A/N::: That time of year has come again National Novel Writing Month! I started this story last year for it, and will be continuing it :) New year, new challenge, new doc file :) so i am going for the goal of 50k in a month again, and just as always this is a 1st draft, i only have been running spell check... so there are probably some big errors in here. I wrote the 1st part while i was kind of tired...
Once i finish this entire story then i will be going back and fixing all those horrid errors and continuity issues. Thank you for kindly pointing some out to me... I have made not of them in my notebook, as well as scenes that I am not too happy with right now and need to be fleshed out more later. All I ask is that if you wish to criticize me and/or the story please keep it constructive. I am working on this to become a better writer, and with all of your help see my own faults in 1st draft writing so i know what to keep an eye out for when i write my original novel (still sitting on a back burner)
Thank you for all of your comments! Thank you for following and favoriting this as well, big boost to me and makes me want to do my best, but it is a bit scary as well because i hate to disappoint people. With luck the hubby with not end up in the hospital the rest of this year (knock on wood), so barring medical needs and illness I hope to be updating more often, and will be fairly frequently through the month of nov.
I hope you all ENJOY!
With her parents working Hermione did, what she did the last time through and took charge. Harry couldn't help but smile about it, her passion for learning and wanting to make sure that he had a better understanding this time through was also working wonders on Dudley. Frankly he had never seen his cousin interested in learning anything, but since it was magic and he had seen all the awesome things it could be used for, he wanted to be the best he could be.
"Hey look!" Dudley shouted as he looked up from the potions book he had been reading, "I found the one that has been helping me lose weight!"
"Really?" Hermione said as she set down her Astronomy book and wandered over to look over his shoulder, her eyes whipping back and forth as she read through what he was showing her. "Wow, that is it! Good find Dud!" She gave him a friendly hug, and he beamed. "That will be helpful later to learn how to brew. Something to use after Holidays if we eat too much," she grinned.
"Yeah, cause now that I am getting healthy I want to stay that way. Kind of worried I might end up ballooning back up, but now that I know where to find this, that makes me feel better. This book really has some good ones too, there is even one to help with if you start going bald," he said looking at her.
"Do you mind if I have a read after you are done?" she asked him.
"Only if you will help me with that astronomy star thing again. I am really not seeing the image with the connect the dots," he said scratching his head.
"Deal!" she beamed and went back to her own book.
Most days were fairly similar, filled with studying the class material and trying to understand just what they might be learning at school. While two of them knew what they would be getting in classwork, they tried to make certain that they went through not only their coursebooks, but some of the other materials they had gotten. Harry was amazed by all the things he was learning now, and felt he would be much better prepared for classes, and much more prepared for the long road ahead.
While the three studied, and generally stayed out of trouble, the ripples that they had started upon going to the bank were beginning to take more traction.
In the Ministry, the Head of the DMLE was making her own plans to turn things upside-down. She had been to the records office, and she had pulled a good one hundred files. Half of those files were what one could call 'big name' cases, or the files on death eater trials, the other half were smaller cases some petty some in the middle of the road. This of course was just the cover for her looking into the case file of one Sirius Black, the godfather of Harry Potter.
What she had found in Black's case file made her blood boil, because there was no case. No trial, they had taken the man and threw him away without due process. This made her very curious about the other files she had grabbed of Death Eaters, or supposed ones. Her predecessor had run a very poor ship it seemed as important questions were never asked of the people, and many were just carted off to prison to rot. She was going to have to do something about this, and somehow fix a wrong that not one person would care for, she was going to have to give Black a trial, a fair one. The real question was how to get the minister to sign off on her bringing him and several others out for questioning. Then it struck her, and she could not help but smirk at how she was going to get a good gathering of people to want her to give Black a trial, or in many of their eyes a second hearing.
In Hogwarts, Minerva was doing her best on short notice for teachers. While she knew that when he returned Albus was going to want to terminate the contracts she was setting up, but once he saw the very large number of new students he was not going to be able to do a thing.
