Auror "Mad-Eye" Moody (the real one this time, of course), whenever anyone needed to go somewhere and wanted to make sure they would both go to their destination and return home safely.
Harry was also pleased that Ginny ended up not having to testify at Draco's trial after all, even though she had assured him that she was prepared to do so if necessary. Just the same, it wouldn't surprise him if she was called upon to testify at Dudley's trial in order to ensure his conviction. Moody, in fact, had been the one to accompany Harry once it came time for him to take the necessary tests so he could officially work as an Auror.
He and Ginny were also working diligently to become Animagi (specifically, able to turn into hawks so they could live as mates in the wild if called upon to do so). He kept McGonagall updated on their progress, asking advice every so often, particularly on how they could develop unique markings which could identify them even in animal form. He had even learned that the corrective properties of his glasses could be incorporated into his animal form and there would be gold rings around his eyes when in hawk form to designate same.
He was also pleased to learn ways that he could choose the plumage and eye colouring he wanted as a hawk, as could Ginny, and both of them practiced those spells diligently over the ensuing weeks between the end of Draco's trial and the beginning of Dudley's. McGonagall also assured him that they would definitely be able to communicate mentally with one another while in animal form.
And it definitely didn't do any good for Harry's male ego to know that Transfiguration was coming far easier to Ginny than it was to him, even though they were practicing together at every opportunity. She had even been able to turn completely into a hawk at one point, even managing to fly and land on Harry's shoulder, communicating mentally with him while perched there, careful not to dig her hawk's claws into his unpadded shoulder.
Just the same, Harry had to admit that she made a truly beautiful female hawk with her red-gold plumage and deep brown eyes. All the same, she could only hold the shape for roughly ten minutes. It was necessary to be able to hold a given animal shape for at least fifteen minutes at a time in order to officially become an Animagus.
Don't worry, luv, you'll make it eventually, she assured him.
But I've been practicing just as much as you, yet you picked it up more quickly, he returned
petulantly. The best I've been able to do is sprout wings and feathers!
That happens sometimes. Some people pick things up more quickly than others. Nothing against you. Remember, I wasn't able to hold the shape as long as necessary, so I still need to work on that.
Of course, since it ended up taking six months for Dudley's trial to be arranged, Harry finally did manage to do the same thing Ginny did, turning into the black hawk with green eyes that he wanted, including the gold spectacles-like rings, even doing the same thing that Ginny had done, landing on her shoulder and communicating mentally with her while in bird form even while making sure that his hawk's claws didn't dig into her unprotected shoulder.
By this time, Ginny had been able to perfect her shape-holding abilities, so she was now officially a registered Animagus. It would take another month or so before Harry was able to do the same, but what mattered was that they did both make it and could now change whenever they wished to do so. Even at that, McGonagall warned that they had to periodically turn into hawks and live as such for progressively longer periods of time, starting with one day and gradually working up in order to be sure of their ability to eventually live long-term in the wild.
It wasn't long after this that Harry got an official-looking envelope from the Little Whinging constabulary; it was telling him that the trial of one Dudley Philip Dursley on charges of both the rape of one Ginevra Molly Weasley as well as various other unnamed victims of sexual assault would be taking place within a week, which would make the date February 23, 1999 … a total of twenty months since Ginny's attack.
Harry also had a good laugh at the hypocritically hurt letter which had been enclosed from his relatives.
" … I know we've had our differences, Harry, but surely you can find it in your heart to put such petty mistakes behind you and forgive us. What did we ever do to you that you would subject us
—subject Dudley—to such cruel and unusual punishment, such public ridicule and embarrassment? After all, we're family!"
He read it out loud, laughing once again. "Can you believe their bloody audacity? All they've put me through, and then they expect me to forget all that and overlook what that scumball has done to the girl I love! What did they do? Try this … locking me in a broom closet for eleven years. Physically and emotionally abusing me at every opportunity, not to mention allowing Dudley to terrorize me at every turn.
"Denying me food and material things. Come to think of it, I wouldn't want anything from them anyway! If Mum and Dad could know what they've done, they'd likely join me in hexing them into the middle of the next century, if not suing them for felony child abuse!
"It's not my fault my parents died so young and I had to be left with them. What's worse, they took their hatred of them out on me. Frankly if I'd had a choice, I think I would have preferred an orphanage. And one thing's for sure … after this, if anyone asks, I'll tell them I have no family. At least none by blood that gives a damn about me. In fact the happiest day of my life was when I left that house of Hell for good! If I never see them again after the trial, it'll be too bloody soon!
"How Mum could possibly have turned out as well as she did in such a family, I'll never know. I also find it virtually impossible to believe that she could have been any relation whatsoever to them. Unfortunately Sirius's family was no better. Just the same, if Dudley had only seen fit to leave Ginny alone, I would have left them alone, would have had little reason to do what I'm doing … but Merlin forbid he ever do the decent thing!"