The most difficult part of this whole thing was going to be getting the teens who should be graduating this year caught up with their class level, or trying to cram in the first years of schooling this year, and then have them come back and graduate a year late. As it was each class now had three teachers to handle the large influx. One teacher for sixth and seventh years, one for fourth and fifth, and one for first to third.
When she had spoken to the other house heads they seemed happy with the idea. Severus was almost giddy when she told him he would only have to teach the sixth and seventh years. It had been a rare moment, but then he had gone back and had narrowed his eyes at her and asked why she was doing this, and if she had had the Headmaster's OK. Granted she had tried to contact him, but had gotten the brush off, so she was honest with the other three about the situation. While she had not told them that the school roster had been tampered with, she had informed them of the rough estimated number of students, and that it was strange but a lot of older children and teens had been late bloomers. She was going to hold the information that she knew what he had done to the roster as blackmail, if just for a bit.
The notepads, pens and pencils, that had been brought up to her as being alright for the muggleborns to bring with seemed like a wonderful idea. Even to her it seemed many a student might stay more organized with such materials. While she knew many witches and wizards might not try something coming from the muggle world, she thought it might be a good idea to stock up on some of the items for herself. The most interesting thing to her were the special markers. Working with it and testing it out, and then transfiguring the tip, she was able to make it into an almost quill-like implement. Using the new tool she sent a letter to Amelia so she could inform to her wards that such things would be allowed, and to bring the markers to her and she would change the tips so that they would be a bit more like a quill so that they could work on the penmanship with them, as well to inform them that there would be a new class to work on that alone.
To that end she penned a letter to be copied and sent to every muggleborn student that if they wished to bring other forms of stationary, writing tools, and even art supplies that they may, and that there would be a room set up for them to use for art.
It was high time that some things were brought back to the school, and art was one of them. In her own years at Hogwarts as a student she had loved watching the people paint, and had even tried her hand at using transfiguration as a way to sculpt. True she would have to ask the elves to clean the room properly, and all of those windows to let in the natural light, but it would be nice to see the room full of people diligently working on their own art once more. If Albus had issue with that, then she would just let him know it was her own idea, and she would be in charge of keeping the peace in there.
Minerva felt younger than ever, and more exhausted than ever as the month passed. So many new teachers moving into the castle and setting up their rooms. Also reorganizing the placement of classes so that the children wouldn't have to run to make it on time any longer. Far too often children got lost, stuck on trick steps, or tripping and needing instead to go to the infirmary.
It was a very proud moment for her to say the least that all first and second year classes would be on the first floor of the castle, while third year electives would be moved onto the second floor. Obviously the astronomy class would not be able to be moved, nor would she be able to get that hack of a so-called seer to move her classroom either. A special set of rooms would be set aside for remedial classes, that even upper years could elect to take or even help out with in order to get the new older students caught up. The other thing that made her quite happy was the inclusion of a map on the back of their timetable to show where their classrooms were and on what floor.
The other thing that had to happen was getting more help in the infirmary as Poppy would be quite strapped if there was an outbreak of the measles or some other malady. Thankfully Amelia had said that she had just the woman and helper in mind, and that the woman was going to be the personal doctor for Harry Potter, and as she had said, "Having her there will make it easier on him if he needs something. The young man has been through the ringer, and it would be good for him since he wont have to explain things to a new person. I'm not sure how much he will want to speak about such things, but I have a few ideas from this whole thing that I would like to run by you personally at a later time, about how we handle child abuse and keeping all the children here safe, as well as when they go home."
Obviously the woman had a lot on her plate already, and it did not sound like it would ease up for her anytime soon. However Minerva felt the years almost melt off of her as the new teachers came to run ideas about how to make their topics more fun.
Amelia for all of her own plotting and planning had a brilliant thought and lined it all up so that the whole of it would fall neatly into her lap. Timing would be everything, and a lot of honeyed words, so with that in mind it was time to put it all into quick motion before anyone could stop it.
Friday, August the thirtieth, she walked casually as she could force herself to the minister's office with an obscene stack of folders. Upon arriving she noted that no one was waiting to see the spineless man, and his secretary was spelling her nails different colors.
"Is the minister in? I really need to talk to him about something very important," she said to the woman.
"Yeah, one moment," the woman said and then called the man to let him know she was there. "You can go right in"
"Thank you," she replied really hating the fact that the woman probably had some work that could be done, but was instead just lazing about. Taking a deep breath she let it out remembering that every department had their dead weight, and those that passed the galleon.
"Amelia!" The minister said as she entered and then his smile dropped as he saw the stack she was carrying in with her. "Um, what is all of that?"
"Cornelius," she began as the doors shut behind her. "Would you kindly put up the anti-eavesdrop spell and the like, this is going to be very important and you will not want any of this to get out."
A smile toyed at the corners of her mouth as she watched the man hurry to do so while she set the files down and began sorting them into several other piles. Once he was done he sat down and eyed each stack warily.
"If this is about more money for your department," he began but stopped when she shook her head.
"It is not about a budget increase minister. In fact what I have before you is a very serious matter that you can make right. When you took office, and I took the head of my department we were sadly left a rather large mess. This is just the tip of it I fear." Carefully she picked up a folder and pulled out the single piece of paper, then held folder in one hand and page in the other shoulder width apart. "Would you care to guess what this mess is?"
"A folder and a bit of parchment. Other than that, I am not certain what you are getting at here," he was starting to get a bit hot already being talked to as such.
"This is all that there is of this entire case file. The folder, and one hastily written, not even full page, of words. This travesty is not enough to hold a man in Azkaban, but that is where this man rests. There was never a trial," she said and watched the man's eyes bulge with the implications.
"There had to have been a trail if he was sent there. What does that page say?" he asked now very interested in what was going on.
"Before I tell you that," she said placing the page back into the folder and setting it on the top of the tallest stack, "let me explain what I have been up to." Waving her wand she poured herself a glass of water and took a small sip.
"This year is the year Harry potter is to start school at Hogwarts." The minister nodded, as so many knew that fact. "I decided to check on a number of random cases that had happened during the war and at its end. While that may seem odd, I figured that with Mr. Potter coming back there might be some bad blood out there, and it might do the ministry some good to run something in the paper to remember those times, and to show Mr. potter that justice was done for his parents and the attack on himself."
"That is a very good idea Amelia. Show the people that we are doing everything we can to keep them safe, but what has this to do with that file?" he was beginning to get anxious about the folder considering the time frame she was speaking of.
"I am getting to that, but I need to give you a bit more information so you really understand what I am going to be asking of you in a few minutes." Again she took a sip of water, if she played her cards right this was going to get so many people in prison who should be there and a number who had served their time out. "I pulled a number of big name cases, some medium level, and a few petty or misdemeanor cases, these are all of the ones I pulled. Of them, this big stack," she indicated the one she had placed the folder onto, "are sadly cases that were not done properly, or in the case of that folder not at all. The middle pile here," she indicated a stack of two. "These two have some discrepancies but can probably be easily fixed by talking with the prisoners once more. This last stack are cases that were done according to the law, and everything is in order. As you can see though, the larger stack is the one that has a lot of issues in it. Including the folder with no evidence report, no crime scene photos, no witness statements, and most importantly no trial papers."
"What do you want me to do? What can I do?" he asked staring at the large stack that frankly he was very angry that the people before them had left and probably hoped would never come to light.
"Very simply put Minister Fudge, I would like to call a special court date for all of the people in this stack. I want to rush this so no one can tamper with anything, and only call the emergency hearing for the first of August." She nodded as he looked at her agape, "yes very short notice as it is this Sunday. I had to be certain of these before I brought them to you, and I have only been working on this in my spare time at home. I was uncertain at first if I should do this in my office with so many people coming and going. The last thing I wanted was something in the rumor mill and this not being a grand event, as it would be."
"How would this be a grand event?" he eyed the woman warily.