Harry's companions didn't blame him one bit for his anger, hurt and bitterness, knowing that the Dursleys deserved everything Harry intended to throw at them and then some. Even his worst wouldn't be nearly enough to compensate Harry for all he had endured at their hands. Just the same, what mattered was that Dudley would finally be punished as he deserved.
Harry would see to it … and if Vernon and Petunia even attempted to stand in his way, he would go after them as well and enjoy every moment of it. In fact, by the time he got through with them, they wouldn't know what hit them, so if they knew what was good for them, they would simply sit back and let their spoiled rotten brat take his medicine for once. It just went to show that it didn't pay to get on a wizard's bad side!
If they even said a word to him, he intended to say, "Be thankful I'm only here to see Dudley punished, though after what you've done to me, I'm very tempted to go after you as well and do everything I can to prove that you knew about everything he's done, accosting those girls, yet covering it up. If you don't back off, one word from me and you'll be lucky not to be run out of town on a rail, if not literally tarred and feathered! So I suggest that you not give me any more reason to prosecute you than I already have."
Harry sighed and rested the hand that held the letter on one leg. "Oh well, I suppose I shouldn't let it bother me any more. The important thing is that I'm finally away from them forever … and as long as my dear cousin is finally punished as he deserves, I'll be content. Which reminds me—did you all want to be there at that trial, too? I think I can arrange it."
Naturally everyone readily agreed, Fred and George even offering to hex any one of Harry's erstwhile relatives whenever he said the word. Harry laughed again, his heart warmed by their obvious affection for him. "Thanks, mates, but that won't be necessary. It'll be enough for me if you're all there to sit with me."
Why couldn't he have had a foster family like the Weasleys to grow up with, someone like Molly for a foster mother? Would that have been so much to ask? Why did Dumbledore think it so bloody important that he be with blood kin, especially if said kin turned out to be so abusive, both emotionally and physically? What advantage could there possibly be to that? Guards could have been put on virtually any wizarding home to protect him and his foster family from Voldemort, so his life could have been so much different. It was even said that adversity made one stronger; well, then he ought to be the strongest person in the world!
Harry could also imagine what his relatives would say when he said that he was actually engaged to be married. "How could you possibly have a fiancée?"
"Well, I do," he intended to throw back. "And I'm happy to say that even though Dudley did everything he could to destroy it, he failed … so I intend to enjoy every moment of my marriage to the girl I love while he sits rotting in jail for the rest of his life—which is nothing more than he deserves!"
Just as he would throw back if they said, "How do you know so bloody much?"
"I keep my eyes and ears open—not to mention my mind … which unfortunately, is more than I can say for either of you. Incidentally, I no more care for anyone to know I'm related to you any more than you care for anyone to know that you're related to me—so we're even. And after this, how is it going to look to your highbrow friends for you to have a son who's a convicted rapist?"
He frankly wouldn't put it past them to say, "You … you … You're nothing without your effing wand!"
"Want to bet? I know wandless magic now—not to mention nonverbal spells."
Even at that, they didn't give up. "You still could have paid people to plant evidence, pay so-called witnesses to say what you wanted them to say against Dudley."
"I could have, yes," he would admit. "But I didn't. There was no need to. The evidence was already there. It was just a matter of finding it—not to mention a matter of opening one's eyes and admitting the truth to oneself, something you two are sorely lacking the ability to do, especially where your son is concerned. I've already beaten one of 'my own kind,' as you put it, so what makes you think I won't do the same to you … and then some?"
In fact, as soon as he had become old enough to know and understand what was going on, the absurdity and unfairness of his situation, Harry had built up a wall to take refuge behind—a wall behind which he would be at least relatively safe from the majority of verbal and physical abuse heaped on him from the Dursleys almost from day one. Only a relative handful of people had ever breached that wall since he had left that house of Hell, most of them in the Weasley family.
First Ron, Molly, and Arthur, then Fred and George … and finally, just recently, Ginny. The only one who wasn't (at least technically and only for the moment) in the family who had managed to reach him emotionally had been Hermione. That is, the only one in his age group. Other than them, only Dumbledore and Sirius had managed to win his affection; all in all, the only ones who had ever been worthy of it. (There were others he liked, of course, but Harry was only referring to those he actually loved.)
Harry had never imagined he would ever see the day he would actually be able to take steps to ensure that Dudley would actually be punished for what he had done to Ginny, nor that it was now only a matter of days until the trial which would seal his fate for the rest of his natural life. Neither had he ever imagined that he would ever be looking forward to seeing the Dursleys, but the best part of the whole thing was that once the trial was over, he would never have to lay eyes upon them again—or even think about them again if he didn't want to. And frankly, considering what he had endured at their hands, why would he want to? He would have far better, happier things to think about … such as Ginny, their upcoming marriage and all the joys which that entailed, both physical and emotional.