"Simply put Cornelius, I bring the prisoners to the holding cells Saturday morning. They get cleaned up for their Sunday trials, and retrials in some cases." Again she sipped the water, "You contact the press Saturday, but only after the late paper has gone out. That way they cannot advertise this to the public, otherwise there might be some upset it is even going on, but you let the press to sit in on the cases. You can tell them that it was your administration that found that there were some miscarriages of justice, and that with Harry Potter the Boy-Who-Lived returning to us, that you had me personally look into the old cases so that everyone could once more know of the great job their government does to protect them. Sadly, however, we found these cases had not been done properly. New evidence has come up, as well as the fact that certain questions had not been asked. While Veritaserum is not something that can be trusted in court, a few of this large stack were given rather horrid questions where frankly no matter what you had spoken would have made you look guilty. It was with this that several of these people were tossed found guilty with. What is even worse is they are all Pure bloods," she said taking out her monocle to wipe it off. He was a sympathizer, and she knew that. It was quite obvious that Malfoy was pulling his strings now and again.
"That is not good at all," he said staring at the stack in shock. "How will having this surprise trial work then?" It was then she knew she had him and that while there was still a chance he would slip off the hook, if she worded it right he would go all in.
"Very quickly and efficiently. I have a list of questions that they were asked the last time, as well as new questions. With the only people knowing what is about to happen being you and me, no one can get to the criminals to murder them before we bring them into the courtroom. The men and women presiding will be surprised as will the media, and that shock will make them want to know what we are up to. I will personally ask the questions, while you can choose a member of the administration you trust, and I will have one of my people, as well as a court scribe go over what their answers were the previous time to see if they match, or even come close. With three people going over things and a mostly impartial group on the bench, not to mention the wizarding radio coverage and paper coverage, it will show the people of Wizarding Britain that we take their safety and justice seriously.
During all of this we may uncover more crimes, and change the sentences that they had been handed.
"Also during this when we bring up that our predecessors caused such a miscarriage of justice we can drag their names through the mud, and make ourselves look all the better for not only finding, but for doing the right thing and fixing their mess. We could also call them to stand trial and get them to pay a fine to each of the people they had locked up if we find that they should not have been locked up at all. That way no money comes out of the ministry to pay recompense, the people who caused and hid the miscarriage of justice pay for it all themselves. If all of these people are still found guilty and sent back to Azkaban, we can still fine them for the miscarriage and put that into the ministry coffers. Perhaps even announcing that some of that money would be used to create a new department, an oversight department that would have to be legally savvy, but would go through all cases to make certain that they were held up to the minister's strict standards, so that such a thing will never happen again, at least not so long as you are in office."
"This needs to be done," he said sitting back in his chair trying his hardest to look like a strong minister, even though he had just been played like a finely oiled violin. "People will remember this come election time as well." He grinned smugly at that thought of keeping this nice office and paycheck for doing very little in her opinion. "Now then, who did not get a trial, and yet was sentenced to Azkaban?"
"That will be the highlight of the day, the very last trial. We want people to start small with the miscarriage of justice and then get very upset when they find out that Sirius Black did not have a trial at all. Think of having the press there and if he does confess to everything, the people will be furious they did not have all the juicy details to begin with, but also the idea that anyone could be tossed to that rock with the dementors without a trial? That will stick in the craw of the public for a long time."
"The biggest case, and nothing!?" the minister went bug eyed with shock, this was going to be very big indeed. "Explain to me what you need, and I will get everything set up. Sunday we will welcome the Hero back, and the next day he will read how those that killed his parents and stood with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named are justly punished here, and how the ministry is going to place checks on its own court system so that this never happens to anyone ever again." He ended with a nod and a slap on the desk for emphasis, and for that Amelia had to bite the inside of her cheek. She had won this battle, but now she would have to talk with Fudge longer about who would be the best people to sit in judgment, how to make it appear randomly chosen, and so much other of what she could tell him. She would do her very best to make certain that Black had an actual fair trial, and got recompense for it as well.
